Chapters
- The Young Lady Ai (Finished September 4, 2025 6 PM EST)
- A Broken Cliché (Finished September 4, 2025 6 PM EST)
- The Agreement (Finished September 5, 2025 7:30 PM EST)
Note: The character G-Zelle has been renamed to MissGvious, on account of that name being in use by someone on Instagram. Oddly enough, MissGvious fits a lot better with the character development and current direction of the character.
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I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.
"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."
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ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
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Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.
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Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
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The Butterfly Dragon - Heroes of our Own: Reimagined
by Brian Joseph Johns
Episode Two: Ai Yuanlin Ying
The Young Lady Ai
Sixteen Years Ago
North York High School
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
She held her books against her chest, hugging them protectively and looking very feminine in the process as a fourteen year old girl.
A natural cherry red smile adorned her lips, both of which were modest, thin and absent of cosmetics. Her tiny nose was perched just above her mouth, with ever so slightly an arch in the center before connecting with the shapely bridge between her eye brows.
A pair of thick framed glasses rested on her face, protecting a pair of wonderfully attractive almond eyes, both of which held the mystery of her innocence and intelligence.
She wore a pair of casually fitting blue jeans, loose enough to be comfortable while tight enough to remain on her thin body. A red turtle neck top clung closely to her pale skin, beneath which her athletic muscular tone remained concealed, giving both contrast and colour to her rosy appearance as she walked the halls of North York High School in search of her first class.
She spied the numbers above the doors, pausing once to peer at a note she'd taped to one of her books. She squinted at it, trying to read it and then out of frustration, lifted her glasses and the fog of her blurry vision revealed the number as being one zero two. She replaced her glasses and the fog of blurriness returned, hiding from her the blonde haired girl standing just outside of her intended classroom goal.
The girl with the glasses and the turtle neck shirt, bumped into the blonde haired girl with a thud, as their foreheads collided.
The blonde haired girl reached up for her head, rubbing it profusely, while the girl who'd bumped into her did the same, removing her glasses long enough to get a glimpse of the girl with whom she'd just collided.
"Walk much?" asked the blonde haired girl of her, still rubbing her forehead.
"Often. However, I'd suggest that you look into future career plans of being a door, because you're clearly very good at it, and very obviously possess the intellect of one," the girl responded to the blonde haired girl with a slightly thick Southeast Asian accent.
"No offense, but I'd say that you're suffering from culture shock. Do doors make a good living where you're from?" asked the blonde haired girl with a smile on her face.
"No. Which is exactly why I'm here. I understand that the door program in this country is one of the best in the world?" the girl with the glasses responded, saving face for both of them and diffusing a potentially difficult situation.
"I'd have to say that I agree, but most graduates receive a complimentary crash helmet during their graduation. I'm still only part of the way through the first year program. I'm Alicia Westin," Alicia held out her hand to the girl with the glasses.
"Nice to meet you Alicia Westin. I'm Ai Yuanlin Ying, but you can call me Helayne. Helayne Ying," Helayne smiled at Alicia, accepting her hand and shaking it as was the customary introduction.
"You're from...?" Alicia asked Helayne.
"My parents. I'm from my parents, who are both from China," Helayne replied, adjusting her glasses.
"So I take it that math is your first class?" Alicia responded to Helayne.
"Why do you say?" asked Helayne.
"Because that's what this class is, and its my home room class too. One of my favourites," Alicia replied to Helayne as another girl arrived, she too Chinese much like Helayne.
"Alicia! How'd you do on yesterday's test?" asked Zheng, reaching into her backpack and pulling forth a graded paper from within.
"A minus. I got every question right except that calculus one on the Taylor series. Gets me every time," Alicia shrugged, accepting Zheng's graded test.
"A plus? So I take it that you're giving up on your home economics class and aiming for the rock star lifestyle of a mathematician, are you?" joked Alicia, as Helayne fidgeted rather nervously.
"Ha! You're too funny Alicia. Who's your friend?" asked Zheng.
"I'm Ai Yuanlin Ying, but you can call me Helayne," Helayne responded to Zheng.
"Great! Another genius I'm guessing? I'm Zheng Ni Wong, but don't let that fool you. I'm actually closer to a B plus. I just got lucky this time. Alicia, you want to see a trick I know for removing a few steps when factoring for the Taylor series?" Zheng offered Alicia, who stepped through the front door of the class, leading Zheng and Helayne over to their corner.
"Tailor series? You mean like a fashion tailor?" asked Helayne of them, her face suddenly perking up with an excited smile.
"No. Its a means of deriving initial conditions from curves, especially determining the tangent. You know... calculus?" Zheng explained to Helayne, who nodded in all the right places, while her smile slowly lost its curvature on its way to becoming a confused frown.
"Oh. Yes. Of course. I know," Helayne nodded, smiling politely as the frown lines on her forehead grew.
Alicia and Zheng took a pair of desks neighbouring each other, while Helayne took the desk just behind them and to the right.
A tall muscular girl stepped over to Helayne's desk, placing her books on it and folding her arms across her chest.
"You're in my desk!" the girl looked at her intensely.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize that this was a bring your own desk class!" Helayne responded sarcastically, purposely thickening her Chinese accent and drawing laughter from a few of the students in neighbouring desks.
"Are you some kind of smart Alice or something?" the girl leaned over and got in Helayne's face.
"Me? No. I'm not smart Alice. She's smart Alice. I'm humble Ai Yuanlin Ying," Helayne returned a smile to the girl, seemingly unintimidated as she pushed her glasses up on her nose.
One of the other students, a muscular guy who'd been standing just behind the tall girl stepped over to her, and whispered something in her ear.
"What class do you have next, Ai?" she asked Helayne.
Helayne nervously retrieved her time table from within her books, and then slowly found her way through the columns to her current day.
"Let's see... Math... Uhhh Pyzed. Pyze-ed! Oh! Ph sounds like 'F'. Fizz-Ed. Phys-Ed! Sorry. I'm still learning English," Helayne slowly worked her way through the correct pronunciation of the strange compound word and said it with confidence once she'd figured it out.
"You ever play one on one?" asked the tall girl.
"Yes. I learned that one many years ago. One on one? The answer is two!" Helayne said proudly, clapping her hands together excitedly as more of the students in neighbouring desks joined in the laughter.
The tall girl rolled her eyes, slapping her hand against her forehead and shaking her head.
"Look. I own Phys-Ed class..." the tall girl responded with growing impatience to Helayne.
"Fyze-ed! Phys-ed! You say that very good!" Helayne smiled again, drawing more laughter from the other students/
"You and I are going to go one on one on the basketball court to settle this next class. If you win? You can keep the desk. If I win? You're doing all of my homework in this class until second semester. If I fail this class because of you, then you're going to be in a world of trouble, humble girl!" the tall girl laid down the law to Helayne, and then walked away to find another desk with her boyfriend and his friends.
"Do you know who that is?!!!" asked Alicia of Helayne, a look of terror upon her face.
"No. She very rude. I tell her my name with a smile. She never tell me her name," Helayne replied, shaking her head negatively, her Chinese accent thick.
