I have finished another chapter! Though I must confess, this one is not as long as most of the others. It is still going to be good, I promise. Anyway, I went to my Envirothon competition today, just like I said before. Did I kick ass? Yes. I kicked ass in forestry, my area of expertise. In fact my team got the best score out of all the teams in forestry. My TEAM, however, sucked. Really bad. We ended up coming in seventh out of eight in the county. And it's all because my teammates did not study as hard as I did. In fact save one other girl, they didn't study AT ALL!

So we sucked and came in near last. And I'd put so much effort into it, so the fact that it was all for nothing just because my teammates couldn't find the time and/or motivation to study their material just pissed me off. So, yeah, I've been crying for most of the afternoon and it seems that whenever I manage to stop and forget about it, someone calls and asks, "Did you kick ass like you said you would?" and I start again.

Sorry to vent. You're here to read the story, not hear a pissed off teenager bitch about a competition she lost. On the bright side for you, if I hadn't lost I wouldn't have needed to write this whole chapter in one evening to distract myself from my disappointment. Disclaimer: I do not own anything Mario-ified. I only own Jessie, Ian, Nicole, and Martin/Mogjyn. Read on.

'

Chapter 10: So That's Why...

"Mogjyn must still be feeling sick," Jessie said the next day in A.P. Literature. They were in the library that day to research on a paper they were writing. "I hope he's okay."

"I'll bet he's just fine," Ian responded, leaning back in his chair. "I think he saw his golden opportunity and used the upchuck yesterday as an excuse to play hooky today."

"Just like you'll be doing tomorrow because of the bruise you're gonna have on your head?" Jessie asked with a half smirk.

"What bump- ack!" Mr. Yidderan had sneaked up and grabbed the back of his chair and pulled it back, but not all the way.

"Saved your life," he said catching him and setting him back.

"What was that for?" Ian asked indignantly.

"Probably for not doing your work," Jessie teased.

"Be careful, I could be telling you to be more like Nicole as well," Mr. Yidderan said shrewdly gesturing toward Nicole who had her head turned down toward her book.

"Yes, we should act more like Nicole," Jessie said, aiming her words at Nicole rather than Mr. Yidderan or Ian.

"Huh-? What?" Nicole said, snapping out of her concentration.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Mr. Yidderan basically venerated you on working so hard and rebuked us for not doing so," Ian explained with a hint of sarcasm.

"Ah. Venerate: a synonym for compliment, and rebuke: another word for scold," Mr. Yidderan said. "Nice, upper level words. But I still castigate you for not completing your commission."

"Oh, okay..." Nicole said vaguely. She went back to looking down at her book.

"Study worm," Jessie rolled her eyes, as Mr. Yidderan walked away. Nicole ignored her. The truth that they could not see was that she was actually staring at her book bag on the floor, where Mogjyn's mask was.

'

"This is exactly the kind of reason it's a good idea for someone to know where you live," Nicole told Martin that day. He hadn't shown in school that day, so after school she made her way to his house to see how he was doing. "See? Something's happened and you needed help and I wouldn't have been able to if you hadn't showed me where you live."

"Okay, okay. You can stop nagging," he said rolling his eyes. He was wearing his regular human clothes, not his shy guy robes.

"Yes, well, you look just fine after your... episode yesterday," Nicole said. "So, no more goofing around, you have to come back to school tomorrow."

"I can't!" he protested. "Without my mask, well, you know what would happen!"

"Aha! But you do have a mask," Nicole said slyly.

"What are you talking about? I even left it back in the auditorium and everything," he asserted.

"But I did not," she said. She smiled and reached into her book bag, producing the mask from within.

"What?" he asked confused.

"And I even took the liberty of fixing the strap for you," Nicole said proudly.

Martin took the mask and held it in his hands. "Why?"

"Well, because it was broken!" Nicole said with mock exasperation.

"No, I mean, why are you doing all this?" he asked, setting the mask down on the table.

"Because you're my friend," Nicole said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And it's an obligation as a friend for me to help you when you're in a pinch."

"...Thanks..." he said.

"You're welcome," Nicole said with a smile. She leaned against the decrepit old sofa. "Now, while we're on the subject of pinches slash problems etc.-."

"Not again..." Martin said.

"You need to let Jessie know who you are," Nicole finished.

"We've been through this!" Martin exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Martin! I'm really not kidding!" Nicole said.

"I can't do it!" Martin told her.

"Martin, if you tell her you will be in so much better of a condition than you are right now," Nicole reasoned.

"What does it really matter? I still won't know where my family is or anything!" Martin countered.

"But you could most certainly search for them? I pretty sure you can't do that now," Nicole said. "And heck, Jessie probably is your cousin."

"She was my cousin before. That doesn't mean she is now," Martin retorted.

"So, what, are you afraid to find out that she actually is your cousin now?" Nicole rejoined. "You know, I think that's just it-."

"No."

"You're afraid that you actually will find your family, and you don't know where it'll go from there-."

"No."

"I really don't get it! And it's really not good for you to be living like this-."

"It's not that."

"In fact, I'm not gonna let you do it anymore. I'm going over there right now to tell her. It's gotta end-." She started toward the door.

"No!" Martin shouted, leaping forward and grabbing her arm. "That's not it!" He thrashed his arm down in an upset motion. He remained silent for a moment looking at his feet. "It's not that I'm afraid she is my family..."

Nicole wrenched her arm free and stepped back a half step to observe him better. "...It's not that you're afraid she is your family..." she repeated. "But that she isn't your family?"

"I'm just afraid that Jessie will go all 'Jessie' on me, and get our hopes up that we're related, but then find out we're not..." Martin said lifting his gaze to her again. "I just don't want to get that false hope and then find out it's wrong... I imagine it would hurt... a lot..." Nicole nodded her head and pursed her lips uncomfortably. "Do you get it now?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"So you won't tell?"

"...No, I won't tell..." she looked at her feet.

"Thank you."

Nicole rubbed her arm uncomfortably. They were standing kind of close as they faced each other. She looked up again and met his eyes. For a moment they stood there in silence.

"I gotta go," Nicole said suddenly and broke the stare. She stepped away and grabbed her backpack.

"Okay," Martin said, shaking his head. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Y-yeah," she looked at him and nodded her head in assurance, though she had nervous sort of look on her face as she looked out the window. Assured that there was no one around, she opened the door and said, "See ya tomorrow."

And she was gone, leaving Martin alone with himself.

"...What was that...?"

'

So, you likey? You can tell it's winding down right? There's only gonna be one or two more chapters left. Then I'll probably go right into the next one without hesitation. Whether the next one directly follows their next adventures or if they do a Mario Party or something has yet to be determined, but... Anyway, until next time!