Okay everyone, I'm back with the next chapter and we must definitely thank salsipuedes for all of the inspiration to write out this one. I was at a semi-block until he threw some ideas and scenarios at me. *Hugs* Thank you, thank you, thank you! He even helped to come up with the surf coach (he's based on a real pro surfer), some places, the letterman jacket stuff, and he did a lot for me last chapter too, it just slipped my mind to say so. Sorry 'bout that Scott. Always give credit where credit is due, I always say. Oh, speaking of credit, iirc, both Scott and Mike helped me come up with the song used at the pep rally, and I learned a new Spanish word thanks to Mike.
I must also say thanks to all of you readers! Without you all, well, there'd be no point in writing this. lol *Hugs* I'm in a hugging mood as of the moment, obviously. lol
For this chapter, we get into the pep rally and Ray's meeting with Principal Healey. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
Oh, and for those wondering about Reggie's Secret Admirer and where I got it from, I got it online from Barnes & Noble. It was about $7.38, something like that. So, if you all want it, you can get it there. I think I chose Barnes & Noble because it cost more on Amazon's site.
Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Rocket Power. Klasky-Csupo has that honor.
Chapter 18: "To suspend or not to suspend?" Ray and Healey's decision!
Ray was distraught as he made his way to Ocean Shores High, currently stopped a traffic light. He still couldn't believe it; Otto had been in a fight! Healey had failed to mention what the cause of the fight was, but he figured that he would soon find out and hoped that the kid Otto had the confrontation with didn't actually have a broken nose.
"I hope it's not too bad," Ray muttered as the light changed, the engine backfiring before he pulled off...
x x x x
Meanwhile...
"Principal Healey," the intercom rang, "Coach Fletcher is here to see you."
"Send him in," the old man instructed, taking a seat behind his desk. He didn't know what to do about Otto, and felt that sending for the coach of the surf team would help in some way. Maybe help him come up with a suitable punishment for the young Rocket.
A man with loose, shoulder-lengthened curly brown hair entered the office, a backwards-blue cap on his head, a pair of beige shorts, and a dark blue t-shirt. He looked to be in great shape, and had a slim build.
"Hello there, Fletcher."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, hi!" the man responded in slight panic. "I couldn't help but hear about some fight on the way in and Rocket being a part of it. Is he alright? I hope he isn't hurt too badly! He's our best hope against the teams from Huntington Beach, Newport Harbor, and San Clemente tomorrow!" He got quiet for a moment and asked, "Why did you send for me anyway?"
"It's about Rocket, as you assumed," Healey mumbled quietly.
"What about him? He is okay, isn't he?"
"Yeah, he's fine, as far as I know, but I'm not entirely of one mind as to what to do with him."
"You don't mean...you want to..." The man held his head in frustration. He couldn't believe what Healey was insinuating.
He looked over at Healey who nodded slowly. He also looked a bit down. Normally, Healey loved to punish kids - so it appeared - but this time seemed different.
"Healey, if you don't let Rocket surf tomorrow, you'll have a lot of unhappy people to deal with!"
"Do you know what the fight was about, Fletcher?" Healey asked softly while cleaning off his glasses. Fletcher shook his head. "Well, he fought for one of his friends and he caused some major injury to the other party, whom of which is in a lot more trouble than Rocket is as of the moment. Rocket's friend got hurt very badly, and he stood up for him."
"Isn't that nice, great heroism!" Fletcher praised. "That's no reason to keep him out of the competition tomorrow."
"But he broke the rules!" He put his glasses back on. "You have to understand that!"
Coach Fletcher leaned on Healey's desk, staring the old man dead in the eyes. "There's a difference between 'following the rules,' and 'doing what's right,' like that one guy who tried to save that plane in Pennsylvania a good while back. The rules said he should sit and accept his fate, but the right thing was to do something about it."
