Chapter 6. Connections

~2x4~ Breakfast, Bacon, and Bromance

Yawning, Hoagie swung a foot out of bed and stepped on something squishy.

The squishy mass rolled over and groaned. Oops, he completely forgot about Wally and stepped on him! He quietly got ready and luckily the blonde teen kept snoozing on his floor, at least until Hoagie opened the blinds and sunlight streamed in.

"Hrmgrmhrm… What? Where am I?" Wally threw off the flimsy blanket and sat up, rubbing his disheveled blond head.

"Hey, it's all ok, Wally, you're with me. Abby and I brought you here last night after, you know, in the woods, and I heard about the thing with Kuki, and well…" Hoagie treaded lightly, unsure of how Wally would react. Last night proved that Kuki was a sensitive subject. "I mean, how are you holding up?"

Wally pounded his face into his pillow and spoke muffled. "I can't believe this is all because of a stupid math test. I said stupid things. And now she hates me." He looked up at the wall, but not really looking. "What is this feeling? It's like pain, but it actually hurts. Pain has never actually hurt before." He suddenly looked at Hoagie, eyes wide like a puppy. "D'you think she'll want to be friends with me again? Not that I care…."

"I think you oughta tell her what you're really feeling," Hoagie replied sagely. "Be totally honest with her." Wally scowled and rubbed his head in pain. "Bit of a sugar crash headache, huh Wally?"

"Pfff, no! I don't get sugar crash headaches." Wally scoffed. "But seriously, dude, close the blinds, it's really bright out. And don't talk so loud either."

There was a knock at the door and it creaked open. "Are you up, dear? Breakfast is almost- oh my!" Ms. Gilligan stared at the tall blond boy on Hoagie's floor.

"Mom! Hi! Uh, this is Wally. Uh, is it ok if he joins us for breakfast?"

"Oh, um," she started. "You're Sid Beatles' boy aren't you? Sure. Sure! Uh, welcome, Wally."

Wally nodded slowly in acknowledgement, and Hoagie led the blonde down to the breakfast table. Tommy was already seated, and he wouldn't stop staring at Wally sitting sullenly across from him. Hoagie scurried into the kitchen to grab another plate for Wally, where his mother pulled him aside and whispered quietly.

"What!? No! No, Mom, I'm not gay!"

"Oh, ok dear. It's just that I've never seen you hanging out with girls before and you'd never had a girlfriend before…"

Hoagie groaned and walked back with Wally's extra plate. Wally was biting his lip to keep from laughing. Tommy was still staring, out of fear or fascination, Hoagie couldn't tell.

A door slammed open and Hoagie groaned again. His grandma hobbled out in her blue nightgown, mumbling in Yiddish. She adjusted her glasses, looking at Wally.

"Eh, who's this? So that's how our little boy swings now is it?"

"No, Grandma, I'm not gay-"

"Well, maybe you should be! Look at this mensch, now that's a real man. So strong!" She raised her cane and poked Wally in the stomach. It bounced off of Wally's abs. "See? He didn't even flinch! He's got some chutzpah, he does. Hogarth, you should take a lesson from him, you doughy schmuck-"

"All right, food's ready!" Ms. Gilligan carried out heaping stacks of golden pancakes and crisp sizzling bacon. Wally's eyes grew wide as he realized just how hungry he was, and he loaded up his plate. Hoagie's grandma watched contently as Wally shoveled hot food into his mouth. Ms. Gilligan chuckled nervously.

"So, Hoagie, you never told us how your project for the engineering fair went."

He looked darkly down at his plate. "It was a plane disaster." He looked up briefly but nobody laughed. "It failed epically. I don't even know what happened! I could swear I triple-checked all of my calculations… anyways, it sucked."

"Naw, it kicked ass!"

Four heads looked up in surprise; these were the first words Wally had spoken during the entire meal. "I mean, just the idea that it could run on beans is pretty sick."

"Um, thank you, Wally," said Ms. Gilligan.

