One Stood Up (Phoebe/Gino, for Hatterlet)

Oneshot, for Hatterlet. So she'll stop throwing tomatoes at me. Seriously, knock it off! (...iscribble is *fun*!). This isn't the alternate universe one I was talking about. That comes when I have free time and finish at least one gosh darn full length story. High school age for added DRAMA! and more believable...feelings, we shall say. I don't get into the heavy stuff. Just not my style.

Sid was walking bowlegged for the third day in a row, and even Harold and Stinky had stopped laughing at him and started to be concerned. They all knew the cause - once more, Sid had gotten himself entangled with Big Gino. This time backing out meant daily beatings, but Gino was smart...he'd never let his mooks hit anywhere Sid was likely to uncover. His face was always perfectly in tact, his hands were fine and they even left his arms alone just in case. It was his upper thighs that suffered the most abuse. It wasn't the greatest way of doing things, but it certainly made it harder on anyone who wanted to run to the principal to rat him out - they'd have to pull down their pants in order to show the evidence.

"Maybe we should do something?" Gerald suggested, grimacing at the mere sight of Sid's pain. "I mean, if Arnold were here, he'd--"

"He isn't, Tall Hairboy," Helga snapped. "And I'm not getting involved in this. Sid got himself into this problem, he can get himself back out." She slammed her locker door shut and walked off, the mere mention of Arnold seeming to have frustrated her.

"Sheesh, what bit her?" Harold nodded his head in Helga's direction.

"Perhaps we should get back to the current problem," Phoebe suggested. She knew Helga didn't like them discussing her, Arnold, or her relationship with Arnold behind her back. "What do we do about Gino?"

"There's nothing you can do," Sid had joined the group unnoticed. "He's mean, really mean...Do you know what he does to guys like us?" He indicated himself, Gerald, and Stinky. Gerald looked incensed.

"What do you mean, guys like us? Man, don't group me in with you!" he complained.

Sid ignored the interruption. "He's the meanest kid in tenth grade...no, in the whole school! If he finds out we're even talking about him, Big Gino will kill us all! And don't even get me started on what he does to kids that insult his height..."

"Height, eh?" Sid jumped so high he nearly hit the ceiling. The group seemed to turn as a whole to spy Big Gino standing there, a candy cigarette in his mouth, two of his most loyal mooks hanging a few paces behind him, pounding one fist into the other over and over. "You wouldn't be talkin' about me behind my back, would you, Sid? You know how much that would hurt my feelings. And you wouldn't want to hurt my feelings..." Both mooks took a step forward, but Gino waved a lazy hand and they fell back. "One moment. Give Sid some time to explain himself."

"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about..." he glanced around, and unfortunately, selected Stinky. "I was talking about Stinky! Oh, he's a mean one!"

Gino raised an eyebrow. "And his height?"

"He's uh...he's freakishly tall, just look at him! And he just hates it when you mention it!" Sid tried desperately.

"Is that true, Stinky? Do you hate people mentioning how freakishly tall you are?" Gino crossed his arms, his look a mockery of daring, but the illusion was all the further shattered by the constant twitching of the corner of his lips. He was clearly trying hard not to smile.

"Well, uh...yes sir, I guess I don't really like bein' called freakishly tall," Stinky said slowly, trying to decipher the frantic things Sid was saying out of the corner of his mouth. "But I reckon it happens often, on account of the fact I am pretty tall, especially compared to someone like yourself..."

"STINKY!" Sid gasped, and face palmed.

"I see," Gino snapped his fingers. One of the mooks produced a small black book. "Add Stinky's name to the list for me, gentlemen. Stinky, you'll be coming to see us of your own accord after school...otherwise there will be consequences."

"Wait just a minute!" Phoebe looked a little startled by her own outcry, but now that she'd put herself on the spot she was determined to see it through. "You can't do that!"

Gino studied her carefully, giving another hand signal to his 'bodyguards'. The little book went away and they took a few more paces back. "Really, doll? And just why is that?"

At the word 'doll', Gerald had looked ready to charge, but one look from Phoebe forced him to back down. "Because, that is...you're really not being very nice. I understand that you have your criminal empire to run, but couldn't you do it without hurting people? Stinky didn't do anything wrong, he simply pointed out that he's rather statuesque and when you compare someone of your height against his," there was a sharp intake of breath from everyone except Phoebe and Gino, "Well, you don't exactly come off as the bigger man."

The hallway seemed to have grown silent. Gerald was contemplating grabbing Phoebe by the hand and hightailing it out of there, and Harold had sunk back behind the nearest trash can to cower. What happened next shocked them all. Gino...started laughing.

"You got spunk, girly," He noted appreciatively.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I'd prefer not to be called 'girly', thank you."

"And if I said I'm not the type to stop calling you something just because you don't like it?" He popped the candy cigarette out of his mouth and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. The bell rang, and Phoebe started to head in the direction of her first class, but Gino cut her off. "What's your real name, then?"

"Not any of your business," She snorted, ducking around him and walking off. Gerald took off after her, and Harold had apparently snuck off during the commotion. Which only left Stinky and Sid behind.

"I'm feeling generous today, boys," Gino popped the cigarette back into his mouth. "What was that girl's name?"

"We ain't tellin' you, on account of she's our friend and you might try to --"

Stinky's attempt at chivalry was cut short by Sid blurting out "Her name is Phoebe Hyerdahl, she's in tenth grade and she lives at --"

Gino helped up his hands, indicating Sid should stop. "All right...I've got the girl's name...Phoebe, huh? Oh, you two can go. And I won't be requiring you to pay a visit to me after school today. Don't tell me Big Gino never shows any mercy," He chuckled. He watched as Stinky and Sid ran off for their first period class. "Boys," he said to his mooks once all the other kids were out of site. "That girl stood up to me. Do you know what that means?"

"We should hurt her?" The taller of them asked.

"We can't hit a girl...can we boss?" The other one tried.

"No, that's not what it means. It means," Gino popped the collar of his shirt, straightening it. "I finally found a girl worthy of being Big Gino's."

The End

Yeah, you'll never know what happens after that. Not until I magically get free time, have less than the 5 or 6 fanfics, 2 fancomics, 1 fan amv, 1 professional full length comic to start, and homework to do. ...Actually, I may write more on this tomorrow, but I'll leave the 'the end' standing for now just in case. Hatterlet, you can stop pelting me with tomatoes now.

Hey, it's not my fault you decided to talk about a fic you hadn't written. It's not my fault you brought it up. My tomatoes would have been perfectly fine if you hadn't brought it up.

But it's really good.

Aww, thank you! ...and no, ironically, I am eating spaghetti. ...What? It has tomatoes in the sauce!