A/N: HOLY CRAP! I swear, this chapter took me forever. I've been busy with school, friends and a whole lotta shit but all I wanna say is, WOAH. 16 Follows and 11 Favorites? I didn't expect to get that many readers interested in this, so, thank you so much to all of you! You guys are my motivation to keep my ass going on this story, so keep it coming (lol). :")
shejams:
Thank you so much for your review once again! I really enjoy Abby and Kuki's dynamic as both sister figures and close friends, so I'm glad you enjoy it too! Also, about Nigel… That's a secret for later!
The Who:
Your wish is granted, anonymous reader! I'm so glad you like my story, thank you!
Disclaimer: Codename: Kids Next Door belongs to Tom Warburton. Same goes to all the amazing characters. All his.
Mrs. Thompson glared down at each teen in the room, crossing her arms and loudly tapping her foot as she did.
"Now, listen up! I don't give a bone about what got you kids in here, but starting from now, up until 4 'o clock sharp, you will all remain in this room, and in this room only."
A hand slowly rose up, a curious look showing from behind a pair of yellow-tinted goggles.
"Um, what if I have to, y'know, go to the loo?" Hoagie asked, genuinely curious. The teacher responded with an annoyed glare, making the boy cross his arms and scowl.
"What? It was a genuine question!" Hoagie broke into a small grin almost instantly. "No need to pee so cranky about it! Haha! Get it? Pee as in be-!"
"That will be taken care of later. As I was saying, you will all be expected to remain here. It is now…" Mrs. Thompson hastily interrupted the boy, looking up at the large clock that hung above the tables, checking the time with a quick glance. "8:25. You all have exactly 7 hours and 45 minutes to reflect on your actions."
Wally slammed a fist on the table, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"The crud?! That's loike…" He quickly held his fingers up, counting them as he mumbled the numbers under his breath. "Eleven-teen thousand minutes! What are ya' expectin' us to do, sit on our asses all day?!"
The teacher narrowed her eyes towards the brash Australian, her foot's tapping coming to a halt.
"Yes. That is exactly what I was expecting." The words spat out of her mouth like icicles crashing onto the ground. Wally flinched ever so slightly, but remained his gaze on the woman. "Also, I am your teacher, if you didn't notice, so if I were you, I'd mind my language just a tad bit."
Wally leaned back into his chair, swinging his feet up onto the table to cross them together. He folded his arms, a quick smirk flashing across his features as he looked across the room to where that noisy old sheila stood.
"Whatevuh ya' say, old hag."
Much to the boy's amusement, the middle-aged woman's eye twitched in shock, her face burning with rage.
"O-old what?! I'm only 34!" A clear look of distress spread across her features, gaining a quick giggle from the 3 teens in the front. She shot them an instant glare, before turning her attention back towards the spawn of Satan three tables away. She pointed a finger at him as her red lips pursed in frustration.
"Congrats, Mr. Beatles. You just earned yourself another three weekends of detention." And with that, Wally shut up, his mouth hanging in astonishment. Giving up, he merely let out a snarl and turned his head away from the woman.
Mrs. Thompson huffed in satisfaction as she turned her head towards the pair of girls hunched up against the table.
"Ms. Lincoln?"
Abby's head shot up at the sound of her name, her eyes peeking out from under her cap in slight shock. She was met with her beloved homeroom teacher's gaze, lips pursed into a thin line.
"I trust you'll be keeping these hooligans in line during my absence." Mrs. Thompson then sighed, slumping her shoulders as she shook her head back and forth. "It truly is a shame that a student like you had to be put in detention with kids like these, Mrs. Lincoln."
Abby merely stared blankly at the teacher as a voice from behind yelled "Who're ya' callin' hooligans?!".
Was that s'pposed to be a compliment? And who in hell even uses the word hooligans anymore?
Mrs. Thompson raised an eyebrow at the young teen, making Abby blink her eyes back to reality. She quickly looked over to the Asian girl next to her, who was glaring at the teacher from behind her dark bangs. Yeah, Abby'd be pissed if we was her too.
"Uh, yeah. Sure, Mrs. T." The reply was awkward, but enough to earn a nod from Mrs. Thompson.
"Very well." The teacher brushed off her pink skirt, and stood up straight. She looked towards the students and spoke, chin slightly raised upwards in dominance.
"I'll be in my office, but remember. These walls are thin and there are cameras. I will see all, and know all." The teens quickly looked up to the walls, counting the security cameras planted upon the high corners. Mrs. Thompson saw Hoagie's eye twitch. She smiled deviously.
As she walked towards the door, she held it with her foot, glancing back at the nerve-stricken kids with delight.
"You mess with the wolf, you get the fangs, kids." And with that, she left.
...
"Jesus…" Wally sighed, leaning back into his chair as his face twisted into a disgusted look. "What a joykill."
"It's killjoy." Hoagie corrected, fixing his goggles with a look that mimicked the Australian's. "But seriously, tell me about it." The boy slumped in his chair, twiddling a #26 Yipper Card between his fingers. "And she wonders why her ex-husbands left her."
