A vial of glowing pink liquid bubbled and gurgled in the darkness of Double-N's garage, "Hmm…" Double-N said as she lifted it up with gloved hands and inspected the vial through safety goggles. After a few moments of observation, she smiled, satisfied, and began pouring it into an orange, cleaned 2 liter soda bottle.
The lights suddenly came on with a click, revealing Anny standing by the door and her finger on the light switch and An standing dumbfounded at the ceiling, as if something interesting was on it.
Double-N's face paled in panic as she then hopped up onto the table to block her concoction from the harsh light from the bare bulbs above.
"What are 'ya, some kind of troll or something?" Anny asked, concerned about her brainy friend doing… whatever she was doing in the dark.
"ANNY!" Double-N screamed, making her friends jump in surprise at the sound of her voice as well as the fear and urgency in her tone, "TURN OUT THAT LIGHT!" She then turned to her friends, while carefully keeping the bubbling pink liquid enclosed in her shadow, "This mixture is very sensitive." She explained in a hushed tone.
Anny immediately flipped the lights out, fearful of whatever her brainy friend had made that was so sensitive and carefully walked down the steps and stood with An as Double-N climbed off the table she had been working on.
Double-N straightened, relaxed once the lights were out again, her body now illuminated by a pink glow on the table, "Thank you, Anny." She said gratefully as she finished pouring the pink, bubbling liquid into the bottle, a huge smile on her face as she explained to her friends what she had them turn out the lights for. "By multiplying the isolated bubble of carbon gas, I've invented a soda that will never lose it's fizz!" she said exclaimed, turning around and revealing the glowing bottle, her friends perked up at the mention of soda, their enthusiasm revealed by the light coming from the bottle. Anny rubbed her hands together eagerly, wondering if her friend's creation could make them rich and famous, then she decided, as a self proclaimed soda expert, she'd have to taste it first before they could profit. After all, what good was a fizzy soda if it had a gross flavor.
"Yummy!" An said, wondering what flavor it was.
Anny eagerly dashed towards her friend, "Gimme a taste, will 'ya?" Anny asked. Double-N winced and pulled the bottle closer to her chest defensively, not that it stopped Anny, "I love pop!" she said as she leapt over Double-N, grabbing the bottle with one hand and placing the other onto Double-N's head, pushing her down to the floor.
Double-N scurried to back onto her feet, horrified, "NO! WAIT! ANNY!" she screamed, her voice becoming more shrill with each word. An pressed herself up against Double-N's back and pressed her against Anny, "Like a sponge, thirsty I am." An said, grabbing the bottle and pulling it towards her, knocking Anny into Double-N and knocking them both onto the floor as she yanked the bottle from her hands. Double-N quickly slipped out from under her short friend and ran to the light and turned it on, her eyes wide with fear as An began pouring the pink drink over her mouth and was guzzling the whole bottle, "You don't understand!" Double-N cried, "I haven't tested it's stability!" But An had already poured three quarters of the soda into her mouth before she then put her lips on the bottle and sucked it dry, sticking her tongue in to get every last drop left inside as Double-N further explained that "It remains unpredictable!"
An turned to her with half of her tongue still left in the bottle then opened her mouth and let out a loud belch that brought a smile to her face. Anny scowled at An, her fists clenched and her body shaking with anger, she had wanted to try it as well but An had chugged the whole thing!
"That was predictable!" Anny snapped, grabbing the bottle and yanking it off of An's tongue as she cried, "An, you pig!" angry that now she couldn't get to taste it. An looked at her for a moment, her lips sucked into her mouth and her light blue tongue still hanging out of her mouth from Anny yanking the bottle off of her face, remnants of the bubbly pink soda still on her tongue as Double-N ran over, frantic, "FREEZE, MISSY!" she commanded. An quickly sucked in her tongue and did a wacky pose, with one foot in mid-air, one arm held over her head while the other crossed her chest and reached for the ground, her eyes wide as she listened for the next command. Anny backed up a bit, moving the bottle further away from her stupid friend until it was behind her.
Double-N circled An, inspecting her nervously, "Don't make any sudden movements." She whispered in a worried tone, making An sweat anxiously as her brilliant friend went on to whisper in her ear that, "Just the slightest twitch might set off the mixture's volatile nature." An looked down at her belly, which gurgled menacingly at her.
Anny smirked, ready to get a little payback. She lifted An's shirt a bit, revealing her belly, "And we wouldn't want that to happen…" she said, laughter evident in her voice as she pulled a feather from behind her, "Now would we?" she asked as she began tickling An's belly with the tip of the feather. An began to laugh, after a half a minute of tickling An finally slipped out of her pose and began bouncing from foot to foot, laughing hard and moving her arms up and down, making it seem as if she was dancing, "QUIT IT, ANNY!" she laughed, not wanting to set off the mixtures vulture nature… whatever that meant.
Double-N tugged her hat down on her head as she watched, horrified as her two friends laughed as her untested formula was churning in An's belly. "Stop!" she cried, as Anny ticked An so she bounced in a circle around her, "Halt!" Double-N yelped, but her friends still weren't listening. Anny actually hopped onto An's belly as she roared with laughter on her back and tickled her, "Abstain!" Double-N shrieked.
"Stop Anny!" An said through tears of laughter, but Anny ignored her friend, having too much fun tickling her. "DESIST!" Double-N shouted, fearful of what her friend's carelessness could cause, "ENOUGH ALL READY!"
Anny stopped and stared at her, as if to ask what she was so worked up about, "Don't have a bird Double-N." she replied plainly, only for her to suddenly start to violently shake. At first she was surprised, then again, it felt as if she had been caught in an earthquake, "Huh?" she and An said in unison as they looked down at An's belly, which started to move as if it was starting to bubble. Finally it seemed as if a bag of popcorn began popping inside her belly, one of the 'kernels' bounced up and actually knocked Anny off of her tall, confused friend, whose stomach now resembled a blossoming cauliflower as the bubbles began trying to escape from An's tummy, her face contorted with discomfort and confusion. An's face suddenly went blank, as if it was wiped clean as she felt the bubbles climb up to her nose.
Her eyes turned into knobs like you'd see on a faucet and twisted rapidly just before the pink bubbling concoction Double-N had so painstakingly made shot from her nose and rocketed her through the roof of Double-N's garage, pink fluid and bubbles flew out her nose. "Gassy!" she said cheerfully as she flew through the air.
Jenny and Plankette were having a staring contest not too far from Double-N's house, Plankette was propped up against a rock while Jenny looked at her, determined to win this time.
"You've got to blink sometime, you rascal, you!" Jenny said sternly, her eyes beginning to water, An sneezed a bit as she flew over head, the pink pop still shooting out of her nose and, unfortunately, onto the two friends, covering them with pink, bubbling goop.
"Geshundheit!" Jenny said to the flying girl before resuming her staring contest with Plankette, who she could of sworn just blinked.
"Thanks, Jenny!" An called, leaving a pink, bubbling trail behind her like a snail.
Then she bounced against a tree, sending leaves cascading down to the ground with an "OW!"
Then bounced into the post of a clothesline, knocking the clothes hanging from it to the ground.
"Ow!"
Then bounced against the side of a house.
"Ow!"
Then crashed through a fence, leaving jagged wood pieces sitting where the long white planks once stood.
"Ow!"
