Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Hey everyone! Don't hate me for not updating, I've been really busy! Well, it hasn't been too long, but still! Anyways, I was writing this chapter, and I was like "this is BORING!" so I decided to spice things up a bit, so I added the ice cream bit in the middle. Then I decided, "Well I don't wanna add just a little bit of humor. If I'm gonna add humor, I gotta add lots of it!" So I changed around the beginning, and tried to make it as funny as I could. Let's hope everyone thinks so too. I think it makes the story a little more fun. (Plus I didn't want to end it yet! It's too soon!) Thanks again to my many reviewers, I reached 50 reviews! Yay! Thanks so much! On with the chapter!

By the way, I have nothing against Pashmina, so if she comes off as a bit of an airhead in this chapter, it's only to add humor. K? Good. NOW on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hamtaro, any of the Hamtaro characters, or anything related to the show. Anything in this story that is similar to something already in existence is purely coincidental and unintentional.

Chapter 8: Ice Cream Obsession

Stan stood in silence as he watched his sister flee from the clubhouse, crying. He thought that Sandy was going to yell at him, argue with him, maybe eventry to hurt him, but he definitely didn't expect her to cry.

"Maybe I was a little harsh," Stan thought. He snapped out of it when he noticed Bijou and Pashmina standing right in front of him, looking angry as ever.

"How could you do such a thing?" Bijou said in a voice filled with hate, much unlike her usual sweet, French accent.

"You made her cry!" Pashmina added, glaring at Stan.

"That was no way to treat your sister!"

"And with half the clubhouse watching too!"

"You should be very ashamed!"

"Yeah… 'cause... um...you made her cry!"

"You already said that!" Bijou whispered to her scarf-wearing friend. "You were supposed to stick to the script!"

"I know, I know! I just got caught up in the moment! I don't do well under pressure! Don't hate me Bijou! I won't do it again, never, ever, ever!"

Bijou rolled her eyes. "Time to take things into my own hands… err… paws." She turned back to Stan, who was backing away towards the door. "We are not finished with you yet," she said sharply.

"I… err…" Stan nervously glanced from Bijou to Pashmina, then back to Bijou again. Normally he'd feel like the happiest ham alive, talking to two ham-girls – alone – but today, he'd do anything to get away from them. The two girls crossed their arms, waiting for a response. "I... I didn't mean to! Come on, you know I'd never hurt Sandy on purpose!"

"Well, that did not seem like an accident to me!" Bijou shouted.

"Bijou's right," Pashmina said, regaining her composure from her little "slip-up." "And consider yourself lucky that Maxwell wasn't here to hear you!"

"Oui, he would have been very upset!"

The two ham-girls didn't say any more, they simply turned and walked away, leaving Stan feeling guiltier than before. He knew he had to do something about it; he had to find Sandy. He really didn't want to face her wrath – again – but he knew he had to. "Darn conscience," he thought to himself as he headed out the clubhouse door.

- - - - - - - - - -

Hillary slowed her pace as she neared her apartment. She didn't know exactly why she had been running, but it made her feel a little bit better. That's what physical activity does to people, unless of course they get hurt in the process. All in all, Hillary's mind was taken off her problems for a little while. Even so, in the back of Hillary's head, a little voice kept reminding her that she still needed to think things through. But that voice would have to wait, because something louder was overpowering it. The sound of a faint, yet annoying tune filled the air. Hillary's face lit up at the sweet sound of the excessively-cheery music, andshe began to follow it.

As Hillary turned the corner, she saw the source: a big white ice cream truck. Hillary absolutely loved ice cream, and now was as good a time as ever for a huge scoop of double chocolate ice cream. Yes, ice cream did cost three dollars, and yes, Hillary had two containers full of ice cream in her freezer back home, but Hillary wanted – no, needed – ice cream. Now. The ice cream truck's music must have had subliminal messages hidden in there or something, because Hillary walked right past her apartment, towards the truck, in a trance-like state. Her eyes were glossy; the desire for the frosty treat burned brightly within them. Her mouth hung open, and she mouthed the words "ice… cream…" as she walked. Too bad Jake wasn't there to see her now, or the whole "I love you" situation would be solved faster than you could say "Kalamazoo." Well, maybe not that fast, but it would be very fast indeed.