"That's because she doesn't have to. That's MissG, as in MissGvious? The Deep Trip-Hop DJ? She's captain of the women's basketball team and she runs with the most dangerous crowd in school!" Alicia explained to Helayne.
"She calls all the shots in the school. Even with the teachers. I heard that not even the cops mess with her..." Zheng added, indicating that MissGvious' reach went beyond the school property.
"So we're playing basketball for my desk?" confirmed Helayne of Alicia.
"...and half a year's worth of homework if you lose, and that's her game," Alicia explained to Helayne, then looking to Zheng who in turn returned a fearful glance.
"It was nice knowing you Helayne..." Alicia said to Helayne as they turned to face the teacher, who began their math class.
...
The three of them were the last in the class to leave their desks, for they'd waited for MissGvious to leave with their friends before getting in line to pickup their daily test results.
Helayne looked down, who since the start of class had remained silent as if fearful of her forboding doom as the class came to a close.
She picked up her test results, carefully folding the test and immediately pocketing it before either Alicia or Zheng could see.
Alicia picked up her test, and immediately contested the results with the teacher.
"Just an A? I went out of my way to show my proof for that answer! Where's my points for that?" Alicia argued with the teacher, showing her test.
"You got W and X, but you failed to provide a proof for how you came to the value of the variable Y. No points for that question. Next?" the teacher responded to Alicia.
"Good job Zheng, but you messed up on the same question as Alicia. You two should work together more, but be sure to ask me about this problem in the future," the teacher handed Zheng her test results.
"Alright. Fair enough. Shouldn't affect my average too much," Zheng nodded affirmatively, following Alicia and Helayne out of class.
"What did you get Helayne?" asked Alicia of her new friend.
"I did good. Too good. I have to go to get my shoes, shorts and shirt. Bye bye!" Helayne responded nervously, waving to the two of them, hoping that they'd not press her over her score on her test.
"Bye," Alicia waved to Helayne, who quickly made her way through the halls and back to her locker.
"MissGvious' going to make mince-meat out of her. Why did a girl like Helayne even sign-up for Phys-ed? She's got academics written all over her. Why waste the credit on something like phys-ed or art if she's aiming for a career in math or science?" asked Zheng as she accompanied Alicia to their next class.
"Yeah. There's something about her that seems kind of off..." Alicia remarked as they ran into another one of their friends.
"Hi Neil..." Alicia greeted a thin geeky looking fellow with wavy brown hair, who still struggled with a mild case of adolescent acne.
"Where are you two going...?" Neil asked them.
"English lit. We've got another essay on Farley Mowat due this Friday..." Zheng responded.
"Cool! You might want to save that for later, didn't you hear?" asked Neil of them, his clothing one size too big for his smaller frame.
"Hear what?" asked Alicia.
"Some new student challenged MissGvious to a one on one match in phys-ed class today. The principal turned it into a full fledged assembly. Grades ten, eleven and twelve are all required to attend. Something about morale building and supporting the school spirit..." Neil explained to Alicia and Zheng, who looked to each other in puzzlement.
"Since when is basketball our school sport? We haven't won a single game in like two decades..." Alicia recalled the statistics, which her best friend Leland used to memorize and recite for her when he was still alive.
Not to mention, both Alicia and Zheng knew the girl who was involved in the challenge. They knew that she was no match for MissGvious, and so they were doing their best to help her reduce the profile of what might damage her life, future and career.
"Everyone knows that the school sport is football. If MissGvious is such a hotshot, then why didn't she challenge somebody athletic, rather than picking on us academics?" Zheng countered.
"Who did she challenge?" asked Neil.
"A tiny thin Chinese academic, named Helayne. Its her first year here. She started with us today in our home room," Alicia told Neil.
"The poor girl is going to get crushed by her, not to mention if she loses, she'll be doing MissGvious' math homework for an entire semester!" Zheng continued.
"So why'd the principal show boat this then? Its not even an election year!" Neil asked them.
"He's probably chasing the Norman Bethune Scholarship Fund for Athletics. Using that poor girl as a publicity stunt to gain their support," Alicia once again recalled her time with Leland, who had been interested in school politics to the extent that he'd wanted to run for the position of the student Prime Minister, and implement changes that would preserve academic, artistic and athletic scholarships for the entire board of education rather than singular focused programs that penalized those not part of that particular program.
"If MissGvious even deserves a scholarship, considering that she's going to make that girl do all of her math homework!" Zheng agreed with Alicia.
"For Leland! What can I do to help?" asked Neil of Alicia and Zheng.
"There's only one thing we can do..." Alicia responded.
"If it looks like she's going to lose, and she most certainly will as she's an egg head like us, you know what we've got to do..." Zheng looked to Alicia and then Neil.
"Right! I'm on it!" Neil responded, and the three of them made their way to the gymnasium.
...
The gymnasium was lined with benches on all sides of the basketball court, with more than three hundred students in attendance of the event as they crowded in.
MissGvious, a tall and proud woman who'd come from a family of athletes and physical achievement, stood at one end of the basketball court stretching and limbering herself up for what would inevitably amount to being a slaughter.
Her family had come from humble beginnings, having started out three generations earlier in low income housing. Her Grand-father, who was himself an athlete, had set a record for the hundred meter sprint, leading to his receiving a scholarship, which he'd used to pursue an education in Phys-ed himself, eventually becoming a teacher.
His son, MissGvious' father, had a natural ability for football, his sport of choice, and he'd gone on to play for the CFL, making a comfortable living until he received a debilitating injury, ending his career in athletics and leading to his having to pursue other avenues to support his family and their lifestyle in the public, which would find him working in the field of personal security and for people whose lives and lifestyles he never once spoke about.
His new career had opened many doors for him, both financially and politically so long as he kept the secrets of those whom he'd been entrusted to protect. With money and connections, his career blossomed and this new bounty found its way into the life of his daughter, an athlete and ever the more popular DJ herself. As he became close with the rich and powerful, so his daughter's opportunities grew, while those who obstructed those opportunities eventually disappeared, leaving her with the run of the school, and the principal with the benefit of her power, so long as he protected and promoted her interests. He'd quickly learned that they, her father's friends and associates were always watching.
They rewarded loyalty with money and opportunity. They punished disloyalty with destruction and disappearance.
All who operated within this dynamic either fell into the category of those who stayed clear of it, those who benefited from it, and those who defied it, the latter of whose category were the least and the shortest lived.
Few ever spoke about these dynamics directly, and much like Alicia and Zheng had often done in protection of others, they felt a sense of responsibility to those who did not know of these dynamics, and the rules that made it all possible.
They kept quiet about it, while protecting those of innocence and naivety on the matter.
They watched from their seats at the benches, while Neil stuck close to the door. He gave them a thumbs up, which they acknowledged with a nod.
"Where's Helayne?" asked Zheng of Alicia.
"If she's the genius that we hope she is, she's on a bus to another city as we speak..." Alicia smiled as she responded.
"Let's hope so..." Zheng replied as she watched MissGvious doing her stretches and warming up.
