A\N: Wow, random comments from Lolz time xD xP
"Ugh! I can´t believe those girls! Seriously, what did I say to make Marlene mad?" Skipper asked his team. They all stood before him, shrugging awkwardly.
"What did you say to her?" Private asked.
Skipper took a deep breath then recited exactly what he said.
"Well, no. But I wanted to add them. I happen to know a lot about team spirits and girlfriends. I also know that neither one of them go along with each other. The lovers are mostly distractions to the men fighting. They should keep their distance. Plus, at war, sport or real, guys should never let girls sidetrack them from their work. That´s why I added these lines, I wanted to make that clear. Then she asked me if I meant that she was a distraction to me and I told her she´s a girl so yeah."
Silence.
"What?" The leader asked.
Kowalski coughed awkwardly, seeing he would be the one who would have to break it to his leader. "Skipper, what you said right there…a girl would take that as an insult."
Skipper stared at him. "She thought I insulted her? It´s all true!"
"Yeeaahhh…" Private rubbed his neck. Kowalski murmured something.
"Nope!" Rico told his officer clearly.
"What did you say to AT?" Private asked.
Skipper scowled. "I didn´t say anything to her. But if I finally manage to insult her, I´ll be glad!"
The others just rolled their eyes.
The next morning, AT threw them out of their bed as usual. Marlene was on the other side of the stage, refusing to look at him.
´Girls! So over-dramatic with EVERYTHING!´ Skipper thought annoyed.
AT grabbed Marlene and Skipper and a few of their friends and threw them into the cafeteria for the next scene.
Lunch break was over and all the students were back by their lockers, talking and laughing about nonsense that happened during break.
Gabriella walked to her locker and opened it, getting out her Math and history books. Troy slid up from behind her. "Hey, how are you doing?" No answer. She stuffed some books back that threaten to fall out.
"Listen, there´s something I want to talk you about." Troy began but the other turned and interrupted before he could continue.
"And here it is: I know what it´s like to carry a load you're your friends and I understand that. You have your boys and I have my team. So we´re good."
"Good about what? I was going to talk to you about the callbacks."
"I don´t want to do them either Troy."
"What?"
"Look, who are we trying to kid. I´ve got my team and I´m going g to help them win the Scholastic Decathlon. You go and get that championship. Go Wildcats." Marlene handed him the piece of paper where the notes to their song was written. She swept past Skipper and made her way to her first class.
The penguin stood dumbfounded there for a second, before turning. "Gabriella?!" The whole cheerleader crew trampled past Troy making a lot of noise and cheering his name. The Wildcat barely heard him.
"Hey Captain!" Rico shouted to his leader. He passed him the basket ball. Troy let it bounce away. He ignored the questions from his team and slid away. "Hey what´s up with Skipper?" Phil signed. "Don worwy about id." Rico shrugged it off.
Run. Jump. Shoot. Miss. Skipper groaned and grabbed the ball. "Run. Jump. Shoot. Hit!" He told himself. He ran forward, he jumped and he shot. Missed again! The penguin continued his frantic game of losing, not noticing a certain lemur standing by the window, watching him. The captain threw the ball with one more desperate thrust, but it bounced off the ring and landed back at Skipper´s feet. The penguin let out a frustrated cry and grabbed the ball throwing it against the wall. He didn´t miss the window. Maurice winced as the glass shattered, but his son didn´t seem to hear it. The ball bounced out through the zoo, right to the gate and into a certain someone´s car window. "MY CAR!"
School was just awkward now. Walking in the hallway, sitting in class, eating in the cafeteria, riding the bus home, all those were places where Gabriella and Troy would see each other. What used to have delighted them was now only filled with dread.
Chad and Taylor weren´t getting the satisfaction that they´d hoped for. Troy kept his distance from the team and everyone else most of the time. He never missed practice or any games they´d play after school, but he seemed kinda spaced out, like the scene of them breaking up kept repeating in his mind.
