Author's Note: Well, after a couple years of hiatus, I'm finally getting back into the writing of fanfiction. I've done a little writing along with my artwork on Deviantart and rediscovered my passion for it. However, I'm going to start off small. This is just a two-shot (only two chapters long) about why Duncan is afraid of Celine Dion music store standees. Will include a couple new characters like Duncan brothers (who are mentioned, though not by name, in the show).

"Haha, excuzee me?" Cody asked, holding a hand to his ear and letting out a chuckle after hearing what Duncan's ultimate fear was. "I didn't quite get that."

That was a lie; every one of the fellow Total Drama Island campers had heard the confession loud and clear. Duncan, the so called "Bad Boy", juvenile delinquent of the show was afraid of Celine Dion music store standees! Even Sadie's and Lindsay's phobias of having bad hair cuts were higher on the fear meter than that!

"Dude, did you say Celine Dion music store standees?" Trent didn't bother to hide the amused smirk on his face. Could this be for real? There was no way someone like Duncan could be afraid of some cardboard cutouts.

However, the fact that Duncan was hiding his face behind his hands in pure terror begged to differ.

"Whoa, I don't believe it." Gwen said trying to hold back a laugh.

"Shut up!" Duncan growled, giving each person the evil eye. Jeez, did they have to make sure a big deal out of it? "I can still kick all your butts, you know."

"Relax, dude," Geoff said with a snicker. "It's just weird is all, you know."

"Is there any particular reason why you're scared of that?" Courtney curiously asked. "I mean, your slightly irrational fear has to stem from somewhere."

Duncan folded his arms over his chest and gave the CIT a glare. "Don't want to talk about it." Wrong thing to say.

"Ha! There is a reason!" The brunette triumphantly proclaimed, pointing a finger at him. Now everyone seemed curious.

"Ohh, I wanna hear Doug's story!" Lindsay squealed and clapped her hands together in girlish excitement, oblivious to the fact that she had gotten his name wrong…again.

"This I gotta hear." Gwen said with a smirk as she leaned closer to hear what the bad boy had to say.

"You and me both." Agreed Trent and a chorus of voices joined in after him.

"Let's hear it, man!"

"Come on!"

"Pretty please?"

Duncan finally had to give in. "Okay, enough!" Duncan yelled, raising his hands for them to pipe down. He was quickly rewarded with a campfire surrounded by silence. He lowered his arms and sighed. "Okay, you guys win. I'll tell you what happened."

Duncan waited until the cheering, led by Geoff, died down before he began to tell the story to his fellow campers.

"Okay, it all started when I was about six," Duncan began, glancing around. From what he saw, he had everyone complete attention, including Courtney's. He liked that…a lot. "My pet dog had just run away so my parents decided to take me and my brother to the mall to get me a new pet…"

"How about a nice goldfish?"

Duncan stared at the small goldfish in the bowl that his mother had thrust in front of his face. The fish seemed to have a bored expression upon its orange face that was identical to that of Duncan's.

"I don't want a goldfish." The six year old boy with short, spiky black hair covered by a green beanie and sky blue eyes declared.

"But goldfish are wonderful pets! They're clean, quiet, and…"

"They die in about two weeks…tops!" Derek, Duncan's older brother by nine years interrupted. He was standing by the rodent section of the pet store and looking down into a cage that held a ferret.

"I don't want a goldfish!" Duncan repeated. He defiantly folded his arms over the skull on the black sweater he was wearing. "They're boring! I want a dog like Petey!"

"We're not getting another dog." Duncan's father sternly cut in. "Especially not after I accidentally ran over Pe…" At that moment, he caught sight of his wife and second eldest son frantically making stopping hand gestures behind Duncan, who was curiously staring up at his father.

"Ran over what, Dad?" Duncan innocently asked.

"Uhhhh…ran over Petey's toys! That's right! Having dogs mean having dog toys in the driveway! Nope, we're getting a pet that won't make a mess…like a goldfish!" He placed the goldfish bowl into Duncan's hands.

The six year old glared at it and promptly tossed it aside. It unknowingly fell into a large tank with a sign in front of it that read "RARE BUT 100% REAL BABY FRESH WATER SHARKS!" The family ignored the munching noises coming from behind them as they walked further into the pet store.

"How about a kitty cat?" His mother asked.

"No." Duncan said.

"A pretty birdy?"

"No."

