Chapter 15

"You, young man, will come downstairs right now!" a woman called angrily up the stairs. A young boy ran his right hand through his hair and slowly turned around to face the screaming and purple-faced woman. She was tapping her feet in an agitated way and crossed her arms across her chest, making the boy gulp with fear. The boy looked on with solemn eyes and took in a deep breath as he trudged downstairs.

"Faster!" the woman commanded, sounding like a general for an army. The boy took two steps at one time and finally landed down at the foot of the stairs. He didn't dare to glance up because the phrase "If looks could kill…" ran through his head too fast and too much.

"What happened? Why did you leave the house?" the woman demanded into the boy's ear.

"Mom, I already told you, I was out for a walk," the boy murmured, clutching his baseball cap harder.

"Then why are you covered in blood?"

The boy moved his head up a little and opened his jaw to say something, but his ecstatic mother once again interrupted him.

"I can't believe you would do a stupid stunt like that!" the woman roared, arms thrown up in the air. "What happened to you? Did you fall? You better pray that you fell because-"

"I ran into a tree," the boy said lamely. He couldn't help it, that was his best explanation. His mother's eyes widened and her arms fell lifeless to her sides in disbelief of the obvious lie.

"You ran into a tree," she repeated, skeptical of the explanation. Her son's head bobbed up and down. She bent her head down to see the ground and then back up, eyes closed.

"Now, sweetie, please. You have a black eye, bruises on your knuckles, and scabs and/or blood covering your body. And you expect me to believe that a tree did this to you," she said slowly, making sure every word was intact.

"Yes," her son said, a little frightened for the trouble he caused. "It was dark after all and I'm so tall, I could have hit the branches. I'm at least six feet, maybe a little below that."

He faked a smile to change the topic and the awkwardness in the air. His mother rubbed her temple, something that he only did. After she had stopped looking at him, he took advantage of the time and quickly wiped the beads of sweat off of his forehead. He flinched after his pinky swiped at his black eye. Biting his lip to stop crying out in pain, he regained himself right before his mother looked back at him. Her face was twisted, signaling that he was in more trouble than he could have ever dreamed of. Half closing an eye, he waited for his punishment.

"Maxwell Noppo," his mother started off. "You decided to leave the house saying that you were going out for a walk. Did you see any of your friends?"

"N-No, Mom. I just went out for a walk and…" Maxwell's voice trailed off to his horror.

"Are you sure?" his mother asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Yeah! Of course, why would I see any of them?" Maxwell retorted, a little too defensive. He leaned a little back as his mother's face turned a little redder.

"Because, I remember you walking after one very special girl ran whom ran past our house. Immediately, you told me that you should go out for a walk when it was fifty degrees outside and a wind chill of about ten. Then, while you denied that you were following her, you ran. Towards a bar and where the warehouses were…"

"Oh, Sandy! I'm going to miss you so much!" Bijou cried and wept into Sandy's sleeve again. The only reason that Bijou had hugged the left side of her body was because Pashmina's sobs occupied her right shoulder. Penelope was bawling into Sandy's jeans while the other ham-hams looked on. Hamtaro moved forward towards Sandy and smiled his classic huge grin at her.

"You have a good time, Sandy!" Hamtaro cheered as he high fived her.

"Thanks, Hamtaro," Sandy replied and set a glance towards a blushing Bijou. She sighed and thought of how much she would miss this. Her friends. Her family. Even the way that Howdy and Dexter would fight over a candy cane during Christmas.

"C'mon, sis, one more hug?" Stan offered his sister with open arms. He had tried to hard not to cry, but managed to shed a few tears in the men's room anyway, according to Boss's account. Sandy felt puddles swimming out her eyes but quickly wiped them away.

"You idiot. You had at least, like, fifty hugs," Sandy giggled as she heaved her suitcase up from the floor. Everyone was boarding the plane now and her new agent was impatiently waiting for the waterworks to end.

