Chapter 2. Encounters
~5x4~ Secret Classroom
Abby was always carrying secrets, in more ways than one.
Her arms were full of papers and newspaper clippings and little gadgets and books from the library as she walked down the hall during the morning break, and she struggled to open the door to an empty classroom single-handedly. She dropped her massive stack of papers and they slapped onto a desk, when she heard someone curse loudly and drop a piece of chalk across the room.
She was startled; she thought nobody ever came into this room! But no, there was a blond boy at the chalkboard turning around hastily, trying to wipe off chalk dust on his pants.
"What are you doing here during break?" Abby asked him. "Shouldn't you be outside beating up a freshman or something?"
The boy screwed up his face and looked shiftily at the door. "I'm not doing nothing," he blurted out, and stepped sideways to cover up what he was writing on the chalkboard.
"Mmhmm," said Abby, jutting out her hip and placing a hand on it, watching Wally.
He glared at her, then quickly smudged away whatever he'd written and scribbled something else.
Abby squinted at the board. McClintock High can suck my- Ok, she didn't have to read the rest of it to know where this was going. She screwed up her face in disgust.
Wally noticed and sniggered at her, and purposefully bumped into her shoulder as he walked past. What was she gonna do about it? Abby was a freak, the whole school knew that.
Abby grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him down, choking him and making him stumble into a table.
"Don't play with me, boy," she said icily, and Wally scrambled to pull himself up and pull the neck of his shirt away from his throat, staring at her like she was crazy. He was furious but couldn't bring himself to hit a girl standing alone in an empty classroom. He was a bully, but even he had boundaries.
He gave her a rude gesture instead as he walked away, but Abby only smirked.
"You forgot the parentheses."
"What?" said Wally, confused.
"That's why you were getting the wrong answer." She smirked again. "That equation you first wrote on the board? You needed to solve what was inside the parentheses first."
For the briefest moment, Abby could see a spark of something in his eyes, but he quickly corrected himself with a scowl. "Oh shut up, you don't know anything."
"Suit yourself," she shrugged. "But just in case you want Abby's help… she hangs out here after school."
"Why would I ever ask a freak like you for help?" Wally scowled and walked away. Nothing could make him ask her for help.
Abby wasn't quite sure why she had offered her help. She definitely had better things to do than tutoring Wally, such as continuing her research. The new books and paper clippings she brought in were lifted and stacked in a corner on top of other stacks of papers. There must have been two or three stacks of documents total, each piled two feet high in the corner, and it was all of Abby's research concerning the mysterious Kids Next Door. Little gadgets also littered the classroom, broken devices and shiny artifacts and rusty weapons that once belonged to the Kids Next Door. For a decommissioned operative, Ababy Lincoln knew surprisingly a lot about the Kids Next Door.
But she did all of her research in secret, holed up in this abandoned classroom, because her classmates would make fun of her for it. "Crazy Abby," they would say, "What conspiracy theory is the freak up to today?" and then they'd make spooky noises at her and wiggle their fingers, while everyone laughed.
But she believed the Kids Next Door were real, and she believed that it was a secret organization run by children. The Kids Next Door were powerful, they had advanced technology like space travel, they built huge treehouses for their headquarters, and they could even erase people's memories. Until three years ago, when they mysteriously disappeared without a trace.
And Abby had a hunch that it had something to do with the fact that she couldn't remember anything about her life before the day that the Kids Next Door vanished.
~3x4~ You Never Know Who You'll Bump Into
"So my family like owns this yacht in like the Caribbean," said the boy through a pair of gawky ski goggles. Kuki giggled, running her fingers through her silky black hair. The hand-dryer in the girl's bathroom had done a remarkable job drying her hair, except it had been a little bit awkward when a freshman stumbled into the bathroom and found Kuki crouching and holding her head underneath the hand-dryer.
