The next day, Crystal found me. "So... you know, right?" she said, trying not at all to look me in the eyes.

"Yeah. I know."

She looked down at her sandals for a second and then looked back at me, giving me a smile. "I thought about what I'd say when you found out... but then I realized that we can still be together Cal. Just... only in school." This is what I wanted. Well... I did want it.

"Thanks... but no thanks, Crys," I said. She gave me a surprised look, like her brother got hit by a truck (which by the way, I wanted to happen). "It's just not there anymore." With nothing else that needed to be said, I walked away. I looked back, and I saw that she was crying. It kind of hurt me a little bit, considering we had been together for about six months. Well, that's done, I thought. Just one thing I have to anticipate now before I go to Mike's after school.

And after school, the figure from my dream approached me. I knew who it was from the phone call, so it wasn't a surprise when I turned around.

"Ah... hello, Moe."

"You're dead, Twinky," Moe snarled, cracking his knuckles.

"Nice to see you can still walk on two legs without any help, Moe." He punched me right in my stomach. I fell to a knee for a moment, but I almost got up right away. Having this happen to you for two years before changing schools keeps you endured for this kind of thing. Plus I guess I never told you about the uh... other fights I've gotten into.

"Heh heh... your fists still feel like anvils." I snickered a little bit, showing a little bit of cockiness. "Don't know if you have the brain cells to be an anvil though..." This time, he slugged me in my chest, causing me to stumble back a little bit, once again taking me to a knee. Unable to control it, I spit up some blood. Poor predictable Moe. I knew what he was going to do next, and so now was the time for me to strike back with someone besides words.

...okay, one more time.

"What I don't understand..." I started to say, standing up and smirking, "is how your mother can give birth to a rhinocerous, but then give birth to your pretty little sister." That was it. I had crossed the line that time. I saw Moe's fists clench so hard, I think it drew blood. He swung for my face. Me being the more squirrelly, I ducked, and then I felt my leg attempting to kick him behind his. Then as hard as I could, I kicked him in the stomach, at least winding him. And someone as big as Moe is, that's slightly easy to do. I clenched my hands together and said, "I broke up with her." and then I smashed my fists against his head, stunning him. He just looked at me, not daring to move. I wiped some blood off of my mouth, hopped on my bike, and took one last look back. Crystal ran to Moe's aid, and gave me an almost evil look. That's okay, Crystal, I said, riding off away from the school. You'll find someone. Lord knows I did.

--

Mike, Frankie, Casey, and Susie were all waiting for me in Mike's backyard. "You look like hell hit you with a beagle, Cal," Casey said, watching me fall off of my bike.

"Yeah, what happened?" Mike asked, helping me up.

"Had a little run-in with a punk. Turns out, I couldn't get it to work between Crys and I."

Mike shrugged. "Fair 'nuff. Let's get this show started., shall we?"

Mike wasn't at all rich. Truth be told, he wasn't rich at all. But he somehow had enough money to set up a studio in the bastment. We recorded all our songs in here, so this comedic thing we did for the CD would happen. It was just me, Frankie, and Casey. And of course, Susie. It wouldn't work without Susie.

And so, we started.

"'Ey, come on! Michael said that we need to get to the studio and work on this 'ere album!" I said, attempting an English accent.

"You mean the album that they're listening to?" Casey asked me, looking out at Mike through a window. Mike was probably pressing a button that made it sound like we were in New York or something, I dunno. Mike's that smart, he probably did.

"They're already listening to it? 'Oly crap, we need to hurry then!" I said, maintaining my accent, although I don't know if the English actually say crap.

Frankie was trying not to laugh, and he simply uttered out "What's with the accent, Cal?"

"Oh, you mean this delightful thing?" I said, showing as much enthusiasm on the word 'delightful' as I could. "Girls dig the accent."

"No way. You just think that because the Beatles were British and girls were crazy about them."

"Casey's right. There's no way tha--" Frankie started before...

"Whoa! It's those guys from that one band!" Susie interrupted. This was totally scripted though, although she was supposed to say the name of the band.

"Good evening to you, miss." I said, making it seem like I was tipping my hat to her.

"Wow, an English accent! I find that... totally hot." She said, a bit of sarcasm in there.

"Yes I've heard. And I just happen to find highly attractive too." And right there, in the recording room, Casey and Frankie right beside me, and Mike looking stunned from beyond the glass, I kissed Susie Derkins. Right on the lips. She obviously didn't know how to react to it, and was obviously very shocked at this. But after this, she put her arms around me, showing me that she's kissing me back.

"Uh... blimey." Casey said with an accent, trying to restore order by going back to the slip. "I hope Calvin doesn't go far, we need to get him back to the studio, right Sir Frankie?"

Frankie was a bit stunned, only due to the fact that there was no charm to this. "Uh... sure." Mike gave us the cut signal, so Susie and I stopped what we were doing.

"Wow..." she whispered. "I guess I never saw that coming."

"Neither did I." I let go of her, and got back to business... well, my kind anyway. "Hey, listen. I got this idea..." I whispered it into her ear, and pulled out a tape. When I left the room, Mike almost met me at the door.

"You planned this didn't you, you sly bastard?" Mike said, smile on his face, almost smirking. "You broke up with Crystal so you could do this, eh?"

"Not really. I broke up with Crystal because I didn't like her anymore. That and her brother was going to beat the stuffing out of me, although I did that to him." I started to smile and reach into my pocket. "Hey, I had a brainstorm for a skit, just me and Susie. Here, you're gonna need this tape." I handed him the tape, and he put it in the tape recorder.

