Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo and Stitch, or the card game mentioned in this chapter.
Chapter 9
Principle Bubbles
At the breakfast table the next morning, Lilo was having trouble staying awake. Although Stitch had made her promise to try and get some sleep, she couldn't resist going over the files Siron had given her in painstaking detail. It brought to light a lot of why Jumba had made the serum in the first place, as a silly whim turned serious project. She had to smile, Jumba wasn't too keen on how love worked, but he still helped it along in his own special way. She didn't understand the technical parts too well, but she could probably have Stitch, or Siron if Stitch didn't know, explain it to her. Her smile faded as she thought about the new experiment. He was the only one Jumba had ever intentionally made civil, if not good, and now a program that she had inspired threatened him. She just hoped that Jumba would be able to find a cure, and fast.
Stitch looked over to see his Bugee Bu in deep thought, or half asleep, he wasn't too sure. "Lilo, are you ok?"
This brought Lilo out of her daze long enough to mutter a "Yeah, I'm fine" before yawning and turning back to her uneaten breakfast.
"You were up all night, weren't you?" Stitch replied, in a worried tone. He knew why she'd been up all night, she had been reading over the files that Siron had given her on what she'd become.
"Lilo, why were you up all night?" Nani said sternly as she entered the kitchen. She hadn't seen Lilo this drowsy since the peak of her experiment catching days.
"I couldn't sleep. I had too much on my mind." Lilo replied as she took a bite of her toast.
"That's no excuse, young lady." Pleakly said as he turned around from preparing Jumba's breakfast. "Young earthlings need at least 8 hours of sleep each night; it says so in my human biology texts."
"I know, I just couldn't sleep, okay?" Lilo said as she got up from the table. She grabbed her book bag and headed out the door. Stitch, after quickly finishing his eggs, did the same as he hurried to catch up to his girlfriend.
He caught up with her just as she reached the bus stop. "Lilo, are you okay? Is something else bothering you?" Stitch said as he put his arm on her shoulder.
She sighed softly. "You always could see right thru me, couldn't you? Yeah, something's wrong. I keep having nightmares, and every night they just get worse. At first I just heard her voice, but then last night…"
"Last night what? What happened Lilo? What did you dream about?"
"I dreamt of fire and chaos, of her laughter and the screams of countless people. I saw her slaughter a bunch of strange creatures, aliens I guess. Then I heard her voice again. That she was coming to Earth, and that she was going to kill me. And you."
"Lilo, it's okay. It was just a dream. She can't come back. She was a part of you brought out by Angel's song, a part you sealed away when you broke free of that song." Stitch said as he embraced her.
"But what about the dream you had? The night before it happened? And did Jumba say she could be cloned or something? Hamsterville is still out there, and I wouldn't put it past him to try something like that."
Stitch didn't have an answer for that. The dream he had that time did foreshadow what happened that next day. And they had received word that the ship Hamsterville had been on had been destroyed, but that he might have escaped. But how could even Hamsterville be so stupid as to try and recreate something that tried to kill him?
The two stood in silence as the bus pulled up to the stop and they got on. They would have a lot to talk about when they got home, but first came school and the fallout from Operation Splashdown. Principal Tanner might not remember that they were responsible for it, but that didn't mean that he and his friends were not the primary suspects.
Meanwhile, a confrontation was going to be had at the Evan's residence. Their mother had gone out early that morning for a doctor's appointment, leaving Richie in the clutches of his vengeful sister. He had managed to sneak most of his stuff, including his Yu-gi-oh deck, into a second backpack before his sister woke up. Although he'd only been living with his sister for about 8 months, he could read her body language, and he knew he was in trouble. She found out about his going thru her room and reading her diary.
Just as he was trying to sneak out the door, he felt someone grab him by the collar. "So you thought you could read my diary and get away with it, did you?" Myrtle then flung him back into the house. "Well now Mom's not here to protect you. And you are going to pay for going thru my stuff."
"I wouldn't have to go thru your stuff if you'd quit stealing mine!" Richie cried in his defense.
"That's no excuse for looking in my diary! And I told you to stop drawing pictures of Victoria, just get her off your mind. Because it's not going to happen."
"Why, cause you want me to date one of your airhead friends?" Richie shouted, in a rare act of defiance. This somewhat surprised Myrtle. She supposed that hanging around Jason was having some positive effect on her brother, which wasn't a bad thing. She wanted him to grow a spine, but the fact was she was still mad at him, and that he was courting with disaster. His dating Victoria would lead to him hanging around Lilo more, and that would only lead to trouble. She wasn't about to let her only sibling hang around a monster.
