It was a week to be spent rehearsing for Cartoon Cartoon Fridays and it was now Friday morning, plus there was no school today. Mike was in her dressing room, going over her script of lines, but she found herself not being able to focus. She was too busy thinking of something else... Someone else in fact... There was a knock to her room door.
"It's open!" Mike called.
Cindy walked into the room. "Hi, Mike... You ready to go on tonight?"
"Hey, Cindy," Mike smiled to her. "Yes, I am."
"Good..." Cindy smiled, she wasn't an official Cartoon Cartoon, but more of an apprentice and helper as she wanted to be a producer or a writer for TV when she grew up. "Wanna go over your lines?" she took out a spare copy of the script, she would reenact as everyone else and Mike would recite her lines on cue.
"Huh, oh, yeah, sure..." Mike replied calmly as she seemed to have her mind elsewhere.
"Something the matter, Mike?"
"You're too young to understand..." Mike looked a little distant.
"You can tell me anything," Cindy opened a mini fridge that was in Mike's dressing room and took out Mike's favorite cola, wondering if it would perk her up. "Thirsty?"
"Sure, thank you." Mike smiled.
Cindy smiled, giving Mike the soda. "So what's on your mind?"
Mike half-smiled to her as she took a drink. "Well... Can ya keep a secret?"
"I have a diary that's kept in a secret place in my house..." Cindy answered, allowing Mike to tell the secret. "I promise, I won't tell anyone... Fire away."
"I went to Nickelodeon by accident."
"But Weasel told me-"
Mike covered her mouth, shushing her. "It was an accident... I know... I told Dee Dee about it and she hasn't told anyone else yet..."
"Sorry, Mike..." Cindy said once she could talk again. She then wondered why Mike would miss Nickelodeon if she belonged to Cartoon Network. "Did something happen over there...?"
"Yes, it did."
"Like what?"
"Well... I was filming a promo with Lu and Og... You know the 'Screwy, Isn't It?' bumpers on Cartoon Network, right?" Mike looked back at her.
"Uh-huh," Cindy smiled. "Dexter has a wrench in his..."
"Right... Anyway, while filming that, a bunch of sharks came up and I sacrificed myself to save Lu and Og, but then I fell in the water and I woke up in the Nicktoons Summer Beach House... Everyone told me about the boy who saved me... They wouldn't tell me who it was, but then I found out before I came back..." Mike explained, remembering every detail. "It was Otto Rocket... I mean, I like Eddy, but then Otto comes into my life and I-I don't know what to do..."
"Hmm..." Cindy was a little unsure herself, she was a little too young to get this situation. "I'm not sure myself what you should do, Mike, but I'll try to help you."
"Really?" Mike was grateful. "Thank you, Cindy!"
Cindy smiled back as she held the script. "Let's go over these real quick... I don't want you to get in trouble with the kids at home..."
Mike smiled as she took out her script, now able to focus.
After rehearsal...
"You're gonna be great out there, Mike," Cindy smiled once they finished. "So... What do you wanna do now?"
"Have you ever met the What a Cartoon characters?" Mike asked.
"No, I haven't."
"Come on, I want you to meet them," Mike led the way then. "They're pretty cool... Well, some of them. Did you know I was part of WAC before my show became a series?"
"You were, really?" Cindy asked, following Mike.
Lu cracked her dressing room door open, seeing Mike go off with the new kid. "What's Mike doing with that kid?" she then opened the door all the way in slight anger and jealousy. "Hey, Mike, what're you doing with that kid!? I thought we were friends!"
"Chill, Princess," Mike glanced at her. "I'm gonna take Cindy to see the What a Cartoon gang, you came come with if you want to."
Lu snorted, folding her arms, then came to see Cindy. "Okay, three rules. Rule #1: Princesses don't sweat. Rule #2: Don't talk to the princess without permission. And Rule #3: Bow down to me! Understand?"
Cindy blinked, not replying.
"Hey, answer me!" Lu hissed to her.
"You told her not to talk without permission." Mike smirked.
Lu growled. "OKAY! You can talk now!"
"Yes, 'Princess'." Cindy replied respectively, thinking Lu was a real princess.
"See, Mike?" Lu smirked back. "This is how the subjects should treat me!"
Mike rolled her eyes, but continued to show Cindy the What a Cartoon crowd. There was Sledgehammer O'Possum, Kaitlin with her brother Maxwell, Pfish and Chip, George and Junior, Hard-Luck Duck, Yuckie Duck, The Fat Cats, Yoink of the Yukon, Snoot, and a purple nameless cat with a mouse friend named Nancy and a horse who went by the name 'George Lieberman'. Cindy happily met them all.
