Chapter Four: "I WOULD HAVE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU!"

RRRIIIIIINNNGGG! Cindy walks over to her phone and picks up. "Cindy! I thought you were coming over here to listen to me yell as Sheen!" Libby screams.

"Sorry Libby, I got caught up on my computer," Cindy defends. "Let me just do a quick wrap up and I should be over there in five minutes. Bye."

"'Kay girl. See ya."

Cindy turns off the phone and finishes up what she was doing. She shouts to her mom as she opens the front door, "I'm going to Libby's mom, be back later!" Her mom replied with a "have fun sweetie".

When Cindy arrives, Libby's already dialing. Libby pushes the seventh number and waits.

"I thought I told you Carl! I know you aren't enjoying cleaning, but get another excuse then getting to know your Grandmother better! In other words, I don't want to be your Grandmother any more! Get a new one!" A voice scolds.

"SHEEN! This is LIBBY!" You-know-who screeches.

"Oh, (gulp), uh, beautiful weather this evening," Sheen attempts to change the subject. Cindy goes into the kitchen and comes back with pre-made popcorn.

"Am I not good enough?" Libby cries out in fury.

"What are you talking about? What did I do, seriously? Was it something I said?"

"You asked another girl to something you were gonna as ME TO! I didn't even know about the UltraLord fair until you asked that OTHER GIRL!"

"Oooohhhhh. That makes sense. I was just, uh, trying to make her feel at home."

He just lied to her, and, in reaction, she burst out, "Make her feel at home? You were ALWAYS distracted by BEAUTIFUL girls! Are you stupid or something? Because I thought you considered me your girlfriend, but you go and ask a TOTAL STRANGER something that's supposed to be reserved for ME! If I'm gonna be your 'girlfriend,' or, by the way things are going, if I'm even gonna be you FRIEND, we're gonna have to work some-thing OUT!" Libby takes a deep breath. Cindy looks down in her bag...she ate all the popcorn. 'Man!' Cindy thought, 'I'm still hungry!'

Sheen replies jokingly, " Sorry, did you say something Libbs?" Her eye just twitched (for the first time), she couldn't take it anymore. Libby was so angry she didn't know what to do, so she screamed into the phone with her high note, leaving Sheen practically deaf, Cindy light-headed, and breaking the phone.

"Great! My mom's gonna kill me!" Libby shouts half in aggravation half in tears.

Cindy says softly, "You're gonna have to show him that being distracted is a bad thing, and from bad things there are bad consequences. Why don't you set some rules?"

At Sheen's house, he's spinning dizzily from the high note. Once he gains stability (sorta), he begins watching television again, which was on through the whole conversation! UltraLord, of course.

The next day, all the kids are outside school waiting for it to open. When Sheen gathers up the guts, he walks up to Libby and shouts, "LIBBS, BABY! WE NEED TO TALK! I WAS LISTENING, HONEST! I'LL REPEAT..."

"Stop shouting Sheen. And just call me Libby, nothing else," She says calmly through her teeth.

"WHAT?" He asks. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

Libby signals for Jimmy. He walks up quite happily, and asks ever-so-kindly, "Is there something I can assist you with, Libby?"

"Could you fix Sheen for me?..." Libby questions.

"I'm sorry Libby. I've tried everything I could to make him normal. I'm afraid he'll be this way forever."

"We're talking about him being practically DEAF! What are you talking about?"

"Oh, uh, nothing. Forget what I said before. Uh, yea sure I can fix him." Jimmy calls Goddard who appears ten seconds later. He scans Sheen to see what he can do. He pulls out what looks like a horn out of Goddard. "It's a, well, I haven't named it yet. But, it'll unplug his ears, in a matter of speaking."

He pushes the button when the horn is faced towards Sheen's ear. Like a vacuum, it sucks up the sound. While this is happening, you can hear a milder version of Libby's high note, not deafening, but it'll still make you wince.

Sheen looks around, oblivious to the whole thing. "Oh, I can hear! Finally, you guys aren't whispering!" Sheen exclaims. Everyone just looks at him.

Libby walks up to him and orders with wrath, "Sheen! We need to talk, now!" While she said this, her eyes looked like a raging inferno eating up a log. Sheen agreed with a nod in fright, I mean, who wouldn't be scared of a twelve year old girl who can mysteriously make her eyes flame that way?

"Listen," she begins, a bit more kindly. "If you want to ask other girls to different dances or UltraLord festivals, that's fine. If you want to ignore me and pretend I didn't say anything, that's fine."

Sheen was completely confused, "I can?"

Libby continues, "Yes, you can. But if you do, you won't have me. So, you can go follow that new girl like a dog, but if you do, I'm gone."

He looked paralyzed while he was in deep concentration. He replies, "But if you're gone, then, what would I have? You are the one who keeps me straight from stumbling. You tell me if I'm right or wrong. Carl tells me what he thinks, but it's Carl. And Jimmy, well, he tells me if I'm right or wrong, but you're the one who ENFORCES things. I WOULD HAVE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU! Please forgive me Libby, PLEASE! I'll make sure and try to stay in boundaries, but if I go out of bounds, please let me know and punish me. Do anything, just don't GO!" Libby hated to see him this way: on his knees, as if begging for mercy, and the eye twitch.

"I'll forgive you Sheen," she assures, "but only if you'll do one thing."

"ANYTHING!"

"Take me to the UltraLord fair tonight."

"You bet my Funky Cleopatra." Libby raises an eyebrow to this and shakes her head, "Please don't start with the names again."

"Okay."