I do not own the Boy/ Girl Battle Series
Caroline and Wally are in 9th grade. You do the math.
Wally was fuming. Absolutely, positively fuming. It didn't help that Josh was the only one who noticed Wally's mood. It didn't help how Jake kept on laughing about the game. Wally was so ready to knock in Bill's teeth. Wally started taking deep breaths to calm himself down. It's not worth it Wally thought to himself. But the more he thought about it, the more angrier he got.
When the Hatfords got home, Wally was still just as mad as ever. He stormed off to his room and a few moments later, Josh walked in behind him. A extremely angry Wally was lying on the bed facing away from the door.
"What do you want?" Wally was shocked to hear how annoyed his voice was.
"He's doing it to motivate you." Wally got up and turned in shock.
"What?" Wally asked, bewildered.
"Okay look, don't get too mad okay," Josh's voice dropped to a whisper. "I could literally lose my neck if they found out I'm telling you this, but since you kept my secret safe, I thought you deserved some insight."
"But what do you mean by 'motivating me'?" Wally asked. Josh looked back at the door in worry.
"There's only so much I'm allowed to tell you. You'll figure it out, I'm sure of it." And with that, Josh started to leave the room. But before he left, Josh said, "Also he was totally checking out that Lana girl." Wally and Josh shared a smile and Josh left.
Wally took a deep breath and started getting ready for bed, ready to confront Bill in the morning.
Caroline was confused. Absolutely, positively confused. What was Bill even talking about? Caroline decided to not give it much thought because she didn't care what Bill did, and she was mostly concerned about Wally overhearing what they said. She thought back on how she looked during the conversation and to her horror realized she looked like she was blushing because of how flushed her face was after the game. Was that the reason why Wally looked so upset? She ran to find Beth.
"Beth, I need to talk to you!" Caroline practically screeched, bursting into Beth's room. Both Beth and Eddie looked at her bewildered.
"What's up Caroline?" Beth asked.
"So before we left Grandma's house, Bill walked up to me and I looked like I was blushing because of how flushed I was after the game and Wally saw and looked extremely upset because his ears were red and I don't know what to think anymore!" Caroline spat out while Beth and Eddie rushed to her.
"Woah, woah, woah, slow down." Beth said. Eddie looked at Caroline with intensity in her eyes.
"Wait, you're concerned about Wally and Bill?" Eddie said, reaching up to wipe away the tears forming on Caroline's face. Beth looked relieved and let out a laugh.
"Don't laugh at me! Bill has been acting weird lately, and so have you two!," Caroline said with fire in her eyes, "and I'm worried I'm coming in between in their friendship which is the last thing I want to do and Bill's actual conversation starter was your friends seem nice then he looked out of the corner of his eye and there was Wally, looking all mad and-"
"Hey, don't care about what Will, Banny, and Dally's friendship has to do with you." Beth interrupted.
"I'm sorry what?" Eddie asked, turning her attention towards Beth.
"That's their names, Will, Banny, Dally." Beth insisted. Caroline laughed in spite of herself.
"It's Bill, Danny, Wally." Caroline said. Eddie started laughing too.
"What did I say?" Beth asked.
"You said Will, Banny, Dally!" Eddie was holding her stomach laughing. Beth joined in the laughter as well.
"Caught lacking twice today Beth!" Caroline yelped out.
"Caroline!" Beth looked shocked and smacked Caroline on the shoulder.
"Well maybe Beth, you should stopping hiding in the same spot!" Eddie declared as Caroline was stifling her laughter and Beth looked at Caroline in horror.
Caroline looked to Beth for consent to share and Beth nodded extremely stiffly. Caroline understood the gesture of not telling the whole truth.
"Well, that's not exactly what I was talking about." Caroline muttered. Eddie's eyes widened in shock as the pieces clicked into place.
"Wait, are you and Josh-?" Eddie looked at Beth, gesturing with her hands to indicate a sense of togetherness. Beth nodded shyly.
"Well why wouldn't you tell me!" Eddie practically squealed. Beth and Caroline looked at each other.
"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Caroline asked. Eddie gave Caroline a look.
"You're not mad?" Beth asked. Eddie shook her head vigorously.
"Why would I be mad?" Eddie asked. "There are so many times where I could be sitting in class and look over and see a drawing in the margins looking suspiciously like you,Beth, and the second Josh noticed me staring, he'd erase it and talk to me about the class we're in and, let's be honest here, the way he looks at you when you're not looking?" Beth turned pink at Eddie's words while Eddie smirked at her.
"I can't believe how excited you are." Caroline said plainly in pure disbelief. Eddie shook her head lovingly towards her youngest sister.
"Yes, but if he hurts you, physically, mentally, emotionally, verbally, I'll hurt him." Eddie warned, her eyes darkening.
"There's the Eddie I know." Caroline declared and Eddie smiled approvingly. The girls all said their goodnights and went to bed, leaving Caroline wondering about what she should do about Wally and Bill, or in Beth's words, Will and Banny. Caroline smiled. Beth will never live that down.
The next morning
Wally woke up early to his own surprise and started getting ready. He had it all planned out. Eddie, Steve, Tony, and Jake were going to practice at the field. Beth was coming over to his house, presumably to see Josh, and Doug and Peter were also going to be hanging out at his house, leaving Wally the chance to go confront Bill about his weird behavior. Sure Danny was still home but Wally was sure that he had something to do with it.
As Wally headed downstairs, Jake was already heading outside to a waiting Eddie. She smiled at Wally and waved at him. Wally waved back.
"Morning Mrs. Hatford!" Eddie said brightly to Wally's mom.
"Morning Eddie!" She replied back. "Have fun!"
"We will!" Eddie yelled back as she and Jake walked away. Wally moved to sit next to Josh.
"Is it just me, or does Eddie seem more peppy today?" Josh asked Wally.
"I think so, she waved at me." Wally replied and started eating some cereal. Josh shrugged.
"It's probably nothing."
After breakfast, Wally started putting on his shoes and headed out the door. He waved a quick goodbye to Josh and went straight for the Bensons house, running into Doug on the way to his house.
"Morning Dougie." Wally said to the young boy.
"Morning Wally!" Doug chirped back.
When Wally knocked on the Bensons door, it took a few seconds before Bill answered.
"Oh hey Wally! Wasn't expecting to see you today!" He said, to which Wally returned with a scowl.
"Don't be so cold, come on in!" Bill said happily, which made Wally want to barf. How could he act so cheerful when he knows how his actions are affecting Wally?
"What is your deal?" Wally asked Bill, lightly shoving him, after he walked inside.
"What do you mean?" Bill said, feigning ignorance.
"Don't make me laugh. First, you're checking out one of Caroline's friends, then you're talking to Caroline alone, and now you're acting like none of that happened, so what is your deal?" Wally replied angrily. Bill looked taken back with shock.
"If you care for her so much, why haven't you asked her out?" Bill replied softly.
"You know it's not that simple, she hates me." Wally grumbled.
Bill scoffed. "What part of her actions make you believe that she hates you? Her waiting outside the school for you? The fact that when you're sick, your name is every other word out of her mouth? Yeah Wally, she totally hates you."
"But-" Wally began.
"No buts. She watches you as much as you watch her, I've seen it. The only two people who can't are you two. Now grow a pair of eyes and see!" Bill said.
"Umm, Bill?" A voice from the kitchen was heard. Danny.
"Yeah what's up Danny?" Bill asked.
"Caroline wants to talk to you."