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I'm really quite ashamed of myself. I'm not sure how many of you follow/used to follow my old, old, old, stories, but truth: I don't think I'm going to continue them. Life got in the way, and I got distracted, and two to three years passed. And I haven't done anything about them, even though I said I would revamp them.

So.

I'm really, really sorry. But hey- if none of you were following it... well, then that's fine, because I'm not going to go on with them.

Don't go read them. They're... [cringes at the mere thought of old writing]

Now there's this one. Um.

Yeah, okay, I planned to finish this one before I uploaded it but I'm not really good at keeping promises (at least not to myself) so.. Hoping readers give the needed encouragement? [coughreviewscough]

One fortnight. Fourteen (quite short) days. Fourteen chapters (unless I get real lazy). Here we go~


It wasn't as though Maximilian Nero was unaware of the fact that schools have holidays – no, he was, in fact, all too aware of it. But he'd realised that term break was coming again (there really were too many school holidays, and they came with absolutely no warning) too late, and he'd had to prepare the faculty's hide-out, and come up with things to keep the students busy so they wouldn't cause any... damage, and ensuring that whatever activities he came up with were suitably 'fun' so students wouldn't complain and riot... and then there was the matter of transport and protection for the legacy students who were going home for the holidays...

School holidays came a little late that term.


Shelby was not, by any means, a morning person. Sure, she got up way before Laura to pretty herself up, but that didn't mean she liked to wake up that early. It was just a beauty necessity.

For the record, Laura wasn't a morning person either. But Laura, being so much of an anti-morning person, had recently decided to sleep longer and skip breakfast altogether.

"Didn't scientists say that breakfast is 'the most important meal of the day'?" Shelby had questioned her when Laura had first told her of her plans to sleep longer and eat less. "Don't you believe in what scientists say?"

Laura had sleepily waved her off. "Not according to Laura Brand Research. And by that, I mean I conducted no research whatsoever." Then she'd buried under her blanket like a potato, giving Shelby no more opportunity to argue.

So when Laura finally made her way down to the atrium the first day of term break, the rest of her friends were already gathered on a couch and loudly arguing about whether Nigel should create a hedgehog so they could keep it as a school pet, and whether they should name the hedgehog Max or Francisco. Rather, Shelby and Otto were arguing loudly over Wing, who was sitting in between them. Heaven only knows why he didn't move.

Laura collapsed tiredly onto the couch, forcing Otto to move closer to Wing and forcing Shelby off the couch completely. Shelby clambered on top of the coffee table and settled down on it like a genie, not breaking her stride in her speech of why, exactly, Nigel should manipulate the genes of his scary plant thingy called... Magenta, was it? And make a hedgehog out of a plant and why they should name it Francisco.

Otto made dramatic hand gestures, accidentally bonking Laura on the nose and Wing on the chest. "But," he said frantically, "Nigel's hedgehog will probably become all huge and impale everyone with its pricky stuff. And we should call the hedgehog, if we have one, Max. Because Nero will think his precious Raven is looking for him every time someone calls for the hedgehog. And have you seen his face when he panics when he thinks Raven is on the search for him? It's hilarious."

Laura closed her eyes. It was holidays. They didn't have any lessons. This could go on forever. Then she opened her eyes again, noticing something out of the corner of her eye. Was that...

Shelby recoiled and her voice rose noticeably in pitch. "Ew. I don't even ship them. Ew."

"I didn't say that I did. But admit it, Nero gets this weird expression, be it whether he's panicking because- well, it's Raven, or he's panicking because Raven plus yelling Nero's name means someone's coming to kill him, or he's panicking because he thinks we've done something again... admit it. His expression. Priceless."

Laura glanced at Wing to see if he'd noticed it. He appeared to be not-so-inconspicuously ogling Shelby, but Laura bet he'd seen it. He saw everything. He was a ninja.

"Yeah, yeah. But the hedgehog-"

"Eh, guys." Laura jabbed Otto in his ribs.

"Ow, Laura what was that for?"

Shelby glanced down at the Scottie. "What's up Brand?"

"There's a thing over there."

"The vending machine?" Shelby glanced at the thing and glanced back at her roommate.

"Yeah. That. That wasn't there before, right?"

