Say Something! by ArthurGirl16
Chapter Two: Crushed! ...Again?
Buster gasped. "You can't come over to watch Bionic Bunny tonight?" he exclaimed, turning to Arthur as the two boys headed to school early one morning. The sun was shining brightly, but there was a decent breeze blowing too, and Arthur was glad he decided to wear his yellow sweater today—even if he was a little bummed that he wouldn't be able to go to Buster's later.
Arthur's shoulders slumped. "I have to go to some special caterer's dinner with my dad tonight," he mumbled, kicking at a rock on the sidewalk. "The whole family's invited, and we have to pick up one of Dad's catering friends' and her family, too," he explained glumly.
"But it's the premiere of the new Bionic Bunny Prequel Prologue Episode Five Part Two!" Buster whined loudly. His ears drooped when Arthur just shook his head. "Aww, man. My mom was going to order us a pizza and everything! Oh well," he shrugged, sounding disappointed but accepting of his fate. "I'll tape it for you Arthur."
"Thanks." Arthur sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I wish I could eat pizza tonight. I bet there's going to be all kinds of weird stuff at Dad's dinner..."
Arthur imagined himself wearing his best (and only) tuxedo and standing before a table full of food; when he leaned to take a closer look at the dishes, he gagged—the spread was terrible! There was a bubbling orange soup with squid tentacles hanging over the edge of the pot, fancy brussel sprout crusted chicken, and—no!
Dad's special prune n' cheese casserole!
"Blecch," Arthur ejected, making a face and touching his burbling stomach as he walked.
Buster gave him a grin. "I bet it won't be so bad," he told Arthur encouragingly. "Your dad cooks really well, and if the other caterers are like him, the food should taste delicious," he deduced, wagging a knowing finger in the air.
For a moment, Buster's mind drifted... he was standing in front of a table laden with food, and Arthur's dad was standing on the other side of the tabled, facing Buster and offering him a plate. "More prune n' cheese casserole, Buster?" he asked, smiling as Buster started digging into the orange and purple pasta zealously.
Buster grinned up at him; there was a big prune stuck between his two front teeth and four kinds of melted cheese all over his face."Yes, please!" he replied, belching.
"I guess," agreed Arthur half-heartedly as Buster shook his head and left his delicious thoughts behind. The boys came to a stop in front of the school entrance, where kids were laughing and being dropped off and locking up bikes and finishing homework at the last minute.
"Come on Arthur, cheer up," said Buster, patting Arthur's shoulder. "I'm sure there's something fun about going out to a fancy dinner... and having to wear a stuffy suit and shoes that hurt... and clean your ears and wash your hair—" he glanced upwards—"which always takes forever!" he complained, frowning. "Man, I'm glad I don't have to go to one of those," Buster added with a laugh.
"Thanks, Buster," said Arthur sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He adjusted his backpack. "You know, there is one fun thing..." he murmured, more to himself than Buster, but Arthur didn't continue—or couldn't continue, because Molly, one of the Tough Customers, was suddenly poking him hard in the chest. Arthur caught sight of Rattles' red cap behind her and grimaced.
Buster backed away in frightened silence as the older girl towered over Arthur in the ripped denim shirt many had come to fear. "Out of the way, Nerd," she scoffed, shoving him aside.
Arthur stumbled and Buster reached out to hold him steady while Rattles snickered and deliberately stepped on Buster's sneaker as he went by.
Molly looked back at Arthur and raised a fist—she wasn't finished yet. "And if you think I'm gonna be nice to some baby third-grader just because my mom's making me ride with you to some stupid catering dinner tonight," she threatened, "think again!"
"Aah!" Buster cried out, hopping on an uninjured foot and covering his face with his hands. Rattles snickered derisively and nodded his approval for Molly all the way inside.
Molly glanced at Buster, who was still hopping/cowering with his eyes covered, and made sure Rattles was out of sight before giving Arthur a secretive grin. "See ya later, Pipsqueak," she whispered, waving.
Arthur grinned back; he didn't mind the name Pipsqueak when it was coming from Molly, because when she said it (and wasn't around any of the other Tough Customers or any of Arthur's friends, of course) she wasn't being mean—it was just a nickname. Arthur had to admit, though, that if someone else had tried to nickname him as such he wouldn't be too appreciative.
