(Finally! A longer chapter)

Arabella's POV

"Gooch?" I say as Charlotte and I vigorously push the buttons on the monitor. Everything in the Man Cave was going haywire and nothing was working. Charlotte and I were trying to fix it, but nothing was working and it was just pissing me off. "Gooch, are you there?!"

"Gooch?!" Charlotte calls but instead we get a babydoll floating in outer space on the screen.

"Mama!"

"Okay, that is not Gooch." Charlotte points out and I sigh.

"What is wrong with this thing?!" I groan and continuing pushing buttons with Charlotte. "Gooch!"

Gooch appears on screen but it was staticky and we couldn't see him well.

"Go for Gooch."

"Where are Henry and Ray?" Charlotte asks.

I had no idea where they were, because my dad left without notifying me.

"There was an emergency at the Swellview mall." Gooch informs.

"Ooh, what happened?" Charlotte wonders.

"Santa Claus was running around without his red pants." Gooch explains.

"But it's not even Christmas." I reason with confusion.

"Weird, right?" Gooch nods.

"Your hot dog is ready."

Charlotte and I both groan when we hear the snack machine beep.

"Neither of us ordered a hot dog!" We both exclaim.

"You ordered a hot dog?" Gooch questions.

"No! The snack machine is still broken and acting all crazy!" I exclaim with irritation.

Gooch started to break up and we freaked.

"Gooch?!"

The screen got staticky again when we lost Gooch, and an alarm blared meaning my dad and Henry have returned.

We walked over to the tubes and only my dad was there.

"Hey, Bella and Charlotte." He greets, holding red pants.

"Hey." I greet and raise my eyebrow at the pants. "Are those Santa's pants?"

"Yeah."

Charlotte and I nod slowly and don't question it.

"So, where's Henry?" Charlotte asks.

"He's right-" My dad paused when he realized Henry wasn't present. "Huh, that's weird." He looks up the tube slot. "Henry? Come down!"

"I can't! My tube isn't working!"

"Okay, hang on." My dad pulls out the remote and presses a button, but the tube got stuck and shot back up. He kept doing this until Henry spike.

"Ray?"

"Yeah?"

"If you keep doing that I'm going to vomit."

"Your hot dog is ready."

Charlotte and I turned to the snack machine and it opened to reveal a small chihuahua, barking.

"Huh?" I say.

"What that?" Charlotte begins.

"Bella, I told you, you can't have a dog." My dad tells me. "And Charlotte, I've told you no pets at work."

"That's not our pet!" I exclaim.

"That's our lunch." Charlotte adds. "Which we did not order!"

My dad groans as he shuts the snack machine. "Arg! I thought I fixed that thing why doesn't it keep-" He got cut off when the couch started to spin and we all groan.

"No, why is that spinning?" Charlotte questioned.

"I don't know! Because it's broken!" My dad groans and continues to press buttons on the remote. "We've got to find a good repairman!"

The sprocket opened and my dad groans loudly, throwing down the pants. "Ahh! Not my sprocket, too! Gooch!"

He calls Gooch and he appears in the staticky screen. "Go for Gooch."

"Just get your tool box and come down here. We got a lot of stuff to fix." My dad complains with irritation.

"Ray, you know there is only one repairman who can fix things own there." Gooch tells my dad and I knew who that was.

"I'm not calling him." My dad snaps with anger.

"You need him, dad." I say.

"No, I don't need him and I will not let him back in my Man Cave!" My dad denies. "Bye!"

"Don't you press that but-"

My dad ends the call and sits there with anger in his eyes.

"Who were you talking about?" Charlotte asked.

"Schwoz." My dad and I say but he had hatred in his voice.

Schwoz and I got along well, until he betrayed my dad and he got banned from the Man Cave. He's like my crazy uncle that I don't have.

"What's a Schwoz?" Charlotte asked.

"It's this guy that used to work for my dad." I explained.

"He built most of this place." My dad gestures to everything and walks away from the monitors. "All this cool stuff. He developed the technology we use, built all the weapons and devices. Schwoz is a genius!"

"He sounds awesome." Charlotte mentions.

"He was." I smile, leaning on the couch.

"Well, awesome guys don't steal your girlfriend!"

Yep, Schwoz stole my dad's girlfriend and that ticked him off.

"Ooh." Charlotte says. "Wow."

"Yeah, that's what I said when I found out she'd been Schwoz'd!" My dad snaps.

