{IC:Speedball}
My life so far hasn't sucked to bad, one thing sucked big time, but I cool with that. My dad left us when we I was 13. My mom moved down to New York not long after, she got a gig in a Broadway play, I think it was Phantom of the Opera or some weird thing like that. I had to switch schools, which rocked. I was a geek in 8th grade, I was skinny and LOVED science.
But over the summer, I grew like a whole foot and bulked out. By the time I got to High School in Queens, The coach for the football team had signed me up and I was quarterback for the Junior Varsity team.
Things had changed, I was popular, but for some reason I still liked science. I never had trouble with any of my classes, even though I had a game each week and practice every night. When winter came around, I had joined the basketball team, and the spring I played baseball. Football was always more fun, cause you could run over people and not get in trouble.
This year I was made starting Quarterback, and It looks like I'm going to get a football scholarship to Notre Dame, but I'm thinking of just forgetting about that.
I want to go to Harvard, so I can be closer to my dad. I got a 1529 on my SATs. I got flack for that for weeks. I don't get why being smart is a bad thing, and being an ignorant fool is good.
We, being jocks, naturally love to torture the smart kids. I hate it, but I just go along with it to fit in. GOD! I Hate peer pressure. Sometimes I just want to scream "Shut UP!". There's this one kid, Trevor, he's kind of a big kid, and the guys just love to torture him, they call him Blob, but really, he's smaller than most of the guys on the team.
Today, I'm supposed to help Prof. Hammand over at Empire State with some experiment, he sayed he needed someone strong, what in science would need someone strong.
I arrive at Science building finally. I hate the stupid subway. So many damn creeps in one train. I have to put on a pissed off mood just so they won't gut me and take my wallet.
Prof. Hammand stands outside waiting for me, he looks pretty bored, well at least bored for him, he's alreaady began to take apart one of the flowers in near one of the benchs outside.
"Ah! Robbie you're here!" Prof. Hammand looks like Doc from Back to the Future, except he has these HUGE glasses and his hair is even crazier.
"Hi Professor, So... What's this big experiment that you need me to help with."
"So glad you came. This is going to be amazing."
"What is?"
"Don't worry you'll see."
We enter the Building, and walk down a hallway. After passing like 400 doors, we finally get to his lab. It makes my room look like Monk's room.
On the wall opposite the door, is a some weird machine with a bike attached to it.
"Is that it? A bike?"
"No silly boy, it's what the bike is attached to. It converts kinetic energy and water into a new form of long lasting fuel which will hopefully be used in cars and airplanes."
"Does it work?"
"Not sure, this is the second test run. The first test was a complete failure."
"So how do you know-"
"See the tires, they are on a track that absorbs the energy, but first it needs to have water on it."
He flips a switch on the handlebars. I can't believe he just cut me off. He's so obsessed with this machine, he's just ignoring everything else.
Water pours out of the side of the machine and covers the track.
"The water absorbs the new compound that converts it into the fuel. It's quite amazing actually."
"How do you know it's amazing?"
"You see, I tried doing it myself, but I just can't seem to get it to go fast enough, My old legs are just too week. But you, you run all day and can probably get this thing going mighty fast."
Cut off again, He's so hard to talk to."So what's the new compound?"
"OH! I actually discovered by accident in my sleep. I went to go get some water from my kitchen, and I fell asleep. I began to sleepwalk. When I woke up, I was in here, I came up with the compound and apparently dropped water on it. It exploded in my face when I shook it."
"EXPLODED! Sorry Prof., thanks for the offer in maybe being involved in the biggest scientific discovery of the century, but I enjoy having legs, so goodbye."
I head toward the door, I'm not going to let something explode under my feet. Well, I did one time, but that's another story. Hammand runs in front of me.
"NO! I promise it won't explode."
"Ok, I'll do it."I've agreed to do dumber things. before.
I jump on the bike, Thank god it's not one of those stupid trick bikes, I'm not sure I could standthem after riding bikes with gears all these years.
"All I need you to do is get up to 30 mph, the rest I will handle."
I begin to peddle, the tires slipping against the water slicked surface, God it feels weird. On the handle next to the water release is a little odometer. I start out going 5mph, then 12, 15, 17, 20, 25, 29, 30.
BOOM!
"AAAHHH!!!"
I go flying back off the bike, like I was pushed by some really big strong dude.
I land on the Prof.'s workbench, and I break it in half. The bottle with the Compound goes flying in the air, and it splashes all over me. Some of it gets in my mouth. EWWW!!! It taste like pickle water.
"It won't explode huh?"
"I'm sorry Robbie, I don't know what happened. OH, and that was the last of the compound. I'm sorry Robbie, I wasted your time."
The poor guy hangs his head in shame. He didn't really waste my time, I've got about an hour before practice, so I have plenty of time.
"Yeah, I'm ok, thanks for acsking. No, It's ok. Sorry I broke your workbench. Don't worry, you'll remember how you made the stuff. I've gotta go."
As I walk out the door I hear him mutter "Now what went wrong?-sigh..."
I get back on the Subway and manage to get back to school with only a few minutes to spare. The team asks me where I went, I tell them I went home, and did some stuff for my mom before she got home from rehearsal. They joke around some. I say "Whatever".
Practice starts like any normal practice, then we take a break. I go into the locker room and get some Gatorade. Ain't nothin better than Grape Gatorade.
I head back out, and my stomach begins to rumble. God! It hurts like hell.
Then I burp and bubbles come out. What the hell! Bubbles? Whatever, it feels better.
We begin to practice plays, The ball is hiked to me, no one is clear, so I charge to the endzone, some guy tackles me. HOLY HELL!!!
He flies off like a bouncy ball. He lands in the stands, like 200 feet away!!!
The coach screams "Holy Crap Baldwin, what in the hell did you do?!"
"I have no clue coach! He tackled me and he just...flew."
"Hit the showers Baldwin!"
I head off of the field, I look at my hands confused as hell about what I just did.
