Chapter 64

So, a little late this chapter...

For the first time since I started writing the novel, I found myself in a block; I didn't know how to continue with the development of Boston (I hadn't thought it through, and that was the problem). Usually, I prepare in advance what I want the next chapter or chapters to be in a handwritten outline, but I got into a very long path for this 'sub-arc' in Boston. So what I did was write 9k words :D

This chapter is possibly one of the most difficult I have written, and I apologize if it fails in quality.

By the way, someone commented that basically my work is just a bad copy of MTL Daily American Drama (where they know I based the structure of my story) due to the lack of the system. Literally, "the system was the driving force that made the original go at a good pace." I would like to hear your opinions.

By the way, if you didn't know, in DAD the MC has a system that warns him he will die if he doesn't save lives, so he decides to become a doctor. But in reality, there is no real interest in saving lives; it is purely selfish, which makes sense if he doesn't want to die, but he has a certain disdain for people (racism). Also, the system makes him OP by giving him IQ points (obviously...) by 'befriending' intelligent people.

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Lowering Teddy from my shoulder only when the elevator finally arrived, "don't do that again," said Teddy, annoyed, tapping my shoulder as if she had hit it hard, though I barely felt a thing.

"Yeah yeah, let's go, I'm hungry," I urged her to enter the elevator, ignoring Teddy's furrowed brow.

"Come on, I'm starving too," exasperated Gabe, who immediately entered the elevator, said, repeatedly pressing the lobby button.

"If you break that button, we'll have to sell you to the hotel to pay for it," I warned Gabe seriously, stopping his hand. "Even then, I doubt it would be enough," I added, smiling exaggeratedly.

Back in the hotel lobby, instead of decreasing, the number of people had increased; every previously available seat was taken, and I could even distinguish people speaking in other languages.

"Oh hey, young Duncans," Mr. Mosby greeted with his ever-present smile, opening his arms to his sides cheerfully. "Is there anything I can assist you with?" he asked professionally, clasping his hands gently in front of his chest.

"Oh, we were just going to have breakfast, Mr. Mosby, thank you," I replied, pushing Gabe's head, who seemed exasperated, to move forward.

"Of course," Mr. Mosby opened his hands again cheerfully. "At the Tipton, we have the best continental breakfast in Boston. Please, don't let me interrupt," he kindly pointed to the hotel's dining area.

To reach the hotel's dining area, we had to pass in front of Maddie's store. Seeing me heading her way for the second time that day, she quickly hid behind her counter.

"What's her problem?" annoyed, Teddy asked, noticing Maddie's odd behavior.

"I don't know, maybe she dropped something," I said amusingly, speaking loud enough for the hidden girl to hear.

Breakfast was quite good, although having dined the previous day at an incredible restaurant, any meal would have been overshadowed.

"Do you guys want to do something for the rest of the day?" I asked my siblings after we finished breakfast, hoping to avoid going up to the suite again.

"I think there's an arcade," Gabe immediately interested, storing away his handheld video game console.

Seeing Teddy silently asking if she wanted to go to the arcade, my sister nodded without paying much attention.

"All right," I stood up and walked with my siblings out of the dining area. Once again in the lobby, Maddie immediately disappeared behind her desk as if she had an automatic defense system.

"Wait a moment," I said to my siblings, sighing incredulously once again. I walked towards the small store. "After the third time, this doesn't work anymore," I joked, leaning on the store counter. I could perfectly see behind the desk and thus Maddie crouching in hiding.

"Oh, PJ, I didn't know you were there," Maddie raised her head, smiling sheepishly. "I was just, um, looking for this!" She quickly improvised, grabbing a small piece of trash at her feet and standing up, leaning to the side of me on the counter. "My workspace has to be impeccable," she added with false modesty, smiling.

"I totally understand," I chuckled, nodding seriously. "So, did London and you resolve your issue?" I raised an eyebrow, seeing Maddie immediately close her eyes in embarrassment and bring her hands to her face.

"Forget you heard that," Maddie slowly said with her eyes still closed. "Can you forget it too?" She asked hopefully, opening one eye.

Chuckling, before I could respond, the same boy who had tried to flirt with Teddy the day we arrived, along with his twin brother, approached the store counter. "Hey sweet thing," leaning next to me, completely ignoring my presence, the boy greeted Maddie flirtatiously.

"Zack," Maddie smiled rigidly, greeting the boy back.

"So, what were you doing?" the boy smiled widely, arrogantly moving his head.

"We were just talking," I responded before Maddie could say anything, finally catching the boy's attention. "Hi kid," I smiled at the boy with raised eyebrows.

"You!" startled again, the boy stumbled backward, tripping over Gabe who was distracted playing with his handheld console. "Oh, sorry," quickly moving off Gabe, the boy apologized. "Hey! You've got a GameBoy, cool!" Completely forgetting the previous situation, he exclaimed enthusiastically, starting a conversation with Gabe.

"Kids, uh," the other of the twins approached me jokingly, chuckling with mischief in his voice while the other boy and Gabe animatedly discussed the console.

"You really want to play with the GameBoy?" amused by the serious boy's attitude, I immediately affirmed, noticing how much attention he gave to the small device.

"Yeah," the excited boy immediately nodded, approaching Gabe and his brother.

"PJ, can we go now?" Teddy, who for some reason was standing a few steps away from me, staring fixedly at Maddie, asked, crossing her arms and swaying on her feet.

"Yeah, sure," puzzled by Teddy's sudden behavior, I responded, looking between Maddie and my sister.

"Excuse me," walking past the counter without taking her eyes off Maddie, Teddy said disdainfully.

"What's going on?" ignoring Teddy's attitude toward Maddie for the moment, I said. "Come on, Gabe," pushing my brother's head slightly to get his attention as he was leaning in playing games with the two twins.

