Author's Note: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE KIND FEEDBACK! It is super appreciated and keeps me going. Thank you thank you thank you :3

Finalizing chapter 3 now, so I thought I would post this :D All descriptions, as you'll find out, are based on Operation N.A.U.G.H.T.Y. (can I just say, FAVOURITE EPISODE EVER?!) and I apologize in advance if I get any technological (?) terms wrong...feel free to correct me! On to chapter 2!

He comes on Tuesdays, because Tuesdays are when my mom makes her special lasagna, with extra tomatoes and a dash of chili sauce.

At least that's what he says anyway.

My mom believes him. I can tell by the way she ushers him into the chair next to me at the dining room table, heaping his plate with lasagna.

Sometimes she forgets something in the kitchen and leaves me alone with him.

I'm uncomfortable, but my mom doesn't notice.

Then again, she never does.

Chapter 2

Two thoughts immediately came to mind.

One: he was incredibly, incredibly hot, even though she hasn't even seen his face properly yet. The messy bowl haircut that never looked flattering on anyone seemed to suit him just fine. She could see the outlines of his muscles beneath his thin black T-shirt, and his tanned arms ran down to his jeans in sinewy ropes.

Two: she couldn't help but feel offended, like she had failed some kind of test that she didn't even know about.

The thing is, Kuki was a straight-A student. She never failed a test, no matter what it was.

She narrowed her eyes and cast him the most scathing look she could muster.

"Last time I checked, my name is Kuki," she said hotly. "And don't you think you're a little old to be playing with little kids?" Never mind, of course, the fact that she was still hopelessly obsessed with Rainbow Monkeys at the supposedly mature age of sixteen.

The boy's smile disappeared and a hand came up to push his hair back, revealing chiseled cheekbones and eyes the colour of fresh grass.

If he was hot before, Kuki had officially ran out of adjectives to describe how he looked now.

"It's sort of hard to explain…" the boy glanced around, as if to make sure that no one else could hear him. "Look, I know you need a ride, and I have a car. I'll drive you home and explain along the way."

Too bad he was completely insane.

"Are you crazy?" Kuki exclaimed. She took a few steps back, hugging her bag to her chest. Overhead, the sky was the colour of a bruise, transitioning into shades of purple and blue as dusk settled in, but it wouldn't be long until it turned dark, and Kuki was all too aware that she was standing in an empty parking lot with no means of transportation, with a total, albeit cute, stranger. "I don't even know who you are!"

Something in his eyes shifted and he looked almost…wounded. She blinked and it was gone. Maybe a trick of the fading light.

"I'm sorry," he said plainly, not sounding sorry at all. "I'm Wally." Almost sarcastically, he stuck out his hand for her to shake.

She ignored it; there were still a million questions left to be answered. How did he know her name? Who were "they"? Why were "they" talking about her? How did he know she needed a ride? Was this some kind of joke? Were Sonya and Lee involved?

She was surprised at the one that came tumbling out of her mouth, "And what numbuh are you?"

Through his honey-gold hair, his green eyes searched her face. For what, she didn't know.

When he broke eye contact, he let out a resigned sigh. When he spoke, his words were weighed down with pain.

"Four, Kuki," Wally replied.

"I'm numbuh 4."

.

You know him, silly.

This flashed through her mind so fast she was just able to catch it at the edges of her consciousness.

Which was impossible. You don't forget someone with a face like that.

"With a face like what?" Wally dropped his hand and rubbed it over his own, his bangs sticking up in peaks over his forehead.

Too late, Kuki realized she had spoken that last bit out loud. She could tell he wasn't really asking; it was more to distract her while he took a breather in the conversation, as if he couldn't believe he was talking to someone so clueless. All the same, she felt a flush creep up her cheeks and quickly lowered her head so that her long black hair fell over her shoulders to hide it.

"Nothing," she mumbled, her voice several octaves higher than normal. Her sandaled foot kicked at a random stone on the ground.

