Marlene pulled Doris aside.
"Hold on, you picked her?" Marlene asked.
"Yeah, she's a lot like Skipper. Adventurer, not afraid to get her hands dirty, you know…I thought she was a good choice. I met her at the yoga place I go to." Doris said.
"She does yoga?"
"And a bit of martial arts, pretty cool."
"Yeah…" Marlene said.
Doris grinned as Kitka approached them.
"So which of these boys am I taking on a date?" Kitka said.
"That would be Skipper, here." Kowalski said. "Single, dateless, and completely available."
"Well, lucky for him. Hello Skipper." She held out a hand.
Skipper took it and shook it nervously.
"I-uh…you…so you're from downtown?"
"Yes, where are you from?"
"Uh…Long Island….uh-ehem…so, what's a lovely lady like yourself doing out here by yourself?"
"Well, I'm a risk taker. I like living the dangerous life, you know, get down and dirty."
"Me too."
"Well, Doris said I should get to know you. Would you like to go out for coffee?"
Skipper nodded numbly. The two of them left the building and Rocky started to laugh.
"My brother has been hit by Cupid's arrow." She said.
"Very badly hit, I'd say." Kowalski said.
"Yes, I am totally a great matchmaker!" Doris squealed.
"Yeah, hey where did Marlene go?" Kowalski looked around, but the brunette was nowhere in sight.
"She said something about making sure her dress was clean." Doris said.
Kowalski and Rocky shrugged.
"So, do we have to bond over coffee?" Kowalski asked.
"Nope." Rocky answered. "I have to go help out a friend."
"Oh, thanks for reminding me. I have to get to the tutoring room."
They departed with smiles as Doris squealed again.
"Yes! I totally did it-and I'm talking to myself…I really got to stop that." She sighed.
…
"No, Julien."
"Not likely."
"GET OUT OF MY FACE!"
Julien grunted as he was shoved aside by Nat. She was the seventeenth girl to reject him in two days and the third in the same hour.
"Maurice! Where is a single girl who is looking for me?"
"Uh…" Maurice scanned the room. "I don't know."
"Are you having a date?"
"Me? Well, I'm not really into the whole dance thing. I have to supervise you so I'm leaving Mort with a babysitter."
"Who wants to watch Mort?"
"I told Alice that you wanted her to watch Mort."
"Eh, I don't care. That is not about me, Maurice, what about ME? The king?" Julien wailed.
Maurice sighed. "I'm not a matchmaker, maybe you should ask Doris to set you up with someone. I heard she got a date for Skipper."
"That is it! Doris will go out with me."
Maurice shook his head. "No, she already has a date."
"Shush, Maurice! There is a lovely lady giving me the checking out."
"What? Where?"
Julien grinned and batted his eyes. He waved.
"Uh, Julien-"
"Not now, Maurice!" Julien hissed. He walked past the older boy. "Hello, pretty lady, I couldn't help but be noticing you checking the king out." He wiggled his eyebrows. There was no response. He saw that she had earphones on. He took one out and repeated what he had said.
"Huh?" She said.
"Okay, I am cutting to the chasing. You and I will make perfect dates for the Valentine's Day dance. I saw you staring at me and I think you likes me."
"Julien?"
"That is my name; do not be wearing it out."
"Are you trying to ask me to the dance?"
"Yes, is that not the reason you were staring at me?"
"No, it wasn't the reason."
Julien gaped. "But…you were looking at me…I saw you…"
"Well, I don't see you."
"That is mean."
The girl sighed. "Honestly, Julien?"
"What?"
"Let me outline it for you. I can't see."
"How can you not see me if I am standing right in front of you?"
"Oh gee, maybe I'm BLIND?"
"Julien, that's Rikki." Maurice said.
Rikki shook her head. "I wasn't planning on going to the dance."
"Please?" Julien said.
"If you're making a sad face it's not going to work, mainly because I can't see it."
"But why will you not go out with me?"
"Because you tormented my brother." Rikki stated bluntly. "You're also annoying and way to hyperactive for my taste."
"I do not even know your brother."
"Rico. Rico is my brother." Rikki said. "And you kept throwing insults at him for something that wasn't his fault."
"But that was a long time ago."
"Doesn't matter. No one messes with my brother and expects to get away with it. I am not going to the dance with you."
"Fine, I will find someone else! Someone totally better!" He huffed and walked off.
Maurice sighed. "I'm sorry about that, Rikki."
"Eh, it's fine." The girl said, putting the earphone back in.
…
Julien ran around the building until he crashed into a girl.
"Will you go to the dance with me?" He asked automatically.
