Part III
Al's Waiter was cleaning up the counter of the diner when the phone jangled. In a bored voice, he picked it up. "Heeeelllooo?"
A female voice came from the other end. "Is this Al's Waiter?"
"Obviously. Whaaaaat dooooo yoooooou waaaaaannnt?"
"I'm calling about the food I ordered from your restaurant. It's cold!"
"Well duuuuuhhh. This is Aaaall's slooooow foooood."
"I find that no excuse! I expect the food to be warmer than that! Now what do you expect to do about it?"
"Loook laaaady, I dooon't caaare. Now goood-ni-"
"Wait! I know how you can make up for it!" the woman cried out suddenly. She grinned. "Why don't you come over for awhile, and...well...you know..."
Al's Waiter stood there for a moment, phone to his ear. "Whaaaaaat?"
Al's voice rang out from the kitchen. "What!"
The woman continued. "It's just that I'm so lonely, and you're not such a bad guy. Come on, give us a chance!"
"I dooon't knooooow..."
"Please? We would have so much fun! Warm things up, you know?" Giggles came from the other end of the phone line.
"Weeeelll...I gueeess soooooo, where doooo yooooou liiiive?"
The woman let out a shocked noise and suddenly burst out laughing. That's when the phone went dead.
Al's Waiter frowned. "Heeey, cooome baaaack! I waaaaant toooo knooooow wheeeere yoooou liiive!"
AndrAIa could no longer speak, and fell on the floor, laughing. The phone hung up, and everyone else was cracking up. The phone had been on speaker, and they had all heard the prank phone call she had done with Al.
"That was hilarious!" Dot gasped, falling against the couch.
Bob and Ray were utterly speechless, and Mouse and Hexadecimal were cracking up on the floor.
AndrAIa finally sobered up and said, "Okay, it's your turn, Dot!"
Dot looked shocked. "Mine?!"
"Yes! Now go!"
Dot grinned and reached for the phone. The phone was something Mainframers rarely use, though everyone had it. Now, sprites and binomes used vidwindows, but when you wanted to be anonymous, you used the phone. She dialed something, and they all waited.
Phong was just cleaning up before logging off, when the phone jangled. Frowning, he reached for it. "Hello? Principle Office?" A familiar voice came from the other end of the line, only lower and with an attempt accent. But since he was so asleep, he didn't notice.
"Yes, hello, is this Phong?"
"Why, yes it is. Can I help you with something?"
"Yes. Um, about those female bouncers you ordered to come in tonight, I just wanted to let you know that three of them are sick, you're going to have to make do with seven bouncers. I hope that's okay with you."
Phong paused for a moment, totally taken aback. "Excuse me, but I did not order for seven female bouncers to come to the Principle Office, you must have the wrong number."
"Well, actually, you ordered for ten bouncers, but three are sick."
"What?"
"You're name's Phong, right?"
"Yes." "And you live in the Principle Office, right?"
"That's right."
"Well then, we have the right number."
Phong was confused and angry now. "What!"
"What!" Al's voice rang out from nowhere.
Matrix didn't get much sleep, mostly spending his time tossing and turning around. Amazingly enough, he must have drifted off, because he was awakened by a knocking at his door.
Grumbling, he climbed out of bed and walked down to the front room. He was dressed in his pajamas like as if he never had to get dressed when 'Dot' appeared, only this time they were different. Matrix stepped up to the front door and pulled it open.
Mouse was standing there.
Matrix frowned at her. "Mouse?"
She walked in, shaking her head. "I am only the representative of Mouse. You may call me-"
"Mouse?"
She looked at him, horrified. "No way! Why would I want a name like that? Honey, you have got to be kiddin'! You can call me..." she thought for a moment. Matrix rolled his eyes. "You may call me Hacker."
Matrix frowned. "Okay..."
'Mouse' (let's just call her that, shall we?) grabbed his arm. "Come on! We've got places to go and things to see, so we can't just stand around like this! Come on!"
