Thank You, Mr. Hookworm (The Good Vibes Series Book 1)

Home > Other > Thank You, Mr. Hookworm (The Good Vibes Series Book 1) > Page 12
Thank You, Mr. Hookworm (The Good Vibes Series Book 1) Page 12

by Beth Lynne


  “Aww, don’t go there. She isn’t a great apologizer.”

  “Did she send you to me?”

  Jordan looked down at his Jordans, which were kicking against the rungs of the chair. “Yeah, she wants you to come back.”

  “Why?”

  “Not sure. She just said, ‘Get him back. We need him.’ Maybe she likes your wrinkled ass.”

  “Huh, nice. But no. Ain’t happening, boychick.”

  30

  Mmmm, Val thought. It is so nice to be held again. She snuggled closer to Howard on the couch. She was living her first experience of “Netflix and chill.” After devouring a pepperoni pizza, they were watching one of Val’s favorite movies, for God only knew for whatever reason, Terminator. Howard had never seen it and Val was amazed by that. But then, they were born in different decades and that made all the difference with things like movies, songs, and the ability to have babies. She moved even closer to Howard, if that was even possible, and sighed contentedly. He moved his arm down around her, stroking her arm.

  “Whoa, babe, where are these muscles coming from? You working out?”

  “No, honey, you know, after a woman hits forty, all her fat starts turning to muscle. It’s just a natural progression of aging, preparing my body for the rigors of menopause.”

  “Really? I never heard of that. In fact, my sister and grandma are both kinda hefty women.”

  “No, silly! I am working out like a demon! Your grandma’s still alive?”

  “Yeah, she’s like seventy-two, but she’s still kicking.”

  “Seventy-two is not that old. How old was your mom when she had you?”

  “She was in high school when she had me.”

  Holy shit, his mom was not much older than me! Val thought with a little bit of panic mixed with amusement. “Oh, well, it’s great you still have your grandmom,” she said kind of lamely.

  “Yeah, she wants to meet you, and so does my sister. I keep building you up so they’ll like you. They already think you’re some kind of superhero or something.”

  “Well, how about that?” Val mused. She giggled a bit. If they only knew. She hated keeping her secret identity from Howard, but for now, she really had to. He would think she was crazy or maybe he would fear her or fear for her, and it was too early in their relationship for that level of fear. Fear of farting in front of him, or fear of him not calling or texting every day, those were appropriate early relationship fears. Fear that she could kick his ass or cancel a date to fight underworld creatures—too soon, definitely.

  She was training daily with Bella, to whom she was growing more attached. As grossly annoying as Bella was, and also despite the fact that she had broken up Val’s already-crumbling marriage, she was beginning to feel like family to Val. A bald, tattooed, badly-dressed family member who was nasty and ill-mannered as hell, but family was family.

  Val had lost at least twenty pounds. Giving up her zin and the training program really worked wonders. Bella made her meditate every evening as well, so Val was somewhat calmer and less prone to losing her temper. Having Howard around helped, too. He was strong, quiet, handsome, and supportive, and they had not had any disagreements yet. Again, early in the relationship still. A time to enjoy before all the bad breath, nose-picking, ex-girlfriends, and football season came around and the true colors showed themselves. Val sighed as Howard tilted his head and rested his cheek on her hair. This was sheer bliss. Until Howard burped.

  “Whew, ‘scuse me, darling!” Howard said.

  Aww, honeymoon over, Val thought.

  Bella hated Howard. She hated everyone in general, but she had a lot of specifics about Howard. Her list was as follows: stupid, didn’t earn enough money, unmotivated, probably cheated, too young for Val (ouch!), and balding (the nerve of her, and he was only receding a little around the edges). And maybe some of these things were true, but Val enjoyed the uncomplicated man Howard was. He had not asked her for money nor was he forcing himself on her, two things that turned her off of men in the past, and he spent too much time on her to be cheating. Plus, he always paid when they went out, and that was a huge turn-on for Val. He could make as little money as he wanted, as long as he spent it on her. Oh, yeah, one negative that Bella did not know about or at least bring up: he lived with his sister. But that was good, if you really thought about it. At least he had a closeness with his women. If he loved his mother, whom he cared for until she died, and his sister, he was able to love. But they ended up having to hang out here all the time.

