Yay! I'm very glad that you all enjoyed the last chapter. I had so much fun writing it! I love a nice, sensitive Otto moment as much as the next person. At least Otto does plan on apologizing to everyone, although his beef with Twister is for totally different reasons, so he's still not going to be on good terms with him quite yet.

Anyway, for this chapter, it's just Twister and Lars. Lars is up to something, and Twister is curious as to what, but he won't get into detail.

This chapter was kind of hard to write. I couldn't figure out what I wanted in it, or where I wanted to end it, but I came up with something, so hope you like it.

Before continuing on, I must thank Mike and my friend Colin for the help with my Spanish. Colin helped me with the Spanish first (so it would sound more natural compared to what I'm taught), and then Mike helped me when it came to getting into a more, common Mexican dialect, like earlier.

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

Chapter 23: A Stroll around Ocean Shores…

Earlier that morning...

"Hey man, why'd you want to leave so early?" Twister asked while rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. "I didn't even get to eat breakfast."

"Yo, you can always walk," Lars snapped as he concentrated on the road, "or you could have ridden along with Rod when he left with mom and dad."

"You know I have to be there early!" Twister complained, holding back another yawn. "Rod probably decided to ride with mom and dad because he didn't want to have to leave earlier than what he had to!"

Lars grit his teeth and growled some over what Twister had just said about Roderick not wanting to leave with them. He didn't understand why it would've been a big deal anyway, especially since he woke up before he did. Rod helped him to wake up Twister. Lars, at the moment, wasn't in the mood to put up with his brother at such an hour. It was half past eight. "Twister, do not piss me off right now."

Twister was about to say something else, but held his tongue as his brother breezed through Ocean Shores.

The ride remained in eerie silence. Lars hadn't bothered to even turn on the radio. Twister was curious what Lars had in mind and why he wanted to leave so early. He knew better than to question him, he really didn't want to get a whomping later, and he also didn't want to ruin his brother's concentration, but he also didn't like riding around in silence either.

"Hey, bro?"

"¿Qué quieres? [What do you want?]" Lars asked in monotone, his dark hair blowing in the wind. He sped up slightly, which caused Twister to hold his hat down in fear of losing it.

"Why did you wake me up so early if we still have a couple of hours before we even have to go to Spray Beach?"

He answered plainly, "Solo quería despertarte." [I just wanted to wake you.]

"¿Por qué?" [Why?]

"Porque sí." [Just because.]

"¡Esa no es respuesta!" [That's not a good answer!/That's not an answer!]

Lars stopped at the streetlight - which had just turned red - right when Twister yelled at him. He turned to the boy, and then smacked him in the back of the head.

"Hey!" the younger boy protested angrily while rubbing the back of his head. "¡¿Por qué hiciste eso?! ¡¿Qué te pasa?!" [Why did you do that?! What's your problem?!]

"For asking too many damn questions."

"What the hell is your malfunction!"

"Tu amigo estúpido, Rocket-bobo. [Your idiot friend, Rocket Dork]," he muttered as he pulled off.

He looked at his brother curiously. "What about him?"

"This stupid surfing thing. I did a few things last night," Lars shyly responded.

Twister had never heard Lars speak in such a way. He spoke as if he were hesitant of what he wanted to say, like he would embarrass himself.. 'Why would he care what he says in front of me? He's been insulting O-man for years.'

"So, um, what'd you do last night?"

"Is that any of your business?"

"YES IT IS! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WOKE ME UP AT 7 IN THE MORNING!"

"You don't have to yell."

"Well, I'm still sleepy!"

"And your point is?"

Twister grit his teeth to hold back his temper. He wanted to smack his brother. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before replying to Lars' smart remark. "Look, bro, what the hell did you do since I had to wake up earlier than I wanted to?"

"Don't make me have to explain it," Lars sighed. "I don't feel like getting into it."

"Whatever, bro," Twister muttered as he turned his attention towards his window.

The two remained in silence as they rode. After a while, Twister finally spoke up. "This isn't the way to Spray Beach, bro."

"Duh, I know that."

"Where are you going?"

"Isn't it obvious, dimwit?"

"School?"

"Wow, you're a lot smarter than you look," he replied sarcastically.

"Hey, I am not stupid!" He decided to disregard the comment. "So, why are we going there?"

"Will you stop asking a bunch of questions!" Lars snapped.

"I don't want to miss the competition, and Reg'll totally wig if I don't get any footage and my teacher'll go aggro!"

"You'll see soon enough," the boy responded sincerely.

After arriving at OSH, Lars ordered Twister to stay in the car. Lars ran down to the football field to the locker rooms where the athletics equipment was stored. He dug through his pocket, and took out a key. He was a senior, and had a high rank in both their Surf Team and their Soccer team, so he was entrusted with a key.

After entering, he saw a big, cardboard box. He gave off a small, half-smile as he lifted it up. He walked out, set the box down, and locked back up. He then picked up the somewhat heavy box and walked back towards the student parking lot.

He opened up the trunk of the car, ignoring Twister's curious glances. 'I almost can't believe I'm doing this,' he said as he stuffed the box in. After he was done, he slammed the trunk closed, and jumped back into car, right behind the driver's seat. He loved having a convertible where he could do that.

"So, bro," Twister started slowly, "what's in the box?"

"Man, why do you ask so many questions!"

"Cause I want to know?"

"You'll see at the competition."

"You're not going to mess it up, are you?!" Twister asked in alarm, as Lars pulled off. "You're not going to sabotage the whole surf competition, are you?!"

"Think about it lame brain, why would I do something stupid like that if I'm in the competition?"

Twister shrugged. "I dunno."

From that point forward, Twister decided not to bother asking his brother any other questions, despite the fact that Lars made a couple of more stops before actually heading to Spray Beach and threatened Twister not to go in the trunk, or he'd majorly whomp him. Twister figured that he'd obviously find out later what his brother was up to, but why did he have a strange feeling lurking in the pit of his stomach? He had the feeling something was going to happen, and that his brother was in on whatever that something was. It wasn't a bad feeling, nor was it a good feeling. Just a feeling, an anxious feeling...