Author's Note: Here I am with the next chappie. Oh yeah, and for all of those people who feel that this story should be rated PG, it'll turn into a PG-13 story later on because of cussing, and…. Uh… you'll find out.
Lav'O'Dolphin- Don't you just wanna go and knock some sense into Oscar… with a big heavy metal baseball bat? Yeah, maybe Lenny will stay out of his slump.(tries to hide laughter) Go big finish in chappie nine… warning… there are more moments like that… and so it's a heart monitor… cool…
The Crouching Tiger Shark- Hmm… an EKG monitor… a'ight… Yay, your picture is done! And I hope you post the next chappie of your story soon… and Oscar will be smellin' more than coffee in later chappies… perhaps… the smell of fear? (Hint, hint) Yup, Lenny's a flirtatious Casanova. Yes, he's sleeping with Ronnie, but NOT LIKE THAT... cough, yet, cough. Maybe they do know it… you'll see their reactions… and you know they'll be caught… they'll always be caught in situations like this…
Insane Pirate Dragon- (sniff, sniff) Ah, the sweet smell of amor is in the air. Trouble, thy name is Markie…
On wit da story!
Chapter Ten: Reactions
Jamel and Andre swam towards Ronnie's ship. It was eleven 'o'clock; Lenny had never slept in this late before. Grey shaded shadows reflected off of rocks. The sun was barely able to shine through the heavy coating of fog.
"C'mon Andre, stop bein' a slowpoke!" Jamel called out from behind him.
A few feet away, Andre swam up to Jamel, huffing and puffing. "It's not my fault… you're going… too fast." Andre wheezed.
"Yeah." Jamel said in a boasting tone. "Ya know, I should be the new 'Speedy Gonzales.'"
"Whatever." Andre said, rolling his eyes. "Lemme just take a break…" He leaned on the nearest thing, which just happened to be Ronnie's window. "Hey, we're already here!"
"Wow, I guess we are!" Jamel said. "Now look into the windows and see what they're doing!"
"I don't know…" Andre said hesitantly. "I have a bad feeling about this…"
"Pscht." Jamel said with a smile. "What's gonna happen? You're gonna look in a find them dancing ballet?"
Andre crossed his fins. "Remember what happened when you forgot to knock, and waltzed right in there?"
Jamel rubbed the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah… uh… look! Just look in there!"
"I won't look in there." Andre said. "Bedsides, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. The windows are fogged up!" (OMG!)
"Fogged up?" Jamel asked. "You mean like… 'fogged up'?"
"Yeah." Andre replied. "And it's fogged up pretty good too. I bet there are layers of this."
"Andre! D'you know what this means?" Jamel asked.
"Uhh… we can draw pictures on the windows?" Andre said stupidly.
"Well yeah." Jamel replied. "But that's not what I was gonna say!"
"Well spill it already!" Andre said.
"Okay. There are only two ways I know that can explain why the windows are fogged up." Jamel said. "One, it could've rained, and there was no rain yesterday, ruling that option out. Two... let's just put it this way… you remember the 'Titanic'?"
"I wasn't alive when the Titanic sunk…" Andre began.
"No, not the ship!" Jamel said. "The movie!"
"Oh yeah!" Andre said.
"Okay. You remember the part of the movie with fogged up windows?" Jamel asked.
"Oh yeah, I remember that part!" Andre said. "They had Rose in there with…" Andre paused, eyes growing wide. "Oh… my… god…"
"Yeah." Jamel said. "I see that you've got the point."
"I wish I didn't." Andre commented, holding his eyes.
"Yeah." Jamel said, with a mischievous grin. "And any moment now, we might see a fin smack up against the window…"
"Stop it Jamel!" Andre shouted, covering his ears. "You're giving me a mental image!"
"It's true." Jamel said with a shrug. "And the only way to find out…"
"No way, Jamel!" Andre said. "I am NOT wiping the stuff off the windows!"
"And we'll hear strange moans…"
"All right! I'll do it!" Andre shouted. "Just stop giving me mental images!"
Andre wiped the fog off the windows, and his eyes grew wide.
"My eyes!" He shouted, covering his eyes and withdrawing from the window. "My poor dark blue eyes!"
Wondering what could be so scary, (though he already kind of had an idea) Jamel swam over to the window and looked in. His reaction was the same as Andre's.
"It burns!" Jamel shouted, rolling around on the sea floor. "My God, how it burns!"
