Disclaimer-I don't own WordGirl and co. Please R&R. Enjoy.
Saturday. The greatest day for children everywhere. There would be no school tomorrow and, more importantly, no school today.
TJ's eyes flung open as he greeted the morning. He and his sister had spent the night camping out in the living room. It was kind of fun to sleep in the tent. There were creepy noises accompanied by the eerie lights of an occasionally passing car.
TJ yawned as he began crawling out of the tent, accidently kneeing Bob as he passed. The monkey let out a sharp squeak that woke Becky momentarily.
"Huggy," the girl opened one lazy eye. "I'll get Two-Brains in five minutes. . ." She was back out before Bob could even think to shush her from the WordGirl references. TJ didn't seem to notice, however, he was already out of the tent and rummaging through the room in search of the television remote.
"Where is that stupid thing," The boy whined as his hand slipped under the couch cushions. "Here it is!" TJ aimed the remote in the direction of the small screen which was regrettably behind parts of the tent. "Sorry Becky but this thing's got to move."
TJ took hold of the sheet on the left side of the tent and pulled it to the floor. Finally he could see the screen as a click brought the machine to life. Inside the tent, Becky was still dozing with the tent raised only a few inches from her face.
Flipping through the channels, TJ saw several shows he had no interest in.
"Where's that guy that talks about WordGirl's stuff?" TJ's mad hunt was watched in disapproval as Bob exited the tent.
The monkey, though he loved the boy, could easily be angered by the child's antics; waking him up on Saturday was one such occasion. Despite that, Bob joined TJ on the sofa, since sleep was no longer an option.
After several moments TJ stopped on a random channel. It was that game show that WordGirl's sidekick would appear on.
The host spoke up.
"Hi, I'm Beau Handsome and this is . . ." the host paused to allow the audience to voice the show's title, 'May I Have a Word.' The host spoke again.
"As usually, the player who correctly defines today's featured word will win a fabulous prize," the camera panned over to show Huggy posing in front of gift packages. Bob winced at how ridiculous he looked on the screen. Beau only smiled as the focus was placed back on him.
"Let's play . . ."
"May I Have a Word!" the audience shouted in excitement.
"Yes you may," Beau replied as if engaging in the child's game of 'Mother May I.' "Today's featured word is 'capture,' to give you a clue, here's some clips from WordGirl that show the meaning of the word."
The show flipped through several pictures that had been taken of WordGirl as she vanquished villains and arrested them. All the pictures had been taken by passers-by or media crews and then composited into short films enjoyed by anyone who wished to use them, in this case a game show. No one on May I Have a Word knew the truth about WordGirl and the random pictures of school girl Becky, but the show was always close enough to dissolving the truth that Huggy took it upon himself to join the crew in order to keep Becky's secret discrete.
TJ became quickly bored with the show and again changed the channel. This time the program was something TJ could really benefit from.
"Killer Robots!" TJ cheered, leaping from the couch and knocking the last stronghold of the tent.
The sheets all fluttered down and on top of the tent's sleeping occupant. All the shouts, sounds of robotic explosions and the sensation of the sheets collapsing on her woke Becky with a start.
Was Tobey attacking the city with his robots?! It wasn't raining, so that must be it.
Without a moment's hesitation, WordGirl flew out of the malformed tent and hovered precariously in the living room. Her eyes darted from one side of the room to the other until they finally came to rest on the dropping jaw of her little brother.
"Word-WordGirl?" TJ was rendered speechless.
"Uh-oh." WordGirl sighed as she saw her sidekick's secret identity slap his forehead.
"Are, you. . . really here?" TJ could hardly contain his heavy breathing. "Becky, Becky! Wake up, it's WordGirl!" TJ jumped off the couch and clasped his hands together.
It was then WordGirl realized that TJ still believed his sister was sleeping in the heap of sheets. She needed to find an excuse for Becky's absence quick, as well as one for WordGirl's presence.
"Uh, hello there citizen," WordGirl could see Bob shake his head despairingly. "I'm afraid your sister is, um, in the backyard right now and is unable to see me, so I'll just leave. . ."
"Who cares, You're Here! Are you looking for a new sidekick?" TJ pleaded with his eyes.
"No, I have . . ."
"I've noticed that you haven't been traveling with old Hugger LumpFace lately and I was just thinking that since I'm such an awesome canitate . . ."
"Candidate." WordGirl corrected rolling her eyes as she expected TJ to know this word by now. TJ didn't even notice the correction as he simply kept right on speaking.
