Things Pick Up

After that little talk, Cocky Cox seemed more at ease and seemed a bit celebratory.

Having been rejected by her television acting break must have been stressful and having given hope with a new opportunity should be exciting.

A roller coaster of emotions needs to be processed and that is why she headed to the bar.

She's at that age already and those tasty mixes should be good to try out.

On the other hand, Alexander was back to drafting something up on his paper again... but he had some thoughts, as usual, to get around to.

For starters, he wasn't really expecting to tackle something like that on this supposed vacation day... but it still counts as "business" and that's what mattered.

The pen and paper loophole was good but securing a semi-casting deal was better.

He wasn't really sure how to take his inexplicable urge to do business matters but he was relieved that something did happen.

Of course, he realized that this inexplicable urge seems problematic as well... so maybe his grandfather's insistence on forcing him to have fun does have merit.

Did his grandfather see the signs of him being a workaholic? Maybe a forced vacation was his way of fixing it before it becomes unfixable.

Alexander hadn't really considered himself as one... even with his programming job. He quit the workforce in his 20s after all, so "workaholic" isn't exactly the description that he'd go with.

He was mostly obsessing about the forming of programming errors, so obsessive should be the best description for himself.

When he thought further on it, being a workaholic in this new life shouldn't be that bad.

Between both adjectives, workaholic seems better than obsessive albeit only slightly.

However, given that it sounds close to problematic... perhaps there's a problem to it.

There's even a high chance that being an obsessive and workaholic would come into one and an obsessively workaholic business-kid is problematic without a doubt.

With this train of thought, Alexander just ditched his pen and paper... and decided to get into the vacationing spirit.

-----

Consequently, things picked up quickly from there.

The rest of August didn't have anything else noteworthy aside from the continuous internal preparation of Creed HQ's usual practices.

Oh and it seems that Cocky Cox got the part and had already convened with the crew to the filming location. It's still unclear whether she got McGillis' or Ryan's role though… Old Sullivan put a tight lid on it so that he could go with his "surprise" during production visits.

Aside from that information ban, Alexander had eventually been allowed to go back to CREED HQ after an entire week's worth and got back to his usual groove after a considerably relaxing rest.

Perhaps it was true that swimming in pools and enjoying the other Country Club recreational activities had taken his mind off a lot of things. However, he dived right back into those busy things anyways... which seems counterintuitive.

Still, he could count vacationing as an enjoyable distraction and a necessary step back to re-assess the plans that he had.

-----

Of course, things had really picked up in a way and September had already arrived.

His school year as a fifth grader had started and he didn't have a lot to say about it.

Things have shifted considerably after all and unlike the relatively stable Miss Hansen and Mrs. Montgomery... this Mr. Stiller was not his past 5th-grade class adviser.

It just goes to show that his influence in the world had already become considerable. Which makes sense, as the more the Creed business took off with its projects, the more major his Chaos Butterfly flaps are.

Usually, he would ruminate about the implications of this trend... but he's more or less acquainted himself with the normalities of change.

He just took this difference in supposed personnel with a grain of salt and focused his attention next on the "other" change of this renewed 5th year.

As it turns out, Milica "Milla" Jovovich is going to be his classmate and is seated right beside him. Probably this whole school year-round.

"Alex, look at this photo of me." Milla beckoned by her seat as she had a magazine in hand. This had been the one she's been complaining about. "I waited for this for so long. Now that I have it, I still can't believe that I finally have it. That's me on this magazine page. Isn't it cool?"

"Today, I'm even wearing what I'm wearing in this picture." She emphasized this by pointing to her real self and her photo-fied self.

"Well, what did you expect? It's back-to-school season." Alexander wasn't really a good judge of fashion but he didn't really see the school vibe with what she was wearing. Of course, with advertisements and whatnot, it's probably going to be sold in non-uniformed schools.

