Chapter 12
The front door of the Tofu household flew open and in came Buba, Mom, Bee and Beth in the lead – all four women swiftly moving around the house. After them came Matthew and Natalie Conners, Alexander and Julia Robins – their faces sporting extreme concern. Straight after them stepped in Pop and Titus, who were carrying a chair on which sat Mayor Haveitall – his face frozen in a wierd grinning grimace, his body as stiff as a log in the wake of his utter shock. Entering last were Angie, Rodney – both still dripping wet, along with Lola and Billy.
"Here, you three... you´ll need these."said Beth as she came back into the kitchen with three big towels and passed them to Rodney, Angie and finally her son, who was as drenched as the pair of them.
"Thank you, Mrs Hubbub."said Rodney gratefully as he wrapped one of the towles around himself.
"Yeah. Thanks Mom."said Billy smiling a bit as he reached for the towel.
Before he could do so however, Lola beat him to it and took the towel from Beth swiftly spreading it and covering her dear boyfriend, who gave her a loving look as her eyes were double-checking him for any injury he might have sustained during the entire messed-up race.
Angie however made no effort to even take the towel from Beth. Her eyes were set on her dear father and showing utmost concern as Bee fussed around him.
"What if something really serious happened to him...? He´s not particuraly young anymore... what if... what if he suffered a heart-attack or something?"fretted Angie fearfully.
Bee gave her a reassuring smile and shook her head before she reached into her pocket and extracted something which looked like a large pen-case.
"No worries, Angela... your father merely lost his cosmical balance for a moment, that´s all... Do not worry... that´s easily remedied."
Bee´s statement however did absolutely nothing to calm her.
"C...cosmical balance...?That´s BAD isn´t it?!"whispered Angie, her anxiety growing.
Suddenly she felt a warm towel being wrapped around her shoulders.
"No, Angie... you heared Ms Lotsabucks... its easily remedied."said Rodney in a soothing voice.
Angie instantly relaxed to the touch, feeling her anxiety melting away at the feel of Rodney´s hands massaging her shoulders soothingly trough the towel. Unconciously she moved more into the touch, not wanting it to end. However both of them gasped as they saw Bee produce a wierd-looking instrument from the pen-case – something that looked like a mixture of a compasses and a ruler. In the middle of it was a small crystal-pendlum and Bee gave it a small spin. Lola goaned to herself and returned to the task of drying Billy´s hair as she seated her boyfriend on the nearby chair. Billy on the other hand gave a small chuckle at the scene – growing quite used to Mom Tofu´s and Bee´s zen-examinations. Mom also approached Bee, looking over at the frozen mayor.
"Well, Bee?"she inquired curiously.
Looking carefully at the instrument, seeing that the pendlum was angled closer to the left side.
"Clearly he´s off... left side, sixty degrees – that only means one thing – fear, shock, disbelief."said Bee, nodding to herself.
Lola slapped herself on the forehead.
"You don´t have to use a zen-examination to tell me THAT!"she grumbled more to herself than anyone.
"Now, sweet buttercup... you know your Mom and Bee are experts at this. Let´s just be glad, that they couldn´t detect anything more serious."said Pop as he and Titus seated themselfs nearby along with the other guests.
Lola tensed in anger, but Billy´s hand that reached over his shoulder and touched her on the arm made her stop.
"Drop it, Lola. We´d better get back to the Aquapark and help Chichi."he said as he took the oppoturnity to pull his wet T-shirt over his head as he stood up.
Nodding, Lola took his hand and allowed herself to be lead out the main door towards the Hubbub House.
As the door slammed, Pop and Titus exchanged small smiles and looked at their wives, who were busy preparing food for everyone.
Also Buba was busy at the stove, boiling water in order to cook her famous Nettle Tea, which was said to be very good for the nerves. Rodney took a small look around the house and realized that his hands were still on Angie´s shoulders.
"Now´s as good time as any..."he thought to himself, inwardly scolding himself a bit for being so damn nervous.
But as he was pulling Angie out of the water following her horrible-looking fall, Rodney resolved himself to finally do something about the issue that haunted him for many weeks and months.
"Angie...?"
Angie looked over her shoulder to look at Rodney and the unreadable expression on his face.
"Could you come with me for a bit...? There´s something I wanted to talk to you about..."he said quietly pointing to the main door.
...
Immediatly following the disasterous end of the race, Chichi and his crew remained along with Wiseman and the brotherhood in order to quickly solve who was responsible for the sabotage. In fact, the party present at the Tofu Household was the only one allowed to leave the Aquapark – Wiseman had insisted in closing up the main gate and not let anyone out until the investigation was completed. The only other exception to the rule were Dr Spock and his wife with two other medics that took the injured Steve Rowan to the clinic. The other medics remained there too and were treating the numerous cuts and bruises the contestants and some of the onlookers sustained.
Though Wiseman and his brotherhood innitially suspected Chichi to be behind the entire matter, they were forced to drop the subject following the stirring defence of his sister, his friends, Rodney Philips and even Martin Skylark himself. Furious, Wiseman instantly called his policemen to the spot and now a massive questioning was underway. During this time, the brotherhood along with their allies and Chichi along with his crew were litterally tearing the place apart – scanning the numerous damage to the aquapark, searching for clues and double-checking everything. Chichi – being the creator of the Dingy Bashers, provided the others with his suspition and an explanation as to WHY the girls´ bashers behaved the way they did during the race.
"They were over-inflated."he explained to everyone as he took one of the brocken wooden poles and stepped towards one of the bashers used by the crew.
Striking it with the pole, the basher bounced it off but not too strongly. Approaching one of the girls´ bashers, which was on the ground, he did the same. Upon the stike, the basher litterally bounced away from him and landed several feet away, with Chichi being bounced back from it so strongly, that he instantly let go of the pole and used his hands to break his fall to the ground as the wooden pole flew across the air and landed into the waters of the aquapark. April instantly rushed to his side, but Chichi took no notice of it.
"See?"he asked the others as they gave a collective sound of realization.
"So what you´re saying, young Chichi... is that someone has over-inflated them... I´m guessing whoever could do this would have to know exactly how they work."said Wiseman smartly.
Shaking his head, Chichi sighed.
"Its not THAT hard to figure out how they work. Anyone could do this..."
Wiseman looked stumped for a second before recomposing himself.
"Well... in any case... whoever did it, must´ve did it shortly before the race began. Afterall, everything was checked over countless times before the start of the round. Which means, the culprit HAS to be here... My briliant deductive skills tell me, that the culprit is someone who knows the inside going-ons of this contest..."
Phil sighed and growled under his breath.
"Not hard to figure out, when the details of the race were announced three hours ago..."
Wiseman however took no notice of it and continued pacing up and down in the wake of his deduction.
"... that has to mean, that the culprit is from eighter the camera-crew, young Chichi´s crew or even the cast itself..."
Trashbin folded his arms.
"I can vouch for my men, Detective Wiseman. There´s no way any of them would do this..."
Wiseman however shook his head.
"With all due respect, Mr Skylark... until we find some evidence to the contrary, EVERYONE is a suspect in my eyes... well... except my trusty Brotherhood of course."
Nick, Tex and Archie shared a smirk even as Chichi smacked his forehead, drawing all attention to himself.
"Okay, this is getting us nowhere... First up, I think we should check every single place where the saboteur might´ve left a trace and see what we find."
Wiseman whooped happily.
"Excellent idea, young Chichi... Of course, that was my aim all along... come my brothers, we have clues to find."
Without another word Nick, Tex, Archie and Wiseman ran into all possible directions determined to find evidence, leaving April, Chichi and his crew and Trashbin standing there.
"Jeez... its really gonna be a loooong day."muttered Chichi as they watched their retreating backs.
"Don´t worry Chichi honey-bun. We´ll solve this for sure if Wiseman doesn´t."said April soothingly.
"Yeah, Chichi."nodded Phil.
Taking another small sigh, Chichi smiled and nodded. His simle grew larger as he saw that Billy and Lola were coming their way. However when he looked around better, he saw that there was someone missing in their midst.
"Where´s Miles?"
...
"Bummer, bummer, bummer..."moaned Lily for what now felt like a milionth time.
Laying on her bed, she didn´t even bother to take off the race costume. Her mask however was on her bedside table the moment she got back. Lucky her parents weren´t home... even THEY didn´t know that she was Lis all along. Ironicly, just yesterday during dinner they both said, that Lis was their favourite contestant. But THAT was not bothering her just now. MILES had seen her! She was planning on finally revealing her true identity, but under much different circumstances.
"Now what am I gonna do? Talk about awkward... how am I going to explain everything to him?"she thought furiously.
She remembered all too well the shocked look on Miles´ face. She wondered for a while if this entire contest-business could in the end damage their friendship. If he thought she was just like one of his too many fan-girls...
Sighing again she noticed, that the CD she played the moment she closed and locked the doors of her room had stopped playing. Getting up from her bed, she wanted to pick out another of her CDs, but upon reaching for it she spotted something out of her window. Something, that made her gasp in shock. Just beside her window, holding onto the tree that grew there was none other than Michael Miles, grinning like a maniac and waving one of his hands, the other holding on to the tree with the other. In an instant she opened her large window and watched Miles climb trough it into her room.
