Livin' Life on A Sugar High
Chapter 2
It felt like hours until Cooper made it back home. You could hear him and Natalie get home because the jet pack and jet boots made enough noise by themselves. Forget the fact that they were fighting in mid-air. When the elevator made it to the main floor the two still hadn't stopped fighting.
"Cooper just butt out of my life OK! I can do whatever I want." She yelled at him oblivious of everyone else.
"No Natalie. No you can't! You think that just because you have no parents, you have no rules. The general LAW still applies to you!" He argued back keeping his voice lower since he noticed everyone was watching them.
"I'm not breaking any laws unless I get caught! I never have, and never WILL!" She threw back at him.
"No…I'll have you know that, mere minutes after we left, the cops came. I bet everyone there got busted." Natalie just waved him off.
"Well then, what do you want me to thank you. Oh Cooper thank you, you're my hero." She pretended toswoon over him, "Not like they have to punish me for getting busted. Cause you know they just let kids off with a slap on the wrist. Besides I didn't have nearly as much as anyone else, I am smart you know!" Cooper looked to the ground. When he looked up he looked directly into Natalie's eyes.
"You know your parents would be so disappointed in you." He said calmly. That looked to have hit home. Natalie didn't speak, but her eyes started to water and her jaw set. She turned away from everyone and wiped away her tears. Cooper knew that Natalie had wanted nothing more then to make her parents proud of her. Natalie turned back around and opened her mouth to retaliate. She instantly closed it, cover it with her hands, and darted off. When she was gone everyone looked at Cooper.
"Aw crap." He said running after her. The young teens sat in complete silence as the waited for their two leaders to return. When they did Natalie looked weak and Cooper had his arm around her. As they walked over to the couch, Fanny noticed that Natalie had a little sway in her step. Cooper hadn't even reached the couch when Natalie passed out. Before she fell he picked her up into his arms and laid her on the couch. Now was everyone's chance to interrogate.
"What is up wit' her?" Wally spoke up first.
"Has she been drinking?" Everyone looked to Fanny. She had her eyes on the passed out Natalie.
"Um…actually yeah, she was at a party with her friends. How'd you know?" He asked the red-head. She was still trans-fixed on Natalie.
"When I was younger my father would come home like that a lot." She said plainly. The group turned to her in shock.
"What! My father was the stereo-typical Irish man. He'd go out to the pubs all the time. Sometimes he would come home and just pass out like Natalie did. But sometime he would be in a drunken rage. That's why my mother left him." She said her voice becoming very soft. It was obvious that Natalie state hurt her in a way.
"Ok let's get out of the main room and let Natalie sleep." Cooper said leading the group out. Wally walked out in a huff.
"That's Ok the Cruddy TV's broken anyways."
"The TV's broken!" Cooper cried. Nigel winked.
"Heh I'll explain later." He said walking out. Abby pointed him up the stairs. The kept climbing until they reached one of the highest floors. Nigel stopped when he walked in, but Abby pushed him forward.
"How'd you find this?" He asked softly. She gazed around proudly.
"Just when I was walking around. It looks so much like our old attic." She walked over to an old couch. It smelt like a mix of moth balls and Lysol air freshener. It was strategically placed right in front of the window that the moon was shining in. Nigel sat next to Abby and propped his feet on the window sill.
"Just like old times huh?" He asked putting his arm around her. She leaned on him and rested her head on his chest. When Abby was around him she felt invincible. Nothing could harm her. She was in her own little world oblivious to anything else. Now she knew how Kuki felt pretty much everyday of her life. It is bliss. Nigel looked at the top of her head and kissed it lightly. His mom had warned that their relationship was moving 'too fast' and that 'he just got over Lizzie.' Well Nigel had been over Lizzie long before he broke up, and he can't remember a time when Abby wasn't there for him. Lizzie would get upset with Nigel for the smallest things and you wouldn't see her for days. Abby never got upset with him and she was always by his side. Now that they were in TND, they weren't together professionally so much. Neither of them were leaders or second-in-command of anything anymore. They're trust has grown with age. To each other they were still the 'Dynamic Duo' they were before any team. Abby had fallen asleep and was stretched out along the couch. Nigel admired her strong fit body. He knew their relationship was based on their amazing friendship, but the fact that Abby had 'developed' well was a great benefit. Nigel chuckled at himself and relaxed more. It was luckythat Abby had found this attic that seemed so much like the old one back at Sector V. (Or that KND and TND made the treehouses very similar)It was such a comfort zone for both of the teens. Nigel went to the old attic a lot after Abby left KND. It was either the attic or her old room. He liked her room because it still held her smell and so many memories. Nigel had needed this when Abby left. He was at a loss without her. The team had tried to go on a mission but Nigel's plans weren't working as well. Abby hadn't been there to check them over or to tell the team that the mission was 'too easy.'
"Don't ever leave me again Abby." He said to her sleeping form. Abby rolled over to her side. Nigel noticed something gleaming in the moonlight around her neck. Without waking her up he pulled off a necklace. On it was skull and crossbones. It was the mark of StickyBeard. Nigel became worried.
