Thanks a lot for the reviews everyone, once again. Let me tell you this much, if I spoke to my mother or father the way I had Otto speak to Ray - even at the age I am now - just like what one of you said, I wouldn't have lived to see the light of day either, nor would I see the dark of night. lol

I do apologize for taking such a while to upload this. Blame my English class. I had to do a load of makeup work I didn't even know I had, and I was sick when I originally started this chapter.

This chapter was written in the same fashion as the last chapter. I didn't really plan it, and I just typed whatever came to me. Last chapter was pretty much a filler chapter, as this one is. Either way, I hope you all enjoy it just like those new eps of RP that aired on Nick last week.

My absolute favorite was Falsely Alarmed. Why you all ask? Because Twister knew something Otto didn't. He warned him not to pull the alarm, and even told him not to, but Otto did it anyway. I also liked the fact it was so Lars oriented too. There aren't too many eps dealing with him. I also loved the ep, Twist of Fate. Twister so rules! And Sammy's Fortune was hilarious for me too. Glad they stopped him before he attempted to jump the Blader Bowl. lol

The ep I didn't care for out of these batch of eps, was Reggie the Movie, which established that she has a fear of scary movies, which is a bit of a contradiction with earlier episodes. In the Mischief Night episode from season 1, iirc, she and Ray (who also scares easily) were watching horror movies for Halloween. In the Tito Sitting episode, Tito was showing them movies about sugarcane and hula dancing, if I'm remembering right. Twister asked Reggie about the monster movies she rented and she told him that Tito didn't feel that it was a good idea to watch them. So…I was never under the impression that she was the type to be scared of "scary" movies.

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

Chapter 21: Girl Talk

Just as Sam had presumed, his mother was on his case time he walked through the front door of their home. He could only sigh and ask, "Who told?" Trent and Trish had come by to check up on Sam and were surprised to find he had left with Sherry and the others. They didn't get into detail about what had happened at school and left Mrs. Dullard at ease.

The next person to visit was Mrs. Stimpleton. She hugged Paula as she started to go on and on about Sam. The woman was so excited, that Paula didn't catch everything she said. Before she could comment, though, the phone rung.

The one who told what happened was Tito. After talking with Raymundo for a while, he called up Paula to see how she was doing, and if Sam had gotten back okay. He also started asking a bunch of other questions, concerned over Sam's health. After hearing this, Paula started to panic some. She wanted Sam to come home right at that moment, even though she didn't know where he was currently.

She paced back and forth, her nerves shot, Mrs. Stimpleton trying her best to calm her after the phone call. She was so relieved when Sam finally returned home, hugging him even tighter than what Tito had, Mrs. Stimpleton doing the same, pretty much. After she was content, Violet then left.

After Sam assured his mom that he was fine, she finally stopped grilling him, but insisted on meeting with Josh's parents to make sure justice was served. The boy groaned; there was no changing his mother.

Sam sat down in front of his computer as his thoughts drifted to all that happened after leaving the Shore Shack.

While walking home with Sherry, he felt slightly awkward and a bit nervous. It wasn't often that he was alone with the girl. He put his discomfited feelings aside as Sherry started to talk about Otto. She noticed the uneasiness in Sam's voice whenever he would respond to her. After asking what was wrong, he finally told her what was on his mind, about how he felt that Otto would now hold ill feelings towards him.

"This is nowhere near your fault!" Sam remembered Sherry telling him as they finally made it to her house. "It was that jerk, Josh's fault! Otto just stood up for you because you're his bro! He, like, chose to do that; you didn't put a gun to his head making him do it. He shouldn't be mad at you for any reason, and if he does get mad at you," she flexed her muscles and winked to Sam, "I'll take care of him."

