"Remember, come back home early, just don't do or say anything stupid, you already caused me enough trouble!"
As he walks towards Oliver's house, Alex keeps thinking about what his father told him this morning. But Alex didn't get the memo. He still didn't understand why him pretending to be a Psycian is bad in this situation, but he prefers not to think about it and just wanted to enjoy the party.
"I wonder what food Oliver's mother prepared for this party." Alex thought. "Burger? Cheese Burger? I can't wait!"
Alex walked up to Oliver's house and knocked on the wooden door. Suddenly, someone put their hands on Alex's shoulder from behind. Alex jolted forward in fright and turned back to confront the person that touched him. When he turned back around, he saw a demon, with blue skin and a pair of giant tusks staring back at him. When Alex saw this, he immediately knew what is going on and knocked the mask hard with his book, causing the person wearing it to walk back a few steps.
"Seriously?" Alex said with an annoyed tone. "This again? Oliver?"
"Haha, Awh man, I didn't get you this time," Liam said as he took off the mask while giggling. "I guess I owe Oliver that one."
"Oh, it's you, I didn't expect that. Where did you get that mask?"
"Oliver gave me one, but seem like it's useless now since it doesn't scare you anymore."
"Not fair! He gave you one but not me? Also, why are you saying it like the only use for a mask is to scare me."
"Because it is," Liam responded. "And even if Oliver gave you one, I don't you would get any use from it."
"You're so mean!" Alex said while he nudged Liam on the shoulder while he laughed at Alex's reaction.
Suddenly, Oliver opened the door behind Alex and poke his head out to see what's going on.
"Did you get him, Liam?" Oliver asked with a smug look on his face. "If you didn't you owe me 5 Petals."
"Have you been watching the entire time?" Alex asked. "And why are you guys using me to gamble money?"
"Because you're the easiest one to scare. Also, it's not gambling, it's betting."
"Aren't they the same thing?"
"Yeah sure Alex, Did you get him or not Liam?"
"No," Liam said with a disappointed tone. "I didn't get him."
"Guess who's getting 5 petals tonight, Alex!" Oliver bragged with a sarcastic tone. "Guess who? Guess who?"
Alex stared at Oliver with an annoyed expression, he didn't say anything, he just stared at him disappointedly.
"Shut up Oliver," Liam said. "I'll give you the money by tomorrow."
"Are you going to let us in or not?" Alex asked.
"Haha." Oliver chuckled. "Oh right, come in."
As Alex and Liam walk into Oliver's house, the sound of cheering and laughing got louder. Alex could smell the aroma of delightful meals being cooked upon entering the house. He got even more excited as he imagined the delicious food that was being cooked.
"Did your parent's come, Liam?" Alex asked.
"Nah, they're busy." Liam sighed. "A lot of adults have overtime on Friday. So it's only me."
As they walked past the living room, they could see the adults drinking in the dining room, they cheered and laughed as they clinked their glasses of beer. Alex and Liam squeezed their nose as the odour of alcohol in this room is heavy and making them want to puke.
"Drink up boys!" Erwine said while being drunk. "It's all on me! This old man just got himself a promotion!"
"YEAH!" Everyone cheered as they chugged down another cup of beer.
"Mom! Alex is here!" Oliver called.
A woman walked out of the kitchen and walked towards Oliver with a big smile.
"Oh, that's everyone, right? Oliver?"
"Yes mom, everyone is here," Oliver said. "Alex just came."
"Hello, aunty!" Alex greeted.
"Hello, Alex! You can just call me aunty Carla."
"Aunty Carla! Are we starting soon?"
"Yes! We are, are you excited?"
"Yes!"
"Wow," Liam whispered to Oliver. "Alex is really excited."
"Yeah. He is." Oliver whispered back. "Maybe because this is the first time he had ever been to a party."
As Carla guided them to their seats, Erwine, who is drinking at the time, noticed Alex and remembered that he wanted to ask Alex something, he stood up and walked towards him.
"Hey Alex," Said Erwine as he puts his arm on Alex's shoulder while holding a bottle of alcohol. "How's it's going between your dad and you?"
"Dad," Oliver said. "Where did that come from?"
"Just the usuals, he ignores me most of the time and focuses on work," Alex said. "But I know he loves me, he's just busy and tired!"
"Your dad does that?" Liam asked as he's worried about Alex and his dad's relationship. "Are you okay? Does he, beat you or something?"
"No! What are you talking about? He would never beat me, quite the opposite actually, he doesn't like to touch me."
Erwine's let out a sigh of relief when he heard Alex said that. At least he now knows that Alex's is safe, and Lance isn't doing anything abusive to him.
"Sir?" Alex asked. "Why do you look so relieved?"
"It's nothing."
Suddenly, someone opened the front door. A girl with dark purple hair walked into the house. She adjusted her glasses as she walked into the dining room.
"Dad, I'm home."
"You're late, you should have come back earlier. You know we have a dinner party today."
"Sorry, my experiment went wrong today," Elixia said exhaustedly. "So I spent a bit of time cleaning up the mess."
