Thanks for the reviews everyone! I just love cliffhangers like that last chapter. lol Now, for this chapter, it's just continuing off from where the previous one left off, so please enjoy this early update to celebrate the end of my finals!
Hey, if you're wondering, Otto's catching Reggie and Twister wasn't originally included last part. It was supposed to be the beginning of this chapter. I only added it as a way to torment you Twister x Reggie fans, and because of jovhyztwist's review.
Oh, I hope you all managed to catch the RP Christmas special. It aired this past Monday. This was definitely one of the best episodes ever in my opinion! They actually referenced Reggie and Otto's mother! Too bad they didn't give a name, or even show a photo of her. She, apparently, was into aquatics since Ray mentioned her having been on a scuba expedition, and she was apparently a surfer. Ooo, I'll definitely have to work that into this fic somehow! I just wish this ep would've aired last Tuesday, like it was supposed to have, instead of a couple of days ago. The second half of chapter 11 would've been written a tad bit differently and I would've at least included the gift that Otto received from Ray that once belonged to kids' mother.
Let's see, what else can I say about it...oh yeah, since I'm such a Twister fan, I have to mention this. If it weren't for Twister, then Sam, Reggie, and Otto wouldn't have earned extra money for Christmas presents. I like how Twister said that this year, he'd have enough money to buy something for all of the Rodriguezes. I have this feeling that he wasn't just referring to Sandy, Raul, and Lars. Later on in the ep, Otto mentioned Twister being stuck doing something with family and his "gajillion cousins." Quite interesting how Lars wasn't forced to hang around these said cousins as he was out challenging Otto.
Oh, and for those who did miss it, Ulises Cuadra did not voice Twister, so that made me sad. Instead, it was that Gilbert Leal, Jr. kid. I miss Ulises! I admit, Gilbert does a great job voicing Twister, but it just sounds weird since Gilbert is obviously younger than Ulises. It's like Twister aged backwards after making a big deal about his voice changing in the first place. Maybe if they hadn't gone through the trouble of acknowledging his voice changing, I'd be more…into Gilbert. If they would've changed Twister's voice actor like time Cuadra's voice started to change then it wouldn't have felt so strange.
Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Rocket Power. Klasky-Csupo has that honor.
Chapter 12: "Best Bro or Traitor?" Twister & Reggie's Confrontation with Otto!
"Just one more day until the big competition!" Otto said as he rode home. "I am so totally stoked and I'm going to win it! This is a statewide competition, and our team, Seal Beach, Huntington, Newport Harbor, San Clemente, Santa Monica, and the Ocean Bluffs' teams are the last ones left in the competition. Whoever wins will be the best of the best!" A determined look appeared on the young boy's face as he sped down the hill. "I will win this competition! I will be the best. I have to; I can't let her down…"
When he arrived home a short while later, it was close to 11, and he saw that Ray's car wasn't in the driveway.
'I guess he's still hanging at the Shack,' he thought as he put his bike and surfboard in a corner of the garage. Once done, he closed up the garage and headed to the front door.
After he entered the home, he started up the stairs, but something from his left caught his eye. He noticed the television was on and on the couch, his head lolled back, was a certain "traitor," wearing a striped red and yellow backwards cap snoring soundly.
"What's he doing here!" Otto grumbled annoyingly.
He stomped over to the couch, about to give the boy a piece of his mind, when he noticed a certain dark-haired girl lying down next to him, her head resting on the boy's shoulder, and her eyes closed, Twister's arms draped around her. To him, it looked as if the two had been spending the evening together, like an actual couple.
'No way,' the boy thought, his eyes wide. His astonishment then turned to that of anger. "What the hell are you two doing?!" Otto shouted loudly, startling the two awake.
Twister was the first to awaken, and saw a very pissed boy standing in front of him. "O-man?" He yawned. "What's up?"