The alarm blared again and we turn to see Henry get shot down the tube slot. He landed on the ground and we gasped.

"Henry!" Charlotte and I exclaim.

"Oh, man!" My dad said.

Henry stood up and looked at us. "That...that really hurt me!"

My dad's remote beeped and he looked at us before groaning. "Aw man!"

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Santa Claus jumped out of the police car and now he's running down Swellview Boulevard!" My dad explains.

"But... you have his pants." Henry reasons.

"Exactly." My dad says and grabs the pants. "Let's go!"

They go over to the tubes and press their belts, but only Henry's tube shot down. He got impatient and hit it multiple times.

"Come on!"

"Let's just both take my tube." Henry suggests.

"Alright." My dad agreed and joins Henry in the tube, hugging him. I sneakily snap a photo, but they see and glare.

"Hey!" They both exclaim and I giggle.

"My new screensaver."

Henry presses his belt, but the other tube shot down.

"Seriously?!"

"Geez!"

Charlotte and I both jumped when everything started to go haywire and the dog appears in the snack machine again, barking.

"You need to call Schwoz!" I order my dad.

"Never!" He declares.

"Who's Schwoz?" Henry asked.

"Oh, he's this guy who used to work for me a long- OW!" A tube shot down and hit my dad in the head and he glares up at the tube, groaning.

"Can you send that photo of them to me?" Charlotte whispers with a smirk and I nod.

"Why of course!" I chuckle and pull out my phone to send her the picture.

——

The following day, Charlotte and I were still trying to fix everything in the Man Cave, but nothing was happening. It kept malfunctioning and we both were getting irritated, and my dad wasn't being helpful at all.

All he was doing was pacing around, waiting for us to fix it. Does he really expect two thirteen year old girls to fix every piece of technology in here?

I think he needs to call Schwoz to fix everything, even if he hates him. Schwoz is actually a nice guy, he just so happened to steal my dad's girlfriend at the wrong time.

"Hey. I really wish the both of you would get this those things working." My dad blurts out and we turn to him with a heavy glares on our faces.

We hear a loud yell from the elevator and it opened to reveal Henry. He scurries to his feet and puts his backpack by the elevator door, before walking in.

"Hey, something's wrong with the dumb elevator." Henry mentions with annoyance.

"Why are you in such a bad mood?" My dad asks.

"Because I get kicked off my dumb basketball team!" Henry exclaims.

"Are you good at basketball?" I question with a small smile and I saw Charlotte grin with amusement.

Henry scoffs. "No."

I jump when the couch starts to spin and Henry and my dad move away, startled.

"Bella! Charlotte! You made the couch spin again!" My dad berates and I glare at him.

"Why don't you hop on it and take a ride?!" Charlotte snaps with threatening eyes.

Charlotte walked away and Gooch appears on the screen. "Ray, I found a repairman. He's on his way down."

My eyes grew and my dad was shocked.

"What? You can't just send some stranger down here until we have him checked out!" My dad protests and I walk away from the monitor.

"I got to go." Gooch ends the call quickly and we all hear the elevator doors open.

A tiny grin forms on my face when a familiar man walks out.

"Hey." Schwoz greets with a smile.

"Schwoz!" My dad and I say together, but he had hatred in his voice and I was happy.

"Get out!" My dad warns, walking toward him and I followed with Charlotte next to me.

"Come on, Ray." Schwoz says. "Don't be like that."

"I mean it." My dad snaps with gritted teeth. "Out of here."

"Hi, Schwoz." I smile and his eyes lit up.

"Arabella!" He reaches out to me, but my dad slaps his hand away.

"Don't touch my daughter!"

"That's Schwoz?" Henry asked.

"You just be new sidekick. Kid Danger." Schwoz shakes his hand, but my dad breaks them apart.

"Don't talk to Henry, and you keep your Schwoz cooties off of him and Bella!" My dad warns, menacingly.

"Come on, man." Schwoz sighs and walks toward the monitors. "It's been three years."

"Yeah, since you stole my girlfriend." My dad reasons and Schwoz leans on the monitor.

"If it makes you feel any better, I dumped her two weeks later." Schwoz states.

"Why would that make me feel better?!" My dad exclaims.

"Can I get something to eat?" Schwoz asked, changing the subject.

"You could. If that hunk-a-junk snack machine you built actual worked." My dad remarks to him.

"I check it." Schwoz offers and we follow him over to the machine.

