I'm back to 'How I Met Your Mother'! I'm gonna try and fit Milo and Melissa's 6th grade year into one chapter so I'll have ample enough time to plot out Zack's entrance, the beginnings of 7th grade and my planned 'Home Alone' tribute chapter for that film's 30th anniversary this year. Also...for the 7th and 8th grade parts of this story, I do have 2 teen drama heavy story arcs planned focusing on Milanda and Zalissa as I want Milo and Melissa to get through some hurdles before eventually falling for each other. So it's kinda gonna be like a childhood favorite show of mine - 'Kim Possible' (which I've referenced a lot here). Without further delay...ROLL IT!

After a summer full of Murphy's law fueled adventures, the calendar had flipped to September 10th, 2014. It was now Milo and Melissa's first day of school at Jefferson County Middle School. The summer had also brought about some changes for Milo and Melissa. On Milo's end, his hair had gotten a tad longer and he had grown about a foot. His voice had also gotten a little deeper. For Melissa, she too had grown about a foot, but was also starting to develop her curves and her breasts were starting to come in.

"So...middle school..." Melissa noted. "Ready for our new adventure, Milo?"

"As I'll ever be, Melissa," the jinx responded. Milo then took notice of the school's marquee, which read 'Welcome 6th Graders - The Devil's Class'. "Seriously, that marquee has a dark sense of humor," Milo remarked.

"A marquee with a dark sense of humor...where have we seen that before, Milo?"

"Kim Possible, perhaps? The Middleton High marquee?"

"Maybe the JCMS marquee is a distant cousin..."

Melissa just gave a shrug as the duo entered Jefferson County Middle School for the first time. When they got to Mr. Povenmire's homeroom, that's when Milo first noticed her...

"There she is!" Milo called out.

"Who, Milo?"

"Amanda Lopez! Looks like she's changed a lot over the summer..."

And indeed she did. Like Melissa, she too had started to develop her curves and her breasts were starting to come in. She had also grown about a foot and had let her hair down some as it now cascaded down past her shoulders.

Melissa scoffed. "Milo, get real...she's a known perfectionist. Your family curse will only throw her off-balance."

No sooner than she said that, a water fountain exploded near Mr. Povenmire's classroom. This lone incident caused Amanda to freak out.

"Aye! Water fountain repairs are gonna make me late for first period science with Mr. Pruett!" Amanda cried out as homeroom period ended.

"See what I mean, Milo?" Melissa asked. "Only way you'll ever get her is if you prove to her you're resourceful enough to handle your own family curse."

"'Liss of little faith...you've seen how resourceful I can be. That should be no problem for me!"

As the duo headed off to their first period science class, Melissa was only left to wonder 'What horrors have I just unleashed on Jefferson County Middle School?'

Things got weird in first period science class as their teacher, Mr. Pruett, appeared to have an insane obsession with Dr. Zone - probably more insane than Milo's sister Sara. He even happened to like the much maligned 'Adjunct Faculty Member Zone' (which only lasted a semester).

"Is this guy a nutcase or what?" Melissa asked.

"Agreed, Melissa. Even Sara would agree - 'Adjunct Faculty Member Zone' was horrible!"

Milo then saw her again - it was Amanda. She had taken the desk next to him and given a flirty wave at the jinx. Milo waved back, blushing. He didn't notice Melissa scoffing at him for his pursuit of the perfectionist.

The rest of the day was pretty normal...save for the Murphy's law shenanigans. The day of Murphy's law shenanigans ran as follows...

2nd period English - whiteboard fell, markers exploded

3rd period History - the fan in the classroom went into overdrive, blowing all copies of the course rundown across the room

4th period Computer Science - computers exploded

5th period Gym - showers in the locker rooms burst

Lunch period - pizza oven exploded

7th period Art - Milo slipped on a bottle of paint and crashed into everyone, including Amanda

8th period Math - first the chalk broke, then the blackboard fell, then the overhead projector and screen fell with the projector bursting into flames

9th period Study Hall - teacher's desk broke causing a chain reaction that led to the west wing of the school to burst into flames, ending the day early...