"I need to get dressed-"
"Oh sugah, you've never looked hunkier! I tell ya, a white tank and boxers with Pokeballs on them turns a woman on!"
Matrix glanced down at his boxers. "Really? Usually I wear briefs, so this is a surprise-"
'Mouse' shook her head. "Honey, we need to get a move on! As much as I'd like to check out your briefs drawer, we've got to get moving!" She snapped a finger, and they vanished from the room.
Phong was getting impatient. "Look," he said, "I was just getting ready to log off. Can we discuss this some other time?"
"Sorry baby, but the bouncers are on their way right now. I suggest you get ready. I just sent them over."
"I did not order for seven bouncers!!!!!!"
"Actually, you ordered for ten, but three are si-"
"I KNOW!!!" Phong nearly blew up. "But I did not order any bouncers! I think you definitely have the wrong number, so why don't we just leave it at that?"
"But sir, it's even here on our papers. Phong, previous Command.com of Mainframe would like ten bouncers delivered to the Principle Office at today's date."
"Do not send them!"
"Okay, but because of the confusion and everything, I'm going to have to ask you that you're going to pay up full amount by tomorrow morning. Have a nice day!" The line went dead.
Matrix was surprised to find himself outside Dot's house, and he glanced around. "What are we doing here, 'Mouse'?" he asked, "This is Dot's place, my old home."
'Mouse' howled with impatience. "For the last time, call me Hacker! I only look like Mouse so that we can communicate easily!" It had been the fifth time she had to say that, and she started kicking at the ground and flying into a big fit. Finally, she managed to calm herself down and force her voice back to normal. "We are here," she said calmly, "so you will see what people are doing to celebrate an early Valentine's Day."
"At the girls' slumber party?"
"You'd be surprised." She snapped her fingers and they suddenly appeared inside the building in the front room. He was surprised to see not only the girls and Hexadecimal, but also Bob and Ray lounging around the room. He wasn't too worried about Bob, but Ray he wasn't too sure about. After all, he still looked at him like a threat sometimes.
Everyone was laughing at that time. "I can't believe you did that to Phong!" Mouse cried, hanging up the phone. "That was so funny!"
"I know!" AndrAIa agreed, "are we good, or are we good!"
"Okay, so who do we call now?" Hexadecimal asked.
"It's too bad you came," Ray said, "we could have prank called you."
"Ray!" Everyone cried, afraid Hex would blow up. But surprisingly, she didn't. Actually, she didn't quite understand what he meant, so she just smiled and shrugged.
"Not a bad idea," she mused.
AndrAIa quieted down first. "I sure wish Matrix were here," she said. "The party would have been...complete, you know? But he's not to excited about Valentine's Day like we are, so he might not want to come."
"Honey, Matrix doesn't know that Bob and Ray are here," Mouse spoke up, "so what's the point?"
Ray sighed and put his arm in a comforting way around AndrAIa. "It's okay," he said, "If he doesn't want to be here, he doesn't have to be."
Matrix growled. "You get your hands off her, Ray!" he said. Of course, no one could hear him, and he turned to 'Mouse.' "Mouse, what's going on?" he asked.
'Mouse' sighed exasparatedly. "Matrix, how many times do I have to remind you? Call me Hacker! Now, we are in the present. We are seeing what's going on right now, and this is what's happening. So you might as well shut up and listen because we're missing a lot of juicy stuff talking right now."
Matrix didn't argue with that. He couldn't have. He knew Mouse. Even though this really wasn't Mouse, he still didn't want to bother with it.
AndrAIa frowned. "I know. But I do miss him."
"Oh, don't worry, you have us," Dot said, "we're still your friends.
"I know that, but Matrix is too..."
Matrix looked at her, shocked. "Friend?" He asked, "Friend? Is that all she thinks of me?"
"Don't worry AndrAIa," Hexadecimal cooed, "we all love you."
"Yeah," Ray said, almost quietly.
"Okay you guys," Bob spoke up. "Here's a game idea. We all get together in different groups of two, right? Then we ask one person from each group a question about the other person, and we see if he answers the way his partner would answer. Does that...make any sense?"