The boy in the goggles continued talking with his chest puffed out. "It's like, always 30C in the Caribbean. That stands for 30 degrees Celsius, by the way. You should join us on our yacht sometime." He flashed her a grin, and she didn't like the way he was looking at her. He was looking at her as though she was a large, juicy steak that he couldn't wait to devour.
Kuki gave a small laugh to be polite. He grinned even wider.
She glanced up at the hall, hoping a friend would come save her, but it looked like Ashley wasn't out of class yet. The boy held out an arm against the lockers, blocking Kuki's way to the cafeteria, still grinning. The sound of footsteps behind her came like a wave of relief.
"Hey Ashley! I was just looking-"
But when she turned around, it wasn't Ashley. It was Wally, and he looked angry. The boy with the ski goggles suddenly disappeared, and Kuki didn't blame him. You didn't want to get in the way of Wally Beatles, who could crush 16 soda cans with his head and who would bench-press three freshman before school everyday. Or so went the rumors.
"Oi! You!" he shouted at someone in the hall.
Kuki turned and stuffed her books into her locker, then closed the door, but Wally was still standing right behind her. Wait, he wasn't expecting something from her, was he? She gave him a funny look and backed away from him, clutching her pink bento box lunch. He just stood there, staring at her with stony green eyes like two shards of sea glass, looking halfway between bewildered and furious. Maybe he was still mad about having to rescue her from the pool this morning- after all, it was her fault that he got soaked and was late to class.
"STOP!" Wally finally yelled, then reached out and grabbed her arm. Now she squealed, trying to pull free from his grip. She managed to squirm out of his grasp and run backwards.
Wally yelled at her again. "Stop, there's someone behind you!", but it was too late.
She knocked into a large boy who got bumped with a clang! into the lockers. He spun around and shouted. "Who pushed me!?" Ernest's eyes darted towards Kuki, who gave a nervous, choked laugh. But Ernest was still looking at her furiously and she paled. "Oh no, oh my gosh, that was totally my f-"
"Maybe you shouldn't stand in my way, arsehole!" yelled Wally, drowning her out. She stood flat against the lockers, startled and confused. Why was Wally pretending he had walked into Ernest, when it was really Kuki who had done it?
"You think you're some hotshot, do ya?" challenged Ernest, cracking his knuckles. "Think you're special or something, pretty boy? Well, I have news for you- you're nothing but stupid. So stupid you can't think anything."
Wally twitched.
"Nobody calls me stupid," he hissed with an icy voice. He stared down Ernest's freckled nose, almost touching him. Wally was barely taller, but Ernest was much, much wider.
The two locked eyes in a power struggle and neither wanted to move first.
Ernest finally leaned back, but he didn't look away from Wally. "Ok, let's settle it the old-fashioned way, right here after school. Or is that too hard for you to remember? Maybe you should write it on your hand, like you did for your last math test. Oh wait, but you still failed your test, even though you cheated!"
Everyone in the hall was watching them now, and some people were snickering. Quietly though, because they were still afraid of Wally even if he was an idiot.
Wally didn't flinch. "You won't be able to remember your own name after I'm through with you."
People muttered in excitement. They loved fights. Wally's friend Bruce yelled from across the hall. "All right, another fight!" He looked around. "Where's Joe when you need him? I gotta go place some bets…"
Kuki was still plastered against the lockers, hoping that maybe they had forgotten about her. Ernest certainly did, he strode off, swatting aside freshmen like flies as he walked. But then Wally glanced at her again and opened his mouth. She cringed, waiting for the shouting to start. Telling her how all of this was her fault, how could she just stand there stupidly, what was wrong with her, first the pool, and now this, but he didn't say anything. He just clamped his mouth shut, screwed up his face, and walked away.
Her heart was still racing when her friend came up behind her and startled her.
"What was that?" asked Ashley, clicking her tongue in disapproval. She flipped back her hair, long, the color of barley, that smelled like fake strawberries. "Oh my god Kuki, was that Wally Beatles?"
Gratitude washed over Kuki, finally, here was a friend she could talk to. She told her everything that had just happened- well, except for the part about the ghost in the pool. She wasn't sure she would tell anybody about that bit.
