Author's Note:
I really shouldn't be writing this story now, especially with finals coming at my school, and I really should be focusing on those. But do you ever have it when you have a really good idea for a story and it won't let you rest until you start writing it? Well, that's what happened to me. lol.
Okay, this my first actual chapter MtR fic. Yay! I haven't written a chapter story in forever - and I actually plan on completing this one!
Kinda hate the title. I can't really think of good ones. If anybody has a better idea for the title, can you tell me in your reviews?
In this story, Franny is 15, Young Cornelius is 17, Wilbur is 17 (in the future), Older Cornelius is 46 and Older Franny is 44. The pairings are Frannelius and maybe a small tiny bit of Wilbur/OC.
Okay, the summary is pretty easy: Young Cornelius volunteers to take Franny to the Homecoming Dance, because Franny wants to prove to her rival Eloise that she can get a date. But when her plan backfires, and Eloise starts flirting with Cornelius, she starts to get jealous. That's when Franny hatches a brilliant plan to make Cornelius jealous by dragging another boy into the picture - a boy who happens to be her time-traveling future son. Will Franny end this jealousy game, or will Wilbur and Cornelius have to hatch a plan to stop this from going too far? And what's up with Wilbur and his 'friend' Alexia? Read to find out.
Oh, and review please?
Seeing Green
by Christian Ninja Rabbit
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Chapter One - Keeping an Eye Out
Robinson House - Cornelius's Lab
2012, Three days before the Homecoming Dance
"I don't know what I'm gonna do, Cornelius!" Franny exclaimed, her voice filled with melodramatic despair.
Cornelius, sitting at his workbench in his lab, shifted the receiver to his other ear. "Okay, Franny. You want to explain it again, very slowly and clearly?"
"I thought it was clear the first time," Franny asked confusedly. Even though they were on the phone, Cornelius could just picture her cocking her head to the side.
"Not ... exactly," Cornelius responded, "I could barely make out the punctuation marks in those sentences. Or ... was that just one big, long sentence?"
Franny growled, "C'mon, Cornelius! This is serious!"
"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely. The last thing he wanted to do was get Franny mad at him. He turned his lab chair around from his workbench, so he could focus on her dilemma and not be distracted by the blueprints for the Carl prototype that he had been working on for the past couple years. "I want to help. Can you tell me what's bothering you?"
He could hear Franny sigh. "Well, as you know, the Homecoming dance is coming up at our school and ... and," she paused, before blurting out, "I don't think anyone wants to go with me!"
"Oh," Cornelius said, trying to think of something encouraging to say, "I ... I don't think that's true. I mean, I'm sure many guys would ..."
"I know it's true!" Franny interrupted, "Every girl in my class was asked out already. Most girls were even asked many weeks ago! And now the Homecoming dance is in three days, and I have no one to go with!"
"Well," Cornelius took a deep breath. He had a feeling Franny wanted him to ask her, but he couldn't be sure if that was the case. It was pretty difficult to give her advice like this, especially since he knew that he would eventually marry her. "Well, why is it so important to go with someone anyway?" He asked.
She gasped in her typical, over dramatic way. "Cornelius! I'm surprised you don't know!"
"What?" He was confused. Was it something he said?
"It's the Homecoming dance. You're supposed to have someone to go with! If you don't," she paused, then whispered, as if she was about to give away a big secret, "it reflects badly on you as a person."
"Don't tell me that you've been listening to what Eloise Longhorn has been saying."
"I didn't!" She argued. Then her tone changed, "Well, I don't normally, but what if she's right about this?!" Franny's voice grew urgent.
Cornelius rolled his eyes. Eloise Longhorn was one of the most snobbiest, nosiest girls in the sophomore class. He had heard Franny complain about her often.
"Franny," Cornelius responded seriously, "You should know better than to listen to what Eloise says. She's just a busybody, who thinks she knows what's best for everybody."
"But what if she does?" Franny wailed. "What if she's right?"
"But she's not! She doesn't know what she's talking about."
"Easy for you to say," Franny accused, "You've never met her."
"Well..." Cornelius wasn't sure how to answer that one. It was true that he had never met her, since he only went to Joyce William's High School for half a day, and it was normally just to sit through the classes and tutor students during their study halls. He didn't really have to do all the work, considering how he had already graduated from college. But since he was still only seventeen, he still had to legally "go to school."
He wished that he could meet this Eloise girl though. She sounded like her specialty was giving Franny a hard time, and he hated to see her so downhearted.
"Aha, see!" Franny chirruped, "You haven't met her. So you can't say that she's not right. You can't disagree with her, Cornelius. So you have to admit that maybe she's right. Maybe I am a loser!"
"Franny, you are not a loser!"
"Then why can't I get a date?"
Cornelius sighed. He was having enough of this, and he decided that he would have to resort to another way of dealing with the problem, even if he really wasn't sure it would work. "Okay, Franny," he said, "If you really need a date to the dance, I guess I could ... well, what I mean to say is..." Beads of nervous sweat started to form on his forehead.
"What? What do you mean to say?" Franny asked quickly, sounding somewhat eager.
"Well, if you really wanted to... I...I could take you... to the dance..." Cornelius finally found the courage to finish.
"You would?!" Franny asked enthusiastically. "Oh Cornelius, that would be wonderful!"
