A/N: Yo, yo, yo! What up, homies? This Numbuh 25, in the hizz-house! You dig? Lol, I can't do that very well, can I? Anyway, review responses!
Guest 1: Sentimentality rules! I thought it was a bit sad too, but hey, sometimes this thing just writes itself! I just try to go with the flow and not screw up!
Penspot: Because that's just how we Aussies roll! Nah, I dunno why, maybe it's just easier to write/type "Oz" than "Aus", I really don't know. But, we still do it, so, I just do too!
MoreThanMeetsTheEye96: That was a great review. Really, it was one of my favourites. I enjoyed writing about Hoagie's crazy alarm clock, and I'm glad you liked it too. I kind of thought; what would get me up if I really, really didn't want to? and that's what came to mind. It would be so cool if someone invented that clock though! (not that I would want one, sounds like I would have to get waterproof sheets if I did)
Guest 2: Thank-you! Glad you like it, hope you enjoy this chapter!
Okay, that's all, keep reading and review after!
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Kids Next Door Mission...
Operation: F.O.R.G.E.T.
Fragments
Of
Recovery
Gradually
Enable
Team
Chapter 24- A Dish Best Served Cold
'And, that's really all there is,' Kuki finished, looking to the others, who just nodded slowly. There was a quiet, polite applause, and the five of them returned to their seats satisfied with how their presentation for history had gone.
All they really had to do was get up, explain what they had done, and show the video.
After another few presentations, the teacher had gotten sick of the students, and when the bell went, he shooed them out of the classroom with a wave of his hand, not even bothering to look up from his book.
Since the group didn't share any other classes all together, they went on in their own ways. But, Kuki and Hoagie did share the next class together; media. And Abby and Nigel both had biology next. Poor Wally was stuck in english -yay- with his worst nightmare -double yay-.
'Beatles,' Ace greeted viciously as Wally took a seat, even though the blond boy was trying to stay out of the way.
'Kidd,' he replied, keeping his eyes on his desk.
But even with the atmosphere in the room growing thicker than mud, and both of them knowing that a conversation could lead to an open fist fight, Ace still continued to push the boundaries.
'So, off the team, I hear?' he said, his voice sing-song in a cruelly sarcastic way.
'Ah don't really care, Kidd,' Wally said matter-of-factly. Ace just sniggered, with his cronies copying in the background.
'You realise, with you gone, I get to be team captain?'
'Still not caring, Ace,' Wally's teeth grew tight, and soon he was speaking through a clenched jaw, just straining to keep himself in his seat.
Even with his head bent forward, and his hands balled up so tight he swore he should have broken skin, he could tell that the jerk, who had moved so he was sitting next to Wally, was smirking in sick satisfaction.
'Ace, Ah'm not looking for a fight,' Wally warned, taking deep, hissing breaths through his teeth.
'Well, that's good for you,' the brown-haired boy said, his usual cocky expression clear in his voice. 'but I'm afraid that I, on the other hand, may lack the self control that you possess.'
And that was it. Wally couldn't take it any more. He stood up, harshly, sending his chair flying backwards. Ace and his crew made a sort of 'woah-ho-ho!' sound, apparently enjoying Wally's anger, which only feulled the fire in his eyes.
'I have had just about enough of you, Kidd,' he spat, loudly, so that now everyone was staring. Fortunately for the two boys, though, the teacher had not yet arrived.
'Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?'
Something snapped inside Wally. His eyes narrowed, his mind blurred with rage, almost distorting his vision at the edges. He was done with putting up with him, every time he hit on Kuki, just because he knew Wally liked her. Sick and tired of listening to him go on and on about every single little cruddy thing that he could possibly brag about. Just fed up with him, his stupid stuck-up smirk, the dumb, narcisistic act he put on every day. Wally knew that the boy had weaknesses, just as much as Ace knew that Wally himself did. Until now, Wally had tried to put up with it, be the 'bigger person'.
Oh boy, was he gonna enjoy this.