"Miles... wha... how?"she asked, at a loss for words.
Miles scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly.
"Well... I figured, that you´d come home and well... I wanted to see if you´re okay."
Lily was barely breathing, her cheeks turning red. Miles pretended not to notice this and looked around the room.
"Nice room, flower-girl... Funny, this is the first time I´ve been here..."he mused.
"How did you know, which window is from my room?"she asked suddenly.
Miles let out a sheepish laugh.
"Lucky guess... plus I´ve spotted you from the tree. I tried getting your attention for a while, but you seemed a milion miles away."
Sighing once again Lily sat on her bed, looking at the ground.
"Well... you´ve found out now, that I entered the contest too..."
Miles smiled a bit, but turned and looked out the window.
"Well... yeah. Lola and Angie told me, that Lis entered because of ME."he said softly.
Lily cringed a bit. However Miles turned and his face sported a gentle smile.
"One thing boggles my mind though, Lil... why the secret identity?"
Knowing now was the time to come out clean about everything, Lily took a long breath, every fiber of her being hoping for the best outcome.
"Well, first up due to my growing reputation with the book and all, I wasn´t sure mayor Haveitall would permit me to enter. I also thought that a Mystery contestant would be a fun thing not just for me, but also the entire contest..."
Miles gave out a happy chuckle.
"You just love being the mystery-girl, don´cha?"
The gentle teasing prompting a few giggles from her, Lily allowed a small moment to pass before continuing – feeling bolder and bolder.
"And last but not least, I wanted to shut-up that fan-girl movement you seem to have. I know you didn´t want it, but you see... these girls just claimed they love you, without knowing anything about you at all. That got me a bit jealous I admit... None of them know what a cool, funny, mischievous, kind and caring person you really are."
"And greedy... don´t forget, greedy."piped up Miles happily, pointing his thumb to his chest proudly.
Lily chuckled again.
"That too... well, those qualities and the little adventures we seem to always have made me... made me fall for you, Michael Miles. You are honestly one of the best people I have ever come across and...well... I... I love you."
"There... I said it..."thought Lily as soon as the last three words escaped her lips.
Now it was up to Miles. She looked up at him, holding her breath. Though his expression hadn´t changed much, his cheeks were bright red.
"Weeeell... I guessed as much as soon as I figured everything out... Stupid me never noticed the clue in your name – Lis is Lily in french...haha... Aaaand with everything I saw on the contest, this amazin´ masked girl, the mouthwatering strawberry surprise – have you any idea how tasty that stuff is by the way? And then, suddenly I find out that this cool girl is one of the coolest girls I have ever known and she fought so hard for my little ol´ heart...? What´s a guy supposed to say to that, except..."
Still sitting on the bed, Lily watched Miles move closer to her, get to his knees in order to level with her and spread his arms open, his face holding an expression of utter happiness.
"... meine liebe, because of you my heart KAPUT!"
Lily couldn´t help herself in that instant – she burst into giggles.
"THAT´S the wierdest love confession I have EVER heared."she said still giggling.
"Sorry, flower-girl... I´m no good at this..."said Miles grinning like a maniac, his arms still wide-open.
Lily grinned back, her heart whooping in sheer and utter joy.
"Like I care!"she exclaimed happily as she jumped into Miles´ arms.
...
Cherie had absolutely no idea how long she was pacing the waiting room of the Beauvillage Medical Clinic, but she didn´t care one bit. She didn´t even bother to head home and change, dispite the fact, that her house was not far from the clinic. She couldn´t rest until she knew, that her dear old friend, her warm and supportive boy, her Stevie for short, was all right. Every single minute that passed since the moment that Dr Spock and his wife had brought him into the room and closed the door made her feel more and more anxious. The blood she saw rolling from the side of her head made hers freeze in fear. What if God-forbid, he suffered some sort of heavy damage that would not heal until the end of his life? What if he ended up being confided on a wheel-chair? What if (Cherie was shaking in pure fear at the thought) he fell into some coma and would not wake ever again?! These scenarios played out in her mind since the door closed and made her realize very painfully just how much she felt for him. All of a sudden her entery into the Miss Beauvillage contest to win Miles´ heart came to her as a positively stupid thing to do. As she replayed almost every single thing Steve had ever done for her she wanted to slap herself for not noticing something very importaint. Something she scolded herself she was too stupid to see and it was RIGHT infront of her eyes – that this boy, this kind, sweet boy loves her.
"And now... it may be too late!"she told herself as she sat down, the thought itself enough to make her want to cry.
Her heart aching, she almost gave a sob when suddenly the door of the room opened and out came Dr Spock. Cherie was on her feet in an instant.
"Dr Spock! How is he?! Is he all right?! Did he suffer some hard injury?! Will it ever heal?!"she asked franticly.
Dr Spock placed a hand on her shoulder in a soothing manner.
"Calm down, Cherie... calm down. Take a few breaths."he said calmly.
Cherie quickly did as she was instructed, while Dr Spock ushered her back on the bench and sat down next to her.
"Well Cherie... he suffered a small concussion, but its not serious and there won´t be any lasting problem. However he broke his right arm during that crash, so that will take a bit of time to heal."
Cherie gasped.
"Oh no... he´s right-handed..."she whispered.
Dr Spock smiled at her.
"That is only a small problem, Cherie... Let´s be gratefull he didn´t sustain any lasting damage... or worse a lethal one."
"That fact is most fortunate for you, Ms Peters. I won´t have to charge you with murder."said a voice, which came from the very end of the hall, where Wiseman, Nick, Tex, Archie, the Tofu siblings, Billy, Phil and April were standing – and their faces were not exactly friendly ones as they came closer.
"Murder?! What the hell are you talking about?!"asked Cherie completly confused.
"The race my dear saboteur."nodded Wiseman, who looked very pleased about something.
"Saboteur?"breathed Cherie, now completly lost.
"Don´t deny it, Cherie! You over-inflated the bashers so that you could win the round easy."accused Nick, pointing his finger at her.
"Yeah! And you also sabotaged the other rounds as well!"nodded Archie, pointing as well.
"We finally chaught you in the act!"exclaimed Tex, pointing too.
"What are you four on about?! I didn´t sabotage the round!"exclaimed Cherie, standing up.
She looked at the others present there and saw, that they sported looks of utmost disgust.
"You entered because of Miles! And I know, that you never play fair."said Lola crossing her arms.
"That´s right."nodded April, crossing hers as well and glaring the girl as furiously as Lola.
"You´ve gone too far thistime, Cherie."said Phil fiercely, the fact that his cousin was now in the room infront of them boiling his blood.
"But I´m telling you, I DIDN´T do it!"exclaimed Cherie, loking at them franticly – wondering just how in the hell could they associate the incident with her.
Billy gave out a sad sigh.
"There was a time I would say that I believe you, Cherie. I thought that you´ve learnt your lesson when you tried to get the Tofus out of town. I thought you´ve changed... but I see I was wrong. And Steve paid the price for it... I realize that this falls on deaf ears, but he´s in love with you, Cherie. Though I have to say, that I can´t even understand WHY."
Cherie felt a powerfull pang. She gulped hard in order to fight down the sob that was threatening to escape her.
"Wait a minute everyone."said Dr Spock drawing all attenrion to himself.
Though he trusted the young teens there, the same couldn´t be said for the Brotherhood.
"I want to know how you came to the conclusion, that Cherie here is responsible for the sabotage."
Wiseman smiled gleefully and reached into his still drenched detective coat.
"Simple. We have evidence."
He pulled out a small air-pump and shown it to both of them.
"We suspected one of the contestants may be behind it and we searched their cabins. THIS was found in YOUR cabin, Ms Peters."
Cherie gasped, knowing what this means... but.
"Care to explain how it got into your cabin, Ms Peters?"asked Wiseman gleefully.
Cherie shook her head.
"Its not mine! I don´t know how it could get there, but I swear that its not mine!"
She saw at once, that no one believed her.
"I´m afraid that nothing you say can help you Ms Peters. Under the weight of the evidence and as Beauvillage´s detective, I place you under arrest. You will come with us to the police station."said Wiseman as he opened the palm of his free hand and gestured to Archie.
Archie at once reached into his pocket and took out a set of handcuffs.
"No way!"breathed Cherie utterly shocked.
"I agree with them for once, Cherie. You will pay for what you´ve done."said Lola fiercely as Wiseman came closer and placed the handcuffs on her hands.
"No wait! You can´t do this!"yelled Cherie as Wiseman turned and steered her towards the direction all of them came from.
"Its useless to struggle, Cherie. You have been chaught red-handed by the Brotherhood of the Wise."said Nick smirking as he assisted Wiseman in steering her towards the exit dispite her protests.
"Do we read her her rights, brother Fred?"asked Archie as they left.
Watching them leave, Billy sighed sadly. Lola placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Dr Spock scratched his head, but saw that Chichi and Phil moved closer to him.
"How is he, Dr Spock? Is he allright?"asked Phil, concern showing in his eyes and reflected in the eyes of his best friend.