As the two boys bonded over their hatred against the educator, a certain red hat was slightly turned towards the back of the room, a single eye glancing towards the bald-headed teen behind them.
As Abby continued to squint her eyes and "not-so-secretly" stare, a gentle finger tapped her shoulder, causing her to turn around towards the concerned looking source.
"Who is he?" Kuki whispered under her breath, one eyebrow raised against her forehead. Abby shook her head, her shoulders rising up and down to confirm the fact that she didn't know who on Earth he was.
"Well…" The raven-haired female continued. "I think I would've remembered seeing a bald kid around McClintock if one popped up."
She took out her cellphone, frustratingly typing words onto the screen as a purple Rainbow Monkey head dangled from the tip of the shiny device. "I swear I've seen him from somewhere… Maybe he's famous? But I don't think..."
Abby began to wonder about the boy as Kuki rambled on about how familiar he was, until the one question waiting to be asked finally slipped out amongst them.
"Hey, baldy. Who're you supposed 'ta be?" Wally spoke up, swinging the chain hanging from his jeans in a small circle. He raised an eyebrow towards the pair of sunglasses looking up at him, expecting an answer.
Hoagie cleared his throat, turning around to get a better look at the peculiar stranger. "Yeah, I've never seen you 'round here before."
All eyes were on the red shirt that continued to pander towards group's curiousness. Sighing, the boy fixed his sunglasses, wrinkles visibly creasing his forehead as he spoke.
"Nigel Uno." He tilted his head to allow a pair of dark brown eyes peek out from above his shades. "I'm new here."
...
A heavy silence filled the air at the mention of his name.
Wally stopped swinging his chain, letting it drop back to the side of his jeans with a slight rattle. He glanced at Hoagie, who was looking down at the ground in deep thought. The two girls turned around in their seats, the click-clack noises of Kuki's cellphone coming to a halt as she spun to face the teen in question.
They all shared the same dumbfounded expression as they stared at Nigel, who merely sat down with an arched brow.
"Is there something wrong?" He questioned, his unusual British accent sounding much clearer amongst the silence.
Hoagie shook his head, his thick goggles sitting a bit lopsided as his hair swooshed back and forth.
"No, um. I don't think so." He quickly took another Yipper card, this one having a bright blue spaceship on it, and twiddled it between his fingers. He looked up at Nigel, who was staring him down with a pressing look. Hoagie gulped nervously before shooting his head back down at the playing card in his hand.
Dang, the bald guy was intimidating.
"Um, welcome to McClintock, then, Nigel! Oh, I mean, Mr. Uno. 'The Big N'? Uh, yeah, whatever you wanna be called! Haha… Ha.."
"Ya' sure you're not from here?" Wally quickly said, causing the nerd to shut up to everyone's relief. The boy in question shook his head, his face beginning to look confused. "Ah mean, ya' look pretty fami-"
"A long time ago." A female voice intervened. It was Abby.
"As a kid. Didyuh' used to go here?" She pressed on, her stern voice sending shivers down the teens' backs.
Abby was a born leader, everyone around school knew that. She won the elections for Student Body President in 5th grade, and stuck around as authority since then. Everyone trusted her, students, teachers, even the creepy cafeteria ladies. She had an air of dominance and intimidation wafting around her that no one could look past.
This seemed to strike the new kid as well, but that didn't affect him.
The dark-skinned female watched as he processed her question. If her eyes weren't deceiving her, she swore she saw the corners of his mouth twitch.
He quickly shook his head, obviously growing annoyed by the constant pressure of whether or not he'd been around there before.
"No, and if I had perhaps of happened to been enrolled here before, I, for one, do not remember." Nigel glared, earning a slight flinch from Abby in return.
It was weird, she admitted, seeing this guy get upset at her like this and feeling so affected by it. She didn't know him, hell, she'd just found out his name two minutes ago. Was it because of his very shiny, bald head? Maybe. Was it because of his shades? Those always seemed intimidating in those Men in Black movies.
Was it that weird sense of familiarity she felt around him? Oh, hell yes.
And as far as Abby could tell from under her red cap, the others felt the same way.
Maybe they've seen the guy before too. Abby sure as heck can't tell where she's seen him before, though. All she knew was that she had a bad feeling about him.
"A-anyways!" Kuki yelled as she clapped her hands together, breaking the heavy tension settled inside the room.
"We're glad you're here, Nigel!"
Her statement was met with an awkward silence, Hoagie whistling as he stared off at a distant bookshelf. She grumbled and glared at the teens' general direction.
"I'm glad you're here. I hope you enjoy your time at McClintock." Her smile was sweet and genuine, eyes closed as she beamed at the bald teen. A slight blush sneakily creeped up his face as he grinned in response.
Of course, a certain confused, blonde boy seemed to notice this.
Wally's eye twitched at the sight, and he abruptly stood up his chair, nearly stumbling as he sharply hit his shin against the table.
"OW, fuck! Uh, um…" He yelped as the others stared at him, and his voice dragged on to be an awkward mumble.
Ah, crud. Wallabee, what didya do that for?! Stupid koala, marsupial, kanga-
"You okay, man?"
