Secrets and Bionics
This will be the last chapter that was originally Written by the original author, and from here on I will be adding even more of my own spin to it. One has to wonder what life is like for two lonely souls who are trying to get to know one another, but what happens when one begins to miss what she had long sense tried to lose?
As always my friends, Please. Read Review and Enjoy!
Chapter3; Home always alone
Jenny Wakemen was not jealous. Jenny was the highly sophisticated, world saving android XJ-9 for crying out loud, she was NOT JEALOUS! So what if Sheldon was hanging out with a new girl? So what if he's either ditching their plans or asking her to join in, so what?! So what if this was the happiest she'd ever seen him...
The sound of a snap drew her attention away from her thoughts. Looking down Jenny thought she might have just broke her pencil, only to find it was her desk. "Ms. Wakemen," Jenny suddenly looked up to see her teacher giving her a glare that made her wonder if her outer coating was going to melt, "is there something you'd like to share with the class?" The best response she could come up with was a nervous laugh and a promise to fix or replace the desk.
As she made her way to the exit she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Hey Jen," Brad said, his ever present smile tainted slightly by the mischief in his eyes, "how are you feeling today?" Jenny really didn't like that look.
"I'm fine," she said in a slightly strained voice.
The two were quiet for a bit as they walked before Brad spoke again, that same look only growing worse, "So... Rowen and Sheldon..."
"Yeah, what about them?" Jenny said, voice a bit more strained than before.
"Nothing," Brad said, the sly smile on his face betraying all the fun he was having, "they just seem to be having a lot of fun lately you know?"
"Brad I know you have a point you're trying to lead me to," Jenny groaned, "but could you just drop the act and come out with it? I'm really not in the mood right now."
"I can tell, I was in math class with you," Brad said, taking note of the bright blush on Jenny's face, "I never really like the subject much myself but I've never broke a table over it." Jenny groaned again as she hide her face in her palms. "I knew it, you're jealous aren't you?"
"Jealous of what?" Jenny said just a bit to loud and quickly, "Sheldon and I are just friends, always have been. Why should I care that he's spending so much time with another girl?!" Finally managing to look back at Brad, who was wearing a shit eating grin, she gave one more groan, "I'm not jealous."
"Right, right," Brad said as they began walking again, only to spring on her, "You know they have been going to his house everyday for like three weeks right?" Brad could almost hear the nonexistent gears in Jenny come to a grinding halt when he said that, oh how he loved to be a menace. "Tuck and I were gonna spy on them today, see what's going down. I was gonna ask if you wanted in but I guess you-"
"I'm in, let's go!" Jenny snapped as she grabbed Brad by his collar and flew off.
Rowen was waiting patiently for Sheldon, silently having a battle with herself. She had been having a lot of fun with Sheldon for the past week or so, more fun than she had in a very long time. In that time she had learned so much about the boy, both good and bad. Rowen had problems with family and loneliness but damn did he give her a fun for her money.
The feeling of being to close to someone was a foreign feeling for Rowen, and that was the problem, she had no idea how she was going to ask Sheldon over!
"I should ask him," Rowen said, unintentionally out loud, not noticing having drawn the attention of a certain pair of cousins, "he's my friend and that's what friends do right? Have each other over? I've been to his place lots of times and even hung out with his other friends a bit, this is no big deal right?"
"Girl you need to chill out," The snark filled tone drew Rowen's attention to Tiff and she and Britt made their way over to her, "it's not like it's anybody important."
"Quite," Britt added, her posh smile instantly annoying Rowen, "it's just one little nerd, it's not like it's someone of any value. Now if it were Don that might be something to worry over."
Rowen rolled her eyes at what they were saying, "Sure, look I'm waiting for some one so do you need something or what?" There was more venom in her voice than she originally planned, but these two were already tap dancing on the thin ice of her last nerve for bad mouthing her friend. If Sheldon hadn't already made her promise not to fight for his sake she would have already flattened them.
"Right to the point then? Fine," Britt said as she glared up at the woman, "we just want to ask you a few things."
"Like what you you're doing hanging out with the freak?" Tiff butt in, not really in the mood to beat around the bush.
Rowen sent a glare that could melt steel, the Crust cousins were not effected. "That would be Tiff's question," Britt said, shooting her cousin a look, "Mine has more to do with your appearance. As much as I'm loathe to admit it, you have quite the figure and a very nice face, a little dressing up and you could be as popular as us."
"Look her you pompous little..." Rowen growled out before cutting herself off and taking a breath she tried again focusing on Britt, "Alright, to answer your question first I have no interest in showing off my goods just to have every guy save for Don Prima gawking at me at all hours of the day."
