Disclaimers: I do not own Lloyd in Space or Mass Effect. But maybe if it this story gets enough attention, the idea of a reboot for Lloyd in Space might start floating around.
A/N: So here is another chapter I was working here and there while doing Draconic Neutral. One thing I should point out. SAMEDI is not talking to Eddie 24/7 due to a number of reasons. The main one is relevance. SAMEDI is only really needed during combat or analysis purposes, not for awkward teenage high-school romance. They may get a comment here and there but for the most part, Eddie is on his own.
One more thing, don't take this story seriously. If you do, you're wasting your time and mine.
Chapter 4
All Out of Durfs to Give
"So, what did you want to talk about?", Eddie asks, breaking the silence between him and Brittany.
The cheerleader regards him once again with a stare for a moderate period of time before speaking.
"I...", she pauses as if the words she was trying to get to come out of her mouth could possibly endanger her life.
"I?", Eddie repeats.
"I... think we should go see Mrs. Bolts today after class today in regards to our project, see if we can get an extension on it", Brittany finally said.
The human male regards the Tskskian female for a brief moment with a raised eyebrow.
"Eh", Eddie then finally says with a shrug, "I guess that makes sense but I highly doubt she is going to give it to us. We were only gone for three days."
"Still wouldn't hurt to ask", Brittany replies.
"Alright then", Eddie says as he walks by her, "I'll see you after class then."
The boy did not even get two steps pass the cheerleader before he feels something grab the back of his shirt, halting.
"Wait", he then hears Brittany say in a low voice and he turns around to see her rubbing all six of her hands together while looking anywhere but directly at him.
"We're going to be late so whatever you have to say hurry up and say it, please", Eddie says, wondering what was wrong with the girl.
"Like, this isn't easy for me, you know?", Brittany scowls as she now looks at him directly.
"What isn't easy?" Eddie asks.
"Trying to thank you!", Brittany suddenly snaps.
Eddie lifts an eyebrow at this.
"You're not, like, going to ask why I'm thanking you, are you?", Brittany asks, "Because it should be obvious."
"Oh, I know why you're doing it; no doubt for stopping those vorchas. What I'm still trying to wrap my head around is the fact that you're actually doing it", Eddie answers.
"What's that supposed to mean?", Brittany says as she places on her hands on her hips.
"Exactly what I meant it to mean. You're not exactly known around the station for your generosity so forgive me if I'm caught off-guard when evidences that you actually have some is presented to me", Eddie says.
"You're making it harder than it should be", Brittany says.
"Like I made your kidnapping harder than it should have been" Eddie thought but chose not to say and instead opts to shrug, "Eh, I tend to do that."
"On that we can agree", Brittany replies.
"Oh well", Eddie says before turning around and walking away.
"Hey, where are you going?", Brittany shouts.
"Well just like you said, thanking me is quite hard for you so there's no point of me being late for class while you figure out how to do it", Eddie answers as he exits through the gym doors.
Moments later, Eddie hears the sounds of the doors being shoved open and a frustrated Tskskian behind him but he kept walking.
"HEY!", he then hears shouted at him just as he was about to turn the corner. Letting out a sigh he pivots around to see Brittany stomping toward him, a look of unbridled fury etch on her face and for a brief moment Eddie wonder if perhaps he has gone a step too far but such a notion was quickly forgotten as the gap was close between the human and the Tskskian.
"I am trying to thank you!", Brittany yells once she was directly in front of Eddie.
"Main word being trying", Eddie snipes.
All six of the cheerleader's hand suddenly shoot out and slam the lockers that were directly behind him, entrapping him. This gets nothing more than a slightly raised eyebrow out of the teenage boy who merely looks back down at the girl.
"Why are you being so difficult?!", she shouts.
"Why are you so close all of a sudden?", Eddie asks back, expecting a sassy remark in return from the cheerleader.
Instead he was greeted with the sight of seeing Brittany's cheeks rapidly turn a darker shade of blue as she looks up at him as well as an expression of surprise form on her face as she just stares into his eyes.
For the briefest of moment, a thought form and worms it ways to the front of Eddie's mind, a thought that he never would had thought would appear in his brain, not in a million years.
"Nah, couldn't be, I'm overthinking things right now. This is Brittany we're talking about", he tells himself.
"If I may interject", SAMEDI starts to say.
"You may not", came the reply from Eddie, "I can handle this just fine without applying military tactics."
"Understood."
Eddie then notices that Brittany was about to say something when...
The sound of the tardy bell echo throughout the hallway and once again Eddie lets out a sigh.
"And now we're late for class...wonderful", he says as Brittany moves away from the locker, all six of her hands now rubbing each other as she looks away from him.
"Sorry", he hears her say and this causes the boy to stumble a bit due to how offguard he was caught by the gesture.
"I must have heard you wrong; what did you just say?", he then asks in response.
"I said I was sorry", Brittany repeats and for a moment Eddie wonder if the vorchas had inflict some sort of head trauma on the girl that no one was aware of. Because for the life of him he could not remember the last time Brittany apologize to him even though there were plenty of times when she should have.
