Just a heads up for anyone that was following along in the comment sections when I was originally posting, I’m updatingrevising somethings, and even adding a chapter or two as I go. I’ll denote what’s updated and what’s actually new as I go, but wanted to make sure anyone that’s waiting for new content is aware. thank you!
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Mrs. Hale and Joey finished setting the table, making sure each seat had a plate, silverware, and napkin. The two of them made idel chichat as they went, with Mrs. Hale asking Joey about how schools doing, his brother, and expressing remorse that another infamous Calhoun fight landed Joey at the Hale’s home.
“I just don’t understand sweetie. You’ve never caused any trouble here” glumly spoke Mrs. Hale as they finished up with the table and Joey followed her into the kitchen.
“What’s to understand, Mrs. Hale” Joey bitterly replied, “my parents and I just don’t see eye to eye on anything these days and…well…it gets to be a little too much.”
Mrs. Hale started to toss a salad for dinner as she responded, “I know Joey. My brother used to be the one to stand up for the both of us when I was your age. Granted, he did it to stop them from going after me, but still, I understand what you’re going through. I just don’t understand it is all…” she finished with a huff as she grabbed the salad bowl. “Do you want to talk about it? I’m always happy to lend an ear when needed, you know”
Joey grabbed the casserole dish filled with lasagna and gave her a small smile. “I appreciate it Mrs. Hale but…I’m fine…It was just…” Joey hesitates a moment, choosing his words carefully, “It was another disagreement about Littles and Generitech, is all. Nothing too major.”
The hesitation in his response didn’t go unheard by Mrs. Hale, as she pursed her lips considering whether or not to push the subject. Ultimately, though, she opted not to do so. Underbreds weren’t something she knew too much about or even cared to learn about, so discussing them with Joey wasn’t something she was too interested in pursuing. Plus, this was a pretty common occurrence and normally Roni had things covered before either herself or Mr. Hale needed to be involved. While she didn’t understand his interest in Underbreds or Generitech, Mrs. Hale did know that Joey was a pretty passionate advocate for their autonomy and knew that his parents were, less inclined to say the least. Not that Mrs. Hale could say she was more invested in underbreds, she just didn’t really pay them any attention. Her reasoning is if something were of that great importance, the news would be talking about it in some capacity, but it seldom was ever brought up unless a Smallara case increase needed to be disclosed. So long as her family was safe, Mrs. Hale was okay.
Coming back to the matter at hand, Mrs. Hale followed Joey back into the dining room to put both dishes on the center of the table. Once she was satisfied that everything was where it needed to be on the table, Mrs. Hale took a deep breath and loudly called out, “DINNER’S READY!”startling Joey as, even though he’s eaten meals with the Hale family in the past, he was never ready for when the mild-mannered housewife would raise her voice.
Roni still sat on the couch engrossed in her phone when her mothers voice rang out. The two younger Hale sisters excitedly ran down the stairs and into the dining room, and Mr. Hale rose from his seat to do so, but frowned as he saw his eldest daughter still on her phone.
“Come on, Roni. Dinner’s ready. You don’t want to upset your mother, do you” Mr. Hale chided.
“Hmm? oh..uh yeah, sorry daddy..” apologized Roni as she took one last look at her phone and allowed a small smile to form on her face. Mr. Hale, similar to Joey, was a little curious as to what she was doing this whole time, and decides to push the subject. “You’ve been really sucked into that gadget of your, Roni…what have you been doing this whole time?
“Oh uh…group science project, daddy. I’m trying to coordinate when we can meet up and stuff…” Roni said dismissively as she stood up and made her way to the dining room.
Between this response and her deflection from earlier, Mr. Hale was beginning to highly suspect something was going on that was much worse than the normal arguments Joey had with his parents. He rubbed one of his temples as he tried to think what Joey could have done that was worse in the eyes of the Calhouns than normal as he made his way into the dining room and took his seat.
Once everyone settled at the table, Joey, seated between Ciara and Sandi, immediately fell into his usual rhythm, joking with the girls.
“I bet I can finish all my veggies before you!” Ciara challenged, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
Joey smirked, pretending to prepare for battle. “Oh, you’re on, CiCi!”
Sandi rolled her eyes, smiling at their playful exchange. “You two are such kids,” she teased as Joey dramatically slowed down his eating, letting Ciara win.
“You’re getting slow, JoJo!” Ciara declared victoriously, raising her fork in triumph.
Joey laughed, leaning back in his chair. “I’ll get you next time.”
