2 Chapter Two Act Normal

"Honey, we're home! Xander dear?"

"Oh Crap. Your parents are home." The two boys quickly turned the game off that they were playing and headed over to their book. They decided to take a break to play after two hours of studying. However, if his parents found out they would disapprove. They never let him play games on a school night let alone before a big exam.

"Oh, Russell, I didn't know you were here. Will you be staying for dinner?" Xander's mom spoke as she came around the corner to find the two boys sitting at the table studying.

"Oh, I don't think so, Mrs. Cooper. I should actually probably be going home. I didn't realize how late it had gotten." Rush started to pack in things after glancing at the clock.

"Sorry man. The time just flew by I guess. At least we managed to get some studying done." Xander gave his friend a knowing look. They had actually spent the last 20 minutes playing a game.

"Oh, well you be careful heading home. Would you like one of us to drive you home?" Xander's mom continued to speak.

"No, no. I'm good Mrs. Cooper. Thanks though."

"Alright. Xander go get washed up and ready for dinner. It shouldn't take us long to have ready."

"Yes, mom." Xander helped Rush with his things and then walked him to the door. "Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow." They gave a fist bump staying like that for a moment before Rush was out the door and headed home. He turned and glanced up the stairways as a thought had just occurred to him. The snake. How was he going to feed it? Maybe he would give a call to the Vet's office tomorrow or look up the information on his phone.

"Xander." A male voice came beside him and he turned to look at his father.

"Yes, dad?"

"Did you hear what I said?"

Oh crap. How long had he been staring off? "Ah, sorry. No, I was thinking about a big exam tomorrow and I guess I blocked out everything."

His father stared at him a good moment before nodding his head up the stairs. "Go wash up then."

Damn… did he make his father mad by unintentionally ignoring him? He didn't seem all that mad but that was his father for you. He didn't show his true emotions often. "Yes, sir," he ran up the stairs two at a time and headed to his room first.

Horror ran through him as his blood turned to ice. Slamming his door shut he began to look about his room carefully. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit.' He should have put something heavy on the top of the tank lid. Otherwise the snake wouldn't have gotten out. Not good. There was a chance that the snake was no longer in his room too. He could carefully comb through his room before spreading his search. How far could an injured snake get anyways?

"Hey there little snake… come out. You're safe here. No need to go hide. I promis-" He saw something shimmer in the shadow on his shorts that he had laying on the floor. There was a small smear of what looked like blood. Shit. Did it break open a stitch by moving about? "How dumb can you be… moving about in your condition…"

Xander couldn't help but reprimand it. It couldn't have killed itself after all the hard work they went through to try and keep it alive. He needed some sort of thickness to protect his hands as he tried to carefully pick the snake up again. Perhaps he should put the tank on the floor this time. Moving to do that he went to his closet carefully keeping an eye on his shorts where he thought the snake was. Grabbing out his winter gloves he turned back to the snake as if he was going to battle. If he wasn't careful he could seriously hurt himself and not to mention the snake even more so than it already was. Now how to best go about getting it. Quick, that was his only thought. Just do it quickly before it knows what is happening. With the same speed he showed when he first caught it he scooped up one side then the next then he quickly moved and placed the whole thing inside the tank before he placed the lid back on. He put a few books that were pretty heavy and he was sure the snake wouldn't be able to knock over. Xander waited for a moment to see if the snake would come out. He was pretty sure it was in the shorts as there was weight to it and he did catch a flash of blue before it closed it up to bring it over to the tank.

"I'm sorry this is how it has to be. At least until you're healed enough to be released."

As he said those words the snake attacked the side of the tank smashing its face against the glass. It was enough to make him back up quickly before stumbling and falling on his butt. "I'm not here to hurt you… I just need you safe, and to keep myself and my family safe…" A beautiful creature like it shouldn't have been caged up but, it was a wild snake. As he watched it he gave it a sad smile. "How can something so beautiful be such a dangerous thing…"

Xander tilted his head in curiousness. He could have sworn that he saw the snakes eyes widen at his words before it looked away. "I'll try and find something for you to eat later."

He got up from the floor and headed out of his room. This time closing the door to make sure that it couldn't escape out of his room if it somehow got out of the tank again. He washed up and then headed back downstairs where he helped out with dinner and set the table.

"So how was school today?" His mother asked him as they were eating.

"It was okay. We had two subs today for history and science. Not sure what happened. Someone thinks there is some sort of virus spreading through the school. Even some of the students were home sick." He merely shrugged it off. Probably the flu after all it was flu season.

"Well make sure you wash your hands…" His mother looked over at him with some concern but she worked in the hospital in town with his father. They often rode together on days where they had the same work days.

"Yeah, yeah…" Maybe it was because at work they had to wash their hands a lot and now they want to ingrain it into him. He was starting to feel like he was becoming part fish from how much they push the issue.

Dinner went on without much more talk. Just small talk here and there. After that he helped with dishes. "Did you finish your homework?" His mother asked as she placed the last dish in the sink to dry.

"Yeah, Rush and I worked on that and did some studying. I was planning on studying some more after dinner and before I head to bed."

"Ah, when did you grow up so fast?"

"Hmm?" He turned to see tears filling his mother's eyes. "Mom?!" Worry for her seeped through him as she tried to hurriedly wipe those tears away.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just feel like you were just that clingy little boy that was by my side wherever I went and now… well now you've grown into a wonderful young man. I am so proud of you." She wrapped him in a big hug.

"Ugh, mom-please-" he tried to squirm out of his mother's harm embrace but it was no use. He gave her a patted hug. "There, there. I was bound to grow up at some point." It was probably a guilt that both his parents worked hard and long hours and he spent a lot of time home by himself. But Xander understood that the work his parents did was saving lives. What more could he ask for? No, Xander didn't mind because when it truly mattered his parents did everything they could to be there.

"Well, I need to go study mom. Mom?" He tried to pull away but she kept her hold on him at first.

"Oh, I'm sorry honey. Go ahead." She finally released him.

Parents could be so weird at times. His parents were no exception. "Okay… have a good night mom." He left the kitchen before he headed up he said goodnight to his father who was sitting watching some tv in the living room. He raised a hand at him with a short night. Must have been more of a rough day than the two led on. A small smile rose on his face before Xander turned and ran up the stairs.

He slowly opened his door and peeked in. The cover looked like it was still on and the snake was actually sitting on top of his shorts peering through the glass. It was almost like it was startled that he came in. Weird, and kind of creepy if you asked him. "Don't worry, I'll go find something for you to eat now." He closed his door and headed back down stairs calling out to his parents that he would be right back. Snakes could eat bugs or something small, right? So maybe a frog because he was sure he wouldn't be able to find and catch a mouse. Frogs were much easier to get. Finding one didn't take long and he snuck it in his pocket running back up the stairs and into his room. It was trying to escape again. So maybe keeping it in his room wasn't such a good thing? Where else could he keep it though until it was well enough to be released?

"Hey, hey. You don't want to rip your stitching off." He came over and tapped on the glass hoping to get its attention away from the lid. The snake was desperate to get out. Careful he stuck the frog inside. Quickly closing the lid as the snake's head lifted up when he shifted open the lid.

"I wish you could understand that I'm trying to hurt you…" Xander was at a loss with the snake. It ignored the frog jumping around the tank as it merely stared at him. "Yeah… creepy." He stood up and headed over to his book bag and took out his things to study.

He spent another hour before yawning and stretching. "Welp, if I fail after all that… there's nothing I can do about it." Xander moved over to his dresser and began to strip off his clothes and changed into some shorts before he turned off his lights and crawled into bed. Tomorrow was another day, or so he thought.