Chapter 18

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Monday 9th November 1998

 

 

“So… it happened,” Bao informed Zahid and me past the scarf he had wrapped around his neck and chin.

 

“… it happened…?” I repeated his vague statement.

 

“Yeah. Me and Harriet… … happened.”

 

“Aaah…”

 

Yep. What a way to divulge this information: standing outside school on a chilly November afternoon as dozens of other students hustled and bustled around us.

 

“Congrats,” Zahid smiled with some kind of mix of salaciousness and pride.

 

“Right, congrats!” I echoed.

 

“Thanks guys,” Bao grinned back at us. “It was… awesome.”

 

“That’s a relief. I thought you were about to ask for advice.”

With that, Zahid let out a little amused huff.

 

“Wait… you’ve already done it?” came Bao’s immediate response. I’m not sure why he was so surprised… while I wasn’t certain, I more-or-less assumed Zahid had gotten there already.

 

“Back in March,” he confirmed. “With Erica.”

 

“Maaaaan…! Congratulations!”

 

“Back in March, Bao,” Zahid sighed. “But thanks.”

 

And then, of course, Bao turned to me with that innocuous grin.

“What about you?”

 

“Oh, yeah, look at me, I’m beating girls off with a stick,” I snarked. Honestly…

 

“Dude, they make toys you could use instead…” Bao replied obliviously.

 

“No, I…”

And now I sighed. Making people sigh seemed to be a skill of Bao’s…

“No, Bao. Of course not.”

 

“Ah… so, err, wanna hear about me and Harriet or would that spoil the surprise…?” my friend asked in what I can only assume was him being sensitive.

 

“Surprise?” Zahid exclaimed before I could say anything (or selfishly refuse). “Did something happen that you weren’t expecting?”

 

“Well, her boobs are bigger than I expected… so there’s that… it’s funny, I told her that too and she thought it was cute- no, wait, that’s not funny, but there was a funny thing-”

His gaze was slowly losing all focus, staring off into space. By contrast, his mouth kept going at full-pelt.

“- and now I can’t remember it, I’m sure it was something to do with boobs or bras or helicopters but it’s gone…”

 

“Well, that cleared that up,” came Zahid’s sarcastic response right on cue.

 

“You straight up told her ‘I didn’t realise your boobs were this big’?” I double-checked. Bao shrugged.

 

“I wasn’t going to say it, I just sort of did.”

 

“One day you’re gonna get yourself in trouble doing that…” I noted, just before spotting Dakota’s approach from within school grounds…

 

With Ricardo.

 

‘Ricardo Lothario’.

 

Chatting away. Chatting and laughing.

 

Perhaps the previous area of conversation had put me in a bad headspace, but the sight immediately made my heart sink to my feet.

 

I didn’t even notice Harriet was with them too until Bao called out for her, at which point all three of them looked our way.

 

Ricardo then turned back to Dakota, put a hand on her shoulder, and seemingly wished her farewell. They waved at one another as he departed; Harriet, trundling along as a third wheel, gave a desperately cheery wave after him too.

 

“Oh man. Dakota’s met Ricardo,” Bao observed. “She’s so gonna have the hots for him…”

A moment passed, laden with palpable tension.

“You’re right, I have a real problem…”

 

I neglected to respond to that, instead waiting for Dakota and Harriet to join us.

 

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Dakota apologised giddily while Harriet embraced Bao. “Ricardo was talking with us and the time just flew-”

An invisible lightbulb seemed to flick on above her head.

“Ah! Forgot my notebook! I’ll be right back!”

None of us got the chance to say anything to her before she’d dashed off again, still high on whatever it was that talking to Ricardo had done to her.

 

I don’t know what my face was doing at that point, but Harriet quickly spoke up.

“Are you okay, Alex…?”

 

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

 

“I just thought maybe with Dakota, and Ricardo-”

 

“Pfft, they were just talking. What? It’s not like she’s gonna fall in love with him, and they’ll start dating because he’s so handsome and charming and he’s Spanish so of course no one in our year can resist him so why wouldn’t she?”

 

“Err…”

Bao raised a finger tentatively.

“I think he’s Portuguese…”

 

“Oh, right, sorry,” I scoffed, “girls hate Portuguese guys.”

 

“What’s up?” Kendal asked with intense curiosity laced with concern. I was so distracted with my torrential emotions that I hadn’t noticed her joining us.

 

“Alex just told us he has a crush on Dakota.”

