Dear Readers,
Yessssss, another Monster House fic! I absolutely LOVE this movie! There seriously needs to be a category for it...'cept I don't know how to add one: ( Anyway, while I was watching the movie, I was thinking ofhow well it was suited for fanfiction, and I was already thinking about what I wanted to write--thus, this story : ). This chap is kinda weird, but for all you DJ/Jenny fans, I hope it suits you. Chowder will be in the next chap, I'm pretty sure. So please R&R--and thanks to Id Pendemus or whatever your name is for writing the first MH fanfic!
Best regards from a Bookworm,
Miss Pookamonga : )
Chapter 1: A Phone Call that Was NOT from Beyond the Grave (but was startling anyway)
RIIIIIINGGG-RIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!
D.J. moaned as he slowly rolled over in his bed and groggily held out an arm towards his nightstand. He blinked a few times as he tried to focus on his clock. When the image finally cleared, he moaned again when he saw the time. 7:00 AM. Who on earth would even wake up to call him this early?
Oh, right. Jenny.
D.J. reluctantly grasped the phone and held it to his ear. That darn Jenny, always bothering him at the wrong time—although he still had to admit that he was somewhat pleased that she even bothered to call him at all, let alone in early morning. Gee, she must really think I'm important, D.J. thought to himself as he always did when she called, allowing a small grin to creep across his face. He sighed and answered.
"Hello?"
"D.J. Hi, it's me, Je—"
"Don't bother introducing yourself, Jen. I know it's you. You think Chowder would call at this hour?" mumbled D.J. sleepily.
"No. Yeah, sorry—okay, whatever. Guess what?" Jenny said in an excited, high-pitched voice.
"What?" answered D.J., trying to make his voice sound like he was showing some interest in what Jenny was about to say.
"I'm going to the BEACH!" Jenny squealed on the other line.
D.J. groaned and rolled his eyes. She had called him at seven in the morning just so she could tell him that she was going to the beach. "Oh, that's—uh—nice, Jenny. But did you honestly have to—"
"And that's not even ALL of it!" she cried.
"Lemme guess. Your parents just bought a new beach house," D.J. said apathetically. When is she going to hang up? He asked himself mentally, annoyed.
"How did you KNOW!" shrieked Jenny ecstatically.
"I must be psychic," mumbled D.J. "Are you okay, Jenny? I mean, you never get this excited about anything, let alone the beach."
"Of course, I'm okay, stupid. But, but, but you HAVE to let me finish! My dad and mom, they said—" here she took a deep breath for some odd reason, "—that I could ask, at most, two friends to come along! Isn't that great?"
D.J. was too tired to even try to comprehend what she was saying. "Umm…yeah. That's, uh, awe--yawn—some." He let his now aching neck flop back onto his pillow.
"Oh, Douglas James, stop being such a nincompoop! Didn't you hear what I just said?"
"Umm, yeah, you, uh, are going to the beach and uh—yawn—you have, are bringing—umnph—yawn—"
"Ugh! Are all boys this deaf? I can bring two friends to the beach with me, so that means you and Chowder can come!"
At first, D.J. hardly heard what she said. Then suddenly, after a few seconds, it hit him. Jenny was inviting him and Chowder, of all people, to go to the beach with her? That funny feeling in the pit of his stomach started up again, and his heart began to pound with joy. Wow, she's actually inviting us nerds to go to the beach with her? I mean, out of all her other girl friends, she picked us instead? She must really like me—I mean--us.
"Hello? Hello? D.J., are you still there?" cried Jenny frantically over the phone.
"Huh, oh yeah," D.J. answered, snapping out of his thoughts. "Y-you mean we really can go?"
"Yeah, if your parents say it's okay. We're going for a week! It's going to be so much fun!"
D.J. didn't know what to say. He was still in shock. Wait till Chowder heard—
"Hey, did you call Chowder yet?"
"No, of course not. I'm calling him later, maybe around noon, when he finally wakes up."
"Then why did you call me so early?" D.J. whined angrily.
" 'Cause I knew you'd wake up to answer the phone, whereas Chowder wouldn't. I just couldn't hide the good news any longer!"
"Ugh, Jenny!"
"Sorry, D.J. I didn't mean to disturb your precious beauty sleep," teased Jenny. D.J. just imagined that she was smiling slyly as she spoke.
"Oh, shut up. Can I go back to bed now?"
"Why are you asking me? I'm not your mother. Anyway, call back later and let me know, okay?"
"Yeah, if I can remember all this later," groaned D.J. sarcastically.
"Whatever. Just call, okay? Bye!" There was a click from the other end of the line.
D.J. replaced the phone on the receiver and fell back against his bed. Jenny had invited him to go to the beach. With Chowder. He, Chowder, and Jenny had been friends since October of that past school year, when they'd freed Mr. Nebbercracker and the entire neighborhood from his monster house-wife Constance. But he'd never expected that Jenny thought of him and his quirky companion as being two of her closest friends. I mean, she has to think we're close friends or else she wouldn't have invited us, thought D.J. reassuringly. He was thoroughly surprised, yet wholly relieved. Jenny inviting him and his best friend to the beach meant that their friendship was bound to get only stronger. He'd always held a small bit of doubt about Jenny's loyalty to them even after the Nebbercracker incident and even after all her periodical early-morning phone calls, because she was so…perfect, and they were just a pair of total clods. But she obviously thought they were at least worth inviting to the beach, so D.J.'s worst doubts and fears, for the time being, were wiped away.
Now D.J. couldn't help but recall the kiss Jenny had given him so many months before. At the time, he'd hardly thought much of it, because of the perilous situation he, Chowder, and Jenny had been in. But afterwards, he would sit on his bed, like he was doing now, and just replay that moment over and over in his head, enjoying that weird sensation in his stomach. It had happened so fast, he could hardly remember what it had felt like, but he tried hard enough to remember the feeling of Jenny's face being close to his and her lips touching his own. When he thought of it, he felt happy—a different sort of happy than the type he felt when he won at Thou Art Dead. It was a feeling that he had something to live for, that he was worth something—a feeling that he'd had only once before, when he'd helped save Nebbercracker's life. Yet, somehow, amid that glorious feeling, D.J. couldn't help but wonder if the kiss had really been sincere. What if Jenny had kissed him only to induce him to climb across the crane and throw that dynamite into Constance's chimney? What if she'd meant nothing significant by it? D.J.'s heart sank, as it so often had before when he'd pondered these things. He sighed deeply and rolled over onto his side and shut his eyes, trying to fall back asleep. But a moment later, he opened his eyes again and realized with a strange queasiness that he couldn't fall asleep. Stupid puberty, making everything so confusing, he thought to himself with an inward groan.
And with that, he picked up his pillow and slammed it on top of his head.