Chapter 1
WEB3 SUMMER CAMP
BANG BANG BANG! The whole room shakes with each angry knock against the locked door. "Open the door, Tobby!"
"Forget it! I'm not going," he insists.
"You have to!" shouts Lola.
"No, I don't!" Tobby stomps his feet as he jumps on his bed, crossing his arms.
"Come on Tobby, you're going to make us late." Lola whines as she leans against his bedroom door. "I don't want to miss the bus" she says, trying to peek through his keyhole.
Tobby has his back to the door, refusing to budge. "You can just go without me, Lola! Have fun."
Lola lets out a frustrated sigh, turning her attention to her mother.
"Mummy, he's still in his PJs!" Lola shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head. She walks past her mother, who storms toward Tobby's room.
Her fist hammers against the door a few times. "Tobby, we are ready to go, and we're waiting on you. If you don't open this door at once..." She stops herself mid-sentence, but the threat was obvious. With one hand on her hip, she quickly checks her wristwatch and blows her hair away from her brow.
Tobby is still leaning on his door, thankful for the locks put in place. "What are you going to do, break down the door? Well, good luck! It's fireproof, stormproof, and momproof!" Tobby chuckles to himself. He walks back to his bed, throws himself onto it, and begins to bounce his dog-torn tennis ball off the ceiling, leaving additional soggy brown prints. His duvet has spilt onto the floor, covering dirty socks stuck in between the pages of his maths books. A group of flies breakdance on his moldy pizza box, leaning on top of his ripped leather gaming chair.
"No." His mom says calmly - too calmly. "I'm going to cut the power. And you'll be stuck here with no-"
"Wifi?!" Tobby interrupts, panicking as he bounces off his bed and trips over his basketball duffle bag to open the door.
His mother's frowned eyebrows relax, proud of herself. " "Good! That's what I thought. Now, let's go..." She moves to grab his hand, but Tobby wiggles away from her, runs across the corridor, opens another door, and shuts himself in the bathroom. He faces the door, leaning against it and clasping onto the handle for dear life.
Bad move.
"TOBBYYYY!" His mum and sister shout in unison. Shocked with his idiotic persistence. Both were suddenly on the other side, pushing at the door, grasping at and attempting to turn the handle. It felt like zombies were trying to break in, and Tobby was determined not to let them breach. Facing the door and shouting at them to go away while he holds the handle in place with one hand and pushes against the door with the other.
However, as he focuses on keeping them out he is unaware of who else is in the bathroom with him. A large hand suddenly appears from his periphery, covered in foam soap. It grabs and turns the handle. Tobby's dad shoves Tobby out of the bathroom and into the hall. Tobby seems to forget his angry mum and sis, and stares shamefaced up at his father. "S-sorry, Dad. I forgot you were in there."
His dad's face is nearly unreadable as he looks down at his son, but if Tobby looks closely enough, he could see the quiet anger brewing in his eyes, impatient with his son's antics. "Listen to your mom, Tobby, and stop wasting everyone's time. Your mom and I have a plane to catch. If you're not dressed before I finish showering, we will leave you here." He enters the bathroom again, not looking at any of his family members as he closes the door on them.
He continues from behind the door. "I will take away your phone, tablet, computer, and gaming cables."
Tobby's eyes widen. "But I don't want to go to NFT Kids Mansion!" he pleads.
"But this year, they're hosting their first ever Web3 Tech camp for kids!" Lola interjects from behind him.
Tobby spins around to glare at his sister. "Tech camps are for geeks. I'm trying to uphold a reputation." He sighs. "I'm going to hate it. It'll be so boring."
Lola smiles and rolls her eyes, walking up to put an arm around her crestfallen brother. "Look who's talking! With all those gadgets you have in your bedroom, you could power the whole of Madagascar!" She says, giggling.
Tobby shrugs off her arm and angrily steps away from her. "Shut up, Lola! I love to play with my tech, but I don't want to make it." H. He turns his angry gaze at her.