The dirty blonde scowled more and more when Kuki talked about how Wally had covered for her when she bumped into Ernest. "Kuki-" she interrupted. "Kuki, you need to stay away from Wally. He's nothing but a bully and an idiot. Trust me, I'm your friend."
"Oh," was all Kuki could say. But was he really just that, a bully and an idiot? He'd sort of helped her, twice now, and though he wasn't exactly friendly, there was something about him… and of course, it didn't hurt that he was kind of good-looking, even when he was scowling, that unkempt hair the color of golden wheat that he brushed out of his eyes, and those eyes, which until today she hadn't noticed were green, and the way his T-shirt stuck to him climbing out of the pool…
As if reading her thoughts, Ashley put a hand on her shoulder. "Kuki, stop. I have to tell you something important."
Her friend looked down, sighed, and then looked back at Kuki as if she were about to make a confession.
"You're not pretty. As your friend, I have to tell you that. You're just not attractive at all, and no guy will ever want to be your boyfriend, let alone Wally Beatles. I know it sucks to hear, but you have to be realistic. Listen to me, Kuki, I'm your friend. I'm telling you you're ugly because I care about you."
"Oh," was again all Kuki could say.
"Please don't get upset," said Ashley. "It's the truth."
"Oh."
Something cracked inside of Kuki, like a walnut being shattered. She realized there had been a grain of hope within her, a warm, glowing spark she felt when the boy had pulled her out of the pool, and now Ashley's foot had stamped it out.
Was she really that undesirable?
"C'mon Kuki, you're not mad at me, are you?"
"No, silly." The lie slid out a bit too easily. Kuki giggled and smiled so no one could see the sadness inside her. A big fake smile like a little porcelain doll. "You're just trying to protect me from disappointment."
Because that's what friends did; they protected each other.
~4x5~ Hamsters in a Hamster Wheel
"Wallabee, you're failing."
Wally was quiet and sullen, and Ms. Thompson looked at him expectantly, as if there was something he was supposed to say.
"So what?" he finally said.
Evidently this was not what she wanted to hear, because she gave a dramatic sigh and rolled back her head. "Wallabee, do I have to explain it to you again? You're on both scholastic and disciplinary probation. That means if you fail another class or get into another fight, you'll be kicked out of school."
"So what?" he repeated. He could play this game all day.
"Well, your parents have decided that if you get kicked out of school, they're sending you to military school. In Australia."
"Military school? In Australia?" This was news to Wally. "But that's like 20 miles away!"
"Get used to it, because unless you get a tutor, you're going to fail math. And then we'll finally be rid of you! … Um, I probably shouldn't have said that."
"Can you tutor me," he blurted out desperately and she started laughing. He stared at her.
"Oh!" she stopped laughing. "You're actually serious! No, Wallabee, who would ever want to tutor you? You're just… too stupid."
He gave an involuntary jerk at the word "stupid" and stood up angrily. "Well, that's great, because I actually already have a tutor," he burst out, making something up on the spot, "and- and they're really smart and a straight-A student and- and we're starting today after school, so- so there."
Ms. Thompson gave him a smug smile as she waved him out, as if she knew he was bluffing. "Great! Hope this mystery tutor works out for you. Best of luck on your next exam, Wallabee."
He strode out angrily, trying to avoid eye contact with her, afraid that she would see right through him. Great, now he had to find himself a tutor, and the only person who was coming to mind was that freak Abby Lincoln.
It was after school, and Wally was already regretting his decision to ask Abby for help. He was sitting in her abandoned classroom, feeling like a hamster trapped in a hamster wheel. Except this hamster was supposed to be getting help with homework.
Wally stood up to leave, trying to think of a good excuse. Wasn't there something else he had promised to do after school today anyways?
"You know what?" he said. "I changed my mind, I don't need your help after all. See? I already finished my homework during lunch." He flashed some papers at her.
