Dynamite's Diary - 28th January 2022

Well, the school week didn't go as smoothly as I hoped. Started out well, but then went downhill in the quickest way possible.

I got to meet up with Steve on Monday in order to find out what Gemma was excited about. He said that she'd told him that I'd had to drop out of the play at the last minute due to "personal backstage issues" and as such, missed out the rest of it. So as compensation, he gave me a selection of photos that his mom took of the play. Specifically, the scenes that he appeared in. If you ask me, that's a pretty good gift. I already said I wasn't interested in the play itself, so just getting the pictures with Steve in them is fine.

So Monday was pretty good. And the next few days were fine too, despite being an average school week. It was just me hanging out we my buds and trying to get schoolwork done. And for once, I actually got a good grade in English class.

But I came across the most disturbing thing on the way home today. I was just heading down the street texting Lottie about what we were going to do over the weekend. Just as I usually do.

Suddenly, I got the weird feeling that somebody was following me. It was as if something was breathing right on my neck. Kinda creepy if you ask me. Plus, I was pretty sure I saw another shadow next to me.

Going to the alleyways made no difference. And neither did speeding up. So I decided to do what I should I really done right from the start, which was to turn round and see who my stalker was.

And that's when a FREAKING BULLET whooshed past my neck, leaving a sharp pain. There was no blood when I felt it, which was good, but still?!

More bullets were being fired that I had to dodge, which I realised were coming from one of the trees above the alleyway. Clearly whoever it was had some athletic abilities in order to get up there that quickly, since the first bullet came from straight behind.

So in a blind panic, I picked up a brick that had just been left there and hurled it at where the bullets were coming, at which point it smacked the culprit straight out of the tree and sent her tumbling to the ground on her butt.

KINSEY?!

Well, the good news is that she's alive and well. Maybe THAT's why I wasn't in as much trouble as I thought I would be. Secretly, I'm kinda glad. Even if she is a nasty piece of work and I'm more relieved because of what it does for my own rep.

But she was positively seething when she faced me. To be fair, she was covered up in bandages and had a nasty gash on her face, so I can understand what she's mad about. She's always been obsessed with her looks and took pride in being the "hottest girl at school".

It was both unnerving and ridiculous at the same time. She just railed on at me, accusing me of "setting her up" in order to get her into this situation because I was "jealous" of how "beautiful" she was. And that people thought she looked funny when she came into school dressed up as a "living Egyptian mummy" on her first day back. I guess I was in detention on that day - I didn't hear ANYTHING about that.

"And now I'm not going to win prom queen or Hottest Girl At High School this year and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" Her spit actually landed on my face as she screamed that.

"Look, I did warn you, you don't talk shit about my dad when he's around."

"Whatever! You're still paying, no matter what!"

I decided it was best to just leave, but Kinsey wouldn't stop following me with that gun. So I got the one stick of dynamite I had on myself and threw it just so she wouldn't chase me down. Luckily, she got out of the way in time so it didn't blow her up again.

I could actually hear her yelling as I belted out of the alleyway and down the next street. "Just wait until next time, Dumb-a-nite! I'll hunt you down if I have too!"

Wow, what a dreadful insult. I probably would have laughed if it wasn't for the fact that I was running at full speed back home.

The most bizarre thing was that Dad thought it was HILARIOUS. He thought the photos of Steve were "dreadful" and "cringeworthy" but laughed his ass off when I told him about the clash with Kinsey after getting home.

And then he said "Seems you're the third Boomstick family member with a high school rival then!" before pouring himself out another beer. Yeah, I've heard some rather odd stories about his and Grandma's time at high school. Apparently THAT'S now a family tradition.

It does make me wonder about Mel Crombey from elementary school though. I remember she was super ticked off when I blew her up as well. Oh god, what if Kinsey and Mel TEAM UP?! Then I'd have TWO rivals out for my blood! O_O

No, there's no way that could happen. They're not going to meet up at all. I've got to stop worrying about these sorts of things. It's a new year and I've got to focus on other things, like getting my own bedroom at last and considering my place in my own family. If only Kinsey doesn't bring any of this up at school...

Dynamite's Diary - 23rd January 2022

Dad decided that we should continue our martial arts training today. It's been a long time since we've done it - last time was back at the end of the summer holidays! I guess we were just preoccupied with other problems throughout the last few months.

Dad's idea of martial arts is kinda weird. He only tends to focus on the offensive aspect rather than the defensive side. So it basically comes down to who's the first to fully beat the crap out of the other. Plus, no protective gear. If this was happening with another family, social services would be called in IMMEDIATELY. But I always get a kick out of it and this has been happening throughout my family for some time.