"I'm your brother! And you are so overreacting," Stan sighed. He smiled and said smugly, "I only hugged you thirty times."

Sandy rolled her eyes, but already gave him a quick squeeze before throwing her purse over her arm. Stan looked at her with big, puppy dog eyes and held her arm.

"You know that none of us really wanted you to go," he started off slowly.

Sandy shrugged his hand off and replied bitterly, "Like, you know that I'm coming home for Christmas and stuff. Especially for our birthday-"

"Sis, our 15th birthday is in two weeks."

Sandy brought a hand to her mouth and softly gasped at how quickly she lost track of the time. She lowered her hand and slouched her shoulders. She felt so guilty right now, almost ready to slap herself for doing such a thing. Sandy really didn't know that her birthday- including Stan's- was in two weeks on June 6th and usually she would be forgiven for something like this, but now it was different. The next time that Sandy would actually come back to Japan, it'd be Christmas, a far ways away from any birthday festivity. The others felt this silence and each gazed off into separate directions as Sandy and Stan tried to work things out.

"Stan, you know that I'll give you your birthday present," Sandy whispered and patted his arm sympathetically. Stan had that same blank expression face imprinted onto his face.

"But it won't be the same," he complained. Sandy gave a reassuring smile.

"Remember our seventh birthday?" Sandy asked with a burning passion to bring this up. Stan's eyes widened in fright and he nodded meekly.

"Well, we made it without Dad and I'm sure that you can make it without me."

"But I'm right here-" Their father had eavesdropped, but he swiftly figured it out. "Oh, sorry. Not me. Yeah, I'll just… get out of this….Twin bonding… Moment… thing."

Stan and Sandy both looked at him before laughing a little. But just for a little. Stan sighed and rubbed his face before saying, "Sandy, I'm sorry. I'm the older one and I shouldn't be moping about, right? You have a good time in Colorado, say hi to all the cute surfers there for me."

"Stan!" Sandy laughed. "There are snowboarders and skiers in Colorado. Plus, I'm not going to the beach or mountains. I'm on the other side of the entire state."

Stan's shoulders seemed to droop at the thought of not much of a choice of girls in Colorado but Sandy continued, "But there are lots of girls in Denver. Like, total fans of 30H!3 and stuff so I'll tell them about your 'rapping' skills."

Stan grinned at her. "Awesome! If I can't get the sporty chicks over there, I'll totally have a shot at the musical babes. Dude, I so can't wait for you to leave now!"

Sandy raised an eyebrow as her agent tapped his foot impatiently.

"Ms. Torahamu. We are running on a tight schedule! You need to board the plane in about five minutes!" her agent barked, rapping his index finger on his digital watch.

"Hey, look, Sandy. We'll miss you so much," Alice said as Sydney and herself waited for the crowd to die down.

"Thanks, Alice. You too, Sydney. Especially for helping me get out of that awful school," Sandy chuckled. Alice laughed a little, but Sydney was pale white.

"Yeah, whatever. Calculus is too easy," Sydney hiccupped. Alice rolled her eyes at her friend and gave Sandy a quick hug. She let go and shot a glare at Sydney.

"Aren't you going to give Sandy a hug? After all, she did teach you how to play baseball." Alice laughed out loud at thinking of Sydney's "baseball" skills. She thought that Sydney had been more suited for a dodge ball team.

"She's had enough hugs. Give the girl a little space," Sydney sniffled. Sandy shrugged and lifted one gym bag before almost being knocked over in Sydney's bone crushing bear hug.

"Oh, S-Sandy! I-I'm going to- to miss you s-so m-much!" Sydney sobbed into Sandy's new sweatshirt. Sandy, still stunned of such an action, didn't hug until about five seconds later with her mind dazed.

"Ms. Torahamu!"

"Be right there," Sandy replied to her red-faced agent. Sydney still clung to Sandy's arms and cried all over the girl. Sandy sent a little face that meant "Please help me" to everyone and they all laughed. Alice quickly pried Sydney from Sandy, giggling the entire time. Sandy's father, out in the back for quite sometime now, moved forward up to her.