Buster finally gathered the courage to peek out at the scene. He shuddered once he realized the Tough Customers were gone. "You have to go to the dinner with Molly's family?" he asked incredulously. "She's even scarier than Binky sometimes!"
"Hey!" shouted Binky offensively as he passed, snarling in Buster's direction.
"Aah!" Buster screamed, cringing, and Binky chuckled.
"Showed him," he told himself, and snarled at George, who had just squeezed ahead of him. "Hey, George!" The moose jumped and Binky stomped around George to face him. "Here's the milk money I borrowed from you yesterday." He winked and smiled at George, who looked both pleased and astonished. "Thanks."
Back outside, Buster recovered from this latest attack and finally turned to Arthur. "We'd better get in or we'll be late for class," he advised, checking his watch. "Oh yeah, what were you saying before, about the one fun thing about the dinner?" he asked absently.
Arthur shrugged. "Nothing," he replied lightly.
Arthur was daydreaming as usual: Wearing his tuxedo proudly, Arthur strode across the banquet hall the dinner was being held in. His mother, father, and D.W. looked on in awe as Arthur held out his hand to a waiting Molly, who was wearing a denim dress with loosened threads still hanging from where the sleeves had been ripped off.
"Care to dance?" asked Arthur smoothly.
"What?!" gasped Francine, setting down her lunch tray hard on the table, startling Arthur back into reality. Buster nodded and the Brain, Sue Ellen, and Fern frowned sympathetically. Muffy was engrossed in a teen magazine next to Arthur, who sat up properly and tried to look interested in his lunch.
The group was gathered around one of their usual tables in the cafeteria, and Buster had just shared the news of "What Arthur's in for tonight."
"You have to ride all the way to the dinner with Molly?" Francine went on, looking at Arthur for confirmation as she sat down.
"Yeah," said Arthur vaguely. The other kids exchanged odd glances and Arthur rushed to clear his throat. "I mean, you know, it's not like I want to," he added hastily. "At least it won't last too long."
"And your parents won't let her pummel you the whole way there, either," said Buster helpfully, through a mouthful of meatloaf.
"Of course not," said the Brain immediately, taking a textbook out of his bag and setting it down in front of his lunch.
"Unless..." started Fern in a foreboding voice, "the car breaks down and your parents have to trek the harsh journey toward civilization in the stormy night, leaving you all alone to fend off the evil... and Molly..."
Arthur pictured himself in his Dad's catering van, sitting next to Molly, D.W., Molly's brother James, and baby Kate, who was gurgling in her car seat. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as a cackling laugh floated inside; all five of them shivered as the cackling grew louder.
"I'm the Evil! And I'm coming to get you!" hissed a voice outside the van.
Everyone screamed as the van door rattled.
"What are we gonna do?!" cried Arthur.
"This is all your fault!" Molly yelled, raising her fists over a shaking Arthur. "Your dad didn't check the gas gauge before we left!"
"Fer-n!" the group moaned, and Fern let the hands she had raised like claws fall limply to her sides.
She shrugged. "What?"
Buster happily continued scarfing down the rest of his meatloaf, blissfully unaware of anything but the ketchup, onions, and mystery meat that he was consuming.
"She might be right, you know," said Francine thoughtfully, glancing over at the Tough Customers' table. Rattles and Molly were blocking a second-grader's path while Binky snatched the kid's pudding off of his tray and laughed. "What if you do get stuck alone with Molly?" she asked worriedly. Fern looked justified.
"You just have to be ready, in case she tries to attack," said Sue Ellen confidently. She raised her hand and made a pinching motion with her thumb and forefinger. "I learned a few things about pressure points, and if you squeeze the enemy just right, they're gone!"
Arthur mentally revisited the scene in the van again; lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as the Evil outside shook the door handle.
"What are we gonna do?!" Arthur cried.
"This is all your fault!" Molly yelled, raising her fists over a shaking Arthur. "Your dad didn't check the gas gauge before we left!"
Arthur swiftly squeezed her arm—"A-ha!"—
—and turned Molly into a potato.
D.W., James and Kate screamed. The potato's long white ears lopped and wouldn't move.
"What have you done to my sister?!" James yelled, crying.
"Thanks a lot, Arthur!" shouted D.W., patting James' shoulder. "Just wait until Mom and Dad get here!"