"No," The others chimed.
"Well...it will. Now lets all form up together. Dot and I are a group, Hex and Mouse are one, and AndrAIa and Ray are one."
"Okay." The others formed their groups.
"Now," Bob continued, "Lets have AndrAIa and Ray go up first." He put AndrAIa and Ray together on the couch. "Now, I will ask AndrAIa a question about either her or Ray, and at the same time, Ray will write down his answer to the question. AndrAIa will then give her answer, and we'll see if your answers are the same. Get it?"
"I think," Ray said.
"Go for it," AndrAIa said.
"Those two couldn't possibly get anything the same," Matrix mumbled to himself.
"Now, question number one," Bob said. "This is directed to AndrAIa. Are you an organized person or a messy one?"
"Organized, of course," Matrix said. He wasn't even paying attention to the 'representative supposedly as Mouse'.
Ray secretly wrote his answer on a piece of paper.
"Organized, of course," AndrAIa grinned.
"Ray, what's your answer?" Bob asked.
Ray grinned. "Organized! Of course!"
AndrAIa let out a delightful shriek and hugged the surfer. Matrix started in surprise and was about to go over to them, only 'Mouse' stopped him. "They won't be able to hear you," she told him.
Matrix grumbled, and managed to keep from blowing up as he watched the rest of the game going on. He couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy whenever AndrAIa and Ray matched up an answer and they started hugging with joy.
After that game excitement was done, AndrAIa said, "Wow, this was so much fun! I've never had a game like that with Matrix."
"Sugah, you two are the cutest couple," Mouse pointed out, "I don't see why you two can't be happy."
"Yeah, I know," the game sprite agreed, "but sometimes, he's so gruff and mean to other people. I feel bad whenever he does. Sometimes I wish he would be more romantic, too. If he keeps on going the way he is, I say that this relationship isn't going anywhere. I might have to do something about it if he doesn't change."
"But you know Matrix," Dot spoke up, "that isn't easy."
"I know. But can't he at least become softer? The way he acts, it's hurting me sometime."
Matrix's gruff expression turned to one of shock and sadness. "AndrAIa, you...don't you love me?"
Hexadecimal nodded. "But...he is really hunky. Great looking a-"
"Okay!" Bob spoke up, "let's not talk about Matrix's body parts right now, it's just...not right. Maybe you girls can when guys aren't around, but with Ray and me here, it just wouldn't be...you know, right."
Mouse smiled. "Don't worry, you two have great tooshes too, and there's nothing to worry about."
The others chuckled, but AndrAIa remained silent, a sad, solemn expressionon her face. Matrix would have given anything to go up to her and comfort her, but he knew she wouldn't see him.
Ray suddenly sat next to AndrAIa and put his arm around her. "It's okay, AndrAIa," he said, "not all relationships are perfect."
AndrAIa smiled at Ray's attempt to make her feel better, and leaned her head against his shoulder.
That's when Matrix started to get angry. Turning to 'Mouse', he said, "What does he think he's doing? That's my girl he's hitting on!"
'Mouse' didn't answer. She only snapped her fingers, and she and Matrix were back in his house. Turning to him, she said, "Do you understand what you saw?"
Matrix glared at her. "You expect me to learn anything from that? What I saw ripped me apart! First, you representatives showed me all the dark parts of the past, hoping it would change me. Now you show me the dark and betraying parts that are going on right now, and you still expect me change? I don't think so!"
'Mouse' paused, and thought for a minute, suddenly sad and disappointing. "Well then," she said, "since you still refuse to change, you have only one chance left. He will be coming to show you more, but it will be your last chance to change your ways. I wish you luck and I hope you understand what we're trying to tell you by the end of the night."
"Why don't you just tell me straight out what you're trying to say?!" Matrix yelled, "I'm sick of playing guessing games!"
'Mouse' didn't answer. She just disappeared from thin air. "One chance left..." her voice echoed.