Healey rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. "As much as it troubles me, you're right. I should have remembered, rules don't always keep people safe, actions do, but-"
Right at that moment, the intercom on Healey's desk buzzed again. He pushed the button. "Sir, there's a Mr. Rocket here to see you."
"Send him in, please."
"Yes, sir."
Ray walked into the office as Healey got up to greet him. "Rocket." He shook his hand.
"Healey."
"I'm sure you already know Nathan Fletcher, coach of Ocean Shores High co-ed Surf Team."
"Yeah, long time no see, Nathan!" He gave the man a high five. "How's it going, bro!"
"Yeah, Raymundo, it's been a while, and I've been doing fine." He nudged Ray in the side. "I see you've put on a few pounds since the last time I saw you. Too many Shack burgers, eh?"
Ray held in his stomach. "What are you talking about," his voice wheezed, "I'm in the same shape I was 30 years ago!"
"You can breathe now, Ray," Nathan laughed. Ray's face went partially red in embarrassment as he let out his stomach. "I must say this; your son is one of the best surfers on the team and all of Ocean Shores is counting on him for tomorrow's challenge!"
A smug smile appeared on Ray's face. "I'm sure he gets all of his skills from his old man."
"But your son is actually good," Nathan joked, "are you sure he got it from you and not Olivia? Now she could totally rip!"
Ray got a bit nostalgic and smiled contently. "Yep, that she could, that she could. She could rip, and there was no wave too big for her to handle."
"Yeah, like that time we were all up in Malibu, it was you, me, Tito, Johnny Liu, Olivia, and a few others, about 25 years ago, and the swells were totally awesome, but Olivia just paddled out, caught that 40 foot wave, and-"
Healey, who had grown tired of this reunion, interrupted by clearing his throat. "Excuse me, gentlemen, but we have more important matters to discuss here!"
"Oh, yeah," Fletcher coughed, refraining from finishing the story. He then pointed a finger at the old man. "I still say you're making a mistake, Healey!"
He ignored him and turned his attention back to the restaurant owner. "Mr. Rocket, have a seat." Ray did as Healey instructed and sat in front of his desk while Fletcher remained standing. "Now, you know why I called you here, about your son's fight."
"Yes and I can strongly assure you that Otto will be punished severely. I'm sure three weeks of dish duty everyday after school, and Saturday afternoons at the shack with the shoobie rush'll set him straight."
"Okay, that's nice and all, but-"
"There you go, Healey! The perfect punishment! Let's stick with that!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on?"
"You see, Rocket, what your son did makes him a prime candidate for suspension," Healey firmly stated. "As you know, fighting is against the rules."
"But he had a reason!" Fletcher interrupted. "Ray, tell him not to punish your kid."
"Hold it, I'm all for following the rules, Nate, you know that. If Healey lets him off, it'd be unfair to the other students. It would be like special treatment, and I don't want my boy getting any special treatment just because he's a Rocket or a good surfer or for whatever the reason."
"I'm glad you see things my way, Rocket, but at the same time, I agree with Fletcher, here."
Ray's eyes nearly bugged out. 'What in the world happened to cranky old Principal Healey, and who is this guy sitting in his place?' Ray coughed. "But fighting is wrong. What punishment were you planning on giving him if not suspension?"
"Something much worse!" Fletcher cried. "Not let him surf tomorrow in the competition!"
"What?! That's an All-State Competition! It's the finals!"
"I know that!" Healey spat regrettably. "But he broke the rules, and his reason for the fight makes this even harder on me."
He explained to Ray why Otto had fought in the first place, and how he was already given a week's worth of detention for cutting class.
"Wow, Sam," was all Ray could say. His son did that? Fought for Sam to that extent? He was pretty proud of him, and now understood why Healey was having such a difficult time. He wanted to punish Otto because he had broken the rules, but then at the same time, didn't want to because of why he had.
"You can now see the predicament I'm in, Mr. Rocket. For what your son did, he should get at least a month's suspension, due to how bad the fight was, but I'm not going to be that strict with him, unless it's necessary, and that's why you're here. Either don't let him surf tomorrow, or take the suspension."