The smug look on Zahid’s face almost made me want to punch him. Never mind that it was only his birthday four days ago (he’d wanted a quite affair; we mostly gave him that); any goodwill from that was past.

 

“I did not! Not that I-”

Shit, I’d given it all away…

 

“Fiiiinally!” Kendal declared, patting my back.

 

“It’s not like-”

 

Bao took hold of my shoulders, looking right into my eyes.

“Dude.”

In the four months I’d been friends with him, I’d never seen him give this kind of look. Its meaning rang loud and clear: “you can trust us”. So significant was its impact on me that my arbitrary secrecy unwound itself like a yoyo cascading down its cord.

 

“… yeah. Okay. I do…”

 

“Again, fiiiiiinally,” Kendal teased.

 

“Why are you all acting like it was obvious…?” I asked, regretting the question even as I spoke. I guess Bao isn’t the only one with that issue…

 

“You gawped over her the moment you first saw her,” Zahid began, counting on his fingers as if for emphasis, “you smile every time she talks with you, you take forever to say goodbye to her, you practically couldn’t take your eyes off her on exam results day-”

 

“You literally slept with her,” Bao interjected.

 

“We slept in the same bed! We didn’t sleep together, we were tops-and-tails!”

I’m sure my voice was rising in both pitch and desperation.

 

“I mean… we all saw you when Dakota had her feet in your lap…”

That was all Kendal said. She didn’t need to say anything else – the implication was “you would’ve enjoyed being tops-and-tails anyway”. They all bloody knew about that, too, and they’d known for two whole months. Never mind what came out of my mouth, apparently I needed to learn to control my face.

 

“Ah- tha-that- but I- you didn’t- I- that wasn’t- I mean-”

Yeah, I was all but squeaking at this point.

 

“Wait,” Harriet turned to Kendal, “you’ve lost me now…”

 

“Weeeeelll-”

 

“Thanks for waiting, guys!” cried out my merciful saviour in her Irish lilt.

 

Dakota hurried back over to us with a small horde of waddling, teddy-sized monsters in-tow. They were mildly fluffy, wide-eyed, inquisitive. Like Mogwai crossed with Ewoks. Essentially Dakota had become the protagonist of some 80s film or another.

 

For whatever reason, she seemed utterly oblivious to this as she joined us.

 

“Wow, who got Alex so red and have they got a wing to take me under?”

The first thing she said (other than thanking us for waiting, obviously), honing in on my apparently-blushing face like a heat-seeking missile.

 

“Never mind that,” Zahid spoke up, pointing to Dakota’s new entourage. “Didn’t you notice those guys?”

 

“Hm?”

Dakota looked downwards, and jumped a little at the sight.

“I didn’t, no. Weird…”

 

“They’re cute!” Harriet cooed, pinning the back of her skirt to her thighs as she crouched low to get a closer look.

 

“Doesn’t look like anyone else can see them…” Kendal spoke lowly while looking around. Indeed, no one seemed to be looking our way.

 

“I don’t get the rules to these things,” Bao sighed. “They need to make up their minds. Can normal people see them or not?”

 

“… you mean we’re the only ones who can see these things?”

Harriet had frozen as she was, a finger playfully outstretched towards the little monsters while they utterly ignored her.

 

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” her boyfriend chuckled awkwardly. “Right now everyone else just sees you wiggling your finger at thin air.”

 

Like a coiled spring released, Harriet shot upright, braids momentarily flapping like skipping ropes. And hey, now I wasn’t the only one blushing!

 

“The whatever-they-are weren’t paying you any attention anyway,” Zahid pointed out to her. “I guess they’ve only got eyes for Dakota.”

 

“That’d be why their eyes are green,” I quipped – yeah, that was meant to be a quip.

 

“They’re not doing anything harmful,” Dakota began, “so let’s head back to mine and sort this out there.”

 

“Let’s go!” Kendal shouted out, leading the way with her usual boundless energy.

 

… anyway. Most of the journey was spent listening to Dakota talking ever-so-enthusiastically about Ricardo. Even if I remembered every detail, I wouldn’t bother going over it because, let’s face it, neither you nor I care.

 

All the while, the creatures – I’d dubbed them Mokwai, like a cross between Mogwai and Ewok, but also like mock-Mogwai – continued to follow Dakota like ducklings shadowing their mother, never wandering too far away from her. They also seemed to be slowly rising in number… I’m certain there were only seven or eight before, but by the time we reached Dakota’s street, there appeared to be maybe fifteen of them.

