Disclaimer: Me now own, you no sue.

A/N: More drama for you!

…..

Cruddy Diary!

Chapter 11

July 25th, 5:30 PM

I've been sneaking around Numbuh 5 all day, worried she's gonna tell Kuki about the diary. But she hasn't told her yet… I wonder when she'll tell her. That's going to be the end of my life. So if anyone finds this diary after Numbuh 3's killed me, I'd like my parents to know that I love them, and that I think Joey's kinda cool… for a baby brother who wears diapers.

I really want Numbuh 2 to know that he's my bestest friend ever. We've had the coolest times together, shared some great laughs and some great food. You'll always be the best pilot and teammate to me. Rock on, dude!

Numbuh 1, you're the greatest leader there is, and I couldn't have had as much fun with any other leader. You're not only a great leader, but also a great friend. You're also one of the greatest friends I've ever had, and I'll always treasure you for that, and stuff.

Numbuh 5… We've had our share of good moments… You've kinda always been there for me when I really needed you, so that's good. But you've also been somewhat a pain in the butt. Never mind… You're like a big sister to me, so I guess I like you for that.

And I especially want Numbuh 3 to know that I didn't read your diary to be cruel. Okay? I read it because… Well… God, here goes… I wanted to see what I meant to you. If I was just a loser to you and you really hated me, or if you just saw me as a friend, or if I actually meant more to you than I thought. I just had to know because I'm too scared to ask you in person. So if you hate me now for reading your precious diary, I can't say I blame you… I'll always love you, though… Even if I'm dead right now because you killed me, I still love you. So now you know… I'm a chicken…

…

5:50 PM

Man, I'm such a loser! I'm not gonna take it from her! If she's mad at me, so be it! I'm a guy, I can take it! Jeez, it's not like she can do anything to harm me! No way! She can try, but she'll fail. I have my reasons to read her diary, and hopefully I've just strengthened our relationship. I know what she thinks of me and that means a lot. It's good that I know how she feels. That way I can do something about our friendship. You know, make it into something bigger. I would really want that, though I'm a little afraid of the changes… But hey, I can take it! It's worth it, right? …right?

Who am I kidding..? It was wrong of me to read that diary, and I know it. I'll have to make it up to her and apologize when Numbuh 5 tells her. I never did it to hurt her feelings, you know…

Oh, crud! There's a knock on my door! What'll I do? What'll I do? …Uhm, first of all, I need to go answer it…

…

6:30 PM

Crud! I've done it now!

I went to open the door hesitatingly. Numbuh 5 was on the other side of it, her arms folded over her chest. She looked at me expressionlessly. I was about to fall on my knees in front of her and beg her not to tell Kuki about the diary, but something inside me refused.

"I need to talk to you," she said and pushed me into my room, shutting the door behind her. Her eyes locked in mine.

"Have you told Kuki yet?" I asked with a low voice I didn't even recognize.

"No, I haven't," she replied. "And you wanna know why?"

I nodded carefully.

"It's because I feel a little sorry for you, but mostly because I need you to tell me why you read the diary in the first place," she told me. "Wally, why did you do it?"

My hands were shaking. I stuffed them into my pockets to make them stop. I looked at her with worry and bit my lower lip lightly. "Why I did it? Err… Well… I guess I wanted to… know what she thought about me…"

"Is that why you did it?" she asked and raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah… I wanted to know if she liked me," I replied awkwardly.

"But why did you want to know that?" She smirked. "You want her to like you, don't you?"

"Huh?" I was so freaked out by the question that I didn't know what to answer.

"Alright, I'll tell you something," she said and smiled. "The reason why I haven't told her about you reading her diary is because I figured you wanted to know what she thought about you, and not reading it just to be an idiot. I thought that the only reason you would go through the trouble of reading a girl's girly diary was because you wanted her to like you. And when a person wants someone to like them, they like them themselves."

My chin practically hit the floor. How the crud could she know all of that?

"Is Numbuh 5 right or what?" she asked and grinned.

"Err… I… well… I guess, but I, I'm not sure if I want her to… like me or anything and… Well, because it's just… weird, and I… Gah!" I was just rambling. My words had no meaning. I was busted and I knew it. Busted, again!

