A/N: I haven't updated in FIVE. DAYS. (facepalm) Sorry to keep you waiting! Not only has school started, but I had writer's block too, as if THAT wasn't enough already. (EDIT: You think that's long? Ha! Try an ENTIRE SIX MONTHS) So, I give you: Chapter 7, which is mostly backstory. Enjoy! And remember to review! :)

Btw there's a part in here that seems like Weinerham if you look closely, but I think they would do this in the show. All of the new names are randomly picked.

Finally, I feel like I should warn you (if you're new to this story) that from this point forward, Randy gets really OOC. Read at your own risk.

(Randy's POV)

I kind of just stared at the ceiling as I lay on the bed in the nurse's office. I could feel the pain lessening, and now I could actually think.

I couldn't believe how fast Rachel had become such a big part of my life. First, I start to like her, then we almost kiss, then we do kiss, then she starts going to Norrisville and finds out I'm the ninja. I'll have to warn her about my enemies, like McFist and the Sorcerer. Wow, she actually knows nothing about my life as the ninja. I decided to explain it all to her when we got home.

Ah, Rachel. Admittedly, even though we had decided to be friends this morning, I still couldn't get her out of my mind, and I had only thought of her more after the kiss. Even though it had caused us to seal the just-friends deal, I hadn't regretted it. Not for one second, and I was ashamed to admit that even if she hadn't liked me back, I still might not have regretted it.

I sighed, looking over at the door. I wondered what Dad would say about that. He had always told me not to be forward, not to force the girl into a relationship, or to move too fast. He said that subtlety and quiet devotion were the key to a girl's heart. Yet I had only known Rachel since Friday and I had almost kissed her Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after we met. I had never imagined myself doing something like that. Rachel just… did something to me. It was like she turned off every logical part of my mind when she was near, and I hated myself for that. I knew that if I didn't try to think I would lose control of myself. I didn't want to make a mistake, or let her know just how deeply I felt it. I didn't want to scare her away. If I did something like that, she might not even want to be friends.

Gah, what the juice was happening to me? I had never felt so unsure of myself in my entire life, not even the day Howard and I signed up for Mac Antfee's camp-splosion!. I was completely clueless about these kinds of things. Dad had talked to me about girls once, but I think Mom made him do it. Dad had never been the affectionate type. He wasn't even social. Whenever he had to spend extra hours doctoring, he would come right home, quickly say hi to anyone who happened to be in the living room, and go straight to his and Mom's room and shut the door. He locked it, too. I had tried to get in one time back in 7th grade, needing help with biology homework. I would've asked Mom, but science isn't really her thing. Or mine, either, so I think I know where I got that from. Anyway, I tried to open the door and it was locked. I had knocked on the door. "Go away," he had said.

"But, Dad, I just need you to-"

"I SAID GO AWAY! Go ask your mom."

"But-"

"Now, Randy!"

I had just left after that, feeling hurt and confused. I saw Mom standing there, who had apparently witnessed the whole thing. She came up to me and said, "Randy, your father isn't in a good mood."

"But I just need help with my biology homework! I've been falling behind, and you know I'm no good at science. Especially biology."

"Honey, I know this is hard for you to understand," she continued, putting a hand on my shoulder. "But sometimes your father just needs to be by himself."

"But WHY?!"

"Sometimes when he's in a bad mood, he doesn't want to be around other people."

"He's ALWAYS in a bad mood! And it's not other people he doesn't want to be around, it's just me."

"Randy-"

"No! Just leave me alone." I had walked away, trying not to run like I wanted to, but I didn't want to 'disturb' Dad. I climbed up the stairs, fighting the tears. This wasn't the first time. He was always like this. Mom said he tried, but he didn't. He didn't even want to be near me anymore. He had rarely said anything at dinner those days, and when he did, it wasn't usually something I agreed with. I went into my room, slamming the door. Why couldn't he just help me a little? I mean, was that really so hard?

The ringing of a phone had distracted me from my thoughts (well, it had been more like moping). I had looked over at my phone to see Howard's number displayed on the screen. I hadn't answered. I didn't think I was really in a state to speak to anyone.

