A/N: This came to me while I was watching a re-run of the desert episode, and I thought it would be fun. It turned out to be sort of a pain, and while I am slightly proud of writing something very different then my tastes, I can understand why people do not often do it. It was hard and I think worth it. And for the record, I don't like this couple tremendously, so if you want to complain about the couple, save it and just don't read the fic.
I don't own the Magic School Bus or the gang. I often wish I did however. Review!!
Phoebe Terese bounced excitedly into the high school cafeteria, her shoulder length, red-tinted, straight hair whipping around her round face (probably the only part on her entire body that had an ounce of fat) in her enthusiasm. She stood on the tip-toes of her lacy black flats and stretched her 5'9" length as tall as she could manage. 'Sometimes,' a little voice in the back of her mind whispered, 'it pays being the tallest and gangliest girl in the group'. She quickly spotted her friends sitting at a table near the back, and made her way over with a wide smile.
"Hey guys!" she practically shouted as she neared, waving frantically. Phoebe deflated partially when no one responded, playfully arguing amongst themselves. Carlos looked up and grinned at her, his bleached white smile nearly blinding her, and the following playful wink nearly sending her tripping over her own two feet.
'Stupid Carlos and his stupid flirting with his ridiculously stupid good looks,' Phoebe thought. Carlos always managed to make her feel slightly more awkward in her own skinny body then she had previously felt. It was like one of his personal games; and he'd been indulging in it more often these days. Carlos with his unnatural good looks, easy going personality and sense of humour (however twisted it might have been) seemed to like putting Phoebe in awkward situations, which usually ended in Phoebe cursing him silently in her head and blushing.
Thinking quickly, she took a seat across from Carlos (which wasn't far enough away from him for her comfort, but she never seemed to make herself stray very far from him anyways), at the end of the table, and next to Arnold who grinned at her when she sat down. Luckily for Phoebe, Arnold's smile didn't quite inspire the tumultuous butterflies it once had. They had dated – rather gone on one date – and that had been enough for them. They remained quite good friends however. Sitting next to Arnold was safe – sitting next to Carlos was like asking for the ground to swallow her up whole.
It just so happened that Phoebe missed the jealous look Carlos was sending Arnold's way; in fact, as Phoebe's close friend and one-time crush, Arnold was noticing that Carlos just didn't seem to like it very much when Phoebe sat next to any other guy. She naively believed that he just liked to be able to make fun of her all the time (not that she minded it all that much – playful flirting with Carlos wasn't exactly painful, even though she never understood why he would flirt with her of all people).
"Hey Phoebe," Keesha shouted, interrupting DA's and Wanda's heated argument about, from what Phoebe could make out, whether or not the football quarterback, Thom, was single or not. Ralphie and Tim looked slightly relieved by the break that Phoebe's presence had brought and both waved at her. Wanda stared at her for a second before narrowing her eyes.
"What's got you so excited Giraffe?" Phoebe ignored the obviously mean nickname from Wanda and missed the glare Carlos shot Wanda's way, which Wanda quickly returned by sneakily sticking out her tongue at him and blowing him a raspberry. Wanda, who considered herself the master of all things intimate, thought that Carlos was being just a little bit too defensive over a mutual friend who had come to expect the biting comments Wanda sent her way (in fact, Carlos used to send them Phoebe's way too, although that had stopped recently). If she was going to be tall and thin, she should expect to pay the price (at 5'3", Wanda was convinced Phoebe had stole some of her height in elementary school, when everyone thought she was being so innocent).
"Well Wanda, if you're that interested," before Wanda could rudely interrupt to say that she actually wasn't that interested, Phoebe spoke louder and pushed ahead. "I have come up with a brilliant plan!" The table was silent.
"A plan for uh-what exactly Phoebe?" Tim asked nicely. Phoebe grinned widely at him before leaning in.
"A plan to help save the animal shelter!" Again, silence reigned at the table. Her friends shot each other weary looks which she purposefully ignored.
"I uh-wasn't aware that the animal shelter was in trouble…" Keesha trailed off uncertainly, a concerned frown on her face. As Phoebe's best friend Keesha could honestly admit that sometimes the girl took the animal thing a little too far…like when she had insisted they travel to the coast to help out with an oil spill she had heard of; only for them to arrive there and discover that the oil spill was actually on land and only one house cat had required any sort of saving at all.
"It's not in trouble of closing or anything," Phoebe explained and proceeded to quickly rush ahead at her friends' dubious looks. "BUT they don't have enough funding to help keep the animals comfortable. They need more supplies to help more animals all over Walkerville!" The dubious looks didn't go away.
