So, let's continue this fortnight! Thanks for reviewing, detectivezelda and Sideshow Cellophane 26.

On Sunday I was mostly left to myself, save a couple of Chat requests. After I refused the second one, an email popped up: "Why aren't you talking to me? I've got a bunch of incriminating photos and some stuff you might want to know before tomorrow."

I messaged back "Stop threatening me! Dating you doesn't mean I have to talk to you all the time. I've got stuff to do, as a matter of fact. But OK, what should I know?"

What followed was a list of many different things to know during school – this time on Gmail Chat. Expect PDAs, I can't tell my friends, I don't have to talk to him unless we see each other in the cafeteria (which was probable), any gift I receive, "flaunt it"...

At that point, I messaged "Please don't say you're pulling the T-shirt thing! I couldn't stand it if people saw me wearing something like that!" The thought of that T-shirt actually scared me a little.

Curly replied "Relax, my princess, I know Rhonda's T-shirt wasn't your style at all." That did literally nothing to stop me from feeling scared.

Curly also emailed me a list of phrases, saying "If in doubt of speech, say one of these. I know this isn't just for show, but you girls get tongue-tied sometimes...I've seen it happen to Phoebe especially."

Monday on the bus was much the same as it had been for Rhonda, except that I didn't have to announce anything to anyone. It didn't mean that most of the stares lessened, though. Even Rhonda herself was staring, and later that day, it was she who cornered me.

"So, you would take anything over pretending to be his girlfriend, huh?" she challenged. "If that's the case, why were you two cuddling up on the bus?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "As if I'd tell you, princess! You'd tell everyone. Anyway, this isn't a permanent thing. If you tell anyone anything, don't forget I'm the only one who knows what happened to you. I could just get a bit confused when I let slip about your little agreement and make it look like you don't have any heart under that red sweater of yours-"

Rhonda cut me off with a death glare. "You're not the only one with rumour fuel, you know. I have more influence over this school than you'll ever have. You watch your step."

"You have nothing over me." I argued. "I'll bet you can't get Helga Pataki to shut up with just a couple of words, but I could do it easy." I was referring to 'ice cream'.

"Plus," I added, "There's only one person who has anything they could do to ruin my life, and I'm not going to tell you who they are. And if I know one thing about you, you're not stupid enough to make up some lie. I know I may look suicidal, but I don't act it, now do I, so that wouldn't work."

Rhonda didn't bother answering, throwing a glare over her shoulder that seemed to mean "You're not even worth my time" and walking off.

I didn't tell my friends what had actually happened when they asked about my "secret admirer", but I did half-answer their questions.

"OK. Well, my secret admirer is actually one of the younger kids. He's confessed to me. Just...if you see me hanging out with one of the little kids in the next couple of weeks, I'm just humouring him for awhile." Not the truth, but enough to stop them from questioning me when/if they see me with Curly.

The other girls took this in stride. "I did once ask a fourth-grader out to get my boyfriend jealous." Connie admitted, who was still hanging around.

"Yeah, me too." Maria added. "Although they were pretty cool for nine-year-olds. Mine was Arnold, I remember. What was the name of your one, Connie?"

"Gerald, I think."

I grinned as I listened to this, and I wondered if Helga knew that Maria had asked Arnold out. As a matter of fact, I wondered if Phoebe had had that crush on Gerald at the time.

"So, did it work?" I asked.

"Yes!" Maria grinned. "It was SO awesome."
"Well, until the boys nearly got beaten up because we got them to take us to the dance when our boyfriends got jealous." Connie added. "But we stopped them in time, and we came clean to the boys."

"They WERE pretty sweet kids." Simone said. "And really good dancers – everyone was watching them."

I sighed. "If I could be so lucky...the fourth-grader chasing me is kind of sweet, I suppose, but in a creepy, obsessive way. As for dancing..." If I remembered correctly... "Ballet is his speciality."

"Don't worry, Steph." Maria said. "If he's anything like I imagined from the notes in your locker, he'll be OK."

It was OK for them. They didn't set foot in the cafeteria, only to have Curly go up and present them with...OK, this is what happened to me. Curly was in the cafeteria before me, but the minute I got to a table and sat down, he immediately came up to me in front of all of my friends and said "How has your morning been, my shining star?"

