Thanks a whole lot for the reviews everyone! Also, let me apologize in advanced for the length of this chapter. It's quite lengthy, and I know how some people truly dislike reading long chapters - although, I'm not one of them and like to read long chapters - but I hope you decide to read anyway.

Now, I am also sorry that we will not get to see Reggie and Lars yet. Originally this chapter was supposed to feature the two and cover their lunch, but I decided to toss in a filler chapter. It's "All About Sam", pun intended, and you get a cookie if you get that reference. Sam fans can now rejoice! He's finally going to get some coverage. Out of the four so far, not counting Otto of course, he's been shown and dealt with the least. He's been lucky, as Reggie pointed out, that he hasn't been victim of Otto's anger. Anyway, since Sam has been shown the least so far, I decided to write out this chapter, and because I had a slight writer's block, and filler chapters normally helps to rid myself of it. I will also admit that this has definitely been one of my favorite chapters to write so far, the flash back chapters dealing with Otto being the others.

Oh, also for this chapter, expect to see three kind of new characters….okay, they aren't really new per se. They've been on the show before. Two of the characters are seen frequently, the other character was only in one episode, and if you're curious as to who it is, I gave you a hint above. Anyway, please enjoy.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Rocket Power. Klasky-Csupo has that honor.

Chapter 15: "Sam gets into a Fight?!" Sam's Showdown with the Obnoxious Bully!

Sam and Twister made it to school, both having an unspoken agreement not to ever mention what both had accused one another of.

The day went on as usual, and just as Sam had predicted, Otto did come to school. There was no way a person like him would miss school where he was going to be idolized for some of it. Twister was surprised that Otto's head hadn't grown as large as his ego. He saw Otto during PE, even though he was late returning to class. He had left to go to the restroom, but didn't come back until the last part of class. Something had happened in the cafeteria earlier, apparently, and Otto was in the principal's office for it, but other than that, he didn't know anything. He did wonder why he had a bruise on the side of his face, though.

Both he and Otto didn't have the same Health/PE teacher, but they had it during the same class period and about three classes met at that time and shared the gym. He would see him in the locker room. Back when they were on speaking terms, they'd talk and discuss strategy. Not lately. The unfortunate thing about Twister was that his gym locker was right next to Otto's. This particular day, he dressed out quickly so as to avoid having to associate with Otto, especially after what happened the previous night.

The students had eight classes - each 90 minutes long - and had four a day. Each day was broken up into odd and even days.

Today was an odd-class day, which meant Twister had:

1st period: History
3rd period: Geometry
5th period: Health/PE
7th period: Cinematography

On the even-class days, he had:

2nd period: Biology I
4th period: Spanish II
6th period: English 10
8th period: Study Hall/Art. (He helps out the art department whenever time permitted it, which he enjoyed a lot)

Since the classes were running a bit shorter than usual, due to the upcoming pep rally, everyone had a free day, which meant the students could play or do whatever it was they wanted. Some kids would play basketball in one part of the gym, another group would play volleyball, some badminton, some would sit around and read, and some, the girls mostly, would sit around and talk, or jump rope.

Twister decided to try his hand at a game of basketball - Horse to be exact - with some of the other students of his class. They were playing in teams. Along with him was the "weirdo," Eddie "Prince of the Netherworld" Valentine! He had stopped wearing the mask and the cape - he didn't have much of a choice since school rules prohibited such attire - but he was still the same old Eddie who still worshiped Netherworld-like things.

On the other side of the gym, near the locker rooms, a bunch of kids were gathered around Otto who was being asked about the surf competition occurring the following day. He sighed as she shot the ball, once again missing.

"Twister!" the kids of his team groaned since this had been his fifth consecutive miss.

"Denizen of the light," Eddie's voice rasped, "your game stinks on ice!" He then spoke in his normal voice. "What's with you anyway, Twister? Your game is off."

"I guess I just don't feel like playing."

"That's been the case with you for a while now. Whenever we all play together, with Otto, you're usually on your game. How come you and Otto haven't been hanging out as much lately, anyway?"