"A cute little bunny?"

"Mom!" Duncan cried, throwing his small arms in the air and stomping his foot in annoyance. "You're picking all the girly, cute stuff!"

"Haha, then that shouldn't be a problem for you, twerp." Derek laughed and reached down to pinch his little brother's cheek. "Who's a cute, little momma's boy? Dunky is! Dunk-OW! MOM! DUNCAN BIT ME!"

"Boys, behave this instant!" their father yelled, putting his hands on his sides as he glared at the two bickering siblings. "I don't want people thinking that the head of police is raising a pair of juvenile delinquents!"

"Oh, one of us is juvenile alright!" Derek retorted, holding his bitten finger and giving his younger sibling a glare.

Duncan just stuck his tongue our and blew a raspberry. When he had his back turned, Derek smirked and gave Duncan a swift kick to the behind.

"Aahh!" Duncan let out a cry of pain as the kick pushed him forward and knocked him head first into one of the animal cages. As he rubbed his aching head, he could hear his mother yelling at his older brother.

"Stop bullying your little brother! Don't you know that young children are prone to repeating acts of violence when they're older? DO WANT YOUR BABY BROTHER TO BE A BULLY?"

"Jeez, relax mom! We're just playing around! No damage done."

Duncan ignored the rest of the yell-fest and looked through the bars of the cage that he had slammed into. Inside was a large monkey that was about Duncan's size. He smiled at it.

"Cool! I want a monkey!" Honestly, what future criminal doesn't want a monkey sidekick to help him commit acts of mischief?

"Sorry, little boy, but he's already taken!" A loud feminine voice proclaimed. Duncan turned around and saw a large, heavily obese woman standing behind him.

"Whoa…" Duncan had no idea people could get that fat. How could she fit through the doorway? Did she ever get stuck on the toilet seat? Was she really a giant blob monster? Or maybe she was clown. She certainly had enough makeup on her face to be one.

"Move out of the way!" The woman rudely pushed the staring Duncan aside and leaned forward to take a closer look at the monkey. The blob in a dress let out a high-pitched squeal of delight that probably made a couple of the pet store puppies deaf and pressed her giant, squash-like face against the bars of the cages.

"Ohhhh! He's such a darling! What an absolute sweety! I can't wait to take him home with me!" This ended in another squeal. "He'll look absolutely, positively adorable in the little dresses I bought for him! Such a cutesy, wusy, little thing!"

With hands covering his ears, the little future delinquent instantly felt pity for the poor creature in front of him….and it wasn't the creature waving her whale sized butt in his face.

"I'm going to hug you and give you kisses every night! You're going to be my sweet, little baby!" The pig in a dress trying to pass as a woman continued to ramble. Duncan turned, beginning to become sick with the entire scene. Okay so a monkey was out, but maybe they had boa constrictor instead. An image of himself strolling around the school playground with a giant, man-eating snake around the neck floated into his mind and caused the six year old to smile. That could definitely work for him.

Duncan quickly turned; hopefully, if he got the reptile aisle before his parents did and they'd fall for the scene of him looking at the snake cage with teary eyes and a sad face routine. Then something grabbed his sweater.

The six year old turned his head and saw a pair of monkey hands grabbing his sweater and holding him back. The monkey from the cage was staring at him.

Duncan frowned and tugged his sweater. "Let go." He tugged harder but the monkey didn't let go.

With one hairy hand still holding Duncan in place, the monkey raised his other hand and pointed at the lock. Then the monkey pointed at himself. Then he pointed at the fat, squealing lady who was talking to one of the pet workers. Then back at the lock again.

It suddenly clicked to Duncan.

"You want out don't you?"

The monkey let go of Duncan and started a little jig in its cage. To Duncan, it appeared to scream 'Success! Sweet success!'

Duncan pointed a backwards thumb at the fat lady. "I get it. You don't want to go with that fatso lady."

The monkey made a gagging sound and pantomimed what seemed to be him hanging himself. Duncan chuckled as he ran over and started to toy with the lock.

"I know how you feel. I wouldn't want to go home and hear that squealing every night either. My brother's snoring is bad enough." The lock made a loud click and the cage door cracked open. "There you go buddy!"

The monkey let out a wide grin, high-fived Duncan, happily jumped out of the cage and disappeared down the aisles of the pet store. Duncan stood next to the empty cage with a big smile on his face.

