Disclaimer: I do not own the Simpsons. The series and its characters are all property of Matt Groening, Sam Simon, 20th Century FOX, and Disney.

A/N: Hey, Happy New Year, everyone! I am back with a brand new chapter; for all of you! I want to apologize for the lateness of this chapter. I planned on releasing it at the end of December, but I was unable; to finish it by then. Anyways, here it is, and I hope you all enjoy it!

Love at First Sight

Written by: Super Saiyan Blue Juuhachi

Chapter 8: A Surprise Visit

Laura sat in Alergrbra class, tapping her pencil against her desk as she tried to solve the equations on the board. As she did, her mind began to drift and think back to the fight in the cafeteria.

She had to admit, while it was impressive what Bart did, dealing three of those guys, at the same time, she felt terrible about what happened to him.

Laura knew he was only trying to help her; it still made her feel guilty that he got hurt as a result. She needed to speak with him. Make sure he was okay and while she was at it, thank him for getting her book back.

The bell soon rang, and she exited her class; she made her way towards Bart's locker. But when she was about to turn down the hallway. She saw him standing there, talking to his friends, and decided it was best; talk to him later. She walked away to head to her next class.

"That was incredible, Bart!" Milhouse said, impressed. "You took on three of those guys!"

"Yeah, but it was brutal what they did to you; are you okay?" Lewis asked, a look of concern on his face.

"Yeah, don't worry about me; I'm fine." He reassured them.

"Are you sure? That kick in the back was pretty harsh,"

"Yeah, I'm a little sore right now, but I'll be okay. Just need to be careful not to strain it,"

Just then, the warning bell sounded,

"Well, we gotta get going; hope you feel better!" Milhouse said as he walked away

"Yeah, get well, bro!"

"Take care!" Once his friends were gone, Bart closed his closer, grabbed his book bag, and made his way to his next class.

Homer sat in the break room sipping on coffee when Lenny and Carl walked in carrying Krusty Burger bags in their hands. "Ah, you guys back from lunch."

"Yeah, and we brought you something," Lenny tossed the bag he had in his hand at Homer. The bald man opened the bag and pulled out a burger with fries. "Oh, nice a burger fries."

"Yeah, and I got you a chocolate shake from there," Carl said, pulling the shake from the bag and setting it in front of his friend.

"Thanks, guys, I appreciate this,"

"No problem," Lenny smiled at his friend, "So did you talk to Marge?"

"Yeah, I did, and she told me why she didn't pick up the phone."

"Why is that?"

"Bart got into a fight at school, and she had to go down to the school to take care of it." He said in between bites.

"Is he all right?" Carl asked concerned

"Yeah, he's fine; Marge told me he has to do custodian work for the next weeks after school."

"Damn, that sucks."

"Yeah, but it could have been worse. Bart could have been suspended or expelled."

"True," Lenny agreed, "Well, I'm glad you got a hold of her."

"Me too," Homer finished his lunch and threw the contents in the garbage. "Come on, let's get back to work before Smithers sees us and decides to tattle on us,"

The three men walked out of the breakroom, clocking in before heading back; to their stations to resume their workday.

Three o'clock soon arrived, and the bell rang, signaling the end of another day. The students of Springfield High School began walking out of the building. Bart walked out the front of the school where his Mom was waiting for him. As she approached the car, he could see Lisa and Maggie sitting in the back seat; and rolled his eyes, knowing what was coming.

He got in the car, and as expected, Lisa asked, "Hey, Bart. What happened to your face?"

"I don't want to talk about it,"

"Someone hit you, didn't they? That means you were in a fight. Did you win, or did they beat you up?" Maggie asked curiously

As she spoke, Bart put his earbuds in his ears before he began playing, not wanting to deal with questions right now.

"Well, that was rude," Lisa turned to her mother, "What's the matter with him?"

"He had a rough day," Marge told her.

