Cheer up Ball!

Inside the building Ball was in her room waiting. Johnson had told her to stay there a while ago, so on her bed she sat as dread started to sink in. Her fears were confirmed when he arrived. His movements were stiff and hard.

"Why did you go outside? You know you weren't supposed to go outside until I said it was ok," He said softly.

"I know… it's just..."

"Just what? What was so important about going outside that you had to leave?" Johnson said.

"I was excited! and I am tired of being stuck in here all the time doing tests and stuff! Maybe if you-"

"Maybe if I!!!? You are 4 days old Ball! Have you any patience at all!! Did the students put you up to this?" Johnson was appalled.

"No! The students had nothing to do with it! but you have been doing something with some deep voiced foreigners!" Ball didn't want the students to be blamed, but she did want to move the guilt.

"Deep voiced?... How do you know about that?!"

"I know lots of stuff," [false]

"Wrong!" Johnson got up, and got close, "You don't know a single thing about anything! and you are acting like a needy little brat! I'd keep your mouth shut about those foreigners or maybe the kids won't be there the next time you fall into the lake,"

"What!?!?!" Ball was confused, and afraid. She kept her legs close to her body.

"Just behave, Ball. You are delicate, expensive, and one of a kind. Nobody has ever done things the way you do, because you are a new type of life. You have to be careful. Promise me, promise me you won't ever do such irrational things again,"

"I promise I promise!!" Ball was practically blinded by fear. Johnson sighed.

"Good," He then gently left, and closed the door for the night, early.

Ball felt trapped. She was scared of Johnson now, the man she put the most trust in. It seemed she didn't have a choice other than to simply be afraid in her room. Even if she attempted to escape it would only get her into further trouble.

For about 20 minutes she just sat in her bed on the brink of tears looking at every corner of her room.

Not exactly tired yet, she hopped over to her window again and just sat down. It was still day time, and was going to be for hours. During that time, as cars passed each other as festering thoughts of defiance went around Ball's mind. She wouldn't dare to actually do any of these things, but for now she was bored and her anger was being used the fuel an imagination.

'I'll refuse to speak!'

'I'll run away into the world so he can not find me!'

'I'll find out a way to hurt him!'

'When I get to school I'm not coming back!'

She started pacing along her desk. A little while later she had ran out of things to be mad about, and just went to bed.

The following morning Ball woke up a lot earlier than the usual, and she ended up staying there for the majority of the day as well. She had already known what a nap was, but only now did she truly understand it. When she was finally let out she was only out to play a videogame for very eager and wealthy game developers.

Apparently she was supposed to do this activity a day after because the Yoyel 3 were scheduled to meet again today, but it seemed they were all sick with something fierce. All except for Oscar, who was getting a checkup done and promised to come in tomorrow.

***

"Hi there Ball!" Oscar said as Ball entered the waiting room. He was alone.

"Don't let her escape this time," Johnson said. The professor left.

"You still in trouble?" Oscar asked.

"Yeah. My dad is pretty mad about what happened," Ball sighed as she sat back down in the couch across from him.

"Aw don't be sad. We all do some stuff sometimes. Like for me when I went fishing all by myself and I didn't tell anyone until they found a dead fish on the counter. I got a real nasty cold that time. It's kinda funny, I'm usually the sick one, but now David and Dora are the ones out sick. This never happens!" Oscar waved his arms.

"I hope I do not ever get sick. Being dead does not sound fun," Ball said.

"Pfft! Sick doesn't always mean die. I mean, it only meant die for me like 3 times. Can an object even get sick?"

"I do not know," Ball looked down on the floor.

"Cheer up Ball! Let's play a game," Oscar took a napkin out of his pocket and walked over to a pen he had been eying on the floor. In returning, he sat next to Ball on the same couch. He then unfolded the napkin and began gently doodling on it.

"What are you doing?" Ball asked looking at him, and then back at the napkin.

"I'm doodling an adventure," He was making a strange expression.

"Are you going to sneeze again?" Ball asked.

"...No. I mean, maybe later," Oscar stopped drawing.