"Oh yeah, can Zack and Cody come with us?" turning off his console to the disappointment of the other two kids, Gabe asked, apparently quickly forming a friendship with the twins.

"Sure, but only if you behave," I said seriously, staring menacingly at the more rebellious-looking of the two boys, making him step back again. It was amusing to see him so scared for no reason.

"See you later, sweet thing," smiling at Maddie, I said amusedly, watching as she lowered her head with her eyes tightly closed, completely embarrassed.

"Hey! That's mine," offended, the boy who had been previously scared to look me in the eyes surprisingly stared at me and exclaimed.

"Sorry, kid," patting the boy's shoulder, I chuckled as we walked to the hotel's arcade.

It was already hard for the hotel to surprise us more, or at least that's what I thought. When we entered the surprisingly spacious arcade room, it immediately reminded me of the one my siblings and I had visited a couple of times back home, though this one was even bigger.

"Here, go and play whatever you want," I said to Gabe, handing him a twenty-dollar bill. It would last them long enough to play each game in the arcade once, I hoped.

"Cool!" the twins, Zack and Cody if I remembered their names correctly, exclaimed in unison upon seeing the bill, and before I could say anything else, along with Gabe, they ran towards a counter inside the place with another employee to get quarters to play.

While the kids played on the machines, Teddy, who was still standing with her arms crossed and a displeased expression on her face, seemed indecisive about something.

"What's up?" I asked Teddy seriously.

"I don't like her," avoiding my gaze, Teddy said, annoyed.

"Maddie? Why?" surprised, I asked, knowing Teddy had barely interacted with the girl.

"What if she's like Regina?" finally looking at me with a furrowed brow, Teddy asked.

"Like Regina?" I chuckled. Teddy shouldn't know anything about her, at least not more than what little she knows because of me.

"Everyone at my school knows her, and Bianca told me about what she did at your school. Besides, she's the reason you got beat up," still annoyed, Teddy quickly said.

"Teddy, I can assure you Maddie is nothing like Regina, at least from what little I've gotten to know her," I added, having only spoken with Maddie for a few minutes.

"I don't know, I just don't like her," exasperated, rolling her eyes, Teddy said.

"It's okay, you don't have to worry about it," gently patting my sister's head, I reassured her calmly. "Besides, we'll only be here for two weeks, and she's the closest to my age, so I wanted to make friends with her."

Still with her arms crossed, my sister sighed annoyed, seemingly not caring about the relatively short time we would spend in Boston.

"Let's play some machines, come on," smiling at Teddy, I pleaded lightly. "You owe me a rematch after all," I added, making her uncross her arms as she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Fine, but I wouldn't call it a rematch; let's just prove that I'm better," Teddy said arrogantly, walking towards the arcade's counter.

Like the last time we had stepped into one of these places, there were very few machines where I could beat Teddy, and at some point while we competed on another machine, the kids also joined us, making a competition on each machine.

When all the quarters were gone, Teddy had topped the scoreboard with the most points, winning over everyone seemingly with ease.

"PJ, can I go to Zack and Cody's suite? They live here," Gabe asked excitedly as we left the arcade, apparently making playdates with the other kids.

"You'll have to ask Mom about that," checking the time on my wristwatch, I replied to Gabe, hoping that after a couple of hours Mom and Bob would have finished... whatever they were doing.

"All right, let's go ask my mom in our suite," Gabe said excitedly

 to the other kids before they all ran to the elevator together.

"No running in the lobby," Mr. Mosby called out to the three kids from behind his front desk a moment later, lowering his head in disappointment.

"PJ," Teddy murmured beside me.

"Yeah?" puzzled by her sudden demeanor, I asked.

"Can I have a magazine?" discreetly pointing to Maddie's stand, Teddy asked with some embarrassment in her tone.

"Sure, let's go," I chuckled, walking with her to Maddie's stand.

Maddie, like the day before, was sitting with an open book on her counter, completely focused on taking notes from whatever she was reading.

"The limit does not exist," approaching quietly to see what she was studying, I said, looking at a calculus problem she was working on, causing Maddie to jump surprised in her seat. "Careful, PJ!" Maddie exclaimed as she accidentally threw her pencil in my general direction, luckily missing everything. "What did you say?" quickly adjusting her posture and ignoring the pencil she had just thrown, she smiled and asked.

"Your problem," pointing to her notes, "your function oscillates between two values, so your limit isn't defined," I calmly explained.

Without taking her eyes off my face, Maddie nodded slowly for a few seconds before regaining her composure. "I understand," she moved her hand as if to write in her notes but stopped, apparently remembering she no longer had the pencil in her hand. "I'll write it down later," she added, closing the book and moving it slowly.

Unable to help myself at her rigid behavior, I chuckled lightly, leaning once more on her counter.

"Did you want to talk about something?" Maddie asked, trying again to hide her growing embarrassment, adjusting a strand of her hair slowly as she leaned on the counter.

"Oh yes, she wants a magazine," I said, pointing to Teddy, who had been silent beside me all this time.

"Oh, how long has she been there?" Surprised to see Teddy quickly returning to her original posture, Maddie asked nervously.

"I've been here the whole time," Teddy responded forcefully, raising one eyebrow. Despite having spoken to her, I could see my sister was getting annoyed with Maddie again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, I was a bit distracted," Maddie apologized embarrassedly, noticing Teddy's reaction. "Which magazine do you want?"

"I want Seventeen," Teddy said, crossing her arms again, causing Maddie to quickly move to hand it over. "I'm going to the suite," Teddy added, holding her magazine, and walked to the elevator without saying anything else.

