Everyone was astonished.
"Girlfriend?" Jerry's jaw was hanging. "You never told us about one named Juliana."
Milton sighed, scratching his head absently. "His memory's terrible, but he is often correct when it comes to the female side of the species."
Jerry nodded and raised his hand for a high five no one returned. He awkwardly brought his hand to his side and coughed.
Eddie fidgeted uncomfortably. "It wasn't a long relationship. Just a month, at most, before Mrs. Riker found out and stopped it."
Kim was curious. "So how did it all start?"
He shrugged. "Well, I sang her a song, played the cello, then served her a meal I made—"
"Not how you started dating, Eddie, though thanks for the tips," Rudy cut in, mentally noting what he had said for future dating references. "The whole deal with Madame Riker."
The Wasabi Warriors had gathered around Eddie with curiosity, and now leaned in further as he was about to speak.
Eddie chuckled anxiously. "Right, right! Well, after her husband died, she's been raising Juliana herself. They moved around a lot because of Madame Riker's ballet career, and Juliana's aiming for a dance scholarship at Juilliard."
Jack frowned, attempting to fit the pieces together in his head. "Okay…but why is Juliana missing and why does her mom think you hid her?"
The other boy sheepishly stared at the floor. "Juliana used to run away to get a break from her mom, but she didn't start doing that until she met me. That was a few months before we were 'official.' Anyway, Mrs. Riker says I'm a bad influence."
Rudy choked as he was drinking water, spitting it all over the floor.
"RUDY!" Milton yelled. "What if Mohindra saw that?!"
"Sorry but I think I just misheard Eddie," the sensei replied. "Did you just say she thought you were a bad influence?!"
The teen nodded slowly.
"A bad influence?! You?!" Kim exclaimed.
"Oh, our Eddie's a bad boy now," Jerry joked.
Eddie hurriedly shoved the last of his stuff into his bag, his face inscrutable.
"So if we're done here I need to go, my mom sent me an SOS," Eddie hurried to the door.
"SOS?" Milton questioned.
"Save our supper," Eddie winced. "Trust me, you don't want to know."
Grabbing his gear, the boy fled.
"That's the fastest I've seen him move since the Black Dragons tried to wedgie him to his locker," Milton informed them.
"It must be really good food," Jerry mused.

Eddie didn't want to leave during practice, but he couldn't ignore the text he'd received.
He only hoped his flimsy excuse bought him enough time.
The park was quite full, with families and kids enjoying the evening. Eddie scanned the area and sighed with relief when he saw his contact.
On a bench beside tall hedges sat a short figure in a blue hoodie. Eddie immediately joined her.
"Hey," he muttered. "What's going on?"
The person shifted, then handed over a large brown envelope.
"I got it, but they're onto us," they whispered in a Jamaican accent.
"Thank you," Eddie spoke with sincere gratitude. "Anything else I can do to help?"
The other person laughed a little. "You already are doing everything. I'm thankful for you."
He or she took their leave, passing by some bushes.
Milton, Jerry, and Rudy's heads popped up from behind them.
The trio watched their friend open the envelope and look through a few documents, his face becoming even more solemn.
"Why are we doing this, let's just go talk to him!" Jerry whisper-shouted.
"No!" Rudy yelped. "We need to keep a low profile."
Milton sighed. "I don't know, Rudy, this does seem a little juvenile."
Jack and Kim appeared, sneaking behind them. Kim stuffed food into Jerry's mouth before he could scream.
"Blue Hoodie vanished before we could get a good look at them," Jack informed his friends. "Are you guys sure about this?"
"Remember Truman?" Rudy snapped. "The last thing we need is Eddie getting blackmailed again. We should protect him…discreetly."
Eddie shoved the documents back into the envelope, stood and paused.
"You know I can hear you guys?" He spoke too loudly, glaring daggers at their hiding place.
"WE'VE BEEN SPOTTED! CAMOUFLAGE MODE!" The sensei shrieked at the top of his lungs.
The Wasabi Warriors did what they did best as master martial artists:
Hid themselves in a ridiculously noisy fashion.
Once they finished flailing their limbs Eddie rolled his eyes.
"Guys! Come on!" He snapped.
The gang gave up and sheepishly stepped out of the shrubs. They didn't meet their friend's eyes at first.
Eddie crossed his arms.
"Why are you following me?" He demanded with annoyance. His eyes glinted dangerously.
"Why did you lie to us?" Jack countered.
"And why'd you eat my taco at lunch?" Jerry's words were muffled thanks to the corndog still in his mouth.
Kim punched him in the shoulder.
"Okay bad timing." He admitted.
Milton held his arms wide in a conciliatory gesture, worry creasing his brow. "Eddie, we were concerned—"
"I'm fine!" Eddie cried. "Why can't you guys trust me on this?"
Rudy put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Eddie, we're your friends. We're here to help you."
Hurt, Eddie shook him off. "I don't need your help!" He raged. "Just let me do what I have to do!"
He was about to march off when Jack stopped him.
"Eddie, if you don't tell us, we have to assume the worst," he spoke in an undertone. "We—"
The other boy suddenly moved, grabbing Jack around the neck. He used his right leg to trip him, Jack's own weight causing him to fall.
"Jack!" Kim tried to grab Eddie, but he was able to elude her grasp and sprint away. Unbeknownst to him, a single piece of paper slipped free from the envelope, landing softly on the ground.
Milton picked it up, studying it closely, while the others helped Jack to his feet.
"Jack are you okay?" Jerry asked.
"Yeah, just…I can't believe he judo threw me!" Jack was in utter disbelief. "He threw me!"
"Get a grip!" Kim was exasperated. "You're not invincible, and before you say anything, your hair is fine."
Jack closed his mouth and his face turned red.
"What've you got there, Milton?" Rudy questioned.
The brainy boy squinted. "It's one of the papers Eddie dropped, but it's quite peculiar. It appears to be a mixture of sequential codes with an algorithm that utilizes abecedarian and numerical units."
Everyone stared at him.
"Little-people words, please," Jerry scratched his scalp.
Milton rolled his eyes. "It's heavily encrypted, but I can figure it out."
Suddenly his phone beeped, and he jumped.
"Who's that?" Kim questioned.
Milton checked his cell. "Holy Christmas nuts! I forgot to meet Julie at the fro-yo place for our date!"
"It's okay man, we got this," Jack assured him, taking the sheet. "Get going!"

