Rigby hopped into the passenger seat of Eileen's car. "Hey Rigby!" Eileen said as Rigby hopped in.

"Hey. So, what movie are we seeing?"

Rigby had his own intentions. He was going to force her to watch the manliest, most testosterone-filled movie showing. To make matters worse, the car did not fair much better. The trip was silenced by the radio. Hardly a word was spoken.

"Why is he acting like this so much?" Eileen pondered as she drove.

At the theater, Rigby begged to see Kidnapped 2 with Lian Nelson. "Rigby, I really don't want to see this one. What if we-"

"Okay," Rigby said nonchalantly as he proceeded to buy his own ticket for the movie. Once inside.

"So… I'll get the popcorn if you…" Eileen said to Rigby.

"If I…?"

"… nevermind…" Eileen bought the popcorn and the drinks.

" Listen, they're going to Kidnap you… 2 … I need you to stay calm…"

Rigby had nearly forgotten Eileen was sitting next to him as he lost himself in the movie. The raccoon was already invested in the cliched plot and immersed himself in the movie. He was brought back to reality when Eileen lightly grabbed his hand that was on the arm rest between them.

Rigby quickly yanked his hand back. Nothing about him carried any subtlety to it. Eileen's face shifted to disappointment, then anger. She stood up, which prompted Rigby to ask, "Hey, where you going?"

"Shhh!" came from behind them.

"Bathroom," Eileen replied in a cold tone.

"Shh!"

"I'm serious, you okay?"

"SHH!"

"Asshole," she muttered as she walked off.

"Eileen-!"

"SHHHH!"

"Go SHH yourself!" Rigby retorted as he followed after her. "Eileen, wait!" he screamed as he chased her down in the hallway.

"What, what could the great Rigby possibly want?"

"Eileen, I'm sorry, but, uhm, just, I just didn't want this to be a date."

"When did I ever mention the word date? What are you, four?! Next thing you know I'll have cooties or something! Why don't we just chase each other with sticks and roll around in the mud! You know, real mature like!"

"That wouldn't be half bad," Rigby admitted.

"Unbelievable!" she screamed as she began to walk off.

"No! Eileen, I just, I don't like you and I just didn't want to say it because we're good friends and it would be weird so I kind of figured being a jerk would work. I know, stupid plan, hail to the king of the stupid, me. All hail his jerkness. I guess this all just backfired."

"Well you're certainly acting the part so I don't know what you were expecting. You are just so dumb and so oblivious that I'm surprised I even agreed to come to this stupid movie theater with you!" She waltzed off, but turned back for a quick moment, "Oh, and you don't have to worry. You weren't worth liking to begin with."

Rigby stood alone in the small movie theater hallway with tears etched in the corners of his eyes. Eileen had already left. Rigby just stood there for a while.

After some time, Rigby began to mull over what happened. His mind slowly shifted to what he would do for the rest of the night. He thought he would go home and practice with the book some more and let out all his rage. But he felt more like just lying on his bed and passing out. Before that, he might take another shower just to feel the water on him and stand in it for a while. First he had to get home. But how? His only ride was-Eileen…

"Aww damnit Rigby…"

He took off sprinting out the door in the direction her car was parked. It was a long shot. She had to have left a while ago. Yet, she stood by her car motionless. She must have been thinking something over as well.

"Hey!" he called, sprinting on all fours.

She snapped back to attention and opened the door of her car.

"Wait! Please!" He tried, weakly, in vain, to close her door before she could get in it.

She relented, "What do you want?"

"I don't know. I'm just winging it. But I'm sorry Eileen and I suck at apologies but do you want to eat at that diner?" Rigby asked as pointed at some random and convenient restaurant across the street.

"That's not a diner, it's a buffet."

"Whatever, pleeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"No."

"I'll pay for it."

Eileen, with arms crossed, relented, "Fine. But you better work up an apology by the time we sit down."

Eileen sat at the table tapping her foot with a plate in front of her. She finished checking her watch when Rigby sat down with three platefuls of food juggled in his arms.

"Are you really going to eat all that?"