"Don't worry about it. It's Nero's pathetic attempt to be 'fun'. For the holidays. We already checked it out. Coke, Sprite, Mountain Dew, other carbonated drinks, some teas, some juices, some chips, popcorn," Otto said.

"You guys checked it out without me?" Laura just about managed not to sound like a whiny nine year old.

Shelby kicked her in the shin. "That's what you get for sleeping in late, honey."

Laura pouted. "I wouldnae deny myself the pleasure of sleeping."

"Anyway, it's no fun. Nero said he'd give us fun activities. How is a vending machine even an activity? Nero's so unfun." Shelby shook her head and tsked the headmaster.

"Maybe the vending machine will rear back and begin to consume all of us, like a twisted reverse process." Wing, finally speaking up, being uncharacteristically weird in his suggestion.

Otto looked at him. "Are you... drunk?"

Laura scoffed. "Aye. Drunk on Shelby. Wait. That came out odd."

Both the ninja and the wraith flushed deep, deep, reds.

Otto, being nice for once, changed the topic. "I swear, Nero gets his inspiration from Club Penguin. You know, how they always had these kind of stuff popping out all over the island when there was a special occasion..."

"Play Club Penguin much?" Shelby smirked.

The albino drew back defensively. "Everyone did."

"Aye," Laura sighed. "I did. I also hacked it to get puffles that a non-member couldn't get..." She sighed, reminiscing in her Club Penguin hacking days.

"But a thousand times lamer than Club Penguin," Shelby grumbled. "It's just a vending machine."

Wing looked completely confused. It was an adorable look on him. Poor un-pop-cultured child. Shelby reached over and ruffled his ponytail. "It's okay, Big Guy. I'll get Laura to hack the school network and show you it one day. I'm half-certain HIVEmind already frequents Club Penguin anyway[1]."

Otto perked up suddenly, jumping back into the previous topic with a splash. "Well. This whole 'fun activity' thing would be a whole lot more fun if..." he grinned diabolically. The kind of diabolical grin that only The Otto Malpense could pull off.

Shelby leaned forward, instantly hooked. This smelled of disaster and chaos. It smelled delicious.


The glass door was grey with soot. A couple muffled curses emanated from the room. Laura slapped her hand on the sensor to open the door, and then peeked cautiously in. "Otto?" she asked hesitantly.

For a moment, he resembled the Doc from Back to the Future. Wild snow-white hair, wild semi-shocked eyes, labcoat. He was surrounded by a bunch of test tubes and several containers filled with what appeared to be clear water. Knowing Otto, they were anything but.

"Otto?" she repeated, this time more in confusion.

He whipped off the goggles. His blue eyes seemed even wilder without them. "Yesssssma'am?"

"Which one is which?"

He sprouted a toothy smile. "That one over there does the truth thingy and that one does the love and that one does the drunk thing and that one does the high thing, and that one does the adrenaline rush." He poked a finger at each container respectively, accidentally sloshing some of the liquid out when he actually jabbed it. "Oopsie daisy lilac pansies."

"Otto," Laura sighed, settling down on a stool, "did you by any chance drink any of these?"

He shook his head vehemently. "I've been a'drinking the carrot juice I found in the vending machine." Otto waved his arm at a mug on the far corner of the table.

"Why does the vending machine dispense carrot juice in mugs. No, wait, why does it even dispense carrot juice. Why do people even like it. It's gross." Laura wrinkled her Scottish nose.

"I happen to be filled with wild desire for carrot juice. I put it in a mug so it would feel classier." Otto's whacked-up logic.

"The carrot juice would feel classier? Or you would?"

"Me. No, the carrot juice. I don't know."

Laura peered at the carrot juice in the mug. It was filled to the brim. But the liquid in one of the containers was suspiciously less than the others...

"By any chance, Otto, did you drink this one?" She picked up the container with less liquid.

"Never. Nevereverevernoooo..." Otto trailed off. "Actuallymaybeyes."

"Well. Okay. So. Which one is which?" Laura glanced warily at the identical, unlabelled, containers.

"I forgot."

They shared a long stare.

"It's not like we need to know the difference, right?" Otto said, desperately trying to cover up his mistake.

