(Greentext) Denise's Advice

>The fallout from the "freshmen gala incident" was not what Denise anticipated when she left with Cody that night
>At first, the pair only received minor punishment for sneaking around behind the Clarks' backs, but more came when they found out what specifically happened at the dance
>After all, Cody had to fess up to his parents when he started getting bullied at school out of the blue
>Mr. Clark was disgusted at the thought of his son falling for his family's nandroid instead of a real girl, but Denise calmed him down by admitting that she was the one who initiated the kiss and that it was only part of a dance
>By doing so, she selflessly absorbed the majority of the blame directed towards Cody
>His torment at school, however, was worse than any punishment his parents could impose at home
>Even outside the school walls, his classmates and even students who weren't at the dance began spreading rumors that exaggerated the truth
>"One quick kiss on the dance floor" soon became "they made out on the dance floor", while others amplified it to "they had sex in one of the school bathrooms"
>Before he knew it, his once moderately sized friend group had shrunken down to only Chris, and even he started playfully teasing him
>Denise, however, had her own share of suffering to endure by the order of Mr. and Mrs. Clark
>Her non-uniform clothing privileges were once again revoked, and her designated gaming time was cut down to only two hours on Saturday
>Though the Clarks never found her secret clothing stash hidden behind Cody's bookcase, they were sure to punish her further if they saw those green striped gloves or that black dress again
>It seemed all the trust she rebuilt in the prior weeks vanished as quickly as in the aftermath of the "pot roast incident"
>She began to notice Mr. Clark entering and staying in every room that she and Cody were in, much like a nosy mother from the 1950s
>The only time she and Cody could speak in private were when his father was out of the house, and even then he was subtly giving her the cold shoulder as well
>He knew she was not the one actually doing the bullying, but she could tell he partly blamed her for starting it all
>No matter how polite she was to them, how well she cooked and cleaned, or how much she apologized, the Clarks didn't fully trust her anymore

>As she sat in the awkwardly silent car parked outside the high school, she pondered how she could regain the family's respect
>If apologies wouldn't win them over, maybe practical solutions to the problems she started could
>She felt Cody, her oldest and closest friend, had top priority over the rest of the family to appease, regardless of how much authority his parents had over her
>With that decided, she started thinking on how she could help him repair his shattered reputation
>She was too deep in thought to notice him approaching until he suddenly appeared at the locked passenger door
>He gave the handle a loud tug, snapping her out of her daydream as she pushed the unlock button in response
>He quickly threw himself into the car with a huff: the exact same manner he entered the car for the past two weeks
>"Hey," he grumbled as he fastened his seat belt
>Denise stared at him for a second with a halfhearted smile, searching his exposed skin for any bruises but thankfully finding none
>"Hey," she greeted in a worried voice, "Another bad day?"
>"Oh, what do you think?" he harshly snapped, "Every goddamn day since the gala has been a bad day."
>Her green eyes shot open at his angry tone, and his two young siblings in the backseat were equally surprised to hear him curse
>"I'm telling mommy you said the d-word!" Emma boldly announced from behind
>Denise glanced back at her, but returned her attention to Cody as if to say: "don't worry about her"
>"Sorry your day sucked," she said quietly, "but you shouldn't say stuff like that in front of Jack and Emma."
>He sighed, shot a quick look back at his younger brother and sister, then leaned his head towards Denise's "ear" to whisper something
>Jack sat up and mischievously tried to listen in on Cody's secret, but his older brother spoke quiet enough only for Denise's robotic hearing to make out
>"What?!" she asked him aloud in disbelief, "Do you know WHO might have written that?"
>He sat back in his seat and rubbed his forehead to relieve his minor stress headache
>"Probably Danny, that..." he hesitated as he held back another curse, "...guy who mocked us at the dance, if I had to guess. He's been teasing me the most since then. I just want to grab his neck and..."
>"-I understand, dude," Denise interrupted as she started the car, "and I think I know how you can make the bullying stop."
>Cody lifted his hand off his face in sudden interest
>"Really?" he asked, "I'm listening."