"Then are you coming or not?" Wally appeared to have recovered, his tone now harsh and impatient. "We haven't got all night!"

Kuki kept her head down, pretending that she was seriously considering her options though they were non-existent. Either she could stay here alone for hours in the growing darkness, mosquitoes gnawing at her ankles until her mom shows up, or she could sit for ten minutes in an air-conditioned car with a lunatic she knew nothing about apart from his name.

She could probably survive ten minutes. Kuki tried to convince herself that it wasn't really that long. And she might as well admit that she was the tiniest bit curious about what he was going to tell her.

The fact that he was so good-looking probably helped too.

"Fine," she finally said, looking up. "But I'm keeping one hand on speed dial, and if you try anything…"

"I won't," he cut her off. He turned and walked back the way he came, seeming not to care whether she followed or not even though he had initiated the encounter only moments before.

Kuki waited till he was someway ahead of her, then tried to untangle her phone from the mess in her bag, where it was caught in a net of earphone cords.

"And if I did," Wally called with his back towards her, an edge of cockiness in his voice. "You wouldn't be able to reach your phone in time anyway."

Fair enough.

Her hands stilled, and she hitched her bag up onto her shoulder before tracing his steps, her phone firmly imprisoned inside.

.

Wally walked through the parking lot and past the deserted school to the pavement, with Kuki trailing behind him. As they got closer to the street, she could see that it was empty of anything that may resemble a car, or any form of transportation, for that matter.

She stopped moving.

The scratching of her sandals against the rough asphalt ceased, causing Wally to turn and find Kuki glaring at him, her bag held protectively in front of her.

"Um…" Kuki tried to remain calm. "Just where is this…'car' of yours?"

He didn't say anything at first, then he gave her a sheepish smile and ducked his head. A faint image of a little blonde boy in orange wearing the same smile suddenly materialized in Kuki's mind, but it dissolved before she could tell who it was.

"Okay, I wasn't totally honest about that…" Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a funny-looking wooden box on which he pressed a button. There was a rumbling noise, like faraway thunder, and Kuki gasped as a huge camper descended from the skies, landing with a soft thud in front of her instead of the crash she expected, propelled as it was by four fire-breathing jets attached to its bottom.

"Meet the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.," Wally walked around the camper to stand next to her. He pressed another button, and the olive-green door before her slid open, soft orange light spilling onto the pavement. "Get in."

Kuki eyed the door warily. She wasn't afraid of flying, but she was used to doing it in Ace's souped up machines, and not this…let's put it this way, she would have been more comfortable riding in a rusted tin can.

It was obvious the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. was very old; it had once been green, but had tarnished to a solid black from years of use, except for the door which had been painted and re-painted again. The metal was battered and had folded so completely in places that it didn't seem possible that it was still holding the camper in one piece. The rockets strapped to it spat and sputtered as they were shut off, emitting swirls of white smoke.

"I know how it looks, but it's safe, trust me," Seeing that Kuki was making no move towards the camper, Wally climbed aboard, pausing at the doorway. "They wanted to smash it, but I thought it would…"

He stopped, shaking his head. Bathed in the glowing light behind him he was merely a silhouette, his face hidden in shadow. "Believe it or not, you've been on it before." He went inside, leaving the door wide open.

Kuki had no recollection of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R., but it wouldn't be the first thing that she had apparently forgotten today.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the camper, hearing the door slide shut behind her. Her head grazed the ceiling. Wally was at the front, adjusting several knobs and buttons on the panel before him.

"You can have numbuh 1's seat," Wally said without turning around. He must have felt her staring blankly at his back because he continued, "The chair in the middle."

That makes sense, Kuki thought, squeezing into the tiny armchair and looking curiously around her. Contrary to its deteriorated exterior, the inside of the camper was brightly lit, and the air-conditioning was functioning perfectly, if the cool breeze on her face was anything to come by. The immediate interior was lined with an odd assortment of contraptions: some were silver, streamlined devices, while others were made entirely of wood and looked as if they were assembled by children.

