Chapter II: A Picnic Challenge
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Last time, the gang planned to do something fun that didn't involve pranking Dr. Crowler. Everyone decided on a picnic, and to their surprise, Aster Phoenix joined them because he needed the human contact. The chapter closed with the group meeting up the next day, so that is where we continue…
Boring legal stuff: We don't own GX. We own our OCs and this version of the Yugi-verse. Got that? Good.
As was agreed on, the next day, the group met up at Jaden's chilling tree. "We've got all the food!" Violet cheered. Everyone was dragging baskets to the scene, many baskets.
"YAY! FOOD!" Jaden whooped, carrying a basket.
Annie puffed a bit as she came up the hill with a big basket. "This is heavy," she groaned.
Syrus, too, was having some trouble with his own basket. Nevertheless, he wanted to try helping Annie. "I can carry it for you, Annie," he offered, coming up to her.
"Why...why don't we do it together?" she suggested, praying she wouldn't pass out. Last semester with Kagemaru had scared her friends, but that had been explained away to the gang as too much stress. She didn't want to scare them, particularly Violet and Sy, with what she suspected.
"Okay...good idea," he replied, smiling.
Together they took the baskets they had and carried them up the hill to the picnic area. "T-Thanks, Sy," she said as they sat down. Her head spun a brief moment, but she forced the lightheadedness away.
"You're welcome, Annie," he answered, wishing he had the courage to put his arm around her. But he didn't dare.
Meanwhile, Hassleberry had the charcoal grill ready about ten feet away from the base of the tree and was wearing an apron that said, "Salute the Cook." "Okay, Private Aster! I'm ready for the meat!" he grinned.
Aster, choosing to wear blue jeans and a long blue t-shirt today, came forward with a Ziploc bag filled with marinated steaks. "Here you are, Hassleberry."
"Those look muy delicioso. Gracias, Senor Phoenix," Rosa said, smiling. She was helping Hassleberry with the grilling.
"No problem," Aster answered in perfect Spanish. "Rosa, I was pleased to help my friends and such a lovely lady..." She wasn't his type, but he did think she was pretty and decided to compliment her.
She blinked in surprise, and blushed a little at the compliment. "You speak Spanish?" she asked in her native language.
"Yes, I do," he answered. "Fluently, Miss, and I do think you're lovely..."
"And at the moment, she's spoken for," Hassleberry said in Spanish. He knew Aster was probably just harmlessly flirting, but the Texas Ra boy wasn't taking any chances. He and Rosa might be seriously dating, but that didn't mean she couldn't change her mind about him.
Rosa's blush had intensified; she wasn't used to compliments. It was likely a good thing Hassleberry intervened. "Er, yes, Hassleberry and I are dating."
"Just complimenting her, Hassleberry...you chose well," Aster said, still speaking in Spanish, knowing that he should defuse the situation, if there was one, "and Rosa, I'd say you did too."
Rosa smiled. "Thank you, Aster."
Meanwhile, the group nearby had heard nothing but Spanish. Violet blinked. "Anyone know what the heck they're saying?"
Annie blushed. She spoke fluent Spanish. "Uh...heh..."
Syrus sweat-dropped. "I'm guessing they spoke a different language for a reason..."
"Yeah...Aster's just being really nice to Rosa," she answered seriously.
Violet blinked again. "Right...well, we might as well set up the rest of the food!"
"All right," Bastion agreed. He was quite eager to help everyone, but he really hoped Violet noticed him. Sure, they were friends, but he hoped she might like him a bit more than that. "Violet, how do we weigh down the blanket?"
Violet grinned. "Easy! I'll be right back!" She ran off, and returned a minute later with four medium-sized rocks. "Ta-da!!" Violet hoped Bastion thought she was smart; she thought for sure that was the only way he'd notice her.
Bastion long ago had noticed that she was smart, as well as beautiful to him. She didn't know he was really interested in her to the point he'd dared Chazz to go to her room and play spy. But today was not the day for her to find out about that! "Wonderful, Violet. Thank you." They laid the rocks on the corners of the blanket, and the rocks held the blanket down. "Why didn't I think of that?" he asked.
"You were thinking too much. Sometimes you just have to relax and it'll come to you like a ton of bricks!" Violet answered, smiling.
"I'm rather tense, aren't I?" he asked her.
"A little. You should lighten up a bit. Maybe I'll give you a shoulder massage after we're done eating. My old culinary classmates said I was a natural when I did it to them," she answered.
"That would be...nice," Bastion answered, flushing slightly. He'd never had the offer of a massage before.