"Wow, you are desperate." Ramona said. "First off, that's disgusting. I would never go to the dance with someone like you. Second-"
"Wait, hear me out." Julien said. "I mean, I am only three years older than you so why not? Are you already having a date?"
"Yes, I'm going with someone from my class. I asked before Barry could profess undying love for me. And don't even think about asking Allie, she took pity on Barry and decided to go with him. Don't ask Kenny either, he already has a date. And FYI, I'm two years younger than you."
"I wasn't going to be asking smarty booty's brother." Julien said in disgust.
"Smarty booty? Never mind, I don't want to know. Goodbye."
"Wait, do you know someone who is wanting to go out with the king which is me?"
"No." Ramona said firmly. She left before Julien could say anything else.
Julien sighed and headed back to his room.
"Julien?"
He turned around hopefully. Marlene stood there with a blank expression.
"Will you go to the dance with me?"
He gave her a questioning look. "You don't like me."
"Yeah, I know, but I don't have a date."
"Why not?"
"That doesn't matter. I want to go with a date and you're practically desperate. I passed by Ramona and she told me what happened. This is a pity date."
"I'll take it!" Julien said with a grin.
"Just don't go bragging about it."
"Okay! The king has a date! Mort, start playing the party music!" He shouted as he entered his room.
Marlene grimaced. "Yeah…"
"Really?"
She jumped and spun around to find Rico standing there.
"You scared me!"
"Sorry." He gestured questioningly at the door.
"Last resort…I rejected someone's offer because they're a jerk. Julien's a different kind of jerk."
Rico's eyebrows rose.
"I know…darn, why didn't I ask you?"
Rico shrugged.
"Oh, you don't like Valentine's Day, right?"
Rico shook his head.
"Good luck." He said.
"Thanks, I'm going to need it." She sighed heavily and returned to her room.
…
Friday came too soon for Marlene's liking. Normally most kids and teens would be thrilled that the weekend had come at last, but Marlene was ready to scream at Julien. He had been bugging her nonstop about what she should wear. Not him, though, he had no complaint about his outfit but had an issue with everything about Marlene's appearance from her hair to her shoes. He was going on about getting an elegant dress for her that would cost so much that they could fly a private jet to Paris and back.
…
Kowalski and Rocky spoke a few times before Friday to make sure they were going to be well coordinated as Kowalski had no idea how to dance.
Rico and Rikki were making plans to go shopping for their friends back home and they wanted to be far from the hectic atmosphere.
Allie and Ramona were pretty avoided by their guy friends because they were running around getting themselves ready. Barry and Kenny hid in Private's room whenever possible because Izzy would let the girls into their room. By hiding in the Penguins' room, they were safe. Kowalski was busy with dancing lessons and swim practice, Rico was avoiding festivities, and Skipper was hanging out with Kitka. Private and Hunter weren't too crazy about making things perfect and she just said she'd see him on the day of the dance.
Skipper was very much enjoying himself. He was taking in her tales of adventure. Apparently Kitka had been skydiving before she was eleven and when she was thirteen she broke three parts of her arm while scaling the Grand Canyon. She loved danger, and he was finding so much in common with her.
Unfortunately, this meant he was neglecting his duties as team leader. He hadn't been paying attention to any messages he was given and Kowalski couldn't get a minute to tell the leader anything.
Kowalski told Private to be on watch during the dance just in case something happened. Skipper nodded when Kowalski informed him, but the latter was pretty sure the leader wasn't listening.
…
Rico waved as Private and Kowalski left the room. They headed down to find their dates waiting for them. Hunter had a very nice gray dress on. She said she made it to look like a seal. Private smiled and nodded encouragingly. He saw Barry, Ramona, and Kenny looking a little uncomfortable.
Allie was taking Barry's videogame away, scolding him for trying to be lazy. Kenny was standing next to a girl from their science class. She looked completely bored and was texting away on her phone.
Ramona looked disgusted by her date. He had stains on his clothes and was picking his teeth with his pinky.
Private and Hunter exchanged looks.
"Can we save our friends?" Private asked.
Hunter sighed and approached Kenny's date as Private approached Ramona's date.
Kenny looked at Hunter with pleading eyes. Hunter opened her mouth, but the girl had walked away with her phone firmly in her hands.
"What just happened?" Hunter asked.
Kenny was about to answer, but they heard a retching noise as Ramona's date went speeding past them for a bathroom.
"Gross." Ramona said. "Well, Kenny, you're my date for the evening."
"Uh, okay."
Ramona put her arm around Kenny's and dragged him out.