"He´s sleeping right now, boys. A broken arm, but that´s the worst of it. You may all come in to see him, but quietly please. He needs his rest right now."
Their visit didn´t take long, due to the fact that Steve was fast asleep. April also took the chance to spend a bit of time with her parents. The fact, that they had their night-ward today meant that April would once more be spending the night at the Tofu household along with Billy. Chichi however was very quiet indeed, barely saying anything for the remainder of the day as though deeply thinking about something. This little mood of his was very visible on him even as nightime came and it was time for bed.
"Chichi? I´m talking to you."said April happily as Chichi´s direction was diverted from the work-table in his room.
"Sorry... I was thinking about something."he muttered apologetically.
April giggled a bit.
"I said, that Lola asked me to swich with Billy in her room."she said.
Chichi quickly looked at the clock on his table. Sure enough, it was five minutes to midnight. He was so focused, that he completly neglected the time. That also explained the swich, because Pop, Mom and Buba would surely be fast asleep at this time of night. And once more, Lola took the oppoturnity of that to spend the night cuddled to her boyfriend. April happily accepted the swich. In fact, the girls agreed on the entire matter with much glee. The perfect plan in her eyes – Lola spending the night with Billy and she getting to sleep next to her beloved Chichi honey-bun. Chichi´s cheeks took on a deep blush when he realized, April is standing next to him in her pyjamas. Noticing the blush, April giggled again but diverted her gaze on his work-table.
"Sooo... what are you working on?"she asked, viewing the newspapers, notes and his open notebook, where he scribbled his musings.
Quickly recompozing himself Chichi stood up and stepped to his window, surveying the full-moon.
"I´m looking over everything that went down in the contest. Something is off..."he said thoughtfully.
April at once knew what was going trough his mind.
"Chichi... Cherie was behind everything. Wiseman dealt with her and serves her right. You saw the pump. Its obvious now, who´s behind the sabotage."she said the last part fiercely, sharing Lola´s dislike for the said girl.
Chichi´s eyebrows furrowed as he once more mused on it.
"Yeah... too obvious."
...
The very next day the entire incident was published in almost every newspaper. Various titles spoke of a scandal and caused poor Mayor Haveitall to faint in his office early in the morning with Angie taking care of him. However, as Lola noticed upon her and Billy´s visit at Town Hall before school, Angie was rather bubbly and giggly causing quite a few small accidents. Lola wondered briefly if she shouldn´t hang around and help out, but didn´t think Professor Morter would appretiate her missing out class once again – the woman being furious about it as it were. The titles also featured the reason for the sabotage, as Wiseman took the liberty of providing the answers for the media. Cherie was now ostracized heavily, though she was released from the police station yesterday upon the arrival of her parents. Her mother refused to believe her "little angel" could be responsible for the sabotage and her father also supported her though he didn´t seem so convinced of his daughter´s innocence. Cherie was however hurt most, when she visited Steve upon being relased. Steve it seemed refused to believe her and didn´t let her explain anything before Dr Olivia Spock came into the room and ushered her from it, saying that Steve needs his rest. Cherie couldn´t remember the last time she cried so much as that night. She cried herself to sleep and was still feeling horrible when she woke. She decided to walk to school, needing fresh air. She noticed many eyes upon her and all of them were looking very hostile.
"This can´t get any worse."she thought to herself miserably.
"Cherie."
THAT voice chilled her bones. Looking around she saw, that Mrs Rowan was walking up to her, her hands full of bags as she moved up the pavement from the supermarket. Cherie considered running away. This was Steve´s MOTHER. Her son is in hospital and she herself is considered to be the blame. Upon coming closer however, Mrs Rowan´s face shown concern rather than hostility.
"You look terrible, dear."she said quietly, looking her up and down.
"I feel even worse, Mrs Rowan."answered Cherie truthfully.
"Stevie spoke to me a while ago. I was visiting him before going to the market."
Cherie gasped.
"Mrs Rowan, I swear I didn´t do a thing to sabotage the round! I really didn´t cheat thistime! No one believes me, though..."
Mrs Rowan sighed sadly.
"Stevie doesn´t eighter I´m afraid. He told me that he would love to, but I´m afraid he´s as convinced about the thing as the others are."she said surveying her closely.
Cherie looked at the pavement as she felt a yet another pang, that almost made her start crying again. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"He told me, that he would like to believe you... however Cherie... I believe you."
Cherie gasped and looked up almost not daring to believe it. The older woman smiled at her gently.
"I can see, that you´ve been crying. All night probably. You wouldn´t do such a thing JUST for being chaught at something."
Cherie felt tears sting her eyes, but thistime out of gratitude towards this amazing woman.
"You love my son, am I right?"
Her question kinda startling her, but since Steve was placed into the clinic´s room, Cherie knew the answer to that question.
"Yes. I do, Mrs Rowan. But... but what can I do?! He thinks I´m guilty! He won´t let me explain!"she asked desperately, now letting the tears fall freely.
Marion Rowan thought to herself for a second and fixed her with a supportive smile.
"Then you must fight for it, dear. If you really didn´t do it, you must prove who did. If to no one else, then Stevie. You must fight for him, Cherie – and thistime not in some contest."she said sagely.
Cherie´s face was clearing. Knowing she had her support meant the world to her.
The knowledge not only emboldened her, but helped her troughout most of the day, since her classmates didn´t hide their feelings of resentment one bit. Even Nina and Zoe, though they gave her sympathetic looks kept their distance from her over the course of the day.
"Stevie would surely be at my side in times like this."she pondered over the course of Professor Philips´ class, the thought only straightening her resolve to clear her name and clear everything up with the boy she truly loves.
She was kinda afraid, that Professor Philips would show some resentment towards her, but was surprised. To the mystery of the entire class, Professor Rodney Philips seemed positively shining in happiness, joking around and being litterally the life of the class, acting much like a teenager THEY were.
"Jeez, what´s wrong with Philips? He seems to be like... 20 years younger."mused Mary, the moment when Professor Philips exited the room.
"Yeah. Something real good must´ve happened. But what? After yesterday´s fiasco?"pondered Julia as everyone except Cherie gathered up infront of the class.
Lola pondered about it and suddenly came up with an answer. But she knew better than to say it outloud. Remembering Angie´s bubbly mood this morning and now Rodney´s happy one, she knew that it didn´t take the genius mind of her younger brother to puzzle this out. Lily by the looks of it, was in the same bubbly mood, which only meant that she will have to have a nice, loooooong talk with her.
"Don´t even mention that fiasco."muttered Billy.
"Yeah. The entire thing could´ve ended up nicely, if not for a certain someone."said Joe darkly.
As one, the faces of the entire class looked at Cherie, who was sitting in the back and gazing trough the window seemingly in her own world.
"How am I going to prove, that it wasn´t me who sabotaged the race?"she pondered for what felt like the milionth time.
She tried with all her might to think WHO could be responsible for the over-inflation, but once more came up empty-handed. Knowing by now that she couldn´t possibly puzzle this out on her own, she considered asking Wiseman and his brotherhood for help, but immediately dismissed the thought. Wiseman thought she was guilty and was stone-cold convinced of it. There´s no way they could help... But who...? She suddenly gasped as the answer came to her.
"He... maybe he could... but still asking help from HIM?!"
She instantly scrowled at the prospect. Her pride shouting a loud and clear "NO", Cherie weighted her chances – he perhaps would be able to help her, but she wasn´t sure he would be willing to do so and she wouldn´t want to come to him groveling like a beaten puppy. Trying to make up her mind, she looked away from the window to see most of her class was already out of the classroom. The only two that remained were Billy and Lola. She watched as Billy passed Lola her bag and took her by the hand, Lola rewarding the gesture with a sweet kiss as they too left. Looking around the empty classroom, her eyes fell on one particular desk – the one which was ussually occupied by Steve. Her eyes looked at the spot longingly and for a small second she let her imagination roam free, replaying the very same scene she witnessed but with different actors. She saw in her mind´s eye her Stevie passing her her bag, the adorable blush on his face upon his reward... Her mind was made up in one instant.
"Screw pride!"
...
Chichi and Phil endured many curious questions over the course of their school day. However to Phil´s surprise, Chichi seemed to be suddenly very supportive of gossip. He chatted freely with almost everyone who came asking. This attracted as much curiosity from April and Chloe, who were also mystified at Chichi´s sudden change of views. More so, Phil got the feeling as though Chichi was waiting for something to happen, judging by the fact that he was checking the time quite frequently and spacing out here and there over the course of the entire day. Phil couldn´t shake the feeling, that his best friend was once more up to something.
"Chichi m´man, what´s up?"he finally asked as they exited their final lesson of the day.
Chichi grinned at him.
"Oh you know... this and that..."he said idly.
Phil shook his head and grinned at him.
"Come on dude... I´m your best friend remember? You could finally let me in on what´s going on in your head."
Chichi smiled as they went trough the main door, but swiftly turned a serious look on Phil.
"Not right now, Phil. I´ll explain everything in the Hole."he said quietly.
Phil came to a realization and nodded, while Chichi´s serious look vanished and was replaced once again with his happy-go-lucky one.