"No reason. Anyway, class'll be letting out soon and I have to get to the A/V lab since it's Friday."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Eddie mumbled. "Your game was still lame!" He raised his arms and laughed eerily. "I, Eddie, Prince of the Netherworld, have found a sport that I am better at than you! Mwahahahahaha!"

Twister walked off while rolling his eyes. "Yeah, whatever..." he muttered as he made his way across the gym.

Crossing the gym meant passing by Otto, who of which was still acting as if he were some kind of a celebrity. The majority of the girls surrounded him, who were all chatting away like crazy. They were questioning him and asking things like, "Are you going to crush the competition," or, "Were you really a hero today?" or, "What happened in the cafeteria!"

One thing strange about Otto was that he never seemed to take notice of girls in general, since the only things on his mind were sports, going pro, sports, skating, and more sports. It was definitely the opposite for their female peers; the girls took notice of him, and why wouldn't they? He was a somewhat handsome guy - apparently, since the girls liked him so much - and he was a sports star who had the potential to go pro. He definitely had the skills to become a pro skater or surfer.

Twister stopped walking and glanced over in Otto's direction. He really wanted to talk to him and was trying to get the nerve to. Otto noticed Twister's glance. Their eyes locked momentarily, only he glared at the redhead and lightly scoffed. Twister sighed discouragingly and walked to the locker room, to change and to head over to the A/V lab...
x x x x
Sam rushed through the hallway, making his way to the cafeteria for lunch. He was already later than he wanted to be. He also really wished that Twister had the same lunch period as he did so he wouldn't feel as nervous. He also wished that he had just admitted to liking Sherry to Twister, but he couldn't bring himself to do that. He didn't feel like being teased by him.

On odd days, Twister and Otto had C-lunch. Their lunches were broken up into three separate half-hour sessions; there was A-lunch, B-lunch, and C-lunch. On odd days, both he and Reggie had a B-lunch, just like on even-days, which was fortunate for them. As for Otto and Twister, they both had an A-lunch on even-days, right after Spanish.

He finally made it to the cafeteria, but what he saw surprised him. He saw Reggie standing in front of the cafeteria doors, as if waiting around for someone. He was about to greet her when he saw a shifty looking guy walk up to her with a devious grin. Sam just stood there and blinked over the sight.

'Why would she be talking with him?' He saw her nod to the shifty boy and follow him towards the front doors of the school. 'Why would she leave with Lars?!'

The boy was going to rush up to her and the older boy, but decided to leave her alone. Reggie knew what she was doing, and she of all people would know how to handle someone like Lars - she had for practically her entire life - but he still couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

Right at that moment, his stomach growled loudly. He held it. "I guess I should go eat first." He rushed to the cafeteria to find a seat in his usual spot, with Trish, Trent, Sherry, and a few other kids that he knew from class. All of them were already seated and eating, engaged in conversation. He gulped hard as he saw Sherry laughing along with Trish about something.

'C'mon Sam, you can do this! She is a friend, like Reggie said! I should just be myself.'

"Hey Sam," Sherry greeted as he sat right next to Trent, across from her and Trish.

"Hi!" his voice squeaked. After realizing how lame his "hi" sounded, he pretended to cough and pat his chest. "Must have a frog in my throat. Ahem."

Trent gulped down some of his fruit juice. "Hey, aren't you going to get in line, mate?"

"Oh yeah, that's right! I just wanted to set my books down first. I-I was planning on going to the library before heading back to class after lunch."

"Dude, you're always in the library," Trish noted earnestly.

"Well, I do love to read, ehehehe."

"Are you feeling okay, Sam?" Sherry asked in concern.

"Me, of course I am. I'm definitely fine." He nodded vigorously. "Yep, nothing wrong here."

"Um, yeah. So, have you seen Reggie?" Trent asked hopefully. "We saved her a seat."

"Oh yeah, she said she wasn't going to be around earlier this morning, but not sure why. I saw her before I came in here, but let me get a bite to eat first. I'm starved!"

Before any of them could get a word out, Sam took off for the lunch line before it got any longer than what it was.

'I sounded like a major dork! It's like when I'm around her sometimes, I lose my ability to think…like Twister!'

The Squid picked up his tray and bought his food. Today was pizza day, and just like Twister, he loved it. He bought three slices of pizza, an order of fries, a cola, and a Freezie Freeze. After he paid the lunch lady, he exited the lunch line and headed back towards his seat, promising to act more composed.