"I don't care who you date, just as long as they have nothing to do with Weirdlo. I want you to stay away from her and her friends." Myrtle snapped.
"Why, because you think she and her family are aliens? You're crazy!" Richie spat back, not knowing what he had said.
"Listen you…wait did you say she and her family? I never wrote about her." Her eyes narrowed. "You knew before, didn't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about! I just quoted you." Richie said in an attempt to cover his slip up.
Myrtle grabbed his collar again and got in his face. "What do you know Richie? I want to hear details, right now. Or so help me."
"Let me go!" Richie cried as he tried to get free of his sister's grip.
"Tell me what you know or you're going to 'accidentally' leave something valuable where Gigi can get at it. Understand?" Myrtle said with a threatening tone. And her brother said she was crazy. He was the one who was hanging around dangerous alien freaks willingly.
Richie felt afraid. His sister was insane with anger. But he knew he couldn't tell his sister what she wanted to know, she could destroy Lilo and Stitch with it. He wouldn't betray his friends, no matter what his sister did.
Suddenly, Myrtle seemed to calm down. She even let go of her brother's shirt. "So I guess we both know she's an alien." She looked at her brother with sympathic eyes. "I know you want to protect Chris, and I can't blame you. That's why we have to reveal the truth, so he can know what she really is. It isn't nice for her to lie to him like that."
Richie was somewhat eased at the fact that Myrtle didn't know the whole truth, but he figured he could reveal something and throw his sister off. He met her eyes, and with the first stern look he'd ever given anyone, he said "He knows, and he doesn't care."
This seemed to set his sister off again. "What do you mean he knows? How can he love something like that?"
"Because he understands how to love, unlike you. You're why Jason left you, not Lilo. He told me himself. You pretended to own him, to control him. Lilo and Chris accept each other for who they are, no matter what."
Myrtle wasn't going to listen to any more of this. She reared back to punch her brother, when something caught her fist. "Now, now, it's not nice for family to fight."
Myrtle scowled. It was Knuckles. With Jason right behind him. Jason immediately got between Myrtle and Richie, acting as a human shield. "You amaze me at just how selfish you are. You were ready to hit your own brother, and why, cause he snuck a peek at your diary?"
This made Myrtle even madder. "You told Jason what was in my diary!" Knuckles had to struggle to hold the enraged female back; she was ready to tear into Richie. "How could you do that to me? Your own sister!"
"He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Apparently, you keep a very boring diary." Jason replied as he took Richie by the arm.
Myrtle smiled innerly. No, I think he didn't tell you because he didn't want you to know Weirdlo's little secret. This is interesting. Why is Richie trying to protect Lilo? Or is he? Then it hit Myrtle like a ton of bricks, and she couldn't help but smile.
"What are you smiling about?" Jason asked as he motioned Richie to get out the door.
"Oh, just what I'm going to do to Richie's stuff when I get home." Myrtle replied.
"You won't be doing anything. Knuckles, how long do we have until the bus gets here?"
"About 10 minutes, why?" Knuckles asked as he released Myrtle, figuring that at least Richie had a head start.
"Get my science project out of the box. We're going to put Richie's cards and notebooks in it."
"And your project?" Knuckles asked.
"Is late anyway. What's one more day? I'll run my project home and hide it in the garage. Meanwhile, you and Richie pack the stuff up in the box. We will take it to school and when the teacher asks, I'll say I got the boxes mixed up."
"And then I'll tell him the truth." Myrtle replied snidely.
"And then you'll have to admit you were going to destroy his stuff. Not good for your reputation?"
Myrtle scowled. She had to admit, one of the qualities that attracted her to Jason in the first place was his cunning. But she had won the greater victory. Richie wasn't trying to protect Lilo; he was trying to protect Chris. She had always thought it funny that his nickname was the same as Lilo's weird alien friend. Now she had found reason to believe that they were one and the same.
"Why are you still smiling?" Jason inquired as he Knuckles brought him the box.
"Oh, nothing you need to worry about."
The first part of the day had gone well enough, except for Jason taking it upon himself to stop a couple of first graders from picking on another one.
"Hey, why don't you three leave that boy alone?" Jason asked as he grabbed the ringleader on the shoulder and pulled him away.
"Why don't you mind your own business? Chance is a freak who talks to himself all the time." The boy responded.
"Yeah, he's creepy. And he never plays with any of the other kids. Thinks he's better than us. He just stares at the sky all day." Another boy followed up.
