Highschool Badass

Badass In The Making - The Makeover

Mason was starting to get comfortable in his new room, which was smaller than the one he had at the old family home, but everything was smaller in Auburn, starting with the town itself. Georgia was the one who had picked the house, a traditional 3-bedroomed home with nice, quiet surroundings. Deep down, she had always hoped that Mason would come live with her and Stu, or that he would, at least, visit. 

His choice to stay with Stanley after the divorce had hurt her, she couldn't understand it and whenever she asked him about it, he would clam up. They had always been close, even when she started seeing Stu, which meant Mason didn't resent or judge her for anything. Maybe his stay over the summer would give them the chance to reconnect.

Mason had made up his mind not to give his mother a hard time and not to be awkward around Stu. Both Stu and Geogia had jobs in town, Stu owned a garage and Georgia did the bookkeeping for a couple of businesses. So, since Mason's arrival two days ago, the three of them had only been together in the same room for breakfast and dinner, when they exchanged conversation cliches. From Mason's point of view, this was fine, they were taking baby steps towards a normal, natural relationship. 

In between breakfast and dinner, Mason had the house all to himself. Though he was tempted at first by a couch potato lifestyle, he rejected the idea in favour of exploring the town and the nearby hills. To kill time and lose his "love handles" he started jogging, then, after reading a few fitness magazines, he became hell-bent on defining a six pack, so he joined a gym. Then, one evening he came to dinner showing off a new haircut, which turned out to be the best conversation starter ever ...

"What did you do to your hair?" asked Georgia, who was unable to hide her astonishment and disapproval.

"Isn't it obvious? I got a haicut." Mason answered, calmly.

"But you had a full head of curly hair! You looked like ... like ..." Georgia was struggling to find her words.

"Like a girl. That's what I looked like. I don't understand why you're so upset. I like my new look. That old one ... it was too feminine for me, especially since I'm not yet growing a beard. Maybe I'll get back to it when I'm more rugged."

"More rugged? Wh ... ?" Georgia looked to Stu for help, but he was making himself busy by the sink, clearly trying to keep out of the whole deal. He would have wanted to leave the kitchen altogether, but Mason was blocking the doorway.

"And I'm ditching the dorky glasses once my contacts are in. I got a prescription from the optician's today."

"And where did you get the money for contact lenses?" Georgia wanted to know.

"I got it from dad. He wired it to me."

"You could have asked me... I wish you had discussed all this with me before making a decision. I wish you talked to me more. What's bothering you? Is it the divorce and my moving out?" Georgia finally found the courage to bring up what she thought was the elephant in the room.

"Nothing's bothering me, mum! You left dad because you two weren't meant to be, everyone could see that a mile away, even me. And I didn't stay with him to punish you. I had school ... and he is alone. He is pushing 50 and he's alone and he's miserable and he doesn't even know it! You, on the other hand, you had a chance for a do-over with Stu and I didn't want to be in your way! I don't know much about relationships, but I figured, as a new couple, you needed your privacy. But then Asher just had to provoke me and I couldn't take it anymore, so now I'm here, doing the things  I need to do for myself. This isn't about you, or Stu, or dad! It's about me!"

Having blurted everything out, Mason stopped to catch his breath, pulled up a chair and sat down at the table. Georgia was just getting ready to say something, but Stu signalled her to stop and take a seat. He then joined them and they quietly started to eat dinner. 

Surprisingly, it was Mason who broke the silence.

"I bought some shelves from the DIY shop today. I want to put them up in my room. Stu, do you have a toolkit round the house I could use?"

"Yeah, I keep a toolkit in the garage. You're welcome to it. Let me know if you need any help."

"I'll give it a go on my own. It's not the sort of thing I would normally do, but I want to see how handy I am. There's another thing I want to pick your brain about."

"Oh, yeah? What?"

"With my 18th birthday coming up in two weeks or so, I want to ask dad for a car. I've been thinking about a muscle car, something like a Ford Mustang or a Chevy Camaro. I want it to be fast and loud, to turn heads."

"Either one of those would do that, especially if it was a convertible, too. I'm more of a Ford fan myself, mainly because the brand has such a long history behind it and the first car to be mass produced was a Ford. In fact, I have a '69 Ford Mustang at my garage, waiting to be restored ... Addison, one of my employees, keeps bugging me to start work on it. You can come by to see it any time you want. Maybe when you finish your DIY project."

"A '69 Mustang? I have no idea what that looks like, but I definitely want to see it! I'm embarrassed to say I don't know much about cars, I haven't had much of an interest in them. To me a car is just a means to an end. I am a decent driver, though, so I expect I'll be able to handle a muscle car."

"There's nothing to it! You'll get the hang of it with a little practice," Stu reassured Mason.

"Mum, do you want me to help you with the dishes?"

"I'll help your mum. Why don't you go look for that toolkit in the garage? So you can put those shelves up tomorrow." 

After Mason left the dinner table, his mother continued to worry about his sudden changes. Stu tried to calm her down.

"I don't think you should get yourself all worked up over a haircut or over contact lenses. You have to stand by him. Mason may have come here a boy, but when he leaves, he's gonna be a man."