Numbuh 5 let out a small laugh. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, now you know that she does like you, and you like her, right?"

I blushed and my heart was racing. This wasn't exactly how I had planned things to go…

"Numbuh 3 told me a long time ago that she thought you liked her," Numbuh 5 told me with a sly grin. "Back then I was certain you did. But when you read her diary I started to doubt you a little. Until I started to think out the number of reasons why you would do such a thing. You want her to like you. Or even better, you want her to love you."

I was speechless for a few seconds. Then I said: "No!" in a way that told her she was nuts. "Of course I don't want her to love me. I don't like cruddy girls, and I don't want cruddy girls to like me."

"Right…" Numbuh 5 folded her arms over her chest again. "And I'm Liza Minnelli." She rolled her eyes. "Look, why don't you just tell me the truth, Numbuh 4? It's not like it's gonna hurt you or nothing."

"I am telling the truth!" I protested. "I don't like her, and I don't want her to like me. You've got it all wrong." Don't ask me why I suddenly had the urge to lie to her. I guess it's because I just didn't want to admit it all like an idiot. You can't blame me for that, now, can you? Besides, I'm a guy!

Numbuh 5 pulled the hat lower to cover her eyes. "You know what? I don't believe you."

"Fine, you don't have to," I replied. "But I know what I mean and think and so on. And guess what – you don't!"

"Well, I think you be lying to me," she said. "But if you ain't gonna tell Numbuh 5 the truth, she might as well go tell Numbuh 3 about what you did, then." She turned around and was about to leave the room.

"Wait!" I shouted, raising my hands. "Don't tell her! Please! I'll do anything!"

Numbuh 5 turned around, her eyes sparkling. "Anything?"

"Uh-oh…"

This is how I got stuck with all of Numbuh 5's chores around the Treehouse for a long time… As long as I do her chores, she won't tell Numbuh 3.

It's Numbuh 5's job to write a list every week over what chores we have. She's always fair so that we won't argue about it. But I'm certain she's gonna give herself all the worst jobs this week just so I have to suffer! If she does that, I'll strangle her! I mean it! If she gives me something that has to do with scrubbing the toilets or washing the fridge again, I'll kill her!

…

July 26th

Alright, I'll kill her! I checked the list this morning when she'd just put it up. I got washing the floor in all of the halls and doing the dishes Thursday night. Then she put herself up on… dun, dun, dun – laundry! I don't wanna go through all of those dirty clothes down there! We haven't done laundry for about a year! And guess who I got laundry duty with… Yeeep, Numbuh 3… Numbuh 5 did that on purpose! That cruddy, stupid, girly, good-for-nothing GIRL! She'll pay for this!

She also put herself up on doing the dishes on Friday and Saturday.

Oh well… Better go start some of this now, since I don't have anything better to do.

…

7:48 PM

Wow, I never knew laundry duty could be so amusing… Call me crazy, but I actually had fun tonight doing it. I started out with washing some of the halls before dinner. And after dinner Numbuh 3 asked Numbuh 5 if they were going to start to wash some clothes soon.

"Ask Numbuh 4, it's his job," Numbuh 5 replied, looking up from her magazine.

I was sitting next to Kuki on the couch in the TV room, and Numbuh 5 was in the arm chair, reading while letting the food sink.

Numbuh 3 glanced curiously over at me. "Numbuh 4? But the list said you and I had laundry duty, Numbuh 5."

"Numbuh 4 and I made a deal," Numbuh 5 replied and grinned at me. "He's doing it with you. Numbuh 5's free for a while."

"You don't have any chores?" Numbuh 3 asked. "That's not fair."

"Oh, believe me, Numbuh 3," Numbuh 5 insisted. "It is fair. As fair as it can be. Ain't that right, Numbuh 4?"

I lowered my head and growled something to answer her question.

"See? He totally agrees," Numbuh 5 said.

"Alright, let's go get some work done, Numbuh 4," Numbuh 3 told me and pulled my arm as she jumped down from the couch.

I sighed and followed her. We walked in silence, side by side, down to the laundry room.

I was shocked to see all the dirty clothes we had down there.

"Dude! Is all that our clothes?" My chin dropped.

"Yes, silly!" Numbuh 3 replied and giggled. "All of it is ours. We've really made a mess, haven't we?"