Knuckles came to back Jason up, and the kids began to back off. Despite being a bit on the slim side, he was still an imposing figure to the smaller children. After the other first graders left, the small boy got up from the ground.
"Are you ok kid?" Jason said as he reached for the boy's hand to help him up.
"I'm ok. Josh Nickerson just has a lot of problems at home. His daddy drinks a lot."
The fact that this child knew something that personal about his tormentor was extremely odd. "How do you know that?" Jason asked.
However, the little boy didn't bother to answer. Instead he picked up his hat and back pack and started to walk away. He turned to face the two older boys. "Thanks Jason and Knuckles! Be careful!"
That was a rather weird way to start the day, but the rest of the day went normally enough, until just before lunch that is. The four boys had been listening to a rather boring speech on life on other planets, and what scientists thought the odds were. Stitch knew the figures were way off, Knuckles was fiddling with his PDA, Richie was worried about what had transpired earlier that day, and what might happen later. Jason was asleep.
"Will Christopher Strikerson, Alex Travers, and Jason Walbridge please report to the vice principal's office." The loudspeaker boomed, getting everyone's attention.
Stitch began to sweat slightly. Even though he was used to getting into trouble, before he had been untouchable. Now he was a student who could get expelled, or worse.
Knuckles wasn't worried, however. He knew the drill. They'd get called into the office. The Principal wouldn't have any proof, and they'd get let off with a warning.
Jason, typical to fashion, merely looked up and replied. "We have a new vice-principal?"
"Jason, Chris, Alex, I suppose you should head to the office. I've met the new vice principal, and he's not the kind of man that I would keep waiting." The teacher said, sounding somewhat sympathic, as if he was really scared of him.
Myrtle just sing-songed. "Somebody's in big trouble."
"Aww, shut it, harpy." Jason replied. He wasn't quite sure what a harpy was, but he was pretty sure it that Myrtle fit the bill.
Richie just looked on worried. He knew that they wouldn't turn him in, but he was worried for them. He was worried they would get expelled and he'd never see them again. Then he would be at his sister's mercy.
As the three boys walked down the hall, Jason whistled a happy tune, indicating that he wasn't worried what so ever.
"Do you think they're on to us?" Stitch asked.
"I don't think so. Principal Tanner can speculate all he wants, but without proof or an admission, he'd just be blowing steam." Knuckles replied as the trio reached the office.
"Yeah, don't worry about it dude. Me and Knuckles have been thru this before. It's no big deal."
As the trio came upon the vice principal's office, another child was already walking out. Jason and Knuckles recognized him as the boy from earlier, who had been picking on the other little boy. The kid looked all shaken up and tense. The voice that came from the door gave a good reason why.
"And I'd better not hear of you bothering Chance Gleeson, again. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes…yes sir." The boy replied, not taking his eyes off the man behind the door.
The voice was instantly recognizable to all three boys, and all three began to sweat.
Please don't let that be Cobra, please don't let that be Cobra. Stitch repeated in his mind over and over.
Aww, crud. Now this isn't playing fair! When did we end up with Ex-CIA as disciplinarians? Jason turned to Knuckles. "Dude, since when did you uncle become a vice-principal?"
Someone else, however, answered his question. "As of yesterday. Now step into my office."
Stitch couldn't remember the last time he was so afraid, but he and the others did as they were told. The inside of the office had changed quite a bit since the last time they were there. The old vice principal had kept a lot of odd stuff around her office, like golden apple candy holders, wooden pencil boxes, and various photos of family. Now the office had a far more spartan look about it. Nothing was on the walls, the desk was clear, and the shelves had nothing more than a few small boxes.
"Sit down." Cobra said in his normal tone. As the three boys silently did as they were told, Cobra reached beneath the desk to pull out three files. He opened each and glanced over them quickly, already familiar with the contents.
"Christopher Strikerson. Transferred from Beloit, Wisconsin. File seems rather clear, although I personally know better." Cobra said as he met Stitch's eyes, causing him to fidget in his chair.
"Alexander Malcolm Travers. Another clean record. And again, I know better." Cobra said as he turned to face his nephew. Unlike Stitch, Knuckles didn't even flinch under his uncle's gaze.
"And finally, Jason Alan Walbridge." Jason's file was a lot thicker than the other two, almost two inches. "15 detentions in the past two years. Had I be vice principal at that time, you would have already been gone." Jason gave the new vice principal a definite stare. He knew he couldn't prove any of it. At least, he hoped.
