A public radio station was on, and tea was hissing. The frantic morning had already begun without her. Ball flipped herself back over and stood up. David wasn't in bed anymore. In fact he was speed walking around the place gathering all of his things. He passed by his room again and then walked back to it when he realized Ball was awake.
“Ball!” He shouted in the doorway.
“Yes,” She responded.
“Thank you for doing my project!” He said he walked over to her, “You did a phenomenal job! And you even printed out these notes for the research I missed! I really appreciate it, I feel like I'm learning about vacuum cleaners just reading this!”
“Oh, you are welcome,” Ball tried to keep herself from smiling, it wasn't working.
“You want breakfast?” David started taking papers from his desk and putting them in a folder.
“Do I want food?” Ball was never hungry. The last, and first thing she ate was a single chip.
“Well, yeah,” David put the folder in his backpack.
“It will be the second time I have eaten, but I will attempt to eat whatever you have in mind,”
“It's eggs. Paps is making eggs,” David said.
The kitchen was also the dining room. Ball looked down at the plate of scrambled eggs she was standing in front of.
“So you live with your grandfather?” Ball said trying to distract from the awkwardness of not exactly knowing how to eat.
“Uh huh. He makes these little 3d printed stuff all the time. My, -my folks aren't around,” David said.
“They disappeared in an airplane,” Ball said.
“Y-yeah,” He wasn't upset, just awkward. He sighed, and began bouncing a tennis ball against the wall.
“Is that why you have so many paper airplanes in your room?” She asked. She was thinking about picking up a fork, but for now she just had her foot nearby it as if she was going to.
“No. I, just like paper airplanes. They're fun to test and make better. I don't have any resentment or sadness towards them because of what happened, if you think that,” David cleared up.
“... Do you mourn?” Ball looked up at him. David took a moment to think while tossing the tennis ball again.
“... Yes,” He said just focusing on the tennis ball.
“Why do you bounce the tennis ball?” Ball asked.
“It's, fun,” It was a stress reliever.
After breakfast the 2 went outside a moderate amount of rain was falling.
“Summer showers,” David said.
The temperature was changing.
The last few days of summer came to a close as winter's shadow: fall, darkened everyone's clothes and put the heat indoors to ‘way too crisp’.
From the summer till these darkening days Ball had managed to keep from being assaulted, as well as make more allies.
Unlike David, Agren had come back from the hospital a few days afterward. It seemed a burden at first, until it was discovered that Agren had begun to avoid David. He would not speak, for he was scared into silence; half of his face covered by a bandanna.
“Why does Agren not bother you anymore?” Ball had asked.
“I'm not sure. I don't remember what happened during our fight,” David had responded.
Because of Ball’s gift to Oscar, and consequently his family, she was now put on the list of guests invited to all of their parties.
Like little bow peep and her sheep Oscar was almost never be apart from his Rocky. Even more similarly Rocky eventually snuck himself into school revealing to all that there was now yet another object on campus. Whispers down the caf said that there was probably an army waiting to strike.
“It's just like the planet of the apes,”
“What should we do about it?”
“What if that sound comes back?”
“We should protest at the science center,”
“You think Ball can make my object come alive too?”
It was all burning talk, but there was always someone to lighten to mood.
“I saw the other half of Agren’s face today,” Dora had said to Ball.
“Why do you tell me?” Ball asked, “I know he was burned,”
“Well do you know how he was burned? Because it kinda looks like he was electrocuted, but David didn't have a taser, and there's no outlets over there,” Dora had said.
“... What are you suggesting?”
“I, -I donno. Just take the whole situation with a grain of salt. Also Good Day Bad Day has nothing to do with this. We aren't responsible for Agren’s sick burn,”
In those days Ball had officially become a student. She had her own schedule, and found herself alone more often. Because of her fears, and common friendless environment she did not speak her opinions often. She had to be curious on her own, but whenever she did find something to be particularly interesting, she always wrote it down to speak to someone about it later.
Dora and Oscar were great friends to her. One embraced childhood and the freedom of imagination, while the other analyzed social structure and people watching. While they always had very interesting things to say and do, it wasn't really as engaging as her philosophical conversations with David. She wanted to know, so he let her ask. And whenever Ball had anything bothering her she could rant, and every word would be accounted for.
It was direct contrast to how Johnson treated her. Most things she said to him were automatically forgotten, frowned upon, or ignored. David was her greatest ally, listener and protector, but yet he couldn't stop the waves of influence created by Josie Green.
***
Oscar was drawing on his sketch pad while sitting next to the school. Ball was watching as lines were formed in the sketch.
“Why do you draw a circle before drawing the rest of it?” She asked quietly.
“It's like a guide… it helps me see what I want to draw next easier,” Oscar said calmly. Rocky was asleep next to him on the other side.
“Can you draw me?” Ball asked.