The familiar voice came to his attention, Hoagie's yellow-tinted goggles staring up at him as he spun yet another Yipper card between his two fingers. Geez, how many cards does that kid have?
Wally shook his head, completely flustered, and mumbled a distant "Yeh. Was nuthin'." before slouching back down into his seat. He saw Kuki look back at him with a quick glance before turning her head back towards her desk. He felt his breath hitch in his throat for a second.
He caught a glimpse of the bald creep from the corner of his eye, who was now engrossed in something on his phone screen.
What if he's a secret agent? Or an alien? I never liked those cruddy things. Gave me the creeps as a kid.
There was something about him that made Wally feel uneasy, and it seems like everyone else thought he was oddly familiar as well.
As dense as the Aussie was, he knew that there was something up with the kid, and he had a good 7 hours to find out what it was.
...
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
"Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, to-"
"Would ya' SHUT UP?"
Wally shot his head up from his desk, eyes glaring as he snarled at the nerd in front of him. Hoagie nervously turned around, apologizing repetitively.
Kuki's head was propped on her sleeve-covered hand, head dozing off in her palms. Abby sat beside her, chin smack dab on the table as she silently snored off in her dreams, red cap covering her face.
The Australian turned over to his right to face Nigel, who was silently playing with his phone.
"Hey." Nigel glanced over at the voice coming from his left, where the blonde was lazily slumping against his chair. He looked half-asleep.
"What's the time?"
The red-clothed teen shot him a curious look before quickly checking his phone to answer him.
"It's 8:55."
Wally slammed his fist on the table, shocking the two girls and everyone else out of their drowsy trance. His voice shook the library into a quick rumble. Kuki let out a small 'yelp' as both she and Abby nearly fell out of their seats.
"It's been 2 hours?! Why the crud is this shit taking so long?!"
A stubby hand rose up, followed by an awkward Hoagie, correcting the brash dimwit once again.
"It's only been 30 minutes, to be exact." He fixed his goggles as he watched the orange sweater stand up behind him, looking as pissed off as he always did.
"Ah'm thirsty. Be back later."
He waved nonchalantly as he made his way towards the door. Abby rubbed her eyes twice before standing up from her table, calling out the boy wanting to exit the room.
"And where are yuh going?" She questioned him, hands on the hips of her blue dress shirt. She watched Wally wave his hand without turning around to face her, other hand casually placed in his pocket.
"Getting a drink. Duh. Geez, didn't ah already say that?"
Abby was glaring at him, the 'mom' in her resisting the urge to growl and literally jump at him in irritation, giving him the longest lecture afterwards.
"Oh, nuh-uh. Abby ain't gonna let yuh bring Cruella Deville back in here! Yuh know, the minute she sees you walkin' out the door, she'll stomp her way here in no time."
The teen turned around, his long, blonde bangs swinging across his nose as his emerald eyes faced Abby. He looked irritated, both fists shoved into his pockets.
"So?! Ah've already got loike…" He took out one hand out of his hoodie, counting his fingers, once again whispering random numbers as her stared at them. Abby swore that there were numbers that came out of his mouth that an honor student wouldn't even know.
"Ah… 35? 78? Yeh, around that. That's how many days Ah have in detention! Doesn't matter if Ah get in trouble anymore, honestly."
The look in the girl's eyes softened. She felt a pang of guilt in her chest, and she watched his expression drop from not caring to near sadness.
Hey, maybe Beetles ain't that bad. Abby actually feels kinda sorry for-
"Y'know, I'm pretty thirsty too."
And, of course, the brown-headed dork spoke up amongst the crowd, thoughtfully tapping his chin as he looked up at the ceiling. Kuki joined in, flailing in her seat as she playfully poked at her neck.
"My throat is dyyyyying~! I'd kill for some cherry soda!"
Abby watched as the two fantasized over their favorite beverages, her mouth hanging agape in over-exaggerated shock. She turned back around to check the Australian before the door, who now had a satisfied smirk plastered on his face.
"Are y'all kidding?! Yuh know we can't step foot outta here without the witch finding out!"
The 16 year-old knew that she couldn't count on the three, well, beverage-blinded dimwits. Her last resort was the nearest sane-looking person left in the room.
Mr. Uno, himself.
She looked at him, eyes pleading with desperation. She prayed that maybe, just maybe, somewhere in that big, bald head of his laid one last pinch of common sense. He met her gaze, nodded and stood up.
Finally! Someone with a brain around here!
Nigel pushed away his chair, cleared his throat and leaned over his table as he held himself up with both arms beside him. A sly smirk crossed his features as he looked over the teens.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get that soda."
A/N: This chapter is so much shorter than the last one, I'm sorry! :-( I was eager to post something, I guess.
Anyways, these thirsty kids are 'bout to get their cola on! Poor Abby, this is what she gets for being the most sensible of the bunch.
How will they feel doing a, um, 'mission' for the first time in… a while? What will unfold? Who will screw up this time? Stay tuned! *bum bum*
I like reviews a lot! Don't be shy, I don't bite~
Thank you SO much for reading! See you next chapter!
