Hey all! Sorry for the wait! I forgot how hard it is to get going on a new story sometimes.

Thank you for the reviews for last chapter! I was honestly pretty surprised that I'd gotten so many, especially for a new story and all. I'm really glad you guys like it so far. Thanks again!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or settings from Rocket Power, or Darth Vader. Hah.

Sorry for any errors!

Chapter Two

I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel of my stalled car impatiently.

Then I took a quick glance at myself in the rear-view mirror.

And then I flipped my phone open to look at the time again. 7:50 A.M.

Dammit, Otto. I thought, grinding my teeth together tightly. We're gonna be late to first hour again.

It wasn't like I was some straight-A, kiss-ass, teacher's pet and was perfectly on time all the time. But 15 tardies equaled a detention, and even though school had just started 3 weeks ago, Otto and I were already at ten tardies. I thought this year I'd want to spend at least a few Wednesday nights the way I wanted instead of spending an extra two hours at school. The school year before, I had practically lived at the school on Wednesdays.

And the being late thing wasn't my fault. I was always in his driveway, in my car, at the right time every morning. I didn't know what he did in the mornings, but if he was fixing his hair or something, he seriously needed to get rid of those damn dreadlocks.

This wouldn't have been such a problem if he'd had his own car. Unfortunately, though, Otto had repeatedly failed his driver's license test, six times to date in fact. Either he had been too lazy to study for it, or he bailed the test for a skate competition. I, myself, had failed it only once. I wasn't good with any other tests, but driving was something I'd wanted to do my whole life.I'd studied harder for the driver's test than anything else in my recent memory. Driving, besides boarding and surfing, is the only thing I can say I'm good at. I didn't get why Otto just didn't buckle down and get it done already, if he was so excited to drive.

And if he did, I wouldn't have to be late every freaking morning.

I glanced at myself in the mirror again, studying my reddish-sun bleached hair. I still wasn't sure about the whole flat-ironing thing, it felt weird. But I had noticed that Trent flat ironed his hair stick straight every day, and Reggie always raved about his hair. So I figured, why not? It was only the third time I'd done it, so I was still getting used to it. But I still kind of felt weird.

My impatience flared up again, and I hit my horn with two, quick jabs.

"Relax," Otto's voice came from the other side of the car, and I turned my head to see him opening the passenger door. His expression behind his shiny aviators was easygoing, and I scowled at him. He threw his backpack over the armrests and into the backseat. "I see you have your pretty hair again today."

I sniffed, my ego slightly wounded. "Shut it." I flicked my long hair out of my eyes, and the movement wasn't helping my defense at all. My best friend snickered as he sat down and shut the door.

"What's the point, man?" Otto muttered as I started the engine. "Reggie hasn't said anything about it. I don't even think she's noticed."

I was silent for a few moments, my forehead feeling heavy. I backed the car out of the driveway, and then I finally replied. "She will."

Otto didn't say anything, but somehow that was a reply in itself. I knew she probably wouldn't notice. But I had to try anyway. I let a few more seconds of quiet pass, and then I spoke again.

"Dude, if you make me late one more time this week, I will beat the shit out of you."

His returning smirk was sheepish. "Sorry, sorry! I overslept again. I stayed up way too late."

I shook my head at the offhandedness of his response. "Finishing that paper?"

"See, that's the thing," Otto paused, scratching his head. "Clio called me late last night, and I kinda got distracted…" His voice trailed off, leaving implications that I didn't want to think about.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the mental picture, and then remembering that I was driving, I opened them again. "You didn't finish it? For a hookup with Clio?"

Otto sunk down in his seat further, his breath coming out in a long hiss. "I wasn't going to at first, and I was gonna get the paper done instead…but man, I just couldn't say no."

I groaned. "Please, Ottoman. Spare me those details."

He laughed his hooting laugh at my embarrassment. "Aw, come on, Twist. You know me and Clio have been doing that for a while."

"Yeah, I know. But I don't want to hear it repeatedly and in gross detail. She's my cousin, man." I tried to force the mental picture out of my head again.

He sighed in exaggerated exasperation. "Fine, fine. But Mrs. Robertson is gonna eat me for breakfast."

I let my breath out in relief of the subject change. "Yeah, dude. This is, what, the fifth time you've turned in something late in her class since school started?"

"Uh-huh. She'll be so pissed, this is gonna suck. I wonder if she'll put me in the dungeon or feed me to her ten cats?"

"Possibly. Or she'll make you wear one of her puffy-paint cat sweatshirts."

Otto shuddered. "Oh, God! That would be ten times worse than the dungeon. I would reek of cat pee the whole day."

As we talked of more possible punishments that Mrs. Robertson might have waiting for Otto, we turned into the quiet school parking lot. The parking lot was usually bustling up until the bell rang, so we were definitely late. We trudged up the school steps and into the building silently, and as we walked through the hallway, we were suddenly stopped by a voice behind us.

