me: I couldn't wait to get to this chapter! I had to update some of my other stories that DESPREITLY needed to be updated, so I started writing on it when I was bored in science. Our teacher lets us get away with everything, it's not even funny. He only got on to one person today, and he had heard him all the way across the hall. And our hallway is long! Not as long as the Selmer school, but still!
Max: We don't care what happened at school two days ago!!!
me: Sorry! But there's one hilarious thing that happened three days ago that I want, no, NEED to share! We got the song Great Balls of Fire for the strawberry festavel and spring concert, and our band directer wanted us to try it. I'm one of the two trumpets (we have a small band, even with the 7th and 8th together), and trumpets get to be Jerry Lewis or whatever his name is. We didn't get to practice, so it we stunk like a dying cat in the middle of the Seherra desert. It was super bad. So one of our percussionist said, 'They're gonna be throwing Great Balls of Fire at US!' I don't know what you guys think, but I thought it was hilarious! And one of our clarinets broke a reed, and she said 'It's all fun and games until someone breaks your reed.' It was so funny!
Max: *groans* Are you almost done yet?
me: Do you want to hear about the Max at school who thought I was writing his journal when I wrote 'Max's Journal' on the top of my page?
Max: Not really.
me: Fine. Enjoy!!
-Kahoko POV-
"Your cover?" I asked.
"Five minutes," Nudge replied. "I said I was going to the bathroom. We have plenty of time."
"You got it?"
Nudge opened the bright orange beach bag and pulled out a silver sphere the size of a baseball. "Return it to Mr. Chu. That is now your mission, Kahoko." She held it carefully in her hands and gave it to me, making sure I had a firm grip on it before letting go. It was tiny, but had the weight of a bowling ball.
I gave her an ear-to-ear grin. "No worries in that, NM3056P. Got the camera?"
"Yep. And I'm NOT NM3056P. Quit calling me that. But I've installed it already." She pointed to a black dot on the side of her bag. The camera was the size of the little ball on a prick pin, and was trained to keep ever member of the Flock in sight at all times, including Nudge, and especilly Max and Fang, the two planners. They wouldn't get past me this time, oh, no.
My smile widened. "Very good. Mr. Chu will be very pleased." She ran off to go join her Flock.
-Max POV-
I saw Nudge running down the stone path towards us. Good! I thought. Kid takes nearly fifteen minutes to use the bathroom!
"Sorry!" Nudge yelled as she neared. She waiting until she got near me before speaking again. "I didn't know where the bathroom was. I had to ask." She carefully positioned her orange bag on the rainbow towel. I frowned as I heard a low whistle.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"That noise. It sounded like a camera adjusting."
Did Nudge look....nervous? "It was probably someone's digital camera. Taking a picture of their kids or boyfriends or girlfriends or whatever. Max, we're in Hawaii, the prettiest place in America, if not the world! Of course people will be taking pictures. It's only logical, I mean, look at that water!"
I stared at her. I know talking was usual for the Nudge Channel, but this was over-the-top. After something I probably didn't even hear. "Whatever. I'm going for a dip." I walked over to the shore and stood ankle-deep in the beautiful blue water.
"WATCH OUT!!!!" a voice boomed behind me. I spun around and ducked just as a Frisbee slashed through the air above me, right where my neck had been. It had the force to take off my head. I looked over and saw a boy about my age with muscles that looked like a son of one of those exercise commercials with all the women behind him. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"
"It missed me." I looked out into the water. The red Frisbee was way in the water, dozens of yards farther then anyone dared to swim. "Ooo, sorry about your Frisbee. I'll go get it." I turned around and started to tramp through the water, but he grabbed my wrist.
"No," he said. "Don't worry about it. It'll wash up in the waves later."
I turned around again. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted to go in the water?"
"Okay, maybe I do too. Let's go."
My eyes scanned the water, and I found Fang. He threw a beach ball at Gazzy and turned around. He froze and shielded his eyes to see if it was me. I turned back to him. "I have a boyfriend," I smirked. "So bug off." I walked farther out in the water, and didn't realize until I heard splashing water behind me that he was following. I turned around. "I said bug off!" I tried to shove him back, but my fist knocked into his arm. I heard a crack and stifled a scream, holding my wrist.
Pain shot up my arm. It wasn't the first bad break I'd ever had, but it had been so long ago. We had totally dystroid Itex and all the witecoats like almost a year ago.
"Or..." he started, "you could break your hand....."
This dude was such a jerk!
"GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!" I screamed at him. He held up his hands as if surrendering and backed up. I gasped as I tried to bend my fingers.
"Who was that dude?" Fang asked behind me. I spun around.
"Ugh, just some jerk that wants to go out with me. OUCH!" Fang had gently touched my hand.
"Sorry. Just don't put it in salt water. Come on, let's sit down."
"He's almost a bigger jerk then Kahoko."
"I don't think that's possible, Max."
We walked out of the water and towards the rainbow blanket. We sat down and I turned around to go through Nudge's bright bag. I froze. I heard a camera adjusting again. And it was coming from... below me. I picked up the bag and shook out it's contents. Cheese and crackers, Angel's animal crackers, Gazzy's favorite gummy snacks, a few sodas, nothing strange.
"W-what are you doing? Max?" Fang asked.
I didn't answer him, just kept rumming around in the snacks. That's all it was, snacks. And Nudge's sun tan lotion. I picked up a spray-cheese can and saw the blue stipe of the blanket.
"If you were hungry you didn't have to dump it out."
I sighed. Forget it, I told myself. I put up everything, keeping out the cheese and crackers. I tossed the bag behind me. I probably didn't hear it. Everyone was fine, that weird jerk was gone, it was nothing. Everything was fine. I let out a deep breath as Fang wrapped an arm around me.