"But, Healey," Fletcher groaned.
"Quiet!" the man commanded. "My hands are tied, Fletcher! If I let Rocket off, it would seem like we were giving him special treatment just because of his being a sports star."
"But people will hate you if you pull him out!"
"I'm going to be hated regardless of what I do!" Healey snapped. "If I let Rocket participate in that surf competition tomorrow or not give him a suspension, the boy's parents that Rocket got into the fight with, and the superintendent will be on my case for not following the rules; and if I do give Rocket a punishment, the students and Otto Rocket fans will hate me."
Fletcher was about to respond, but Healey didn't give him the chance to.
"Being a principal of a school where it is my job to constantly enforce rules is not all that glamorous, Fletcher, and unless you know what it's like, you have no right to decide whether or not Rocket deserves a punishment.
"Just because I'm a principal doesn't mean I actually enjoy giving out punishments. In this case, I really wish I didn't have to, but rules are rules and it'll look bad on me and this school if I didn't punish Rocket in some way."
Fletcher just stood there, and refrained from saying anything else.
"Well, Rocket? It's up to you."
"Um, well, I, um...er...I can't..."
"Rocket, I can't make this decision myself. Which do you feel is more appropriate?"
"Neither, actually. He stood up for a friend."
"I understand that! I've said that I don't want to punish him, but it has to be done. I'm against it, actually."
"Think about this carefully, Ray. The competition tomorrow, an all-state competition..."
Ray hated to have to make this choice. He thought for a good while and finally came to a decision.
"Okay, Healey," he nodded slowly, "I'm ready."
Fletcher crossed his fingers while Ray took a deep breath. He then ran his hand through his short, wavy blonde hair.
"I...feel...that...the...punishment...should...be… "
x x x x
In the gym, Twister was getting as much footage as he could. He just hoped that the other three guys were. One of them came back over to him, just to try and ask about Otto, but the boy just grew annoyed over hearing his former best bro's name, grit his teeth, and growled out at him, "¡Llégale! [Beat it!]"
Not wanting to get on Twister's bad side, which seemed to be all sides this particular day, he left and went back to filming.
Right now, the Surf Team was about to be introduced - the pep rally was almost over, and the band and other sports teams had already been recognized - but they were going to single out the three main stars, Trent, Trish, and Otto. Otto had a study hall for his 7th block class, so he just skipped it.
The Assistant Surf Coach called each student up to the front while the band played, We are the Champions by Queen, the students singing along. Both Trent and Trish ran down to the floor of the gym from the bleachers, students roaring and the cheerleaders tumbling and cheering for them.
Twister got a bit of footage of the cheerleaders, hey, he was a guy after all and just couldn't resist pretty girls jumping and tumbling around, but he didn't make that his main focus, as the other guys probably would have.
While taping, he wondered where Otto was. He then rolled his eyes. 'I bet he's planning a spectacular entrance so he can show off.'
He didn't know just how right he was.
"I don't know where Otto Rocket is, but he should be here," the assistant coach said over the mic.
Right at that moment, from the opposite side of the gym, a student with thick, dreaded hair wearing a letterman jacket, which was green, the sleeves white, with a gold trim, green-lensed shades, skated in on a skateboard.
All the students stared in awe, which included Twister. He was so amazed at Otto's skating in, his ill feelings towards him temporarily vanished, and he found himself idolizing and rooting for him. "Way to go, bro!"
There weren't any places for him to perform any tricks since the surface was smooth and flat, but he did kick flip and pulled off a couple of ollies. He stopped beside Trent and Trish and kicked his skateboard up, and held it in his hand. All the students cheered even louder and clapped and rooted, "Otto, Otto, Otto!"
The assistant coach clapped for Otto as well, and so did their assistant principal. So Otto just broke the rule of not skateboarding on school property, but both knew that Otto could win the competition tomorrow. Who cares if he broke one tiny rule?