He got no farther than about 20 feet from the line, when he felt something get in his way, causing him to trip and fall flat on his face, his tray clattering a few inches away from him and all of the food spilled on the floor. His glasses had been knocked off as well.

"Oh!" he gave off an annoyed, embarrassed groan as he felt around for his specs. While searching, he heard someone cruelly laughing at him - as well as other students. He thought he overheard Sherry gasp out, "Are you okay!" from her seat, but figured that was just wishful thinking, given her distance.

'Oh no!' he inwardly growled, recognizing the cruel laugh. He found his glasses and put them on, looking up at the guy who had obviously, and purposely, tripped him.

"The Squid can't even walk straight!" The light brown-haired boy laughed harder as he pointed a finger down at him. He was also quite tall, much taller than Sam. "What a lame-o!"

Sam stood up, quite angered. He made him lose his lunch. "Josh! What'd you do that for!"

The boy gave him a dastardly look, and replied, "You should've been watching where you were going."

Sam disliked Josh with a passion. He had been a pain in his backside since the day he had first met him almost six years earlier. He treated him like crud, and tried to manipulate him into thinking that Otto, Reggie, and Twister didn't need him. He was trying to weasel in so that he could take Sam's place. It didn't work, however, since all three of them told Josh to bug off.

Ever since then, Josh had been a bully to Sam, and no matter what, he could never seem to stay out of his way for long. He would normally just put "Kick Me" signs, or something along the lines of it, on his back, or either try his best to publicly humiliate him, like he had just now. He also would constantly try to pick fights with Sam outside of school, but Sam would always avoid them, especially since he usually had friends with him, like Otto or Twister, by his side.

In reality, the reason for Josh's teasing and ridiculing was because he was terribly jealous of the smart computer whiz. He got to hang out with the cool kids, even though Sam was a bit of a nerd himself. Otto and Reggie were two of the most popular kids in school - naturally, since they were Rockets - and Trent was extremely popular, just as Trish and Sherry were. Twister, on the other hand, wasn't as popular as Reggie, Otto, or Trent, but everyone knew him and he was never really bullied either since everyone knew that he could hold his own. He was Lars' brother, after all, so people figured that it just ran in the family. Twister was probably on the same level as Trish or Sherry.

Sam kneeled back down on the floor and sighed as he tried his best to clean up the mess and to ignore the boy. Josh just laughed again as he lightly kicked the boy right in the tush. The kick caused him to lose his grip on the tray and everything he had managed to pick up to scatter. "You're quite clumsy, Squid!" Josh tsked while shaking his head. "Look at the mess you made!"

Sam growled, ready to knock Josh senseless. At this point, many of the other students were gathered around Sam and Josh. Sam stood up, looking Josh straight in the eyes, the only thing present being hatred and anger towards the taller boy. He felt that he had finally reached his limit.

"Ooo, the Squid wants to fight now!" Josh mocked. "C'mon, Squid. You know you don't have it in you to fight!"

Sam wanted to badly, but he didn't know how to fight. He had never been in a fight before, and fighting meant getting suspended, and he liked his suspension-free school record. Ivy League schools didn't look favorably on students with suspensions and detentions, Sam always felt.

The students around him were chanting things like, "Kick that Dullard nerd's ass," or either, "Get him Sam!"

Sam didn't know what to do and was surprised that the cafeteria monitors weren't around. Fighting never solved anything, and he believed this, despite the fact that a part of him really wanted to. He really wished Twister were around now. He knew he would've kept Josh from bugging him, like he had other times. Otto had as well.

"You chicken, Dullard?" Josh shoved him.

"Just-just leave me alone Josh! I-I don't want to fight you!"

"Aww, the wittle lameass is scared!" He shoved him again.

"Look, stop it! I-I mean it!"

"Oh no, what are you going to do?" He used both of his hands and pushed Sam to the floor. He stood up quickly, the students still rooting the two on, to get them to fight.

"I'm not going to fight you! I refuse to put myself down to your brainless, idiotic level!"

"Oooo! You go, Sam!" some of the other students cheered.

