"Julien is the best! Julien is sexy! Julien is the greatest, better than all the rest! Julien, Julien, J-U-L-I-E-N, JULIEN! Now it's conganga time, baby! CONGANGAAAAAAA!"
"Kowalski, how illegal is lethal force?" Skipper complained.
"Pretty illegal, sir. No loopholes found, unfortunately." Kowalski groaned. "He's been singing that for the past month."
The two of them went out to the living room as Rico and Private sleepily ambled out of their room. They'd decided to switch bedrooms this year.
"I thought he got an MP3 player." Private yawned.
"He did." Kowalski said. "However, he said and I quote, 'how am I to be shaking my booty if I can't really feel it from the inside out? The music has to move and groove you, Mort get off me!' Then he shook his butt at me and I left."
"How's anyone supposed to get any shuteye?" Skipper asked. "Seriously, Alice just doesn't check mail or messages?"
"She disabled all notifications and wears earplugs. I saw her do that last Thursday." Kowalski said.
"Is that why some kids have got headaches?" Private asked.
"It's reached seventh graders?"
"Yeah."
Kowalski thought about it. "No, this started before Julien's quest for booty shake maximum-ity." The boys gave him amused looks. "What? He said it, not me."
"Tired." Rico grunted.
"We all are. Say, you boys didn't have those headaches too, did you?" Skipper asked, stifling a yawn.
Rico and Kowalski shook their heads.
"Well, the ones having the headaches are kids and teens who are notoriously bad at staying hydrated, generically." Kowalski said.
"No water?"
"Precisely, Rico. There also aren't many complaints, so I can't pinpoint why it's happening or to whom. First, I need to know who exactly this is impacting. The school nurses are also distracted and disoriented if I recall correctly-"
"CONGANGA! CAN'T STOP IT, IT'S CONGANGA!"
"Scratch that, I know what's first." Skipper stood up angrily and marched out of the room.
"Rico, hold the door." Kowalski said. He and Private followed Skipper.
Skipper furiously pounded the door to 4Q. Mort opened it with a huge smile on his face. He had bags under his eyes.
"Kid, you need sleep." Skipper told the fifth grader. "Julien, cut it out!"
"Cut the groove? I'd rather cut a rug!" Julien cheered, removing his earbuds and letting them dangle from his pocket. "That's fancy talk for DANCE LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW!"
"You won't have a tomorrow if you keep this up." Skipper growled.
"Where's your enthusiasm, Skips?"
"First off, it's SkippER, not Skips. Second, my enthusiasm is tired from lack of sleep due to you."
"It's the city that never sleeps, baby!" Julien clicked his tongue and pointed finger guns at them.
"BECAUSE OF YOU!" Skipper screamed.
"Listen, Julien. If you want to float by school on little sleep, fine by us. But don't make it everyone else's problem by keeping them awake all hours of the night." Kowalski said.
"You can't handle a little music?" Julien pouted.
"A little?! Everyone's complaining about not catching a wink of sleep." Private complained.
"It's not that late, it's only- eh, what time is it? I lost my phone."
The boys groaned.
"It's 4am and none of us have gotten sleep." Kowalski said.
"Have you tried earplugs?"
Skipper huffed and ran up to Julien, startling the taller teen. Skipper grabbed the MP3 and ran out the door. The boys followed. Julien yelled as he chased them.
Rico managed to shut their door on Julien as soon as the other three were inside.
"Hey! Give that back, thieves!"
"Give us back our sleep!" Skipper snapped.
Julien pounded on the door as the boys tried to get a little more rest. Julien gave up a few minutes later and silence fell around them.
"Should have thought of that the day after he got the thing." Skipper sighed.
Julien couldn't complain to Alice without admitting he was keeping the building up at night and he knew everyone would speak against him.
Marlene shook her head once Skipper told her what he did. They'd filed into class, Julien glared at Skipper from his seat.
"Where did you put it?" Marlene asked.
"Somewhere he'll never find it." Skipper said slyly.
"He's also going to bother you. You do realize we have most classes with him?"
"Yeah, but it's really his fault." Kowalski said. "I'm so sleepy."
"Chin up, we get to watch a movie later." Skipper said, stretching.
"Mm-hm."