 

“And his family owns a yacht! I’ve never known anyone who has a yacht before!” was the latest nugget of information Dakota handed us all.

 

“I have,” Bao replied, “but that was Ricardo, so…”

 

“He said I’m welcome to go on it in the summer!”

She was beaming brightly as she dug her keys out from her bag. If I had a yacht, she’d be welcome on it too. Is that what it takes to win in life? Have a rich family and a yacht?

“Oh jeez, what is it with that boy?”

 

“It’s okay, we’ve all been there with him,” Harriet assured her with a consoling back-pat. Instantaneously, every last Mokwai turned to her, growling fiercely with previously-unseen mouthfuls of sharp teeth bared. One of them leapt for her, its clawed swipe only just missing her as she tumbled backwards.

 

Bao summoned his weapons and blasted on his Painter outfit almost as fast, aiming one blade squarely at the creature that had just attempted to attack girlfriend.

 

“Dakota, your Emoks are out of control,” he growled.

 

“Mokwai…” I reminded him (I couldn’t help it, I was pretty proud of that name).

 

“Yeah, Mokwai,” Bao corrected himself, still maintaining the same tone of voice.

 

“Okay, first thing, not my Mokwai,” Dakota responded, agitated. “And they reacted when she touched me, so…”

 

“Sooooo,” Kendal echoed, bow already in-hand and black-and-pink clothing practically still liquid as she scurried over and poked Dakota’s shoulder. She’d barely made contact before the Mokwai lunged at her, knocking her to the floor. Her screams and their snarls hit us hard.

 

I’m almost proud to say that Dakota, Zahid and I all brought forth our weapons, painted up and, alongside Bao, jumped into action immediately.

 

Actually, the four of us all hurrying to help Kendal slowed us down, if anything… not so proud of that bit…

 

Zahid was the one who continued on past our newly-formed huddle first, taking an almighty swipe across the horde of Mokwai and knocking over half of them off of Kendal. The majority of them, cut deep by his axe, smudged away before they even recovered.

 

Meanwhile, I took a different approach.

“Cover me,” I uttered to my friends swiftly, before tapping the back of my sword-wielding hand against Dakota’s arm. The remaining Mokwai – and I could swear there were already more than had initially survived Zahid’s attack – turned in my direction as one. They began running towards me a split-second before I started sprinting away.

 

Naturally I didn’t turn back while running, but I could hear the sounds of… monsters being attacked…

 

Y’know, those sounds…

 

I ran most of the way down the street to be safe, before turning to find six or seven Mokwai still following me. Time to get creative.

 

Taking a firm stance, I span the sword around in my hand so the blade was pointing down, and then slammed it to the ground. Lines of blue shot out across the tarmac, like erratic road markings weaving towards the charging mini-monsters, then bursting forth and binding their targets like tape.

 

And, of course, another five Mokwai appeared from nowhere and began barrelling towards me.

 

Large green spearheads pierced two of them courtesy of Dakota, but I had to pull my sword back from the ground to defend myself from the remaining three. Creativity went out of the window, with them too close to do much other than slash them down.

 

The bound ones managed to writhe free of the now-loosened “tape” all the while, and I braced for their approach while racking my brain for a good way of handling them.

 

Instead, they ground to a halt, turned, and headed back down the street.

 

“Come get me, you second-rate Gremlins!” Bao cried out, waving his arms wildly. Clearly, he’d touched Dakota.

 

Focusing on the Mokwai as they ran, I slammed the tip of my sword to the ground again, letting the lines race to each one of the creatures and bind them.

 

“Psych!” Bao declared joyously, no doubt having anticipated my course of action. He crossed his arms, took a long stride forward to lower himself, and slashed outwards with both of his weapons. Wide yellow arcs fanned out from the blades, spiked perfectly to hit every last Mokwai on their low trajectories. The remaining dozen-or-so were all taken out at once, erasing into thin air. The blue bindings collapsed back into the road, and dissipated as soon as I moved the sword away.

 

“Awh man…” Kendal groaned as Zahid helped her to her feet. Neon pink blood was oozing from different spots on her body, and her clothing was torn. “I didn’t get to show Harriet my stuff…”

 

“Are you okay…?” Dakota asked her; she nodded vigorously.

 

“We’re immortal, it’s all good!”

 

This is the girl who just got mauled by second-rate Gremlins...