This just made him think about Creed Clothes but in the effort of not being too business-minded, he just advised. "Also, you have to hide that before the teacher gets back. It's going to be confiscated if you don't."

"You're right." Milla didn't want to make a bad first impression on any of her teachers, so she hid it right back into her bag.

Well, something else was out of the bag though... as the classmates seated behind them had noticed their exchange.

"Woah, you're actually a model!" A girl was wowed.

"Uhm..." Milla was a bit hesitant but she still answered. "Yes, sort of."

"Wow, Jovovich. I didn't know you did that." A girl classmate from Milla's last grade was surprised. Russian spy girl was actually a model and she was her classmate once again.

"It just happened." Milla wanted to brag with a lot of words since she had a lot to say but she decided to go with a short and cool Alex way of saying things. "Nothing special."

"Nothing special?! Girl, are you crazy!" Another girl was exasperated. "My big sister wants to be a model and actress but she doesn't have any roles aside from being a waitress at a Hollywood restaurant! You being in a magazine is good for your future career already."

"Oh. Is that so?" Milla acted innocent but the grin in her mouth and glint in her eyes said otherwise.

"Heh, it's just for picture posing for kid's clothing and an unpopular magazine. It's really nothing special." A boy suddenly interjected with scorn. "You're only special and real model when your picture is in the big leagues like Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour."

"Hey, Brian, why do you know so much?" Brian's friend was curious. "Could it be that you're actually..."

"I'm a real boy!" Defended Brian in a hurry.

"Dude, I'm not saying your Pinocchio. You're reading a lot of magazines and know a lot. You must have a lot of model crushes." This boy felt that Brian was to be admired. "You're a real man, Brian."

"Uhm, no." A girl felt that she was able to smell the truth. "I'm pretty sure he knows a lot for entirely different reasons."

"Haha! He's hating on Milla out of nowhere panicked out of nowhere." A girl was able to notice something as well. "I'm pretty sure he's just jealous of her. Brian wants someone else in Milla's place!"

"Why would Brian be jealous? He doesn't have a sister or girl cousin that's trying to be a model." Brian's friend was still ignorant.

"Are you sure you know your friend well enough?" A girl mocked

Brian's friend was shocked by that. "Brian, don't tell me you..."

"I'm not gay!" Brian was panicking now.

"Gay? I was just wondering if you have a sister or cousin who is trying to be a model that you didn't tell me about." Brian's friend may be gullible but he was suspicious now. "Who said anything about being gay?"

"Wait a second. Brian." The friend connected some dots and he looked at Brian with disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me that you..."

"Waaahhh!!!" Brian didn't wait for him to finish again as he rushed out of the room with frustration. "I hate you all!"

"Where are you going?!" Brian's friend ran as well to get to him. "I was just wondering whether you wanted to be one of those handsome models! The boy kind."

"What's wrong with you?!"

"Where are you going?" Brian's friend hollered. "Hey!"

"I said I'm not gay!"

"I just said hey!"

"Aaah!!" That roar of frustration could be heard and felt.

Those were what echoed as both boys seem to have gotten far into the corridors.

"""Hahaha!!!"""

The rest of the class who witness the entire debacle thought that it was all hilarious and laughed all around to make the whole room rowdy.

Of course, Brian and Brian's friend had been dragged back by Mr. Stiller... but the hilarity of the duo's antics still made some of the class snicker from time to time.

After that, their classes had begun there and these new classmates" journey started off with an interesting event that could be discussed amongst themselves.

School was still going to be about learning and whatnot... but it was going to be unique with a classmate being a bit popular because of her being in a magazine.

Yeah. She was probably going to be the popular girl, so Russian spy bullying was going to be minimal with her new "friends".

Of course, there was also Brian who would probably do a lot of things to prove that he was a boy and maybe his friend will always remain clueless about things. They'll probably be the class clowns.

Alexander just sighed at all of this though and hoped things in class would quickly pick up from here on out.