A/N: WARNING: the following chapter is very long. Reader discretion is advised.
The next day came. Henry was shown to be eating his bowl of cereal rather quickly as Regina looked at him while having some toast and oatmeal with sliced apples on top. She just looked at him in concern as she began to sip her coffee cup.
"Henry, slow down... You'll give yourself a tummy ache." Regina warned her son as she lifted her cup to drink out of it.
"Sorry, Mom," Henry replied as he took a quick break. "But I'm supposed to meet up with Dee Dee and Sophie."
"Dee Dee?" Regina repeated as she cracked a small smile.
"Yeah, you remember Dee Dee, don't you, Mom?" Henry then asked. "We went to her dance recital after her candy drive."
"Ah, yes, Henry, I remember your little girlfriend." Regina then said with a small nod.
"...She's not my girlfriend, Mom, we're just friends and nothing more," Henry defended bashfully before he seemed to turn red in his face. "But we have ultra-secret spy work to do about this town."
"Oh?" Regina asked. "You think there's a mystery going on?"
"More than that, Mom... I think that there's some magic hidden in this town and we're gonna go looking for it," Henry replied. "I don't know what it is just yet, but I'll know it when I see it."
"And why do you think that?" Regina asked curiously.
"I can't tell you that." Henry then said in a hushed tone of voice.
"Let me guess... If you told me you'd have to kill me?" Regina asked with an amused smirk.
"I'm sorry, Mom, I don't make the rules, I just report them." Henry defended.
"Hmm... Okay then..." Regina replied. "Just remember to finish your mission before sunset so you can come in for dinner. I don't want you staying outside too late. You might be on summer vacation, but there are still some rules that must be followed."
"Yes, Mom, I understand," Henry nodded before he went to finish up his bowl of cereal again. "Do you want anything from town?"
"No, I don't, but thank you for asking," Regina shook her head. "Just remember to stay out of trouble, no matter what you do."
"Yes, ma'am." Henry nodded as he began to finish up his cereal, then he put his spoon down on the table and began to drink the milk from his bowl.
Regina smiled and nodded before she went to carefully and patiently eat up her bowl of oatmeal.
Henry then went to put his bowl in the sink and ran some water through it before stopping, then came back over to his mother before hugging her. "I'm going upstairs for a minute, then I'll be right back down for the meeting, okay?" he then said.
"All right, Henry," Regina smiled and nodded calmly. "Just have fun and be careful out there."
"Don't worry, Mom. I got this." Henry reassured calmly.
Regina smiled, then went back to her breakfast before she would get back to work for the day herself. She then sighed a bit before looking at the ring on her finger that was given to her right before her new beloved left to go help out with The Summer School Games and helping the kids out in the archery tournament part of the events. "Robin..." she then sighed to herself warmly. She just hoped that he was doing alright with the others, though he seemed to be just fine whenever they would talk on the phone while Evie and Mal hung around Zelena. She then looked over as she pondered what to do while Henry would be out for probably most of the day. She contemplated on calling Robin, though speaking of Robin, she felt like doing a certain thing. She looked around and soon went to finish up her breakfast, then wash the dishes, and went over to the phone. "Sidney, I'm stepping out of my office. I'll need a couple of hours alone."
"Yes, Madam Mayor," Mr. Glass' voice responded. "May I ask why? Are you speaking time with young Henry?"
"No, no, Henry's busy... I just need some alone time to think," Regina reassured. "I also need to step into town and visit the pharmacy."
"The pharmacy?" Mr. Glass asked, voicing slight concern.
"Relax, Sidney, I'm not sick," Regina rolled her eyes slightly. "Just tell anyone who wishes to see me to leave messages on the machine and I'll get back to them as soon as I can."
"Yes, Madam Mayor." Mr. Glass then obeyed, deciding not to ask any further questions after that.
"Thank you..." Regina nodded as she hung up the house telephone before she went upstairs. She came into her room to finish getting ready for the day by brushing her hair, getting her purse, and soon slid on her shoes before heading out her front door and went to lock the door. She then stepped outside and looked around a bit, making her way over to The Dark Star Pharmacy, owned by Doug's Uncle Tom, who she swore was allergic to everything and had four different allergy seasons throughout the course of a full year.