" You have come looking for me. I even have my sidekick name all picked out, FluencyBoy. Great huh? I came up with it all by myself. I would be the best sidekick you could ever hope to have, I can even keep my room cleaner than my sister can; a skill I'm sure that monkey doesn't have."
Bob chirped in sheer disapproval, yet his whimper was ignored.
"Please pick me to work with you. Oh please, oh please." TJ held the 'e' out as long as possible before he allowed WordGirl to speak again.
"Captain HuggyFace is still my sidekick, sorry. As I was saying, I'll be leaving now since clearly there is no robot invasion happening in your living room."
TJ looked over at the television screen. So that's why she had come; if TJ had known that sooner he would have watched robots more often.
"Well, I'm sure if you stay around a robot invasion might start."
"No, it won't."
"Hey! My sister has the same hair cut," TJ was desperate to get WordGirl to stay, not even noticing the fretful look etching itself on the hero's face. "I bet she'll come in and give you some great tips on how to fix it. Please don't go!"
"Sorry TJ, I really must evacuate, I mean leave." WordGirl speed out the door leaving behind a fainting admirer to ponder how the city's superhero remembered his name.
WordGirl lingered outside the Botsford home making sure TJ wasn't following. That had to be one of her closes encounters to date. It was amazing how lackadaisical she had become in keeping her secret, and how poor her excuses were for Becky never being around. WordGirl smiled at how stupid it sounded to say Becky was in the backyard. Who stands in the yard first thing in the morning? Well, judging by the placement of the sun it couldn't be that early. But that's what happens when children stay up late, they wake up . . .
"So uh," a voice came from the end of the driveway and startled WordGirl to the point of freezing in the air. "What are you doing?"
Scoops had made a rather early morning visit to the Botsford residence. But now, with the scene of WordGirl flying out of the Botsfords' home, his original intent had been lost.
"Why are you in Becky's house?"
WordGirl slowly landed facing Scoops, slightly at a loss for words. She knew he had been in hot pursuit of WordGirl lately due to the whole hair incident. Now the circumstances were against her in that she was in a place where, logically, Becky and WordGirl should both coexist; not a possible feat.
Oh the other hand, looking at Scoops reminded her of Tuesday. For this, she wasn't sure what she felt.
The two stood in silence for a moment. A few birds chirped, a car started off in the distance, and there was that awkward 'I wonder what their thinking' feeling in the air.
From inside the house came the sound of a startling explosion. It was then WordGirl remembered the excuse she had used on TJ.
"You might as well just leave," WordGirl tried to laugh off the tension that had built up in this meeting. "There's nothing to report here."
"Huh?" Scoops was beyond confused by this. Had WordGirl really just popped out of Becky's house?
"There's no robot invasion, I mean, that's why I came."
"It just sounds like someone has the TV on high?" Scoops titled his head in confusion.
"Oh, yeah, false alarm. Well I'll just go." WordGirl got into the position to fly off, but was stopped by the news-captor's words.
"I'm sorry."
WordGirl's determined and fidgety temperament vanished as she set her gaze on the boy. He had placed his stare on a few marks carved in the Botsford's driveway, visibly ashamed of himself. WordGirl also noticed Scoops had his hat, but the press pass was missing.
"What for?" WordGirl asked relaxing from her flight position to mull over the reasons he would remove his pass . . . maybe his parents had done it.
Scoops was quiet for a moment as he appeared to be carefully arranging how he wished to explain. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, TJ could be heard shouting for his sister to come in from the backyard. Both Scoops and WordGirl turned to face the door as the young boy's screamed.
"Oh what's that I hear?" WordGirl placed a hand to her ear as she pretended to hear a cry for help. "Someone in the city, mile from here, needs my help. You're forgiven, later Scoops."
WordGirl zipped off into flight down the street. Once around the corner she changed directions to fly up the street directly behind hers. WordGirl stopped and made sure no one was watching before changing back into Becky. She then climbed the fence back into her own backyard just in time for TJ to come running out the backdoor.
"Becky, guess what!" the eight year old came alongside his sister. "WordGirl-was-in-our-house-and-she-was-talking-to-me,-and-guess-what . . . she remembered my name! I'm going to be WordGirl's sidekick!" TJ spoke so fast, Becky almost had trouble keeping up. "She was so happy with me, her happiness was hard to hide, she couldn't have been happier! I couldn't be happier."
Becky cringed at her brother's over usage of the word 'happy.' Elated, floored, ecstatic, joyful, jubilant, any word would do. But she could correct him later; Becky was slightly concerned about Scoops at the moment. Becky had known Scoops to be an early riser, but walking around aimlessly wasn't among his natural habits.