...so the first day was crazy, but there was no homework (thank goodness). The next day was all about the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America. There was to be an assembly with one of the first responders, recounting their experience of that horrific day. That was to take place after lunch period. First, every student gathered in their homeroom classes for the reading of the names of the victims in the attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

"Aye dios mio...so many people died in those despicable attacks..." Amanda commented.

"Nearly 3000 victims between United flight 93, American Airlines flight 11, American Airlines flight 77 and United flight 175 - all killed at the hands of evil terrorists," Melissa remarked.

"But we weren't stopped, we weren't deterred, we won the battle, took down the leader of the terrorist cell and got justice for the victims," Milo added in.

Despite some Murphy's law fueled technical issues, the class got through the 9/11 memorial ceremony before heading off to a big group lunch period. Afterwards, it was time for the assembly with one of the first responders - a former Danville Police Department officer who was on the scene when the Twin Towers were attacked. The guest speaker recounted every detail of that harrowing day from when he got the call to when he arrived on the scene to those smoking buildings right up to when the Towers fell, helping tens of thousands of people to safety.

During the assembly, Murphy's law was in full effect. The chairs in the auditorium fell like dominoes, the microphone malfunctioned, even the lights sparked and caused the whole school to have a power outage.

Once again, due to Murphy's law, school was let out early and there was no homework to be had. Milo was not only quickly becoming the most popular guy in school, but was also quickly gaining a reputation as the school jinx.

Meanwhile, for Melissa...she was getting an abhorrent admirer. The culprit - Bradley Nicholson.

"Well, well...looks like the summer was kind to one Melissa Chase..." Bradley said to himself. "Now if I can just get her away from that disaster area Milo Murphy...SHE WILL BE ALL MINE!" he plotted with an evil laugh, only for Amanda to come up behind him, commandeering the groundskeeper's water hose and giving the cocky poindexter a serious splash-down.

"Oooohhh...curse you, Lopez!" Bradley growled.

Things were relatively stoic until up about Halloween. Friday, October 31...the Halloween dance. Everyone was in their costumes and some even had dates - not customary for 6th graders.

Mort and Chad were the Angry Beavers - Daggett and Norbert, Amanda went dressed as legendary skater Tony Hawk, Bradley and Lydia were Scrooge McDuck and Goldie O'Gilt from 'DuckTales'...but of course, the coolest costumes were Milo and Melissa's. The dynamic duo went as NASCAR drivers Kurt and Kyle Busch. And yes...it was Melissa's idea.

"Of course...Milo and Melissa have the best costumes again..." Bradley scoffed, still plotting to swipe Melissa away from Milo. However, due to Murphy's law, he tripped on an ice cube and landed face first into the punch bowl!

"Curse you, Milo Murphy..." he uttered.

It was an amazing night - Milo tried to stay as far away from Amanda as possible, for fear his curse would do something bad to her. When the awards were passed out, Milo and Melissa not only won Best in Show for their costumes, they also won most creative costumes and Halloween King and Queen, earning themselves a spotlight dance. The song for their spotlight dance - 'Style' by Taylor Swift. The one responsible for that...same girl who was responsible for picking 'Love Story' the previous year. The yellow hairband led Milo and Melissa to one person...

"LYDIA!"

The brunette actress shuddered. She knew she was caught. She was now forced to tell the truth.

"Oh, fine! You caught me. It was I who requested 'Love Story' for the spotlight dance last year and I requested 'Style' for your spotlight dance this year," she told Milo and Melissa.

"But why, Lydia?" Melissa asked.

"I've seen how you two are around each other. You two are so close, it's only natural that you and Milo are gonna end up becoming a couple soon. You just need that push."

Milo and Melissa heard this and looked to each other, thinking 'US? A COUPLE? THAT IS SICK AND WRONG!'

If they only knew what was to come for them come this time next year. But they'll cross that bridge when they come to it.

