Chapter 3 Awkward to the Third Power

"We are awesome; so flipping awesome!" Larry sang as he entered the castle.

Wendy glanced over at Iggy and Larry, who were smiling like crooks. She took notice of two things. One, Mario and Peach were following behind them. Two, in Mario's hand was the interdimensional ray gun. Wendy slowly approached the group.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Iggy's eyes sparkled. "We have done it, dear sister! We have persuaded these two lovely people right here to allow us to have an interdimensional Mario Kart race!"

Wendy blinked. "Interdimensional Mario Kart race? Why...why would you want to have that?"

"Duh!" Larry exclaimed. "Because it's, like, the best idea ever!" He grinned. "Don't you remember when we were talking about it at the breakfast table?"

Wendy lowered her head. Her memory of what happened that morning was very blotchy to say the least. All she could recall was an overwhelming amount of pain as she stared at the words "I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"Uh, no. Not really."

Larry giggled. "Well, long story short, we're going to use the ray gun to create portals, which will allow us to hop from dimension to dimension. We will use those portals to form a Mario Kart Track."

"It will certainly be doable," Iggy said as he adjusted his glasses. "And Mario and the Princess will be participating as well." He cast a smile toward the Princess and the plumber. "We are ever so thankful that you two have agreed to this."

"You're welcome," Peach said. She smiled and placed her hand on Mario's shoulder. "We are ever so thankful that you guys are willing to move past your dastardly ways for the sake of a good time."

Mario sniffed. "Yeah. What she said."

Larry chuckled. "We're willing to do anything as long as Mario Kart is involved!" He turned toward Iggy. "Come on; let's go tell Bowser our plans!"

At the mention of the Koopa King's name, Peach seized up. "B...Bowser?"

"Why, of course!" Iggy exclaimed. "It would only be appropriate."

Peach looked away and fidgeted with her gloves. "I didn't….I didn't realize we would be talking to Bowser. I don't know if I'm comfortable with that."

Mario gawked. "You didn't realize we would be talking to Bowser? Seriously Peach? Why else do you think we would go to his castle?"

Peach chuckled, blushed, and scratched the back of her head. "I don't know; to get some snacks?"

Mario shook his head. "Unbelievable." He looked at Iggy and Larry. "Is there any way I can keep an eye on Peach while I'm in the throne room?"

Iggy grinned. "Why, of course!" He pulled a tablet out of his hammerspace and handed it to Mario. "I have installed security cameras all over the Castle!" He pointed to one of the cameras hanging right above them. "The Princess can stay right here with Wendy while you keep track of her on the tablet."

Mario turned the tablet on, allowing him to see through the camera. He nodded. "Very well." He turned toward Peach. "You don't go anywhere, Peachy. I'll be right back."

The Princess nodded just as Larry, Iggy, and Mario walked away. Wendy examined her, unsure of what to say.

"Uhh...your dress looks nice. Is it new?"

Peach stared at her. "It's the same dress I wear everyday."

"Ah," Wendy said. "That..." she felt a tingling sensation enter her stomach and run up her back. "That...that makes sense."

The two stood in silence for a little bit. Wendy twiddled her thumbs while Peach kept looking from side to side. The female Koopaling didn't know what would be appropriate for this scenario. Should she continue to talk to Peach? Filling up the awkward silence with conversation would get rid of the inherent awkwardness. But then again, Peach probably wouldn't want to talk to the girl whose family kidnapped her every other week (at least, until recently).

Ultimately, Wendy decided the best thing to do would just be to ignore the Princess. So, she reached into her hammerspace and got out her phone. Although, that action did garner some problems of its own, as the first page that the phone opened up to was the thread of texts she had been having with Cindy. Wendy stared down at the last message that Cindy had sent to her, causing tears to fall.

"Are you okay?" Peach asked.

Wendy wiped the tears away. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Peach asked. "People don't just start crying for no reason."

Wendy snickered. "Well, then, let me ask you. If I wasn't okay, would you care enough to help me?"

Silence. Peach's mouth hung open a tiny bit before she cleared her throat. "Well, considering our….history together, I think the best answer would be...probably not."

Wendy nodded. "That's what I thought." She looked back down at her phone, closed the tab, sighed, and uttered under her breath "people are so painfully mean."

Peach blinked. "What do you mean?"

Crap, I was loud enough to hear! Wendy thought through gritted teeth. "Uh...what I meant to say was...you shouldn't have to look out for someone if they are mean to you."

"Yeah," Peach said, although she did it with a furrowed brow. Wendy turned away and directed her attention to the ground.

"Are you excited about the Mario Kart idea?" Peach asked.

Wendy slowly turned back toward her. "I...I guess. I've always been indifferent to Mario Kart."

"Oh. Well, I think Mario Kart is an overall fantastic sport. And doing it on a course that stretches through different dimensions could be...well, it could be cool."

Wendy nodded. She could see why Peach would think that. There would probably be a lot to explore in a different dimension, things that could stretch the imagination and bend the brain. Oh man.

"Here's a fun question," said the Princess, "what kind of dimension would you like to go to?"

Wendy looked back down at the phone. One where Cindy didn't cut me off, she thought.

"Uh...probably one with a lot of dolphins. They're my favorite animal."

"Nice!" Peach exclaimed. "I would go to one where everything is sparkly. That seems like it would be a blast!"

Wendy wrinkled her nose. "So, it's exactly like this dimension, only everything is...sparkly?"

"Exactly!"

"Everything is sparkly," Wendy repeated. She turned away from Peach. "Obviously, you didn't have to break out the big brain cells to think of that one," she muttered.

Finally, Mario, Iggy, and Larry came back out of the throne room. This time, they had Bowser in tow, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"You guys are right; that sounds like a great idea!" He turned and saw Wendy and Peach. "Oh, hey Peach."

"Hi," Peach said after a moment of hesitation. "So, you're onboarding with the idea?"

"Oh, definitely!" Bowser exclaimed. "I think that would should get the track set up and inform everybody about our plan right away!"