"What if she never actually left Stickybeard? Could she be working both sides?" He asked the air. Abby stirred from his talking. In all her years of KND she became a light-sleeper. She looked up to Nigel who was holding her necklace.
"Hey give that back." She said groggily.
"Why do you have this?" He demanded. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes.
"I tried to give it back but Stickybeard insisted that I keep it. Just in case." That set Nigel off.
"Just in case. What are you planning on leave us again?" He said his voice rising.
"No! But like after Teens Next Door, I might just…" Nigel interrupted her.
"When you're an adult, you'll have a different life. Candy won't be such a big part. You'll have a job and maybe a family." He said. Abby smiled at him and nuzzled back into his chest.
"Who knows, I may have a family with you." She said still smiling. Nigel blushed. But he had to admit he liked the thought. He handed her back the necklace.
"Oh no if you don't like it I won't wear it." She said pushing his hand away.
"No wear it. It looks good on you." It was the truth. Something about just seemed to fit with her. She took back the necklace and put it back on smiling. She snuggled really close to Nigel. He wrapped his arms around her. Like that, they fell asleep.
The next morning Cooper had gotten up early and was making pancakes. Most of the group was drawn to the kitchen just by the smell. That mixed with the sunlight woke Natalie up. She sat up and stretched out. She stood up and took off her jacket. It still reeked of beer and smoke, and she had a headache. She walked into the kitchen and it was like time stopped. Everyone looked up at her. Natalie knew she had been drinking last night, and couldn't remember what happened, but she had a general idea. Natalie wasn't like a teen alcoholic, but her friends would hold a party once every month. The same thing happened every time. Cooper would come pick her up, and then they would fight until she passed out or went to bed. She never knew what they said to each other when they fought; she just knew that Cooper never took it personally, like he knew it was the booze talking and not really her. But for some reason Natalie felt like she didn't want to drink anymore. Cooper walked over to her with a pile of pancakes, a large glass of water, and Advil.
"Here, I know you must have a headache." She took the Advil with a swig of water.
"I'm not very hungry." She said pushing the pancakes away.
"Yeah that's the hangover speaking." He pushed them back. Natalie swears that Cooper has done research on hangovers because he knows all the symptoms. Natalie grunted at the food but started eating anyways, partly because Cooper's pancakes were the closest thing to heaven on earth any food could get. Nigel and Abby walked in. Nigel had his arm around Abby and they were talking softly.
"Hey lovebirds," Cooper greeted them, "Here pancakes." He gave them two plates. They blushed and started eating.
"Mmmm….Pancakes! Send some my way mate!" Wally said as he walked in. He had obviously just woken up and came right to the kitchen because he had no shirt on, so you could plainly see that he was getting a six pack.
"Um…sure but you might wanna get more decent." Cooper said. Kuki smiled mischievously and gave Wally a hug.
"I dunno I kinda like him like this." She giggled. The single girls giggled also.
"So what's on the agenda today Coop?" Natalie asked. He shrugged.
"I guess we could go do something. I mean its nice out so…"
"LET'S GO TO THE BEACH!" Kuki screamed. Nigel groaned loudly, but his groan was drowned out by Natalie's groan as she rubbed her temples.
"Tone it down please." She mumbled. Kuki smiled apologetically.
"Uhh…beach it is." Cooper stated while staring at Kuki like she had ten heads, neither him or Natalie were quite used to Kuki's personality.Nigel looked a little disappointed.
"Oh come-on Nigel it won't be as annoy when you really aren't wasting time there." Abby tried to cheer him up.
"But the beach is soo boring." He whined.
"Hey, I'm sure we can find something fun to do." She talked smoothly.
So they all headed off to the beach. They took Cooper's car since it was less suspicious then landing in one of their ships. Nigel hadn't stopped mumbling about "how stupid the beach is." When they got out and started walking to the beach he started mumbling more specific complaints.
"Stupid beach with stupid waves and stupid kids playing in the stupid water." Abby glared at him.
"If I get you a milkshake will ya shuddup for 10 seconds." Nigel looked at her then smiled and nodded. She walked off to go get him a milkshake. He walked on the sand and laid his towel down.
"Stupid hot sand. Stupid people that are burying themselves in the hot sand…"
"Hey guys lookit me! I'm buried in the sand." Wally yelled out. Numbuh 3 and 362 stood next to him with shoves.
"Buried in the sand, nanananana..." Wally sang Abby chuckled at him as she came back with a milkshake and an ice cream cone.
"Here ya go." She gave it to him. "Drink up." He smiled and started guzzling it. He polished off half of it quickly. The two older teens stared in shock.
"Ow, major ice cream headache." Natalie said. Nigel shook his head.
"Don't get 'em." He replied. Again he received shocked stares.
"I'd kill to never have ice cream headaches. I love ice cream way too much for my own good." Natalie laughed. After more hanging out and laughing with the team Nigel was loosening up. He still didn't like the beach though. Everyone went to swim in the ocean while Nigel stayed on the beach. Natalie came up behind him with an ice cream cone.
"Hey why aren't you swimming?" She asked sitting next to him. He didn't take his eyes off the waves when he answered.
"Why aren't you?" She giggled.
