Sunday after lunch, Ziggy, Stephanie, and Sportacus, spread out to search for the new kid, Stefan. They had no luck. No one seemed to know anything about a new kid, or a big kid. They all arrived at the treehouse disappointed, but Stephanie and Ziggy were also slightly relieved. They weren't sure what would happen if they had found Stefan.
"I'm tired of even thinking about Stefan," Ziggy exclaimed.
"When I think about him, I want to hit something, hard," Stephanie added. She made a fist and pounded it into her other hand.
Stephanie and Ziggy sat on the ground beneath the treehouse and pouted. Sportacus decided they needed to take a break and lighten up. He had an idea.
"Stephanie, run home and get some music. Getting angry is a waste of energy. Let's take a break, and dance!"
"Me too?" Ziggy asked.
"Of course!" exclaimed Sportacus as Stephanie jumped to her feet and dashed home.
She was back in record time. Stephanie turned on the music and all three of them went a little wild. They were shaking, flapping, stomping, rolling, whooping, and hollering. They leapt, bounded, jumped, flipped, and spun. The kids had totally forgotten about Stefan, and were having a great time. Sportacus was having fun too, but, he hadn't forgotten. Stefan was still in the back of Sportacus' mind.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Robbie Rotten woke to the glare of lights. Someone must have turned the power back on. He had slept better than he had in days. He checked his clock.
"Oh, my, over 15 hours of uninterrupted sleep! How blissful." Robbie yawned hugely and smiled to himself, then frowned. "Something woke me up though. I'm sure I could have slept for 24 hours." Then he heard it. Pounding on the ground. He growled and snarled, stood up, and marched over to his periscope. Looking through it, he saw Sportacus, Stephanie, and Ziggy. "What do they think they are doing?" Then Robbie saw the boombox. "They call that dancing?" Robbie asked himself, tsk tsking, while watching the gyrations above.
He watched Sportacus help Ziggy do a flip, then Ziggy air-jammed on an imaginary guitar. He was jamming all around the treehouse, jumping on the ladder, then jumping off like it was a stage, and he was a rocking superstar.
Sportacus came up behind Stephanie and flipped her onto his shoulder in a sitting position. She slowly leaned back, hooking her knees on his shoulder, and began to slide down his back, arms stretched over her head. He leaned foreward a little as she straightened her legs, while letting go of his shoulder.
He reached behind his back, suddenly worried that Stephanie might fall if she hadn't put her hands down yet. Sportacus' hands found Stephanie. He gulped as his hands touched skin, and then ... the superhero blushed. He was pretty sure those weren't giant goosebumps that slipped through his fingers. As Stephanie landed hands first, she kicked her feet down so she was laying flat on the ground. Her head was even with the heels of Sportacus' boots. Sportacus looked down and saw her fingers stretched up between his knees. He bent over, grabbed her hands and swung her up between his legs, to finish the move by setting her on her feet. She was laughing and her eyes were bright. She continued to jam like nothing had happened at all. Sportacus sat against the tree watching the kids. They were for the moment, being kids. Sportacus was relieved. Robbie was not.
Robbie had watched what he thought of as, the whole sordid display. When Stephanie had flipped over Sportacus' shoulder, and her dress flipped too, Robbie's eyes grew wide and he gurgled a little. He spun away from the periscope pressing his hands against his eyes and taking deep breaths. Finally his breathing slowed down. He took his hands from his eyes hesitatingly, then quickly shoved them back as he could still see the image of Stephanie in his mind.
"Ewwww," he moaned while shuddering.
Robbie shook his head making his jowels flap trying to displace the image. He cautiously walked back to the periscope and looked into it. Sportacus was sitting against the tree and the other two were "dancing".
"This has got to stop!" He watched as Stephanie hurtled toward Sportacus, then came to a screaching halt. She plopped herself in his cross legged lap. He propped his knees up and she slid onto the grass between them, then scooted back to lean against him. "Ahhh! Gross!" Robbie stomped away from the periscope making retching sounds. He stopped in the middle of the floor as his eyes rolled looking up. Then he shook from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. "I don't know which is worse ... him, or her. Yuck on both!" Robbie headed up and out.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Stephanie knew she was pushing her luck flirting with Sportacus. But once she felt his hands slide across her skin, she didn't much care what he thought anymore. The woman began battling with the girl again, but it looked like the woman might win this time. Stephanie was scared, but also excited. She decided those little butterfly tingles felt reeeal good.
Ziggy had finally collapsed at Sportacus' feet. "Whoa that was fun! Thanks Stephanie, Sportacus!" They both just smiled at Ziggy, while Sportacus wrapped his arms low around Stephanie's waist, and she rested her arms on his.
"Why do you people always wait until I come up here, to finally setttle down? Hmmm? Why don't you just settle down without doing anything noisy or bouncy? Would it kill you to consider the feelings of others? Robbie appeared in front of Sportacus and the kids griping and panting loudly. "I finally get a good nights rest, only to have it shortened because you decide you have to dance, if that's what you call it, outside!"
"We're sorry, Robbie. But since you're up here anyway now, why don't you join us?" Stephanie asked.
Robbie had been avoiding looking at Stephanie. Now he did, and immediatly turned his head away and put his nose in the air. "I don't think so."
"Come on, Robbie. It's fun!" Sportacus added his voice to Stephanie's.
"No. I don't want girlie germs. If you want to put your fingers on a girl, fine. Not me." Robbie spoke looking at Sportacus. Sportacus blushed again at Robbie's comment. Robbie couldn't have known what had happened during the dance. At least he certainly hoped not.
Robbie took another step toward the three of them, then tripped over Stephanie's boombox. Robbie landed at Sportacus' feet. Stephanie and Ziggy both leaned over to see if Robbie was okay. Robbie raised his head and stared straight into Stephanie's eyes.
Stephanie stared back for a moment, a frown slowly creasing her forehead. Stephanie wondered again for the hundredth time, what color were his eyes? With that thought, Stephanie slammed herself back against Sportacus' chest. Ziggy had leaned over to look Robbie in the face, looked into his eyes, and scrambled backward doing something similar to a crab walk.
Sportacus grabbed Stephanie to turn her around to face him. She was shaking and trying to speak, but nothing was coming out. He looked at Ziggy who was having almost the same reaction, only he was yelling. "You! It was you! How could you!"
Robbie knew they knew. They had somehow identified him as Stefan. He jumped to his feet and took off running in the opposite direction. He was shaking his hands along the way to get the grass and dirt and anything else off. As he first rounded one corner and then another, he shook each leg swiping at them with his hand. "Drat, I just had this suit cleaned."
Ziggy finally turned to Sportacus. "It was him, Robbie Rotten! He's Stefan!"
Sportacus listened to Ziggy then looked to Stephanie. She looked up at him, hanging on as if for dear life. "Robbie's eyes. I never know what color they are. I thought the same thing about Stefan's. They're the same person." Sportacus jumped to his feet, set Stephanie against the tree, and took off after Robbie.
Ziggy crawled over to sit next to Stephanie. And wait.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
One or two more chapters to go. I WILL finish this story this week. Thanks again to everyone who has hung in there with me!