"Rocket… a word…"

In the cafeteria after school, Otto finds himself face to face with a pissed off Sherry.

'To little too late, Sher.. I prefer brunettes anyway…' Otto responds with his trademark cocky smile. When in doubt, turn on the charm.

"Cute, Rocket… let's get one thing straight… you are NOT going to cause ANY problems before the Halloween hop. If you do ANYTHING that prevents us all from enjoying the dance, the entire cheerleading squad is going to think you have herpes."

'You really should see someone about that temper Sherry… very unattractive' Otto yawns, 'besides, you worry needlessly. Have I ever, and I mean EVER had any intention of causing ANY tension between good friends…'

"Why don't we ask Ginger…"

'Man, does everyone have to keep bringing that up? Seriously, Sher… I'm trying to do the right thing here… I even told Trish I'd be hanging out with Cleo tonight. You're looking at a changed man…'

"You TOLD her… and she was cool with it?"

'Cool as a cucumber…'

"And… like… you won't try anything with Cleo…"

'Scouts honor' Otto raises his right hand and meets her eyes with a lopsided grin.

"Well… OK then…" Sherry finds herself relenting. Despite the fact that she was clearly not interested, she had to hand it to Otto Rocket… the boy could charm his way out of anything.

'By the way… you might want to be a little pro-active with the squid… he's never going to make a move without a couple of good, hard pushes…' Otto winks at the blushing blonde as he turns and heads towards the school field to meet his favorite brunette.

"How're you holding up, babe…"

'I've been better…' Cleo looks up into a pair of dark eyes with a watery smile.

"Well… I know I'm not the world's best listener, but… I've been told I've got a nice, strong, shoulder…" Otto puts his arm around his friend (he hated that word) and smiles down at her. They sit in silence for awhile, until she starts to speak softly.

'I just… somehow feel like it's my fault… half their fights were about me, anyway…'

At her words, Otto shifts slightly, leans forward and lifts her chin, looking her straight in the eye.

"Listen to me, Cleo… it isn't your fault. They haven't agreed about anything for years, and you're probably one of the only good things that came out of that marriage…"

'What about Thomas?'

"Well… he's ok… but they had to create the rough draft before making their masterpiece…' Otto winks at her, his legendary smile causing her to blush slightly despite her state of mind. They look into each others' eyes, entranced, when…

"ROCKET! RODRIGUEZ! YOU KNOW THE RULES ABOUT PDA IN SCHOOL!"

'Dude… we weren't DOING anything…'

"Seriously Lt. Collins… Otto was just cheering me up…"

"I KNOW WHAT I SAW, RODRIGUEZ… THAT'S ANOTHER DAY'S DETENTION FOR BACKTALK, YOU WANNA KEEP GOING?"

'As a matter of fact…' Otto is about to argue further with his ex Marine vice principal when he's silenced by a pair of lips on his. Cheers break out from around the field when Otto instinctively wraps his arms around the girl in front of him, deepening the kiss.

"THAT'S A MONTH'S DETENTION… INCLUDING SATURDAYS!" Lt. Collins is beside himself. 'Oh for the good old days when a teacher COULD grab a high school student by the ear and drag him off…' he sighs.

"WHEN YOU TWO DECIDE TO BREAK FOR AIR… COME TO MY OFFICE… IF I DON'T SEE YOU TWO BY THE END OF THE DAY, YOUR GUARDIANS WILL BE CALLED IN." Lt. Collins gives up on shaming the two teens into separating. It would take a crowbar to pry apart those two. Besides, while he's wasting his time in the courtyard, there could be delinquents starting food fights in the cafeteria… spray painting the gym… stealing computer equipment…. With a last, filthy look at Otto, he turns to leave.

Meanwhile, Reggie and Twister are walking through the hall with Sam and Sherry. Reggie's discussing the news broadcast with Twister, while Sam and Sherry listen in amusement.

"So, when I start my feature on the pep rally I want –

'a wide angle lens. And I'll do a close-up of you before-

"panning out to get some shots of the audience."

They smile at each other as their blonde friends crack up.

'What's so funny, squid?' Twister glowers at his bespectacled friend. He does NOT want any awkwardness around Reggie.

"You're not speaking in complete sentences…"

"So who needs more? Twist did you-

'I understood everything you said… and did you-

"Every word!"

"Like… you're doing it again!" Sherry is becoming frustrated. She's not used to NOT being able to take part in any conversation.

"Hey… don't hate, appreciate… right Twist?" Reggie grins up at Twister, who for some reason starts to blush slightly. Sensing a situation, Sam coughs.

'Er… what's with the crowd?'

Reggie's stomach drops. She can hear cheers, and random people shouting 'GO OTTO' from a cluster of students gathered just outside the front door by the field. Meeting her eyes, Twister nods and begins to push his way through the crowd, followed closely by Reggie, Sam and Sherry. He suddenly stops short, causing Reggie to walk right into him.

'Reg… you know what… there's nothing to see here… let's go back to the gym and do a dry run for our pep rally feature….'

"Outta my way. Twist…" Reggie narrows her eyes at her friend, who reluctantly steps aside, to reveal her brother locking lips with his cousin.