"G-G-Good m-m-m-m-m-morn-morn-morn... *ACHOO!* ...Good day..." Tom greeted the woman at the door before sniffling as he went to blow his nose.
"Good morning to you too, Mr. Sneezy." Regina muttered to herself thickly as she soon came inside and looked around.
"C-C-Can I help you f-f-find anything?" Tom then asked as calmly as he could without sneezing.
Regina continued to look around, about to decline, though she genuinely didn't know something that she wanted to know about. "...Actually," she then said as calmly as she could before facing the compulsive sneezer. "...Where do you keep... Special products?"
"Sp-Sp-Special products?" Tom repeated. "...What exactly do you mean, Madam Mayor?"
"You know... The special products?" Regina explained without trying to fully explain herself before she came over and whispered into his ear as she came closer. "Where can I find the...?" she then began before flinching nervously as she looked startled for one of the few times in her life.
"I'm sorry, Madam Mayor, please speak up..." Tom said with a small sniffle before looking over and also flinched.
"Good day, Mr. Clark... Good day, Madam Mayor..." Mr. Gold grinned once he hobbled into the shop.
"M-M-Mr. Gold... Th-Th-The rent isn't d-d-due yet..." Tom stammered, even more so than usual, especially with having two of the most fearsome people in town in his store right now. "Pl-Pl-Pl-Please!"
"Relax... I'm not here for that..." Mr. Gold said with a small smirk. "I just saw Ms. Mills and I thought I'd run something by her for a moment..." he then said before facing the woman. "Are you aware that your son is wandering around town with a high school student who isn't young Miss Evelyn?"
"Y-Yes... They're playing a spy mission with Dee Dee," Regina defended as calmly as she could. "Evie is away with Mal in Emerald Acres."
"Emerald Acres..." Mr. Gold repeated with a chuckle. "Ah, yes, the annual Summer School Games. It's amazing how trivial things such as that are taken so seriously by children, isn't it? My nephew is there as well and he seems to be rather fond of the mysterious newer student by the name of Keela."
"Good for him... She'll keep him busy and not worry about Mal too much," Regina replied calmly. "...Now if that's all you have to say, I'd like to speak with Mr. Clark in private, please."
"Oh, well, don't let me stop you, dearie..." Mr. Gold said with a small smirk.
Regina nodded before she tugged her collar and soon faced Tom again with a small smile that still looked quite chilling due to her making the face.
"Y-Y-You were s-s-saying, M-Madam Mayor?" Tom asked, calmly and patiently as Mr. Gold was just about to leave.
"I need some..." Regina began to tell him before whispering the last word.
"...I-I'm sorry... I didn't quite c-catch that." Tom said, tilting his head.
Regina groaned. "I said..." she then repeated herself, though still mumbling quite a bit and whispering through as she struggled to say what she came in here for out loud.
"O-O-One more time, pl-please?" Tom requested to her. "I-I'm sorry, M-M-Madam Mayor, I-I think my nose isn't th-the only thing st-st-stuffed, s-so if you could pl-please-"
"TELL ME WHERE THE BLASTED PREGNANCY TESTS ARE, YOU CONSTANTLY ALLERGIC INSECT!" Regina shouted, unknowingly hitting the intercom which made her shouting echo throughout the store as she cupped her mouth, blushing in embarrassment.
Mr. Gold raised an eyebrow as he looked over while other customers, such as Archie and Anita were looking over from where they were shopping. Even their Dalmatians outside, Pongo and Perdita, looked over from outside in concern as they waited for their humans to come back outside.
"...I-I can't believe I just did that..." Regina whispered with wide eyes, feeling a bit scared and concerned before seeing that they weren't alone in the store.
"Yeah... I can't believe it e-e-either..." Tom agreed with a nervous smile before pointing out for her. "Just behind Aisle 5 where the greeting cards are and y-you'll f-f-find them n-next to the con-con-condoms and d-d-diapers."