"I did something to make her mad, didn't I?" Maddie asked, watching my sister walk away, defeated.

"Don't worry about that, you did nothing wrong," I assured Maddie calmly as I paid her for the magazine.

"Yeah," Maddie straightened up with a faint smile.

Walking back to where Maddie had thrown the pencil a few steps behind me and back to her counter, I placed the pencil on her closed book. "Good luck with calculus, 'sweet thing'," I joked as a farewell.

"Thank you," Maddie said, smiling shyly, picking up her pencil.

When I returned to the suite, I found the three kids sitting on the couch watching television. "This TV is bigger than our refrigerator!" one of the twins exclaimed excitedly.

"It is, I measured it," the other twin added proudly.

"I'm glad, but if you two want to stay here, you have to ask your parents. Gabe, you were supposed to come up and ask Mom if you could go to their suite," I said seriously to the kids; it was important their parents knew where they were.

"Oh, Mom is taking a nap; Dad said she was really tired," Gabe said calmly without taking his eyes off the TV.

Too much information, I didn't need to know that.

"I heard my name, oh hey champ!" Bob came out of his room completely energetic and cheerful, smiling broadly. "I was thinking now that it's stopped snowing, I'll go up to the hot tub. You wanna come?" he asked cheerfully.

"Dad," pretending to be focused on the TV and avoiding studying the man's body language further, I greeted. "I'd love to, but I have plans," I quickly responded with a small lie. I didn't think I could look him in the eye for a couple of hours, even days.

"Plans?" Bob asked proudly, putting his arm around my shoulder.

"With Maddie, the girl from the lobby store," I continued rigidly.

"What!?" one of the twins, separating his attention from the TV incredulously, asked.

Bob, surprised along with the other people present, looked at the noisy boy intrigued. "I mean, cool," feeling the pressure of people's gazes uncomfortably, he corrected, making his brother silently laugh.

"Okay," Bob said puzzled, nodding slowly. "Do you need money?" seemingly deciding to ignore the boy, he asked me.

"Oh no, don't worry, just going for some milkshakes," I quickly made up.

"All right, Duncan genes, man," Bob said happily, laughing arrogantly as he walked towards the suite door. "Kids, don't break anything, and PJ, good luck," he stopped at the door, warning Gabe and his two new friends who nodded simultaneously without taking their eyes off the TV, except for the excited boy who was looking at me with his mouth open.

"All right, first we're going to talk to your parents," I said, pointing to the two twins when Bob left the suite. "And then I'm going with Maddie to see if she wants to hang out," I muttered to myself as I walked to the suite door.

The kids lived several floors below our suite, without worry, the neater of the two boys, who strangely wore vests with his shirt tucked in, opened the suite door and entered their home. "Mom, we have guests!" the boy shouted.

"Oh hi," a woman whom I recognized from yesterday's show came out of one of the rooms, smiling kindly.

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am," I shook hands with the woman. "My name is PJ Duncan, and this is my brother Gabe," I continued introducing us.

"Gabe is going to stay to play," the neater of the twins said.

"Yes, I just came to introduce myself. My family and I are staying in the VIP plus suite," I continued.

"Oh, I see," the woman smiled kindly. "Don't worry about your brother, I'll be here all the time, and in a few hours, Zack and Cody's nanny will come to look after them," the woman continued cheerfully.

"I get it now!" suddenly the other twin, who had been staring at me since we left our suite, shouted excitedly. "You're basically me in a few years," he pointed at me.

"Cody, what is your brother talking about?" the woman asked, looking at the neater boy, Cody, concerned.

"Yeah, can't you see it?" the other boy, Zack, asked incredulously, pointing at me. "We're only different in haircut, height, and age, which means Maddie is only dating him because he reminds her of me," the boy finished explaining excitedly, smiling broadly.

"Yeah, no, definitely not," Cody denied vehemently after comparing his brother and me for a few seconds, turning with Gabe. "Let's go to our room, we have everything," he added completely unconcerned.

"I just need to cut my hair, do some exercise, and let time take care of my height," Zack muttered to himself, walking behind his brother and Gabe.

"So are you going out with Maddie?" apparently understanding the situation with his son, Mrs. Martin asked seriously, raising one eyebrow.

"Well, that's the plan," I said, I hadn't actually asked her yet; I just needed an excuse to not have the constant reminder of what Mom and Bob had done.

"I see," nodding slightly, the woman studied me slowly from head to toe with a furrowed brow. "Don't make her cry," she finally warned after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, and without saying anything else, she walked back into the room she had come from.

"Why would I make her cry?" I asked no one again, uncomfortable, and left the small family suite on my own.

Since I had already gotten myself into a kind of 'date' with Maddie and everyone knew about it, I just needed to inform Maddie. Once again in the hotel lobby, this time I found the girl arranging merchandise on the shelves of her stand.

"Hey, sweet thing," I said, watching as Maddie stopped her hands.

"Please, can you not call me that?" Maddie turned slowly and said.

"Why? I think it really suits you," I helped the girl by lifting one of the boxes of products.

"Really?" Surprised, Maddie almost dropped a chocolate bar before managing to place it on the shelf. "Well, yeah, I do work in a candy corner," she joked.

"Yeah, you do, right?" Laughing nervously, Maddie said, embarrassed, rigidly arranging another candy.

"So, speaking of work, do you finish at the same time as yesterday?" I handed more candy to her to awkwardly arrange as I asked. I had to 'mention' that we were going out.

"In fact, I'm finishing earlier today; I just need to wrap up here," Maddie said, feigning complete disinterest, "why?" she asked.

"Well, if I remember correctly, you mentioned knowing a great chocolate milkshake place," I moved a box to open a new one, pretending to care.