"I love ice cream way too much for my own good." She repeated from earlier. Nigel looked to see her eating the cone. She smiled, "So what's your excuse? And don't tell me it's because 'you don't like the beach.'" He didn't answer, "So there is a deeper reason, I figured. Wanna tell me?" He shook his head, but Natalie wasn't about to give up. "You know, I took psychology classes back in training, plus a few studies in school. I would be the best person to talk to…" She finished in a singsong voice. He looked to her.
"Your not going to leave me alone until I tell you, are you?" Natalie smiled sheepishly.
"I'm as stubborn as a bull." Nigel sighed.
"Fine, when I was younger. Five to be exact. I was at the beach with my parents. I wasn't in the water, because I couldn't swim. But I was near it because I was building a sandcastle and was constantly running back and forth for buckets of water. One time when I went to fill up my bucket a wave had just gone out so I ran farther away then normal. Then a wave came and I got caught in it." Nigel paused, "I was pulled out and I was stuck in the rip-tide. I think I lost consciousness because the next thing I remember is coughing up salt-water on the beach, with a lifeguard standing over me." He ended softly, and then he looked up into Natalie's eyes. Natalie wore a look of sympathy. She smiled awkwardly.
"Heh…Well if that happened to me, I'd sure hate the beach too." She said with a small chuckle. "But really Nigel, what are the chances that will ever happen again. I mean you know how to swim now. Plus a lifeguard saved you before, they would do it again. That is if they can beat us to you. I know I will dive in to save you." She said, then she laughed, "But I would have to beat Abby. I can picture her punching people to get to you" Natalie smiled and placed her hand on Nigel's shoulder. "Listen I know that experience must have traumatized you, but you have a team that cares about you. So what if we've only been together for a few months. We are a family through and through. But I do have one question." She added.
"Oh yeah? What's that?" He asked.
"Was that worse then losing your hair to the Delightfuls, because from the sound of it, your encounter with them waslike anear-death thing too?" Nigel cocked his head sideways.
"Yeah I guess it was. But I can always get revenge on the Delightfuls. It's much harder to get revenge on the ocean." Natalie nodded solemnly. Abby walked over.
"What are you two chatting about?" She asked standing next to Nigel. Nigel turned and smiled to Natalie and got up.
"Come on Abby, let's go swimming." He said and dragged her to the water. Natalie felt a small amount of victory float through her. She loved helping people. Cooper came up and sat down next to Natalie. When he did her heart surged. It had been a long time since the two teens had just hung out. Back when they were kids, they did everything together. Natalie's parents weren't very happy that Cooper was nearly a year older then herself, but soon nothing was able to keep the two kids apart. So when Cooper was decommissioned it was extremely hard on Natalie. First she had to lie to her parents saying her and Cooper had gotten into a huge fight and weren't speaking anymore, to which her parents were doing everything in there power to get the kids friends again. Of course everyone found it odd that Cooper had no idea who Natalie was. Whenever Natalie would see Cooper it would break her heart for him to just walk by, and give her high hopes when he would smile at her. Her hopes would come crashing down when she remembered he didn't know her. It was months of this wave of rising and crashing hopes until her decommission, at which point she didn't remember anything anyways. Thinking about her decommission always made her think of Father, and she felt her temper rising. Desperate to take her mind off of him she blurted out,
"So how bad was it last night?" The look on Cooper's face made her realize that was a mistake. Though she never remembered what happened when she drinks, she never asked what happened. Cooper's face was one of slight shock, but obvious anger, "That bad huh?" She tried to joke, another mistake.
"It's not a laughing matter Natalie. By the way the entire team knows now." Natalie winced at that. She preferred it when her wild habits were a secret, "They don't think any differently of you, I don't think. But Fanny was a little upset; I guess her dad used to be a drinker, too." He talked to her with an indifferent tone; but he spat 'too'.He was doing to make her feel worse, but she knew better. She wasn't a true drinker. She just had one or two, but because of the mess-up in her decommision, she got bag hangovers. "Do you remember anything from last night?" Cooper asked.
"You know the answer to that," She paused, "No, but I have a feeling that you made a point." She breathed deeply, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked what happened."
Cooper explained what he said to her the night before. Natalie laughed once.
"I didn't get pissed and slapped you or something." Now Cooper laughed,
"Nah, you threw up instead." They laughed together. It was a good moment, one Natalie loved. The moment when they got over the previous events and were fine again. But this moment was cut short by Cooper's TND watch going off. He pressed a button to the side and the KND global commander appeared on the minute screen.
"Sorry to interrupt your little break," The kid said with a tone of almost disgust, "But we need some help that the members of your team can provide," At this point the rest of the team had gathered around the two leaders.
"We have a little problem with Stickybeard." Nigel gave a sideways glance to Abby, whose hand flew straight to the chain around her neck. "He and that teen pirate Danielle managed to infiltrate Sector V. Since your team is comprised of the old Sector V and has…'dealt' with Stickybeard, I think you could be of some assistance."
"We'll be right over." The face blinked out and the screen fell to black. "Alright team, quick stop at the tree house to get out of our swimwear then off to Sector V."