Right now, we fast forward to New Year's Eve. But it wasn't at Milo's house like it would've been. Instead, Milo, Melissa and their parents were in New York's Times Square. This was Milo and Melissa's reward for completing the challenge put forward by their parents of getting straight As all throughout their time at John Trystate Elementary. Since Milo, Martin and Mr. Chase knew most of the New York emergency services, they had free reign of all Times Square. They started their day by taking pictures of the scene around them. Melissa even got pics with Taylor Swift, Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy!

"Can you believe it, Milo? Can you believe we're actually here?" Melissa freaked as she asked her jinxed friend.

Milo shook his head. "No I can't. But I made a promise to you that I would make sure we'd get here for New Year's...and I never break a promise to a friend."

"You kids are crazy..." Milo's dad Martin told Milo and Melissa.

"Milo, you are too sweet to Melissa!" his mom Brigitte added in.

"I'm still shocked you two haven't hooked up yet!" Sara chimed.

"Will you guys relax?" Milo asked his parents and sister, trying to quell the flames. "I think Melissa's a very cool and very beautiful girl...I like her, but I'm not sure if I like her THAT way."

"And I think Milo is very sweet, but like him when it comes to me...I'm not sure if I like him THAT way. Plus, I'm sure that Milo will side with me on this...if we ended up as a couple and if it didn't work out, it would totally wreck what we already have!"

Sara sighed. "Kim Possible all over again."

"I'm with you on this one, Sara," Mr. Chase concurred.

"Besides, I'm kinda starting to have a thing for Amanda Lopez...but I'm not sure if she likes me back..."

Hearing that, Melissa tried to hide her jealousy...but since Amanda wasn't there, there was no need for her to be jealous.

Come 6 PM, the iconic Times Square Ball was raised. Following a Chinese cultural performance came sound checks from MAGIC!, Florida-Georgia Line, Idina Menzel and a performance from OAR. 8:30 rolls along and with it, the first major performance of the night from Broadway great and star of the hit Disney movie 'Frozen' Idina Menzel.

"Oh my gosh! I've seen 'Frozen' 9 TIMES! 4 of 'em were with Milo! I LOVE 'Let It Go'!" Melissa fangirled.

"Calm down, Melissa. Don't need you turning into another Princess Elsa..." Milo said, trying to calm Melissa down.

"Too late, Milo! I'm ready to sing 'Let It Go'!"

And right as Idina Menzel took the stage, Melissa burst into singing 'Let It Go' with Sara joining her. Milo quickly took out his phone and recorded video of Melissa.

"So...Idina Menzel is on stage right now and right next to the stage...there are my sister Sara and my best friend Melissa as Elsa and Anna singing 'Let It Go'. Only in New York do you get this kind of craziness!"

Then, it happened...Idina Menzel messed up one of her high notes!

"Hold up! Did Idina Menzel just screw up a high note?" Sara asked.

"She did, Sara!" Melissa called out.

"I guess the cold finally got to Princess Elsa..." Mr. Chase deadpanned.

Come 9:30, MAGIC! would hit the stage with 2 of their summer hits - 'Let Your Hair Down' and 'Rude'. Melissa would proceed to freak out over 'Rude'.

"Sara, I could not get 'Rude' out of my head all summer!"

"You and me both, Melissa. That song was so catchy!"

"Why You Gotta Be So Rude? Don't You Know I'm Human Too?" the girls sang, much to Milo's chagrin.

Milo sighed at hearing the 2 teen/pre-teen girls in his life sing. "You know the worst part about that? I gotta live with one of the girls here..."

10:40 rolls around and so does a performance by one of Milo's favorite groups - Florida-Georgia Line. However, Milo never told Melissa about this. Come to think about it...Milo never told ANYONE about it!

When he got to trying to take a closer look, Sara, his parents, Melissa's parents and even Melissa herself were stunned!

"Milo?" Melissa questioned.

"Since when are you into country?" Sara asked her brother.

