Disclaimer- I don't own WordGirl and co. I don't endorse, nor own, the Webster or Random House dictionary series nor the Britannica and Lexicon Encyclopedia series.

Boredom.

Rainy days always made for boring, tedious, dull, mind-numbing, lackluster, uninspiring, humdrum afternoons.

Was that the best word list he could come up with?

Boring- dreary, tiresome, unexciting, monotonous, uninteresting, lifeless, bland, tame . . . jaded, irksome . . .

He was out of words. How could he, Theodore Tobey MacCallister III, come up with this, a word list that wouldn't even impress a preschooler let alone WordGirl?

Sigh.

Tobey had gotten comfortable at his desk, removing his vest and bow tie, and had begun working on some new robot designs. He also took off his glasses as he didn't really need them but to see at great distances which drawing didn't call for.

The boy had preoccupied himself with this for the past forty-eight minutes. To be honest he was just trying to dodge the new babysitter his mother had hired. Her name was Liz, or something, and she was a complete wreck. She couldn't cook, couldn't clean; the most Tobey had seen her do was study for her geometry final next week. When he had come home that afternoon Liz had only managed to say,

"I really need to study so do whatever you want quietly."

Apparently, she hadn't taken his mother's warning seriously. Not that it matter, Tobey couldn't take his robots out anyway.

Just then, a little tapping could be heard, then a more urgent one.

Tobey looked up from his blueprints at the blurred image of the door. What on earth could that babysitter possibly want?

Tobey stood and opened the bedroom door.

"What do you . . ?"

Liz wasn't there. Strange, he could have sworn he heard knocking.

The noise happened again louder. It was coming from the window.

Still holding the handle of the door, Tobey turned to face the window on the opposite side of the room.

Were his eyes deceiving him, which they very well could have been doing as he did not have his glasses on, or was that . . .? It almost looked like WordGirl was at the window. Wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise.

Tobey quickly closed the door as he reached for his glasses on the desk. Positioning them on his face, the obscurity in the window became Becky Botsford. Not only a disappointment, but a very queer one.

Tobey raised an eyebrow. Why was she here? And why did she look like she had been hit and then dragged by a train?

She seemed pretty adamant on getting him to open that window and, under the circumstances, he was more than willing to oblige.

Becky could be no happier that Tobey's bedroom was on the bottom floor of his house for Becky 'couldn't' fly. After her costume had been ruined there was no way she could ask this favor as WordGirl and it wouldn't be good to knock on the door and have to explain to Ms. MacCallister why she had come. In this last ditch effort, she would have to get what she needed as Becky.

"I need your help." Becky spoke between gasps. Getting back to the city in record time was almost as exhausting as the fight with the tornado.

Instinctively Tobey wanted to refuse, but seeing her like that caused for an instant change of heart.

"I can call a doctor?"

What was it with people and doctors? She couldn't have looked that bad. Other than the mark on her face her school clothes were covering any other cuts, bruises, and scrapes.

"No, I need a voice altering machine."

"No, I think you need medical attention." Tobey headed for the door in hopes that Liz would be able to spear a minute or two to call a doctor.

"Listen to me; I only have ten minutes to make this work,"

Tobey stopped.

"I need a voice-altering machine that can be called from any phone that I choose and replicate any person I need it to. Do you have it?"

"Maybe . . ."

Becky was acting anxious. Why would she want something like that? Only naughty children asked for things like that.

"Please Tobey; I really, really need it."

This was going to take some consideration.

"What's in it for me?"

"Whatever you want," that could be a regrettable choice of words. "Within reasonable limits."

"Well I'll just have to think about that, what could I possibly want that you could give me."

Even though Becky looked awful, there was still some kind of pleasure that could be drawn from making her beg, especially after that threatening comment she made that morning. He never did get back at her for that, of course now hardily seemed like the time.

As for Becky, she was clinging to the window sill just to hold herself up. She couldn't believe she was sinking so low as to ask Tobey for help. Why did her parents have to go on vacation? Why did a tornado have to touch down today? And why couldn't she think of any other plan?