"Besides, coding is so yesterday."
"No, it's not." Lola steps in Tobby's face and glares down at him.
"Yes, it is." Tobby stands on his tiptoes and tries to tower over her. He loves being the oldest twin but hates being the smallest by a few inches.
"Shut up, the both of you" Mom shouts, having had enough, and separates them.
Tobby was getting desperate. "Why can't I go with you and dad to Aunt Linda's baby gender reveal party in Paris?" He begs his mother.
"Well," his mom starts, taking out her smartphone, "after the stunt you pulled at her wedding. This is what she sent me yesterday." She shoves her screen in his face so he could read the message.
Do NOT bring that boy to my party. I will only see him when my eyelashes and eyebrows grow back fully.
His mother taps and underlines "Do NOT" with her forefinger when he finishes reading. "How was I supposed to know it was going to ruin her eyebrows? I only wanted to help to make sure Auntie Linda looked beautiful on her wedding day. That makeup artist was incompetent!"
His mother lowers her phone, staring at him in shock. "I give up" Lola slaps her forehead. "Tobby, you added hair remover to her eyebrow brush and mascara," she adds. "What were you THINKING?" His mother nearly shrieks, making Tobby take a worried step back at the interrogation. "She walked down the aisle looking like a cabbage patch doll on her dream day. She's been having PTSD every time she looks at the bridesmaids and groomsmen pictures where her pencil hand-drawn eyebrows melted down her face!"
"Oh, tell her to send those to me. I can retouch them in Photoshop" Tobby interjects whilst shrugging his shoulders. " "She's now on a life course of anti-depressants, Tobby!"
"Mummy, we talked about this already." Tobby tries to explain in the most soothing voice possible. "Besides, it's not good to bring back the past, right? That was a younger me." He says with as charming of a smile he can convincingly make.
His mother's lips form a thin line as she scowls at him. "That happened last week."
"Right, and I've matured since then."
"The only thing that's matured is your moldy socks!" Lola interrupts as she points to his room, pinching her nose.
"My socks smell better than your armpits, Lola!"
Lola snaps to her mother, one arm out and pointing at her brother. "Mummy, Tobby needs to get tested for ADHS- Attention Deficit and Hyperactive Silliness!"
"ENOUGH!" Both children finally fall silent. "Tobby, you have two choices: either you go to NFT Kids Mansion with your twin sister, or I will book you an Uber to grandma and grandpa's house. They need help with their Siamese Cat Beauty Pageant."
Tobby's hand covers his mouth in genuine horror. "No! I hate it there - those cats are possessed, I promise you. They sit outside my bedroom all night to hiss at me. I think they're hissing an ancient evil chant to take over my soul in my sleep. Look! I still have those cuts from last summer." He quickly pulls up at his sleeves to reveal his forearms.
"Those are not cuts, those are barely visible scratches." Lola brushes his arm away.
"Whatever! I have been scarred for life. Gonna need plastic surgery now, mum. Goodbye to my modeling career. Can't buy you that yacht you dreamt of, mum."
"The only thing possessed in this family is you, Tobby." Lola pushes the side of his head.
"I will show you who's possessed!" Tobby lunges at Lola like an angry Dart frog. His mom catches him by the collar.
"Tobby. Don't make me count to three. I promise you are not going to like it."
"All right, all right," Tobby stops wiggling his arms. "But I'm not staying there all summer. And please come and get me if you get several phone calls from the camp medical nurse. I may get food poisoning, geek food makes me sick. I'm allergic to it. Gives me the runs."
"Get into that room and start packing, NOW!" his mum points towards his door.
Tobby finally gives in. He pushes his bedroom door open and strolls inside his room with the enthusiasm of a sloth. He slowly scrumbles around, picking up useless items to shove in his bag whilst humming Adele's "Hello". He heads to the closet to pull out an outfit to match his mournful mood.
***
BEEP BEEP! 25mins later, his dad presses the family's SUV horn to warn him to hurry up. His mum and sis are already in the vehicle, with Lola in the backseat buckling up and trying to find her favourite Youtube channel on her overhead touchscreen TV.
