Tibby's

Shakes' POV

I skipped down the street, not even waiting for the two behind me to catch up. How could I stay still when there were things to do? I waved to people I passed on the street. Several gave my odd stares or returned the greeting in confusion. An audible sigh came from behind me, but I didn't turn around.

"Could you stop please," Aqua asked from several feet back, "People are starting to stare."

"So," I shrugged, "What's the big deal?"

"You're acting totally un-Skittery like," Aqua told me, "The others are probably ready to send you to the nut house."

"I think she's saying that you need to calm down a little," Nova said.

"Exactly," Aqua agreed, looking gratefully over at her.

"But I wanna dance and sing," I argued, "The sun'll come out…" I was interrupted as Aqua's hand slapped over my mouth.

"Stop," she said demandingly, although I guessed that she was trying to be a little nice, "For all I know, it's gonna rain tomorrow. I hate rain."

"You're no fun," I told her, sticking out my tongue in her direction. Aqua sighed in frustration.

"And you're immature," she muttered under her breath and then lapsed into silence once again.

"Calm down, both of you," Nova said, getting both of our attention, "This is getting us nowhere. We're all in this together and we have to work together."

"That's right," I shouted, drawing several people to stare at us again. Nova glanced over at Aqua.

"Well," she asked.

"Fine," I said, not really too happy about it, "Can I at least finish the end though?"

"Not now," Nova said, "Can we make a compromise here? Shakes, learn to be a little more like Skittery and Aqua, just chill out."

"I'll try," Aqua answered. I continued to skip the street, only stopping when I noticed a diner on the side of the road. It was called 'Tibby's'.

"First thing you…" Aqua's voice faded behind me, mainly because I had stopped paying attention.

"I'm starving, let's go," I yelled out, stepping into the restaurant.

Aqua's POV

"First thing you need to learn is Skitts is 'glum and dumb'," I said, not realizing until a few seconds later that the person who it was directed to was no longer listening. I walked behind Shakes into the restaurant, Nova right behind me, "Come on, we had a deal. At least try to keep it."

I glanced at Jack and Crutchy sitting at a table but thought nothing of it. They seemed like really good friends in the movie. Shakes had already jumped into one of the seats in excitement. Jack and Crutchy jumped a little at her sudden appearance.

"Hi guys," she greeted them loudly. The two stared at her for a second in shock.

"Hi Skitts," Jack finally returned the greeting, though he sounded a little nervous. Shakes looked around a second before grabbing the ketchup bottle from off the table. She immediately took off the lid and started drinking the contents. I turned around for a second, trying to get the sight out of my mind. I turned back around and she was still drinking out of the bottle. The others didn't look too pleased about it either.

"That's gross," I told her, "Weren't you paying any attention earlier?"

"Nope," she answered quickly, finally putting the bottle down.

"You gotta keep your end of the deal," I said, "Could you please try to act a little more like Skitts?"

"But this is fun," she argued and then starting singing again, "It's only a day away."

"Shakes, I mean Skittery," Nova asked, "I told you…"

"You told me I could finish it later, it is later," Shakes commented. I sighed once again in annoyance.

"Here isn't the place to get hyper," Nova explained, "The other guys are probably going to be here any minute." Shakes looked like she truly didn't care.

"Don't you ever pay attention," I asked, trying not to yell but not succeeding. Obviously, Shakes and I had the biggest adjustments to make in being guys. She was too hyper for Skittery and I was too moody for Mush.

I glanced over at Nova, only to see her roll her eyes in our direction. I know that Shakes and I were both going overboard with this, but this was important. Nova was about to say something when she suddenly stopped, her face a mixture of surprise and panic. I turned my attention back to Shakes.

"Guys," Nova asked, finally finding her voice.

"What," we both asked, turning to look at her.

"Jack, Crutchy," she said, pointing out the two sitting down at the table opposite Shakes. We shrugged, wondering what she was getting at, "That's not Jack and Crutchy, if you know what I mean."

"You mean…" I trailed off. I already knew that I was right, just by the look on her face.

"Scribble, Dreamer," Nova asked. The two glanced up quickly at the names.

"Who are you," Crutchy asked. Jack nodded in agreement. I then noticed the class rings on their hands.

"You go to Lake View High too," I asked slowly and then pulled out my class ring once again. Nova and Shakes did as well.

"Aqua, Nova, Shakes," Scribble, or Jack, asked in shock, "What's going on?"

"I have no idea," Nova said, "We're still trying to figure that out."

Becca's POV

The walk from Sheepshead to the Lodging House seemed like days. My feet kept moving, even though I wasn't sure of the way. Like my feet knew where to go. I finally saw the Lodging House but my feet kept on moving. I got the feeling that no one would be at the Lodging House. I have to get to Tibby's, I suddenly thought. Which was weird, but I knew that things would be better once I was there.