Hoagie couldn't help smiling.

They were on their way to school, a crisp but promising morning.

"Um, thanks again, man. For.. for, you know. Everything. You're all right." Wally said this awkwardly and then quickly smoothed down his messy hair unsuccessfully, just to have something to do with his hands. "And your family's pretty cool. Your mom makes some killer pancakes..."

"Yeah, I guess so," shrugged Hoagie. "No worries, Wally. And you're not gonna ditch the math test, are you? Abby'll be super pissed if you do."

Wally rubbed his face in his hands. "I have to do it, don't I? Even if I know I'll fail, I have to try."

"Yeah, that's it!" Hoagie fake-punched Wally's arm. They walked together all the way to the entrance to Wally's history class, right on time for once, where he raised his hand in goodbye.

"See ya, Bro-gie."

Hoagie waved back.

Almost like friends? No, just like friends.

~4x2x5x3~ The Test

Tick tick. Tick tick.

Had the clock always been so loud? Had his palms always been so sweaty? Had his pencil lead always been so smudgy on his fingertips?

Wally was acutely aware of everything today. A fresh packet of math problems was slapped face-down on his desk, still warm from the copier. He drummed the eraser of his pencil nervously on the desk and suddenly realized he couldn't remember anything. What was the test about again? What was math? What were negative numbers?

Negative numbers, said a voice in his head that sounded just like Abby, are numbers that are less than zero.

"You have exactly 1 hour. You may begin… now."

There was a flurry of papers as the class flipped over their exams. Question 1, question 1, question 1. Wally had to refocus his eyes three times before he could calm down enough to read the question. Question 1. What is the circumference of a circle with radius... Question 1 looked a lot like a problem Abby had made him solve last week. But the numbers were different. Could he do this? He took his best guess, trying to recreate the way he'd solved it before, but with different numbers.

Ok, next question.

Fifteen minutes later, onto page two. By some stroke of luck, all of the problems that he'd had to solve so far were pretty similar to the ones he'd gone over with Abby in the past couple weeks, except with different numbers. But there were still three pages to go.

The classroom door creaked open.

"Wallabee Beatles," said a voice.

His ears pricked up at the mention of his name. There was a girl in the doorway, reading from a slip of paper, lips pursed and glasses balanced on a tight little nose sticking out above a freshly starched pink blouse.

"Wallabee Beatles to the principal's office immediately."

Wally sneered at her. "Uh, I obviously can't right now, I'm in the middle of a test."

"Sh!" Ms. Thompson scolded him and turned to the girl. "Anna, how can I help you?"

Anna tapped her pencil on her clipboard and repeated, "He has to go. Now."

Ms. Thompson nodded at Wally. "Drop your pencil and go," she whispered to not disturb the other test-takers, but everyone had already stopped writing to watch Wally with curious white eyes.

"But my test-" he said. "I won't have time to finish it!"

"Aw, that's too bad, isn't it?" said his teacher. "Although it really wouldn't make a difference, would it?" She grinned malevolently.

"No!" Wally was almost shouting. Nobody was working on their exams anymore, everyone was watching him.

"You have to." Her voice was borderline evil. Before Wally could react, she had snatched his test away from him. "You can finish this when you get back." She smiled. "If you get back in time."

"You can't do this!" Wally was yelling, the molten rage stewing inside of him again. "I have to finish that test!"

But she wouldn't give back his exam, and Anna was still standing upright in the doorframe, waiting for him.

"The sooner you leave, the sooner you might get back," was all Anna said.

Wally pulled a hand through his hair, then shoved aside his desk. He had no choice. He sprinted out the door, his feet slapping the hallway towards the principal's office.

"Hey!" shouted the girl after him. "No running in the halls!"

Wally didn't listen, he made it to the administrative offices in record time, flung open the glass doors, and charged into Principal Smelling's office.