That hadn't been the first time. It had just been the first time it really got to me. I had used to think that when it counted he would be there. I had never told that story to anyone, not even Howard. He actually asked me why I hadn't answered the phone the next day at school, and I lied and said that I was busy with homework. I told myself I would eventually tell him, but I never did, and I stopped thinking about it after a while and started getting used to Dad's poor attitude. Things were never the same with us after that, though our relationship hadn't exactly been great in the first place.

I wondered how he would react if when he came home Rachel was still living with us. He was good at reading between the lines, similar to my mom, though he was a lot better at it. He carefully observed, while Mom just saw it when she could. It was a good thing she had been busy lately, otherwise she would figure it out the instant Rachel and I came home. I knew it had to be obvious that I liked her; after all, Howard had pointed it out on Saturday. Though maybe he was just kidding…

I groaned. I couldn't take this anymore. My thoughts and I had not been close friends lately. "Are my 20 minutes up yet?" I whined, knowing I sounded extremely immature but not really caring.

"No, and they're only going to pass slower if you ask constantly."

"Ugh, WHY? Why did this even happen?" I thought out loud. "Robo-apes can't stop swords…" I muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." It wasn't merely nothing, though. The more I thought about it, the more confused I got. The first robo-ape wasn't that much better than your average robo-ape, but the second one was like double the power of that one, and don't even get me started on the third. It. Stopped. My. Honkin'. Sword. And it had looked so effortless. It just reached out its hand in the path that it should've cut and just blocked its motion without a single scratch. That wasn't even the weirdest part: it just left after that. It could've easily finished me.

Why was I rehashing things I already knew? I looked at the clock; two minutes had passed since I complained to the nurse. I sighed, just wanting my time here to be over. Even though I didn't really mind missing gym, I couldn't take feeling trapped here with nothing but my thoughts and a smart-mouthed nurse. I wished Rachel had been able to stay. Oh, and Howard too. But Rachel was literally all I could think about these days. I hated that I couldn't just let her go, accept that we weren't going to be together anytime soon. To be honest, I still wasn't sure whether she liked me back or was trying to spare my feelings. Though if that was the case, I appreciated that at least she tried not to hurt me, unlike Stella North.

We were in the 6th grade. Norrisville had its own elementary school, and high school, but no middle school, so depending on where the kids lived they were sent to the nearest middle school: either Flackville Middle School or K. Henderson Middle, which was in Walkerville, though most of the kids zoned for Flackville tried to sneak into K. Henderson or apply to a charter school since Flackville Middle was in a bad part of town. Luckily, Howard and I were zoned for K. Henderson Middle so we didn't have to worry about that. Since most of the other students in Henderson lived in Walkerville rather than Norrisville, I didn't know most of the other kids, and the ones from Norrisville that I did know weren't in my classes. Except for Howard. Some of the other kids from Norrisville zoned for Henderson were Heidi (obviously. She was in 8th grade though), Bucky, Stevens, Debby Kang, Theresa Fowler, and Julian. I never really talked to any of them though (besides, I wouldn't be caught dead talking to Bucky). Bash, by the way, went to Flackville, which is partly why he's so violent now, and is also why he picks on Accordion Dave a lot, who also went to Flackville. As for Bucky, he had some kind of old grudge against him from elementary school (I'm not sure what went down, I think he accidentally stole his lunch or something. I really don't know). Bash just picks on everyone else when he's mad, even though you it's really hard to tell. The only reason I know is because a couple of times when I saw him walk away, he wasn't laughing, he was clenching his teeth, but that was only when his bros weren't around.

Anyway, back to the story. Howard and I made a couple friends from Walkerville, and they had friends, who had friends (one of those friends was Stella) and we all sat together at lunch. I saw Stella there, and I was happy about that because I had seen her in my science class, and I thought that she was kinda cute but I didn't say anything to Howard, mostly because he wasn't even in my science class. I was too nervous to talk to her though. I knew her because Howard's friend Forrest (who, ironically, had a crush on Stella's best friend Tessa) was friends with Eva, whose best friend was Molly who knew Stella. Stella had silky brown hair and brown eyes; she was somewhat tall and really, really thin, but not anorexic, I had seen her eat, but she pretty much only ate salad and such. My math teacher quit her job right before winter break, so everyone who that teacher had had to get a schedule change for the second semester. One of my classes that got switched was gym class, and I got switched into Howard, Forrest, Tessa and Stella's gym class. Howard noticed the way I stared at Stella and confronted me about it.

