WC: Interlude 1 < | Challenge Home Page | > WC: Day Eleven

It was Saturday. Club meeting day. Jaz woke up early, and decided to get some chores before the rest of the household was up and getting ready for the day. There were some puddles in the kitchen, who knows from what.. nothing was broken.. but nevertheless, Jaz got out the mop and got rid of them. The excitement bubbled inside them, because they knew they'd be able to finally see Colin again - as well as all the rest of their friends.

Upstairs, someone else was wide awake, and - after signing up for Cheerleading the day before - Layla was practicing. Not well, mind you, but practicing nonetheless. Something must be said for intentions and determination... because the talent might not have been there, but Layla was clearly enthusiastic and focused on getting the routine just right.

Back downstairs, breakfast had been served, and all the kids were at the table. You can always tell when the food is good, because there's no conversation - and there certainly wasn't this morning. Wendy had made something called yogurt parfait... and wow, it really hit the spot.

Before long, even little Jimmy had showed up and grabbed a bowl, slurping up the parfait as quick as his little toddler spoon could go. Layla was clearly still busy upstairs, but there was plenty left over for whenever they appeared downstairs.

As the kids ate, Wendy was still in the kitchen, working away at something... and, to Jaz's utter surprise, it was for them. Wendy had made peanut butter jelly sandwiches for them (which is something Jaz had never had before) and put them into fully packed-up sack lunches they could take to the park for their club meeting. Jaz was flabbergasted and stuttered as they said thank-you for the lunches. Penny took hers with a quick thank you, and went to watch for the bus that would take them to Oasis Springs park for the meeting.

Jaz - helping out in their own way of saying thanks - took care of the rest of the dishes, trusting that Penny would let them know when the bus appeared.

Wendy, who'd been helping Layla with some homework, turned around and gasped, "Jaz, why are you doing the dishes? You might miss your bus!"

Jaz blushed, feeling like they'd done something wrong all of a sudden. "I ... um ... was just helping out. To say thanks."

Wendy's face showed her confusion, "Thanks? For what? The lunch?"

Jaz took a deep breath, and replied, "Not just for lunch. For everything. For taking me in. For feeding me, for taking me shopping. ... For being so nice ..."

Wendy put a hand on Jaz's shoulder, and stopped the stream of words mid-thought. "Honey, that's not necessary. I don't mind you helping out occasionally, but I get the feeling I know now who the "dish fairy" has been cleaning everything up for me each night."

Jaz looked away sheepishly, feeling like they'd, once again, done something not quite right.

"I have the chores up on the board for a reason. Each of you help out on your day, and whatever's left, is my job as the Mom of the house, okay? We can't have you doing all my work for me, silly!" Wendy paused, looked at the crestfallen expression on Jaz's face, and rethought what she'd said. "You haven't done anything wrong, Jaz. Just too much of a good thing. I want you kids to be able to be kids and have fun, not always be working around the house. It's important to me. Take some time for yourself, too, okay? And get to bed when everyone else is, too. No more late nights washing dishes, okay? ... Please?"

Just then, Penny called out that the bus was coming over the hill, and Jaz turn to run for the door in a panic ... then stopped briefly, and turned to look at Wendy. Taking a moment to collect themselves, Jaz replied soberly, "Okay. I think I understand now." then turned and raced away again, their sack lunch held tightly in one hand.

By the time the bus arrived in Oasis Springs, Jaz was nearly buzzing with excitement, and the conversation with Wendy had been all but forgotten. Getting to see their friends was a highlight of their week, and this week, there was more to talk about than usual. Penny and Jaz bounded off the bus as soon as the doors opened on the park lot, and ran to meet up with their friends.

Some of the club members were still arriving, but Jaz spied Colin on the other side of the space ship, and ran to meet him.

One huge hug later, and Colin and Jaz were deep in conversation about how each of their weeks had been. Colin listened with rapt attention as Jaz recounted their experiences with signing up for a penpal, and asked a few questions of his own.

"I'd love to sign up, Jaz, but I don't know how I'd explain the fact that it's a LGBTQIA+ pen pal service.... when my parents don't know yet that I'm part of the LGBTQIA+ community." Colin finally replied with a frown.

"Oh, I'm sure that's okay, Colin." Jaz soothed. "Whenever you're ready, you can sign up then. It really wasn't too hard, and I'm really looking forward to meeting someone else like me who may have had their own struggles in the world, you know?"

"Oh, you BET!" Colin replied, then suddenly, inexplicably, changed topic to talk about his parent's divorce status.

Jaz was initially confused, but then someone joined their conversation... and Colin introduced Jaz to Colin's older sister, Kamryn. The change of topic made complete sense, and Jaz replied smoothly, commiserating with the fact that Colin and Kamryn's Dad had apparently already gotten re-married.

Kamryn seemed nice, and joked about having to escort her younger brother to the park for his club instead of doing homework, but she didn't seem to be too sad to have missed out on some study time. After a short while, Kamryn wandered off to chat with other teens at the park, and Colin leaned in to whisper an apology for the quick subject change.

"Oh, Colin. You know that it's perfectly okay! Do you have any other siblings?" Jaz asked, curiously, since Colin didn't talk about the rest of his family much (other than complaining about his parents' divorce, which was different...)