"Oh yes, it's the best chocolate milkshake place in Boston," Maddie exaggeratedly affirmed.

"I just don't believe you," shaking one of the candy bars slightly with false suspicion, I said.

"Oh, but I'm telling the truth, what can I do to make you believe me?" Maddie leaned challengingly on her counter.

"I was thinking maybe we could go today?" I slowly leaned on the counter, allowing my eyes to wander around.

"Yeah?" Lost in her thoughts, Maddie smiled, asking, "oh yeah! I mean, yeah sure, no problem," she responded excitedly before calming down and again acting disinterested.

"Perfect," relieved that I hadn't lied in vain, I smiled at her, "so we have some things to arrange," I picked up other boxes stacked on the floor next to the store counter, rolling up my sleeves.

"Yes," Maddie smiled slightly, lost in thought. A moment later, coming to her senses and quickly moving to arrange the things I handed her.

Quickly working together, we finished with all the candy boxes. Maddie closed her stand, picked up her belongings — a backpack and a bulky coat. "I'm ready, shall we go?" she asked, smiling broadly.

"Actually, I also need my coat. Do you mind if we quickly go to my suite to get it?" I remembered the street was now covered in snow; I couldn't go out just in what I was wearing, a thin gray sweater.

"Sure," Maddie walked calmly beside me to the elevator.

"So..."

 I said inside the elevator as the doors closed and the machine began to lift us through the hotel floors. The awkward silence increased slowly, along with the number of floors. "What do you usually do for fun around here? I don't think you just go for milkshakes," I added.

"Oh, you know, the usual stuff — some parties, hanging out with friends, more parties, going to the mall," it was obvious that for some reason she was lying. Lowering the volume of her voice with each thing she said, it seemed she was running out of imagination to make up new things.

Before I could ask her to tell me about all those parties, the elevator doors opened as we reached our destination.

"Come on," I said, opening the suite door and smiling at her as she entered with me.

Mom, dressed in a long robe, was sitting next to Teddy, who was still reading her magazine, in the living room with the TV on.

"PJ, oh, who's this nice girl?" Mom smiled pretentiously from the couch and asked.

"Mom, this is Maddie, she works at the hotel. Maddie, this is my mom; she works at a hospital," I said, awkwardly presenting them, not planning on Mom already being out of her room.

"Pleased to meet you," Maddie straightened up awkwardly, speaking oddly formally.

"Likewise," Mom responded, not losing her mocking smile.

"Obviously, you already know my sister Teddy," I pointed to my sister, who for a moment looked up from her magazine, sighing, ignoring our presence again, burying her face in the pages. "So, Maddie and I are going for milkshakes, do you want anything?" I asked, walking slowly with Maddie to the door, discreetly urging her to leave.

"Uh, yeah," Mom said excitedly, "the biggest strawberry milkshake they have," instinctively placing her hand on her bulging abdomen, she added.

"Got it, Teddy?" I asked, pointing to my sister. "All right," after a couple of seconds without getting a response, I continued defeated.

"Do you need money?" Mom asked, leaning slightly, apparently preparing to stand up.

"Don't worry, Mom, don't get up, I'll take care of it," I quickly assured her, avoiding her getting up. "So, see you later."

"See you later, Maddie," Mom smiled significantly from the couch, bidding farewell.

"Likewise, excuse me," Maddie replied a bit nervously, walking out of the room under my guidance.

"I'm sorry about that, I didn't know they would be there," I said apologetically, noting the girl's embarrassment.

"It's okay, really. I just hope I didn't make a bad impression," Maddie replied nervously, waiting for the elevator.

"Bad impression? Why?" I asked, intrigued.

"I don't know your last name. I was so informal with your mother, and now she might think I lack manners because I'm from a 'lower class'. Plus, your sister already hates me," Maddie quickly explained in frustration.

"Lower class?"

"I'm sorry, I hadn't thought about that," the elevator doors opened again. "PJ Duncan," I introduced myself inside the elevator, extending my hand.

Rolling her eyes playfully, Maddie shook my hand firmly. "Maddie Fitzpatrick."

"Pleased to meet you, Maddie Fitzpatrick," I said. "I don't think Teddy hates you. She just... I don't know," I continued, addressing her concerns.

"Oh, it's just a figure of speech, don't worry. I have twelve siblings, I know how this works," Maddie reassured, amused.

"Twelve?" I asked, surprised.

"Yup."

"Twelve siblings," I murmured in disbelief. "I only have two, with one more on the way. I don't think I could handle living with nine more."

"Once you get used to the races for the bathroom, it's a piece of cake," Maddie joked, assuredly leaving the elevator as we reached the lobby.

Outside the hotel, like in the morning when Gabe and I went running, the streets were still covered in snow and ice. "So you live in Texas but your family is originally from Colorado?" Maddie asked as we walked through the streets of Boston.

"In Medford, it's a small town about an hour and a half from Houston," I explained.

"That explains why you don't have an accent," Maddie commented, smiling.

"Who says I don't have an accent?" I sarcastically mimicked a Georgian accent.

"Okay, cowboy, calm down," Maddie joked, attempting to mimic the accent as well.

"Hey, that was really good," I said impressed, nodding at her.

"Thanks, I've been practicing," Maddie admitted with false humility.

"Practicing a Texan accent?" I asked ironically.

"Well yeah, it's a great tool. You never know when it might come in handy," Maddie replied, suppressing a laugh with mock seriousness.

"I never thought of that. I'll take your example," I said, exaggerating a Boston accent.

"Uh no, you really need a lot more practice," Maddie immediately denied, causing me to feign offense.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad," I protested.

"Believe me, it really was. But don't worry, everyone has to start somewhere," Maddie condescendingly assured, putting her hand on my shoulder.