"Hold on one second!" she said, and grabbed the papers with one hand and Wally's shirt with the other, pulling him back down to his seat. She skimmed his work.
"Wally, you answered bacon for everything. What's 6+2? Bacon. What is the first amendment about? Bacon. What is Albert Einstein famous for? Bacon! Even for your name you wrote Bacon! What was going through your mind?!"
He shrugged. "I dunno, I guess I was hungry."
He squirmed but Abby had a surprisingly strong grip on his shirt. "Aw c'mon, you don't really want to help me, do you?" he complained.
"Maybe, maybe not, but I know you need my help. Or would you rather get sent to military school?"
Wally's mouth dropped open. "How do you know about-"
"Abby makes it a point to know things," she interrupted coolly. And she has a key to the school filing cabinets, she thought to herself, grinning.
Wally made a rude gesture and she rolled her eyes. "Beatles, I don't care what your left hand is doing, as long as your right one is writing down the math problem."
He groaned loudly, but grabbed his pencil, kind of wanting to throw it at her, but also kind of impressed that she was actually managing to make him study.
~2x5x4~ Cloudy with a Chance of Hurricanes
Hoagie begged, hands clasped over his chest, whining like a dog left outside in the cold.
"Pleeease let me in, I just spent all of my summer job money on these new Yipper cards, and I've been dying to try them out."
A short boy in yellow stood in front of the classroom that hosted the after school Yipper club. He shook his head sadly. "Sorry, Hoagie, no can do. The problem is that you just attract too many bullies! We don't want that kind of attention. Plus you scare away all the girls, too."
"What girls? I don't see any girls," he replied incredulously.
"Er, you know, all the girls we're gonna get once you stop hanging out with us!"
"Aw, c'mon Ted, please?"
"Sorry. We voted."
He closed the door and locked it, stranding Hoagie and his brand new deck of Yipper cards outside.
Hoagie walked away, grumbling and kicking up dust in the hallways. Why did these things always happen to him? Out of all the nerds, he got picked on the most. It was his head getting swirlied in the boy's bathroom. It was his sandwich that got filled with live worms. He was like a repellant for girls and a magnet for bullies.
And speaking of bullies, suddenly there was Ernest in the hallway ahead of Hoagie, raging about something like a bull, his face as red as a strawberry.
"WHERE IS HE?" he bellowed. "WHERE'S WALLY? THAT COWARD, THAT IDIOT, I CAN'T BELIEVE HE DIDN'T SHOW UP FOR THE FIGHT! I'M GONNA MAKE HIM REGRET THAT!"
He tore through the hallway like a tornado, slamming lockers and flailing his meaty arms. Students dove out of the way, except for one dumb little freshman who stared up at Hurricane Ernest, frozen with terror.
It was none other than Tommy, Hoagie's little brother, and Hoagie almost face-palmed.
"MOVE TWERP," Ernest roared. "OR DO YOU WANNA FIGHT? 'CAUSE I WAS PROMISED A FIGHT AND I DON'T CARE WHO IT'S WITH AT THIS POINT."
"Don't hurt him!"
But Ernest wasn't listening, and Tommy wasn't moving. Oh god, he had to do something before his little brother got beaten to a pulp! Hoagie ran up behind the bully and awkwardly tapped his shoulder.
"Uh, hi, Ernest, um, please don't yell at my little brother. See, it's his first year at high school and he's very sensitive, and I really don't think you… should…"
Hoagie's voice trailed off as Ernest's enormous chin wobbled towards him and a smile unfolded on his face. Ernest's voice was suddenly calm and dangerous.
"Well, look who's decided to take his place! Thank you for offering to fight me instead of Wally."
"Oh, nonono! I'm not offering anything, I don't wanna fight you, I just…"
But people were already filling in around them, whispering in anticipation, echoes of a chant stirring amongst them. "Fight, fight, fight, FIGHT, FIGHT!"
The crowd closed around them, and Hoagie saw no way to escape. Ernest gleefully cracked his knuckles. Tommy squeaked in shock and was swallowed up by the crowd.