"Don't worry about it, just go shower and change your clothes. The food is almost ready." Erwine said while taking another sip of his drink.
Elixia nodded in responses and went upstairs. Oliver suddenly remembered something that he wanted to show Alex and Liam.
"Hey Alex, Liam. Do you want to see something cool?"
"Is it magic?" Alex asked with excitement in his eyes. "What else is cool other than magic?"
"What? No!" Oliver said. "I learned this cool experiment from my sister!"
"What kind of experiments?" Liam gasped. "Is it something related to science?"
"Bingo! The experiment is in my room. Let's all go and see."
"Really?" Alex said with an unimpressed and disappointed tone. "Magic is way cooler than science."
"Alex," Erwine said gently. "Magic isn't real, didn't your dad tell you that?"
"But, but. This fairy tale says otherwise." Alex ranted while picking up his favourite fairy tale and flipping through it. "The character in these books are always using magic to fight."
"You seriously brought your fairy tale all the way here?" Liam said. "Magic isn't real in this world Alex, that's what my dad and other adults told me. It's just a fairy tale."
"Alex," Erwine said while putting his hand on Alex's shoulder. "When you grow older, you need to learn what is real and what is fake, magics aren't real."
Alex wanted to deny Erwine's statement, he believes that magic is real and it exists. As he was about to speak, he remembers what his dad told him this morning.
"Remember, come back home early, just don't do or say anything stupid, you already caused me enough trouble!"
At this moment, he decided not to talk back and just pretended that he understands.
"Okay, Uncle Erwine. I understand."
"I'm glad you understand."
"Oi, Alex. You wanna see this experiment or not?" Oliver while walking up the stairs with Liam. "Come here, you slowpoke."
"Yeah, yeah I'm coming! Geez."
"Dad, I'm gonna show my friends the experiments I've been working on!"
"Don't go overboard, be careful," Erwine said. "Also if you wanna do it, do it quick. The dinner is almost ready."
"Yeah, yeah okay dad."
Oliver guided Liam and Alex to his room as they ran up the stairs. Oliver seems to be very excited to show his friends the experiment he prepared.
"Sooo-, what kind of experiment are we talking about?" Alex asked.
"You'll see~."
"Which chapter does it teach you about this experiment then?" Liam
"It's not even in our current textbook," Oliver said with a smug grin on his face. "I manage to get my hands on my sister's textbook and I absorbed the knowledge like sponge absorbed water."
"Really? Did you study this hard? It's still summer break!" Alex said. "I rather read my fairy tale all day."
"You really are obsessed with that book huh?" Liam stressed. "How many times have you read it, why do you even like the book so much?"
"It's because the world is so unique, and the villain is so likeable, I want to be him!"
"Normally the villain is someone you should avoid becoming," Oliver said as he opened the door to his room. "Anyways, check this out!"
When Oliver opened the door, Alex and Liam got a glimpse of his room. His room is messy with books and paper everywhere on the floor. Piles of unclean clothes sit on top of Oliver's bed.
"Wow Oliver, does your mother not care how messy your rooms are?" Liam gasped. "What's with all these books and clothes? Don't you have a bookshelf?"
"Hehehe..." Oliver said embarrassingly. "I often get too carried away when I do stuff."
"Ugh, are these all dirty clothes that are on your bed?" Alex asked as he picks up a sock with disgust, he noticed a book that was hidden in the pile of clothes and picked it up without looking at the cover. "Why is this book in your pile of clothes?"
Oliver quickly snatches the book and grabs the giant pile of clothes on his bed, then proceeds to shove them all into a wooden basket. His face is as red as a tomato as he's embarrassed that his friends saw his true colour. Liam tried to break the ice as he didn't really understand what is going on.
"Anyways, where the experiment that you're talking about?"
"Ah right, it's this thing," Oliver said excitedly as he regains his courage and walked toward his desk.
On Oliver's desk, sits a strange cone-shaped object covered by a piece of cloth. Oliver confidently takes the cover off, revealing a small volcano model.
"Woah." Alex gasped. "You made this model yourself?"
"Yeah I did, pretty easy though, I just used some paper and paint to make it."
"But what are we gonna use this for?" Liam asked.
"For eruption of course!" Oliver said while grabbing two cups with a strange liquid and substance inside them.
"What is the liquid inside this cup?" Alex asked curiously.
"Oh, now you're interested? It's just hot water with some vinegar, and this cup is filled with some baking soda. Would you like to hear the explanation of the chemical reaction?"
"Uhh..." Alex hesitated. "Sure?"
"Why did you hesitate?"
"Honestly, I'm not interested in learning how it works, I just want to see what happens."
"Ah, typical Alex," Oliver said as he poured the vinegar mixture into the volcano.
"So, what's next?" Liam asked while peeking into the volcano mode. "Lemme guess, is it the baking soda?
"Yes, When I put this baking powder in, it's going to react with the vinegar that's in the volcano by producing carbon dioxide," Oliver explained excitedly. "And it will build up pressure and gas bubble will fly out of this volcano model."