Phoebe felt herself becoming a little frustrated. She knew that sometimes she pushed things a little too far – like SADS in elementary school – but she was serious about helping these animals. Couldn't her friends see that?!
"I'm going to start a support group! A fundraising team called SACTAS" the looks couldn't really get more dubious, so they slowly became more exasperated. "Students Against Closing the Animal Shelter! Even though it's technically not closing, it'll inspire more people to take a stand! I'm holding the first meeting this afternoon during spare! I'm really excited!"
Phoebe looked around the table only to feel her heart sink at the looks on her friend's faces. Keesha, Tim and Ralphie all had looks of concern and pity on their faces – Phoebe's plans for recruitment had never gone well in the past, and they knew that this time wouldn't be any different. DA and Wanda both had looks of exasperation at yet another 'save the animals' campaign. Even Arnold looked exasperated with this recent plan. It seemed like only Carlos had a thoughtful look on his face. Phoebe met his serious gaze as he watched her carefully. She blushed and looked away quickly. 'Stupid Carlos and his stupid dark eyes' she thought.
"Phoebe, why don't you let the animal shelter volunteers and employees take care of that? They're in no danger of closing, so they don't really need your help after all" Arnold suggested softly. She could tell that everyone else was in agreement. Feeling utterly betrayed by her one-time crush and the rest of her close friends, Phoebe quickly stood up and slammed her palms down on the table, making Ralphie jump.
"Fine! If you guys don't want to help, I'll do it myself! I am capable of doing things myself you know! And those animals need my help, so I am going to figure out a way to help them!" And she stormed angrily away from her friends.
No one called after her and no one moved to help her and when Phoebe looked back from the entrance into the cafeteria, they had all gone back to their previous discussion, except for Carlos who continued to watch her with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. She turned on her heel and walked away sadly at her friends' lack of support.
Phoebe really did think this was a worthy cause, and she really was going to start the fundraising group, even if she had to do it all on her own. Besides, this was a great time to prove to her friends that she really could manage these kinds of things on her own. She was Phoebe- Miss. Independent- Terese, and she was the new official president of SACTAS!
"I just want to welcome you all to the first official meeting of SACTAS – Students Against Closing the Animal Shelter!" Phoebe looked around at the five blank faces sitting in front of her. "Uh – we can always change the name later…" she trailed off uncertainly.
One of the students raised his hand slowly. Phoebe smiled widely at him, "Yes?"
"Do we get paid for this?" smile faltering, she hesitated before answering.
"Er – No. This is a volunteering opportunity to raise up in solidarity against the closing of the animal shelter! We all have common goals and interests and we want to see the animal shelter receive the funding it needs to help the animals in our community! We need to – um…where are you all going?"
The boy didn't turn around while he was walking towards the door, "I totally thought I would get paid for this – I ain't doing it for free"
Another girl gave a disdainful look in Phoebe's direction, "Forget it! I just wanted something that would look good on my transcript. This group obviously isn't going anywhere: no one cares about the animal shelter!"
And just like that, Phoebe's only five volunteers and fellow soldiers walked out of the class room. She sat down on one of the desks and put her chin in her hands with a heavy sigh.
"Who doesn't care about the animals…" she wondered bitterly under her breath, feeling more then a little bit defeated.
"What's up Phebolino? Save the animals recruitment not going so well?" Carlos Ramone stood in the doorway of the class room with a shit-eating grin on his tanned face, black hair flopping into his dark eyes and dressed like he was the hottest thing that had walked these halls – and Phoebe thought quietly in the back of her mind that he probably was. And then proceeded to blush. 'Stupid Carlos and his stupid clothes and his stupid smile and his stupid eyes' she thought passionately as she glared at the male in question.
"Go away Carlos, I'm not in the mood for jokes" She was just tired of not being able to raise other people's awareness about the Walkerville Animal Shelter. The place wasn't that run down yet, but they were quickly running out of supplies and if they ran out of supplies, they couldn't help all the animals that needed help. And if they didn't help the animals in need, chances are that those animals would either end up living on the street or dying. Why was she the only person that seemed to care about this? Why did it seem like she was the only person to care about the animals?
"Aw, come on Pheebs, I'm not here to joke, I'm here to save the animals!" Carlos strut into the room and took a seat on a desk across from her, still grinning. His blue and yellow Nike high tops brushed against her black ballet flats and Phoebe felt the bottom of her stomach drop a little. Her face flushed and she looked away from his gaze, taking a deep breath.
"Carlos, I said I didn't want to joke" she said somewhat irritably. She already felt like a failure, she didn't need Carlos rubbing it in.
