Author's Note: Sorry it took so long you guys! I've been super busy lately. My friend and I wrote the random argument between Calvin and Susie in this chapter, so I'm giving credit to my friend for the argument part of this chapter as well! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next chapter! :D


Chapter 2: Secrets and Jealousy

"Are you guys alright?" Danny asked the babies, a look of concern spread across his face. "You guys seem quiet today."

Danny had pushed Tommy and Chuckie's stroller over toward Phil and Lil's. They were still waiting for Calvin and Chuckie to come back from the restroom. They had already been gone for about five minutes.

Tommy glanced over at Phil and Lil with a look that said, Remember what Angelica said. We can't tell Danny we don't wanna goes and see the elephants!

Phil and Lil nodded in unison.

"Everything's great, Danny!" Tommy exclaimed, trying to keep a huge grin on his face. But, instead, it looked like his face was about to collapse.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You guys seem a little… tense."

"Oh, yeah! We're just fine!" Phil exclaimed.

"Sure!" Lil said, nodding.

"Absolutely!" Tommy added.

'Something isn't right here.' Danny thought. 'There's something going on that they're not telling me.' He was about to question the babies some more, when Chuckie came running toward them.

"Hey, Chuck!" Danny greeted. He raised his eyebrow once more. "Why were you running? It's not that far a walk and you knew we were waiting for you."

Chuckie took a deep breath, then replied, "I don't know. Ask Calvin."

"Calvin?" Danny's eyebrows went up in surprise. "What's up with Calvin?"

"I don't know! But he was in a awful hurry!"

Hobbes, who had been standing there quietly, said, "That's strange! Usually when Calvin runs like that he's pretty eager about something. But," he added, glancing around, "I don't know what could've gotten him so riled up like that."

Phil and Lil grinned at each other.

"We saw Calvin running back here." Phil said.

"You did?"

"Yeah!" Lil said, pointing in the direction where the seahorses were. "Calvin grabbed Sam's hand and practically dragged her outta here!"

"He ran out with Sam?" Hobbes glanced down the hallway where Calvin had ran out earlier. "That's funny. I didn't even see him come in. And normally he says hi to me."

Noticing the sad look on Hobbes's face, Tommy smiled and exclaimed, "Cheer up, Hobbes! Maybe Calvin sawed something cool and was wanting to show somebodys!"

"Yeah, but," Hobbes started, glancing up in the direction of the hallway again, "normally Calvin takes me along too."


Susie Derkins was not happy. She had already been at Calvin's house for a day, and Calvin still wasn't paying any attention to her. Not that she would care either way. She was just hoping she would be able to play and have fun all weekend. Instead, she was watching the paint peel on the living room wall.

Susie sighed loudly. She had enough of this. She turned around and walked toward the stairs. She figured Calvin wouldn't want her up in his room, and quite frankly, she was afraid to know what was up there anyway. So, she decided to call him from the bottom of the stairs.

"Calvin, what are you doing up there?"

Susie heard some shuffling of some things before Calvin answered. "Be quiet, Susie! I'm looking for something!"

"For what?" Susie questioned. "You've been upstairs for an hour already! What could be so important that you have to find it right this minute?"

"It's just important, okay?" Calvin replied in an annoyed tone.

Susie rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

She was startled by the doorbell ringing.

Susie ran into the kitchen where Calvin's mom was chopping up carrots on a cutting board. "Mrs. Calvin's Mom? The doorbell's ringing."

"Thank you, Susie. I'll have Calvin get it." She turned around and yelled, "Calvin, could you get the door? I'm chopping up vegetables for dinner tonight!"

"Sure, Mom!"

"Thank you!"

As Susie stepped out of the kitchen, she heard Calvin's voice calling her from upstairs again. "Susie, could you get the door?"

Susie threw her hands up in the air angrily. "For Pete's sake!" she yelled, stomping toward the front door. "I'm his guest," she mumbled, "and he's treating me like his personal slave." She blinked in surprise when she opened the door. A boy about her age with messy raven black hair, holding Hobbes was standing underneath the doorway. And apparently, he was just as surprised to see her as well.

"Hi." he greeted.

"Er, hi." Susie replied, politely.

"Um," the boy started, "I was kind of expecting Calvin to answer the door. Unless," he stared at her for a moment, then asked, "did you put on a wig or something Calvin?"

Susie raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying that I look scary or something? Because if you are-,"

"No! No!" the boy exclaimed, waving his right hand in defense. "I'm sorry. It's just that, your face looks a lot like Calvin's."

Susie raised her eyebrow once more. Not in offense this time.

The boy groaned, knowing he had said the wrong thing again. "Look, I'm sorry if I offended you in anyway. You see, I'm not the greatest at introducing myself, and-,"

"No worries." Susie said, cutting him off. "Come on in. I'm sure Calvin will be down here in a minute." She was still surprised that Calvin had an actual friend who wasn't Hobbes.

