PAUL CAME TO SCHOOL THAT WEDNESDAY morning with the flu -- contracted it the other night, by getting soaking wet in the heavy rain when he ‘journeyed’ to the Wilson residence, into the black panther mission with Jane…

… disrupting the Math class, when he was consistently blowing his running nose and followed by a series fit of sneezing aloud into his handkerchief.

The class-clown, Terry of the backbenchers joked…

“Bless-you, Poe-pee-Poe… anyone here got tampons -- Tarzan-Poe’s nose is having its monthly period…?”

Many of his classmates laughed aloud -- which embarrassed the silent suffering cripple boy.

At the backbench, Peter chuckled…

‘… suffer, Poe-suffer, what business of your going out in the rain, on a school-night…?’

-O-

The bell rang for recess – Paul told his blind girlfriend that he was heading to the Infirmary to get some flu medicine. In no time, he was rolling his chair against students heading to the canteen…

… Raymond Donavan with his mates from the other class – came and teased him by acting ‘like’ monkeys, as they made simian-kind noises and scratched their own ribcages…

“Master Tarzan, teach us ‘how-to’ climb trees and swing from branch-to-branch, hahaha!”

Paul hated the Donavan brothers – they ‘picked’ on him in ‘both’ the Perth -- and they got away with it, but…

… he got away ‘too,’ when he had electrocuted Terry in the ‘other-Perth’ when he ‘modified’ his wheelchair…

‘… is that ‘even’…?’

-O-

At the clinic, Nurse Nancy took his body temperature – and gave him 2 tablets for his flu and advising him to drink lots of water…

… the same Nurse Nancy…

… who was his student counsellor in Perthland, who had advised him in a ‘very’ long-lecture to respect the opposite sex WHEN HE GOT IN TROUBLE for ‘inappropriately’ kissing Alicia on the first day when he ‘arrived’ in that dimension as a teenager.

… where else, a ‘younger’ Ms Diane King too WAS A LIBRARIAN over there in Perthland, and ‘not’ the student counsellor -- comparing with this ‘version’…

… of the present Ms King, which Paul found her to be UNTRUSTING AND UNRELIABLE ‘compared’ to the ‘other’ Ms King, who with Alicia were BOTH ALLIES to the Cursed-trio’s superhero cabal.

Paul sighed at the ‘comparisons’…

… where he and Jane had no backups and WERE ON THEIR OWN, as 2 tween superheroes fighting a formidable Middle-eastern force of-evil in the form of HIS TWIN PETER.

But was glad that since his ‘arrival’12 days ago, into post-Treeton, he ‘NOT’ SEEN ANY major natural disaster danger in either Perth and the greater-Australia. Other than…

… the elephant-rhino clash at the zoo – and, the recent black panther attack at the Wilsons.

… that made him ‘wonder,’ if the zookeeper Hajji ‘existed’ in this-Perth…?

He had ‘promised’ himself that he would go-solo and ‘visit’ the zoo -- to find-out of Hajji’s whereabouts…

‘… maybe ‘not’ today – I’m sick as a dog…’

Paul procrastinated – as he sneezed hard and blew his nose into the soggy handkerchief. He had no appetite to eat – and went back to his empty classroom to restore to health…

…he had to ‘survive’ a few more class lessons until the final school bell rang…

<><>

AT THE CANTEEN, JANE WAS EATING an egg-mayo-tuna sandwich, among the mass of hundreds of hungry students gathered. The blind-tween was with her BFF who was telling her latest gossip of Chinatown that the aunt’s restaurant, that served her favourite stinky-tofu dish, was going under renovation, in response…

… when she earlier told Alicia that she was staying for a week at the Hilton because her own house was under construction.

The Chinese girl then told that there will be a new Chinese student coming from Taiwan, attending Stamford High later in the week. He was a senior and would be in Akatendeka Ibori’s class…

… HIS NAME WAS KEN CHAN – and he was also a black-belt martial-art champion, back in his school in Taipei.

In her seat, the blind-girl cringed…

… recalling her week as a sighted-teen in Perthland – where she ‘saw’ this-Ken Chan back there, who bullied Paul -- with his girlfriend…

… the platinum-blonde teen-Alicia version, WHO TOO WAS HER RIVAL…

… for the Sport’s Girl on the school title.

<><>

THE FINAL SCHOOL BELL RANG, Peter was hungry for a juicy-burger, and cycled to McDonalds – the one-armed tween was about to reach the Maccas’ Golden Arches when, he got a call from Bella asking him if he was free to go out for lunch…

… he ‘agreed’ -- but deep-down he ‘cursed,’ as Bella was a vegan…

‘… she will take me to that awful Aboriginal fine-dining restaurant again to feed me that grilled chicken – where the place would ‘not’ be conducive to talk in private, where there would gawking stares at ‘us-Caucasians’…’

Peter waited in front of Maccas, and Jimbo the hobo came running…

“Boss, I wash your DeLorean…?”