"Of course... All of the ingredients needed for conceiving a new life into the world, isn't it, Mr. Clark?" Mr. Gold smirked in amusement with the sorted arrangements for finding the pregnancy tests in the pharmacy.
"SHUT UP!" Regina hissed at him in annoyance before storming off.
"Oh, my~..." Mr. Gold smirked and chuckled at her reaction. "Maybe you aren't pregnant after all and just having a moody month."
"Urgh... I'm going to kill you one of these days, you imp..." Regina grumbled as she soon went over to Aisle 5 to pick up a pack of pregnancy tests.
Archie and Anita looked over from where they were as Regina came to pick up the store item and leave, feeling very frustrated and embarrassed. This must have been how teenagers felt on a regular basis, especially among their parents they find smothering or moritfying to be seen in public with. Regina soon groaned as she went to take the pregnancy tests and placed the box on the check-out counter and Tom began to ring her up as she reached into her purse to get her money ready.
"Erm... M-M-Madam Mayor?" Anita spoke up as she approached the woman.
"What?" Regina snarled as she faced the other woman before recognizing her. "...Wait. I know you... You work for EMode Designs where my daughter Evie is an intern, aren't you?"
"Yes... Anita Campbell-Green at your service," Anita smiled and nodded. "I quite miss Evie, but she really helped me out in something that doesn't make me feel as lonely with my Perdy."
"Good for you, but you might wanna get that checked out." Regina muttered thickly, thinking that "Perdy" was a medical condition or something.
"No, no, Perdy is my dog... Perdita," Anita explained calmly. "Like Dr. Hopper's dog, Pongo."
"Oh... Well... Good for you regardless..." Regina shrugged then.
"I feel terribly sorry you were embarrassed about what just happened and I wanted to thank Evie and what she did for me and for your family... You look like you could use some excitement," Anita smiled before she took out a colorful midnight blue card with colorful and holographic streaks at the top of the card. "So... Here."
Regina blinked before looking over and taking a look at the card and looked it over a bit. "...What is this?" she then asked. "Did you somehow already print out invitations to a baby shower that might not even be happening?"
"No, no, I assure you," Anita chuckled and shook her head, amused by Regina's reaction. "It's an invitation to a summer music festival."
"Music festival?" Regina repeated. "I don't remember ever hearing about a music festival."
"Well, that's because Archie and I were hoping to start one," Anita explained with a small smile. "It would be at night with live music and you can come and watch us with a date. At the end, we're hoping there would be fireworks and we could watch the crickets... Dr. Hopper quite likes crickets, you know."
Archie blushed as he shuffled his foot in the back as Anita talked about him like that.
"You can come if you'd like," Anita smiled. "I'm going to participate in it of course, but there'll be more information posted whenever possible, but hopefully by the time the kids at The Summer School Games come back home from Emerald Acres."
"You play a musical instrument?" Regina then asked as she took a look at the card curiously.
"I play the fiddle actually," Anita smiled and nodded. "You could bring a date of course, such as Mr. Bedford. You two seem rather sweet on each other after that competition against Sherwood in the football season of school."
Regina blushed a little bit at the mention of her and Robin being sweet on each other. God, she missed him so much right now.
"If you want to of course," Anita replied. "Also, maybe if you can... Donate a little something so we can keep the musical festival funded. It should be a lot of fun."
"Well... I'll think about it," Regina said as she cracked a small, but visible smile. "...Thank you, Miss Campbell-Green."
"It's my pleasure really, Madam Mayor," Anita smiled and nodded. "It'd be nice if Evie and Henry could come along too... Maybe even Mr. Bedford's children, Robyn Jr and Roland."
"...Yes, it would be nice," Regina replied. "Thank you again."
"Of course..." Anita nodded before she decided to go back over to Archie. "Happy shopping."
"Thank you... You too." Regina said as calmly as she could before Tom handed her a plastic bag.
"That'll be $4.59, please." Tom requested before he then took out a tissue to blow his nose into it.