"That was easy." Private said. "I just asked how much he ate."
"I didn't even get to say anything." Hunter said.
The two of them shrugged and left.
…
Julien was late. They were supposed to leave forty five minutes ago. The dance had already been going on for the past half hour.
Marlene grumbled as she knocked on his door. There was no response. Mort was downstairs asking Alice a million questions and he had no idea where Julien was. Maurice had gone ahead to help set up, and that left Julien to walk with Marlene…but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Julien?" Marlene called, trying not to sound annoyed. "It's time to go! Are you alright?"
No response.
Marlene sighed heavily as she went downstairs to borrow Mort's key. She opened the door to complete and utter silence. A few things looked knocked over. She entered and saw Fred and Mort's door open. Fred was lying on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Fred?"
The boy looked at Marlene.
"Hello."
"I was knocking, why didn't you answer?"
The boy shrugged.
Marlene sighed. "Where's Julien?"
"I don't know."
Realizing she wasn't getting any more out of him, she went into Maurice and Julien's room. It was a mess, but Julien wasn't there. She searched the room, calling his name to no avail. She took out her phone and called him. She was sent directly to voicemail.
She left the room and returned Mort's key to him. She texted Kowalski to ask if he'd seen Julien at the dance. As soon as she sent it, a new message popped up.
Private: Hey Marlene.
Marlene: What's up?
Private: Julien's here.
Marlene: What?
Private: I asked him if you were here, but he said no.
Marlene: Anything else?
Private: No, he told me to buzz off. Hunter's coming back from the bathroom so I have to go. Sorry!
Marlene growled internally, hot tears threatening to spill. She didn't care that Julien was already there, but that he hadn't even had the guts to tell her properly that he was leaving.
She headed to room 4P and nearly pounded down the door before Rico flung it open.
He was about to yell, but he caught Marlene's expression and let her in.
She told him what happened and he rolled his eyes.
"Rico, I know you don't like Valentines dances, but please would you go with me?" Marlene asked.
Rico nodded. "Friend." He said.
"Thanks, you're a great friend."
He helped her clean up a little and then put a suit on so he would be ready. The two of them headed to the dance.
…
Private watched Julien flirt with a couple of giggling girls. He felt angry that Julien would hurt Marlene like this, the former had been pretty desperate for a date and the least he could have done was dance with her.
He told Kowalski and Rocky who said they couldn't do anything about this, but they would chew Julien out later.
A few minutes later, Private received a text from Marlene saying that she was on her way with Rico.
At that moment, the high school student body president and the middle school's president stood up.
"Attention!"
Everyone directed their attention to the smiling duo.
"We want to thank you so much for coming and everyone who was a part of this event." The older one said. She smiled at everyone. "We hope to be able to host events like this in the future with your help. We also want to thank those who came early to set up and those who were part of the organization process from the beginning."
"The middle school is also proud to have contributed and we hope we can collaborate more."The middle school president said. "We also want to thank our teacher supervisors for all the support and for their time and effort in making this for you. As we always say, it's not for us, it's for you guys. All of you are important members of the student body and we hope you continue to contribute so we may have a fun time."
After the speech, the dance went on. Private felt hot and decided to step out with Hunter, Kowalski, and Rocky.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Hunter asked.
Private nodded. "Definitely, though they smile too much."
"Hey, I forgot my drink. Be right back." Hunter said. She winked and entered the gym.
"Kowalski's right, they run on pure energy." Rocky said.
"Yeah, I think they drink five energy drinks a day." Kowalski said. "They are nuts about school spirit. You missed the beginning of the year spirit rally, but they'll have another one in a couple of weeks. I bring earplugs because it's just so noisy."
"It's insanity sometimes." Rocky said. "One year, they threw paint at people who were entering; my brother nearly lost his eyesight."
Kowalski shook his head. "School spirit, yay." He said sarcastically.
"Hey, is that Rico?" Private asked.
"Yeah."
Rico and Marlene waved as they approached.
"RICO!" Private yelled.
"I think he saw you, Pri-"
"KOWALSKI!"
They whipped around.
"Kenny?"
Rocky flung the doors open and gasped. Everyone was unconscious on the ground.
Kowalski took gas masks out of his bag and gave one to Rocky and put one on. Private put his mask on.
Rico and Marlene noticed something odd and Rico gave her a gas mask. She didn't ask where it came from. They ran to catch up with the other three.
"Kenny!" Kowalski ran over to his brother, checking vital signs. It appeared that Kenny had tried to fight it off.
"Skipper!" Rocky jumped over people as she ran to her brother.