Otto took the microphone and spoke into it.
"WHAT'S UP, OCEAN SHORES!"
Everyone cheered.
x x x x
"I can't believe Otto did that!"
"Well, Sam, after what he did today, he deserves to, like, get away with stuff."
"I guess," Sam mumbled, his attention back on Otto.
Sherry smiled at Sam and put an arm around his round shoulder. "You, like, worry too much Sam. Otto'll be fine."
"Y-yeah, maybe y-you're right!" his voice squeaked.
"Are you, like, okay?"
The boy started to sweat a bit as Sherry let go of him. "S-sure I'm okay!" He took out his inhaler and started to huff on it.
"Um, if you, like, say so..."
x x x x
"Only Rocket Dork could get away with something like that," Lars spat jealously while rolling his eyes.
"Isoudhalsboduou major dork," zit-faced Sputz mumbled.
"He's just trying to show off," the heavy-set Pi complained. "That should be you out there, man."
"Duh, I know!" Lars stared bitterly down at Otto. 'Who am I kidding; there's no way I could go up against him in a surf competition. He's just too good, but it would be nice to be able to compete tomorrow. I practiced so hard for it too. Maybe Rocket Dork'll whomp himself before the competition and then I can fill in!' The boy gave an inward smile in amusement. 'I shouldn't hold my breath. Neither of them'll probably get kicked out before the competition for me to replace them.'
x x x x
Reggie sighed and rested her head in the palms of her hands. 'I so cannot believe he did that. Healey would totally wig if he had seen that. He's lucky the Assistant Principal didn't bust him.'
x x x x
"…AND I PROMISE TO WIN THAT COMPETITION TOMORROW AT SPRAY BEACH! THOSE OTHER TEAMS HAVE NOTHING ON OTTO ROCKET! I'LL BEAT ALL OF THEM!"
'Real nice, Otto,' Trish muttered in thought. 'Take all the credit, why don't you?'
'He seems to have forgotten that Trish and I are in the competition as well…'
The rest of the gym started to chant, "TAKE NO PRISONERS, TAKE NO PRISONERS, TAKE NO PRISONERS-"
x x x x
'Lame-o,' Twister thought as he kept the camera on Trent, Trish, and Otto rolling. 'It's like he totally forgot that he's not the only one in that competition tomorrow representing Ocean Shores. He's totally ignoring Trent and Trish. I'd be totally tweaked if I was up there right now with him.'
He decided to get some shots of the students in the bleachers, due to how riled up they were, but one student caught his eye. The set of bleachers closest to him, on the front row, sat the journalism students. His camera got stuck on one student in particular, Reggie. He zoomed the lens a bit and sighed dreamily. 'She's so beautiful,' he thought. After a short moment, Twister realized that he had the camera on Reggie and shook his head. He had to stop getting distracted, especially when it came to her.
He finally went back to getting the footage of the students and the stuff that he was supposed to get...
x x x x
Ray sighed as he walked away from Ocean Shores High, back to his car, hoping that he had made the right decision, and hoped that Otto wouldn't hate him too much for it, but he agreed with Healey, that Otto deserved some kind of a punishment. With actions came consequences.
He hopped into his car, starting it up, the engine backfiring before putting it into gear.
"I hate having to make decisions like this," Ray said quietly as he headed back to the Shore Shack...
x x x x
The pep rally had finally ended, and the bell rang, which ended the day. The students started to leave the gym, to head to wherever it was they were supposed to go.
Lars was planning on heading home. This day had been too much for him. He was already annoyed over the fact that he couldn't surf in the competition the next day - it bugged him more than he let on when he talked with Reggie - but now some more fame was going to go to Otto's head, making him even more unbearable to hang around. He did respect what he had done for Sam, but he just sensed the worst in the way he was going to handle it.