"Apologies doesn't change the fact that now we have to deal with Mrs. Bolt and I doubt she is going to give us an extension now", he then comments as he starts to walk down the hall toward class, the Tskskian appearing at his side a moment later and the two teenagers made their way down the hall to class in silence.
Moments later, the two walk through the door of the class and all eyes instantly fell on them and silence reign supreme.
"Boviak! You're late, that's unlike you!", Mrs. Bolt said as she turns her attention from the board to the door.
To everyone's surprise, including Eddie, the cheerleader had nothing to say and just stood there. Mrs. Bolt must have pick up on this because the robot merely motion for her to take a seat to which she did.
She then turns her focus on Eddie.
"I have to say Horton", she starts, "You don't look no worse for wear after tangling with six vorchas."
"At least she got the number right", Eddie thought before shrugging.
"Also, I never peg you for the violent type. You have always been using that mouth of yours to get in and out of trouble. Guess you humans are just full of surprise", Mrs. Bolts then says.
Normally that would have caused more than a handful of students to break out in a laugh but Eddie notice that the only chuckles in the class were from Lloyd and Rodney at the back of the class.
But instead of spending too much time that on that matter, Eddie gives another shrug before heading to his seat.
"I'll overlook you and Boviak being late this time since you haven't been at school for three days; but I suggest you don't make it a habit", Mrs. Bolts calls out to him as he made his way to the back of the class where his desk was in the far right corner, ignoring the stares and whispers.
It was ten minutes into the lesson when a folded paper football landed on his desk and Eddie looks to his left to see Lloyd pointing at it.
After making sure that Mrs. Bolt was distracted with her lecture, the human slowly and quietly opens it up and reads it.
So why exactly were you late to class?
Eddie writes a short reply,
Reasons.
He then folds the paper back up, and flicks it across the room onto Lloyd's desk who then reads it. The Verdigrean raises an eyebrow at the response before showing it to Rodney who sat behind him. The four-armed alien had to use all his hands to cover his mouth to keep his laughter from being heard while Lloyd wrote something else down.
Moments later, the paper is back on Eddie's desk and he was reading it.
Didn't know "Reasons" was your new nickname for Brittany.
Two middle fingers, one for Lloyd and one for Rodney, was Eddie's non-verbal response before he wrote down his written reply.
You're looking too hard into it. We both just happen to get to class at the same time.
Another flick, another reply from Lloyd.
Then why has she been stealing glances at you every since you sat down? Don't believe me? Just watch her for a moment.
Eddie's eyes instantly go to the left side of the room, specifically the desk at the upper left corner in front row where the Tskskian girl sat. From where he was seating it seem like the cheerleader was focus on the lessons with all six of her hands being used to prompt her head up while she listens to Mrs. Bolt with a bored expression on her face.
All and all, she look no different than the majority of the class right now.
But just as Eddie was about to write his reply to send back to Lloyd he sees Brittany turn her head to look at him and their eyes lock for a moment before the girl quickly goes back to looking at the lecture.
"What the flying durfing fuck?", Eddie asks himself as his head slowly hits the desk.
Eventually the bell rung and the class was dismiss; thankfully it was also the last class of the day since it was Friday. While everyone else got up to leave, Lloyd and Rodney notices that Eddie was still sitting at his desk and thus made their way over to him.
"You okay?", Lloyd asks.
"Yeah, have to discuss getting an extension on the history project with the Boltster", Eddie answers.
"I'm assuming you're doing that with Brittany as she hasn't left either", Rodney points out as he looks over at the teacher's desk where the Tskskian was currently waiting while Mrs. Bolt finishes putting her supplies away.
"You assume right", Eddie answers as he got up.
"You want us to stay behind?", Lloyd asks to which Eddie shakes his head.
"Nah, how bad can it be?", the human says.
Ten minutes later out in the hallway, the sole human at the school found himself staring down at the sole Tskskian, displeasure evident across his face.
To Eddie's surprise, he notices cheerleader starting to slightly fidget underneath his stare and for the umpteenth time today, he found himself at a loss for words due to the girl's actions.
"What was that just now?", he finally asks.
"I changed the topic of our history project", came the reply.
"Without asking me", Eddie points out.
"You know, I figure you would be happy about this. This was what you wanted to do in the first place. About that Shepard fellow and the Reaper wars", Brittany says while crossing all six of her arms while putting on a show of confidence though the human saw right through it.
"Is this supposed to be your way of thanking me?", Eddie asks.
No answer came from the cheerleader.
Instead all the human boy got was dead silence and a Tskskian who suddenly became interested in the hallway floor.
"You know what? I got too much stuff on my mind right now to care", Eddie finally says, "Are we meeting this weekend to work on the project?"
"Yeah", was the simple answer from Brittany.
"When and where?", Eddie asks.
Brittany mulls an answer in her head for a moment before meeting.
"Tomorrow at noon in front of the police station", she replies.
This earns her yet another raised eyebrow from Eddie but he does not comment on her decision.
"Fine, see you tomorrow", he merely says before turning and walking away without even glancing back at the cheerleader.