"No wonder Lil modeled Detective Razor after him."mused Phil smirkingly.
Suddenly the twosome heared Phil´s name being called. Turning around they saw a small group of nine-grade girls. Among them was the girl Phil had a crush on – Nicolette. All of them were waving at them and gesturing for them to join them on their side of the schoolyard.
"Go ahead."said Chichi, grinning at his best friend like a maniac.
Phil´s cheeks turned red.
"I... I´d rather not..."
Chichi grinned deviously and reached for Phil´s shoulders – which was surprisingly easier to do, now that he was a bit taller.
"Phil... take it from your best friend – GET OVER THERE!"he said as he steered his best friend towards their direction and gave him a gentle push.
Phil fixed him with a blushing, sheepish look.
"Just remember... four ´o clock in the Hole."said Chichi giving him a small hand-sighn before turning and leaving the schoolyard.
Over his shoulder he saw Phil make his way towards the girls.
"Yup... love is in the air."he thought happily as he made his way trough the street, aiming for home.
As he was moving along a crowded street, he suddenly felt a pair of arms on his shoulders grab him and pull him into a side-alley. His reflexes kicking in he swiftly reached with both of his hands for one of the hands that held his shoulders and yanked it with all his might infornt of himself in a rotating movement. He saw a girl stumble before him and hit the nearby trashcan with a thud.
"Ouch! Take it easy!"she exclaimed and Chichi instantly realized who she was.
"You shouldnt´ve grabbed me like that. Anyway, what do YOU want?!"he asked, his face taking on a small glare.
Cherie recomposed herself and walked towards him.
"I... I need your... your... help."she stammered out, struggling a bit to get the last word out.
Chichi quirked an eyebrow, folding his arms.
"Help? You? Asking a Tofu for help?"he asked skepticly.
Cherie took a small breath, knowing this won´t be easy.
"Yes... and this is no scheme if that´s what you´re wondering... no, I... I really need your help. I didn´t... didn´t sabotage those bashers and I need your help to prove I didn´t."she said, doing all she possibly could to swallow her pride, praying that this boy will hear her plea.
Chichi´s expression didn´t change one bit as he folded his arms.
"After everything you´ve done over the years... all the cheating, all those shcemes, all those times your little stunts caused us to have a hard time, all those times I´ve seen my sister cry because of something you did or messed up and after that near-war with the Hubbubs, I´m supposed to say yes and help you?"he asked, his eyes narrowing.
Cherie looked at the ground, Chichi´s question making her realize just how much happened over the years. For a small moment she envied Lola for having a sibling who would defend her like that – something she quietly envied everytime she saw evidence of that – never wanting to admit it to herself. Though self-criticly (something she grew very much accustumed to in the last 24 hours) she wouldn´t blame him for turning her plea down, she resolved once more to carry out the deed no matter what it took.
"Yes... please, Chichi... please... I have no one else to turn for help... you´re my last chance to clear myself."she said bringing her hands together in a gesture of pleading.
"Before I even consider my answer, I would very much like to know what pushed you into this... just out of curiosity."he said purposely.
Cherie bit her lip, unsure about what to tell him. This was the brother of her arch-rival afterall. On the other hand... she had nothing to lose now and the tone of his question made her quite sure that his answer will depend on HERS. She therefore decided for something which was very unfamiliar, especialy in the face of her rivals – the truth.
"I... I want to prove it wasn´t me who sabotaged the round. Not just to everyone in Beauvillage but to... a certain someone."she said, biting her lip upon admiting it.
Chichi´s quirked eyebrow remained the same, however his face was now showing utmost surprise.
"Steve?"he asked in utter amazement.
Cherie bit her lip harder, almost drawing blood in the process.
"Yes! I... I love him... and I want to make it right... that´s why..."
She noticed Chichi looking at her with an analytical look - seeing he was in deep thought. She allowed a moment of silence to pass as she was waiting for his answer.
"Okay... let´s say I believe you and that I´ll help you. But for that I´ll need to know everything. Everything you did or DIDN´T do over the course of the entire contest. Also everyone who was involved. Everything EXCATLY how it happened."
Chichi felt an immence sence of relief, one that was visibly showing on her face.
"Hocus... Pocus... Ca-ca-ca... Caramba..."
Chichi at once reached into his pocket, his face showing utmost happiness.
"Yes, Mr Gee... yea... oh... I´d imagine... yea...well..."he paused, thinking over something.
"...I´ll talk to Trashbin – I mean, Mr Skylark and see about it... yea, that´d be cool... we´re having a meeting tonight, I´ll tell them... yea... I´m sure Mayor Haveitall will be for the idea... yea... okay... I´ll call you back around nine pm... okay... thanks."
Cherie was astounded... Gee? As in Christopher Gee? This kid was obviously hiding much more than anyone knew. She watched with amazement as Chichi deactivated his phone and placed it back into his pocket.
"Okay, Cherie... you´ll have to tell me everything. You´ve been disqualified so I can´t get you back into the contest, but let´s say that my suspitions about the bonus round are growing and the fingers are almost certainly pointing the wrong way. Tell me everything you know."
Cherie was barely able to contain the feeling of relief and happiness as she quickly started to retell the entire story.
...
Jaq La Jolie knew that it was a good idea to remain in Beauvillage for a few days more. He, Gerard and Gabriel spent most of the two days after the incident observing and eavesdropping many conversations around town. It quickly became apparent that the incident had indeed drawn the interest of the media as planned. However Jaq quickly realized, that framing one of the contestants may have been a mistake. Once the girl have been dealt with and the incident was very well published, it failed to achieve the effect he wanted. Whatsmore this morning an announcement was made to both Beauvillagers and the media at large saying, that the final round will take place as planned in mere days. The interest grew even more following the announcement made by Lis Milo at Town Hall saying, that she was withdrawing from the contest. Thanking her fans for their support she apologized and explained that winning the contest was not her motive, that she entered the contest for fun and that she "already has all that she possibly could want" – the mystery girl scored high points with the media even without revealing her true identity and it will no doubt become one of the Town´s legends – a mystery which even the famous Detective Wiseman wasn´t able to crack.
The announcement of the contest´s final round also included a public explanation of the round´s objective by Mr Skylark. Following a late-night meeting from the following night it was decided that the last round will be a free discipline and that the winner will be decided by three factors – popularity points gathered from the website and phonecall votes by the fans over the course of the round, skill points made by the three judges and so-called homebase points, which would be given by Beauvillagers themselfs – a kind of vote for the best girl. Jaq had to admit, that he had his work cut out for him thanks to this. There was no telling what the contestants were going to do, making it very difficult to prepare any way of sabotaging them at all – he felt certain, that discovering what each girl will be doing is going to need some expert spying.
"Well... at least this will be a challenge worthy of someone like me..."he thought with a smirk as he sat in the Moonshade Café.
Still in his guise as simply Jack he was completly unnoticed as his ears were wide open for any information among the gossiping girls that may prove usefull, even as Mrs Sweetlong had served him a yet another of her famous cakes. Other than a few gossips about the girl - Cherie and what a disgrace she brought on Beauvillage for cheating in live tv, Jaq was coming up empty-handed. He wondered briefly whether he could rectify his mistake with Cherie by framing her again – that would definitely glue the dirt on her in the eyes of Beauvillagers, he heared enough about her to be sure of that. Suddenly his interest peaked when he looked out the window and saw the very girl he was thinking about walking the street. Deciding at once, that tailing her would be a more productive course of action than eavesdropping gossiping girls, he stood up and went for the door – not even finishing his cake. Moving across the street behind her, he was once more proud of his disguise – he blended in with the crowd perfectly, no one was paying the slightest bit of attention to him, least of all the girl he was shadowing. He pondered for a while where could this girl be off to in such a hurry. His question was answered when they reached Beauvillage Clinic – he knew that Steve was in there, but what was this girl´s relation to him? Very quietly he shadowed her up the stairs to the medical ward and looked on from the end of the hall as she entered a room before following.
Cherie smiled gently as she layed her eyes on Steve, still lying in bed but chatting happily with none other than Chichi. Upon noticing her, both boys flashed her smiles though Chichi´s small smile was nothing compared to Steve´s beaming one.
"I was just filling him in on everything."explained Chichi as he got up from the visitor´s chair.
"You´ve got everything planned then?"inquired Cherie, inwardly feeling a deep relief.
Chichi nodded smilingly as he moved towards her and the door.
"I think so. There are a few things I have left to do though. Anyways I´m sure you two have a lot to talk about so I´ll go now."he said, flashing a wink to Steve who smiled in appretiation.
"Thanks a milion, Chichi."he said as happy as one can be.
Chichi smiled his infamous grin before he left the room, leaving them completly alone. As he exited the room and closed the door however saw a shaggy bispectalled blonde boy standing next to the next room´s door, seemingly waiting for someone. Shrugging it off he turned and went towards the stairs not noticing the calculating look the older boy was shooting him.
The moment Chichi closed the door to Steve´s room, Cherie moved in a heartbeat – cathing Steve in a warm embrace, an undescribable feeling of happiness coursing trough every fiber of her being. She was however carefull of his right arm, which was in a sling and pressed to his chest.
