"URGH! I CAN'T TAKE IT!" screamed Cat, seating herself in Robbie's lap, as she had become accustomed to for the previous few days.
Whenever Cat got anywhere near Sikowitz's classroom, she tried so hard not to just grab her phone from the box and forfeit the challenge. So, she and Robbie had made a deal. He helps her, she helps him. By seating herself in Robbie's lap, she stopped Robbie from getting up for his phone, and by wrapping his arms around her waist; it stopped Cat from getting up as well. Even when the boys and girls were in the competition head to head, they still kept up the routine. It was just after the second day when Cat had started to get fidgety even outside of Sikowitz's classroom, when she had decided she would sit on Robbie's lap during lunch. At first, he was very surprised; but after only a few moments, he found having her close very comfortable. So, they decided to continue with the arrangement.
"Come on Cat, you don't need a phone to survive." Robbie told the usually bubbly redhead. "I mean, people got along without them when Sikowitz was a kid – we can do the same!"
"I want my phone," she whimpered, as if she didn't hear him, while pressing her face against his chest. The brunette could feel hot tears staining his shirt, but he wasn't bothered by them. Carefully, he stroked Cat's back, whilst humming 'I Think You're Swell' to her, knowing it was her favourite song for when she was sad.
They were sitting in the quad at the gang's usual lunch table. The gang all had a free period, so Cat and Robbie had placed themselves as far away from Sikowitz's classroom as they could; therefore they left the actual building.
Tori and André had gone to the library to get some books to study from, and were going to join them afterwards. Jade was by her locker, sorting out her books and scissors, and Beck was busy shaking off some girls who had spotted him coming out of the bathroom.
After a while, Cat was still crying, and Robbie was starting to get really worried. He spotted Tori, André and Jade walking towards them, questioning looks on their faces.
"What's wrong with Cat?" Beck asked from behind Robbie.
"She can't deal with this no-technology thing. It's practically killing her." Robbie explained, hugging Cat closer to his chest, still rubbing her back, in what he hoped to be a soothing manner.
The four sat down, looking down towards the table in guilt.
"We're really bad at not using our phones, aren't we?" Tori asked her friends.
A quiet whimper could be heard from Cat, who had managed to stop crying, and was only sniffling. "Yeah, we are."
"Hey Cutie, you okay now?" Robbie asked the redhead in a whisper, as she looked up towards him, their noses brushing together.
"A bit. Sorry for ruining your shirt." She answered with a small smile on her face. She nuzzled deeper into the boy's chest, wrapping her arms around his torso.
"That's okay." Robbie's grip around her waist tightened, and then he turned back towards the group.
The other four hadn't talked, and just settled for watching the two, straining to hear what they were saying. Small smiles graced over Tori, André and Beck's faces, while a smirk covered Jade's.
"We all need to work together." Tori stated to the group. They had all been on edge the past days with each the opposite gender and it was starting to affect their friendship. "We should all work as a team again. I don't like us competing, and it is making us all act mean to each other."
"I don't like being mean." Cat told the group in a slightly sad tone.
Everyone, besides Jade, shook their head in agreement.
"So what are we going to do?" André asked, looking towards Tori.
"We can either all give up at the same time, or we can all help each other through the rest of the week." Tori told them. "In my opinion, I think we should give up, and earn ourselves our true grades, and then we won't have to suffer."
"But, if we give up, we'd be quitters." Jade pointed out.
"I don't mind being a quitter." Cat put her hand up. "It's better than suffering. Okay, so we've found out one thing we can't do. It's also affecting our school work – we can't check any information online for our homework and we might get lower grades because of that. What's better: not being a quitter or getting good grades and being able to concentrate?" Cat asked her friends wisely.
They were all speechless at how much sense the usually spacey redhead was making.
Beck managed to get out of his shock first, after a few seconds.
"Grades and concentration definitely would be for the best. I also want to see that video everyone is hyped over." André told his friends. "And I want to listen to some proper music instead of the stuff my Grandma had."
"I think Sikowitz is free this period. We can go tell him we give up. Come on guys." Tori told the group, taking her usual self-proclaimed place as leader of their small group.
Cat stood and grabbed Robbie's hand, pulling him to his feet. She didn't let go after he was up, and their hands stayed connected during the entire walk to their coconut-drinking teacher's classroom.
Jade knocked on the door. "Sikowitz?" She called into the room.
"Come in, my technology-deprived students!" He called back.
The six then entered the room, and Cat made a move to grab her phone from the box. They had decided on their way over to the classroom that they would tell Sikowitz that they were giving up first, and then they would get their phones, just so he knew it was official. Robbie wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her, so she couldn't move. Instead, she leaned into his chest, and he placed his head on her red hair.
"We give up." Beck told the teacher simply, in his calm tone.
"Yeah, all of us do. We don't want to be head-to-head with each other, and we really want to be able to go back to being normal teenagers. But we've learned our lesson about using our phones in class. 'Cause that's what this whole thing was about, right?" Tori told/asked the teacher.
Sikowitz started clapping with a grin on his face, and the teenagers looked at him confused. Sure, their teacher acted strangely, but they hadn't seen him act like that before. It was usually climbing through windows, drinking coconuts or hanging upside down.
"You finally learnt what I was trying to teach you," he explained to the group. "I wanted you to learn that you need to stop using your cell phones constantly and actually socialise in reality. And then, another lesson you should have learned is that not everything should be about competition, and sometimes you can't determine who is better at what – boys or girls? Well done to all of you, and you will all get A's for the semester for actually trying the challenge. The challenge is finished."
Everyone grinned.
"Yay!" Cat squealed, turning around in Robbie's grip, and put her hands on his shoulders. And then she kissed him. Robbie's grip tightened as he kissed back after getting over the initial shock. The pair pulled away after a few moments. The rest of the group hadn't noticed the 'exchange', and were all at the front of the room getting their phones and turning them on.
The redhead skipped to the front of the room and grabbed her bright pink phone, grinning at the curly haired boy standing frozen in the same place she left him. She snapped a picture and then picked up his phone, walking it over to him. Cat placed the phone in Robbie's hand and snapped her fingers in his face, giggling, to snap him out of his shock.
Robbie shook his head clear, and grinned at the perky girl in front of him.
"Thanks Cat." He told her, holding up his phone, and flashing a smile at her.
Cat giggled with her tongue between her teeth, and quickly typed something on her phone.
Robbie's phone beeped with a text message, and he looked down to read it.
I really like you Robbie. And I know you like me too. Want to go out on a date on Saturday? Love Cat x
Robbie grinned brightly, typed something on his Pear Phone, then wrapped his arms around Cat's waist and spun her around.
Cat's phone beeped and she checked it when Robbie put her down, but he didn't remove his arms.
Of course I really like you Kitty Cat! And I'd love to go out with you on Saturday! Love Robbie x
Cat kissed him again, and all of their friends saw (they had finally finished reading all of their texts and watching all of the videos they had missed seeing). They were all shocked, but it didn't surprise them too much, they knew the pair was going to get together. Everyone (even Jade) smiled at them, and then looked away to give them a bit of privacy.
Cat and Robbie pulled away and grinned at each other.
They were finally with the one they wanted to be with, and all it took was not being able to use their phones for a few days.
Who knew?