Chapter 3: Projects
Cleo closed her math text book and looked towered the clock that now hung above her door. It was 10:45. The younger kids would be in bed, but from the glow coming from the bathroom, she knew Ash wasn't. His math homework was probably keeping him up as well.
Kim sat on her floor across the hall. Ally was sitting with her. They had a poster and books everywhere. There was little reading or writing going on as the two girls fought about there group and project.
At the sound of a large crash, Cleo and Ash jumped from their spots and raced into their sister's room. In front of them lie broken glass and the two pre-teens looking really guilty.
"What happened in here?" Cleo asked the girls.
"Well… Kim said that Elliot wasn't a great partner and wasn't that smart. So I told her Lucy was just as dumb, so she hit me. Then I went to hit her back, but hit the glass bowl, and it broke," Ally explained.
Angela walked in, hair in a messy bun and wearing frilly PJ's, to see what the noise was about. She stood in the doorway watching the mess that was going down.
"Ally, I told you that it was silly to have a boy in our group, not that he was stupid, but now that you mention it, he is not the smartest around," Kim explained to Ally.
"You two, stop it!" Ash exclaimed. "Stop criticizing your friends and get to bed."
"What Ash is trying to say is, you need to stop criticizing friends because they will one day they will be all you have to rely on," Cleo said with a sleepist tone.
"And what Cleo is trying to say is everyone should go to sleep and forget this silly fight ever happened," Angela said Yawning.
"Easy for you to say, you're ok with everyone in our group," Kim yelled at Angela.
"I didn't say I liked everyone in my group," Angela corrected. "You're in my group; I would say that is a bit of a downer."
Kim looked at her cousin with pure discuss. She ran up to her and was quickly stopped by Ash and Cleo. Now hanging in her sister and Step-brother's arms, she gave Angela an I'm-going-to-kill-you look. Angela slowly backed out of Kim's room and went back to bed. Kim struggled in the teens' arms till the both of them just gave up and dropped her on the ground. Now out of energy and quite mad she sat at the feet of her brother and sister looking out the door.
"Look girls, sometimes you will get people in your group that you like and some you don't. It is just part of life. Get use to it," Cleo told Ally and Kim.
"That's easy for you to say with a group in school with only your friend in it," Ash pointed out.
Kim and Ally gave Cleo a look that could kill. They did not like what their siblings were saying.
"You know what," Ash said after about a minute of silence, "It is time for bed. So good-night and I'll see you in the morning." And with that he left the room, leaving the girls staring daggers at each other.
In Class
"Now I want to go over a few things about the trip coming up. Did everyone get the permission slips signed?" Mrs. Vandal asked as soon as the bell rang.
All the students came up and handed in the permission slips and went back to their seats.
"Now can you all please sit in your element groups?" Mrs. Vandal asked going through the permission slips.
All the students went into a frenzy trying to get with their groups. As soon as all the students were in their groups, Mrs. Vandal started to pass out supply lists. Each list was special to each element. Mrs. Vandal explained that the trip was a game to see which element was the best.
Cleo started to look over her list and saw some different items on it.
"Ok, we all will need a backpack, a water bottle, a compass, a small snack, tennis shoes, suntan lotion, and clothes that are ok to get wet," Kelly read aloud.
She looked up at the two girls and one boy in her group. Cleo was still freaked about the getting wet part, that she did not hear it when Charlotte made a guess to where they were going.
"Are we going to Mako Island?" She asked.
"Why yes, Charlotte, we are. You have a great sense of secrets," Mrs. Vandal told her.
Emma and Lewis looked freaked about the Mako thing, Cleo was still on the getting wet thing, while Rikki was giggling about the sense of secrets thing.
Emma looked down at the list and let Ash read it aloud. "We will need to bring a backpack, a water bottle, long sleeved top, long pants, tennis shoes, and a small snack."
"Long pants and a long sleeved top?" Emma questioned.
Ash nodded as he said, "That is what is on the list."
Across the room, Rikki was reading the list that was given to her group. "A backpack, a small snack, a water bottle, suntan lotion, a fan, a hat, tennis shoes, and light clothes."
"It sounds like we are going to the dessert," Zane pointed out. "How hot can it get on Mako?" Zane asked more toward Rikki then anyone else.
Rikki shrugged just as Merriam added, "I am not going to hike in the sun when it is over 26 degrees out."
"Well I guess we are," Kenly said sweetly.
As this was going on, Lewis was looking through his list as Nate was reading it aloud, "A backpack, a small snack, a water bottle, a small laptop, tennis shoes, comfortable clothes, and suntan lotion."
"Why the computer?" Kendall asked.
"I guess we will have to use it," Bill said sarcastically.
Kendall gave him a look that said he was not impressed. Then he looked back down at his list.
"Ok, so we start the trip in three days at 6am and we will all meet here," Mrs. Vandal started. "After I take roll, we will all get on the bus that will take us to the peer. Once there we will hop on a bout and head over to the island." She looked around the room as everyone took this in. "Once at Mako, we will separate into our four groups and I will explain the game."
Just then the bell rang and all the students quickly ran out of the room. Cleo, Emma and Lewis started down the hall toward English. On their way they passed Charlotte talking with Kenly and Mary. They were whispering, but when the three passed Charlotte stopped talking and just looked up at them. Cleo and Charlotte exchanged a long stare down before going their separate ways.