He lunged at Ace, knocking him off his feet while he was busy joking around with the spineless good-for-nothing idiots around him. Throwing a blind punch, Wally missed his target -Kidd's sneering, bragging face- and hit him in the shoulder instead. Ace was dumbstruck, but found it in him to free one of his hands and land a counter attack in Wally's chest. Wally drew back a bit, but that didn't take away from his agression. This was going to end here. Wally didn't even notice all of the people around him, most cheering, with phones out, filming the whole thing with full intention to post it online, a few of them (not many, but a couple) just rolled their eyes and went back to their books.
With the two now rolling around on the floor, Wally, surprisingly, felt a sort of nostalgia at being in a proper fight for the first time in almost four years. Sure, he had had a go at Ace when this whole issue had arisen, but that was as Wally, and he was really the only one who had played any part in that "fight". Now, he was Numbuh 4, and a lot of his old fighting techniques had come back to him, giving him the upper hand. While Ace tried feebly to fight back against Wally, he really had nothing against Numbuh 4's experience, especially since, back in the day, on account of him being so short, had fought against some rivals who were much bigger than him; but, he had gone through his growth spurt by now, and he and Ace were almost equal in height and weight. But not in strength.
Ace had managed to stop the rolling while he was on top, and threw a poor shot aimed at Wally's nose, where it instead clipped the side of his cheek, and under his eye, where it jarred, and Wally felt the area go blunt and almost numb. Mustering up all the power he could find in his arms and legs, he shoved "The Kidd" off him, and pushed him down to the ground, while Wally remained kneeling up over him. He pinned Kidd's arms down with his knees, basically sitting on top of him, and, while the boy underneath him's expression turned from determination to fear, a wild, panicky dread, knowing that there was no way he could get out of what was about to happen. Now, the smirk had moved; it was across Wally's face now, as he glowered down at Ace, his revenge almost satisfactory to him.
'You don't know how long I've waited for this, Ace,' Wally snarled, feeling his reputation building itself back up, his pride restoring, and most importantly, he knew that after today, he would never be bothered by Ace Kidd again.
And with that, Wally's closed fist came down on Ace, hard. Right in the nose, and getting a bit of his right eye as well.
Wally got up off of Ace, where he was greeted with a mixture of responses; obviously Ace's team were scowling at him, but there were also cheers and slaps on the back, and shouts of 'that was awesome, dude!' from the guys, who, evidently, did not all like Mr. I'm-so-cool either. Of the girls, half of them were fighting for space around Ace, calling out in high-pitched whines; 'Ohmigosh, Ace, are you okay!?', 'Ugh, that stupid idiot Wally Bealtes! He's always been a jerk!'
Wally, upon hearing them, laughed out loud. Back when he was football team captain, the girls (the cheerleaders especially) were all over him. Now that was annoying.
The other half of the girls, the more sane half probably, were acting similar to the guys;
'Yeah! That was pretty cool, Wally!'
'You rock!'
'I can't believe that just happened.'
But, unfortunately for Wally, Mr. Tessari chose that moment to walk in, holding a handful of folders and a mug of steaming coffe, which he almost dropped upon seeing what was going on in the classroom.
Tables had been shoved out of the way, chairs lay upturned, discarded on the floor, while papers and books spread out all over the room, some torn and scrunched up, some lying in wait, longing to be picked up and put back up on the table.
'WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?' Mr. Tessari roared, causing twenty-seven heads to snap around to his direction, and fifty-four pairs of eyes to widen in dread. They knew what was about to happen.
'Wally and Ace got into a fight,' someone dobbed. Coward, Wally thought.
'Again?' Mr. Tessari shot a poisonous look in the direction of the two boys, who were standing, still in fighting stances, in the middle of a ring of dazed students, all staring vacantly at either Ace and Wally or Mr. Tessari, and all looking as stunned as a deer caught in the headlights.
'Kidd, Beatles. My. Office. Now.'
That was not a request. That was a downright demand. Scowling, but both with very different emotions spinning around their heads, the boys stalked out of the room.
You're in trouble now, mate, Wally told himself.
They were followed curtly by Mr. Tessari, who was fuming, red in the face, leaving a classroom full of students unsure of what to do now.
~(*)~
Kuki took a seat in her Media class, about three quarters of the way back and off to the side, knowing that this would be the best place to sit to be out of the teacher's most concentrated vision.