Violet caught the blush, and went a bit red herself. Personally, she hadn't thought he'd agree to it. "Uh, good. Well...let's get the food set out."
"Yes...let's...and it can wait. I daresay we've passed midterms, and winter finals are quite a bit away," he said, trying to defuse the tension.
"You're right. And this year I didn't fill the infirmary with head trauma patients!" she replied, giggling.
"No, you didn't, Violet. I don't think the Ra students will do that again. Professor Sartyr couldn't believe how many head injuries happened..."
"Can I help it if people don't have the Haverbrook hard head?"
Bastion smiled. "Someday, I must meet your family, Violet. I need to do a CT scan and see how hard your family's heads are..."
Violet laughed. "A what scan?"
"It's a CAT scan, Violet," he said.
She blinked. "You use cats to scan people?"
"No," Bastion answered, sweat-dropping. He knew Violet was super-smart, but she didn't have knowledge in certain areas. "It stands for computed tomography. That scan takes a three-dimensional picture of what it scans."
Violet blinked. "Ooh, I get it..." She sighed; so much for making Bastion see how smart she was. "You must think I'm stupid for thinking it involved actual cats."
Bastion smiled. "Violet, that's what I thought when my dad first told me about it."
Violet looked up at him in surprise. "Really?"
He nodded. "Really..."
"Well, I guess you really do learn something new every day..."
"Yeah. Well, my dad's a doctor and he let me see everything."
"Oh, I see. Like how my dad let me learn a lot about cars."
"I'll bet you went to work with him," Bastion inquired shyly for him.
"Well, only when I was little. I'm more interested in cooking, dueling, and drawing than in cars. I leave that for my brother to handle," Violet admitted.
"I was the only kid, so Mum and Dad dragged me along wherever they could," Bastion explained.
"I see. I've never been an only child. What's it like?" she asked curiously.
"Lonesome," he admitted.
"Really? My brother said it was 'a heck of a lot easier and way more peaceful'," Violet replied, sweat-dropping.
"Your brother had friends, though, I'll bet..."
"Yeah, he did—wait, you didn't have any friends?"
"Not really," he admitted.
She frowned. "You weren't very popular at your school either, huh?"
"No, I was an oddity among oddities...But then I came here," he said.
"Guess I was just an oddity. But here, that doesn't really matter, does it?" she asked.
"No...It doesn't," Bastion answered.
"Hey, guys, the food's ready," Syrus stated, coming up beside them. The two had been lost in their conversation for some time, it seemed.
"Oh, thank you, Syrus," Bastion said, blinking. "Violet, shall we?"
Violet blushed a little, surprised at how fast time had gone by. "Uh, yeah."
"Having fun?" Annie whispered to Violet when they picked up the plastic plates.
Violet's blush returned, but she quickly forced it back down. "I guess you could say that," she muttered, trying not to give too much away.
"He does like you...just give him time," Annie whispered again.
Violet sighed. "I know, I know...it's just hard. Like how you feel about Sy," she whispered back.
Annie flushed. "Y-yeah...he just doesn't notice me in that way, I guess..."
Violet glanced over at said bluenette, and caught him looking at Annie. She smiled. "I wouldn't say that..."
"What would he see in me?" the dark-haired girl murmured.
"Oh, I don't know. The fact that you're pretty and smart and funny...I could go on, you know," Violet whispered, grinning.
"And fat," Annie muttered. Some people would call her healthy, but the fact was, Annie had been teased when she was younger and more roly-poly, and thus the thought that she was fat had stuck with her. It hadn't helped that the teasing had continued well into middle school.
Violet sighed and prodded her best friend's side. "If that's fat, then my hair's green."
"Look at me compared to Alexis and you! I am pudgy," the dark-haired girl sighed.
"No, you're not. Ask anyone and they'll tell you the same thing. And not because they don't want to be rude."
Annie sighed. "Violet...thanks."
Violet smiled. "No prob. Just relax and have fun. That's what picnics are all about."
"Okay," Annie smiled.
And so the group sat down to the delicious picnic lunch. "Oh, man, I think I'll explode!" Jaden grinned.
"All of this food looks great!" Violet cheered, grinning excitedly.
"Looks good," Aster said, taking a plate and getting his steak and some potato salad.
"Yeah! This is so gourmet!" Jaden grinned, piling his plate with a little of everything.
"It does all look really good," Syrus said.
"And there's tons! No need to worry about running out," Atticus added.
"No...Man, how did you guys do this?" Chazz asked, unable to contain that he was impressed as he got steak and some chips.