Regina winced at the nose blowing, then took the bag, giving Tom a 20 dollar bill. Tom's eyes widened from the large payment, but he accepted it and gave Regina the change after the charge. Regina then accepted the $15.41 and soon put the coins in her purse while holding the plastic bag carefully.
"Have a n-n-nice day." Tom told her calmly.
"Thank you..." Regina nodded before she soon approached Anita and decided to give her and Archie the $15. "Here. Every little bit helps."
Archie gasped, a bit shocked to see this side of Regina like it was almost impossible to witness unless you experience it yourself.
"Wow... Thank you, Madam Mayor," Anita smiled. "You didn't have to do that though."
"Well, maybe I wanted to," Regina replied. "Please... Take it. It'll help fund your little music festival."
"Well... All right..." Anita said as she accepted the money. "Thank you. Thank you very much."
"You're welcome," Regina smiled before she then took her leave out the pharmacy door and went to head straight back home, looking around her town calmly and peacefully. She then heaved a sharp sigh before looking at the pregnancy tests and tried to keep calm. "Just take it easy until you get home... You might be worrying over nothing, but it might explain a few things. Just take it one step at a time, Regina, and you'll be okay..." she then told herself before she headed back home.
MEANWHILE...
Dee Dee had finished a waffle breakfast with her parents, Leroy and Astrid.
"Lovely breakfast, my dear Astrid," Leroy remarked. "You really know how to syrup up a good waffle."
"Why, thank you, Leroy," Astrid beamed and nodded with a small wink. "Let's just say it's a special family secret~"
"Well, you can share it with me... We're family after all, aren't we?" Leroy replied.
"She's got you there, Mama." Dee Dee giggled innocently.
"Oh, sure... Team up against me," Astrid playfully pouted. "Two against one? That's not fair."
"Well, at least it's not seven against one like when your uncles come over." Leroy muttered and whispered to Dee Dee with a small smirk.
Dee Dee giggled at that. "Papa~"
Leroy chuckled a bit as Astrid then went to do the dishes. "So, what's on the agenda for you today, Diamond?" he then asked his daughter tenderly.
"Well, I-" Dee Dee began to say, though before she could say anything, there was suddenly a new sound heard.
"Castle to Petal... Castle to Petal... This is Castle... Do you copy, Petal? Over." Henry's voice spoke up through some static on the walkie-talkie in Dee Dee's backpack.
"...Castle to Petal?" Leroy raised an eyebrow out of confusion. "...Is that slang that I'm too old to understand or something?" he then asked. "I swear that YOLO is a drug or something."
"It's code, Papa," Dee Dee replied as she went to answer her backpack and take out the walkie-talkie. "Looks like I have some work to do right now anyway."
"Work?!" Leroy asked. "Is that that Henry Mills kid?"
"Leroy, relax... You know that Henry is a good kid," Astrid sighed as she reminded her husband. "They're probably playing a game," she then smiled sweetly and tenderly to her daughter. "Is it a game, sweetie?"
"I can't tell you, it's top-secret information that I can only share with, uh... Castle." Dee Dee replied.
"Well... All right then, dear," Astrid said with a small smile. "You better let Castle know that you're alright and I promise not to tell anyone about your secret mission or whatever else you're up to. We secret agents need to stick together, don't we?" she then added with a small wink, playing along in what she thought was just a game of make believe.
"Oh... Uh... Yes, Mama... A-Affirmative..." Dee Dee nodded then.
"Oh, brother..." Leroy groaned and rolled his eyes slightly.
"Hello, Petal... I mean Castle... This is Petal..." Dee Dee soon responded. "I read you loud and clear... Under."
"No, Dee Dee, you're supposed to say 'over', not 'under'," Henry corrected. "...Over."
"Oh... Sorry... Over... Uh... Over." Dee Dee then said as she responded, blushing sheepishly at her little error.
"There ya go," Henry replied then. "Meet me at the rendevous point, Sorceress is supposed to meet us there. Over." he then instructed.
