Danny knew! He knew that Randy was the ninja. It took everything in Randy's being not to full out panic. Danny had already joined his friends, Sam and Tucker who were playing a two player game across the room. Randy scanned Greg's Game Hole worriedly and spotted Howard. His friend was hogging a game to himself with about five other people waiting, muttering soft complaints. Randy ran to his friend's side.
"Howard. Howard, I've gotta talk to you. Right now!" Randy told his friend urgently. Howard spared Randy a glance.
"Not right now Cunningham. I'm going to beat my best score," Howard retorted dismissively, punching the buttons with unnecessary force.
"Howard. This is urgent. It's N.N. business," Randy hissed.
"Go then. You don't usually stop to tell me when you need to N.N. up," Howard replied, knowing that Randy meant the Norrisville Ninja. Both friends used abbreviations regularly to reference Randy's ninja business.
"No Howard. I don't need to N.N. up. I need to tell you something and I need your help. Danny knows," Randy corrected softly. Howard faltered and groaned as his character died on the game screen.
"Fine. But you owe me a lot of quarters," Howard grumbled.
"Those were my quarters," Randy reminded the short red head before pulling his friend to the bathroom.
Randy quickly ducked down to check that the bathroom stalls were empty before turning to Howard.
"Alright Cunningham. What do you mean by Danny knows?" Howard prompted.
"He knows! He honking knows I'm the Norrisville Ninja!" Randy exclaimed fearfully, struggling to keep his voice down.
"What makes you think that?" Howard pressed, folding his arms.
"After he beat me on that ninja game he said it was an honour to fight me. His exact words were "honour to fight you ninja"! He knows!" Randy explained, starting to hyperventilate and panic.
"Cunningham. Were you playing as the ninja?" Howard interjected loudly. Randy paused before nodding.
"Then he was joking. Chill out. There's no way he could know and if he does, you just have to… I don't know ninja up and threaten him with some kind of curse to stop him telling everyone," Howard reasoned.
"Howard, you weren't there. The way he said it. He knows. And I don't know if the ninja should go around threatening and cursing people," Randy replied.
The door opened and Howard and Randy turned to the door fearful of eavesdroppers. It was Danny and Tucker, Sam was visible waiting outside.
"There you two are. We have to go and get some stuff for our stay here, like toothbrushes and stuff," Danny informed them calmly. Howard nodded.
"Sure. That's fine. We can meet up tomorrow," Howard suggested.
"You mean we will. You wanted me to teach you to hack right?" Tucker interjected. Howard shuddered. Learning to hack wasn't nearly as fun or easy as he had suspected. In fact it was almost harder than his school work. Howard nodded reluctantly. Danny watched Randy as the teen stared fearfully at him.
"Randy, can I have a word?" Danny requested. Randy blanched.
"Anything you say to Cunningham, you can say to me," Howard retorted firmly. Danny blinked and glanced at Tucker.
"I think this should stay between myself and Randy, Howard, no offense," Danny replied carefully, watching Randy carefully. Randy blinked in shock. Danny was trying to talk to Randy without telling Howard why. He wasn't blurting out his secret!
"Howard's right. Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of him," Randy confirmed nervously. Danny nodded.
"I didn't mean to freak you out back there. But I thought I should let you know that your secret wasn't as secret as you thought. You don't have to be scared. I'm not going to tell anyone. Well I've told Sam and Tucker but they'll stay quiet too," Danny reassured them. Howard glanced between Randy and Danny. Randy was trembling slightly and was completely white. Danny on the other hand was calm.
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about but Randy has no secrets," Howard lied.
"Not a very convincing lie Howard considering we're in the bathroom and Randy looks like he's having a panic attack," Tucker pointed out.
"Look, if it makes you two feel better. Tucker's hacking is illegal. You have something on us if we tell anyone else. Sam can pick locks too, that can't be legal either," Danny offered.
"We'll see you outside the school at eleven tomorrow, that okay?" Tucker concluded as they turned to leave.
"Wait! Why aren't you telling everyone I'm the ninja?" Randy blurted out. Danny glanced over his shoulder and shrugged.
"Not my secret to tell. And you obviously have the secret for a reason," Danny answered before opening the door and slipping out to go shopping with Sam and Tucker.
Randy stared at the door, gobsmacked.
"Earth to Cunningham! Snap out of it," Howard called, waving a hand in front of Randy's face. Randy blinked and turned to Howard.