"That's the way to do it, Samuel!" a certain tanned-hair boy with glasses rooted. It was his friendly rival, Oliver Van Rossom. "Fighting never solves anything!"

Josh's face went red in anger. "'Brainless', am I, lameass?"

The next thing Sam knew, his eyes had grown wide, and he was kneeled to the floor while holding his stomach, coughing hard.

Some people gasped, others cheered - they just wanted to see a fight and didn't know either one of them - and some glared evilly at Josh, especially those who knew the blonde goalie. He had punched Sam hard in the stomach. It happened so fast, Sam couldn't even react to try and attempt blocking it off.

Sherry couldn't take it anymore, and she, Trent, and Trish started to push their way through the crowd. They were right in the back and had been trying to make their way to him earlier. Oliver was also now making his way through the crowd to get to him.

Sam remained on his knees, hurled over, gasping for air while Josh laughed cruelly at him. Since the boy just couldn't catch his breath, he shakily went towards his pocket for his inhaler. He could barely manage to get to it as he felt an attack coming on. He lied down on the cold, marble cafeteria floor, holding his chest and neck, gasping and gagging harder.

"Serves you right, Squid," Josh snarled at him as he weakly kicked at him, like he was kicking a piece of trash aside.

Right now, a silence fell upon the students, whom of which were staring in slight terror, not sure of what to do for Sam, and Sherry and the others were still trying to make their way through the crowd. Josh just spit at Sam cruelly.

Sherry and the rest of them finally made it to the front, just as Oliver had. All of them went to Sam's aid. They were all kneeled down on the floor next to him.

"Sam, are you okay!" Sherry and Trish asked.

"Hang in there, Sam!" Trent told him as he helped him to sit up.

"That no good excuse of a homosapien! He is such a waste of matter! How dare he hit an unarmed man! He refused to be involved in such a rough shenanigan, and look at where it has gotten poor Samuel! There is definitely no justice in the world I say! NO JUSTICE!"

"Um...yeah," Trent blinked, finding Oliver's overly-dramatic performance a bit unnecessary.

"He's trying to say something!" Trish informed them.

"In...haler..." the boy wheezed. "I...need...my...in...haler..."

"Where is it! Where is it!" Sherry asked in alarm.

"Sam! C'mon Sam!" Trish urged.

"From what I observed earlier, it seems to me that he was going towards his right pocket before his collapse. It must be there!" Oliver concluded.

Trent went through Sam's pocket, and sure enough, it was there. Sam grabbed the inhaler and greedily took in the medication.

Sherry stood up and stared daggers at the boy hard, her fists clenched. "You could've majorly killed him you dork!"

The boy shrugged nonchalantly, but replied in a partially shaky voice,"So?"

Sherry was about to punch him herself, and everyone knew how strong the girl was, but she heard someone shout, "Hey, Josh!" before she could even think about it.

Everyone turned around to see a certain boy in a gym uniform wearing sunglasses and a headband. Sam was very surprised at the person that had called out to Josh. 'Why would he help me?' he asked himself in thought.

"What do you want!" Josh sneered at the boy who was walking towards him.

"If you have a problem with him, then you have a problem with me!"

"Bug off, Rocket!"

"I don't have to do anything, you lame-oid bastard!" He stepped up to Josh, who was slightly taller than him. "Why don't you get a life!"

"I already have one, thank you; a normal one, as a matter of fact!" he gloated.

Sam started to wheeze again as he gasped for air.

"You'll be okay, Sam, just hang on and keep inhaling on that thing and relax," Trent told him.

"Oliver, take Sam to the nurse!" Otto urgently ordered after hearing Sam's wheezing.

The boy nodded as he and Trish helped Sam up, exiting the cafeteria, but Sam wouldn't allow them to take him out. He wanted to stay and watch Otto; he was very curious as to why Otto would stand up for him if the two of them weren't even on speaking terms. His breathing was becoming less labored now anyway since Trent had given him his inhaler. He just continued to huff on the small white object while calming himself so that he could go back to breathing regularly.

"What exactly is a normal life?"

"You know, one with a mother and a father." He gave him a pompous smirk. "From what I know, you don't even have a mother. She probably couldn't stand to look at you another day, and died just so she wouldn't have to bother with you anymore."