"Hey, guys," Mike smiled at the fallen future Cartoon Cartoon stars, but were still on good terms thanks to Mike, Dexter, Dee Dee, Johnny, Cow and Chicken. "Hey... Where's Mina and the Count?"
"Probably gettin' lunch before they go on the next boat to Nickelodeon," Sledgehammer replied. "They gave up on Cartoon Network and decided to move down over there."
"There's a boat going to Nickelodeon?" Mike sounded suddenly interested, maybe she could sneak aboard to meet the Nicktoons again, especially Otto Rocket.
Yoink tackled Mike. "Hello, Mike, I missed ya!"
"What kind of animal is that?" Cindy wondered out loud.
"Nobody knows..." Lu whispered to her.
Mike laughed as she got Yoink off. "Heeey... Where'd ya come from, huh?"
"Oh, boy, George, there's a new person!" Junior laughed in celebration, accidentally knocking his friend down. "Uh, George, where did ya go?" he then saw George on the ground. "Huh? George, why are ya lyin' on the ground?"
George popped his head out from the floor, looking cross at the dumber, larger, sidekick of his.
"Hey, you're George and Junior!" Cindy pointed to them. "My daddy taught me about your shorts in the 1940's by Tex Avery!" she laughed, then sighed a bit, settling down. "Ah... I love Tex Avery..."
"Who's he?" Lu asked Mike.
"A famous cartoonist from the old days back when Tom and Jerry was still new," Mike explained as she got Yoink off from her. "Umm... Guys, abotu that boat to Nickelodeon? When does it come back?"
"Should be 5:30, why?" the cute little duckling named Hard Luck asked.
"Oh... Just curious..." Mike chuckled sheepishly.
Lu gave her a look, she sensed something fishy about Mike right now.
"So, where's the rest of you guys?" Mike asked. "Like that pizza guy?"
"He's still in the asylum." Yuckie replied.
"STILL!?" Mike was shocked. "Then where's Tumbleweed Tex?"
"He's visitin' his granddaughter, Jade Summers." George answered.
"I didn't know Tumbleweed Tex had a granddaughter, who'd think it'd be Jade?" Mike was a little shocked to hear that.
"There's lots of things we don't know, kid." George pointed out.
Cindy walked off, then accidentally knocked down Eddy as he was counting his dollars. "Ohmigosh, I'm so sorry!"
Eddy growled at Cindy, but remembered his manners and aplogozied, but grinned once he saw Mike. He put his money in his pocket and walked up to his girlfriend. "Hey, Mike..." he put an arm around her. "How's about you and me catch a showing at the Cartoon Theater?" he took out a wad of cash. "I'll pay."
"Huh?" Mike looked back at him like she hadn't seen him. "Oh... Hey, Eddy... You goin' somewhere?"
Eddy glanced at her. "Mike, what happened to ya? I thought we were boyfriend and girlfriend now."
"I guess he doesn't know about Otto Rocket..." Cindy said to herself, shuffling her feet iwth her hands in her pockets.
"Sorry, Eddy, I got a lot on my mind right now," Mike said before turning back to the WAC characters. "I'll catch you guys later." she said before walking off alone with her thoughts.
"What was that?" Eddy glanced to Cindy, then turned to the What a Cartoon characters. "Did I do something wrong."
The others shrugged.
"Mike, where are you going?" Cindy followed her as they went to an empty set for Dexter's Laboratory.
"Don't tell anybody," Mike said quietly and sharply. "I'm going to the boat to Nickelodeon... I have to see Otto again..."
"But, Mike-"
"I must go... Take care of yourself..."
Mike walked off then.
Lu came out from behind one of the test tube racks. "So Mike's tryin' to run away without me, eh? Well, I just might have to show her! You're not leaving without me, Mike, not by a long shot!"
"Oh, no, I have to tell someone," Cindy felt distressed. "But, if I do... Mike will never talk to me again."
"Did you say Mike left to go to Nickelodeon?" a voice asked.
Cindy turned around to see one of her new best friends. "Hey, Kaitlin..." she greeted softly. "Um... No... I said something about pickles..."
"Ooh, pickles, wise decision, little lady, wise decision..." the Mayor of Townsville chuckled as he walked by, smiling to Cindy before going to his own dressing room.
"Uhh... I gotta go, Kaitlin..." Cindy said quickly, then zipped off.
Kaitlin sighed once Cindy was gone. "That girl..." she then walked off to help herself to some complementary snacks.
"Hey, Kaitlin, that little girl say somethin'?" Yoink asked.
"It's just that Mike left to go to Nickelodeon." Kaitlin informed of what she knew.
