Blast: The Teenage Hero

8. Canine Catastrophe

He then gets up, and looks at the two-headed dog. "How did you get here anyway?" Tommy asks, and then he thinks of something. "I bet Dr. Zack isn't very nice to you, is he?" Tommy asks the dog. The dog just looks at him, making sad puppy eyes with both of its faces. "No wonder you escaped from him!" Tommy says, feeling so bad as he imagines what this dog must've been through. "I mean, look at you! I bet he put you through some really scary experiment to leave you like this." he adds, thinking of what to do.

"I've got it! What if you're my dog now?" Tommy says to the dog. It immediately jumps and wags its tail; it seems to be very happy with the idea. Tommy smiles wide, and laughs a bit. "Alright! That's what we'll do then! From now on, you're my dog now!" Tommy says. "Huh... I don't know what your name is... I've got it! I'll call you Barkie!" he declares. The dog barks, this time seeming happy instead of angry, wagging its tail.

"This is going to be so cool, I've always wanted a dog!" Tommy tells the two-headed canine. "I can't wait to tell Alex and Alice about this, they'll love it!" he adds, before the realization hits him: he's late! "Oh no, I'm late! I don't want Alice to be upset!" he says, starting to worry. "Come with me Barkie, let's go!" he says, gesturing to the dog to come with him. Barkie obliges, following him on his way to Alice's house.

Meanwhile, at Alice's house, Alice and Alex are already there. Alex is just messing with some of Alice's lab utensils, using a long screw to tap on the different sized flasks and test tubes on the table, while Alice taps her foot and looks at her phone to see the time. "What's taking Tommy so long?" Alice asks, frowning a bit. "Usually you're the one that takes forever to get here. But it's not like Tommy to be late." she adds.

Alex keeps tapping the flasks and test tubes with the screw, each one making a differently pitched noise when it gets hit by the screw. "I don't know," Alex says, shrugging a bit. "but getting restless over it isn't going to make him come sooner." he adds, with a playful smirk.

Alice looks at him with a frown. "Don't you think it's at least a bit strange that he's late?" she asks him.

Alex looks back at her, still tapping the flasks and the test tubes with the screw, the sounds annoying Alice slightly. "He probably just got sidetracked or something." Alex replies, while sitting in a relaxed position. "You really could use some relaxation, you know. You're always getting worked up by everything."

"Well, someone has to be the responsible one," Alice quips back. "And if you took things more seriously, you'd understand why I get 'worked up' by things." she adds, the sound of the screw hitting the glass annoying her even more.

Alex keeps tapping the flasks and test tubes, until Alice can't take it anymore, and snatches the screw from Alex's hand and puts it on another table.

"I can take things seriously at times," Alex replies, smirking a bit. "Just watch." he says, as he turns towards Alice, and then crosses his arms, and puts on a frown, as if mimicking Alice's "upset" attitude. "How about this?" he says as if he was upset. "Is this serious enough for you?" he adds.

This takes Alice by surprise, as she tries to contain her laughter a bit at Alex's joke. "W-Why do I find it funny?" she asks herself in her mind as she tries to not laugh. "It's not even that funny!" she thinks.

Alex just looks at her as she tries her best to stay serious, but her expression gives away that she's trying hard not to laugh. "You don't have to be so serious all the time," Alex tells her. "Loosen up a bit, come on." he adds.

Alice shakes her head as she keeps trying not to laugh. Alex rolls her eyes, seeing she's still trying to stay serious. He puts his feet up on the table, leaning the chair back on its two back legs. "You could learn a thing or two from me, you know." He tells her, before he accidentally leans too far back on the chair and falls back with the chair, hitting the ground.