"Rendevous point...?" Dee Dee asked curiously, squinting her icy blue eyes a bit.
"At the old castle playground," Henry explained to her. "That's part of why my codename is Castle. Over."
"Oh..." Dee Dee said before looking curious. "...Why am I 'Petal' then?" she then had to ask.
"Well, a petal is a part of a flower and your favorite ballet song... Or so it seems... That Walk of the Flowers song or whatever it was called," Henry explained bashfully. "It just made me think of you."
"Oh..." Dee Dee said, blushing a little. "...It's 'Waltz of The Flowers'... That's very sweet of you to think of that for me."
Leroy growled a bit as he overheard that before Astrid swatted at him to make him stop as she thought Dee Dee and Henry's friendship was cute.
"I will meet you and Sorceress there." Dee Dee promised.
"With some snacks." Astrid then piped up as Leroy gave her a firm look.
"With some snacks." Dee Dee then added.
"And maybe come back here for some hot cocoa." Astrid then added.
"And maybe come back here for some hot cocoa." Dee Dee echoed.
"And if you come home at midnight together, mayor's kid or not, I'm going after that punk with a pic-axe." Leroy then added.
"And if we come home at midnight-" Dee Dee began before gasping and looking behind her with her jaw dropped. "PAPA!"
Astrid then shoved a bar of soap in Leroy's mouth, firmly pouting and shaking her head. "I'll mind your father, Dee Dee, you kids just have fun," she then said softly. "I'll make you some snacks for your little spy mission."
Dee Dee then beamed.
"Meet you at the rendevous point soon, Petal," Henry soon said on the other line. "10-4."
"Uh...?" Dee Dee blinked in yet even more confusion.
"That just means 'okay', Dee Dee," Henry explained. "Oops... I mean, Petal. Don't take too long."
"Okay, Castle... Meet you and Sorceress there with a special package." Dee Dee nodded before she and Henry soon signed off with each other.
Astrid beamed and soon went to make those snacks as promised while Dee Dee decided to wait for her mama to finish up while her papa grumbled due to the soap in his mouth.
Meanwhile, Regina had opened up her package of pregnancy tests and had used one, going to the bathroom and waited a few moments. After she did her business and waited and checked the test, she suddenly looked like she jumped out of her skin and was clutching the doorway with wide eyes and her jaw dropped once she realized what her test had informed her.
BACK AT EMERALD ACRES...
It was now time for the mental challenges and if there was time after, the swimming challenge, which of course Melody gleefully signed up for. The mental challenges were answering various questions about any form of education and even a spelling bee, though the spelling bee used each student from both schools respectively and Emerald Acres had won that one, due to Principal Walsh's son Frank doing just a bit better than Carlos, winning with the word "Pochemuchka", but no one blamed him or got mad at him for losing for them. It was now time for the quiz show competition with three students from each school and a buzzer for chiming in to answer whatever question would be given to them. Audrey was looking around a bit, seeming to expect someone as she crossed her arms, seeming to be a bit impatient.
Mal noticed that before giving Audrey a bit of a look. "...What's with you?" she then asked.
"...What're you talking about?" Audrey asked with a huff. "You judging me because I used to judge you?"
"No, I'm not judging you at all, you're just fidgeting kind of weird," Mal explained as calmly as she could. "You got some kind of wedgie in that uniform or something?"
"No... I'm just waiting to see who will win and beat your school for the gold in the end." Audrey retorted with a small smirk.
"Uh... It's your school too, you know," Mal reminded. "You're not an official student of this school, along with your boyfriend Peter Prick... Speaking of which, where is he?" she then wondered.
"My, my, aren't we more curious that ditzy old Tilly?" Audrey smirked smugly.
"Hey! I ain't ditzy, okay?" Tilly glared as she stood up right behind Audrey and Mal from her seat. "I just have a very unique way of looking at things."
"Yeah... You sure do... You must be very special... Especially in the head." Audrey rolled her eyes.
"Well, at least she has a heart." Mal retorted firmly.
