█▓▒▒░░░ Fat Chance ░░░▒▒▓█

"Guys! Guys!" Milton called as he rushed down the stairs, making Olivia turn around with a smile.

"Wanna know who just won the district-wide spelling bee?" He asked. Jerry shook his head in response, leaving Olivia wondering if he didn't want to know or just didn't know.

"Here's a clue. M-E." Olivia smiled and closed her locker.

"Meh?" Jerry asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Olivia snorted as her forehead thumped against her locker. "Dear God."

"It's 𝘮𝘦, you toad." Milton sassed with an unimpressed look.

Olivia smiled, "Congratulations, Milton. I knew you could do it."

Milton smiled back. Olivia was always happy for him and his successes, even if she wasn't in the best of moods.

She valued the ones she cared for over herself. Sometimes, that was a good thing, but at other times, it was destructive. She'd crumble for her friends any day.

"What is that?" Eddie asked while pointing to the small figure in Milton's hand.

"It's the trophy I won. It's a bronze bee." Milton tapped it with a finger.

"Is it actual bronze?" Olivia continued the conversation as she looked closer.

"Yeah! Well... probably not, but who cares?" Milton shrugged.

"I've got fillings bigger than that thing." Kim scrunched her nose, and Olivia muttered an "𝘦𝘸” and side eyed her.

"I rode a little filly named 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 all the way to the finish line." Milton galloped and pretended to have a lasso.

"Now come on, who's the man?" Milton grinned as he held out his arms. "Who's the man?"

"JACK IS THE MAN!" The principal shouted as he walked into the corridor.

"Jack! Jack! Jack!" Kim, Jerry, and Eddie all walked away with interest, deciding to chant with everyone else.

Olivia could understand Jerry joining the crowd. The man child has the attention span of a bee or goldfish — rounded to 3 seconds — but Kim and Eddie leaving an ecstatic Milton was a bit of a shock and pure rude.

Milton's face fell, making Olivia pout. She wrapped her arm around Miltons waist, hand landing on his upper back as she gave him a smile of sympathy. He mimicked the action, hugging her and sadly smiling, not having enough energy but to leave his arm hanging on her lower back.

"Now, thanks to Jack's routine, we've won our first gymnastics trophy in 15 years!" The principal announced.

Olivia clapped in celebration but couldn't bring herself to widely smile like she normally would. When her best friend was down, she was too, even if she tried to make it better.

"It wasn't really a routine. I was just trying to move fast enough so no one would notice I was wearing a unitard." Jack brushed it off.

"You know I just won the first spelling bee the school has ever-"

"Hey, show us what you did to win, Jack!" Eddie interrupted. Olivia's eyebrows drew together as her lip frowned even more.

The emotion on her face couldn't be determined because Olivia didn't know herself. It wasn't quite disgust, but Eddie's lack of interest made a pit pool in her stomach.

She never noticed how shallow her friend could really be.

Everyone cheered and cleared a path. Olivia, her heart churned at Miltons' heartbroken look.

It physically pained her.

"Sometimes people think that strength is better than brains." Milton turned at her words, still willing to give her attention with his teary eyes

"I disagree."

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

"So you didn't notice a 600-pound custodian, but you did notice when Donna Tobin changed her ponytail from left to right?" Kim asked Jack as the group walked to the dojo.

"Okay, first. It was right to left." Jack sassed and held up his finger to stop her, "Second it wasn't a ponytail. It was a French braid."

Olivia rolled her eyes, but her smile remained. "And third. Maybe if that custodian had legs like Donna Tobin or Olivia, I would have noticed him too!"

Olivia froze and looked wide-eyed. Jack didn't seem to notice what he said, but everyone else did. Jerry, Milton, and Eddie's eyebrows rose in sync, and Kim glared at the ground with a scoff.

She didn't like Jack's attention being on Olivia.

With a deep breath, Olivia quickly walked away and into the dojo, her chest tightening and face burning with a concerning amount of heat. She took a deep breath before rummaging through her bag for her clothes.

"Anyway, since the stores closed, a storage space opened up in the basement directly below us. I finally have a place for all my stuff."

"It's about time. This place is getting pretty cluttered." Eddie commented.

"It is not."

"Rudy. This place looks like a crazy old cat lady lives here." Kim countered.

"Okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration." Rudy held up his finger.

Just as the words left his mouth, Olivia opened a locker. She let out a yelp as stuff tumbled out and almost onto her.

"𝘔𝘦𝘦𝘰𝘸."

Olivia gasped as an orange cat with a purple collar crawled out of the locker and over the pile.

"Okay, that is not my cat."

Olivia smiled as she slowly walked forward. She stretched her hand out, and the cat touched its nose to her finger. Everyone let out an "𝘢𝘸𝘸” as the cat brushed its head to her hand.

She carefully picked it up.

Rudy strode by with his red wagon, "Are you coming, Tip-Tip?"

The cat meowed in decline and rubbed its head into Olivia's cheek.

