Cloning Arthur

By Frank Ferrie

John Maria James-Smith wakes up on his sixteenth birthday knowing that everything in his life will change. But is he prepared for all the changes life throws at him? With his best and only friend Quinn Sanders, he experiences a life he had never imagined to be possible before. From being the outliners at high school they overnight become superstars and have to decide if they continue the journey together or go their separate ways. To top it all off Arthur is convinced that somebody cloned Arthur.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Ferrie
• Release date: Jul 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005220037

Frank Ferrie

Born a long time ago in a land far away with lots of mountains and no sea.Moved a long time ago to the land with lots of mountains surrounded by the sea.

Book preview

Cloning Arthur

By Frank Ferrie

Copyright 2022 Frank Ferrie

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Contents

Part 1 Diary Entries

Part 2 A Star is Born

Part 3 A New Beginning

Part 4 Six Beauties visiting Six Continents

Part 5 Clones

Part 1 Diary Entries

Day 1

I could have slept in this morning and nobody would have told me off but instead, I decided to get out of bed early and start this diary.

As soon as I heard the door close behind my father leaving the house, I woke up and as soon as I heard my mother do the same thing, I stood up. Today is my first day of liberty, no more JJ in the morning. Today is also my sixteenth birthday. These things are linked of course but I guess I will have to explain myself.

I am John, John James-Smith but officially my full name is John Maria James-Smith. The first part of my name after my father, John James, or JJ, and the second part after my mother Maria Smith. If I had been a girl the name would have been reversed as in Maria John Smith-James. As you can tell my parents really think about themselves first and about me second or maybe not at all.

I was born sixteen years ago and from what I understand I was a bit of a Christmas gift. My parents met at a business Christmas party and obviously had something going. Don’t ask me what or how because I have never seen the two showing any kind of affection towards each other or interest in me, just in case you are wondering. The three of us might sleep and live in the same house but we all have our own ensuite bedrooms and studies and so we barely see each other. Anyway, somehow the two decided that it made good business sense to make me, move in together and raise me. For the last sixteen years, they did give me a roof over my head and made sure I am fed but that’s about it.

The thing is, both of my parents are workaholics. My father never takes time off work and even on weekends, when he is at home, he works. I guess my mother was off work to give birth to me but after that, she most likely was back at the office in no time. To her credit, she does take the weekends off to take me to church and shopping and she even cooks at the weekend. She does interact with me at times but it usually feels more like a business interaction than a mother-son relationship. Something is holding her back from declaring her love for me, maybe I have a deathly disease or whatever. My father on the other hand hardly notices me. The two are a bit like chalk and cheese, my mother is young and pretty, especially when she manages to smile and rather tall and skinny too. My father on the other hand is built like a tractor, a bit shorter than my mother, and here I am guessing a decent six-pack. Of course, both of them are always immaculately dressed and make a picture-perfect couple. I look more like my mother really. I am already as tall if not taller than my father and personally don’t look anything like him and that’s a good thing.

Of course, I would not have survived sixteen years without somebody looking after me and that was Nanny. Until I was fourteen she was the only person showing me some kind of affection but just like with my parents, Nanny’s affection always felt more like she was doing a job really, and she was good at it. She still continued to do our housework but I hardly saw her lately.

Nanny did everything. First thing in the morning she would wake me up, wash me when I was little, and demand that I take a daily shower when I was older. Dress me or have my clothes ready, make me breakfast and take me to school or in later years sent me off. After school Nanny would make sure I did my homework, feed me and send me to bed. Just like my parents, she was a perfectionist. My clothes were always immaculate, the food was always on time and the house was kept clean and tidy. Recently Nanny or possibly somebody else did the housework when I was at school and the meals would be ready to go into the microwave and I ate well before my mother did and I guess my father ate even later.

The one thing I absolutely hated about Nanny was her obsession with my hair. She had this special cream she would rub into my hair every morning before combing it and always part my hair in the middle. My hair would stay fixed in position for the rest of the day and never move. Once I tried to mess it up as soon as I was out of the house but as I touched my hair my hands started burning and swelling. It was so bad that I went to sickbay at school and the nurse had to put a special cream on my hands to lessen the reaction. From that day on I never touched my hair again but promised myself that as soon as Nanny left I would burn all her creams. I didn’t follow through because after that my father insisted I continue using it and I did. I had to put on special rubber gloves to touch it. I have no idea why my father wanted me to use the stuff but I bet there are cameras somewhere in this house. Today I don’t care, I didn’t use the hair cream. I am sixteen after all!

Should I go or should I not? That’s the million-dollar question. School starts in fifteen minutes and it will take me ten minutes to walk there and reach my classroom. I could rebel against my parents or just continue to be a model child. Now the one thing I have decided is that I will change but I still have not decided by how much. There, of course, is always the danger that if I am no longer the perfect son my parents will recall Nanny, and that is the one thing that I don’t want. So to school, it is. Dad, are you watching me? I am going to school.

That went well today, school wasn’t that bad really. I enjoy school and I usually do rather well and I think most teachers actually like me. I can’t say I have too many friends but all one needs really is one good friend. My best and possibly my only friend is Quinn. It’s not like we talk much together or ever meet outside of school but at school, we sit together and if I need a buddy, it is her. We don’t go to all the same classes but we usually see each other at least for the core subject of English and Mathematics and at lunchtime in the library sometimes. I like Quinn. She is different from other students and I guess she is different from me. If we have one thing in common it is our extra height. Not that we are giants but we are taller than lots of students and teachers. Still, we must look an odd couple to some, I am always immaculately dressed and chauffeured and Quinn wears a boy’s school uniform that is clearly from the second-hand shop and her short haircut looks homemade. If you look past all of that Quinn is stunningly beautiful with her big blue eyes, golden, blonde hair, snow white skin and those long, long limbs and fingers. If I was sure what love is I would go as far as saying I was in love with her but I am not that sure really.

Today