"Don't order a hot dog!" Charlotte advises.

Schwoz put his hand on the machine and above it, a small tube popped out. He grabbed it and scanned the system, before tapping a few buttons and pressed the reset button that appeared on the screen.

"Now...would anyone like a nacho tower?" He smirks at us as the machine repeats his order.

"Nacho tower!"

The machine opened and he pulled out a nacho tower and I smiled.

"Woah!" I gasp.

"Nacho tower!" Henry beams with surprise and we both take a nacho.

"He fixes the Auto Snacker." Charlotte points out.

"I don't care." My dad shrugs and points menacingly at Schwoz. "You ruined our friendship and you're not going to fix that with a platter of-" He gazed at the delicious nachos. "Hot Mexican treats!"

"I forgave you a while ago!" I say and Schwoz smiles at me.

"Well, I forgive you." Henry adds.

"Me too." Charlotte nods, taking a nacho.

"Look, if you want me to leave, just tell me "leave." Schwoz simply states.

"Leave, leave, leave, leave, leave!" My dad exclaims.

"You want me to stay?" Schwoz wonders and my dad gives him a threatening fist, but I grab his arm to hold him back. "Because I could fix up all the broken schtuff around this place."

"Do it!" I encouraged.

"No!" My dad denies like a little boy who doesn't want to take nap.

"Let him fix the broken schtuff!" Henry argues and Charlotte and I nod.

"Alright! Fix the broken schtuff!" My dad reluctantly agrees with a frown and we all smile. "And give me a nacho!"

——

Later, Charlotte left and Henry, my dad, and I were sitting on the couch enjoying the nachos while Schwoz fixed up all the broken stuff around him.

"Now, who's ready for technological fun?!" Schwoz beams as he approached us.

"Yeah!" Henry and I nod and Schwoz stands under one of the tubes.

A tube encases him. "Up the tube!" He goes up the tube. "Down the tube!" The other tube shoots down and Schwoz goes down it.

"He fixed the tube!" I say and Schwoz rushes over to us.

"And I fixed the TVs and the sprocket!" He informs us. "And watch this!" He presses a button on his remote. "Security lasers: On!"

Suddenly, red lasers surrounded us and Henry and I stare at them in shock.

"Ooooo!" I chuckle.

"Ooh, lasers!" Henry laughs and touches a laser. "Ow."

"Security off." Schwoz turned off the lasers and hops onto the couch. "Smoochie music on!"

He presses a button a very slow and romantic song came on as the couch spun slowly. Schwoz began to dance and Henry and I nodded our heads to the beat.

"Smoochie music off!" My dad yells over the music and Schwoz turned off the music. Henry and I applauded Schwoz and his amazing work.

"Whoa!" Henry gasps. "He is impressive!"

"Yeah, yeah" My dad rolls his eyes as Schwoz sat down.

"Too bad you can't use your technical skills to make me a better basketball player." Henry jokes and I chuckle.

"Hey...who says I can't make you better basketball player, huh?" Schwoz asks with a smirk.

"I did." Henry remarks and his eyes grow. "Was I wrong?"

Schwoz nods and I grin softly.

——

"Cool sleeve." Henry mentions as Schwoz was putting a tight black sleeve on Henry's left arm. "Feels good."

"I've seen better sleeves." My dad mutters and I whack his arm.

"What are the goggles for?" Henry asks as Schwoz gave him some goggles.

"They are wirelessly connected to the sleeve with bloop-toop." Schwoz informs before turning away.

"Bloop-toop?" Henry repeats. "But I don't understand how-"

Henry was interrupted by Schwoz bringing out a floating basketball hoop and my dad and I stood.

"Whoa!" I giggle.

"I didn't know you had a hoop?" Henry states.

"Neither did I." My dad remarks with shock.

"And now..." Schwoz presses a button and a basketball drops down. He passes the ball to Henry. "Take this and shoot the basket."

Henry bounces the ball and was about to take a shot but Schwoz stopped him.

"Wait!"

Henry got startled and almost dropped the ball.

"What?" Henry asked.

"Close your eyes." Schwoz advises.

"But I need to see." Henry reasons.

"No." Schwoz shakes his head and Henry didn't reply. He shuts his eyes and tosses the ball into the air and it lands right in the hoop.

My mouth fell open and Henry as in shock. "What?!"

"That was awesome!" I laugh and gave Henry a hi-five.

