Chapter 1 - Troublemaker

"Martin? Martin! Martin, wake up! We'll be late for Chemistry class!"

An annoyingly familiar voice woke Martin up from his slumber and he rolled onto his back, opening his eyes and slowly blinking up at the figure before him.

Arms crossed, Diana stood before him, a withering glare on her face. "Finally. Martin, are you planning to be late for class again?"

"Chill, Di," Martin said, yawning as he lazily stretched. "I'll be on time, no sweat."

"Oh? We'll see about that. You better show up in ten minutes or else," his sister threatened, giving him one last glare before storming out his dorm.

Martin smiled as his sister left the room. Diana, so incredibly funny sometimes...

He stretched once more and decided to take Diana's advice. He rolled off the bed and freshened up, brushing his teeth and hair and changing into a clean shirt. He rushed down the corridor and straight into the Chemistry lab where everyone was already seated.

"You're on time, Mr. Mystery," Mr. Black said, giving Martin a leveled look. "Please take a seat."

Beaming, Martin strode towards his seat next to Diana, who was busy glowering at him.

"I said ten minutes," she said through his gritted teeth. "It's been fifteen minutes. You're five minutes late!"

"Oh, big deal. Seriously, Di, you need to loosen up. And I'm the man who can help you." Martin proudly gestured to himself.

Diana rolled her eyes. "Please, get real."

"I'm serious. Today, after school, you and I have a date. Let the master show you how to live your life without being so...serious about school." He wrinkled his nose.

"I don't need your help, Martin," Diana snapped. "I'm perfectly fine - "

"Ms. Lombard, do I hear you speaking without permission?" Mr. Black suddenly demanded, giving his favorite student a disapproving look.

Diana flushed, sinking into her seat. "I'm sorry Mr. Black," she apologized meekly. "It won't happen again."

Mr. Black nodded curtly and turned his back to the class. Beside Diana, Martin snickered. "You see what I mean?" he asked with a sneer.

Diana opened her mouth to respond but closed it with a sigh. "Alright, fine. I'll meet you after school so you can 'show me how to live my life'." She made quotes with her fingers.

Martin grinned. "Alright, sis."

After school, Martin lazily lay on the bench outside, his body sprawled over it with no space left to sit. He basked in the sunlight, whistling lightly to himself.

"Martin?"

He opened his eyes and sat up, looking towards the source of the voice. And when he did, his heart immediately failed on him.

Diana stood there awkwardly, wearing a white tank top and a bright pink mini skirt, wringing her hands nervously. "Am I overdressed?"

Martin blinked, trying to take in the girl standing before him. She looked...well, very different. Unlike Diana. Very gorgeous in fact. But still...

Diana was his sister, step-sister to be exact. He couldn't be thinking such things about her, especially when he'd known her for more than half his life. They were siblings and couldn't be anything more.

But still, he looked away, finally managing to tear his eyes away from her. "What's the occasion?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Well, I thought I'd get dressed up to at least prove that I can be fashionable and not look like a nerd all the time. Jenni said these would fit me..."

"Those are Jenni's clothes?" Of course, there was no way Diana could own such girlish pieces of clothing.

"Yeah." Diana plopped down beside Martin and he slightly tensed up. "So, Mr. Care-free, what's on the agenda?"

She's sitting so close, Martin thought, but quickly brushed the thought aside. Diana had sat in his lap before and he hadn't thought anything back then. "Well first, we're going to sneak into Principal Pebbleton's office and - "

Diana gasped. "Martin!" she exclaimed. "That's not fun! That's breaking in, and we could get in serious trouble for that." She groaned. "I knew I'd regret this."

"Aw, come on, sis," Martin pleaded. "It's actually a lot of fun and I haven't gotten in trouble once."

"You've done this before? And more than once?! Martin Mystery, wait until your father hears about this!" Diana growled.

Martin rolled his eyes, untroubled. "Fine then, why don't you think of something that's cool and not boring?"

Diana looked around the courtyard. "Why can't I do something...girlish? Like flirt with those jocks over there?" She pointed to a couple boys with basketballs in their hands, laughing loudly.

Martin suddenly felt a twinge of irritation. "Why would you wanna do that?" he demanded sharply and suddenly.

Diana looked taken aback by his tone. "I – what's wrong with you? Why do you sound so angry? I was kidding, Marty, sheesh. That's so incredibly preposterous."

Martin sighed. "Whatever. Anything else?"

Diana shrugged. "I thought you were the master at this," she commented wryly.

Martin grinned. "So you're admitting it?"

Diana scowled. "Shut up."

Martin paused and his face lit up. "I know! Let's sneak down to the library basement."

"But it's off-limits!"

"My point exactly." Martin gave Diana a long look. "Di, you can't reject all of my ideas. You'll be known as the school's biggest goody two shoes."

"What's so bad about that?" Diana scoffed, glaring at her brother.

Martin rolled his eyes. "Never mind that. Are you in or out?"

Diana chewed her lip thoughtfully and finally sighed. "Alright," she said in unison but scowled. "But only for a few minutes. And if we get caught, you better take all the blame!"

