This is just kind of an intro chapter, to show you how things have changed now that Becky's in high school. I could not get the idea for this story out of my head, so here it is!

Enjoy!

Becky Botsford opened her locker with a blurry spin of the combination lock, whipping open the door to exchange a stack of textbooks with a smaller, lighter stack of novels—which she had just checked out from the school's library—and thrusting them into her backpack. No one in the hallway was paying attention to her, so she used a bit of her super-powers to speed up the process so she could get going. It was Friday, and she only had AP Biology left today before she could go home for the weekend. She couldn't wait to just get home and relax.

«It was the end of the school week at Woodview High, with only one more class until—»

"Can you please stop doing that?" Becky hissed at the Narrator, glaring upward at nothing in particular.

«Oh, right. You don't like it when I narrate anymore. »

"No!" Becky snapped through clenched teeth, ignoring the Narrator's pouting. "I've been asking you not to for years—I thought we'd been over this…"

As she and her friends had gotten older, people had started noticing the Narrator more often. Worse, they noticed when she responded to the Narrator at times when he was talking to only her. Which made her seem a bit crazy. So, Becky had been trying to gradually discourage the Narrator from narration…but it was proving to be more difficult than getting Bob to stop gorging himself on bananas.

«Right, I forgot—you don't need a Narrator anymore! »

"No, I don't! So cut it out!"

Becky stood tensely with her locker held open and her backpack hefted over one shoulder, waiting for the Narrator's usual cheeky retort. After a few moments of nothing but the general sounds of the halls between classes, Becky let out a pent-up sigh of relief. Pressing her locker closed and wandering toward Biology, she was able to relax again, and look forward to relaxing this weekend.

Of course there was that new, young villain that had been ruining all her plans lately. Since she was older, WordGirl delivered more of a butt-kicking than she had as a kid, so most of her old foes had either been arrested or disappeared into the woodwork, although there were still a couple that caused chaos on occasion. For the most part, the villains she put away now stayed away, so she didn't have to spend as much time fighting crime as she had when she was a preteen, which was nice.

By the time Becky made it to Biology, her bench partner was already in his seat—early, as usual. She saw him scrawling intently in a notebook, not even looking up as she took her seat beside him and set her AP Biology textbook on the table. As she dug through her backpack for her pencil case, Becky heard his notebook snap closed.

"Hello, Becky," he finally greeted, tapping his pencil on the table jadedly.

"Hi, Tobey," she replied with a small smile as she met his bright blue gaze.

It had been about three years ago when Tobey McCallister had finally stopped vying for WordGirl's attention via the use of giant, destructive robots. He had finally understood that that was entirely the wrong way to go about it, and as he outgrew the annoying façade, he had actually become a pretty nice person. Tobey still built robots on occasion, just not the huge, city-destroying kind.

"Did you read the chapter last night?" Tobey asked, looking at her.

"Yeah."

"Good, because I didn't," he admitted guiltily. He fidgeted with his pencil. "It was on…ecosystems, right?"

Becky nodded. "And she asked us to read the part of chapter 24—"

"On symbiotic relationships," he finished, nodding slowly. "Yes, I read that yesterday."

Becky studied Tobey as he stared distractedly into space. He was so different now than the way he used to be. While his appearance hadn't changed that drastically—other than the recent growth spurt that had resulted in his towering stature—his demeanor was entirely different from the overconfident, competitive miscreant he had once been. Now, after getting to know him in the classes they'd had together, he was actually pretty nice, and fun to be around. She wouldn't say they were friends exactly, but they weren't really rivals anymore either, and they got along well enough.

Tobey's thoughtful gaze drifted back to Becky as he frowned uncertainly. "Becky, do you think you could—I mean, would you mind—?"

The bell rang, cutting off Tobey's question. Their teacher—Mrs. Groves—pulled the door shut and walked to the front of the class. She picked up a stack of papers and started handing them out to the students, immediately bringing the class to a start and preventing Tobey from finishing his question. Becky's eyebrows knitted together. What had he been trying to ask?

"Okay, guys, this is your next project," Mrs. Groves began as she passed the papers out. "You all read last night's chapter, right? Well, this project has to do with ecosystems, and you'll be using what you read about symbiotic relationships to complete the project successfully. We'll be starting it next week, after we've gone over the sections in class."

Becky examined the rubric when it was handed to her, and passed one to Tobey. The paper was titled "Design a Bio-Bottle"—it looked like they were going to construct their own closed, self-sustainable ecosystems. Well, this would certainly be interesting…

"And," Mrs. Groves continued as she walked back to the front of the class with the leftover papers. "You'll be working in pairs with your bench partner."

A series of groans drifted around the classroom. The class had been seated in alphabetical order at the beginning of the semester, so most people weren't sitting by friends. In fact, the only reason Becky wasn't partners with Victoria Best right now was because Becky had been added to the class late, since the school's scheduling program had messed up her classes and she'd had to almost completely reregister. Tobey had landed in the same predicament, which is why he was seated next to her.