Everyone gasped. "I can't believe he said that!" Sam managed to cough out.

For those few harsh words, Otto felt like he could literally kill the boy that stood before him. Otto's weak spot was definitely his mother. He dared to mock his mother's death? Otto felt like crying as the memory of his final day with his mother flooded his mind. Josh had no idea what it was like to lose a parent or someone close to you.

"Take that back about my mother!" Otto fumed, trying his best to hold back his tears. 'Show anger, not sadness,' he kept telling himself. "And apologize to Sam!" he ordered in a way that reminded Sam of Reggie.

Josh scoffed at him. "Why should I?" he taunted with a laugh.

Otto's teeth were grit, his fists were clenched, and his breathing was intense. He raised his right fist and punched Josh right in the face, hard. Josh staggered back. He was so busy laughing that he didn't even sense Otto's punch coming.

The kids began to root as Otto jumped Josh and started to beat on him. Otto didn't care if he got in trouble; no one had the right to talk about his mother in such a way, and he had hurt Sam to the point of almost killing him. The only thing Otto felt was rage. Josh, of course, fought back. He pushed Otto off of him and stood up, sneering at him, ignoring his bloody, painful nose. He then charged after Otto, who was also now standing, and the two got back into it.

At this point, one of the cafeteria ladies ran out from the back to see what the commotion was about. When she saw the two boys fighting, she called to one of the other lunch ladies to call the Principal down.

The lunch ladies didn't know what to do with Otto and Josh fighting, and were a bit too scared to interfere themselves in fear of getting hit by mistake since the fight was quite intense, cursing the fact that there were no cafeteria monitors on duty. Everyone was chearing and egging them on as Otto applied hit after hit to the boy.

Less than a minute later, Principal Healey entered the cafeteria. Sam, Trish, and Oliver were standing by the door of the cafeteria when he came in. Sam looked a bit pale and sweaty, but he didn't care about that at the moment. He continued to where the students were gathered.

"Okay, okay!" he shouted as he pushed his way through the crowd. "Break it up here!"

Otto and Josh continued to fight, even though the temperamental principal had ordered them to stop. "You," Healey ordered while pointing to Trent, "hold back Rocket and I'll hold back this other hoodlum!"

Trent nodded and grabbed Otto, who was still trying to break loose to get to Josh, while Principal Healey held Josh.

"What is the meaning of this!" he demanded, quite heated.

Everyone started talking at once. "Forget it! Grody, Rocket, my office...now! And Grody, get a napkin for your nose!"

Trent let go of Otto, who stomped towards the cafeteria doors, Josh and the principal right behind him. Before they left, Otto stopped and stared at Sam. Otto had a look in his eyes as if apologizing to him and it also showed fear. As tough as Otto wanted everyone to think he was, the idea of Sam almost dying got to him. He didn't want to lose any other person he considered to be close, be it a relative or a friend.

"Dullard, what is the matter with you? Why are you standing here by the door?"

"Sir, Josh hit him!" Sherry chimed in, marching up from behind, Trent by her side, and other students trailing them. The girl wanted justice to be done. "He punched him hard in the stomach! Sam has asthma! He was shaking and everything since he couldn't catch his breath and Josh didn't care and even kicked him while he was down!"

"Hold on, hold on! You all," he pointed to Trent, Sherry, Oliver, Sam, and Trish, "come with me, my office, now!"

Everyone obeyed and went with Principal Healey to his dismally dull office. While there, Trish, Sherry, Trent, and Oliver explained what had happened, which was pretty accurate, given Sam's condition - he may have regained his normal breathing and such, but he was still a bit shaken up due to the small attack he'd had - and the fact that Otto had been there to fight in general. He had known Otto for a long time, and knew that he would fight for his friends, especially for someone like Sam who stuck to the rules and would never fight himself.

After all of the conversing, no matter how much Healey wanted to suspend Otto, he decided against it, for the moment, due to the circumstances (he wouldn't have heard the end of it from parents and such if he had). Josh had obviously been bothering Sam, hit him, and caused Otto to react and stick up for his friend. That, and the fact that they had witnesses - according to Trish and the others - who could vouch for Sam and Otto, saying that Josh started the whole fight and how Sam was trying to avoid it.