Becky walked past her brother who was now heading up into his tree-clubhouse; a direct result of his hero-worship no doubt.
Once back inside, Becky went to the front window and peeked out the curtain. What was he doing? Scoops was still standing outside the house as if still wondering how WordGirl had made it inside. Becky felt her nerves tensing. What if he was drawing a connection between her and WordGirl?
Becky swallowed hard and shut the curtains. She needed to think of something to cover WordGirl's being there. All she would have to do is distract Scoops so he wouldn't have time to think about it. But she couldn't do that in her night clothes, she needed to change and . . .
"Morning Pumpkin," Mr. Botsford was coming down the stairs caring a large suitcase. "Up to say good-bye to your mother?"
As if entering on cue, Mrs. Botsford came rushing down after her husband, almost knocking him over as she passed by him.
"Oh my, it's almost nine o'clock and I'm still not on my way." Sally quickened her pace as she entered the kitchen. "Becky have you seen my briefcase?"
"I think it's still by the door." Becky pointed over at the house's entrance to see her mother's case right where she had left it last night. The front door was still open from WordGirl's evacuation much to Mr. Botsford's delight as he struggled to get through the cluttered living room and out the door.
"Thanks Becky you're so observant." Sally came around the room and planted a small kiss on Becky's head. Sally then kneeled down to Becky's eye level and hugged her daughter. "You be safe this summer and don't give Mrs. Heaslip any trouble."
"I won't mom." Becky promised as she returned the embrace.
"I love you sweetheart."
"I love you too mom."
Sally rose with a smile feeling, for the first time all week, comfortable with her relationship with her daughter.
"Do you know where your brother is?" Sally glanced around the room.
"He went out back."
Tim's voice could be heard from the driveway.
"The taxi's here!"
"Can you tell him to wait just a minute?" Sally called back as she made her way to the backdoor.
The living room became very still. Without her family laughing and moving about the space, this room felt lonely and empty to Becky.
"This is how it's going to be when dad and TJ leave." Becky just stood and took in the scene around here. Not even her friend Bob remained in the room. He must have stepped out when WordGirl slipped off. This lonely atmosphere just didn't feel like home.
"Sally!" Tim's voice came through the house again. "You've got to get going!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Sally came back into the room. "Can't a mother say good-bye to her children." Sally stopped once more in front of Becky. "I forgot to give you these last night, but I'm certain you and Violet can find a use for them."
Sally handed her daughter the two tickets Claire had given her. Becky received the pieces of paper and gave them a quick read.
"Mom, these are tickets to the horse show! These are awesome!" Becky's eyes glistened as she glanced over the tickets. "Thank you, mom." Becky hugged her mother once again and received a quick pat on the head as Sally hastened out the door.
Becky could hear the taxi drive off as her father entering the house again, but she never removed her eyes from the tickets. What a sensational gift!
Tim watched his daughter with a slightly sadder disposition, forlorn at the thought of a week without his wife . . . with the kids. It wasn't that he felt he was unqualified for the task at hand, it was just Sally was always better at organizing the kids for trips, but now he would have to do it. Oh well, he still had a week before he needed to worry about that.
"Becky," Tim finally broke his daughter out of her enchanted stare. "There's a friend outside waiting to see you."
In all the excitement Becky had completely forgotten about Scoops. Yet, maybe she could use these tickets to accomplish two goals at once.
"Can you tell him to wait a minute while I get dressed?" Becky asked her father as she made her way to the stairs.
"Well, sure," Mr. Botsford grinned. "Hurry though I think he's been waiting awhile. Matter of fact, I'll have him wait in the living room so he's not just standing outside."
Becky rushed to get ready and was back downstairs greeting Scoops in no time. She showed him and her father the tickets and, with a little coxing, got Scoops to agree to go with her to the horse show.
Scoops was never fond of horses. They were smelly, they were stupid and aside from racing, they never had any interesting stories to report. But he had agreed to go on this outing and he needed to make the most of it. . . to be honest, he had no idea why he had agreed.
He had just wanted to take a walk. He couldn't report and therefore he had nothing better to do with his Saturday, and, with his luck, every good story would happen today. But that still didn't explain why he had ended up in front of the Botsford's house. Perhaps it was in hopes of . . . disproving something.
Violet's words had been taunting him. If true friends don't betray each other, than what was his relationship to Becky?
He had never had more evidence that someone was WordGirl than he did right now. WordGirl was in Becky's house, Becky had taken a fancy to putting her hair up and Violet was now covering for her friend; proof Violet knew something. And yet . . . could he really turn her in? Becky had always been a good friend, but this was his shot at big time reporting.