"OK." I shrugged. "How was yours?"

"Torture without you, my beloved." Curly replied, completely seriously. "Anyway, I just wanted to give you this little gift that I would really love to see you wear." It was actually a silver belt which was pretty cool, but it had the same words from Rhonda's T-shirt: Curly's Girl, carved onto it.

"I thought it would contrast with your black jeans." Curly said by way of explanation.

I hid a sigh of exasperation, ignored the giggles coming from most of the sixth-grade girls and most of the older kids, then pulled the belt on. It was in a nice style, but the words that showed the possession was just too obvious.

"So that's him?" Simone said as we left the cafeteria. "I wouldn't have guessed he'd be the romantic poetry-writing type. That IS the kid who locked himself in the principal's office with a bunch of kickballs a few months ago."

"Who would've known?" I said dryly. "I didn't suspect it either until he started on this."

That night, I fell to thinking about Roxanne, the girl that used to appear in my dreams. She was shy and quiet, and she had been enslaved by this demonic ventriloquist dummy called Slappy that actually came into my possession at the time and attempted to enslave me. Somehow, the way Curly wanted me as his girlfriend in a possessive way reminded me of her. I wondered if she'd come into my dreams again. Probably not, I imagined, as I'd left the dummy in New Zealand and was planning on never going back, so I'd never see him again.

But that night, I guess my wishing for Roxy to return got to her in heaven, because she came back.

"Hi, Steph." Roxy smiled shyly. "You rang?"

"Nah." I shrugged. "Just thought you might be able to give me a few tips on this kid who's been bugging me."

"What? I don't-"

"You dealt with Slappy for three years." I cut her off. "Granted, the kid is a nine-year-old who claims that he's fallen in love with me, but he is forcing me to be his girlfriend for a fortnight. Three days have gone by. He's french-kissed me, said a bunch of lines, given me instructions and now he gave me this belt that claims I'm his girl. Come on, Roxy, you of all people should know how to get through it."

Roxy nodded, staring at the ground. "Don't think too hard." she suggested. "It'll be unbearable if you keep turning it over and over in your mind. What I did was keep my head down and not think about it. And that worked for a bit. If you've only got eleven more days left, than it should be OK to do that." She suddenly smirked. "So, tell me about this kid."

"Well," I said, "His real name is Thaddeus Gammelthorpe – I know, it's ridiculous – but everyone calls him Curly. He's got these really thick glasses that hide his eyes, and the creepiest smile I've ever seen on a real human face. He's totally insane. Lisa said that she heard one time, he freed all the animals in the zoo. My new neighbour calls him a 'twisted little freak'."

"Sounds a bit like Slappy, actually, just with a better temper." Roxy tried to joke. "Mind if I stick around, Steph? I really want to see what goes on."

"Sure, Roxy, why not?" I said. "Also, look out for my neighbour, she's the girl with the blonde pigtails and the pink bow. She's in love with one of the boys in her year, but she acts as if she hates him and she'd kill anyone who spilled her secret. Oh, and don't take control of me like you did last time you hung around in my head."

"OK, OK, I've got it." Roxy smiled. "I'll get back to you once I've met Curly, so to speak."

I woke up, fully refreshed. It was interesting to talk to Roxy again, and to see her smile. Most of the flashback dreams I'd had of her made her look pale, wan and scared. But it would be good to talk to her again.

For more on Roxanne, head on over to the stories "Slave To Passion" (Goosebumps but former knowledge of the fandom not needed) and "Being The Slave" (Stephanie's first encounter with Roxy). Long story short, Slappy is an evil ventriloquist dummy who comes to life and will attempt to enslave everyone he meets. He did so to Roxanne, and her shy nature made her compliant. After three years of abuse – emotional, mental and sexual – she committed suicide. When Stephanie found Slappy in a pawn shop, she bought him, then ended up bringing him to life. Flashbacks of Roxanne's life kept appearing in Stephanie's dreams, and she eventually discovered that Roxanne's spirit was talking to her, and after Stephanie defeated Slappy, she said goodbye to Roxanne and expected never to see her again.

Now, please review and I'll have the next chapter up soon!