The boy grinned in relief. "Gee, thanks." He quickly wiped his feet and entered, shutting the door behind him. He extended his right hand out. "I'm Danny by the way."

Susie gladly shook it. "Susie."

"Oh, so you're Susie!" He laughed. "Calvin's told me a lot about you."

"Like what?"

"Er-,"

"Forget it." Susie paused, then asked, "So, how long have you known Calvin for?"

Danny shrugged. "Only for a few months. I was babysitting Hobbes for Calvin because he said he had something really important to do last night. Right, Hobbes?"

Susie stared at the stuffed tiger in his arms, already expecting no answer. And sure enough, it didn't come.

"Oh, don't be so glum." Danny said comforting the stuffed tiger. "Calvin would never leave you."

Another pause. Susie glanced at Danny and could've sworn she saw his cheeks turn a bit red.

"T-That's not the point." he stuttered. "The point is, he probably had something urgent that came up, and Sam was the first person he happened to find."

Another pause.

"Well, I'm sure there's a simple explanation for this!"

"What's going on?"

Susie turned around to see Calvin running down the stairs.

"Well, thanks for finally making it down here!" she exclaimed.

Calvin ignored her, and exchanged greetings with Danny and Hobbes. Then he said, "Listen, I hope you guys don't mind, but Danny, could you please watch Hobbes for one more night?"

"How come?" Danny asked.

"I-," Calvin started to answer, but then the doorbell rang once again. He quickly ran to get it.

Susie glanced over to see a girl, also with raven black hair, behind the door.

"You ready to go, Sam?" Calvin asked.

"Ready as ever!" Sam replied.

Susie glanced over at Danny. "Do you know this person?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah. Sam's my best friend." He wasn't trying to show it, but inside of him, he was feeling like someone grabbed his heart and ripped it out of his chest. Sam had always told him when she had plans with someone, and now…what the heck was going on? Why did Calvin want to hang out with Sam in private all of the sudden?

Danny glanced back over at Susie. She was angry. "Oh, I see!" she exclaimed, stomping toward Calvin.

Calvin raised an eyebrow up at her. "What?"

"What do you mean, what?" she asked. "I've been here for a full day, and you'd rather hang out with Sam than with me!" She turned to face Sam. "No offense or anything."

"None taken." Sam replied. After all, she had heard all of the Calvin-Susie stories.

Calvin rolled his eyes. "Well, no duh, Susie!" he exclaimed. "Even I thought you would figure that out!"

Meanwhile, Hobbes was standing there, watching Calvin and Susie argue, gloomily, while Danny felt like he was going to barf if he kept watching any longer. That didn't stop him from watching the argument anyhow.

"Oh, yeah?" Susie asked, angrily. "Well, you're just a big old jerk face, that's what you are! See if I ever play with you again!"

"Again?" Calvin asked. "I never played with you once!"

"Well, good! Because it's never going to happen again!"

"Good! And to show you that we won't ever be friends anymore, I'll throw a water balloon in your face!"

"If you do that, I'll throw a banana peel in your face!"

"Well, if you do that, I'll…I'll…" Calvin stuttered. He suddenly grinned mischievously. "…I'll take Mr. Bun prisoner!"

Susie gasped. After all, why would Calvin do such a thing to her stuffed rabbit? "Oh, yeah? Well, you're just a monkey butt face!"

"Well, you're just a slimy toed eel!"

Susie growled. "If you insult me one more time, I'll tell Danny you wet the bed when you were younger!"

Calvin gasped, then lowered his voice. "How do you know about that?" he asked, his eyes widening in fear.

Susie burst out laughing. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "You actually wet the bed when you were younger?"

"Um…no?"

After Susie got all of the giggles out of her she said, "Well, you're still a pile of… potato chips…"

This time, it was Calvin's turn to laugh. "Potato chips?" He giggled some more. "That's all you could come up with?"

"Well, let's see you try to come up with something better!"

"Okay! You're G.R.O.S.S.! A part of the Get Rid Of Slimy girlS!"

"Oooh! I'm so insulted!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Double yeah!"

Danny leaned in toward Hobbes and whispered. "Where is this argument going again?"

Hobbes shook his head slowly, grinning, his gloominess momentarily forgotten. "I have no idea." he answered.

"Do these kind of arguments happen everyday?"

"Pretty much."

"Wow. I don't know how you can handle this everyday."

"Honestly, I really don't know either!"

Finally, after a few more minutes of ridiculous arguing, Calvin said, "You know what? This is stupid! I have more important things to be doing right now than dealing with you!"

Susie threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "Fine, then, Calvin! Leave me here to be bored all day!"

