Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the friends. If I did, the show'd be still on the air :D

Chapter 2: On their way

Day of the finals. The day when almost every student becomes an aggravated, nervous wreck, running around in circles, awaiting little pieces of paper filled with series' of words that end with question marks.

Of course, in those cases these students were those who spent the rest of the school year messing around, chasing girls or boys instead of learning.

Then there were those who knew that it doesn't matter how much fun you want to have in school, if you fail at the end it was all for nothing.

Two of those people were Ross and Monica.

As Rachel looked up from her math test she looked at Monica and saw her writing and writing, solving the terms one by one. She envied her that. She remembered her saying that she got help from her brother. Of course she had an advantage in that area since her brother had the same test only a year before.

Maybe she should have asked Ross for private lessons. He was intelligent and kind and would surely have said yes. 'What am I thinking? He's a geek. I can't hang around with a geek.' But since she saw him yesterday she had more and more difficulties keeping that geek image of him in her mind although he didn't look any different.

"15 minutes left people." the teacher said.

Rachel started panicking, she had again been daydreaming for several minutes without even realizing it. She turned her attention back to her paper and started calculating.

Ross was finished. Last final of the day done. His learning efforts proved fruitful as he had sailed through every test. Now he would go home and start a new chapter in his life. He would work out hard at the fitness camp and also change his appearance somewhat. Lately he realized how ridiculous he looked with an afro.

Just then he saw his sister and Rachel exiting their class room. As he walked over, Rachel's boyfriend Chip exited the classroom and was clearly in a bad mood. He gave Rachel a slap on the butt, earning a surprised and somewhat annoyed yelp from her.

"Damn, I must have missed most of the questions." he heard Chip say as he closed the distance between them.

When he had reached them, Chip turned his head to him and directed an angry look at Ross.

"What do you want, Geller."

"I want to talk to my sister, what business is that of yours?" Ross retorted. He turned his attention to Monica. "Remember to pack, we're going tomorrow."

"Yeah okay, I'll better go home with you now."

"Wait, where are you two going tomorrow? Monica, I thought you had special plans for the summer?" Rachel asked confused.

"Yes, it turnes out, Ross had the same idea before me and now have to go together." Monica answered petulantly.

"Yes, I really look forward to spend my whole summer with you." Ross said to her sarcastically.

"Well, anyway" Monica cut in "have fun with your relatives Rachel."

"Thanks, and can I visit you in your camp?" Rachel asked.

"Sure. I will call you tonight and give you the address, alright?" Monica said and hugged Rachel. Both she and Ross turned to leave. As they were leaving, Ross turned to Chip.

"Have fun at summer school, Chip." he said, smirking.

"Screw you Geller!"

As Rachel sat in her bedroom, contemplating what she would do during the summer, her phone rang.

"Hello" she said, answering it.

"Hi, it's Monica. I wanted to give you the address of the camp."

As Rachel wrote down the address, Monica continued.

"So, what are your summer plans?"

"Can I tell you a secret? I'm thinking about breaking up with Chip." Rachel said in a low voice.

"What? Why?" Monica was clearly surprised. She always thought, their relationship was going great.

"Because he has changed." said Rachel. "At the beginning he was really sweet, but lately he lets his mean self come out more and more. He called me a bitch, for crying out loud, when I refused to let him take me home on his bike yesterday. Also, he's always playing his computer games and ignores me until he wants something."

"Wow, I never expected that." Monica replied. "But you should do what you think is best. And I would love to talk more to you but we have to leave early tomorrow so I have to go to bed now. Have a great summer and don't forget, you promised to visit."

Rachel couldn't help but smile at her best friends optimism. Sometimes she wished she was a real member of the Geller household, they were so different from her own. Every time she was in their house, she saw the warmth and love their parents had for Monica and her brother, even though her mother oftentimes treated Ross better.

She knew that her own parents loved all their children but during family gatherings she always felt a coldness between all of them. She would constantly argue with her sisters and come to think of it, she never saw her parents kiss each other in public unlike Judy and Jack Geller.

And she knew from Monica that if she or Ross had a problem or were sad about something, their parents would do something about it and talk to them. Her own parents solved problems by buying stuff for her and her siblings.

With a sigh, she picked up the phone to call Chip. No time like now to resolve the problem that used to be her dream relationship.

Ross was sitting on the living room couch reading his science magazine when he heard the doorbell ring. As he walked towards the door, he noticed that the house was strangely quiet. 'Did mom and dad took Monica somewhere again without telling me?' he thought to himself.