"Well, actually…" Andre began, regaining his composure, "I think it's kinda cute."
"Cute?" Jamel said. "That is not cute! Even though they aren't doing anything, it'll give me images of what they did! And it burns!"
"Ha! You've got the mental images now!" Andre said with a smile.
"I sure do… and it's in color!" Jamel said, beginning to sob. "Why Andre? Why? Why does it have to be in color?"
Andre went over to Jamel and slapped him in the face. "Get a hold of yourself man! You can make it through this, I know you can!"
"Andre, you're right." Jamel said. "I can make it through this!"
"There's the Jamel I know!" Andre said with a smile.
"Yeah, Jamel is back from his breakdown!" Jamel said. "But… I don't think I'll ever be able to look at Lenny the same again. Not without… the mental images in color." He added with a shudder.
"Yeah, neither will I." Andre said. "But hey! Look at the bright side! At least we can tease him about this when he wakes up."
Jamel looked at Andre with his usual smile. "Aww yeah." He said. "There's no way he's gonna hear the end of this!"
So, the two friends swam off to hang out, thinking of uncomfortable questions to ask Lenny, and ways to tease him.
Scene Change
Grey light shone through a set of blue curtains. A nurse came in to open to blinds, as if it was on schedule. (Because it was.)
"Oh…"
Oscar groaned as the flash of bright, grey light shone on his eyes. "C'mon… close the blinds!"
The nurse just smiled at Oscar and said in her usual high voice, "Sorry Oscar, but I've gotta do this every day. Besides, you need the sunlight."
Oscar scoffed. "That ain't sunlight. It's fog. The only reason it's so bright is 'cause the sun's trying to shine through."
The nurse chuckled softly and replied, "Yeah, I guess Sea9's weather reporter is having a hard time predicting the right weather."
"You're tellin' me." Oscar grumbled. "Blue skies and clear weather my tail fin."
The nurse just smiled slightly and left.
Oscar sighed and looked out his window from his bed. The bright light nearly blinded him. Retreating under his pillow and covers, Oscar grumbled,
"Can't a guy get any sleep around here without being blinded or interrupted?"
"Ah, Oscar, I see that you're awake."
Oscar poked his head from under the pillow and turned to see Dr. Finn smiling at him.
"Guess not." Oscar muttered to himself, answering his own question.
"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Dr. Finn asked cheerfully.
"Yeah, I've just been awakened from my sleep by a blinding light." Oscar said sarcastically. "And the fog isn't exactly clearing up. Yup, the day doesn't get any more beautiful."
Dr. Finn laughed, not at all bothered by Oscar's sarcastic reply. "I see that someone's got up on the wrong side of the bed today."
Oscar suddenly realized how grumpy he had been. "I'm sorry doc." He apologized. "I've just… got a lot in my mind right now."
"It's all right Oscar." Dr. Finn said. "You aren't the worst grouchy patient we've seen. You should've been here when Mrs. Sanchez broke her fin. She complained the whole time she was here. And don't tell her this, but we charged her extra when she got out." He added in a whisper.
Oscar chuckled. "Don't worry doc. Your secret's safe with me."
"Good." Dr. Finn said with a smile. His face became serious when he said, "But I'm afraid we've got some bad news."
"What?" Oscar asked with a chuckle. "Is the medical bill sky high or somethin'?"
"No, it's not that." Dr. Finn said. "I'm afraid you'll have to stay in the hospital for another week and a half."
"What?" Oscar shouted.
"Yeah." Dr. Finn said nonchalantly, as if he had been expecting this reaction. "It turns out that you won't be able to swim until that time. You see, that shard of glass pierced a very important muscle, and it needs time to heal. So, until then… you'll be taking it easy in here."
"But, doc…I can't stay in the hospital!" Oscar said. "I've got… stuff to do! And… a 'job' I need to take care of…"
"Ah, I see." Dr. Finn said professionally. "You're talking about your job. I wouldn't worry those sharks. You've pretty much got 'em scared."
"Oh! Uh… thanks doc." Oscar said with a forced smile.
"No problem." Dr. Finn said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have another patient to check up on. Stupid kids nowadays. Trying to copy everything off of TV." And with that, Dr. Finn left the room.
With a heavy sigh, Oscar plopped his head on the pillow. How much longer will his lie continue to eat away at him like this? Everything was going fine until Dr. Finn had to mention that whole 'shark slayer' thing! When Oscar had said 'job', he wasn't talking about battling sharks! He was talking about something of more importance; trying to get his friends back. Guilt tore at Oscar's insides.