Across the table, Roni quietly observed, sneaking glances at Joey. Noticing her stare, Joey raised an eyebrow. “You good, Roni?”
“I’m fine,” she replied quickly, though she seemed lost in thought. Joey, none the wiser, simply shrugged it off and went back to eating and playing with Sandi and Ciara. Roni couldn’t help but smile, especially with her plans being so close to completion without Joey having a clue. She knew he would protest and fight the whole way through if she told him outright, but with everything put in place already, all she needed to do was discuss it with her parents. “It’s for his own good,” thought Roni, seeing Joey make a goofy face at Ciara that even made her dad chuckle. “He doesn’t deserve to be shipped off to some random person. He deserves to be with people that love him and he loves, and this is the only way to do it now.”
Dinner lasted about another half an hour, the group all enjoying their meal and company. Once Ciara and Sandi were finished, they were allowed to go about their evening while they waited for dessert. Mr. and Mrs. Hale were next to finish, but as they began to stand up to gather their plates, Joey cleared his throat.
“Uh…Mr. And Mrs. Hale? I uh…was wondering if you guys could wait a moment…there’s something important I need to tell you.” said Joey, his voice a mixture of nervousness and sadness as the two parents exchanged looks before sitting down.
Roni immediately froze and looked at Joey, her eyes wide with surprise, knowing what he was about to reveal to her mom and dad. “Joey…wait, you don’t have–” began Roni before Joey looked at her.
“Roni, they’re going to know eventually. I should be the one to say it, plus,” Joey paused, “I left out an important detail that might affect whether or not I can stay over.” He concluded before looking at her parents and pulling out his envelope. “I just found out that I’m… not immune to Smallara. Eventually, I’ll become a little.”
it’s done finally!
apprciate you reading this! I’m hoping to sprinkle in some new chapters and more robust ones as I get closer to where I was at in the comment sections. THere’s just things that need to be elaborated on a bit or put into their own chapter due to how anti-climatic they felt to me. Like basically 90% of this chapters original content being put into a new chapter and I’m hoping it’s more impactful
1) “It gets to be a little too much.” Or he’s to much a little.
2) “My brother used to be the one to stand up for the both of us when I was your age. Granted, he did it to stop them from going after me” Was Mrs Hale abused?
3) Mrs Hale’s logic “If underbreds were important, they’d be on the news” Sure, not like there are market forces trying to keep certain news from spreading.
4) “So long as her family was safe, Mrs Hale was okay” Joey’s position in that family is about to be put to the test
5) “I bet I can finish all my veggies before you!” Genuine technique I’ve used to make my godson eat his veggies.
6) “It’s for his own good,” Never heard a human use that one on a little before.
7.1) Oh the big reveal, such a nerve-wracking scene,
7.2) And you use it as a cliffhanger, such a clever storyteller you are.
1) lol
2) yes, though not extremely. Her mom and dad worked a lot and her brother was more of the care taker. I wouldn’t say her parents didn’t love her, but at the same time if she wasn’t doing what they expected her to do while they were working, it’d result in some pretty harsh punishments. Her brother usually took the brunt of it on her behalf, but it’s mainly why she’s more mild mannered. I actually loosely based her on my own mom lol except I wouldn’t call my mom mild mannered. She’s told me a few stories about some pretty insane things, which were wild cause I don’t ever see my grandparents as the kind of people to do some of the stuff she’s described.
3) that’ll probably be the most personal commentary I provide in the United States mainstream news networks, cause I 100% agree that there are a lot of external forces in modern news networks that influence how they present information for the general public, and the smallara universe is definitely subject to that. I find it irritating in real life, especially when there are those in the news that just blatantly lie or stretch something extremely thin to justify someone else’s actions.
4) very much so lol I’m glad I’m reworking things
5) I do similar things for my nephew lol
6) yeah, that’s a fair point. I’d say the main difference in this situation is that Roni doesn’t see him as a underbred in a glass form or anything like that, she just sees joey. She’d do similar things if she felt he needed it. I’d even say she’d yell at his own baseball coaches directly about forcing him to play through certain injuries, like taking a fastball to the leg or something, where Joey would probably just try and suck it up and keep going. Not that he wouldn’t understand that he shouldn’t push himself, just would think saying something about it is pointless.
7.1, 7.2) this chapter was originally supposed to be about the reveal, but.i wanted to set it up better and try to expand on it a bit more. I think doing it this way will help the next chapter or two from a plot development standpoint
Are you posting the next chapter soon. Will we see also Roni’s family reaction to the big news?
Works been pretty crazy but I’ll try to have it done today if not then tomorrow