He Was... •cecilos•

Unsure

A/N:
all ages will be changed to fit cecils. so janice is way younger, abby and steve will be younger, etc etc
------------------------
The next day, Earl came over to Cecil's house with a strange question in mind.
"We should go look at the Registry of Middle School Crushes."
Cecil looked at his friend in surprise.
They were seated on the ground in his living room. Since the kitchen was next door, they could hear Abby humming to herself. She was cooking some sort of meal that involved a lot of cutting and pre-hunting and killing a lot of the ingredients. Because of this, she had asked Cecil to watch his baby niece, Janice, while she was busy. He had happily obliged and decided to invite his best friend over to help with Janice.
"That's crazy!" Cecil exclaimed. "No one's ever looked in the Registry and survived!"
Earl frowned. Janice cooed and took his finger between her little hands. He didn't seem to really notice. "I think we could do it, Cecil. Besides, I've been through tougher situations in Scout training."
"True.." Cecil said, his voice trailing off. He pulled Janice away before she could bite Earl's fingertip. "But I still don't know. We're still pretty young, after all.. Neither of us have been taught to mask the scent of fear, so the City Council could smell us from a mile away."
Earl pouted. "But Cecil-"
Cecil glared at him. "Earl, please don't argue with me."
They stared at each other, both wanting their point to get across to the other.
But then Janice started crying.
"Aw, no, I'm sorry, Janice," Cecil murmured to his niece, picking her up and cradling her in his arms. "We won't fight in front of you, okay?"
Abby peeked her head out from the kitchen. "Everything alright?" She asked, glancing at her daughter worriedly.
Cecil smiled up at his sister. "Yeah! Everything's cool!" Janice quieted down and sniffled, still not very happy.
Abby looked at him doubtfully but returned to the stove anyways.
Cecil's smile immediately fell, and he looked back at Earl. "I think we scared Janice," he said.
Earl sighed. "I guess so." He looked down at the little girl. "Sorry, Jan."
Cecil rocked her back and forth. "Anyways, we can't just rush into the City Hall unarmed and without a plan." He paused for a moment. "Why do you even want to see the Registry of Middle School Crushes?" Cecil wasn't quite sure why he hadn't asked earlier. Maybe he just trusted Earl too much.
But that was what friends were for, right? Trust without question.
Earl perked up. "Actually, I'm glad you asked, Cecil." He moved so he was no longer leaning his back against the couch and was, instead, facing Cecil. "I've heard that there's actually a secret section in the back of the Registry."
Cecil's eyes widened, and Janice seemed to coo in surprise. "Really? How come I never heard of that?"
Earl smiled now that he had Cecil's undivided attention. "It's an old Scouts myth, but no one has ever actually proven it to be true. So I thought maybe we could.. you know, have a little good old-fashioned adventure?"
Cecil nodded in excitement. "Adventure sounds cool!" His voice cracked at the end of his sentence, and Earl giggled while Cecil looked absolutely mortified. "B-But I still think we'll get caught.."
Earl sighed in exasperation. "Cecil, we'll be fine-"
"No really, Earl," he cut in. "I don't think know if we can get past the City Hall security system. I mean, do you have any experience with techy, sciencey stuff?" Silence. "Exactly! If we go in there right now with no expertise, we'll be toast!"
Janice squealed. Earl stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb to calm her down. "Well then what would you propose we do? Take a lengthy course on the history of security systems? We don't have time for that! Heck, time is so weird, we could be twenty by the time we learn how to get past all the lasers and locks!"
Cecil bit the inside of his lip.
There was no way he and his friend could get to the Registry of Middle School Crushes without getting caught. They were only thirteen, after all. The required age for questioning the government was years ahead! If they were found out, they'd be reeducated, or worse.. exiled to Desert Bluffs!
Or at least, that's what Abby told Cecil whenever he had misbehaved when he was younger. He was never quite sure when she was exaggerating or being serious.
But anyways, how would they get to that forbidden information?
They needed someone experienced.
Someone good with tech and science and adventures.
Someone they could trust with such secret info.
They needed..