>As they came to a stop at the busy exit of the parking lot, she caught a glimpse of his face and saw his bitterness finally vanishing
>"How do you usually react when someone calls you... well... what's written on your locker?"
>He cleared his throat and nervously shifted in the car seat as recent memories flooded his mind
>"I get really mad and try to scare them away with threats?" he said as his uncertainty turned the answer into a question
>"But that hasn't worked so far, has it?" she asked, trying not to sound condescending
>"...No. It hasn't."
>"Cody," she dropped her casual demeanor and began lecturing, "that's exactly the kind of reaction they WANT to get out of you. You shouldn't get all pissed- sorry, angry when someone mocks you because provoking you is funny to them. In my opinion, you should return each insult with a laugh or even a self deprecating comment. It sends the message that you don't care, and once that becomes clear to your bullies, they're going to get bored of mocking you and things will soon die down. Make sense to you?"
>He slowly picked up his head after mentally turning her advice over
>'That's... not a bad idea, actually," he said, "and at this point, I don't have much to lose by trying anyway."
>Denise grinned and playfully slapped his shoulder as an automatic response, as if they were suddenly best friends again
>A surge of regret immediately rushed through her, lighting up her pink cheeks as she felt he wasn't yet ready for that kind of interaction again
>Instead of returning it with a dirty look, he seemed to shrug it off and even started grinning himself
>"Thanks," he sheepishly mumbled
>Now it was just a matter of helping him come up with some witty responses to counter anything his classmates could throw at him

>The following school day started out much like any other for Cody
>Still slightly groggy from having woken up too early, he filed down the busy hallways toward his locker
>He kept his head slightly low to avoid recognition, though he was well prepared in case anyone targeted him
>The rehearsals with Denise the prior afternoon put him at ease then, but a mild sense of doubt crept into his mind the same as when the pair arrived at the dance weeks ago
>Scanning the row of lockers for his own, he groaned as he unfortunately still found it hard to miss
>Though smeared, likely with a cleaning cloth by the janitor after school hours, the words "ROBOT F-CKER" remained on the door in black marker ink, mostly visible for all passing students and faculty to gawk at
>He took a deep breath as he stepped between his occupied locker neighbors and began hastily twisting his combination into the lock
>Before he could even unlock his door, he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder that made him jolt upright
>"Hey, Cody!" an obnoxious, laughing voice shouted in his ear, "Good to see ya again! Did you do some decorating on your locker?"
>It was definitely Danny, and based on the other mocking chuckles around him in response, he wasn't alone
>He slowly turned to face his tormentors and found his guess to be correct
>Since he saw him last, Danny had his hair greased into a mound of shiny blonde-tipped spikes, a leftover style from the previous decade that Cody felt made him look like a bigger tool than usual
>It took Cody nearly all his willpower to suppress his sudden rage, but he managed to turn his planned shout into a genuine-sounding laugh in a matter of seconds
>"Ha ha ha! Yeah, I thought I was being too subtle with my tastes before. I probably got addicted after banging a few nandroids in my neighborhood, you know?"
>His discipline paid off immediately as he watched their sadistic smiles turn to confused and disappointed frowns
>Danny's eyes oddly widened and darted to his friends' faces, as if he were momentarily disconnected from their control
>"W-what?" one of Danny's friends asked, his tone sounding as if Cody playing along with the mockery was the last thing he expected
>"You heard me, dude," Cody doubled down, "I'm the biggest robot f-cker in town! You WISH you could get as much steel action as I do!"
>They continued to stare blankly at him, unsure whether to tease this "open robosexual" or abandon their efforts
>"...You're weird, man," the same boy simply said as he walked away in defeat
>Snapping out of his confused state, Danny suddenly smirked and grabbed Cody's shoulder again, pulling him away from his locker
>"Well if it's metal you're looking to bang," he yelled in his ear, "I've got a toilet bowl with your name on it! Want to give it a deep kiss?"