"I´m so sorry, Cherie..."whispered Steve, returning the hug with his healthy arm, pressing her to him not wanting to ever let go.
"I should´ve trusted you..."
Cherie momentarily broke the tight hug to look at him, yet still kept her arms around him.
"I´m the one who´s sorry, Stevie..."she whispered, looking at him as gently as she possibly could.
"... sorry, that I haven´t noticed what was under my nose all along. Sorry for all those times I must´ve hurt you... sorry for getting you into this bed to begin with and sorry for not listening to you right from the start. Can you ever forgive me?"
Steve´s heart was almost bursting with happiness – finally he was hearing the words he sooooo longed to hear - it almost seemed like a dream come true. With eyes shining behind his glasses he cupped her cheek gently.
"Cherie..."he all but whispered, trying so hard to find the words but falling to do so on an epic level.
Cherie however read out most of it even without them and with a small giggle moved her face closer and chaught his lips in a love-filled kiss that seemed to go on forever, until they parted.
"I love you, Stevie... and I promise – everything will be all right from now on."she said passionately before moving in for another kiss, that oozed even more love than the previous one.
Watching the scene from the slightly open door (which the pair completly failed to notice), Jaq smiled deviously.
"That´s what you think."
...
Arriving in the Hidehole, Chichi played several possibilities of sabotage in his mind. He intended to counter each and every one of them and was happy that Trashbin had provided him with copies of the plans his people were making just now – enlarging the podium at Town Hall Square and fixing it for the needs of the final round under Police protection that Wiseman had provided. Both Trashbin and Mayor Haveitall placed all their hopes into him rather than Wiseman and he vowed not to let them down. Also, while he was no fan of Cherie he really felt that someone (and he had a very sneaky suspition he knew who) framing her with the Dingy-basher fiasco was a very low move. Lola and April strongly voiced their opinions when he informed the gang of everything and both are still a bit furious with him for siding with Cherie, though agreeing that this saboteur HAS to be stopped. He confessed his suspitions to Lily, Phil, Billy and Miles since the two girls stomped out of the Hidehole angerly and they agreed, that if the saboteur is indeed the person he suspects, any rivalry in Beauvillage has to go aside – Lily and Billy sharing a sound dislike for the said person and Miles and Phil conviced that if the matter was left to the Brotherhood it would positively end up in a failiure. So each of them agreed to do anything to help, but Chichi needed to sort out his plan first. Not to mention that his best friend started to spend time with the 9th Grade girls – particurally Nicolette, who confessed her feelings to Phil and the two were on their very first date just now. Chichi was very happy for his best friend and Lily happily embraced him upon hearing the news.
"Well done, little guy."she exclaimed happily as she ruffled his head, completly bubbly about it.
However Chichi didn´t see the same happiness when Lily announced in the Tofu house on the very same night after the disasterous race not only the fact, that she was Lis (Billy, April and Phil were utterly shocked upon this revelation, while the Tofu siblings shared a cheeky laugh), but also the fact that she and Miles were now an item. April and Lola rejoiced greatly upon this news hugging the poor girl almost to death in their joy, Billy smilingly congratulating both Miles and Lily, but Chichi saw for a slight moment that his best friend seemed a bit stumped for a moment. Though he immediatly covered it up with a smile and congratulated them, Chichi couldn´t shake off the feeling that something was a miss there. Recalling the Bunglewood adventure he wondered, whether Phil wasn´t harboring secret feelings for the mystery-girl – however he was completly unsure now if it was Lily OR Lis he had a possible crush on. Nevertheless he figured it must´ve been a crush since he was now dating Nicolette. Shaking it off he decided to focus on the problem at hand as he opened the door to the Hidehole. Suddenly he was treated to a sight of Miles and Lily sitting on the couch, making-out passionately.
"Woooah. Tone it down a bit, you lovebirds."he said cheekily as the two noticed him come trough the door and stopping at once.
Both blushed crimson-red and gave him a sheepish look. Since getting together they only informed the gang about it. Because of the contest, they decided to make their relationship public after it ends. That of course meant, that their recent make-out sessions were minimal and only in places where they wouldn´t be seen – like the Hidehole for instance.
"Sorry, Chich... got a bit carried away here."said Miles scratching his head, grinning like a maniac.
Chichi folded his arms and adopted a mock-stern pose.
"Lucky I arrived just in time. Otherwise you might´ve gotten carried away too much."he said, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.
Lily and Miles´ faces took on even more red color at what he was implying.
"Oh no no no, Chichi. Definitely NOT here. I´m saving my room for such an occasion."said Lily, playing along with Chichi´s joke.
Miles also chaught on and nodded feverishly.
"I agree with my flower-girl. Though I can´t see what´s wrong about doing it in my trusty van..."
The trio shared a humorous laugh before moving to the master-table where a big computer was. Once seated on his chair, with Miles on his right side and Lily on the left one, Chichi adopted a serious look.
"So I´m taking into consideration many possible ways of sabotaging the round. I´ll need several things which may not be easy to get a hold of, Miles."
Miles did a small sallute.
"You got it, genius-boy. Anything you need is yours."
Chichi smiled and nodded.
"I´ll pay you back for it after the contest."
Miles looked at him and shook his head.
"Chichi, Chichi... you should know very well right now, that I won´t take a dime from you."
Lily smiled affectionately as Chichi shook his head.
"I´m not sure about this, Miles. Some of it may not come cheap."
Miles however grinned happily at him.
"That´s no trouble, Chich. I´ll just charge my expences to Mayor Have-man."
Lily at once frowned at him.
"Miles! You know very well, that Mayor Haveitall had it tough these last few days. All of us are trying to cheer him up and handing him a heavy bill is NOT the way to do it!"
Miles raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Okay okay, Lil... I´ll sort it out with Trashbin then. He has no trouble at all."
Lily rolled her eyes and giggled.
"Anyways, I´ll also be needing some support from the boys from our crew. It would also be nice to have someone on hand with a photocamera just in case someone shady shows up and evidence will be needed."said Chichi quickly getting back on topic.
Lily smiled and gave a nod.
"Ready, willing, able and at your service, young sir."
Chichi grinned at her and nodded.
"And Miles... I´ll be counting on you and Philips too to be able to take charge of a situation and divert the attention of the viewers if anything fails."
Miles gave an aprroving nod.
"I´ll tell Rodney ´bout it. He´ll be more than willing to help. What about ol´ Wisey though? You know the Brotherhood is busy with their Surpreme Investigation."he said snickering.
Chichi at once joined him in the snicker and Lily started giggling.
It was a well known fact to them, that since the end of the last round the Brotherhood was running around town franticly. Searching and investigating into the mystery of Wiseman´s secret admirer with hilarious situations following at the heel. Already Archie and Tex ended up interrogating almost every young girl in Beauvillage aged from 16 to 21 at the police station – not getting any leads at all. Wiseman ended up being subjected to many girl´s affectionate hugs and glomps – the word of the investigation taking Beauvillage by a storm thanks to Archie´s blabbling mouth and several girls tried to make it appear as though they were the said admirer, while others merely begged the detective to simply pick them as his girlfriend. Just yesterday Wiseman had to lock himself in his office to get away from them and immediatly innitiated a special password upon which he would open the door.
"Wiseman actually did his bit without knowing."said Chichi grinning.
Miles and Lily exchanged surprised looks before looking to Chichi for explanation.
"You see... he insisted on Cherie being locked into one of the holding cells two hours before the start of the final round, leaving her under guard of two policemen."
Lily smacked her forehead whereas Miles merely shook his head.
"I mean really... he found her guilty and all but THIS is taking things a little bit too far."she said grumbling.
"Actually, Lily... this works for our cause. Even if the real saboteur won´t be chaught red handed, Cherie will be cleared of all suspitions, since she´ll be locked and even have two police wittnesses on her side."
As Lily nodded, Chichi turned on his chair and looked behind himself scanning the Hidehole´s room musingly.
"I think we´ll have to bring some stuff from the Hole down too. The more secret weapons we have the better."
His eyes fell upon the rubber-tire statue made by Lis and a mischievous smile played on his lips.
...
The night before Friday – the last round, Jaq was sitting in the room of the tiny motel Beauvillage held in the company of his trusty servants. The deadline was drawing to a close and he felt that they wouldn´t be better prepared no matter how much time left would they have. The five days of eavesdropping and information gathering had given them all the infos they needed, but Jaq was by now very well aware, that this operation would also hold a strong opponent for him.
"This Chichi – kid... this so-called boy-genius... he poses about the most danger."he said as the trio was looking over some of the dozen of drawn plans on the room´s table.
The papers themselfs contained the information overheared from the Beauvillage´s teens, Beauvillage´s adults – since they have been just as ecsastic about the thing, and Beauvillage firms, which provided support for the last round. Troughout the week Jaq and the Robuste Twins had seen how the anticipated final round seemed to have united entire Beauvillage – people working together, some even voulenteering to assist in any way possible. The few firms Beauvillage had like the Home-fix-it offered more than mere material, the Moonshade café and Burger Palace joining in too along with other food-catering places...