'You deserve to be in this hospital, Oscar!' Oscar's conscious yelled. 'You know you deserve to be here! The only thing you don't deserve to do is live! That building should've fallen on you!'
"Shut up." Oscar said, arguing with his conscious. "I do deserve to live. I've done a lot of great things…"
'Great things my tail fins!' Oscar's conscious retorted. 'As if making your friends hate you and turning another friend out his home is a great thing! Oh yeah, Oscar, you deserve a trophy!'
"Shut up." Oscar argued. "Besides… they aren't really my friends. If they can't accept the fact that I've moved on, then they were never really my friends in the first place."
'That is bull and you know it!' Oscar's conscious shouted. 'You're just saying that to cover up your mistakes! You need to stop making all these pitiful excuses! Oscar, wake up and smell the coffee already! You're acting like a… a… well, there are words for what you're being, but for right now, I'll stick with idiot.'
Just as Oscar was about to object, a nurse poked her head in the door.
"This is room thirty-six, right?"
"Yeah." Oscar answered.
"Okay, so this is the right room then." The nurse said. "Oscar, we've got a visitor for you." The nurse left to go get the visitor.
"Great!" Oscar sighed to himself in an annoyed tone. "It's probably Angie or Rueben who came here to yell at me. Get ready for the abuse Oscar."
'The rightfully deserved abuse.' His conscious added.
But, the abuse never came. Only the surprised silence as Oscar observed the visitor he received.
Scene Change
Ronnie's eyes opened slowly. She heard the gentle sound of snoring, and felt her head resting on something. Vision still a little blurry, she looked at the VCR clock. The red numbers read 'eleven ten.' Ronnie cursed herself for eating ice cream late at night again.
'You know it always makes you sleep later than you usually do!' she scolded herself.
Still feeling sleepy, Ronnie began to drift off to sleep. But her eyes snapped open when she realized something.
'Wait…' she thought. 'If I'm sleeping… where am I sleeping?'
Ronnie's brief worry attack ended as she thought to reassure herself,
'Don't worry. You probably went to bed but don't remember it.'
Once again, Ronnie began to drift off to sleep, until her eyes snapped open again.
'But, wait! I can't be sleeping on my bed! Because I feel myself laying on something and my pillow's in the washing machine!' She thought. 'Plus, the warmth I feel isn't the warmth I feel isn't the warmth of my covers! It's different… but I just can't place my fin on it…'
Fully waking up, Ronnie began to look around her. She wasn't in her bed as she had thought; she was on the couch.
'Okay… this is weird…' she thought.
Glancing around her, she noticed something around her waist. Looking down, she saw two fins around her… two fins that weren't hers.
'What the heck?' she thought.
Looking up, she found herself staring at Lenny, who was still sleeping.
'Lenny?' She thought. 'What the…. Wait a sec…'
She noticed that what she was laying on Lenny's sleeping body. Her head was resting on his chest, and she realized that she had been like that since last night… and couldn't remember anything. And of course, since she couldn't remember anything…
"Oh my god!" She shouted. She began to shake Lenny. "Lenny! Lenny wake up!"
"Wha…?" Lenny said groggily.
"Wake up!" Ronnie said, still shaking Lenny.
"Mmm… Five more minutes…" Lenny mumbled.
Ronnie sighed. "Lenny, you're gonna hate me for this, but…" With those words, Ronnie pushed Lenny off the couch. With a loud thud, Lenny landed on the floor, waking him up immediately.
"Oww!" Lenny whined. He looked up at Ronnie. "What'chu do that for?"
"To ask you something!" Ronnie said in a worried and confused tone.
"Well what is it?" Lenny grumbled in a sleepy tone. "Whatever it is, I bet it's not important enough to push me off the couch like that."
"All right, I'm sorry." Ronnie said. "But I've gotta ask you this: you remember last night, right?"
"How could I forget?" Lenny asked with a grin.
"Well that's great." Ronnie said. "Okay, so d'you remember what happened after we ate the ice cream?"
"Well, actually, it kind of melted." Lenny said with a grin. "But no, everything after that turns fuzzy."
"Oh no." Ronnie said in a worried tone. "This can't be right…"
Lenny looked up and saw Ronnie pacing behind the couch, a worried expression on her face. "Hey Ronnie… you feelin' okay? I mean… you look like something bad's just happened."
