The night of the Halloween Hop, the Rocket gang is fairly split up. Reggie, although she hasn't been asked by Trish or Cleo to take sides, has agreed to go to the dance with Trish and Sherry, who has been giving Otto evil looks all week. Cleo is going with Otto and Twister is… strangely depressed.

'Man you HAD to ruin the dance for us, didn't you…' Twister rarely has a harsh word for Otto, so his constant grumbling surprises even the Squid, whose been doing his fair share of sulking, himself.

"What's YOUR beef… even Reg is cool…"

'She's ALWAYS cool…'

Otto simply raises an eyebrow at his best friend's remark. At the moment, he's too keyed up to take much notice: He's FINALLY going to an actual school dance with the girl of his dreams! All week, he'd been grinning like an idiot as he walked through the halls, and he'd even fallen off his skateboard (once) on the half pipe in Madtown. The whole town had been talking about that little incident for months, much to Otto's annoyance. Even the Squid wouldn't let him live it down.

'Do you even know what she's going as?'

"Cleo? Yeah we agreed to go as Romeo and Juliet…" Otto looks beatific as he imagines Cleo in a long, Juliet dress.

'Bro… you do realize she's got you wearing tights…'

"These are not tights. They are extremely well fitting pants." Otto responds stiffly.

'Tights…' Sam confirms with a grin. It's pretty rare that HE gets a chance to tease Otto Rocket, and he wants to make the most of it.

"Whatever man… according to Cleo we're as romantic as they are…"

'They died…' Sam is deadpan. Twister doubles over in laughter at the sight of Otto's horrified face, earning himself a pummeling. Sam is about to join in, when the boys on the floor are interrupted by a cough.

"Trish, Sherry and I are getting a ride from Lars, Thomas, Pi and Animal… you guys can see us there… when you're done… Otto, is Cleo aware that you have the hots for her cousin?" Reggie sounds barely able to contain her amusement.

'How'd you get them to give YOU guys a ride? Lars and Thomas never drive ME anywhere…' Twister wriggles out of Otto's grasp, curious and beet red at her innuendo. Only he would have the girl of his dreams walk in on him wrestling… her brother. Wait, Reggie was NOT the girl of his dreams. She was his very beautiful female friend.

"All it takes are a few well placed smiles and compliments…" Reggie's wink causes Twister's stomach to inexplicably drop.

"Reg… you'd better not be flirting with any of those bozos there… you're a Rocket. Rockets have standards." Otto goes into protective brother mode at the thought of Reggie going to a dance with BOYS instead of him.

'Says the one who would date anything in a skirt…' Sam is still sore about losing his opportunity to go to the dance with Sherry.

"Any HOT thing in a skirt…"

"Lars is hot…" Reggie enjoys torturing her brother. The sense of satisfaction she gets at his bug eyed expression is matched only by her curiosity at Twister's sudden queasy look. "Anyway, I'll be getting dressed at your house, Twist. Cleo and I want to at least get ready together, seeing that we've got to split up for this dance…" Otto squirms slightly under her pointed glare.

"Anyway, sis… I'm sure you'll look absolutely lovely… the boys won't be able to keep their eyes off you… so you'd better run along… don't want to keep good old Lars and Thomas waiting…" He quickly ushers his sister out of the room before she can start with her 'Otto ruined one of our last dances' routine. He'd been getting enough grief from Otto and, believe it or not, Twister on THAT front. It was almost as if Twister had WANTED to go to the dance as Reggie's de facto date… Otto pauses and gives his best friend a contemplative glare, before shrugging and heading to the bathroom with his "extremely well fitting pants."

At the dance, Twister and Sam are glum. They've been watching Otto and Cleo giggle and coo for almost an hour, and hadn't seen Trish, Sherry or Reggie yet. Even teasing Otto about Cleo was getting old; he would just turn to her with a dopey grin, she would giggle, and they'd kiss. After an hour of watching them, Twister was about ready to stab his own eye with a fork. When Otto and Cleo started to feed each other hors d'ouvers, Sam and Twister made an executive decision to split, skulk by the punch bowl, and sulk. Sam seemed to understand why Twister was in such a funk; both boys brooded in silence as they watched their various couples on the dance floor. Suddenly, Sam seemed to stand a little straighter as the boys are approached by a blonde dressed as Gabrielle from Xena, warrior princess.

'Can I have this dance, cutie?' Sherry winked at the stupefied Squid, blushing slightly at his blatant ogling.

'S-s-s-sure…b-b-but… Twist?' Sam may have feelings for Sherry, but he wasn't about to leave his friend alone with the nauseating new couple from hell – Otto and Cleo.

'You should go dance with Reg…' Sherry, oblivious to Twister's sudden excitement at the mention of their friend's name, ' You'd like have to get in line, though… she's been mobbed since we got here… and your brother and cousin are like a pair of lovesick puppies… hey wouldn't it be cool if Reg and Thomas ended up together? Then she and Otto would be dating siblings!!!'

Turning slightly green, Twister manages to choke out a response, "R-reg and Thomas? I-i-interesting… Man I've got to go… get some air…'

Outside, Twister is giving himself one of his now regular pep talks.

"You CANNOT date her. Otto will kill you. Besides, why would she want to date YOU, anyway? She's beautiful, smart, talented, cool, sweet… and what are you??"

'You're cute, sweet and smarter than you give yourself credit for…' Maurice Rodriguez jumps at the sight of the girl standing behind him. Reggie Rocket is dressed as Cleopatra, with heavily kohl-ed eyes, straight-ironed hair and a form fitting costume that hugged every curve and complemented her olive skin perfectly. The teenaged boy gulps, not trusting himself to utter more than a squeak of approval.

'I don't know who this girl is, but she's the luckiest girl in the world to have a guy like you interested in her… and until she realizes her good fortune, I saved you a dance…'

"B-b-but… what about Thomas?"

'Thomas?? Twist… he's a friend… the last I checked I came to this dance dateless…'

"W-well… since Otto and Cleo and Sam and Sherry have coupled up… will you be my pretend date?"

'I'd like nothing more..' with a sweet smile, she takes his arm and they walk back into the dance, inexplicably giddy with excitement and twin grins.