Chapter 8

"Are you sure about this?" Wyatt asked inquisitively.

"Totally," replied Nikki, "it all fits. Don't you see?"

"No," said Jen.

"Nope," Jonesy scoffed.

"Not really," replied Wyatt.

"Sorry, no," Caitlin apologized.

"Nah, bra!" Jude exclaimed.

"I don't even know anyone in this town," Sierra shrugged.

"Ugh!" Nikki sighed. "Look, whoever this author is, they seem to spend most of their time at the food court, right?"

"Right," replied Jen.

"We would have noticed some random stranger hanging around all the time," Nikki continued, "so obviously the author must work in the food court."

"Okay . . . " Caitlin started.

"So who do we know who works in the food court, and who also happens to be a nerdy, sexually-immature fan-girl."

"Uhhhh . . . " Jude groaned. "Uhhhh . . . Wait, I know this! It's . . . uhhhh . . . hmmmm . . . Wait . . . Wait . . . It's . . . Uhhhh . . ."

"Oh, for God's sake, just follow me!"

Dragging her friends, and Sierra, along, Nikki lead the group through the food court, past the Big Squeeze and straight to the home of everyone's favorite fast food based superhero.

"Wonder Taco?" Jonesy asked.

"Ohhhh!" Jude exclaimed. " . . . Wait, what?"

"Nikki!" Caitlin cried, "you don't really think the author is Julie, do you?"

"It's the only possible explanation," replied Nikki.

"But since when has Julie written anything?" Jonesy asked. "Seriously, when she isn't at work, she's busy either sucking face or having mock-lightsaber battles with Darth."

"Julie is the author, okay!" Nikki shouted. "Do you think it's a coincidence that one of the characters is actually named Juliet? Just watch. I'll show you!"

With that, Nikki marched over to have a little chat with the taco girl.

"Welcome to Wonder Taco," Julie mumbled through her headgear. "How can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'll take two wonder tacos, a wonder shake, jalapeƱo poppers and an explanation."

"Okay I- an explanation?" Julie asked with a confused look on her face. "For what?"

"You know what!" Nikki shouted. "Where do you get off invading our privacy like that?"

"What are you talking about?" Julie asked.

"I'm talking about 6Teenth Century!"

"Sixteenth . . . What?"

"Nikki, sweetie," cried Caitlin, "maybe you should tone it down a little."

"Don't pretend you don't know!" Nikki continued. "You've been spying on me and my friends for months, using our lives as fodder for your trashy little online novel. NOW CONFESS!"

"Whoa! Nikki, hold up." Jen interrupted.

"Maybe you should calm down." Caitlin said as the two girls pulled Nikki back.

"Look, I have no idea what your talking about." Julie shouted. "I've never written anything, online or otherwise. Besides, you guys hang out at that giant lemon on the other end of the food court. I couldn't spy on you from here even if I tried. Now, back-off, you psychopath."

"Don't call me a psychopath, you little bi-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Jonesy shouted. "Nikki, I think you have the wrong girl."

"Yeah, bra, Julie's awesome!" Jude laughed. "She gives me free tacos, and she listens when I talk to her about my day!"

"Besides, we shouldn't accuse her of anything without real evidence," said Wyatt.

Nikki sighed. "Well, maybe I was wrong about- WAIT! What did you just say, Jude?"

"Oh, oops! I wasn't supposed to tell anyone." Jude laughed. "Our little secret, right Julie."

Nikki grabbed Jude by the collar. "Spill it!"

"Well, Julie felt so bad for spitting and putting dirt in my tacos, she offered me one free taco every day. So, every day before work, I go to Wonder Taco and we talk about our day; what we've been up to, what we have planned, that sort of thing."

"So, you're saying that Julie's been bribing you with free food so you'd spy on us for her?"

"What? No, I just tell her about what we've . . . Hey, wait a minute!"

"Well Julie," Nikki smirked, "how do you explain this?"

Julie sighed and rolled her eyes. "Look, before you jump to conclusions, just let me explain. See, the thing is- KIAI!"

Without warning, the nerdy taco girl tossed a handful of cumin right into Nikki's face before dashing away as quickly as her legs could carry.

"Catch me if you can, suckers!"

"Holy cow!"

"I don't believe it!"

"She really was the author!"

"Don't just stand there!" Nikki gagged. "Get her!"

The gang quickly followed after Julie, but she was way out in front. Luckily, a certain obsessed stalker-type would not be deterred.

"Go away! I don't even know you!" Julie cried.