The brainiac on the other hand was absorbed in her work, barely taking her eyes off the chalk and blackboard. The teachers were thrilled of course with her new ´hunger for learning´, the students not so much. Some called her, ´the teachers´ pet´, others felt incredibly guilty for her behavior. And those others were Taylor, Chad the jocks and the brainiacs.
It seemed like Troy couldn´t take all that tension in the lunchroom anymore. He went missing.
Rico, Mort and Leonard searched for him in the homeroom, the classrooms (and disturbed some girls who secretly snuck away for a cupcake-and-make-over party in the chemist lab). Finally they found his backpack on the stairs leading to the roof. Sure enough, their captain was up there, watching miniature cars speed away on a gray streak.
"Hey." Rico spoke up, startling the penguin out of his thoughts.
"Ve jussed had another team meetin´ (We just had another team meeting)."
"Oh…wonderful." Troy muttered, not seeing why they´ve come all the way up here just to tell him that. Unless they were mad at him for not being there. Well, nobody got him down for the meeting.
"Ve had a team meeting abou´ how ve haven´t been actin like a team," Rico said, then added quickly, "I mean us, not yu…look abou tha singin thing-"
That was about as far as he got before Skipper cut him off.
"I don´t even want to talk about."
"Ve jussed want yu to no that ve´ll be there, okay? Cheering for yu (We just want you to know that we´ll be there)."
"Huh?"
"If you want to sing, we should give you boots, not tearing you down." Mort said, holding up a Nr. 1 Fan glove and a black leather boot.
"Yea, win or lose, we´re teammates." Leonard confirmed with a smile.
"That´s wat we´re abou." Then the weapon expert chuckled. "Even if yu turn out to be the worst singer in tha world."
"Which, we don´t know because we haven´t actually heard you sing."
"I have!"
"Mort shut up.
"Okay!"
"And you´re not going to hear me sing, guys. Cause Gabriella won´t even talk to me…and I don´t know why."
Self-conscious silence followed. "Ve do." Rico said quietly.
Skipper´s head shot up with a questioning look.
"I baked these fresh today. Maurice helped! He baked them and I burnt them. You should eat them before they get cold!" Mort handed the leader a package of burnt cookies.
"…"
"The geeks are telling Gabriella what happened right now, we hope she´ll understand and you know…" Leonard said after they finished. Skipper didn´t respond, which didn´t make the others feel any better.
"Okay look, guys. It´s cool, but if you ever, ever try to do something like that again-" Their leader finally threatened, leaving it to their imagination to figure out how the sentence continues.
Well, obviously the little talk the brainiacs had with Gabriella didn´t work wonders.
The girl still refused to talk to him.
It was time, Skipper decided, to sort things out with her face-to-face.
The school´s breaks were too short for a serious conversation and Troy couldn´t catch Marlene on the school bus.
So he decided that the only place where he could catch her was at her house.
That is, if she didn´t kick him out and slam the door shut in his face before he could open his beak.
The sidewalk was dimly lit, and the half-crescent moon wasn´t helping well either. Except when Skipper entered the porch of the Montez´s. Small lamps decorated the lawn, casting a warm, friendly glow. Thankfully, there was no dog or other creature guarding the porch, so the jock could get to the front door all in one piece.
He knocked gently, then realized that he had no idea what to say to her.
"Hi Gabriella, I didn´t mean those things I said…sorry?" No, not really effective.
"Hi, you look beautiful tonight. Can I come in?" No that sounds almost creepy.
"Hello, I just came by to say that I-" (whips out amnesia spray) "Ha! You don´t remember anything!" (spraying away) "Haha!" Very smart, Bolton, very smart.
The door opened.
Skipper whirled around, his words sticking in his throat for a moment of panic, until he realized it was Mrs Montez…not Ms Montez.
"May I help you?" Becky, (who had been convinced that she was the best badger for this part) asked. She was dressed in ridiculously old-fashioned clothes and had large, wired glasses resting on her nose. She spoke in a weird, shaking tone, and Skipper could tell she was trying not to laugh.