Her friends dashed to see if she was okay, Anny looked through the broken fence, An had skidded into the dirt, knocked over a grill with hot charcoals inside that spilled out onto the ground (apparently someone was cooking wienies and t-bones and forgot about them) and had crashed into a green and white striped lawn chair, that she had pierced through the seat of with her arm. Anny smiled, glad that her friend was in one piece and was pretty much unscathed from her little trip. Honestly, Anny hardly knew why she still got worried whenever An would somehow launch herself across the cul-de-sac, since she normally came out completely fine or at the most, with very minor injuries.
"Hey Funnel-Face!" Anny called, laughter in her voice, "Double-N said 'don't move!'"
An poked her head through the green and white striped fabric, "Did I go somewhere?" she asked, a happy blank look on her face, completely fine. Anny and Double-N entered the backyard An had crash landed into, Double-N quickly took in the damage and noticed something small and bronze on the ground. It couldn't be from the abandoned barbeque since all the utensils that one could use for barbequing were already accounted for in the wreckage with the half cooked meat on the ground and the cooling coals. She picked it up and inspected it while Anny told An, "Nah. Just rest that empty little head, An."
"Look!" Double-N called, lifting up the object she had found in the wreckage by a small metal ring, "I found a key!" she announced, pulling her magnifying glass from the back pocket of her skirt as she went on, "Keys have quite a history of unlocking the mysteries of time!" Anny and An's faces lit up as they thought of all the possible things that the key could unlock besides mysteries of time.
"Why, just think how tangled one's life becomes by losing something as primitive as a key." Double-N lamented as she put her magnifying glass up to her eye to take a closer look, "Poor Soul."
"Let me see that key, Double-N." Anny said, grabbing the key and yanking it away, sending Double-N, who's finger was stuck in the metal ring attached to it, right into An, the metal ring sliding off of her finger, then Double-N fell onto the ground, letting out a gasp as soon as she hit the ground.
Anny looked at the key eagerly while An looked down at Double-N for a second, wondering why she was on the ground, then she looked at Anny and the key and a huge smile exploded onto her face as she walked closer to Anny and the key.
"I bet that key unlocks big gates of molten lava," An began, Anny turned away from her tall friend as she spoke, keeping the key close to her chest protectively, not wanting An to lose it or fly off with it and drop it. An scooted over to the side closest to the key, "Releasing the demons from a box of Oat Bran," Anny turned again, trying to keep the key away from An, who was bouncing up and down with excitement. An bounced to the side she had been on before, her voice increasing in volume with with every word, "ON THE SHELF OF A MUTANT TRUCK STOP!" she finished. As soon as she finished she stopped bouncing and smiled down at her short friend, who was scowling at her and was still holding the key away from her.
Anny quickly realized that An wasn't going to stop trying to take the key from her, but that wasn't going to happen.
Anny smirked and held the key up to An, "Oh, An!" she called, shaking it a bit to make sure An was paying attention to it. An leaned forward, her eyes stuck on the key swinging on the metal ring that Anny held up by two fingers. Anny then pretended to throw it, "GO GET THE KEY!" she cried.
An charged forward, pointing to the sky, "TABLE FOR TWO!" she shouted as she dashed to get the key that Anny had 'thrown'.
Anny chuckled, holding the key with one hand and her stomach with another for a moment, then she held the key up at eye level, a finger on each end, "I bet this key could open Cleopatra's tomb! Or Al Capone's wallet!" Double-N finally got to her feet, still shaky from the fall after banging the back of her head on the ground. Anny wrapped her arm around Double-N's neck, holding the key high above her head as she cried out, "Or some exploited cartoon character's theme park!" she then let Double-N wobble to her right, "It's ours for the picking, girls!" she shouted excitedly as Double-N finally managed to stabilize herself and An returned from 'fetching' the key that, to her surprise, somehow managed to return to Anny's hand.
Double-N rubbed the back of her head as the pain dulled a bit more, "Pardon my English, but, get real, Anny!" she said, then held out her arms as if she was about to curtsy and closed her eyes, "I suggest we return the key to it's rightful owner." Anny grabbed a handful of Double-N's shirt, "Of course you do!" she said, shaking her brainy friend and forcing her eyes open, "It's the key to the oyster, Double-N!" she cried, then let go of her in mid-shake, causing her to fall over. Luckily, this time Anny knocked her over, An caught her and managed to keep her from smacking into the ground again. Anny leapt into the air and revved up her legs, "LET'S FIND THE PEARL!" she shouted, running on air past her friends, who watched her leave.
Double-N looked up at An, who was still holding her off the ground, "Why thank you, An." she said gratefully.
"Does Al Capone's wallet have pictures, Anny?" An asked as she dropped Double-N and dashed off behind their friend, her hands up in the air and a huge excited smile on her face. Double-N pulled herself off of the ground and rubbed her sore head again, annoyed that An had dropped her, "Lovable oaf." She sighed, resigning to the fact that An had the attention span of a goldfish.
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Jamie sat alone in the sandbox, making a sand castle while she waited for Sam to return from the bathroom. "Oh, I hope no sand gets into my mary janes." She moaned, regretting her decision to wear her new shoes to impress Sam, not knowing he would want to play in the sandbox. It dawned on her that she could've taken her shoes and socks off to play in the sandbox like Sam had done, but last time she did that, a spider had crawled into her shoe and Sam had to drag Double-N (the only person they knew who wasn't afraid of spiders) over to remove it. Jamie shuddered at the memory and went back to smoothing the sand on the side of their castle, after noticing she had taken too much off, she picked up a toy shovel-full of sand and was ready to replace the sand she had removed, when she suddenly felt someone grab her bangs.
She was jerked forward, head-butting the sand castle and getting sand in her eyes, blinding her, "Huh?" she cried, ignoring the pain of having sand in her eyes to process what was happening. She felt someone press something against the back of her retainer and her blood went cold.
Someone was trying to rob her at gun point!
"Mister!" she cried, trying to reason with the ruffian who had a tight grip on her hair, "I'm just a kid! I'm broke!"
"Hold still, squirt," A familiar voice barked, "I need to see something!" Jamie froze.
She knew that voice, it was Anny!
Anny was squatting behind Jamie, one hand holding her bangs, the other turned the key on the back of Jamie's retainer, causing it to warp and twist, forcing Jamie's face to shift into uncomfortable, yet hilarious expressions. "AN-NY!" she managed through the pain. After a few more twists and turns and Jamie's shrieks and An blankly staring at the scene wondering what was happening, Double-N finally said, "For Pete's sake, Anny," she said, disappointed, "Jamie's retainer?" she asked, surprised Anny would try the key on something that obviously did not have any remnants of a keyhole of any sort and therefore would not work, yet continued to try anyway.
Anny pulled away with the key, smiling as Jamie pulled at the metal wire that was now twisted tightly around her face, "Too tight!" she cried tugging on her retainer, making it worse, "Too tight!" she whined, realizing that she'd need help to both untangle her retainer and get payback so she ran towards the mens' bathroom, calling out, "Sam!" As she made her way to the bathroom, still yanking on the twisted remains of her retainer.
Anny smiled, proud of her work, it wasn't often that she was able to exact revenge on the younger kids for all the times they had messed up their scams or for all the times Sam beat them up, but when she did it just made her feel great. She then looked at the key and frowned, a little annoyed that her original plan to take off Jamie's retainer and put it on Sam so then she could twist it so his mouth would be trapped by the metal and he'd have to shut up didn't work.
"This key's useless." She grumbled. An's face lit up and she raised her hand, "Oh! Oh! I know! Let me try, Anny!"