Hoagie gulped. He was not prepared for this. He was not a fighter.
But maybe- and some little part of him clung to this wild notion- just maybe, he'd discover something deep down inside himself, like a secret power. Like maybe there was some part of himself that wasn't a total loser. Like there was another person within him, part of him, but like a past version of himself, that was way cooler and smarter and stronger. It sounded crazy, but Hoagie felt a spark of hope that he could defeat this bully.
Then Ernest's fist came flying at his face.
They were 45 minutes into the tutoring session and Wally had mastered the number line. He could now count from zero to ten and count back down from ten to zero, even though the latter was a bit harder. Then Abby told him about negative numbers and he flipped out.
"There are numbers less than zero?" Wally's mind was blown. "How is that even possible!?"
He was trying to wrap his brain around it when suddenly they heard screaming. People were shouting, and then there was a clanging sound as something hit the lockers in the hallway. Wally knew that sound well, it the sound of somebody hitting the lockers after getting hit in a fight.
Abby must have recognized it too, because she rolled her eyes and muttered something about angsty teenagers always punching each other because they couldn't properly express emotions.
Wally dropped his pencil. It just occurred to him that he was supposed to be fighting Ernest right now… but because of tutoring, he totally forgot about it. So if he wasn't out there, who was Ernest fighting?
"Hold on, I gotta check this out," he said, and rushed out the door before Abby could stop him.
By the time Wally got there, Ernest was gone and the crowd had dispersed. He was surprised to hear Abby running up behind him.
"Yikes," she said.
Yikes was right.
A junior was lying on the ground, his shirt sleeve torn, blood streaked on his face, his cheek red and raw, lying like a dishrag somebody had wrung out and then tossed aside. He was groaning.
Wally chuckled. Ernest was probably so mad that Wally hadn't shown up for the fight, that he'd punched the first person he saw, which happened to be that dork Hoagie Gilligan. Bad luck. But if anything, Ernest was probably even angrier now, and Wally could only imagine what Ernest wanted to do to him tomorrow.
Abby snapped her fingers at him.
"Beatles, get me some ice from the nurse's office."
"You, freshman," She pointed at the only other person who was still sticking around. Everyone else had just left Hoagie lying on the ground without bothering to make sure he was ok. "Get me some water and some paper towels from the bathroom."
The freshman nodded and hopped away, but Wally just scowled at Abby. Did she really think she could command him around like a dog?
"Don't forget, you owe me for tutoring you," Abby pointed out.
"But I don't have any money," Wally blurted.
"Then go get me some ice from the nurse's office!"
~3x4~ Ice To See You Again
At the nurse's office, Kuki carefully opened a hot pink band-aid and slapped it onto James's leg. He stared at the strip of pink on his skin.
She bent down to kiss the bandage. "Mwah! There, all better!" she chirped.
"Um, I actually have a fever…" he said, but Kuki had already skipped over to her next patient.
Helping out at the nurse's office was the highlight of her week. It was the only time people were grateful to have her around. Outside of the nurse's office, people could be really mean, even her own friends, but people were a lot nicer when they were sick and Kuki was taking care of them.
"Hi Paddy! Are you feeling better today?" she asked sweetly to a redheaded freshman. He promptly regurgitated his lunch into a bucket next to him. "Aww, you poor thing! You haven't been eating Nurse Claiborne's crumbles have you?" He shook his head weakly, and Kuki helped him take a sip of water.
"Stay hydrated!" She smiled and kissed his forehead. He smiled back feebly and she bounced away to the next bed.
"Hiya! What can I do for-"
"So, is it my turn to get a kiss?" A tall boy with bright orange hair lounged on the cot, hands tucked behind his head. He cocked his head and grinned at her from behind his sunglasses. "How's it going, Cookie?"
Ace always called her Cookie and blamed it on his Latino accent. Kuki's eyes flashed from his well-worn bomber jacket that smelled of musk and leather, to the impeccable dimples in his cheeks. She cleared her throat and gave a nervous giggle.