"Wow, breaking the rules was actually kind of fun. I should do it more often." Duncan smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Pheesh, I don't see why mom and dad make such a big deal about following the rules. Nothing bad happened at all!"

"HEY! WHO LET ALL THE ANIMALS OUT OF THE CAGES?" the yell of a worker was drowned out by a chorus of squawks, hisses, growls, and roars through the pet store.

Duncan's eyes widened in surprise. "Oops."

Next thing Duncan knew, his mother, father, and brother all ran by, followed by a small stampede of loose pets. Duncan was hauled up by the collar into his father's arms as they ran out of the pet store, the wild screeches of animals behind them.

"I DIDN'T TO IT!" Derek yelled, running after his parents and dazed little brother.

"You let all the animals out at the pet store!" Courtney shrieked in shocked disapproval, interrupting Duncan's story.

"You're my hero man!" DJ had been moved to tears by the description of Duncan rescuing a pet monkey and was sobbing into a tissue. Bridgette was tearing up beside him.

Cody held up a finger and stated loudly over DJ's crying, "Well, actually, it was the monkey that let all the animals out."

"At least someone's listening to the story, isn't that right, Princess?" smirked Duncan, shooting the brunette CIT a smug look.

Courtney rolled her eyes and clenched her fists. "That's not the point! Unleashing the criminal is still bad enough and what does any of this have to do with you having an irrational fear of Celine Dion music store standees!" she screeched, throwing her arms up in the air.

"For once, I agree with Courtney." Gwen reluctantly admitted, giving Courtney an annoyed sideways glance and shrugging her shoulders. "It's sweet that you saved a monkey from a crappy life of dresses and constant squealing, but I don't really see the connection."

"I'm getting there." Duncan growled, beginning to grow agitated with the interruptions. "Do you guys want to hear the story or not? Because, trust me, I'll quit at any time." It wasn't as if he had wanted to tell the story in the first place.

"No, go on, bro! We'll chill." Geoff urged while the majority of the campers nodded in agreement. Courtney rolled her eyes but dutifully remained silent.

"Okay, so after the whole pet store fiasco, the family and I went off to shop somewhere else in the mall." Duncan rested his chin on his hands and let out a bored sigh. "While my Pops and Ma went looking for a new television…"

"What happened to your old one?" Bridgette asked.

(Flashback)

Six year old Duncan stood in between his two older brothers, Derek, and Malcolm, the oldest at eighteen and a junior police officer, in the middle of a semi-destroyed living room that, for some odd reason, had a live bull moose grazing on the carpet, a teenage couple making out on the stairway, and a small fire burning in a trash can…all evidence that some out-of-control party had taken place and had ended in disaster.

"Mom and Dad must never know about this!" Malcolm declared.

The three brothers could only stare in horror as the Bull Moose casually walked over to the living room television and smashed the screen in with one of its hooves.

"Ah, shit."

(End of Flashback)

"….I'd rather not talk about it." Duncan replied, blinking to shake off the weird flashback. What the hell had happened at that party anyway?

"As I was saying, while they were shopping for a new television, as usual, I was stuck tagging along with my brother, Derek…"

"Can I help you?" a teenage girl with short red hair, in a uniformed apron curtly asked from behind the mall ice cream parlor.

"Why yes," Derek said, flashing a flirtatious grin at the pretty employee. "I was wondering if you happened to have a phone number on you." Derek leaned across the counter and wriggled his eyebrows. "I happened to have lost mine."

Suddenly, Derek felt somebody roughly pulling on his shirt and heard a high-pitched voice whine loudly.

"Tell her I want chocolate!" Duncan yelled, continuing to yank at his brother's shirt. He let out a whine when Derek's hand pushed on his face, knocking him backwards.

"Shove off, Dunk," Derek heatedly hissed in a low voice. "Can't you see I'm busy here?"

"Gimme some ice cream before the lady blows you off!"

"What makes you think she's going to blow me off, you little brat?"

"….If I answer that truthfully, will I still get ice cream?"

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Derek growled, pointing at Duncan to go back to their table. Duncan furrowed his brow in anger, clenched his teeth, and stomped off.

Once his brother had left, Derek turned back to the pretty employee and smiled. "As I was saying…." He glanced down at the name tag. "Artemis. Cool name. I like my girls exotic. You American?"