Anny sighed and figured that even though An probably would do something really stupid with it, that Anny would at least get a laugh out of it. So she shrugged and handed it to her, "COME FORTH FRIENDS!" An cried as she raced ahead, key held out in front of her, "FOR I, AN, SHALL OPEN A PORTAL TO THE UNDERREALM!" she announced, "WHERE WE SHALL RULE WITH BARBEQUE SAUCE AND GRAVY!" Anny and Double-N chuckled at her words as they trailed behind her, wondering what An would use the key on.
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An poked the key against Rachel's cow's udder, "Here we go!" she said, giving the udder another poke with the key. She made a thoughtful face, "Tricky." She said, trying again. Anny leaned against the cow and Double-N sat lady-like on the cow's back, both legs on one side, the two girls looked at one another, not amused by An's actions as she poked the cow's udder with the key again, her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth as she tried to figure out why it wasn't working.
An had been doing this for about fifteen minutes, it had been funny at first to Anny but now it was just really stupid and kind of annoying.
"I think An's on to something, don't you think, Anny?" Double-N asked sarcastically. Anny watched as Double-N tried to climb off of the cow, "Come on, Anny." Double-N whined, tired of being ignored as her feet wobbled a few inches off of the ground and she clung to the cow's hide with her hands, "Someone is really missing this key!" she said. Anny rolled her eyes at her goodie-two-shoes friend who then slipped and fell onto An.
"Ouch." An groaned. Anny bit her lip, trying not to laugh at her friends' pain but ended up doing so anyway. She then snatched up the key, "Come on, you two, stop messing around, we've got to find what this baby can do!" she then dashed on ahead, leaving Double-N and An to painfully pull themselves off the ground and follow, rubbing their sore bodies as they did.
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After about an hour and a half of An and Anny trying the key on random things around the cul-de-sac, Anny had gotten desperate to see that the key could open something and was now attempting to pry open a sewer lid open with the key. The tip of the key had been shoved into the side of the lid and Anny used the round end as a paddle of sorts as she pushed it down to try and pry it open. Double-N and An watched her try to pry it open.
"It's a key!" Anny snapped as she pushed down on the key, "It's supposed to open something." She snarled.
"That's right Anny." Double-N said, hoping she could still reason with her, "Something dear and personal, like a box of photographs. Or a diary, with pages of truth and duration." Anny gnashed her teeth, annoyed that her friend just wouldn't shut up.
"Or a simple locket of love. It's our responsibility to see that this key returns to it's forsaken owner so I can…" the key, as if reading Anny's mind, flung out of the sewer lid and into the gap between her two front teeth. An and Anny chuckled, trying not to laugh too hard at the key stuck in their friend's face.
Double-N stared at the key in her teeth for a moment, allowing herself to internally freak out about how this, most likely completely filthy, item was now stuck between her pristinely clean front teeth. After her internal freak out, she steeled herself, "Mortifying?" she said, not needing to indicate what she was referring to since it was sticking out of her face, "Yes. But I won't let myself fall prey to such shallow emotions." Anny face palmed and groaned as An yanked the key out from their friend's teeth, resigning to the fact that Double-N probably wouldn't shut up until they did what she asked.
Which meant they needed to find out what this opened fast, since the key obviously didn't work on Double-N's mouth or she would have shut up by now. An then tried it on the top of fire hydrant, her friends following her, Double-N continuing on with her rant as An turned the key on the top of the hydrant Anny was now leaning on, bored and a little frustrated that they couldn't find what this stupid key opened nor could they get Double-N to shut up. "Not now." Double-N said, "There's a fellow human being crying for help, trying to mend the unraveled ball of yarn handed to them." An stopped at that line and stared at the key, wondering why the key wasn't working, "Hmm…" she mused.
Double-N stood between her friends and declared, "Maybe that's the world you want to live in, Anny" she said, finally getting on Anny's last nerve. Anny growled as her friend spoke, grinding her teeth and scowling at her as she went on to say, "where the unyielding and indifferent supersede the malevolent. I say…"
"SHUT UP, DOUBLE-N!" Anny finally screamed, the last of her patience for her friend's ramblings long gone. She felt a little calmer after finally telling her brilliant friend to stuff it, then turned to her idiotic friend and called, "An!"
An looked up at her friend, wondering what she was going to say to her. "You understand anything Double-N said?" Anny asked her. An smiled and held the key up and replied, "Pass the mustard."
"There's no need to raise your voice, Anny." Double-N replied with a pout, a little hurt in her voice that her words had fallen on deaf ears once again. Anny crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Double-N plainly, she knew Double-N would keep nagging them until they found who the key belonged to, so she was gonna need a good kick in the pants to shut up.
That thought gave her an idea, she held back a smile and held her hands over her chest, "You're right Double-N." Anny replied, sounding as sincere as she could, catching both of her friends by surprise. "I'm sorry." Anny said softly, pouting with her head tucked in towards her chin, looking up at her friends sadly, as if she was ashamed that they hadn't started looking for the key's owner sooner.
Double-N smiled, glad she had finally gotten through to her, "Apology accepted, Anny." She said proudly, then turned to face An, not seeing that Anny was winding up for a kick behind her, "An, Anny's made a very important first step and…" Anny kicked Double-N in the rear, sending her flying, "ANNY!" she screamed as she soared further up the street. An covered her eyes to block out sunlight so she could see her sock-headed friend fly through the air, she smiled widely, impressed at Double-N's flying. It wasn't as good as her own flying skills that she had demonstrated earlier, but hey, practice makes perfect, right?
"MY FOOT APOLOGIZES TOO, DOUBLE-N!" Anny yelled up at their flying friend, waving and smiling widely.
"Careful!" Rachel said from behind the two smiling Ans, making them jump a bit in surprise as she passed, "As the dogs have had their way with that water pump!" she warned, dragging a odd shaped case behind her, the lock on the case catching Anny's eye, leaving Rachel's warning about the hydrant she was leaning on being a common place for dogs to urinate to fall on deaf ears.
That had to be what the key was to! Anny smirked, "Did you see that case?" she asked An, then grabbed An's hand that still grasped the key, "I'll bet this key goes to that case!" she declared, taking the key from An's hand and dashing after Rachel, a huge smile on her face as she ran, An right behind her.
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Anny and An found Rachel talking to Double-N, who's rear was higher then it was supposed to be. She rubbed her heightened sore rump as she talked to the Daughter of a Shepherd, her case sitting beside her.
"…So I feel mankind should reassess it's position to the Darwin graph before total social abandonment." Double-N concluded, pushing her aching bottom back down where it belonged with a painful crack. Neither she nor Rachel noticing Anny slink up to the case and jabbing at the top of it blindly with the key, trying to keep herself out of sight behind it.
Rachel looked at Double-N a minute, putting her finger up to her chin, looking pensive, wondering what she was even talking about, then, upon noticing Double-N's sore rear end, she then brightened, figuring that might be what she was talking about. She pointed to her, "You need to eat more fiber, Head-in-Sock An girl!" she declared, pleased that she had given her good advise. Double-N stood there for a moment, wondering what fiber had to do with the principles of morality, then realized Rachel was referring to her sore hind quarters, she flushed with embarrassment that Rachel mistook the pain she received from Anny's kick as an indication that her 'internal plumbing' was clogged. "Thank you for the advice, Rachel." She said bashfully, not wanting to seem rude when Rachel had given her that unnecessary piece of advise with good intentions, "I'll certainly take that into consideration." She finished. Rachel nodded, pleased that she had been helpful. Then both girls jumped at a strange sound that came from Rachel's case. They looked over at it and were surprised to find Anny, who was still trying to open the case. She held it down with one foot, gritting her teeth in annoyance that the stupid key wasn't working on it as she tried to twist it inside the keyhole to open it.
