Chapter 2

I nod my head at Travis and we go downstairs where my family is waiting for me to join them before eating. 

"Look who decided to finally join us for dinner," Mom says sarcastically. 

"And who is this young man?" Dad asks, eyeing Travis. 

"Oh yeah. Travis, these are my parents and you've already met Austin. Mom, dad, this is Travis, he's from a parallel universe!" I say and my parents drop their forks. 

"A parallel universe?" Mom asks. 

"How did he get here then?" Dad asks. 

"Well, my invention brought him here by accident. I call it the Inter-Universal Teleportation Machine 1.0. It transports objects and people," I explain, holding Travis, "from one universe to another. It's amazing isn't it?"

"It is," Dad agrees. 

"The name's lame," Austin comments with a deadpan tone. 

"You can call it the ITM-1, it's more catchy."

"No it's not."

"Hello everyone, I am Travis." Travis smiles at them. 

Mom smiles back at him and turns to me. "So what now?" she asks and I know what she means. 

"Um, actually, one of the levers on my invention got broken so I can't take Travis back to his universe until I get it fixed. I was hoping you guys won't mind him staying here till tomorrow," I reply. Mom and dad look at each other and have a conversation with their eyes before turning back to me. 

"He can stay, as long as he doesn't do anything out of the ordinary," dad says. 

"He's from another universe so I can't promise that, but, I'll make sure to keep him in check till he leaves," I assure them. 

"So your invention is finally ready to go, I'm so excited for you!" Mom holds my face and ruffles my hair, making me move my head away from her. It took me about twenty minutes to style my hair this way, not everyone is blessed with obedient hair. "Come, let's have dinner."

"Finally!" Austin groans and digs into her food. "I thought all this talking was going to go on forever."

Travis and I sit at the table as mom serves us some spaghetti and meatballs with sauce. Good thing our dining table has six chairs. 

"What kind of food is this?" Travis asks with a mouthful. 

"Spaghetti and meatballs," I tell him. 

"It's delicious, I've never tasted anything like it. I mean, I never thought pasta could be eaten with balls of meat. The meat is so meaty and not chewy," he comments. 

"Thank you Travis." Mom blushes. She loves it when people appreciate her cooking. 

"Isn't the entry for the inventors stuff ending today? By eight?" Austin asks. 

I look at the clock and it's seven thirty. Shit! How could it have slipped my mind? I was busy testing my invention cause I wanted to be sure it worked. If it doesn't work later on then I could get disqualified, though I was pretty confident that it would work. Now that I have just thirty minutes to get to the center to register, I have to hurry. If I miss this chance I'll have to wait till next year and I don't think I can be that patient cause I've already spent eight months on this invention. 

"I promise to finish my dinner when I get back," I assure mom who is already giving me a look. Throwing a meatball in my mouth, I literally sprint out of the house. 

"Come on!" I say to Travis as I poke my head through the door. He also throws a meatball in his mouth and runs out of the house, almost knocking me over. 

We run all the way to one of the IAI branches and arrive at seven fifty-five, sweating and panting.

"We should have traveled in one of those vehicles on the road," Travis says, panting. 

"Yeah, I didn't think of that." I mentally slap myself for being in such a hurry and mistaking myself for Flash. 

We run to the front desk where a middle aged lady is staring at her watch like her life depends on it. On the wall behind her is 'International Association of Inventors' written boldly in large black block letters. 

"Good evening ma'am," I greet the lady. 

She groans when she sees us. "Another day for another set of delinquents to come rushing in here right before eight. Ya got four minutes, make it quick cause I leave here eight o'clock sharp. The people working upstairs already left a while ago."

"Yes ma'am. I wish to participate in the Global Young Inventors Contest being organized by the IAI and I'd like to-"

"Name of the invention and inventor?" She cuts me off impatiently, typing on the computer in front of her. 

"The invention is called the Inter-Universal Teleportation Machine 1.0 and the inventor is Avan Allen." She requests for the name of my school, my phone number, email and home address and types them on the computer then switches it off. I frown. "Don't you want to know what the invention does?" I ask. 

"Save it for the contest so it'll be a surprise for everyone," She retorts and grabs her purse. 

"You know, I thought you were gonna ask me what it does so I could show you my friend who came from a parallel universe," I say, holding Travis. 

"I think I've seen enough people that are not from this universe in one lifetime, half-humans, half-aliens, gnomes, dragons, you name it," She says and gestures for us to leave. "Now scram, I gotta lock up."

"No, this is different, he's not from a fantasy world," I argue. 

"I don't care."

She clearly doesn't care so we just leave and take the bus back home. 

*******

"Did you get your entry in?" Dad asks when we sit back at the table. 

"Yeah I did," I reply and tell them about the rude lady at the desk. 

Travis and I uncover our meals and continue eating. Travis compliments the food once more, making mom smile at him adoringly. If he keeps complimenting her this way, she may want to adopt him. After we're done with dinner, I put the dishes in the dishwasher and wipe them dry with a napkin while Travis just stands there watching me and talking about how our universes are barely different from each other. When I'm done, we go back to my room so we can get some shut-eye. 

"By the way, I never got to know your name," Travis says to me after we've taken our baths, gotten dressed and tucked in bed. 

"Yes you did, it's Avan."

"Oh. Good night, Avan," he mumbles.

"Good night."

Travis may be a stranger but I feel like this is going to be the start of a new and beautiful friendship and I can't wait to find out more about this boy from a parallel universe.