Chapter 15: Pyramids
It was the next day in the afternoon. Donkey and Diddy were at home waiting for Dixie to start the schoolwork that the new teacher had sent as an exam grade, and Donkey was going to help them both with that.
"Believe me, I can't get over your face last night with Funky's question," Donkey said with a laugh.
"Oh, shut up, don't even remind me," Diddy replied embarrassedly. "I hope Dixie doesn't remember that. Oh, and don't even think about mentioning that topic when she arrives!"
"Hey, buddy, you should have taken that moment to say it," Donkey joked.
"No, no way. How was I going to say that in front of everyone?"
"And look how nervous you are," Donkey said, beginning to tickle him. "Look how you get because you know she's coming now."
"Oh, no, of course not, Donkey!" Diddy replied laughing and trying to dodge the tickling.
"Of course yes," he added playfully before stopping the tickling. "And look, she made you that gift with that emerald; that is more than clear. You should tell her now," he suggested, putting his hands at his sides.
"But that was a gift of friendship," Diddy replied with a shrug.
"Are you sure?" Donkey added, crossing his arms and looking up. "Hey, and when she arrives, why don't you tell her you like her?"
Suddenly, the door was knocked and they both stopped their game. They headed to see who it was and, as expected, it was Dixie. Donkey opened the door, and then she entered the house.
"Hi, Donkey. Hi, Diddy," Dixie greeted them cheerfully.
"Hi, Dixie!" they replied in unison trying to disguise that they were not talking about her on that topic... and hoping she hadn't heard anything behind the door.
"What? What happened?" Dixie asked, noticing their tense faces.
"Nothing, why?" replied Donkey, shrugging and disguising. "Oh, well, let's get to work. Did you bring all your materials, Dixie?"
The three kongs began to get down to work on the school project. Donkey was the one who gave the instructions: to each of the two he gave two pieces of wood that were similar in shape to a cube, and they would have to cut them into sheets from larger to smaller. Obviously, doing that was very tedious for both of them, but Donkey offered his help.
"Why won't your new teacher take a normal final exam for you?" Donkey asked them.
"He's crazy, I don't know what he wants these pyramids for," Dixie replied as she tried to cut a piece of wood.
"Still, I don't want to imagine one of his exams," Diddy added. "It would have questions that we have never seen even in our past lives."
"And I'm sure he'll come out saying: 'In ten minutes you'll give me the exam or I'll loweryour grades!'" continued Dixie, imitating Mr. Pinky.
"It's very arrogant, really," Diddy added as he placed a piece of the pyramid. "One of our classmates received a low grade from him on a test just because he didn't write his name. The good thing is that we won't see him for that long."
Sure enough, Mr. Pinky had been a headache during that week for Kong Kollege's students; apart from his authoritarian attitude, he also put them to solve difficult exercises and asked them very complex questions, and those who didn't respond well or committed some infraction had their grades mercilessly lowered.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door by someone else, so Donkey went to check who it was. This time, it was Funky, who apparently, also needed Donkey's help.
"Hi, dude, how are you?" said Funky before giving a look of pleading. "I just needed a little help."
"Yeah, what's going on, Funky?"
"I was testing my new plane, but it had some failures, so it fell and got stuck on some rocks. So, could you help me get it out of there?"
"You see, now I'm helping Diddy and Dixie with their schoolwork, but if it's not too late I can go."
"Huh! How about you, brothers," Funky greeted the two little kongs, and they waved back. Then, he headed back to Donkey. "Okay, brother, so let's go."
"Agreed. I'll be right back, little friends," Donkey said to the two, leaving the house, but not before stopping at the door to talk to Diddy. "Oh, and by the way, Diddy... this is your chance," he whispered with a smile behind the door and pointed his gaze at Dixie before leaving.
Diddy got almost nervous upon hearing such recklessness, but remained serious as Dixie was present.
"Chance?" Dixie asked in confusion.
"Uhh, Donkey with his witticisms," Diddy replied with a forced smile to disguise.