"Can we discuss that later, right now I only have," Becky glanced at her watch. "Eight Minutes!"

"Aren't we pushy."

"Please Tobey." She was going to lose her patience.

"Fine, come in and I'll retrieve it for you."

"You mean through the window?"

"What else would possibly I mean."

"You could have wanted me to come through the front door."

"Just get in here."

Becky rolled her eyes. This was going to be a very, enduring eight minutes.

As Becky tried to lift herself up into the window, a sudden stinging sensation spread through her arm. She breathed deep to hold back a yelp of pain. Tobey didn't seem to notice as he was leaving the room. Maybe she did need some medical attention.

Once Becky was certain Tobey was away from the door, she floated herself on into the room.

"He'd better hurry up."

Becky could think of nothing else to stay in the city. She would pretend she was Violet's mom and agree to watch herself over the summer. As long as she kept the two parents from meeting each other in between that time she should be okay.

Becky looked around the room she was in; she never would have imagined it to be decorated like this. For a kid obsessed with robots, Tobey's room design reflected a child more fascinated with astronomy than destruction. From star chats to rocket models, Becky could hardly find evidence suggesting a love of robotics. Perhaps the bookshelf would shine some light on the subject.

Four types of dictionaries: Webster, Oxford, Random House, and the Webster's Slang Dictionary; Webster's thesaurus; two encyclopedia series: Britannica and the Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia; an Almanac for the years 2000 through 2007; The Bible? A scrapbook labeled "My Favorite WordGirl Memories,"

Becky quit reading.

That bookshelf wasn't helpful at all; in fact it would probably evoke nightmares for the next four weeks.

Sleep. Such a beautiful word.

Tobey then re-entered the room holding a medium sized machine. Attached was a receiver, several buttons and a few other things.

"Here you are, a voice alteration device that can have you mimicking any voice recorded on it."

Recorded?

"What do you mean 'recorded?'"

"I mean the person you wish to sound like must be recorded before you can imitate them."

There were only five minutes left.

"Can I call from that thing to get the voice?"

"Of course. That's what this thing was built for."

Tobey set the machine down on his bed and handed the receiver to Becky.

"First let's set up the number of the person you wish to have call this machine."

Tobey pressed a few buttons and then waited for Becky to disclose the number. Reluctantly she gave her phone number to him and then Violet's to be called for voice recording.

The receiver rang a few times and then Mrs. Heaslip picked up. Tobey pressed another button on the device; most likely record.

"Hello."

Becky listened to the sound of her friend's mother. She sounded happy completely unaware of the scheme being plotted around her. She spoke again.

"Hello, anyone there."

Becky couldn't bring herself to speak. She couldn't . . .

"Hello . . . oh well."

Hang up.

"Success." Tobey messed with the machine a few moments longer and then looked to Becky. "You'll now be able to impersonate when your caller dials."

Becky didn't respond.

"You need to hang up the receiver for the call to come through."

Becky just stood shaking a bit. She held the phone tightly in her hand.

Now Tobey was a bit concerned.

"How about you give that to me," Tobey took the phone out of Becky's hand and placed it back on the holder. "And you take a seat on the bed and wait for your call."

Becky did as instructed. A tad out of character for her, but then again so was showing up a mess and doing something deceitful. Interesting behavior for Becky Botsford. She seemed like such a nice girl and yet here she was asking him, someone she knew to be evil, for help.

For whatever reason this made Tobey think back to earlier that day. He had recently begun teasing Becky about being WordGirl. He always got a kick out of how upset it made her for whatever reason. Her actions now disqualified her for the part of superhero. Tobey didn't know what she was doing with this phone call, but it defiantly didn't merit hero status. Yet it was worth contemplating why she was doing something bad.

"You know, I don't recall you telling me why you're doing this, or why you look so, sickly."

"I'm tired."

"That doesn't explain why you're half dead."

"I'm not half dead."

"Fine, half alive. However, you want to think about it." Tobey went back to his desk and sketched away at his designs. Perhaps it wasn't worth fighting over, he'd know soon enough from the phone conversation.