“Not today, Jimbo – my bike is still clean, you washed it yesterday, remember…?”

They both saw a roaring red Ducati big motorcycle approaching. The all-black leathered Bella with the full-visored helmet offered her spare helmet to the one-armed boy.

“Hop-on, we are going to ‘another’ place to eat.”

“Where…?”

“You’ll see!”

Peter looked at Jimbo beside him, who was deeply admiring the big, red sports-bike – he took a $1 bill note, and gave it to the middle-aged homeless man…

“Here-Jimbo, you guard my bike – I’ll be back in an hour…”

Peter got on the bike and coiled his single-arm around the teen-Bella’s waist – and the superbike zoomed away…

-O-

Peter was thrilled with the fast-ride into the back alleys and side-road, where the underaged Bella who doesn’t have a road-licence, took her ‘illegal’ superbike to the streets of Perth.

He was in admiration of the terrific and outstanding torque of the superbike…

… he regretted he could ‘not’ ride a clutch-bike because he had ‘only’ one-arm…

As the ecstatic ride progressed, Peter found himself snuggling even tighter-and-tighter onto the 14-year-old rider. In the sharp-turns, he noticed she was erotically twerking her rear to his crotch…

… it aroused him in a good-way…

‘… so, this is ‘what’ motorbikers say, ‘having-fun-between-your-legs’ come from…’

Peter reciprocated by moving his clinging single-arm from her waist upwards – and ‘played’ with her puppies…

-O-

The horny teen-and-tween reached the destination – the xenophobic Peter then-saw a ‘familiar’ location…

‘… why are we here in bloody Chinatown…?’

… the last time he was ‘here,’ was when he followed Alicia-and-Janey to a particular Chinese-joint after he gave the blind-girl’s ‘first’ tennis lesson – it was where ‘too’ Jane had her ‘disgusting’ stinky-tofu…

The bike parked in front of a posh fine-dining establishment – Peter looked up at the signage, Ning-Jing Equanimity Restaurant…

… he was glad it was ‘not’ that ‘Wong-Ah-Wrong Restaurant…

He trailed behind the taller Bella, who led the way them to the hostess-stand, where a ‘hottie’ young Asian woman in a red silk Cheongsam stood. She recognized Bella, and excitedly conversed in Mandarin, and the teen Caucasian too spoke the-tongue with ease…

… he was surprised with Frenchie’s proficiency in Chinese when he knew -- Stamford High did ‘not’ teach the language as an extra-curriculum subject.

From the rear, Peter followed them into Oriental décor restaurant that had a dozen round-tables -- and it was peak lunch hour with businessmen of Asians and fair-fair-number of Caucasians who were dining together.

His eyes then followed the long legs in the slit of the tight Cheongsam – that reminded him of Perthland…

… where his lover Jezebel ‘too’ wore the same Asian outfit, ON THE NIGHT they both were driven in a limo, all-drunk drinking champagne and high on Gochi, as they went to the outskirts – to go ‘hunting’ for monkeys, nearby the zoo…

Bella held his single hand and Peter became conscious as he ‘looked’ like a pubescent-minor in his school uniform, while Bella looked like a Black Widow cosplay model. Everyone seated looked at them, going to the far end of the restaurant. Waitresses in short-skirts uniforms whom they passed, were communicating in friendly-giggles with Bella in Chinese…

‘… gosh, everyone ‘here’ knows Frenchie…’

They were led to a small private dining room for 2, and they sat facing each other – on the table was a closed-lid of a steamboat BBQ. The ‘hottie’ hostess left -- and a short-skirted head-waitress came in, and lit the steamboat broiler.

Other girls then came in, with trays of mock-meat…

“Pete, hope you like a vegan Bak-Ku-Tay steamboat lunch?”

Bella said, as a waitress removed the lid – with a cloud of hot steam escaping and filled the air-con small sitting-room… and added ‘raw’ items to braise in the steamboat’s broth.

…the sweaty Peter looked at the brownish dark boiling herbal-broth of dark-soy based and was put off by the sight, that reminded him of Janey’s stinky-tofu.