"There you are," sneered the old man, bobbing his shiny bald head. "We were just about to talk about the terms of your expulsion. We warned you not to pick fights anymore, but you did anyways. Now your actions have consequences."

"A fight? But I haven't- not in weeks-" That's when he spotted the crop of blonde hair in the seat in front of him. The blonde head turned, facing Wally so that only he could see the dark, vindictive grin on his face. It was Bruce, and he had a massive, plum-colored eye.

"Yep, that's Wally for ya. He's the one that punched me before school this morning."

Wally's mind was bewildered. He hadn't hit another student, not in weeks. Why would Bruce pretend that Wally had punched him? They were supposed to be friends. He immediately denied it, but the principal wouldn't believe him.

"Sorry kid, but given your track record, I don't believe a word that comes out of your mouth. Now, about expelling you..."

Wally slumped forward. It was over. All he could see was Bruce watching him from the corner of his one good eye, grinning more and more as Wally slumped further onto the principal's desk. It was actually over, there was no way out this time. No Hail Mary of a chance.

Bang!

Something crashed into the door behind them, and all three of them jumped. Wally turned to find Hoagie squished up against the glass door. He said something muffled, then peeled himself off the door and opened it, stumbling inside, rubbing his forehead.

"Ouch, didn't see the door right there, ran straight into it…" He looked at Principal Smelling and then at Wally, and frantically began to speak.

"Principal Smelling! Wally didn't do it! Whatever Bruce is saying, he's lying, because Wally was with me all morning before school, until class started! He didn't punch anybody, I can absolutely swear on it!"

Wally nodded, and Bruce's face was flushing, glaring at Hoagie.

Principal Smelling narrowed his eyes at the three of them. "Are you actually vouching for this delinquent, Hogarth?"

Hoagie nodded feverishly. "I swear on my whole Yipper card collection that I was with Wally all morning and he didn't get into a fight with anybody! Somebody else punched Bruce!"

The principal glanced at Bruce, the raging red color of his cheeks mingling with the purple of his eye.

"No, Hoagie's lying! It was Wally! Wally hit me! Expel him!"

The principal rubbed his temple. "Look, I can't let any of you go until I figure out who did this-"

Bang!

This time, the glass door was slammed open.

"I know who did it," said the dark-skinned girl in the doorway. "And it wasn't Wally."

Abby's eyes glossed over the three teens, she was emotionless and poker-faced. "Let Wally go back to his math test, and I'll tell you who it was."

"Abigail Lincoln?" The principal threw up his hands in exasperation. "How many other annoying teenagers can we fit into my office? I might as well invite the whole school! How could you possibly know what's going on here, Miss Lincoln?"

"You know me, Mr. Principal. Abby makes it a point to know things." A half-smirk peeked out from beneath her red cap. "You won't believe some of the other things I know. Things that have been done right here, in this very office, on this very desk-"

"Ok, ok, fine!" The principal cut her off before she had a chance to finish. "Wallabee, you can go, for now. And if it turns out it really was you all along, so help me, they'll have to ship you to Australia in pieces!"

Wally didn't need to be told twice. He glanced at Abby and Hoagie with what he thought was a grateful expression on his face, and raced out the door.

"As for the rest of you, nobody leaves my office until I get a confession from whoever hit this young man…" Principal Smelling's voice was fading.

Wally's footfalls echoed in the hallways. Tap tap tap tap! He didn't know how much time he had left, if any. But as long as he had an ounce of time, one minute, two minutes, he would keep running, keep fighting against the world that was trying to hold him down. Tap tap tap tap!

A girl, striding up the corridor in the other direction, looking down at her pink phone, long black hair cascading down her hunched shoulders, walking in a hurry, delicately carrying her backpack. At the sound of Wally's footsteps, she jerked her head up.

Kuki and Wally stared at each other.

Wally slowed down, even though he didn't have time to.