"Tell me about it!" I exclaimed. "Seriously, where do we start here?"

"We just get all the clothes that have the same colors and put them in the washing machine," she told me and bent down towards the huge pile of clothes. She gathered a lot of white clothes first and gave it all to me. "Take it over to the washing machines."

I did as I was told. Not that I enjoyed carrying around a bunch of stinking, dirty clothes, but still… We filled up the two washing machines. Then we started them. Kuki did most of the work, since she'd done it before. I didn't even know where to put the laundry detergent.

"Hey, check it out!" I exclaimed as I ran back to the pile of clothes. I held up a blue hoodie. "I haven't seen this for so long!" It was mine. I didn't remember where I'd put it. Now I did, though. It had food stains on it. I remembered now that I had spilled on it and stuffed it down the laundry shaft. It used to be one of my favorite sweaters, after the orange ones, of course.

"We can wash dark clothes next," Kuki told me and smiled. "That way you'll have it tomorrow. But right now, we should just keep sorting all of this." She bent down next to me and gathered some black and dark colored clothes.

Sorting clothes is boring. And it's extra boring if they're dirty. But we were talking and joking around all the time, so it wasn't that horrible.

"Hey, Wally?" Kuki suddenly said. "You know what? I think we should go do something together again soon. Like going back to the Ice Cream Saloon, or go to the movies together, or just do something fun."

"Alright, how about we go see monster trucks or something?" I suggested.

"That's not exactly what I was hoping we could do…" she muttered. "Can't we have a picnic in the park or go to the beach alone, like we said we would?"

"Oh… right," I replied, as I had almost forgotten that we had planned an unplanned "date". "Well, we could go to the beach together tomorrow, if the weather is nice and Numbuh 1's okay with it."

"Just the two of us?" she asked.

I nodded. "Just the two of us."

I can't believe how much happiness I can give her out of answering a question as simple as that. She smiled and grabbed me in a tight hug. I suddenly remembered some of the stuff she had written about me. She did love me, and it was for real.

A while later the centrifuge started on the washing machines. I climbed on top of one of them. It was shaking so hard that I almost fell down a few times. Kuki started to laugh by the funny sight. Then she climbed up on the other one. It was a lot of fun. See how little it takes to amuse us two? That's what I like about Kuki. We can find fun just about anywhere, and we can have fun with it for a long time. Sometimes I stop and think about how much the two of us match. It's like we're made for each other.

…

July 27th

Beach day! Kuki and I left early and went straight to the beach. We had a lot of fun. When we first got there, Kuki threw her stuff on the sand and ran out into the water. But since I'm not much of a swimmer, I just stayed on the beach. I started to bury myself in the sand.

Kuki can be really cruel sometimes. When I wasn't watching her, she took her beach bucket and filled it up with water. And since I was stuck in the sand, I couldn't get out of there when I first realized she was up to something. She threw the entire bucket of water over my head.

"Crud!" was all I could say. I finally got out of the sand. Then I grabbed the bucket that had fallen to the sand next to me and went into the water.

Kuki had saved herself by going far out there in the water, and she waved her hand at me. "Try to get me all the way out here, Wally! You can't even stand out here!"

"Oh, yeah?" I yelled, hiding my smile. "Well, I guess I'll be getting you later when you least expect it!" I put the bucket down. "I'm getting some ice cream!"

"Yay, ice cream!" she replied and came back the beach. "I want one, too! I want a popsicle! No wait, I want a Strawberry Pop! Or do I? No, I know! I want the Blueberry S-"

"Why don't you just decide when we get there?" I shouted, irritated. Then I walked back to our stuff to get the money for our ice cream.

Kuki followed me over to the ice cream stand. She finally decided what she wanted, and so did I. After we had finished the ice cream, we built a sandcastle together. I love the way Kuki gets so excited about a simple thing like building a sandcastle on the beach. I had fun, too, don't worry. But she was overly happy!

"Alright, the castle is finished!" Kuki exclaimed happily and placed a small flag made of a leaf and a stick on the highest tower. "And I'm the princess. I am Princess Kuki, and everyone shall obey me! Even you, Wally. You're the prince that will ask me to marry you."

Yes, she said that! She wants me to marry her! At least it seems like it.

