Rugrats: All Growed up? A Tale of Angelica

Chapter 2
The Soda Fountain of...

Chapter Description: Chapter Description: An exhausted Angelica finds herself on a roller coaster of emotion.

With another day of school, another round of extreme emotional highs and lows that Angelica experienced ended.

Feeling her family's warmth in the morning made her happy.

Sh
e felt elated at being able to share exciting news about her favorite boy band.

She discovered with face-burning embarrassment that her massive forehead zit was developing a twin on the tip of her nose.

Oh, and the Math and Science and stuff sucked, too…

She trudged into her house, putting on one of her most dramatic and award-winning performances of a put-down teen with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

But as usual, no one was at home. Mom had left her a number to call for pizza and Dad was taking care of an important client at work.

She felt sorry for everyone losing out on her “successful talent” for acting yet again. What a waste!

The pizza place delivered her meal. Angelica ate little of the greasy fare as she worried it might cause her zits to worsen.

After a halfhearted stab at her homework, a hot shower followed. She primped herself and applied another application of zit cream, then went to sleep.

Her brain did what most brains do in rem sleep, try to process the information it received. She found herself at Java Lava Coffee House, with Betty in charge as its barista.

“Hey, Squirt! How’s it goin’?” asked Betty with her usual take-charge positive attitude.

Betty pointed to the new soda dispenser before Angelica could respond.

“What do ya think? Pretty snazzy, huh?”

Angelica inspected the shiny plastic handle that had a garishly colored paint job and a fancy nameplate with ornate letters. A riot of colors covered the object more than complimented its features.

“Ol’ Ponce Incorporated? What kind of company is that?” she asked, staring at it.

The outright garishness had caught her eye and held on to it with a death grip.

Betty assumed an amused expression, stood back with her arms akimbo, and smiled at Angelica’s confusion.

“Ah, come on, sport! Haven’t you heard about Ponce De Leon and…”

“The fountain of youth!” Angelica hastily finished for her. “There’s no such thing, and if there were, I don’t think it’d look this cheesy!”

Betty, undeterred, picked up a mug and placed it under the fountain’s spigot. She gripped the large handle and pulled backward, filling the mug to its brim, and offered it up to Angelica, who now sat at the bar on a tall stool.

“I dunno Ms. Giselle-DeVille…” muttered a gloomy Angelica.

She ran a finger down one side of the cold mug and watched the water droplets form a small rivulet behind it.

“Hey, if it doesn’t work, then at least you get a free soda out of it, right?” smiled Betty, as a small drop of sweat ran down the side of her face.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right!” smiled Angelica. She took a quaff of the sweet beverage, smacked her lips, and put down the mug, leaving a foam mustache on her upper lip.

Immensely pleased, Betty said, "You got a little something on your upper lip there."

Angelica wiped it off with her sleeve, released a resounding belch, and grinned impishly.

“Manners, young lady!” said Betty, clearly sickened by Angelica's eructation.

Angelica barely heard her. The rush from the drink made her feel utterly giddy!

She picked up the enormous mug with both hands and had some difficulty taking another gulp before it got too heavy for her to hold up.

As the mug's bottom hit the bar with a loud "THUD", Angelica plummeted off the bar stool, landing on the floor.

She steadied herself against the now looming structure and looked up to see Betty peeking over the top at her.

“See,” she said, “I told you that’s good stuff!”

“What am I gonna do now?” Angelica asked as she pulled her massively oversized jacket around her to protect her modesty.

“I got you covered, sport! Just a minute.”

Betty disappeared for a few moments and returned with baby clothes to put on Angelica.

She dressed the little girl in a pink undershirt with black pinstripes, a turquoise overall dress with a handkerchief on the left side and a duck on the right, white ankle-length socks, pink hi-top sneakers, and a pink hair bow.

“Geez! I look like Phil and Lil! Don’t you have anything better?” she whined after looking at herself in the mirror by the door. She couldn't resist performing a small twirl to admire her childish form.

“Sorry, kid! All I have is this spare outfit that used to belong to Lil. I could never get up the courage to throw it out!”

She picked up the little girl and laid her on a nearby table. “Speaking of which…” she muttered under her breath while pulling out a very thick overnight diaper and taped it on Angelica.

“Don’t want any accidents, right Angelica?”

“Sure, whatever. What do I do now? Does this stuff wear off?”

“Oh, yes! It wears off. But it depends on your age. You’re what, 13?”

“Yeah, I am!”

“Okay! That means in 13 years, you’ll be back to your old self! Pretty cool, eh?”

“13 years! What the Heck am I gonna do until then?”

Betty pulled out her phone. “Hold that thought. Hello, Charlotte. You’ll never guess what happened!”

Angelica’s patience had evaporated with her age and she now stood with her arms crossed and legs splayed out by the thick padding on her rump. She considered running but realized it would be futile on her stubby legs and difficult with her diaper getting in the way.

She overheard snatches of conversation from Betty.

“Yep, she drank the whole thing! How old? I’d say about 2. Yup, cute as a button! Hang on a sec!”

She turned to Angelica and said, “Smile!” while taking her picture. After uploading it to Charlotte, she quipped, “Thank you for your kind donation! I don’t think this coffee shop would have made it another week without it!”

Betty hung up with a cheerful smile on her face. She picked up Angelica and sat down while placing her on her knee.

“Your mom and dad worked hard to build up a business and become independently wealthy, you know that, right?”

Angelica shook her head in the affirmative.

“Well, now that they’re independently wealthy, they want to raise you all over again.”

Before Angelica could object to how unfair this whole thing was, Betty put her finger lightly over her mouth to shush her.

“Let me finish! Won’t it be nice to have them give you their full attention while you grow back up? Some people would give important body parts for such a chance!”

Angelica wasn’t happy with the explanation. She began to protest and found herself being tickled until her insides hurt. She gave up after several attempts and tickles later.

“Uh-oh! I think you might need to change me!”

“Nah, that diaper you’re wearing can hold a gallon or two. Unless you go number two, I’m not gonna worry about it!”

Angelica felt a rumbling in her tummy. It increased in frequency as she coaxed it along to force it out into her diaper.

“HAH! Take that…” Yelled Angelica, waking up from her dream. She hurriedly got out of bed and ran to the bathroom.

“Okay, that dream sucked!” she said to no one in particular.

(End Chapter 2)