Cobra put the files back under his desk and returned his gaze to the three boys. "It seems that Principal Tanner suspects you of yesterday's paint bombing of the school board. However, he has until now produced no evidence supporting his claim, and I cannot punish you if there is no proof you were involved."
The three boys gave a collective sigh of relief. But Cobra wasn't finished yet.
"However, I can assure you that no one will be able to escape my scrutiny, so I would advise you to be on your best behavior. And to ensure that, I will be separating the three of you."
"What? Why? What did we do?" Jason blurted out, only to be silenced by another gaze from Cobra.
"Because although Tanner has no proof of what you did, I am well aware of what you three are capable of. Effective as soon as you leave my office, Christopher, you will report to Room 213, Alexander, you will report to 111. Jason will return to your normal classroom, along with this note, stating that your class will be short 3 students."
"Wait, if Jason is going back to our old room, then who's the third." Stitch asked, relieved that he wasn't going to get kicked out. In fact, this wasn't all that bad. 213 was the classroom Lilo was in, meaning he'd get to spend the day with her like he had originally wanted to.
"Richard Evans is also to be relocated to Room 213. School policy states that family members are not to share the same class room, and I have reason to believe that his sister may be a determent to his learning. At least, that's why you brought a box of his things to school instead of a science project."
No one was surprised that Cobra knew that. Knuckle and Stitch were never surprised that Cobra knew things, and Jason was just glad that Richie wouldn't have to face his sister alone at school.
"Now, I will not tolerate any more inappropriate behavior out of any of you, do you understand?"
Jason nodded. Stitch replied with an "Okay" and Knuckles with a "Yes sir."
As the three rose from their seats, Cobra tapped Knuckles on the shoulder. "Alexander, I want you to remain after the other's leave."
"Yes sir. What is it?" he replied as Cobra shut the door.
"Sit down." His uncle replied.
Knuckles did as he was told as Cobra also sat down. "Alexander, I know why you have been going along with all this."
"I don't understand, sir. What do you mean?" Knuckles replied. Even though his uncle was rather cryptic at time, he usually understood what he meant.
"You've been trying to prove yourself. By pulling elaborate pranks and not getting caught, you've been trying to prove that you are ready to follow in my footsteps. Even though I've advised against it time and again, you still try to prove that you've got what it takes."
Cobra then reached beneath his desk and took out a stack of papers that were stapled together. Knuckles looked at the cover. It was an application to military school. The same one his uncle had graduated from years ago. Most kids would have freaked out, but a smile appeared on Knuckles face. He'd finally proved to himself to his uncle.
"You're the only reason your friends haven't been expelled. Your planning is most likely the reason no evidence has been found to implicate you or your friends. So here is the deal: you stay out of trouble for the rest of the year, and next year I will personally recommend you to the academy. Do we have a deal?"
"Yes Sir!" Knuckles yelled out.
"I'm glad we have an understanding. You are dismissed."
Lilo had been unable to sit still for the past twenty minutes. Ever since she heard Stitch's name over the intercom, she feared the worst. Her mind had raced with all sorts of thoughts: had Stitch gotten caught, had he gotten expelled? Had he been arrested for vandalism? The more she tried to push the thoughts out of her mind, the stronger the fear became. She had been so wrapped up in her worries that she had not noticed the knock on the door, or the teacher getting up to answer it, only to go outside for at least five minutes. When the teacher finally returned, her voice brought Lilo out of her thoughts.
"Class, I know that this is unusual, but we have two students that have been transferred to our class. As in transferred I mean from another class in this school. Apparently one of the classrooms had a few too many students, and the new vice-principal decided to transfer them to this room."
This was the cue for Richie and Stitch to enter the room. While most of the class looked on in disinterest, Lilo had a look of surprise and relief, while Victoria turned her head down as not to make eye contact with Richie.
"Please take a seat in any empty chair." The teacher said as the two boys made their way into the room.
Stitch immediately saw the empty seat next to Lilo, and took it. But that left Richie with just one seat to take, and it was right across from Victoria. He immediately became skiddish, but resigned himself to the fact he would have to sit there anyway. Victoria's eyes followed him the entire way to his seat, but then turned away before he could look at her.
Stitch had already sat down and watched the pair with amusement before turning to his own girlfriend. He noticed the note she was trying to pass him, and he quickly snatched it up while the teacher wasn't looking. He unfolded the paper under his desk and read the note.
Stitch, what happened in the vice principal's office? Why are you in my classroom now? Did you get in trouble? Did someone find out? Did Cobra find out?