"Who said I was joking?" Phoebe looked over at him in surprise from the serious tone of voice he had used. He wasn't smiling anymore but instead was looking at her with a serious and concerned look.
"Look Phoebe, I want to help you. Sure SADS didn't work out the way you expected it to" he grinned at her and gave her foot another playful little nudge (stupid Carlos and his stupid feet) "but what's not to say that this can't work? Those other kids were just too self-absorbed to understand that animals need our help too." When she shot him a dubious look while silently cursing him in the back of her mind, he smiled slightly at her in a way that made her stomach flip flop in ways that it hadn't since Arnold.
"Phoebe honestly, I want to help you. And not just because you're my friend and I know how important this is to you, but because I think it's a really good cause and I think it just goes to show how big your heart is that you thought this up." She smiled shyly at him, slightly concerned that she might throw up on his shoes if she opened her mouth to say anything to him.
"You throw your heart and soul into things like this Phoebe and I really admire that. It makes you a beautiful person, inside and outside" she looked at him slightly disbelieving and trembled when he smiled at her and leaned over to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear (stupid Carlos and his stupid calloused hands and his stupid compliments and his stupid smile and his stupid…) Phoebe was so deep in cursing Carlos in her thoughts that she almost missed him continue talking, smiling gently at her all the while.
"You shouldn't feel like a failure just because it's starting off slowly. All good things take time" She held his gaze for a moment longer before she blushed heavily and stared down at her feet.
"Thanks Carlos" she whispered quietly. And meant it for more then just the encouragement he was giving her, although she couldn't quite form the words she wanted to say.
"And besides" he began, shit-eating grin back in place, "with me helping out, you're sure to grab TONS of attention – especially from the females" Phoebe laughed softly feeling a little torn by that comment (stupid Carlos and his flirting and his popularity and his bad jokes) and decided quickly (and quite bravely, she thinks) to nudge his foot back. He laughed and she met his gaze and they sat there looking at each other, grinning and playing footsies, discussing SACTAS' next move and silently cursing Carlos in their heads (or at least that was Phoebe was doing; she supposed Carlos was not partaking in that activity) until well after the bell rang and the teacher had to come in and kick them out.
After a few weeks of hanging out for hours with Carlos, brainstorming as to what the very best fundraising idea would be, they (as in only Phoebe and Carlos seeing as how no one else was interested) had decided that a family and pet day BBQ at the Walkerville beach was the way to go (simple yes, but they hoped for a good turn out). They could have groomers there, dog-washing stations, games and contests and other fun stuff to keep everyone entertained for the day.
Phoebe did not stop cursing stupid Carlos and his apparent need to make her awkward and blush but did become confused as the weeks passed. Most of the time, it seemed like Carlos didn't even intend to make her blush or put her on the spot, and he would stop sometimes, compliment her and stare at her with an intense look that made her feel like she was missing something. Unfortunately, she had no clue what she was missing, and within seconds, Carlos would be acting like nothing was wrong. Stupid Carlos and his penchant for avoiding serious conversations.
Carlos was an odd person to work with. The first week, they always met at school during their spare. After that, Carlos suggested that they would get more work done if they could concentrate on the two of them, so he invited her over to his place and they brainstormed in his room. Mikey was very nice, but every time he saw Phoebe was over he would smirk and come into Carlos' room, intent on "helping them". This just made Carlos more agitated, so they stopped going to his house.
The third week of brainstorming, Carlos suggested they go to the movies to see if they could get any cool ideas and then they ended up seeing a horror flick that made Phoebe so scared she ended up covering her eyes for most of the film. They saw Arnold and DA at the movie too (both had shot Carlos slightly amused looks which he blatantly ignored) Carlos obviously thought she was very upset at the sight of Arnold being with someone else, because he put his arm around her to comfort her. Phoebe wasn't that upset, but she didn't tell Carlos that, since it was really such a nice gesture. They also went to the museum to help them "think clearly" and one night they ended up going to a restaurant for no particular reason. Phoebe was pretty sure it was because Carlos thought better on a full stomach, so she always agreed to go to dinner when he asked after that.
All in all, it seemed like Carlos thought better about the fundraiser when they weren't talking about the fundraiser at all. They would end up talking about anything and everything when Phoebe got distracted from their goal, and Carlos was always really attentive to what she said, leaning in, eyes bright and focused. Phoebe was certain that he was just listening to the words in between what she was saying, functioning on some creative level that she couldn't understand. Over-all he was a pretty good partner to work with, although Phoebe had technically come up with the idea, and with most of the booths and activities, but Carlos had been really encouraging and enthusiastic, agreeing with everything she said, so they obviously had similar ideas.