"First off, the name's Arts. Call me my other title again and I'll have no choice but beat your head in with scooper. Second, I'm so not interested. " The redhead said in a monotone voice while examining her fingernails. She glanced up briefly and said, "Hey, wasn't there like a midget you screaming for chocolate a second ago?"

Derek scowled. "That's just my little brother. He's at that table." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

"You mean that obviously empty one?" Arts said.

"Yes, I mean that obviously empty one." Derek repeated. It took a second or two for the thought to fully register before Derek threw up his hands and let a hysterical yell. "EMPTY?" He whirled around and saw that the table was…surprise, surprise…empty. No six year old future delinquent in sight.

"Duncan!" Derek yelled, grasping the sides of his face in nervous worry. "No, no, no…" he looked under the table and around the table area. "Come on Duncan! This isn't funny! You want ice cream? I'll get you ice cream!"

The red-haired girl watched the scene with a half bored expression on her face. "Let me guess, you lost the kid."

Derek ran back to the register and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Artemis!"

An icy glare. "It's Arts."

"Whatever! You've got to help me find my little brother!"

She raised a skeptic brow and crossed her arms. "And why would I do that?"

"You work here! You're supposed to help the customers!"

Arts scoffed and waved her ice cream scooper in Derek's face. "Hello, do you see a security badge on my apron? You point at a flavor and I scoop." She jabbed the scooper into carton of strawberry ice cream to make a point. "That's my service!"

"Look," Derek held out his palms in a pleading gesture. "You have no idea who my parents are! If they find out that I lost Duncan…"

"Let me guess, they'll ground you until you're nineteen, keep you away from your low-brow buddies and non-existent fangirls, deprive you from this hellhole you call a mall?" Arts guessed in sarcastic tones.

"No, he'll probably lock up me for two nights in the city prison and put me on guard duty. He's the head officer there." Derek explained. "He sometimes does it to Duncan for time out."

Arts actually showed signs of being surprised. "Whoa, your dad has some discipline issues."

"Yeah, but strangely, I think Duncan actually likes timeout in prison."

The campers stared Duncan with weird expressions of shock and disbelief stretched out across their faces.

"Your dad put you in prison….as time out?" squeaked Bridgette, appalled. What kind child life did Duncan have?

Duncan grinned. "Yeah so? He took me to work with him sometimes. I kind of liked it. The guy in the next cell was an awesome babysitter! I learned everything I know from him."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Courtney drily said. "I guess he also taught you to runaway from your older siblings as well?"

The delinquent shrugged. "Well, yeah, especially if they're chasing after you with a chainsaw trying to slice you to pieces for stealing their girlfriend."

Once again, the casual comment earned him another round of bewildered stares.

Duncan rolled his eyes at his campmate's horrified expressions. "Look, I was six and I was mad. Do you really think I'd actually listen to my older brother and stay put to watch him flirt away with girls all day? Little kids always wander off on their own when they're bored."

Courtney crossed her arms and said in a snooty voice, "Well, I didn't. I was a good girl when I was six."

Duncan smirked. "Oh really?"

The brunette glared and fumed. "Yes really!"

"Quit flirting and get back to the story." LeShawna demanded earning a deadly glare from Courtney. Nobody dared interrupted the CIT from making a point!

"Fine, fine, now where was I?" Duncan pondered for a second before snapping his fingers. "Oh, yeah- at the ice cream parlor. Okay, so I leave my brother with the drop-dead gorgeous babe in apron and go off to find something to preoccupy myself with."

"How did you do that?" questioned Gwen, a smirk spreading across her face as she guessed the answer.

Duncan returned the smirk with a wicked grin of his own.

"How do you think? Causing trouble!"

There were many advantages to being only about three feet tall. One of them was that it was easy to slip away unnoticed, especially in a crowd of hundreds of towering people. Nobody noticed Duncan wandering through the heart of the crowd and, if they did, they just assumed by the big smile on his face that the nearest person to him was one of his parents. They didn't realize that a little six year old was wandering around a giant supermall, all by his self and with evil, mischievous intentions in mind.

The first store that Duncan stopped at was a toy store. The big bright, colorful letters and the happy music coming from the shop instantly caught the six-year old's attention.

Duncan jumped- not skipped because, six years old or not, boys never skip- over to the large glass panel of the store and peered within the fairy-tale-ish depths. The whole place was filled with toys and kid merchandise of all shapes and sizes. Duncan smiled particularly at the dinosaur toys in one corner. He loved dinosaurs!