Their eyes passed over each other, silent. Over Kuki's shimmering black hair, her crisp white blouse tucked neatly into her skirt at the waist, her wide brown eyes. Over Wally's dishevelled, corn-colored hair, his wrinkled shirt and dirty jeans that he hadn't taken off since yesterday.

Both were quiet.

They passed each other.

Wally sped up, back into a run, but couldn't help glancing over his shoulder. She was looking back over her shoulder, too.

He reached his classroom and swung the door open to find Ms. Thompson looking disappointed that he had returned. She exhaled sharply, but handed Wally back his test. "20 minutes remaining," she said.

Wally had never worked so furiously in his life, picking up where he had left off, the gears in his heads churning like an old rusty machine oiled for the first time, his pencil was flying through the pages. Just like we went through with Abby, just like that... Furiously furiously scribbling, when suddenly the bell rang.

Wally had a full page left that was blank.

"Pencils down."

Oh no.

His test was ripped from him before he could even think to keep working. His mind was numb, and he couldn't move as his classmates filed out of the class, some of them snickering at him.

Wally was the last one to get up, slowly packing up his stuff, passing by Ms. Thompson, who watched him walk out the door with satisfaction.

Somebody grabbed his arm.

"Hey! How'd it go?" Hoagie was waiting for him just outside, and so was Abby.

Wally's face was dark, that was words enough. "I didn't finish. I didn't even get through three of the four pages."

"That sucks man," said Hoagie. "That really sucks. It wasn't even your fault."

Even Abby put a hand on his shoulder. "In a totally unfair and unreasonable situation, you did your best, Wally. I swear, sometimes it's like the adults are out to get us…"

Wally was exhausted. He'd had a late night, hurt somebody he cared about, experienced a radical sugar high and a radical sugar crash, failed his math test, and even been betrayed by his ex-friend Bruce in the process.

"Oh right, what happened to Bruce? Did you figure out who punched him?"

Abby and Hoagie looked at each other and smiled.

"C'mon, let's go sit down somewhere for break and we'll tell you the whole story."

Wally nodded. If he only had a few moments left to savor before being flunked out of high school, he'd want to spend it with his friends, his real friends.

Sunlight speckled the ground. Wally was sitting on a stone bench, elbows draped over his spread knees, across from Hoagie and Abby, in the dappled shade of a small maple tree. It was a warm and beautiful day considering it was Wally's last before he was boarding a plane to a military school halfway across the globe.

Abby started explaining, leaning forward like she was about to tell a thrilling secret. "All right, so Abby was hanging out in the courtyard before school, lingering-"

"-spying-" interjected Hoagie.

"-no, lingering, looking for suspicious activity. Lotta weird things been happening, with the green rain and the extra stars in the sky, you know, I got this the feeling that we're being watched. It's like the more we find out about the Kids Next Door, the more people are trying to sabotage us. Makes me think we're getting close to something big... Anyways, that's when I saw Ashley and Bruce arguing about something around the side of the school building. I don't trust either of them, so to get closer to them, I took a walk-"

"-went eavesdropping-"

"-no, took a walk that happened to lead me to where I could hear them. Ashley was yelling at Bruce, and that's when I heard her say your name, Wally. Said she wanted you gone for good, and Bruce wasn't doing a good job of that."

"Me?" Wally thought. He really disliked Ashley, with her fake-smelling hair and her spitefulness. To him, she was nothing but a dirty blonde snake spitting acid on everyone around her. But why she wanted to get rid of him, he had no idea.

"This doesn't have anything to do with Kuki, does it?" he asked. Ashley was Kuki's friend, maybe she didn't want him getting close to her. Not like that's a problem anymore, he reminded himself bitterly.

Abby chuckled. "I'll get to her in a sec. So that's when the bell rang and I had to leave. As I was going, they were still angry, but it sounded like they were plotting something. Ashley was very determined about it but Bruce looked scared."

"We didn't see Bruce again until science class," chimed in Hoagie. "And that's when we saw him running through the halls towards the principal's office with a huge black eye. Abby was genius, she figured that Ashley had probably punched him so that he could blame it on Wally and get him expelled!"