"Ace, what are you doing here, you're not even hurt!"
"I will be if you don't come with me to the next house party," he simpered, and placed a hand over his heart, pretending to be heartbroken. "I barely got to see you at the last one."
She rolled her eyes and tittered. "You silly boy, get out of the nurse's office. I have work to do!" She hit his arm lightly. Ace lifted himself up slowly and began to saunter away.
"It'll be fun if you stick with me, promise." He turned once more before leaving and gave her a two-fingered salute. "Think about it, chica."
She turned it over in her mind as she handed a thermometer to a girl with golden curls. Ace was popular and good-looking. He could be nice to her. He flirted with her all the time. But how many other girls did he flirt with like that?
Her mind flashed back to what Ashley had told her earlier and her heart sank. Ace was probably only flirting with her because he felt bad for her. He wasn't seriously interested in someone like her…
Kuki suddenly realized the thermometer the girl had stuck in her mouth was not the right one.
"Oopsies! That's the one for the other end." Kuki giggled and reached out to grab it. "Lemme take that back. Sorry, Buffy!"
"Ew!" The girl spit out the thermometer and made a face. "And my name's Muffy!"
Kuki shrugged and smiled.
Don't get pregnant: why you can die from having sex
So you can't stop sniffing your parent's drugs…
Smoking cigarettes is for losers. Join chess club instead!
Wally browsed through the silly-looking brochures at the nurse's office while he waited for someone to appear. He drummed his fingers. "Hellooo?" he tried again.
This time, a head popped out of the adjacent room.
"I said I'll think about it!" The girl widened her eyes in surprise when she saw Wally. "Oh! I thought you were- nevermind."
It was the girl from this morning- the one who he'd rescued from the pool. She still had his jacket, actually. But when he tried to ask her to give it back in the hallway before lunch, she had tried to run away from him! And now it felt like every time he tried to talk to her, he started to feel funny, as if his stomach was filling with lead.
Kuki stepped out, tucking a sleek black lock behind her right ear, and it was the first time Wally managed to get a good look at her. The left side of her hair was twisted and held up by a small pink clip and the rest cascaded down her back in dark, shiny layers. She smiled shyly at Wally, with what looked like almost a sad smile.
"You're ok!" she said.
"Uh, yeah?"
"But what about the fight? You didn't get hurt?"
"Well, actually, I didn't fight Ernest-" His face was screwed up and red. He didn't feel like explaining the whole situation at the moment, because he was suddenly feeling very jittery. "Just- just- I need some ice!"
The girl cocked her head and giggled. "Ok."
Wally realized he'd been staring at her the whole time. Hastily he looked away and his eyes flashed to the brochures. Help! I can't stop eating Twinkies. Ugh, anywhere but there!
He looked back at Kuki, drifting gracefully towards the back of the office.
"You're ok, too." he blurted.
"What?"
"The pool- remember?"
"Oh! Yeah. I used the hand-dryer in the girl's bathroom to dry myself."
If she remembered that she still had his jacket, she didn't say anything. But Wally didn't feel like reminding her at the moment. In fact, he just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.
Kuki slipped out of the room, and came back a moment later with a bag of ice. She giggled again, and Wally couldn't help feeling embarrassed. Why was she always laughing at him?
Grateful for the bangs covering his flushed face, he took the bag of ice from her and avoided making eye contact with her. Something was making him very uncomfortable, but he couldn't put the feeling into words. So he scowled at her and walked out, without even a thank-you.
To make him feel even worse, she cheerfully shouted after him. "You're welcome! Bye! I'm glad you're ok, Wally!"
Cruddy girl. He should have never listened to Abby and gone to get ice. He could've been spared that whole embarrassing situation. Why did she had to be so nice and sweet to him like that, with the giggling and that cute smile? He stopped. Wait, did he just think cute? He meant annoying. Yes, very, very annoying.