Martin grinned. "Aw, what's the fun in that?"

The two of them headed down to the school library, where the librarian was too busy helping students to pay attention to them. Martin slid to the basement door and Diana hesitated behind him. Martin twisted the knob and quickly scurried down the dark stairway. Muffling a startled shriek, Diana followed him, closing the door behind her.

"Martin!" she hissed loudly, panic entering her tone. "Can we please leave? It's so dark!"

A moment later, light filled the large room and Diana looked around. There were many thick books placed on tall bookshelves, just out of her reach. Martin plopped down in one of the loveseats, grinning at his sister. "What'd I tell you?"

"This is not fun! Let's go before we get - "

"Hello?" a stern voice called from the top of the staircase. Diana froze, her eyes bulging out and Martin inhaled sharply.

"Hide!" he hissed, grabbing Diana's arm and pulling her behind a large bookshelf. They crouched down beside each other, their breathes low and urgent.

"Anyone here?" the librarian demanded. "I swear I saw people come in here...one last time, is anyone in here? You're not supposed to be!"

Diana made a slitting motion at her neck towards Martin. He hid his smile and peered behind the bookshelf. The librarian was heading back upstairs, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Whew," Diana breathed when she was finally gone. "I hate you, Martin."

Martin smiled and turned to face her and stopped. Her face was so close to his, her mouth only inches from his. He was suddenly at a loss for words as he gazed into her emerald green eyes. Then, he felt himself leaning closer towards her.

Diana's eyes widened. "Martin..."

The sound of her panicked, shocked voice made him jerk back, his own eyes widening as well. He could feel heat rushing to his face and Diana's blush made him feel even crazier than he already was. "I was just feeling dizzy for a second," he lied, though now he was starting to truly feel dizzy.

Diana just nodded mutely and stood up, cautiously keeping her distance. "Let's go before - "

"Before what, Miss Lombard?"

Martin's heart dropped a notch and the two of them whipped their heads to Principal Pebbleton, whose face was growing red in anger. "Mr. Mystery, I know well enough that you always have troublesome schemes up your sleeve but Miss Lombard, I thought better of you. How dare you two sneak down here?"

Diana was gaping, at a loss for words for the first in her life. "I – I..."

Martin rose, putting his hand over his chest. "It's not Diana's fault, Principal Pebbleton," he said sincerely. "I made her come down here."

The principal didn't even ask what for; his jaw was clenching and unclenching. "It doesn't matter, you're both down here and you will both be punished for it. A week's detention in Miss Spark's classroom."

Martin inwardly groaned; he hated Miss Sparks. She was always so cranky and grumpy with everyone. "Are you sure you want to torture us that badly, sir?" he asked sardonically, causing another glare from his principal.

"Both of you, out," he barked, angrily pointing his finger to the exit. "Now. You will serve your first detention after school."

Martin sighed and when he glanced at Diana, he was surprised to see her face was in a mask of horror, as if she would almost cry. "Y-yes sir," she stammered, lowering her head and rushing out without even looking at Martin.

He quickly followed after her and once they were out of the library and in the empty hall, he grabbed her wrist. "Di, are you okay?"

Diana yanked her hand away from his grasp, lashing a murderous glare at her brother. "Am I okay? Of course I'm not okay, Martin Mystery! It's always you getting me into trouble! I hate you for it! Just leave me alone, okay?"

And leaving him in the hallway, she stormed to her dorm. Martin watched her, raising his eyebrow as he scratched his head. "Must be on her time of the month," he muttered, sighing and stalking off to his room.

Later, when he reached his room, he noticed that it wasn't empty. "Java?" he exclaimed, giving the caveman a funny look. "Billy? Why are you two in my room?"

Billy, who was now in human form, grinned at his friend. "Hey Marty! Me and Java were just playing cards." He gestured to the pile of cards on the bed.

Martin faked horror. "And you didn't invite me?"

"Sorry," Java apologized in his gruff, deep voice.

"Something wrong?" Billy asked after a moment, eyeing Martin's expression. "You seem a little...out of it today."

Martin sighed and flopped onto his head, latching his hands at the back of his head. "It's Diana," he admitted. "I tried to help her get over her passion for following the rules and accidentally got us a week of detention. Now she's angry at me."

"Diana got in trouble?" Billy asked, eyes wide. "That's really out of it."

"So?" Martin scoffed. "The perfect, preppy princess needs a little trouble in her blood." But he sighed again. "Still, I feel bad."

"You're siblings," Billy assured. "Of course you'll feel bad."

Martin bit his lower lip and looked over at his friend. "Um, there's something else...Billy, is it weird that I tried to...kiss Diana?"

Java made a strangled noise and Billy gasped, nearly shaping into his alien self again. "Kiss her?!" they both exclaimed. "Martin, why?"

Martin groaned, banging his head against his pillow. "I don't know! It just happened and now...you know what? I think I need someone to take my mind off of things."

"Who?" Java demanded.

Martin rose from his bed and flashed a sly grin. "Jenni."