Stitch had to roll his eyes. He wasn't sure who their relationship had changed more, him or Lilo. He had to admit he'd become a lot less wild than he was a year ago, a lot more 'civil' as Pleakly put it. But the change in Lilo was so apparent that even Jason noticed it, which given his attention span, was a feat in of itself. She'd become a lot more like her sister in many ways: she worried a lot, she was always on to him, and she had become more 'mature', as Nani was prone to say. But how much of that was us falling in love, and how much was what happened? Stitch thought to himself. Meanwhile Lilo kept looking back and forth at him, as if waiting for a response. He figured he'd better give her one. He quickly jotted his replies to her questions at the bottom of the paper, folded it back up, and waited for the teacher to turn back to the blackboard.
When Lilo got the note back, she quickly unfolded it.
It's okay Lilo, I'm not in any trouble. But me and the guys really need to behave ourselves because we won't be able to get away with anything now. The vice principal separated us because he "knows what where capable of" You might need to lay low too, and stop using your powers around school.
Knows what your capable of? What the heck does he mean by that? Lilo thought as she penned another set of questions. She then tried to pass it back to Stitch, but he wouldn't take it. After several attempts, Lilo gave Stitch a dirty look and pocketed the note. What's with him? Why wouldn't he take the note? It's not like the teacher would catch him, she wouldn't notice if Noisy walked in here right now and started reading out of her diary!
She didn't have to wait long, because the teacher dismissed the class just a few minutes later for lunch. As the class started to head toward the lunch room, she grabbed him on the shoulder and pulled him aside. "What was with you in class?" she said in a stern tone.
"I knew what you were going to ask, and I couldn't answer you in class." Stitch replied as he leaned against one of the lockers.
"Why not?" Lilo said, wondering what was so shocking that Stitch had wanted to wait. The fact that he'd even thought that far ahead in his actions would have been a surprise a year ago, but Lilo knew that their relationship, along with a few other events, had caused both of them to mature. That and Lilo had discovered from her research that the serum created for Stitch actually caused him to become more human, and less bound to his experiment programming.
Stitch just gave her an impish smile. "Turn around."
"What?" Lilo said, puzzled by his response. But she did as she was told, and nearly fainted at who was right behind her.
"Hello Lilo. I trust you're keeping out of trouble?" Cobra said in his normal tone. He was without his shades, but other than that, he had his normal attire, which seemed much more expensive than what the other adults at the school wore.
"Umm…hi Cobra. What are you doing here?" Lilo stammered out.
"I work here, thanks in no small part to the paintbombing yesterday." Cobra replied.
"Oh, ok, so you're the new Vice Principal?" Lilo said, attempting to make small talk.
"Yes, apparently the last one left due to some hurtful comments a former student made. Comments that most people would only say when they're furious." He then did his famous narrow gaze. "Funny how calm he was when he said them, right to her face."
Lilo grew nervous under his scrutiny. "Yeah, that sure was weird, but that guy was a real jerk."
"You knew this from first hand experience, then?" Cobra replied, not taking his gaze off her.
"Well, everybody heard of how mean he was." Lilo said as she tried to cover up the fact that she had made him say those things.
Stitch came to her rescue. "Well, we have to get to lunch. It was nice talking to you Vice Principal. We'll make sure we stay out of trouble." He said as he grabbed Lilo's shoulder and started to pull her along.
"See that you do that. And Ms. Peliaki? No more of what you did yesterday, understand?"
Lilo nearly fainted, as Stitch had to catch her. "Yesss sir." She stammered back as Cobra turned around to walk away.
"Lilo, are you okay?" Stitch said as he pulled her back up.
"Now I know why you didn't answer me in class. I'm not sure if I would have fainted or screamed." She said as she righted herself. "He knows everything we've done since we started school here, and if he had to actually take a job here to watch us, we must be on our last strike." Lilo said sadly. She turned to look Stitch in the eyes. "What are we gonna do?"
"Calm down, I think its just as much Jason and Knuckles as it is us. Principal Tanner was probably desperate for help with them, and someone probably had connections and…"
Lilo put her finger to his mouth to stop his talking. "I know you are just trying to make me feel better, but lets face it, everything changed when you and I started dating." She sighed as she laid her head on his chest. "It was easier back then, when we first met, when we started catching experiments. I was just a weird little kid, one that nobody took seriously. I could scream about aliens all day, and I would just get ignored."
"You'd probably still get ignored. Except by me." Stitch replied.