Becky waited for the call.

Mrs. Botsford must have gotten home a little later than usual as it ended up being another ten minutes before the phone rang.

The fated call.

Tobey turned from his work to watch Becky.

Becky let the phone ring twice before slowly placing a hand on the receiver. Was she really going to do this? She was lying to save the city; Mrs. Heaslip was going to watch Becky while WordGirl saved the day. But this felt like Becky was betraying her family's trust. They would never know and yet, Becky felt so wrong.

A third ring. Becky answered.

"He . . .hello." Very timid.

"Hello Mrs. Heaslip it's me Mrs. Botsford."

No response.

"Becky's mom." Mrs. Botsford stated.

"Oh, I know."

"So how are you today?"

Becky wasn't certain what to answer that with.

"I'm good, I guess. You?"

"I am having a very wonderful afternoon save for that rainstorm."

"Yeah, it rained."

Tobey shook his head. Becky was a terrible liar. It was pitiful to watch.

"I actually called to ask you a rather big favor."

"Oh, I'm good with favors. I just love helping people and, um, I would be devastated if I couldn't assist you."

Who in their right mind talked like? Tobey couldn't understand this. So awful. Whatever she was trying to do she was about to screw it up talking like that. Even though they weren't really on friendship terms, perhaps he should try to assist her in this 'favor.'

Tobey rose from his desk and snatched the phone from Becky. She immediately stood to fight him back for it.

"Will you give that back." Becky whispered not wanting to be heard on the phone, but Tobey spoke into it.

"Could you give me a second?" He had dropped his fake accent for the phone and regained it to whisper back at Becky. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but you're not going to fool anyone talking like that."

"It's my problem and I want you to butt out of it." The last thing she wanted him to know was she was planning to stay behind on a family vacation without supervision. "Give me back the phone."

"You're clearly inexperienced at lying . . ."

"Give. Me. The. Phone."

"Fine," Tobey tossed the receiver to Becky.

"Thank you."

"I'll just turn off the machine and you can explain to your caller the situation."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

Becky could feel her eye twitch just then. She was so livid that, for a moment there, it almost, looked like the room, went, black for a moment, it was . . . black.

Becky then felt very dizzy; she sat back on the bed. She had to finish this phone call.

"Okay, it's my mom you're talking to. You're Violet's mom. Tell mom that you don't mind watching me for a month after she asks."

Tobey raised an eyebrow then went back to the phone conversation.

"Sorry, Violet wanted to ask me something."

Becky blinked a few times and touched her face. Though the bleeding had mostly stopped, Becky still got a little blood on her hands. She needed to clean that, but at the same time, she was just so tired.

"Watch Becky over the summer? I think I can do that."

Tobey glanced over at his guest to see her closing her eyes and rubbing her temples. She looked near fainting, but he couldn't interrupt the phone call to check.

"It's no trouble at all . . . Really I don't mind. Becky's so well behaved and Violet really loves her company. . . If you'd like to send Becky over with some spending money I'd appreciate it . . . Don't worry this isn't a burden at all. I'll see her in two weeks? . . . Okay. You're welcome. . . Goodbye." Tobey hung up the phone and went to examine Becky. "What happened to you? I'm getting a first aid kit."

Tobey left his room and went down the hall past Liz. She looked up from her books and watched the eleven-year-old run by. She took her headset off and waited for the boy to pass again.

"Hey Tobey,"

Tobey stopped at the mention of his name holding the first aid kit.

"What are ya doin'?"

This might have been a good time to explain to Liz what was going on, but then again it probably wouldn't look too good if she found out he had sneaked one of his machines out of mother's closet. Liz had been instructed not to let him near it.

" . . . stuff."

"Well, I'm gonna order a pizza, whatcha want on it?"

"Oh, edible substances." Tobey left his babysitter. Encouragingly she probably wouldn't check on him again.

When Tobey got back to his room Becky had stood back up and looked to be trying to leave.

"Wait, hold on a minute."