>Cody considered fighting back for a moment, but something about Danny's body language felt nonthreatening, as if he were gently ushering him towards the bathroom instead of dragging him
>He could hear Danny's friends laughing again behind them as he guided him towards the one-person faculty men's room halfway down the long hallway
>"Where are you going with this?" he asked him
>"Just play along, man. I want to talk to you in private," Danny quietly replied, "...away from my stupid friends."
>They entered the cramped bathroom and Danny swiftly locked the door behind him
>His face looked gravely serious, as if he hadn't been teasing Cody about sex with robots mere minutes ago
>"So," Cody said, confused, "what do you want to talk about that's so important?"
>Danny gulped and wasted not time getting to the point
>"...After seeing your robot at the freshmen gala, I got my parents to buy our own for the sake of my younger sisters. We got her used and cheap, so she's not as fancy as yours, but damn... she's got the longest, softest, and brightest blonde hair I've ever seen. She's BEAUTIFUL, man, and I wanted your advice on how I could lay her like you do."
>Cody almost burst out laughing as a reflex, but Danny's sincere tone soon sunk in
>"He doesn't actually believe that stuff I said in the hallway, does he?" he thought to himself
>"Are... are you serious?" he asked
>Danny nodded, the weight of his secret beginning to lift off his shoulders
>"Yeah, man," he said with a smirk, "I wanna start getting some steel action just like you."
>Cody was speechless; he had no clue Danny was attracted to his robot like he was, let alone intelligent enough to play a character in front of his friends
>After listening to his confession, it was time to make his own
>"...You didn't write that crap on my locker, did you?"
>"No, that seriously wasn't me," Danny admitted, "and before you ask, I don't know who did it."
>Cody began nervously scratching the back of his neck, knowing he was about to disappoint his possible new friend
>"Well," he began as his voice soon turned to a mumble, "I may have exaggerated a few things back in the hallway... but I think I can still offer you some tips."

>"You're kidding!" Denise blurted out in disbelief, "He wants to hump his nandroid?"
>"Big time. Word for word, that's what he told me," Cody confirmed
>The rest of his school day was surprisingly mockery-free, though he still received some odd looks after Danny's friends started spreading the details of his proclamation that morning
>In exchange for giving him advice on how to better "bond" with his nan, Danny agreed to convince his friends to lessen the teasing towards Cody
>For the first time in days, he climbed into Denise's car that afternoon with an emotion that wasn't misery or bitterness
>She was so pleased that her idea worked that she decided to reward the Clark children with a stop at the gas station for after-school snacks
>As they each browsed the aisles, he pulled her aside and continued the day's story that he didn't want his younger brother and sister to hear
>"So what did you tell him?" she asked
>Cody grinned as his eyes began wandering towards the bowling alley across the street outside the large window
>"I suggested he start talking to her as if she were human- you know, asking questions about herself, and that he should eventually try taking her out on a date."
>Catching a look at what Cody was gazing at, Denise smirked as her cheeks softly lit up in excitement
>"Oh really?" she prodded, "What kind of date?"
>"Oh, anything but a restaurant. Maybe a movie, a carnival, a football game, or even..." he suddenly turned his head towards her and asked directly, "bowling?"
>Having not bowled in over a year, she relished the thought but knew her schedule wouldn't permit her for at least a few days
>"Good idea, but I'm making jambalaya tonight, so we can't today," she said as her smile diminished, "But how about Saturday?"
>Cody nodded in agreement, but was unsure if his parents would allow them to go alone
>"Sure," he responded as he pulled a box of his favorite chocolate candy off the shelf, "Dad may want to come with to keep an eye on us, but we'll have fun regardless."
>Just as he decided on a snack to compliment the cold bottle of soda he chose, Jack and Emma came strolling down the aisle with their own treats in hand
>"Are you two all set?" Denise asked them with a mildly upbeat and child-friendly tone for Emma's sake
>"Yeah," Jack simply said as he took the lead in the march to the register
>As they stood behind the lone customer in line before them, Denise turned to Cody and quickly remembered what they were talking about moments before
>"As for Danny," she told him, "it's not that I don't believe you, but I'll have to see his nandroid with my own eyes."