"Quit trying to sweet talk me. This is serious. The fact that is I'm not a normal girl anymore and I have a big secret to hide." She looked up at Stitch's face. "Several of them."
Stitch smiled in response. Then he said something that had been on his mind for quite a while. "You know, you've become a lot more like your sister recently."
Lilo gave Stitch a look. "And what do you mean by that." She tired to pull herself away from him, but he wouldn't let go.
"You've been worried a lot more. And you just seem to take some things differently than you used to."
"I guess the old me wouldn't have nearly fainted because of Cobra, huh. It's just I was so scared, Stitch. He has complete control over our lives. If he was to tell someone in the government about then…"
It was Stitch's turn to shush Lilo. "He'd never do that Lilo. You know that. He wants to keep us out of trouble, and keep us from being discovered. You need to stop worrying so much, and go back to being the happy girl you were before."
Lilo gave him an impish grin of her own. "You know what would make me happy right now?"
"I think I have an idea." Stitch replied as he leaned in to kiss her right on the lips. The pair held their kiss until they heard the "ahem" of a teacher. The quickly broke apart, embarrassed.
"Well, I guess we better get going, huh Stitch?" Lilo said.
"Yeah, we need to get moving if we don't want to miss lunch. And Richie's probably worried sick. He might think I'm in trouble again."
"Oh, I don't know. He might be occupied with a certain someone else at the moment."
Richie had looked for Stitch for over ten minutes, but couldn't find him anywhere. "Where is he? I wonder what's taking him so long."
"Lilo's not here either, so I have a pretty good idea." Victoria said from her seat. "Why don't you sit down? I'm sure they'll be here soon."
Richie sat down without even thinking about it, but his heart started to race as soon as he looked at her. Victoria noticed his blushing and started to blush herself. The pair quickly broke eye contact.
While his eyes wandered around the table, they met with a deck of cards. Yu-gi-oh cards. "You play Yu-gi-oh?" Richie asked, looking back up at Victoria.
"Yeah, I'm entering in a tournament this weekend." Victoria replied as she picked up the deck.
"You too? The one at Mike's Hobbies?" Richie replied as he took his deck out of his pocket.
"Yeah. It's my first time playing in a tournament." Victoria said as she put her deck back in her pocket.
"Not me, I've gone there every weekend since I moved to the island." Richie said, excited that he and the girl he had a crush on shared a hobby.
"Really? I've only been in there a few times, when I was babysitting Chance. He loves to play. And he always wins."
"You're kidding? How old is this kid?" Richie exclaimed. He had heard rumors that a little kid had once came into the shop and defeated several adults, but all of them denied it. Of course it might have just been someone else making up stories.
"He's seven years old. He lives down the street, and I sometimes watch him for his parents. Anyway, I decided I'd play in a tournament to get better, cause it's kind of embarrassing when a kid beats you in strategy game."
"Wow, you actually called it a strategy game." Richie said. "Myrtle never calls it that. She says it's a stupid waste of time."
"Yeah, well Myrtle's a stupid waste of air." Victoria replied. "Why do you listen to her? Tell me the truth; I know it isn't because she's trying to help you."
"Because she get's mad if I don't. And then my stuff goes missing."
Victoria became livid. "WHAT? She steals your stuff? Why don't you tell your mom, Richie, and make her stop?"
"Because she always has some excuse. 'Richie took that to school with him and probably lost it, Richie left it down and Gigi got it' she has a million of them. And Mom believes every one of them." Richie said angrily, suddenly fed up with how his sister was treating him.
"That's just wrong. You need to find some way to get back at her." Victoria said her voice full of anger and concern. There was no doubt about it: she hated Myrtle, and had for years. The fact that she could treat her own family like that was just the icing to the cake. In there anger for a common enemy, their eyes met again, and there faces began to draw closer to one another. With just a few inches to go, a voice shook them out of their trance, and they both turned pink after realizing how close they had come to kissing.
"Hey Richie, where's Chris? And what are you doing?" Knuckles called out from across the cafeteria.
"Uuh, nothing." He replied, embarrassed.
"Right, and Jason's the smartest person in school." Was his sarcastic reply.
"HEY, I heard that!" came another voice from behind Knuckles. "And you couldn't have waited 10 seconds more to say hello, could you dude? You just had to ruin the moment."
"That's funny; normally that's your job." Knuckles replied to Jason as Jason rose from his seat.