"You have one too, right?" Audrey smirked. "Oh, wait, that's right. It must be in a jar on your nightstand back home if it still exists and it's not shriveled up, black, or turned to dust already."
Mal let out a snarl before she crossed her arms and sat back on her side before looking hopeful as she looked up on the stage to who was going to compete in the quiz competition. The teams went by Evie, Doug, and Ruby on one team with Andrea, the younger daughter of Vice-Principal Glinda, Frank, like mentioned before the son of Principal Walsh, and a boy known as SJ who had a pretty big brain in him like his father before him who worked very hard to earn his own diploma, especially when it came to solving "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side".
"Welcome to The Summer School Games' Academic Quiz Show Competition!" Vice-Principal Glinda announced to everyone who was sitting down and witnessing this competition for the two schools. "Our competition this year is between Lyman Baum Prepratory School and The Walter Elias Academy."
The crowd then began to cheer in the audience for both of the respective schools, rooting for whoever they would like to win. Peter soon came over and sat down next to Audrey.
"Peter, where have you been?" Audrey asked the boy. "I was getting worried."
"No need to worry, Princess Pinky," Peter said with a small smirk. "I was just getting a little special something to celebrate some victory."
"You mean for Emerald Acres to show those Audradon Heights people for turning their backs on me?" Audrey asked hopefully.
"Something like that..." Peter grinned darkly. "Just hang tight, and soon, victory will belong to the rightful person in the very end~"
"Ooh... I like where this is going..." Audrey beamed.
"I don't." Chad piped up as he sat beside Audrey then.
"No one asked you, Chad." Audrey rolled her eyes.
Chad let out a small whimper, especially as Peter just grinned at him, making fun of his fear.
"Here's your first question," Vice-Principal Glinda soon began as she looked at her cards. "This pacific northwest insect can grow to a length of eight inches."
Ruby bit her lip as she didn't seem to know. However, the buzzer came from the other side before Doug and Evie could even think to react in time.
"Lyman Baum?" Vice-Principal Glinda then called.
"The banana slug." Frank answered rather smugly.
"First point goes to Lyman Baum!" Vice-Principal Baum then announced.
"What's going on?" Doug asked Evie.
"Uh... Building dramatic tension?" Evie smiled nervously with a shrug.
"Come on, Evie, don't let stage fright get to you..." Mal whispered to herself. "You're a lot smarter than this. I know you are."
"Next question... What is the atomic mass unit for silver?" Vice-Principal Glinda then asked before hearing a buzz from her left side. "Walter Elias?"
"Uh... It's... It's..." Evie stammered before running off. "I gotta go!"
"Evie..." Mal frowned in concern.
"Some smart best friend you've got there, Mal." Audrey smirked and crossed her arms.
"Oh, shut up and flush your head down the toilet where it belongs." Mal grumbled in annoyance and narrowed her eyes.
Doug quickly jumped in and hit the buzzer as he adjusted his glasses.
"Walter Elias?" Vice-Principal Glinda then called again.
"What is '107.8682'?" Doug answered as he pushed his glasses back.
"Correct! That point goes to Walter Elias, and remember, you don't need to answer in the form of a question." Vice-Principal Glinda replied.
Doug smiled, proud of himself before he soon looked backstage in concern.
"You take it from here, I'll be right back." Ruby decided as she stood up away from Doug and came to go backstage.
"Uh..." Doug blinked, not sure what to say to that, but had no choice as Ruby suddenly ran after Evie.
Evie soon tried to hide backstage, though she was still tracked down by Ruby very easily.
"Evie? I know you're back here," Ruby said as she came to see the poor girl. "What's going on? You don't seem to know anything anymore."
"Uh... No one here but us boxes." Evie answered nervously.
Ruby narrowed her eyes before she followed the sound and came behind the boxes that were filled with bottled waters for anyone who wanted them backstage. "Evie, are you okay? You know your peridoic elements better than anyone," she then said in concern. "You're Mr. Deley's best student."
"I... I don't know..." Evie sighed. "I guess I just got nervous all of a sudden."