Rachel looked at her for a moment, then smiled, "You want to see, yes?" she asked, pleased that the loudest An had taken an interest in the contents of her case.
Anny froze, stunned that not only had she been caught, but that Rachel wasn't beating the snot out of her for trying to open up her case. Anny stepped off the case and pulled the key out of the lock, processing Rachel's words, then found her own voice, "Uh, sure Rachel." She replied as Double-N walked over to her intrusive friend.
Rachel smiled and opened the case, shuffling around inside with one arm as she explains how "It has been passed down many generations!" An joins her best friends and Rachel as she seems to find whatever she was looking for within the case and smiles, pleased she has found it, she then holds it up for the Ans to admire, "BEHOLD!" she shouted, holding up an old accordion proudly. The Ans give her a blank look, processing the new information about what had been inside Rachel's case. The accordion itself was mostly white. It had a keyboard on one side and what resembled pipes from an organ. The other side was covered in small white buttons and a little horn.
"It's a whatchamacallit!" An cried, excited by the strange object. Rachel squeezed the accordion and pressed a few buttons and keys as she did, making an odd sound along with a puff of duct come from the pipes of the strange looking instrument. "Not even close, Square-Peg-In-Round-Hole An girl!" Rachel said, her head held high with pride of the heirloom as she happily began to play.
"A kazoo?" An guessed again.
Double-N quickly shoved her fingers into her ears, which she had hoped would block out the old instrument's annoying tune, but sadly only muffled it.
Anny was taken aback, man, this thing sounded crummy! She couldn't believe that she had actually wanted to see it!
"No." Rachel replied with a laugh, while she had no idea what a kazoo was, the word itself sounded funny, "The accordion!" she explained to the tallest An, playing the thing with a huge smile on her face and humming along with it, closing her eyes as memories of the old country played through her head, various animals howled in protest at the sound. Anny shoved her fingers into her ears, "I'm outta here!" she cried, but before she could run, An sang, "Polka time!" and grabbed her arms and swung her around, Double-N had to duck to avoid getting hit in the head again.
Anny cried out as An then smushed her against her chest, holding one hand up in the air, as if they were dancing, "You're too fat for me!" An began to sing, making Double-N chuckle. "I'm too fat for you!" An sang as she spun Anny like a top.
Anny stopped spinning and bumped into Double-N, sending her backwards, Anny grabbed the girl to try and stabilize herself, only to find herself in another dance pose, only with her seeming to dip Double-N.
"What?" her friend asked with a smile, "No flowers?" she joked. Anny made a face and let go, letting her friend fall to the ground.
An continued to dance as she sang, "You're too fat for me…!" But Anny grabbed her then snatched up Double-N and ran from the sound of the dreaded instrument, dragging her best friends behind her.
"Everybody now!" Rachel cried cheerfully, opening her eyes to see that the Ans were long gone. "Hmm? An… girls?" she called out, sounding a bit lonely. She then sighed and packed it back up, feeling a bit sad that they had left before she had gotten to finish, and walked back home with her head tucked into her chest.
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The Ans had found refuge in the fenced in street surrounding the cul-de-sac. An stood on her head, chuckling as her shirt slid down her belly. She quickly pulled it back up, but gravity pushed it back down. She chuckled as she pushed it back up. Anny stomped past her, fuming as she paced back and forth, "Ergg!" she growled, "This key's got to open something!" she snarled as she clomped over towards Double-N.
"Anny, let's return the key to whomever lost it!" she suggested, "Then we'll know what it opens!" she said, wiggling her fingers as if to say 'ta-da' while hoping that Anny would comply if she got to learn what the key opened.
"What?" Anny snapped, not noticing An's unibrow crawling on the ground like a caterpillar, dragging her with it. "And ruin all of this frustration?" she said angrily, then stopped when she finally noticed what An was doing and looked at her, concerned as well as curious as to how she was doing that.
"Think about it, Anny," Double-N said, deciding it was time to give her an incentive, "There may be a reward." She informed her, then began tapping her finger onto her head, "Huh? Huh?" she said, not noticing An's unibrow crawling on it's own and dragging An behind her.
Anny's face broke out into a smile, "You mean like cash?" she asked.
Double-N rose her hands into the air and wiggled her fingers in the air in the 'ta-da' motion again, "Booty, Anny." She then chuckled at the word.
"I wish I had a turtle shell." An said to her friends, wanting to join the conversation.
Anny and Double-N looked at her for a moment, concerned, then they let the moment pass. It was An. What did they expect?
Anny turned to Double-N, "Follow my lead." She purred, then pulled both of her friends into a huddle and began telling them the plan.
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Jamie and Sam were playing in Jamie's backyard. Sam was standing on a box that Jamie had drawn flowers on with two other boxes behind it. Around the boxes were various dolls, action figures and stuffed animals, which were all seated and facing him. He wore a big white brimmed hat with a big purple feather, white sunglasses, one of Jamie's robin egg blue scarves, and his dad's fancy white dress shoes. Jamie was pretending to take pictures of him with a camera she had made out of an empty snack box and a toilet paper tube, pretending that he was a model on the runway.
To be honest, he'd rather be the one pretending to take pictures then to be the pretend model, he felt kind of stupid looking like this. It might be okay if he was a girl, like Jamie, but he wasn't. But it was Jamie's turn to pick what they were going to play, especially since his pick of going to play in the sandbox ended with the metal ring of her retainer wrapped tightly around her head and her crying as he had to twist the metal back into place. Jamie now had a band-aid on the back of her head from where the metal had dug in and left a nasty bruise. He sighed, he might not like this stupid game, but at least there was no way Jamie could get hurt from it.
"The fall collection screams 'Color Me Bright!' At the House of Sam's Designs!" Jamie said, pretending to take pictures.
"Yeah, well…" Sam said, embarrassed, "I'm kind of getting tired of this, Jamie…" he admitted.
"Don't stop now!" she cried, "You're famous!"
Sam perked up at that, liking the idea of him being famous, "I am?" he asked excitedly.
Jamie opened up her mouth to reply, but before she could say a word, a paper airplane flew into the toilet paper tube and poked Jamie in the eye.
"MY EYE!" she wailed as she moved the camera and the paper plane, the eye she had put into the camera now pushed back into her head.
"WHO'S THE WISE GUY?" Sam shouted angrily, mad that he had to endure this embarrassment only for her to get hurt again. He snatched the paper plane from her faux camera and unfolded it, "It's a note!" he said, then tilted it so Jamie could read it with her good eye along with him.
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Nate had been in his room, listening to his favorite band and watching himself doing air guitar in the mirror, when he noticed a water balloon bounce into his room from his bedroom window in it. He stopped, then paused his music and walked over to it, there was a note attached.
Right when he was about to read it, the balloon exploded in his face, getting him soaked and getting the note stuck to his face. He peeled it off and examined it for a moment, not noticing small bits of paper with letters that were now stuck in his hair, the note looked like one of those ransom notes from old movies, the letters that spelled out the message were clipped from various magazines, "We have what u lost…" he read.