All in all the athmosphere in Beauvillage started to resemble the recent Outdoor Sales Day and tourists were coming here and there, not even minding the small check-ups done by the Beauvilage Police. And tommorow, a great many of them would be visiting to wittness the spectacular final round of Miss Beauvillage. For this reason - Jaq suspected, the homebase points were being voted today at Town Hall, resembling an election more than anything. The votes themselfs were boing counted just now by the three judges inside Mayor Haveitall´s office, leaving Jaq absolutely no way of sabotaging the vote. He had overheared the girl he remembered from the Sales Day – April, telling her two of her classmates, that it was the boy-genius who directed most of the going ons for the round and that the mayor and the organizator are listening to his leads. As he pondered on just HOW could a scrawny low-leveled fourteen year old moutard manage to have the support of two such people, he saw April and Chloe give the boy their most glowing, affectionate smiles leaving him blushing and grinning sheepishly.
"We need to make sure, that he won´t be present for the contest."he muttered darkly.
Gerard and Gabriel shared a small look and nodded.
"Oui, parton."they said together.
"We will have to hide him somewhere though... is there any such a place in this dull town?"he asked looking at the twins expectantly – he tasked the twins in looking for just such places just the other day.
"I know one, patron... here. Un petit vieil entrepôt..."said Gerard, pointing to the Beauvillage map.
"Excellent. We will hide the brat there."said Jaq smiling deviously.
"Patron... why do we have to hide him? Why don´t we just make it look like he had sabotaged the round?"asked Gabriel scratching his head.
Both twins instantly cringed as Jaq glared the pair of them.
"Because, vous imbecile ... if we did THAT people would question it, it won´t make any sence at all..."he said trough gritted teeth.
"Pardon, patron."muttered Gabriel apologeticly.
"Anyway, we also have to make sure that the girl – Cherie is seen at the scene."
At this piece, both the twins looked at eachother in confusion, but knew better than to ask why.
Jaq smirked to himself as he recounted the scene he wittnessed at the Clinic. From what he´d seen and what he put together, he had the perfect plan in mind the moment he left the clinic. Standing up he walked to the backpack which contained the two pairs of girl´s clothing he bought just today.
"The greatest act of this little play..."he said viciously as he shown the twins the clothes and proceeded on explaining them the plan.
...
Cherie was quite sure, she never imagined to find herself sitting in the Moonshade café next to her now boyfriend and opposite the brother of her arch-rival, but like she learned during the past week – things had a manner of changing. Due to the fact, that the student´s minds as well as the professors´ would be waaay too occupied on the contest, the mayor in accordance with the principals Whiterose and Knowmuch yesterday declared a day-off from school for the Friday. The town was in a state of utter ecstasy and nearly everyone was busy here and there, anticipating the start of the final round at 5 pm at Town Hall Square, where a magnificent podium was built and seating areas were set up for those who prefered to be a bit further from the action. Done with the preparations, Chichi went straight for the café, knowing that Steve would be there with Cherie, before she went to the Police station.
"So you´ve got everything worked out?"asked Cherie curiously as Chichi sat down after placing his order.
"Yup. I was a bit surprised that you, Cherie wanted to meet up at the Moonshade."
Cherie´s face saddened a bit.
"This is about the only place left in Beauvillage where people don´t glare me on sight."
A smile crossed her features however as she felt Steve take her hand, rubbing it with his thumb in a soothing manner.
"Don´t worry, Cherie. By nightfall, everything will be okay."
Though more than appretiative of the gesture, Cherie still felt a twinge of worry. A small unease, a possibility that something disasterous is bound to happen.
"Yea... just to be on the safe-side, I´ve arranged it, so the two policemen who are supposed to be guarding you will come here and escort you to the police station."said Chichi smilingly.
Both Cherie and Steve looked very surprised. Unable to contain himself Chichi chuckled in obvious amusement.
"Daniel Rogers voulenteered to be one of the guards."
Steve´s eyes went wide in realization.
"Vic... You asked him trough Victor, right?"
Chichi grinned, confirming his suspition.
"I don´t really trust Wiseman and his brotherhood, you know..."
Steve chuckled while Cherie shook her head in awe.
"You really think of everything, don´t you?"she asked unable to contain herself.
Chichi blushed lightly at the small praise.
"Well... let´s hope I do..."he muttered as Steve´s chuckle was upgraded to a laugh.
Before anyone could say anymore, Chichi´s order was being served by none other than...
"Emily? What´re you doing here?"asked Chichi pleasantly, surprised a bit as he saw his classmate in a waitress-apron serve him his cake.
"Helping the folks. With so many visitors they really needed my help over the week."she answered smiling at Chichi.
Steve smiled too, but Cherie couldn´t help the small feel of unease return to her. Unlike most of the town, the Sweetlongs took the suspitions about the sabotage neutrally, Mrs Sweetlong treating her just the same as though nothing happened, but Cherie knew that Emily was dating Archie and he was a member of the brotherhood that arrested her. However upon closer look, Emily looked just as neutral about the matter as her parents – the fact making Cherie breath a sigh of relief, for she really wasn´t up for more antagonism.
"Does that mean you´ll be serving along with your parents as the contest goes down?"inquired Steve curiously.
Emily shook her head smilingly.
"Mom insisted I go out there and have some fun. We´re meeting up with the gang before the contest. Just about everyone from our class will be there, Chichi. Well... except you, Phil and my teddy-bear with his brothers."
Chichi chuckled dispite himself.
"Don´t I know it, Emily..."
He would´ve prefered the brotherhood staying away from the backstage, but Wiseman had insisted they be on hand should something happens.
"Well... I hope you guys will be around for the after-party Oliver is organizing. You´re invited too, right?"
Chichi nodded in agreement. It took him years to be recodnized enough in the class´ most popular kid´s eyes to finally be invited to his parties, which he must admit were very fun sometimes. Emily simply nodded back and left, going off to do some more work.
"Anyway, Chichi... I owe a big thanks to you for all this..."said Cherie.
Chichi waved it off gallantly, shaking his head as Cherie turned to Steve.
"... and I owe you just as much for the beautifull new dress you´ve bought me."she said gesturing to her new fashionable red and black dress.
Steve blushed as Cherie´s hand gently outlined his cheek before going to his hair.
"But I didn´t..."stammered Steve, shuddering in pleasure as Cherie played with his hair.
"The package left on our doorstep with "My Sweetheart" on the card... really Stevie... you are the sweetest boy I have ever met."she said passionately as she moved in for an equally passionate kiss.
Chichi grinned and busied himself with his cake as the kiss went on. Suddenly the café´s door opened and Daniel Rogers walked in dressed in his uniform and waved in greeting.
"Daniel, nice to see you. Thanks for the favor."grinned Chichi as Daniel walked to their table and shook his hand with him.
"My pleasure, Chichi. I want to see the case solved and well... you´ve been right in the past and helped us out too. Plus Vic is really looking up to you..."
Chichi shrugged as Cherie and Steve parted and Cherie stood up.
"You´re in good hands, Cherie."said Steve, trying to soothe her some more.
Chichi nodded.
"Its just a precaution, don´t worry. Daniel... call me if something´s up."
Daniel nodded and escorted Cherie out of the café. Steve breathed a deep sigh as the door closed.
"Well... let´s pay our bill and go out. The Cygnuville party will be arriving soon."said Chichi.
Steve nodded.
"Sorry about you having to go get the stuff I left at home with me. Its not easy though... with my right hand and all."he said looking at his right arm still in a sling.
"No problem, Steve."said Chichi smilingly.
Steve nodded and stood up.
The two boys stepped out of the café and saw, that Town Hall Square was already crammed full of people. It was common knowledge to Beauvilagers, that the final round will also host a number of very importaint celebrity guests. It was already confirmed, that the celebrities present on the Outdoor Sales Day will be returning along with Mayor La Jolie, who came to see how the bet with his Beauvillage collague had ended – since it was published straight after the Dingy-Basher incident. Also confirmed was the attendance of the president of the National Orphan Charity Organization since the event – brilliantly sponsored, was to serve a fund-raising purpose too. The money raised from the entire event would be given to the organization, once more raising the profile of not just Beauvillage but its Two Men with Hearts of Gold too. What raised the public´s curiosity however was the fact, that two more high celebrities were supposed to attend as well. However, as they came at the invintation of Milton Weasel and Johnny Jack, no one was sure who would come. But for the last two days Beauvillagers were happily guessing and discussing who could it be – Lola and Lily were very giggly as they had a pretty good hunch who Johnny Jack called. Both of them were already present at Town Hall along with Chichi´s crew minus Steve, Titus Hubbub and Pop Tofu, Rodney and Angie and of course Mayor Haveitall who was looking extremly tense.
"They should be here by now... I do hope nothing has gone wrong."he said nervously double-checking his watch.
"Calm down, Dad. Nothing will go wrong."said Angie in a soothing voice as all of them waited in his office.
"How can I calm down, sweetheart? If something goes wrong thistime its the clown-suit for me..."he exclaimed panicly.
"Chichi is on the job, Mr Mayor."Victor piped up and many of the people present nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. He has a plan to catch the saboteurs red-handed and still not disrupt the contest."nodded Joe.
