Chapter five is here! Huzzah! They've arrived at the island and are out exploring the many features, including the forest, marshes and town.
So, who will they be roomed with? Will they get on? As they begin their stay at the island, will feelings change?
I don't own anything accept for…well, the island and some of the characters.
"Aw man! This place is amazing!" May exclaimed, looking around in wonder. The buses had just arrived at the hotel and the students were gathered outside the door, a few teachers in front. One was holding a bundle of lists.
"Alright!" he said loudly to get the attention of the youths. "I will now read out your rooming arrangements and your activity groups."
"Get on with it!" someone yelled from the group. The teacher frowned. The girl who had shouted smirked, flicking a sea-green and purple lock of hair from her orange eyes.
"Janet. Be quiet. The girls' rooms are on the first floor and the boys' on the second.
"In room 111 are Misty Waterflower, Katrina Willow, Hillary Crush and Janet Taylor.
"In Room 112 are Dawn Berlitz, Leaf Green, Bonnie Rodes and Amy Leer.
"In Room 113 are Brianna Oats, May Maple and Molly Quinn."
The girls glanced around at each other, eying up their to-be roommates.
"As for the boys. In room 203 are Ash Ketchum, Drew Hayden, Rudy Parks and Amos Brady.
"In room 204 are Max Maple, Jed Nicholson, Phil Frazier and Paul Shinji.
"In room 205 are Gary Oak, Liam Wate, Bennie Rodes and Barry Jun."
Max groaned upon hearing he was with Paul…again. He then peered at the rest of the students, trying to work out who Jed and Phil were. However, he didn't have time to ponder this long as the teacher began speaking again.
"The activity groups are as follows," the teacher began again. "Group A is Drew Harden, Max Maple, Jed Nicholson, Molly Quinn and Dawn Berlitz.
"Group B is Bennie Rodes, Brianna Oats, May Maple, Gary Oak, Leaf Green and Amos Brady.
"Group C is Bonnie Rodes, Ash Ketchum, Janet Taylor, Misty Waterflower Rudy Parks and Amy Leer.
"And finally, Group D is Katrina Willow, Hillary Crush, Paul Shinji, Phil Frazier, Liam Wate and Barry Jun."
"Hey, I'm with you, Mist!" Ash said happily, grinning at his friends. Misty smiled.
"This is great!"
Max was sighing in relief that Dawn was in his group, glad he would know someone. Although he wouldn't admit it, it was quite daunting for him as everyone was at least two years older than him. After a few rules were laid down, the students were allowed to flood into the hotel to meet their roommates and put all of their belongings away.
In room 111
Hillary Crush
Janet Taylor
Misty Waterflower
Katrina Willow
Misty walked through into room 111. Her three room mates were already there, packing things into drawers. The first girl, Hillary Crush, was a weedy girl with straight, dark hair and dark eyes that squinted from behind a pair of glasses. She had finished unpacking and was arranging a few notebooks and pieces of paper on her bedside table, along with a small pot of pens and pencils.
The next was Janet Taylor. She was an eccentric looking person, who's naturally sea-blue-green coloured hair had been interlaced with royal purple highlights. Her eyes were bright orange and her mouth pulled up in a smirk. She was still throwing random articles of clothing into her drawers.
The other girl, Katrina Willow, was putting her things away in a neater manner, folding them up first. She had straight, orange hair to her shoulders with a yellow highlight, and electric yellow eyes.
Misty dragged her suitcase to the only chest of drawers still empty and unbuckled the case. Immediately a yelp of surprise escaped her lips.
"GAH!"
Three heads swung around to look at her. As soon as she had opened the case, she had been attacked by a barrage of clothes that had sprung from the over-packed depths. She pulled a shirt off her face and frowned. She hadn't packed that…or that skirt…or that scarf…or those shorts…No wonder her suitcase had felt to heavy before, her sisters must have stuffed in a few extra things.
"Ooh, I'm gonna kill them," Misty mumbled to herself, scooping everything up from the floor.
"Maybe you should try packing less in the future," Katrina commented. Janet – or 'Jaz' as she preferred to be called – was sniggering into her hand. Hillary was silent, bar the soft scrape of lead against paper as she scribbled something down on a notebook.
"I didn't pack this!" Misty yelped.
"You mean your mum packed for you?" Jaz said then sniggered some more.
