A/N I was thinking about this a while ago and then over Christmas I was bored and read the entire story again and I felt inspired so here we are. It's going to be an augmented reality from now on though, just so you know. Let me know in the comments if I should keep going or not. Next couple of chapters are ready to go.
As always, comments are supportive.
A week later school was starting again for Noah and Ava.
Noah was glad to start his senior year, glad to have only 1 year left at school. He was not excited about having to start with a broken arm and worried how he was going to carry his books or backpack around.
Ava on the other hand was happy to get back to school but mostly cheerleading. This year she could become cheer captain, if she decided to pursue it. It would take up more of her time and she also wanted time to model so she was not entirely sure just yet.
Summer was almost over. Labour day weekend first and Tuesday they were off to school once again.
"Sarah?" Richie asked as he came down the stairs.
"Yeah?" She called from the living room.
"Do you mind if I head out with Noah?"
"Where are you going?"
"Haven't decided yet but school's gonna be rough with a broken arm and how is he supposed to read books?" He asked. "He probably can't even hold a book." He explained.
"You're probably right." Sarah agreed with him.
"I know I'd be very sad if I couldn't do the one thing that brought me joy."
"So you're getting him small books he can hold with one hand?" Sarah joked.
"I was more thinking of an e-reader."
Sarah smiled up at him. "That's very thoughtful." She said.
"I figured I'd take Noah out, get the last couple things for the barbecue tonight, get him some electronics." He explained his plan proudly.
"Yeah?" She called from the living room.
"Do you mind if I head out with Noah?"
"Where are you going?"
"Haven't decided yet but school's gonna be rough with a broken arm and how is he supposed to read books?" He asked. "He probably can't even hold a book." He explained.
"You're probably right." Sarah agreed with him.
"I know I'd be very sad if I couldn't do the one thing that brought me joy."
"So you're getting him small books he can hold with one hand?" Sarah joked.
"I was more thinking of an e-reader."
Sarah smiled up at him. "That's very thoughtful." She said.
"I figured I'd take Noah out, get the last couple things for the barbecue tonight, get him some electronics." He explained his plan proudly.
Richie walked back up the stairs and headed for Noah's bedroom. The door was left ajar and as he knocked on it, the door opened up.
Noah folded his laptop shut and looked up at Richie from his place on his bed.
"You okay?" Richie asked.
"Yeah." Noah replied quickly. "Did you need my help for the barbecue?"
"Actually I do. We need to go to the store and get the last items we need. Your mom's watching Daniel and Ava will be here soon so she can wait for Ava as well while we go be manly men and get meat." He explained.
Noah chuckled. "So manly. The grocery store." He put the laptop down and got up from his bed.
Noah folded his laptop shut and looked up at Richie from his place on his bed.
"You okay?" Richie asked.
"Yeah." Noah replied quickly. "Did you need my help for the barbecue?"
"Actually I do. We need to go to the store and get the last items we need. Your mom's watching Daniel and Ava will be here soon so she can wait for Ava as well while we go be manly men and get meat." He explained.
Noah chuckled. "So manly. The grocery store." He put the laptop down and got up from his bed.
A little while later they were in the car, Noah next to Richie as he drove to the store. Noah was preoccupied with his phone as Richie was explaining a driving manouver to him. "Are you reading?" Richie asked, noticing Noah had heard absolutely nothing of his explanation.
"Yeah, I got the Amazon app and it lets me read books from their store. I've only got free ones and they're either smutty or crappy." Noah sighed.
"Smutty?" Richie asked.
"You know..." Noah said.
"What?"
"Sexual."
"Oh." Richie caught on. Different subject please he asked of himself. "I thought you were reading that Hunger Games?"
Noah chuckled. "That's been a while. Divergent is what I was reading last."
"You read a lot books. You can't blame me for not keeping up." Richie complained. "Hey, have you thought of taking literature at college? You read so much anyway."
Noah shrugged. "I don't really read classic novels and stuff though. Like Shakespeare and stuff. Not my thing."