"Cool," Alex said while pretending that he already knows all that. "I obviously knew all that. I'm just wasn't sure.
"Yeah, sureeee."
Liam looked in the cup that has baking soda in it, the texture looks a bit off and it's not in the form of a powder, like most baking soda. Instead, it has a strange crystal shape on it.
"Are you sure this is baking soda?" Liam asked nervously. "It doesn't look like it is."
"When I stole-, I mean, borrowed this from my sister, it's labelled as baking soda. So I'm sure it is." Oliver answered confidently.
As Oliver poured the cup of baking soda into the volcano, his sister Exilia walked into the room.
"Oi Oliver, have you seen my- What the hell are you doing?"
"What?"
Elixia immediately recognized the substance that Oliver is holding and immediately rushed towards him to try to stop him. But he already poured the substance into the volcano and Elixia panicked.
"What are you doing?! Where did you get that-"
Suddenly, the volcano model exploded because it couldn't handle the pressure of the reaction within it. Pieces of the model flew everywhere and bubbles flowed across the table. Fortunately, all the pieces didn't hit anyone and they were all uninjured. The pressure and speed of the pieces were so high that they pierced deep into the wooden floorboards. The odour of vinegar filled the room as they all took deep breaths. Every guest in the dining room noticed the commotion upstairs and got worried.
"What was that?!"
"Hey, it's there an explosion upstairs or am I just high as hell?"
Carla walks out of the kitchen while being very concerned about what happened. She walked towards Erwine and asked him if he knows what happened.
"What happened? Where's Oliver and the others?"
"The boys are upstairs," Erwine responded. "He said he wanted to show his friends something."
"What?" Carla shrieked. "Let's go now!"
Carla and Erwine quickly ran upstairs to check what happened, while the other guest just stayed in the dining room waiting for them to come back.
Carla and Erwine rushed in and saw the mess that is Oliver's room. White liquid and bubble flowed everywhere across the table and on the floor, pieces of the volcano flew everywhere. Alex fell with shock and fright as a piece of the volcano almost hit him just now.
"Elixia, what happened?"
"Oliver messed something up with his volcano experiment," Elixia said while adjusting her glasses and wiping the bubbles off her clothes. "He poured Carnated baking soda instead of the normal kind, which caused it to explode."
Carla quickly rushes over Oliver, Liam and Alex to see if they were injured. She let out of sigh of relief when she noticed that they were fine.
"Oliver, why do you have something this reactive?" Erwine asked while being extremely worried. "I'm not mad at you, but what if you and your friends got hurt?"
"I...I" Oliver muttered while still trying to calm down from that situation. "I took it from sister's lab, I thought that it was baking soda."
Liam noticed that Alex's is still frightened by the small explosion, and decides to go calm him down.
"Alex? Are you okay?"
"I'm...I'm fine," Alex said while taking a deep breath to try to calm down. "I'm okay now. Thanks, Liam."
"Why didn't you ask me, when you took it, Oliver?" Elixia sighed. "Didn't dad told us that we should always ask before we take things from others?"
"I forgot," Oliver said while trying to avoid eye contact because he's too embarrassed by his actions. "Sorry. I was so excited when you taught me about this volcano experiment, I wanted to show them to my friends so much that I forgot to ask, and so I mistook baking soda with Carnated baking soda."
"Actually, what's the difference between Carnated baking soda and normal baking soda?" Alex asked curiously. "Is there like, a special meaning to it?"
"Carnated is just a scientific term that means greatly enhanced or highly unstable," Elixia explained. "I don't know why they bothered to give it a fancy-sounding name though."
"Speaking of which, who are you? Why do you have access to all this dangerously reactive stuff?"
"I'm just a chemistry high school student," Elixia said. "My school provides me with all these ingredients for experiments. Now I have to find something else to replace the Carnated baking soda that Oliver wasted-."
"You're a high school student?" Liam said excitedly. "Oliver! Your sister is cooler than I thought!"
"Err. What?" Oliver said while scratching his head, as he doesn't know how to respond.
"High school is so cool! I've heard that you could choose any subject you want to learn! Is it true?"
Elixia seemed surprised by Liam's reaction since she has never seen any kid excited about school. Even if Oliver is interested in science, he was never interested in school.
"Yes, you do choose what you like to learn," Elixia responded. "But it's a tad bit early for you to get excited about it."
"Wow. That came out of nowhere." Alex said. "Never knew that Liam is interested in being a high school student."
"Haha." Erwine laughed while patting Liam's head. "It's nice to see kids like you so eager to learn. But you still have a long way to go."
"Are we still going to eat?" Alex said as his stomach is growling. "I'm starving."
"Oh my," Carla said. "I've almost forgotten, give me a few more minute and we can start! Let's all go downstairs and wait."
"Yay! Finally!" Alex cheered.
"Wh-What about this?" Oliver said while pointing at his messy room. "Aren't we going to clean this up?"
"We can do it later after dinner," Elixia said staring at Oliver. "And we're going to have a long talk."
Oliver took a deep breath when he heard his dad said that, he doesn't feel good about it.