The problem was that Abby didn't see Chad as boyfriend material. When she looked at him all she saw was a teammate, maybe a football player, maybe even an overachiever. What Cree needed to do was make Abby see Chad as he really was—a sweet guy who was shyer than one would expect, and a really good friend.
There's always a Plan B…. she thought as a smirk spread on her face.
---
"You know what?" Cree said suddenly in the middle of a meeting. "The four of us should just go out and have fun. We just had a really successful mission, and it's just a matter of days before Chewy Pellets across the country start gluing kids' mouths shut." She laughed with devious glee. "So what say we all go to Dangerland this weekend? I hear the new roller coaster is sure to turn even the sturdiest of stomachs!"
She was met with stares of varying degrees of confusion and sullenness.
Cree noticed Chad's eyes dart from her to Abby then Maurice and back to her. "Sure, okay, why not?" he mumbled.
Cree beamed at him and he immediately broke eye contact.
"Count me out." Abby pulled her hat firmly over her eyes, something she always did when she was being particularly difficult.
"Oh, come on, Abby, it's gotta be all or none."
"Then I guess it's gonna be none."
Cree sighed in aggravation, but continued in a pleasant tone. "Then what would you like to do, Abby? We don't have to go to Dangerland; we could just all go out for ice cream or something, or maybe see a movie. How about that?"
"What I would like is for you to stop treating me like a baby." She stood and headed for the door.
"Then maybe you should stop acting like one!" Cree shouted after her. Both Chad and Maurice were eyeing her uncomfortably. "What are you two looking at?" she snapped. "Meeting's adjourned."
---
Plan C….
"Hi, Chad," Cree greeted when she found him at his locker, loading books into his backpack.
"Hey," he said with a smile. Then he paused and looked at her in confusion. "We don't have a meeting today, do we?"
"No, I just wanted to walk with you a little."
"Oh, okay." He seemed to be watching her very carefully out of the corner of his eye as he put the last book into his bag and slammed his locker shut.
"So how were classes today?" she asked as they left the building together.
"Same old. Though in Chem—"
"You know what?" she interrupted artlessly, "you seem like a creature of habit."
Chad paused at the change in subject. "Do I?"
"I bet you wake up the same time every morning, even Saturdays."
He frowned as if perplexed or even suspicious. "I kind of have to. Besides, if I slept in on weekends, that'd make it that much harder to wake up on Mondays."
"I bet it's some freakishly early hour, too." She grinned slyly.
"6:00 isn't that early," he said defensively.
"Waking up at 6:00 on a weekend? I'm sorry, Chad, but that's freakish."
His only reply was silent grumpiness.
She nudged his arm, her smile widening. "I bet you have a set bedtime, too. What is it? 10:00?"
"I'm not twelve."
"11:00?"
Silence again.
"I bet it's 11:00." She chuckled, clapped her hands together and rubbed them together in a rather deranged fashion.
Chad, watching all this, edged slightly away. "Okay, then…my home's this way, so…I'll see you later…." He walked in the direction of his house, leaving Cree behind.
She barely noticed; she only continued to chuckle and rub her hands like some cartoon villain.
---
Abby sighed in aggravation as Cree walked by her room yet again, sticking her nose through the crack of the slightly ajar door. It had to have been at least the tenth time that hour.
"What is it, Cree? Just say what you want, I'm gonna go to bed soon."
"Oh! But not just yet—it's only 11:00," she said hurriedly as she entered Abby's room.
"What are you up to this time?"
"Up to? Nothing! Why would I be-- Well, okay," Cree acknowledged, "I was thinking—do you ever wonder where Mega Mom and Destructo Dad keep their stuff?"
"Chad's parents? Well, not really…."
"They must keep it in the house somewhere, don't you think? You know, the super suits, the flying car, all that stuff."
"I guess so. Why don't you ask Chad?"
Cree shrugged. "He gets weird about these things sometimes. C'mon, haven't you ever wanted a peek at their technology? How do those suits work? And those stupification rays?"
Abby considered with a pensive frown. Knowing the secrets of the Dickson family might prove useful to the Kids Next Door….
"Okay, let's say I am interested. Then what?"
"I say we sneak into their house and snoop around!" Cree exclaimed.
"What? But Chad's part of the team, why don't we just ask him?"
Cree shook her head. "I don't know how he'd react; they're his parents after all. I think it's better that we sneak in without his knowledge and have a look around ourselves. If we can't find anything, then we can ask him."
"I don't know…but if that's what you want to do…."
"Great! Let's go now!"
"What?"
"C'mon!" Cree grabbed her sister by the arm and dragged her off.
---
The Lincoln sisters alighted on the Dickson house roof. While Abby still refused to wear a B.R.A. (her being stubborn again) she did have a jetpack that was fairly discreet and served the purpose of transportation just as well.
Cree glanced at her watch. 11:25. Perfect. This time it'll definitely work, she thought to herself and once again had to suppress her desire to cackle maniacally. It was a deceptively simple plan. They would sneak into Chad's house under the pretense of finding his parent's technology. While they were searching, they would 'accidentally' wander into Chad's room to find him sleeping. One look at ickle wee sleeping Chad, and Abby's heart would melt at the adorableness, and before she knew it they'd be dating. It can't fail!
"Why are you snickering like that?" Abby asked warily.