"That's because something bad did happen." Ronnie said in her worried tone. "I'm just trying to figure out if it happened or not."
"Huh?" Lenny said in a confused voice.
Ronnie began to mutter things in Spanish under her breath. Lenny wasn't able to hear what she was saying, but he could by the look on her face that she wasn't saying something good.
"Ronnie… what's wrong?" Lenny asked. Slowly, he began to realize his surroundings. "Hey, why am I on the couch? And… why were you on the couch? And…"
Ronnie stared at Lenny, the worried and confused look still on her face. Her face seemed to tell Lenny what was going on.
"And, so you… and I… and the couch…" Lenny paused, taking a moment to analyze things. Once he seemed to get the point, his eyes grew wide. "Oh snap…"
"Yeah, exactly." Ronnie said. "That's why I had to ask if you remembered anything."
"Well hey!" Lenny said optimistically. "There's a chance that we didn't…"
Before Lenny could finish his sentence, Ronnie pointed a fin towards the windows. So, Lenny turned towards the windows to see why she was pointing at them, and he found out in a flash; they were fogged up. (Dun, dun, dun!)
"Oh snap again." Lenny said.
"Yup." Ronnie said. "Fogged up windows!"
"Well hey, at least there aren't any…" Lenny began. But once again, he was cut off by a pointing fin. Looking up at the couch. He saw something that increased his and Ronnie's doubt; sheets! (OMG!)
"Sh-" Lenny began, until he was cut off by Ronnie.
"Ya know, there are better words." Ronnie said. "So, you have any other things to point out that'll probably prove anything?"
Lenny opened his mouth to talk, but closed it again. He couldn't find anything else to say. But, with an ounce of hope left in him, he began to look around. After five seconds, he finally found something to say, though it probably wouldn't make any difference.
"At least the pillows are arranged the same way." Lenny said, crossing his fins with a smile.
"I don't have pillows on my couch." Ronnie said. "It's naturally puffy and comfortable."
"Dammit." Lenny muttered under his breath. "Now what?"
"I dunnow." Ronnie said.
"Oh, wait, you heard me?" Lenny asked.
"Yeah, I've got good hearing." Ronnie replied, shrugging her shoulders.
"Okay, that explains that." Lenny said. "But that doesn't explain this! How'd we get like this!"
"I don't know!" Ronnie said. She sighed. "Note to self: ice cream makes you sleepy."
"I'll remember that." Lenny said. "But for some reason, I can't remember… uh…"
"Yeah, me neither." Ronnie admitted with a blush.
"So… what do we do now?" Lenny asked.
"I don't know." Ronnie said.
"Another go at it?" Lenny asked.
Ronnie glared at Lenny and began to throw pillows at him.
"All right! Jeez! I was just kidding!" Lenny said, trying to protect himself from the barrage of pillows.
"Yeah right!" Ronnie scoffed, still throwing pillows at him. "Hmm… I seem to have run out of pillows."
"Well in that case, I better get out of here before you throw heavier things at me." Lenny joked, swimming out the door. But before he got out the door, his joke was rewarded with something heavier thrown at him.
"Too late for that." Ronnie said with a chuckle.
Scene Change
Lenny swam towards the regular meeting spot where he always met up with Andre and Jamel.
'And I can't believe the windows were fogged up!' Lenny was thinking. 'Oh well. At least Jamel and Andre don't know about this.'
Just as he had thought that, Jamel and Andre came swimming towards him.
"Hey there Lenny!" Andre called out. "How's it goin'?"
"It's goin' okay, I guess." Lenny said. "Hey… what's wrong with Jamel?"
Jamel was covering his eyes, like it hurt to look at Lenny. "Images…" Lenny heard him mumble.
"Aww, don't worry about him. He's being his crazy self. Besides," Andre added with a smile, "I don't think you should worry that much. You always seemed to be the type of guy who came out on top of things."
'Darn it!' Lenny thought. 'Why'd he have to say 'on top!'
"Hey Lenny, you okay?" Andre asked, trying to hide his enjoyment from Lenny's reaction. "You look like you've gotta get something off your chest."
'Aww, c'mon!' Lenny thought. 'Why'd he have to say that?' Without thinking, Lenny said, "I already did."
At this point, Jamel looked up. "Well who was it?" He asked mischievously.
Lenny coughed. "What was that?" He asked nervously.
