Study Session - Chapter 3

Author's Note: I don't own this show or any of the characters therein. Thank you for taking the time to read this story.

I also do not own the family name "Flanagan" which was coined by another user on this site.

Timmy walked down the street, anxiously glancing at the CD he'd bought earlier.

"I hope she doesn't get the wrong idea from this," he thought. "The sad thing is that the more I think about it, the more I worry."

After drowning himself in worry, he eventually reached the Flanagan residence. He walked up the porch steps to the door and gave it a series of short knocks. Soon enough, he heard a yell come from inside.

"I'm coming, give me a second!"

The door was quickly unlocked and soon lay open. Timmy stood at the door, not quite sure what to do.

"Well? Are you going to come in?" Tootie asked.

Timmy shook his head, regaining his train of thought. "Sorry, what'd you say?"

"Do you want to come inside? It looks like it might rain."

"Of course. Sorry about that, I guess I'm a little out of it from my shift," he said.

As he entered the house he took notice that Vicky had her eyes glued to him, watching his every move like a hawk. He quickly followed Tootie up the stairs, breaking Vicky's intense gaze. He stepped into Tootie's bedroom carefully, taking in all the sights in the room. It was very much a stereotypical girls room, with most of the furnishing being pink. He looked over at the bed and saw a doll that was suspiciously modeled after his likeness.

He carefully picked up the doll, examining it. "Is this what I think it is?"

"U-uh... I forgot to put that away. Is it weird that I still have it?" Tootie asked.

"Do you want to know what I think?"

Nodding rapidly, she awaited his response.

"I think it's adorable that you still have this. Trust me, It'll be our little secret," he smiled.

"Thanks for not teasing me about it," she said.

"Hey, I'm your friend for a reason, am I not?"

She took the doll, placing it back next to her pillow. "Well, do you want to get started on studying? We can start with Algebra first."

"Yeah sure, I brought my all of my textbooks; I think we should tackle solving for variables first."

"Well, that's easy enough, let's get down to studying and then we'll take a short break," she said.

They began studying, Timmy playing close attention to everything she had to say. Tootie really did have a penchant for teaching, drilling even the toughest concepts into his head.

Vicky occasionally came up from downstairs to check how they were doing, slightly suspicious of Timmy's recent behavior. From personal experience Timmy knew that Vicky was like a snake, cunning and likely to strike from the shadows when you least expect it.

"You know, you'd make a great teacher if you set your mind to it," he said.

"Thanks, but I'm more interested in marine biology and that kind of thing," Tootie said.

Timmy was surprised, never bother to ask about her career path. "Really? That's pretty interesting, have you always wanted to do that?"

"Sort of, but the main reason I want to do it is because my mom was interested in it."

"I've never met your mom, is she a nice person?"

"She's really sweet but I don't live with her anymore," she said.

Timmy wanted to respect her boundaries, but curiosity got the better of him. "It's none of my business, but did something happen between you and your mom?"

Tootie looked lost in thought, hesitating for a moment. "I wouldn't normally discuss it with anyone, but since it's you, I'll do it."

"My mom and dad went through a divorce of sorts, but I moved in with Vicky at her request," she continued.

"Now I feel guilty for asking, that's a terrible situation for anyone to go through," he said.

"Don't be sorry, Vicky just didn't want me to go through childhood in a negative environment."

"And here I thought Vicky was always cruel to me for no reason. I guess it's just her way of being protective, man do I feel like a jerk right now," he said.

"Yeah, Vicky means well, but she doesn't know how to express it."

The more they studied, the quicker the hours seemed to pass. At any rate, it was almost time for dinner in the Flanagan household.

"Do you want to stay for dinner Timmy?" Tootie asked.

"Sure, just give me a second to wash up in the bathroom and I'll be right down," he said.

Timmy went into the bathroom, requesting Wanda's assistance.

Wanda suddenly appeared in a pink puff of smoke. "What do you need, sport?"

"I wish this CD was wrapped in a nice package. I'm planning on giving it to Tootie at dinner."

Wanda waved her wand and the CD was suddenly wrapped by purple gift-wrap and tied together by a white bow.

"Sorry for calling you here on such short notice, but I really needed the favor," he said.

"No problem sport, but I have to get back to Cosmo before he burns the fish bowl down somehow," Wanda said.

Timmy went downstairs, seeing that they'd been waiting for him before starting to eat.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Vicky had been staring him down since he came down the stairs.

"Sorry for making you guys wait, should we sit down and eat now?" he asked.

Together, they ate a dinner of angel hair pasta, well done steak, steamed vegetables and homemade lemonade. The trio eventually decided they'd had enough to eat. Before they got up from the table, Timmy interjected.