 

“Uhm…”

Harriet had backed up to Dakota’s drive, watching from what I can only assume she felt to be relative safety.

“Firstly… wow. Like… holy cow, you fight like this… Also, you’re immortal…?”

 

“Yeah, err… I should probably explain that bit to you…” Bao told her awkwardly.

 

“I guess we just had to kill them all to stop more from spawning, then…” I mentioned of the Mokwai, looking around just to make sure more weren’t hiding.

 

“Shame they turned out super-possessive…”

Dakota smiled that playful smile at me.

“I enjoyed having loyal followers.”

 

And of course, I haplessly followed her as she headed for her front door (and took a brief detour to pick up her bag). What spell has this girl cast on me…?

 

…

 

As per usual, Clyde and Amelia returned around the time we were thinking of leaving. Cases of weapons in-hand, dark clothing on (I hadn’t even seen them in anything light in the past several weeks), a little deflated.

 

“No luck today?” Bao asked with more cheer than would be expected of him regarding the continued absence of the man who had shot him in the head.

 

“Yes and no…” Clyde responded, wringing his hands a little. “We’re pretty sure we’ve found Nick’s hideout.”

 

“That’s good!” Kendal enthused.

 

“Keep those horses held,” Amelia eased her (in unorthodox fashion). “No one’s there. And it doesn’t look like they have been for a few weeks.”

 

“That’s bad!”

 

“So, what, they’ve relocated?” Zahid put forward.

 

“No sign of them in a month. Previous hideout is abandoned. Our best assumption is that they’ve left town.”

 

“Matches up to what we often see,” Clyde added, “but we were expecting them to be more proactive even after the scuffle.”

 

“Basically, you’ve got a wider area to search?” Dakota clarified, leaning her head forward attentively.

 

“And… we’re in the clear for now…?” I added.

 

The two adults shared a brief look, one I couldn’t quite read.

 

“We’ve run this by Neil, and… right now, we’re going to move out of here,” Amelia informed us. “We’ll search around as diligently as we can. That does mean leaving you less guarded.”

 

“We’re working under the assumption that they’re laying low,” Clyde clarified, “and that they’re prioritising that over the weapons right now. Ultimately, though, he seems to be an opportunist. We need to act swiftly, try and get him before he gets you.”

 

“Not filling me with confidence…” Bao said uneasily.

 

“Sorry. We know it’s a gamble but we’re all in agreement that this is the best course of action,” Amelia insisted.

 

“All in agreement, huh?” Zahid snapped back. “What about us? The guy shot Bao in the head but hey, he’s hidden himself away so I guess there’s no harm in leaving us alone, right? Not like our opinions matter in all of this!”

 

“As we understand it,” Clyde’s voice boomed, “you all insisted on keeping hold of these weapons. That puts you in Nick’s sights. You knew it might happen. You’re right: for all we know, this could bring him out of hiding and straight to the front door. But on the face of it…”

He exhaled, seemingly troubled.

“We need to put finding him over protecting you. That’s the best route right now.”

 

“We’ll be on-call for you. If you need us, we’ll get to you ASAP,” Amelia told us calmly. “And we’ll keep you informed of any progress we make. In the meantime, train up with the weapons. As unnerving as it might be to consider, you’re essentially bulletproof. You have the upper-hand over Nick and his people. Be prepared to make the most of that.”

 

“This is… so messed up, man,” Zahid huffed, only just relenting to their decision.

 

With that, we said our goodbyes, first to Clyde and Amelia and then, at the door, to Dakota. I loitered around, the last to leave. As soon as my shoes were on, she hugged me.

 

“Careful, the Mokwai might get me,” I joked softly.

 

“You’ll live,” she chuckled. “You’re immortal.”

 

Pulling away, she gave me another smile. My favourite smile.

 

“Do you…?”

No. What kind of question was I about to ask? ‘Do you want to go out with Ricardo?’ It was obvious. She was smitten. I knew what it looked like.

“Never mind.”

 

“You sure?” she asked gently. I simply nodded.

 

“It’s nothing. Just… me being stupid.”

I turned to leave with a little wave.

 

“Okay…” she mumbled. “Bye-bye.”

 

“See you tomorrow,” I replied, taking one last look at her before shutting the door behind myself.

 

Stupid as usual. Falling in love with someone beyond my reach. What would she ever see in me? And now, angsty, jealous, was I any better than the Mokwai?

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