"Halt, in the name of the almighty hall monitor!"

Otto and I sighed in unison, because we knew that voice anywhere. We turned to face them. "It's us, Eddie." I muttered.

Yes, the Prince of the Netherworld himself. We weren't as good of friends as we had been, but every once in a while we would talk. He'd somehow gotten even weirder than he had been as a kid. He still wore the hooded cape, but sometimes the mask would vary. Today he had a Darth Vader mask.

"Oh!" Eddie pushed his mask up from his face and put his 'badge' away. He straightened wire rim glasses on his nose. "Sorry, guys. I didn't recognize you; you know how bad my vision is these days."

I recalled a few weeks ago when Eddie told us that his eye doctor said that his vision problems were coming from the masks he had worn practically his whole life. He also said he might have to get laser eye surgery if he kept wearing the masks, but he hadn't quit wearing them yet. Go figure.

I nodded and Otto held up a hand. "No problem, man, don't worry about it." He said.

Eddie nodded eagerly, as if he was immensely relieved that he hadn't made us mad. "So, you're late again? Having car problems, or what?"

I shook my head, then jabbed my best friend in the ribs. "Naw, it's because of this dumb bastard right here."

Otto smiled widely and shoved me back. "Yup. I'm the dumb bastard."

Eddie chuckled and slid his mask back down over his face. "Well, you guys'd better go before you get caught out here. This time is about the time when Mr. Kenny goes to get coffee from the teachers' lounge."

We nodded and left toward our lockers, which were conveniently only one locker away from each other. I guess if you needed any pros of having a best friend with a last name starting with the same letter as yours, that one would be it. As I got my books out, I tried to ignore the familiar, intoxicating perfume drifting from within the locker right next to mine.

But as I sat through my first period class, that scent was all I could think about.

I had fourth period Biology with a girl named Hannah, and I think she was basically the main reason I wasn't failing that class.

She was small and had short, choppy blonde hair. She was really smart, and supposedly she was supposed to be a Freshman, but she got moved up to Junior classes. She sat next to me, and we were also lab partners. In obvious thanks to her, we got A's on every lab assignment. I still remembered the looks of envy I got when Mr. Palmer assigned lab partners on the first day of school. Even though school had just started, I was pretty sure she already had a little crush on me. It was flattering, and she wasn't bad looking, but my sights were on someone else.

Right now, Mr. Palmer was going on about something having to do with environments and something called a niche. I wasn't really listening anyway; the wall I was staring at was much more interesting. Hannah would fill me in on the important stuff later.

After all, I hadn't seen Reggie at all that day, and I was going insane.

I usually always saw her at least once between classes, considering our lockers were right next to each other. But I hadn't seen her yet. I was beginning to worry, quite unreasonably, I might add. My sleep-deprived subconscious kept throwing me the disturbing images from the near-drowning of the day before, ones of Reggie losing consciousness and her pale lips clenching tight to hold onto the remaining air she had. They were the same images that kept me up for most of the night before. They would probably keep me up at night for another week or so. The thought in itself that I had almost lost Reggie for good had me terrified still.

And now she wasn't here. Had something happened? Was she not as fine as she had insisted yesterday? Had she developed some sort of post-almost-drowning disease?

I ground my teeth together. My worries were turning ridiculous again. I needed to relax, think about something else for a change. Someone else.

I sat there for another five minutes, and I could not for the life of me think of anyone else.

This always happened when I tried to forget about her. At times when I started to think rationally, when I started to think that the power she had on me was too strong, and I tried to force myself to let go of her, I couldn't. It was just impossible. And I hated that it was impossible.

I let myself think of her again, and under the desk, I checked the screen of my phone for the fourth time. No new messages. Not that I was expecting her to text message me or anything. But it didn't hurt to check.

I felt Hannah's elbow prod me in the ribs, and when I looked up at her, she had a concerned expression on her face as if to ask, 'Are you okay?' I just sighed, and she silently faced the front of the class again.

Soon, the bell rang, and I was probably the third person out the door. I wanted to catch Otto before his next class so I could ask him if he knew where she was, though lately he usually didn't. With Reggie's relationship and the seriousness of Otto and Clio's relationship growing, they were almost never home at the same time.

But as I neared my locker, a head of long, glossy violet locks met my gaze, and I stopped in my tracks. My heart jumped in my ribcage.

She was here. She was okay.

I made a quick attempt to calm myself, including trying to get my pulse in a normal state, and then continued to walk toward my locker coolly. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, even though it was. Just being near her was enough to send my senses into a frenzy.

She was talking to two other girls, and I took advantage of her back being to me, quickly twisting the knob on locker door through its combination. Unfortunately, it couldn't be done quietly, and the noise alerted her of my presence. She looked over her shoulder at me, and I pretended not to notice.