"Hang on, I have a gift for Tootie."

Vicky took a skeptic glance at Timmy as he passed the CD to Tootie.

Tootie couldn't help but hug the poor boy. "Is this really for me? Yay! Thank you so so so much Timmy!"

Timmy nearly suffocated from the tightness of the hug, but once he saw Tootie and Vicky smiling, he couldn't help but crack a smile as well.

"Tootie, you might want to let go of him before he chokes to death," Vicky said.

Tootie suddenly released Timmy, allowing him to catch his breath again.

Vicky pointed at the CD. "So Turner, where'd you get the money to buy that CD?"

"Well, the money came from my new job at the music store."

"Why would you do that for me Timmy? How did you even know I liked this album?" Tootie asked.

"I was at the cash register working my shift and saw that you really liked the CD, so I decided to buy it," he said. "You sing great too."

"Thanks!"

"Do you mind going upstairs real quick while I talk to Timmy here?" Vicky asked.

"Yeah sure, no problem!" Tootie yelled, heading upstairs.

Vicky's expression was as rock solid as the granite counter and just as serious as ever.

"So, Twerp, what gives with you and my sister lately?"

"What do you mean?" Timmy asked.

"Oh don't play dumb with me Turner, you're being too nice to Tootie recently. You've made it your mission to push her away from you for as long as I can remember," Vicky said. "You really don't expect me to think this isn't some kind of prank right?

"So you mean to tell me if you were in my place, having someone stalk you, you would embrace it instead of trying to get away?" Timmy asked.

"Don't give me that excuse Turner, she didn't know how to express her feelings when she was younger, if anything you should have been grateful that a girl was actually paying attention to you. Instead, you just spent all your time pining after Trixie."

Vicky continued her rant, rapidly firing a stream of words.

"Do you know how much she's suffered because of your antics? I've lost count of how many times she came home with tears in her eyes."

"Is there a problem with me wanting to just remain friends with her? Does there have to be a catch for me to be a decent human being?" Timmy asked.

"It's not the fact that you're being too nice, it's just that I don't want that chain of events to repeat itself. You became her white knight when you defended her at school, her object of obsession. Then you just decide to push her away, for absolutely no reason."

"I'm not forcing a relationship on you, but for my sake just don't mess with her feelings again, I already have enough trouble taking care of her on my own," Vicky said.

Timmy raised his arms in defeat. "At least give me a chance to redeem myself, I can try to repair some of the damage I've done, but I can't guarantee you anything will happen."

"I'll give you the chance, but if you so much as make her pout, I'll break every bone in your body!"

"I'll make good on my promise, you can trust me that much at least," he said.

"You better make good on your promise, if you know what's good for you," Vicky said.

"I can be a good friend when the situation calls for it, you of all people should know that."

Timmy headed upstairs, eager to see what Tootie was up to.

Eventually reaching her room, Timmy saw her on the bed, with a microphone in her hand, seemingly hooked up to a karaoke machine.

"I decided to take this old thing out of storage so you can hear me sing," she smiled.

"Are you going to sing something from that CD I bought you?"

"Yeah sure, I guess I'll sing... this one!" she exclaimed, pointing at the song from the list.

Timmy leaned back in her bed, awaiting her performance.

Tootie began singing the song, sounding quite spectacular. She sang the song so well it almost resembled the original. He relaxed and took in the music before it ended.

"So how was my performance?" she asked.

"It was great! Have you been practicing recently?"

"Not really, but thanks anyways," she said.

Tootie looked at Timmy, noticing that he seemed lost in his thoughts. She'd have to bring it up with Vicky later.

Timmy suddenly snapped out of thoughts, remembering what he was going to discuss.

"So about yesterday... I really don't know how to say this, but I'll try anyways. It's not that I'm not okay with what happened yesterday, but I don't want to pursue a relationship with anyone right now. Is that alright with you?"

"I guess... but this is really sudden, last summer you didn't even want to hang out with me," she said.

"I'll be the first to admit it's a strange situation, but I hope you understand," he said.

He continued, awkwardly making his way through the conversation. "Even if it doesn't end up working out the way I planned, I want you to know I'd like to remain friends with you."

"No matter what, I'll never stop being your friend Timmy. We've known each other too long for that to happen," she said, smiling.

"I'm glad you know me so well. I guess it's getting late, I should probably head home. See you tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sure, see you tomorrow Timmy."

Timmy gave her a friendly hug and headed downstairs to leave.

"Thanks for the chat earlier Vicky, I'll see you some other time."

A/N: A little bit of Tootie's past is revealed, stay tuned for more.