"Yeah... yeah, it would," Cornelius was relieved to hear that she accepted this without a problem, and yet somehow nervous when he realized that this would technically be his first date with his future wife. Well, it would actually be his first date with anybody.
"That'll show Eloise!" She triumphed. "She'll see that I can get a date! She'll see that I'm not a loser!"
"Oh," Cornelius was slightly disappointed. He had hoped that Franny was accepting his invitation because she really liked him, but it seemed now that she had only accepted because she wanted to prove herself to Eloise. "Yeah, I guess that'll be good too."
"I can't wait, Cornelius! I'm really, really looking forward to it!" She suddenly paused, "Well, mom's calling me for dinner, so I'll talk to you later!"
"Okay. Bye, Franny," He said.
"Bye bye!" She sang cheerfully.
Cornelius put the phone down slowly. So, he was going on his first date with the woman that he would eventually marry. Why did he feel so uneasy? Maybe it was because she probably didn't actually like him like him, but that she just wanted to have a date. But still, Cornelius reminded himself, there was time. Franny was only fifteen, and he was only seventeen. There was all the time in the world. Someday they would be together for real.
Well, at least I can keep an eye out for her at this dance, Cornelius thought, and make sure she doesn't get in any trouble.
He sighed, trying to put the Franny situation out of his head, and then continued back to work on his Carl blueprints.
Robinson House - Wilbur's Room
2041
"Little buddy, I really don't think that will solve anything," Carl tried to persuade the raven-haired teen, who was, as usual, trying to devise a crazy scheme.
"Aww, c'mon Carl, it's a perfect idea. It's practically foolproof!" Wilbur insisted, waving his skinny arms around for emphasis.
"But, let's face it," Carl replied, "planting a microchip on your friend's new boyfriend isn't really going to score brownie points with her."
"Who cares about brownie points! I just have a feeling 'Gregory' is up to no good," he said, making a disgusted face at the mention of his friend's date.
"You know," Carl remarked wistfully, "You seem to say that about every boy that asks Alexia out."
"Well, she's one of my close friends," Wilbur defended, "I have to make sure she's safe. You know, friends do that for each other."
"You also seem to be putting an awful lot of emphasis on the word 'friend'," Carl pointed out with a smirk.
Wilbur suddenly laughed. "Oh Carl, you silly, silly robot! I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. Alexia is only a friend, nothing more. What could possibly make you think that I have a crush on her?"
"I don't know ... maybe it's because you're planning on micro chipping her date?" Carl suggested.
"Okay, okay," Wilbur admitted, "So maybe micro chipping is a little extreme. But I still have to watch him and make sure he doesn't do anything to her."
"Uh-huh," Carl said skeptically, "That's very valiant of you."
"Enough with the sarcasm, Carl. This is a very important matter." Wilbur pointed out.
Carl sighed. "Why can't you just let her go out with the guy? I mean, she seems happy with him, right? Wouldn't you want what's best for her?"
"She seems happy with him, but that's just what she wants us to think!" Wilbur said conspiratorially.
"Now you've lost me," The robot replied.
"It's simple: he's not what's best for her. Trust me, I know."
"Oh yeah, you could think of plenty of guys that would be more suitable for her, can't you? Maybe a guy like yourself?"
"Carl, we could keep arguing in circles like this, but it won't solve anything," Wilbur was getting aggravated with the robot. Why did he have to keep insisting that he liked Alexia? Why did anyone seem to think that?
"You know, little buddy, I really think you should go to your father about this. He would have better advice than me."
Wilbur snorted. "Go to Dad? C'mon. If I know him, he'll just tell me to go up to Alexia and 'talk about my feelings', or some sort of unmanly nonsense."
"I thought you said she was only a friend."
"I said that is what Dad would tell me to do," Wilbur answered hastily, "Which is obviously nonsense when you consider that I don't have a crush on her."
"Obviously," Carl responded sarcastically.
"So, I just gotta watch this guy, 'cause if he does anything to her," Wilbur made a fist with his hand, and said ominously, "He will have to answer to me."
"Wilbur, isn't there an easier way? Don't you think you'd feel much better if you talked to your Dad?"
Wilbur stopped suddenly, and put his finger to his chin in consideration. "Well... maybe Dad would have some good ideas about how I can keep an eye on this guy." His brown eyes lit up. "Maybe he could help me invent some really large binoculars..."
"Actually," Carl tried to dissuade him, "that's not exactly what I had in mind..."
Wilbur wasn't listening. "Thanks, Carl! I think I'll do that then." And without warning, Wilbur sped off down the hall to his father's lab.
So, how do you think it's going so far? Like it? Loathe it? Let me know!
By the way, the name Eloise came from the MtR game. lol. When you go to the school level and go up to talk to a little girl, she tells you, "My friend Eloise thinks you're cute." Now we don't know very much about this Eloise, but I'm just wondering how she even knows who you are if you haven't been there long. I figured she might be a kind of a flirt - the perfect rival for Franny.
And I figure that it took Cornelius a few years to work out all the bugs for Carl, and also that I needed to have him working on something while he was on the phone.
The name Alexia - I just made up - sounds kinda futuristic. Gregory kinda sounds like either a snobby rich boy, or a really mean boy. The kind of person Wilbur would not get along with.
I hope to get the next chapters up soon. Maybe when I'm done with finals.