Dad usually tends to win our bouts, but I was determined to gain a victory this time. I've had enough practice after all. How hard could it be?

Yeah, I still need more work, it turns out. In my defense, I did take Dad off-guard a few times and even landed a good solid hit in his back. But ultimately he was able to send me flying with a single kick. Landed right in the bushes.

Dad was nice enough to help me out though and make sure that I hadn't suffered any major injuries. At worst, my body kind of smarts for a while but it calms down later on. Besides, I get the feeling that Dad tends to hold back. He's freakishly strong for someone his age. Don't believe me? I've seen him take down trees in ONE PUNCH.

He said that I was getting better, which was pretty cool. Apparently, it took him until the age of fourteen for him to finally beat his mom in a martial arts spar, and he started at the age of FOUR. Sure, people like Lottie would think this was super weird and messed up, but again, it's my family. It's just part of our tradition.

Then in order to gain back some of the energy we lost during that bout, we went inside and had chicken pie with jalapeno sauce for launch. One of the less bizarre meals that Dad serves up. I tried to convince Lottie and Gemma to try it out one time but only Gemma was interested. Seems that I just can't get Lottie to appreciate the same things that I do.

I asked Dad yet again during lunch whether he had any knowledge as to why I wasn't being kicked out of school for December's incident, and he just played dumb and let out an awkward chuckle. So I'm just gonna have to give up extracting info from him now. All I know is that the school is still accepting me as a student despite what happened with Kinsey. I've heard some rumors that she survived and may be coming back to school anyway. That should certainly be interesting if that's the case.

Also, Gemma phoned me and claims that Steve has something important to tell me on Monday. That should be pretty exciting, whatever it is. Gemma seemed pretty happy too, so I've got my fingers crossed. :-3

Dynamite's Diary - 15th January 2022

I was so prepared for school to be a complete trainwreck this week. I thought that as soon as I made it through the gates, I'd instantly be summoned to the principal's office, suffer through some long rant and then be sent packing.

But it wasn't like that at all. It was so weird. I came in and, apart from some weird glances from the popular kids, nobody raised the issue at all. Not even the teachers.

I actually had to ask Gemma and Lottie what was going on. Gemma says that most people knew about the incident, but she didn't know why more people were reacting to it and freaking out. All she knew was that she was happy that I was still in school.

Lottie was just smug about the fact that Kinsey wasn't in school. "That takes care of that poser, then!"

It was the same the next day. And the day after that. There was more discussion about the incident amongst the other kids, but it was only Kinsey who they talked about. Some rumors claim that she got blown to a million pieces, but other rumors claim that she was last seen in a full body cast giving an angry death glare to anyone who passed by. Most of the other kids were treating me the same as they'd done before, as normally as you can treat someone who's the daughter of a crazy gun nut who's got a warrant on his head in all fifty states.

And then on Friday, I just so happened to stumble by the Kool Kids club having their meeting in a corner of the playground, and they were simply in awe. As soon as they saw me come over, their mouths dropped open and they just went at me.

"You actually fought Kinsey Fitchhurst?! And WON?!"

"OMG, it's the girl who beat Kinsey Fitchhurst!"

Ashley Grossman was there too - Kinsey's second-in-command who always plans to steal her position from behind her back. She was just shivering and looking at me with a disturbed look in her eyes. Pretty different from the sullen type she normally is.

One of the girls grabbed my leg, which was completely unnecessary if you ask me. "Hey, if you're going to challenge Kinsey Fitchhurst like that and actually win, you've gotta take top spot yourself! We might as well make you the new leader of our group!

Ashley was all like "Hey! I'm supposed to be the popular girl now!", but nobody paid attention to her. They were all just piling on me and trying to drag me into their clique.

I did consider it. Being the most popular kid would certainly provide me with many perks. But ultimately, I turned it down. I just didn't really want to associate with the Kool Kids anyway. They're not my type. After all, if anyone's going to be the most popular kid in school now, Lottie's super desperate to take the title. Plus, it might give a boost to my own anyway if she's the ultimate queen bee.

So yeah. I haven't been kicked out at all. It kinda feels wrong that I haven't. But I'm still here and unless something else pops up later on, it's likely to remain that way.

I would not be surprised if Dad had gotten Marshall to pay the school not to kick me out or something like that. After all, Marshall's stinking rich so he can pretty much use his money for anything. Dad claims it wasn't the case, but the awkward grinning and blushing he pulled off when saying that made me suspicious.

What this did teach me though is why I don't trust the popular kids in the first place. I blow one of their kind to kingdom come and instead of screaming with fright and trying to call the police on me, they instead treat me as some kind of badass who should take the place of their leader, just because I proved my "authority" and "power". Yeah, high school gets weird at times. Or at least weirder than other people's experiences of it normally. Now we just need to know where Kinsey actually is...