At the end of the day, their science teacher put on a video. Many students fell asleep, including Marlene, Skipper and Kowalski.
As the class filed out, Kowalski asked Doris if she took notes on the video. Doris shook her head, saying she just watched it. She didn't remember what it was about, though. They asked a few more classmates who said the same thing.
"I don't blame Doris if she fell asleep or zoned out since she lives in the apartments, but no one remembers?" Kowalski wondered aloud.
"Fishy for sure, keep an eye out. Though, it probably wasn't that great of us to fall asleep in the middle of a school day. At least Hans and Savio didn't try anything. Private!" He called, seeing the younger teen.
"Aye, Skipper?" Private said, waving to his friends and joining the team.
"Any news today?"
"Not really, we watched a video today. It was about…um…I think the environment."
"Ah, I've got it." Kowalski said. "It's one of those schoolwide videos the board puts out every so often like a 'don't do drugs' thing or any guest lecturer. We've probably seen it before and that's why our class was hardly paying attention to it."
"You'd think the environment stuff would be closer to Earth Day, but okay, I'll bite."
About a week later, Skipper started getting annoyed. It was indeed an environmental conservation video. It was annoying that it was on repeat, but more annoying that he couldn't remember exactly what was said.
The increase in headache complaints were also a problem. It seemed to be such a weird issue after fixing the main source of at least the apartment kids' insomnia. Of course, there were other things, but Julien was the biggest and loudest problem and he was silenced.
Along with headaches, the distractedness and disorientation increased along with Skipper's paranoia and Kowalski's anxiety.
Julien had also started begging for his MP3 back, he was extremely bored of the video and wanted a distraction.
"Too bad. Maybe I'd have more empathy if you didn't keep us up all night for a month." Skipper tried to shake him off through the park.
"It has been a long, hard, excruciating time away from my ears…please, I am begging you!" Julien cried, causing passersby to stare.
"It's been a week, calm down." Skipper rolled his eyes. "You get it back when I say you do. I'm surprised you didn't just ask your dad for a new one."
Julien blushed. "Well, um, I wanted that one because my grandma got it for me."
"Great, I'll bill her for the melatonin we need. The entire apartment could hardly sleep. Well, except for the Deaf and hard of hearing people. Man, I'm jealous."
"Skipper! Come on, you can't tell me I'm the only thing wrong with the apartments."
"True, Hans lives there. You are, however, the most disruptive thing in the apartments. At least Hans doesn't blast loud music everywhere."
"It was in my ears."
"Vocals, man! I was talking about your -admittedly good- voice blasting through the halls. The walls, ceilings, and floors aren't as thick as you think they are."
"I am loving the voice compliment. Please give me more."
Skipper rolled his eyes. "No. Now go away, I want to walk in the park in peace."
"I just want to listen to music and get rid of the buzzy sound in my ears."
"Yeah, blasting music will help any- wait, buzzing? When did that start?"
"A little bit after we started watching the boring video. Mort and Fred hear it too."
"No headaches?"
Julien shook his head.
"Honestly, that might be the after effects of the noise and you're just finally noticing. In case you forgot, the video started being shown the day I took your little noisemaker."
"Hmm, very suspiciousy."
"Your ears aren't meant to handle that much noise, Julien. Think about it."
Julien looked up, tapping his chin. When he looked back around, Skipper was gone.
"Dang it."
…
The team kept investigating these strange events. Rico's birthday was celebrated in the Penguins' room on Halloween.
Rikki complained of a headache and didn't go. He went to her room to check on her, but she kept insisting she was fine.
A few days into November, Rico was texted by his sister that she was in the nurse's office. He'd been out and about. He had volunteered as a library aide and was organizing books when he got the text.
"Hello?" Rico said as he entered. He saw the nurse staring at her computer monitor. Rikki lay on a bed, gently massaging her temples.
"Man, this is…not cool." Rikki moaned.
"Wha' happen?" Rico asked.
"I don't know. It's been going on over a month now."
"Freaky." Rico said.
"Yeah, like, why are these weird things happening and we have no idea how to explain it? Wait, you don't get them, do you?"
"Uh…nope. Who?"
"I've heard some people talk about it, but I'm not sure."
When the final bell rang, Rico texted Skipper his location. The door opened at that moment and Rico was stunned before he realized it was someone else.
