FIVE DAYS LATER
"Ha! Finished!" I groaned aloud as I slumped back onto my chair, its spine creaking like an old woman. God! That took so damn long! It's not that I didn't remember it correctly; it's just typing and then checking again if I spelled any mistakes, and laziness. Half the time I wrote the damn novel and the other I just giggled to myself imagining swimming in a pool of money…that would be a sight to see.
Anyway, now that I've written the novel, I have to publish it. Of course, I really can't do it on my own, cause you know, it's the fucking 2000s! I have to find a publishing house that has a good reputation and doesn't wish to just fuck me over! And thank god, the people in this time used the internet; if not, I would have had to go out there physically and submit my fucking drafts!
Of course, I still have to send my draft through the mail, physical mail. I can still research which publishing house I send it to. And since they have the internet, all the big publishing houses would already have websites, so it makes it a little easier to make a list and not sign my precious money jewels over to some whack jobs!
"But, I don't wanna work anymore….!' I kicked the floor, the chair wheeling towards the bed, "I'll sleep for a while," I mean I already did the hard part, so taking some rest for a while isn't going to be the end of the world!
I got off my chair before falling on the bed like a lifeless zombie, "oooh!" I groaned, the soft mattress massaging my muscles like it was a professional! Goddamn, I gotta give this bed a raise! And as soon as I closed my eyes, sleep kicked right in; my brain was probably fried from using my skill all this time, but that evening, I had a dreamless sleep; it just means that I had slept like a log!
I didn't know how long I was asleep, but my mom was now banging against my door, her voice a bit worried, "Alex, are you there?!"
"Ugh," I stirred awake, frowning my brows as I slowly got off my bed, but I turned back to the pillow, only for my frown to increase and my face to turn into a scowl, "Fuck! Why do I still drool even after transmigrating?!" There was a wet patch of shame on my pillow, glistening under all its glory. Tsk! I thought I had left you there, but you transmigrated along with me, huh?
"Alex?!"
"Mom! Stop banging on the door! I'm awake, I'm coming!" I yelled loudly, shaking my head a little as I trudged towards the door, opening it. "What is it, mom?" I asked the woman standing in front of me. My mom had the same features as me: blonde hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful face. I looked more like her clone than as her son.
Anyways, she narrowed her eyes, observing my face for a moment, but then her lips curled a bit, a snarky comment incoming; I could guess it by her looks, "Did you drool?"
"Hmm?" I frowned, touching my lips with my hand, and sure enough, there was a wet line of drool escaping my lips, "Yeah," I mumbled as I wiped it off, "I was very tired, I just finished the book I told you I was writing." I told her I was writing a novel; I didn't want to keep secrets from the only family I had in both lives. But of course, I'm not going to tell her I'm not her son; that would be…stupid, yeah, it's a stupid thing to do.
"Oh?" My mom hummed, raising an eyebrow in surprise, "I thought you would take a month or two finishing it." She then gave me a small smile, her eyes glimmering with pride.
"Um, do you want to read it, mom?" I asked, a little eager to show it to her. You know at first I thought of keeping it a secret, but when I slipped it up during dinner, she was so supportive and happy that I felt weird, and even now, her smile and that little pride in her eyes that her son had written a novel. No one had ever looked at me like that before, no one praised me for something I did, no one said that they were happy that I succeeded at something. No one really cared…
"Of course!" My mom replied, clapping her hands excitedly. We both then entered my room. I dragged my chair back to the computer and made my mom sit on it while I opened the book and sat on the bed waiting for her to read a few pages, but the woman kept on reading! And she read for like two hours!
"Mom?!" I called out to her for the nth time and shook her shoulder, just to make her snap out of it.
"What?!" she snapped back!
Wow! So, the novel's good, at least from her reaction and how she's looking at me like I poured cold water on her while she was sleeping. Yeah, I think I did a good job.
"So, how is it?"
"O-Oh, the novel?" she stuttered, looking back at the screen; she muttered, "it's really good! I just couldn't stop reading!" She then snapped her head back at me, her eyes turned investigative, squinting at me, "Are you sure that you've written this?"
Wow, woman!
"Of course! What do you think, I lied to you? Hmph! I wrote it, and let me tell you something, it's part of a series, and this is just the first book, and in the next part, there's a big twist!"
"Really?! What is it? Tell me!" My mom exclaimed eagerly, her eyes widened as she stared.
"Hmph! Why should I tell you? You don't even believe that your own son, your blood and talent, wrote a marvellous book!"
"I-I believe you! I was just kidding earlier! It's just that the novel is too good!"
"Hmph!" I still snorted at her, my lips curling into a sly smirk as I pressed my finger to my lips, "It's a secret!"
My mother furrowed her brows at me, almost as if she was going to jump at me with a mouthful of curses but, "Pfft!" She started chuckling, "Hahaha!" I was not sure why she was laughing or if she had become crazy, but soon, I started laughing too, and we laughed for a few minutes, and I noticed I felt light, as if an invisible weight had been lifted off my chest; weird.
"Alex," she said, rising from the chair, "the novel is really good, too good for a first timer!" She exclaimed, nearing me, holding my arms, "I have birthed a genius!" she said, smiling, her eyes went wide with pride, "I'm really proud of you!"
BADUMP
My heart thumped, and my eyes were about to tear up like someone had crashed into a fire hydrant, but I held it back, biting my inner cheeks, "Thanks, mom," I replied, hugging her, "thank you very much!" Mom didn't say anything back; she didn't need to. She just hugged me back.
"So, what are you going to do with the book? Are you thinking of publishing it?" she asked after a few moments, pulling away from the hug. "Yeah," I replied, "I was actually planning to search for some publishing houses online, and then decide."
She nodded her head in reply, thinking of something, and after a moment said, "Well, continue your research. I know a guy who worked in the media industry; while he didn't directly work with publishing houses, I'm sure he has a few connections. Let me call him and see if he has anything."
"Sure."
"Great!" she replied, then turning to the clock on the wall, "It's almost time for dinner," she mumbled before turning back to me, "Come down, I'll prepare your favourite; you've earned it!"
"Okay," I replied with a chuckle, a happy feeling in my heart.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the school replied; you got into North Shore High; it starts in a week!"