Kumquat #2,3,4 and 5
Rating: PG
Flavors: Kumquat #2 (welcome to my world)
Extras/Toppings: Pocky
Word count: 100
Project: Tachycardia
Notes: Still on this flavor for now (other than that "originally a FotD" that I'm still attempting to finish). I actually finished 2-5 a while back, but never got around to posting them...So yes, I figured I'll just get them out before I forget.
The fights started small.
At least, that’s how Cody remembers them. The arguments always seemed a lot smaller back then. They were more like tiny snippets from the full-blown verbal brawls of today. Back then, it was: Mother slightly annoyed that Father was late from work, or Father a bit peeved that there was no dinner ready when he walked into the house.
Over the years, the voices escalated alongside the anger. His teacher had said that things got worse before they got better. But, alone in his room, Cody wondered if today’s silence could really be counted as “better”.
***
Rating: PG
Flavors: Kumquat #3 (you wouldn't last a day in my shoes)
Word count: 345
Allie was the closest thing he had to a friend outside of school.
His guy friends were only school friends. He didn’t really feel motivated to follow them around after class, going off to destroy random stuff. More often than not, they annoyed the hell out of him. But, they were good for passing time during lunch break. So, he kept them.
Allie was a girl. And, girls being girls and boys being boys, they never spoke at school. It wasn’t really something he went out of his way to do. Cody didn’t really care if the class would talk about how the two of them were suddenly close. He barely spoke to his friends; he doubted that anyone from class would bother talking to him, even if a rumor about them began. Allie was different though: she cared about what people thought. At school, she laughed differently, spoke softer, and read gossip magazines. Once, he even heard her say that pink was her favorite color. Watching her be a girl was tiring.
Beyond the gates, Allie was his favorite nuisance. She never stopped talking on the walk home. She filled the silence with endless chatter of anything and everything: grades, teachers, new hangout places that the girls heard about, and her family. The twenty minute walk to her house was the highlight of his day, the answer to the silence that waited for him at home.
Sometimes, Allie questioned why he never invited her over. Why was it always her house, especially after a whole year of friendship? Cody always brushed it off as his place being boring. But, really, he knew that his house was no place for her. It was something he hoped she would never see. The front door was good enough to show her. The paint was nice. He would rather keep it that way: the vision of a nice, well-kept home.
After he had seen her home so many times, he knew his could never compare. After all, it wasn’t the looks that turned a house into a home.
***
Rating: PG
Flavors: Kumquat #4 (there's a sucker born every minute)
Word count: 308
If there was one thing that Cody was certain of, it was that girls were vicious creatures. Monsters that traveled in packs and would readily turn on their own at the drop of a hat.
Allie’s nose scrunched in disapproval as he told her this. “Why would you -”She slowed to a stop in the middle of the empty sidewalk. “Why would you say that about my friends?”
“Because,” Cody walked back a few steps to stand beside her, “they’re talking.” He looked around and scouted for any unsavory eavesdroppers. However, only a car or two passed by, and a cat walked alongside the concrete half-walls that separated the street from the houses.
“Who?” She asked, slightly confused now. She thought hard, searching for a reason that would prompt her friends to hate her. Allie came up blank.
“Don’t know exactly who.” He shrugged casually, as if the two were having a light conversation. “Just listen to my advice, for once.”
Allie frowned, hurt from the lack of care that her best friend showed to the subject. “How would you know then?” She challenged, in a last ditch effort to win-win what exactly?
“Intuition. Street smarts. Common sense. Call it what you want, Allie. It’s something you don’t have, so use mine.” He didn’t want his friend to get hurt, but there was only so much a boy could do against the girl mob. But, with Allie being Allie, he knew that anything less than hurtful would be brushed off.
Summoning the little venom that she had, Allie steeled herself and spat out a small “fine” before turning and stomping her way home.
If there was one thing that Cody was certain of, it was that girls were vicious creatures. Monsters that traveled in packs and would readily turn on Allie at the drop of a hat.
***
Rating: PG
Flavors: Kumquat #5 (cry me a river)
Extras/Toppings: Pocky
Word count: 73
Being right didn’t always equate to being happy.
Being right about the terribleness that was girl didn’t bring him joy.
Watching his best friend bawl her eyes out didn’t make him want to gloat, to chant “told you so” for the next lifetime.
If anything, it made him want to cry a bit too because he could have done something more than just warn her. Learning from experience was his thing, not hers.