"But I needed proof that Ashley did it," said Abby, "so I sent Hoagie to the principal's office to stall while I tracked her down."

Hoagie grinned, very pleased with himself. He had bought Wally just enough time for Abby to come up with a plan.

"So I snuck out of class and found Ashley in the library," said Abby. "And after some encouragement-"

"-threats and blackmail-"

"no, encouragement, she confessed that she hit Bruce to frame you, Wally. But of course she wasn't going to say that to the principal, and there were no witnesses. I had no proof, nobody willing to confess, and no time left.

That's when Kuki texted me. I tell you, bad news travels faster than a kid running after an ice cream truck. She heard what was happening and had an idea. It was a crazy one, and Abby told her that, but she insisted.

So then I ran to the principal's office to save your butt, Wally, you're very welcome, and Kuki showed up just after you left. And she said she did it. She confessed in a heartbeat to save you, Wally."

Wally's ears must've heard that wrong. Sweet, innocent Kuki, lying to the principal to protect him?

"The principal didn't believe her at first," said Hoagie. "I mean, who would? She's an angel who wouldn't hurt a fly. But she acted it out perfectly. Pretending like she was an innocent schoolgirl with a dark side. That she had a moment of hysteria, hit someone, and now felt so terrible she had to confess. Oscar-worthy performance, seriously."

"Damn," said Wally. Damn. Right when things couldn't get any crazier. "Where is she now?"

"She got sent home," said Abby. "Suspended for the rest of the day, nothing too bad. Even Bruce got a suspension for lying about it."

"I can't believe you guys did all of that for me," said Wally, heart sinking. "Even though it was all for nothing."

"Hey," said Abby. "That's what friends are for. We don't stop sticking up for each other no matter what."

Hoagie nodded and glanced over Wally's shoulder. "Uh Wally, I think Ms. Thompson's looking for you-"

Wally turned his head to see Ms. Thompson standing in the doorway to the building, motioning towards him. Her face was drawn taut, emotionless. She must've finished grading his test, and was now ready to tell him the official bad news.

He took a deep breath. Calm he was, despite everything. "It's been nice knowing you guys," he said glumly. "Bye, I guess." What else could he say? Sorry for being such a screwup. Thanks for trying anyways. At least you're rid of me now.

Wally stood up. Hoagie flung his arms around him, bawling.

"I'll miss you, Wally! You're the closest thing I ever had to a best friend in this place! I hope they have Internet down in Australia…."

Abby pried Hoagie's arms off of Wally. "Let the boy go, Hoagie," she said softly, but even she looked downcast. "You're a good student, Wally. Don't let nobody tell you otherwise."

Wally almost said something, but his throat was feeling tight. He just looked at them one last time, standing side-by-side in flecks of sunshine underneath the maple tree, trying to photograph that moment in his mind, before he disappeared into the building, Ms. Thompson behind him.

He sat slouching low in his chair as though his back were melting. Ms. Thompson was still shuffling papers. She suddenly handed him a blank copy of the exam he just took.

"What is this? Are you letting me take it again?

"No," she said. "Your grade's already final. I want you to do the first question again. That's all."

"Why?" he said. "So you can humiliate me? Call me stupid again?"

She clucked her tongue. "Just do it."

He considered writing some kind of profanity, one last finger he could give to the authorities. But somehow, the thought of doing it wasn't as satisfying as it used to be.

He answered the question. The same way he'd answered it before, the way Abby had shown him.

Ms. Thompson sucked her teeth, watching him. "And the next question?"

"Look, spare me. Ok lady? I'm done playing your stupid games. I tried to play by the rules, and it didn't work. I still failed. Just tell me I'm done so this whole thing can stop. I know I only did like two thirds of that exam-"

"Seven-tenths," she said brusquely.

"What?"

"Seven-tenths is exactly how much you completed."

"So what?"