Dynamite's Diary - 6th January 2022

It's the last day of Christmas and I'm already worried sick. I'm super sure that the school's gonna expel me for what happened with Kinsey and those explosives back in December. It'll be just like elementary school again, with having to spend AGES trying to find a new high school to attend.

Sure, it wasn't so bad when Christmas and New Year were happening, but they're not now, aren't they? With them, I could just forget about school and focus on spending time with family and friends. With them all over, there's no way of ignoring what will happen.

And the weird thing is, I still don't regret it. Kinsey certainly had it coming. The girl has played vicious pranks on others, slut-shamed other girls, framed other students for cyberbullying (she once hacked into someone's social media account and wrote hateful messages on it) and apparently was planning to pull out a gun during our school play. Her upsetting my dad was just the final straw. I'm just concerned about the school's reaction, that's all.

Dad himself is completely relaxed about the whole thing. He was still congratulating me on my fighting skills sometime afterward. He was even telling Grandma all about it and treating it as the most awesome thing ever. Well, I'm glad that he's happy with me, but it just kind of rubs it in a bit more.

School should have opened again this week, but there was apparently a gas leak so they're keeping it closed til things are sorted out. So whilst I may be off the hook for now, it won't be so easy once the gates open again.

On the bright side, I've got my friend's contacts, so we can still keep in touch and hang out with one another. I've got Steve's contacts as well, so that should allow us to meet up when we want to. I really hope he doesn't know about the whole case with Kinsey though. He's already wary of my dad, so what happens if he finds out that I'm becoming more like him?

Anyway, I should finish rambling on now. It's not going to make a difference to whether I get kicked out of school or not and Gemma just called earlier on to ask if I wanted to hang out. Hopefully that should help take my mind off things too, but I kinda doubt it.

Dynamite's Diary - 2nd January 2022

Well, it's 2022 now. A new year with new possibilities supposedly. I'm sure it's just gonna be like any other year though.

I didn't attend any parties, but I decided to go wandering the city streets with friends just to see the fireworks. Steve was there too, and it could have potentially been a romantic date with just us too, but I just couldn't leave the girls out.

Marlene wore earmuffs the whole time due to not liking the sound of the fireworks going off, though she was happy to look at them. They looked so pretty - mixtures of red and blue and green and purple and gold and even pink. You can bet that Lottie was all about the latter color.

There were some really freaky explosions in the sky however that I wouldn't expect to see normally from a firework show. Most of my mates got really disturbed by them and Smartie in particular was freaking out. Gemma and I thought they looked pretty cool though, unexpected appearance aside.

It didn't take long for us to realize that those explosions were actually coming from Marshall's arena in the middle of the city. Because OF COURSE they would. His firework shows are enough to wreck the splash zone beyond repair.

I actually got to see Dad come out of the party he attended with Wiz, Marshall and Jocelyn around 5am. Apparently, their fireworks were supposed to end at 1am on the dot, but Dad really wanted to continue with them and Marshall decided to let them off for him. Wiz and Jocelyn really wanted to go to sleep though so Wiz had set up a MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM in order to shoot them down. Obviously some of them had missed, because there were still fireworks going off in the air.

I have some great news about Dad - he didn't get black-out drunk this time! Sure, he was still giddy from the alcohol, but I didn't have to carry him to bed like all those years before. Last year was particularly bad - he passed out halfway through the party and reeked of beer for days afterward.

Of course, we both passed out in our beds after getting back home - it had been a long night and we needed to get to sleep. I honestly didn't expect to stay up as long as I ultimately did. So yeah, most of New Year's Day was just me conked out.

I already made up my mind about my resolutions before the new year started. Resolution #1 - get my own bedroom. Dad's place just consists of one room with two beds and my room in Mom's flat is too small. Still super jealous that Lottie and Gemma have their own bedrooms with enough space in them to have whatever they need. ESPECIALLY Lottie. Sure, it's all pink and more Lottie's sort of thing, but still, she has her own freaking bedroom!

Resolution #2 - probably come to terms with my own family connections. Last year was crazy what with the family reveals and Grandma's return. I'm still having a bit of an identity crisis because of that. That's probably what will make this year different - I never had to think about that sort of stuff beforehand.

Oh, and then there's that whole business with school. Can't forget that fight I had with Kinsey back in December. Something in my mind makes me hope that they didn't catch on to it, but it's sadly unlikely.

So here's hoping to a happy new year as they say. And hoping that I don't get expelled for the second time in my life.