Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. They've never been mine, and they never will be mine. Unless Maxwell Atoms says so, because he owns it.

Chapter 1

Mandy couldn't believe her ears.

Here she stood, dumbfounded, in the middle of the high school's hallway. She stared at her idiot friend for a moment before regaining her trademark frown and smooth composure.

"What did you just say?"

"I said, Mindy wants to go to the prom dance with me. She told me to tell you, so I did." The redhead repeated rather proudly. "I can't believes it! I thought she hated me!"

Prom night was only a week away, and, until just then, neither she nor Billy had gotten a date. In all her years of painful friendship with him, never had Mandy thought he would be asked on a date. They were 17, nearing the end of the 12th grade, and this was the first time a girl had come up to him, rather than the dummy making a fool of himself by begging a female to go out with him. It wasn't really that difficult to see why, either; he was an average-looking, average-sized, below-average intelligence young man.

His red hair had finally outgrown the circumference of his hat, and it poked out in stray clumps every which way. He still wore his usual red cap, no matter how many times Mandy had threatened to kill him if he did, and the same striped shirt, only slightly larger.

She, on the other hand, had grown up to be a fairly pretty young lady. Her short blonde hair was still kept neatly behind her head with a black headband, although it was slightly longer. Body wise, she had grown up rather nicely, curving and filling out in all the appropriate places. The only thing that kept all men (but one) away were her eyes: so much as a single glance would send any football jock running. Of course, there was the exception of Irwin, who had dared ask her, but she'd declined. Several times, in fact. But Billy? Being asked by the most popular girl in school? There had to be a catch.

"Billy, has it ever occurred to you that maybe she's just using you?" Mandy stated firmly. She doubted he would understand. And he didn't.

"Nope." He replied, still beaming. "It doesn't really matter to me anyways. I gets to dance with her! Ooh, ooh, look!" He jumped up and down wildly, pointing like a maniac. "Here she comes now!"

Indeed, the egotistical redhead was walking towards them, dressed in cheerleader's clothing and carrying pom-poms. Accompanying her was a large group of boys, all drooling and ogling her as if she were the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. As Mindy neared the glaring blonde and dopy boy, however, she waved them away carelessly, and they fell back with a sigh.

"Well if it isn't the Miss. Loser and my….date." The last word was said with some difficulty. "How adorable." She smirked. "And in case you haven't noticed, that was sarcasm."

"Hiya Mindy." Billy replied shyly. "Your…uh, boots look real pretty today."

The snob looked down.

"I'm not wearing any boots."

"Uuh, well, that just makes you even prettier!"

Mindy stared, amazed by the boy's stupidity. But the disgusted look was quickly erased as her eyes locked onto to Mandy's.

"Aw, that's sooo sweet of you, Billy-boo." Her voice dripped with fake sweetness, and she pulled him close to her. "I'll be seeing you later, right?"

"Of course!" Billy exclaimed, and grinned widely.

Already inches from his face, the redhead closed her eyes and locked lips with the startled boy. He hesitated only for a moment before relaxing into the kiss. Mandy thought she might puke. It was just too sickeningly sweet.

Moments before breaking away, Mindy cast one pleased look at the frowning girl.

"I'll see you at lunch." She cooed at Billy, and stroked his bushy hair 'lovingly'.

That did it. Mandy was an incredibly smart woman, and could sense trickery in an instant.

"What are you up to?" She growled. "Why are you pretending to like Billy so badly?"

"Pretending? Who said I was pretending?" The creep replied in feigned innocence. "Why would you care anyways?" She smirked. "Unless, of course, you had feelings for the boy?"

Mandy's brow furrowed at the very mention of her liking Billy as more than a friend. True, she always hung out with him, but that was due to her nature. No one else could stand her cruelty, and, likewise, she could not tolerate anyone else. He was a good-natured boy, true, and could be charmingly sweet… No, no. The blonde shoved all unwanted thoughts from her mind and returned her attentions to the cheerleader.

"Feelings are a waste of time." She replied coolly. The comeback disappointed Mindy, but she grinned nonetheless.