"So," said Ms. Thompson, interlacing her long and tanned fingers across her desk, their tips ending in heavy maroon nail polish. She narrowed her mouth. "So in your exam, you answered everything correctly. That means you got exactly 70%."

"So what?" he repeated, feeling like a broken record.

"..that's a passing grade, Wally."

"Since when?" he scoffed. "Aren't passing grades like twice that? Like, 120-buhmillion percent or something?"

Ms. Thompson shook her head. "Nope. 70% is passing."

Wally didn't say anything. He crossed his arms, trying to figure out if this was some awful prank.

"No joke, I swear," said Ms. Thompson, raising her hand. "You're not getting kicked out, you're not going to military school. You're still stuck with me. So I strongly suggest you continue tutoring with Abby, and you might have a chance yet to survive this horrible place."

He swore. Pure instinct. Out of shock.

Ms. Thompson didn't even scold him this time, she just gave a stifled chuckle. "Go on," she said, motioning towards the door. "Go celebrate with your friends."

Was she even smiling at him now? His mind was blank, except for a string of curse words running through his mind like ticker-tape. Sh! he tried to tell his mind. Keep it PG-13!

"Um, ok," he finally managed. He got up. She didn't stop him. He walked out. Still alive. Still breathing. Still in high school.

Ms. Thompson watched him exit her classroom, he was still stunned by the news. She could even glimpse him talking to Hoagie and Abby just outside her window. Abby broke out into a grin and Hoagie started bawling and hugging Wally again, out of joy this time, and Wally was actually letting him.

She had been like that once, hadn't she? Had friends like that?

She looked down at her hands, her painted nails, still smooth, but with a hint of wrinkles, dark spots, veins threatening to pop out. She wasn't that young anymore.

And there was Wally, sheepishly grinning with his friends outside, not such a dumb and lazy kid after all. He could've been her. She could've been him.

And yet she'd gotten so caught up in trying to expel him and make his life miserable. What went wrong? she asked herself, trying to remember her own childhood. What happened to me when I grew up?

~?x?x?x?~

Spittle was flying out of Ashley's mouth again, spraying all over Bruce's face. He wiped it trembling with the back of his hand and winced as he accidentally touched his black eye.

"You failed, Bruce! You had one job to do- get Wally expelled!" she yelled at him and threw her hands up in the air. He cowered, afraid that she was about to punch him in the face again.

"And you!" She turned, pointing an angry finger at David standing beside him, who tried to duck behind Bruce to shield himself. "You let Nigel slip right through your fingers! I'm surrounded by idiots!"

Ashley inhaled sharply and shook out her dirty blonde hair, trying to calm down.

"What are we going to tell Infinity? We were supposed to make sure those brats from Sector V never talked to each other again, and now suddenly they've decided to become friends. This could ruin everything! What do they know? How much have they figured out?" She grabbed Bruce's shirt and shook him, even though he was shaking his head.

"I don't know!" he whimpered. "Lenny's the one who's been keeping an eye on Abby, he knows everything she does. Ask him!"

She dropped his shirt and he stepped back, relieved. "Where is that boy, anyways?" she said through gnashed teeth. Again, Bruce didn't know and shook his head.

"Constance? Any updates?" Ashley asked to the dumpy girl sitting in the armchair across from them. She was stroking a jar the size of a gallon in her lap, and she looked up with surprise through her oversized glasses.

"I don't know where Lenny is," she said, caressing the glass jar with her fingertips. "But I can tell you Hoagie and I are doing very well. We are in love and he will marry me and we will become adults and he will never be friends with that Abby Lincoln again."

Ashley made a face. Sometimes her sister could be a little creepy. "Constance, you can drop the act. You're only going out with him to break his friendship with Abby, remember? You don't actually have to marry him."

"But I love him," she said, her face as cold and motionless as a block of ice. "And I got him this glass jar which I will give to him at the party."