***
Flavors: Kumquat #2 (welcome to my world)
Extras/Toppings: Pocky
Word count: 100
Project: Tachycardia
Notes: Still on this flavor for now (other than that "originally a FotD" that I'm still attempting to finish). I actually finished 2-5 a while back, but never got around to posting them...So yes, I figured I'll just get them out before I forget.
The fights started small.
At least, that’s how Cody remembers them. The arguments always seemed a lot smaller back then. They were more like tiny snippets from the full-blown verbal brawls of today. Back then, it was: Mother slightly annoyed that Father was late from work, or Father a bit peeved that there was no dinner ready when he walked into the house.
Over the years, the voices escalated alongside the anger. His teacher had said that things got worse before they got better. But, alone in his room, Cody wondered if today’s silence could really be counted as “better”.
***
Rating: PG
Flavors: Kumquat #3 (you wouldn't last a day in my shoes)
Word count: 345
Allie was the closest thing he had to a friend outside of school.
His guy friends were only school friends. He didn’t really feel motivated to follow them around after class, going off to destroy random stuff. More often than not, they annoyed the hell out of him. But, they were good for passing time during lunch break. So, he kept them.
Allie was a girl. And, girls being girls and boys being boys, they never spoke at school. It wasn’t really something he went out of his way to do. Cody didn’t really care if the class would talk about how the two of them were suddenly close. He barely spoke to his friends; he doubted that anyone from class would bother talking to him, even if a rumor about them began. Allie was different though: she cared about what people thought. At school, she laughed differently, spoke softer, and read gossip magazines. Once, he even heard her say that pink was her favorite color. Watching her be a girl was tiring.
Beyond the gates, Allie was his favorite nuisance. She never stopped talking on the walk home. She filled the silence with endless chatter of anything and everything: grades, teachers, new hangout places that the girls heard about, and her family. The twenty minute walk to her house was the highlight of his day, the answer to the silence that waited for him at home.
Sometimes, Allie questioned why he never invited her over. Why was it always her house, especially after a whole year of friendship? Cody always brushed it off as his place being boring. But, really, he knew that his house was no place for her. It was something he hoped she would never see. The front door was good enough to show her. The paint was nice. He would rather keep it that way: the vision of a nice, well-kept home.
After he had seen her home so many times, he knew his could never compare. After all, it wasn’t the looks that turned a house into a home.
***
Rating: PG
Flavors: Kumquat #4 (there's a sucker born every minute)
Word count: 308
If there was one thing that Cody was certain of, it was that girls were vicious creatures. Monsters that traveled in packs and would readily turn on their own at the drop of a hat.
Allie’s nose scrunched in disapproval as he told her this. “Why would you -”She slowed to a stop in the middle of the empty sidewalk. “Why would you say that about my friends?”
“Because,” Cody walked back a few steps to stand beside her, “they’re talking.” He looked around and scouted for any unsavory eavesdroppers. However, only a car or two passed by, and a cat walked alongside the concrete half-walls that separated the street from the houses.
“Who?” She asked, slightly confused now. She thought hard, searching for a reason that would prompt her friends to hate her. Allie came up blank.
“Don’t know exactly who.” He shrugged casually, as if the two were having a light conversation. “Just listen to my advice, for once.”
Allie frowned, hurt from the lack of care that her best friend showed to the subject. “How would you know then?” She challenged, in a last ditch effort to win-win what exactly?
“Intuition. Street smarts. Common sense. Call it what you want, Allie. It’s something you don’t have, so use mine.” He didn’t want his friend to get hurt, but there was only so much a boy could do against the girl mob. But, with Allie being Allie, he knew that anything less than hurtful would be brushed off.
Summoning the little venom that she had, Allie steeled herself and spat out a small “fine” before turning and stomping her way home.
If there was one thing that Cody was certain of, it was that girls were vicious creatures. Monsters that traveled in packs and would readily turn on Allie at the drop of a hat.
***
Rating: PG
Flavors: Kumquat #5 (cry me a river)
Extras/Toppings: Pocky
Word count: 73
Being right didn’t always equate to being happy.
Being right about the terribleness that was girl didn’t bring him joy.
Watching his best friend bawl her eyes out didn’t make him want to gloat, to chant “told you so” for the next lifetime.
If anything, it made him want to cry a bit too because he could have done something more than just warn her. Learning from experience was his thing, not hers.
***