Monday night. There was a full moon glowing in the sky together with a few stars, and there wasn't a single cloud present. Many crickets were to be heard, but that's usually the case with warm temperature.
Billy wasn't too fond of the idea of having to walk through the tall grass in Mandy's garden where the little insects were hiding, also because he was afraid they might pounce him and steal the lasagna he made for her.
The lasagna didn't smell too appealing, but that wasn't a big surprise since he added a few "special" ingredients.

Billy took a deep breath, and sprinted through her garden with a loud scream. He stopped right below her window, picked up a stone, threw it to her window, and later realized he picked up a handfull of crickets and squashed them onto her window. Naturally, he screamed again.

"Shut the heck up, Billy!" Mandy yelled from out of her room.

Billy wiped his hand off to the grass, only to see he was busy squashing more crickets, but Mandy warned him again before he could even open his mouth to let out a third scream. While holding in his tears he grabbed one of the trashcans that were standing on the side of the road and used it to climb to her window.
He tapped on the glass.

"Mandy? Mandy, let me in, I brought you some yummies." he said invitingly.

"Go away, I'm not hungry."

"Oh, pluuuueeeeeeeze?" Billy squeeked.

"No, Bi-"

"Pluuuuuuueeeeeeeeeze?"

Mandy sighed. There's no way he was going to leave unless she let him in. And she wasn't waiting for him to go on "plueez-ing" behind her window all night long. She knew Billy.
She stood up and opened her window with a jerk, causing Billy to get hit in the face and to fall off the trashcan. But it only took him 2 second to get back up and help himself through the open window.

"I didn't even know your window could be opened!" he said surprised.

"Let it be quick." Mandy said annoyed, while walking back to her bed. She sat down and folded her arms, waiting for whatever Billy wanted to bother her about this time.
He jumped directly after her and shoved the food tray under her nose. The stench made tears flow out of her eyes.

"YUM YUM YUM, MANDY." Billy shouted in joy, "I maded you deliceouses lasasanagas!"

"GET IT AWAY FROM ME." Mandy barked.

"Try it, Mandy, it's reeeeeeeaaally good."

He removed the foil from the tray, took a fork out of his pocket and took a bite of his own suspicious meal to prove his point. Billy eats strange stuff all the time, but he seemed to really enjoy his dinner. Mandy stared at him with disgust.
After he was finished he pulled the fork out of his mouth, leaving it with traces of drool and whatnot, and offered it to her.
"See, reeeeeeeaaally good! Have a bite!"

"I want that stinky pile of puke out of my room, right now. And your dinner, too." Mandy growled. She lied back down and closed her eyes.
"Good night!" she mumbled.

"Aw, don't go to sleep now. I really did my best this time, I won't have to call the hospital, I promise."

"No."

Billy hopped next to her bed and bended over.
"..Don't make me tickle your ears."

Mandy jumped up. "If you touch me, you're dead, Billy!"
As soon he caught her off-guard he shoved a forkfull of lasagna in her mouth. Mandy twitched.

"Hmmmmmmm." Billy smiled, "Good, huh?"

She wasn't sure what to do next; he just shoved his digusting dinner in her mouth with a disgusting fork. Her eyes searched for anything to dump the faul junk in, but failed to find something that really deserved to get smudged, so looked at Billy again who was grinning like an ass.
Well, whatever she would do next, it would be denigrating anyway, so she started chewing the sticky, reeking substance, and swallowed.

"WELL?" Billy asked.

"It's..it's..really good."

To her surprise it was. It smelled terrible and it wasn't the easiest thing to chew, but it was most definitely the best thing Billy ever made.
Though whatever it was, it wasn't lasagna.

"HURRAAAY!" Billy cheered, and as he jumped up and down in victory the lasagna got scattered all over the room.
Mandy let out a big sigh of annoyance.

"Great. Now will you please go home?"

"..Actually, eh, I wanteded to talk with you. Is that okey?"

"Talk?"

"Yes...Grim told me you were in your room whole vacation long. And that you were being a big meanie towards him."