"Traitor." Rudy hissed.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

"You know when someone does something great, saves a life... or wins a spelling bee," Olivia turned as she heard Milton's voice. She walked over and stood beside Jack — who turned to her and smiled.

"they should get some recognition." Milton knocked on the door three times.

After seeing no one answer, he knocked again, this time nonstop. Jerry lightly shoved past him and opened the door, his jaw dropping as he took in what was on the other side.

"Whoa..." they all awed.

"Do you know what this means?" Jack asked.

"I know exactly what this means." Jerry started. "Our custodian's the king of the babies."

Olivia giggled and turned to Jack. She lowered her head against his shoulder, her own shaking, and she quietly cackled.

Jack smiled and pressed his lips together.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

Olivia sat at her usual spot in the cafeteria. Her smaller table that could fit four people comfortably, herself included.

She had split herself from her friends after she shoved her face into Jack's chest. She also didn't feel like researching a sumo wrestler.

She gasped as her table shook. It only took a second before another pound rattled her. Her tray shifted closer to her, and she quickly grabbed it and moved it away from her drawing.

Another shake raddled her table and chair. She gasped as her drink fell over and spilled onto her lap. She quickly grabbed it and stood up.

She looked up to see Jerry quickly stand back up as the principal rushed in. He had a mop of spaghetti noodles on his head and his pink shirt.

"Look what you did!" The principal seeth.

"I'm sorry, sir." The custodian apologized, "We were just having a little fun."

"Oh, fun? I didn't hire you to jump around like some hopscotching hippo." He insulted.

"I got this." Milton stepped in, "Mr. Nakamura would like you to talk to him with a little more respect."

"So, I don't talk to you with respect, huh?" The principal asked while grabbing the spaghetti off his head and tossing it on his plate with a wet 𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵.

"Actually, I said-"

"This man used to be a hero," Milton interrupted, "So he doesn't even need this job."

"Really?"

"No, I really need the job-"

"He demands you to apologize to him right now."

"Really?" Mr. Nakamura opened his mouth but only sighed.

"Here's my apology." The principal smiled, "Nakamura... You're fired!"

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

"Hello, Milton." Olivia smiled from her spot on the bench as he walked in the dojo.

"Hello, Liv."

Olivia blushed and ducked her head down as her eyes met Jack's.

"Hi."

"Hi."

Olivia looked up bashfully and bit her lip. Jack's eyes flickered before he smiled back.

"Guys, group meeting." Rudy saved.

Olivia quickly sat her art supplies down and hopped up. She could feel Jack turn to her but ignored it in favor of taking a deep breath to prevent an anxiety attack for the eyes on her.

"Um, why is Weepy McHugie still here?" Rudy asked.

"The guys been through a lot, Rudy. We found out why he gave up Sumo and left Japan in shame."

"Sixty-five wins in a row. Then some rookie struts in and throws him out of the ring like a moldy pear." Eddie chimed in.

"You guys hiding pears over there?" Nakamura asked.

"There's no pears, darlin'." Kim told him.

Olivia rushed back to her book bag and grabbed her lunch box. She crouched down and dug through it, fully aware of the pair of eyes on her face.

She pulled out the green fruit and hesitantly walked to Nakamura. She held out the pear — with a slight shake in her hand — and he took it with a nod in thanks.

She quickly rushed back to Jack and Milton with her head ducked and fingers scratching the back of her hand.

She jumped as Jack laced his hand with hers before she smiled at the ground. His warm hand contrasted against her cold one. His thumb rubbed over the red patch of irritated skin, attempting to soothe her.

"And if that wasn't bad enough, he lost all his life savings." Jack smiled.

"Wow, how'd he do that?" Rudy asked even though it seemed he didn't care.

"He went on a game show called 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦-𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨?"

"Fix this," Rudy pointed to Nakamura, "Once the food runs out, we're gonna look tasty to that guy."

"Hey guys, I got an idea," Jack announced as he lightly pulled Olivia with him.

"Nakamura, Milton was right. You're not a custodian, you're a champion. And with help, you'll get there again."

"I told you that was a long time ago. Why do you guys believe in me?"

"We live by something called the Wasabi code. That means we never give up on each other, " Jack smiled. "We just gotta find a way to get you back on the horse."

Jerry made a face. "Jack, I think it'd probably be safer if the horse got on his back."

Jerry turned and made a face of panic as his eyes locked with Nakamura.

A strangled laugh came from Olivia, and she turned away. Her head, once again to her embarrassment, pressed into Jack.

"But uh… you know. Either way."

"Wasabi?" Jack put his hand out. Eddie immediately followed along with Olivia. Everyone trailed behind.

Nakamura placed his larger hand on top of everyones.

"Wasabi."

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

Olivia was sitting at home with her sister. Her mother was out at the bar and her father... Well, her father was a different case.

Her father had left when she was six. Since then, Olivia had developed a severe case of anxiety and trust issues. It was the main reason she was a loner and didn't like talking to people.

Her baby sister gurgled and uttered something.

"What?" Olivia whispered, hopefully, for her first words.

"Ma-ma."