"Uh, yeah?"

She sighed as Rigby began to pig out. "Now that you finished stalling…"

Rigby froze with a clump of noodles sticking out of his mouth. " mhuuuugh, moha', sho-"

"Okay finish chewing first."

"Bu- thatth wha- you asthke foh'"

"Okay-"

"Howh am I inth the wro-?"

Eileen giggled.

Rigby finished and spoke normally, "Okay… Here I go… Apology time… I… Eileen, I'm sorry for acting like a jerk. I just… Everyone kept making fun of me for you." That was a partial lie. Muscle Man and Fives did, but it was Mordecai's acknowledgement that really tipped him off. "I got upset with Mordecai and I just, I wanted to prove them wrong."

"That's better than I expected, honestly. Accepted. So they all thought you liked me but you didn't want to prove them right? That's a little shallow, though."

"Yeah, I know. I get picked on for everything and I just wanted to prove someone wrong for once. So I acted like I didn't like you."

"Do you like me?"

Rigby jumped up in his chair. His cheeks were blushing, "Wha-huh? No. No, not at all. Haha hehe…"

"Good. I don't like you either."

"I-Y-You don't?"

"Not like that . Honestly, what's so wrong with this ? We've been friends for years, Rigby. I think you were overreacting a lot."

"I-… Yeah… You're right… Sorry…"

Eileen looked more concerningly, given Rigby's sudden mood change. "You mentioned Mordecai, did you want to talk about him?"

"No, not really."

The conversation dropped off after a moment of silence. Around them, plates clanked together and patrons were laughing or talking. The soft rock music overhead was hardly helping the tension.

"Nice place," Eileen muttered.

"Yeah, I've never been here."

"Then why'd you recommend it."

"I told you, I was winging it."

"Really?" she scoffed, "So you just pointed to some random restaurant hoping to get lucky."

"Yep."

"I think you should start winging it more often; it's better than you're other plan."

They laughed together at that.

"So what now?" Eileen asked.

"What what now ?"

"I mean what do you wing next on this date?"

"This isn't a date!" Rigby scolded with a smile he tried to hide.

"Hehe, okay. But if this was-"

"It's not-"

" If it was, what comes next?"

Rigby froze. "I don't know, just start talking about BS and get lucky? Impress her-er, you, with my rig-charms!"

"What kind of BS?"

"Well, what's your favorite type of music?"

"Rigby, you already know that."

"I don't care. You asked me what I'd do on my not-date-date, so tell me."

"And then he said that it was fine, but I know it wasn't fine," Eileen mulled over. The two lay on the roof of Eileen's car. They were in the center of the park. There were no clouds overhead and the stars littered the sky. They both just stared upwards. "I know he doesn't like me going to college and all, but I don't know what else I was supposed to do. 'Hey dad, I really want to do something else with my life, but sure I'll give up and stay at your firm for the rest of my life.' Like what does he want from me, you know?"

"I think you're making the right choice," Rigby replied, "But I can't even get into college, so who cares what I think? But even I can tell you're dad's just an hole."

"He's not a hole. He just loves his work too much. He always imagined having a family business and us all running it."

"Well, did it pay well?"

"Yeah, but that's beside the point. I don't want to punch numbers for someone else's payroll for the rest of my life. I want to design, to do something with my actual brain!"

"Jeez, dad's, right?" Rigby joked.

"Yeah… Mine won't even pay for my college. That's why I picked up so many hours at the cafe."

"My dad didn't want me to go to college. Said I didn't deserve it."

Eileen said, "Your dad sounds like a tough character."

"Yeah… I don't think he likes me. I'm not like my brother."

"I think I'd know that feeling if I had one. Only child."

"Lucky. Plus you'd probably be the favorite. Not me. Dumb, old Rigbone can't do anything with his life. Meanwhile, Don… He's… He's Don."

"What's so special about Don?"

"Take the complete and total opposite of me."

"That's no fun."

"He graduated college at twenty, debt free, owns a house, and is already a manager. How can I compete with that? My dad isn't happy with me and my mom could care less. I"m an average nobody. You have plans, Eileen. Me: I'll probably be stuck here for a while."