On the other end of the gymnasium, there arose the sound of critical laughter and taunting. Alicia turned in the direction of the women's change room and spied a Chinese girl emerging from the change room door, wearing a red pair of shorts, a yellow sash, and a red skin tight t-shirt.
Alicia tapped Zheng's shoulder, and pointed in Helayne's direction.
"Look..." Alicia told her.
"She's got a lot of nerve. I'll give her that," Zheng said as Helayne pushed the glasses on her nose back into position from where they'd been sliding off.
They observed her, as she too began stretching and it quickly became apparent that Helayne was not so helpless as she'd first appeared.
Her leg muscles were thick and strong, with ripples and tone in places most people had none. Through her shirt it was easy to see the curves and bulges of muscle. Not masses of it as was the case with MissGvious, but rather finely tuned into tight bridges and toned curves of perfection. Yet still, there was something about her that seemed off. Something out of place, for when she went to balance on one foot, she stumbled slightly, and caught herself, as if despite her remarkable physique, she lacked precision and balance. Like an awkward school girl that had not yet become aware of the beauty and potential of her body and health. An issue of awareness as much so as it was about confidence.
She was still a girl who was restrained and fearful of the ultimtate power of her womanhood.
A woman on the boundary between being an older girl, and a young lady, for she'd been hanging onto a ruse that had long outgrown its worth to her life and ultimately, her future.
Helayne's glance found her new friends, and she caught them peering at her. She smiled and waved at them, drawing more scrutiny and taunting from others on the other end of the gymnasium, though their words and attitude had little effect upon her. To her, attention, whether it was good or bad, was still attention, and if they were paying more attention to her than to MissGvious, she might have a chance or so she thought.
In this way, her perspective and attitude helped her to remain confident while treated with adversity, and humble while being admired.
Despite this, she was still on unfamiliar territory on the basketball court and when someone threw her a basketball, she struggled to catch it. It bounced off of her forehead, sending her glasses around the side of her head. The ball continued onto the floor, rolling away from her as she chased it, like a farmer chasing a stray chicken, many students in the gymnasium now laughing at her.
"At least she's entertaining..." Zheng remarked, smiling at Alicia amusedly.
Alicia returned Zheng's look with a cold stare, as she was not having any fun at Helayne's expense.
"Sorry..." Zheng corrected herself as a whistle sounded, and a loud voice emerged from the intercom system.
"Students of North York High. In the interest of our school spirit and our incredible athletics programs, we're bringing you an event that we hope will inspire all of you, and make you realize that opportunities abound are available to you all, as long as you play by our rules, and respect the hierarchy of things that we embrace here. Sure, there's a really slight chance that things might not go as we're all hoping, but if they do, then we're looking at an opportunity for those of you in the athletics program that could lead to scholarship in our growing basketball program. Just like Ice Hockey, a truly Canadian sport. We'd like to see opportunities for academics and artists alike, but its truly sport that brings out the best of our competitive nature. We have a new student and heroic hopeful by the name of Ai Yuanlin Ying, who has boldly and brashly challenged our own high school athletic celebrity Deep Trip-Hop DJ MissGvious in a game of one on one! So may the best woman win! Let the game begin!" Principal Seevers announced, as the referee ran onto the court with the basketball, bringing the two women together to face each other.
"Alright ladies. Here are the rules. The two of you are to stand on your own side, and you'll jump for the ball. As long as the ball remains in the bounds, it will remain in play. You may move with the ball only so long as you dribble it at least once for every step, and twice for every second when stationary. If you score a hoop during normal game play, you'll get a free shot. A hoop is two points. A free shot is one. Upon landing a free shot, the ball is given to the player scored against. If the free shot is missed, we come to the center again and jump for the ball. Play continues like this for four quarters, of five minutes each. The one with the highest score at the end of the four quarters, wins. Are we in understanding here?" asked the referee of MissGvious and Helayne.
MissGvious, standing at least a foot and a half taller than Helayne, nodded affirmatively.
Helayne nodded to the referee, nervously fixing her glasses on her nose once again.
The referee stood in the center, and tossed the ball straight up.
MissGvious easily knocked the ball to her side, and immediately began dribbling the ball as she ran towards Helayne's hoop.
Helayne ran after MissGvious, quickly catching up with her and attempting to knock the ball from around her left side.
MissGvious quickly pihouetted with the ball and spun, jumping up as she threw the ball, landing a perfect hoop and scoring against Helayne.
The crowd went wild, cheering for MissGvious, who danced for the crowd, encouraging more cheering and participation from the audience.
Much to MissGvious' shock, Helayne even clapped for MissGvious' goal and her antics until the referee lead them to the point for the free shot, and gave the ball to MissGvious, Helayne standing by the side.
MissGvious threw the ball, easily scoring without touching the rim. The ball fell into the hoop with swoosh, and Helayne went after it, awkwardly catching it and struggling to find a rhythm as she dribbled it.
She paused in place, and once again pushed her glasses up her nose and into place, her vision blurry as she then advanced upon MissGvious.
She ran forward, finally having found the timing and as MissGvious attempted to take the ball, Helayne daftly side-stepped, spinning almost as MissGvious had done earlier and circumnavigating the larger woman's boundaries.
Helayne then ran, pushing the limits of her timing until the ball bounced too hard, rebounding up from the floor and hitting her in the face, breaking her glasses into two halves.
The two sides of her glasses slipped from behind her ears and fell to the floor. Helayne looked to them in shock, uncertain of what to do.
A Broken Cliché
Sixteen Years Ago
North York High School
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
She looked at the two halves of her glasses which lay on the floor close together, looking very much like a pair of butterfly's wings, and she was at that moment, lost in a memory.
She was a little girl, running in a field, her father chasing behind her as the two of them followed a butterfly as it flew, perching from one flower to another.
Her vision was as clear as day, for at that time she held no pretention as to who she was or what she was about. She wasn't pretending to be what she thought would impress her parents. She was simply being herself.
She was then back in the basketball court, recalling how by wearing the glasses that had been a part of her ruse to impress others, that her vision was impaired as a result. Now her glasses, which did not aid her vision at all, were broken, along with the illusion she'd crafted of herself thinking that it would impress others into believing her to be an academic, when in fact her dreams weren't related to her being an academic at all.
She then turned to face Alicia and Zheng, both of them seeing her without her glasses for the first time.
Her eyes were large and visceral, taking in everything, with both immense beauty and ferocity. Her nose was as perfect as her lips, and everything on her suddenly seemed right. She stood confidently, her body shape like the perfection of a golden statue.
That thing that had seemed so out of place about her was now gone and she was no longer simply an older girl, but now a woman in all of her confidence, fitness and glory.
"Alicia? Zheng?" Helayne addressed her friends loudly and confidently, as the crowd stopped, some of them laughing at her, but most just watching her, as if she were some enigma that had recently been birthed before them all.
"Remember my math test this morning?" asked Helayne of Alicia and Zheng.
"What about it?" Alicia responded to Helayne.
"I didn't do so good on it as I said. I got an F," she said in perfect English.