"Tobey," Becky was having so much trouble just trying to keep her eyes open. "I'm tired. I'm heading home."

"You still owe me for the use of my equipment."

"What do you want?"

"For starters, how about a look at your face?"

Tobey placed the kit on his desk and removed a small mirror from it. He then held it up so Becky could see her face. Watching her squint, Tobey came closer so she could get a better look.

She did look awful. Her hair was all frizzed out, her eyes tinted red; she looked like a walking disaster. The cut on her face seemed to be the most pronounced, however. It was clearly going to get infected if she didn't properly clean it.

"Okay I'll admit I look bad, but I don't need a doctor or anything like that."

"I already know you can't lie."

Tobey couldn't help but smirk. As stated before, Tobey and Becky had never been on friendship terms, but after this afternoon Tobey couldn't help but feel more admiration for Becky. She was willing to be just as mischievous as he was, which did give her a certain charm. If he did ever want to make 'friends' with any of his classmates, it would be with her. Though she wasn't anywhere near as intelligent as he, Becky did display more smarts than anyone else his age, save for WordGirl of course.

Well, whatever the logic behind it, Tobey now perceived it safe to feel pity for Becky.

"Sit down."

Tobey held the mirror out while Becky cleansed the mark on her face, a task that proved difficult as Becky's eyesight started blurring. She couldn't seem to focus on anything and her head was beginning to ache from her battle earlier.

She needed to get home to bed.

"Thanks, but I must be going . . ." Becky stood to her feet; her knees buckled under her weight. Her body had reached its limit. One sleepless night combined with a stressful morning and sideswiped by a massive windstorm lead to Becky fainting into the arms of her host which, being as weak as he was, ended with both of them falling back onto the bed.

Becky had managed to fall completely asleep and was resting on Tobey's chest. Tobey's entire face flushed red. This had to be the most awkward situation he had ever found himself in.

At least no wisecracks were being made.

"Uh," Tobey lightly began tapping Becky's shoulder. "Becky, get up. Please get up." But she did not wake up, instead she made herself more comfortable by hugging him much like she would a teddy bear or pillow. Tobey's response was to turn another dark shade of red.

He had never been this close to a girl before, not that he was implying he had any feelings for Becky of course. No, he liked WordGirl; this was just some embarrassing accident that he was involved in, right? Sure Becky was pretty smart and looking at her now she was kind of, cute . . . but he didn't like her at all and they weren't even friends . . . This point cannot be stressed enough!

Tobey slowly sat up removing Becky's grip on him. He climbed out of the bed still a bright crimson.

That was odd and kind of, nice . . . No not nice! Disgusting, it was disgusting!

What was he suppose to do now? He couldn't tell Liz he had some sleeping girl in his room. Maybe Becky had narcolepsy. He knew she needed a doctor.

Tobey pushed his glasses back a bit.

"Becky, you need to get up."

That wasn't working. He couldn't afford to make any loud noises or else Liz would hear and would want to know what was going on. That would be an interesting conversation.

The only thing to do was, well, wait for her to wake up on her own.

By this time Tobey's blushing had stopped and he seemed to gain a bit more of his composure.

Becky looked peaceful in her sleep and obviously she had needed it. Whatever it was that roughed her up had seriously taken its toll on her. It would probably be a good idea to finish bandaging her face while waiting.

Playing doctor, Tobey applied an anti-scarring agent to a bandage and placed it on Becky's cheek. He then proceeded to remove her shoes only to find that her stockings were wet. Very unhygienic to have wet feet, not to mention they would get his bed wet too.

With an aggravated sigh and the full intent of washing his hands afterward, Tobey yanked Becky's socks off and tossed them to the floor. This revealed Becky's left leg, however.

"What have you been doing?"

Becky's leg had been cut up pretty badly. What could Becky possibly be doing that would hurt her like this and with such a sleeping disorder?

Whatever the reason, Tobey could only hope Becky's nap would be a short one.

(A/N) Thanks for reading, do review. And the Lexicon Company did make an encyclopedia series. I hope you enjoyed.