  There was no privacy here. Bella had completely moved in, presumably from Ray’s house, formerly Val’s house in an affluent suburb. Val wasn’t sure that this was even true, as Bella could not tell her much about her kids beyond their names, where they went to school, and how old they were. Val tripped her up several times with easy questions like “Isn’t it funny how much Tierra loves mac ‘n cheese?” And Bella would agree. But her daughter hated mac ‘n cheese, which was a shame because it was everywhere that kids were, like chicken nuggets, which Trevon would eat by the handful. Since Bella moved in, Val took to meeting the kids in public places like Chuck E. Cheese’s, and she completely avoided talking to Ray, as she had done since the day she moved out. She was doing a lot of thinking about how she left her husband and kids, a lot of reflection. She had done so based on rumors and speculation from an anonymous source on social media and hadn’t given her husband time to respond to her accusations. It seemed she was under a great deal of stress at the time and probably was bored with her role as a housewife. She took flight and left her kids without a full-time mother. She hoped they would forgive her in time. Bella seemed to think they would, as soon as Val “saved the world.”

  Val was very worried about the fissure that was allegedly under the elementary school. The one time she called Ray to change their school, he refused, and she couldn’t really give a good reason without sounding crazy. She spent time watching the school from her car, from which she figured she could probably go underground through the vents as she had before. The first sign of trouble, that was what she would do. She had asked Bella how she could go underground in the event of a sinkhole so she could save her kids, or even any kids, and Bella said that she would have practice soon. So far, Val had been in simulation area twice, both times through her car vents, and once to the meeting, also through the car vents. She wanted to get under the school so she could see the fissures for herself. If Val wasn’t in training during school hours, she was in her Toyota, waiting and watching outside of the school.

  “Girlfriend’s got issues,” she mumbled out loud, forgetting Howard was there.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “Sarah Connor’s got issues,” she told him, referring to the character from Terminator. “Arnold’s gonna get her.” She looked up at Howard and he angled his head downward and kissed her deeply.

  Mmmm, Val thought. It is so nice to be kissed again.

  31

  School was so boring. Sidra had never really minded being there before, learning useless information and methods of solving problems that she would never need. She had problems to solve, but none of them were taught in this institution of learning. For example, was her current cat really her cat? Was that fly on her desk, annoying only her, Saturn? Did Smith like her even a little tiny bit? Was Venti going to try getting even with her for the fight? Was she going to be successful at fighting underworld elements and saving the world? Just normal, everyday problems.

  Sidra had become inattentive in school, and her grades had suffered. This was a critical year for her, her junior year, and if she didn’t do well, she was looking at community college. Oh well, the hell with it; she was working for Celia now and that paid pretty well, she found. A check was directly deposited into a savings account that Val had helped her open. Val was the best. They saw each other from time to time and texted back and forth. It made up for Saturn a bit, whom Sidra avoided and held at arm’s length if avoidance wasn’t possible. The t
all blonde reminded Sidra of everyone who was ever mean to her, and the betrayal and use of her cat to fool Sidra and infiltrate her life was unconscionable. If Mittens had been a talking cat, okay, she could live with that. But Saturn had made her mistrust her cat, and she avoided Mittens at home, even when the kitty came to seek out her preferred owner. Mittens meowed at Sidra and tried to rub against her legs, but Sidra pushed her gently away and shut the door of her room to Mittens. It was sad, but Sidra was afraid that it was Saturn in disguise and couldn’t risk being made to look stupid again.

  Sidra slammed her history book down on the fly on her desk. Several classmates jumped and the teacher asked, “Is there a problem?”