The front was occupied by the only window and the large panel that Wally was fiddling with. There was a single chair to her right, sat in front of a complicated keyboard with symbols on it that she could not decipher. Two stools to her left faced a bank of blank computer screens. A joystick on each stool was patiently waiting for an opponent to arrive.

Without meaning to, Kuki reached out and touched the joystick closest to her. A fine layer of dust had settled onto the shiny buttons; no one had used them for a long time.

"That was your seat," Wally's voice made her withdraw her hand, even though there was no reason to. He was watching her from the pilot's seat.

"Really," Kuki glanced at the joystick again, regarding the small wooden stool it was set upon. She couldn't remember a time when she could fit onto a stool that size, even though she was fairly petite. But then again, she couldn't imagine why she would ever sit in a flying camper with a joystick either. "And what did I do, play videogames?"

Wally smirked. Spinning his chair around, he pulled a lever, and the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. grumbled to life. "Sort of," he answered.

Kuki couldn't stop herself from gripping the armchair rests as the camper ascended into the sky. Through the window, she saw trees, then the tops of trees, then blackness, dotted with blinking stars. When the altitude was sufficient, the camper shuddered to a halt, and for a horrible moment she thought they were going to plunge to their deaths. Then the rockets roared to life, and they sped away.

At this rate, she would be home in less than five minutes.

Wally pressed a few more buttons and a female voice intoned from the loudspeakers hidden in the corners, "Autopilot, engaged." Kuki watched as he bent his body to accommodate his height as he slowly made his way towards her and settled on the floor at her feet, resting his elbows on his knees; clearly there were no other chairs big enough for him.

It hit her then that the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. had been built with much smaller people in mind.

"So," Wally began. He gave a small cough, then looked around as if noticing his surroundings for the first time. "I didn't do much, just had numbuh 2 put in a new pilot's chair because none of us could fit in it anymore. He was supposed to be here, but they figured…"He trailed off, scowling. Kuki felt his eyes dart towards her before flitting away.

"Then they made us install some of this stuff. I didn't want them to, but they said it was necessary since they upgraded the communication mainframe…and for 'safety reasons'." He scoffed, as if that was the least of his concerns.

Kuki hadn't a clue what he was going on about, but she winged a silent "thank you" to whoever "they" were nonetheless, and took the opportunity to interrupt. "Fascinating," she said, tucking her legs up under her. She was still a little cautious though Wally had kept his promise so far, but curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she wasn't going to get any answers if he carried on the way he was. "But I'm guessing there's something else you have to tell me?"

Wally looked up at her then, and for the first time since they met she had a clear view of his green eyes, though they didn't look quite so green anymore. More like a faded, hazel colour in this lighting. Maybe the green only came from her memory.

She reminded herself that she had never seen him before.

"Ahh…so when we were thirteen…" Wally paused, dropping his head. Kuki could just hear him as he muttered, "Why do they always make me tell her?!"

"Twenty seconds to landing," the bored female called from the loudspeakers again.

Kuki couldn't believe she was actually wishing she lived a little further away.

"Wally!" The word rolled off her tongue, and she noticed how familiar it felt, like the hard spheres of candy she loved as a child. She reached down and grabbed the damp collar of his shirt, pulling him close and pushing her face into his, "Spit it OUT!"

For some reason, this gesture too, was strangely familiar.

The air between them suddenly felt electric, and the irony in which Kuki had been so careful to ensure distance between the two was not lost on her.

She let go at once, shrinking into her seat. Wally crawled backwards on his hands, his legs pumping as they tried to gain traction against the smooth metallic floor.

"Ten seconds to landing," the cool voice was back. Kuki swore it was mocking her.

Wally scrambled to his feet and crashed into the ceiling with a yelp. Rubbing his head, he went to the front, crouching, and pushed a lever. Kuki could feel a lull as the camper stopped again, suspended in mid-air, until the jets turned on and slowly lowered them to the ground.