"In front of a crowd?" Ruby then asked. "That doesn't sound like you, Evie."
"...I don't think it was the crowd that I'm nervous about." Evie said, trying to hide her bashfulness, but it was quite hard.
"Then what is it?" Ruby asked. "Is it me?"
Evie just bit her lip, blushing, and looking very nervous.
Back on the front stage, Vice-Principal Glinda soon announced something new to share with the crowd. "And that concludes our first round with Lyman Baum in the lead by eight points. We will take a short intermission and then continue." she then said as Doug smiled before looking backstage in concern and decided to see what was keeping Evie and Ruby.
Evie and Ruby soon decided to have some bottled water to talk over what was going on with the young fashionista who was a lot more than just a pretty face.
"What're you trying to do?" Ruby asked Evie then. "Get the questions wrong so you can look like some big hero and mooching off someone else's victory? That doesn't sound like you either, Evie." she then said.
"It's not that, I promise," Evie replied as Doug was slowly coming backstage. "I just think I'm nervous because I'm right beside Doug."
Doug then suddenly stopped in his tracks after the mention of his name.
"You nervous about Doug or something?" Ruby asked. "But why would you feel nervous around him?"
Evie just bit her lip and looked up at Ruby.
"...You like Doug, don't you?" Ruby then asked knowingly. "...You like him like him, don't you?"
Evie just blushed before she slowly nodded. Doug gasped and clutched his heart suddenly with wide eyes. It was true... He had the biggest crush on Evie for the longest time and she actually liked him back. He was a distraction for her though, so how was he going to make this up to her?
"I can't let our school win like this... I'm gonna disqualify myself." Evie decided as she stood up and walked over to see Glinda to tell her something.
Doug looked over before he felt like he knew what he had to do.
"Excuse me? I-" Evie began to tell the woman.
"She wanted to tell you that she wants to switch chairs with me and get back in the game," Doug interrupted with a small smile before winking at Evie. "Right?"
"Uh... What he said," Evie then quickly agreed as maybe with Ruby in the middle between them, she would probably be able to think straight. "He's the smart one."
"You're the smart one too, Evie..." Doug smiled bashfully. "We'll both be the brains and Ruby will be the reflexes."
"I just hope that's not a crack about me being dumb!" Ruby called out playfully from backstage, making both Doug and Evie look bashful.
"It's not!" Doug called back and promised before blushing at Evie as he took out a bottled water to clink with her like two wine glasses. "Deal?"
"Deal." Evie smiled and clinked her bottle with his.
Vice-Principal Glinda nodded at them as that sounded nice. Ruby smiled, feeling proud for the two herself before looking over as something seemed to be going on with Frank, SJ, and Andrea. Andrea seemed to be yet another Audrey, personally speaking.
"Vice-Principal Glinda hasn't asked a science question in a while," SJ said to the girl in their team. "So we'll keep that in mind."
"After all, who knows science better than us?" Frank added. "Though I'm more of an inventor and SJ here is more of a Mathematician."
"Good... Just be ready to give them all the answers," Andrea scoffed at them and rolled her eyes. "And maybe I'll consider letting one of you guys ask me out to a dance in the Fall semester."
SJ and Frank looked very hopeful about that while Ruby looked firm and annoyed that someone would use someone else for their brain power like that. At least Evie was nothing like that and she knew that she would never use Doug like that. She could tell that there was some true love deep down between Doug and Evie and it would come out very soon. She wasn't sure when, but hoped it would happen, though she was sure there was something special shared between the two, especially in being lab partners in Mr. Deley's class.
Soon, it was time for the game to start again while some students looked a bit bored at "The Nerd Contest".
"Welcome back! The score is 9 to 13 with Lyman Baum in the lead!" Vice-Principal Glinda announced to the audience. "Let's begin... The scientific name for spiders?"
BUZZ! Went Ruby for her school's team.
"It's arachnid!" Doug and Evie announced together.
"Correct!" Vice-Principal Glinda approved.