"Aye, Otto, sometimes I think you'll make the world implode just by trying to fix the coffee machine."


Shelby grunted as Wing's fist landed just under her ribcage. Stepping backward, she brought her arms up in front of her and swung her leg up to (hopefully) knock Wing down. No such luck. He caught her ankle and flipped her backwards, and she prepared to land flat on her back. A split second before she did, an arm swooped underneath her and saved her from an undignified fall that would forcefully knock all the air from her.

She looked up into his face. His eyes were brown, almost black, and so intense, and he was just so- gah. He propped her up, gently bringing her back to stand on her own two feet.

No, her mind protested. Keep holding me like that – all bridal style and everything. Her mind wandered off to the frivolous regions of Fantasy, where she and Wing were at a wedding – more specifically, their wedding, and he was holding her exactly like that, and their faces would be only two freaking inches from each other and their lips would meet and-

"Do you need to rest?"

Shelby almost scowled. Way to ruin a girl's fantasy. But she was breathless, partly from the exercise and partly because of her fantasy, so she nodded, and they headed over to get a drink. Shelby beelined for the new vending machine Nero had installed in the area.

"All the drinks there are unhealthy," Wing announced.

"I know," she replied, hitting the button for Sprite. "But they might not be here long, and I intend to make full use of it, no matter how lame it is of a 'holiday activity'."

There was a pause on Wing's end. "When are you and Otto going to-"

Instantly, Shelby materialized in front of him, holding a can of Sprite and a finger to his mouth. "Shhh," she whispered. "The walls have ears." Then, taking a sip of her drink, "actually, they don't. But HIVEmind is everywhere, and he reports to Nero, so don't say it out loud. Nero will think it's 'too' fun and get in our way."

Wing looked utterly confused and a tiny bit scared, but at least he'd stopped talking about it.

Shelby drank some more of her Sprite and smiled. It made Wing's stomach butterflies do a waltz, and he smiled back.

Why wouldn't they just kiss already. Gosh.


HIVEmind lit up Nero's computer screen in his makeshift office in the Faculty Hide-Out Bunker.

"Dr Nero," he said gravely, "there's been a threat against you."

Nero looked up into HIVEmind's eyes.[2] "Pardon?"

"I quote Ms Trinity, who said 'Nero's so unfun.'" HIVEmind stared deep into the headmaster's eyes. "I think action must be taken."

"Yes..." Nero frowned at the disturbing piece of news. "I need to up the fun level."

"I cannot agree more." HIVEmind disappeared, leaving Nero to his thoughts.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Professor Pike poked[3] his head in. "Max," he laughed drunkenly, "come out! There's fun out here! There's no fun in here! It's so unfun in here! So unfun..." Just as suddenly, Pike retreated, leaving his door wide open. Nero stared at the open door. Open doors made him feel naked and exposed.

Sounds of party poppers and laughter and cans opening floated in.

The sound of Raven laughing floated in. Nero bolted upright and out of his seat, stepping out of his room.

Francisco was rubbing Tabitha on her stomach. Nero wasn't sure whether that was inappropriate or not, so he decided to ignore it. Pike and Ms Gonzales were waltzing energetically to imaginary music, and the professor continually stepped on her toes. Gonzales didn't even seem to notice. Meanwhile, Raven was playing darts with her alternate ego, laughing loudly whenever she split the darts by hitting the bulls eye every time.

"No, Raven! Stop winning!"

"Raven my dear, but I can't stop."

Nero shook his head. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to allow Pike to bring in those crates of beer.

Slowly, he reached for the nearest can, opened it and took a sip. If you can't stop them, join them.


[1]This sounds like a plot for a one-shot. Hmmm...

[2]It was here that I realised that it would be fine to ship Nero and HIVEmind, but then again...

[3]Pike poked. Pike poke. Pike poke. I ADMIT THIS WAS GOInG THROUGH MY HEAD WHILE I WROTE THE REST OF THE CHAPTER.

I didn't plan on the first chapter being so long... in fact, it was supposed to include more but I figured it was already pretty dang long and I should cut it off already.

Look out for the next chapter~~

((the first three chapters have been written up, so it's confirmed those will be there, at least))