At first, Lars was going to go find "Rocket Dork's sister," but then remembered that, her being the head writer of their school paper, she would probably have to do a few interviews before leaving.
'I guess I'll tall to her later. I need someone to complain about her brother to, and I bet this'll just bum Twister out even more if Rocket Dork doesn't shape up.'
Twister started to put away his tripod, and was going to hurry over to Trent and Trish - since he knew they were going to be interviewed - when he overheard two students talking.
"Wow, I hope Otto wins tomorrow!" the first student said.
"Definitely, man! He so deserves to win after what he did today!"
Twister had been overhearing stuff like that all during the rally, but would soon tune them out and go back to his work.
"Rocket deserves a dedication in some way!"
"He sure does," the first student agreed.
Twister was about to ask what the two were talking about, when he caught sight of Reggie again. She was obviously the one covering the interviews, which meant he had to get over there fast! He ran off towards Reggie, Trent, and Trish. Otto was around, but girls were all swooning over him.
"Oh, hey Tw-Twist," Reggie responded.
"Hey mate," Trent greeted while eyeing Twister suspiciously.
"Yeah, hi guys," Twister said quickly, avoiding eye contact of any sort with Reggie. "Let me get my camera set up before you start your interviews, Reg."
"Yeah, su-sure," she stammered slightly.
"Are you going to interview Otto too?" Twister asked, putting his tripod back up, setting the camera on top of it.
"I don't know."
"I doubt you'll be able to get through his crowd of fangirls over there," Trish stated sarcastically, "but I guess after what he did today, it was expected."
"Yeah, standing up for a friend shows definite heroism," Trent agreed.
"I still can't believe Grody did that!" Reggie growled.
Twister could only stare in perplexity at the three as he scratched his head. "Huh? Josh?"
"I'm just glad Sammy is okay," Reggie said with a small smile.
"He was better than okay," Trent told her. "He's very tough, and got to his inhaler just in the knick of time!"
"Squid? Josh? Inhaler? What happened?"
"After school, I'm going to go see how he's doing."
"Same here, Reg," Trish said. "After I meet up with Coach Fletcher, I'm heading right down there, if I can."
"I'm pretty sure Sherry is already with him," Trent mentioned.
"Are you going to come along too, Trent."
"Yeah, after our briefing with Coach Fletcher. I'll walk with you over to Sam's, unless his short briefing turns into a long one."
They kept talking, Twister trying his best to get their attention. After a while, he'd finally grown tired of being ignored.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED WITH THE SQUID AND THAT KOOK, JOSH?!"
"Whoa, Twist-dude, chill," Trish told the redhead.
"Wait, you don't know happened with Otto and Sam today?" Reggie asked in disbelief.
He shook his head.
"Wow, mate, you sure aren't observant. Everyone was talking about it, and it was mentioned on the news broadcast."
"I was busy, and," he glanced over at Reggie briefly before looking back at Trent, "concentrating...on...other...things."
"My brother and Josh got into a big fight after Josh punched Sam."
"It was awful, Twist," Trish continued. She then explained the entire situation to him, and how he had insulted Otto and Reggie's mother, and how Sam could barely breathe after the punch.
"Whoa!"
He looked over at Otto who had a big grin on his face with all of the girls worshipping and praising him, and this included a big chunk of Varsity and Junior Varsity Cheerleading Squad members. Girls were always after Otto. Twister always wondered why Otto never seemed to show an interest in those girls. He never knew if he did or not. Otto didn't talk about the girls of their school much – and neither did he, actually - although, every once in a while, he would ask about his older cousin, Clio, and when her next visit would be.
Twister's current expression was unreadable to the others, but Reggie had an idea as to what the boy was thinking, "Otto did that?"
"You mean, Josh whomped the Squid, and O-man whomped him?"
The three nodded.
"Wow," was all Twister could say. He then got an annoyed look on his face. "Where's Josh! I'll finish where Otto left off!"