Scoops sent a glance over at Becky who had been rambling non-stop since they arrived at the outdoor show.
If he could just pull that tie out of her hair he would have the answer to all his questions, but at what price? Scoops half wished he could just disprove Becky was WordGirl so he wouldn't have to make such a moral decision, but on the other hand, he was so close to discovering the truth. He couldn't just throw away all his hard work for nothing.
Being an ace reporter or a true blue friend was not the kind of pressure he should have to face.
"Look at that!"
Just then Becky interrupted Scoops thoughts to point out the several horses being paraded in the showing arena. The two kids leaned against the fence to watch. The whole horse show had been set up in a large field just outside the city. There were several areas to explore in the showing; these prize winning stallions being one of them.
Becky was memorized by the tricks the horses could perform. And even Scoops had to admit their performance was astonishing. And that is when Speedy the horse was brought out into the arena. He had to be the finest looking horse out of the whole bunch. Strong, dependable, the stallion every horse lover would want.
"Isn't that horse beautiful, Scoops." Becky climbed up on the first horizontal bar of the fence to get a better look.
Speedy jumped over hurtles, ran around barrels, and outperformed any other contender in the dashing challenge. He was a truly power house, just like WordGirl. But just as Speedy was about to perform another high jump, he miscalculated the speed he'd need to clear the bar. Speedy's two back hoofs hit the bar and caused the horse to tumble to its side. The audience gasped in fear as the trainers and medics ran to the animal's aid.
That was it!
Scoops smiled as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. Not because he enjoyed the horse's failure but rather at the fact that the mighty always fall. Scoops was feeling guilty for truing in Becky because he would have been the reason she fell. So instead of pulling her hair tie, he would only have to wait for the moment WordGirl tripped up.
This had always been his original intent, but he was always too impatient to see it through. Asking Violet to help him was a mistake and so was trying to mark her. These methods would only make him feel guilty. But now he knew that no matter how long it took him to get the story, no one else would beat him to it. As Becky's friend, he would always be the first to see WordGirl's mistakes.
With his conscience clear Scoops spoke up.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else instead of watching that horse in pain."
"I think you're right." Becky dropped from the fence and sent one last worried glance over her shoulder before leaving.
The morning went by without too much of a hitch. It was about noon when the two decided it was time to head home for lunch.
"I have a project I need to get started on anyway." Becky voiced as they made their way to the exit.
But it was then that a sign caught Becky's attention. Hanging over a bridge crossing a medium size pond was a sign that read, 'Equestrian Enthusiasts Welcome.'
"Scoops wait a minute," Becky stood under the sign and pointed it out to Scoops. "Can we do this before we go?"
"Uh," Scoops looked at the bridge and then back at Becky. "I don't think I'd like it much. It doesn't sound fun."
"Do you know what 'equestrian' means?" Becky placed her hand on her hips. You'd think someone as inquisitive as a reporter would enjoy learning something new. But Scoops only took another step back. "It's another word for horseback rider; maybe they'll let us ride. Come on."
Becky headed out on the bridge in a wave of excitement, but stopped when she realized there was no one following behind her. Becky turned to see that Scoops was still standing at the end looking rather penitently in her direction.
Becky raised an eyebrow. Why wasn't he following?
"Come on Scoops," Becky waved for him to come, but he remained still. "I promise we'll leave right after this."
"I'll wait, for you, here." Scoops called weakly after her and then took a seat on a nearby bench.
Shaking her head Becky started back for the shore to try and get her friend to come. Even if he didn't like horses, it wouldn't be much fun to sit here while she was off riding for an extended period of time. Maybe he was really hungry and just wanted to head back.
Thunder? Had Becky just heard Thunder?
In the not-so-far distance a muffled cry could be heard. It almost sounded like a kid screaming, a very large kid. . . Eileen!
"Mine! Mine! Mine!" A voice came echoing through the air. It sounded like the Birthday Girl was already in the equestrian exhibit. But why had she come to the show?
Becky gritted her teeth. Why did this have to happen now? She would have to leave Scoops for now, surely he had forgotten all about this morning. And maybe Eileen showing up here wasn't such a bad thing. Due to Scoops wanting to leave she wouldn't have to make up an excuse as to why she needed to run off.
"Like I said before Scoops," Becky hallowed over her shoulder as she took off across the bridge. "I'll be back in no time!"
"Wait a minute." Scoops got to his feet to pursue his friend and research subject, but he stopped short of the first board to the bridge.
Scoops looked across the waters to see Becky had already made it to the other side and out of sight.
"Great." Scoops let out a sigh.