This did nothing to calm the frantic mayor.
"Yes, yes... but still... the guests are slowly arriving and..."
"Everything is prepared downstairs, mayor Haveitall. The seatings, the refreshments and everything to make our guests feel right at home."said Pop Tofu and Titus nodded.
"And safe too... I already installed some security systems just in case. And with Beth and Violet catering, they couldn´t ask for a greater hospitality."said Titus puffing his chest proudly.
True - Mom Tofu, Beth, Buba, Natalie Conners and Julia Robins took up to preparing the Town Hall´s conference room since early morning providing and preparing everything, so that the famous guests would not be dissapointed. Though Mayor Haveitall nearly fainted when he saw, that Mom and Buba had brought in Curly, Suzie and Cracker, however the animal trio proved to be of much help.
"I´m still not sure about this..."muttered the mayor, pacing up and down.
"Have no fear, mayor Haveitall."called a voice from the door.
Everyone´s heads turned to see Detective Wiseman walking in along with his three brothers – their sunglasses gleaming.
"My men are on the job securing every post neccessary and I have personally locked the saboteur in our holding cell and left two men on guard."said Wiseman proudly.
Most of the people gasped, not knowing about Wiseman´s plans for Cherie.
"Detective Wiseman... isn´t that a bit ... well... too much?"asked the mayor, positively shocked.
Wiseman however shook his head.
"It may seem that way to you, but I am taking no chances. The saboteur is locked away and we can proceed without worry."
Billy, Lily and Phil shared dark looks – Wiseman really swallowed the entire sabotage ploy not even double-checking whether something is not off. The three of them staunchly believed that Chichi´s suspitions are geniune. Wiseman looked around for a bit, scanning the people in the office behind his infamous sunglasses.
"We seem to be missing a few people here."he said suspitiously.
"Yea... Chichi´s not here, Miles also... and Mr Skylark too."said Archie quickly counting the group for good measure.
Wiseman seemed to take this into consideration.
"Young Chichi, hm...? I wonder..."he mused.
"He went with Steve to his house. Steve needs help bringing his stuff here, since he has a brocken arm."answered Billy quickly while Lola shot Wiseman a small glare – he was still suspecting, that Chichi might somehow be linked to the sabotage.
"Oh... and what about...?"
"WASSSUUUUUUP?!"
The loud yell from behind made jump forward before turning furiously at the newcomer.
"MILES! How many times have I told you NOT to do that?!"exclaimed Lola angerly as Micheal Miles stepped into the office, big as life and twice as cocky.
"EXACTLY, YOU TACTLESS HOOLIGAN! HAVEN´T YOU EVER HEARED OF KNOCKING?!"yelled Wiseman, clearly agitated even more than Lola as Miles came closer to him.
"´Course I have, Wisey. Look..."he said and proceeded to knock two times on the top of Wiseman´s head.
"Knock, knock..."he added grinning like a maniac.
Most of the people chuckled and giggled at Miles´ obvious playfullness, even Lola gave out a begrudging giggle and the mayor managed a small smile. The brotherhood however didn´t find this amusing and the least of all Wiseman, who pulled out his handcuffs.
"THAT DOES IT! I´M ARRESTING YOU FOR KNOCKING ON A COMMANING POLICE OFFICER!"he yelled.
Miles merely shook his head with a small chuckle.
"Jeez liven up, Wisey-guysey. Anyways... the guests are here."he said to everyone in general.
"WHAAAAAT?!"exclaimed everyone looking at Miles.
"T...they´re here?!"asked the now white-faced mayor.
"Sure they are. Arrived three minutes ago. Me and Trashbin welcomed them and took ´em to the conference hall an´ everything. I said, that we´re having a last-minute briefing."said Miles with a shrugg.
It was amazing how such a number of people could get down a narrow staircase so quickly before stopping at the conference hall´s door and waiting for the mayor, who looked like a prisioner walking down the last mile.
"Now calm down, Dad. Everything is going to be all right."said Angie placing a hand on her father´s shoulder.
Mayor Haveitall gave a small, almost childish whine before he felt another hand on his right shoulder.
"You have nothing to worry about, mayor Haveitall. You are not alone in this..."said Rodney gesturing to the people standing behing them. Each of them – young and old, sporting supportive smiles and nodding in agreement.
Feeling the tiny bit of relief evolve into something much more stronger, he suddenly got the feeling he haven´t felt in years – a feeling he had frequently as one of the Green Knights of Beauvillage(as they were now known). With a nod and a look of determination he opened the door completly recomposed.
The conference hall was simply stunning. Both Angie and the mayor couldn´t remember the last time it looked so gourgeous. Decorated so lively and brightly it seemed to glow in different colors. Mom and Buba even provided live flowers for the occasion which were placed neatly here and there. The paintings and scupltures - done by none-other than Balthazar Bunglewood and Matilda Longline years back, were polished brightly and seemed to shine. On the tables were plates and plates of food, drink and snacks – something for everyone to pick at their choosing. The guests were already seated and some were talking to the women and Trashbin as they noticed the group of people arriving trough the door, with their mayor in the lead.
"Johnatan... tellement agréable de vous voir."said Jean La Jolie grandeously standing up and spreading his arms open in a gesture of welcome.
Lola and Lily exhanged dark looks at the gesture, but Mayor Haveitall stepped up nonchalantly and embraced his collague.
"Lola, Lily..."called a voice and the two girls saw Johnny Jack walking up to them, his smile genuine.
The greetings they exchanged were as though Johnny wasn´t a famous movie star at all, but rather a favourite cousin that comes by once a year.
"So... these are the girls I should be thanking?"came an obviously amused voice behind them and both Lola and Lily gasped.
Though they never once met the person, they (along with everyone in the country) knew that golden voice. Smiling Johnny made way for a tall, nicely shaped woman of his age. She had blonde hair which curled just like Lily´s and a round face, brilliant green eyes and a button-like nose like Lily. She was dressed in a brilliant and stylish red dress, which really made her stand out.
"Mary, this is Lola Tofu and Lily Robins..."said Johnny introducing them.
Mary Buttons´ face sported a warm smile.
"A pleasure to meet you. And thank you for knocking some sence into this fashion-disaster."she said good-naturedly, pointing her thumb at Johnny, who was dressed in contrast with her.
He had a simple shirt, shorts and a flannel short-sleeved shirt over it and open. On his head was a small hat, which covered his head, but contrasted colorfully with the rest of his clothing.
"Come on, Mary... I´m not THAT bad..."he said, double-checking himself.
Mary let out a gentle giggle and looked at him mischievously.
"Oh yes, you are... look at you... not one single color matches the other. If I didn´t know better, I ´d say you are color-blind."she teased gently and the three girls shared a giggle as Johnny rolled his eyes good-naturely.
"So that means you two are...?"asked Lola happily.
The pair smiled broadly, confirming. Lola and Lily immediatly shared a happy look. During the visit at the Moonshade café, they talked about Johnny´s plan for asking Mary out and the three of them came up with a fool-proof plan, which by the looks of it worked. Johnny grinned boyishly and placed an arm around Mary´s shoulders, Mary returning the affection just as much.
At another corner Milton Weasel had a very spirited greeting with Rodney Philips. Angie couldn´t help but giggle at the sight – the two greeted eachother enthusiasticly and at once sprang into a conversation discussing their views and feelings of the contest and its value. Angie breathed a lovesick sigh – in that slight moment Rodney looked twenty years younger, the thoughtfull idealistic teenager bent on making the world a better place. At that moment, Angie found him completly and utterly irresisable.
"Phil! Billy!"greeted Adam Brians happily and the two boys shook hands with him.
"Everything is ready I hope."asked Christopher Gee, who likewise made his way to the two boys.
Both teens looked at eachother before answering.
"Most of it is. Chichi gave most of us instructions in case something happens. He said, that everyone should know what to do in case something goes wrong."said Phil searching trough his pocket and pulling out two pieces of paper.
"He told me to give these to you."he said, handing the two respective celebrities the papers.
Both of them looked them over and smiled.
"Didn´t leave anything to chance, did he?"said Adam Brians with a smile.
"Most of this I´ve gone trough with him over the phone. And I also decided to bring in some reinforcements."noted Gee happily and turned his sights over his shoulder.
Billy, Phil and Victor who came in closer followed the look and gasped.
"Woah."breathed Billy.
"Is that...?"whispered Victor, while Phil couldn´t believe his eyes.
At the refreshments table, munching happily on a Bethburger stood a small, slightly pulp man in his early thirties. His bald head was utterly reflecting some of the light and a small thin black mustache was prominent on his face. He was plainly dressed in blue short jeans and he wore a black t-shirt which had red writing on it saying "Take it Izzy!".
THIS was the country´s top comedian, who enjoyed immense popularity – Jake "Joke" Izzy.
Christopher Gee smiled mischievously.
"Thought he could liven things up."
Adam Brians laughed.
"Could he EVER. I remember the last party when he was there. I nearly choked on my food."he chortled, fondly recounting the event.
Gee smiled, but a second later his face took on a serious look.