Violet winked. "We girls are just great at this sort of thing," she joked.
"And the guys, too," Annie grinned at Hassleberry, who still wore his apron.
"Si, he helped us a lot," Rosa agreed.
Hassleberry blushed. "Aw, shucks...It was nothin'..."
"Oh, it was something. Plus, you're great at grilling!" Violet replied.
"I guess so. You can't live in Texas without knowin' how to barbeque," the Texas Ra grinned.
"Just try not to eat so much that you make yourselves sick, okay guys?" Alexis asked. They all knew who that was directed at.
Jaden grinned. "No problem, Lex...and doctors are standing by!" he added happily.
"Yep! Besides, our stomachs can handle anything!" Violet stated confidently.
"Oh, lord," Zane groaned.
Eventually, everyone stuffed themselves with lunch and then moved onto dessert. Violet had made an excellent chocolate pudding which everyone praised. "Violet...this is great," Annie smiled, feeling like a stuffed turkey.
Violet grinned. "Just a little recipe I learned back in culinary class."
"It's excellent, Violet. You'd be at home in a five star restaurant," Aster praised. "Seriously."
Violet blushed, giggling a little. "It's just pudding..."
"But it's good," Aster insisted. "And I know gourmet."
"You've eaten at a five star restaurant before?" Violet asked.
"Yeah," Aster answered. "I've been to a few good places."
"Wow..." Violet had grown up learning the names of Flay, Morimoto, Deen, Puck and LaGasse. To be potentially on par with them was an amazing thing to the purple-headed girl.
"Have you been to any places in the Seattle area, Aster?" Annie asked curiously.
"Yeah. There's that one Thai restaurant in Bellevue that's good. They make awesome garlic fried chicken," Aster answered. "They should be five-star. They are that good."
"Have you eaten there, Annie?" Syrus asked curiously.
Annie nodded. "Yeah. It's a good place to go on Sunday nights or to get take-out from. It's not too expensive."
"I've never had Thai food before," the blue-headed boy admitted.
"Syrus...you have to expand," Zane observed.
"Huh?"
"That means, little brother, you need to try different foods," the older Truesdale said knowingly.
"I guess you're right..."
"Sy, do you like Chinese food?" Annie asked curiously.
Syrus nodded. "Yeah."
"Then you might like Thai food," she answered.
"It's like Chinese food?" he asked.
"Yeah. They use more rice noodles, though," she explained. "And the food's a little spicy."
"Oh. Maybe I'll try it next time I'm back home," he replied, smiling.
"Hey, look what I can do with my spoon!" Violet stated suddenly. She was doing the classic trick where a person sticks a spoon to their nose.
"Hey, I can do that!" Jaden grinned, grabbing a spoon and doing the same thing. "Can you put a spoon on your ear, Violet?" he asked, doing just that.
"You bet I can!" Violet replied, copying him. "But I bet you can't do two at once!" she said, doing the same to her other ear.
Jaden grinned. "I'll take that bet!" He put the spoon on his other ear and then balanced a glass on his head.
"Oh, is that how you want to do it? All right!" Violet balanced the glass on her head then added a paper plate on top. "Beat that!"
He did, placing a plate and another cup on his head, "This won't end well," Bastion groaned.
"How are they even doing that?" Syrus asked, eyes wide as Violet copied Jaden then added a glass to each shoulder.
As Jaden did the same as Violet, Annie sighed. "Heaven only knows..."
Violet had just added plates to the glasses on her shoulders, when suddenly a large, blue butterfly fluttered over. She blinked, and everyone watched as it landed on one of the plates. "Uh-oh." Violet muttered, feeling herself lean towards Jaden from the added weight.
Jaden impulsively leaned backward, losing his balance. "Oh, nuts! Sy!" he yelped, feeling himself start to fall. Syrus, of course, jumped to his feet and ran over to try and help his best friend. But he was too late, and suddenly found himself getting crashed into by both teens. For a moment, they were stationary, and then they felt the ground moving under them. "Oh, nuts!" Jaden was just able to yelp again as the world flashed by in a tangle of arms and legs.
"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Violet yelled as everything spun around and around.
"I hope there's nothing hard at the bottom!" Syrus yelped, barely keeping a hold on his glasses.
Well, unfortunately, there was something hard at the bottom of the hill. "WHAT IN THE..?! ARGH!" a familiar voice yelped.
Uh-oh…that didn't end well, did it? So who did our two friendly combatants and their friend hit at the bottom of the hill? Find out next time in "24—Epic Fail!" So please read, review and tune in next time! Thank you.