"Well Phoebe, I must admit I am impressed with the amount of people you managed to get out here! We will surely be able to raise enough funding to buy the equipment we need! This is really great Phoebe!" Mrs. Harris, the older woman who ran the animal shelter praised Phoebe continuously. Never one for taking compliments, Phoebe blushed and nervously laughed off Mrs. Harris' comments.
"It was nothing Mrs. Harris, really. Besides, Carlos helped me out a lot. Without him there probably wouldn't be this many people here!" And both women looked over to where Carlos was playing frisbee with Ralphie, Tim and the Tennelli's old German Shepard, Daisy (stupid Carlos and his stupid athleticism and his stupid body Phoebe cursed half-heartedly). All around the park there were families and their pets enjoying the sun, the beach and the BBQ.
All of her friends had come, all of them bringing their animals (if they owned any that is). DA and Wanda were lying on a picnic blanket soaking up the sun and gossiping with DA's lazy, fat cat Miles. Keesha and Arnold had disappeared with the Franklin's Bassett Hound Chester and the Perlstein's Pomeranian Annabelle over to the dog washing sprinkler.
Phoebe waved good bye to Mrs. Harris and slowly made her way over to her friends. She grinned and waved at the boys and walked over to DA and Wanda.
"Hey Phoebe, DA here thinks there's something going on with between Janet and Thom. You know, the quarter back? What do you think? I think it's a load of-" Phoebe cut Wanda off before she could finish that thought, mindful of the small children running around and DA shot a disapproving glance in Wanda's direction.
"Wanda, where's Charlie? I thought you brought him today?" Wanda rolled her eyes and threw her arms up dramatically (this was the price they had to pay for being friends with the resident theatre bug).
"I'm letting him run around, feel the breeze between his fur, the sand between his paws, the- Shit! CHARLIE! Don't eat that kid's shoe, it's not yours! Charlie!" and Wanda took off running, coaxing Ralphie, Tim and Daisy to run reluctantly after her to help. On her way up she spooked Miles who took off running up a tree which sent DA running angrily after her. This left Phoebe and Carlos, who sauntered over laughing.
"Well, I think congratulations are in order Miss. Terese. I think this has to be the most successful fundraiser the animal shelter has ever seen. Bravo!" And he threw an arm around her shoulders, hugging her tightly to his side. She flushed anew and grinned breathlessly up at him.
They had spent numerous long hours together, both inside and outside of school and now that they were done with the fundraiser, Phoebe felt slightly sad that that was the end of their time alone. She would no longer be able to curse stupid Carlos with his natural affinity for being stupid and flirting with her just because he flirted with everything that walked. Carlos seemed to pick up on this vibe and dropped his arm with an awkward look on his face. Phoebe froze at the look and for once stopped cursing Carlos in her head. Carlos. And an awkward look. And slowly all the little things from the last few weeks began falling into place. She was so concentrated on her discovery that she nearly missed what Carlos was saying.
"So I uh-guess this is it then…the end of SACTAS" and he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Phoebe began to grin slowly. "So uh- I guess we'll have to stop hanging out and planning and uh-stuff…" he trailed off uncomfortably. Phoebe took a step closer to him and raised up on the tip toes of her favourite lacy black flats (which were really only her favourite because Carlos had expressed his admiration for them one day). Taking a deep breath she leaned in and brushed her lips against his cheek delicately. She became aware of his body freezing up and his face radiating a heat she had thought impossible from the unflappable ladies man.
"Stupid Carlos," she murmured quietly against his cheek (really she was terrified that she would throw up on the side of his face if she spoke above a whisper – she was still shy Phoebe after all, regardless of how forward she was being). "If you wanted to ask me for a date, you should have just asked" and just as quickly she was leaning away from him and attempting to interpret the strange, shocked look on his face (and hoping to all heavens that she hadn't misinterpreted the past few weeks).
Almost automatically, the famed, girl-swoonifying smirk was back in place and he leaned in closer to brush his lips against hers softly. She bit back some sort of embarrassing gulp or gasp and attempted to play it cool (which consisted of heavy blushing and some mad twitching, but thankfully, Carlos overlooked this).
"Well then, Miss. Terese, would you do me the pleasure of accompanying me to the movies tonight? I hear they have a documentary on dolphins playing at the Walkerville theatre" Phoebe just grinned happily up at Carlos with his stupid grin and his stupid eyes and his stupid charm and thought, very giddily, that she was quite pleased that Carlos wasn't really the stupid one after all.