Becky wasn't upset that she would have to be partners with Tobey. At least she knew the work would get done, and she was sure that they would get an A. Tobey was one of the few people that could match wits with Becky—and WordGirl. Sitting by him every day had proved to be an interesting experience, and not all that bad.

Mrs. Groves said something about one group of three, but it wasn't assigned to her group, so Becky wasn't really paying attention. She took out her handy ten-color pen and began taking notes as Mrs. Groves went through the power points on last night's chapters. Tobey didn't say anything for the rest of the class, he just scribbled down the notes with his textbook open.

After school, Becky waited outside the front of the school for Violet. The two best friends still walked home with each other, even though Violet had just gotten a car. "It's just for work", she'd say, and this way they could still spend time with each other, even though they didn't have any classes together. Becky often wished she could get a part-time job, but her duties as WordGirl prevented that possibility.

With a sigh, Becky glanced up at the clock—she'd been waiting for almost seven minutes already. Violet's last class was art, so sometimes she was pretty late, which didn't really bother Becky as long as she had a book or two. She pulled out one of the novels in her backpack and started reading at a slightly-above-average pace—to make it last longer—and checking the clock every so often. As the time she'd been waiting approached fifteen minutes, Violet Heaslip came bursting out the doors.

"I'm so sorry, Becky!" she apologized breathlessly. "I was—I was working on a sculpture I made for Scoops, and I was so close to having it done—"

"It's fine, Violet, I don't mind waiting." Becky held up her book, smiling. "As long as I've got a book and no place to be, you can take as long as you like."

"Oh, thanks Becky! You're so great!" Violet exclaimed, throwing her arms around her friend, who returned the hug.

As the two headed home, Violet told Becky all about the art project she'd been working on—a "found objects" sculpture for Scoops. Becky's crush on the reporter had long since dissolved, and she was really happy for Violet and Scoops, who had been dating for about a year. In fact, Violet said that was what she was making the sculpture for.

"And so I asked his mom if she'd let me have some of his old things he didn't want anymore, so I could use them together in the piece with the stuff of mine I found," Violet continued breezily. "And Ms. Whimzy just loved all the things that I had, and how I arranged them, and then…"

While Violet was going on about her one-year sculpture for Scoops, the man everyone had deemed the "Help Guy" ran down the street next to them, yelling and flailing his arms.

"Heeelllp! Tobey is in the park with a horrible new robot!" the Help Guy exclaimed. He halted in front of an elderly couple, scratching his chin and glancing around. "Is this the police station?"

The couple shook their heads, and pointed him in the right direction.

"How on Earth does he still not know where the police station is?" Becky muttered to herself.

«As it turns out, the Help Guy has "Directional Dyslexia". Put simply, it means that he has absolutely no sense of direction, and gets lost on a regular basis. »

"Hmm, that explains a—Hey!" Becky replied without thinking, glaring at the sky when she realized who she was talking to. "I've asked you to stop that!"

«But I'm the Narrator. »

"No, you're not!" she hissed.

"Becky?" Violet's gentle voice drew Becky's attention away from the Narrator. She was looking at Becky strangely. "Did you say something?"

"Oh, just that I forgot I was supposed to meet Bob at the vet today. He hasn't been feeling well lately," she lied easily.

Becky was much better at lying now. She wasn't proud of it, but to explain all the time she spent as WordGirl, she could deliver a convincing story at the drop of a hat. She no longer fumbled and stammered over a ridiculous excuse that hardly made sense, and her excuses were quick, simple, and—most importantly—believable.

"Oh, okay," Violet replied with a sympathetic expression. "I hope he feels better."

"I'll tell him you said so when I get there."

"Okay, Becky. Bye!"

"See ya!" Becky called to her friend as she took off down the street.

What was it the Help Guy had said? That Tobey was in the park with a horrible new robot? But…Tobey hadn't done anything like that in forever! Sure, sometimes he needed WordGirl's help subduing an out-of-control experiment, but it was never with bad intentions. Heck, Tobey had even offered to upgrade some of WordGirl's gear! So why had he built a new robot, and set it loose in the park?

After Becky was sure Violet was gone, she ducked behind a clump of bushes. Pressing two fingers against her chest, she shouted "Word up!" and exploded into her WordGirl attire, taking off toward the park in a streak of light.

Kinda boring, in retrospect, but I think it has its moments.

I swear, the next chapter will actually be interesting. This one kind of leads into it, and shows what's changed and stuff. In literary terms, it's the exposition! So please at least stick around for chapter 2—I've already been working on it, so it should be out pretty quick.

So, let me know what you think! How do you like it so far? What do you think will/should happen next? Suggestions! Comments! Questions! All are welcome (and wanted)! ! !

Your pal,

SuperOreoMan