… he wished they had served some dim sums instead – like he had the last-time in Alicia’s aunt eatery – instead of this ‘abomination-meal’ where chicken, beef and pork were made of tofu to ‘look’ like the ‘real-deal’ – and even the seafood of prawns and squids were ‘fake’…

… he can’t understand these ‘convert-vegan’ minds, who had eaten tons of ‘real-meat’ before – WHO NOW AS VEGAN, ‘still’ craved meat as carnivores but consume ‘fake-meat’ made of soy-beaned tofu, because they did ‘not’ want to slaughter the farmed animals.

Peter smiled to Bella’s question to the steamboat lunch…

…he too can’t act fussy in the choice of ‘favoured-and-preferred’ food which he ate, in front of the host – and politely decided to go into his-twin’s ‘garbage-Poe-mode’ that ate anything.

Bella was still ordering ‘some-other’ items from the head-waitress – and the Asian girl left, closing the door for privacy.

“Hey, where did you learn to speak Chinese like-that…?”

“My Uncle Wilford made me learn Mandarin when I was young.”

“Why did he ‘do’ a thing like-that? Knowing that ‘English’ is good enough – it’s an international, Queen’s world-language, yea…?”

Bella shook her head to Peter’s ignorance of reality…

“Look around you-dummy, every other thing is Made-in-China – the world needs China as its business partner – and, my uncle ‘saw’ that potential and that was ‘why’ he partnered with the local Chinese businessmen. He even partially owns this restaurant in Chinatown and many other businesses in Chinatown.”

Judging by the ‘yucky-looking’ steaming broth on the table, he said…

“Why didn’t he open a pizza shop instead – he would get my ‘future’ business, for sure…?”

Bella ‘educated’ him by telling of THE PROFITS her millionaire uncle made in these lucrative joint-ventures -- when he started out as a jewel and precious stones trader -- and since then ‘diversified’ later by doing real-estate in properties buying-and-selling and stock market trading.

Peter listened and ‘caught’ the mention that her uncle was ‘buying-and-selling’ properties – that was what she ‘meant’ in the other restaurant when she said her uncle WOULD ‘SOLVE’ his problem…

… of his mother wanting to ‘SELL’ HIS FATHER’S HOUSE…

… but he did ‘not’ ask further – as it ‘maybe’ -- was just an empty promise…

“That is ‘why’ Australia’s economy had been in partnership with new economic powerhouse, China,” Bella concluded her point.

“Bah! Whatever… I don’t trust that bloody Communist-pagan country one-bit – so, as long they don’t taint-or-sabo my dreams of tennis playing.”

“Hey, your tennis balls and tennis racquets are Made-in-China too, what you say about that, yea!?”

“That was they ‘can-do,’ manufacture – THOSE PRODUCTS all they want – but I don’t see ‘any’ Chinese Top-3 ranking tennis player in world competing tournaments. This is where’…

“ I come in next, and to be the best of the best in Straya!”

… Bella rolled her eyes of the immature-tween’s talkback – Peter was full of himself – of his big ridiculous fantasy, when ‘not’ realising that he had the disadvantage of his ‘lost’ arm.

-O-

The head waitress walked in, cradling a green tall-bottle…

“I ordered sake rice wine to go with the meal, Pete, do you drink?”

Peter nodded…

… although he did ‘not’ – but he had tasted beer and red wine before at home, behind his mother’s back – and his dad too told him ‘not’ to drink alcohol and coffee if he wanted to be a sportsman…

… but as a teenager in Perthland, he drank like a fish…

He saw the Chinese waitress pouring the clear wine, into 2 shot glasses…

‘… there should be always a ‘first’ time, in trying ‘new’ things…’

Peter picked up his glass, and made a toast…

“Thanks for inviting me out for lunch – cheers!”

He bottoms-up the liquor like a soda – and it burned his throat, and he choked…

“Hey, easy there, Peter – sake is a strong potent drink!”

Bella laughed aloud and so did the chucking Chinese waitress, who was scooping-up the cooked mock-meat from the boiling broth and placing it into 2 small individual bowls.

The annoyed Peter was eyeballing the Asian-girl who had ‘laughed’ at him…

… he pictured in his mind of her lying in a ditch, HIT ON THE HEAD with a Babolat, as he ‘did’ a number ‘before’ on Chinatown Wong.

“Let’s eat.”

Bella invited, as the waitress stepped out from the room.

Peter watched her using her chopsticks and dug into the bowl, holding up a mocked-meat before dipping it into a small saucer of garlic-chilli sauce, and ate it…

“… mmm-mmm, this pork-bak meat is glorious…” she said, licking her chopstick before sipping her sake.