"Let me try one." My dad smiles and goes over to the ball. He picks it up and throws it at Schwoz who docks and gawks at my dad.

"Hey. That's not what balls are for." Schwoz protests.

"Well, you shouldn't have kissed my girlfriend." My dad snaps.

Henry changes the subject and looks at Schwoz. "So, if I wear these goggles and this sleeve thing..."

"You will make basket every time." Schwoz finishes.

"Oh man, this is amazing!" Henry chuckles. "Thanks, Schwoz! I'm going to destroy that Shawn Corbit guy!"

"Let us celebrate with Smoochie music and whirly lights!" Schwoz beams and runs over to the couch. He turns on the music and dimmed the lights, making whirly lights flash around.

"Whoa! He made whirly lights!" Henry gasps but my dad was unamused.

Henry and I casually join Schwoz on the spinning couch and dance along with him.

——

The next day, Henry has he one-on-one with that Shawn Corbit guy, but my dad didn't want me to go. It wasn't because it was dangerous, it was because of Schwoz and he doesn't want me around him.

I was bummed, because I wanted to see Henry kick that Shawn guy's butt.

——

Henry didn't kick his butt, it was actually the opposite of that. Henry get his hurt whooped by the Shawn Corbit guy. I understood when Henry told me that it was actually a grown man that he was playing against and I wasn't as bitter about it. Anyway, it was the next day and Henry was telling us about why Shawn was playing basketball in the first place.

"Who's Lu Lu?" My dad questions Henry.

"Shawn's puppy." Henry answers. "She's a cockapoo."

"Wait a minute. So, you're telling me that your coach kidnapped Shawn's puppy..."

"A cockapoo!" Henry remarks.

"And now he's forcing Shawn to pretend he's fourteen years old so he can play in your junior high basketball team?" My dad summarizes as he slowly rises to his feet.

"That's messed up!" I say with disbelief.

"Crazy, right?!" Henry agrees.

"Yeah!" My dad nods.

"Coach won't give Shawn his puppy back unless our team wins the state championship." Henry explains and my dad pours himself a piece of gum.

"Ooh, you're chewing!" I grin with excitement.
"What're you going to do?"

He pops it into his mouth as he walks passed us. "There are two things I hate in the world and one of them is guys who kidnap other guys' dogs to make them do stuff!"

"That's very specific." I point out.

"What's the other thing?" Henry asked.

"Celery." My dad replies.

"Yeah!" I agree.

"It ruins tuna salad!" My dad complains.

"Ruins it!" Henry sighs and my dad blows the bubble.

——

My dad returned after saving Shawn's puppy and right now Henry was shooting baskets.

I grinned at him and he hi-fives me when he makes another.

"Whoa! Yeah!" He cheers and pats my dad's stomach.

The elevator doors open and Schwoz walked out. "Okay, I fixed the elevator."

"Good. Thank you." My dad says. "Now, leave my life."

Henry and I stare at a heartbroken Schwoz as he begins to leave. "Okay, boss."

"Dad..." I sigh.

"Stay out of this, Bella." My dad orders me.

Schwoz enters the elevator and gives us one last look of sorrow. "Goodbye peoples. Schwoz out."

The doors close and we turn to my dad.

"Great. What happens when something breaks around here? No one else can fix all this stuff." Henry points out and I nod.

"Too bad!" My dad grits and turns away. "He's gone."

The elevator doors open and we turn to see a smiling Schwoz. "I still here!"

Henry and I smile at my dad who groans loudly.

"All right, Schwoz! You can have your old room back!" My dad reluctantly agreed.

"Yeah! Baby!" Schwoz cheers and runs into my dad's arms, who throws him off.

"Get off! Never leap on me again!" My dad threatens and Schwoz nods.

Schwoz laughs with excitement and opens the sprocket before walking upstairs.

Once he was gone, Henry exhales.

"Alright, guys..." Henry removes his goggles. "Check this out." He takes off the sleeve and gives us a smug look. "No sleeve. Just the kid."

He bounces the ball and steps in front of the hoop. He tosses the ball into the air but it misses and it lands on a machine, causing it to break and spark.

We slowly turn our heads.

"Schwoz!"

——

Look, a longer chapter. Yay.

Heads up, one or two chapters may be cut from this season, but will be put in season 2. Like, Elevator Kiss may be cut from this season, because I have ideas for it. But, I might keep it in season 1 and just change it up for the sake of my story. I'll see😁