Sam smiled some after recalling that. Sherry really was good for a pep talk. Even though the boy knew she was right, he still couldn't help but feel a bit responsible. Otto lost out on something that meant a lot to him. Would he truly be sympathetic towards the husky blonde from Hutchinson?
x x x x
Mr. & Mrs. Rodriguez both gave Clio permission to stay over but insisted on Reggie's asking Ray first. The girl didn't really want to bother her father for something so trivial, but she knew better than to lie to the Rodriguezes.

She reluctantly called Ray, who was still at the Shack, and asked if Clio could stay the night. Company was the last thing he wanted, but he also figured that Reggie shouldn't suffer and miss out on her fun just because of her brother's bad attitude.

After Ray gave the okay, the two girls hurried to gather Clio's things, and made their way across the street to the Rocket home - it was empty when they arrived - but before leaving, Reggie told Twister to be ready by 10:30 sharp so that they could all head over to Spray Beach for the Surf Competition and get there by 11. Even though the competition didn't start until noon, both Twister and Reggie had to be there early. Sam already knew about it, and was planning to leave with Twister and Reggie. The problem was getting a ride there since they did have to go earlier than everyone else.

Reggie did have her license, as did Sherry, but neither of them owned their own vehicle. There was a chance that Sherry might be able to drive her parents' 2000 Nissan Minivan, but she hated the idea of driving it. She preferred her older brother's 1997 Jeep Wrangler. It was so much more stylish to the teen. If neither of them could get a ride there, they'd have to resort to public transportation, like the city bus.

After settling in, Clio laid down on Reggie's bed.

"Oye, this is so comfortable," the girl exclaimed while staring up at the ceiling. She glanced over at Reggie who was sitting at the foot of her bed, staring over at her phone, anxiously awaiting it to ring. "Who are you waiting for a call from?"

Startled, Reggie muttered, "Sherry."

"Oh," the girl responded back plainly, glancing back up at the ceiling. "You're hoping she'll give you a ride to Spray Beach tomorrow so we won't have to take the bus, right?"

She nodded. "She always calls me time she gets home. She should've called by now."

Clio sat up. "Don't worry about it. She'll call when she gets the chance, now let's talk."

Reggie sighed and turned herself around so that she could face Clio. "What do you want to talk about?"

"What do you want to talk about?" She decided to ask that so she wouldn't seem too forward. 'Please don't say Otto.'

Reggie stared down and opened her mouth slightly. It's like she wanted to tell everything, but something was holding her back.

"Come on, tomboy, spill it!"

Reggie looked up and smirked a bit. Clio laughed. "Well, I-I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Wrong with you? Is it bad? Is it a boy?"

Reggie turned her head away from Clio as a small hint of red filled her cheeks. "Well, sort of..." The girl debated on whether or not she should explain everything to the ice skater.

"Reggie?"

"Oh, sorry," she apologized hastily. "Well, what does it mean when a boy is always on your mind and for some unusual reason, you want to be near him constantly or want him to hold you?"

Clio smiled knowingly. "Ooo, sounds like somebody's been bitten by the love bug!"

"Love?"

"You have a crush on some boy, don't you?" Reggie didn't respond. She didn't have to. Her silence was the only answer Clio needed. "C'mon, Reg, who's the boy? No, wait; don't tell me! I bet it's that Trent you always go on about!"

"No, not him. I see him as a good friend; that's about it."

"What?! He's cute, he's athletic, he's smart, and he has a hot accent; what's there not to like about him!"

"What? He's just a friend, Clio. I liked him when I first met him."

"If you're not talking about Trent, then who is it? Is it anyone I know?"

"Wait, you really think that I have a crush on a boy?"

"Obviously, now who is he?" the girl demanded.

She stood up quickly. She didn't want to tell Clio that she may be getting a thing for her good friend's, younger cousin; her brother's best bro.

Clio gave the girl a dejected look as she thought back to earlier. "It's Maurice, isn't it?"

Reggie gasped slightly, and her heart started to beat erratically. "Tw-twister," she asked nervously, "why would you think him of all people." She gave off an uneasy laugh as she stood in front of her dresser, messing with the contents atop it. "Of course it's not h-him. Don't be ridiculous."

