Oh my gosh, people, you guys rock. Because of the reviews, and favorites, and follows and everything like that, I'm updating so soon.
And because I didn't say it in the last chapter, I'll say it now. I don't own Penguins of Madagascar.
Marlene led Private back down the hall and up some stairs which Private hadn't noticed before. The stairs brought them to another hallway on the 2nd floor which had doors on either side. They headed straight for an open door in the middle of the hallway. The door led to a bedroom where two older teenagers were talking about something. One of them was tall, and looked pretty smart. The other was shorter, not too much taller than Private was, but Private somehow knew that he was not someone to mess with.
"Hey guys, This is Private, the new kid." Marlene introduced him. "Private, this is Skipper and Kowalski. They practically run the place."
"But I thought that Alice did that." Private said. The tall teenager, Kowalski, chuckled at Private's words.
"Alice? Please. She does barely any of the work around here." Kowalski said. "She does what she has too, but no more."
"Basically the way things are is Alice makes sure we're alive, and we make sure they're actually fine and dandy and all that stuff." Skipper said. He firmly shook Private's hand.
"That's quite a nickname you got there, Private." Skipper said. "Do you have any relatives in the military?"
"Uh, well, my uncle was in the Navy." Private said. It was true. Before working for C.E.N.T.R.A.L., Private's Uncle Nigel had been part of the Royal Navy. Skipper grinned at this news.
"The Navy? Well how do you like that?" Skipper crossed his arms. "My father's in the Navy. Since I don't have any other family, I stay here while he's on duty."
Kowalski bent down and whispered to Private "Because of his father's influence, Skipper tries to run this place like it was a military base."
"I do not!" Skipper protested.
"Yeah, actually, you do." Marlene said. "Anyways, Private, if you need any help with anything at all, just ask one of us."
"Um, is there a place I can put my things?" Private asked. How had he only just noticed how heavy his backpack was getting? Skipper and Kowalski exchanged awkward and somewhat panicked glances.
Yeeaah, about that." Skipper began, but Marlene cut him off.
"Skipper! Have you guys seriously not found a place for Private to sleep yet? You've known about him coming for weeks." Marlene chided.
"Hey, it's more complicated than it looks." Skipper defended. Marlene raised and eyebrow in disbelief.
"Alright, let me spell it out for you." Skipper said impatiently. "We only have nine bedrooms in this house. Alice has her own room, obviously. Because you're the only girl here, you get your own room. There are already three people in Maurice, Julien, and Mort's room, and I don't think we can squeeze anyone else in there. Roy is basically intolerant of anybody except for Burt. And Leonard and Joey, from what we can tell, only get along with each other. Mason will be willing to have anybody as a roommate, but only one anybody at a time, which is currently Phil. Kowalski's sciencey antics take up so much space he can only have one roommate. And I'm not going to subject young Private to rooming with Bada and Bing."
"Yeah, I see your point now." Marlene agreed reluctantly. Private, who had been keeping track in his head, was a little confused.
"But you only named eight rooms. What about the last one?" Private asked.
"Rico? Please, nobody dares to share a room with Rico." Kowalski said.
"Why not?" Private asked innocently. Kowalski pointed to the door on the other side of the hallway, which had a large black Keep Out! sign on it. The sign had a skull and crossbones above the words to emphasis the point.
"I guess Rico doesn't like company." Private said uneasily.
"Actually, Alice is the one who put that sign up." Marlene said. "She was tired of the fits that Rico had when people bothered him."
"Fits?" Private asked. That did nothing to ease his worries.
"He's unstable." Kowalski said. "He freaks out easily, and has a love for violence. Nobody feels comfortable around him...Well, nobody except for Skipper."
"Even Officer X doesn't like him, as you saw earlier." Marlene said. As he'd seen earlier? But when had he seen Rico? Oh. Wait a second.
"You mean Ricardo?" Private asked. The others looked at him with warning eyes.
"Don't call Rico that. He hates that name!" Marlene said.
"Trust me, calling him Ricardo is the quickest way to get on the maniac's bad side." Kowalski said.
"Enough, Kowalski!" Skipper barked. "I don't want to hear any more of this bad-mouthing. Do you hear me?"
"Of course, sir." Kowalski said.
"Right, now that that's aside, let's go have a word with Rico." Skipper said cheerfully. He walked into the hallway and knocked on the door on the other side of the hall.
"Skipper, what are you doing? Kowalski hissed. Skipper ignored him and a minute later the door was opened by an irritated looking Rico. His look softened slightly when he saw Skipper.
"Wha' 'oo wan'?" Rico asked.
"Rico, starting now, me and you are going to be roommates." Skipper announced. Rico and Kowalski objected at once.
"Nuh-uh." Rico growled.
"Skipper, you can't be serious." Kowalski all but whined. Skipper looked fiercely from one to the other.
"Guys, Private needs a room, and this is the only option," Skipper said. "Unless, of course, you two would rather be the ones sharing a room."
"No!" Kowalski and Rico both shouted and glared at each other.
"So, are we going cooperate and go along with my idea?" Skipper asked the two of them. They reluctantly agreed. "Great. Kowalski, help Private get situated. Just set my stuff aside and I'll get it later." Kowalski nodded and went back into his room. Rico rolled his eyes and made to go into his own room again when Skipper grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Hey, I know you haven't had a roommate for a long time, but everything will be fine. Comprende?" Skipper said. Rico looked blankly at Skipper for a moment before scowling.
"Lo que sea." Rico said before he pulled out of Skipper's grasp and went into his room, slamming the door harshly behind him. Skipper massaged around his eyes. Life would definitely be more interesting now.
Lo que sea - Whatever.
Yep, Rico just spoke Spanish. He'll actually be doing it fairly often, as it is his native language. I just hope I get the Spanish right. I'm not even sure if I got this Spanish right.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I will be back soon with another.