Twister tried to stretch his arms, and finally realized that Reggie was curled up next to him, her head resting on his shoulder and how he had been holding onto her all night without realizing it. 'She sure is pretty when she's sleeping,' the boy thought soothingly. A nervous blush then crept onto his face. 'Wait! No, no she's not! She's just a friend, nothing more! She fell asleep and-and-and put her head on my shoulder by accident and since I always have to hold something when I sleep, I held her by mistake thinking she was a pillow or something! Yeah, that's it!'
Reggie sat upright and started to rub the sleep away from her eyes, still trying to make sense of things. She was also slightly annoyed that her nice peaceful slumber had been disturbed. 'Oh, we fell asleep,' she yawned, 'I wonder what the big deal is...'
She was about to question her brother, and ask why he seemed to be so peeved, but she didn't get the chance. Otto stormed over to the two, and grabbed Twister by his shirt, picking him up slightly.
"Hey!" the boy protested, too surprised to do much of anything.
"What are you doing here with my sister!" Otto demanded through grit teeth, shaking him some.
"OTTO!" Reggie yelled, finally alert and fully awake. "Leave him alone!"
Otto ignored Reggie's demand as he kept his attention fixated on the boy in front of him. "Well!"
"Dude, we-we were just studying," he replied timidly.
"You never study!" Otto retorted, ready to knock the boy senseless.
"Yes I do!" Twister argued back. "I'm trying to get my grades up! It'll be nice to make decent grades for a change and have my parents proud of me! You know how much trouble I'm having with math and science! There's a chance I might not pass this time and I don't want to spend my summer vacation in school!"
"What makes this year different from any other year?"
"What difference does it make!" Reggie argued as she tried to break the two boys up, but Otto was pretty strong and his grip on Twister just wouldn't let up. "Leave him alone! He needed help with his Geometry homework and I was helping him!"
Otto thought for a short moment, his grip still tight on Twister's shirt. He then narrowed his eyes at Reggie in suspicion. "Why ask you when he could ask the Squid! We all know that he's the smartest out of all of us."
"Because I offered, that's why! Now let him go and chill out! What is your problem anyway!"
Otto let go of Twister, who fell back onto the couch. He turned to his sister and pointed a finger at her. "You're the one with the problem, Reg!" he said while glaring at her. "You're the one hanging around with the loser!"
Twister stared up at Otto in a daze, as if trying to compute what his so-called "best friend," had just said. "Loser?"
"Twister is so not a loser, you dork!" Reggie retorted angrily. "The only loser I see here is you! Twister, as well as Sam and I, have been trying to figure you out for the past couple of weeks. You keep talking about being the best; the best at what? There's no such thing as the best anything!"
"Whatever!" he snorted. "Maybe you can't be the best, but I'm going to be the best extreme athlete Ocean Shores has ever seen! Better than you, my so-called 'best bro,' and everyone else!" He then said softly, "I made a promise to be!"
'Promise? What's he talking about?'
"I'm going to bed. Later, much," Otto finally said as he made his way towards the stairs, but before heading up, he turned back and gave Twister a hateful, icy stare. One worse than stink eye. "Don't you dare try anything with my sister, traitor, or else you'll regret it!"
"Try something? I'll regret it?" He couldn't believe it. Had Otto actually threatened him, his best friend of 10 plus years?
"Oh that stupid brother of mine!" Reggie fumed. She wanted to knock him senseless for the way he had just treated Twister.
"What would I try?" Twister asked in perplexity, too dazed to think the obvious. "What's he talking about?"
"Just forget about it, Twist. Otto is just being stupid."
"I think I'll go home," Twister said quickly, rising from his seat. He started to gather his schoolbooks and papers and began hastily stuffing them into his backpack. "I have to make sure everything's ready for the Pep Rally tomorrow afternoon. I have to film the whole thing."
This news wasn't surprising to Reggie or anyone who knew the young Mexican boy. Twister, since he was head of the A/V club, and the most experienced, always had to film school activities and events, unless he was a participant himself, but for this year, he didn't have to worry about that since his only extra-curricular school activity was A/V and that was enough right there. He didn't even join Art Club or Choir for the year, but he did help out with some Art Club activities unofficially on occasion whenever he was free.