"I guess I was pretending to be someone... to be something that I'm not... But it never worked for me... So why don't I show you, what I am..." Helayne said to them confidently, picking up the two pieces of her broken glasses and pocketing them.
"What, you're a basketball player now?" asked Alicia of Helayne.
"No. I've never played before in my life. I'm a fashion designer in training. I'm also an artist. A mixed martial artist," Helayne responded to Alicia and Zheng.
She then pushed the ball back over to the referee, who then paused the game, blewing the whistle.
"Penalty against Ai. Holding the ball," the referee called it against her, tossing the ball to MissGvious.
MissGvious charged out from the sideline aggressively, barreling towards Helayne, much larger and more imposing than her opponent.
As MissGvious attempted to push through Helayne's defense, Helayne rolled forward, tumbling perfectly back up and onto her feet with full control of the ball. She easily timed her dribble and when MissGvious was upon her once again, Helayne bounced it between her legs and ran through them to her other side, jumping in the air into a spinning kick, and sending the ball straight at the back board and into the hoop, landing perfectly on her feet.
There was silence in the gymnasium as nobody had seen such a move in their lives.
"Score: three for MissGvious. Two for Helayne. Free throw for Helayne..." the referee tossed Helayne the ball and she caught it easily, her agility and balance almost inhuman.
She easily tossed the ball with one hand, underhanded without jumping, and the ball fell into the net with a swoosh.
"Tied game!" the referee announced, the laughter from the crowd earlier had disappeared, and the only people cheering were Alicia, Zheng and Neil.
Neil looked to Alicia and Zheng, knowing that there was an inherent danger no matter who won. If it was MissGvious, then Helayne in spite of her lack of skills in mathematics, would have to do MissGvious' homework and if MissGvious failed as a result, it might be the end of Helayne and her family.
Neil looked to Alicia and Zheng, unsure of what to do, for they all knew that they were still beholden to their new friend, and had to do something to protect her in the event that this didn't work out for her.
Alicia nodded negatively to Neil, urging him not to pull the fire alarm, which was their backup plan to halt the game if they'd need to do so.
"If she wins this, it will put Principal Seevers on the spot. Leland even had a plan like that once, where we could win back the school, by pitting the Principal against MissGvious and her family. Everyone would have a fair chance at an education," Alicia reasoned with Zheng, who nodded in agreement.
"Its risky though. What if she doesn't win?" Zheng asked Alicia.
"Then we're doing MissGvious' homework for the semester. That will ensure that she passes math, and it will ensure that Helayne isn't held responsible for her failure," Alicia said to Zheng.
"But MissGvious and her family will own us forever... We'll be beholden to them for the rest of our lives, and when we're in a position of tenure in academics, we might be asked to do something for them that undermines everything we're about..." Zheng reminded her.
"Then lets cheer harder for Helayne, because she has to win!" Alicia said, getting to her feet as she encouraged everyone around her to join them in cheering for Helayne.
MissGvious was now in control of the ball and running from her end with determination as Helayne defended her end of the court.
MissGvious rushed in, side-stepping Helayne and rushing the net for a layup shot.
Helayne sprinted as hard and as fast as she could, leaping from a few feet behind MissGvious as she lined up for her back board shot.
Helayne landed her hand on MissGvious' shoulder as she leapt up and guided the ball towards the back board. Helayne launched herself from MissGvious' shoulder, while MissGvious tried to knock her down.
Helayne just clipped the ball, which hit the back board, and fell onto the hoop, rounding it slowly as it balanced, losing momentum. The crowd watched as the ball seemingly stopped in place, barely moving as they watched it, ready to fall off the hoop, or inside of it to score a point for MissGvious.
Alicia and Zheng cheered loudly as the ball picked up momentum, finally dropping on the other side of the hoop and into Helayne's hands.
She quickly dodged MissGvious and ran the length of the court, lining up her own shot and landing a hoop.
The crowd went wild, but not for MissGvious this time. The cheering was all for Helayne.
The referee looked over to Principal Seevers, who smirked at him. The referee nodded and handed Helayne the ball.
She quickly and humbly took her free shot, and scored a hoop just as the first quarter ended.
Helayne was now in the lead, and the entire gymnasium was cheering for her.
She took a short break with Alicia, Zheng and Neil.
"So. You're not exactly an academic, are you?" asked Alicia of her.
"No. But don't tell my parents. Pretending to be one worked for a long time. I think its called a cliché?" Helayne explained to Alicia.
"How so?" Alicia asked for her clarification, now understanding that her new friend was actually much more contemplative than she'd originally revealed to them.
"You know. A sixteen year old Chinese girl. Thick glasses and a pile of school texts. It was kind of like camouflage for me. A lot of people really thought I was clever just by looking at me. Buying into the cliché, but the only person I was fooling was myself," Helayne smiled to Alicia.
"Wow. I have to be honest with you in the fact that when I first met you this morning, I never thought that by the mid-day, you'd be expressing such introspective ideas about humanity and social culture. I had you pegged as being a someone who could easily clean-up on our math class test scores. Someone like Zheng? Someone that I could ask for help when dealing with a tough math problem?" Alicia responded to Helayne.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Alicia. So Helayne, what are you? What do you want to be?" asked Zheng of their new friend.
"I'm actually an artist. I'm not a big fan of math. I don't really do well in science. I want to be a fashion designer..." Helayne stood up and presented her phys-ed outfit.
"You designed those?" confirmed Alicia.
"Yep. Drew the entire outfit with a charcoal pencil. Made the patterns for each garment. Went out and bought the shiny material, from a cosplay shop of all places. Cut it into tiles. Sewed it all together, and put it on in front of my mirror at home. All while keeping it hidden from my parents..." Helayne explained to Alicia and Zheng, turning and modeling her custom designed outfit.
"It does have the whole superhero-ish thing going for it. Not to mention you just cleaned up in the first quarter of a game that we thought you'd lose horribly. You obviously have a lot more going for you than you're letting on. Maybe things that you don't see that way?" Alicia suggested, Zheng nodding in agreement.
"That's so true. Myopia of the self..." Zheng added.
"I'm trained in a lot of ways. You know. In martial arts?" Helayne continued for Alicia.
"That explains a lot about how you were able give it back to MissGvious so easily..." Alicia nodded, suddenly understanding the scope of Helayne's alternate life.
"Funny, isn't it? Totally another cultural cliché when you look at it from the outside, but to my family, it was a big part of our heritage and tradition and even part of something much bigger, so I'm told. When I started training, I didn't want to do it, but I wanted to please my parents. To have them be proud of me as their only daughter. So at the same time I was training, I invented this other identity. The cliché Chinese girl academic you met earlier. She was the girl that I thought my parents wanted. Smart. Studious. Good grades at school. But she was never me, and her grades and the great test scores? They were all something I made up, hoping that before my parents found out the truth, that I'd become that girl that I thought that they wanted..." Helayne sat down beside them again, looking down at the gymnasium floor in shame.
"At least if I fail as a fashion designer, I might have a career as a sports team mascot..." Helayne laughed, bringing smiles and giggles readily to their faces.