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"If u want it back, b at the lane at 3 o'clock…" Karen read, crushed under a giant boulder, the contents of her make-up bag spilled out onto her driveway.
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"And bring a bag of jawbreakers" Rachel read from the note Winifred had tucked into her mouth. Rachel dropped her pig and scowled, her eyes narrowed, "Swindlers." She growled.
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The Kanker brothers were on the look out for their girls, they had spotted them a lot today, but every time they got close, they handed something off to one another and dashed off before they reached them and then they had to go find them again. It was becoming frustrating, but then again, their girls were always on the go, coming up with new businesses or services to give to others. They smiled at the thought, their girls were so sweet and enterprising.
"Holding the key for ransom isn't what I had in mind, Anny!" Double-N cried from behind the fence. The brothers quickly looked at one another and leapt onto the fence, peeking over to get a good look. They saw the Ans shrinking into the distance, they quickly hopped down and dashed after them, listening for their voices to know where they were.
"Got that right!" Anny cried on the other side of the fence, feeling proud of her plan, "It's better!" she declared. Tee smiled, he had no idea what they were talking about, but he could almost feel confidence radiating from the other side of the fence, he sped up a bit, not wanting to miss his girl again.
As soon as the words 'it's better' left Anny's mouth, she tripped over Jenny, dropping the key to the ground. Jenny was, for some reason lying down in the middle of the street with Plankette, who wore a sleep mask.
"What's with Jenny?" she asked her friends, indicating the girl lying on the ground in front of them
"It must be three o'clock." Double-N replied matter-of-factly as she carefully stepped over the girl, "Jenny always naps at three o'clock."
Larie smiled, was there anything his girl didn't know? He moved closer to the fence and stopped, grabbing Tee by the back of his shirt and Jay by the front of his to stop his brothers so they listen in.
An looked around at the sky, looking worried, "Isn't Jenny scared the VULTURES MIGHT GET HER?" she asked her friends, concerned for the snoozing girl in the lane.
Jay smiled, his girl was so sweet and caring, he leaned his head against the fence and sighed longingly.
Anny picked up the key, "The girl's a hazard." She then waved for her friends to follow, "Come on, we're wasting time!" She then hurried off, Double-N right behind her.
The brothers dashed ahead, curious as to what the girls were in such a rush to get to, not knowing that An hadn't ran off with her friends.
An looked at the skies, worried some giant carrion bird would scoop up the sleeping girl and try to eat her, she then looked in the direction her friends went, torn between wanting to keep Jenny safe from vultures and going with her friends.
"An!" Anny called back to her. An looked down at the napping girl, sweating as she tried to decide what to do.
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When the Ans finally arrived at the meeting place, Anny looked around the corner and saw Karen kicking a loose stone, a bag of jawbreakers beside her.
Double-N and An were standing next to Anny, Jenny and Plankette snoring in An's arms, Jenny's face propped up against An's shoulder with Plankette tightly held in the girl's hand.
"Aw." An said, motioning Double-N to look at her, "She's drooling." An said softly, gently patting her on the back. Double-N couldn't help but smile at the sweet gesture and how motherly An was acting, it was just so cute! Double-N actually even felt a little proud of her simple friend for wanting to protect Jenny while she slept.
"Ha! It's Karen!" Anny cried, holding the key up for her friends to see, "This must be the key to her makeup case!" She declared, pleased that she had figured it out.
"So! It is you!" Rachel's voice declared, sounding furious. Anny's face went from one of joy to one of surprise.
"Rachel!" Karen said, sounding just as angry. The Ans looked at each other for a moment, surprised that not one, but two people had apparently lost a key. The girls all leaned over to look around the corner. Rachel, like Karen, had brought a bag full of jawbreakers, "You have broken the trust of the Daughter of a Shepherd!" Rachel declared.
"Me?" Karen scoffed, "Get over it! You blew it, girl!" she snapped angrily. Rachel grabbed Karen by the scruff of her shirt, "CONFESS TO YOUR CRIMES, STALE END PIECE OF WHITE BREAD! RETURN MY EGGPLANT CUP!" Rachel demanded as she violently shook her.
"Look who's talking!" Karen snapped, shoving Rachel to the ground.
"It's an international incident." Anny joked with a chuckle.
The Kanker brothers, who had caught up and were peering from the other side, and smiled. They loved a good fight, it was rare that they saw the other kids fight with one another like this, so it was an extra treat. They then noticed the Ans staring at the fight, but how did they know this was going to happen before hand?
They contemplated it while they watched Karen twisting Rachel's upper body as she clawed at the ground, while Karen commanded that she "COUGH UP MY HEADPHONES!"
Sam and Jamie walked up, Sam was dragging a bulky bag in his hand while Jamie dragged what looked like a hair net full of jawbreakers. "HEY!" Sam shouted, getting the two older girl's attention, "WHO'S THE ONE WHO STOLE JAMIE'S SHAMPOO?" he demanded. The brothers looked at each other, a cup, headphones and shampoo? The headphones the brothers might understand getting angry about, the cup, well, Rachel was a really weird chick so for all they knew it was special or important to her, but shampoo? Who the heck stole shampoo? And even if they did, who cared? You could just go to the store and get more, it wasn't like it was special, like their Ship-Inna-Bottle.
Nate then stomped up, soaking wet and annoyed, holding up a soggy sheet of paper with letters cut out of magazines slowly sliding off of the page, "Who's bright idea was this?" He asked.
Jamie sniffed at the air looked at Nate suspiciously, "Wait a minute…" she said, her eyes narrowing. She then walked over and began sniffing Nate's head, much to his and everyone else's confusion, "Uh, what are you doing?" he asked, concerned as he pushed her away from him, weirded out that she had just sniffed his hair. Jamie had tumbled backwards into Sam's arms, but instead of acting upset that Nate had pushed her, she just looked livid, "Your hair smells suspiciously herbal fresh." She said, then glared at him darkly, "Use it or lose it, Mister!" she growled before pouncing on him and scratching at his face and yanking his hair.
"Holy MACHEREL!" Sam cried as he tried to separate the two. Karen and Rachel resumed their battle, smashing each other into the ground, punching and kicking.
The boys processed the information quickly as they watched the fighting become more violent and out of control, they knew their girls had something to do with this, it was the only way they could know about this unless someone stole something from them too, but the Kankers knew that wasn't possible because no one would be stupid enough to steal from their girlfriends… well…except them from time to time, but they usually returned what they took… eventually…
But the Ans didn't have bags full of jawbreakers like the other kids in the lane did (except for Nate)…
Were their girls responsible for all of this?
It was possible… But why, if they actually did steal that junk, why would they steal it? The brothers then shook their heads, shaking away the thought that their girlfriends would steal from the other kids. No…The Ans wouldn't steal from the other kids just for a couple bags of jawbreakers. Their girls didn't steal, period. The Ans may scam the other kids often, but they didn't steal from them.
So what was the purpose of all of this?
Did the Ans do it for the brothers since they loved watching people fight? But then why would their girls go to all this trouble just so they could watch a fight and have a lot of jawbreakers?
"We're missing something here." Tee muttered to his brothers.
"No kidding." Larie whispered back, "I mean, it'd have to be something really special for our girls to pull something like this for us… but what?"
A thought crossed Jay's mind, his eyes widened in horror, "It can't be…" he quickly counted off of his fingers, then paled, "Uh oh." He said softly.
"What?" his brothers replied anxiously.