"Cunningham, can we talk?" He had asked one day in the boys' locker room before gym class.

"Uhhh sure."

"I've noticed the way you keep staring at Stella. Do you have a thing for her?"

"Whaaaaaat?! Pfffffttt, no! Of course not! Why would I even…?! Oh, Howard, that's RIDICULOUS! Me and Stella, hahaha! I mean, I barely know her, why would I…" Howard grabbed me by the shirt and dragged me into a shower stall.

"Ok Cunningham we're alone. So now do you wanna tell me the truth? Because you know you're a terrible liar."

"Ok FINE. I like her. I admit it. You dragged it out of me."

"I KNEW IT! Now, are you gonna ask her out, or…?"

"WHAT?! HONK no! She'd reject me in a heartbeat, ARE YOU INSANE?!"

"Oh, I knew THAT. I just wanted to see you crash and burn…"

"Howard, not funny." I crossed my arms and glared at him, leaning against the wall.

"Ok, ok, maybe I crossed the line, but still. You have to TELL her. You can't just stand around and stare at her for the rest of the year."

"Really? Who said?"

"I DID! Now get out there and tell her how you really feel."

"No. Honkin'. Way. At least, not yet."

"Well at least TALK to her. You could be friends first. That's what Forrest is doing with Tessa."

"Oh well I guess I can do that. Wait Forrest likes Tessa? She doesn't really seem like his type. She's so quiet and shy, and Forrest is the class clown."

Howard shrugged. "I guess you don't control it. But I wouldn't know. I haven't liked anybody that way yet."

I raised my eyebrows and grinned. "Oh really? C'mon, there must be SOMEONE. Who is she?"

"What?! I never said that!"

"Don't deny it. So how does it feel to be on the other side of the interrogation?"

"Not cool Cunningham. This is NOT cool."

"I told you mine." He grunted in response. "Oh come on Howard. It's only fair."

"Nope."

"OH COME ON! You know I'll figure it out eventually."

"No, you won't Cunningham. Because THERE IS NO GIRL!"

"Mmmhmm."

"I'm SERIOUS!"

"Ok fine Howard. You win… for now." I took his advice and talked to Stella that day. Now that I was looking for it, I did notice that Forrest liked Tessa. Sometimes when she wasn't looking he would stare at her. I started talking to Stella more and more often, and she didn't seem to pick up on anything. At least, until February.

It had been an ordinary lunch until one of the other guys, who I think was named Edward, tapped on Tessa's shoulder and said, "Hey. Forrest likes you." She looked at Forrest, who was denying it, but he had this goofy grin on his face and it was obvious that he was lying. Then Edward looked at me, and tapped on Stella's shoulder. "And RANDY likes YOU." Stella looked at me accusingly.

"Wait, WHAT?! They're lying, I never-"

"Oh, don't even deny it dude. It's SO obvious. Not to mention your friend told us," Edward whispered to me. I looked over at Howard, who was laughing nervously. I confronted him later when we were alone.

"YOU TOLD?!"

"Hey, you know I can't keep a secret. And they were putting a lot of pressure on me-"

"HOWARD! I can't believe you! This is NOT the kind of thing you're supposed to just tell people!"

"Well if it makes you feel any better Forrest did TRY to stop them."

"But. He. DIDN'T."

"Hey chill out Cunningham. They thought they were doing the right thing. It's not my fault they can be such shoobs."

"HOWARD!"

"Ok FINE. I'm SORRY. HAPPY?!" I sighed, shaking my head as I walked away. "Cunningham!" he kept calling as he went after me.

"Howard, I'm not in the mood for this. Stella's probably never going to want to talk to me again and it's all your fault."

"Hey you don't know that. Maybe she likes you back."

I snorted in derision. "Yeah right."

"Well maybe she thinks they were only messing with her."

For the first time since lunch I felt a little bit of hope. "Yeah, maybe."

"See, that's the spirit! Besides, it's not my fault if she doesn't like you back. That's her own stupidness talking."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey, I'm sorry I blamed you. But 'stupidness' isn't a word."

