Chapter 8: Chapter 7 - Everybody Loves Puppets

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"Oh my god, he's rich," Liv said from the backseat. Emmie's car was parked in front of a large, modern-designed house, with everyone inside the car checking it out. Will rechecked the address. It was definitely Oliver's place. Liv leant forward to get a better look and whistled in appreciation. Will hopped out of the car, school bag in hand, and turned around to say goodbye through the open window.

"Thanks for the ride, Em. I'll see you tomorrow. Have fun on your date, Liv!" Will smiled, waving goodbye to the girls in the car. The girls said goodbye, Liv adding a "go get some!" Will rolled his eyes and waved goodbye as Emmie drove off down the street.

He exhaled slowly and turned around to face the behemoth of a house. Will quietly psyched himself up to spend the next few hours with Oliver as he walked up the path. He felt weirdly nervous as he knocked on the sleek metal surface of the front door but pushed it down into a small box when the door swung open to reveal a smiling Oliver. Oliver motioned the other boy to enter into what could only be described as a large, circular foyer. There were a few hallways leading off the foyer and a grand staircase in the centre. Will whistled quietly once his eyes caught the crystal chandelier hanging above him.

"C'est incroyable, non?" Oliver said in a sort-of French accent, stepping closer to Will. Oliver bumped his shoulder playfully against Will's, a cheeky grin plastered on his face as if he were pleased with himself.

Will frowned, bemused about the change in Oliver's character. Will opened his mouth to come up with some sort of response but was saved from a voice that piped in from the top of the stairs.

"Smooth, man, real smooth," the voice said. Will looked up to find someone coming down the stairs... who looked exactly like Oliver. Will looked between the two in confusion as the stood next to one another, one a few inches taller than the other. It was as if someone had copied Oliver and reduced him by like 5%. The two boys stood there as Will scrutinised them, waiting for him to say something.

"Someone want to explain this to me?" Will finally asked, wagging his finger between the two. The taller one, who Will was guessing was the real Oliver, smiled and the shorter one gave out a small laugh.

"Will, this is my little brother, Xavier," the taller one, Oliver, said, patting Xavier's, the shorter one, shoulder, who smiled and waved at me. Will motioned Oliver to continue explaining. "Oh, right. Yeah... Xavier likes to pretend to be me and freak people out. Most people can't tell us apart when they first meet us," Oliver continued, playfully hitting Xavier upside the head.

Will nodded slowly as he tried to process it. Xavier opened his mouth, about to retaliate to Oliver's hit, but Oliver told him to go away. He scowled but waved at Will and walked down one of the hallways. "OK then," Oliver said once Xavier had gone. "Should we get started then?" he proposed. Will nodded and followed him up the staircase.

Oh man, this place is huge! Will thought to himself as Oliver led him down one of the corridors. Oliver opened the door at the end of the hall and they stepped into what Will assumed was his bedroom. It was pretty spacious, with navy blue walls and grey carpet. The walls were covered in basketball posters, sports medals, and trophies. 

"You really like sports, don't you?" Will asked, following Oliver to the couches he had in the room.

"Ah yeah, is it that obvious?" Oliver chuckled, pulling out a notepad and a French dictionary and placing them on the centre table.

"Yeah, just a little," Will laughed, sitting down on the couch opposite him. After scanning his room a little more, Will turned to face Oliver. "OK, ready?" he asked, pulling out his French stuff. Oliver nodded. The two began brainstorm more ideas for what they should do for the role-play.

After 45 minutes, the boys still hadn't come up with a good idea. Or an idea that wasn't going to be as boring as balls. Oliver rubbed his face and sighed in frustration. He really wanted to do well in this and it was evident to Will. 

After a minute or so of silence, Oliver announced he was going to the bathroom and then entered the ensuite. As the door closed, Will had a quick look over what they had come up with. Sadly, nothing was jumping out at him and he was starting to feel frustrated as well. He wanted to do well in this too. Will sighed, giving another quick look around the room. 

It was then that the idea popped into Will's head. "Oh my god, Oliver, hurry up! I had the greatest idea," Will exclaimed. The water was heard running in the ensuite, followed by Oliver coming back into the room, rubbing his wet hands on his jeans.

"What? What is it?" he asked, giving the shorter boy an inquisitive look about his idea. Will pointed towards the vast collection of stuffed toys and animals hand puppets that Oliver had in the corner of his room. He looked over and blushed in embarrassment, probably a bit mortified that he was a teenage boy who still had all his stuffed animals. Will personally thought it was pretty adorable. And Oliver's blush made him cuter.

But Will would never admit to that.

"Dude, don't worry. I think stuffed toys are great," Will assured him. Oliver looked at the other boy and raised an eyebrow, probably thinking what was wrong with him too. Will rolled his eyes before continuing. "Plus, it gave me a great idea!" Will walked over to the hand puppets and picked a few up, taking them back to the couches and placing them on the table.

"What are we gonna do with them?" Oliver asked, picking up the lion hand puppet.

"I was just thinking... what about like a puppet show?" Will proposed. Oliver looked at him quizzically, still not sold on the idea. "Well, we have some people hand puppets here and a ton of animal ones. So, I was thinking, we do a puppet show about a kid's day at the zoo and talk about the animals and just have some fun with it. I mean, everybody loves puppets," Will added. The blonde thought it over before a big grin spread across his face.

"Good idea, man, I think it's fantastic!" he said, still with a big smile. He's got a nice smile, Will thought to himself, smiling back. "We should get started!" Oliver said excitedly, sitting down on the couch and opening to a new page of his notebook.

The two spent the entire afternoon writing out a draft for their role-play. It was as they were finishing the last part of the skit that Will caught himself mesmerised by Oliver's eyes. They were a beautiful cerulean blue that Will hadn't really noticed before. There was a small sparkle in them that Will liked, like taking a refreshing dip in the ocean. That was the last thought Will had about the matter, not liking where the direction this line of thought was headed.

It took them another half hour to finally finished. "Thank the fucking lord!" Will exclaimed, arms thrown into the air before having a stretch. They'd been sitting for way too long and his muscles were begging to move.

Oliver laughed, stretching his tired muscles as well. "Be glad Shayla isn't here, she'd talked your ear off for that," Oliver joked, starting to pack up the things lying around on the centre table.

"Don't remind me of that nutjob," Will groaned, packing his stuff up as well. "Seriously, I'm looking forward for the end of the year so we can graduate and I won't ever have to see her again."

"Man, I know what you mean. I've been at the school two weeks and I'm already over her," Oliver complained.

"Welcome to the club," Will replied, zipping up his bag. Will wasn't sure what to say after that. Thankfully he didn't have to say anything, saved by his mum calling him to say she was waiting out front of the house. "Well, guess I'll be going," Will said once he'd hung up on his mother.

"Yeah I guess so, thanks for coming and working on the skit, man, I really appreciate it," Oliver smiled, hand stretched out. Will was a little perplexed by that, mainly since others their age don't really shake hands that often. He coughed awkwardly before taking Oliver's hand and giving it a quick firm shake.

"No worries, good to get it out of the way, I guess. And I think it'll go great," Will smiled back, playing with the bag strap on his shoulder.

"Yeah, definitely man. I'm really happy with it, we're gonna kill it!" Oliver said excitedly, grinning wider. He has a nice smile too, Will thought, smiling wider himself.

A loud honk reminded Will that he needed to hurry up. He gave Oliver a quick wave goodbye before speeding out of the house. But no matter how fast Will walked, a niggling thought wouldn't leave his mind:

Do I actually like Oliver?

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