"Hey there, champ," he greeted with a big-toothed grin. Sandy returned the smile.

"Hey, Dad," Sandy replied quietly. It was very quiet then.

"So I guess this is it," she said. Her father nodded. Sandy sighed, but then smiled.

"What's so funny?" her father asked in a suspicious tone, looking down at his shirt and wiping his face if there was anything wrong with him.

"Nothing. I'm just imagining you trying to take care of Stan all by yourself," Sandy chortled.

Her father faked a shocked look and whispered quickly into her ear, "Thanks. Now you gave me more to worry about."

Sandy took it seriously and opened her mouth to take back what she said, but her father interrupted her. "Now I have to drag Stan away when he flirts."

"Don't you think I didn't hear that!" Stan called out in a joking matter.

Sandy and her father both laughed heartily and gave each other a quick hug. They swayed for a minute while others, ham-hams and strangers alike, gazed on and sighed happily, thinking that this was a right happy ending. Little did they know that something was missing…

"Remember that time when you went into kindergarten?" he whispered into her ear.

"Yeah. Darkest day of my life," Sandy shuddered, letting a smile curve her lips. Her father stopped hugging her and gave her a confused look.

"Darkest day of you life? The school was called "Sunrise Elementary School", I heard. What's so dark about that?" he teased.

Sandy moved her shoulders up and down. "It was the day that I learned that school was a torture prison."

Her father gave a musical laugh and shook his head. "But you met so many friends there."

"Sometimes I wish that I didn't even meet some of them…" Sandy said solemnly.

"But, Mama! I don't want to go to spool!" a little girl whined.

"Sandy, please. Just follow Mama and everything will be fine," her mother replied, still a little dazed from the car ride to the elementary school.

"Yeah! And it's called school, not spool, stupid! I bet that you're going to fail class!" Stan taunted. Sandy pushed him onto the ground.

"You're so mean!" Sandy cried. Stan brushed the dirt off of his jeans and shoved Sandy into a tree.

"You're so stupid!" Stan retorted.

"You're so evil!"

"You're so ugly!"

"Stan, we're iden-identi…"

"Identical twins, sweetums," her mother helped out. Sandy nodded and turned back to her brother. Stan turned away to go look for someone else to bother. Or better, go out looking for a girlfriend.

"I don't know why you even let them fight," a man said as he walked up to Sandy and her mother. He looked exactly like Stan and Sandy did, most likely their real father.

"They need to learn a few things about standing up. Plus, they argue all of the time," the mother explained. Then, Sandy ran up to them while pointing a finger behind her.

"Mama, Mama! Stan told me to get lost!" Sandy sobbed as hugged her mother's legs and pretended to cry. She cackled at the thought of Stan getting into trouble. Instead of her mother holding her hand and walking her to Stan, her father, the man next to her mother, swooped her up from the ground and set her on his shoulders.

"C'mon, rookie. We're going to teach Stan a lesson or two, am I right or am I right?" he laughed. Sandy laughed along with him and the two forged on their journey to look for Stan. But when they got there, Stan was talking to another kid who had orange and white hair. When he spotted his family, his eyes lit up and he called them over.

"Dad! Look, this is Hamtaro! He can shoot a spitball fifty feet! And I think that's really long!" Stan said excitingly as if he was face to face with Micheal Jordan.

"Eww! You guys are so sick!" Sandy squealed and leapt off of her father's shoulders. She didn't even look back, for she was afraid of one of Hamtaro's spitball's flying her face. She ran inside the school and was ready to enter a classroom when-

"Ooof!"

Sandy flew backwards and flung into a wall. She clutched her head and she moaned in pain, completely forgetting the person she ran into. Her head was still throbbing, but not because of her skull slamming into the wall, it was because something else hit her forehead. She was thankful that it wasn't bleeding though and looked over to the left to see a picture book.