"Mason?" Rico said. "You ok?"
The boy was holding on to Phil tightly. Mason looked like he was either about to throw up or fall over. He groaned in pain. He also had no response. Rico helped Phil ease Mason onto the bed next to Rikki.
"What's the matter?" Rikki asked. "Rico, is Phil here?"
"Yeah, carry."
'Phil, what's wrong?' Rikki signed in their general direction.
"Head pain. Bad." Rico said. Phil had signed slowly. "Mason worse. Almost…huh?" Rico shook his head with a confused look, indicating he didn't understand. "Drop?"
Rikki gestured for Phil to come. The younger boy walked over to her and signed slowly while she put her hands over his.
"Rico, Mason almost fell out of his chair and he was screaming. He screamed and the teacher didn't do anything."
'Why?' Rico signed.
'Watching the movie.' Phil replied, still signing under Rikki's hands. 'All of my DHH friends have headaches too.' Rico understood this time.
"All?" He wondered.
"Look alive, Rico!" Skipper's voice rang out as the door opened. "Looks like there's a nurse room party coming."
"Say wha'?"
"All of these people have headaches." Rico went outside to see a bunch of students standing around the boys.
Rikki interpreted for Phil. The boy hurried outside. The DHH kids began chatting at top speed, none of them could keep up.
"Make it stop…MAKE IT STOP!" Mason yelled. The Penguins rushed in, followed by the DHH kids who had noticed their startled facial expressions.
Phil went back to tactile signing with Rikki so they could all communicate better.
"Mason, what do you hear?" Skipper asked.
"Buzzing…pounding…voices…stop it…stop it…STOP IT!"
"Voices? Who is it, what are they saying?"
"No words, just whispers." Mason whimpered.
"Do you recognize them?"
"No."
"Anyone else hear the voices or buzzing?" Skipper asked.
"Most of us are profoundly or mostly Deaf." Rikki interpreted.
Skipper looked at the student who was telling him this.
"Any weird sounds?" Skipper asked.
"I hear buzzing, though. I thought my hearing aid was broken."
"How old is it?"
"Less than a year."
"That sounds terrifying." Private said. "I don't hear buzzing or anything like what they're going through. Why is that?"
"Good question. Kowalski, analysis." Skipper said.
"…"
"Kowalski?" The group turned to see Kowalski staring at the nurse's computer screen, completely entranced. His glasses showed the reflection.
"What are you staring at, man?" Skipper asked. "Nurse Milton?" The nurse didn't respond,
One of the students yelped and slapped her hands to her head.
"She saw the reflection in Kowalski's glasses and it gave her a sharp pain." Rikki said.
No reply came. The blind girl felt Phil's hands leave.
"Wait, what? What's going on?"
"No…don't let them listen…" Mason whimpered.
"To what? Rico, what's happening?"
Rico didn't respond. He was trying to get a better view. Private and Skipper were equally as entranced. All the students were starting to gather around the computer.
"Mason, where are they?"
"Computer…" Mason said between clenched teeth.
Rikki got up, pressed her hands over her ears and started singing loudly. Unknown to her, this made the Penguins and the nurse wince. Her headache was definitely not getting better doing this.
"Rico!" Rikki called, shuffling forward ever so carefully. "RICO! HELP ME!" She screamed.
Rico jumped and swiveled wildly, his hand accidentally knocking Kowalski's glasses off.
"AGH!" Kowalski held his head and screwed up his face as pain shot through his head.
"Kowalski, don't put your glasses back on yet!" Rikki yelled. "Turn the volume off!"
"I can't see where it is." Kowalski said.
Rico, who hadn't succeeded in getting a better view, went over to his sister.
"Whuzzgoinon." He mumbled.
"Rico, cover my ears and close your eyes when we get close to the computer." Rikki said.
"M-kay." Rico did as ordered. Rikki felt the monitor and keyboard. She managed to turn off the volume, then the monitor.
"You can let go." Rikki said. Rico complied, picking Kowalski's glasses off the desk and giving them back to him.
"What…happened?" Skipper asked.
"What are you all doing in here?" Nurse Milton asked.
"We weren't feeling so great, ma'am. Feeling much better now."
After making sure the students were all safe and good to go and Rikki was back in the apartments, the Penguins went to the HQ.