"Alright, then!" Calvin grabbed Sam's hand, and pulled her out the door. "Come on, Sam! We've got work to do!"

He slammed the door behind him.


Susie was now sitting up in the woods in Calvin's backyard. Tears were streaming down her face. She took a few shaking breaths and wiped the tears off of her face as she saw Danny come running up the hill toward her with Hobbes in his arms. He had a mixture of relief and concern on his face when he saw Susie hunched over with her back against a tree.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

Susie sniffed. "I'm fine."

"Okay, then." He picked up a stick and started fiddling with it.

A few more minutes of silence passed before Danny jumped about a foot in the air because of Susie yelling, "HOW CAN YOU JUST SIT THERE AND FIDDLE WITH THAT STICK WHEN I'M OBVIOUSLY UPSET ABOUT SOMETHING?!"

"B-But," Danny stuttered, "y-you just said-,"

"FORGET WHAT I JUST SAID! WHEN A GIRL LOOKS UPSET AND SHE SAYS NOTHING'S WRONG, THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING WRONG! AWAYS! GOT IT?" She then burst out into tears again.

Danny stared at her for a minute before saying, "It's about Calvin isn't it?"

Susie suddenly stopped crying, then looked up at him. "H-How do you know?"

Danny suddenly froze, deep in thought. "I don't know. I guess I just thought that was what was upsetting you."

Susie sighed. "Well, you got that right. Why doesn't Calvin ever want to play with me? Can't he see that I want to be friends with him? I've tried everything!"

Danny gave her a small smile. "You've just got to learn how to see things in Calvin's perspective."

Susie raised an eyebrow up in puzzlement. "What do you mean exactly by Calvin's perspective?"

"I mean, you've got to learn to see the world the way Calvin sees the world." Danny answered.

Susie chuckled. "Trust me, the way Calvin sees the world is a weird mish-mash of random stuff. And over half of them are either really stupid or pointless."

"Er," Danny hesitated, then said, "that's not Calvin's perspective. That's your perspective."

"Oh. Right." A minute of silence passed between the two of them before she asked, "Then what exactly do you mean?"

Danny laughed. "All I can say is, do something Calvin would enjoy. Then you just might see things in a whole new light." He glanced at her. "Does that make any sense?"

Susie shrugged. "I guess."

"Good." He stood up, lifted Hobbes back into his arms, and said, "I'd better head home. My Mom said I had to get back by lunchtime."

"Okay." Susie stood up as well. "Nice meeting you, Danny!"

"Thanks! You too!"

As Danny and Hobbes walked down the hill, and exited the woods, the stuffed tiger turned to his friend. "Why did you tell Susie to see things in a different perspective?"

Danny grinned. "I figure if Susie starts playing with Calvin more, you'll get to join in the fun!"

Hobbes smiled widely. "That's great!"

Danny nodded. "Yeah. That, and I figured Calvin will be less distracted by Sam to do anyth-," His eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he glanced up at Hobbes, realizing what he had just said. "Uh… uh… I mean…"

Hobbes's grin got even wider. "You're not just trying to help me out here, are you?"

Danny chuckled nervously. "W-What do you mean?" he asked, his cheeks turning a little pink.

"I think you do know!" Hobbes replied in a sing-song voice.

"No. I-I really don't." Danny hoped Hobbes couldn't see that his cheeks were getting redder and redder by the minute.

"You like Sam!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes. You do."

"Hobbes, we're five years old! That's disgusting!"

"So? Calvin's six, and he li-,"

"Hey, Danny!"

Danny jumped at the sound of Sam's voice. "J-Jeez!" he panted, turning around to see her and Calvin walking toward them. "Where did you guys come from?"

Sam laughed and shook her head. "Again with the jumping, Danny?" she asked. She glanced at Calvin. "He's always doing that!"

Calvin laughed, and turned to Hobbes. "So, what have you guys been doing all morning?"

"Well," Hobbes started, glancing at Danny and back at Calvin, "actually, Danny was up in the woods comforting Susie."

"Comforting?" Calvin raised an eyebrow at Danny. He was trying to sound as casual as he could, but he could've sworn he heard his own voice crack from suspicion. Hopefully nobody noticed.

But, unfortunately, Hobbes did. "Yes, Calvin. Comforting. After you left with Sam earlier today, Susie ran into the woods. When Danny and I finally found her awhile ago, she was crying. Crying, Calvin. If I were you, I think you'd better go and talk to her. She's still up there."

With that, Hobbes started walking toward the house.

Calvin sighed, annoyed. "Hang on to this." he said, handing Sam a sheet of paper. "Hobbes is right. I'd better go and find Susie. If there's one thing I hate doing, it's making a girl cry." He started walking into the deep woods.

Now, it was just Danny and Sam standing there.