They pulled away from the school and were soon on their way home. When they got there; and walked through the door, "Okay, kids, if you have any homework go ahead and do it. I am going to start making plans for dinner,"

Lisa and Bart went upstairs and into their rooms to do their homework. Maggie went into her room and played with her toys.

Both Bart and Lisa put their earbuds and earphones on as they began doing their homework.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Marge had decided on making meatloaf for dinner. In addition to that, she decided to make a variety of vegetables, along with mashed potatoes and gravy. Preparation took a few minutes; she stuck the meatloaf in the oven to cook for an hour.

That hour passed quickly as Bart and Lisa finished their homework. Lisa was now busy; reading a book while Bart played video games. Just then, they heard the familiar sound of their mother's voice.

"Kids, dinner time!" The three came downstairs and walked into the kitchen to find the table already set and condiments already out. The family took their seats and got what they wanted on their plates. Afterward, they said grace and began eating.

"So, how was your day, Mom?" Bart asked as he took a bite of meatloaf.

"It was fine. I did some cleaning and went shopping for a bit. How was your day?"

"Besides what happened...it was good; I talked with Laura for a little while."

"Ooh, Laura." Lisa teased, making kissy noises at him.

"Shut up,"

"So, Bart, did you have a nice conversation?" Marge asked, drawing her son's attention.

"Yeah, we did. Laura shared with me some of her manga,"

"Manga? What is that?" Marge asked confused

"It's a Japanese-style comic book."

"Oh, I see," Marge replied, not really understanding.

She then turned to her youngest child.

"Lisa, Maggie, how was your day?

"Mrs. Triplett, read to us today;' about a man named Johnny Appleseed, and then we had to write our own storybook of him."

"That's nice. Did your teacher like what you wrote?"

"Yeah, she did; I got an A on it,"

"That's great, Maggie. I'm happy for you, sweetie. Lisa, how was your day?"

"It was fine; average day really, nothing special happened. Emily and Natalie invited me to go this weekend to the movies with them,"

"What movie?"

"I don't know. We haven't decided yet."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're going to be getting out and having fun,"

Marge then looked at the time and saw it was almost 4:30.

"Alright, are you kids finished with your dinner?"

"Yeah," Bart replied

"Good, go ahead and dump your dishes in the sink, and I'll get them when I get back. I'm going to take some dinner to your father,"

"Okay," The kids cleared the dishes from the table. Marge put together a container for Homer to take to work.

When she finished, she turned to her children, "Okay, Bart, Lisa, keep an eye on your sister, and I will be back in about half an hour."

Bart nodded, "No problem, Mom. Just be careful,"

"I will see you later." She walked out of the door, closing the door behind her.

"Well, what do we do now?" Bart asked his sisters,

"I want to watch Happy Little Elves The Movie!" Maggie chimed up

Bart put on a smile, "Alright, Maggie, go on ahead and put it on. I'll be there in just a minute."

"Okay," She races off to the Den to find the Blu-ray. After she is gone, Bart sighs.

"It will be alright, Bart. It's only an hour and a half," Lisa said; as she then walked off into the Den to join Maggie.

"Yeah, yeah..." He muttered when he then heard the doorbell ring. "Who could that be at this time of night?" It rang again, "It could be Mom, maybe she forgot something..."

He opened the door, and there in front of him was Laura.

"L-Laura," He stuttered, feeling nervous.

"Yeah, it's me. Can I come in?"

"Oh, yeah, where are my manners? Come on in," He stepped aside to allow her access inside.

"Wow, this is a nice house," She said, looking around at the house.

"Thanks," He smiled at her, "So, uh, what brings you here?"

"I never got to thank you for what you did earlier, stopping those guys and getting my book back."

"You're welcome, but...I really didn't do anything..." Bart rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"You got them to leave me alone, and I appreciate that. The only thing is, I wish you hadn't gotten hurt while doing it. How are you feeling? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. My back is a little sore, but otherwise, I'm okay,"

"Really? What about that shiner you have there? That looks pretty nasty," Laura pointed at the black eye on his face.