"Even if you want to be a fashion designer, you're going to have to improve your score on the non-electives you know. Fashion designers are no slouches. To get accepted into fashion design school, you're going to need at least one math, probably geometry if you're doing fashion..." Alicia explained to Helayne.
"Exactly. And one communications non-elective. English lit, probably..." Zheng nodded in agreement with Alicia's assessment, adding her own insights as well.
"And one science. I'd suggest biology. It will really help you, especially in your art classes to know the ligature and musculature of the human body as a fashion designer," Alicia looked first to Zheng, who nodded agreeably, and then back to Helayne.
"...and the sexual and biomechanical differences between women and men..." Zheng added insightfully.
Helayne looked up from the floor and to her new friends, realizing for the first time that they were the real deal. They'd listened to her. They'd cared enough to consider what she'd confessed to them, and they gave the intuitive insights of people who sincerely cared about her and her future. She considered these three factors when she responded.
"One, two, three..." Helayne smiled at them when she realized that they were for keeps.
"Its a good thing?" confirmed Alicia, looking to Zheng and then back to Helayne.
"Very. Thank you. You didn't even really know me, and you went out on a limb for me. I'll never forget that," Helayne nodded to them each in turn.
"You've still got two years until graduation. That's a bit of time to prepare yourself if you're going to be accepted into the Fashion Arts Program," Alicia evaluated her current situation and offered more insight.
"You've got this!" Zheng nodded to Helayne.
"Now get in there and win the game!" Alicia said encouragingly as Helayne stood from the bench and made her way out onto the court to face off against MissGvious.
...
Forty-five minutes later, and the entire school was celebrating Helayne's win over MissGvious.
Principal Seevers, who'd just gotten off of the phone with a powerful man by the name of Curtis Torman, turned to face Helayne's, Alicia's and Zheng's homeroom teacher.
"I just got off of the phone with Curtis. He says that he's moving the union's pension fund to another bank. Offshore, all things being fair in business and war, and that we're all going to need to reapply for eligibility, meaning that some of us will be eligible and some of us won't. I don't know or care how, but you're going to make sure that she doesn't graduate. If she does, then you'll be living on the run for the rest of your life. Do I make myself clear?" Principal Seevers said to Daniel Caruthers.
"Perfectly," Daniel responded.
"Now as for MissGvious? We're going to be putting on a benefit concert where she'll headline as a DJ. We're going to promote this in the papers, and we're going to ensure that she's guaranteed a scholarship, for her extra-curricular work in promoting our school athletics programs," Principal Seevers asserted to Daniel.
"There's only a limited number of spots. Right now, it looks like those spots are reserved for the academics program, and Alicia and Zheng are the front runners. I don't want to lose them. They're the best thing that's happened for our academics programs for a long time and if we cut them off, we might draw the scrutiny of the ombudsman and an audit, which could spell legal trouble and an investigation..." Daniel backpedaled on the issue.
"I don't care. One of them is out, and MissGvious is in. While Helayne? She'll never graduate. Do you understand?" Principal Seevers ordered Daniel.
"I do now, but I don't like it," Daniel responded, standing from his chair and walking over to the door.
"You don't have to like it. You just have to do it," Principal Seevers smiled at him scathingly as he stepped out of the door to the Principal's office.
...
Helayne opened the front door and stepped inside of her posh family home. The open foyer and spiral staircase greeted her from the left side, as the stairs did not face the front door. Her parents did not want their family fortune to flow out of the master bedroom, down the stairs and out the front door as was the proper protective form for a home's energy in Feng Shui.
She closed the front door and quietly looked around, and then opened the closet, slowly removing her shoes and replacing them with slippers she'd obtained from the nearby rack.
"Is that you Ai?" her mother's voice broke the late afternoon silence from the upstairs.
"Hi mom," Helayne responded without drawing further attention to herself.
"There's some dumplings in the oven for you. Your father's going to be a little bit late tonight," her mother responded.
Helayne remained silent as she stepped into the kitchen and placed her backpack on one of the kitchen chairs. She then retrieved some oven mitts and withdrew a pan of dumplings from the oven, serving them out onto a small plate.
Nearby on the counter was a bowl of recently cooked egg drop soup. She took both the plate of dumplings and her bowl of soup to the table, after which she retrieved some rice vinnegar soaked garlic, and poured a helping of it into a sauce bowl. She then sat down and one by one, dipped the dumplings in the garlic/vinnegar mixture and devoured them until there were none.
Miraculously, her mother had been busy with the accounting of her real estate business, and remained upstairs in the office for most of the early evening.
Helayne after eating, took her backpack upstairs to her bedroom and withdrew her failed math test from within. She then opened her closet door, ready to place the test on the stack of failed tests she'd already accumulated since grade nine.
An intense sickness and fever came over her when she found that the stack was no longer there. Someone had taken it and cleaned it up.
Helayne paused momentarily, trying not to panic as she considered her options, when she suddenly arrived at a realization.
She walked over to her bedroom door with a slight sense of relief and opened it, directing her voice at her mother's office:
"Mom? Was the cleaning lady here today?" Helayne asked her.
"No. She's here Tuesdays and Thursdays. Why, is something wrong?" asked Helayne's mother.
"No. I just can't find my toothbrush. That's all," Helayne quickly improvised.
Helayne closed the door, having realized that her mother hadn't been the one who'd found the stack of failed tests, leaving only one possibility.
"Mom? I'm going to take a nap. I don't feel so well..." Helayne said to her mother, who sat at her desk, down the hall and in her home office.
"Alright, but don't sleep too long, otherwise you'll miss dinner with your father, and you'll be awake all night," Helayne's mother replied as she closed her bedroom door.
"The gig's up, and all in one day," Helayne said to herself as she slipped under her comforter and pulled her covers over her head.
The Agreement
Sixteen Years Ago
North York High School
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Her room was dark and the shades were drawn, with only a sliver of moonlight finding its way through an opening between the window sill and blades of the shutters.
She had emerged from beneath her covers hours earlier, her head resting now resting on a soft lump on her pillow as she remained still and adrift in an uneasy sleep.
There was a tap at her bedroom door, the first such bid for entry as gentle as the man from whom it had arose. When he received no response, he tapped again, though slightly louder this time.
"Come in," Helayne rolled over in her bed to face her bedroom door, not ready for what she'd imagined she'd have to face.
"My littlest dancing flower. Your mother told me that you're not feeling well, and so I thought I'd come see you for myself. You know, sometimes wellness can be very dependent upon the weight of the secrets we keep..." he said to her as he closed her door behind himself, walking over to the window and opening the shutter to allow the moonlight to illuminate their conversation.
He then pulled up the wooden chair from her vanity, and sat on it, his arms crossed over the back of the chair as he faced her, still wearing his suit and tie.
"You know, when I was a young man. A dashing one as your mother used to tell everyone, I had secrets too," he paused for a moment, and she listened to him.