"So," Danny said casually, "what's with the sheet of paper?"

Sam's expression was a mixture of surprise and nervousness. "Oh, this?" she asked, glancing down at the sheet of paper and hiding it behind her back. "It's nothing!"

Danny raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Nothing, huh?" he asked. "Then why are you hiding it behind your back?"

"No reason."

Danny stood there trying to read Sam's blank expression, when his heart started pounding as loud and as hard as it could. He had a hunch, but he wasn't sure if he was right about it. So, he decided to ask Sam.

"Does this have to do with anything that happened today with you and Calvin?"

"Maybe."

Danny's stomach felt like it was tied into a million knots.

"Danny? Danny?"

"Huh?" he asked, startled back to reality by Sam's voice once again.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good."

Danny chuckled nervously. "Don't worry, Sam! I'm totally fine!"

That, and he felt like he was going to barf again.

"Are you sure?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely!"

'Yeah, except I feel like I'm going to hurl.' he added in his thoughts.

"Well," Sam grinned, "okay then!" She turned around, about to head home. "I'll see you later, Danny!"

"Yeah, okay." Danny replied, feeling his heart sink lower and lower.


Meanwhile, Calvin was searching for Susie in the woods. He knew he needed to apologize for whatever he did. After all, he may be a bit of a trouble maker sometimes, but he absolutely hated making people cry. Even if it was Susie.

The only problem was, no matter where Calvin searched, he just couldn't find her! He knew these woods inside and out, and if he didn't find Susie soon… He shuddered. He would be in so much trouble!


Little did Calvin know, Danny was sitting on the soft grass gloomily, Hobbes was lying on Calvin's bed staring up at the roof sadly, and Susie was hiding from Calvin and watching him from a tree.

'Why does Sam like Calvin so much?' Danny thought. 'What does she see in him?'

At the same time, Susie was thinking, 'Well, if Calvin rather hang out with Sam than with me, that fine! I don't care! I just need to see what Calvin sees! But how am I going to do that?'

Meanwhile, Hobbes was thinking, 'How come Calvin wants to grow up without me?'


Tommy yawned loudly, trying to keep his eyes open.

"Tommy?" Chuckie waved his hand in front of his best friend's face. "Tommy? Are you okay? Wake up!"

This time he shook his friend's shoulder, and Tommy quickly stirred awake. "AHHH! ELEPHANTS! GET AWAY!" he panted. When he saw that it was only Chuckie, Phil, and Lil, he sighed with relief.

"You didn't sleep very well last night, did you Tommy." Phil stated.

Tommy yawned even louder this time. "N-No. Ever since Danny said we're going back to the zoo tomorrow I haven't been able to sleep!"

Lil sighed. "I haven't been able to sleep well neither."

"Me neither!" Phil exclaimed.

"I'm too ascared to fall asleep too!" Chuckie added.

Phil sighed. "Maybe we should just tell Danny what's going on!"

"No, Phil!" Chuckie waved his arms in front of him for emphasis. "Don't you members what Angelica said?"

"He's right, Phil." Tommy replied. "Danny will be really upset if we tells him about the elephants." He yawned once more before dosing off again.

Tommy only got two more minutes of sleep before a slamming sound startled him awake again. "W-What?" He glanced up to see Calvin and Sam standing in front of them. "Oh. H-Hi'ya, Calvin. Hi'ya, Sam."

Sam was staring at Tommy with a concerned expression on her face. "Are you alright, Tommy? You look kind of… tired."

Tommy forced a grin on his face. "I'm f-fine, Sam!" He yawned. "I just didn't get much sleep last night!"

"How come?"

"Bad dreams."

"Oh. Well, I hope you sleep well tonight, Tommy!"

"T-Thanks, Sam!"

"You're welcome!"

Calvin grinned. "We were going to ask you if you want to come with us to the zoo, but you guys look kind of wiped out, so…"

Chuckie nodded. "We understand. You guys have fun!"

"Okay. You too."

With that, the two of them stepped outside.


"You mean to tell me that you didn't even bother to tell me the zoo is closed today?" Sam exclaimed. "What were you thinking?"

Calvin refrained himself from rolling his eyes. "I was thinking that you would freak out because we're sneaking on closed grounds during construction time! Besides," he added, "all we need to do is climb that side fence over here."

Sam glanced at him. "You do know there's the possibility that we're going to get grounded for life because of this, right?"

Calvin nodded. "If it means saving the tigers from near extinction, then it'll totally be worth it!"

Sam grinned, now determined. "Well, okay then! Just making sure!"

Calvin laughed, as they approached the fence. "You climb first. I'll give you a boost."

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, so just because I'm a girl, it means I need a boost to get over a fence?"

"Uh-, I-,"

"Forget it." She grinned. "I can climb it easily. Meet you on the other side."