"No!" Misty denied, throwing something into a drawer whilst glaring darkly over her shoulder. Jaz only started laughing harder. This was going to be an interesting week.
In Room 112
Dawn Berlitz
Leaf Green
Amy Leer
Bonnie Rodes
Dawn was first to enter her room. She threw her bags down on the bed closest to the window and surveyed the room. All of the rooms were identical, give or take a few beds and chests of drawers. They were quite large and spacious with two big windows. The walls were cream and the carpets and ceiling were white. The furniture was of a medium brown wood and the covers were a darker shade of cream than the walls.
The door opened again and Leaf Green walked in, smiling widely. She waved at Dawn with one hand, the other lugging her case into the room. She dropped it on another bed and started to unpack. The two girls small-talked for a bit before the door opened again.
The last two girls made their entrance. One, Amy Leer, was looking quite upset. Her blonde hair was curly and reached past her shoulders. Her pale pink eyes were sad. Amy was being dragged into the room by the other, slightly taller, girl.
Bonnie Rodes also had blonde hair, but it was straight and cut into a short bob. Her eyes were a light, leaf-green colour.
"Don't worry," she was saying. "You'll see Amos again later when you've unpacked!"
"But what i-if he takes too long unpacking a-and we keep missing each other like i-in that m-movie?" Amy sobbed.
"That won't happen! If you can't find him, I'll get Bennie to find him and bring him to you! We won't stand seeing a couple in distress!" Bonnie said in an assuring tone before noticing Dawn and Leaf. "Oh, hello!"
"Hi," Dawn and Leaf said, smiling. They reminded each other of their names before falling into friends chatter.
In Room 113
May Maple
Brianna Oats
Molly Quinn
May stepped into room 113 at the same time as another girl called Brianna Oats. May and Brianna were familiar with each other, as they both had certain lessons together. May liked Brianna, and for a while Brianna had liked her too…but along the lines something had gone wrong, but May didn't know what.
"Hey Brianna," May said in a friendly voice. Brianna put on a smile.
"Oh, hey May," she greeted in reply. Her reddish-brown hair fell to her shoulders. Her light green eyes looked around the room, taking in the three beds and three chests of drawers. May had already walked in and was deciding which bed to take. When the two had bagsied their beds and were in the process of unpacking, the third and final roommate stepped in.
Molly Quinn was a shy girl. Her long, dark hair acted as a curtain around her face, her violet eyes wide. She offered the two smiles.
"Hi."
May and Brianna smiled back. They knew the girl from their classes, so there was no need for introductions. Molly dropped her things on the last bed and began to unpack.
In room 203
Amos Brady
Drew Hayden
Ash Ketchum
Rudy Parks
Drew had finished unpacking. His things had been arranged in his suitcase already, so unpacking was merely a process of transferring one section of his suitcase to each drawer, something that had only taken a couple of minutes. Ash Ketchum, on the other hand, had a very messy suitcase, and so he was still sorting out his socks from his shirts.
Amos Brady was sighing sadly to himself, dropping each article of clothing into the drawers forlornly. He was a stocky boy with reddish-pink hair cut short and neat and pale, icy-blue eyes.
"What's up, Amos?" Ash asked, looking over at him.
"I miss Amy," he replied dully, not bothering to look over at Ash.
"You saw her less than ten minutes ago!" Drew pointed out, one eyebrow arched.
"Ten minutes…ten hours…it's all the same to me…" Amos said. Ash and Drew glanced at each other but before either could say anything, Rudy Parks burst in. He was a tall boy with auburn hair and dark eyes.
"Hey guys," he said as he entered. "What up? What's with him?" He nodded over at Amos. Amos wailed again and Drew sighed before explaining the situation. Amos Brady and Amy Leer were renowned in the school for being the soppiest, most love-sick couple ever. Every living moment they spent together, and when they were apart, each acted as if it was the end of the world.
In room 204
Phil Frazier
Max Maple
Jed Nicholson
Paul Shinji
Max was the last to enter his room, as he had been busy trying not to get squashed in the crowds. When he got in, he found his there room mates already there. He already knew Paul, of course, but the other two he hadn't met. However, he couldn't help but feel that they looked familiar.
One of the boys had silvery hair and deep, blue eyes, which was odd as the other had blue hair – though it was more of a pale powder blue - and silver-grey eyes. Both had identical grins.