"My father in-law. Your mother's father and your grandfather, he had big plans for me. The man who would marry his daughter? Oh, he expected a lot, for he'd brought much to China. The first combined western and eastern medicine general hospital. He was a formidable man, and I was a young man that he'd taken under his wing. Simply because his daughter had set her heart upon the fact that we would be married..." he paused again, this time, beginning to loosen first his collar, and then his tie.
Helayne smiled at him as she watched him do so.
"This is important you know. I don't want the words to get caught in my throat..." he smiled at her, and she laughed, releasing a relenting pressure that had been building up in her mind until he'd arrived.
"He wanted me to be a Doctor. That way, when he retired, I would be the senior General practitioner in the hospital. His hospital. And I'd inherit his legacy, and be running his show. The first mixed treatment hospital in China. There was one problem though. I didn't want to be a Doctor... but I was too afraid to tell him that," he recalled his life back in his early twenties.
"When eventually I was accepted into University, he thought I was entered into the doctorate program for western and eastern medicine, however, that was not the case," he shook his head as he recalled those days of his life.
"Your mother, she kept it from him that I wasn't going to school to become a Doctor. In fact, the entire faculty helped me to keep the secret, but as time wore on, the weight of that secret became heavier and heavier upon my soul, for I never wanted to lie to your mother's father. I wanted him to be proud of me for the man I was and not for the man that he expected me to be," he paused again, loosening his tie even more.
"...those words... very close to getting caught in my throat..." he smiled at her and she laughed.
"So one day, I decided that I'd had enough of the entire ruse. I was fed up, that my wife's father expected me to fulfil the desires of his future, while ignoring mine. I thought to myself, how could such a man have so little trust in his own daughter's life and plans? And so one day, I left school early and went to the hospital. I went directly to his office and pounded on the door. He opened it, and invited me in, a grim and discerning look on his face..." her father's face acquired a menacing frown, somewhat comical and yet still slightly intimidating.
"What do you have to say to me?!!! he asked me. I looked at him from across the desk, and leaned over it, getting into his face, and I said: I don't want to be a Doctor! I want to be your daughter's husband and she wants me to be what I am already training for: an architectual engineer!" he once again paused, this time his face mimicking that of his father in-law.
"He grimaced at me with the ferocity of a rabid Yaoguai, and said: that's the man that married my daughter and that's the same man that I want as my son! You can live a lie and you can live your life, but you cannot live your life as a lie!" her father reached into his suit jacket, and pulled forth one of her tests from the stack he'd cleaned from her closet earlier before leaving for work.
He then placed it on the bed in front of her, the hand written 'F' very apparent in the moonlight.
"I didn't mean to..." she started to sniffle and then her tears flowed.
"I know. I know, my little butterfly. Your mother and I never wanted you to live our life. You have to live your life. So maybe my littlest dancing flower isn't very good at math. Maybe she's not very good at science either. I do know this however, that when she knows what she wants to do, that she'll be the best at it that anyone can ever be, and that your mother and I will be the proudest parents of all," he said to her as she got up from her bed and threw herself into his arms.
"You never have to be anyone, but yourself. So take some time, and think about what you'd like to be, but don't ever feel that you have to be afraid, and to hide anything like that from your mother and I again. No matter what, we'll find a way. Together," he released her, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling forth some tissue, with which he dried her tears.
He then tapped her shoulders.
"You're fit too. Like a dragon," he smiled at her, admiring her determination and how far she'd already come, regardless of the stack of failed math tests she'd kept hidden in her closet.
"You already achieved so much in the name of tradition. Our legacy, my little butterfly. We'll take this one step at a time. Think about what you want to do with your life. Your future. Your family and friends are there for you when you need us, and when you're ready for the next step, I'll speak to you then. Keep your dreams to guide you, and the innocence of your heart, and never keep a secret like that from your mother and I again. Keep nothing like that which defies your soul and hurts your heart. Now I've got to go and eat my dinner and get a good night's sleep. I hope that you can do the same, because I know that your day at school tomorrow will be very different from all the days you kept those tests in your closet," he kissed her forehead and then stood.
"Are you two finished already?" asked Helayne's mother insistently as she stood at the bedroom door.
"Yes, mom," Helayne smiled at her, despite her mother's scrutinizing glare.
"Now you come and get your dinner before it gets cold!" she scolded her husband, pinching his butt as he stepped past her in the doorway.
"And you? Don't forget to brush your teeth!" her mother nagged her as she closed the bedroom door.
...
Alicia lay in bed, the morning sun already poking through the window. The blinding light awakened her, and aggravated, she buried her head under her pillow, her tears already soaking her sheets.
There was a tap at her door, and when a response did not come from her, the door opened and a man with thinning hair in his mid-forties peered into her room.
"Alicia? I'm going to get us breakfast from your favourite spot. Got anything special in mind?" her father asked her.
"No! I'm staying home today!" she responded, still sniffling from her earlier crying.
Her father slowly and quietly closed the door, and then stepped lightly down the hall to the master bedroom.
"Honey? I think she's having another episode. Want to try having a talk with her while I get us some breakfast?" he asked of Theresa.
"She missed therapy last week. I think she's headed for another relapse," Theresa explained to her husband Jack.
"Call Doctor Gordman, and maybe we can get her in today before her first class?" Jack suggested to her.
"I don't want her to have to rely on Paroxetine," Theresa sat up in bed in her underwear, stepping over to the closet from where she donned her house coat.
"Consistent scheduling, low dosage, Theresa. Doctor Gordman said that it works better that way than using it as a band-aid every time she has a bout of depression," Jack urged her.
"You know how sensitive she is about her weight already. It took her a year since Leland died for her to lose that baby fat of hers. If we put her on it again, she'll gain a bunch of weight, and have social issues in addition to depression. She's got to learn to manage this in a way that suits her and her own body," Theresa stepped into the ensuite bathroom and began her morning facial cleanse.
"If she's taking Paroxetine regularly, she'll be able to rely upon predictably stable hormones all of the time. Until they come up with a dosage plan that works for occasional consumption, that's our best plan for her. Look honey, I don't want to see her losing out on her education simply because she's avoiding medication on account of the weight gain risk. No matter her body shape, she'll eventually find friends and meet a guy who sees beyond all of that. If we get her on it now, by the time she's ninteen or twenty, she'll be used to it, and I'll be chasing guys away from her with a shotgun..." Jack stepped into the bathroom, nuzzling up to his wife from behind.
His slightly rotund belly getting between them as he attempted to be seductive.
"Besides, if we can get her off to school today, I only have one household electrical call before the afternoon, which means that we could take a little time for some nookie..." Jack nuzzled his face towards the back of her neck, kissing her tenderly as she wiped her face with an exfoliating cleanser.
"How about we do the no nookie until you lose your belly rule?" Theresa asserted to him in defense of her daughter.
"Look honey. I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to get over to the gym..." Jack defended his growing lack of body care.