"See nothing to be worried about," Howard remarked with a nervous smirk.
"Why is Danny being so nice? He doesn't have to keep my secret. We only met today," Randy mumbled to himself. Howard rolled his eyes.
"Who cares? He's not gonna tell anyone. Can we go back to playing games instead of doing homework now?" Howard retorted. Randy nodded slowly and followed his best friend out of the bathroom.
The next day Randy and Howard walked to the school.
"This is wonk! It's the weekend! Why are we going to school?" Howard complained.
"Getting Tucker to teach us how to hack was your idea Howard, remember?" Randy recalled. Howard scowled.
"I blame you for this Cunningham," he grumbled. Randy stopped in his tracks and gaped at Howard.
"Whaaat!? How is this my fault!? It was your idea! All I did was agree!" Randy retorted in shock. Howard turned to his friend, folding his arms and nodded sagely.
"Exactly. You agreed. You know I don't do anything without you agreeing to do it with me. So this is your fault," Howard reasoned. Randy shook his head and resumed walking. Howard smirked, knowing he won the argument, catching up to Randy easily.
"Do you think that Danny kept his word?" Randy mumbled worriedly.
"On what?" Howard prompted.
"Keeping my secret Howard. Do you think he told anyone?" Randy clarified with a worried frown. Howard shrugged.
"Like Danny said. If he told anyone then we can tell people that Tucker can hack into killer robots," Howard pointed out. Randy scowled at his friend.
"Howard, two wrongs don't make a right," Randy scolded.
"Is that the nomicon's teaching for today?" Howard wondered. Randy blinked before shaking his head.
"No! It means just because someone does something wrong to us, it doesn't mean we can do something wrong to get back at them. Everyone knows that saying Howard," Randy corrected. Howard shrugged, hopping up the steps to the school and trying the door. He frowned when he found it locked.
"Huh? How are we gonna get in?" Howard complained. Randy scanned the area before pulling out his ninja mask.
"I could try and pick the lock," Randy suggested softly. Howard grinned and nodded in agreement.
"Randy! Howard! This way. That lock has an alarm. We picked a side door instead," Tucker called to them cheerily, jogging around the building to them. Randy quickly hid the mask behind his back.
"Randy, I know you're the ninja remember. You don't need to hide that mask from me," Tucker remarked with a smirk. Randy blushed as he shoved the mask into his jacket pocket.
"Habit," Randy offered softly. Tucker chuckled and led the way around to the unlocked side door.
"Are Sam and Danny here?" Howard asked curiously.
"Yeah. They're in the computer lab already," Tucker confirmed.
"Good. Because I want to ask Danny how he beat Randy at his own game. Literally!" Howard commented with a grin. Tucker chuckled.
"I doubt he'll tell you. If you two want we can have a gaming session after this. Sam is like the queen of Doomed, but I personally think it's only because she knows a ton of cheat codes," Tucker replied. Howard pouted disappointedly.
"How did he figure it out anyway?" Randy inquired nervously.
"Figure out what? The game? Danny's always been pretty good at thinking on his feet," Tucker answered.
"No. My… my secret," Randy half-whispered. Tucker pushed open the door to the computer lab and shrugged.
"Danny, Randy wants to know how you figure him out," Tucker called to the teen who was scowling at a computer screen.
"Just a minute Tuck," Danny replied distractedly. Sam rolled her eyes.
"Danny relax. That was last night," Sam reassured him.
"I know. But I still worry. I've almost finished it," Danny muttered. A few seconds later he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Randy.
"The game confirmed it for me. But I had my suspicions before that. You looked to me when we started talking about the Lunch Lady and I thought I recognised your eyes. But I was watching you watch other players and you seemed really knowledgeable on how they should play the game. When we were playing, you were whispering what you were doing like you normally do in a fight. That and personally, you were too good at the game. Everything together just proved my theory, that and you practically running away to have a panic attack when I called you the ninja," Danny explained. Randy blinked in surprise.
"If you had laughed off being called the ninja and laid low for the next few days, I might have started to doubt myself," Danny added as an afterthought, turning back to his computer screen and started reading something else.
"Oh," Randy breathed. Tucker smirked and instructed his students to take a seat at the prepared computers to start a new lesson on how to hack.
So Randy accepting that a few more people know his secret and getting over his freak out over it.
Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.
Until the next chapter.