"Hunter?" Private shook Hunter, but she didn't respond.
Rico spotted his sister and ran over to her, purposefully stepping on Julien's fingers.
Marlene looked around. "Guys!" She said, pointing towards the podium.
"Hello." A man stood there, he had a mask covering his entire face. "So nice of you to join me, though I wish you were unconscious like the rest." He said in a deep voice.
"What did you do to them?" Kowalski asked.
"Don't worry, they'll be fine. Actually, they won't remember any of this when they wake up. They'll just think they finished the night normally and left."
"Who are you?" Rocky asked.
"Someone who has a problem with this stupid school. Not that you should care anyway, the person we're looking for didn't bother to show up." The man said. "Put away your weapon!"
Rico paused, halfway drawing a knife.
"Let these people go!" Private said. "What are you looking for anyway?"
"It's none of your business, young one." The man said. "There is no need for violence today, I shall leave peacefully. Rest assured these people will awaken in about ten minutes; they'll be groggy, but otherwise unharmed. Their memory of the end of the night will be a bit hazy though. Farewell."
"Wait!" Marlene said. "What-?"
The man had disappeared.
"What was that all about?" Marlene asked.
"Beats me." Rocky said.
…
Ten minutes passed and everyone began to wake up. They groaned collectively and began to leave the dance.
Rico held his sister's arm so she wouldn't get hurt. Everyone looked half asleep, their feet shuffling towards their homes. He thought it looked like something out of a zombie movie except without the blood and so on.
The other four watched the dispersing crowd, making sure they were safe.
…
The man had been telling the truth as no one remembered what happened. Everyone got up the next morning and went about their day as usual.
The only ones who questioned this were Skipper, Kenny, and Rikki.
Kenny had felt something was wrong immediately and he couldn't remember what. He thought he had warned Kowalski about it. The idea that it could have been a dream crossed his mind, but he eliminated it because the feeling was real. He knew he felt fear and maybe he called out for his brother or maybe he didn't, but he knew there was something up.
Rikki knew she never just suddenly couldn't remember anything. Even if a single thought disappeared from her head, it was because she either tried to forget about it or she was too young to have remembered. She could remember a lot, though. Her earliest memory was feeling very warm and hearing her mother's voice. The second one was of the day her mother died. She remembered it very clearly, all the way down to the smell of exploded soda volcano all over their kitchen.
Skipper hated this. His gut told him there was something very wrong. He could always recall a night, maybe it wasn't one hundred percent accurate, but he knew when things wrapped up nicely. And being suddenly plunged into the dark as he was asking something was not on his good list. When he didn't remember what happened after he ate, he needed to know more. He also became suspicious of the fact that no one else remembered what happened.
Later that day, Kowalski gathered the team plus Rocky, Kenny and Rikki and told them what happened.
Skipper was furious, his team had been left without a leader and it was because he wasn't listening to his gut properly.
"You have your mind around a girl." Rocky said.
"Wait, what?! Th-that's not true. Not true at all." Skipper spluttered.
"You're blushing right now." Private said.
"Private!" Skipper's face turned darker pink.
"You're so in love!" Rikki said. "Rocky and I are girls, we know these things."
"Stop!" Skipper said. "Even if I was, I wouldn't be likely to go head over heels in a whirlwind of emotion."
"…"
"…"
Rocky and Rikki gave him blank stares, well Rocky did. Rikki was technically staring at Private unintentionally.
Kowalski cleared his throat, proclaimed the situation to be awkward and retreated to his room. Rico had left the room as soon as Rocky said that Skipper had his mind around a girl. Private and Kenny exchanged looks and left to find Barry.
Rocky shook her head.
"Where's my brother, Rikki?" She sighed.
"Somewhere in a river in Egypt." Rikki answered.
"I am not in denial!" Skipper protested. "Can't we get back to figuring out who that guy was? I say it was Hans!"
"Hans was passed out with half a food tray covering him." Rocky said. "And your hand was very close to Kitka's."
Skipper groaned. "Why do you insist on pressing a subject I don't want to continue?"
"Partially because it's fun to see you struggle, but it's also painful." Rocky said.
"And older sisters have to make sure our brothers understand the world." Rikki said. "We want to make sure you understand girls at least to date her."
"Yeah, but I'm not your brother. Why pick on me?" Skipper asked.
"Easy, I gave up on Rico two years ago." Rikki answered. "I've been trying to get him to at least ask a girl to a dance since he was eleven. Four years of trying to get him to look at girls didn't pay off the way I hoped. He's nice, but he won't think about ANYTHING even remotely romantic. Since my brother refuses this, I must gather those who don't have older siblings and teach them about how to interact with girls."
