Decisions Ch. 12

FREDDY GREEN retired after six successful seasons of coaching for the Belcourt High School Minotaurs. Despite making a run for the State Football Championships with senior Viktor Sokolov at Running Back, the closest they ever got was to the Semi-Finals. Coach Freddy now resides in Lake Tahoe with his wife, where he has told his former players he expects to stay until the end of days. He is still visited by admirers, former players, and supporters.

GALEN ZASOR stayed on as Vice Principal of Belcourt. He later took on the job of Principal after ELMYRA FINCH formally decided to retire. Supposedly, he mellowed out as he got older. Despite becoming old with age, he has continuously told students that he has no plans to 'stop terrorizing the Belcourt school population and to call it a day' until he looks at the roster of new freshmen and sees a certain name on the list. To what that name is, that's anybody's guess but Galen's.

GIOVANNI SCALETTA continued to run Scaletta's for years until his health began failing him. He later retired and passed away, surrounded by his family. Over 1,000 Belcourt students showed up to his funeral, a testament to his character as a father figure for all of the youth at Belcourt.

JASMINE COUTU graduated from Belcourt and ended up attending UC San Diego after promising Ricardo Ortega to leave their relationship at a "to be continued". After graduating medical school, she committed to multiple tours with Doctors Without Borders, being sent to areas with a high proportion of nonhumans to humans. Later, she returned home to San Francisco after doing what she always dreamed about doing: helping people. She is now currently a doctor at the same hospital that directly accommodates nonhumans.

JASON WALKER was in and out of the California Justice System. Despite sympathies from the judge and jury after he threw the brick at the fateful party, he had the book thrown at him. He was later found hanging dead from his cell on his thirty fifth birthday.

JOSEPH BUTLER moved on from coaching at Belcourt High School after multiple successful seasons and now coaches for the Ohio State University Buckeyes Hockey program. However, even with the amenities, he has repetitively admitted to Belcourt administrators that Belcourt is and will always be his home.

JOSEPHINE DUQUETTE took the throne of the Vampire Royal Family when Queen Irina formally decided to abdicate. She is now currently the head of the entire United States Coven. Despite her busy lifestyle, she has always done her best go to Belcourt High School Hockey games, considering herself as a "fanatic Minotaur through and through".

KIRBY HART continues to run his fashion store in the Pacific Mall. His resilience to the larger department stores can still be attested to the popularity of his clothing among Belcourt students (especially around Prom season), as he is one of the few walk-in stores in the entire state of California that can directly accommodate to so many different species.

LUCY BOHANNON graduated Belcourt High School and later attended community college before transferring to University of California, Berkeley to study law on a scholarship fund created by the SAN FRANCISCO COVEN, awarding exemplary nonhuman students. After passing the California Bar Exam, the first arachne to do so in decades, she became a high-profile Civil Rights attorney on retainer for the COVEN, deadset on combating the DTOSA. She has expressed plans in private to her family and closest friends, that if the DTOSA is ever repealed, she would apply to become the next Law and Society teacher at Belcourt High School.

RICARDO ORTEGA graduated Belcourt High School and later attended Georgetown University on a basketball scholarship as a center. He was later selected to go 3rd overall in the NBA Draft as part of the Golden State Warriors, returning home to San Francisco. After a few years of dating, he eventually ended up marrying Jasmine Coutu, proclaiming that he'd "follow her to a riot anyday of the week". They're expecting their second child soon.

ROBERT AND SUSAN WILLIAMS retired from their businesses after 2025. They continue to support Belcourt High School and the local community as philanthropists with YULIA SOKOLOV and ANTONOV SOKOLOV. The Williams-Sokolov Family Shelter for the Homeless is expected to begin operations in 2030 in areas stricken with High-Nonhuman-Poverty. Despite encouragement to run for the school board by the community, they vehemently denied, saying that "having two children in politics is enough politics for them".

VIKTOR SOKOLOV continued to excel at both sports and academics during his tenure at Belcourt High School. After graduating, he retired from sports in general, citing that after "following my brother and hero my entire life" he wanted to "follow the woman he loved". He and ABIGAIL MCDONALD attended Boston and Northeastern University respectively, both studying Marine Biology. After college, they married and now currently run a Marine Conservation group with dreams of one day circumnavigating the globe in a boat. The boat would only be for Viktor, of course.

CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS AND ANASTASIA SOKOLOV graduated from Belcourt High School with honors and... well...

Take a look for yourself.

******

"If there's one thing you don't want to do, it's leave time on the clock for Chris Williams to drive his team down the field. All eyes on number fourteen, as he gets them back into Stanford Cardinals territory and looking to make UCLA history. Here we go, 24 seconds left. This is it! Barkley and Johnson to the right. Takes the snap, pump fake, looks, throws, and-..."

I shut the TV off, the brightly lit room becoming blanketed with unbearable silence. I didn't need to watch the replay to know how this game ended. It always ended with that pass to Johnson in the slant and a touchdown. It would never change.

So why did I keep watching it? Did I want to critique myself? Did I want to relive memories?

Too much thinking makes my brain hurt.

I hopped off the bed and walked to the door. It was actually quite nice to be able to actually... you know... navigate my room. I took pride in my room, unlike Cat. She required a compass to be able to find her way from the bed to her door. Some day, she was probably going to step on a thumbtack or nail and force herself to clean her room, but until then, she wasn't going to move a muscle. Not even if our mom ordered her to do it. She'd probably just toss everything under the bed or into the closet.

Out of sight, out of mind.

I opened the door to my room, walking down the hall. The house was suspiciously silent. It was as if the silence was a rubber tube, squeezing me from all sides.

"Mom?" I called out. "Dad? Heeeeellllooooo!? Anybody?"

I stopped in front of Cat's room, peeking in through the open door. Sure enough, her room looked as if a werebear had gone on a rampage inside. I squinted my eyes through the pitch-black darkness, the heavy curtains blocking out the rays of the sun.

"Cat?" I probed, looking in. "You in here? No? Okay."

Maybe they were in Dad's study.

I walked down the stairs of my house, whistling. Dad's study was my favorite part of the house. There were cases upon cases of books that I pored over. Dad always said I got that from Mom and I believed him. Mom always loved books. Finally, I arrived at the study and knocked. Hearing nothing, I simply barged right in.

"I'm hoooomm-... okay."

Empty. A smile lit up my face and a wave of giddy delight coursing through my veins like lightning. But, rather than do stuff a normal kid at my age should do, like invite girls (Girls? What girls? Well... there is one girl), have a party with friends (I doubt my friends even know what a party is), or break into the liquor cabinet (ew, alcohol. Yuck), I did what I wanted to do. I simply plopped myself down on my dad's comfortable spinny and rolly chair and put my feet up on his desk.

Say what you want, but Mom really knew how to decorate. Dad... not so much. Dad's study had minimalistic decor that was both spartan and appealing. The only thing that had a super amount of color to it was the New England Patriots poster (from yours truly) and the newspaper clippings that was tacked to a bulletin board on the wall. Some of the newspaper clippings were good journalism, some made me want to throw up. I set my feet down and walked up to get a better look, reading the one at the top:

PRIZED UCLA QUARTERBACK CHRIS WILLIAMS ANNOUNCES IMPENDING CHILD WITH FELLOW STUDENT VAMPIRE ANNIE SOKOLOV. HUMAN SUPREMACISTS IN AN UPROAR OVER INTERSPECIES BREEDING.

Huh.

Like this one. This one made me want to throw up. Breeding? Yuck.

Not only that, but a couple of people were in an uproar over something that had absolutely nothing to do with them?!

Who woulda' thunk?

All the other newspaper clippings were nearly the same, except some of them were actually really cool, like the one that showed Uncle Ricky getting selected in the NBA Draft (no he wasn't my actual uncle. Cat and I just got to call him that) or the one that had Belcourt High School winning their first football game. Of course, the picture that accompanied it made me want to throw up or die of embarrassment.

Or... you know, maybe get excited? Given my luck with girls, maybe if I won a couple of football games, I'd get to kiss someone, right?