The boy found himself at his locker, getting whatever supplies he would need for the weekend when he suddenly felt a presence on the right side of him; which was odd seeing how none of the gang should be here right now since even on Friday they were still doing afterschool stuff.
"Can I help you with something?", he voices.
"Brittany has been talking about you a lot lately", a voice replies, "During our chats at night, our text messages, and even at school today."
Eddie closes his locker door and find himself staring eye-to-eye, literally, with Megan Uno, the second most popular girl in the freshman year.
"She has been talking about you a lot, lot. Like, a lot lot lot", the Unovians kept speaking, a icy tone in her voice, "Like, quite a lot. Like way more than natural a lot"
"So what I'm getting from you is that Brittany has been talking about me a lot", Eddie says, "What I'm not getting from you is how's that my problem."
"You didn't do anything to her, did you?", Megan inquires.
"What exactly are you implying?", Eddie asks back.
"Listen human", Megan suddenly says, her eye getting in Eddie's face, "If you did anything to Brittany, I'll-"
"Shhhhhh", Eddie says while holding up a finger and arching a ear upward, causing Megan to go quiet, "Do you hear that?"
A baffle expression appears across Megan's face, "Hear what?"
"I think Brittany might be calling for you. You know, in the same way that a person calls their pet back to their side", Eddie answers, earning him a glare from Megan, "You might want to get going to see what she wants."
"Watch how you talk to me", Megan threatens.
"Or what?", Eddie asks as he puts the last of his stuff in his backpack, "Save your threats for someone who is actually afraid of them."
A low growl was the response to his comment.
"Listen Megan, you've known Brittany as long as I have", Eddie starts, "Therefore you know more than anyone that the two of us don't like each other at all, not even a little. In fact, if it wasn't for this history project we wouldn't even be talking to each other."
The human then hefts his backpack on his shoulder, "So unless you got something actually meaningful to add to this conversation I bid you good day."
Eddie turns and walks away.
"Hey, I wasn't done-", Megan calls after him.
"I believe I said good day, milady! And I use that last word loosely!", Eddie shouts back over his shoulder.
Eddie was now in foul mood mode as he quietly made his way to the parking lot where the buses were waiting. Usually he would find himself stuck in hallway traffic as he made his way to his destination, but this time not so much as the student body quickly parted ways for him, the boy leaving behind a storm of whispers in his wake. When he got to his actual bus he was surprise to see that not a single one of the usual occupants was getting on it.
Instead, they were simply waiting outside and Eddie was sure they were ...
"Just waiting for me to pick a seat and then get on", he told himself as he quietly made his way onto the bus, ignoring the look he was getting from the bus driver.
"Am I going to have trouble from you on the bus?", the driver asks, causing Eddie to stop in his tracks.
"No more than the usual", Eddie answers.
"Hmph", the bus driver says, "Let's hope not because I'll kick you off in between here and Intrepidville if there is."
Eddie stares at the driver for a few moments in surprise before simply shaking his head moving to his usual position at the back of the bus and as soon as he sat down, the rest of the students pour on onboard with the closest kids sitting to him putting at least an entire row between him and them.
"Since no one is going to being sitting next to me today...", Eddie thought as he laid down and looks up at the ceiling of the space vehicle, "This day has been longer than expected."
"Hey, can I sit here?", a voice calls out to him and the human did not have to look at the source of it to know who it was.
"Find me in the Alps", Eddie thought before replying, "There are plenty of places to sit."
"Yeah, but I want to sit here", came the counter.
Eddie sits up with a sigh and looks Brittany directly in her blue eyes, "You're not budging on this, are you?"
The girl's silence was her answer.
Eddie merely rolls his eyes as he moves to a sitting position and scoots to the window as Brittany sat down in the space that his legs were occupying just seconds ago.
"Riding the bus twice in a row? Won't this hurt your reputation?", Eddie asks while looking ahead at the front of the bus, willingly ignoring the looks that were being thrown his way.
"Like, I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just sitting down.", Brittany answers while doing the same.
The boy turns his head to look at her but Brittany paid him no mind.
"This day could not get any worse", Eddie thought as his phone suddenly notify him that he had a text message. Upon taking it out to read it, he mentally groans, "I take that back. This day can definitely get worse. It could get way worse. Everything before now was just a warm-up."
For the text message was sent to him from his dad and it read the following:
Just got word from the Boviaks that another attempt on Brittany might be happening soon.
Eddie swiftly yet covertly types a reply.
Please explain, in great detail oh dear father of mine, what the fuck does that have to do with me?!
He got a reply back a few moments later.
First of all, watch who you're talking too. Second of all, you're grounded for three weeks now because of your foul mouth. Last but not least, it has quite a bit to do with you. I have been talking to Commander Nora and she feels that increasing security all of a sudden will entice a panic throughout the station. So this is where you come in. I'll explain more when you get home.
As much as Eddie wanted to bang his head repeatedly on the bus window he knew it would just draw more attention to him; something that he seem to be getting comically large amounts these days.
A/N: The reasoning behind Brittany's attempted kidnap will be explain next chapter along with flashbacks on how Eddie got SAMEDI.