"I only hope, that my and young Chichi´s suspitions are wrong. I would be most ashamed if they weren´t."he said direting his gaze on Mayor La Jolie, who was in conversation with Mayor Haveitall.
"Hope you are ready, Johnatan. Today´s show will decide the victor of our little bet."said La Jolie smilingly.
Mayor Haveitall, did all he could to remain composed and nodded.
"Yes... today decides..."he murmured with a smile which didn´t quite reach his eyes, which still reflected some fear and doubt.
"I DO hope nothing goes wrong thistime, Johnatan. And if it does... well... I´ve a nice clown suite picked from the Cygnuville Cirque Magnifique."said La Jolie with a laugh, which Haveitall could tell WAS geniune.
In an effort to calm himself down and ease his worries, Johnatan looked around. He spied Buba, Jake and Violet Tofu standing at the refreshments table along with Beth and Titus who were in a happy conversation with the other women, who helped set up this magnifiscent welcome. Then he saw Lily Robins and Lola Tofu stand along with Johnny Jack and Mary Buttons - the girls seemed to make fun of Johnny, who returned the teasing with boyish shyness. A larger group a bit further was composed of the Beauvillage´s young ones – the crew and even the brotherhood, Martin Skylark, Adam Brians, Christopher Gee, Miles and Wiseman, all of which were laughing at something Jake Izzy had said with animated gesticulation and Miles joinng in with similar gestures of his own, to great hilarity. Remembering the support they all gave him prior to entering this very room, Johnatan smiled also reflecting on one person who wasn´t present for the moment.
"Chichi is on the job, Mr Mayor."he remembered tiny Victor Rogers saying and realized, that with the support of such fine friends things were not as grim as they seemed.
"Don´t count me out yet, Jean. Vous n'avez pas encore gagné."he said smilingly and Jean La Jolie was momentarily stunned at his collague´s use of French.
Johnatan took the moment of silence to look around the room once more. Suddenly he noticed someone else missing.
"Jean... where is Jaq? I thought he would be attending along with you."
La Jolie shook his head as if to clear it and smiled.
"Oh, he will be present. Le garçon took his time to have a small look around."he said idly, though he couldn´t repress a small smirk.
...
Chichi and Steve were now walking the street away from the Rowan household. Mrs Rowan insisted on stocking the pair up with some of her homemade cakes, so that they won´t get hungry. She also insisted on giving a large chocolate bar to Chichi, who was mystified by it.
"She´s happy, that you stuck up for Cherie."explained Steve as soon as they were on the way.
"She knows her for years and she knew that she loves me. And when the incident happened and everyone was blaming her, she stuck up with her telling her to fight for me... she belived her even when I didn´t..."said Steve, a small not of sadness present as he said the last words.
Chichi scratched his head, unsure of just how much to say.
"Well... Steve... let´s just say, that it wasn´t easy for me to just say "okay I´ll help you", especially after everything that happened with her and Lola over the years. Lola still can´t forget it and I´m not surprised. She wasn´t really happy when she heared, that I decided to help Cherie and find out who´s really behind it."
Steve bit his lip. He knew from Billy and Lily just how much has happened over the years between Cherie and Lola and it also didn´t please him.
"Girl rivalry... can be a scary thing."he said quietly.
Chichi only sighed and nodded.
"You can say that again..."
"But Chichi... over the last few years, I think she really started to change for the better. I only hope that someday she won´t be afraid to show the person she really is... the girl I love so much..."
Chichi raised his eyebrow at what he heared. Maybe there was more to Cherie than met the eye – Steve certainly thought so...
"The thing is, that she´s an only child and she was pampered for most of her childhood... that made her a bit... well... concieted in some ways. But believe me Chichi, deep down she´s a good person... in time I hope she and Lola can reach a truce."
Chichi pondered on it a bit. It didn´t seem possible after everything that went down over the years. On the other hand, he didn´t really think it possible for Pop, Mom and Buba to reach a truce with Beth and Titus and well... that turned out okay. It was times like this when he thought that they could make Balthazar Bunglewood´s dream of a united, family-like Beauvillage a reality.
"Maybe you´re right... well... time will tell."said Chichi with a small smile as Steve grinned at him.
"Thanks, Chichi. Thanks for believing her and sticking up for her when no one else wanted to. I really owe you a lot for this."
Chichi almost blushed at the praise he was getting from his friend.
"You don´t owe me anything, Steve. It was the right thing to do and... well you know me... once I think something is off, I just keep on prying and snooping until I figure it out."
Steve´s grin grew even more as he recalled the few small snoops Chichi did along with Billy, Phil, Lily and April over the last year, before Detective Wiseman and Michael Miles arrived in Beauvillage.
"You should really think of a career as a Detective, Chichi."
Chichi chuckled at that, shaking his head.
"No thanks. I´ve got other dreams than being... Wise."
The pun made both of them share a laugh as they turned around the corner of the street. Suddenly something rushed past them like a blur. Both boys froze as they recodnized the black hair and the dress.
"It can´t be..."breathed Chichi.
"Cherie?!"exclaimed Steve spinning around to take a better look.
Sure enough there was a figure running and taking a turn into a back-alley, which both of them recodnized.
"She should be in the holding-cell right now..."said Chichi quietly, momentarily confused.
"Something must´ve happened."whispered Steve panicly and at once set out in the direction they saw her running.
Chichi double-checked his Gzorbial cell phone as he moved after him. Daniel haven´t called... what was up?! He pondered furiously as he tried to catch-up to Steve, who was running as if for his life.
"Lucky you bought her that new dress. We could recodnize her even in such running speed."noted Chichi as the pair came to the side-alley, which was pretty dark.
Steve shook his head.
"I´ve said so before, Chichi... I didn´t buy the dress..."he said distractedly as he scanned the dark alley, his mind clearly on another matter.
As the two boys walked into the alley and moved more into the dark, where a girl could just be seen in the darkness, crouching besides a trashcan, as though attempting to hide from something, Chichi froze in his tracks – his mind spinning.
"... and I owe you just as much for the beautifull new dress you´ve bought me."he remembered Cherie saying to Steve, gesturing to her new fashionable red and black dress.
Steve blushed as Cherie´s hand gently outlined his cheek before going to his hair.
"But I didn´t..."stammered Steve.
Chichi replayed the scene in his mind, going trough possibilities as Steve moved closer to the girl besides the trashcan, his voice low and soothing.
"Its all right, Cherie – sweetheart... its okay, we´re here..."he soothed, moving closer to the girl´s form which was shaking from fear.
"The package left on our doorstep with "My Sweetheart" on the card... really Stevie... you are the sweetest boy I have ever met."recalled Chichi, sure that that piece of information WAS importaint.
"I´ve said so before, Chichi... I didn´t buy the dress..."
Chichi´s eyes snapped open as he put the pieces together.
"STEVE DON´T...!"he cried just as Steve was about to touch the girl´s shoulder.
Suddenly something burst from the shadows and with a loud POW, Steve was falling to the ground clearly unconcious. With a gasp, Chichi froze unsure at what to do as he watched the girl´s figure rise up and stand besides a tall muscular person. Hearing a small sound behind him, Chichi turned his head behind him just in time to see another muscular person aim his stretched fist towards his head. His reflexes kicking in he dived out of the way just in time and the fist came in contact with a rain-pipe, bending the metal on contact. Chichi quickly racked his brains for what should he do... he was surrounded in a dark alley with a narrow, limited space and any way out was blocked by this muscular man. Plus there was Steve to consider, lying on the ground. Deciding that he was no match on his own and he would have to get help, he looked at the advancing big guy, still blocking the only escape from the dark-alley. Chichi readied himself for action, not bothering about who was standing behind him – all he focused on was thinking of some way to outmanoovre the big one and escape the alley. Once out of it, he´ll be able to signal Miles for help.
Suddenly he felt excrutiating pain as his body was hit by a powerfull electric shock. The girl or whoever it was standing behind him had hit him with a paralyzer. Chichi couldn´t even move as his voice struggled to release the scream of pain, but failing miserably under the assault of volts. A few moments passed and the shocking stopped. Completly drained of all strength Chichi slid to the ground instantly, jerking and twitching on the ground as his vision was getting blurry. Trough his blury vision he saw, that the girl – person, who shocked him from the back came closer. Even as he was losing consiousness fast, Chichi heared the amused cold chuckle and the person spoke in a voice that definitely didn´t belong to Cherie.
"Faites de beaux rêves, boy-genius."said the voice, Chichi recodnized but right now his numb brain was lacking the energy to associate it.
His vision blurred even more and Chichi slowly closed his eyes as everything went pitch-black.
...
A/N: Well as I noticed, this chapter took longer than expected. Many reasons for this – things in life have been getting a bit busy, but also I found myself working and re-working several scenes, determined to make this right (hope I did). And well, the Cygnuvillan party has returned too – I really felt that they should come back, plus with two reinforcements the one last chapter is ahead of us, and things are really going down so stick around for more. Hopefully it´ll be finished sooner than this chapter... Oh and as for the French... I can´t speak French, so I was left to rely on a translator, so there may be some mistakes – sorry if there are...
HK07