For A/V, he had to film all of the school sporting events, plays the drama club put on, pep rallies, school concerts, and he had to even make sure everything was set up for their school news broadcast before lunch every Friday. He even had to overlook the editing process. He had a lot of responsibilities when it came to A/V.
He didn't play any extra sports, not like Otto, since he wanted to devote more of his time to improving his directing and cinematography skills. The only sports-related club he would've considered joining, if their school had it, would've been the Skate Club. His previous schools had had them.
"But your film equipment is at school," she gently put a hand on his shoulder, "you just keep your Twist Cam at home."
"I still should still go." A frown formed on the boy's face and he stared down at the floor, totally down. "I don't think Otto wants me around right now."
"No Twist, don't go," Reggie protested as she took her hand from off of his shoulder. "Let's talk about this!"
He shook his head as he strapped his backpack on. "Thanks, but no thanks, Reg. I don't think there's anything we can talk about. Otto hates me now and that's all there is to it. What's there to talk about?"
Reggie could tell that Twister was terribly hurt over Otto's actions and words and really wanted to try and help him in some way or give him a reassuring hug or something, but she couldn't think of anything. She finally gave in and nodded slowly. "Yeah, okay Twist. I guess I'll see you in the morning."
"Yeah," he said shortly as he headed towards the front door, rushing out.
"Whoa, whoa, Twister, where's the fire!" a certain blonde asked after being nearly bumped into by the boy. There had been so much commotion going on inside the house, that neither he nor Reggie heard Ray's loud sputtering, backfiring car pull up.
"Hi Mr. Rocket," Twister said dully as he made his way past him. "Bye Mr. Rocket."
Ray stared after Twister and scratched his head. "Mr. Rocket?" When he walked into the house, he saw Reggie seated on the couch deep in thought. "Hey, Rocket Girl!"
Reggie looked back to see Ray by the front door, locking up for the night. "Dad!"
Ray sat down next to Reg on the couch, shutting off the TV. "Looks like you two had quite a meal here."
On the surfboard table, the bowls where Reggie and Twister ate their sundaes were still there, along with the Styrofoam container, which had held Twister's burger.
Reg nodded weakly, realizing that due to Otto's stupidity, she had forgotten all about getting Twister to help clean up.
"Any idea what's wrong with Twister? He called me 'Mr. Rocket'. He hasn't called me that since he and Otto first became friends."
Reggie shrugged. "Who knows, I guess he was just being silly."
"Hey, is Otto home?"
"Yeah, he went to bed a while ago," she said quickly, not really wanting to discuss anything dealing or relating to Rocket Boy.
"Hey, I thought Twister was going to stay over."
"He remembered something he had to do at home involving his Audio Visual club stuff and said he'll meet up with me and Sammy in the morning."
"What about Otto?"
"Well, he's been leaving a bit earlier than us lately," Reggie lied.
"I hope he's getting early morning tutoring," Ray mumbled. "So, you and Twister finish that math homework of yours?" She nodded. "It's right, isn't it?"
She nodded again and stood up, picking up the sundae bowls and any other trash out on the surfboard table. "You know what, Raymundo, I'm a bit tired. I'm going to clean this up and crash."
"Don't worry about that, sweetheart," Ray stood up and took the bowls away from her, "I'll clean this up. You go on to bed. I'm sure you worked hard this evening with that math and I'm sure you worked even harder trying to help out Twister. He's never been all that good in math."
"Are you sure? I made the mess, and I should clean it up."
"No, go right ahead. It's not much and you always do such a good job of keeping the house in order when I'm busy with work. Tonight was the biggest crowd we've had all week! I bet tomorrow's going to be even more hectic!"
Reggie forced on a small smile and hugged her father. "Thank you, dad." Surprised by her actions, he hugged her back.
"What for?"
"For everything." She didn't understand why she felt she had to hug her father, but felt good about it. At least he didn't dislike or hate her like Otto seemed to.
"Anytime Rocket Girl," Ray told her. "Now, you better head off to bed, kiddo."
She nodded and went up to her room, still perturbed over the recent events of the night...