"It's been a month since we introduced ourselves to the Ans!" Jay informed them, pulling at his hair, "It's our one month anniversary andwe forgot all about it!" Larie and Tee quickly counted off the days on their own fingers.
Jay was right.
It had been exactly one month since they introduced themselves to the Ans.
They clawed at their hair and looked at each other, panicked. How could they have forgotten something so important!
"Our girls are gonna freak if they find out we forgot our anniversary!" Tee cried.
"Especially after they went through all this trouble for us to enjoy a good fight and enjoy some candy with them, even though An and Double-N hate violence!" Jay agreed.
"But what can we do?" Larie asked, "There's not enough time to get them presents or anything! How can we show them that we haven't forgotten our anniversary when we've got nothing for them?"
Neither of his brothers replied, they silently watched the fight, wondering what could they give their girls that they could scratch up in such little time so they could still look like sweet boyfriends who'd never forget something as important as their one month anniversary that was as good as what their girls had gotten them?
Kisses? Nah, they always gave them that.
Flowers? That was nowhere near close to being as nice as what their girls had given them.
Candy? Their girls had the other kids bring bags of candy for them to share, so that was out too…
What were they gonna do?
Meanwhile, the Ans had no idea the Kankers were looking over the fence at the brawl they had inadvertently caused, worrying about their forgotten anniversary, honestly the girls had no idea that it had been one month since they had met the Kankers, to be honest, if you had asked them how long they had known the three, they'd simply reply, 'too long.'
"What the heck are they doing?" Anny grumbled, confused as to why they were watching the other kids fight instead of enjoying a bag full of jawbreakers right now, she then stomped out from behind the corner, Double-N and An carrying Jenny and Plankette right behind her. Anny then called out in a loud voice, "Hey, hey, hey!" getting the other kids' attention and making them freeze in place. Jamie was sitting on Sam and was about to get punched in the face by Nate while Rachel had all of Karen's limbs behind her back with her face pressed against the ground, making her look as if she had been hog tied.
"I'M THE ONE WITH THE KEY!" she cried, holding it up for them to see. The kids looked at her for a second, trying to process what the heck Anny was talking about.
"Who cares about the stupid key!" Karen snapped back.
"POACHER!" Rachel cried as she grabbed Karen by her upper teeth and yanked her back into the fight, resuming the violent battles the kids were currently engaged in.
"Well, Anny, it seems your key did open one thing," Double-N said plainly, indicating the vicious battle before them, "the paranoia and hostility festering beneath the surface of our formerly calm cul-de-sac."
Anny glared at her, "Do you everturn off?" she asked, annoyed.
"It's a curse, I'm afraid." Double-N replied sheepishly.
The brothers were beginning to panic, what were they gonna do? They couldn't just hide and pretend as if they hadn't seen the spectacular fight their girls had set up for them, but they had nothing to give them in return. They looked at their girls, feeling guilty.
"Our girlfriends work so hard do something so nice for us for our anniversary and we completely forgot about it." Jay said sadly, then looked at his brothers, "We're awful boyfriends."
"Yeah, our girls even picked up that weird chick so she wouldn't get trampled on while she took a nap."
Tee's face lit up with an idea, "Jay, Larie, say that again!"
"We're awful boyfriends?" Jay repeated, wondering why his brother would want him to repeat that part. "Our girls picked up that weird chick?" Larie tried, wondering how that would help them. Tee scowled at them and smacked them both upside the head, "No, dummies! The other part!"
"Our girls worked so hard?" Jay offered.
"She wouldn't get trampled while she took a nap?" Larie echoed.
"Our girls have been running around for most of the morning." Tee reminded them, "They must be pretty tired."
"So?" his brothers replied.
"So, their feet must hurt." Tee informed them, trying to get his brothers to connect the dots, but the expressions on their faces told him that they had no idea what he was talking about. He face palmed and pulled his brothers' ears towards his mouth and whispered his idea.
His brothers brightened.
"Hey, yeah!" Jay cried, "That's perfect!"
"Just the thing to make our girls know we care!" Larie agreed.
"Come on, boys." Tee said, "Let's go pretend that we just found this fight." His brothers nodded eagerly and the three dashed out so their girls could see them.
"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" they began to chant, laughing and having a good time.
The moment the childrent of the cul-de-sac heard the brothers' voices, everyone stopped dead in their tracks and looked at them, their blood turning cold, despite the heat from the summer day.
"Kankers." Anny growled. Tee assumed it was because she felt that he was late and she probably thought he forgot their anniversary.
Tee looked down at the other kids, although he and his brothers had enjoyed them knocking the snot out of each other, they wanted to be alone with their girls, "A neighborhood brawl and we weren't invited?" he asked, sounding a little angry at them, trying to give them a hint that now would be a good time to leave.
The other kids took the hint and dashed off, forgetting how they were angry at one another, forgetting about their lost or 'stolen' possessions, and forgetting the bags of jawbreakers that now lay abandoned on the ground. All that they had room for in their heads was a simple equation:
Rumble-Ready Kanker Brothers + Them = Bad
The Ans stood frozen in fear as they watched their self-proclaimed 'boyfriends' quickly close the distance between the two groups.
"Hiya Anny." Tee greeted with a smirk, poking Anny's chest, making her throw out her fear in favor of annoyance that Tee was poking her. She hated it when he did that, then again, she hated any kind of physical contact with him. "What are sweet things like you three doing at a fight like this?" he asked her.
Anny noticed that she was still holding up the key, she quickly hid it behind her back and giggled nervously. Tee narrowed his eyes beneath his hair, why had she done that? He hadn't really paid much attention to what had been in her hand before, but since she had made the effort to try and hide it from him, he wanted to know what she had.
"Hey! Whatchu got there?" he demanded, angry and hurt that she would try to hide something from him. He moved his head back and forth, trying to get a good look at what she was holding behind her back. His brothers were frowning too, after all, they didn't like it when their girlfriends hid anything from them, usually they only hid themselves, which they were okay with because then it was like playing hide and seek, only when they found them they got to kiss them for a bit before the Ans would run off again and they could do it all over again. But that was their little flirting game, that was different then this, when they went to such lengths to hide something from them, it bothered them.
Anny backed away nervously towards her best friends and Jenny, the key clutched firmly in her hands behind her back. "I have no idea what you're talking about…" she said. She needed to hide this key from the Kankers, who knew what they would do with it, but where could she hide it?
She glanced back at An, then got an idea. She quickly shoved the key into An's mouth. An's eyes widened in surprise and she accidently swallowed it, not that it concerned Anny, An had eaten worst things and come out fine. The point was that, since the Ans were the only ones the Kankers never beat up or hurt, they couldn't get the key from them, well, unless they wanted to wait until nature took it's course, but no one would want it at that point, she could leave it safely in there until they were a safe distance from the Kankers, then they could have An cough it back up, no problem. "Nothing!" Anny said, revealing her empty hands to the Kanker brothers, "See?" she said, smiling innocently, as if she hadn't just shoved the key into An's mouth right in front of them.
That made the boys' frowns deepened a bit. They weren't as stupid as the other kids thought they were, they only acted that way because normally they were trying to get their girls back to their rightful places in their arms and they needed to act dumb. And while they had no idea what the girls were hiding, anniversary or not, they didn't like that their girls were lying to them. Even though they were pretending as if they hadn't forgotten their anniversary, but that was different, that was pretending, not lying. Plus, what guy admitted to forgetting something like that?
"I think someone's looking for a lip lock, Tee." Larie said plainly with a frown.