Under Maddie's guidance, we continued walking through different streets of Boston. After a few minutes talking about various things, including the differences in our schools, we arrived at what looked like an alternative café.

"You're going to love this place. They use reclaimed materials for everything, and the ingredients are organic," Maddie said excitedly, pulling my arm and swinging open the café doors, dragging me along with her.

Leaving my coat on a hook by the door and helping Maddie with hers, I studied the place, filled with photographs of people in parks and squares dressed in various colors, along with slow, cheerful music playing.

The place smelled quite unusual, but surprisingly, it was quite crowded.

"Hey Maddie," the waitress, a girl dressed similarly to the photographs in the café, cheerfully greeted Maddie, hugging her. "Oh, and who are these arms?" she looked at me directly, attempting poorly to be discreet, excitedly tapping Maddie's arm.

"Michelle," Maddie said, obviously embarrassed. "This is PJ," she slowly opened her eyes widely at her friend, warning her.

"PJ, nice name," Michelle smiled boldly.

"Michelle's not bad either," I said kindly to the playful girl.

"Oh my, a gentleman, and he's not from Boston?" she tried and failed again to be discreet, asking Maddie who increasingly avoided the gaze of anyone staring at her, staring at the ground with her hand on her forehead.

"Texas," I stretched my hand in a belated greeting.

"Mmm-hmm, nice to meet you," taking my hand and quickly putting her other hand on my opposite arm, pressing it down, she said, "that's a really nice grip," biting her lip, the strange girl said again boldly.

Must be something in the water, it wasn't possible that all the girls in Boston were the same.

"Okay, enough," Maddie pushed the waitress with her hip, making the latter release my hand and consequently my arm. Embarrassed, Maddie smiled and said, "Michelle, we want two chocolate milkshakes, please," she added slowly and with a warning in her voice.

"I get it, I get it, no need to chase me out of here," Michelle said, raising her hands playfully as she walked away. "Hope to see you again, PJ from Texas."

"Yeah," I said slightly uncomfortable, saying goodbye to the girl.

"Sorry about that," embarrassed Maddie said, pressing her lips and puffing out her cheeks slightly, clearly embarrassed by the situation.

"Don't worry, I don't mind," I assured her as we took a seat at one of the tables. It was definitely strange.

"She just gets excited very easily," Maddie explained, still slightly embarrassed. "We've known each other for years; we volunteer at the same charity."

"Charity work?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, at a shelter for seniors. We serve them food and help with things," Maddie explained casually.

"That sounds pretty good. I did a couple of weeks of volunteering back at Medford Hospital, and let me tell you, I've given enough sponge baths to hairy men in this life," I joked.

Laughing with a hint of disgust, "Really?" Maddie asked incredulously.

"Oh yeah, it's tough work. That's why I think everyone should be grateful to nurses."

"So, what, you want to be a doctor or something?" Maddie played with the decorations on the table, interested.

"Yeah, a doctor back home took an interest in me because I know a couple of things about medicine. So he offered to teach me, and I go to the hospital every day after school," I explained calmly.

"A couple of things," Maddie repeated with a slight smile, interested.

"I study a lot," I nodded strangely, causing Maddie to rest her head on her hands, smiling, lost in thought. "How about you?" I asked, bringing her attention back.

"Law, environmental law," Maddie replied confidently.

"Environmental law?" I asked, surprised.

"Oh yeah, with the way companies keep ignoring our environment, climate change will be irreversible in a couple of years," Maddie said seriously. "I mean, just look outside; an average car emits around three to four hundred grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer traveled. We have to act, and there's no better way than using the law," she continued, slowly getting angrier.

"Amen to that!" suddenly arriving with our milkshakes on a tray, Michelle energetically interrupted Maddie's speech, placing the drinks on the table. "Fuck those companies," she winked at me, walking back to where she came from.

"I made a speech, didn't I?" embarrassed Maddie asked.

"Yeah," unable to resist much longer, I took a sip of my milkshake, clearly affecting Maddie. "And I agree with you, and I'm glad someone like Maddie Fitzpatrick cares enough to do something," I pointed at her, smiling. "By the way, this is really good."

"I told you so," Maddie smiled, taking a sip of her own milkshake.

Time passed inside the café; having found her environmentalism not strange, Maddie continued to talk about the topic until realizing she had been talking for a long time. She changed the subject, asking about life in Texas and what I learned from House.

"So you're like a disease detective?" summarizing, Maddie asked, widening her eyes with amusement.

"That's a way to put it," I chuckled, amused by the concise but accurate summary.

"That sounds cool. What's the best 'case' you've been involved in?" intrigued, drinking the last of her milkshake, Maddie asked.

"I can't give you too much information, but a patient with larvae in the brain," I slowly said, enjoying the shock on Maddie's face.

"Larvae? Like worms?" disgusted, Maddie asked in a lowered voice.

"Yup, neurocysticercosis is a parasitic infection of tapeworm larvae," I explained.

"Tapeworms? How can anyone get infected with tapeworms?" incredulous, Maddie continued.

"Usually from eating pork," I added, noticing how Maddie imagined the situation with disgust.

"I'm never eating pork again in my life," the girl declared.

"You just have to be careful with pork, cooked at the right temperature. It's serious, but easily preventable with proper care," I assured her.

"You guys want anything else?" Michelle, who apparently was attentive to the state of our drinks, noticing that Maddie's milkshake was finally empty, asked.

"Oh no, thanks," Maddie lightly pushed her empty glass forward.

"For now, nothing, thanks," I handed over my own long-empty glass. Somehow, the milkshake had disappeared completely.