"Alright. Fine. We'll put our daughter on a regular schedule of Paroxetine, because you seem to think that it doesn't matter if women gain weight and she ends up both anti-social and depressed as a result, versus getting her a medication that she can take on an as-she-needs-it basis coupled with regular cognitive therapy. Not to mention, you seem to think that your belly is fine, but you expect me to stick with aerobics, bleach my facial moustache hairs which every woman has, and get my legs waxed so that I'm attractive to you, while you have no intention of taking care of yourself to please my needs?" Theresa became slightly agitated with her husband.
"Fine! I'm going to get breakfast. You handle this your way, and let me know what decision that the two of you arrive at, and we'll do it then," Jack became frustrated and turned to leave.
"I'll have hash browns and a breakfast chicken wrap. Get a salad and an orange juice for Alicia, and for you, a Melba Toast and a coffee with sweetner and nothing else. Oh, and be here for nookie at exactly 11:30 AM, but if you miss your schedule at the gym again, it'll be no nookie for at least six months. Got it?" Theresa wiped her face dry as he returned to the bathroom.
"You're awesome honey. Let's do this and get it right," she turned to face him and Jack kissed her once on the lips.
"Not for you. For her," Theresa pushed him out of the bathroom, pinching his butt as he left.
...
There was another knock at Alicia's door.
"Go away! I don't want to talk..." Alicia responded, still in the depths of depression and unable to find her own way out.
The door knob turned and the door slowly opened and Alicia's mother stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.
"Neither do I," Theresa said to her daughter.
"You don't?" Alicia seemed confused, though not disappointed by her mother's response.
"No. I just want to be with my daughter, and tell everyone else to go away and that neither of us want to talk!" Theresa said to Alicia, sitting down on her night table after sliding her alarm clock and cell phone charger out of the way.
"Why does the sun have to be so bright?!!!" Alicia grabbed her pillow and buried her head beneath it, blocking all of the light.
"Mostly to mock us on our rough days, I find," Theresa replied to her daughter.
"Why can't it stay night forever?!!!" Alicia replied.
"Yeah. Sleep as long as we need in the dark, and then wake up, which would then trigger the sun to rise. I think that would be way better," Theresa agreed with her daughter.
Alicia laughed when she thought about it, and then began to cry again shortly thereafter.
"Why when we meet friends, do they have to go?" asked Alicia of her mother.
"I think if we figured that out, that we'd be crying about how we never get time alone. At least I would be. Maybe they would be too..." Theresa thought about the question in all of its profoundness and innocuous depth.
"You know what I think?" asked Theresa of Alicia.
"What?" she asked her mother.
"I think that our lives are like books, and we're the main characters, each of us, in our own book. When we meet people and get to know them, they're part of our lives for a reason, that most of us never figure out, but occasionally, we learn to appreciate them, no matter how little time we knew them..." Theresa explained to her daughter.
"Wouldn't it be safer just not to meet anyone... so it wouldn't hurt when you lose then?" asked Alicia.
"Where ever Leland is, he might be lying in bed and upset, because he lost his best friend Alica. Maybe he's talking with his mother or father, and they're trying to convince him that having met you at all, was one of, if not the best thing, to have ever happened in his life, even though when he lost you, it hurt him alot," Theresa explained her theory to Alicia, who seemed to find peace in her answer.
"Would you have preferred to have never met him? What about him? Do you think that he'd have preferred to have never met you?" Theresa looked to Alicia, who was still hidden beneath her pillow.
"I made a new friend and it was really hard, because something almost happened that might have taken her away..." Alicia contemplated the meaning of her having met Helayne.
"From her perspective, she almost lost you. Maybe the best part about all of this, is that you know your friends, because it hurts so much when they're not there, and that maybe, the reason is because they feel the exact same way. The problem is, that you're only seeing it from your side, not theirs, and that's ok. At least when someone reminds you of this, you can come at it from a whole new angle, and maybe that way, you never really lose anyone. I know one thing. That if you never meet anyone because you're afraid of losing them, that they'll never know the great things that they missed out on about you," Theresa explained to her daughter.
"Feelings are like a boat on a sea. Sometimes is sooo calm, and you can think clearly. Sometimes its big waves crashing down on your boat, and you lose perspective. I felt so bad and I didn't know why. And then I talk with you, and everything clears up and I forgot why I felt that way, and I think how can I get through life if I can't even rely on being calm and rational?" asked Alicia of her mother.
"Everyone has difficulties like that at one time or another. Some of us more and others less. However, if you're aware of that, you're already way ahead of the game. I'm not saying that you're cured, honey. You're going to feel bad again. Then again, maybe you won't. Regardless, you have to handle life based upon what you learn from your experiences. Now you know that sometimes, because you had some difficult and traumatic experiences, that your body produces hormones that make it difficult to maintain your perspective. Sometimes its smooth travels. Sometimes its stormy seas. There's a lot of people who have ideas about how to deal with that. Some people deal with it by being careful about what they eat. Others about their exercise and activity level. Other people, they take special medicine that helps their body manage these mood swings, while some people bury themselves in things that numb their senses altogether in order to escape from life and those struggles. Each of these ways that people handle these difficulties, has its own benefits and detriments, and the biggest part of life is picking the ones that are right for you, knowing that the ones that you pick will determine many other things about your life. The people who stick with you and the ones who don't. The side of society you'll be on, whether a law abiding citizen or a rebel or even criminal of some form. These choices are yours to make, but you have to make them keeping in mind your own best interests and your own sense of values and integrity," Theresa pondered the answer for her daughter and then explained it as best as she could.
"I want to go to school and learn how to help people overcome these kinds of problems, but sometimes when it gets really bad, I can't even get out of bed. I feel like I don't belong. Like I'm not welcome. Not pretty enough. Too much baby fat..." Alicia fought with herself as one side of her followed her mother's encouragement, while the other side of her tried to talk her out of her own best future.
"Practice makes perfect Alicia. You know you'll feel that way at times, so practice knowing what you'll do when you face those times, and then do it. Every success you have that way honey, will make it easier the next time. Just remember that your father and I. That Leland and your new friends? We'll all be there for you,"
"Now, just so you know, breakfast is on its way for us, and I expect that you're going to school today, because I want to see my daughter learn how to help people too. You've learned so much from some very trying circumstances, that you have something to share with the world and to make it a better place than it was when you got here. Then maybe you and your friends will be heroes of your own. Out of bed sleepy head!" Theresa stood up from the night table and stepped out of Alicia's bedroom just as their breakfast arrived.
...
Helayne arrived at school in stylish skirt that fell just below her knees and a red and black blazer that she wore over a stylish white t-shirt.
She had exchanged her backpack for an attaché case, within which she now carried her entire portfolio of drawings and designs. Her face was made up with light make-up and many students had mistaken her for being a teacher. In a sense, it was an impression that had more truth to it than otherwise.
She ran up to the door of the school, passing several people along the way that waved to her, recalling her from the basket ball game of the previous day.
She was now as much a celebrity as had been MissGvious, and almost everyone she passed on her way to the home room of her math class, either smiled at her or waved, or both. She maintained her modesty, though inside she was glowing and confident.
Ready to take on the world as an ally.
When she arrived at class, she found Zheng and Alicia already seated at their desks and well into finishing their previous night's homework assignment.