Coincidentally, when the ice cream truck stopped, it was parked right in front of Noel's apartment building. Hillary got in line behind a little boy who was wearing brown pants, a white shirt, and a red baseball cap. She twiddled her thumbs impatiently; she longed for the wonderful sensation of rich chocolate ice cream melting in her mouth. Hillary stared at the boy in front of her; her eyesight went blurry for a moment. Hillary blinked, then saw a large, vanilla ice cream cone, topped with a cherry, right where the boy was standing just moments ago.

Hillary eyed the "ice cream cone" with a smirk. She stepped closer, picked up the "cherry," and kissed it. "I've been waiting for you for too long," Hillary said, staring at the baseball cap. Wait, baseball cap? Hillary looked down to see the now hatless boy, staring up at her, his mouth agape. He blinked several times, then snatched the cap out of Hillary's hands, running as far away from her as he could. "Phew, that was close. To think, I almost ate a baseball cap!" Hillary laughed it off; noticing the little girl in front of her was just about finished with the vendor.

As soon as the girl received her purchase, Hillary ran up to the window of the truck, nearly knocking the poor child over in the process. "One double chocolate ice cream cone, double scoop in a waffle cone, please," Hillary said quickly, in one breath. The vendor took a cone and slowly scooped ice cream into it. "Can you go a bit faster please?" Hillary asked. No response. "Sir? Faster please?" The vendor still scooped at the same speed. Hillary's temper was rising and she was getting very impatient. "Come on!" That was it, Hilary couldn't take it anymore. Yeah, you guessed it, she snapped. "YOU CALL THAT FAST? MY EIGHTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD GRANDMOTHER CAN SCOOP FASTER THAN THAT! I'M A PAYING CUSTOMER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Hillary stopped yelling and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

The vendor popped his head out the window. "Did you say something, miss?" He asked. Hillary forced herself to keep her mouth shut, and she simply shook her head. She noticed that the vendor was wearing earphones and listening to music, full blast.

"I guess that's the only way to survive driving an ice-cream truck. The headphones must really block out all those subliminal messages in that annoying ice cream truck music. Otherwise he'd be eating ice cream non-stop. Or maybe I'm the only one who would do that-" Hillary's thoughts were interrupted by the vendor, who was holding out Hillary's ice cream cone. Hillary took it and admired it; it was so chocolatey, so perfect. Almost too good to eat. Almost, but not quite.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Hillary threw the vendor some money, then began to walk away, gazing peacefully at her beautiful ice cream cone. She didn't care about getting change from the vendor; she had waited so long for this moment, and now, she would finally get to savour the wonderful ice cream flavour. Well, Hillary would have, but she was looking at her ice cream for so long that she didn't notice the curb right in front of her. Sure enough, Hillary tripped over the curb. She flailed her arms about, trying to maintain her balance. Even though she looked pretty silly doing it, Hillary managed to avoid hitting the floor. Unfortunately, in the arm-flailing process, the ice cream cone had gone soaring through the air, heading towards the nearest passerby. That passerby just so happened to Noel. Poor guy didn't even see it coming. One minute he's admiring the scenery, the next, his face is covered in double-chocolate ice cream.

Now, this situation isn't too bad as it is, but of course, the madness doesn't stop there. After realizing that her precious ice cream cone was flying through the air, no longer secured safely in her hand, Hillary had run after it, hoping to catch it. As if that was going to happen. At the same time, Noel, being blinded by ice cream, slipped on the cone, which had fallen on the ground right in front of him. Noel fell to the ground, landing in a puddle of melted ice cream, and Hillary, still looking at the sky, tripped over him. She landed right on top of her friend, in a rather "awkward" position. The two of them looked into each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity,until Hillary slowly extended her hand toward Noel's face...

Well, I'll just leave it at that. Ha, cliffhanger! I've been meaning to put one of those in lately, but I always felt the need to "conclude" my chapters. I'm too nice, I know. Well that was definitely the chapter that was the most fun for me to write. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I changed the second genre of my story from "general" to "humor," because I'm hoping people will find it funny (even if it is only for one chapter). Once this story is done, I've got 2 more humor story ideas, both of which I'm dying to start! But not until this one's done, I promise.

Chapter nine… (wow, I'm nearing the end!)… You're gonna like what's coming at the end of the cliffhanger! Also, Hillary and Noel talk… and you finally get to find out Jake's secret (I think that was really supposed to be in this chapter. Oops, too late! I barely even mentioned him!) If I make it as long as I'm hoping to, it should be the final chapter before the epilogue. I can't wait! I'll try to update before my school year starts!

Well, until next time,

Sparkleshine101