"What's your name, lil' buddy?" one asked.
"You know, I've got a brother the same age as you," the other said.
"I'm Max," Max replied.
"Max Maple?" they said together.
"So you're the guy Fred's been talking about," the blue haired chap said. "Name's Phil."
"And I'm Jed," said the silver-haired bloke. "You know my brother too…Gil?"
"Yeah…I know them…" Max said weakly.
I
n room 205
Barry Jun
Gary Oak
Bennie Rodes
Liam Wate
The four boys were already in room 205. Liam was quietly putting his things away. Bennie was studying a list of the people on the trip. Gary was yawning and Barry was running around, doing…something. That is, he was until he tripped over Gary's foot and was sent flying. He lay, sprawled on the ground, for only a second before he leapt up, glaring.
"I ought to fine you for that!" he cried, pointing dramatically at Gary. The spiky-haired kid raised his eyebrows.
"Mmhm. I think not. See you round, weird kid." He left the room.
Gary walked down the stairs and out of the hotel to explore when he noticed Leaf coming out a little behind him. He smiled and waved her over. Leaf grinned and ran to meet him.
"Hey. I can't believe we're finally here! Come on, let's go exploring!" she said, taking his hand so as to drag him around. Gary yelped as she began running at a fast pace, with him hanging on to her hand for dear life. He dug his heels into the ground, forcing her to slow down to a walk.
That's better, Gary thought as they walked in sync. He hadn't let go of her hand yet, and was overjoyed as she hadn't let go of his.
Within an hour, all of the other students had left the hotel and were exploring the island in small groups or on their own.
Fuscilia isle was a large, elongated-crescent shaped island that reminded one of an eye. The fattest part, behind the curve of the crescent, was filled by a large forest, the North of which merged into an area of marshland. North of the marshland was a steep drop over a cliff which overlooked the top tip of the island, which was covered in rock pools. There was a band of sand that surrounded the island, but was at it's thickest at the southern tip of the crescent. West of the large beach was the hotel complex which was by a small town. Behind the town was the forest.
There was another island that was part of Fuscilia Isle, which was nestled inside the bay of the crescent. This small island was shaped almost like the large island, but was more round and the two tips of the crescent were linked by a thin band of sand and shingle. In the fatter part of the small island was a large field which was full of the same dark pink flowers; fuchsias.
Misty, May, Dawn, Ash and Max were exploring the forest when they got separated. Max had stopped to peer at some rare specimen of plant or insect or something the others didn't really care about. The others had almost left without him, but May noticed at the last second that Max had stopped and ran back. Misty, Dawn and Ash, however, hadn't realised and carried on.
By the time she had pulled her brother away from…whatever he was looking at, she had no idea where her friends had gone. "Oh no," she cried. "Where are they now?"
"Don't worry, we'll meet them back at the hotel for dinner if we don't find them," Max said. "Ash wouldn't let them miss it."
May sighed and the brother and sister began walking in some random direction. Little did they know; they were being followed. But little did their follower know that he was, too, being followed.
Soon, the four (including the follower and the follower's follower) reached the edge of the forest and had come out onto the marshland.
"Be careful, May," Max said to his sister. "This area is known to have some unstable and unsafe patches."
They picked their way across to the edge, where the marshes met a sheer drop. The Maple siblings went right to the edge and looked down. They were very high up.
Behind them, Drew was worried. Max was backing away from the edge to look at…something interesting he'd found on the marshes, and the patch of ground May was standing on looked slightly unstable.
Behind him, Brianna was frowning. Her Drew was staring at May. How dare he? No, how dare she! How dare she use her…feminine charms to lure Drew away from her!
It all happened very fast after that. The cliff began to crumble. May cried out as she lost her footing and stumbled forward. Max swung around and, in his hurry to get his sister, tripped and fell. Brianna gasped in horror. Drew shot forward like a bullet. May was already beginning to fall, a silent scream on her face. He wasn't going to make it.
But he did. He put on a burst of speed and grabbed the back of May's shirt, tugging her backwards into his arms. May threw her arms around his neck, terrified. They watched a few rocks tumble down the cliff edge and smash on the ground below. The two of them were panting. Slowly, they moved their heads to look at each other, eyes wide.