"Can I please have my book back?" a voice asked.

Sandy's head jerked up to see a boy sprawled on the floor trying to get up from the collision. Sandy took the book into her arms and extended her arm out for him to grab it. The boy looked up and smiled, taking the book and clutching it to his side. Sandy returned the smile easily.

"Hi, I'm Maxwell. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," the boy greeted, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Oh, it's totally cool!" Sandy cheered, waving it off with a brandish of her hand.

Maxwell turned his head to the side and inquired, "Totally?"

Sandy nodded her head. "Yup! I totally like to say… Um, totally!"

"Oh, it just doesn't seem right without the word 'like'," Maxwell chuckled. This time, Sandy was the one who was confused.

"Like? I'm supposed to say 'like'?" Sandy repeated. Maxwell nodded happily and Sandy decided to try it out. "Um, like, that was totally cool!"

"Hey, that was pretty good! See, it works better, doesn't it?" Maxwell said, impressed with his advice.

"Totally! I mean, like, totally!" Sandy laughed. Then, her dad turned around the corner and he looked overjoyed to see her. Her father ran over to her and gave a great bear hug that was enough to cut off Sandy's circulation.

"Aw, Sandy! I'm so glad I found you!" her father hollered into her ear. The sound was ringing in Sandy's eardrums right now. Her father then set her down as fast as he picked her up and scolded, "I don't want you to run off again, you hear me, missy? You're in a lot of trouble and school is about to start!"

"But, like, I found a new friend! His name is, like, Maxwell," Sandy introduced and Maxwell gave a sheepish wave with his book. Her father looked from her to Maxwell and back, eyebrows furrowing together.

"Like?" he said at last.

"Totally!" Sandy and Maxwell giggled in unison. Her father gave them both a funny look before beckoning them over to walk to class.

"You ready, Sandy? Maxwell?" he asked the both of them as he opened the door to their classroom.

"Affirmative!" Maxwell called out, lifting his book into the air excitingly.

"Well, cadet, move out!" Sandy's father joked and Maxwell bobbed his head up and down. He quickly ran inside, but stopped at the doorway to wait for Sandy.

"Sandy…" her father hummed sarcastically, waiting for his daughter to say something.

"Uh, what he said," Sandy mumbled and hopped through the doorway. Maxwell gave her a quick smile and Sandy turned her head away, not knowing why. The bookworm shrugged and took a seat. But he didn't know that Sandy slowly looked up and shyly grinned at him.

She already liked him.

"Why do you wish that you never met some of them?" Sandy's stepfather asked in shock.

"Long story short, I met a few people, thought they were my friend, but turns out they weren't," Sandy muttered bitterly, making a mad dash for her possessions. The plane was boarding the last few people and Sandy didn't want her agent's head to explode from the waiting. Facing everyone's sad expressions, Sandy knew that she looked exactly like them, maybe even worse. However, this was her dream and she always wanted to fulfill it. It was what she always worked for, what she threw in her blood and tears for. She was glad with her decision, her decision to make her family grin proudly whenever she would be mentioned and she was determined to make that a reality. Her heart felt was complete except for what felt like an empty, black hole in the middle of it.

"Oh, Sandy. Some guy wanted to give this to you," Sandy's agent said in a monotone, not sounding interested at all. He handed her a tiny basket, the kind for gift baskets, but it had a bouquet of roses in it, Sandy's favorite kind of flowers. Giving him a puzzled look, Sandy slowly took out the roses to get a bunch of "ooooohh's" from Bijou and Pashmina. Sandy stuck her tongue at them for her friend's excessive giggling to cease. She then whipped out a Milky Way bar. The object bewildered everyone else, but Sandy knew perfectly well what it meant and it made her give a soft laugh despite the sad memories.

Next, Sandy unearthed a frayed, dusty old baseball cap. Sandy's lip twitched at the familiarity. She thought that she had seen that some place, she was sure of it. Letting it go, Sandy gasped at what else was in the basket.