For several more minutes,

 Maddie and I continued chatting inside the café; it was easy to find almost any topic fun, and like with the environmental topic, the girl had a clear opinion on many other topics, surprisingly ahead of her time.

When I noticed, the street was starting to darken. Calling Michelle, I ordered the milkshake for mom and the check.

"Don't worry, I've got this. After all, it's my fault we came here," I assured Maddie, preventing her from trying to take out money.

"Thanks," Maddie quickly said, smiling slightly embarrassed.

With an excessively large biodegradable strawberry milkshake in my arms, I walked back to the hotel with Maddie.

"So you have another job at the hotel?" surprised, I asked.

"Yeah, I'm a nanny. Do you remember the twins?" raising her hand approximately to the height the two children shared, Maddie asked.

"Zack and Cody, yes, my brother stayed playing with them," I immediately understood Mrs. Martin's warning.

"Yes, them. I've been their nanny since they arrived at the hotel less than a year ago," Maddie explained calmly.

"They seem like good kids," I commented, looking at the decorations on the streets. Due to the date not being far from Christmas, there were still hundreds of thematic lights.

"Yeah..." Maddie said, not sounding entirely convinced.

As we continued our way to the hotel, Maddie told me about different adventures that the obviously energetic children had been on.

"So Cody, the smart one, almost won a girls' beauty contest?" amused, I asked.

"Yeah, the best part is that he decided to leave the contest, making Zack compete in the final instead," Maddie laughed at the memory.

"That's funny, but I hope my brother doesn't get involved in any of their 'adventures,'" I said, silently thanking the hotel doorman for opening the door. We had arrived once again.

"Well..." pointing to a strange figure in the lobby, Maddie laughed.

At the reception desk, Gabe was accompanied by a strangely shaped figure covered in an excessively long coat and a hat, talking to Mr. Moseby.

"I assure you, Mr. Moseby, my brother hurt his throat this morning when we went out running, and we want any WWF rental you have," I silently heard my brother say.

The strangely deformed figure had the shoes of a child, and from the shape of the "torso" of the person in front of me, it was obvious that it was really a child on the other's shoulders.

"So to be clear, your older brother, present here," noticing my presence, Mr. Moseby kindly smiled, pointing at the figure in front of me, "who has hurt his throat, as the only other person with privileges in your suite apart from his parents, wants to get any WWF rental we have?" the man repeated.

"Correct," without any shame, surprisingly skilled at lying, my brother said.

I understand, is that what young Duncan wants?" Mr. Moseby asked again, pointing to the covered figure and maintaining his smile, making whoever was at the top of the human tower nod.

"Please, Mr. Moseby, call me PJ," I said, having seen enough and smiling at the obviously amused man, taking the three kids by surprise.

"PJ, hold on a moment, if you're there, then who are these two?" Gabe quickly exclaimed again, without any shame, pointing to the other two kids covered by the coat.

"Let's see who they really are," Maddie, who was also entertained by the situation, said seriously.

"It's Zack and Cody!" Gabe pretended to be surprised, exaggeratedly pointing to the kids, who were one on top of the other, smiling shyly.

"He would've gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids," the base child of the human tower, whom I now recognized as Cody, slowly said, maintaining his embarrassed smile.

Unable to help but chuckle, the kid had made a reference to the Scooby Doo cartoon, and I had understood it.

Proud to see that his joke had worked, Cody was a bit less worried, forgetting that he still had his brother on his shoulders, he moved his body trying to pose.

"Careful," I said, moving to catch Zack, who was falling, accidentally knocking over a table behind us with an expensive-looking vase, causing it to wobble and finally fall. "Whoop!" Still holding Zack in one arm, I managed to stretch to grab the vase.

"Wow, you're really strong," Zack, oddly clinging to me, said, impressed.

"Thank you," I said carefully, placing the vase and the child back where they were safe.

"Excellent catch, PJ," Mr. Moseby said, extremely relieved, halfway climbing his own desk.

"It's nothing; I couldn't let it fall; it would've been quite dangerous for his health," I assured the man.

"Oh, yes, Zack too," Mr. Moseby said, noticeably offending the child, stepping down from his desk embarrassed.

"Yeah... back to the important stuff," ignoring the implications of what Mr. Moseby had just said, I said, "what you did was wrong, kids."

"Yes, identity theft is not a joke, millions of families suffer every year," Mr. Moseby, who moments ago seemed on the verge of a heart attack, said seriously.

"Yeah, not cool, guys," Gabe said disappointedly, crossing his arms and shaking his head beside me.

"You're not getting away, kiddo," pushing my brother's head to stand next to the other children, I said, "I think you need to learn not to steal other people's identity, what do you think, Mr. Moseby?"

"Well, PJ, I think there might be some snow that needs shoveling in the hotel garden tomorrow," Mr. Moseby said, pointing to the entrance door, emphasizing kindly on my name. Once again, it had started snowing, fortunately this time I wasn't outside to freeze.

"I think Mom and Dad will completely agree with that; it seems we won't be going for a run tomorrow; you'll be busy," I said to Gabe, who immediately lowered his head defeated.

"Mrs. Martin will agree too," Maddie said sinisterly, putting her hands on Zack and Cody's shoulders.

"Agree with what?" dressed and apparently ready to give her show, Mrs. Martin asked seriously from the lobby side, immediately sure that the children had done something.

"Ah, Miss Martin," Mr. Moseby said, smiling broadly and starting to narrate his children's behavior and consequently the punishment offered.

"Sounds fair enough, shoveling some snow for trying to fool Mr. Moseby; congratulations, kids, it seems you got a job for tomorrow," Mrs. Martin said, stroking her children's heads.

Defeated, the twins nodded.

"How did it go?" completely unabashed, Mrs. Martin took Maddie's arm, asking, nodding her head towards me.