Drew's cheeks were tinged with pink as he stared at the girl he had grown to like – maybe even love – who had almost died, who he had almost lost forever.
May's face flushed as she gazed at the irritating, but undeniably handsome, boy who annoyed her on a daily basis…the boy who had just saved her life…who was looking at her with such deep, intense, gorgeous eyes.
It was like that for a long time before Max cleared his throat. Embarrassed, Drew retreated and let May go, safely away from the cliff edge. May thanked him quietly before grabbing Max and darting away. She had a lot to think about.
It was a shame, really, that Bonnie and Bennie Rhodes hadn't seen this. It was also a shame that they were currently walking through town at the time they were. Bonnie and Bennie were twins. Although they weren't identical, they looked very similar. Both had the same, pale faces, blonde hair and leaf-green eyes. Both were the same height, both were slender and had long limbs. Even their clothes were the same colour.
Having given up looking for May and Max in the forest, Misty, Ash and Dawn found themselves back in town – though Misty and Ash believed that Dawn had led them there as she was now begging them to go around with her. They decided to give in to her pleads and the three of them started exploring the small town. There were several small outlet stores with interesting things in the window, a flower shop, a sweet shop, a grocers and a convenience shop, among other things. It was there that they bumped into Paul…and Barry.
"Hey, it's Paul," Dawn said, nodding at the purple-haired boy. He heard her shout and rolled his eyes. She was still following him, he noted. Though he couldn't help but think about how he had been noticing her following him more and more. However, he was unaware of the blond boy walking behind him.
Well, he was unaware until Dawn, too busy gawking at him, tripped over a rock and stumbled forward into him. He caught her out of instinct rather than actual care, but then froze. Paul held her awkwardly for a few seconds, unsure of what to do, whilst her friends watched with baited breath. He then pushed her to her feet and stepped away. Unfortunately, he pushed her slightly too hard as Dawn stumbled again but this time fell into Barry.
"Gah!"
"Ah!...Hey! I should fine you for that!"
"Sorry!"
The force of Dawn falling had sent them both to the ground. Dawn quickly clambered off of him, flushing from embarrassment. Little did they know, two other people had witnessed this scene.
"Did you see that, Bon?" Bennie said quietly to his sister, watching as Dawn fell onto Barry.
"How sweet! Just like in a movie," Bonnie cooed. She smiled and added, "And look, Ben! She's blushing!"
"How perfectly adorable!"
"They should get together, don't you think?"
"I do! I can tell just by looking at them that they belong together!"
"This trip is going to be so fun! Uniting two people who are destined to be!" The twins sighed dramatically at the thought.
Yes, it was, indeed, very unlucky that Bonnie and Bennie Rhodes were in town.
Meanwhile, Katrina was walking around the island with Liam close behind. She knew he was there; she'd known ever since his foot had gone through a rock pool, but she hadn't revealed him. In a strange, slightly cruel way, it was entertaining listening to him sneaking along after her, especially as he thought she didn't know.
When she reached the cliff, the one May had nearly plummeted to her doom from; she stopped, glanced up and down, and spotted a cave. How interesting, she thought, making her way along the rocks toward it. She peered inside. It was pitch black. She took a small torch from her pocket ("never go anywhere without a torch," her dad had said) and switched it on. The cave seemed to go pretty deep into the cliff.
She was about to go in but remembered Liam behind her. She doubted the bookworm had a torch, and she wasn't sure if he would follow her in or not. If he did, he might get hurt in the dark…which would be bad. She sighed and turned around, much to his horror.
"If you're going to come in too, stick close," she said before walking inside. Liam paused for a second before scurrying after her. Although his face was burning from embarrassment at being caught, he didn't want to be left alone. At least, he thought they were alone…
But no, they weren't. Budding young journalist, Hillary Crush, was there too. She had been watching them from a safe distance, wondering where they were going. She was hunting around for a good story when she saw Liam following Katrina. That had got her suspicion going straight away. And now they were sneaking off into a cave…
Hillary smiled grimly to herself, a look that looked particularly sinister on her pale face, and clicked a small button on her pen. A small light flickered on from the end of her pen which she used to safely follow Katrina and Liam into the cave.
Meanwhile…
"That was embarrassing," Dawn mumbled as she, Misty and Ash hurried away from Barry and Paul. "Still…Paul caught me and held me for a few second…" she sighed happily.