… the one-armed Peter followed her steps, by picking up the ‘fake-meat’ with his chopsticks, and dipping it into the condiment sauce -- and took it to his mouth…

… but half-way there, he paused to ‘smell’ it…

‘… here goes ‘nothing,’ down the hatch – hope I don’t throw up into the steamboat-pot…’

He bit into an instant tang of hot-and-spicy but also felt the gastronomic explosive of the feel-good taste of the tofu-meat, that was dissolving the MSG into his tastebuds, before instantly melt away into soft palatable ‘meat-bits,’ that had liquefied in his throat – it was a total euphoria...

...when it hit-home to his growling empty tummy…

‘… wow, ‘not’ bad at all – I can eat this black shitty-looking vegan-muck all day – it sure tastes lots-better than Mom’s vegan pizza…’

Peter was listening to the dark-haired girl talking about her pets at home – where she had 6 dogs and 4 cats…

“That is a bloody zoo…” Peter chuckled while eating and drinking sake.

… Peter who grew up ‘not’ having to own a pet -- as his parent told him he wasn’t responsible enough to take care of one…

… while he too was not bothered to own one too – especially, if it came ‘against’ his fame – like Janey’s ‘Perth’s Hero-dog’…

… which he had ‘hated’ so-much, as it became MORE ‘POPULAR’ than his PFC brand.

Bella told Peter that she was out all morning with her animal-activist friends from Facebook rescuing stray cats and dogs in the streets…

Peter smirked…

‘… what a waste of time…’

She took a pack of Pall Mall from her leather jacket, and lit a cigarette with her Zippo – and, placing the pack of ciggies and the lighter on the table – instantly Peter took it, and placed a stick in his mouth…

… Bella lit it, for the one-armed tween…

… then spoke of ‘what,’ she wanted to do after graduation…

… it a ‘taboo’ topic which Peter ‘avoided’ to think about -- since he had gathered all-his-eggs into his one-tennis-career basket…

… which ‘would’ materialize, ONCE HE GOT his ‘bionic’ robotic-arm from Kimura Star.

Bella refilled sake into both the glasses, and while saying…

“I always want to work towards my ‘passion’ with animals – but I’m ‘not’ smart enough to get grades to be a veterinarian. Probably I would end up pursuing some business degree and then work for Uncle Ford – maybe I will get to manage his restaurants business, like the Equanimity here.”

Peter scoffed…

“Bella, you can DO ‘BETTER’ THAN THAT – you’re ‘still’ young…”

“… what you ‘mean’ by that…?”

“Why you want to work for your uncle, when you CAN BE ‘MUCH’ MORE – you can have the potential future in world-of-tennis, like me… we can ‘dominate’ if we work together, to someday be top-player of Straya!”

The pragmatic Bella belly-laughed…

“No, I’m ‘not’ skilfully good enough to be a national player – neither have ‘false-positive’ self-image of myself to be one.”

‘… mediocre…’

Peter wanted to badly tell her that he was FROM THE ‘FUTURE-PERTH’ – where he had huge ‘success’ with his PFC brand, by pairing up with blind-Jane…

… Bella could be the ‘NEXT-SUBSTITUTE’ PERTH FAMOUS COUPLE in this current post-Treeton’s Perth.

“So, Frenchie, so you are coming to school, next week after the suspension – we would be ‘practising’ tennis together, yea…?”

Bella sighed…

“… probably ‘not’ – I may be banned an entry to the gym, or use any of the sports facilities – with those 2, Coach Duncan and Couch Jonah keeping an eye on me like a hawk.”

The annoyed Peter’s blood-pressure boiled like the steamboat broiler in front of him – thinking negatively about the NOSEY ADULTS’ ‘INTERVENTION,’ again-and-again that would ‘soon’ be defeating his ‘marketing’ strategy for his comeback in the SHS final term…

… WHERE HE TOO was banned by Principal Harris from competing in the Boy’s category…

… but…

… he badly ‘needed’ this mixed-doubles gig, in this 3 month’s ban…

‘… Go! Gemini, Go…!!!’

... and, in post-Treeton reality, ‘where’ he believed IN HIS ‘COMEBACK’…

… he had ‘come’ close ‘before,’ to GET THE ‘DESIRED’ outcome of success– but it was until blind-school Janey ‘had’ sabotaged the match-point in the PFC-rematch, in the ‘other’ Perth.

Bella was chatting other conversation topics – but Peter wasn’t listening…

… he was quiet – nursing glass after glass of the sake rice wine while ruminating ploys of strategies of getting the school to ‘allow’ Bella, to be his mixed-doubles partner…

… while-he ‘was’ from the future – ‘knowing’ that there would be an ‘early’ mixed-double selection deadline, that would be ‘reoccurring’ soon…

… and, he would be ever-ready by then of ‘not’ missing out on the ‘golden’ opportunity, to seal his tennis comeback.