"It was weird…like it was calling me." Private explained. "The reflection wasn't the same, so I needed to see better."
"I was concerned about the nurse and then all of the sudden my glasses came off." Kowalski said.
"My bad." Rico grunted.
"No, it's fine. Just…why are we being sucked into a video? Is this a mind control tactic?"
"Sure seems like it." Skipper said. "It would explain the buzzing noise we hear when we're not watching it. The DHH kids couldn't hear it all and Rikki didn't see it. You need to see and hear it. But what's it saying? Every time we see it, we just don't remember what it says."
"If Rikki only heard it, she should know what it says, right?" Private asked.
"No, she doesn't remember." Skipper said glumly. "Mason said there are definitely voices, right?"
"Right." Kowalski said. "I tried to close my eyes, but I was compelled to open them."
"So, we need to record the audio as it's happening." Skipper said. "I'd ask you to sneak into the school files, but I don't want you getting sucked in again."
"Right. So, how are you going to record and not want to turn it off?"
Skipper thought about it, then opened a drawer and pulled out Julien's MP3 player.
"If this works, I'm giving it back to him."
"But you'll just get headaches." Kowalski said.
"It's worth a try. And I've got an iron will as tough as Rico's iron stomach."
Rico grinned and patted his stomach, imitating a metallic noise.
"I'll try that too, Skipper." Private said. "It's good to have more than one recording."
"Same." Rico said.
"Alright team, commence operation: Conganga." Skipper said, much to the amusement of the others.
…
The team prepared themselves as they went into school the next day. Private had an iPod that he got for his birthday and was planning to do exactly what Skipper was doing. He let his friends know that something was going on and the Penguins were on the case. He told the four seventh graders that he was recording it.
Rico told no one. He snuck it into a classroom and went to the library again. Skipper and Kowalski also kept it to themselves. They had a plan for how they would pull this off. Julien was outraged to see his MP3 in Skipper's hands.
"THAT IS MINE! No one gave you permission to just use it!" Julien yelled before their final class started.
"Julien, shut up! Would you let me talk for two minutes?!" Skipper snapped back. He didn't mind being late, the video wouldn't be shown until the end.
"No! I get it, okay? I was being a royal pain. I'm sorry, is that it? I am sorry. This is painful for me to say, but I really REALLY don't want you just using my stuffs even though-"
"Shh!" Skipper shoved his hand over the tall boy's mouth. Julien protested as Skipper pushed him around the corner. "I'll explain, just shut up."
Julien scowled, but stopped struggling. Skipper brought his hand down and his face closer to Julien's. Julien's eyes widened as Skipper got inches away from him.
"Relax, I'm trying to stay covert here." Skipper put his hands around his mouth, whispering. "I'm going to fix the buzzing and headaches. Don't ask how, just don't let anyone touch your MP3, got it? I need it. I know your attention is hard to keep and you're easily distracted, so I don't think you pose a problem."
"I don't-"
"Shh! Can't explain. Just trust me. Trust your new serious friend."
Julien's face split into a wide grin. Skipper had never accepted that title before. Skipper grimaced, certain he would regret that. It was for the mission, so he swallowed his pride and nodded at Julien.
"You got it." Julien almost squealed.
"If anyone asks, we never talked and you didn't see anything." Skipper waved his hands. "Now, go inside, I'll be there in a few seconds."
Julien saluted, turned the corner, then peeked back. "Y'know, I wouldn't have minded if that was going another way-"
"Makyhira, don't make me break your noise machine." Skipper scowled.
"Don't come crying to me if anyone saw that and drew their own conclusions." Julien winked.
"Yeah, whatever. Just go in so I can start Operation: Conganga."
Julien laughed and went into the classroom. Following the plan, Kowalski discreetly took his glasses off, put them in a case and handed them to Skipper who sat in front of him. He figured with his blurry vision, worst case scenario would be that he'd end up like Mason was yesterday.
Skipper had a death grip on his desk. He watched the video, occasionally looking at Julien who was tapping away a tune on his desk a couple rows away. The taller teen had put in earplugs.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kowalski move but his eyes were riveted back to the screen until-
"Hey, smarty booty, what are you doing? SKIPPER, DODGE!"