Slowly, and very carefully, Sandy cradled her mother's red ribbon in her hands. Tears emerged in her eyes and Sandy held it close to her stomach seeing as it was in perfect condition. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment as Sandy let the others look.

"Whoa, what's that?" Oxnard asked after popping the last of his snack into his mouth.

"It's my mother's ribbon. To tie up my hair, you know?" Sandy was sure that this was a dream, it was basically a miracle that she had retrieved it.

"It looks great!" Pashmina squealed, clapping her hands in gratitude that Sandy found it.

"Yeah…" Sandy couldn't find her voice right now, she was so happy. Quickly, she wound the ribbon to fit her ponytail's shape. Pulling on the two loose ends, the ribbon tightened on her hair and Sandy cast a wide grin. It already felt like it meant there, the warmth on her head was so noticeable.

"Sandy, looks like you got a note," Hamtaro noticed and pointed to the almost empty basket. Sandy wrinkled her eyebrows together and, with a shaking hand, lifted the note up to her face while Bijou and Pashmina led everyone else away for privacy. Sandy sent them a telepathic "Thank you" and opened the note. The handwriting seemed to be flawless, something that sent chills down Sandy's spine at seeing scribbles like this before.

Dear Sandy,

I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to make you feel that bad, but at least you're moving on. I'm proud even if you'll never notice what I'm writing. Good luck.

It wasn't signed, but Sandy perfectly knew whom it was from. And her heart nearly stopped when she read the P.S part of the letter.

P.S. Sorry I couldn't come to the big "Bon Voyage". The doctor said that I needed to rest a few days before I could be released out of the hospital. No need for alarm, just next time, make sure that you don't get lost in a bunch of warehouses while being stalked by, oh, I don't know, three or four drunk men and have to wait for an "angel" to come by and save you. I'm sure that the angel wasn't that fit and he needs to rest. ; )

Sandy gripped the paper tighter and was crushing the margin's ink before her agent, with a concerned look on his face, gripped her shoulder.

"Ms. Torahamu, you have to board the plane now," he ordered and Sandy whisked around to the ham-hams and her family.

"Bye, everyone! I'll see you soon!" Sandy yelled over to them.

"We'll miss you!" Hamtaro promised.

"Oui! I cannot vait to see you again! Au revoir!" Bijou waved, tears in her sapphire eyes and Hamtaro gave her a reassuring hug.

"Take care, Sandy!" Boss said as he gave Sandy a stinging slap on the back.

"Ookyoo, ookyoo!" Penelope squeaked, being the little girl she was.

"She says bye too!" Pashmina translated. "See you, Sandy. "

"Be cool at the Olympics for us, all right?" Panda told her.

"Go for the gold!" Oxnard cheered on.

"Just don't panic and you'll be fine. Now get back in line…"

"Be quiet, Jingle, and just say something that doesn't involve rhymes. Bye, Sandy!" Cappy scolded and then gave Sandy a quick grin.

"Ya'll are gonna make me cry!" Howdy gasped while putting a hand to his heart.

Dexter rolled his eyes and said, "That's how Howdy says 'goodbye'. But will miss you, Sandy, really we will."

"Goodbye! Have fun in Colorado!" they all chorused at last.

Stan stepped forward and whispered, " 'Lil sis. I guess I can't call you that anymore. I'll see you around. Make me proud, you here me? Or I'll hunt you down."

Sandy flashed a brilliant smile at her brother and her friends. Her father winked at her and she giggled. Sandy gave a quick wave at them before boarding the plane, ready to take this life to the next level.

And for the first time in about a week, she was blushing as she thought of him and she couldn't wait until-

Well, that's another story.

OH, GLORY HALLELUJAH! I'M FINISHED, I'M FINISHED! HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, I'M FINISHED!!!!!