Healey sent Otto back to class with a bruised cheek and a pass - he was getting a detention for not being where he was supposed to be, and a call home to inform Ray of the fight - and Sam to the nurse's office to make sure that everything was okay with him. As for Josh, who was sent to the nurse earlier on for his bloody nose, he was facing expulsion time since his actions, not only harmed a student, but clearly endangered the student as well. There was the possibility that Sam wouldn't have been able to catch his breath.

The two were walking back in silence, Sam lost in thought. He was trying to figure out why Otto had done what he had. Why would he fight for him? Was it his way of apologizing for the way he had treated him lately? Was it a gut reaction? Sam had to know, so he turned to his friend.

"Um, Otto," he began slowly, "thanks for helping me out back there."

Otto didn't say a word and continued to look straight ahead.

"It was really cool of you to-to do that, you know."

"Yeah," he muttered quietly.

The two came to the nurse's office. Otto had to head back to the gym. He wanted to make sure Sam got to the nurse's office okay. The gym wasn't even in the same direction as the nurse's office. The reason Otto was out of class was because he wanted something to drink, although he told his gym teacher he was going to the restroom. He had just gotten a drink from the vending machine, when he noticed all of the commotion. He watched for a while before interfering. He didn't expect Josh to actually hit Sam, but when he did, Otto couldn't take it, and rushed in to try and help him. It was like a reflex, no one messes with his buddies, even if he was currently cross with them.

"Otto, why'd you do it?" Sam asked the boy as Otto tried his best to walk away. He seemed to want to avoid discussing what had just happened.

Otto stuffed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "Because."

"You do know that 'because' is a sentence fragment and doesn't really indicate anything, right?" Sam thought for a moment. 'Wait, is that a sentence fragment?'

"Squid! It doesn't matter why, I just did, okay!" He stared up at the ceiling, trying his best not to be too emotional. "Now go to the nurse, you're still a bit weak from that punch you took." Sam couldn't believe his ears. Was Otto actually worried about his "so-called" friend? The one he had refused to speak to without snapping in some way for the past couple of weeks?

"I'm fine now. Since I got my inhaler, I've been breathing alright."

"NO, Sam! Go! Make sure you're okay!" Otto looked back at Sam. He seemed to be at a loss for words. He lowered his head and mumbled, "*I mean, you almost died once because of your asthma when we were kids, I don't want it to happen again!"

Sam gave Otto a smile. "I'm a lot tougher than I look, but I am fine. This attack was minor since I got to my inhaler in time, thanks to Trent and the others, but I should probably go anyway."

"Yeah..."

"So, see you later at the pep rally?"

"Yeah, the pep rally..."

With that, Otto walked off. 'My theory was right,' the boy realized. 'It must be stress. That's the most decent thing Otto's done for me in a while. By tomorrow afternoon, I bet O-man will be back to his usual self!'

Sam nodded as he entered the nurse's office, and the nurse made a fuss over him. When asked how he was feeling, Sam told her that he was fine, and that he had regained his normal breathing pattern.

"I just had the wind knocked out of me, that's all."

The nurse kept Sam there the rest of the class period and had him rest up. He even got a free meal from the cafeteria given his circumstances. He was given the choice of going home early, but he insisted not to. The last thing he wanted was to have his mother running in, hugging and squeezing him, asking if he was okay. After the nurse, he headed to his last class of the day, which was a Study Hall. Trent and Sherry shared this class with him. He was usually nervous when in study hall since Reg wasn't around, but normally, after lunch, he was a bit more calm and collected, so it didn't really matter.

When he came in, everyone was murmuring and asking things as he walked by like, "Are you okay, Sam?" or, "What happened with Josh and Otto?" He would just shyly nod to them since he wasn't used of so much attention.

Sam sat down in his usual seat, next to Sherry. On the other side of him was Trent.

"Sam, are you all right?" Trent asked him.

"I'm fine. You have to be tough to be a goalie, I always say. I'm tougher than I look."

"You must be, to take a punch like that with asthma!" Trent whistled. "You're absolutely amazing, mate! I just knew you would've been sent home!"