Diddy and Dixie continued with their pyramids and putting the pieces together. They were both alone, and it was clearly Diddy's chance to finally confess his feelings to Dixie, but would he be able to do so at that moment? Or maybe not. But even so, he didn't rule out the idea of telling her right there.
"Hey, Diddy... Donkey has any surprises for Candy or something?" Dixie asked curiously.
"No, as far as I know," Diddy replied, concentrating on his work. "Why?"
"Because when I arrived here, I thought I heard him saying 'when she arrives, I'll tell her I like her,'" she said with a little laugh.
Instantly, Diddy felt all those nerves running through him again and almost got panicked, but at the same time, he calmed down because Dixie hadn't heard exactly what Donkey had said just before she had arrived.
"Ahh, yes... now that I remember, he did tell me that he was going to give her a surprise," Diddy excused with a forced smile.
"But why is he going to tell her that he likes her if they are already a couple?"
"Well, it's that... they're going to recreate their love story," Diddy replied with a forced laugh and no idea what he said. "You know how they are, very detailed and loving."
Then, Dixie looked at him strangely for a few seconds, and then started laughing too.
"Love must be crazy, I guess," Dixie said, and Diddy went along with laughter.
"Yeah, yeah, I see that it really is," Diddy replied following the flow in the matter, before continuing with his work to divert the topic a little.
"Hey, Diddy," Dixie said later. "And just for curiosity... would you make those loving details if you had a girlfriend?"
Suddenly, Diddy opened his eyes as wide as he could, and had to struggle not to blush intensely.
"What are you saying?" Diddy said, pretending a look of weirdness, before continuing on to his pyramid. "I couldn't even be with someone that way, I mean... sounds funny and silly to see me like this, doesn't it?"
Instantly, Dixie gave him a look of seriousness and some disgust, but then hurriedly continued with her pyramid to disguise, while Diddy also continued with his own.
Diddy knew that was his chance; it was now or never. He had to tell her, because as Donkey had told him: then it might be too late. But he couldn't; just thinking about it, he was invaded by questions such as: what if she won't correspond to him? What if later she won't even want to be his friend anymore? What if things won't be the same anymore?... But what if he'll try anyway?
"Hey, Dixie," Diddy said, trying not to look at her at first.
"Yeah?" she replied while she was placing a piece in the pyramid.
"Uhh, it's that… I wanted to tell you something," Diddy decided to say his first words of confession.
"Yeah, what's going on?"
"You see, it's that... Well, I... I was going to tell you…" but he still had difficulty saying it at once. "You're my friend, but…"
Suddenly, Dixie raised her head and turned to look at him with some curiosity... as if expecting to hear something specific from Diddy, but he kept trying to say it with difficulty.
"What's wrong, Diddy?"
Diddy was one small step away from confessing it; the more he thought about it, the more nervous he felt, but he had to... Who knows if it was worth it and could be the beginning of a new story: he and Dixie would transform their friendship into something more; his illusions about her would come true. He had to do it no matter what, or he would regret it later.
"Dixie…" he said, looking her straight in the eye; he couldn't wait any longer. He took a little breath before uttering it, "actually, I lik- I like your pyramid!" he hurriedly told her, pointing to Dixie's pyramid, which was barely half done.
"My pyramid? But if it's not even finished" Dixie's expression also changed immediately, and she looked at him weirdly; she went from having bright eyes to a sneaky frustrated look.
"I know, but... it's still going to look great," Diddy added, trying to act normal... At the last minute he had repented.
Dixie looked at Diddy again strangely... as if that's not what she expected him to tell her. But suddenly, she smiled at him and gave a little laugh.
"Diddy, uh... I like your pyramid too," she pointed to Diddy's pyramid, which was half shaped too "T-that's all you were going to tell me?" she asked with a look of curiosity.
"Yeah, yeah, it was that," Diddy replied with a forced smile, "that your pyramid looks very nice and will look great."
"Oh, it was just that," she said with a short smile, but then expanded it again. "Uh, I thought it was something els- I mean, it's good that you like my pyramid."
Diddy reacted to the moment and realized the incoherence he had told her. They continued to make the pyramids normally, until later, Diddy wanted to try again.