"Uh... you gonna need us?" Casey asked, blushing.

"Nah, you guys can take five." Susie and I went into the recording room again. This is where the fun began.

--

"Nice place, you have here, Mr... what was it?"

"Uh... Calvin. Friends, family, agents, acquaintances such as yourself... they all call me Calvin. But I've been known to answer to Tracer Bullet, Stupendous Man, and Spaceman Spiff." This wasn't scripted at all. It was actually improvised, but hey. At least people would know who I am and what I do now.

"Hey... what happened to your accent?" Susie asked, smiling a smile that could've killed me.

"What accent, darling?" I didn't put the accent back into my voice, I just acted like I forgot completely about the accent.

"Uh... nothing. Say, this coat's really uncomfortable. You have a closet around here?" This is where the fun began.

"Wait! No!" I said, false alarm in my voice. I pointed at Mike, who was quick and ready to push the button.

What came out of the speakers was a tiger's roar. And what came next was Susie screaming.

"What the hell?!"

"Whoa! Whoa. Easy there." I said, almost cracking up. I could see Casey and Frankie were laughing too, considering that this was totally unexpected. "Uh... girl I just met, I'd like you to meet my tiger, Hobbes." I then put on another voice I just found in my head and said, "Say, why didn't you tell me you were bringing a total babe around here?" Mike almost fell out of his chair laughing. Of course, this was planned between Susie and I, so we regained composure and started again.

"Oh uh... hello... Hobbes." I felt Susie's hand touching mine. "Nice to meet you."

"Okay, that's enough." I said, normal voice. Then back in the other voice, I said, "Why? You want her all to yourself, Romeo?" Normal voice, "What?! No way! I was just... uh... getting ready to take her home!" Other voice, "Yeah right, you're longing for her touch, aren't you, you charmer you!"

Susie was laughing to herself and said, "If this is a bad time..."

In my normal voice, "By golly, I'm gonna make you eat those words, fuzzball." In the other voice, "Don't threaten me, lunkhead. I'll rip you to shreds." "Try it!" I pointed at Mike again, who was in hysterics. He did have enough left in him to press the play button again, playing sounds of things crashing and breaking and stuff. Then a large 'WHAM' like sound, and I said in my normal voice, "Grr... by the time I'm done with you, I'll have a new rug!"

Susie, calm and collective, even after all that, said "Uh, listen, I have to run. You're gonna be okay, right?"

"Yeah yeah, I don't think you should see what I'm about to do anyway. Yaaaaaaah!" He started playing the sounds again, along with a door closing sound.

Susie chuckled a bit and said "Imagine. A guy fighting against a stuffed animal, and losing." I made the signal, and Mike stopped recording. Highlight of this entire ordeal.

--

Later that day, at Susie's house, she asked me the question I was waiting for. "Why'd you kiss me, Cal?" I looked elsewhere, around at all the posters.

"I dunno."

"Yes you do." She's right, I did. But I didn't want to say it... just yet. So I stalled.

"Haha... I just realized that this is exactly what I wouldn't have wanted years ago."

"That's true... but Cal... this is important to me. Why'd you do it?" Damn, trapped. I sighed.

"Susie, I thought about everything. About our childhood, about what you've been going through, about Crystal, about how everything's changed since you came back." I looked down at the floor. "I mean... why is it that you cut yourself?"

Susie rolled up her sleeve and looked at her wrists. "You saw this?"

"Yeah... I saw it when you left my room after Crystal called me."

Susie seemed a bit embarrassed. "Well... I didn't really have any friends where I moved to. I mean, sure there were kids my age, but they were too... too..." She paused a little bit.

"Too... what?" I asked, trying not to impose on her that much.

"Too... normal," she finally said, looking at me. "There was nothing for me up there, everything was so... boring." She laid on her bed, looking at the ceiling. "I don't know if you knew this Calvin... but I always thought you were fun to be around. Summer and Winter and all the times in school, in the lunchroom, all that. You were weird, but you were so... interesting."

By now, I was already caught up on everything that I forgot. The dream was just the cherry on top. "Yeah... I suppose I wasn't the most normal person around."

She moved some hair out of her eyes. I just noticed how completely beautiful her eyes were. "When I moved, everything seemed off. So perfect and neat. All I could think about was how I wished that someone like you would come along. To make things worse, I felt like it was my fault that my parents split up. I should've tried to do something to stop them. And then one day... some girl told me that she always felt good after she cut her wrists. Imagine that. Me falling for something like that. But... I did feel like I was getting something off of my chest. So I kept doing it... all the way up until we moved here."

I felt bad for her... this was almost all my fault... and I didn't know what to say.

"The real thing is, I was kind of weird when I started to grow up. I started seeming... very different than all the other teens. Like I felt like being different was the way I can happy. Then when I came here and started seeing you again... I felt happy for the first time in a while. Don't you see, Cal?" She then hugged and held onto me. "I love you, Calvin..."

And there they were. I just let those words hang for a while. I didn't know what to say to Susie... all this was because of me, I'm the reason that she was so unhappy when she moved, I'm the reason that she's happy when she got back, and now this.

And everything came down to this. "...you still want to know why I kissed you?" I whispered in her ear. She nodded. "Because... I love you too, Susie." And we just sat there, holding each other, before I felt my lips touching hers again... and everything seemed at peace.

--

tear Sad, no? But anyway, if you think we're done here, you're mistaken! There's one more chapter on the way!