"Take your best shot!" Anny challenged, dashing past them. Double-N right behind her, however, with An carrying Jenny and Plankette, she was slower then her friends and easier for Jay to catch. He pounced on her, chuckling and smiling vividly, pleased that he had caught his An, forcing Jenny to fly from An's arms into the air then plummet towards her friends, "ANNY!" An cried. But Jenny had luckily fallen right into the fleeing girl's arms. She skidded to a stop and looked down at Jenny, who was still fast asleep. Anny was stunned, "Does this girl sleep through the whole story?" she asked aloud in disbelief. Double-N caught up to her, panic etched on her face, she pointed back to their tall, lovable friend, "Look what they're doing to poor, defenseless An!" she cried. Anny looked back, her eyes wide at the sight, "I knew her well." Anny said softly as she watched Jay hug her around her stomach and slowly squeezing tighter, with Larie cheering for him to 'Show her how much you care!' and Tee holding out his arms in front of her mouth. An began to retch and cough as all the stuff she had eaten was now being forced back up do to the lack of room in her stomach from Jay crushing it against him in the world's tightest hug.
"I'm not in my happy place, girls…" she squeaked as Jay hugged her tighter.
"Cough it up, An." Tee instructed, wanting to get to the bottom of this little mystery. As if on cue, an entire sink flew out of her mouth and fell onto the ground in front of him. Tee and Larie looked down in surprise at the water fixture that An had apparently eaten earlier that she had just hacked back up.
"Looks like this girl's got a big appetite." Tee commented as he reached down to pick up the sink.
"Or just a big mouth." Larie murmured so only Tee could hear him.
"An!" Double-N cried, a stern expression on her face and her arms folded across her chest, "What have we told you about only eating food in the kitchen?"
"Seriously, Lumpy." Anny agreed, Jenny and Plankette still sleeping in her arms, "Even if eating that doesn't kill 'ya, your mom probably will."
"Not… my sink…" An managed as Tee lifted up the sink out of the concrete, only for the key to slip out through the pipe on the bottom. The brothers walked over to it, Jay letting go of An, who dashed towards her friends, relieved that she was free from the life crushing hug Jay had trapped her with.
"It's a key, Tee." Larie said, confused. Why would their girls hide a key from them?
"The key!" Anny cried, this was bad, she couldn't let the Kankers get their grubby hands on that key. But what could she do? She couldn't take any of them one-on-one, let alone all three at once. Double-N was useless in a fight, unless she had built something to battle the Kankers with beforehand, and even then, she was too kind and scared of Larie to actually use it. An could maybe take them, but she was too gentle a soul to actually harm anyone, even a Kanker. Anny felt a weight sink in her chest, then again, it could be the heavy girl snoring in her arms, she glared at Jenny angrily. Jenny suddenly yawned, surprising her, only to fall back to sleep with a content smile that made Anny want to toss her as far as she could throw her…
Then Anny quickly got an idea, she smiled, "Hey Kankers!" she called, just as Tee had picked up the key to inspect it up close, the brothers looked over at her, and watched as she then tossed the snoozing duo at Tee, "Trade 'ya!" Anny cried.
The boys stood there for a second, stunned. Did Anny just throw a person at them?
Jay was the first to snap out of it, "Heads up!" he called to Tee, but Tee was still to stunned at what just happened to move before Jenny's large, round head plowed into his stomach with an 'Oof!' The force from the blow sent him backwards onto the ground, making the key fly out of his hands towards Anny. His brothers looked down at him, rubbing their eyes so that they could confirm that what just happened, really just happened.
Anny swiped up the key, "I've got the key!" she called for her friends as she dashed past them, her friends stood there for a moment, processing what Anny had just done before snapping out of it after Tee cried, "Get this thing offa me!" and fled the scene, quickly catching up to Anny as she ran back towards the cul-de-sac.
"Look at the size of it's head!" Jay cried, disgusted. Tee quickly realized that Jay wouldn't be able to get Jenny off of him, so he called out, "Move it, Larie!" hoping his voice didn't sound as freaked out as he felt. Larie blanched, disgusted at the thought of having to have any physical contact with any girl other then Double-N, especially someone as freaky as Jenny, but he then put on a semi-believable annoyed face and snapped back, "Yeah, yeah, quit flappin' your yap!" Larie then picked Jenny up by her shirt and pulled her off of his brother, "YUCK!" Tee cried, sticking out his tongue in disgust of the girl who had landed on him. Larie tossed her on the ground in front of him with a horrified look on his face as he cried out, "GROSS!" then wiped his hands on his shirt as his brothers peered over the sleeping girl. "Is it real?" Tee asked, indicating Jenny's abnormally sized round head.
Jay glanced up and noticed that the Ans were gone, "Who cares!" he cried, then pointed to where their girlfriends had been standing, "Our girlfriends are gone!" Tee and Larie glanced up at where their girls had been only to realize that, they were, in fact, gone.
"They musta run back to the cul-de-sac." Tee rationalized, then dashed back towards the cul-de-sac, motioning to his brothers to follow. "Come on, boys, let's go!" He called back to them. Larie and Jay quickly caught up, quickly letting their anger go as they quickly began their favorite sport, An Hunting.
The girls ran until they knew that they were behind An's backyard, Anny slipped under the fence, squeezing under the boards then clawing at the ground to pull herself out, finally pulling herself into An's backyard and racing to her back door. An lifted up the fence in a way that only can happen in cartoons for Double-N, "Thank you, An!" she cried as she dashed into her backyard. Only, instead of simply passing from under the fence like Double-N, she let go of the bottom of the fence, letting it slam back down into the ground with a BAM! An then hopped the fence crying out, "Not good! Not good!"
The Kanker brothers had managed to catch their girls escaping under, through and over the fence. Tee kicked a board down, sending a cracking sound into the air that made the Ans jump and looked back as Tee glanced inside, smiling at the girls through the fence. All three girls' blood felt as if suddenly turned to ice as they witness the brothers all somehow slip through the narrow space Tee had made. Double-N began to shake and An wobbled backwards towards her friends, "Open the door, Double-N!" Anny cried, her fear making her voice extra screechy and high pitched. Double-N, with shaking hands, pulled and twisted at the knob frantically as Tee announced that "this is my favorite part" as the brothers slowly closed the distance between them and their 'girlfriends' beginning to cackle with glee that their girls were trapped with no escape from their love. Double-N felt a lump of panic in her throat as the door refused to open.
"IT'S LOCKED!" she cried, glancing back at her sweating friends, only to catch a glimpse of Larie eagerly licking his lips and looking at her with a gleam in his eyes that made bone chilling fear leap up her spine, she began to tug on the door with all of her might, pleading to various deities to let it open so she and her friends could find shelter inside. An and Anny backed closer towards the door, shaking violently, "C'MON, WILLYA!" Anny screeched back at Double-N, not liking the look Tee was giving her one bit, and half of his face was shrouded by his red curls! An stood there by her friends, shaking as Jay gave her a huge, creepy grin that made her feel so frightened that she not only feared him, but she was afraid that she might wet her pants!
"IT'S LOCKED I TELL YOU!" Double-N shouted. Anny grabbed Double-N and put her next to An, "Out of the way!" she cried, "You're doing it wrong!" Anny began twisting and tugging at the door, but it still wouldn't budge. Double-N looked at An, hoping that she had something that could lead to their salvation, "An!" she called, "Your door's locked! GET THE DOOR, AN!" At the sound of the order, An seemed to almost reboot, her fear and panic and her understanding of their current situation was gone, as if completely erased from her tiny mind. She smiled vividly and her face brightened, she knew how to get the door open!