I tore my eyes away from the newspaper clippings and walked across the study towards the bookshelves. The thing I loved about the study was, there were just so many books. Despite the antiqueness of actual books, there was something attractive about holding paper in your hands. I spent much more time in here in the corner reading while Mom and Dad worked on stuff for the Coven than I should've spent being productive, like hanging out with Lily.

"That's new." I mused, pulling out the thick leather tome from the bookcase. It was a photo album, tall and black. On the front, in gold letters, were the words:

"Be happy. For this moment is your life." I read aloud, turning the cover. "Hah. Mom."

It was mom's book. How did I know? Well there were sticky notes tacked to every page, describing the photos in the photo album. Sticky notes were totally mom's thing. She always left notes for me to find, including in my lunch bag and laundry. They ranged from simple "I love you's" to words of encouragement.

Don't tell her I said this, but I actually looked forward to seeing the notes every day. They meant alot to me...

And to dad too. You don't want to know how many times I accidentally found mom's notes for him. They were so mushy... and mom hid them in such creative spots! Dad and I found one behind the refrigerator! The refrigerator! Dad always got so happy when he found them. He'd read it, smile really hard, and give it a quick kiss before putting it in his pocket.

Oh, right... the book. I should be talking about the book. Sorry, you don't want to hear about my dad. You've probably heard enough about him at this point.

I flipped through the book, examining the pictures inside. It was like any other picture book except this one, instead of having the embarrassing baby pictures, actually had the cool stuff inside of it! Like the picture of Mom and Aunt Lucy at the Capitol Building, or Babushka and Grandma crying at Mom and Dad's wedding.

Even though the book looked new, there were still plenty of pictures. There was Lilith and I hanging out on the playground and even Mom, Dad, Uncle Ricky, Aunt Lucy, and Aunt Jazz getting their picture placed on the wall of Scaletta's. Even after they were inducted in the Belcourt Hall of Fame, mom and dad said that was still their most crowning achievement in his life.

Next to having Cat and I of, course.

"Robert?" A voice announced, muffled through the door of the study. "Robert, are you in here?!"

Oh. Shit!

I immediately closed the book, throwing it back in the shelf haphazardly. Right as I managed to squeeze the book into the space, the door opened and Cat looked in. Even though we were twins, we looked nothing alike. Cat looked a bit like Mom, but instead of Mom's black hair, she had Dad's brown hair and brown eyes. From the looks of her fangs and pale skin, she also inherited Mom's vampirism.

"Found him!" She cried. "What are you doing in here, Rob?"

"I was... um... studying film! For football!" I lied.

"Liar. You do that in your room. What were you really doing?" She asked suspiciously.

I was thinking of some way to support my lie right when Mom and Dad decided to show up. As always, they were holding hands. "Hey, kiddo!" Dad said. "What were you doing in the study?"

"Film review," Cat snickered.

"You have a TV in your study?" Mom asked, looking at Dad. "How come you never told me?"

"I don't," Dad said, looking at me suspiciously. "You were studying film? In here?"

"Ye-... no," I said deflated. "I was just... I was looking around for you guys. Where'd you guys even go?"

"We went to drop something off at Lilith's house. You know, your girlfriend," Cat sang.

"She's not my girlfriend!" I said, my face reddening.

"Yes, she is dork!" She snickered.

"Twerp!" I retorted.

"Dweeb!" She shouted.

"Gnat!" I yelled.

"Kozel!" She cried.

"Oi! That's enough," My mom said sternly, shutting us up in an instant. "Cat, you know better than to call him that. Besides, I don't think Lilith will appreciate you calling her boyfriend a-..."

"Moooooooooooooom!" I complained as Cat cackled hysterically.

"Just kidding, zaichik." My mom laughed.

"Leave my son alone," My dad said, letting go of my mom's hand to cross the room. "So you were looking around, huh? Did you find anything cool in my secret laboratory?"

"Well... no, not really. I mean... I found that picture book." I admitted, pointing to the leather-bound book that I had haphazardly tossed into the shelf.

"The picture book? Oh, this thing?" Dad asked, picking it up and opening it up, sifting through it. "Did you find anything of note?"

"Well, no. Not really." I confessed.

"Hear that, Stasi? He didn't find anything." Dad laughed.

"Oh, you can make the book next time," Mom retorted.

"I think I will."

