(Note: I don't own any of the character herein. NekoGirl owns the original characters, and Butch Hartman owns the Fairly OddParents characters.)
Over Spring Hill
based on an idea by NekoGirl
written by Amras Felagund
Chapter 4: A Fairly Old Friend
"School today…" moaned Stacy, waiting for the bus. "Ugh. I so did not want to go today. Tommy's birthday one day, school the next!"
"But you have to go, Stacy!" said Wanda-the-hummingbird beside her. "You do want to get the job of your dreams, right?"
"A professional photographer?"
"Yeah," Wanda continued. "You need to have a good education on your resume if you want to be a photographer."
"Yeah!" Cosmo-the-hummingbird chirped. "You don't want jelly for brains, like me!"
"What kind of jelly?" Stacy asked, astonished.
"Grape jelly," Wanda muttered.
"She knows me so well!" Cosmo exclaimed cheerily, putting a finger (feather?) in his ear and scooping out said jelly. "Who wants some?"
"Oookay, I never knew that, and there's the school bus!" said Stacy, as the school bus pulled up in front of her house. "I wish you two were disguised as watches!"
Poof! Cosmo & Wanda were on Stacy's wrist.
Stacy stepped onto the bus, walked down the aisle, and to her normal seats with her best friends Tootie, Lisa, Elma, and Sanjana. Stacy marveled at the fact that, despite the obvious fact that Timmy Turner and his friends were fictional, her friends were almost exactly like Timmy's.
Well, apart from the fact that they were girls. And the fact that Lisa was Jewish, not black.
Even more amazing: They were all fans of The Fairly OddParents, and were all astonished to learn that Stacy had Cosmo & Wanda as Fairy GodParents!
Stacy was simply chatting with Tootie and Lisa in hushed tones about how exciting it was to actually meet two of her favorite cartoon characters, when the bus stopped to pick someone up.
As usual, the chatter on the bus died down.
They knew who was coming on now.
It happened every day.
"Announcing…the arrival of Trixie Tang," said the bus driver over his intercom.
Sure enough, a very pretty Chinese girl walked on board. She was wearing a lavender shirt, headband, and eyeshadow, a white skirt and boots, and a haughty expression, as though she knew everyone on this bus was beneath her.
Every boy on the bus stared at her with admiration and affection. Every girl stared at her enviously, except Stacy and her friends. Tootie, Lisa, Elma, and Sanjana gave her neutral expressions.
Stacy's, however, startled her GodParents.
She looked solemn.
"Hey, Trixie," Stacy piped up, trying to look and sound optimistic, "Wanna sit with me and my—…"
"Not worthy," muttered Trixie without pausing or even looking at the Yagami girl.
"Hey, Trixie!" said a bubbly Valley girl with blonde hair and a cheerleader's outfit in a more upper-class section of the school bus. "Wanna sit with us? The Popular Kids?" finished Veronica with a sinister glance at Stacy and her friends.
"Of course. I always do," said Trixie, sitting with Veronica, Tad, and Chad, who all began talking about popular stuff.
Everyday routine.
"What's wrong, Stacy?" asked Wanda, worried for her GodDaughter.
"Yeah," piped in Tootie, holding a Timmy doll, "You normally don't look this upset unless I beat you at Crash Nebula."
"I think this is a little more complicated than wounded pride," said Wanda. "Did you know her before, Stacy?"
"Yes," Stacy said, "And that Timmy doll's still creepy, Tootie."
"What?" exclaimed Stacy's friends.
Tootie hid the Timmy doll nervously, "Heh-heh, wh-what Timmy doll?"
"You knew Trixie Tang before?" asked Lisa, her eyes wide in astonishment.
"When was this?" asked Elma in her nasal voice.
"This is most shocking," said Sanjana in her Indian accent.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" said Stacy, waving her hands in protest.
"Hey, quiet back there!" called out the bus driver.
"Okay!" Stacy shouted back, and the conversation continued in slightly lower-than-normal tones.
"Yes, I knew her before, but this was before I knew you guys," Stacy explained. "She could've even been in our group, but…"
She was silent for a few seconds.
"But what?" asked Wanda.
"I don't feel like talking about it, right now," Stacy said. "Maybe later."
It was obvious that Tootie, Lisa, Elma, Sanjana, and Cosmo & Wanda wanted to know more, but they understood their friend (and in Cosmo & Wanda's case, GodDaughter) well enough not to press her on something when she didn't want to talk about it.
Stacy whispered to Cosmo & Wanda, "I wish that no one but you two could hear me and that this bus ride could last till I wish it back."
Unsure of their GodDaughter's meaning for this wish, Cosmo & Wanda granted the wish.
Poof!
"Uhh, Stacy honey, can I ask why you made that wish?" Wanda asked.
"——--…" Stacy cut her self off, then exclaimed, "—! ——? ———?!"
"What?" Cosmo asked, confused. "What's wrong? Why can't you hear yourself shouting at us?"
To Stacy's annoyance, Wanda laughed.
"——?" Stacy asked, shaking with frustration, "———?!"
"Stacy, it looks like you didn't wish you could hear yourself," Wanda explained. "We can hear you fine, though. You just asked us 'What's so funny?' and 'And why can't I hear myself?'."
Stacy let out a sigh of frustration she couldn't hear, and wrote on a paper, I wish I could hear myself!
Poof!
"Sigh! That's better!" said Stacy. "Now, the reason I made that wish, is so I can tell you guys about me and Trixie."
Cosmo looked baffled; Wanda, on the other hand, looked supremely shocked, then resigned.