Olivia's heart stopped, and tears filled her eyes, "No, baby, ma-ma's not here."

Sunny giggled and clapped. Her hand reached out and grabbed Olivia's hair.

"Ma-ma."

She let out a strangled sob.

"Yeah." Her voice cracked.

"I'll be your ma-ma."

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

Olivia walked into the dojo late. The crowd was chanting, and Nakamura was nowhere to be found. She walked up to the familiar curly black hair.

"Where's Nakamura?"

Jerry let out a girlish scream and turned around.

"Oh, it's just you. Yeah, he ran away when he saw the guy he was fighting." Jerry cleared his throat.

Olivia frowned and scanned the crowd, "Where's Jack?"

Jerry smirked, "Loverboy is in Rudy's office."

Olivia blushed before noticing something.

"Uh, Jerry...?"

"Yeah?"

"Is that Milton?"

Jerry quickly turned around. "Oh, oh my..."

Olivia took a few steps back before rushing to the office.

"Guys!" Olivia opened the door.

"Olivia?" Jack turned, having already recognized the voice.

"You've gotta see this." Jerry chimed in from over her shoulder.

Jack was quick to get up and rush out of the room, grabbing her hand as he ran past her.

Milton charged at the Sumo wrestler only to bounce off his belly and crash to the ground.

He quickly stood up and wiped his face. He charged again with his hands out. He tried to push his stomach but utterly failed.

"Come on, Milton!" Rudy called.

Milton fell to the floor in front of his feet.

"Come on!" Kim shouted.

"You're little kangaroo baby has the heart of a lion. Go out there and take it!" Jack slapped Nakamura on the ass.

"Oh! Wow," Jack immediately responded. "Skin on skin... 𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘸𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘳𝘥."

Milton rushed around and jumped on his back with a chokehold. However, the sumo wrestler twisted and turned and threw him behind.

Milton quickly scurried between his legs and bumped Nakamura's arms.

"I got this one, Milton."

The two men squatted in a ready position before tackling. They pushed and prodded, both staying in the ring before Nakamura threw him to the floor outside of the circle.

Olivia let out a cheer and jumped with a smile. Her hands clasped together as she smiled.

"Milton, that was crazy! Why would you do that."

"I don't know. Someone has to do something." Million shrugged.

"That was amazing!" Olivia beamed.

"I would have never done that!" Jack bragged. "That guy's the size of a brontosaurus."

"Roar!" Olivia mocked with t-rex arms..

"You know what this means?"

"He has a second brain that controls his tails?" Million guessed.

"No, Milton. It means you're a hero!" Olivia smiled.

"You inspired Nakamura to get his confidence back. You were awesome!" Jack grinned.

"Really guys?"

"Yes!"

"Yeah!"

Olivia and Jack exchanged a glance.

"And you know what else is awesome?" Jack looked down, his face falling from the smile. "Pants. Seriously, dude, put some on."

Jack grabbed Olivia's hand, which she blushed at, and pulled them over to the others.

"Nakamura stomp!" Jerry chanted.

"Nakamura stomp! Nakamura stomp!" Soon everyone joined in as Nakamura raised his left foot and crashed it to the floor.

Kim and Rudy wobbled back, and the floor shook.

He raised his right foot and stomped on the Wassabi mat.

Olivia and Jack stumbled back, his hands catching her hips as she bumped into him. Her face turned beet red, but she didn't pull away.

He stomped his right foot again, and Jack tightened his grip on her.

Nakamura finally jumped and, to everyone's surprise, fell through the floor.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

Olivia's red pencil moved rapidly across the page as she rounded the corner. She gasped as green and purple rammed into her, knocking her down.

Her sketchbook tumbled from her hands, and torn out pages flew into the air as the art supplies she carried clattered all over the floor.

For a moment, she remained in shock before a voice called out.

"Olivia!"

She looked up to see the familiar eyes of Jack. She quickly snapped out of it as she rushed to gather her stuff, carelessly throwing it into her art pouch. She slowly stood as she gathered all of the remaining items.

Jack had her sketchbook in his left hand, and the lost papers stacked on top of it. In his other hand, he held a piece of paper. Different colors shined through the other side, and she blushed as she realized he was in awe.

She swiftly snatched her sketchbook back, and she flipped through the papers that lay on top, checking for smudges or tears.

"Wow. This-this is really good!" Jack smiled as his fingertips trailed down the faces and people on the page. He paused as he stared at the person on the far right of the page.

𝘏𝘪𝘮.

"I-I-um, thanks." She quietly stuttered.

"Can I keep it?"

Olivia froze for a second, her mouth opening and closing.

"Only if that's fine with you-"

"Keep it!"

She blushed at her hurried answer.

"I can, uh- always draw something else."

Jack grinned. "Thanks. I'll treasure it forever."

Olivia bit her lip and watched him walk away, along with the drawing of him, Jerry, Milton, and Eddie sitting at the lunch table on their first day.

Maybe meeting new people isn't so bad.

░▒▓▆▅▃▂▁𝐅𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞▁▂▃▅▆▓▒░