Once they finally had the chance to get out of school, Sector V and Luna walked towards the treehouse, chatting away.
"So Luna, how do you think of Gallagher so far?" Hoagie asked, fiddling with another device that no one dared to ask what it was.
Luna shrugged. "Gallagher's good, but I kinda liked my school better in the Philippines. It was a private school, so the teachers and nuns there were strict, but only for the reason that they knew about the Kids Next Door. All of the fifth grade level is part of the Philippine Kids Next Door." She added proudly.
"Niiiice." Hoagie smiled.
Abby then asked, "Um, Nigel, does your dad know Luna's staying over at the treehouse?"
"No. That's why we're going to introduce her." The group had reached Nigel's house, and said boy was about to press the doorbell when the door opened to reveal his father, Monty Uno.
"Ah, Nigel, old bean!" Monty said pleasantly. "I didn't know you had a different girlfriend coming over! Me and your mother would have prepared the place."
Question marks practically popped out of their heads until Luna got it first. She laughed before whispering it to Hoagie, who whispered it to Abby, who whispered it to Wally, who whispered it to Kuki, who whispered it to Nigel, who turned red in embarrassment.
"N-no, Dad! You've got the wrong idea!" Nigel was flustered, shaking his arms and head in frustration. "I don't like Luna that way!"
"Oh." Monty scratched his head before grinning and saying, "So you're admitting that you like that blond girl… what was her name? Oh yeah, that girl, Rachel McKenzie?"
Nearly everyone except Nigel and Monty fell to the sidewalk laughing their hearts out as Nigel's face burned redder than a jalapeno. He was definitely embarrassed now. "Come on, guys. Let's go!" Nigel pulled everyone up with surprising strength before dragging them towards the backyard to climb up the treehouse.
Once they reached the top, Luna teased, "You didn't tell me you liked the Supreme Leader that way, Nigel." She, Kuki, Abby, Wally and Hoagie made kissy faces at Nigel.
"That's cause it's not true." Nigel muttered, dropping his backpack on the floor.
Abby raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying you don't like Rachel? She'll be sad to hear that, ya know."
"N-no! I like her, I like her!" Nigel panicked before realizing he had just admitted to liking the blond Supreme Leader in that way. He fumed as everyone else fell to the floor laughing. Hoagie was rolling on the floor, laughing so hard tears came to his eyes. Kuki and Wally had hugged each other, laughing too much. Abby was pounding her fist on the floor, laughing out loud, while Luna was shaking with laughter.
"OK, stop it you guys." He insisted, but he frowned when no one listened to him. "I SAID STOP IT!"
Everyone stopped laughing, but Luna was still shaking a bit as she said, "It's OK, Nigel. I like someone too you know."
"Ah, forget it." Nigel grumbled as he stomped off to his room.
Wally turned to the others, obviously unhappy. "What a spoilsport."
"Yeah. I guess he couldn't stand it." Kuki replied.
Timeskip to evening
In Abby and Luna's room, the girls were sitting around, doing nothing out of the usual. Abby was in her green nightgown, reading a magazine, while Kuki in her own pink nightgown was busily scribbling something into her diary. Luna, in her midnight blue nightgown, was sifting through her suitcase for something. The boys had decided to leave them alone for the night, so it was the perfect opportunity for the girls to spend time together.
"Whatcha doin, Luna?" Kuki asked, momentarily stopping to ask what said operative was doing with her suitcase.
Luna's head and arms were inside the suitcase, but the two Sector V operatives could hear a muffled, "Looking for my photo album."
"Why?" Kuki asked again.
"I want to-" Luna's head and arms popped out of the suitcase, holding a photo album. "I want to show you guys the Philippine Kids Next Door."
Abby stopped reading her magazine for a moment, tossing it onto her dresser before heading over to the other side of the room, sitting beside Luna and Kuki. "Let Abby see."
"OK." Luna opened up the photo album, and pointed to the first photo. It was a photo of a small group of children, with Luna also in the picture, hugging a pretty brown haired girl with jade green eyes. In the picture, Luna was wearing a purple poufy sleeved shirt and black tights, and her FLURIKEN had changed into a blue wilting flower.
Sitting around the two were six more children, two of them which Kuki and Abby recognized. They were Ria and Nicole, and the other children were who they assumed were the members of Sector R. An orange haired girl was tugging on Nicole's hair, making the latter wince in pain. Ria was hugging a brown skinned girl with black hair in the picture, while said girl was smiling. The only boy in the picture, a blond, was sitting right next to a brunette with plaited hair, whose head was leaning on his shoulder. A dreamy smile was etched onto the girl's face.
"OK, so this is me, hugging Bianca." Luna pointed to each face in the picture, a note of sadness in her voice that Kuki and Abby instantly detected. "And there's Jacquiline and Flynn, and Ria and Sam, and Raissa and Nicole."
"Ya miss them, don't you?" Abby said.
Luna sighed. "Yeah, I guess I do. They're like family to me nowadays." She smiled weakly at the two operatives, but her eyes betrayed homesickness.
"Yah know Abby and Kuki are always there for you." Abby reminded the girl. "But if it hurts so much, we'll stop looking."
Kuki closed the photo album. "That's enough for tonight. I'm feeling sleepy, Abby." She rubbed her eyes to make her point.
"Oh, well, OK then Kuki. G'night." Abby trudged back to her bed as Kuki exited the room to walk towards hers. Luna, after a moment's hesitation, put the album back inside her suitcase before falling asleep on her bed.