  Sidra replied, “This school needs screens on the windows or something. Darn fly has been bothering me all class.” There were chuckles around Sidra and probably gratitude for interrupting the monotone lecture delivery of the teacher. The teacher shrugged and went back to his one-man-show with a captive audience. Everyone else went back to drawing on their desks, messing with their phones, or staring into space. Except for Venti, who stared at Sidra a little longer, the swelling on her lip finally gone and just the faintest of scars where Sidra popped her.

  Venti’s parents were no longer speaking to Sidra’s parents. Small loss, as far as Sidra was concerned. The awkwardness of Margo and Evan forcing her to go to any events that involved her former friend and now mortal enemy was not an issue anymore.

  As a creepy and sinister smile passed over Venti’s face, Sidra recoiled in revulsion and fear as a shiver went up her spine. The class as a whole jumped in their seats and started laughing as a loud crash came from the back of the room. Hammond Dunfry, a seat rocker, had fallen backward and hit the floor in his chair. This was at least a once-a month occurrence. One of the burly wrestling team students hauled Hammond and his chair up off the floor and righted the embarrassed but unhurt boy. The teacher did not miss a beat in his lecture delivery. He was used to this particular interruption. If Hammond was hurt, he would ask for a pass to the nurse. The teacher had discovered early on that Hammond had a very hard head and flexible neck and lumbar.

  Hammond used to have a crush on Sidra—she could tell—but those feelings seemed to have switched to another: Venti, who of course ignored him. Sidra had mixed feelings about Venti getting her sloppy seconds through Hammond’s switch of affection. She was glad to get rid of him, as the feelings were not reciprocated. However, for him to change over to a crush on Venti made Sidra feel extremely betrayed and also rejected (irrational, she could admit, since she did not return the feelings). But then, he liked her before Venti, so that meant Sidra was prettier and more desirable, right?

  Since attaining her superhero status and attending training (while her parents thought she was in an after-school karate program), Sidra’s confidence level had soared. She felt stronger, prettier, and smarter, even if her level of attention in classes had decreased. The possibility that these feelings were false feelings, fake ones that would disappear at the next blow to her ego, remained to be seen.

  This was a problem that might occur should Sidra fail at attracting the attention of her formerly fantasy heartthrob. In a million years, Sidra never thought she would meet the actual Smith, and now she had to believe that she had a chance with him. So far, he seemed indifferent, all professional, but the good news was that he didn’t seem to be dating Saturn, as she first feared. It might be a longshot, but Sidra had to take this chance and see if she could get Smith interested in her. A month or two ago, she would never have imagined this to be possible, but now, well, she also never imagined she was going to save the world.

  Venti was still giving Sidra the evil eye. Sidra caught Venti’s eye and made a stank face at her. Venti turned abruptly, but not before Sidra caught a slight smirk on the girl’s face. One of the biggest worries Sidra had was that Venti would find out that she had the vibe and would team up with the evil beings or even would become part of Sidra’s team. Once high school was over, Sidra wanted nothing more to do with this bully. She hoped to become part of something that was greater than stupid problems that her classmates seemed to have, whether she was helping people as a counselor like Val did or as this superhero she was about to be, fighting threats to the safety of their world. She did not want to spend her life in meaninglessness, worrying about the exact size of her ass or her lips or how she could get her hair precisely right. That was not living a life to her, but it seemed this was what so many young women were all about: what they looked like on social media and how many followers they had. Fighting behind a phone or computer screen was so cowardly. Sidra wanted to kick actual ass, not a virtual version of it. That was living, in her opinion.