"And what exactly is the jar for? Nevermind, I don't care." Ashley flipped back her hair. "We have to be more careful, guys. This is going to be a big night and we have to make sure those brats don't ruin it for us. So unless you want the GKND to throw you into intergalactic jail for failing the mission-" she glared angrily at Bruce and David, "-we have to be watching those brats very, very carefully."

~1~ The Mansion

Nigel wiped the sweat off his shiny bald head, avoiding the back part where he'd gotten hit by a lump of green rain called a S.N.O.T.-D.O.T. Its debilitating effects had worn off, but the back of his head was still hurting. He stopped walking.

The band of grungy children following him crashed into him before they realized he'd stopped. After their multi-day trip from the elementary school complex back to the suburbs, the children were scratched up, smeared with dirt, but more determined than ever before. Jessica had bandages tied around her feet to help with the blisters, Sammy's hair was a nest of twigs and weeds that a bird had possibly made its home, and even Raya had a long black bruise on her cheekbone from their encounter with the GKND. They peered eagerly around Nigel's legs to see why he was stopped.

They had finally reached Nigel's hometown in suburban Ohio, and directly in front of them was an enormous mansion complete with marbled ionic columns, their curled ends carrying a charcoal black Victorian roof glinting in the sun, all surrounded by vast landscaped gardens and perfectly square-trimmed hedges.

"The secret to destroying the GKND is hidden here?" asked Joey, adjusting his glasses to take in the glittering sumptuousness of this mansion. He had never seen anything so glamorous. "What kind of person lives in there?"

"My uncle," replied Nigel darkly. "Guess it makes sense that the ultimate weapon is hidden here- the GKND would never think to look for it in the home of my mortal enemy." He chuckled. "To think it's been under their noses this whole time…"

"All rightie then! Let's do this!" Raya marched proudly towards the big gate at the entrance but Nigel pulled her back by the scruff of her dress.

"Unless you want to get thrown into a delightfulization chamber, we can't just walk in there, Raya! There's 24/7 security guards, vicious watch dogs, and hidden surveillance cameras. It will take careful planning, weeks of preparations, we'll have to memorize the guard changing schedule-"

"Or we could go to the party!" Jessica grinned.

"Not now, Jessica, we can't be thinking about parties-" Nigel was deep in thought, but Jessica waved a piece of paper in front of his face.

He finally grabbed it and read it. Party Tonight, it said, with a picture of a huge birthday cake. It's going to be a delightful night to remember. Cake for all! And at the bottom, Teenz only. No adults allowed.

"That's a good idea, Jessica," said Joey, and she beamed. "This party could be our best shot to infiltrate the mansion." He glanced up at Nigel through his thin black frames, and Nigel nodded in approval.

The party was the perfect cover to get in without suspicion.

And if Nigel was really lucky, maybe he'd finally see his old friends from Sector V at this party...

From inside the mansion, hiding behind a red velvet curtain, two fiery yellow eyes peered out at the kids outside the gate. Even though it had been three years since he last saw Nigel, he immediately recognized his nephew's bald head and black sunglasses. David may have let Nigel slip right through his incompetent fingers, but now he had that bald traitor exactly where he wanted him. Everything was going splendidly.

And the GKND were on their way.

~5~ Buzz

The whole school was buzzing with the news of the party tonight at the Mansion Down the Lane.

Abby stood at her locker, shuffling around her books, but silently listening to the buzz.

The rumors floated down the hall- there'd be birthday cake and soda pop and anybody who was anybody was going… People were whispering, I saw kegs getting delivered to the Mansion- really?- yeah, real soda, from Lime Ricky's... A group of junior girls stood tittering by their lockers. They blushed furiously and giggled whenever a guy passed them in the hall, hoping he would stop and ask one of them to the party, and then looked disappointed whenever he walked straight by.

"Yo, BART!" A gruff voice shot through the hall like an arrow. A sandy-haired boy at the end of the corridor jumped and almost tripped over himself in surprise. He turned towards the sound of the voice.

