Upon arriving at her house, Charlotte slowly unwrapped her arms from around Henry. Then she slowly climbed off the bike. Jasper handed Henry his backpack and he fished out the suit and goggles he put in there, and handed it to Charlotte. The two nodded to each other and she started up the steps to her front door (at this point, she was walking her normal pace rather than that of the hallway snails she sometimes got stuck behind at school) with Henry's backpack in hand (they decided without saying that it made sense to just leave his here, since he was going to be living here for the week).
Henry watched her walk until she was out of sight (but not out of mind) before reaching into his backpack for the pad of paper and pen (they would've used their phones and just texted Ray, but they knew without it having to be said that paper would be smarter, since hacking was always a possibility. Plus, paper can be destroyed forever, unlike data) they were using and sitting down next to Jasper on the sidewalk so that they can finish the list while Charlotte went upstairs.
No sooner had Henry opened his mouth to tell Jasper how much progress they'd made at his house before taking had Jasper suddenly went, "So what's up with you and Charlotte?"
Needless to say, Henry jumped a mile into the air and his face turned redder than a baboon butt. "Nothing. What are you even talking about?" Henry was trying desperately to play it cool, but their was no denying it now. Jasper knew.
And he didn't see very interested in keeping it down!
"I KNEW it! I was right!"
"For once," muttered Henry before going, "Whaddya mean, you were right?!"
"I mean, I was right!" Henry shot his friend a look. "Okay, okay, down, boy. Look, I just knew, okay? For one thing, you guys were sitting very close to each other when I came outside earlier. And besides, for years now I've just looked at you two and have always been positive that something was going to happen. But when you guys told me that you were dating-"
"Aw, geez! Please don't even mention that embarrassing incident!" Henry cringed and softly face palmed.
Jasper looked TOTALLY confused. "But you guys and-" his face twisted into realization when it hit him. "Oh… it wasn't real?"
Henry shook his head and continued to stare at his shoes. "No. We were trying to convince Ray to let you in on everything, and he said if you could keep a secret for a week then we'd bring you down to the Man Cave. But part of the agreement was that Ray chose the secret."
Jasper nodded as the pieces of the puzzle came together. How the two of them refused to kiss, and why Ray worked so hard to get him to spill the beans…
"Hey, when did Charlotte find out, anyway?"
Henry looked up. "I thought we told you."
"If you did I forgot."
Henry took a deep breath. "It wasn't too long after I got the gig."
"How long is 'not two long'?"
"I dunno. If my job were a TV show it would be sometime during the third episode. I think she was suspicious after a few little side effects from this one machine-"
"Ooh, what machine?" Jasper looked way too interested."
"I'll tell you about that in a minute. Anyway, afterwards she kept asking questions and getting more and more suspicious. One day, after hearing on the news that Captain Man and Kid Danger put out a fire at the syrup factory, Charlotte snuck into my room and sniffed my head- which smelled like syrup- to confirm what she already knew. I tried lying to her, but it was too late. The secret was out," Henry finally put the pen and pad of paper down next to him. "I finally just admitted it." Henry decided to leave out the part about getting fired. He really didn't want to think about losing his job when that was possibly going to happen any minute now. Or something worse.
"Oh, and the machine thing- sometime before that I was getting in trouble for falling asleep in class-"
"Oh yeah, I remember that. Puerto Rican history test, right?."
"Yeah. So Ray and Gooch hooked me up to this machine in the Man Cave that put a bunch of facts about Puerto Rico into my brain- it was probably the only reason I aced the test. But it made me mix up my words and scream like a girl for a few days."
"You're the one who screamed that day? I always thought it was Sydney or Oliver."
Henry ran out of things to say (or he was too embarrassed to say anything else, there was honestly no telling which), so he passed the paper and pen to his friend so Jasper could finish his chunk of the list.
…
As Charlotte ran through the empty house (her mom was working late that night, and her dad was out a on business trip of some sort) and to her room (where she set the backpacks down next to Henry's duffle bag, which her mom had given to her that morning), she couldn't think about anything except what has happened back at Jasper's house.
Actually, that wasn't true. The other thing that wouldn't quit bugging her was the whole oh-no-someone-knows-about-us thing. Which made perfect sense, of course.
I just don't want to lose him.
Charlotte suddenly lost all of her energy and collapsed onto her bed, trying to catch her breath. Who did she not want to lose? Well, Henry, obviously. But there was also Ray, Jasper, Gooch, Schwoz and Bork. Then there was anyone who's ever interacted with Captain Man/Ray or Kid Danger/Henry, like any girls that have ever been down in the Man Cave (like that hula girl). In fact, anyone in town could be affected.
Thirty seconds ago, Charlotte barely had the strength to finger her pillow, but suddenly she sat up on the bed as if she'd sneezed. Whoever planted to spy rats could've found out about them any other way- like kidnapping someone (like a Man Fan, or all of them- which could mean Piper) and demanding Captain Man and Kid Danger come without their masks so they could post it on YouTube, or something. But whatever the case was, they all needed to figure out who, what, when, where, and why. And fast.
Sighing, Charlotte slowly rolled off the bed onto her feet and made her way over to the closet. After searching through her all-too-organized drawers (something Henry noticed once), she pulled out the swim suit she had bought just a couple weeks before- it was a bright yellow that practically glowed against her dark skin and was dotted with little brown horses. Also, it was a one piece with most of the back cut out- and shoved it into a string backpack along with a pair of goggles. She decided to do what Henry had done earlier, and make sure everything was locked before leaving.
It took a few minutes before Charlotte finally secured almost every room (except the garage) and was done locking up her own. As an afterthought, she grabbed three gummy bears from her little dish before heading back to the boys.
Outside, she found that Henry and Jasper had finished the list and were sitting on the sidewalk, talking. They hadn't noticed her. She kept walking. No reactions. Soon enough she could make out what Henry was saying.
"... and then I told her to follow me and lead her up to the tubes, and I said, 'Hug me'." Jasper giggled in that oh-how-cute sort of way. "And she was like, 'uhhh why?' And I told her to trust me-"
"Told who?" Charlotte hadn't actually planned to cut him off so early, but her brain was screaming WHO IS THIS GIRL?!
Henry and Jasper turned to look at her in surprise. "Oh," said Henry. "I was telling him about the first time I brought you down to the Man Cave."
Me? Oh… Memories of that day flooded Charlotte's head as she remembered how Henry led her to the tubes for her first ride up.
"Oh yeah. I remember that." Charlotte held out her hand. "Gummy bear?" Henry and Jasper each hungrily took one- they haven't had anything to eat what the school district called "food" for lunch- and Charlotte began walking over to the garage as she ate her own.
Jasper thought of another question. "When you took Charlotte up the tube- did she scream?" He held back a laugh so his words would be understandable. Charlotte rolled her eyes turned to the thumbprint scanner that was next to the garage door.
"Like a little girl." The boy's laughter drowned out the sound of the garage door opening. Charlotte rolled her eyes again but couldn't help but find it cute. Well, half of it, anyway.
As Charlotte walked her bike out of the garage (feeling disappointed she wasn't sharing with Henry anymore), Henry jammed his suit and goggles into the string bag. The boys (both of them also wishing Charlotte was still on the same bike as Henry) climbed on their bikes. Charlotte locked her garage (and double checked it was secure), hopped on her bike, and the three teens sped off.
Annnnnnnnnd Chapter 14! Anyone else been watching the new episodes?! Awesome, right?
Ciao!