"I have an older brother, too. Kamryn's twin, Korbin. He's usually busy with sports and doesn't talk to me much." Colin replied with a small frown.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Jaz replied, deciding a change of topic was again on order. "Want to play with my soccer ball?"

"Sure!" replied Colin, and they played kickball.. while everyone else around them played and socialized. It was a gorgeous, although rather warm, day at the park, and there were a ton of kids around.

Penny and Miki were playing on the swings, Elsa was shooting space monsters, and the other club members seemed to all be having a wonderful time, as well.

Colin finally caught the ball, and slightly out of breath, laughed and said, "Perhaps we should go play chess instead? I spy an empty table over there!"

Jaz quickly agreed, took their ball back, and they raced to be the first to pick their seat at the table.

It took some doing to concentrate on the game when everyone was crowding around to watch, but Jaz managed to. In the end, Jaz pulled out a win, and they were setting up for another game when Jaz noticed something that immediately brought a frown to their face. Apparently, while they had been playing, the "Bullies" club showed up, and Jaz noticed Phoenix shooting hoops on the other side of the park.

Excusing themselves, Jaz explained they wanted to confront their brother about their phone conversation earlier in the week, and wandered over to get Phoenix's attention.

"Ugh. You again. Why can't you just crawl away like the worm you are??" Phoenix jeered, as Jaz tried to be polite, and ask why he'd hung up on them earlier that week. He didn't even let Jaz finish their question before he interrupted, and when he felt he was done, he just turned and walked away.

Sighing deeply, Jaz followed him and tried again. "Do we really have to be enemies?" they asked, sitting on a bench next to Phoenix. "I don't understand" -

"Of course you don't understand, you cretin!" Billie interrupted, sitting down behind Jaz. "Why would you understand that people just don't like you trying to be a NOBODY. Because that's what "non-binary" really means. It just means you're not a boy or a girl. You're NOBODY!"

"That's not true!" Jaz replied, and started to say something else, but they noticed that they had very few allies in the area. All their friends were on the other side of the park, and the rest of the bullies were heading their way. Deciding that maybe right now wasn't the time to confront Phoenix, Jaz walked away without saying another word.

"Sure, JazMYN. Run away like the SISSY you are!" Jaz heard behind them, and cringed. Determined to not let Phoenix and his "buddies" ruin a perfect day, Jaz headed to the picnic area where Penny was sitting, talking to a red-haired boy.

Jaz pulled out their lunch, and marveled at the sandwich. There was also a drink included, and an apple, which was pretty cool. The first bite was pure deliciousness. Jaz had never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.. in fact, they'd never had jelly at all. So the sweet, gooiness of the sandwich was amazing.

Before long, Penny pulled out their lunch as well, and the two happily polished off their lunch, chatting amiably. It was almost like having a real sister, Jaz mused to themselves, and bit down into the bright red apple, enjoying both the fresh crunch, and the sweet tartness of the apple. The only fruits Jaz had ever had were usually squishy, and not very tasty, so this was a lovely surprise.

After lunch, Miki joined Penny and Jaz, and they all decided to go fishing in the park's pond.

None of them actually caught anything, but then, Jaz figured their talking back and forth and giggling was probably scaring the fish away. After a while of fishing, the three wandered off, in search of more things to do. Jaz cringed when they saw a red-haired girl wipe out while trying to swing extra high on the swings, and ran over to make sure they were okay.

Apparently they weren't in any mood to chat, however, and Jaz eventually left her alone with the scrapes on her knees, and grouchiness written all over her face. Perhaps she was just embarrassed Jaz had seen the fall.

The sun had started to fall by the time the club meeting broke up, and everyone said goodbye and got on their respective buses to go home.

Jaz sat next to the window on the way back, musing to themselves about the day. It could have gone better, they thought, frowning about Phoenix's inexplicable hatred for them being non-binary. It just didn't make any sense. Wishing they knew how to fix the situation, Jaz morosely stared at the countryside passing by the window, and only half listened to Penny's excited chatter about her amazing day.

It was dinner time when they got home, and Jaz put on a happy smile, thanking Wendy again for the lunch, because that had definitely been one of the highlights of the day. After dinner, Jaz helped clean up, but only did "their share", then went to go see if the computer in the office was free.

It wasn't, of course, but Penny, upon hearing that Jaz was waiting for a email from the pen pal people, was more than willing to give up their game to let Jaz check.

Within minutes, Jaz was, again, disappointed. No reply from the pen-pal people. Sighing, Jaz read the rest of their mail, deleting and marking the spam so it would go away.

Closing down their accounts, Jaz headed wearily up the stairs, changed into their PJs, and climbed into bed. Within minutes, they were in a deep, comfortable sleep.

Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Tentacles pushed out from under Penny's bed, and a horrible growl woke both of them up.

Completely panicked, both shrieked and Jaz quickly ran for help.

The fact that they, themselves, had made friends with just such a monster didn't occur to Jaz in the heat of the moment.

Wendy was quick to get up when Jaz came in yelling, and agreed to come take care of the problem. A few spritzes of "anti-monster spray" (water), and Wendy watched the panic slowly dissipate from the two youngster's eyes.

She tucked both kids into bed, and made a mental note to check on the anti-monster light in the morning. Not that she minded being woken up to help her young charges, but the next day was ALWAYS better on an uninterrupted sleep!

WC: Interlude 1 < | Challenge Home Page | > WC: Day Eleven