She didn't think she would be concentrating that much today.
She had almost forgotten that Hoagie was in this class as well, until he went and sat down next to her.
'Hey,' he said.
'Hey.'
He yawned.
'Late night?' Numbuh 3 asked. He just nodded.
'Me too.'
The teacher walked in, and class began, but that didn't stop the two from talking.
After a little more of the simple stuff; 'I'm so tired,' and 'we have too much homework,' Hoagie looked at her with an expression that was some mixture of being troubled, unsure and thoughtful. He waited a few seconds after opening his mouth before he spoke.
'D- do you remember when me and Abby were- were... y'know...'
Kuki smiled, amused by her friends awkwardness.
'Yeah. I do,' she replied.
'Okay. Uhm, well, do you think that she would maybe, I dunno, want to... to be that... again?' His face was red, and his voice was lower than usual. He was afraid that if anyone overheard him talking about going out with Abby, they would just laugh until he fled from the classroom.
Kuki's smile grew. She had a feeling that the two were still hot for each other, and now she knew.
'Hoagie,' she said, turning to face him completely, looking him directly in his yellow-tinted eyes.
'All you need to do is ask her out. Just do it. She will say yes.'
He looked like a stunned mullet.
'Wh-w-what?' He stuttered, swallowing hard. Shaking her head affectionately, but all the while still smiling, Kuki replied truthfully;
'Hoagie, I know Abby as well as I know myself. And I know for a fact that you are the only guy she has ever gone crazy for.'
She could almost feel his elation, his face lit up, his eyes shone, and his mouth twisted into a small, yet extremely excited smile.
'Really?!' he cried, forgetting that he was meant to be talking quietly.
'Hoagie Gilligan!'
'Sorry, Miss Tanner.'
Kuki had to bite her lip to avoid giggling too loud.
'Yep,' she confirmed. But there was more.
'Let me tell you something, Hoagie,' she said, launching into a story, but keeping her eyes forward, and moving her lips as little as possible, so as to avoid being caught by the middle-aged woman at the front of the classroom.
Flashback
Kuki and Abby were in Kuki's room, at her house, not in the treehouse, surprisingly. It was way back before the war, back when they were both just eleven years old. Abby was lying on her stomach on her sleeping bag, sleeping over at her friend's house for the night.
'So, truth or dare?' Numbuh 3 asked, thinking of something humiliating for either option. She had on her pink rainbow monkey pyjamas, complete with matching slippers (they even squeaked when you stepped on them).
Abby 'hmm'd, frowned in thought and then answered;
'Truth.'
'Well, it makes sense. You chose Dare, like, ten times in a row!'
'Just ask the question, Kooks.'
'Okay, then...' after a few seconds, Kuki had made up her mind.
'Do you like Numbuh 2?' she asked with a giggle.
Numbuh 5 immediately began to stall.
'What? Wh-why would you ask that? I mean, why not ask something like 'what's your most embarressing moment?' I'll answer that one. It's-'
'Abby. I already know your most embarressing moment. You walked around all day with toilet paper on your shoe. Now, do you like Hoagie?'
This was fun for Numbuh 3 to watch. She had never seen her best friend acting so worried, so awkward. She smirked.
'I- I mean, sure I like Hoagie. I've known him since we were five!'
That was more stalling.
'You know what I mean Numbuh 5. Not that like, the other like.'
Abby's eyes darted around the room, trying to find something to take this conversation elsewhere. But what she didn't know, or maybe couldn't avoid, is that all the time she spent dodging the question, Kuki was just becoming more and more certain of the answer.
'I- uhmm, I...' Abby looked close to cracking, her face flushing red under her dark skin.
'Okay! Yes, I do like him! I don't know why, I just- he's so sweet and he- don't get me wrong, I hate the jokes, but- but I love them at the same time! And I like him! ..a lot.' She added the last bit quietly. Kuki squealed like the girly-girl she was.
'Ahh! I knew it! Aww, you would be so cute together!'
Abby sighed, defeated by the power of truth or dare.
'Before you give me the 'aww' speech,' she warned, 'let me assure you that nothing is going to happen. He doesn't like me.'
