Secret Admirer

Chapter Two: Blabbermouth

Word Count: 1,755

Warnings: None this Chapter

Howard rubbed his chin in thought,

"What about...you use your ninja stealth to wait for them to put another note in your locker, and when they show up, you go back to normal, boring Cunningham and confront them face-to-face!" He suggested, pumping his fist into the air, "BOOM! Romance!"

Randy glared at his best friend. Howard had been at this all morning, and having dealt with it enough the night before, he was beyond tired of Howard's pointless ideas.

"How about... no?" He replied, not the least bit amused, "That's a stupid idea because we don't know if this person is gonna send another note, and if they were, we don't know when to stick around and wait for them?!"

Howard chuckled,

"They are totally going to leave another note. That's what secret admirers do, Cunningham."

Randy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest,

"Okay, if that were actually true, which it's not, when would they leave the note? Hmm?"

Howard smirked,

"Before school starts. Duh. Do you know nothing about romance?"

Randy continued to glare at him,

"If you know that, then why'd the note show up in my locker after school yesterday, and not any time before that?"

Howard chuckled like the answer was obvious,

"Well..." he blinked, "obviously, they are just mixing it up a bit and-OW! Don't hit me!"

Randy curled his fist at his side, more than ready to punch him in the shoulder again.

"Just shut up and help me think of an actual good idea, Howard."

"If you don't like my ideas, why don't you just come up with your own?" Howard grumbled, rubbing his shoulder.

"Because," Randy groaned, "you know I don't know anything about-"

Howard's sly smirk made him stop.

"It's not funny."

Howard broke out in a full grin,

"Oh, it is so funny, dude!" And with that, he quickly broke into giggles.

"What are you laughing about?"

Howard turned to see his sister eyeing him suspiciously. He just laughed harder, and Randy sighed, closing his locker.

"Okay, seriously," Heidi turned to Randy, "what's his malfunction?"

Randy shrugged,

"I think a screw came loose," he remarked, shooting a glare as Howard continued to laugh.

"Maybe a few of them, actually..."

Howard stood up straight, trying to hold it in, but it was no use. Heidi just shook her head,

"I don't have time for this. See you, dorks!"

She walked past them and left to go to class. Randy glanced back at Howard,

"Dude, what is your problem?!" He scowled.

"I just-" Howard snickered, "I got an idea! An awesome idea! Haa!"

Randy rolled his eyes,

"Yeah, and I'm sure it's just as brilliant as all the others..."

He turned, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Come on," he told him, "Let's just get to class already."

Howard bit his lip, trying to keep the laughter down.

"W-where'd my sis go?" He asked through a strangled chuckle.

"She went that way," Randy pointed down the hall with his thumb, but just as he did, Howard took off in that direction, leaving him to trek to his first class alone.

'Gee, thanks, Howard. You sure are a big help.'

Class started as boring as usual, except Howard was about fifteen minutes late. He decided to 'entertain' the teacher, and the rest of the class, with an incredibly detailed story about what took him so long in the bathroom. Let's just say, the teacher had had enough and got him to stop before it got too shnasty.

"What took you so long?" Randy questioned as Howard took his seat at the desk next to his.

"I had to put my plan into action," he replied with a wide smirk.

Randy frowned. 'Great. What's he gotten me into NOW?'

Randy had asked what Howard had done, but he wouldn't say. He just repeatedly told him that he'd just have to wait.

So, he did. By lunch time, there was still no sign of whatever he was supposed to wait for. And still no monsters to fight, either. He wasn't sure which one frightened him more...

'Maybe they're all taking an early spring break?' Randy wondered. The ninja hadn't showed up at the school since early last week. You'd think people would miss him by now.

Randy took his seat across from Howard at their table, quickly remarking,

"So, did your 'awesome plan' fail? Or is it just taking longer than you thought to work?"

Howard rolled his eyes,

"I know it'll work, Cunningham," he told him. "In case you forgot, I'm the expert here."

Randy poked at his food, nodding his head. Howard only knew more about this stuff because he had an older sister who's been with every popular guy she's ever seen. (Granted, Howard could say that, but if he ever did, he'd get a kick to the shin for it.) But what could Howard possibly know from just having a sister who dates a lot of guys? Randy doubted he knew anything that didn't come from those cheesy rom-coms Howard kept under his bed.