"Oh, Twister! I was just telling them about you." She flashed a gleaming smile when I looked up, and I could feel the blood start to rush to my face. Her entire face was warm when she smiled, and her chocolate brown eyes melted into mine when she made eye contact. Her smile was only one of my favorite things about her.

"Were you, now?" I asked after clearing my throat.

She chuckled musically. "Of course." She grabbed my arm and patted it with her other hand as she turned to the other girls again. Her perfume, which I guessed was freshly sprayed, filled my nose. The soft scent reminded me of vanilla and honey. "This is my hero, in the flesh."

The girls, one short blonde one and the other with light brown hair, appraised me with skeptical expressions.

"No, really!" Reggie laughed again as she said this, and she curled the hand resting against my bicep into a fist. Electric shocks shot through my arm when her manicured nails brushed against my skin. "Tell them, Twist."

I glanced down at her, and for a short second, I marveled at how the top of her head only came up to my shoulder. "Um, yeah." I said awkwardly, looking at the girls again. "It was me."

The girl with the light brown hair spoke first. "Well, I'm glad. When I heard Reggie was close to drowning yesterday, I was so worried!" She grinned at me.

"Me too," the short blonde one agreed.

The girls exchanged a few more words, Reggie holding onto my arm the entire time, and then the two left. As soon as they turned around, I looked down at her again.

"So…how are you feeling?" I tried to make my voice sound casual.

She looked up at me and smiled again. "I'm fine, Twist. You can stop worrying."

My eyebrows rose. Had Otto told her how worried I was? I shook my head. "I never said I was worried."

She gave me a wary look. "I know. I can just tell that you are."

My stomach jumped a little, and I glanced away from her face. She knew me too well sometimes. I changed the subject. "So, did Ray let you sleep in this morning or something?"

She nodded, and before she could open her mouth, she was interrupted.

"Reg," Trent's deep voice came from about two feet behind us. We turned to face him, and he eyed Reggie's hands on my arm.

"Hey, baby!" She exclaimed, and her face lit up even lighter than before. To my dismay, she immediately left my side and walked to him with open arms. I inhaled as her scent left me.

They embraced tightly, but as Reggie gazed at his face, he stared daggers at me.

That was another thing I disliked about Trent. When in front of the whole group, he acted like he didn't have a problem with anybody. But when it was just him and I, he made it clear that he disliked me just as much as I disliked him. I was positive that he knew about my feelings for Reggie. Obviously, he had a problem with that.

And Trent was very jealous. Not just of Reggie hanging out with me, but other guys too.

He would glare at her if she was with him and she stopped to talk to another guy. He hated other guys touching Reggie. If Reggie texted or called any other guys on the phone, he would immediately accuse her of cheating. His possessive behavior hadn't really caught anyone else's attention but mine. I knew Otto would have noticed if he was around them more. But the PDA grossed him out, so he avoided them together whenever he could. I'd tried to tell him about it, but he just wrote me off and told me I was being jealous.

It bothered Reggie, I could tell. But she never told anyone. She loved Trent too much.

I broke from Trent's gaze and turned to my locker again, throwing my Biology book in and taking out my Geometry one. I briefly heard Trent whisper something to Reg, and she tsked.

"Stop it, babe. It's Twister."

Bitterness rose in my throat. Oh, it's just Twister. Don't worry about him. He means nothing to me. She might as well have said those things, because that was what I heard in her tone. I slammed my locker shut and walked away before their attention could be averted.

I didn't understand how one person could make me insane with worry, fill me with need and crush me with disappointment all in one hour. Sometimes I wondered if she knew how much damn power she had over me. It was like she held every one of my emotions on strings and she pulled them whenever she felt like it. Other times it was like I didn't even exist.

So why did I even bother trying?

During my next class, I tried to get her out of my head, to no avail. Her voice echoed in my mind.

'Oh, Twister! I was just telling them about you.'

'I'm fine, Twist. You can stop worrying.'

'I know. I can just tell you are.'

'Stop it, babe. It's Twister.'

Just when I thought I couldn't wallow any deeper in self-pity, my phone vibrated in my pants pocket. Keeping my eyes on the teacher, I carefully pulled the phone out of my pocket and opened the message under the desk. I lowered my eyes to the screen. In just a few moments, all bitterness disappeared.

'From: Reggie Rocket

Received: Mon, Sep 17 11:23 am

Btw, did I tell u I like ur new hair? U should keep it that way :)'

Despite being 'just Twister', something told me that I shouldn't give up on her just yet.

All right, that's all for chapter two! Sorry for the length, weak, I know. D: Next chapter will probably be longer!

Poor Twister. Will he get his lady? Or will he have to get over her? Are these questions pointless because I already know what's going to happen?

Please Review! Thank you!

-MsButterFingers