Tobby walks out of his bedroom, dressed in black from head to toe. He has on a black hoodie, black shades and he wraps around his neck a black scarf as he begins his slow descent down the stairs now humming Toni Braxton's "Heartbreak Hotel".
"Goodbye stairs, I had fun running up and down with you. Sure, you almost broke my ankle a couple hundred times, but who's counting?" he brushes the wooden ramp.
He slowly ambles down, now looking at the nearby wall. " "Goodbye, portrait of great uncle I've never met because you bamboozled the family out of $20,000 with your crypto scam. I may never hear your side of the story, but I'm sure it wasn't a pump-and-dump." He dramatically waves at the portrait as he passes it, dabbing away fake tears with a fake handkerchief, as he reaches the last step.
"Goodbye, house phone that never rings. I will miss your tone." Tobby wipes the top of an old house phone, delivering a final and dramatic farewell as he turns and sees his sister standing at the entrance, staring at him like he is crazy.
"Tobby, what are you doing? We're all waiting for you and – Wait, why are you wearing mum's scarf?" Lola now looks concerned.
"I need something to remind me that the person I loved the most has betrayed me." He turns his head away dramatically and closes his eyes, trying to look dignified in his righteous anger.
Lola would have laughed at him if she wasn't so annoyed already. "We're only going for two weeks, Tobby." retorts Lola.
He drops his bag in pretend shock and turns back to her, looking as if she had just insulted him."It doesn't matter! Two weeks in Geeksville are two weeks of my life that I'll never get back. I'm going to be so lonely and bored and no one will understand me."
Lola throws one arm around his shoulder. "Come on. I'll introduce you to some of the new friends I have made already. We connected on Discord."
He pulls his shoulder to the side as if waving away her suggestion. "Here you go again with all that gibberish - I've already lost my cognitive abilities."
"Get in the car already." She walks past him, picks up his bag, and gestures with her head to follow her as she shoves the bag into the trunk. He pouts whilst dragging his feet as he follows her. They climb into the car.
She was buckling up as she looked over at him and saw him furiously staring out the window.
"Aren't you going to go on Youtube? Mr Beast just released the making of his real-life Squid Game challenge."
Tobby snorted in ridicule, not looking at his sister. "What for? There's no point in having fun before the storm."
"It's not going to rain today. Already checked the weather."
"Oh, there'll be a storm alright, in my heart." Tobby slumps his head on the window. "Mum, I'm hungry" he complains.
"Well, you should have had breakfast with the whole family"
"But muuum, don't you have any snacks, please?"
"Here you go, I made some French Toast" his mum unwraps some tinfoil and swings her arm to the back.
"But I wanted African Toast!"
"There's no such thing, you moron" Lola takes the toast from her mum's hand and slaps it on Tobby's lap. "Just shut up and eat it."
His dad chuckles and fidgets with the glove compartment.
"What are you looking for?" asks his mum. "Let's go already"
"Have you seen my glasses?" his dad shuffles around in his seat.
"Yes, on your chest honey."
He immediately grabs at the sunglasses hanging from his shirt collar, somewhat embarrassed. "Silly me," he says, putting them on his face. "Ok everyone, off we go on an awesome SEPARATE vacation, HAHA!" He laughs mockingly, much to his son's annoyance.
"Please don't rub it in, dad," Tobby slumps further into his seat.
"We don't have much time, so let's get a move on." Their father looks up at both children through the rearview mirror. " "We need to drop both of you off before heading to the airport." He turns to their mother. "Do you have our passports, hun?"
"Right here in my carry-on," She replies, tapping her overstuffed travel bag.
Their father nods and then starts the engine. Their SUV unmounts the curb, rolls over and tears Mr DeSanchez's newspaper before reaching the street, much to their neighbour's frustration.
"NOT AGAIN, Tony!" Mr DeSanchez throws his arms up in the air from his porch. "How many times have I told you not to drive across my lawn?"
