Summary: "Jakey, you bein' such a liar! Ain't no way you're a dragon!" A few years later, Trixie realizes that she might have jumped the gun after Jake's first trip to camp Mugwomp.

I just rekindled my love for this TV show. It was such a huge part of my youth – I'm sad I forgot it for as long as I did. I wish they'd continued this series…it had so much potential!

When I watched the opening scene of "A Ghost Story" when Jake was a child and breathed fire, the only thing I could think of was: he had to have told somebody about it. There's no eight-year-old alive who would keep something like that a secret. This is an exploration of what Jake might have done when he got back from his trip.

All of the slang is an attempt to illustrate "child-speak". In-dialogue grammar errors are intentional.

American Dragon: Jake Long

Telling Tales

Eight-year-old Trixie Carter was a smart girl, for a kid her age. Big people would always be telling her mom and dad that she had a good head on her shoulders. They'd say she was going to grow up to be something real special. She'd be a doctor, or something.

Trixie knew she was smart. She knew her friends were smart, too. Well, maybe not Spud. Spud was all kinds of weird. Her mom said that he was special, too, just in a different way. Her other best friend, Jake, was smart, though. He was really fun, and he liked all of the cool stuff she liked.

So Trixie didn't know what to do when Jake came back from Camp Mugwump and started telling her all kinds of crazy stories she'd usually expect from Spud.

"Trixie, m'serious! I totally-"

"-Totally nuthin', Jakey! You tellin' lies just…just…just cuz' I'm a girl!"

"Nuh uh!"

Trixie threw her hands in the air, frustrated that one of her best friends was lying to her like that.

"Nobody," she said in the best 'teacher' voice she could mimic, "and I'm tellin' you, Jakey – nobody can spit fire. You imagined it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not, Trixie! I'm not stupid! It really, really happened!"

"You really, really stupid, then!" Trixie shot back, pointing an accusing finger at her friend.

He flinched and pouted at her. Then, after a quiet moment, he ran a hand through his spiky, green-and-black hair. "I thought best friends were supposed to listen to each other. It's not like Mom would believe me."

Trixie blinked. "Why not?" she asked.

"Cuz' moms never listen. Jeez, Trix." He rolled his eyes as if it were the most obvious statement in the world. Trixie turned red. She didn't like it when boys tried to make her sound dumb. Girls were way smarter; everyone knew that.

"She won't listen cuz' breathin' fire only happens in cartoons, n' stuff!"

Jake looked away, hurt. The eight-year-old shoved his fists into the pockets of his shorts. "Fine, Trixie. I'm gonna go tell Gramps."

"He'll yell at you," Trixie warned. She knew Jakey's grandpa. He was a nice old man, but he was kind of scary, sometimes. He didn't like it when they touched things in his store, and he was always talking in riddles or in Chinese. Trixie didn't understand him, half the time, so she tried not to talk to him. He made her real nervous.

"Maybe," Jake said with a shrug, "but he might listen to me."

Trixie almost felt bad for the way that he seemed desperate for his gramps to maybe listen to him. Still, Trixie was smart. She wasn't going to let Jake think stupid things. She knew that he was too smart for that, too.

"Fine," Trixie said with a pout. "I'm gonna go hang out with Spud."

Jake stuck his tongue out at her before running off. Trixie watched him go, her arms crossed over her chest. Jakey could be as weird as Spud, sometimes.

She didn't think about it too much, though. Jakey seemed fine the next day. He said that grandpa listened to him, but didn't say anything else. Trixie dropped it, and the entire thing was forgotten about.

Five years later, Trixie remembered. She remembered as she tried to bust her best friend out of the back of their crazy German mythology teacher's van. She remembered as she looked into the face of a lizard from the stuff fairytales were made of, a lizard that was a dragon who was her best friend.

After that, Trixie's world was never the same. She learned about the magical underground world of New York. She learned about Jake's dragon lineage.

It was about the same time that she swore she would listen next time Jakey started telling tales.

Eight-year-old Trixie had been smart. She didn't believe in magic or fire-breathing or things that showed up in morning cartoons.

Thirteen-year-old Trixie knew better, though. Oh, did she ever.

End