"You said you already got something off your chest. So I said, 'well what was it?" Jamel said mischievously, turning 'who' into 'what.'
"Oh! Um…" Lenny tried to think of a lie to say, but he couldn't find anything. So, he said, "Erm… it's a secret."
"A scary or embarrassing one?" Jamel asked in an amused tone.
"Uh… that's another secret!" Lenny said, beginning to get anxious.
"Uh-huh." Jamel said. "Now c'mon! I've got a place to show ya!"
Beginning to swim into the city, Andre said,
"Hey Lenny, you okay? You act like you didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
"Yeah." Jamel added. "Like someone was there to keep you awake."
"Well… to tell you the truth… I didn't really get a lot of sleep." Lenny lied. "I guess I wasn't sleepy."
"Oh really?" Jamel and Andre chorused, both trying to stifle laughs.
'What the… do these guys know something I don't?' Lenny thought.
"So," Andre said, "did you and Ronnie make up?"
"Yeah." Lenny said.
"So the special pizza thing worked!" Jamel said with a smile.
"Uhh… actually, the special pizza thing didn't work." Lenny said.
"Huh? Well how'd you two get back together?" Andre asked.
"Uhh… the miracle of chocolate sauce." Lenny admitted without giving too much away.
Jamel and Andre looked at each other. 'Chocolate sauce!' they said telepathically to each other. 'They had chocolate sauce? Oh my god!'
"I don't know what that means," Jamel said, "and I don't want to find out."
"Same for me." Andre said.
"Good, because it'd probably shock you." Lenny said with a smile. "So… where're we going?"
"Beats me." Andre said with a shrug. "Ask Jamel, he's the one who knows."
"Okay, I guess this is where I reveal the location." Jamel said. "We are in the alley of Shell Avenue."
"And…?" Lenny and Andre asked.
"And in this alley is where the greatest pool players in the world go!" Jamel said.
"So what're we doin' here?" Andre asked. "We can't play pool as good as those guys! I mean, I'm good, but not that good."
"It's 'we can't play pool as well as those guys.'" Jamel said, correcting Andre. "And we aren't here to play, just to watch."
"Well that's good." Lenny said. "I've never played it before."
Jamel and Andre looked at Lenny like he was crazy.
"What?" Lenny asked.
"You've never played pool before." Andre said.
"So?" Lenny asked.
"So?" Jamel said. "You've never played pool before!"
"I never got around to it." Lenny said. "So what?"
"So what?" Andre said. "So what? Im… wha… how… we're teaching you how to play."
"Now c'mon!" Jamel said, grabbing Lenny by the fin and swimming into the pool place.
Scene Change
Oscar stared at the visitor he had received. It was the shrimp he had saved the other day.
"Can I come in?" He asked in a high voice.
Oscar nodded his head. When the shrimp swam in, he could see that he was not alone. He was carrying a tinier shrimp with a ribbon.
"I'd just like to say thank you for saving my life, and this little girl right here would like to thank you too." The shrimp said.
"T'anks!" The shrimp with the ribbon said.
Oscar chuckled. He could see that the girl shrimp with the ribbon had to be only a two years old. "Is she your daughter?" He asked.
"No, she's actually my niece." The shrimp explained. "You see, a family member of mine passed away, so I began to take care of her, and it's really hard because she has a smaller fin and I've been working hard at the factory, but all the hard work and love I have for her pays off in the end." When he saw the look of disbelief on Oscar's face he added, "True story."
"Dang." Oscar said. "So if you had been hit…"
"Then my niece would've been an orphan." The shrimp finished. "I'd also like to thank you for being brave enough to do your 'shark slaying' job. It's hard facing death over and over. I've faced death before at a shark's teeth; I don't think I wanna go back."
"You've been in a shark's ship before and lived?" Oscar asked incredulously.
"Yeah." The shrimp said. "You see, there was this one shark who's dad kept telling him to eat the shrimp, and my friends and I were pleading, and then the shark got mad and shouted 'put the shrimp down!' and then he let us all free. That was the only shark I've ever known to do that; and I was sad to hear that he could never go home."
Oscar gulped. "You know about that?" He knew who he was talking about.
"Are you kidding me? It was all in the newspapers!" The shrimp said. "Well, I've gotta go now. I hope you get better. C'mon Lucy."