"We're making it a goal to get you at least your first girlfriend before you graduate high school." Rocky said. "We're working on you and Kowalski."
"And we want to get Private, Kenny, and Barry at least their first real crush before they leave middle school. We're working on Ramona and Allie too." Rikki added.
"You have such a complex system…" Skipper sighed. "What about Marlene, Julien, and all the others?"
"We're not going anywhere near those guys from 4Q. Maurice says he had a girlfriend once, but it didn't work out. The other three are impossible." Rocky said.
"Marlene declined our offer, but we're still gonna bug her." Rikki said. "Doris doesn't need our help, Nat says she's already got a crush. Izzy…is weird as a monkey in a tutu…We think Ramona's brothers are a little too young. Everyone else wants us to butt out of their business."
"Hey, put me on that list." Skipper said.
"Not as long as we're blood related and you're still in high school." Rocky said with a huge, devious grin.
"That basically means you're not worming your way out of this until you graduate." Rikki said with an equally devious grin.
"And even then, we'll be hunting you down to get you a girlfriend who might possibly be your future wife." Rocky added.
"You don't know where I'll even be in ten years." Skipper said.
"You're right, but we know people who will know where you are." Rikki said.
"See ya later!"
They left Skipper to stare blankly with his mouth open. He snapped to attention when he saw Kowalski.
"Insane…my sister is insane…" Skipper said.
"No argument there." Kowalski said. "She's a very nice friend to go to a dance with, though."
"I'm going to bed…"
Kowalski stayed up a little while longer, watching television. He turned it off when Private entered.
"Er, Kowalski?"
"Yeah?"
"Kenny got a phone call a minute ago and told me to warn you that you might get one." Private said.
Kowalski's eyebrows lowered. "Did he answer it?"
"No, but he looked really pale."
"Probably one of those sales calls. He doesn't like those because he thinks they're the robots who will eventually kill us all if the zombies don't come first. Or the robots and zombies will team up."
Private looked skeptical. "Really?"
Kowalski offered a half shrug. Private let the subject drop and went to get ready for bed. Technically, it was a half truth. Kenny really did think that robots and zombies could team up to wipe out humankind, but he didn't think that sales calls were robots.
He was about to go to bed himself when his phone rang. He decided to ignore it. Maybe it was a sales call with a robot. Right now, that robot would be severely upset and possibly consider taking over the planet.
The phone was eventually shut off, something he knew he'd get in trouble for later.
A/N: Just want to know, am I overusing the secondary/supporting/ and background characters? I was hoping for the main ones to be the Penguins: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private.
I was thinking that the secondary characters were Allie, Ramona, Kenny, Barry, Marlene, Julien, Mort, Maurice, Doris (later), Rocky, and Rikki. (Possibly Hunter later)
The others are supporting, recurring, or background characters. I'll need to add some characters for certain scenes, but I'll try not to use them for too much.
Is there too much to handle? I'll try to tone it down if it is. Am I not paying enough attention to the main four?
One more question. Should I put Josie in the story or anyone else from Camaraderie or would that just be too overwhelming? Don't want to overwhelm you awesome people!
Julien: You're not paying enough attention to ME! I am Julien and I love you all!
Maurice: Uhh, I don't think you want to be in this author's note right now.
Julien: Why not?
Maurice: Did you READ the chapter?
Julien: PSH! I don't read! HAHAHAHA!
Kenny: You dumped Marlene.
Julien: HAHAHAH-AAAaawha? What?
Barry: Butt face.
Julien: Thank you for noticing! My lotion makes my skin as smooth as a baby's bottom.
Allie: End author's note!
Julien: Aww, but I-
Barry and Allie: END!
Barry: And stay away from my popcorn!
Allie: *grabs some popcorn*
Barry: Allie! Okay, that's it…someone needs to buy a machine that never runs out of popcorn.
Allie: I agree, this popcorn smells like Barry.
Barry: Hey!
Allie: Didn't say that was a bad thing.
Barry: …what does that mean?
Allie: Uh-
Ramona: POPCORN FOR EVERYONE!
Private: Where did you get that machine?
Ramona: Uhh…internet!
Kenny: I thought this was the end of the author's note.
Private: It is. See you next chapter!
Allie: Stay awesome!
Ramona: Thanks for over one hundred reviews!
Kenny: And for loving us no matter what!
Barry: I think we can all agree that we're insane! Hooray for insanity! GET OUT OF MY POPCORN!
Mort: Sorry…
