Disclamer: I own none of the Rocket Power characters, but I do own Jess and Rob.

Chapter 5: What now?

Sam felt like crap, and that was putting it mildly. His wrists were sore, he was exhausted after a night of twisting and turning in bed, causing dark circles to form under his eyes. What was even worse was that the most important race of the season was afterschool. Luckily, if he slept in and returned to the school by noon he would still be allowed to run. He would just forge his mom's signature on a note saying he had an appointment.

"No problem" Sam said to himself as he set his alarm clock fell into a much needed slumber.

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Reggie was nervous, it was fifth period chemistry and Sam still hadn't come to shown up in school. The teacher was babbling on about todays lab experiment but she wasn't listening.

The door opened and in walked Sammy, he still looked tired. He handed a note to the teacher and sat down in a desk far away from Reggie, he refused to even look her way as she stared at him.

"Alright, I will be seperating you into groups of two for this experiment." announced the teacher. The class let out a load groan. "Stop complaining, would you rather we just took notes?"he asked 0threatenly. The students immedietly shut up.

As fate would have it, Reggie and Sam were paired up. Sam didn't even acknowledge Reggie's presence as he began measuring out various liquids in beakers.

"Sam... can we talk?" Reggie asked nervously. Sam said nothing. "Sam please say something." She continued.

"Why don't you make yourself useful and fire up the burner?" Sam said in a toneless voice. Reggie narrowed her eyes and said "Fine. We'll talk later."

The two "friends" silently finished the assingment just before the bell rang that excused them for lunch. Sam was the first person to leave the room, Reggie followed him but quickly lost sight of him as the hallway became overcrowded with students.

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"Hey Reg what's up with you? You seem kind of down today." Sherri said. Reggie was sitting with Trish and Sherri at a picnic table in front of the school. Reggie lokked up at the blonde girl across from her. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"Oh my god! Reg, what happened?" Trish questioned with concern.

"Nothing happened" Reg said in a quiet voice.

"Come on girl, something obviously happened. You've been crying." Sherri said. "Tell us what's wrong, we won't tell anybody." She pried.

"It's just Sam, we've been fighting lately, it's nothing." Reg confessed. The other girls let out a gasp of surprise.

"But you and Sam never fight, I mean you guys are like the perfect example of what best friends should be like." Trish said.

"It's nothing serious" Reg lied "Sams' just been stressing about today's meet, So we've been having problems with the 'Zine and we've just grown impatient with eachother. I'm sure he'll be back to normal after the race."she added. Trish and Sherri exchanged smirks.

"Is that so? Are you sure it isn't just a build-up of sexual tension?" Sherri asked with smirk on her face. Reggie's face turned red and the two girls burst out laughing.

"Will you two cut it out?! Sam and I aren't like that." Reggie insisted, trying to hide her secret.

"Oh Reg, you know we're just joking! Tell you what, after the meet why don't you invite Sam to be your date the beach party this weekend. A litle fun and you two will be back to normal." Trish said.

"You're right Trish, we hardly do anything fun together anymore." Reggie said.

"I still think you two would make a good couple." Sherri added. Reggie threw a crumbled napkin at her, causing the girls to shriek with laughter.

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Sam made his way to the back of the school where most of the "outcasts" of Ocean Shores High could be found during free periods. He spotted Rob and Jess chatting on top of a beat up car and joined them.

"Well look who decided to come to school today!" Jess said in a joking manner.

"Dude, coach was freaking out that you weren't gonna be able to run today! Where were you?" Rob questioned.

"Well I couldn't sleep last night, so I decided to sleep in this morning." Sam stated. Jess took out her pack of cigarettes and Sam asked for one.

"Shouldn't you wait till after the race to smoke?" She asked as Sam lit the stick and took a deep drag.

"Nuthin' bad has happened to me yet." Sam replied. Jess simply shrugged and lit up her own cigarette.

"So, you guys still in for tommorow night?" Rob asked with a grin on his face. Sam and Jess howled in agreement and began making plans for the next night.

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The entire race consisted of about 100 boys from the best high school cross country teams within a hundred mile radius from Ocean Shores. The winning team would qualify for the State Championship Meet next week. Ocean Shores had the privlage of hosting this year's state qualifier meet.

Sam had about one thousand meters left in the three mile race. twenty boys were in front of him. His legs hurt, he was tired and felt like collaspsing, but he sped up, knowing the race would be over soon. He passed two boys.

"Come on Dullard!! You have 800 meters left, don't quit now!" his coach raged from the side of the course. The last part of the course included a steep uphill right before the finish line...Sam hated that hill. He passed another group of boys.

He was now only a short distance away from the hill and heard cheers as the first boy crossed the finish line. He started running as fast as he could. On the top of the hill he saw the Rocket crew shouting encouragement at him. He pumped his arms, lifted his knees and passed several straggling boys on the way up the hill.

The finish line was now in view, Sam was now neck-and-neck with another runner. About two feet before the finish line, Sam passed him. He slowed down to a walk, breathing heavily. A woman handed him a ribbon that read "10th place" and congratulated him.