"Well it should be." Stella did seem a bit more distant when I talked to her after that, but at least she was talking to me. I assumed that she was too nice to be like that.

I was wrong.

One day in March Howard said that Forrest was going to ask Tessa out and I should ask Stella out too. At first I was hesitant but he managed to convince me. I got her alone in gym and somehow found the words to ask her out.

She giggled. "Oh, Randy. You're a great friend- well, actually, you're not. You BARELY talk to me, and now you have the nerve to ask me to be MORE?! You're the last person I would ever date. If I had to choose between dating you, and dating a monkey, I think I would pick THE MONKEY."

I was shocked. "So… that's a no…?"

"Of course that's a NO you dimwit! I mean come on are you STUPID?!"

"Oh… I see…" I walked away dejectedly but trying not to show it. Howard told me that Tessa had said no to Forrest too. I told Howard Stella had rejected me but I didn't tell him all the mean things she said. I barely got through the next two classes. I didn't even hang out with Howard that day. I just went home and lay in bed, staring at the ceiling wondering what the juice I had done to make her hate me so bad. Though I only felt worse and worse. I had a tendency to be hard on myself when I was alone, but Mom was on a business trip and Dad wouldn't care anyways. The next day Howard and I visited Greg's Game Hole for the first time so that I could lose myself in the arcade games and forget about Stella. It turned out I was good, too. I eventually got the high score on all of the games, beating everyone. Including Howard. Stella and Tessa had some fallout at the end of the year and in 7th grade they weren't even friends, and Tessa had turned into a full-out tomboy, hanging with the skater crowd. Stella was popular now, and so was Forrest, while Howard and I had fallen to the bottom of the food chain, believed to be nothing but good-for-nothing video gamers who would eventually repeat a grade in high school. Stella "mysteriously" left halfway through 7th grade, but I found out why in February when I was at Howard's house and his little sister Hannah skipped through the doorway with a magazine for some store for younger girls. She flipped through it and left it on one of the pages. I looked over at it curiously and I couldn't believe what I saw. One of the models looked so familiar. I gasped. It couldn't be.

It was Stella.

After that I sort of turned into stalker dude, coming over to Howard's house more than usual and looking at the magazines whenever there was a new one. She stopped modeling for the store in July of that year, but she didn't come back. I assumed she got a new gig, but I couldn't find her. At the beginning of 8th grade, I decided to just let her go but something would always remind me of her. Maybe Tessa would walk by, who had somewhat reverted back to her old self but she didn't wear pink or skirts or anything remotely girly. Which happened a lot, considering she was in two of my classes. I would've liked to be myself again but I wasn't sure who that was anymore. Tessa and I sometimes talked. I think she felt bad for me because of how Stella treated me. I found out that the reason she changed was because she had liked a skater guy and she wanted to prove that she could be part of their group, but they eventually found out that she hadn't really changed and he broke up with her. Now she didn't really have anyone. I wonder how she turned out. I was able to let Stella go eventually but not until I found out I was the ninja, and then I realized that there was so much more to life than being locked in my room with Howard and playing Grave Puncher, and then I realized that Stella was the reason I was even doing that in the first place, and I knew I had to get over her.

So I did, and I eventually met Rachel. But I think Stella is the reason I'm always afraid to mess up with Rachel. I don't want to end up brokenhearted again, because now that I've gotten over her I realize just how hard I fell.

I look at the clock. It's probably been 20 minutes now, and I don't feel the pain anymore. Physically, at least. I get up and say bye to the nurse, who gives me a doctor's note saying that I needed to be excused from gym class. As I'm walking to class I see Rachel, who is probably going to the water fountain or something, and she comes up to me.

"Hi Randy! Are you feeling ok?"

"Huh?" I say, confused. How did she know about Stella? And then I realize she's talking about the injury. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. What class do you have?"

"History, and then I have science with Mrs. Driscoll."

"I have science next too!" I remember that I had science with Stella. I push the thought out of my mind. No, no, no, Rachel Crawford is nothing like Stella North.

"Awesome! I'll see you there. You should probably go to class."

"Ok. Bye, Ray." I go to gym class. I can't believe that I had to think about Stella when I was at the nurse. I hadn't been thinking about her for so long, but I just broke that streak, which couldn't be a good sign.