"Nooooooo!" Arthur screamed.
"He can't make her lose consciousness!" the Brain was exclaiming, ripping a big hole in Arthur's daydream. "In a court of law, that would be considered Assault!"
"It's self-defense!" Sue Ellen shot back, folding her arms underneath her chest derisively..
"Make her what?" asked Arthur, sounding confused. He knew Molly wouldn't be mean to him even if his parents and her mom somehow left them alone. Molly liked him—she'd said so herself, when they first started playing together in her pool.
And Arthur liked her too, though recently, when he thought about it, the words made him blush. He wasn't sure exactly why, but something nagged at him: the butterflies that fluttered in his stomach once in awhile reminded him of his old babysitter, Sally.
Could Arthur be Crushed! again? He wasn't sure. It seemed like the more time he spent with Molly, the more the older girl entered his thoughts. They didn't meet very often because keeping their friendship a secret from both sets of friends wasn't easy—it was risky, but they had a lot of fun playing together.
They also continued to swap things, too. Just last week Arthur had given Molly one of his favorite video games to try and she loaned him a horror film that he planned to watch at he and Buster's next sleepover (with the excuse that he'd rented the tape from the video store, of course).
What Arthur liked about Molly was that she was a girl without being too girly—or too not-girly—and she knew lots of cool stuff, like how to do tricks on a skateboard and give (good) advice and shoot a perfect free-throw. She was almost like Francine, but Molly wasn't half as bossy (when they were alone) as Francine or as nearly as competitive.
But thinking Molly was really cool or having a lot of fun with her didn't necessarily make Arthur Crushed! Maybe if he could just tell someone how he felt about Molly, this... extra-like, Arthur rephrased mentally, he wouldn't feel the butterflies or the nervousness.
Weren't you just daydreaming about dancing with her? a smug voice in his head that sounded much like his own protested.
I'm not Crushed! Arthur silently replied.
Muffy sighed loudly and rolled her eyes at the lot of them, finally pulling away from her Tween Queen magazine long enough to comment. "You guys are going about this all wrong," she huffed, shaking her head superiorly. "As long as Arthur acts like a Perfect Gentleman, Molly won't lay a finger on him," she promised, holding up the magazine for all of them to see.
The article showed a picture of an older boy in a suit pulling out a chair for an older girl, who was wearing a sparkling dress and smiling delightedly. The title read, How to Know if he's the Perfect Gentleman!
Arthur looked at the magazine with mild interest as the heads of the boy and girl in the picture were replaced with his and Molly's.
"Why would that make her not wanna hit him?" asked Francine sarcastically, scoffing at the picture. "That guy looks like a total joke!" Sue Ellen and Fern nodded in agreement, giggling.
"Molly's a lot more mature than you guys," Muffy reminded them arrogantly. "This is the kind of stuff older girls like!"
"It is?" gasped Fern. "Growing up is scarier than anything I've ever written," she added, shuddering.
"Well, Arthur?" prodded Muffy.
Arthur shrugged. "I don't know..." he said meekly, even though he kind of liked Muffy's idea. Even if he wasn't doing it so Molly wouldn't hurt him, maybe she would like having a Perfect Gentleman around anyway!
Even if I'm not Crushed! he thought hastily.
"Oh Arthur, you're so mature," he could hear Molly gushing as Arthur pulled out her seat for dinner. She sat down and his parents exchanged a proud look with Molly's mother. "And you're such a Perfect Gentleman!"
Arthur bowed politely while the adults looked on happily. "Why thank you, milady."
Arthur considered this while the contradicting Arthur in his head blew a raspberry—he still wasn't sure. "Uh..." he tried.
"It seems like the most logical choice," agreed Brain, nodding at Muffy and appearing not to have heard Arthur at all. "If Arthur doesn't make Molly mad, she won't pound him, whether they're alone or not. All he has to do is be really nice to her."
"Are you sure?" asked Francine doubtfully.
"Then it's settled," declared Muffy, ignoring Francine and making Arthur's decision for him. "Arthur's going to become a Perfect Gentleman!"
Buster pumped his fist—still gripping his fork—into the air. "Yeah!"
Then he burped so loud the entire cafeteria went silent at the noise. He looked around an everyone bemusedly. "What are we talking about again?"
Thanks for reading so far! Next up is Chapter Three: The Plan!