If Becky was heading toward that strange sound to transform into WordGirl, he would be stuck over here, where he couldn't see. . .why didn't he pull out that hair tie when he had the chance? Or better yet, why couldn't he cross this bridge?
Scoops turned back around to sit on the bench only to find he wasn't alone anymore. Sitting on the bench was one of the news reporters who he had met earlier. The man wore a thin smile as he motioned for Scoops to join him.
"Hey there," Scoops stood by the man, happy to have a real reporter to share his dilemma with. "Boy am I happy to see you. This whole tracking WordGirl thing is getting to be. . ."
"Hey slow down," the fake reporter motioned with his hands that Scoops should keep the noise level down. "I saw your friend run off; is she coming back for ya?"
"Well, maybe a little later, but probably not for a while. But that's not what I need to ask you mister, uh. . . what was your name again?"
"Curtis," he glanced around quickly as he spoke. "And don't talk so loud."
"Why? What's wrong?" Scoops sat next to the man to whisper.
"Nothing. There's something me and my partner want to show you that no other reporter has."
"What is it?"
"Something I can't show you here," Curtis got to his feet and made a gesture for Scoops to follow. "Our news van is just outside this horse show, come on."
Scoops was both intrigued and weary of the offer being extended to him. He got to his feet but did not immediately follow Curtis. Scoops watched the man as another roll of thunder passed.
"Wait, why are you showing me this? I'm not even a reporter for your paper."
Curtis grimaced at this remark before facing Scoops again.
"My partner thinks you show, great potential, and he wants to help you discover WordGirl so that you can join the paper."
The boy gave Curtis a very skeptic look. Something didn't make sense here. No rivaling reporter would help their contender unless . . .
"Are you trying to steal this story from me?"
"What?!" Curtis hadn't expected that. "No, why would I do that?"
"Because you know I'm close to finding out WordGirl and you want all the glory."
Curtis didn't want to draw a crowd by fighting with a young kid at a public event. It was bad enough he was disobeying High Law in having contact with this kid, he didn't need to disrupt the lives of other Earthlings as well. Maybe he could use the boy's ego against him again.
"To be honest with you boy," Curtis spoke. "I do want to share ideas in hopes of solving another story I'm on."
"So you came to me?"
"You do have the best selling paper around."
Scoops couldn't help but feel a bit proud of that remark.
"Well, I guess I could give you a few tips, but nothing about WordGirl's identity, right?"
"Of course not," another weak smile. "I have maps and interviews all recorded but I want a second opinion on my conclusion before I hand it over to my editor."
"Okay," Scoops took a few steps before stopping again. "But what about Becky?"
"Who?"
"The girl I was with; she'll wonder where I've gone."
There was another loud thunderous noise accompanied by some cheers. Curtis knew that whatever had distracted Scoops' friend wasn't going to hold her at bay much longer.
"Why don't you leave her a note?" Curtis quickly suggested as he fiddled in his jacket pockets to find a pen and paper. "Here."
"Thanks," Scoops took the items and wrote. "Dear Becky, I'll be back in a few, just wait for me."
Scoops placed the note on the chair just to have it knocked off by the wind.
"Ah shoot, it won't stay." Scoops tried again only to have Curtis snatch his paper.
"Try putting your hat on it." Curtis held the paper in place. "She'll see it and know it's you."
Scoops did as directed and smiled as a showing of thanks. Scoops then started heading in the direction of the exit, his back to Curtis. The fake reported took this opportunity to knock the hat off the bench and into a nearby bush.
The two walked a few paces in silence before Curtis extended something to Scoops.
"Care for a mint?"
"I'm so hungry I'd take anything, thanks."
Scoops took the small candy from the package presented him.
"What flavor is this? I've never tasted this before."
"You like it?"
"Yeah."
Curtis sighed.
"What's wrong?" Scoops suppressed a yawn. "You sound upset."
Curtis again didn't answer the boy but lead the way out of the horse show. The two came to the news van that Curtis had waiting. The man opened the door to what appeared to be very sophisticated news equipment, the likes of which Scoops had never seen before.
Yawn.
Scoops couldn't suppress the sleepy feeling that had come over him. His eyes could barley stay open and his head was so heavy. Scoops could hardly keep to his feet.
"Maybe you, should . . ." Curtis cleared his throat. "Take a seat inside and rest."
Scoops did what he was told, too tired to argue. It felt much better once he was in a relaxed position, but again something felt wrong. Scoops glanced one more time at Curtis. He saw the man give a rather dismaying look back before shutting the van door. Somthin' was addin' up. . .
Scoops' last thought; this wasn't about news . . . other than the fact that he was going to make headlines.