Clio stood up and walked over towards Reggie, her arms crossed and an, "I'm not buying it," look on her face.

"It's not Twister!" Reggie insisted walking away from Clio to her sliding glass door, staring out of it towards the sky.

"It is, Maurice, Reggie. You're not fooling me. You're acting way too nervous and trying too hard to sound normal."

Reggie sighed. She couldn't lie and told her everything that'd happened and how she couldn't get Twister off of her mind lately. She didn't mention the almost kiss they had, but she did mention the hug and how she wouldn't have minded hugging him again, or being close to him. She wanted to hang out alone with him again, too.

Clio was somewhat surprised. 'I don't get it. Why him?'

"What do I do?"

Clio searched for the right words to say, but could only come up with, "Um, I guess you could, um-"

Fortunately, the phone rang. Reggie rushed to answer it.

"Oh, hi Twist."

"Hey, I was just going to let you know that you don't have to worry about getting a ride for me to Spray beach tomorrow, or Roderick. He can ride with me and my bro."

"Lars?"

"Yeah, he offered to drive us up there since he's going...to replace Otto." Those last words hurt Twister. He was secretly glad for his brother, but he still felt bad that Otto wasn't going to surf, no matter how mad at him he was. It just didn't seem right or fair. Otto had finally done something Otto-like and unselfish, and it ends up costing him the one thing that meant everything to the boy.

"Your mom's making him?"

"No. I'm just as surprised. He never likes to drive me anywhere. Whenever I ask, he gives me a look like I'm crazy, and I leave before he finds some reason to smack me. I bet he's only doing it to make himself look good in front of Rod."

"Okay Twist. So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the beach."

"Yeah, guess so Reg. I'll talk to you later."

"That was Maurice?"

"Yeah, we're the only ones who need a ride tomorrow."

"Hey, why don't we eat ourselves some ice cream and watch a few movies?"

Reggie smiled and nodded. She was glad Clio wasn't going to get into the "Twister issue," anymore. Besides, she had some questions of her own. "Okay, Lil Miss Tutu, and when we do, you have to spill about Keoni!"
x x x x
Later that night...

Roderick lied wide awake staring at the ceiling of Twister's dark, and *surprisingly, neat room. Mrs. Rodriguez had ordered Twister to clean it up a couple of nights earlier, even though the boy didn't know why his mother was so adamant on his doing so at the time, but now understood why.

Mrs. Rodriguez, after Twister left for school that morning, had put a roll-away bed in his room so that Roderick could sleep there. Clio would've had the guest room if she had stayed overnight.

The young boy was still in deep thought over Otto. He had to help his bro out, but how? He turned over and pounded his pillow so that he could get more comfortable. The pillow was much too lumpy for his liking.

"Yo, Rod, are you okay?" Twister asked from his bed. "It's kinda late and we have to get up early in the morning."

"I'm fine," Roderick insisted.

"Doesn't sound like it, bro. What's wrong?"

He sighed. "It's Otto. I've just never seen him that mad before."

"You and me both," Twister murmured.

"We have to cheer him up!" Roderick said in determination, sitting up.

"I can't think of anything we could do to cheer Rocket Boy up," Twister stated dully.

"We should at least try!" he insisted. "He's our bro."

Twister turned his back to Roderick to get himself more comfortable. "Yeah, our bro," he muttered.

"Twister?"

"Come on, Rod, let's just get some sleep and worry about Otto in the morning."

Roderick realized that he wasn't getting anyplace and that if he was going to do anything about Otto that it was going to have to be up to him. There was no way he was going to spend his time there in Ocean Shores and not hang out with Otto...
x x x

Author's Note

Note 01: Just an observation. I notice that in later eps, Twister's room was usually, generally clean and in order. Either the writer's forgot that he was a junky or….he grew up? Meh, who knows. Take a look at the later season 2 and 3 eps. That just seemed to be the case to me.