"But I know you! I've been your biggest fan forever." Sierra shouted as she pursued her obsession. "I've read all your work. You are my idol!"

"You are insane!" Julie gasped.

"I. Am. Not. Insane." Sierra replied. "MY DOCTOR SAID SO!"

Suddenly, Sierra leaped into the air, tackling Julie and sending them both careening into the mall fountain.

"Finally!" Sierra exclaimed. "After all this time, I finally found you!"

"What is going on here!?" Ron the Rent-A-Cop shouted from atop his golf cart. "I want answers . . . NOW!"

. . . . .

"I never intended things to go this far," Julie explained, "but the stories got so popular, and I . . . I . . . I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning."

A day had passed since the "fountain incident," as it would eventually be called. Sierra was officially banned from the mall for hacking into the wi-fi network, which would now undergo a serious overhaul. The gang had gathered in Ron's office to hear Julie out and give her a chance to explain herself.

"I really did feel bad about spitting in Jude's tacos, so I offered him a couple of free ones on the house as an apology," Julie explained. "Next thing I know, he starts talking my ear off about the time you guys skipped work to go to the amusement park. I didn't think anything of it until a few weeks later, when I had to write a paper for my creative writing class."

Julie sighed. "I took Jude's story, changed everyone's name, and set it in the 16th century. It got an A+, and I was really proud of it. So, I posted it online. It got a lot of hits and good reviews, and fans demanded a sequel. So, I offered Jude a few extra tacos in exchange for . . . inspiration."

"Inspiration? Is that what you call it?" Jen asked.

"I'm sorry." Julie cried. "I never meant for it to go this far, but my fan base just kept growing and growing and they wanted more stories and the whole thing just snowballed out of control!"

Tears began to stream down the poor girl's face. "Can you ever forgive me?"

The gang looked at one another, unsure of what to do next. They were still mad, that was for sure, but what exactly were they mad about?

"Look, Julie," said Wyatt, "it's not like we're that mad about the stories themselves."

"Y-You're not?"

"No, what were really mad about is . . ." Caitlin started. "Well, it's . . . "

"It's all that extra stuff you made up!" Jen shouted.

Julie looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"We mean things like that love affair between Jen and Jonesy," yelled Nikki.

"Love affair? I don't know what you're . . . Wait, do you mean the dream sequence?"

"Yeah, I- dream sequence?"

"Yeah. Nicole daydreams about Lord Jonathan and Juliet together. Then, she goes and talks to Juliet after work. She asks Juliet if anything is going on between her and Jonathan, Juliet laughs in Nicole's face and says she's being ridiculous, and . . . that's the end of it . . .

. . . It wasn't my best work."

"Oh . . . I see." Nikki stared blankly. "Nevermind then."

The rest of the gang was silent.

"Are you okay, Nikki?" asked Wyatt.

"Me? Oh, I'm fine." Nikki nodded. "I am going to murder the clones, though."

The gang began to laugh before Nikki interrupted.

"I'm serious! There bodies will be distributed in several tacky little boxes and buried throughout three different provinces!"

Needless to say, the gang was silenced, again.

"Oh! Does that mean me being paired up with Jude was also a dream scene?" asked Caitlin.

"No," replied Julie, "that was real. I just thought you two would make a cute couple."

Caitlin's eye twitched as she tried to comprehend that statement.

"Look, Julie, we're willing to forgive you," said Jen, "just as long as you promise not to write any more stories about us."

"Oh, I haven't written a story about you guys in a long time." Julie declared. "That's why that purple hair girl came after me."

"You mean Sierra?" asked Jonesy.

"Yeah, apparently she was obsessed with the series and wanted me to make more." Julie scoffed. "Do you believe it? She tracked me down just to try and get me to work on a series I abandoned long ago. After all this time, and all the other things I've created, all people seem to care about is this one series from like forever ago. I mean, I've moved on already. Why can't they?"

"Yeah, what a weirdo!" Jude laughed.

"She was a bit . . . odd," said Jen.

"Tell me about it." Jonesy scoffed.

"I'm just glad this is all over and we can all move on with our lives." Caitlin smiled.

"Yeah, still you have to admit, this whole thing was pretty ridiculous!" Wyatt smiled.

"Hey, it's like I've been trying to tell you from the beginning." Nikki smirked.

"Who in their right mind would ever read a story about us?"

Suddenly, the whole gang burst into laughter; another happy ending to a wild adventure!

. . . . .

"Hey, Julie, why did you make my character gay?"

"Wait . . . You mean you aren't gay?"

"Oh god!"

The End