-Kahoko POV-
I felt my face getting red from anger. A little girl and her mom passed and the girl said, "Look, Mommy! That idiot by the laptop is a tomato!" The mom told her to be quite and moved along before I could kill her. Max had throw the bag behind her, so now the camera was pointed this way. Whatever the camera saw, I saw on my laptop. So I was starting at myself on the stone patio, staring like an idiot at a white Dell laptop.
That's the only thing I don't like about those cameras. I can take in everything for miles that it's FACING, but it's totally blind to what happened behind it. Max could be building a ray gun behind it and I would have no clue. Max had to throw the bag behind her.
Revenge. Torture. Pain. That's what I wanted Max and Fang to feel. And I had the perfect plan. It had already begun. Max had slammed my twin brother (who looks nothing like me, thank goodness), Keona, which means God's Gracious Gift. Mom said I was 'unexpected' and she and my father had to quickly make up a name. So he gets 'Gracious Gift' and I get 'Star'.
I picked up the laptop, and had to stop myself from smashing it on the ground. I picked up one of my radios and looked at the serface. There was a thin white strip of tape that said 'NM3056P'. I pressed the button. "NM3056P, I mean, Nudge. Fix your bag!"
No answer. Great. Maybe it had fallen off her shorts, or took it off to go swim. She does know these arn't waterproof, right? I just hope it isn't wet. I looked at the beach, so far away and so big I could hardly see them. I tucked my laptop under my arm and walked down the stone path, smiling and waving, trying to look like a normal pedestrian. The complete opposite of me.
As I got to the fence that seperated the gardens from the beach, I looked around for the Flock. NM3056P was playing in the water with the little one, Gazzy, and the blind one, Iggy--I think. They were both boys. I bet the little one was underwater talking to random fish, because the woman they were with was looking around franticly in the water yelling, "Angel? Angel? Has anyone seen a little girl with a polka-dot takini?" Too bad there are tons of little girls in polka-dot takinis. The girl, Ella, was looking farther in the water, coming up for air every 30 seconds. Max and Fang were cuddling on the blanket, that made my stomach churn.
I replaced the radio on my belt and took another one, which said 'BROTHER' on it. I pressed the button. "Keona, the new girl was asking about you." A smile spread on my face. The new girl was Max--don't ask. I just like to see Keona mad. He was the one my parents expected, the oldest. He's a nice, polite Christian, always went to church every Sunday, the one my mom always like best. That's why I'm who I am. I grew up in the church, but I've tried to throw all that out the window, even though I still have problems with cussing and swearing. Those two things will never leave me, I'm afraid.
I opened the gate and hopped down on the beach. Warm white sand flooded in my sandles, and I made sure to stay out of sight of Max or Fang. I walked up to the shore, where I saw NM3056P and her friends. I shouted for her, then picked up a rock and chunked it at her. It hit her shoulder and I waved her in.
"What?" she asked, ringing out her hair.
"Fix your bag! Max got something out and now it's facing the wrong way. Fix it!"
NM3056P sighed. "Next time, just call me over the radio."
"I tried, but--" My eyes found the soaked black radio on a loop in her shorts. "You know that isn't waterproof! You just threw my sixty dollars in the ocean!"
"Sorry!" she said.
I mumbled. "Just go fix your bag."
-Max POV-
"Wow!" Nudge said. She waited until she ran up beside us. "Pacific Ocean salt water is nasty. Eww. I don't know how people stand to put salt in their water on a daily basis." She reached in her bag and pulled out a grape soda. She sat the bag down carefully and popped it open, taking five big gulps before stopping for air.
I dug my toes in the warm sand, that got colder the farther down you got.
Nudge gulped down the rest of her soda and crushed the can. "That's better," she said. She walked over and tossed the can in the trash.
Fang pulled out one of the last crackers from the pack and took a bite out of it. "You know--" His expression darkened. "Max."
I quickly did a scan of the beach and sat up straight. I looked to the other side, sitting up straighter. It was that jerk who wouldn't leave me alone and, someone who looked very fimilure. Squinting, I realized what I was looking at and jumped to my feet. Kahoko and the jerk were coming from either side, both seemed to be coming at us.
me: I just realized there are some questions from nm-maximumride4eva. 1. Nudge is the most loyal, that why I chose her. It freaked out a lot of people. Hehe! 2. You'll just have to read to find out if someone is controlling Nudge, or NM3056P. A lot will be spilt in the next chapter. 3. I got a lot of people to hate Kahoko! But Keona isn't a bad guy, he has no idea what's going on. 4. It will be revieled how long they were working together in the next chapter. 5. Yes, Nudge is working for Mr. Chu.
Max: Maxrideaddict, you love questions.
me: Yes I do. Keep 'em coming, nm-maximumride4-eva! And anyone else with questions! Ugh, I'm so tired. Btw, I typed this up the night before it was published. I got it all typed the day before, and then my computer wouldn't save so I lost all of this text the first time.
Max: Wow.
me: I'll have the next chapter up ASAP, which may take a while with all this TCAP prep, cause it's only 4 weeks away. And I live in Tennessee, so we have TCAP, or Tennessee Comprehension Assesment Preperations. I don't know what everyone else calls it.
Max: Isn't that that end-of-the-year test that you were telling me about? The one that grades the teacher instead of the student?
me: Yep. And TCAP will probably be during my birthday, too. Ugh.
Max: Maybe her day will be brighted up by some REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S Thanks agian to WinterSky for the suggestion. And do you want to know more about Kahoko and Keona's past? If you do, any suggestions?