When I finally saw the little diner I actually smiled, the gold lettering on the door was comforting in some way. The bell on the door jingled as I entered and five heads turned to look in my direction. I stopped in my tracks, there sitting at that table, looking directly at me, were five recognizable guys. But the weird thing was that they all seemed so familiar, and not just from the movie. Blink got up and walked over to me.

"You might want to take that thing off," he said, pointing down at my finger. I raised my hand and there on my middle finger was my class ring.

"How? What?"

Blink laid a reassuring hand on my shoulder, "It's Emi...Nova. From school," I looked at him blankly for a second before actually getting it. "You're Becca right? Um...Flit?"

I let out a happy sigh when she had said that, "Oh thank goodness. I woke up in a boys bathroom at Sheepshead. I was so scared. Somehow I knew to come here." Blink, or Nova, or whoever, led me back to the table where she pulled up a seat for me.

"Look," she said, pointing out everyone else at the table and introducing them as other girls from school. "Spot's changed too...you know Misery, um Caitlin?" I nodded.

"So why did this happen?" I asked. I noticed that Jack, or Scribble, seemed really quiet. Which was weird since in the movie Jack is obviously the leader. But here and now in this situation it was clear the Nova was the leader. It was also clear that she was trying to downplay it, since that's not how Blink acts.

"Think aftah school special," Nova was saying. "I'se thinkin' that since our rings came with us it's got somethin' to do with school." She paused and adjusted the patch over her eye. That must be strange for her.

"Maybe it's got somethin' to do with..." Mush, or Aqua started. Boy this was getting confusing. Aqua paused to grab ahold of Shakes and pull her back into her seat. "Somethin' to do with us bein' friends."

"I dunno," Dreamer spoke up. "I'se mean we ain't really friends."

"Yeah," Nova agreed with a nod. "No offense, but all of us are pretty much loners." She looked around at everyone, "and I'll be the first to admit it." She looked as if she were about to say something else when the bell on the door jingled again. She looked up and I followed her eyes to see Spot trying to get to our table unnoticed. "M...Spot," Nova called, catching herself before calling out Misery. Misery rolled her eyes and pulled up a seat.

"I was trying not to draw attention," Misery complained. "I hate being a boy, especially Spot. He's so well known."

Emi's POV

"So I think we're gettin' closer with this thing," Aqua said as we all left Tibby's together. "It's got somethin' to do with us needin' to stick together and be friends."

"That makes sense," I agreed. I was about to say something else but I got distracted. The Delancey's. I hadn't even thought about them until there they were, standing right in front of me.

"Hiya guys," Morris said with a laugh.

"Didja all have a lunch date?" Oscar asked with a slick smile.

"Get lost," Misery snapped and lunged at Oscar. She seemed really angry. Oscar looked surprised as Misery took him down. They rolled over and began fighting.

"Skittery and Jack," I said, turning to Shakes and Scribble. "Please get Crutchy out of here," I said as Morris lunged at Scribble. I pushed Morris down before he could get at Scribble and suddenly there was a huge fight. I knew that Aqua had gotten out of there since Mush wouldn't fight like this. That left me and Misery and Flit but I knew Flit would try to get out as soon as she could.

I heard someone yell out for us to stop and I felt a rough hand grab my collar. I was pulled into a standing position by a cop. "The bulls," I muttered. I looked around and saw that Flit had left, thankfully. But there was Misery struggling against another cop. Next thing I knew we were in the refuge.

Rebecca's POV

"I can't believe they got sent to the refuge," Ann sighed worriedly. "I don't know what I'd do if I got sent there." She paused to glance around nervously. "I've never even been to detention before."

"I wish there was somethin' we could do," Aqua said.

I looked up slowly, "Maybe there is." Everyone looked at me in surprise. I knew I was quiet and being Jack didn't help. I felt like I should be doing more. Like I should be leading. Unfortunately Nova was the one with the ideas and the plans, and she was in the refuge. And so was Misery, the tough one. We'd be outta luck if we ever encountered the Delancey's without Nova or Misery. "Meybe we can get them outta there," I said, a little louder this time. Ignoring the looks on everyone else's faces. "Like in the movie," I added.

"Like crawl over the side of the building and pull 'em through the window?" Aqua suggested.

"Nah that'll never work," Shakes said, jumping up and down. "Maybe we should sneak in, dressed like nuns. Then we could tie up Snyder and even poison him. Then we sneak through the place, poisoning anyone who tries to stop us." Shakes stopped when Aqua put her hand over Shakes' mouth.

"But sneaking in just might work," I pondered. "I think it just might! We'll have those two outta there in no time. Here's the plan..."