It was quiet when the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. landed and the final jet died down, apart from the sounds of their heavy breathing. Kuki could see through the window that they were on her street, and judging by the houses in sight, they were right at her doorstep.

She picked up her duffel bag. She wasn't sure what happened in the few seconds that their faces were pressed together, so close they could see each other's eyelashes, but she knew that no one had ever elicited the blushing cherries in her cheeks, or the heart that was pounding so unbelievably fast she could feel it slamming against her ribcage.

Not even Ace.

She needed to get out of here.

"Uh…thanks for the ride," Kuki threw this in his general direction, keeping her face averted. "I'll just be going…" She laid a hand on the door, waiting for him to open it.

"Kuki, wait."

Not reluctantly, her eyes found him, still at the pilot's seat with his hands planted on the control panel, his head hanging between his broad shoulders.

"I don't know how to tell you," he said, finally. "But it has to be done."

He turned, and Kuki saw that his eyes had hardened, his fists were tight with resolve.

"I'll come get you tomorrow. I'll take you to her."

The need to leave intensified. This was insane.

"Wally," she exhaled, closing her eyes momentarily. "Let me out of here NOW."

The door slid away under her fingers without further discussion. She was right; they were at the end of her driveway. She stepped off, enjoying the fresh air and the feel of the solid ground beneath her.

"Kuki!" Wally called out behind her.

Somehow, once she was out of the camper and looking at the mundane surroundings that made up her ordinary life, it was easier to put things into perspective. Much easier to ignore him, and to concentrate on forcing herself one foot forward at a time, refusing the temptation to look back. Whatever that had necessitated the need to know was quickly fading away.

As she approached the door of her dark house – no one was home yet – his voice reached her again, carried on the soft evening breeze, "I'm sorry Kuki."

She hesitated with her hand on the doorknob as he repeated, "But it has to be done."

When she turned around, the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. had already risen into the air, the rockets spitting out red flames that scorched the treetops.

It wasn't until the black camper had vanished into the night that Kuki realized she never told Wally where she lived.

.

Kuki let herself into the empty house and flicked on the hall light. Kicking off her shoes, she shut the door firmly behind her before leaning against it to ponder the events of the evening. It had seemed so surreal.

She needed to talk to someone. As she made her way to the living room, she took out her phone and dialed a number she knew by heart, waiting for Ace to pick up.

"Babe?"

"Hey!" It felt so good to hear his voice. Then she remembered she was supposed to be mad at him. "Where have you been?! Do you have any idea-"

The rest of her words were drowned out by what sounded like gunshots.

Gunshots?!

"Ace, where are you?! What are you doing?!"

"Sorry Kuki," Ace spoke as if through gritted teeth, "I'm a little busy right now…I'll call you back."

The line went dead.

Kuki hit redial, but it went straight to voicemail.

With a small scream of frustration, she tossed her phone onto the sofa. On top of everything else, now she had to worry about Ace getting himself killed in those dogfights he was so fond of as well?! If there was one thing she did remember, it was that she made him promise not to engage with the pilot that had started taunting him out of nowhere a few days ago.

A muffled Rainbow Monkey ringtone started up somewhere among the cushions.

That was pretty fast.

Diving onto the sofa, Kuki found her phone before the call automatically disconnected.

"Ace?"

Instead of his lilting Hispanic accent, her best friend's scratchy voice came down the line.

"Er…Kuki?"

"Abby!" It wasn't Ace, but Abby was just as good, if not better. Abby certainly wouldn't mind if Kuki started going into details of Wally's extremely appealing physique, even if he was deranged. "Hi! How are you calling me?! Shouldn't you be on your road trip by now?"

"Road trip?!" Abby sounded confused, like she hadn't spent the past three months talking Kuki's ears off about how excited she was to finally get away from her house. "Er…right!"

There was a pause, then Kuki heard Abby's favourite alternative music playing in the background. She smiled; she could imagine the pretty African-American with her signature pink cap in her beat-up van, bobbing her head and drumming her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove.

