Chapter 39 – Days Off

Time skip 4 days

[Main POV]

At last, the weekend had come. The time for cereal and Saturday morning cartoons.

School was fucking cancer. 6 hours every day, I would just draw on my tablet or type on my laptop.

The teachers didn't care. I think they were just happy to let Artemis and I sit in silence and not annoy them like Sheldon.

"What're you doing?" Artemis asked, popping her head into my room.

I was watching the fourth season of Pokémon while eating my Cocoa Puffs. I was watching the legendary battle in the Johto Pokémon League between Ash's Charizard and Gary's Blastoise.

"Cereal?" I offered.

"I'm good," she refused, "I prefer Cinnamon Toast Crunch."

Looking towards the screen, she was just in time to see Ash win his match.

"Oh, wow!" she exclaimed. "Is Ash going to win the Pokémon League this time?"

I did not respond. I simply slurped the milk remaining in my bowl.

"Is he ever going to become a Pokémon Master?" Artemis asked.

"Who knows," I said. "But you know, it's good that Ash doesn't win. People need to learn failure."

"Have you ever failed?" Artemis wondered.

After thinking, I answered, "Last night."

"Halo?" she asked.

"Yup." Last night, Olivia, Emily, Artemis, and I played Halo on my Xbox. The match was Artemis and I verses Olivia and Emily. However, Artemis and I lost. I blame Artemis. She killed me, then got killed herself.

The good news was that the multiplayer feature was a success. Both the Xbox and Halo were good to be released next year.

Artemis got herself a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and plopped beside me on the couch. Life was good.

.

Time skip to October 1989

[Main POV]

One month later, I was some place I never really expected to be. Turns out Sheldon's mom wasn't joking about having us for dinner.

So, Artemis and I were sitting at the Cooper's dining table. Sheldon's parents, Mary and George Sr., his brother, George Jr. who also went to Medford High, his sister, Missy, and his meemaw, Connie were also there.

"Alright, dinner is served." Mary said as she brought out her homemade meatloaf. Also on the table, were some mashed potatoes, green beans, and roasted vegetables.

George Jr. started serving himself some mashed potatoes but was stopped by a small slap on the hand from his mother.

"Would anyone like to say grace?" Mary asked.

Nobody looked interested. George Sr. and Jr. were looking at their cutlery, Sheldon was simply staring in front of him, Missy was playing with her hair, Connie was looking out a window, and Artemis and I were literal pagan gods.

"I'll do it," I finally stated, breaking the silence.

"No, we can't have a guest saying grace. George, do you want to lead?" Mary said while glaring at her husband.

From the tone of the question, it was clear that she wasn't asking.

"No, it's okay, I grew up Catholic, I'm used to it," I insisted. Accepting my offer, everyone started holding hands, forming a circle.

"Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen." I quickly said.

"Amen," everyone repeated.

"So, Apollo," Mary started, "you mentioned you're Catholic, do you go to church?"

"I used to be Catholic, but not anymore." I explained.

"Oh, have you decided on a Protestant denomination to join?" she asked eagerly. "You know, our family goes to a pretty good church –"

"Actually, I'm still in the process of finding my faith. I still believe in a higher power, I'm just in an internal quest to find him." This was technically not a lie. After all, I believed ROB existed.

"If he doesn't go to church, why do I have to go to church?" Missy complained.

"Make a billion dollars and we'll talk about it," her grandmother responded, getting a stern look from Mary.

"Did you know that the Maillard reaction is responsible for the enticing crust on this meatloaf? It's a chemical process that occurs due to the combination of amino acids and reducing sugars," Sheldon randomly stated.

"Sheldon, just let us enjoy the food without the science lesson, will ya?" George Jr said.

"Hey, are you guys going to make another princess movie?" Missy asked.

"Ah, we're actually going to make a different type of movie. It's called the Lion King. It's basically Hamlet, but with lions and for kids."

The silence that followed told me that no one read Hamlet. Curse my twelfth-grade English class.

"Well, I just wanted to say that it's quite exciting that Shelly here has friends for high school," Mary stated. George Jr. and Missy rolled their eyes.

"Oh, we're not staying longer than a year," Artemis said.

"Yeah, we'll be graduating by the end of the year." I added.

The day after the first day of high school, I had called the former president, who owed me a favor. President Reagan hooked me up with the Secretary of the Department of Education. We ended up coming to an agreement where Artemis and I would graduate if we passed the SAT and ACT.

We didn't even go to class anymore. Olivia would drop us off at Medford High, then Artemis and I would hang out. We'd go to the arcade, the zoo, or one of the many museums in the area.

A small price to pay for 20 million dollars 'donation.'

.

After dinner, Artemis and I were sent upstairs to 'play' with the 3 Cooper kids.

Artemis was dragged away for 'girl talk.' And Missy wanted to take selfies with her using some Facebook filters. This partially surprised me, since I never did anything to promote selfies, nor did I do add any filters for taking pictures or videos. Good job employees.

I was left with just Sheldon since George Jr. isolated himself in his room. Quite unfortunate.

"Apollo, would you care for a rematch?" Sheldon asked while holding up a chess board.

"I'm good Sheldon," I said, "I don't play chess anymore. It's too simple."

"We won't be playing 2D chess," Sheldon said while pulling out platforms. "We'll be playing 3D chess."

Bruh.

While we were playing, I noticed he made a crucial mistake.

"You must be crazy to make a move like that," I trash talked, as I capitalized on his weakness.

"I'm not insane, my mother had me tested," Sheldon responded. He then proceeded to think.

And think.

And think.

I think he realized he was going to lose.

Then, Sheldon jumped up.

"I just remembered! I collected your homework. And Artemis's as well." He handed me a stack of papers and essay prompts. I wondered if I actually had to do the homework.

"Oh, and we have a quiz on the first half of this book." Sheldon handed me a small book about a couple hundred pages long.

It was the Giver.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!"

.

.

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AN: For the purpose of future chapters of the story, please list any crimes or other sketchy activities you notice Apollo committing in the comments (or crimes you assume he's committing).

I have a list, but this is just in case I've missed any.

Thanks, drop me some Power Stones or else I'll take your wallet.