"That doesn't look like an adventure," Ball said.

"What do you mean? It's a pirate ship, and we are scurvy dogs stealing cause we can! ARR! See there's me, and that's you,"

Standing in the badly drawn pirate ship was a stick figure with a sword, and an incredibly realistic drawing of Ball.

"But that's only a drawing. It isn't really me," Ball was confused.

"Well we can pretend to be. That's the fun part. We don't really need a boat or the open sea to have fun there, in our minds. Ok let's begin-"

20 minutes later

"THE WATER IS ALL OVER THE PLACE WE NEED TO KEEP BUCKETING THE SHIP," Oscar said standing on a couch armrest with an emptied snack bowl on his head. Ball was desperately trying to keep the boat afloat using another snack bowl she held in her mouth "THERE IS A SEA SERPENT AT 11 O'CLOCK OOF! IT JUST BRUSHED THE SIDE OF THE BOAT,"

"What should we do!? Oh," She dropped the bowl off the couch.

"Don't worry, you can use my… HAT!" Oscar threw his 'hat' backwards and Ball fell off the couch trying to catch it on her head, "NOOOO! FIRST MATE BALL!" Oscar jumped onto the floor and crawled over to her pretending to swim,"Are you ok?" He asked seriously.

"I do not know," Ball said upside down. Oscar stood up and picked ball up to get her back on her feet. Midway he stopped though, and just held her close instead, "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Holding you. Hasn't anyone ever held you before?" He said gently.

"Not really," She recalled her rescue from the lake. There she had been held, but not for very long.

"Your dad doesn't let you nap in his lap when he watches TV?" Oscar asked.

"No,"

"Doesn't he ever carry you to bed after a long day?"

"No. I walk everywhere. And I do not ever spend time with him when he watches television either,"

"But you're only 5 days old! You're his lil baby. Hmm… you were right before when you called him just...Johnson. He really is just a scientist to you, but that's not fair. Every growing child needs some sort of parental figure. OH, how about I be your dad!"

"How would that change anything? You will still be Oscar," Ball said.

"Yeah, but I'd be Oscar, your dad. We're connected! And the other 2 students can be like your mom and your uncle too! Or whatever you want really," Oscar said.

"Is this another pretend thing?" Ball asked.

"Well, some people say that friends are the family you choose so you can be my family, if you like,"

"Heh, I think I would like that," Ball smiled.

"Yay! So uh, now we can start planning all of this family stuff! We can like hang out for family dinners, and movie nights and we can have a family game night and-"

As Oscar kept going on, Ball realised there was a lot of good vibes that the Yoyel 3 gave her. Her fear had seemingly melted away as she was held up comfortably a freshman boy who was actually fond of her.

'Fondness'

It was the need that Johnson had been unable to give her, but there was a better word for it somewhere.

Once Ball had stopped thinking she realised that Oscar was playing with her little stick legs. "Oh sorry, do you not want me to do that?" Oscar noticed that she wasn't saying anything, and that she was looking at him.

"Well what is your purpose of doing it?"

"Eh, I just always sorta wondered what exactly your legs were made out of," He began to play with them again, almost exclusively repeating the action of pressing down on the bottom of her foot so the entire leg would squat.

"You humans are always quite curious of me," Ball said. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them again.

"Hey, close your eyes again," Oscar said. She did so calmly, "Ha your eyes are like little lines. Are they even real?"

"Of course they are. Why would they not be?" Ball said with her eyes still closed.

"Well you don't make a lotta sense. You don't have blood, and your legs look way too small to hold you up, but they do anyway. Your eyes don't even have holes that they fit into. They're just kinda on your face," Oscar placed his pointer finger on her cheek and dragged it. He didn't actually pull on any sort of flesh, but her mouth stretched as if it were connected to the cheek anyway, "Maybe when you're going to school with us you can have a sleepover at each of our houses," Oscar said. Ball grunted quietly in response, "I have a new Kirby game we can play… I also have a stash of candies I'm not allergic to that are hidden under my bed," Ball did not respond. Oscar smiled his little kid smile.

'She's asleep!'