After he said that, the baby shrimp with a red ribbon swam towards her uncle. As the shrimp and his niece swam out the door, the shrimp called out, "And my name's Mickey, by the way." (They didn't name the shrimp, so I'll just call him Mickey.) And with those words, the shrimp and his niece left.
'Aww, man!' Oscar thought. Now he felt even worse. 'I didn't know that Lenny saved that shrimp and possibly helped out his niece! Why does everything come back to haunt me? Why can't I have my decision without guilt?'
'Because life doesn't work that way.' His conscious answered.
Oscar knew this was true, but again (like the dummy he was) he still refused to listen.
Scene Change
Lenny, Jamel, and Andre were swimming near a pool table in the pool place.
"All right." Jamel was saying to Lenny. "This is a pool table."
"Wow, really?" Lenny said sarcastically. "I'm stunned."
"I see that someone's being sarcastic today."
The three friends turned around and saw a White tip floating behind them.
"Sorry if I startled ya'll." The White tip said. "My name's Shelly by the way. I'm a waitress here."
"I'm Jamel." Jamel said.
"I'm Lenny." Lenny said.
Andre didn't say anything. He just stared.
"Has a catfish got your tongue honey?" Shelly asked.
"Uh… no!" Andre said, regaining composure. "I'm Andre."
"Well, Andre." Shelly said with a smile. "Nice to meet you. Maybe the next time I see you, you won't stare."
Andre blushed as Shelly continued, "So, can I get you boys anything?"
"Naw, we're fine." Jamel said.
"Okay then." Shelly said, swimming away. "See you around."
Andre watched as Shelly swam away while Lenny and Jamel smiled knowingly at each other.
"See you around." Jamel said, imitating Shelly's southern voice.
"Uh yeah. I sure do hope so." Lenny said, imitating Andre.
Andre's look of annoyance only increased Lenny and Jamel's amusement, and the two burst out in laughter.
"Shut up." Andre said, grabbing a pool stick thingy. (I'm at a loss for words. Bah.)
"What?" Lenny asked with a smile. "You don't want us to know about your girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend." Andre said.
"Mmm, hmm." Jamel and Lenny said, looking at Andre.
"Stop it!" Andre shouted.
"Stop what?" Jamel asked innocently.
"You know what I'm talking about." Andre said. "Stop it."
"Okay. We're sorry." Lenny said. "So, I guess I'll get a pool stick…" As he was going to get a pool stick, Lenny accidentally knocked over the sticks on the wall. Unfortunately, one of the sticks somehow hit a Killer whale on the head.
"Hey!" The Orca shouted. "Who hit me with that stick?"
Everyone in 'The Pool Place' (the name of where they were) pointed to Lenny, who felt very small compared to the Killer. The Killer whale swam towards Lenny, and picked him up.
"You're gonna pay for that boy." He growled.
Everybody near the two swam towards the walls, expecting a fight. Just as the whale raised his fist, another fin stopped him. It was Shelly!
"Hey!" She said in a no-nonsense type of tone. "Break it up! I don't want any fighting in here! And don't you dare try and start behind my back, 'cause I'll find out and beat you up myself!" She broke the two apart before swimming away.
"You're lucky the lady saved your life." The Killer whale sneered. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Willie."
"Willie?" Jamel said in a laughing voice. "You mean like 'Free Willie?' Ha, ha, ha, ha!"
"You think that's funny spot?" Willie growled, turning his attention to Jamel.
Jamel cowered behind Andre.
"First rule I learned from my pops." Lenny whispered to Jamel. "Never call a Killer whale 'Free Willie.'"
"Well, it looks like there's only one way to settle this." Willie said. "A pool game."
"What?" Jamel, Andre, and Lenny shouted.
"But I can't play!" Lenny said.
Willie laughed and said, "Well in that case, I'll raise the stakes in this game! If you win, I'll never mess with you again."
Lenny gulped. "What if you win?"
Willie just laughed and said, "You better watch your back."
There was a chorus of 'ooohs' in the room, and one guy said, "I've gotta see this!"
"So, are you gonna play?" Willie said, grabbing a stick. "Or are you gonna forfeit in shame?"
Lenny sighed. "I'll play."
While Lenny was getting a stick, Willie racked up the balls. "I'll let you go first." Willie said.
"You're too kind." Lenny muttered under his breath. Lenny shot the white ball to break the balls and to everybody's surprise… all the balls went into the same pockets!
Willie floated there in shock, as did the rest of the audience. Jamel was the first to recover.