"Say what?" I shouted in surprise. "I don't wanna be a stupid, spoiled prince! I wanna be a fearless knight." I picked up my sand shovel and swung it around me. "And I am the greatest knight there is!"

Kuki giggled. "A knight in trunks, that's a cute sight."

I blushed before I folded my arms over my chest. "Well, a princess in a bathing suit isn't much better!"

"I am a glorious princess, for your information," she told me. "And now the princess will have her royal bath." She got up from the sand and walked into the waves.

I put my swimmies on my arms and followed after her. I like to be in the water, as long as I don't have to swim.

I stopped when I noticed how far Kuki was going. She started to swim further out there.

"C'mon, Wally!" she called. "Swim with me."

I clenched my fists. "I can't swim, and you know that!"

"Sure you can swim, silly!" she replied.

"Yeah, but barely," I told her. "So I'm not going to swim."

"Well, you have to try to swim again sometime."

"Yeah, but that sometime is not today!" And with that, I started to walk back to the sand. I didn't notice that she was following me. She grabbed my arms from behind and pulled me back.

"Come on!" she said.

I tried to get out of her grip. "Let me go! I don't wanna swim!"

I didn't mean to freak out like that, it's just that the thought of being out there in the water without anything to stand on, scared me. And that's how it is with people that can't swim. We're all like that. It's understandable, right? It's almost the same thing as turning the light off on someone who's afraid of the dark, or bringing someone up in a cliff that's scared of heights.

But Kuki didn't seem to get that… So I ended up being a little rough.

She pulled my arms harder, so hard that I lost my balance and fell in the water. The water got up my nose. It hurt. I got up again and started to spit the water out. Then I turned around and pushed Kuki as hard as I could. She cried out as she fell. Water splashed everywhere. I covered my face with my hands and started to back away from her. I then suddenly realized what I had done.

Kuki got up again, spitting water. Then she stared at me with a look of mixed feelings in her eyes. They seemed a little teary. It might just have been the water, but I wasn't sure.

I stared back at her with a concerned look on my face. Then I finally managed to say something. "Are you okay..?"

I expected her to freak out and grab me around my neck to strangle me, or cry like a baby. But to my surprise, she started to laugh. "You should have seen the look on your face!"

My jaw felt like it dropped to the bottom of the ocean. "What?"

"You are so afraid of the water, and you're so afraid of hurting me!" she laughed while bending forward and holding her arms over her stomach. "The look on your face are always priceless!"

I lowered my eyebrows in anger. "Oh, you are so dead!" I grabbed her arms and tried to wrestle her in the water. She fought back. I didn't expect that. She was still laughing, though. It actually was quite contagious. I started to laugh as well.

The time just flew by today. Before we even knew it, the sun was starting to set. I can't believe how fast the day was over. See? That's how much fun we had!

"Look at the colors!" Kuki exclaimed and pointed at the sky. We had just finished our second sandcastle, and this one was huge!

"Yeah, it's pretty neat," I replied and smiled at her.

"It's beautiful!" She folded her hands under her chin. "It's so romantic…"

"I think we should start to think about getting back to the Treehouse," I said. Big mistake… I know… Of course she was going to win this discussion.

Kuki looked at me. "What? We can't go now! It's so pretty!" Then she got up and started to walk along the beach with her feet in the water.

I sighed and got up to follow her.

"I've always wanted to walk down the beach, hand in hand with my boyfriend at sunset," she said with a low voice.

I don't know if she wanted me to hear it the way she said it, but I did hear it. I didn't know what to say to her, so I didn't say anything. I just walked closer to her. And then, I finally had enough guts to take her hand in mine. She looked down at my hand with surprised eyes. Then she looked at me. And smiled. I returned the smile. And together we walked down the beach, hand in hand, just as she had dreamed of. The only downside was that I wasn't her boyfriend…

…

July 28th

Numbuh 5 is such a slave driver! I got up a little late this morning compared to the rest of them. The first thing she said to me was: "Don't you have some floors to scrub?"

I swear my eyes were burning at her!

"Finally, Numbuh 4!" Numbuh 1 said as he entered the kitchen. "We have a meeting in the briefing room in thirty minutes. If you weren't going to get up we would've had to wake you up, you know."

Morning in the Treehouse… Oh, how I love it! Jeez! All they do is freaking nag!