"Oh," said Wanda. "It's not like I didn't notice how much you're like Timmy Turner sometimes, Stacy. It's just…"
"What?" asked Stacy; this wasn't the response she was expecting.
"…well, I didn't expect this out of you," Wanda continued.
A light bulb went off in Stacy's head, and she understood her GodMother's hesitance.
"What?!" Stacy replied, disgusted and a little offended. "No, I don't like her like that! Yuck! You have to be kidding! When I said I wanted her to be my best friend, that's all I meant!"
"…Uhh, you didn't say that, Stacy," Wanda said, "You just said that you knew her before."
"Uhh…"
Cosmo smiled. "Don't worry, Stacy. We'll be listening ears!" he said, poofing into an ear.
Stacy couldn't help but smile at her GodParents; no wonder she loved them so much.
"Okay. It all started on my first day of kindergarten…"
"Hewwo! I'm Stacy Yagami. What's youw name?" asked the five-year-old Stacy to the pretty Chinese girl next to her as they left Ms. Barker's class.
"I'm Twixie. Twixie Tang! It's nice to meet you," Trixie said, standing outside for the bus with the other kindergarteners.
Cosmo poofed in. "Wow, she didn't wear all that makeup then. And she doesn't have that arrogant demeanor around her. She really was different!"
"Cosmo, if you don't mind, could you stay out of my flashbacks? It's kinda creepy," said Stacy.
"Sorry," said Cosmo.
"So, what shows do you wike?" asked Stacy.
"Wet's see," Trixie began counting off of her hand, "Dewe's 'Kissy Kissy Goo Goo Houw', 'Pauwa Poundcake', 'Tom an' Jewwy'--…"
"Weawwy?!" said Stacy.
"You wike them, too?" exclaimed Trixie hopefully.
"Onwy 'Tom and Jewwy'," said Stacy. "De odders awe too giwwy. I wike odder shows bettew. Wike 'Top Cat', 'Skuww Squishew', 'Cwash Nebuwa', 'Da Cwimson Chin'--…"
"Wait!" said Trixie, pulling Stacy to the back of the group, and whispering super-quietly. "Can you keep a secwet?"
"Cwoss my heawt and hope to die," whispered Stacy back, crossing her heart.
"I wike dose shows, too!" said Trixie, her eyes lighting up. "I watch dem aww da time! Mommy doesn't wike me watching dem, dough."
"Den I can teww you my secwet!" exclaimed Stacy. "I wike 'Kissy Kissy Goo Goo Houw' an' 'Pauwa Poundcake' too! I wike boys' stuff an' giwws' stuff!"
Awkward silence. Stacy hadn't whispered like Trixie did, and so every kid got an earful of her declaration.
"Hey, the Yagami giwl wikes boy stuff," said a large gray kid named Francis. "She's, wike, a big freak!"
The other kindergarteners laughed. Stacy hung her head.
"Don't wowwy," said Trixie, putting a hand on Stacy's shoulder. "I'd wike to be youw fwiend."
"Fow weal?" Stacy asked hopefully.
"Fow weal, for weal," said Trixie, and Stacy's heart was warmed by Trixie's kindness.
Then a limo pulled up. The kindergarteners exclaimed; they'd never seen one before. The door opened, and a butler stepped out.
"Ms. Tang, your mother wants you home at once," he said.
"Yes, Mistew Feng," Trixie said, walking toward the limo. Stacy followed.
Feng stopped Stacy. "No middle-class children allowed," he said.
Stacy was hurt. "But…I'm hew fwiend…" she faced Trixie hopefully. "…wight?"
"I hope," replied Trixie, as Feng closed the door.
---
"But Mommy—"
"No buts, Trixie," said Trixie's mom. "You won't consort with riff-raff like them. Were it not for the fact that the Taylors will be transferring their boys there, and the Stars their daughter, we would put you in the Spring Hill Kindergarten For Very Rich Families That Can Afford It."
"But Stacy's my fwiend!" protested Trixie.
"She can't be," said Trixie's dad. "We're sorry, honey, but we can't break family tradition now."
Trixie, who had learned from a very early age to control her outer emotions, only shed a single crystal tear.
"…
"How did you tell us a flashback that you weren't even there for?" asked Wanda, impressed.
Stacy shrugged, making an "I'unno" sound.
"Oh well, it's not important," Wanda said, brushing it off. "What happened the next day?"
"Tad, Chad, and Veronica – the three other kids with Trixie back there, see? – were transferred in," Stacy explained. "And when I tried talking to Trixie, she just said 'Not worthy' and walked right to their table." Stacy blinked, and tears fell. "It's been like that for almost five years now. I wonder if she even remembers that day… We could've been best friends."
"You poor thing…" said Wanda, a sympathetic look on her face.
Cosmo, meanwhile, was bawling. "What a tragic story! Torn apart so young!" He brightened suddenly, "Just like the sky-walking twins!"
"All I can hope is that she remembers that day like I do…" Stacy said. "...And I wish things were back to normal!"
Poof!
As the students trudged off the bus for another dreary day at Spring Hill Elementary, Stacy was so distracted by her own thoughts that she missed the morose look that Trixie gave her…
(Author's Note: It's… It's… ALIVE!!
Yeah, I updated this, for the first time in who-knows how long!
Really, this is just a birthday present to the person who requested me to write Over Spring Hill in the first place: Stacy, the NekoGirl. Happy 20th birthday, Stacy! Or...5th birthday, since it is the 29th of February. Wish I could've finished this and gotten this up earlier in the day, so you could actually have read it on your birthday, though…
Anyways, may the Schwartz be with you all!)