What? Was the dinner just a cover-up to come and play dr. Phil with her?
Mandy turned angry. That Grim, what else did he tell him? And why should Billy care? He never cares because he never pays attention. He's an idiot.

Billy sat down on her bed and continued:
"Are you sad, maybe?"

Mandy growled and turned her back to him.
"No, Billy. Go home."

"Then what did you do all this time?"

"Nothing. Go home."

"..But you did miss me, right?"

"Whatever. Go home."

Obviously this wasn't going anywhere, so Billy stood up and slowly walked back to the open window. But there he stopped, and turned around.
"..You aren't about to do something bad, are you?"

Mandy didn't reply.

"Are you?"

"Why should you care.." she suddenly said.

"What?"

Billy was shocked. He always cared about what she did or thought, as long he knew about it, that is. It almost insulted him how Mandy thought he didn't care about her.
There wasn't a single moment he stopped thinking about her while being on camp, and he asked about her every time Grim came to visit. Whenever he wasn't working he was busy with a present for her, and how disturbing they might were, his intentions were good. She still dared to think he didn't care?

"I do care.." he said.

"You don't. You're stupid."

Billy took a few steps closer.
"..Are you going to hurt someone?"

"Maybe." she replied indifferently, "What's the news?"

He took a few more steps and then said on a serious, but begging tone:
"Could you...not do it?"

"Hurting people is in my blood."

"No, I mean world domination."

Mandy turned around.
"How do you know that I'm going to?"

"..."

Mandy sat up and looked at him. Her face turned less annoyed and more relaxed, and then she said:
"Do you remember when Grim was showing us our future in his glass ball? You knew this was coming. It's the future."

"But we can change the future." Billy quickly replied.

"No Billy, no matter what we do, we'll end up having the future we were destined to have."

"But in another future everyone haves had the same nose like me! But Grim fixed everything, so how do you know that that future isn't just another future that needs to be fixed by Grim?"

"The real future cannot be changed!"

"You gots yourself mixed up with the past, Mandy!" Billy said angrily, "You can change what's not yet happened, we can both has a normal life!"

After these words Mandy's relaxed expression turned furious.
"Why are you trying to talk me out of this, you saw your future, you're going to have it just fine! Stop complaining."

"But I wants a different future..I want us t-"

"Tough luck, hay-for-brains."

Mandy got up and raised her fist.
"I will take over this petty world, and there is no one who can stop me. THIS IS MY FUTURE, THIS IS MY RIGHT."

Billy started crying, but Mandy continued:
"What are you sobbing for, stupid! This just proves how little you know me. You're surprised? Even after all those times I almost managed to succeed? Bah!"

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST PLAYING." Billy cried.

"Playing? You really were a stupid kid, weren't you?"

"No!" Billy sobbed, "I was a KID, Mandy! And so were you, what was I supposed to think?"

"You're still stupid."

"I know I am..but that doesn't mean I'm still ignorant. I now know your evil schemes! EVIL SCHEMES!"

Mandy raised an eyebrow. He was so hard to take serious when he was raging like this.
Billy wiped the foam from his mouth and calmed himself down. Then he gently held her hands and looked her deep in the eyes.

"Please, please, please, please, please, please..?"

"Keep your paws off me!" Mandy snarled as she removed her hands from his grip.
"What happened to the old Billy? The clueless Billy, the Billy who laughs while being punched in the face?"

"That Billy grew up! He sees what you is up to and he wants you to stop! If he saw it earlier then he would has done this earlier."

Was that really so? Did Billy honestly hate Mandy's natural desire for power that much?
She looked at him full of disbelief. No way. After everything they've been through he talks with her about it now? Grim must've given him the assignment to talk with her; he probably wanted to know what she did those past months.
Well, now she told his little snitch, and he was allowed to go back and tell him. They were too late, anyway.

"..I think it would be best if you left, Billy." Mandy warned him.

He didn't move. Instead he folded his arms and said:
"NO."

