Legal disclaimer: This story is written just for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended. All characters belong to their respective owners.
A. Note: Thanks to those who reviewed and faved my story. Shaking the Pear Tree is a weird title, I know, but it's just a play on words (and very silly indeed). This is the second chapter, and I hope you like it. I tried to keep it in character; you will judge if I succeeded or not.
Shaking the pear tree
Chapter II
It is the Energy Monster which doth mock...
The day of the performance, Becky and Violet were together backstage. Becky found that being an understudy was not that bad, as she was now happily helping Violet with her costume, and rehearsing with her the lines of the play. But suddenly, a villain made his presence known...
"Ahem! Becky, Violet, nice to meet you here..."
"Ouch! Becky, you pricked me with the needle!" Becky mumbled an apology, and Violet continued "Hello, Tobey..."
"Hi" said Becky, laconic.
"You look great as Juliet, Violet; I'm looking forward to see you performing"
"Thank you..." murmured Violet, flattered and surprised by his words.
"...I've heard you talked to Mr. Dudley; your intercession was not really necessary." Violet blushed. Becky looked at her, in awe. Violet was surprising, sometimes.
"I just made a little comment to him; I didn't like how you were treated... it's not important." she said smiling timidly.
"It is important -to me. Thank you."
"You're welcome..." murmured Violet, gladly enjoying the warmth of his gratitude. Tobey continued:
"Becky, Can I...Can I talk to you?"
"What? What do you want? I'm busy, as you can see..." she tried to excuse herself, but then Violet said:
"Don't worry, Becky; my dress is ready and I have all my lines memorized; thank you so much. But I... got to go now. I... promised Scoops to help him with his lines!"
"Lines! But, Violet! He is a wall!" whined Becky
"Sorry, a promise is a promise; see you!" Violet went away as fast as she could, widely smiling.
"Well... What do you want to talk about?" She was not amused by the prospect of being alone with Tobey, and -just for a millisecond- got angry with Violet for abandoning her. Tobey said:
"I... I feel a little weird for this but... I wanted to apologize with you for my ways during our long lasting acquaintance..."
"You? Apologizing? What are you up to?" Said she, distrusting. "What do you exactly want to apologize for?"
"Well, it is a long list... first of all, I am truly sorry for trying to destroy your house with my robots the very first time we met."
"Oh... That's interesting..." She smiled, a suspicious look on her eyes "No, come on, what are you up to?"
"Just that. And I'm sorry for scaring your mother that time, and for everything I..."
"Is it true, am I not dreaming?" she interrupted, with a overly sarcastic tone "Tobey, the evil boy genius apologizing?"
"A simple I forgive you would be enough..."
"Wait, I'm just enjoying the moment" She smirked "Let's suppose that I fall for this trick. Then, you are accepting that your behavior has been terrible..."
"Yeah, right"
"And that I had been right every time we argued in the past?"
"Okay, sure..."
"And that you have been an imbecile all this time..."
"What?"
"If you want me to forget your evil deeds, you must accept you had been an imbecile all this time..." she said cockily; but he just smiled, feigning a pensive expression.
"Imbecile... an interesting word..."
"It means the same as idiot, or fool... or jerk, if you prefer it" She was beginning to enjoy the conversation.
"No, I was thinking it's an interesting word, because it is the first word we bickered about..."
Becky gasped, against her will.
"Do you remember that? I thought it had been ages ago..."
"Some things are just memorable... I was trying to bother you, selecting the best words in my vocabulary, but you matched every word I used; it hadn't happened before..."
"As I remember it, I not only matched you; I surpassed you widely."
"You have to rub it, don't you? But today I'll be magnanimous and admit that; you are right, you surpassed me, I remember every word you used."
"Come on, it's impossible for you to remember all those words..."
"Try me"
"For example, what were we discussing later?"
"You tried to impress me with your vocabulary..." she tried to protest, but he continued "...calling me mischievous, and quoting at least five synonyms: do you want to hear them?" he challenged. She dismissed the idea with a huff. "Then we tussled about my robots had caused major destruction to the city or just a little..."
"Hullabaloo. See? I can remember it too. Not such a great thing." she said while examining her nails, in a studied gesture. But she was impressed.