Before he had time to catch his breath, Sam was surrounded by people congratulating him. Once the crowd around him died down, Reggie walked up to him.

"Sam... about last night, I'm sorry I upset you." She said while avoiding his eyes.

"Forget about it Reg, this week has just been really crazy." Sam said with an understanding smile that eased Reggie's nervousnous.

"So, this weekend-the beach party, would you like to go with me? As friends of course." she mentally kicked herself fo adding the "as friends" part.

"Sure." Sam said, forgetting about that the party was the same night as the concert. Reggie smiled and they agreed to meet at "The Shack" later on for a victory shake.

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The next day, Sam spent lounging around the house until it was time to get ready for the concert. When the time came, he spiked his dark blonde hair in every direction. For clothes- he wore what he referred to as "concert gear"; a fishnet shirt with a tight t-shirt worn over and black pants that fit a bit tighter tham usual. On his wrists, he wore the usual bracelets.

He met up with his friends in front of "The Mourge". Jess was wearing black leather pants and a blck tank top. Rob wore tight plaid pants and a sleavless black t-shirt, his hair was spiked. Both teens wore heavy black make-up.

The three friends smiled at eachother and silently walked past the dozing security gaurd into the loud club.

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Reggie was getting anxious, the party started an hour ago and there was still no sign of Sam. She had spent extra time getting dressed up for the party to catch Sam's eye; but know it felt like those hours had been a waste.

"Still not here?" a voice behind her asked. Reggie turned around to see Twister and Otto.

"No, he must be running late. I just hope nothing bad happened to him." She said

"Don't worry Reg, he'll show up." Twister said in a comforting voice. Reggie nodded and walked away.

"If he knows what's good for him." Otto added to Twister's last statement. Reggie didn't hear.

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The music was loud with screaming and guitar solos. The crowd jumped up and down to the beat of the music, occasionally bumping into one another with no apologies. Sam climbed onto a speaker and threw himself onto the crowd which caught his light frame easily.

Hands were running up and down Sam's body, pushing him upward, stabilizing him, he even felt a pair of hands trying to pull his pants down as well as another pair slipping up the back of his shirt. He felt helpless and but enjoyed it at the same time. Soon he was lowered to the ground and continued moshing with the rest of the audience.

An hour later and the band stopped playing, the lead singer took the microphone and said-"Thanks for coming out to see us tonight, You've been a fucking awesome crowd!!" Sam, along with everybody else, hollered in admiration as the band walked off stage.

"Damn, its only 11:30! What do you guys want to do for the rest of night?" asked Rob

"I have an idea, follow me!" Jess said as she ran out of the club. The boys exchanged confused looks and quickly followed suit.

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It was dark. The only source of light on the beach was a bonfire that all the party guests stood around-laughing, talking, roasting food. One figure stood away from the bonfire, looking in the direction of the beach entrance.

"Reggie." the lone figure whipped around to see her friends looking at her with concern. "I don't think he's gonna show up." Sherri said in a sympathetic voice. Reggie looked down at her feet to hide her tears away from her friends.

"I guess your right." She said and started walking towards the bonfire to join her peers.

"Next time I see Sam, I'm gonna kick his ass." Trish said in an attempt to cheer up Reggie. Reg could only force a weak smile. Suddenly she heard a loud shriek; she looked behind her was able to make out three dark figures frolicing about 100 feet away. They were screaming and laughing like there was no tommorrow. Reggie recognized one of the voices; and a look of absolute rage spread over her face. 'Sam' she thought to herself.

She stormed over to Sam and his friends, Trish and Sherri hurried after her. The rest of the party seemed to notice and stopped any conversations to watch what was going to happen. The three punks didn't even notice the other people until Sam felt someone tapping his shoulder. He turned around to meet Reggie's angry tear stained face. The smile quickly vanished from his face and his two friends stopped talking. For a few seconds the beach was dead silent, then a loud noise echoed throughout the silence- SMACK!!

Reggie had slapped Sam's face with all her stregnth, causing him to stumble but was able to keep standing; until she hit him again that is. Sam was now on his back and Reggie began screaming at him while he could only stare in shock.

"...I hate you Sam!! I hate you!!" Reggie's words stung Sam more than his father's last words to him had. Reggie contiued screaming at him, but he blocked her out. Sam stood up and walked away from the crowd. "Where the hell do you think your going?!!" Reggie screamed. Sam said nothing and continued walking away, he raised his right hand that was balled up in a fist exept for his middle finger.

Reggie could only gasp at Sam's silent remark. Rob and Jess hurried after Sam and Reggie dropped to her knees and bawled. Otto was about to follow after Sam but was held back by Twister. Sam did not have to turn around to look at the crowd behind him, for he could feel their glares burning into his back.

Next chapter: Uh...I'll think of something good, don't worry.

A/N: Big thanks to everybody who reviewed my story.

A/N to mike2000: You bring up a good point about Doug Dullard. Perhaps I'll write fic about his childhood in the future. Thanks again for your reviews!