Foreword:
I have a confession to make… The title 'Saving Tobey' is—kind of an inside joke. See, there was this social phenomenon called 'Save Toby,' where these two guys held a rabbit for ransom. I won't go deep into detail, but you can look it up on Wikipedia if you're curious. Suffice it to say, I may have had this fiasco in mind when I chose the title for this story—which is not to say that I didn't simply like the title, regardless of the ridiculous association. :P
Swivet [swiv-it] – a state of nervous excitement, haste, or anxiety; flutter.
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WordGirl landed in the school playground almost hard enough to make a crater, then dove into the robot-head slide that would forever remind her of Tobey. To his credit, the boy had accomplished a tremendous feat. He had gone from her favorite villain to her most frustrating friend, and almost overnight. At the moment she wasn't sure if that was an upgrade or a downgrade, but it was a tremendous feat regardless. Now if only she could get him to convert once more from 'most frustrating friend,' to 'normal friend who didn't test her patience at every turn.'
Back in her regular clothes, she zipped over to the school building and dashed from window to window looking for her troublesome quarry, and within a minute she'd found him. He was sitting alone in the math classroom, crossing his arms and impatiently tapping his foot. He was obviously steaming about something. Well… two could play that game.
She flashed into the school and through the hallways like a gust of wind, then tore into the room like a small tornado.
"Tobey, what happened?" she demanded, balling her fists and wearing a frantic frown. "Why are you in detention?"
Tobey regarded her with a flustered scowl. "Don't ask me! It isn't my fault that seventh grade arithmetic is so beneath me that I had to write quadratic equations on my worksheet to keep from losing consciousness out of sheer boredom."
Becky blinked in surprise, her aggravation simmering down. "You got in trouble for doing more difficult work than what you were assigned?"
"That's exactly right," Tobey exclaimed. No sooner had the statement passed his lips, however, he looked suddenly sheepish and averted her eyes as he reluctantly grumbled, "Although it might've had something to do with my telling the teacher that her snore-inducing curriculum was to blame when she asked me why I didn't complete my assignment."
Becky grimaced, her aggravation returning full force.
Patience, Becky, she reminded herself, tightening her fists at her sides. I expected there to be some rough days… But why did one of them have to be TODAY?!
"So," she muttered (gritting her teeth to keep from screaming), "how long is she making you stay?"
"She said I could leave when I finish this ridiculous worksheet," Tobey grumbled.
Becky's jaw relaxed. "Well, that's easy! You could probably have it done in five minutes."
Tobey shot her a defiant look. "I refuse! This is child's work!"
"Tobey, you are a child!"
"I still have my pride! I was doing this level of computation when I was in diapers!"
Becky grunted, squealed, and thrashed her fists about in frustration. She didn't know who she was more annoyed with right now—Tobey for being such a stubborn egomaniac, or herself for being so ridiculously determined to keep his party a surprise. "Oooooh! Tobey, why do you have to be so incorrigible?! Which, for your information, means extremely resistant to change, even when it's healthy or necessary!"
"I stopped being a villain, didn't I?"
"Yeah, after putting up extreme resistance!"
"Maybe I can be of assistance," the friendly voice of the Narrator came to her rescue out of nowhere. He cleared his throat, calling both Tobey and Becky's attention to the air above them, and dramatically announced, "Just then, a familiar face appeared to help the former boy genius with his math homework."
"I beg your pardon!" Tobey blasted, sounding more than a little offended. "Did you say former boy genius?!"
Before his question could garner an answer, a flash of turquoise light ushered in a perky young alien in a superhero costume.
"Did I hear someone say 'math homework'?" He shouted exuberantly, thrusting a fist in the air as he added, "This sounds like a job for… Kid Math!"
"You!" Tobey shouted, eyes gaping. Becky could practically feel the sting of defeat radiating off him, so strong that she almost worried he might pull out a remote and end the robot-free streak she'd been so hopefully documenting. Then again…
"Oh, I'm so glad you came," Becky cut in. For better or worse, she was on board with this. She needed to get Tobey to his house, and she remembered how Scoops had successfully used a similar tactic to get Tobey to fix his camera. Shooting the birthday boy a wry smile, she added, "Tobey here seems to be having some difficulty finishing his homework assignment."
"I am not!" Tobey retorted, going red with ire.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Kid Math assured, obliviously playing right into Becky's ploy. "I've found that struggling with arithmetic is quite common for the average child on your planet."
Before Tobey could gather his seared wits enough to snap back, Kid Math picked up the worksheet and held it up for Tobey to see, indicating the first problem and happily explaining, "All you have to do is take the numerator—that's the number on top—and divide it by the—"
"Give me that!"
Tobey snatched the paper and slammed it onto the desk in front of him. With a flustered huff he hunched back into his seat and set to work, sparks flying off the page as he defiantly (and compliantly) tackled the assignment.
Becky gave a triumphant smile. It was nice to know that some good could come of his ego, if you knew how to coax it out of him.
"Well, Kid Math, it looks like Tobey has this handled after all," she said, adding in a low whisper so that Tobey couldn't hear, "I'll see you later."
"Later?" the other hero asked, looking confused.
Becky blinked, and a bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. How could she have forgotten to invite him to the party? He was one of the people who helped her win over Tobey—although, granted, he wasn't even aware of it.
"Uh—Wow, it's getting hot in here all of a sudden," she exclaimed, wiping her forehead. "Kid Math, why don't you and I step outside for some fresh air while Tobey finishes his detention work?"
And with that she grabbed the other hero by his foot and dashed out of the room, dragging him behind her like an awkwardly shaped balloon.