"Well, okay, Dixie... What I was actually going to tell you is that-"
Then, the door slammed open and Donkey entered through it, with a face of pure tiredness.
"I'm back, little friends," Donkey said, gasping with exhaustion.
"You made a lot of effort, didn't you?" Dixie asked as she noticed Donkey's tiredness.
"It wasn't easy, but we managed to get Funky's plane out and repaired," Donkey replied with a shrug. "How are you doing with your schoolworks?"
"We haven't even half of it," Diddy replied.
"I'll keep helping you. Oh, and I have good news for you," Donkey said excitedly.
"Will Wrinkly return to teach us?" Diddy asked, smiling along with Dixie.
"No, it's not that; she and Cranky won't come yet," he replied, lowering his tone, but smiling at them again. "The good news is that we're going on vacation too!"
"Really? When?" Diddy and Dixie asked, instantly excited.
"When your school year is over. And we'll all leave; we'll give Cranky and Wrinkly a surprise visit to where they went.
"Hey, but if we all leave... what if King K. Rool comes back?" Diddy asked with some concern. "And the banana reserve?"
"Don't worry, we have reinforced security at the entrance of the reserve. And we gave that foolish lizard a big beating that neither he nor his minions have been here for a long time," Donkey replied, calming the two kongs. "Well, now let's continue with your pyramids, friends."
The three continued to work on the pyramids. They had such a great time that after so much work they started playing video games and, later, Donkey offered to prepare something to eat and the two little kongs also helped him. They didn't completely finish the pyramids, but they did leave them quite advanced; they only lacked some finishes that they could put each one to their liking and they would already be finished. Now they would only have to receive Mr. Pinky's approval.
On the other hand, Diddy failed to tell Dixie that he liked her. The moment he was about to do it, he was attacked again by those doubts of what would happen if he said it.
In the evening, Dixie said goodbye and left for her home. She would also have wanted to confess to Diddy how she feels, but she also didn't want to sound so desperate if she said it, so she preferred to wait for him to take the first step... or at least that's what she thought.
Later, Donkey was talking to Diddy after he told him what happened that afternoon.
"Are you serious, Diddy?" Donkey exclaimed, crossing his arms. "How instead of telling her that you like her, you told her that you liked her pyramid?"
"It's the first thing that came to mind, I'm sorry, I couldn't do it at the time, Donkey," Diddy replied all frustrated.
"You just had to tell her you like her and that's all."
"But it's not that easy," Diddy said as he climbed into his tire. "I don't know how to do it. Didn't you feel that way before you told Candy your feelings?"
"Well... I understand you too, it's actually not as easy as it sounds," Donkey replied, smiling a little and sighing.
"What else could I do, Donkey?" Diddy wondered, leaning back on the tire. "I don't think I'm brave enough to tell her."
Donkey looked at his little nephew with some compassion, and turned to him to speak better.
"Listen, little buddy... I know it's hard to confess, but if you want that to happen, you have to tell her; it's the only thing you can do if you want to take the first steps with her. Besides, as I told you, you already have enough with her to take that risk."
"What if she tells me she doesn't feel the same way and gets angry with me?" Diddy replied fearfully.
"You'll never know if you don't find out," Donkey replied for the umpteenth time with a shrug. "What if she likes you too and is waiting for you to tell her? Girls don't always take the first step, sometimes they just give you signs. By the way, haven't you thought that yesterday's gift is one of those signs?... Didn't she say that you are someone special to her?"
"Yes, but I don't think she said it in that sense, I already told you that it's just a friendly gift. Friends also give each other gifts, don't they?"
"Well, according to what I've seen, she's especially behaved only with you," he said, tickling him a little. "Come on, what if then it's too late and you won't have any more chances with her?"
Diddy, after laughing at the tickling, just gave Donkey a look of insecurity and thought for a few seconds. He really wanted something to happen with Dixie, but he still didn't feel quite ready to confess and take a first step with her.
"I'll try again, Donkey," he said before sighing. "I'll see if I can do it."