"Yeah, before shoving you away again," Ash said, jealous.
"Tch." Dawn waved him off dismissively. "Hey! May!"
The three looked up to see May and Max walking toward them. Well, Max was dragging a thoughtful and absent looking May toward them.
"Hey guys!" Max said cheerfully.
"You alright, May," Misty asked. "Are you…thinking?"
"Mmhmm…"
"…You do not know how odd that looks," Ash said, earning him a smack from Misty.
"Sorry…it's just…" May shook her head. "It's not that big a deal. I just…I dunno…can't get it, him, out of my mind."
"Who, what?" Dawn asked, dying to know.
"Drew; he saved my life." Judging by the looks on her friends' faces, May knew she wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere until she had described what had happened, so she did. She told them the story from her and Max getting separated to her being tugged away from her doom by her green-eyed saviour. The only things she left out were his face after he'd saved her, and how she had felt herself.
Dawn found it adorable. Misty found it incredible. Ash found is dramatic…so much so that his stomach rumbled.
"Oops…I guess it's food time," he said sheepishly. His friends laughed and they began to make their way back to the hotel. They were allowed to eat between half five and half six at the hotel, and it was twenty past five at the moment. The hotel was a few minute walk away, so they had time to explore the hotel whilst they waited.
A couple of other people were inside already. On the third floor they accidentally walked in on Amos Brady and Amy Leer…showing their affection for each other. The four of them hurried past, hoping they hadn't been noticed. A little later they met Gary and Leaf, who were snooping around their peers' rooms.
The other rooms were empty, apart from room #111 in which Jaz was flicking through a black notebook. Looking up, she saw Ash, May, Dawn and Misty and grinned at them, holding up the book.
"You wouldn't believe the stuff that nut writes in here!" she laughed. "Listen to this, Dawn. It's about you!" She cleared her throat importantly before reading aloud from the book: "'It is common knowledge that fifteen-year-old Dawn Berlitz (Fifth Year) has taken a large fancy to seventeen-year-old Paul Shinji (Seventh Year). However, is this Saturn-sized crush spinning out of control as she has not only taken to following Shinji around like a love-sick puppy, but also frequently visits his brother, Reggie, in the local pet shop…'"
Jaz laughed again and resumed flicking through the notebook. "Saturn-sized, pfft."
Dawn was gaping at her. "She…who…wrote that?"
"Ol' Hillz. Hillary Crush. Dark hair, glasses…thinks she some sort of hot-shot journalist. Mental, if you ask me."
"Why would she write that about Dawn?" Ash asked, frowning. "Is it for some sort of newspaper?"
"Ha! She wishes…hang on, I'll try to find one about you, Ash," she said, giving him a wide, sly grin. He politely declined and the four of them quickly slipped away, leaving Jaz to carry on going through Hillary's things.
"I don't suppose Hillary will be very happy when she finds out Jaz has been going through her stuff," Dawn said.
"I don't suppose she will," Misty agreed.
Indeed Hillary wouldn't, but she had something bigger on her mind; something that could make her journalist career. The meagre bulb on her pen only lit up a small section of the cave, but that didn't matter; she was following the sounds of the footsteps in front of her.
She knew when they stopped because the edge of her circle of light started lapping on Liam's heels, but neither he nor Katrina noticed. She could see the light of Katrina's torch moving and realised with horror that they were turning around. Hillary leapt behind a stalagmite and, pulling out her notebook, watched and listened eagerly. However, the cave echoed quite a bit and they were talking very quietly. She could only make out bits of their conversation.
"…a stronger one…" she heard Katrina say.
"What?" Liam asked. "But, won't it…"
"…Daft…it's just…going to kill…"
Hillary scribbled down what she heard, a story already formulating in her head from her evidence.
The two teenagers soon were too far away to hear much more, but Hillary didn't care. She'd just stumble on something amazing. They were looking for something…something stronger than what they already had, whatever that was. And, most shockingly, they were going to kill someone. There was no doubt about it.
Katrina and Liam were spies.
Sorry, that was a really random ending. I just thought it would be funny to have the budding young journalist running around for evidence about a spy mission. Heheh, fail. Of course Katrina and Liam aren't spies. It was just unfortunate that Hillary heard what she did of their conversation.
Review please! Next chapter: Tuesday is for Scheming