My phone buzzed to life. I picked it up off of the bed and saw Antola's name on the screen. I pressed the talk button and said, "Hello?"
"Hey!" Antola exclaimed from the other line. "Let's hang out with Folt. We're bored."
"Okay?" I said, amused. What else was new with them?
"What's your room number? We'll come get you."
"Um, hold on," I murmured, turning to Fiorina. "Do you know what the room number is here?"
She shook her head. "One of the guys might, though."
I scowled. "I don't want to go out there," I grumbled, as a loud yell and a curse were heard from the other room. I held the phone back up to my ear. "No one knows. Just meet me down at the lobby, I guess."
"All right, see you there." Click.
I set my phone back down on the bed, and seeing that our bedroom had an attached bathroom, went in and looked in the mirror. My makeup was all smudged, probably from being so nervous from the rocket ride. I ran to my suitcase and pulled out my makeup bag, took off the smudges, and began to reapply.
Fiorina called from the bedroom. "And where are you off to?"
"Hanging out with Folt and Antola," I said back, realizing only then that I would be leaving her alone with... "Do you want to come with us?"
"Me? Oh, no," Fiorina breathed and shook her head bashfully. "I think I'll just see if I can't find Gregorio around."
I nodded as I put my eyeliner away. "All right. Well, have fun. I'll see you around."
I ventured out of our bedroom, slinked past Tandrak who was seated on the couch, texting, and slipped through the door. Walking down the hallway, I found the stairs and climbed down the 8 floors. I emerged in the main lobby and saw Foltaggio and Antola standing awkwardly by the robot Grarrl.
"Hey!" they both called at the same time.
"Hey," I said, pretending to be taken aback by their enthusiasm.
"You're late," Foltaggio had the nerve to say.
I aimed a punch at his head, but he ducked and seized my wrists until I promised to never ever be late for anything in my life again. Once I was freed, we turned to the door and entered the Recreational Deck of the Space Station.
"It's so weird here, good Fyora," I heard Antola mutter over all the beeps and screeches. I laughed as we started walking around in a random direction.
"So," Foltaggio started out awkwardly. "Fiorina's on your team."
"She's hot," Antola blurted out. Foltaggio murmured his agreement.
"Tola!" I yelped. "You have a girlfriend. You both do."
Antola shrugged. "I can't think other girls are attractive?"
"You said 'hot.' Hot and attractive are two different things."
We'd all broken out in laughter, though, before Antola said, "So...Tandrak Shaye is on your team?"
"He's hot," Foltaggio barely managed to choke out before both of them erupted into laughter again.
"Okay, that's not funny," I protested. As they continued to cackle, I shouted, "Seriously! He's really annoying!"
They were almost bowled over by some kind of robot pet on wheels that was rushing by, which shut them up pretty quickly. But I saw a glimmer of remaining amusement in their eyes as they cast one last glance at each other and suppressed any final chuckles.
"So, how are the rookies on your team?" Antola asked after a few moments.
"Fine," I sighed, then remembered what I had seen as Fellsy was going over the rules. "Just kidding. They're annoying too."
"Aw, I think they're cute," Foltaggio mused.
A little red Shoyru ran up to us, clad in a strange space suit that seemed to be so prevalent here. "I think you guys are dressed funny!"
I looked over our casual wear self-consciously, my white jean shorts and tank top, and the guys' gym shorts and T-shirts. Antola kneeled down in front of her and said, "I think you're dressed funny."
The Shoyru giggled, then ran off to join a group of young pets, who all turned to look at us at the same time. We quickened our pace to avoid the laughs and taunts of the children.
"I miss Shenkuu already," I groaned.
"We've got two more months here, Xana," Foltaggio uttered. "Might as well make the best of it."
I grimaced. What I wouldn't give to breathe in the warm, natural air, walk the beaten dirt paths and rest my eyes on the elegant outdoor scenery. I'd much rather be riverboarding right now. Heck, I'd take getting beaten up by my brother, or maybe even training camp over this. If I was going to play Yooyuball, why couldn't it be on Neopia?
"Come on, Xana." Antola's amused voice broke my thoughts. I snapped out of it and saw they had turned around and were walking in the other direction. "We're going back to the hotel now."
I stood still, disoriented for a few heartbeats. "Wow, thanks for the warning, guys."
"We told you we were turning around, daydreamer," Foltaggio joked. "Who were you thinking about? Tandr-"
"Don't even say it!" I roared, turning quite a few heads. Of course I hadn't been, but since I had a good bit of trouble holding back a smile, they caught on and began teasing me all the way back to the hotel.
"Okay, guys, that's enough," I insisted once we arrived at the door to the Dartails suite. Opening the door, I added, "See you around."
"Bye, Xana," Antola said, while Foltaggio yelled through the open door, "Xana wants Tandrak's-"
Slam! Even through the door that now separated us, I heard their uproarious laughter, but it grew fainter as they progressed through the hallway to their own rooms. I smiled slightly, shaking my head.
"What was that all about?" a powerful voice asked abruptly, startling me a little. Rinok was in the kitchen, standing before the microwave, which was heating something up.
"Oh," I said, somewhat embarrassed. "I don't know, really."
Rinok smirked, then carried on, "You better hope he didn't hear that. No need to get his ego higher than it already is."
"Right," I nodded, before making my way into my bedroom, where Fiorina was lying on her bed, already dressed in pajamas. "Hey," I greeted. "Did you find Gregorio all right?"
"Yeah, I just got back. We found a little fast food restaurant and had dinner."
I peered at my cell phone at the thought of dinner, and saw that it was already past 6 o' clock. "Oh, my gosh, I didn't realize how starving I was."
Fiorina gestured towards the kitchen. "There's a couple microwave dinners in there, and some other supplies to make some food."
I went into the kitchen and rummaged around in the nearly bare cabinets before I found a loaf of bread and fresh cans of peanut butter and jelly. Spreading them on two slices of bread, I wondered aloud why it was so quiet. Rinok, whose dinner was done heating and now needed to cool, explained that Scrap had gone out with the other Tyrannians to get dinner, and Tandrak had already eaten and was in their room, resting.
Rinok then retreated to the depths of the guys' bedroom to eat his dinner, and I was left alone to eat. What kind of team can't even eat one dinner together? I asked myself, appalled. But then again, we weren't really a team. We were just a bunch of players from the same sport thrown together and expected to act like a team. Team members needed bonds with each other.
I sighed and took a bite out of my sandwich. On the other hand, this was probably the first time we'd all been cooped up with members from different teams for so long. Maybe it was just making everyone uncomfortable. Maybe, no, hopefully, we'd all grow to get along.
Finishing up my sandwich, I put the bread and jars away, then went back to my bedroom. Fiorina was already dozing, and if she'd had a rocket ride like I had up here, I couldn't blame her. When my jaws parted in a huge yawn, I decided to change into my pajamas. I did, and stretched myself across my bed. It felt so good, and before I knew it, I was surrounded by the warm darkness of sleep.