"I-I'm sorry, Rigby…"

They both lay back for a while. The moon was bright overhead. Eileen turned and noticed the reflective glimmers on Rigby's face. She heard his light sniffling.

"I can't re-remember, the last time I did anything right in my life. Everything I do always blows up in my face," he cried. "I never do anything right. For once I just want someone to tell me that they appreciate me. Guess what my dad said to me last time I saw him? Nothing."

"Rigby," the raccoon turned to her, "You're smart. And you're strong. And I appreciate you."

He hugged her, "What a shitty date," he joked in between tears.

Eileen pulled up in front of the park house. "Well, here we are."

"Yeah… Thanks for that. I had fun."

"Me too."

Eileen and Rigby both started to lean in. She closed her eyes, but Rigby hesitated. He leaned back and opened the door. Eileen opened her eyes and felt awkward. They both blushed.

Rigby closed the door and began to walk towards the house. But he stopped, turned around, pointed his finger to her at chest level. "Next time?"

Eileen did not know whether Rigby meant hanging out again next time or that he would man up and kiss her next time. She accepted both of these answers. She smiled and said, "Next time."

Eileen drove off while Rigby stood watching her. " What are you doing Rigby?" he asked himself privately.

Just then, he felt odd. His vision started blurring. His chest was starting to burn. He clenched his chest as he felt as though he was going to collapse.

He realized something. He had left the book in his room the entire night.

Rigby stumbled his way to the house. He could hardly see. His arm was extended to feel where he was going. He tripped up the stairs on the porch. He got back to his feet and shuffled inside. He hugged the wall as he made his way up the steps.

He couldn't breath. Oh God, he couldn't breathe.

He slowly made his way to the room, gasping for breath along the way. He was blacking out.

He entered the room. His heart was racing. "Where the hell is it?" The bathroom.

Rigby headed to where he left the bag in the bathroom. He pulled out the Enchiridion and a wave of relief hit him. He was back to normal.

But he found himself puzzled. "How did I go the entire night without this thing?"

At the time, Rigby was too stupid to put any of the pieces together. He simply put the bag back on.

While he was there, he remembered Mordecai. The Crown. Something deep down told Rigby that he still had it. Granted, Mordecai was a douchcanoe, but he did not want to see him get hurt. He went over to the closet and swore at himself for being so short. He pulled over his trampoline. He jumped on it until he got high enough to grab onto the shelf ledge. He felt around with his hands until he felt a round, metallic object. He pulled it down over his should and dropped it onto the floor.

Rigby picked up the object. It was the Crown. Rigby stood there inspecting it until he felt something again. This feeling was a little late.

"What are you doing?" Rigby turned to see Mordecai staring at him intently.

Mordecai walked over to Rigby and yanked the crown out of his hands. Rigby recoiled from this. Mordecai stared Rigby down before he put the crown back on the shelf and went to bed. Not another word was said.

"Mordecai-?"

"Shut up."

Rigby recoiled. Fine! If he was going to be like that, then Rigby might as well leave. He had his own homework to do.

Whatever powers he got from the book, he picked up one on accident. He headed back to his usual spot in the park where he practiced his magic abilities. But this time, Rigby carried a couple of tennis balls.

Rigby toke a breath and cleared his mind. He took one of the balls, threw it straight into the air, and closed his eyes.

He felt a tingle in his chest and his ear twitched a little. He was turning his head, trying to figure where those feelings were leading him. He lifted his finger and pointed to his right. The ball hit the ground. He opened his eyes to find that he was pointing in the complete opposite direction.

He threw another ball. This time he focused more intently. Something felt odd but he was not entirely sure where it was coming from. His feelings were telling him to turn around. He pointed behind him. The ball once again hit the ground. Rigby opened his eyes to find his hand pointing directly at it.

Rigby continued this practice until he had these feelings almost mastered.

But even before he learned exactly what these hunches were, he felt something odd in the air. Something peculiar. Something right next door but a continent away.

Something seemed off in the world.