"I know, and you didn't let me do it." Jason replied. He then turned to the two seated at the table. "Hey Richie, what were you doing, whispering secrets out of your sister's diary? And you didn't invite me? I'm hurt."
"I wasn't telling secrets out of my sister's diary, Jason. Me and Victoria were just talking about the upcoming card tournament." Richie replied, which caused Knuckles to extend his palm toward Jason.
"I told you girls play Yu-gi-oh. You owe me 5 bucks." Knuckles said with a smirk.
Jason mumbled in anger to himself. "Fine." He took out a five dollar bill and put it in Knuckles hand.
However, Victoria wasn't paying attention to any of that. "You read your sister's diary?" she exclaimed.
"He sure did, but he said there wasn't anything interesting in it. Myrtle's such an airhead, she wouldn't know something cool if it bit her on the butt." Jason said as he plopped down next to Richie.
"There was interesting things in it, Jason." Knuckles said as he sat down on Richie's other side. "About you, anyway."
"Shut up, Knuckles!" Jason replied, silently cursing the fact that Knuckles had positioned himself on the other side of Richie.
"Oh, did she detail your one week wild fling in there?" Victoria said with a smirk.
"As well as her obsession with blaming Lilo for their breakup." Richie added.
"What won't she blame Lilo for? What did she threaten this time, to ruin her reputation in school so she could never get a boyfriend?" Victoria replied, again starting to show her contempt for Myrtle.
"Well, sort of." Richie said, not really hiding the fact that he knew more than he let on.
"Wait; did she say what she had planned?" Victoria said, noticing Richie's uneasiness.
Fortunately for Richie, at that moment Lilo and Stitch came up to the table. "Hey everybody, what's up?" Lilo asked as she sat down next to Victoria.
"Richie was just about to reveal some secrets from Myrtle's diary." Jason replied as Stitch sat down next to him.
"You were?" Lilo said, looking at Richie in interest. "What did you find out?"
Richie sighed, he'd have to tell them now, at least, some of it. "My sister is insane. I mean really crazy. She wrote some of the weirdest stuff in there about you family, Lilo, and how she was going to revel your secrets to everybody."
This gave everyone pause, except for Jason that is, who had no idea what was going on. "What kind of secrets Richie?"
"Ahem, I'm right here you know, and I rather not have any of my secrets spilled." Lilo retorted.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry." Jason replied.
"Well, that's just too bad, Weirdlo, because pretty soon EVERYBODY is going to know your secrets."
Everyone turned in the direction of the voice. "Myrtle." Lilo said in a sneering voice.
"Hello freaks." Myrtle said in a snide tone. "Richie, what have I told you about hanging around with these two. You keep this up and…"
"And you'll what, feed his Mp3 player to your dog, or steal his homework and tear it up?" Victoria interrupted.
"You stay out of this. I bet you don't know half of the deep, dark secrets Lilo and her boyfriend have. But you will, everyone will very soon." As Myrtle said this, she looked at Lilo with a stare of intense disgust.
But everyone was in for a surprise. "I won't let you." Richie said as he stood up to meet his sister's gaze.
"What did you say?" Myrtle said in surprise.
"I said I will stop you. You have no right to reveal other people's secrets, especially when you don't know the whole truth yourself." Richie replied in a defiant tone.
Myrtle turned beet red. How dare her brother talk to her like that? Why was he defending freaks like those two? How could side with them over his own blood? She turned to see Victoria looking at Richie with a look of loving admiration. She's why he's doing it. He'd do anything to impress Victoria, even protect monstrous alien freaks! Well I'll show her.
"Don't even think of looking at my brother like that. I don't care how much he likes you; it's never going to happen. I don't care how many lies I have to tell my mom and dad, you will never date my brother. He's too good for you, wither he knows it or not."
This set off several people at once. Victoria shot up from her seat, ready to knock Myrtle into next week. Lilo had to grab a hold of her to keep her from jumping over the table. "Let me at her, just one punch."
Jason starting yelling so loud, the entire cafeteria could hear him. "Why do you care who your brother goes out with. What is wrong with you?"
Meanwhile, Richie kept his defiant look. "See, that's why Jason broke up with you, you're a bitch."
Everyone turned to look at Richie. Myrtle's eyes went wide. "What…what did you just call me?"
Even Jason was speechless. No one had ever seen Richie that mad before, and they had never heard him cuss.
"You heard me. And I'm done taking orders from you. You aren't the boss of me like you are of your little cronies."
Myrtle looked like she was ready to explode. Richie was a dead man; nobody called her that and got away with it. But before she could take out her anger, someone stepped in.