So this is pretty much what I did today. First I ate breakfast. Then we had a meeting about a mission we were going on. Then we went on the mission, which was fun. And then we came back, and I wanted to play videogames, but I had to wash some more floors…

Summing up mission: We had to go and destroy a machine that the Delightful Children were working on. So when the mansion was empty, around noon, we went over there. We snuck inside through a window on the first floor.

"Alright, guys," Numbuh 1 whispered to us. "If you were the Delightful Children, where would you hide a big machine that's under construction?"

"In the basement?" I suggested.

"If they put a big machine in the basement, how do you suggest they get it out of there when they need it, genius?" Numbuh 5 asked me with an annoyed voice.

"Ooh, ohh! I know!" Numbuh 3 cheered and raised her hand. "They probably have it up here somewhere!"

Numbuh 1 smacked his forehead. Then he looked at Numbuh 2 and Numbuh 5. "Any ideas?"

"Let's just go look," Numbuh 2 said. "I'm sure we'll come across something."

After a while with looking into every single suspicious room we could find, we finally came across some kind of workshop. The body of the beginning of a great ship came into view.

"Wow..!" I said, breath taken. "Get a load of that!" Then I turned towards Numbuh 1. "Let's blow it up!"

"Negative, Numbuh 4," he replied. "This is a stealth mission. We're not supposed to make a lot of noise. If someone hears us, we're toast." He looked over at Numbuh 2. "What do you think? A few minor adjustments, or do we pick it all apart?"

"Blow it up!" I repeated.

"I've got an idea," Numbuh 2 told us and winked. He walked over to the work desk. Then he started to draw on the sketch of the design for the machine.

"Are we going to draw?" Numbuh 3 asked. "Ooh, can I draw a cute bunny on it?" She ran over to him.

Numbuh 5 laughed. "Imagine the look on their faces when they see a bunch of bunnies on their sketch!"

Numbuh 1 smiled at me. "Wanna have some fun with that big hunk of metal over there, Numbuh 4?"

"Do I?" We ran over to the machine and started to rib it. It was a fun mission. I rarely have so much fun when I'm not blowing things up. I usually need more action, but ruining the Delightful's plans like this was hysterical!

Now I'm just tired, since it's been a long day. And washing floors sucks! So I think I'll go play for a while before I go to bed.

…

9:30 PM

That was freaky… I came back from playing videogames with Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 2, and I found Kuki – in my room! What the crud was she doing here, anyway? I just walked in here and noticed the light was on. Then I suddenly noticed her and had the scare of a lifetime! I cried out in fear before I realized it was her. I mean, you come back to your room, totally exhausted after a long day, and the first thing you see in there is someone who's not - AT ALL - supposed to be there! Wouldn't you cry out, too?

"Kuki – what the heck are you doing in here?" I yelled. "You scared the crud outta me!"

"I'm sorry, Numbuh 4," she replied sheepishly. She acted like she was hiding something, as if she knew something I didn't. "I-I'm on my way out…" She avoided eye contact as she blushed. Then she walked right passed me out the door. I just stared at her as she walked off, shaking my head.

"What was that all about?" I muttered to myself. And I'm still doing it now.

What was that all about? Did she see something she wasn't supposed to see? I don't understand it. I clean up all my dirty clothes here the other day when we did laundry, and I actually don't have anything in here now at all, so it can't be that.

Wait a minute… She was standing by the ladder. Was she up here, in the wrestling ring? Could it be… that she found… my diary?

No way! I always hide it! There's no way she could've found it just like that. I have secret hiding places all over my room. And the one for my diary is sooper secret. In fact, it's so secret that I won't even write it down here. So there! Hah!

Err… if someone already found my diary somewhere, how can it be so important to keep the hiding place secret anymore..? Crud! Never mind!

But I'm still curious about this… What was up with Kuki? I guess I'll just ask her tomorrow. I'm too tired for this now.

…

A/N: Oh-uh! Why is Numbuh 3 acting so weird? Has Numbuh 5 told her anything? Will Numbuh 4 survive this? You won't know yet!

Remember the big room with underwear in BRIEF? That's pretty much what the laundry room looks like. Yes, that sure was a lot of clothes.

Alright, that's everything for now, folks!