"This is a shock even to us, Milo!" Mrs. Chase remarked.

"We never knew this about you, Milo!" Mr. Chase said to Milo.

"Mr. Chase, he even kept it from us...his own parents!" Martin said to Mr. Chase.

"You guys don't know everything about me!" Milo fired back.

After a performance from Latin star Jencarlos Canela, 11:35 rolled around and that meant it was time for the performance Melissa was waiting for...

"Here it comes, Milo! Here comes Taylor!"

"Wait...Melissa's a Swiftie?" Sara asked.

"She is," Milo told his fangirl sister. "I gave her Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' album for her 7th birthday and she's been a Swiftie ever since," the jinx explained.

And Melissa was about to ramp things up to 11 because just before the 11:00 hour, Taylor Swift herself came up to Melissa and asked her if she wanted to join her on stage. Melissa jumped at the chance to sing with her favorite female artist. Milo, of course, was only too keen to record it.

"So get this...Melissa, the biggest Swiftie I know, is about to preform on stage with her idol, multi-platinum Grammy award-winning singer Taylor Swift! You nervous at all, Melissa?"

"Now that you mention it...yeah, I'm super nervous. There's a million people watching here in New York and billions more watching this around the world. Talk about pressure!"

"You'll be fine, Melissa. Good luck, 'Liss...you're gonna rock!"

"Thanks, Milo! This one's for you!" Melissa said, hugging Milo just before getting introduced by Ryan Seacrest. The first song was 'Welcome to New York', which Taylor introduced. After Melissa and Taylor did 'Welcome to New York', Melissa had the honor of introducing her favorite song off Taylor's '1989' album - 'Shake It Off'.

"Now I know that in 2014, you may have had somethings that irritated you, things that got under your skin or someone said something that really bothered you. Right now is the time, New York City...Taylor and I wanna see you...SHAKE...IT...OFF!"

Taylor and Melissa proceeded to take off their coats as 'Shake It Off' started up, much to the shock of Mr. Chase. Milo, of course, caught Melissa's jacket.

"Milo, did you know about this?" Mr. Chase asked Milo.

"Ah, I just let Melissa do her own thing. I'm not the controlling boyfriend you see in the movies, Mr. Chase."

Hearing this put a smile on Mr. Chase's face. But that didn't mean he'd support them as a couple.

"Milo, you are such a sweetheart! If Melissa ever starts getting into that dating scene...I hope it's with you, Milo..." Mrs. Chase said to the jinx.

"You'd really support that disaster area dating our daughter, Pepper?"

"Richard, be reasonable for once in your life! You've seen those two together! Milo is such a sweet guy and I just can't imagine Melissa with anyone else..."

That hit Mr. Chase hard. He had some serious thinking to do.

As the performance ended, Milo rushed up on stage and hugged Melissa. "That was amazing, Melissa! You were awesome!" he cheered.

"Aw! Thanks, Milo!" Melissa gushed as the duo headed back down to street level. Then came the big moment - the Times Square Ball Drop to signal the start of 2015. Milo and Melissa were already snuggled up to each other, so they had their New Year's kisses lined up.

"Looks like our kids have their New Year's kisses all lined up..." Martin observed.

"You don't know the half of it, Martin," Mr. Chase quipped, looking at Milo and Melissa. "They've been each other's New Year's kiss since they were 6. It's basically become tradition for them."

"Just you watch, Martin...by the time they reach Danville High...they'll be a couple!" Mrs. Chase added.

"I'll believe it when I see it."

As the whole of the Times Square crowd counted down, Milo and Melissa drew closer and closer to each other. Finally, the big 2015 sign atop One Times Square and as the confetti flew, Milo and Melissa continued their tradition of kissing at the stroke of midnight on New Year's. Now that they were in Middle School, they weren't as grossed out about it as they were when they were younger.

"Happy New Year, Milo..."

"Happy New Year, Melissa..."