"You, me, the party?" Virginia walked by him, thumbs sticking out of her dark black jacket with red stripes running down it like streaks of blood. She tilted her head up at him, grinning through her black eyeliner, showing off the thin black choker around her pale neck.

Bartie was so startled he hiccuped once. "*Hic!* Um yeah! Sure!" He grinned back, a bit sheepish.

"All right." Virginia walked on, but turned her head, her brown pigtails swishing past her jacket, to keep looking at him. She pointed at him. "See ya there, dude. Don't forget!"

He sent her back a thumbs up, grinning. The group of junior girls scowled amongst themselves and gave Virginia the stink eye before going back to flipping their bleach-blonde hair and giggling at the other guys in the hall.

Abby sighed. She'd heard enough. It all just kept reminding her of her feelings for Hoagie- and the unfortunate fact that he was already going to the party with Creepy Constance.

The only reason she was still going was because she was on the trail of another Kids Next Door artifact, a big one, and she had discovered several clues leading to the Mansion Down the Lane. The party would be a great excuse to do some sleuthing. But, somehow the idea of doing it on her own wasn't as exciting as it used to be. It would be so much more fun with Hoagie.

Someone yelled in the halls, jarring Abby out of her thoughts.

"It's all so dumb anyways, isn't it!" Fanny was charging down the hall, furiously slamming her hands against lockers, with her friend Rachel running behind her, trying to keep up. Fanny yelled, "Who says you need a date to be cool? Boys are stupid!" She was fuming, her red hair sticking out all over the place.

"I'm sorry-" said Rachel, trying to console her. "It sucks that every guy you've asked so far has turned you down-"

The two girls paused by the lockers, and Abby could hear sniffling. Rachel was now hugging Fanny, whose head was bent over. The redhead sniffed and wiped her face with her sleeve.

"Whoa, Fan-" said somebody. Fanny glanced up at the voice; it was a guy wearing a beat-up green army jacket and a dull beanie over tufts of coal-black hair.

"What are you staring at, jerkface!?" she snapped at him, yelling through her tears. "Coming to make fun of me again? About how I can't get a date?"

The boy opened and closed his mouth with uncertainty, then pulled his face into a glower and walked away.

"That's right, Patton. Keep walking!" she shouted.

He walked on testily, paused to turn back and glance at her over his shoulder, then continued brooding down the hall, hands jammed angrily into pockets, kicking up dust.

Abby's phone buzzed. It was Hoagie, asking Abby what he should wear to the party.

I think I should wear a bow tie but Wally's here telling me bow ties are dumb but I told him that he's wrong because Dr. Time-Space and the Continuums wear bow ties all the time and he's definitely the coolest guy ever! Abby what do you think

Her phone buzzed again. This text was from Kuki, asking whether Abby was going to the party.

Hey~ are you going to the party? Is Wally going? Should I go too?

Abby's phone buzzed a third time and it was from Hoagie again, but this time it was Wally who'd sent the message.

hey this is wally on hoagie's phone cuz mine's still broken. abs whatever u do dont let me drink any soda tonite ok im done with that stuff oh and tell hoagie bow ties are dumb

Abby chuckled to herself. When did she become the leader of this ragtag group of teenagers? She started a group text with Hoagie and Kuki. She typed,

Everyone's going. Meet at the party at 8.

She paused, thought for a second, then added,

Bow ties are cool.

She smiled and hit send.

Her phone buzzed one last time but it was from an unknown number.

Be careful tonight, nothing is as it seems. Party's a trap. Keep your eyes open and don't give up on your research.

Abby sucked in her breath. Who could've sent this? She called the number back, but it was already disconnected. Whatever was going on, she was now certain that she was getting close to something big concerning the Kids Next Door. Something really, really big.

AN: Next stop- Party town!

Unfortunately (well fortunately for me ;P) I'm going on vacation for the next 2 weeks! I might not have a computer so hang in there for the BIG FINALE!