"Dad," I blurted.

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"How did you and Mom meet?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"How did you and Mom meet?" I repeated. "You know, I'm just wondering because the D-Toss said that nonhumans and humans had to be seper-..."

"Kiddo," Dad interjected. "In a few more months, the DTOSA isn't even going to matter."

"I know, Dad. I just wanted to know how you met Mom. Because from what I learned in history, things were rougher for nonhumans back then and I was just wondering how you and Mom met and fell in love is all."

"I want to know too!" Cat added.

"Maybe we should tell them another time," Mom said. "It's a long story."

"We have time!" I argued. "Lots of time! I'm on Summer Break!"

"We're on Summer break, dolt." Cat corrected.

"What she said!"

"Yes, you may be on Summer Break, but we have to get you two registered for classes at Belcourt." Dad said.

"Come on! Just tell us! Pleeeease!"

"Alright, alright. Fine." Dad laughed. "It all started in Kindergarten when this beautiful young lady who's your mother here sat down in front of me and asked to play with Mega Bloks."

"It was Lego's," Mom corrected. "And if you bring that blasphemy in this house again, you're sleeping on the couch."

"Yes, sorry dear." Dad laughed. "Anyways, we just became close friends, like how you and Lilith are, Rob, and things just snowballed until I had to make a decision for my future. Your mom couldn't stay at the school we were in since the D-Toss was making her go to Belcourt. I didn't want to be away from her, so I decided to transfer. Then we just fell in love."

"That's so romantic. Why can't you be romantic with Lilith?" Cat accused.

"She's not my girlfriend!" I cried. "I have no reason to be romantic with her."

"You two can argue about that later. I need you two to change so we can go to Belcourt and get you registered. Those AP and Honors classes fill up quick and if you want to get into Mr. Coppergut's Pre Calc Class, you'd hurry," Mom urged, clapping her hands. "Come on. Let's go. Ili my opozdayem."

"Okay Mom," We said dutily, filing out the room.

"Can you stop Russian my kids, woman?" Dad laughed. "I'm trying to tell them the story of how they came into this world."

"And they can hear about that another time," Mom giggled. "I've waited so many years to see Mr. Zasor's face when he sees Rob and Cat. I'm not waiting a second longer, lyu-.."

We closed the door.

We didn't leave though. We stuck around and placed our ears next to the lock, hearing what was going on inside.

******

I watched the two of them leave the study with a smile on my face. Suddenly, I felt two cold arms wrap around my torso.

"What are you thinking about, Mr. Governor of California?" Stasi asked.

"Nothing." I replied, looking down at the picture book that Robert pulled out. "I didn't even win the election yet, so I don't know why you're calling me that."

"Liar," She whispered alluringly, sending shivers down my spine. "You've got it in the bag. Did you see the polls?"

"I haven't seen the polls, but fine. You got me. I'm just... I was thinking about how I'm the luckiest man in the world to have Robert, to have Catherine, and to have you. You guys make me so happy."

Stasi placed her hand on my cheek, turning my face so I could give her a soft kiss on the lips. "We're lucky to have you, zaichik. Now come on, let's not keep the kids waiting."

"Yeah." I said as she unwrapped her arms from around my torso and made for the door. She waited for me as I examined the picture book one last time. I flipped through it, looking at the small highlights of my li-.. No, our life. It was our life.

The book gave off a thud as I closed it.

You know, I gave you the dots... well, some of them.

How you connect them is up to you.

I'd explain it fully, but I had a family to be with. Maybe one day, you'll get to hear some more... but I don't want to bore you.

I stepped out from around my desk and interlocked my fingers with my best friend's, my wife's, cold one as we stepped out of my study and into the world, together.

"Hey, Stasi?" I asked.

"Yes, lyubov?"

"I love you."

"I love you too. Always have?"

"Always will."

The End...?

In the words of Porky Pig, Th-Th-That's all, folks! Or is it? Bahahahahaha!

I write for you guys so you guys can enjoy my stories! Leave a comment, shoot some feedback! Send an email to my profile. I love it when you guys talk to me! It can be about my story, sports, or life! Don't be shy, send a reply... if that makes any sense.

Thanks for reading. :)