"Oh, it went quite well," taken aback by the suddenness of the question, Maddie replied slightly embarrassed.

"Good," Mrs. Martin said, staring at me slowly.

"Okay..." a bit nervous because the woman's emotionless face kept staring at me, "I think we're going to dinner; see you later?" trying to ignore the woman, I asked Maddie, who happily nodded.

Saying goodbye to the other people present, after agreeing on a time for the kids to shovel, Gabe and I slowly walked back to the elevators. As I walked with Gabe, I could feel Mrs. Martin's gaze on my back.

"That was awkward," inside the elevator, going back up to our suite, Gabe said with complete unconcern, "you weren't planning on telling Mom, were you?" he asked, smiling.

"Ha!" I exclaimed amused, patting my brother's shoulder.

Mom, like Mrs. Martin, agreed with the punishment, thinking it was appropriate.

Ordering room service for everyone, we had dinner, "we need to go grocery shopping for the rest of the two weeks; we can't be eating out all the time like this," Mom said worriedly, looking at everyone's dinner while drinking her comically large strawberry milkshake.

After dinner, since the hotel had its own gym with showers, Bob, Gabe, and I prepared change of clothes to go upstairs, "can I call Zack and Cody? I promised they could come," Gabe asked Bob, who nodded calmly after a few seconds.

I could hear Gabe asking to be connected to the Martin's suite a few seconds before he began talking energetically and hanging up shortly after.

The hotel's gym was surprisingly well-equipped, although unlike our home gym, any other gym with more than three machines would fall under the same definition.

Gabe was excited to see so many machines, asking and trying to use each one, "what's this for?" he asked, pointing.

"They're bars and pull-ups," I explained, carefully releasing the rowing machine and letting Bob sit down, "we're doing this, so if you want, you can try it."

"All right," excited, Gabe said as he gracefully climbed slightly on the machine, taking the bar.

"Good," watching Gabe struggle to pull up a couple of times, I said, "but now try to do it more controlled," remembering how Case did it, I mimicked his movements.

"Ah, it's easier said than done; can you do it?" dropping from the bar, Gabe asked.

I hadn't tried it before, seeing how Case always did it, it certainly might seem easier than it really was, but he was Case.

Taking the bar and bending my legs to be fully hanging, controlling my breathing, I pulled and surprisingly managed to rise, slowly mimicking Case's movements with effort, moving from side to side with my arms flexed.

"Wow, cool," exclaimed Gabe.

Controlled, I repeated the movement a few more times.

"Wow, that's super cool," suddenly said the voice I recognized as the twins'.

"That's what I said," heard proud Gabe.

With tired arms and hands, I carefully lowered myself from the bar, unlike Case who could be hanging for several minutes with dozens of repetitions; I had only managed a couple correctly.

"Good job," Bob said proudly, patting my shoulder.

"All right, Maddie, we're done here for now; you can go back to studying," Cody, who was dressed in several sweatbands, told Maddie as he warmed up.

"Oh no, I have to stay here and... take care of you, that's what your mother pays me for after all," Maddie immediately replied.

With the three kids trying to repeat what I had done and failing to different degrees, especially Cody, who simply hung on the bar, Bob and I were the only ones really exerting ourselves to exercise, despite my focus on my form when using any of the machines.

"You should show off once more; you have an audience," murmured near me, Bob pointed slightly to Maddie, who had been sitting on one of the benches since she arrived.

"I don't think—" I was saying, but Bob interrupted me.

"Come on, none of that, take off your shirt and go up on the bar once more," hitting my side, Bob practically pushed me.

"I'm tired," I said to deaf ears, as with his hands on my shoulders, Bob guided me to the bar.

"Come on, come on, I know what I'm saying, champ," repeatedly hitting my side with his hand, Bob insisted.

Ashamed, I slowly took off my shirt, feeling cold air on my back, I knew Maddie had been very entertained watching our entire workout session, but this was awkward and uncomfortable.

Once again repeating the process now with much more effort, I stood up once again, trying to control the ascent and descent as much as possible.

"Look at that, Cody, that'll be me in a couple of years," Zack said, excitedly approaching with the other two kids to watch Case's pull-ups.

"You know your theory has no foundation, just because we're blond doesn't mean we'll grow like PJ," Cody obviously said.

Managing to do only half of what I did the first time, I dropped on my feet, feeling my hands slightly burning. Maddie, who had forgotten to turn her face away, continued to stare fixedly at my torso. Yes, this was uncomfortable.

"Okay, I think we're done here, right?" taking my shirt from Bob's hands and quickly putting it back on, I said.

"Yes, our job here is done," Bob laughed amused, patting my shoulder forcefully.

Using the gym's showers,

 we cleaned up and prepared to return to the suite. Maddie, saying goodbye once again accompanied by the twins, avoided eye contact at all costs. Yes, it was uncomfortable.

"I'm telling you, you have to use all the tools at your disposal to get the job done," raising his eyebrows suggestively, Bob said, "I know about this, after all, you're going to have three siblings," winking, Bob continued.

"Please," with slight displeasure at the new mental images, I stopped the man who simply laughed again, hitting my shoulder.

The next day, at about the same time as the day before, Gabe and I woke up, "that's strange, it looks like you're getting ready to go for a run," waiting for only his shoes to be missing, I said, stopping Gabe who lowered his head a moment later, "remember you have to shovel snow," I reminded him, smiling.

Changing his pants and his chosen shoes, Gabe with his head down left the room with me behind.

"Good luck with the snow," pushing my brother's head towards the twins already prepared in the lobby, I said without receiving any response from the boy.