Their dad presses a button and automatically rolls down his window. "That's for your dachshund pooping in my pond yesterday morning – keep him on a leash or else!" he shouts as they drive past Mr DeSanchez's house, rolling up the window before they could hear their neighbour's angry response. All they hear is an angry, muffled shout whilst he angrily shakes his fists at them as they drive away. His daughter comes up behind him, holding a tablet and cradling their treasured dachshund. Their father giggles as Mr DeSanchez picks up his torn newspaper and throws it straight into his trash can.
***
It's a smooth ride through the city centre and across town. The bright blue sky and eye-piercing sunrays reset the sour morning the Miller had. Mum, dad, and Lola put on their sunglasses. Tobby, meanwhile, sighs deeply as he rests his head on his right fist. Every traffic light his dad hits turns green in split seconds. A light grey feathered pigeon bats its wings and glides like an eagle next to their SUV. The roads are completely clear.
"Wow, I've never seen the streets this empty. You see son, this is a clear sign from the heavens that our vacation will be great for all of us, separately. We'll get to the airport way earlier, I'll have time to grab my favourite brew." His dad grins and nods at his wife. As he turns the corner, he suddenly punches the breaks with his foot, throwing everyone forward and back in their seats. Sunglasses are flying around the car as his mum points at the deadlock traffic on the motorway."Dad, do you want to change your statement?" scoffs Tobby. His father didn't seem to hear Tobby, staring wide-eyed at the packed road in front of him. "Oh no no no, this cannot be happening. We're never going to make it on time."
"It's not too late to turn around and go back home. There's a side street right there. And a backyard staycation was advised by CNN yesterday."
"Don't you start again." Lola punches Tobby's left arm
"Ouch! What was that for?"
"For jinxing our trip, this is all your fault."
"I don't control traffic"
"No, but your bad vibe does."
"Be quiet you two, this is not the time to start again. We'll be just fine. I'll call the camp and tell them we're running late." His mum reaches for her phone. She taps the home screen. It blinks once and turns off.
"Oh no! My battery just died."
"Haha!" Tobby slaps his knee. "Staycation here we come!"
His mother ignores Tobby. She turns to her husband. "Honey, can I use your charger?"
"I didn't bring mine. I thought you were bringing yours. You always bring the phone chargers."
"Oh no...I left them on the kitchen counter. That's the last thing I did before I had to drag this boy out of his room."
"This vacay is getting better by the minute!" Tobby grins from ear to ear.
Lola removes her travel neck pillow and slaps Tobby in the face with it. Tobby grabs hold of his Marvel neck pillow. Oh it's about to go down!
Passing cars shake their heads as they see Tobby and Lola in the back seat pillow fighting gladiator-style whilst their parents are throwing their arms in the air as they bicker about phone chargers. The french toast smashes against Lola's window with butter trickling down. In this standstill traffic, the Miller's SUV is the only car shaking like a 90s hydraulic gangsta car.
His dad impatiently taps on his driving wheel. He winds down the window, and pokes his head out. It's chockablock for miles on end. He waves at the car next to him. "What's the hold-up?"
A young man in his late twenties removes his ear-buds and turns to Tony. "Not sure, I think they're building new 6.5G towers?"
"In the middle of the motorway?"
"No, but the wiring will be fitted below the new smart motorway they're constructing. Like underfloor heating."
Their father grunts. "Building in the middle of the day isn't that smart."
"Tony, look! This lane is freeing up." His mum points to the right.
"Oh, I've got it, can't miss this one."
Their father turns the wheel and zooms through cars, whose drivers initially don't want to give him the right of way. He shouts aloud as he forces his way through. The slow pace gradually picks up.
Before they know it, they pass a dozen cars just in time to exit the motorway. Fifteen minutes later, they arrive outside St. Johns Memorial Library. Their dad slows down as he prepares to park the SUV.
They see four sheepish-looking kids lining up outside a spanking brand new double-decker bus.
***