"Huh? Oh—nothing." Cree cleared her throat. "I'm just hoping to find their flying car so I can drive around in it," she lied quickly.
"Uh-huh. So how do you think we should get in?"
"Well, I was thinking through the—" She stopped short when she noticed something.
"What? Is something wrong?"
"But that can't be…." The light in Chad's window was on. Or at least she thought that was Chad's window. She looked at her watch again. 11:27. He should be asleep by now.
She drifted down to his windowsill, a puzzled Abby close behind.
Could it be that his bedtime isn't until midnight…? She wondered as she peeked through a crack in his shades. Then she jerked her head back, making a sound that was somewhere between a sharp gasp and a hiccup.
"What? What is it?" Abby demanded, leaning in for a look herself.
"Don't!" Cree whispered sharply, but her sister did anyway.
"What? All I see is Chad buttoning his pajamas. Why are—" She interrupted herself by a loud gasp of her own. "Did you just see naked Chad?"
"Shh! And n-no, he wasn't naked…he was just…mostly naked." She could feel her face glowing bright red
Abby stared at her in a scandalized manner.
"What? The important bits were covered!"
"You. Saw. Naked. Chad."
"He wasn't! And don't say it like that!"
Abby started giggling.
"And it wasn't even for a second!"
The light from the window darkened, and Cree looked at her watch. 11:30.
"Ugh, this mission is officially a bust. Let's go." She flew in the direction of home, trying to ignore her sister who was still chortling the words "Naked Chad."
---
Cree was very thankful that there wasn't a teen meeting the next day. What she needed was to not see Chad for a little while, just long enough to get that image of him wiped from her brain. It was just—she couldn't stop thinking about him.
Well, really, I'm not thinking about him; I'm thinking about that glimpse of him that I got. It was so quick, I really didn't get that good a look at him. It's just…from that teeny, tiny, peek…he looked hot. Like, mega hot. He couldn't really be that fine. No, it must be my imagination; I really didn't see him clearly enough and now my brain is playing tricks on me.
What she needed…was to get a better look at him.
---
Cree looked at her watch again. 11:23. She returned her eyes to the small crack in the window shade, focusing on Chad who was seated at his desk. Dammit, Chad, go to bed already.
She shifted uncomfortably on the windowsill where she was perched. She should have come later, but she was impatient and afraid to miss the main event. She should have known better. Chad was a creature of habit.
Just as she was checking her watch again, she heard chuckling behind her. Cree whipped around to see her sister wearing a taunting expression.
"I knew it! When you weren't in your room, I knew you'd be here!"
"It's not what you think!"
"You are so going to hell," Abby snickered.
"What? No, I'm—" She sighed. "At worst I'll be struck blind. But see—ever since yesterday, I…I just need to make sure I saw what I saw."
"What do you mean? Did he have a third arm or something?"
Cree ignored this question and pressed her face to the window again, only to see an empty room. "What? Where is he? He was just—" Then she exhaled in relief as she saw him enter his room again. "There he is. Maybe he was brushing his teeth or something."
As Chad closed the door behind him, Cree held her breath in anticipation. And when he pulled off his shirt, a slow smile spread across her face. It wasn't my imagination.
"What's going on?" asked Abby, floating down closer.
"Shh," Cree quieted, though really there was no reason to. Then in an undertone, she protested, "Aw, come on, baby, what's the rush? Keep that shirt off a little longer."
Abby let out a scoffing laugh. "I don't get you, Cree. Why do you keep pushing Chad on me when you're the one that's got a crush on him?"
"Dang it, show's over—" She turned abruptly to her sister. "What?"
"Or maybe it's because you've got a crush on Chad that you're trying to push him on me."
"What are you talking about? I do not have a crush on Chad."
Abby raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"What? This? I'm just looking—there's nothing wrong with looking," she insisted stiffly.
"And what about the flirting?"
"Flirting? I don't flirt with Chad."
"Then what's all the laughing and the smiling and the touching all about? Where I come from, that's called flirting."
"What? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm dating Maurice; you know that. Everyone knows that."
Abby crossed her arms smugly. "You know, Sis, your arguments don't hold a lot of water after this little journey into voyeurism."
"I—well—you're the one spying on me; I'm just—this was really more like research. If you hadn't shown up—"
"If I hadn't shown up, I bet you'd come back here tomorrow. And the next day, and the day after that."
"I would not!"
"Heh, lie all you want, but I saw that dopey look on your face when you were staring at Chad just now."
"I—I can't help it if Chad's hot," Cree sputtered defensively. "I mean—Maurice is a cutie, but he hasn't…quite…finished with puberty yet. But Chad…I don't know, maybe it's all the football…."
"Just own up, Cree. You like Chad."
"I—You—Just shut up! You're just trying to confuse me! You've been macking on my boyfriend since you were five, and now you're messing with me to try to steal him. Well it's not going to work!" Her jet boots fired up and she blasted away, full speed.
"Pfft." Abby shook her head. "Denial."
---
---
author's notes: yep, denial. XD
a note about the phrase "naked Chad." while it technically would be more correct if Abby had asked "did you just see Chad naked?" it somehow seemed to come out better as "naked Chad." perhaps i've been spending too much time online and netspeak has infiltrated my brain. in which case the correct spelling would have been "naked!Chad". :P
another side note--Chad's windows are really sound proof.