But little did she know, that Kuki already knew that wasn't true. It was obvious to her that Hoagie liked Abby as well, but apparently it was just her who noticed.
But even Kuki didn't know what was coming next.
End Flashback
'Really? She told you that?' Kuki had never seen Hoagie this delighted at anything.
'Completely true. I remember it like it was yesterday.'
Kuki and Hoagie finally started to listen to the teacher, but all the while, Kuki could see the little fist pump that Hoagie did half-under his desk. She smiled once again, knowing that -as soon as Hoagie gathered up the courage- two of her closest friends would be together again, just like they used to.
~(*)~
'So what is this bullfrog thing meant to be teching us again?' Abby murmered to Nigel, while they were both staring at the board like it was all in another language (which would have been fine had it been in French class, but it was Biology so...). It was like their eyes had translucent curtains in front of them, they saw the board, but they just couldn't bring themselves to comprehend anything on it.
'I'm going to level with you here,' Nigel began, seeming as if he was about to collapse from exhaustion and boredom at any second.
'I really don't care.'
They started to drift from the subject of school, instead floating around from current events, music, friends, and finally, as it inevitably was going to, relationships; in particular, past relationships.
'So, Lizzie sat next to you in History, huh?' Abby asked, knowing the answer, and trying to make her friend uncomfortable. She succeeded.
'Yeah. Have you ever noticed that she wears a lot of pefume?' Nigel replied, making a weird face as he remembered how awkward he felt sitting next to her. He tried not to look at her, but couldn't help just a few glances.
'Come on, boy! Everyone knows that! You can smell her coming all the way from the gym when she's in the library!'
Nigel laughed quietly. That was sort of true.
The truth was, that even though Nigel may have had a 'thing' for Lizzie six years ago, when they were ten years old, now he just didn't feel it. Maybe it was how she'd changed; she now looked like she spent hours on her make-up and hair in the morning, and her clothes were always straight out of the newest catalogues. That was something that Nigel didn't want in a girl. He wanted a real girl, who cared more about her future than about how many calories there are in the pizza in the school cafeteria. Someone like... you know. But before he could get himself to mentally admit it, Abby spoke up for him.
'She's really not such a good pick now, is she? Not that she ever was... but you know who is a good pick? Rachel!'
Nigel gulped, and felt himself blushing. He knew that Numbuh 5 knew about his crush, and everyone else as well, but it was still embarressing having anyone talk about it.
But, wait!
There was something that Nigel had to retalliate with.
'You know who else is a good pick?' He asked, smirking lightly.
Abby gave him a confused frown.
'Hoagie,' Nigel taunted, now pleased with himself for having saved all the teasing from being directed on him. At least now Abby would get some of it too.
'What? He- I mean I- uhm, we... you're just covering up!' She stumbled indignantly, acting out of character, just like Nigel knew that love made anyone and everyone do.
'Yeah, but it's still true!' he shot back, now smiling wider.
'You like him.'
'So?'
'So you like him!'
'Yeah, so?'
It went on like this for a while, back and forth between the two. Sometimes it would be Abby doing the attacking, making fun of Nigel for liking their former Soopreme Leader, and sometimes it was Nigel poking at Abby for her not-officially-ended, no-one-knows-what's-going-on-with-it relationship with Hoagie. In the end, they both confessed, and there was nothing to argue about anymore, so boredom once again took hold.
'You ever gonna ask her out?' Numbuh 5 asked Numbuh 1, reffering to Rachel. Nigel screwed up his face in thought.
'I want to,' he finally said.
'Well then do it!'
'Uhhhh...'
And now there was something new to argue over.
'Well, why don't you ask Hoagie out?'
'That's different and you know it!'
'Oh is it now?'
'Yeah, it is!'
They were eventually going to get caught up by the teacher, who would give them a scolding for talking, arguing, laughing in class, but they didn't care. Their childish quarrels were fun.
Things were just starting out for them, it seemed. Life as a teenager, and life as a Kid Next Door, they weren't just going to fit in together like jigsaw pieces, right?
There were holes in the puzzle, holes that they would have to fill, and bumps they would have to smooth out.
A/N: I liked writing that chapter.
Dunno why.
-Numbuh 25 over and out