"...And then I thought you were WordGirl, and menaced you with demolishing your house."
"Yes, not the nicest first impression. But then she arrived and destroyed your robot."
"...and I couldn't even chat with her that time." He murmured, sighing. "But besides WordGirl intervention, you were remarkable, too; you never even flinched at the prospect of having your house demolished"
"I-I was confident that WordGirl would appear. I admit I was really angry at you then, but now I'm not." she smiled "...At least I can boast that I'm the only person in the city who faced your robots apart from WordGirl." Then Tobey sighed and said in a dispirited tone.
"That will come to an end, too... I think I won't use my robots again..."
"What? I knew it! I knew you were preparing some trick! You want to convince me you'll stop being a villain! I'm not that naïve!"
"Becky, I wish it were a trick; but I'm serious. There's no point in being a villain anymore"
"But why?"
"I realized that the aim I was trying to achieve is out my reach, even as a villain"
"To... destroy the city?" she risked. He looked at her condescendingly.
"And you said you aren't naïve..."
"What?"
"Never mind." For a second, he wanted to share his thoughts with her; to tell her what he really wanted was to... befriend WordGirl. But, would she understand? Has she ever had a crush that was absolutely hopeless..? He didn't know. She startled him when she spoke again.
"And what about... WordGirl?" She was cleverer than he thought. "How would you meet her? If you are not going to threaten the city..."
"I know. If I were a normal, simple guy, how could we ever meet? But... it's just that I don't want her to hate me anymore"
"I don't hate... I don't think she hates you!"
"And how would you know!" he almost shouted. But he immediately softened his tone "Sorry. Maybe I just want to give up. It was stupid from me to think she could..." He stopped. He tried to fake a smile and said "At least I was a good villain, wasn't I? I almost defeated her in a pair of occasions"
"Yeah... I mean, really?"
"Do you think she will miss... you know, fighting against my robots?"
"Yes... No! Well... I don't know..." she doubted. She understood what he meant. Will WordGirl miss him? She always tried to evade thinking about their weird relationship, and she didn't want to do it now, either. Fortunately for her, he changed the subject.
"Don't worry, I was just thinking aloud. Actually, I just wanted to apologize to you, I could have demolished your house that time. It won't happen again, I swear."
"I wonder if it would ever have happened at all" she said, out of the blue, with a big grin on her face. She didn't want their chat to end gloomily.
"What do you mean?" Tobey's voice sounded awkward.
"I think what would have happened if WordGirl had not arrived in time..."
"I would have demolished your house, that's what had happened, why you doubt it?"
"Maybe you were just bluffing, maybe you're not so evil after all" she said, teasingly.
"Of course I'd have demolished it, I was not bluffing!" answered Tobey, indignantly.
"Well... now we'll never know for sure, right?"
"Let's let it at that. But I still maintain I'd have demolished it" She couldn't help smiling, but realized something suddenly.
"Uhm... Demolish, demolish, you keep repeating it! Why you don't say 'wreck' or 'destroy'?"
"Because you like demolish... See you later Becky." He smiled triumphantly and went to take his place in a row, to watch the play. He left a very surprised and confused girl backstage; Surprised that he remembered all that. Confused about her feelings... of course, it was just a trick. He would never give up on WordGirl... he would never stop using his robots... or would he?
-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -
Tobey seated beside his mother. He could feel the weight of his remote in his pocket. Would he have the courage to destroy it? To really stop being a villain? Deactivating it wouldn't be enough. Of course, he could rebuild it, but destroying it would be some kind of symbolic act, it'd be like abandoning all hope. After all, he will never know WordGirl's secret identity. He decided to stop thinking about it. He would have time for that at his home.
While waiting for the play to begin, He was replaying Becky's words in his head. It was always nice to chat with her, as she was so clever and competitive, with a lively spirit that always enticed him. She was the only girl who could be compared to WordGirl in cleverness and vocabulary skills. If he didn't know better... But wait, why is that impossible? Just because he saw WordGirl and Becky at the same time, that day? Such a thing never happened again... and he remembered that, when he was watching WordGirl, she had the sun on her back, making it difficult to discern more than a vague silhouette. And that, added to the sun reflecting on his glasses... was it possible that what he thought was Wordgirl were somebody else? He used that kind of trick once, when he was at the field day competition. Maybe he saw just what he wanted to see... He was really looking for meeting WordGirl that day, and then... And what about the resemblances? Their height, their dark glossy hair, their smile... the definitions! he could recall at least three times she defined words, just like WordGirl... and that silly -and cute- little noise she makes when she laughs -how is that he never noticed that before? Too many coincidences. Maybe WordGirl was closer to him than he ever thought...