"And how are the dream team doing?" Helayne asked of both Alicia and Zheng as she arrived at her desk, MissGvious now situated near the back corner.
"We're a lot closer to finishing our homework that you are, I'd bet?" Alicia reminded Helayne about their math homework.
"Already done. I woke up at 5 AM this morning, and finished it all before 7," Helayne smiled as she withdrew her homework from her attaché case and passed it forward to Alicia.
Alicia quickly scanned through her answers and proofs, before remarking about them.
"Not bad. A big improvement for sure. I think it'll net you about a D, which is a close pass..." Alicia handed Helayne's homework back to her and continued finishing her own.
"But not close enough for my non-electives to get accepted into the Fashion Design Program, right?" asked Helayne.
"You're going to need at least a seventy average for that. That's C+ or better," Zheng responded to Helayne, who came around to Alicia's desk and got in her face, leaning in close to her friend with a smile.
"Hi buddy! Just want to make sure my cheering section from yesterday is in tip top shape today. Things are waaay different now. Like someone took a great weight from my shoulders and I've got my entire future ahead of me, and that's all thanks to you two... And Neil..." Helayne winked over to Neil, who responded to her.
"Hi Helayne," his voice cracked and he blushed as he struggled with the pueberty boundary and his vocal chords.
Helayne took a close look at Alicia's eyes and could see slight bags beneath them, as if she were crying earlier.
"Anything wrong?" asked Helayne.
"No. Why?" asked Alicia.
Helayne leaned in close and whispered in her ear.
"Were you crying earlier?" she asked her best friend.
"I don't want to talk about it," Alicia replied, instead wanting to focus on what was ahead rather than what was behind.
"We can talk if you want...?" Helayne encouraged her friend, sincerely wanting to help her.
"Look! I just want to..." Alicia became frustrated and emotional, and caught herself before she'd said something to Helayne that she'd later regret.
"I've got to go to the bathroom..." Alicia got up and packed up her homework, shoving it all into her backpack and then storming out of the class.
"Oops. Looks like someone's out of the closet. Lover's quarrel..." MissGvious remarked in Helayne's direction.
"Why, are you in the meat market? I needed a new bag!" Helayne bent her wrist at MissGvious and then smirked in her direction as she left the classroom.
She made her way down the hall and into the girl's washroom, where she found Alicia standing before a mirror, fixing her makeup.
"What's wrong?" asked Helayne of her best friend.
"I'm... Look, there's something that you need to know about me..." Alicia said to Helayne as she looked down into the sink.
"I'm all ears," Helayne awaited Alicia's response.
"I lost someone. A year and a half ago. Grade 9. Someone very close to me..." Alicia explained to Helayne.
Helayne remained silent, instead just listening to her friend.
"His name was Leland. We... were close..." Alicia said to Helayne, though still looking down at the sink.
"How...?" Helayne asked.
"Leukemia," Alicia responded.
"I was pretty messed up after that. Heck, I was messed up before. The only time in my life that I wasn't messed up, was when he was alive," Alicia shook her head, fighting her tears once again.
"Aww... Alicia. I'm so sorry..." Helayne spoke softly.
"You know... there's times when I want to get out of here. Graduate. Become a Doctor... a researcher... and kick Cancer's ass... And there's other times, when I can barely get out of bed. Or concentrate... feeling bloated... Like nobody wants me..." Alicia recalled the only kiss she'd ever had in her life.
"Some hero I am...? Sorry, my mother called me a hero this morning... But I know better. Sometimes... I just want to leave school, and throw it all away... Like I don't belong..." Alicia looked up from the sink and into the mirror.
Her reflection somehow mocked her. She could only see dark circles under her eyes. Bloated cheeks and drooping jowels, though it was all in her head. The problem was however, that she assumed that it was also in everyone else's head as well.
That what she saw, everyone else saw.
Helayne too stepped over to the mirror and the neighbouring sink beside Alicia.
"Look at us. Together, we have everything going for us. Apart. We're lost," Helayne looked deep into the mirror and faced her own darkness as much so as Alicia had every day since losing Leland.
"You're a living genius, who can't get past her own fears, let alone out of her own bed. You could save the world from Cancer, but you can't find your way to graduate here because of how you see yourself... and how you've tricked yourself into believing how others see you..." Helayne began.
"Then there's me. A girl who lived a lie because I wanted my parents to believe in me. That I could be an academic. A smart girl like you. A cliché Chinese girl who was like a rocket scientist who knew everything. But it was all a lie, and now that I've found myself for the first time in my life, I can't even pass the grades I need to pursue my career... I'm even too dumb to be a Fashion Designer..." Helayne's own tears began to flow.
Alicia nodded in agreement to everything that Helayne has said and they both looked to each other.
For an eternal moment, they were lost.
And then with the spark of a mutual idea, they were found.
"Wait a second...!" Alicia said in sudden realization, looking to Helayne.
"Hold on...! Wait! You first!" Helayne spoke at the same time as Alicia.
"I'm practically a rocket scientist. I can do all of the things that you need to pass your grades..." Alicia realized.
"And I can show you yourself in a way that everyone else sees, but that you've never seen for yourself..." Helayne realized.
"Oh my gosh! We're like the solution to each others' problems!" Alicia responded.
"So what do we do? Wait! I could..." Helayne began as Alicia interrupted.
"I could teach you enough to pass those non-electives you need to get into the Fashion Design Program! With me teaching you, you'll pass every course you need to get in, but you're going to have to pass the art classes yourself!" Alicia suggested to her.
"And I could make you a graduation dress that will open your eyes to your own potential and help you to see yourself like everyone else does!" Helayne suggested to Alicia.
"Oh my gosh! We did it!" Alicia smiled as she began jumping up and down like the girl who'd won the grand prize.
"We figured it out!" Helayne too began jumping up and down excitedly.
"Ok! Here's the deal! You're going to teach me everything I need to know so that I can pass my non-electives and get into the Fashion Design Program, and I'm going to make you into the greatest star of any graduation ever, and when you see yourself, you're going to believe in yourself!" Helayne laid out the arrangements of their deal.
They looked at each other and shook hands.
"Deal?" asked Helayne.
"Deal!" Alicia replied.
The two of them cleaned up, wiping clean their tears, Helayne quickly doing their make-up for them and the two of them returned to class.
Each with a friend, and a plan.
To be continued... in The Butterfly Dragon: Heroes Of Our Own Reimagined: Episode 3: Examination And Graduation
Brian Joseph Johns
Credits and attribution:
Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine...
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
https://www.facebook.com/shhhhdigitalhttps://www.youtube.com/@ShhhhDigitalAudio
Produced at Shhhh! Digital Media
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inquiries: brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com, info@shhhhdigital.com
https://www.facebook.com/shhhhdigital
https://www.youtube.com/@ShhhhDigitalAudio
Produced at Shhhh! Digital Media
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inquiries: brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com, info@shhhhdigital.com
Produced at Shhhh! Digital Media
200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Inquiries: brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com, info@shhhhdigital.com
Copyright © 2025 Brian Joseph Johns