Now, a special thanks to all of my kind reviewers:

SonicHam794: I haven't really heard from this guy lately, but he was the first one EVA to review this story! He's an awesome guy to get to know. Thanks so much!

Duckie P.O.V: WHERE THE HECK DID EVERYONE GO?! Ha, well he gave me so much feedback that has rocketed the quality of my writing. Which isn't high, but it's a start! Thanks a bunch!

DolphinGoddess 17: OMG, WHAT WOULD HAVE I DONE WITHOUT MY BETA?! She's awesomely awesome and I owe every grammar and punctuation mark fix to her. Plus, she totally helped with my writing and the way I think. YOU'RE THE BEST, DG 17!

HamtaroXbijouLover: Aw, he just makes me want to cry sometimes. He's way too nice and such a big fan which totally gives him a round of applause. WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THE WORLD AND READING THIS, YOU TOTALLY MADE MY DAY WITH YOUR REVIEWS! BESIDES, HE INCREASED MY HxB FANDOM! THANKS SO MUCH!!!

Mele LiSun: One of the best reviewers that just lifted my heart. Wherever you are, I owe you, like, a million thanks.

xxPurpelicious: The one who made me keep writing in the beginning chapters if you will. She was some of my inspiration in this and now that I think of it, I really couldn't have done this without her. THANKS, PURPEL!

Papayas Say That's Kooky: This was the amazing guy who gave me a "STOP WITH THE SAPPY AND GET TO THE REAL PARTS OF THE FRICKING STORY!" slap. I needed his review and critisim or else this story would be a wreck. (Not saying that it already isn't…) Awesome job, dude, I'll be sure to change my writing.

Heaven-Sent SilverAngel: He-he-hea-heav *slaps herself* HEAVEN-SENT SILVERANGEL SENT ME A REVIEW?! OMG, IT'S WRITERS LIKE HER THAT MADE ME KEEP GOING WITH THIS! *STARTS TO BURST INTO TEARS* THANK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!!!

Chipmunk4ever: She's so sweet for sticking to my stories. Once again, I just want to burst into tears for all of her kind reviews. She is one of the people who was my inspiration for this story and you just got to love the way she'll say that this was a good story. Like, thanks so much!

Lizadeth: I'm so, so, so glad that I could actually impress you with this story. I'm not the best writer around, but it's people like her that always manage to lift by heart a little. Yay! Kudos to you!

ChargingFowardBlind: STARDOM ALERT! A great reviewer, a great writer, and a great friend, she always managed to cheer me up. Especially with those kind reviews and her excellent stories! OMG, OMG, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Ham Luver: It's so nice to see that some people who don't have a FanFiction account (But I hope you do!) still review my stories even if they think that it isn't a big deal. Thanks, Ham Luver, wherever you are!

Chezgurl7: This was the first story you ever read?! OMG, OMG, OMG! ~reviewers slap Laura~ Sorry, but I was so overwhelmed by that! Did it really catch your attention like that? Oh, dang… Well, to answer your question, you can upload stories by typing them up on Microsoft or whatever writing program you have, log onto FanFiction, go to "Document Manager", and download your work right there! Sorry to get to your question so late, but I believe that I sent you a PM before saying all of that. Anyway, thanks again for your review and sticking to this story! Love it!

Anonymous: I honestly don't know who this guy/girl is, but thanks so much for reading my story! You don't know how much I appreciate it! THANK YOU!!!!

And a big "THANK THE DEAR LORD THAT YOU READ THIS" to all of my readers. This was my most popular story and remember that I'm planning a sequel… if you want it. And if you want it, mention it in your review! Please tell the truth otherwise, I think that I'll give up writing forever. (JK, but please review)

JUST SO EVERYONE KNOWS, HamtaroXbijouLover HAS BEEN ON HAITUS SO YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIS AWESOME STORIES, GOT THAT, SOLDIER?!

THANKS AGAIN! BYE-Q, EVERYONE!

-sxmfan :3

*Laura ;)