Sam laughed timidly.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sam?" Sherry sounded skeptical. "Josh punched you hard!"

"I'm fine, Sher, I'm fine." He explained what happened after he left with Otto, but informed them that he was unsure of Josh. He was in the nurse's office, but in an area he couldn't see, and overheard the boy groaning in agony.

"That was pretty cool how Otto defended you," Trent smiled. "That's what friends are for!"

"Yeah." Sherry frowned slightly. 'That doesn't sound like the same Otto that Reggie's been complaining about for the past few weeks. What he did was really heroic and cool! And it was selfless.'

"After we left Principal Healy's office, we got all of your books," Trent explained. He handed them to the blonde.

"Cool, thanks Trent."

"Hey, Reggie never showed up for lunch today," the handsome boy started, "where did you say she was?"

"Oh, that. I was about to say, but didn't get a chance to. I saw her leave with Lars."

"Lars?!" both exclaimed in surprise.

"Why would she, like, be hanging out with him?" Sherry asked. "I know the two are okay with each other when it comes to helping each other out with sports, but, not like in school, or whatever."

"Are you certain that he and Reggie left together?" Trent fretfully asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, it was Lars. I don't know what they were up to, but it didn't look like he was bothering Reg. She looked willing to go along with him to wherever."

"Damn, first Twister was all over her at the amusement park last night, and now the other Rodriguez brother…" the New Zealander muttered.

"Excuse me?" Sam had to make sure what he had just heard was right. "Did you just say Twister was all over Reggie at the amusement park?"

"Like, yeah. Trish saw them too, but it was probably, like, nothing serious," Sherry assured him.

"Please, explain."

"Well, Reggie was supposed to meet up with Trish and me, and Trent just happened to meet us there and when we couldn't get on the Tidal Wave, we were going to get on another ride, the Cave of Terror. On the ride were Reggie and Twister, and Twister was like all over her! He was, like, hugging her and stuff!"

"Do you know anything?" Trent asked slowly, his left eyebrow cocked.

"I don't know anything, but I'm sure the two aren't dating or anything, if that's what you're insinuating," Sam assured the handsome boy who now had a look of disappointment on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. Right," he responded distantly.

He hated the fact that he had lied. Sam knew very well that Twister had a crush on Reggie and that he'd had it for a long time, which Twister technically confirmed hours earlier with his denials. Now Reggie was a different story. He didn't know of her interests in guys, other than Trent - he always assumed that she did - but she wasn't even all that obvious about that anymore. He thought back to how the two were acting earlier that morning.

'Could they be dating in secret? That would explain their peculiar behavior this morning, but why would they bother dating in private? We wouldn't have cared.'

"Sam?"

"Um, yeah Sherry?"

"Mrs. Burbank just called your name for the role."

"Um, here!"

The kids giggled at Sam.

'Of course I would embarrass myself in front of Sherry again, but never mind that. I wonder what's really going on between Reg and Twist, and why did she leave with Lars earlier today? It's not like she can ask him to replace Otto for our match next week.'

Those questions remained on the boy's mind, until it was time for the pep rally. Too bad he couldn't come up with any answers to them...
x x x

Author's Note

Hey all. Hope you enjoyed this part, and once again, sorry about the length. I did feel that the part with the cafeteria staff a bit unrealistic. I'm sure that a teacher or someone would've checked out the commotion a lot sooner, but we're going to overlook that, right?

Oh yes, as for the "almost died" thing Otto mentioned did kind of happen. The ep "Big Air" deals with Sam having a very bad asthma attack and having to go to the hospital. No, American Rocket Power fans, it hasn't been shown here yet, but it has in other countries. I will never understand the ways of Nickelodeon here. Anyway, I recommend the fic, A Close Call by mike2000, which actually deals with Sam's condition. He and the author, salsipuedes, were inspired by that episode and came up with that fic. It's very good and I hope you all decide to read it. It's a great Sam fic! It inspired me to write the stuff dealing with Sam's asthma for this chapter. *Hugs both Mike and Scott*. Arigatou gozaimashita!

Now, for the next chapter, we'll finally get to see what Reggie and Lars are up to. They'll be discussing a few things, like Twister's low mood.