"Yes, Mrs Montez, I wanted to ask…is Gabriella here?"
Becky nodded and giggled.
The other tried not to give her a strange look so she wouldn´t start laughing.
"Can I speak to her?"
The light brown badger looked behind her, where Marlene was shaking her head and mouthing "NO!"
"Um, my daughter," Becky snickered, "She has homework to do, so now´s not a good time."
Skipper looked disappointed. "Well, could you tell her I stopped by to talk to her?"
Becky managed a nod. "Yeah, I have to talk to my husband first though if he allows our daughter, (again, she giggled) to talk to you alone."
"What?"
"Becky!" AT called. "Mr Montez is dead!"
The badger gave her the thumbs up and turned to the penguin with a very solemn face. "Mr Montez is dead."
The director face-palmed. "You won´t supposed to tell him that!"
Becky nodded and face-palmed too. "You won´t supposed to tell me that!"
"Tell you what?" The other asked confused.
"I don´t know, ask AT. She´s calling out the lines."
"No, I wasn´t. I was telling you that there is no Mr Montez, cause he died!"
"I already told him that."
"You weren´t supposed to!"
The badger groaned frustrated. "Then how was he supposed to know that my husband is dead if I can´t tell him?"
"You know what, just continue with the scene!" AT said.
"I will! I mean, I will, Troy. Have a nice evening."
The penguin turned and walked off the porch. Then he got an idea and slid to the backyard.
Marlene sat on a makeshift desk and pretended to work on some homework. Suddenly, something hit the window. And again. And again. And again, till finally the otter decided to see who´s there. She opened the window and saw a familiar shadow standing there.
"Troy?" She sighed.
"Yes, look, Gabriellajustgivemetimetoexp lainandpleasedontshutthewind owbeforeihavetimetoexplainpl easeimreallysorryididntmeant hosethingsisaidletmeupandexp lainthings!" Skipper blurted out, clenching his flippers. He then looked up at his peer.
"…come up…" Marlene disappeared. At first the penguin thought she was teasing him, then a few moments later, a hand\paw made ladder fell down.
When he got up, the ot(h)[t]er was waiting for him.
He patted a small hidden pocket in his feathers to make sure the amnesia spray was still there. If Plan A didn´t work, maybe Plan B could save him before he found out if Marlene used fake claws or not.
Said girl was looking not, averting his look. "Look, Troy, if you came here to apologize…you don't need to, I´m not mad at you for saying those things." The tone in her voice let him know she was.
"Marlene…I´m truly sorry. I wasn´t thinking. Look, my team wanted a manly speech, something a true leader would say…and I gave it to them. They didn´t want me to say that basketball was okay but singing too; basically, they wanted me to admit that I was the old guy, the Troy who was only interested in basketballs and hoops, not girls and make-up."
"That´s because you´re being gay!" Julian shouted from the background, but no one took notice of him, except Private who gave him a dirty look.
The leader hesitated then continued.
"And I´m sorry for that thing I said at lunch…I was being a jerk. Girlfriends aren´t always a distraction to their partners at war, especially not when they´re what the soldiers are protecting. Like that one guy…Aeneas, who was the first great hero of Rome. He fought out of love too. Anyway, I was an idiot, because personally, while I do find you distracting, I also think you´re quite gorgeous-" The he blinked and realized what he just said. In an incredible speed, his face lit up red like a Christmas tree decoration and he covered his bill with his flippers.
Marlene was taken aback too at first, then she smiled.
"I also think you´re…quite stunning." Then she leaned over and shyly kissed the penguin on the cheek. "Apology accepted."
Both were blushing hard, but they managed to finish the scene and get off stage their friends teasing them till finally Marlene disappeared into her habitat for the night and Skipper went into his bunk.
A\N: Yeah…romance isn´t my specialty…but I had help from Aphrodite! ^^ Jk…anyway, R&R! (I don´t even knows what that means, but I´m guessing one of the ´R´s mean review, so yeah…;)