~5x2~ Hank the Wimp
There were muffled voices. Hoagie opened a bleary eye and saw a dark face hovering above him.
"Cree?" he groaned softly. His head was pounding and he tried to close his eyes again.
"Hey- hey! Stay with me." Someone was trying to keep him up but all Hoagie wanted to do was lie there and melt into the floor. Someone grabbed his shoulder again. All right, all right! He lifted himself a little and the stranger guided him so that he was sitting up with his back to the lockers. That was nice. He smiled stupidly a little. He was still dizzy but the pain wasn't as bad. He blinked.
"Ab-a-abigail?" What was that girl Abigail Lincoln doing here?
The girl in the red cap watched him with dark eyes. She was asking him all kinds of questions.
"My n-name? Is Han-Hank, no, wait, it's Hoagie Pennywhistle Gilligan. Junior. Today is Wednesday, March 3. We are in Gallagher. No, no, McClintock." This was kinda fun. "Are we playing 20 questions? Can I go next?"
"Just one more question," she said. "Why did you call me Cree?"
"What? I don't know," Hoagie shook his head. "I thought, I mean you were kinda familiar, for a second I thought…" But he couldn't remember.
Abby sat down next him and said he probably had a moderate concussion. The pounding in his head agreed. She told him to stay put for a while and take it easy. Some ice was on the way.
"Well, I was planning on chopping down some trees or, you know, something super manly," he said, pretending to flex his arms, "But I guess I could take some time to sit and chat with you."
Abby snorted loudly and turned her head, and he wondered if she was trying to hide a grin.
They sat for a while, leaning against the lockers. Abby fiddled with her gold bracelets.
"I heard what happened. That was a brave thing you did for your brother." She nudged him lightly.
"Yeah?" Hoagie looked up, failing to suppress a grin.
"But oh man, you suck at fighting!"
"Ah."
They sat quietly for a little bit longer, and Abby was playing her bracelets again, looking like she was lost in thought.
"Abby?" he asked her.
"Mm?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Helping me."
"Are you saying you wouldn't help somebody if they just got beat up?" She stared at him.
"Not if he's a loser who deserved it," he replied quietly.
Abby didn't have time to respond, Wally was coming around the corner, looking pink in the face, holding a bag of ice, and mumbling something incoherently to himself. Hoagie immediately tried to scramble away; the last thing he wanted was another beating from a bully.
"Relax, dude, I'm with her!" Wally pointed to Abby and held up the bag. "I brought ice!"
Hoagie reluctantly sat back down, looking out of the corner of his glasses at Abby. She took the ice and put onto the lump on Hoagie's head, explaining that she was helping Wally with classes. Wally didn't look happy admitting he was getting help from Abby Lincoln, especially to that dork Hoagie Gilligan.
Then Tommy came running back with paper towels and a cup of water. "Didn't know how to get water-" he panted between breaths, "-had to run all the way to the cafeteria for a cup-"
"That's perfect, thank you Tommy." She dabbed away the blood on Hoagie's face while he took shaky sips of water.
Abby lit up. "Abby has an idea! Wally, I figured how you can pay me for tutoring you."
Wally glared. What more could this horrible girl ask of him?
"You're gonna teach Hoagie how to fight."
~1~ Confidentiality Level 274
Nigel walked slowly through the college campus. This was the address on the mysterious slip of paper, the one that promised him answers about the secret organization called the Kids Next Door.
"Nigel," said somebody, and put a hand on Nigel's shoulder. Nigel instantly hit it away and spun around, fists raised.
"Whoa! No, it's okay," said the stranger. "I'm the one who sent the message." He was a tall, handsome young man, wearing khaki shorts and flip-flops, with a slick swoosh of blond hair. He almost looked familiar, as though Nigel had seen him before in a dream.
"Oh right, I'm Chad," he said with a grim smile. "You don't remember me, of course-"
"You're from the Kids Next Door?" asked Nigel, and Chad shushed him.
"Not so loud," said the college student, and he pulled Nigel aside. "You never know if they're listening… You weren't followed here, were you?"
