How to Stick It to the Man
Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of How to be Indie.
Summary:
Carlos Martinelli extorts Marlon Parks into dog-sitting his monster mutt for the weekend, and the resulting struggle puts Marlon in the worst position between Carlos and Abigail Flores.
"If I take The Beast for the weekend…you'll delete the video?"
"Swear on my word as an evil genius! First one's history!" His fellow ninth-grader raised his right hand insincerely.
"First one?"
"What? You thought I wasn't going to record this? It's insurance!"
A progressive bad guy is still a bad guy (he had two girl henchpeople on his crew).
"Seriously? That's double blackmail!"
Guess he shouldn't have expected Carlos Martinelli, the kid that makes bad things happen to good people – his cellmate in Mrs. Roland's detention penitentiary and competitor for no-filter behaviour – to keep a secret, even if they were in the dastardly mastermind's "secret" lair.
Just like Carlos' mom wouldn't let "The Beast" anywhere near the house, nobody volunteered to go into Carlos' lab. Marlon preferred the privacy of his place (when his mom wasn't intruding while he was changing), but she and their cat were home.
"Come on. Between you baring it all in front of the basketball team and photocopying your I-didn't-even-want-to-know, is being seen looking after your frenemy's dog such a big deal?"
Classifying Boris as a "dog" was rather debatable. Also, considering them "frenemies" might have been a real stretch of the imagination.
Marlon hated his luck. Why did he get caught streaking again? Abi's multistep revenge plans never fit the crime! Putting him in Carlos' lens for dropping her retainer in the toilet (how many times now?) seemed calculatedly harsh.
"I could remind everybody about your butt rash, Bradley!" Marlon threatened.
"Check yourself, Scrawny Donny! You filmed those puberty PSAs too! Besides, I could post your little video on the internet, where it'll be shared and re-shared by billions of web viewers! Marlon's Pantsplosion: The Sequel! No, something more clever: Dirty Backwards Ignoramus That Loses Jeans in Gym Class!"
The dinosaur jab aside…Crap! Forget Rexdale High! The link may even reach Abi's auntie in the Philippines and become the latest buzz!
"Argh, screw it! Let's just get this over with!"
"Hehe, well then!"
Tossing his scarf back over his shoulder so The Beast wouldn't have a clear shot at it, Marlon accepted the doggy carrier from Carlos.
The bully had his camera phone out in seconds.
"Honest! Why, Martinelli? Just why?" Marlon grabbed a pot off the workbench and doused Carlos (and a bit of himself) with its contents.
Knuckle-cracking anger erupted.
"Not so hot now, are you?" He mockingly patted Carlos on the cheek.
"Oh my gosh! You are a genius! That was my glue for the Science Fair! You just stuck us together again!"
The only student worse than him in Ms. Nunes' science class, and yet Carlos somehow cooked up an adhesive stickier than cement based on the lesson their nice-smelling teacher bonded his shoes to the ceiling! Plus he had the guts to submit the same experiment two years in a row!
"Abi! We have to find Abi!"
"We can't stroll up to the Hut and beg for help, can we? You've got a hand glued to Boris, and the other glued to my face, Marley Bear! What'll people think?"
"Yuck, stop!" Marlon made vomiting sounds. "My mom calls me that!"
Carlos growled. Or maybe that was Boris.
Marlon had already dialed Abi with his tongue, which Carlos found equal parts gross and equal parts impressive. At least he punched Abi's name on the first try, and not someone who would have been no help like John Lu or Dre or Ram Ramachandran.
"Abi! Help! There was an accident and I'm glued to Martinelli again!"
"Let me get this straight. You're trapped with Martinelli with no way out?"
"Yeah?" Marlon thought he detected evil doll, "straight for the cutlery drawer" scariness in her voice.
"Ohoho! This is better than the gym video! I gotta tell Indie!" Abi celebrated.
"Waitwhat? Carlos hasn't posted it!"
"Carlos? I was referring to the video I took! You think I'd leave humiliating you to the Big Bad Wolf? Making me wear toilet retainer is personal, Parks!"
Marlon flung Carlos a guilty stare. "Is it too late to hide out in Austro-Bulgonia? I feel we can turn up the hamsters to pay for two tickets back to my own made-up country…"
It was definitely Carlos doing the growling this time.
Marlon S. Parks! He was totally on the List!