"No problem!" she told her friends confidently, spreading out her hands over her head, as if waving their concerns away, "I have a key!" she shoved her hand into her right hand pocket then suddenly looked confused. She scratched at her head as she lifted her leg and said, "I think it fell out of this hole in my pants" as she pushed her hand through the hole so it came out of her pants leg, her fingers wiggling as if still searching for the key that had once resided in it.
Anny's happy, hope-filled face quickly shifted into one of shock, she lifted up the key to her eye level, the cogs and gears in her mind quickly processing the now obvious truth.
That the key belonged to An and that it was her house key.
Anny felt a mix of anxiety and fury flood through her body as she jabbed the key at the keyhole, her shaking hands making her continually miss, "AN, YOU IDIOT, THIS IS YOUR KEY!" Anny informed her, as soon as the words left her mouth, she saw that Tee was barely inches from her.
He smirked as he looked down at her, feeling not only pleased that he had cornered his girl, but that he had figured out the whole story.
The girls must have been thinking of things to do for him and his brothers as a surprise for their one month anniversary, but were having a hard time coming up with something. Then they found a key and wanted to return it to it's rightful owners, not realizing that it had fallen out of the hole in An's pocket. Then they had gotten an idea, if someone had been looking for this, then they might do anything to get it back, so Anny came up with the idea to hold it for ransom for a bag of jawbreakers that they could share with them, but since they didn't know who it belonged to, they sent a ransom note to all the kids in the cul-de-sac, not knowing that all the kids would show up and start a fight. When they saw the brothers, they must have panicked because they didn't want them to know what they were up to and ruin the surprise. They had hidden the key because they still weren't sure who it belonged to and didn't want the brothers to think they were thieves. The throwing-napping-Jenny thing was an adlib, something Anny had done so they could regroup and come up with something else before their anniversary was over.
Tee, Larie and Jay watched as the Ans cowered, their backs at the door and looking upset and nervous. They were probably upset because they now believed that they had nothing to give the boys and that they'd think they had forgotten their anniversary. They smiled at the Ans, thinking, once again, about how lucky they were to have such sweet girlfriends.
"Oh, have we got plans for you!" Tee informed them before he and his brothers began to laugh, they were gonna give their girls an anniversary that they'd never forget!
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The Ans were trembling down in An's basement bedroom, An sat to farthest to the left, Anny was in the middle and Double-N was farthest to the right. All three girls were covered with hickeys and had a Kanker strip off their shoes and socks, which for Anny and An, who's Kankers had never tried to remove an article of their clothing before, was a new and very uncomfortable experience, but for Double-N, who's Kanker tried to remove her skirt upon almost every meeting, was almost pleasantly surprised that he was trying to take of her shoes and not her skirt. Their bare feet were sitting on what resembled stocks from the middle ages, where people's heads and hands would be trapped while a crowd threw stuff at them. None of them had any idea where the Kanker brothers had found it, but that didn't really matter very much to them, it didn't foreshadow anything good for them, especially when Larie slammed it shut and pressed a padlock shut, trapping their feet in the stocks as the boys chuckled knowingly and took their time removing their socks and shoes. "You're such a slug, Larie!" Jay chuckled.
The girls looked down at the lock and wished that their key was to that lock.
The brothers smiled as they tossed their socks and shoes along side their girls'. While they realized that the stocks were a bit much, their girlfriends were probably nervous about taking their relationship to this level so quickly and would most likely run away from their anniversary gift to them, so they had to lock them in place.
"You girls are in for the ride of your lives." Tee snickered, holding up his foot and letting the girls know what they had planned for them, Anny and Double-N's eyes widened in alarm and their faces paled. An just looked at it and replied, "A naked foot." Not really understanding what was about to happen.
"I'm too young!" Anny whimpered, "And pretty!"
Tee just smiled at that and sat down, his brothers on either side, "Ready boys?" he asked, laughter in his voice. His brothers were so eager and excited that they could only manage to laugh in response.
"Y-You wouldn't dare…" Double-N stuttered, then she glanced down to see Larie's feet quickly getting closer and closer to her own, his disgusting toes wiggling, as if trying to fan some of the horrible stench from his feet towards her nose. She scrambled backwards as far as she could, "Don't even about it…" when she couldn't back away any farther, "No!" she looked up at him, her eyes pleading, but all she saw was his gleeful grin getting bigger as his feet became so close, she could feel the stench off his feet radiating off of them, she braced herself, "Have mercy!" she begged. Only for him and his brothers to laugh and press the bottoms of their feet against the Ans', their nasty toes wiggling and slipping between their own.
"FOOTSIES!" Anny and Double-N screamed, horrified, then they just began to scream. An was unfased by the feeling of Jay's nasty feet on hers, mainly because her feet were probably worse, the only thing she had to say was "Clammy."
The brothers began to laugh harder, then Jay, who gathered that An was completely fine with this step and decided to hop up the next one, he pulled himself over the stocks, his toes still wiggling between An's, then he leapt on top of her, pinning the rest of her down to An's filthy bedroom floor, his feet still pressed against hers and started covering her with kisses.
"AN!" Anny and Double-N cried, only for his brothers to quickly follow suit and pin them down and begin kissing them as well.
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The Ans were sitting in An's backyard putting ice on their hickeys, their feet soaking in bowls, Double-N and Anny's feet were soaking in hot soapy water while An's were soaking in hot gravy.
After the brothers had finished and left, the girls had sat in An's room shaking as they slowly overcame the shock. Anny was the first, but then again, she usually was. Anny would allow her outrage to fuel her recovery. Anny started shouting about how angry she was and how horrible that was as she leaned over An's feet and used a hair to unlock the stocks their feet were trapped in. The girls then rubbed their sore ankles and were sickened by the sight of their feet, Anny and Double-N from all the junk that was now ontheir feet while An was sickened by all the stuff that was no longer on her feet. The girls decided to soak their feet outside mainly because they couldn't bare to look at the stocks in An's room any longer.
"Hey Double-N?" Anny groaned.
"Yes, Anny?"
"Next time we find something, I say we make sure it's not ours first, then we ask around. That way something like this'll never happen again."
A small knowing smile crept up Double-N's face, "Whatever you say, Anny." She said softly. An inspected her feet and smile, "AN'S FEET ARE STINKY ONCE MORE!" she declared. Her fellow Ans checked their feet and found that they had been restored to their original states too, they pulled their feet out and sighed. The Kankers had always shown their affections in ways the Ans were not happy or comfortable with, but today they had gone to a whole other level. Why? Why today of all days had they decided to do something as disgusting as footsies?
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The Kankers sat on their couch, sacks of jawbreakers laid down by their bare feet, smiling contently as they sucked on the candy their girls had tricked the other kids for. After the Kankers had finished giving their girlfriends their anniversary presents, they had gone back to the lane and picked up the girls' original gift idea and took them home, not only because the girls had gotten the candy for them, but because they could use it as lures to get their girls later. After how great their first anniversary was, they definitely weren't gonna forget their anniversary ever again.
"Today was great, I can't wait for our second month anniversary!" Jay cried.
"Yeah!" Larie agreed, "Only next time, we should be the ones who surprise them!"
"Sounds good." Tee said, then he and his brothers spent the rest of the night coming up with a wonderful surprise for their next anniversary.