"Lenny…" Jamel said in surprise, "You're a pool shark!"
"And you said that you couldn't play!" Willie said angrily. Rolling up invisible sleeves, he headed towards Lenny.
"Hey!" An Orca whale shouted. "You made a bet that if he won, you'd never mess with him again!"
"And if you better not break that promise!" A barracuda shouted. "You know the rules about what'll happen if you break a bet's promise here!"
"Yeah!" The whole room shouted in agreement.
"Grrrr…" Willie growled. "I don't need to waste my time here." And with that, he swam out the door.
Lenny just floated there, still trying to grasp everything that had happened.
"I think I better go before he decides to come back." Lenny whispered to his friends.
"Yeah, I think you should too." Andre said as Jamel nodded his head in agreement.
"All right. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Before Lenny left, he said, "Oh yeah, thanks guys!"
"No problem." A barracuda said. "It's what we do."
And with that, Lenny left.
Scene Change
Lenny swam into Ronnie's ship.
"Hey Ronnie!" He said.
"Hey." Ronnie said with a smile.
"I can't believe that talent contest thing is only four days away." Lenny said, sitting on the couch.
"Me neither." Ronnie said.
"I hope the night isn't foggy like today was." Lenny commented.
Ronnie perked up when she heard this. "Did you just say that it was foggy earlier on today?"
"Yeah." Lenny said casually. "Why?"
"This is great!" Ronnie exclaimed. "Lenny, you remember this morning?"
"You pushed me off the couch, how could I not remember?" Lenny said.
"Okay. So d'you remember how the windows were fogged up?" Ronnie asked.
"Yes." Lenny said. "Though I wish I didn't."
"Well than, I now know the reason the windows were fogged up!" Ronnie said cheerfully.
"Because we…"
"No! Not because of that!" Ronnie said. "It's because whenever there's a foggy day, my windows always get fogged up!"
That caught Lenny's attention. "So you mean… there's a chance we didn't…?"
"Yep!" Ronnie said.
"This is great!" Lenny said, swimming over to hug Ronnie.
After about five seconds, Ronnie said,
"Uhh… Lenny?"
"Yeah?" Lenny asked, still hugging her.
"You're squishing me." Ronnie said.
"Oh! Sorry." Lenny said, breaking away with an embarrassed smile.
"That's all right." Ronnie said. "Now c'mon! I'm hungry, and there's clam chowder! And then, for dessert, I'm gettin' some cake!"
"Wouldn't you rather have ice cream?" Lenny asked.
Ronnie glared at Lenny and began to throw things at him.
Scene Change
Willie swam through an alley with a scowl on his face, heading for his apartment.
"Stupid shark." Willie was mumbling. "I hate him…"
"Ah, I see that you've made an enemy with him too."
Willie turned towards the dark shadows where the voice came from. "Who's there?" He asked.
"Don't worry." The voice said. "I'm a possible friend."
"Well then, possible friend, why won't you show yourself?" Willie demanded.
"You might attack me." The voice answered simply.
'This guy is smart.' Willie thought. Then he said, "So, what do you want with me?"
"I know that you hate this Great white, and I've got a problem with him too. That's why I need your help in getting him back. So, do we have a deal?"
"But I can't touch him!" Willie said. "It's part of a stupid bet."
"So you can't touch him." The voice said. "But you didn't say that you wouldn't touch his little girlfriend."
Willie rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "You're smart. I like smarts."
"But smarts isn't enough to capture him and his girlfriend." At this point, the owner of the voice swam from out of the shadows.
"How d'you know if catching his girlfriend will work?" Willie asked.
"Oh please." The shark scoffed. "He practically sleeps with her." Then the shark held out a fin. "So, like I've said earlier, do we have a deal?"
"All right." Willie said, shaking the voice's owner's fin. "We've got a deal."
"Good." The voice's owner said with an evil smirk. "Meet me in this same alley on July second." And with those words, the mysterious shark began to swim away.
"Wait!" Willie called out, causing the shark to stop. "What's your name?"
The mysterious shark chuckled and said, "Oh, just call me Markie."
TBC…
Bum, bum, bum! Oscar has to stay in the hospital! And Lenny's a pool shark! But that's not the important thing. Markie has something in for Lenny! What's gonna happen next? Will Oscar get out the hospital a changed fish? And what does Markie want with Ronnie? There's only one way find out, and that's to wait for the next chappie!
R&R pleez!