Trent laughed. "I don't think there's much more you can break on him, Twist."
"Yeah, Otto probably broke the dude's nose!"
"Well, there are his arms and legs," Twister bashfully stated.
"We'll worry about Otto and talk about other ways you can whomp Josh later," Reggie interrupted, "but now, let's get this interview started, Twist!"
"Oh yeah, right!"
After Reggie finished with Trent and Trish, she decided not to even bother with her brother. If she wanted an interview from him, or comments, she'd have to wait until after they were both at home.
Right now, both she and Twister were in the A/V lab.
"You know the procedure," Reggie sighed despairingly, "we have to go over anything you film to use as footage for our news broadcast next week and get screen captures, save the files, and use them for the paper."
"I'm not going to do anything until after the surf competition. I really don't feel like it now. Besides, I want to go see how Sam is doing. He's probably left already."
"Same here, let's bag this and bail."
The two left the school and walked towards home, both pretty quiet. Their minds continuously wandering to that morning.
"So, ugh, how are things going, Twist?"
"Um, everything's okay," Twister answered forcefully. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to Reg or not.
"Otto's something, isn't he?"
"Yeah, he's something alright, standing up to Josh like that for the Squid."
Reggie laughed a bit. "I still don't see how you could go as long as you did without hearing about the fight."
"Well, when I get started with a video project, I kinda don't pay attention to anything else," he laughed timorously.
After that, the two were quiet again. Twister gulped a bit as he started to swing his arms at his side. Before he knew it, he grasped Reggie's hand. Reggie's eyes went wide, and her heart started to beat erratically.
'He-he-he's holding my-my-my hand!' She grasped onto his hand back. She didn't want to let go of it, nor did she want him to.
Twister hadn't even realized he had grabbed Reggie's hand. After a short moment, it hit him. He and Reg were walking down the street hand in hand.
"Oh Reg, I'm so sorry!" he apologized hastily as he let go.
"Oh, it was nothing Twister," she said assuredly while trying to remain relaxed. 'I didn't mind at all.'
The two finally arrived at the cul-de-sac.
"Hey, Twist, looks like someone's at your house. I see a bike, and I know it's not yours or your brother's."
"Hey yeah, you're right, especially since Lars finds an excuse to drive everywhere." He looked over at Reggie. "I wonder whose bike it is."
"Let's go see," the girl suggested, "and then we can go hang out up at the Pier again together," she added meekly.
"Oh, well, yeah, sure. Of course, we could. I mean, if you want to, or maybe, either, we could, um, you know, like, go surfing together?"
"Yeah! I haven't had a good surf in a while! But we must go see Sam first!"
Twister's face was a bit red due to how nervous he was feeling. "Exactamente, amiga!"
x x x x
Meanwhile, at the Rodriguez home...
"He's here, he's finally here!" an energetic soon to be 14-year-old boy exclaimed while jumping up and down in place. "Twister is finally home and Reggie is with him!"
"Calm down," a tall, 17-year-old girl with long, wavy light-purplish hair laughed.
"But it's been a long time since I've seen him, or Reggie, or Otto, or Sam!"
"Same here for me. Reggie and I have a lot of catching up to do." She then gave a satisfying smile. "I'm so glad I get out of school before they do. They still have about two or three more weeks to go."
Mrs. Rodriguez walked in the room. "Lars was surprised by both your arrivals today, and I'm sure Mauricio will be as well."
"Where is Lars anyway, Aunt Sandy?" the girl asked.
"He's on the phone right now, but I'm sure he'll be done in a bit. I'm sure you would like to catch up with both boys."
The girl nodded to her aunt.
"Come on, Clio! Let's go out and greet them!"
Before the girl could respond, the younger boy grabbed her hand and pulled her out the front door.
"Twister! Hey Twister!" the boy called excitedly.
Reggie and Twister blinked and stared in surprise at the two that were running towards them.
"Rod, Clio?" the two asked in unison.