Nigel thought for a second. "I don't think so, but something weird did happen on my way here…" He told Chad about the boy who had tried to stop him from getting on the bus, and Chad looked somber.
"This is not good. Definitely not good. Sounds like it was David… Weird things have started happening here too- I've been seeing stars in the sky that shouldn't exist, and green rain on cloudless days, and now this… We don't have much time, so listen carefully.
The Kids Next Door is a secret organization that fights adult tyranny and injustice. I am- was- a part of it, and so were you, until the Galactic Kids Next Door destroyed the Kids Next Door, decommissioned you, and made you forget you were ever in the Kids Next Door." He pulled a file from his jacket and pushed it into Nigel's hands. "I don't have time to tell you the details, but everything you need to know is in this folder."
Nigel opened the file. It was labeled Operation C.O.N.F.I.D.E.N.T.I.A.L., and it was thick with documents. He didn't know it at the time, but it contained everything about Nigel, Sector V, and anything you could ever want to know about the Kids Next Door.
"This will explain everything. But the most important thing you have to know right now is this right here." Chad pulled out a thin blue map of a town Nigel used to live in as a kid, glowing with light blue symbols. "This is the only thing that can defeat them. It's a map to a weapon powerful enough to finally destroy the Galactic Kids Next Door. They're coming back to finish what they started, Nigel, so this is more important than ever. And you're the only one who can bring together everyone from Sector V and-"
"I'm sorry," interrupted Nigel. "This is crazy. You must have me confused with somebody else. I can't be a secret agent, I don't remember any of this, I can't fight some evil organization... I'm just a nobody. I've always been a nobody."
Chad folded up the map and put it back securely into Nigel's file.
"Nigel," he said very sternly. "I know it seems hard to believe, but listen to me. The file says that decommissioning isn't always perfect. Sometimes you can vaguely remember what you were doing in the final moments before you got decommissioned. But these memories aren't clear; they usually stay with you like a recurring dream or nightmare. Personally, I was having a recurring nightmare where I was trapped in a cell, my hands handcuffed, and then there was a flash of blue light. But then I found this file, and it told me that my nightmare wasn't just a dream- it was a memory. The file says that I got decommissioned while I was a GKND prisoner, which explains why I remember being handcuffed in a prison."
He looked hard at Nigel. "You have to remember something like that."
"Well, there is one dream that I always have..." Nigel started. "I'm way up, high above the Earth and I'm looking down at it, like, through a window or something, and it's a tiny colorful sphere and very beautiful, but there's a sinking feeling in my stomach. Like something terrible is about to happen and I know it, and I'm about to lose something very important to me… and then there's a blinding blue light and I wake up."
"I think you remember more than you realize," said Chad, with a solemn smile. A light rain began pattering on the sidewalk, but as Nigel looked up at the sky, it was blue without a cloud in sight. There was a soft humming noise, and Nigel was surprised to see the rain looked kind of greenish.
"Oh no," Chad said. "You have to go, Nigel, get out of the rain!"
He pushed Nigel away. "Go! Run! I can distract them for now and buy you some time, but you have to hurry! Stay away from adults, they could be spies! They'll be looking for you now! Don't let them find you-"
Nigel looked around wildly at Chad and the rain, but didn't see anything. The hum was getting louder, though he couldn't tell what it was. All he could do was trust Chad and hope that he'd be okay, so he tucked the file under his arm and ran towards the nearest corridor, out of the rain.
Chad shouted, "Whatever you do, Nigel, don't touch the green rain! Remember me, Nigel, I'm the best there ever-"
There was a flash of light, and Nigel stopped running to rest under the arches of the college, out of breath but untouched by rain, but when he looked back, Chad was gone.
AN: Whew that was a bit longer than the first chapter! Thanks for stickin' it out, champ. If you can't tell yet, this story is going to be a slow burner... but don't worry, the excitement and fluffy moments are coming ;) 'Til next week!
Peace, friends.