Author's note: Well, here's the second chapter. Look over it and tell me what you think.
-
Chapter 2: Women as Men
-
The four of us jumped down and hid behind a nearby pillar. I could've sworn I saw a Totally Spies poster on the side of it.
Deciding nobody would notice four more people in the crowd of men, the girls and I joined in. I got through with no problem, but a guard stopped Sam, Alex, and Clover. "My true love doesn't accept visitors."
Alex gasped. "You're Rose's-"
Sam covered Alex's mouth. "Bonjour, monsieur. Nice cologne. Is this where we can get a bottle?"
"No women allowed," the guard said, "except my true love."
"Leave this to me," Clover told Sam and Alex, stepping forward and pulling her trademark hair-flip-and-smile.
The guard was not affected. "No one enters but the true love."
Back hiding behind the pillar, Clover was in tears. "Okay, what just happened? The hair flip and smile always works. Well, except when I try it on Leo."
"This is the weirdest case ever," Alex added.
"Then it calls for drastic measures," Sam decided, taking out her makeover kit.
Moments later, the girls tried the approach again, this time dressed like men. Alex was dressed like a construction worker, Sam a policeman, and Clover a surfer. "This might be a little too drastic, Sammy," Alex remarked.
"Come on, Alex," Sam responded. "Try to be a man about it."
The guards did not stop the girls. "Thanks, dudes," I heard Clover say.
"We're getting good at this," Sam said as they entered the warehouse. "If we can't get dates to the dance, we can always go with ourselves."
All of a sudden, Sam, Clover, and Alex froze as they looked around the factory. I ducked out from behind some crates and joined them. "What's (sniff) wrong?"
I quickly saw what was wrong. A man was putting two barrels filled with Possession on a handcart, which another man wheeled away.
"From bottles to barrels?" Sam wondered as we hid in a balcony. "That's quite a marketing shift."
"Maybe it's (sniff) a lot more than just a marketing shift," I suggested.
At that moment, a drop of something fell on Alex's hand. "Huh? Hey, anyone getting rained on besides me?"
We looked up. The drop had come from what looked like a fire sprinkler system. Clover leaned over and sniffed Alex. "That's not rain, Alex, it's cologne."
"Something's not right here," Sam pointed out. "Why would someone mist cologne?"
"I don't know, but someone should tell them less is more," Clover shot back, holding her nose.
"Wouldn't make (sniff) much difference to me," I mentioned. "I can't (sniff) smell a thing because of my cold."
Then, Alex noticed something. "Girls (ahem) guys, look at that!"
Alex had noticed a large lab with a machine. "Good eye, Alex," Sam said. "Maybe that lab will tell us something. Let's slide down and check it out."
As we walked through the lab, Alex glanced over at a label on the machine. "Possessor Perspirator? That sounds incredibly weird."
"Agreed (sniff)," I added. "I wonder what it does."
"I'm calling Jerry," Sam said as she dialed something on her compowder. "Maybe he's got the cologne analysis back."
"Good idea," Clover replied. "Alex, Leo and I will check out the perspirator."
Sam was not having much luck. "That's odd. He's not there. I'm gonna try one more time."
As she called again, Sam hugged the wall so we wouldn't hear her. I guess she wanted her call to be confidential. But why would she want that, unless …? No, they made a pact. But if Alex and Clover did it, but why not Sam?
Sam then approached us. "So?"
"No clue," Alex replied. "It far exceeds bizarro."
"Heck (sniff)," I added, "if bizarre (sniff) was my cold, that (sniff) machine would make me dead (sniff) by now."
"Talk to Jer?" Clover asked.
"Nope," Sam replied, visibly a little nervous. "He's still not there."
"That's weird. Ooh, maybe he's on a date"
After a short silence, the four of us all burst into laughter, which was silenced when the doors opened and someone very familiar-looking entered the warehouse.
The men were all gathered by the door. "Our true love," they chanted over and over as they showered her with flower petals.
"That's Natalie Valentine!" "Oh no, here come the heebie-jeebies again." "Quick, she's heading our way."
We grabbed spare baskets of flower petals and joined in with the men. Natalie walked down the line and approached the Perspirator. She walked up a set of steps and sat down inside.
I didn't get a good look at what Natalie was doing, but it looked like a tanning booth in there. "You've got to be kidding!" Sam said.
"Gross!" Clover added. "Doesn't she know that faux tanning is so not good for the skin?"
"She's not tanning," Sam realized as she bent out of line to get a good look. "She's putting her sweat into the cologne."
"So it's her own sweat that keeps those guys possessed?" Alex interjected.
"That's genius!" Clover added. "Uh, I mean, that's sick."
"I don't (sniff) know how it works, and (sniff) I can't believe it does," I mentioned.
As Natalie exited the Perspirator and walked by the line, the men got down on their hands and knees one by one. Alex broke the chain. "As if!"
Natalie hesitated. "What did you say?"
Alex tried to fast-talk her way out of the situation. "I said, you're my one true love."
Miss Valentine was not fooled. She tore off Alex's fake mustache. "Devotees. Get them!"
The chase was on. Clover activated her hoverboard. "Quick! Jump on!"
As we boarded through the air, some men started throwing nets at us. We dodged every one, but noticed a wall of men blocking the exit. "Pull up, Clover! Pull up!" Sam yelled.
Clover pulled up, and we headed back the way we came, only to crash into a pile of boxes. We landed in a heap on top of each other, and the hoverboard fell into the vat. Somehow my pencil survived the trip.
"Ugh, wipeout," Clover managed to say.
Natalie chuckled. "Prepare them for the vat."
"The vat?" I said. "That (sniff) doesn't sound too inviting."
-
Doesn't sound too inviting, indeed. Tune in next time for the next chapter!