"Oh, this?" Bart gestures to the black eye, "I've had worse; believe me. The bullies at my Elementary school hit harder than those guys,"

Lisa then walks into the room, "Bart, are you coming; Maggie is starting to get impatient here,"

It was at this instance she noticed Laura standing there.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were talking to someone..."

"It's okay, Lisa, this is Laura Powers; she's our new next-door neighbor. Laura, this is my sister Lisa."

"Hello,"

"Nice to meet you,"

"Come on, Bart, what is keeping you so long? I want to watch the movie?" An impatient Maggie then walks into the room.

"And this is my baby sister Maggie,"

"Hello there,"

"Hi," Maggie greeted her, "Are Bart's girlfriend?"

The teenagers blush at her question.

"No, she's just a friend,"

"Oh," Maggie sounded almost disappointed by this answer. "Well, do you want to watch the Happy Little Elves Movie with us?"

"Maggie, Laura came over to talk to me. I am sure she doesn't want to—"

"The Happy Little Elves, what is that?" Laura questioned.

"You never heard of them? Well, the come on, let me show, right this way!" Maggie takes her hand and leads her into the Den.

Bart sighs. "Alright, let's get this over with," He muttered as he followed after them.

Bart sits down between Laura and Lisa. As he does, Maggie puts the Blu-ray into the player. Afterward, she walks; over and sits on the couch.

"Scooch over, Bart." Bart scooches over, and Maggie sits between him and Laura, while Lisa sits on the opposite side of Laura.

"Okay, Maggie, hit play," Maggie hit the play button, Bart then hit the lights, and the movie soon started.

As it got deeper into the film, Bart turned to Laura.

Bart watched her a moment, taking in her features, and he could feel his heartbeat quicken staring at her. Laura then turned to him, and he turned his head away swiftly, making her smile. She turned back to the movie, and Bart looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

They watched the rest of the movie. As the credits begin to roll, the lights suddenly flip on.

The four kids turned and saw Marge standing there in the archway.

"Hi, Mommy,"

"Hello," She greeted back, "What's going on here?"

"We were watching the Happy Little Elves Movie,"

"I see that," Marge glanced towards the TV. "Is it good?"

"Uh-huh, you wanna watch it with us?"

"No thanks," She then looked at Laura. "Laura, good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, Mrs. Simpson. I just stopped by to see how Bart was feeling about what happened today,"

"And then Maggie asked her if she wanted to watch the movie, and Laura agreed."

"That's sweet; thank you, Laura, for doing that."

"No problem," The teen smiled,

"Mommy, can Laura come back and babysit? She's way more fun than Bart or Lisa."

"Hey!" Bart and Lisa yelled in unison

"Well, honey, I think that is up to her," Marge turns to Laura, "Laura, would you mind watching babysitting, Maggie sometime?"

"Not at all," Laura replied, "Well, I got to get going; I'm glad you're doing okay, Bart,"

"Thanks, I appreciate you; checking on me," Bart said as he followed her to the door.

"No problem, see you tomorrow at school."

"See you," Laura then walked out the door. Bart stood there a moment, staring at where Laura had been standing a moment ago.

"Alright, kids, let's go; it's time for bed." Lisa and Maggie whined at the words, "Come on, you have school in the morning."

"Alright, we're going." Lisa noticed Bart standing there, staring at the door. "Hey, Romeo, snap out of it! Come on; we've got to go to bed."

"Yeah, right. Sorry," The three kids walked upstairs to get ready for bed. After they brushed their teeth, they went to bed. Bart laid there, arms behind his head.

He stared up at the ceiling, thinking of Laura and her surprise visit tonight. She thanked him for standing up for her. Which he thought was nice but also; checking to see how he was doing, putting up with Maggie. He appreciated that.

He wanted to hang out with her after school but knew with his punishment starting tomorrow that; would prove impossible.

"I'll ask her tomorrow if she's not busy maybe we can hang out or something, see a movie, yeah I'll do that." With that thought in mind, he rolled over, turned out the lamp on his nightstand, and went to sleep.