"Wait, you got a thing for Prima?" Tiff asked in confusion.
"Hardly," Rowen snorted, "I just know it wouldn't be MY form that the guy is focused on." With a slight head tilt both cousins turned and found Don, biting his finger nail as he watched the foot ball team practice.
Turning to Tiff Rowen growled out, "And as for you, don't every say that about Sheldon again. You may not think much of him but I guarantee he's a lot better than any other guy in this school. More heart and a lot more brains!" Out of the corner of her eye Rowen spotting the boy in question walking up with a smile on his face. "Now if that's all, I got a pad to flaunt."
Feeling that she had said what she needed to Rowen walked over to Sheldon, linked arms with the blushing lad, and left chatting happily. "Can you believe that chick?" Tiff finally asked, finally getting over her stunned silence.
"Not in the slightest," Britt said as she watched them go, the boy in particular as she did, "perhaps the nerd's worth requires further investigation." Though Britt was a calm and collected as she always had been Tiff could see that same spark in her eyes that she always got when something caught her eye.
"So Shell," Rowen said once they were a good distance away, trying and failing miserably at hiding her nervousness, "How about we go to my place today? Got a lotta junk I think you'd like."
If it wasn't for the fact that Rowen had been holding him by the arm Sheldon probably would have frozen on the spot and stayed there. Thankfully his brain managed to kick in only a half second later, "S-sure! I'd love to!" 'Too quick and WAY to loud,' he immediately thought to himself.
Rowen couldn't help but smile at his behavior. 'At least he's as nervous as I am,' she thought to herself as she subconsciously pulled him closer to her, "Great, it's this way."
"So where exactly do you live?" Sheldon asked after a bit of walking, regretting his question almost immediately after when he saw her flinch.
"It's at the top of Gargoyle's Hill," Rowen said, and suddenly the flinch made sense. Gargoyle's Hill was a very old, very large piece of land surrounded on all sides by a forest of dead trees. It was close to town but no one ever really went near it.
The walk to Rowen's home was filled with small talk. The hill, while not super steep, was still a bit of a climb and would have probably taken over an hour to get there if not for the dirt trail.
The house was bit, far bigger than Sheldon was really expecting, and very old looking. In all honesty it was almost exactly as Rowen and described it to him save for one thing, it was really run down. Some of the wooden planks had begun to rot, there were some holes in the roof and one of the porch steps was broken.
"You have a lovely home," Sheldon said, doing everything in his power to make it sound believable.
"You are a terrible liar," Rowen said with a smirk, she had absolutely no misgivings about her home. She knew full well it was what some would call a "Crap Hole", but it was hers.
Opening the door Rowen laughed as she said, "Well, welcome home." Most of the large room was the living room. Towards the back there was a small hallway and a dark stairwell that went to the basement, on the left of where they stood there was a wall that divided this room from another one. Sheldon's eye was drawn to the staircase on the left wall that led up to a thin balcony with three doors, one of them open. In the middle of the room, there was a sofa, two love seats, a circle rug and a small tv that sat on a table.
Throwing her backpack onto one of the couches smiled out, "Me casa es su casa."
"Is anyone else home?" Sheldon asked.
"No. Gunner might be here though." she said.
"Gunner?" Sheldon asked with his head slightly cocked.
A smile graced Rowen as she said, "My cat."
A dark shape drew Sheldon's attention to a corner of the room. Walking over to his a smile burst onto his face as he recognized what it was, a motorcycle. Not like any of the ones that were around today, not even close. It stood upright on it's kickstand and was about half finished, an open tool box sitting next to it.
"Impressed?" Rowen asked, mildly surprised the boy didn't jump out of his skin. Over the course of the time they had been spending together she had found a game in making him jump, the only times he didn't were when he was so fascinated with something that she couldn't get a reaction out of him.
"Very, Sheldon," Sheldon almost whispered, "it's amazing, and so big!" Sheldon my have had a thing for advanced tech but even he couldn't help but drool at a truly classic bike.
Rowen laughed and walked around the bike, "I wanna have this baby done by the end of next month, maybe sooner if I can get my hands on the parts. Building things like these are fun because you can make it basically any way you want. It just has to work."
Sheldon smiled as he ran his hand over the exposed motor. The room brightened suddenly as a cloud moved away from the sun. Remembering the holes in the roof Sheldon asked, "What happens in the winter or when it rains with the holes?"