Soon, various questions were asked and shared along. Lyman Baum put in a pretty good effort in the game too. Doug and Evie proved to be a great team once they put their heads together while Frank and SJ answered questions while Andrea just sat there and looked pretty. Eventually, the score was tied 99 to 99 and it was time for the final question.
"Well, with an intense score of 99 to 99, we come to our final question," Vice-Principal Glinda soon told the students. "The next category is... Miscelleanous!"
"A question about mouse riddles?" Mal asked out of confusion.
"A question that could be about anything." Carlos explained.
"Describe and name the..." Vice-Principal Glinda began before taking a closer look at the question in surprise with wide eyes. "...Godmother of fashion and name one of her best well-known quotes?"
"What?! I don't know that!" Doug gasped.
"Who could possibly know that?" Ruby added. "...And what a very random question."
Evie looked suddenly urgent and looked over. Andrea soon sat up and smirked as this was now her time to shine, showing to be wearing a lucky Coco Chanel button on her uniform's blazer. The two girls soon went to quickly reach over for their buzzers to see who would be the first one to answer the question and win the game for their school.
"And... Walter Elias!" Vice-Principal Glinda soon called out after she heard the first buzzer.
"Her name is Coco Chanel!" Evie piped up quickly, but she still spoke clearly enough to where everyone could understand her (well, for the most part who was fashion literate, such as Dizzy Belfrey) as she spoke with high-paced passion and excitement in her voice. "One of her best known quotes is 'In order to be irreplaceable, one must be different' which is her personal motto and something I live by myself all the time and was even born as 'Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel' and she was credited in the post-World War I era with popularizing a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style, replacing the "corseted silhouette" that was dominant beforehand before her sudden death in January 10th, 1971!"
"Correct!" Vice-Principal Glinda beamed, giving them the winning score. "Walter Elias wins!"
"YES!" Doug, Evie, and Ruby cheered while the crowd cheered for them for winning.
Andrea growled in frustration. "And to think I saddled myself with you braniac losers cuz we'd have the best chance of winning!" she then complained to SJ and Frank.
"Who knew she'd be such a big brain and look like that?" Frank complained about Evie.
"It just doesn't make sense, man." SJ added as he sighed and shook his head.
"Congratulations, Evelyn Mills, Ruby Lucas, and Douglas Clark," Vice-Principal Glinda said with a small smile. "You did your school very proud."
The three looked at each other and shared a group hug, though Doug blushed once Evie hugged him and he chuckled sheepishly.
Overall, it was shaping up to be a pretty interesting Summer School Games. Mal couldn't help but feel like they needed some sort of extra help, especially about Peter and Audrey. Those two were up to something... But what? She just wished that there was something she could do as she met up with the others. It was true that Ben was spending more time with Keela, but he decided to stay friends with Mal and check in on her occasionally. After the swim meet competition, the others were trying to figure out what they could do about Peter and Audrey, having a very bad feeling about them, though at least luckily, they didn't seem to be cheating just so Emerald Acres could win since they appointed themselves on that school's side than Walter Elias Academy, even if Peter came from a place like James Barrie's School for Boys. Soon, they were all pulled from their thoughts as they were met by someone who had swam for them for that competition who looked very excited about doing that activity, though she seemed a bit concerned, especially after Emerald Acres won that competition after her mysterious disappearance and Deanna Dillamond, the daughter of a highly acclaimed doctor in this town, had won the swim meet for her school.
"Uh, guys?" Melody spoke up as she approached the group.
"Melody," Ben greeted with a nod. "You sorta disappeared after the swim meet. Is something wrong?"
"Yeah... We thought maybe you drowned." Keela added.
"No... I didn't drown... Though I did run into something a little interesting..." Melody said bashfully. "Or rather, someone..."
The others looked at each other before Melody looked behind her.
"Erm... I think you should come out now." Melody suggested.
"Don't mind if I do..." A new voice smirked before the stranger came over and revealed herself to them.
"UMA!" The others gasped in shock once they saw who Melody had found.
"That's my name~" Uma grinned rather darkly as she had seemed to disappeared as well after the end of the school year, along with Gil and Maddy.