Mandy grinded her teeth. Who did he think he was! Just because he was able to pronounce a few sentences in a row without yelling any random words inbetween them doesn't make him a superhero. He was no match for her, he should leave as long he still got the chance.

"GET OUT." she ordered him.

"NO."

"GET OUT!"

"NO!"

Both of them had fire in their eyes, and the entire neighbourhood could hear them fighting. With each "get out" Mandy took a step forward and with each "no" Billy took a step forward, and it didn't take long untill both faces touched each other.
The moment it did, the yelling stopped.

...
It was like all the noises in the world turned into silence. It was like time stopped.
Even the crickets outside were no longer to be heard, and the moon in the sky suddenly looked like it was bigger and glowing even brighter, lighting the entire room.

A couple of seconds passed, then Billy took a step back.

"I..I'm sorry, Mandy, I didn't mean to, will you forgive me..?" he said nervously.

But Mandy just stood there.
What did just happen? Something like this wasn't supposed to happen, it's like giving rabid fangirls their way!

It didn't take long untill her shocked expression turned neutral. She stared at him without any emotion in her eyes, and then said with a calm voice:
"Good night, Billy."

She walked back to bed and lied down. She was like a ghost. Completely lifeless.
Billy watched her for a while, and then headed to the window. Before leaving he said:
"So..you're not going to do anything bad, right?"

"Sure, Billy."

"You promise?"

"Sure, Billy."

A little smile appeared on his face and he jumped out of the window, causing a loud thud, the sound of attacking crickets, and even more screaming to be heard from outside.

Mandy was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. She didn't blink even once.
..The filthy troll kissed her. He actually kissed her just now. It wasn't a mere accident, she had her eyes and ears open the entire time, she wasn't imagining things. One moment she heard him and herself shouting to each other, and the next she saw how Billy closed his eyes and smashed his big head into hers.
She actually felt his lips kissing hers.

She experienced many awkward situations with him, but this left her confused beyond reason. Her thoughts were all mixed up.
What was she thinking right now, anyway? Many things, but nothing she could focus herself on.
And what did she tell Billy just now? Was Billy still there?..

She woke up from her trance and looked around, but he was nowhere to be found. She looked at her alarm clock; it seemed 2 hours had passed after Billy barged in to bring his lasagna.
She tried to remember what happened in the time between the kiss and his departure, but had troubles doing so. Her mind went completely blank the second after Billy..did that dispicable thing.

She let out a deep sigh.
Did her mind honestly got messed up by the kiss of a boy? Why? Why now? He kissed her before when they were 10, and Irwin kissed her more than once and it never gave the same result. And this was not the first time Billy got away without a good beating for kissing her, unlike Irwin. Well, she knew this time it was different, but...why was it?

Mandy tried to calm herself down. Maybe it wasn't the kiss, but the element of surprise. Yes, that's it. Of all people she didn't expect him to do something like this. Or did she?
...
This was getting ridiculous! How could she ever become the world leader if she gets petrified by a simple kiss? She must be strong.

Wait. It suddenly came back to her:

"So..you're not going to do anything bad, right?"

"Sure, Billy."

"You promise?"

"Sure, Billy."

Now she remembered.
She felt really stupid now, she acted like a babbling buffoon. What on Earth was she was saying? She had no intentions to give up her goal, why couldn't she just say so?

Mandy tried to cheer herself up with thoughts like "it wasn't the kiss, he probably put something in the lasagna" and "Billy's an imbecile, he probably forgot all about this conversation the very next morning", anything would do, as long she didn't give in to the confusion that just took over her mind.

She closed her eyes. She just wanted to go to sleep right now, and hoped that both she and Billy would forget the whole thing as soon as possible. But even now she kept hearing Billy's voice echo through her head: "Please, please, please, please, please, please..?"
Maybe I..should stop doing this, she thought. What? NO.
Mandy slapped herself in the face. What was the matter with her! Why would she even consider something like this? Was she under a spell or something?

"..Yes. A spell."

Suddenly it all made sense to her. This had to be the work of Grim.