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Tobey strolled out of the school in a foul mood. He couldn't help feeling like he'd been played, and even putting that aside, he still just felt annoyed in general. If he never saw that irritating little hack of a superhero again, it would be too—
"Quick!"
Tobey looked up from his brooding to see Becky rushing toward him. "Come on," she shouted urgently. "We've got to go!"
"Go where?" he asked.
Instead of answering, Becky seized his right wrist and bolted off with him in tow.
"Hold on, Becky! What's this about?" he called out to her, struggling to match her pace. The urgency in her frenzied gait gave him the impression that she might actually drag him along behind her if he tripped. "Hey!" He shouted when she failed to respond. "Slow down!"
She was deaf to his questions and protests—either too focused to hear them or just flat-out ignoring them—and so there was nothing Tobey could do but continue to yell and stumble along behind her, trapped in her wake. He wondered if she would even notice if his wrist broke.
They came to a traffic light, where Becky was forced to stop for the first time since the school. Tobey gasped for air, his muscles crying out in relief. He shot a frown up at Becky, planning to demand an explanation from her as soon as he caught his breath. She was looking up at the heavy traffic clogging the intersection before them with a nervous expression.
"Oh," she groaned, fidgeting fretfully. "At this rate we're going to be too late!"
"Too late for what?!" Tobey blasted.
Becky rounded on him, making two determined fists. "No time for questions, Tobey! We have to get to your house ASAP!"
"Confound it all, Becky, WHY?!"
"Looks like I've got no choice," she muttered, yet again ignoring his question. "Come on!"
She grabbed his poor wrist again and whisked him into a deserted alleyway near the intersection.
"Now hold on just a blasted minute, Becky! Just what in the blazes is going—?!"
"Word up!"
She changed into her superhero attire in a flash of light, then swept him off his feet and took to the skies. Tobey cried out in alarm as he was hurdled 30,000 feet into the air at the speed of sound… and then he was in heaven. The wind whipped his hair as they rocketed ahead at breakneck speed. The clouds broke against his face, dappling his skin with soft, cool mist. The rush of adrenaline from suddenly being so high up sent his spirit soaring right along with his body, and the sight of the city rolling by far below was exhilarating. Ironically, however, the best part was owed to the mysterious hurry that had irritated him so deeply just seconds ago.
Usually when Becky carried Tobey she gripped him loosely by the arms and just let him dangle below her, but this time she was going so fast that she had instead bound him up in a firm embrace, clasping her hands like a seat belt over his chest. His pulse against her palms was so rapid that he thought he might have a heart-attack.
Tobey swallowed, gave a nervous yelp, and desperately grasped her hands.
"Don't worry," she said, tightening her grip on him. "I've got you."
He wasn't worried. He'd never been afraid of being up high or of falling. He'd just wanted an excuse.
Too soon, it seemed, Becky reached his house and landed in the back yard. She let go of him while he still had momentum, and he dizzily and painfully tumbled to the ground.
For a moment he was seeing stars. Then Becky's face blurred into view, and the stars turned into hearts.
"Come on, Tobey," she grumbled as she stood over him, back to her normal clothes and testy mood.
She grabbed his wrist—the left one this time, thank goodness, else it might have come disjointed—and pulled him mercilessly to his feet before dragging him around his house to the front door.
"Becky!" he growled as she swung the door open and practically flung him inside. "What in the world is—?"
"SURPRISE!"
The roar of a crowd deafened him, and a throng of smiling people appeared in an instant as the lights flicked on.
Tobey yelped in surprise and fell over backwards, but Becky caught him from behind, excitedly cheering, "Happy birthday, Tobey!"
Tobey was thunderstruck. His eyes gaped at the scene before him while his brain struggled to process what he was seeing. A laughing throng of people including his mother, Becky's family, and what must have been every child in his class and their families, were all congregated just inside his front door. A few of them blew on noise-making party favors. Some clapped and cheered. All of them were wearing party hats. They were all here… for him?
"Well?" Becky's voice filtered through the sonorous din, and he suddenly realized that she was still holding onto him. She gave him a light shove and he stumbled forward, managing to seize his wits enough to step through the door. He unconsciously breathed deeply as he was absorbed into the energetic crowd around him, and felt a tightness in his throat as his mind finally registered what was happening.
This was a surprise birthday party—for him. Surely he was dreaming.
He gasped as Scoops gave him a hard clap on the shoulder. A bright flash blinded him as his mother vigorously jumped in front of the crowd to snap a photo. Katie laughed and cheered his name, making him feel a small pang of guilt, while Eileen loudly announced that today was her birthday, too. A familiar dark-haired boy with glasses stepped forward and blathered out an awkward greeting, introducing himself as Rex and saying something about how they had never met in battle before, and certainly hadn't seen each other in the past ten minutes. Becky burst into an awkward fit of laughter and commented on what a kidder he was, then grabbed Tobey's hand and whisked him past the crowd and into the living room, saying she couldn't wait to show him what everyone had put together for him.
Tobey smiled and let her lead him, this time without question or complaint. Even if this was a dream, he figured he might as well enjoy it.
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We all stumble in many ways.
— James 3:2a
Author's Notes:
-Get on with it, already!—I have another confession to make... Originally this chapter was going to include the party itself as well as the buildup. The thing is, well… I haven't quite finished writing the party yet. *sweats* Plus I noticed that the chapter is both really long and really late, so I thought I'd just split it in half and post the first part now. I'll post the rest next week (I hope). *sweats some more* I mentioned that you can stop reading any time, right?