I am back, baby! Enjoy!

TEEN OPERATION: L.A.T.E

Saturday, 10:00 a.m. Sixteen-year old Wally Beetles stood in front of his bathroom mirror, constantly checking and rechecking his hair. On any other given day he wouldn't have cared to perform such a foppish routine, but this was no ordinary day.

This was a day that he had been dreaming of for ten years. This was a day he constantly tried to arrange with absolutely no success. THIS was the day he finally had a date with his crush of 10 years: Kuki Sanban!

…Well, sort of.

Okay, it wasn't technically a date. It wasn't as if he had approached Kuki all suave and confidant and had asked her out in such a way that made her swoon at his feet. In fact, the sentence "Will you go out with me?"- or something akin to it - had never even been uttered. It just so happened that every Saturday, Wally and his friends would go see a movie together and hang out for the day. No homework, no special undercover-teen KND missions; just a day of relaxation. Only this time, Nigel, Hoagie, and Abby all happened to be "busy". Yeah, Wally didn't buy that for even a second, but he certainly wasn't going to complain.

The scenario couldn't have been more perfect. Ever since they started high school, Wally could hardly ever get Kuki alone. And even when he did, he still could never manage to his confess his feelings, since something always had to ruin the moment without fail. But today they would spend the whole day together. And what better way to romance a young lady than by taking her to see a horror flick?

Sure, a horror movie didn't seem like the most romantic setting, but it was early October; the local movie theater didn't play anything else! Which wasn't a problem for Wally or Kuki, as they had gone to see plenty of horror movies before. However, they had always been with their friends so, whenever Kuki felt too scared, she would typically cling to Abby for some form of sisterly comfort. But today it would just be the two of them so, when the movie became too much for Kuki, the only place to take comfort would be in Wally's masculine arms!

The thought made Wally shiver a bit with excitement. True this wasn't formally a date, but he was going to treat it like one. He would treat Kuki to the movie, where he had little doubt that she would be scared into cuddling up to him. Then he'd take her to the boardwalk and treat her to lunch and an afternoon at the arcade, where he was confident that he could easily win her a prize or two. By sundown, Kuki would finally realize that he was the boy of her dreams, and Wally would confess how crazy he was about her. By the end of the night, Kuki would be begging to be his girlfriend.

It was fool-proof!

Once Wally finally decided his appearance was a solid eleventy-billion out of ten, he headed downstairs. Can't sweep Kuki off her feet on an empty stomach, he thought to himself as his stomach growled.

He entered the kitchen to find his little brother Joey sitting at the table as he enjoyed a bowl of Rainbow Munchies. His mother, meanwhile, was occupied with sweeping the floor like a madwoman.

Wally tussled his brother's hair as he sat down and helped himself to his own bowl of the sugary, artificially-flavored cereal. In response, Joey playfully flicked a spoonful of Munchies at Wally's face.

Wally gaped at his younger brother's audacity. "You really wanna play this game?" he challenged teasingly as he lifted his spoon.

Joey smirked and aimed another spoonful of cereal at his brother's face. "Fire when ready!"

The two brothers shot their cereal at one another, which sent individual bits of Rainbow Munchies all over the kitchen floor. Mrs. Beetles' attention was drawn to the mess that was created and swept it feverishly, until she finally looked up and realized that her sons had still been actively contributing to said mess. She glared at her sons; she was not in the mood for such tomfoolery.

"BOYS!" she hollered as she pulled both of her sons by the ear. The boys winced in pain, but Mrs. Beetles did not let go. She did, however, make her tone sound much more polite, almost sickeningly sweet. This made the boys even more nervous. "Haven't you noticed that I'm trying to keep the house extra super clean today?"

"Yes…?" Wally and Joey answered hesitantly.

"And do you remember why?" Mrs. Beetles asked warmly.

"Uh… 'cause your stories don't come on till three?" Wally guessed.

Mrs. Beetles threw her arms up in frustration, unintentionally smacking her sons upside the head as she did so. "Don't tell me you forgot!"

Wally smiled sheepishly. "If I say no, would it matter if it's true or not?"

Mrs. Beetles growled, exacerbated. "Wallabee, I've been telling you for a week! Aunt Kathryn is visiting for the weekend!"

Wally shuddered. The thought of being stuck with his maternal great Aunt Kathryn all weekend was probably one of the most unbearable situations he could think of: nothing to do but listen to the 70-year old woman ramble on about relatives and family friends back in Australia: who was marrying whom, who was arguing with whom, who was divorcing whom… all of them people that Wally either didn't know or hadn't seen since he was a baby.

Joey cringed as well. He could already feel the pain in his cheeks at the mere thought of all the pinching they would endure at the hands of Aunt Kathryn. Wally patted his brother's shoulder, but was glad he was not in his position.

"Well, tell Aunt Kathryn hi for me, maybe I'll see her tomorrow!" Wally got up from his chair and intended to go to hang around his room until he had to leave. He planned to meet Kuki outside of the movie theater at 12:00. The theater was about a half hour walk, so Wally planned to leave his house at exactly 11:30. Wally checked his watch: it was 10:20. That gave him over an hour, and he planned to use that hour to pump himself up so his nerves would not get the best of him later on in the day.

Wally felt an iron grip on his shoulder. "And just what do you mean 'Tell her hi for me', mister!?" Mrs. Beetles yelled. "Where do you think you're going!?"

Wally tensed up. She's not seriously gonna keep me from going, is she? he thought.

"But Mom," Wally whined. He knew he sounded pretty childish, but he had waited far too long for this day to come to really care. "I've already made plans with my friends! We made these plans last week!" He was careful not to allude that he would be alone with Kuki. Not in front of Joey.

"Wally, you see your friends every day, I'm sure they'll forgive you for missing one Saturday." Mrs. Beetles retorted.

Crud! He hated when adults used logic against him. It was time to pull out the big guns.

"Look," Wally whispered as he took his mother aside to keep Joey from hearing; the last thing he needed was for the 8-year old to bust out into a rendition of the old "Sitting in a Tree" rhyme. He had heard enough of that for a lifetime. "Nigel, Hoagie, and Abby had to bail today, so that just leaves me and Kuki. I can't just leave her hangin'!"

Wally silently begged that his mother would not pick up on the subtle implications of his being alone with Kuki for the day. If she got started then Joey would get started, and then the only thing Wally would want to do for the rest of the day would be to hide under his bed and die.

Luckily for him, even though his mother did, in fact, see through his wording, she did not express it; she didn't have time to gush over her son's first date. Her frustrated expression lessened. She always had a big soft spot for Kuki… mostly because it was obvious to anyone with eyes and/or ears that Wally was head over heels for her.

Mrs. Beetles sighed. "Alright, Aunt Kathryn will be here any minute. Just stay with us for an hour, and then you can go."

Wally groaned in annoyance, but did not protest. There was no negotiating with his mother. He glanced at his watch again. As long as Aunt Kathryn arrived within the next five minutes, he could still make it to the movie theater on time.

...

A/N: Hey guys! It's been a while. You look lovely today. I'm back after a loooooong bout of writer's block. I can't always promise speedy updates with this story, but with Christmas break coming closer, I hope to focus more on this story. It's a lot of fun to write! Stay tuned!