He stared at the little dino figures with a longing look in his blue eyes. Christmas was such a long way off and he his birthday had already passed. Duncan stared at the figures some more.

"Those toys are awfully small." Duncan remarked out loud. It was true. They were inexpensive little plastic figures that were all piled in a large barrel. Duncan looked around to make sure that no one was watching before he ran inside.

"I bet no one would notice if I just took one!" he declared. There were plenty of figures. Surely, no one would miss just one toy out of hundreds?

Duncan was about make a grab for a small T-Rex toy when something else caught his eye.

More specifically- someone

"What do you think you're doing?"

Hand only inches away from one of the dinosaur figures, Duncan turned, eyes narrowed, to tell whoever was speaking that it was none of their business. Then his blue eyes widened and he had to bite back a loud laugh.

Before him was a girl, but not just any girl…

She was a princess!

The girl looked around Duncan's age and had long brown hair tied with a purple bow and tan skin with freckles across her noise. She was also wearing a silver tiara on her head and had on a pretty purple fairy-tale like dress. To Duncan, it just looked ridiculous.

Hands on her hips, the girl glared her dark eyes at the boy reaching into the dinosaur barrel.

"Well? What are you doing?" She asked again in snobbish tones.

"Are you a princess?" Duncan asked, withdrawing his hand from the barrel to hold against his mouth to hide a giggle. Why was this girl all was dressed up?

The girl looked surprised. "No, but I will be for Halloween!" That explained it. She smiled and did a little twirl. "Like my dress?"

Duncan stared the purple attire. "It looks stupid. It'll look better with skulls or spiders on it."

The girl made a face. "Ew, that's disgusting! Princesses don't have yucky stuff like that on their dresses."

"Well they'd be a lot cooler if they did." Duncan said with a big Cheshire grin on his face. For some reason he felt a particular tingle of delight in annoying this girl. Maybe it was because of the funny way her face scrunched up with disgust. "Besides, if princesses can kiss gross stuff like frogs then why can't they wear it?"

The girl wrinkled her freckled noise and patted her dress. "Because," she said in a know-it-all tone that really annoyed Duncan, "princesses only kiss yucky stuff like frogs when they turn into princes after!"

An evil idea emerged from the depths of Duncan's dark, immature mind.

"Oh really?" he asked, grin turning quite wicked.

"Yes, really!" the girl snapped.

"This story sounds awfully familiar…" Geoff said.

"SHUT UP!" everyone hushed.

"Well, then if princesses only kiss gross stuff to get a prince, then why don't you kiss me and see if I'll turn into a prince?" Duncan got on all fours and started to ribit like a frog. "See? I'm as gross as a frog! Ribit! Ribit! Ribit!"

Still croaking, Duncan puckered his lips at the girl who let out a terrified shriek.

"EW! Get away from me!"

Laughing, Duncan hopped after her as she ran around the store, shrieking.

"Honey, what are you yelling about?" A woman, supposedly the girl's mother, asked when she saw her daughter running around the toy aisles, screaming as loud as a dying banshee. The girl ran to her mother and hid behind her legs.

"There's a gross meanie boy trying to kiss me!" the girl whined and pointed a tattle-telling finger at the hopping boy in the black skull sweater.

"Awwww, isn't that sweet. My little girl has a first crush!"

"MOM! HE'S GOING TO GIVE ME COOTIES AND WARTS!"

"Ribit! Ribit! Ribit! Wait for me princess! Ribit! Ribit!" Duncan croaked, greatly enjoying himself. His next 'ribit' died mid-croak when he spotted the girl's mother. The little delinquent slid to a halt.

The girl's mother leaned down, ignoring her daughter's protesting, and fixed Duncan with a friendly smile. "Why, hello there sweetie. Don't you make a cute little froggy!"

"He's not cute, he's gross!" the girl cried from behind her mother's legs.

"Yeah, I'm not cute, I'm gross!" Duncan, surprisingly, agreed, giving the girl a toothy smile. The bratty brunette stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, mister froggy, where are your parents at? I'd love to meet them and arrange a play date." The mother said. The girl looked horrified at such a notion.

The grin fell from Duncan's face. His instincts told him that revealing that he was actually by himself would not be a good move. Adults tend to be able to find other adults very quickly, and Duncan was sure that his mom and dad would not be happy to see him hopping around playing "Frog Prince". Duncan decided to do what all criminals know by nature to do when they're in a tight situation.