He opened the door and saw Rachel standing outside.

"Hey you." she said.

That was odd. She had never talked to him that way. Come to think of it, she has never really talked to him at all when they were alone. Usually only when Monica was with them and started a conversation where he could contribute.

"Um... hey Rachel. Want to come in?"

"Yes, I'd like that very much." Rachel said with a flirty tone to her voice.

'What's going on here?' Ross thought to himself. As Rachel walked past him he noticed, that she was sashaying seductively. Ross shook his head to get the image out of his mind. Soon she reached the couch and set down. Ross followed her and decided to break the silence.

"Rachel, what are you doing here?"

"Well" she started, again with that flirty undertone in her voice. "my math finals were a disaster and I heard, you are good in math, so I thought you could teach me a little."

"Erm... uh... o-okay" Ross stuttered. Damn, he just got over the crush on her, why was he so nervous.

"That really would be great, sweetie." Rachel said, putting her hand on his knee.

Ross' heart started pounding in his chest. He couldn't believe what was happening. Here he was, a geek and the hottest girl in the entire school was flirting with him. As he looked at her he noticed her staring right at him. She had the most amazing blue eyes he had ever seen and they looked at him with what seems like hunger.

Suddenly she closed the distance between them. For Ross, everything happened in slow motion. He saw, with perfect clarity, her eyes closing slowly while her lips parted millimeter by millimeter. He completely freezes up, not able to move as her lips connect with his own. Before he can even respond to the kiss, her hands were on his cheeks, the kiss deepening.

Finally, Ross roused from his stupor and started kissing her back all the while wondering what in the name of all that's good and pure is going on. Where were his parents and sister? Why is Rachel kissing him? Why is he questioning and not enjoying this?

That last question broke a barrier inside him and he responded to the kiss in passion. As Rachel realized this, her tongue started exploring his mouth and he reciprocated with a fervor he never thought he possessed.

As his hands wandered down her body to explore her curves, a moan escaped her lips. He noticed something was amiss when that moan transformed into a horrible sound the human body should be incapable of producing. He opened his eyes in horror when that sound didn't stop and found himself facing his beeping alarm clock with a large red blinking 4:30 on its face.

Frustrated he hit the snooze button and fell down on his cushion. Lying there he remembered his dream and what it symbolized in terms of the crush he had on Rachel. A crush he thought he was over.

"Oh no." he said to himself.

Ross stood in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing his teeth. As he circled the toothbrush around in his mouth, he thought about the dream he had.

'Easy Ross, it meant nothing. She has a new nose and she looks even more beautiful than before. You had a crush on her and it came back a little. But she is in a relationship with the cutest boy in school. No chance for you, you geek. Get over it.' His reverie was interrupted by a loud knock on the bathroom door.

"Get a move on loser, other people need to use the shower."

Ross sighed and gargled. Leave it to Monica to bring him back to reality. 'At least, when I'm back from camp it's over with being a loser.' At least he hoped so. He exited the bathroom, earning a scowl from Monica as she rushed in.

Down in the kitchen, Judy was busy making breakfast.

"Ross, come help me set the table. We have to leave soon if we want to reach the train station."

"Okay mom, I'll be right down."

After saying their goodbyes to their parents, Ross and Monica sat in their cabin, watching the landscape go by as it was starting to get illuminated by the ever growing amount of daylight. Thinking about the fact that he had to spend the summer with his sister, he thought about a different approach.

"Hey Monica?" he said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"What?" she asked back, sounding both angry and exasperated.

"I've been thinking." he stated. "Since we both are trying to start a new chapter in our lives, how about we agree on a truce?"

By the look on her face, he must have suggested something in regard to eating a baby with its parents watching.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Well, I know that mom and dad treat me better than you. Or at least mom does. And I know that you pretty much hate my guts because of that. But we are going to spend the entire summer together, so I don't want us fighting all the time. I mean, you are my sister and I love you. I always gave you a hard time because you did it to me."

"I love you too, brother. And yes, a new beginning would be nice." Monica said, wiping a tear from her eyes.

Ross took her in his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry, sis. When we get back home, a new world will await us."

They spent the rest of the trip reading, playing cards and talking about their plans for the camp.

A/N: Please read and review :) The next chapter shows Ross' and Monica's time during the camp. It could take a while longer though. It's already as long as this one and I'm have finished barely half of it O.o So either you need to wait or I release the next chapters as two-parters. Your choice, tell me in the review what you'd prefer :D