Becky Botsford?
-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-
While he was thinking about those things, the play was about to begin. It was an abridged version, so there would be some selected parts of the play on stage. After an introduction recited by one of the students, they will go right to scene two, second act, the famous Balcony Scene.
Everything was ready, when Hunter Throbheart, in his Romeo outfit, had a sudden attack of stage fright, and fainted. Violet, unaware of that, began with her part...
"O, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo..." She put all her skill in her speech. She reached the part when Juliet says she will not be a Capulet for the love of Romeo, and she waited for Hunter to say his speech, as she didn't know he had fainted. Scoops, who knew it, began to feel nervous, seeing Violet in trouble and not knowing how to help her; the words of Mr. Dudley were sounding in his head "the show must go on." Violet tried to gain time repeating her lines:
"...and I no longer be a Capulet..." Then she asked Scoops "Where's Romeo?"
"Er...Uhm... he fainted"
"What?" Violet said. He had to think fast...
"I mean... He couldn't enter, cause I, the orchard's wall, am high and hard to climb, so he fell off from me"
"Oh... is he all right?
"I think so, don't worry...backstage crew says he's okay"
"Oh, I see...But what man are thou, that, thus bescreen'd in night, so stumblest on my counsel?"
"Well, I am the orchard's wall..."
"Oh, good night, Mr. Orchard's Wall; then... Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?"
"No, I'm a wall; the Talking Wall from Verona"
"But, how is it possible?"
"Well, have you heard about the "Wailing Wall"? He's a relative of mine"
"I see...So you are from a noble family..."
"Yes, my cousin is the Great Wall of China, but we aren't in good terms... He thinks he's so great..."
"And what about the Berlin Wall?"
"Oh, he fell some time ago...Poor old Berlin; he gave a bad name to the family"
"I see... But, how is that you never talked to me before?"
"I'm a little shy, you know. Besides, I was waiting for the right time, because...I'm in love with you"
"Really? But what will happen to Romeo?"
"He won't enter this orchard, for we, stony limits, can hold lovers out, and what a wall in love can do, that dares a wall to attempt..."
"Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face, else would a maiden's blush bepaint my cheek for that which you speak tonight, Mr. Orchard's Wall"
"Please, call me Wally..."
"Okay, Wally...That's sounds cute..."
"Not as cute as you are, Juliet...Would you like to go out with me?"
"Yeah, I'd love to! ...I cannot walk along with you, but I can walk along you..."
Becky was backstage, when she heard cries of help from a distance. The Energy Monster was causing trouble in the city. She doubted, but as she was just Violet's understudy -and she seemed to be doing fine- she went in a hurry to the door, and when she was finally outside, said "Word up!" and went gallantly flying to the rescue...forgetting his loyal sidekick Huggy Face, who squeaked in annoyance.
She reached the spot where the Energy Monster was; massive in size, due to all the electricity it had stolen from the surroundings. She prepared herself to fight, and realized she had forgotten Huggy (again). She couldn't execute her plans without his help, so instead of a distraction pattern, she was forced to use a direct attack. She located a lightning rod on a building, with a red light blinking rhythmically on its top. She thought she could make the Monster touch it and lose the most of its energy, and then trap him with some isolated container. She began to fly around, attracting the attention of the Energy Monster, decoying him to hit her and then touch the lightning rod. He swung down an arm to the left; that she dodged, twisting her body in her circular flight; he threw another punch to the upper right and she evaded it...She smirked with anticipation, she was ready to dodge his last blow, the one that would make him touch the rod, when instead of trying to hit her, he grabbed her with both hands, startling her. She felt a vibrating pain, as the voltage travelled though her body, with a smell of burned hair. She fell on her back, over the roof of the building, fainting. She began to feel a rhythmic tremor, under her back. Her vision faded to a metallic grey, then to black, and that was all. Only darkness and silence.