I do not own Rocket Power...

Two months after Lars gave her the ring and a family breakfast turned into an awkward premarital counseling session with his family priest, Reggie had flaunted the ring everywhere she went so it would look like she was actually engaged. She even wore it in school, telling people she found the ring on the beach while surfing and thought it was cool, so she decided to keep it. She would even lie and say the diamond was actually 'cubic.' It has been two months that she conducted her fake engagement plan, which was going well on her part. All they had to do was go in public, whether it be Mad Town or the amusement park, and act affectionate, go over to each other's homes or whatever helped them come off as engaged. The good thing was she was being treated more independently. One day, Lars took her to school one morning after he decided to treat her for breakfast. She was talking to him about people are school gawking at the ring as they sat in a booth facing each other.

"I have had people telling me the ring looked real. All I have to say it is cubic and I'm left alone." Reggie laughed.

"Don't cubic and diamonds look alike?" Lars asked as he took her hand to look at the ring.

"I guess," Reggie said. "What is your family saying about this? Do they all believe we are engaged but are actually not?"

"My aunts are happy. Clio is fucking stoked. She said that she wants to be you maid of honor."

Reggie snickered and said, "They have no idea. Do they?"

"Nope. No one suspects a thing." Lars chortled and gave Reggie her hand back.

"I think I'm going to feel bad for Twister. He is so excited."

"Having a brother like Twister has its perks. He's so dumb that he will believe anything."

"So...want to pull another front during lunch? When you go on your work break?"

"Sorry, baby. I can't. I'm getting lunch with your dad."

"Oh, you and my dad are getting lunch?" Reggie asked a little baffled.

"Yeah. He wants to have some father/son-in-law bonding time." Lars laughed. "Maybe I should start calling him dad."

"Okay, chill out. We really aren't engaged." Reggie snapped.

"Relax, I'm joking," Lars said not meaning it when he claimed he was joking.

Reggie was looking down at the ring and then looked up at Lars.

"What?"

"Nothing. You and my dad getting lunch sounds like more fun than me running errands with your mom." she chuckled.

Lars smirked up at her.

"Just in a matter of time, we can fake calling off the engagement, and we can go back to normal," Reggie said as she played with the ring on her finger.

"Yeah...I know..." Lars said.

Little did Reggie know, he was starting to take the fake engagement seriously.


The school day progressed normally. While in science class, Reggie was trying to pay attention while Sam whispered to her, "Can I see it?"

"What?" she whispered back.

"The ring! I want to see it again!" Sam said.

"I'm trying to listen, Sam!" Reggie snapped and turned her attention to the lecture.

"But it's so cool! I want to see it!" Sam said.

"Fine!" Reggie held out her left hand to Sam, who held it so he can look at the ring.

"It captures the light," Sam said.

"Yeah. I'm fully aware of that." Reggie replied trying to pay attention.

"Five years should go by quicker than you think," Sam said.

"Sam, I said you can look at my ring, but I'm trying to pay attention!" Reggie snapped.

"Ms. Rocket! Mr. Dullard!" the teacher's voice startled the two. "I hope you two are talking about rocks and minerals back there because this is going to be on your year end exam!"

"We were, Mr. Parker," Sam said. "I was actually trying to see if this ring was really cubic or a real diamond."

"Is that so?" Mr. Parker looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

Reggie felt on the spot. She took her hand out of Sam's and removed the ring.

"Yeah." She said. "I found it on the beach while surfing. It looked cool, so I kept it. I'm sure it's cubic but what do I know?"

Reggie handed the ring to Mr. Parker. He started a lecture about diamonds and how they were the strongest mineral out there and how they cut through glass. So it sees if the ring was real, he scratched it on the surface making everyone gasp.

"Ms. Rocket, you found a real diamond. Incredible." Mr. Parker said giving Reggie back the ring.

"Well...like I said...things I find on the beach when surfing..." she replied.

The loud speaker went off went off at that moment.

"Attention, students." it was the principal. "I would like to take the time to congratulate Ocean Shores High School's Reggie Rocket for her recent engagement. Congratulations, Reggie."

All the girls in the class gasped and Reggie got a standing ovation just for being 'engaged.' Reggie sat in her seat with raised eyebrows, absolutely stunned.

"Alright, class, settle down! Congratulations, Ms. Rocket." Mr. Parker said.

Reggie was baffled at what happened. Once the bell rang, she and Sam were walking out together. Trish and Sherri approached her.

"Since when were you going to tell us you got engaged?" Sherri said excitedly.

"I guess it slipped my mind," Reggie replied.

"Well, we're going to discuss this over lunch. I need to know all the details." Trish added.

Soon, a bunch of girls gathered around Reggie.

'Congratulations, Reggie!' 'That's so exciting!' 'Let me see the ring!' 'It's so pretty!' 'Look at that rock!' 'You are going to be a beautiful bride.' 'What will your dress look like?' 'Do you have a date set?'

Reggie tried to get away with Sam. She didn't feel like being bombarded with questions and compliments. Seth came up to Reggie.

"Hey, Reggie," Seth said.

"Seth...what's good?" Reggie said with a lack of emotion.

"Listen, I hear that your engaged or whatever but hey...if things fall apart, give me a call," Seth said and gave Reggie an air kiss.

Reggie made a face of disgust and walked off. Sam followed her.

"Reg, they're happy for you! What gives?" Sam asked.