"Abby's on her road trip all right! Hehehe…" Her laughter faltered, and there was an uncomfortable silence.

Something was wrong; Kuki could feel it. In the three years she had known Abby, she had never heard her sound so…shaken.

"Abby, is everything-"

"Oh there's the highway Kuki, numb-…Abby'll catch up with you later!"

Kuki watched her phone as its screen faded to blackness for the second time that night. Abby hadn't even told her why she called.

Everyone was aboard the crazy train today.

The clock in the hall chimed, making her jump. She listened for a moment; it was only eight.

Was there really no one else she could call?

You could call Wally.

There was that voice in her head again. She made a face; that was stupid. She wouldn't even consider him an acquaintance, let alone a friend. And even if she had his number, it wasn't like she was going to discuss someone's sanity with the actual someone in question, was she?

Sighing, she set down her phone.

The house suddenly felt too big, and far too quiet. Kuki could hear everything, from each individual tick of the second hand as it went around the clock face, to the dripping of the water from the bathroom faucet that Mushi must have forgotten to shut off properly again.

She turned on the television, then picked up her laptop from where she left it on the dining room table with her cereal bowl this morning before moving to the kitchen. Setting her Rainbow Monkey playlist to play at maximum volume, she heated up and finished a bowl of rice noodles before she decided that she wasn't really hungry.

Maybe a bath would help.

Trudging up the stairs to the bathroom with her laptop that was still pumping out "sappy, kiddy music" as her sister called it, she ran water into the tub, making sure to pour in a healthy dose of her mom's expensive lavender bath oil that was reserved for special occasions.

If her mom asked, Kuki would say it's the end of the school year, and she deserved a treat.

Forty-five minutes later, she stepped out in her nightdress and a towel around her hair and went into her room, purposely avoiding the window which faced into the front yard. She flopped onto her bed, sending the sweet smell of delicate purple flowers wafting into the air, the water on her skin seeping into the bedsheets. If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend that the entire night had been a dream, save for the curiously flat stretch of grass near the postbox where the S.C. .E.R. had stopped.

The house was still mercilessly empty.

.

At 11:32pm, the headlights of her mom's car swept across the darkened ceiling of her room. The front door opened and closed.

"Kuki, honey?" Her mom yelled up the stairs. "Are you asleep? Have you eaten?"

"I'm here, mom," Kuki called back. "There's rice noodles if you want some."

"Thanks honey," Kuki heard the beeping of the microwave as her mom went into the kitchen. "Is Mushi home yet?"

"She's sleeping over at a friend's, mom." The lie came so naturally now Kuki barely noticed it anymore. "She won't be back till tomorrow."

"Keep an eye on her for me, will you, honey?" Her mom's voice was barely audible as she shuffled around the kitchen, opening cupboards and setting out chopsticks. "I do wonder what she gets up to…a girl at her age…"

Kuki rolled her eyes. "Always, mom."

Her mom didn't mention the flattened grass. Maybe it had been too dark to see.

.

At 12:24am, Kuki pretended to be asleep when her mom came to check on her. Moments later, she heard her parents' bedroom door close as her mom settled in for the night.

.

At 1:41am, Mushi's giggles were swiftly silenced by a kiss as Sandy, her boyfriend, dropped her off at the Sanbans. Kuki made sure she was fully hidden behind the windowsill before chancing an envious glimpse at the young lovers, their arms entwined, the moonlight dancing on their hair.

Kuki sent Mushi a text asking if she needed a way in as their mom wasn't expecting her, and had already locked the doors. She didn't text back.

.

At 2:53am, Kuki sat straight up in bed, her blankets falling around her. She had figured out what had been so disconcerting about the whole experience.

Wally had been wearing black.

He should have worn orange, Kuki thought with unexpected certainty as she laid back down on her pillow. It would have brought out his eyes.

The last thought that crossed her mind before she slipped into sleep: Silly Wally.