"Uhhh…I gotta go! Seeya princess!" Jumping back on two legs, Duncan shot off towards the store exit. Behind him, he heard a loud shriek.

"STOP CALLING ME PRINCESS!"

"Hush, Courtney, not so loud!"

(Meanwhile, in another part of the mall…)

"DUNCAN!"

"Kid…"

"Come here Dunk!"

"Here kiddy kid…"

"You know, you can at least call him by his name." Derek told the apron-clan redhead walking beside him. "There are millions of kids in here. How's my brother supposed to know we're looking for him?"

"That's the point, numbskull." Arts said. She let out a slightly annoyed sigh at the confused expression on the idiot's face. At times like this, she wished she had better things to do during her lunch break- like change out of her ridiculous uniform.

Holding back an eye roll and another sigh, Arts placed her a hand on her hip and jammed her ice cream scooper at Derek. "Look…." She realized that she really didn't know this guy's name.

"Derek." Derek said. He leaned forward and flashed Arts a cocky grin, "Though you can call me 'sweetheart'." He let out a yelp of pain when Arts hit him on the forehead with the ice cream scooper.

"Derek," Art continued, purposely ignoring Derek's complaints. "I have a niece named Gwen who's about the same age as your brother, and I've babysat her enough times to know how these things work." She did a fancy twirl with the metal scooper and held it out like a cane. "Lesson number one: when a little kid runs away then they obviously don't want to be found," she leaned forward towards Derek with a smirk on her face, "especially by their rather obnoxious older brothers. Your yelling will send him running off."

Derek tried to look angry, but the blush on his face at having a rather hot, yet annoying, girl being this close to him ruined the effect. "Well, then Miss. Babysitter, what do you suggest we do?" He got another bonk in the forehead.

"Think like a six year old- which I don't think will be quite difficult for you." Arts humorlessly said. "What would a six year old be after running away?"

"I don't like thinking about what Duncan would do."

"I agree, considering he has you as role model."

"Oh, hardy har har." Derek scowled. "I'll have you know I'm a great model for my little brother. I'm strong!" He flexed his nonexistent muscles. "Tough!" He pulled off an angry face. "And not to mention, devilishly handsome." He added, flirtatiously wiggling his eyebrows at Arts.

Arts bonked him on the head again and smirked. "I noticed you failed to mention 'intelligent'."

Derek rubbed his reddening forehead and chuckled. "Well, I leave the smart stuff to my older brother, Malcolm. He taught Duncan and me how to make fake blood to scare kindergarteners for Halloween! It was hilarious! Hahah!"

"Oh yes, you two make excellent role models for little kids." Arts said, rolling her dark eyes, though the smile remained on her face. Suddenly she spotted something. "Hey, does your brother ever dig in the trash?"

"Probably. It could be one of the reasons he smells all the time." Derek blinked. "Why do you ask?"

Arts pointed a finger at one of the mall's trash cans. It was shaking and moving back and forth as if something…or someone….was moving around inside it.

"DUNCAN!" Derek rushed over the garbage can with a big smile on his face. "Come here little bro!" He reached into the garbage can and pulled out a confused looking monkey. The smile fell off his face. "Why aren't you Duncan?"

"It's probably one of the animals that got loose from the pet store earlier." Arts said.

Derek scowled. "You mean the animals that Duncan set loose! The little criminal."

That actually got Arts smiling as she scratched the monkey under the chin. "Really? Well, props for him. Setting prisoner animals free? Sounds like my kind of criminal."

"Yeah, I'm a criminal too! I stole and wrecked my neighbors' bikes!"

"…and so not my kind of criminal."

Before Derek could make an even bigger idiot of himself in front of Arts, his cell phone rang. He visibly winced in fear when he realized who was calling. "Uhh…hey, Mom. Hey, Dad. What's up?" A look of panic spread across Derek's face. "Oh, you're ready to leave now? Meet at the exit in five minutes? Okay bye." Derek had on the expression of one going to execution. "I'm so dead. There's no way we can find my brother in five minutes! We need more time!"

Arts bit her lip and looked down at the monkey in her arms. Suddenly, inspiration hit.

"I think I have an idea."

The second installment will probably be up by tomorrow! Everyone have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Happy Holidays!