"Excuse me, is there something going on here that I need to look into?" Cobra said as he looked over the chaos: Lilo still had a hold on Victoria, Richie and Myrtle seemed to be in a staring contest, and Jason was not only out of his seat, he had been screaming loud enough for the entire school to hear.
"Umm…no sir, there is nothing wrong here." Lilo said as she let go of Victoria.
"Nope, nothing at all. Just having a friendly talk." Myrtle said with a fake smile.
"I'm not sure who your last vice principal was, but I'm not going to fall for that. You, Ms. Evans, are to stay away from your brother at school, and I will be speaking to your parents. As for the rest of you, you'd better show more restraint, or you'll be spending a month in detention, at the least. Now I believe you need to be heading to class."
"Yes sir." Was the group's reply.
When Cobra turned to leave, Myrtle shot Richie a dirty look and whispered "This isn't over." Then she turned her gaze to Lilo and Stitch. "And I'd watch your backs, freaks, because I'm on to you." Her last gaze was directed at Victoria. It was a hateful glare and simple muttering of words no one could make out, but her lips were easily read.
"Why you little…" Victoria said as she shot up to try and lunge at the redhead, only to be restrained by Lilo.
"Cool it, Victoria, she's not worth it." Jason said as he stood up. "Trust me, I know from first hand experience."
"Let's get to class before we're late. See you guys after school." Stitch said as he and Richie left their trays at the counter. Although he looked calm, inside he was tense. Myrtle knew. She knew everything. About Lilo, about himself. And nothing would stop her from trying to reveal them. But he had to proud of Richie. He stood up to her, even though Myrtle might try and take revenge.
Lilo was just as nervous, but also proud. Proud of Victoria. She was becoming more open with her feelings, and she and Richie might admit it to each other at anytime. But even there, Myrtle was still a threat. Myrtle was capable of telling outlandish lies, and her clones would always back what she said. She could say some really bad things about Victoria, and Myrtle's mom might not let Richie hang out with her anymore.
In any case, nothing could be done right now. Classes had to be attended, tests had to be taken. And this would go on for the next several days, the tense encounters between Lilo and Myrtle. After all, Cobra had said Myrtle couldn't go anywhere near her brother, he said nothing about Lilo. All that time she would drop hints that she had evidence, that she was poised to destroy her and Stitch. Lilo was unsure if she was to be believed, she might be trying to make Lilo make a mistake, or she might have the info, and just be waiting for the right time.
The situation with Richie and Victoria was a lot better. Apparently Cobra had wasted no time in contacting Myriam Evans about her daughter's behavior, so when Myrtle came home, telling lies about how Richie had gotten involved with a 'bad girl', she was merely sent to her room for lying. This made her no less angry at Richie, however, but she was more concerned about ruining Lilo's life. She'd deal with her brother and that little tramp later. Meanwhile Richie and Victoria were all excited about the upcoming tournament, and spent most of lunch talking about it. And Lilo and Stitch had noticed that the number of shy glances between the two had increased, almost to the point that when one turned away, the other started looking. It wouldn't be long now, and it was something happy for the pair, to see new love start to bloom, even when they themselves were in danger.
Jason had been bugging Knuckles ever since the first incident, saying that there was something he wasn't being told. "There's something you guys are keeping from me, and I wanna know what's up."
"Trust me, Jason, its best you are in the dark. I'm not even sure what Myrtle is talking about, but it can't be good." Knuckles replied, for the fifth time.
"Everyone else seems to be in the know, how come I'm not?" Jason whined, impatient with his friend. Knuckles had never kept anything from him before, except when it came to his uncle, anyway, so this had to be serious.
"I'm not sure what anyone knows. But this is not our business." Knuckles replied, trying to end the discussion.
"It's not because it's your uncle's, isn't it?" Jason wasn't sure what was so serious with his friend to get the CIA involved, but Knuckle's uncle had been taking a healthy interest in all this.
"Jason, I'm telling you, drops it." Knuckles said as he walked into his classroom. "Now I'll see you at lunch. And please knock it off with the conspiracy theories."
Jason walked away dejected. But he wasn't about to give up. Something was eating away at Chris and Lilo. It was something Myrtle knew, and Jason had a suspicion that Victoria and Richie knew too. Whatever it was, he'd have to find out, and stop Myrtle from getting the evidence she needed. Cause nobody messes with Jason Walbridge's friends.
Not even the girl he's still in love with.
End Chapter 9
Next Chapter
Last Good Day