As I walked through the lobby to go for a run, London, who I hadn't seen since yesterday, dressed in alarmingly pink sportswear, was standing calmly waiting, immediately she began 'warming up' by rapidly swinging her arms when she saw me.

"London," amused by the extravagant movements the girl was doing to warm up, I greeted her.

"Ah, PJ, I hadn't noticed you there, are you going for a run?" falsely surprised, the girl asked, having seen me already.

"Ye—" I was saying, but immediately London interrupted me.

"What an incredible coincidence, I was going to go for a run too," putting her hand on my shoulder excitedly she exclaimed, "we can go together," as if she was answering a question I hadn't asked, the girl kindly said.

"I'm fine with that," I said, amused by her blatant lack of shame.

"Ah, London, are you going for a run?" Mr. Moseby, who apparently was always working early, asked surprised.

"Moseby, what are you talking about, I always go for a run at this same time," comically opening her eyes, London said slowly to the hotel manager.

"Ah... yeah, silly me," puzzled, the man, seeing the girl's attitude, nodded slowly, "ah, I get it, good morning PJ," changing his attention, seeing me beside London, Mr. Moseby added amused.

"Good morning," smiling, I replied, "are you done... warming up?" I asked London, who nodded excitedly, "all right, excuse me," I said kindly passing by the hotel manager.

Outside the hotel, like the day before, the cold immediately hit my face, chilling every breath I took as I began jogging towards the park. It was going to be a great day.

Upon arriving at the park entrance, London, who was behind me, started gasping for air. "Are you okay?" I asked, concerned. We hadn't even started running yet.

"Yeah, obviously," London replied, catching her breath.

"Okay, let's go," I decided to run much slower to let her get used to it as we started jogging through the park.

"So..." as we ran, with considerable effort, London said between breaths, "what... have... you... done... in Boston?" she asked, panting out the last part.

"Well, not much really," I easily replied, realizing we were jogging at a pace far slower than I was used to. "Yesterday Maddie took me to this milkshake place, it was really good, I don't know if you've been there," I added.

"Stop," suddenly halting in her tracks and miraculously catching her breath, London exclaimed, surprising me. "What did you say?" she asked.

"We went to a milkshake place, we were served by this girl 'Michelle'," I nervously repeated, seeing London furrow her brow.

"That cheater!" she exclaimed.

"What?" I asked, were they competing?

"Ah, nothing," immediately changing her tone as if nothing had happened, London said casually, waving her hand. "Let's continue."

After saying that, she shot off running faster than she had before.

It didn't take me long to catch up to London, and she didn't take long to reach her limit. Such a sudden sprint with the endurance she had shown was surprising; it only lasted a few seconds.

Leaving London on a park bench gasping for air, I continued with my own run with her permission.

Returning to where I left her, I found her surprisingly sitting calmly on the same bench with a coffee and a magazine, even in the same spot.

Where did she get that? There were no vendors in sight.

"Ah, PJ, done?" getting up, tossing her magazine and coffee into a nearby trash can cheerfully, London asked.

"Yeah," I replied, still trying to figure out where the coffee and magazine came from. We were also quite far from any park exit and therefore any café.

"Something wrong?" innocently, London asked.

"No, nothing, let's go," I said, walking towards the park exit.

During the now much calmer walk, London took the opportunity to talk non-stop about various things in her life. "And that's how my dad recovered all our stuff," she finished telling a surprising story of a diamond and oil mine when we arrived at the hotel.

Upon re-entering the hotel lobby, suddenly grabbing my arm, like when I returned her dog, "Hahaha, you're so funny PJ!" out of nowhere she exclaimed, barely speaking at all on the way back to the hotel.

Pulling me into Maddie's store, London continued laughing.

Oh, I see.

"What's going on?" Maddie, like everyone else in the lobby, noticed our presence and asked in surprise.

"Oh, just PJ and I went for a run, you wouldn't understand," smiling broadly, London replied.

"Run?" crossing her arms and completely ignoring me, Maddie asked London.

"Yes, we've been running since morning, just the two of us," tilting her head and staring at the other girl, London replied.

I mostly ran alone.

"That's cheating and you know it!" completely losing her calm and leaving her store, Maddie exclaimed.

"Me?" offended, London asked, "do I have to remind you about the milkshakes, Miss Milkshake?" uncomfortably, London said.

"He invited me, that wasn't in the clauses," Maddie immediately defended herself.

Clauses?

"And he invited me to run, that wasn't in the causes either," London quickly said.

"It's clauses," incredulous, Maddie corrected the other girl.

"I don't understand what Santa and his wife have to do with this?" London asked suddenly stopping the hostility.

"That?" Maddie asked for a second before understanding it, "I'm not talking about Santa Claus, clauses are-" she was explaining but the other girl interrupted her.

"I don't care, I thought we agreed to fair play," annoyed, London said, crossing her arms and turning her head.

"Yeah, well, I thought the same," mimicking the other girl's actions, Maddie said.

"So, if I understand correctly, you were competing to go out with me," I said incredulously and with a hint of disgust; just saying that reminded me of Joey Donner at home.

"Yes," both still annoyed, Maddie and London replied simultaneously.

This was supposed to be a quiet day.

---

Author Thoughts:

A couple of things:

1. Is it really awkward for PJ to have nicknames for his siblings? As an older brother myself, it seems strange to refer to any of my siblings by their names; it feels too formal.

2. It's possible that the next chapter will be uploaded on Wednesday instead of Tuesday, and there won't be a chapter on Thursday. I want to wrap up the 'mini arc' in Boston.

Another chapter has passed, so new thanks are in order. I would like to especially thank:

keyakedo

RandomPasserby96

11332223

With that said,

I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.

Thank you for reading! :D

PS: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.

By the way, change the synopsis, what do you think?