uncool, stanley barber

17

17 - backne supreme vs tumtrouble absolute

i'm so lucky. the acid that spilled on me, gave me a rash. it's all red and itchy and burns sometimes. but the school nurse just told me to go home, wash and take paracetamol. the tamest pills ever.

so i do what she says and later on, stanley picks me up for work. it's not busy as it's a monday, probably the deadest night in town. even gladys leaves out of boredom.

"well, i've got another deep dark secret" i say to stanley, as we're setting up the balls so we don't have to do it tomorrow.

"oh yeah? what is it?" he smirks at me. his eye is fully bruised now and it makes me want to kiss it a million times to make it better.

one day, his dad will hear from me. but for now, i'll have to watch stanley get his bruises from his chaotic, unfair home life.

"you know the acid that spilt on me? it was only tame acid, otherwise we wouldn't of used it. but it gave me a tummy rash" i say proudly, gesturing to myself.

"is it better than backne supreme?" he chuckles, thinking back to the night we first kissed.

"well, you'll have to judge it for yourself" i say, lifting my work top to reveal my stomach. "i call it, tumtrouble absolute."

he crouches to get a better look as he holds my shirt up. i feel weird, like i'm pregnant and he's looking for the baby.

"wow, that is bad" he mumbles, looking up at me. "like seriously, you might need some ointment or something."

i sigh, but relax when i feel a small kiss placed to my stomach. "heal for els, please" stanley mutters before he let's go of my top and kisses my forehead.

i peck him on the lips before bopping his nose. he chases me playfully before gripping my waist, as i fly off the ground in laughter. we stay still when we hear the door open.

"sorry, we're closed" stanley mumbles as he kisses my neck and we return to sorting out the bowling balls. but, it's syd.

"was hoping you'd both make an exception?" she eyes us sadly. i feel sympathetic fir her as i finish placing a blue bowling ball next to a green one.

before i can answer, stanley interrupts me, "that depends. are you a good bowler?"

"stan" i hiss slightly.

"no" syd stands awkwardly, rocking back onto her heels.

"then, what're you doing here?" stanley says, with a hint of sass. i can tell he's annoyed because he's tried twice to talk to her and each time, she's stormed away.

"gotta, try to make the lasagna" she smirks. me and stan look at each other, clear confusion written on our faces.

"are you high?" i ask. syd's expression changes completely before she defends herself, that it's something her little brother liam told her about.

"i thought maybe, i could hear some of those dumb theories of yours" she says to stan. i turn to him and agree. i haven't heard any and maybe it'll put something into perspective.

he smiles brightly, "okay!" he says softly before running out the back to fetch some things. syd and i make ourselves comfortable on the chairs.

to our surprise, stanley returns with a heap of comic books. "when you said research, i thought you meant..research" syd says, not satisfied by his teenage shrine.

"okay, so the people who wrote these things, do you think they just came up with these characters and their powers out of thin air?"

"yes-" syd cuts him off.

"or-or-or is it possible that they researched carefully and grounded these superhero abilities in modern science and parapsychology?" he gestures to the comics to my right.

"no, it's not possible at all" syd says, blunt as ever.

i raise my eyebrow at his questions. "stan, these writers were most likely on crack or something-"

"yeah, they were probably eating acid like candy" he agrees, sitting down beside me, the comics on his lap. "but the point is, they know superpowers."

"can't argue with that" i comment as i spot spider-man on the top of the pile. whilst dad used to think i was into girly books, mum would sneakily buy me a spider-man comic sometimes. i'd read it under the covers by flashlight. it's fair to say, peter parker was my first crush.

stan rambles on about the characters being visited and having mentor figures to help them use their powers for good. but syd doesn't get where he's coming from.

"has anyone like, visited you?" stan asks, to which he doesn't need an answer to know. "okay, fine. maybe i can just be your mentor figure."

she scowls at him. "or ella, per say? maybe it's a feminist kinda thing?" he tries to fix it, but syd looks even more pissed off.

"or not! maybe it's a rite of passage situation. but there's always an origin" he explains as he begins to list possible reasons as to why she has powers.

"a military experiment?" stanley asks. this time, syd looks at me to tell him the answer.

"stan, she's not captain america" i sigh, bringing my leg up onto the chair.

"okay, well. what about your parents?"

"what about 'em?"

"well, sometimes someone can inherit their abilities" he explains. syd gets up in frustration and starts to walk away.

stanley stays sat, almost giving up on her attitude. this time, i follow her and get her to stay. "wait, syd. alright, stan's the first to call out how shitty this town is and i totally agree with him. you know, it's the bottom-of-a-shoe-type-shit. and our lives in this town, they ain't great, syd."

"i noticed" she mutters as she looks at stanley's eye. he starts to get embarrassed and sensitive about that subject, so i change it.

"but you've got something special. we've seen it and stanley's obsessed with it. cause, i have to admit, it's pretty insane. and you're here right now to try and understand it. us too."

"it's a big first step" stanley says as he stands beside me.

"okay, my dear mentors" she says dryly "what's the second step?"

me and stan look at each other, smiles plastered to our faces. cause his is too infectious to be contained. even syd smirks, cause she knows she can trust us. and she should trust us.

y'all ain't ready for the chaos that's about to ensue..