“I already did,” Oscar flipped to a doodle page with just little Ball drawings. It made her smile, “You know, you shouldn't ask artists to draw you. It's impolite,”
“Then how should I ask?” Ball just looked at Oscar's book as he flipped back to the drawing he was doing.
“Hmm… with a PayPal account,” He said. He began to sketch again.
“... I am confused,”
“It's a joke,” Oscar smiled.
“I don't think I like jokes,” Ball had trouble recognizing humour, but it didn't mean she couldn't find things funny.
“How can you not like jokes?! Everybody likes jokes!” Oscar looked up from his drawing pad to look at her.
“Then tell me a very funny one,” Ball said.
“Y=MX+B,” David said, arriving. He was leaning on the wall on Ball's side smiling.
“How is that funny?” Ball said looking up at him.
“I!... don't...know,” He looked at the ground disappointed in himself. Oscar laughed.
“What?!” Ball looked at both of them.
“It's funny because his joke flopped. No offense David,” Oscar said.
“Har har,” David rolled his eyes. He then looked at the lad’s drawing, “Whatcha drawing?”
“Uh, it's a Halloween costume I was thinking of making. It's gonna be like I am a dude who can take off this head, but Rocky is my head!” Oscar put his sketchbook down and placed Rocky on his head. He laughed maniacally as he lifted Rocky up off his head. Rocky just smiled, “It's going to be very scary,” He held Rocky close to his face.
“Yes!” Rocky said excitedly. Oscar put the stone down in the fading grass. There, Rocky closed his eyes to sleep.
“A Halloween costume...” Ball said to herself.
“Do you know what halloween is!?” Oscar was ecstatic to tell her about it.
“No,” Ball said like it was obvious.
“Halloween-” David started.
“Halloween is the most fantastic holiday ever! In it, you dress up as the dead and other scary stuff, and then you go out into the night and demand candy from people's houses!”
“Do you need a PayPal account?” Ball smirked.
Oscar laughed.
“Now that, is a joke,” He said.
“What?” David asked.
“It's an inside joke,” Oscar said. He looked over to Ball, “It means that he won't understand our joke. It's between us only,” Oscar said winking at her.
“Oh ok. Hmm. This Halloween, it sounds illegal,” Ball said.
“No, it's all in good fun! People choose to give out candy. It's a holiday made around fear. And, I don't know about you, but being scared can be really fun!”
“A holiday centered around fear, and costumes? Hmm,” Ball started to think to herself.
“What are you going as David?” Oscar asked him.
“Depression,” David said bluntly.
“Oh, well I guess that is scary,” Oscar said thinking about it.
“I have an idea!” Ball announced.
“Oh! Who are you going as?” Oscar asked.
“It is not that, It's about Josie. I think if we are skilled we could come up with a plan that could scare her into never gossiping about me again! And we could use the real deal to scare her too,” Ball looked at David closely.
“... The real deal… here?” David went stiff, “Won't she know everything after that?”
“Yes, but it will not matter- whatever the real deal does to her should be enough to never make it past her eyes. She won’t wanna talk because the real deal will tell her off. She will be forced to keep quiet, just like Agren,”
“What are you guys talking about?!” Oscar chuckled at his own confusion.
“It is an inside joke,” Ball said.
“I donno. It sounds to me like a halloween prank. You guys wanna scare Josie to get back at her for bullying you. I want in, this sounds fun!” Oscar said. Rocky squeaked in agreement.
“Ok fine,” David said. He turned to Ball, “How about this. No real deal, and we just dress up like a monster and scare her,”
“That sounds less effective, but we might have the right tools to complete this task if we were to do it correctly. We have Oscar. He's an artist and our residential Halloween expert. We have Dora, a leader of a group of spies capable in ‘pranks’ like these. And we have you, a wise teen who came up with this version of the plan, but is also going to be the one who acts it out,” Ball said. David sighed.
“I guess,” David didn't ever think of the one who was going to be doing the scaring.
“If I were you I would not worry. You are powerful enough to succeed,” Ball said.
David took it as a compliment and smiled.
“Fine I'll be your monster, but before we do anything we should try to solve this problem the polital way,”
“What do you mean by political?” Ball asked.
“I'm going to see if the principal is willing to do anything about Josie. Nobody has been taking action about the bullying in this school. Maybe if we just talk directly to the head we don't have to do anything- because the people who are supposed to- finally will,” David explained.
“Sounds like a plan. Oscar, while we are away create some ideas for a monster on your drawing paper,” Ball said.
“Ok. My parents are gonna be here soon anyway. See you tomorrow!” He waved.
“See ya,” David said waving back gently.
“See ya,” Ball repeated.
They left to go back inside the school.
Dora popped out of a sewer vent in front of Oscar. It surprised him and Rocky.
“Some-” Dora started.