5. Mom was a cool kid?........but doesn’t like parties??

Needless to say Hunter was none too pleased with Cindy around. We spent the afternoon playing a series of multiplayer games together but because Cindy was not much of a gamer, she just sat there and chatted with me. Hunter repeatedly told her not to distract me but she was persistent. Once in a while, Mr Harper would check in on us to see how we were going. I'm sure if he was not a factor, Hunter would have gotten rid of Cindy a long theme ago.

The day flew by so fast, I didn't even notice the sun go down. Apparently mom had been in the house for much longer than I was aware ready to pick me up. She waited in the kitchen for me, chatting with Hunter's mom. I was not happy to leave but I couldn't stay forever. I said my goodbyes to Hunter and Cindy before going with my mom.

"You had fun?" mom asked.

"Yeah," I said." I really missed Hunter and Cindy over the winter. I definitely needed this."

"I'm glad to hear that. Ooh Cindy has grown so much...so has Hunter."

"Yeah, way too much if you ask me. How was work?"

My mom, I am proud to say, was an a police officer. She had served in the force for close to 9 years. Before entering the force, mom had been bouncing around different jobs with a small catering business to make ends meet but that only worked out for so long. She often says joining the police academy was the best decision she ever made after having me. It was a strange shift for her from catering but it supplied a steady income. Now she was a dedicated police officer and instantly became my hero without a cape. Officer Becky Firth has a nice ring to it, right?

"You know the usual.....small petty crimes here and there. We had a few detectives come in at the department still collecting data on a notorious criminal who is still at large. They call him the Washer. Weird, right?"

"What does he do?"

"Suspected of arson, murder, breaking and entering and cyber espionage."

"Isn't that a job for the FBI? Or the Covenant?"

"He hasn't taken any of these crimes to international level. He's not even a nationwide threat as far as we have discovered. The Covenant won't respond to it."

The Covenant. A peacekeeper organisation founded after the second world war to maintain harmony throughout the globe. They are still trying to establish headquarters all over the globe, which was proving to be very hard. Not everyone trusts thriving away their security to the Covenant because it is suspected that they have corruption in very high places, which could easily put any nation at risk. Naturally, every super power suspects another of have a hand to firm at the steering wheel of The Covenant. As far as I'm concerned, they are not all bad. Recently, a few mutated creatures have appeared with no trace of how they came to be. All anyone knows is that they are a menace to society. A much larger outbreak of them occurred in Australia. Fortunately for them, one amazing agent of The Covenant has become a beacon of hope against the threat. The Bomb Beetle. Superhuman in the flesh. He quickly became a local Australian celebrity for taking down the mutant menace and started to gain fame internationally when he took his work to other areas in Oceania. If mom was my hero without a cape, the Bomb Beetle was my hero with a cape.

"They don't get much slack, do they?" I said almost to myself.

"They have been known to be reckless," mom replied.

"They have done a lot of good too but I can't say much against a cop slash my mom."

Mom chuckled, "And don't you forget it, mister."

I took a moment to think back on my day. I realised I hadn't thought much about what happened at school because being at Hunter's house was a good distraction. Now the memory flooded back to me fresher than ever. I knew I was not going to be able to find a way to refuse the invitation. Apart of me was scared that refusing would get me in trouble. But I was also not sure if my ok would take it well if I told her about the party. I'm definitely not the type to attend such events and she knows well. It took me a lot of willpower but I mustered up enough to talk about it.

"Hey mom," I said, getting her attention." I guess I made new friends today."

"Ohh that's nice," she responded with genuine excitement." Who are they?"

"They're sort of the cool kids in school."

"Okay. I hope you're not turning into a rebel or anything now."

"Oh not at all. They're not the classic sadistic stereotype cool kids. They're really cool. At least, I think they are."

"Huh...another generation I suppose. When I was in high school, I was part of the cool kids and we were awful to everyone."

"For real?"

"Yeah. We would always pick on other kids for all sorts of things, but I see our world has moved passed that now," she laughed.

"Hooray for the world!" I exclaimed with a smirk. "Ohh and Ive been invited to a party on Saturday."

"A party? What party?"

"Just...you know...they said they'd tell us more about it before Friday."

"I don't know, sweety. It sounds like one of those I should really be saying no to."

"Wha..what do you mean?"

"Well like...these cool kids maybe setting up a boozing party for you. You don't do that stuff, I know. But made they could spike you or something."

"I dont think they're on that level, mom. I think they're nice people."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"It doesn't feel right."

"Trust me. It'll be fine. I'll be fine and I'll be back in one piece, okay?"

"Okay. I trust you Tony."

"Thanks a lot mom."

I don't know why I felt the impulse to go to the party but I did. I know I tried to convince myself I couldn't say no but that's not true. Maybe it was because I knew Alex would be there. Somehow even knowing that she had a boyfriend wasn't deterring me from wanting to meet her there. I mean, there was Abigail too but Alex was special.