While their parents and Sara took pictures of their kiss, Milo and Melissa brushed it off saying that they are definitely not a couple. And so far, it has worked. Valentine's Day would only further that claim as even though Milo and Melissa exchanged Valentine's cards, Milo spent most of the day trying to give a Valentine's card to Amanda. But every time he got close...Murphy's law would get in the way somehow.

He finally got through the Murphy's law shenanigans just before lunch period as he slipped his Valentine's card into Amanda's locker. She opened it just before 6th period.

"What's this?" Amanda asked, picking up the heart-shaped card. The card read as such...

Amanda, my Latina queen...

Ever since we first started here at JCMS, I've seen you in a whole new light.

I know you might not have noticed me before because of my bad luck, but I hope we can finally get to know each other better.

Who knows? Perhaps we can ignite a little bit of a spark!

Happy Valentine's Day, Amanda!

Your chaotic secret admirer

The reference to bad luck gave it away. "Milo...likes me?" Amanda asked herself, surprised.

"What goes on, Amanda?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know how or why...but I think Milo Murphy likes me..."

"Maybe you shouldn't have sold him short. He's a very sweet guy, Amanda. And looking at the card, he really wants to get to know you, Amanda."

"All this time, I've been trying to stay away from him because he causes chaos everywhere he goes. But perhaps you're right, Lydia. Perhaps I should get to know him better," Amanda said to Lydia before running off to catch up to Milo. "Milo, wait up!"

So, throughout the rest of the school year, Milo and Amanda got to know each other...well, as much as Murphy's law would allow. Finally, we got to the last day of school - June 12th, 2015. That meant yearbook signing! Of course, Milo and Melissa signed each others' yearbooks first! Far be it from them to deviate from their tradition! Melissa and Milo then went all around the school, getting their yearbooks signed by their teachers and their fellow students. Milo even got his yearbook signed by Amanda! Melissa, on the other hand, got a suspicious yearbook signing from Bradley that read 'Melissa, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever met...have a great summer! Your perfect match, Bradley'.

"ARRGH! He's still on that?" Melissa growled.

"Bradley's obviously crushing on you, Melissa!" Amanda remarked.

"I know, but he's kinda borderline overdoing it. Just look at what he wrote in my yearbook!"

"'Your perfect match'? Now that's insanely overdoing it!" Amanda called out.

"Not even I would pull that!" Milo responded.

"I know you wouldn't, Milo...I just wish he'd move past all this!"

"Only way to do that is to throw him a bone and go out with him...make him realize that you and him just aren't compatible," Amanda suggested.

"No! No! 1000 times no!"

"Want me to unleash Murphy's law on him?"

"No, Milo...I don't want it weaponized just yet. I've got a better idea - I'll trick him into thinking I actually like him and when the time is right, that's when we weaponize Murphy's law against him."

Amanda scoffed at this idea. "And once again, a good idea from the superior female mind is ignored."

The bell rang at 1 PM, signaling the end of Milo and Melissa's 6th grade year. As the duo climbed aboard the bus for the last time as 6th graders, they took note of the marquee that read 'Have a great summer...You'll be back in 104 days!'

"Again with the dark humor?" Milo asked.

"I swear the JCMS marquee and the Middleton High marquee from 'Kim Possible' are distant cousins, Milo!" Melissa responded as the bus drove off. Come September, Milo and Melissa would be back at JCMS as 7th graders. But...they wouldn't be alone.

Meanwhile, on the road from Badgertown...

"Are you excited to move to Danville, Zack?" Mr. Marcus Underwood asked his soon to be 14 year old son.

"It's gonna be a whole new start for all of us..." Mrs. Eileen Underwood added in.

The boy, Zack Underwood gave a nod as he and his family drove off. "Yeah...finally away from that conniving boy band I was in...Danville, here I come!"

Middle School has begun and so has the Milanda Arc of this story! Now we get into the show timeline proper with the introduction...of Zack! See ya next time and remember...IT'S MILO'S WORLD AND WE'RE ALL LIVING IN IT!