"Yeah, I got the Amazon app and it lets me read books from their store. I've only got free ones and they're either smutty or crappy." Noah sighed.
"Smutty?" Richie asked.
"You know..." Noah said.
"What?"
"Sexual."
"Oh." Richie caught on. Different subject please he asked of himself. "I thought you were reading that Hunger Games?"
Noah chuckled. "That's been a while. Divergent is what I was reading last."
"You read a lot books. You can't blame me for not keeping up." Richie complained. "Hey, have you thought of taking literature at college? You read so much anyway."
Noah shrugged. "I don't really read classic novels and stuff though. Like Shakespeare and stuff. Not my thing."
Once at the mall, Richie looked for a parking spot. "Okay, so when you need to park between two cars..." he trailed off and looked at Noah, "hey Noah. Attention."
He locked his phone screen and looked up.
"So when you park between cars, see you don't always have enough space to make one smooth move so," Richie started showing as he was explaining, "you get in position, then you put the car in reverse and very importantly you do a 360 check before you reverse, adjust your wheels. Then back into drive, get between and straighten out." He turned the car off.
"I can't drive for another month." Noah pointed out, holding up his broken arm.
"You can always learn."
He locked his phone screen and looked up.
"So when you park between cars, see you don't always have enough space to make one smooth move so," Richie started showing as he was explaining, "you get in position, then you put the car in reverse and very importantly you do a 360 check before you reverse, adjust your wheels. Then back into drive, get between and straighten out." He turned the car off.
"I can't drive for another month." Noah pointed out, holding up his broken arm.
"You can always learn."
They got out the car and Richie headed to an electronics store where he asked the store assistant for help instead of browsing while Noah wandered off.
The store assistant showed him to the e-readers and explained the features on each one of them. Richie asked his many questions and was pretty amazed at the capacity of these small electronics.
While talking, Noah had wandered back to him as he had gotten bored of the rest of the store. The e-readers caught his interest and he started fidgeting with one as Richie thanked the store assistant and asked Noah what he thought.
"This one has Harry Potter as it's demo book." Noah said. "The boy who lived." He read aloud in a fancy voice.
"Do you want it?" Richie asked.
"No, I've got the whole series."
Richie laughed, he may not know what book Noah was reading at what time but he knew he had the Harry Potter series, a Slytherin as himself would at least know that much. "The e-reader. Do you want the e-reader?"
"Oh." He had not thought of that. He liked his books, an e-reader was an electronic.
"It holds thousands of books, it also has a note pad and you can put notes in the text, highlight words and look up definitions and," Richie paused for dramatic effect til Noah looked up at him, "it has text to speech so it reads to you."
That caught Noah's interest.
"Do you want it?" Richie asked.
"No, I've got the whole series."
Richie laughed, he may not know what book Noah was reading at what time but he knew he had the Harry Potter series, a Slytherin as himself would at least know that much. "The e-reader. Do you want the e-reader?"
"Oh." He had not thought of that. He liked his books, an e-reader was an electronic.
"It holds thousands of books, it also has a note pad and you can put notes in the text, highlight words and look up definitions and," Richie paused for dramatic effect til Noah looked up at him, "it has text to speech so it reads to you."
That caught Noah's interest.
On the drive to the grocery store, he didn't mind Noah fiddling around with his gift. He was happy to see Noah happy.
"Chapter one. The boy who lived. Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense."
A robotic male voice read from the device.
"Sorry," Noah apologized as he fidgetted to find the off button as the story kept going.
Richie sushed him. "I can't hear it when you talk over it."
At home, he pulled into the driveway and noticed an extra car that he didn't recognize. Had Heather bought a new car? Ava should have arrived a little while ago by now. He got the grocery bags from the back seat and followed Noah into the house.
"We're back." He said as he walked in to let Sarah know, sure she was still in the living room with Daniel.
"Richie?" She asked. "Come here."
"Gonna put the food away first." He was already on his way to the kitchen and put all the fresh meat into the fridge for the barbecue later. He had a glass of water, then headed to the living room. "What's up?" He asked as he walked in, then stopped in his tracks. "Jon?"