With a devilish smirk that was quickly becoming a trademark for Rowen she picked up a large screw from the ground and hurled it at one of the holes. With a small thump the screw fell to the ground. "Invisible shield, made it myself. It helps with lighting considering I don't got very many lamps."
A light giggle escaped Rowen as she watched stars shine in the boy's. "Oh my gosh! That is so amazing!" Sheldon squealed, reminding Rowen of a school girl eyeing a particularly adorable puppy.
The buzzing of his phone drew Sheldon's attention. Reaching down and looking at his phone he groaned lightly. It was Brad.
Dude, where are you?! Youre with rowena arent you.
Sheldon sighed as he texted back.
Brad, if you're going to text me, at least use proper grammar. And yes, I am, is that a problem?
"Who's that?" Rowen asked, curious as to why he seemed annoyed all of the sudden.
"Brad," Sheldon said with a roll of his eyes. His phone buzzed again.
Yes it is a problem, she's weird! She could be a killer for all we know! I mean who eats an apple core and all?!
Rowen leaned over Sheldon's shoulder and read the texts. "Wow... he sure is a lady killer."
"Rowen, I am really sorry..." Sheldon blushed, he was going to have a long talk about what he says.
"Don't be," she smirked, "A lot of people think I'm freaky. I'm not surprised." She looked down and saw the embarrassed look on Sheldon's face before putting her hand on his shoulder, "It's not a big deal, I promise."
In one of the only times he didn't think before he acted Sheldon hugged the larger girl, only realizing after the fact that he might have over stepped when he felt her body tense. Slowly she hugged him back.
After a little bit Sheldon pulled away, face as red as a fire truck, "S-Sorry, I didn't... I wasn't thinking-"
"Chill out, Shell," Rowen said with a soft smile and a bright blush of her own, "It's just... nobody's really hugged me in a while... I'm not used to it." It was at times like this that Sheldon wished he was better at the whole 'Human interaction' thing, he wanted to ask her what she meant but he saw that she really didn't want to talk about it so instead he just pulled her into another hug.
This time she didn't pull away or freeze up, instead she wrapped her arms around Sheldon, crouching down a bit so she could rest her head on his shoulder. "You're sweet," Rowen said as she held tightly to him before pulling away and ruffling his hair. Eyeing his phone she snatched it and gave a dark smirk, "Too bad I'm not."
Before he could try and stop her, not that he thought he could, Sheldon's attention was drawn by the sound of a cat. Turning around Sheldon found a golden tabby cat with medium length hair. Sheldon locked eyes with the cat before it dropped the dead mouse it was carrying and dug into it.
"Gunner, if you're gonna eat that, at least go around the hallway or in the basement," Rowen yelled to the tabby as she tossed Sheldon back his phone. To his great surprise Gunner arched his back and meows at her, as if in response. Rowen sighs as she says, "I know you're hungry but we have company. Please just take it somewhere else."
Gunner gave a soft growl and carries the mouse off. Rowen sighed again, "Sorry about that, that cat has no manors." She turned back to the corner Gunner had run off to and added, "Love you!" and received a meow in return.
Turning back to her guest Rowen found Sheldon looking at his phone with a bright blush on his face.
Hey, this is Rowen, can you stop distracting Sheldon? His hands are magic and I need him focused.
"I thought you weren't evil..." Sheldon said as a devious smirk grew on his face, one matching Rowen's.
"I'm not evil," She said matter of factly, "I'm just not sweet like you." The two let out a fit of laughter, almost falling over one another. "So..." Rowen said as she caught her breath, "wanna see my room?" Sheldon nodded and followed her up the narrow staircase and walked to the third door on the even narrower hallway.
Rowen's room was big. With a slanted ceiling that fit the roof, a cracked window, posters and diagrams and blueprints covering the walls, and a queen sized mattress placed in a rectangular hole in the ground. "I didn't have a bed frame," Rowen said as she stepped in, "there used to be a raised floor along the side of the room, so I made some adjustments."
Up against the wall there was a statue made of scrap pieces and sheet metal, it was a mess but to Sheldon it was amazing. Walking up to it Sheldon asked, "Wow... what is it supposed to be?" Rowen leaned against the wall, she couldn't help but smile in pride at the awe in his voice.
"I'm trying to make a person, but I have to be a little abstract with spare pieces," Rowen said, "Sure I could go all out with this, but I choose to make it a side project." She stood up with the intent on showing Sheldon some of her other projects when she heard the sound of ripping and paled.
Nether Rowen nor Sheldon noticed the loose nail in the wall that she had leaning against. When her glove was caught and torn Sheldon was shocked to see not exposed skin, but a mess of wires and cogs in a metal frame.