"I need to tell you something, and this stays between us. Otto and Twister must not know," she said pulling him aside in private.

"Okay, what else do you have to tell me?" Sam asked curiously.

Reggie took a deep breath in and said, "Lars and I are not engaged. There is no wedding that's happening in five years. And what's hard is that I feel like Lars is taking this more seriously than I am."

"Wait...what?" Sam asked confused.

"I told Raymundo that I was engaged because I just want a little more independence, which I am getting out of this, but in reality, we are nowhere near engaged. Once I go to college, we 'break it off,' I give back a ring, he will go back into the Marines or whatever and pretend it ever happened."

Sam was baffled at what Reggie said.

"Well?" Reggie said. "Are you disappointed?"

"Why did you have to lie about it?" Sam asked. "The only good thing is Otto won't have Lars as a brother in law, but it definitely will break Twister's heart knowing that there won't be a wedding."

"I know. Twister is all excited, and I will feel bad telling him it's fake." Reggie said.

"Is Lars taking this more seriously?" Sam asked.

"A little. He told me he wanted to start calling Raymundo 'dad' and claimed he was kidding but he didn't sound like he was kidding. He sounded serious." Reggie said.

"I've seen how he looks at you. Tito has noticed it too." Sam said.

"What?" Reggie was baffled.

"He looks at you as if he seems like he's really in love. If he is taking this seriously, he will be heartbroken knowing that you two needed to call it off once you get to college." Sam said. "Reg, someone will get hurt, and it will be Lars."

"Sam, when do you care about how Lars feels? Also, he is getting something out of this too." Reggie said.

"What is he getting out of this? He does care about you. So much that he goes far and addresses you as his 'fiance' to other people. Even when you two are kissing and embracing each other, it looks real. Reggie, you need to talk to him about this. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be." Sam said.

The bell rang, and Sam walked to class leaving Reggie there to wonder what she is doing.


School let out. Reggie knew Sam was disappointed in her. She had to go surfing. Surfing was the only thing that cleared her head in times like these. She was so stressed out about everything. Sam was right. Lars was starting to take this fake engagement more seriously than she was. Taking her out to breakfast, them going to each other's houses for dinner, spending time together only to put up a front. It was too much...so much that she was having panic attacks at 3 am...on school nights. Once Reggie got to the beach, she did her usual which was surfing for about an hour in a half until she was spent. Someone came up to her and said, "Excuse me, are you Reggie Rocket?"

She turned around and said, "Um...can I help you?"

"Yes. My name is Todd Wilson. I'm a sponsor for the San Diego surfing contest that will be held on the beach in San Diego in a month. I have noticed you from the beach, and I have to say I am impressed."

"Gee...thanks..." Reggie was taken aback.

"In case you are interested in entering the contest, here is my card. The winner gets a free scholarship to any four-year college of their choice. And I think you have potential." Todd said handing her his card.

"Are you serious? To any four-year college of my choice?" she said ecstatically.

"Yep. So think it over. And if you are interested, give me a call. You will be perfect for this contest."


Meanwhile at Lars and Twister's house...

"I can't...it hurts too much!" Twister cried while in the plank position with a weight on his back.

"You have 30 more seconds! Stop being a baby! Let's go!" Lars screamed at him.

Lars was showing Twister his Marine Corp. workout. He was putting his brother through the ringer. It was so hard that Twister just wanted to stop in the middle, but Lars wouldn't let him until they completed the whole workout. Once 30 seconds were up, Twister fell to the floor panting. Lars was chuckling at him and said, "Okay, you can take that off your back."

"Can you do it for me?" Twister asked.

Lars rolled his eyes and took the weight off Twister's back.

Twister got up and was sore from head to toe.

"I can't move...how do you guys do this?" Twister asked while drinking water.

"You get use to it. They work you in training." Lars said. "The benefit for you is that I won't get to whomp you later. I think this was whomping enough for today."

"Gee, thanks." Twister chortled.

"But next time, I won't go easy on you. This was just the easy part." Lars laughed as Twister groaned.

"So...the wedding..." Twister started.

"What about the wedding?" Lars asked taking a sip of water.

"It's exciting," Twister said. "I mean...you said you knew Reggie was the one. How did you know?"

Lars was somewhat taken aback by his brother's question. So he answered the best he could.

"There was something about her, you know. Like...she's very beautiful, she's funny, she doesn't give two shits about what people think about her. She isn't one of those high maintenance bitches that care about what they wear, how they look or whatever. What gets me is how she isn't like any girl I've met. She's very smart and speaks her mind. When I'm with her, I know everything is okay, and she makes me want to better myself everyday. When she's laughing, it's one of those sounds that's just like music to your ears...what I like is when she rolls her eyes and throws her head back as she laughs. Most importantly...she's just one of those people that I find myself thinking of the first thing I get up and is always the last thing on my mind before I go to bed. I can picture spending the rest of my life with her...and I can imagine myself waking up next to her with her in my arms. If I didn't have her in my life, I don't know what I'd do. I guess that is how I knew when I..."

Lars heard sniffling and raised an eyebrow. He looked and saw his brother crying.

"You seriously crying?" Lars asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry...but that was just beautiful...I haven't cried this much since mom made us watch that movie and..." Twister ran inside his house crying.

Lars rolled his eyes and shook his head. As he was sipping water, he heard his mother yell, "Lars! What did you do to Maurice? Did you make him cry?"