Chapter 2

Lunchtime, well hot lunch today was going to be fried chicken. The cafeteria didn’t fry it. They had a contract twice a month with a local restaurant to fry it up for us. It was delivered hot and was one of the best meals they served here. So today was going to be a hot lunch day.

Lucy and Renée were already settled as I walked by. I almost couldn’t resist, but I remembered my promise, and as I was going by, I said, “Hello Lucy, Hello Renée.”

Lucy looked like the world had just fallen on her head. All that came out of her mouth was “Heeelllooo” and that was kind of weak sounding.

After I got past the table, I did hear Lucy whisper to Renée, “What’s wrong with the lonesome boy today?”

I did not hear Renée’s answer. Well, my deal was with Renée, not Lucy. Maybe I could come up with something to call Lucy. Wait, Peanuts, yes that would work. With her shoulder-length hair, she reminded me of the cartoon strip character anyways.

I got my lunch and sat down to eat with my best friends Danny and Ben.

Danny asked me, “So what’s the deal with the tornado twins?”

They don’t really look alike; Lucy has raven black hair after all.

“Oh, you mean them.” I said, “Well I made a deal with Renée, and we are not going to call each other names anymore.”

Danny said, “Well darn, I guess it’s been fun while it lasted.”

“How’s that?” I asked him.

“Oh, come on, you and Mouse have been fighting, like forever.” Danny said, “If it’s over, then the rest of our senior year is going to be boring.”

“Hey, when did I ever say anything bad about her?” I asked.

Ben spoke up just then, “If you two are going to be nice to each other, maybe you can take her to the prom.”

Danny laughed so loud at the ridiculous idea that everyone was staring at him. He looked around and said in too loud a voice, “Ben thinks Lonesome Boy and Mouse should go to the prom together.”

The laughter that erupted around the room with that suggestion made me feel about two inches tall. How did I ever get a friend like Danny anyways? Then I remembered it was a long time ago and he was a very different person now.

I caught Renée’s eye and she looked at me. She had said that you broke our deal already. I shook my head no and pointed at Danny. She rolled her eyes. I hoped that meant she believed me, then she turned back to talking with her conspiratorial friend.

Finally, the school day was over, and I went home. I had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

I spent the evening on the Internet. I live in the basement of our house, no one comes down here but me. Well, mom does the laundry, but most of the time I have the basement to myself. I even have a bathroom of my own. It’s only a four-bedroom house and there are 6 of us kids. I am the oldest, so guess who rated when dad finished off the basement? I never understood why my parents didn’t just buy a bigger house.

As I said, I have my own room with my own bath, complete with a Jacuzzi bathtub big enough for four people. Dad has his own plumbing company, and the tub was returned because the customer claimed it was scratched. You couldn’t see any scratches on it, but because it was a custom order Dad couldn’t return it. Anyway, when he was finished with the basement, I got the tub because he didn’t know what else to do with it. My bathroom and bedroom were roomy. The rest of the basement was divided into a utility room and a rec room that no one else uses, so I used it as my private studio. I sculpt, paint, and also draw. But my real passion is sculpting.

I sat down before my computer and signed onto the net; I began my search for information on androids. I was rewarded; I found lots of good information on androids. Unfortunately, none of it was useful to me. The IM window opened showing that Renée was on. I almost lost it when I saw the IM screen picture that showed up. She was using one of Minnie Mouse.

‘Well, maybe she did like the name after all.’ I thought.

I waited a while to see if she would IM me. She didn’t. I decided to check out eBay and see if anyone was selling a model 2 cheap. I was thinking of that model because it walked on two legs and was small, about 5 feet tall is all. It was lightweight and most of all it should be cheap because they had been out for 14 years now.

I found a boxed lot offered for sale in the local area.

I read the ad, ‘Parts from ten model 2 robots, no CPU. Larson salvage.’ OK then the opening bid was $10.00 and there were 6 days left in the auction. I decided to IM Renée and send her the page link.

She typed asking, “Why did you break our deal?”

I typed, “I didn’t.”

“But Danny called me Mouse.”, She typed.

I typed, “But I didn’t say it.”

She replied in all caps, “BUT DANNY DID!!”

“Renée, did you make a deal with me, or did you make it with Danny?” I asked typing.

Before she could respond I typed, “You know Lucy called me Lonesome boy at lunch. Does that mean you broke our deal first?”

“Ah...” she typed.

“Yes, I am keeping our deal. How about you?” I sent her next.

“I’m sorry, you’re right, you and I have our deal. Not me and Dandy boy.” She replied.

“LOL,” I typed.

“Grin smiley”, She returned.

Then she added, “So how did the prom get into this?”

So, I typed, “They asked what the deal was between us, so I told them. Then Ben said that if we were going to be nice to each other I should take you to the prom. Danny thought it was a good joke and the rest you already know.”