"Hello, Norrisville High!" A voice rang out from across the cafeteria. Randy glanced back over his shoulder to see Heidi's face on the two flat-screens by the exit.

'Well, she must have finally found something to talk about...' He thought, turning back to his tray.

"Turns out a local freshman has gotten a little love interest lately. Sources say, one mister Randy Cunningham has a secret admirer—"

"Ha, that's Randy!"

Randy glanced back again, only to find a bunch of people staring at him.

'Oh, come on,' he cringed, 'What'd I do now?'

He couldn't tell what Heidi said next, but an eruption of laughter in his direction made his whole face go red.

"Howard!" He scowled back at his best friend, "What the juice, man?! You told your sister?"

Howard's smirk instantly disappeared as he glanced to the left, avoiding eye contact.

"What? No! Of course not! Why would I do that?"

Randy facepalmed. 'This is what Howard was up to? Seriously?'

"Oh, come on," Howard remarked, "Heidi knows everything. She would've found out eventually anyway! Besides, if anyone could figure out who your secret admirer is, it's her!"

Randy stood up, ignoring the now-echoing laughter from around him.

"Howard," he slammed his hand down on the table. "Did it ever occur to you that I DON'T ACTUALLY CARE WHO WROTE IT?!"

Howard glanced around,

"Well, then, why'd you ask for my help?"

Randy stood back up and sighed in annoyance.

"We had nothing better to do yesterday. I thought it'd be less annoying than failing as your wingman at the pier, okay?"

Howard shot him a look,

"You really didn't want to know?"

Randy covered his face with his hands,

"I thought we would just agree it was someone pulling a prank and be done with it already!"

Howard looked away, only to see the rest of the students staring at the two of them. Julian spoke up, asking,

"Err, is there anyth-"

Randy immediately cut him off.

"No," he retorted. "That is the last thing I need right now."

He shot a glare at Howard before stomping away, hearing a couple of the kids at the table snickering behind him.

'Howard is such a blabbermouth! I never should have even told him what was on that stupid note...'

Randy opened the doors from the cafeteria and walked down the hallway to his locker. What was he supposed to do now? He knows Heidi too well to know she'd never give up something like this, especially with how barren her blog had been since the beginning of the week...

Randy sighed and stopped before reaching his locker.

"I might as well try..." He told himself. Maybe she'd help him out this one time?

"Oh, hello, Rrrrandy."

He felt his eye twitch. When was the last time she actually got his name right? And why was she so happy to see him, anyway.

Heidi spun around in her chair, mic and tablet at the ready.

"Is there something I can do for you?" She asked sweetly.

Randy held down the nausea coming to him.

'Just focus on why I'm here, and make it fast,' he reminded himself.

"I just had a...favor to ask."

Heidi waved him off almost instantly, saying,

"Oh, don't worry about that. Howard already asked me to find out who sent you the note. My computer's running an analysis of the handwriting to every signature in my yearbook from last year. I should know by the end of the day," she told him, seemingly all in one breath.

Randy rubbed his arm, glancing down at his shoes,

"Actually, I wanted to ask if you could forget about the whole 'secret admirer' thing. I don't really wanna know who it is," he explained. "Howard only told you because he thought it'd help, but..." He paused. What should he say?

"We-uhh, that is me and Howard, decided it was some joke. You know, a harmless prank that someone pulled to get a good laugh? So, you know, it's no big deal."

When he looked back at Heidi, he found her holding her little, pink microphone in his face, and he pushed it away.

"What are you doing?"

Heidi reattached her mic and nonchalantly sank back in her spinning chair.

"Oh, you poor thing," she cooed. "No one as cute as you should be tortured like that."

Randy's eye twitched.

"Could you, maybe, stop talking like that?" He muttered, "It's really starting to freak me out… it was better when you hated me and didn't know my name."

"Tell you what," Heidi told him, her voice still obnoxious, "I'll continue searching for who sent you this note, and when I find them, I'll make a big announcement on the blog about who it is and force them to apologize to you!"

Randy facepalmed for the third time that day.

"That," he groaned, "would be worse than what you're doing already!"

Heidi waved him off with her hand,

"Don't be silly. I know what I'm doing. You have nothing to worry about..." She paused and squinted at him, "uhh...Randy! Randy."

She turned back in her chair, mumbling,

"I'll remember that."

Randy sighed. So much for that. All he did was make it worse.

'But, hey,' he thought, 'it can't possibly get any WORSE than this, right?'