"I'll be seeing you, then." And promptly strode away.

Likewise, Mandy headed in the opposite direction down the hall. She would be late if she didn't hurry up, and a good record was important to her. It meant that she could torture fools like Spurg without being suspected of committing a misdeed. Her foot was halfway inside the doorway when she felt a sharp tug on the collar of her uniform. Immediately her fists clenched, and her eye twitched. Nobody was allowed to touch her without permission.

As she turned around, though, her eyes met up with a large pink nose. She sighed. Only Billy would be so stupid as to make contact with her. His punishment would be reduced, but only slightly.

"OW!" He cried out as the girl's fist connected with his face. He rubbed the tender spot only for a moment before turning to face her once more.

"What do you want?" She asked sharply.

"Oh, uh….Mandy, can I ask you something?"

"No." She answered flatly. There was no real point, however, as she was certain he would ask anyways. And sure enough, he pressed on.

"That's good! I know I ain't too bright, so I wanted to ask ya, how comes I gots this funny feeling? When I kissed Mindy back there, it was great and all, but it felt like something was missing. Like something wasn't all there. Do you know what it was?"

Mandy might have smiled if she knew how. He wasn't smart, but at least Billy had gained some intelligence during his teen years. By now he had the common sense to know when and who to ask for help. Almost 9 out of 10 times it was Mandy.

"You're the one who kissed her, you should know. How can you expect me to answer if I wasn't really in your position?" She replied, and leaned against a locker. She would never directly admit it, but she honestly had no idea what he was talking about. "I don't fraternize with emotions anyways. They only get in the way."

"Fat-cat-eyes with emotions?" He responded stupidly.

"Just shut up and get to class. You don't want to see what would happen if you make me late." The blonde straightened herself and resumed her short march towards the classroom.

"Yessir!" He saluted, and fell in step behind her.

She shouldn't have been so anxious to get to class, though, as the person waiting for her was less than welcoming.

"Hey, yo. I kept your seat warm for you." A nerdy kid with glasses gushed. Irwin hadn't really changed that much since their childhood-he was still just as lame as before, and a bit on the chubby side. Although he had grown up to be extremely tall, he still couldn't get on the basketball team, or any other team for that matter. Mandy silently cursed the teacher for seating her in front of him.

"He's a good influence." Were the words spoken when she demanded to be assigned to another desk. At least she had Billy beside her. Stupid as he was, he was infinitely better company than the dork be behind her. And he would allow her time alone if she saw it fit.

"So, Mandy, how's about you and me…"

Irwin stopped in mid sentence. The baleful glare cast his way was enough to make him cry.

"Never mind, y-yo." He stuttered, and pulled on his collar nervously. In an effort to ease his disappointment, he leaned over and across to the redhead beside his love. "So Billy, have you gotten a date to the prom dance yet?"

"Huh?" The boy had been staring at the glowering girl, who was trying to pay attention to the lesson which had begun. "Oh, ya. I sure do!" He kept staring straight at her, eyes partially glazed.

"Well? Who're you going with?"

"Mandy…." He replied without thinking. As soon as the words left his mouth, he clasped two grubby hands over his mouth. Billy thanked his lucky stars that Mandy hadn't heard what he'd said.

"What? What do you mean, Mandy?" Irwin whispered angrily. "I'm supposed to be going with her."

"No, I ain't going with Mandy. I'm going with Mindy. I guess my tongue just kinda got caught in a knot. Must've been that steak sauce sandwich I had for lunch." He patted his stomach lovingly while Irwin wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Good. I still have a whole week before prom night, and I'm pretty sure she's loosening up to my charms." He said suavely. "At least, I hope so yo."

"Hmmmpf. Well, don't get your hopes too high." Billy replied, and pouted a little. "She's never in the mood to be nice to you, or anyone else. Except for-"

"DETENTION!" The teacher yelled from across the room. "You two can chat as much as you like after serving detention after school."

"Nice going, idiots." Mandy said unenthusiastically, without even bothering to look at either one of them.

"Aw, crud."

Chapter 2