After Milton's sprint of desperation, the friends regrouped at Falafel Phil's.
"All right guys, let's do this!" Jerry was pumped.

10 MINUTES LATER

Jerry stared at the ceiling, muttering phrases in Spanish while splayed on the ground.
Rudy was playing games on his phone.
Jack fixed his hair in a mirror.
The only one still working was Kim, who glared sourly at her male counterparts. She surveyed the pile of paper around her before crumpling one sheet in her hands.
Kim growled with frustration and tossed it behind her, hitting Phil as he entered.
"Hey!" The restauranteur protested, broom in hand. "What are you doing to my pristine palace?" Jack chuckled. "Phil, the last time we were here I found a cockroach the size of that broom. This palace is many things, but it's not pristine."
Phil shrugged. "Fair enough. But why do you make even bigger mess?"
Kim massaged her temples. "I still can't figure it out."
"Then how did Eddie do it?" Jack demanded. "We saw him look at all the documents in seconds and…Jerry, get off the floor!"
He rolled and moaned. "No ma, I didn't take the gorilla."
Kim grabbed a glass of water and poured it on his face.
"MAMACITA!" He screamed, leaping to his feet.
"Jerry, stop fooling around, we need to figure this out!" Kim scolded. "Rudy, stop playing Candy Crash!"
She snatched his phone and chucked it to the side.
"Hey, I was on level forty!" Rudy protested.
Kim restrained herself before continuing through gritted teeth. "Focus, guys! If we're ever going to help Eddie, we need to decode this!"
The guys slumped back to their seats, and sullenly pored over the code.
Phil peered over. "Wow, you know Esperanto?"
The four whirled around.
"Esperanto?" Jack questioned cautiously.
"It's a made up language, see?" Phil pointed at various words. "Here, here, here…I don't know why numbers are in this as well, but this one means help, thank you…"
The door slammed open, causing everyone to look up.
A tough East Asian girl stood tall, dragging Milton by the collar. She wore sunglasses, a black leather jacket and jeans, her short hair dyed midnight blue. She was shorter than Milton, but more muscular. Her combat boots were splattered with paint. "Okay, whose nerd is this?!" She bellowed. Milton flapped his arms helplessly as he struggled to breathe. "If he can't pay, someone needs to, stat. I don't like it when people keep me waiting."
She abruptly released Milton, and his friends rushed forward to catch him.
"Thanks for the tip, Phil," Rudy told him. "We should probably deal with this before something else happens."
Phil retreated to his kitchen without comment.