  Another worry was that Sidra would not be able to fulfill the expectations of Celia and her crew. Sidra did not care much for Celia, but she respected what she stood for—what she was presenting to the team, anyway. Sidra often felt small and weak in her life, but she was starting to feel more powerful and a bit larger. Thanks to her training sessions, she knew how to fight, but her concern was more about being able to fight the creatures, which were not human and therefore might not fight in the same manner. Also, Celia seemed to want to limit the weapons that Sidra was handling, even though her skillset clearly involved swords and knives. Something to do with being a minor. What difference did it make? If Sidra helped save the world, her age shouldn’t matter. People her age did amazing things every day, as well as awful things. It wasn’t like Sidra was going to use a gun. She wouldn’t anyway, and she was not one of those crazy teens who decided it was time to “get even” with all of the teachers and classmates that did them wrong. That was insanity as far as Sidra was concerned. It was horribly scary, too, and Sidra lived in fear every day that someone in her school would go off the deep end. She was certain that a huge majority of teens and their parents had the same fear, and Sidra wanted to be involved in preventing this type of tragedy, not add to it. She was anxious to start exploring the fissure under the elementary school and prevent the Underworld from entering the Earth’s surface. But Celia had to treat her as an adult first, and Smith and Saturn were her conduits to doing so.

  32

  Celia called the team together for a meeting. She strived for weekly meetings, but she claimed things came up, so this was only their second meeting underground. This time, Saturn guided Sidra the correct way, through her notebook, which was her entry point, something Saturn also had previously been vague about. Saturn was going to attend the meeting remotely, as she could not get Sidra through the notebook as well as herself. Smith could do that, bringing several fighters with him at a time, but that was tricky. If he brought Saturn, that was easy, as she could shapeshift into something small. A small human like Sidra was also easy to transport, but he was not available for this meeting, so Saturn was not able to go either.

  This was also to be a mini-drill, to get the team acclimated to wearing uniforms, which, until the real ones came along, were the unitards they wore during training. The unitard fit comfortably under clothing and was a well-ventilated material, so it did not chafe or cause discomfort. Celia assured Val and Sidra that they would have their official uniforms shortly, but that Sidra needed a name first. Val’s would have an FB on hers. They came to the meeting with the unitards under their clothes.

  “So it isn’t the same uniform as in that hallucination?”

  “Simulation.”

  “Simulation,” Val corrected herself. “Anyway, I looked real good in that white cape and boots over the red leotard.”

  “You were obviously hallucinating,” Bella shouted from her screen.

  “None of that today, thank you,” Celia admonished. “In fact…” She shut off the guides’ screens and turned her attention to Val and Sidra, who the only two physically present.

  “Hallelujah!” Val exclaimed, and Sidra nodded with her.

  “I take it you do not get along with your guides?” Celia asked them.

  “Well, Bella is an a
cquired taste. She takes good care of me, like a bottle of scotch, but ew, the flavor!”

  Celia smirked a bit at this. “And you, Sidra, how are you getting along with Saturn?”

  “Not at all. I’m still angry because she pretended to be someone she wasn’t, and to be quite honest, I do not get along with tall blonde girls at all. Never a good experience.”

  “Perhaps I should ask her to shapeshift into a short, fat brunette?” Celia suggested dryly.

  “Oh, that would be wonderful! But you don’t really mean it…” Sidra trailed off when she saw Celia’s expression.

  “I think you need to learn to get along. Start to forgive and don’t stereotype,” Celia suggested.

  “She’s right, baby girl. Understand that human beings make mistakes and some folks don’t have a ton of home training,” Val offered.

  “You knew Emily as a child?” Celia asked.

  “Yes, I did. I remember trying to get the parents to come in and never had any success. It’s like she was raising herself.”

  “More than likely, that was the case. Bright girl, though. I think she is a true survivor.”

  “If she was so smart, why didn’t she shapeshift into her mother and come in for a conference?” Sidra stated sarcastically. Obviously, she was not ready to move on as it concerned Saturn.

  “Maybe her talent doesn’t extend that way, Sidra. Why are you so unyielding when it comes to Saturn? She could do a lot for you, and I know you will get further with her than without her.”

  Sidra shrugged and Celia shrugged back, mimicking her sullen expression.

  “Anyway, how were your trips down here today?” Celia asked, mainly to change the subject a bit.

  “I love it!” Sidra said. “I feel like I am turning to vapor and suddenly I’m sucked into my notebook, like I’m part of the pages, then I float into nothingness and gently materialize here.”

 

‹ Prev