Chapter 7 - Fun and Games
CASSIE'S P.O.V.
I walked down the hallway thinking about what I'd just said. Where did I get that confidence from? Being around Dan is like I'm a whole different person. Suddenly, a flying Totoro hit my head. I instinctively grabbed it and used it as a shield, in case more plush toys followed. After a few seconds, I peeked out from behind my shield and saw a grinning Phil. "Sorry Cassie," he said. "I thought you were Dan." That gave me an idea. "Can I borrow this for a sec?" I asked him. He looked confused. "Why?" he asked. I grinned. "So I can throw it at Dan's head, duh." I said, rolling my eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And why would you do that?" he played along, with mock confusion. "Since when do I need a reason, you do it all the time!" I told him, adding attitude to my voice and clicking my fingers the way the duck-face princesses on American Idol do. He ran into his room, then came back with an armful of stuffed toys.
We crept towards Dan's door, hoping that he wouldn't hear us. Phil silently counted down, then we burst into Dan's room and started pelting him with toys. I hit him on the head as he dived behind his bed and high-fived Phil. "Head! Ten points! Yay!" I yelled. "Cassie!" Dan whined from behind his bed. "God, Phil, you're such a bad influence. I leave her alone with you for a moment and you've turned her into a Totoro throwing maniac!" I giggled. "Hey Dan," I asked, changing the subject, "When will you give me an official apartment tour?" I heard him facepalm. "Right! Sorry, I forgot that you hadn't actually been here before. I guess that as we were getting on like old mates that I sort of assumed that you were an old friend and had been here before..." he trailed off awkwardly. God, I hope that I wasn't blushing, though I knew in my heart of hearts that I was. Phil coughed awkwardly. "I'll leave you guys to it then." he said and practically ran out of the room. Thanks a lot, Phil. I turned to Dan. He rubbed his hand together in a business like way. "Right, let's get started." he said.
DAN'S P.O.V.
Cassie bounded down the stairs with her usual bubbly persona of excitement and delight. Yup, she was amazing. Wait Dan! You don't even like her. Well, as a friend. But only a friend. Besides, she won't consider me anything more than a friend. I'd just finished giving her a tour of our apartment and we were about to watch a movie. When we got to the lounge room however, Phil was playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Damn. Cassie probably doesn't even like Mario Kart. I was about to tell Phil to leave when he asked us, "Do you want to play?" I shot a look at Cassie. She grinned. "Only if Dan wants to." So she does want to play. Phew, awkward situation avoided.
Phil chucked us both a controller, and we sat down on the sofa, Phil and me at opposite ends and Cassie in the middle. I mentally grinned. Phil quit his race and changed to the avatar selection screen. Immediately, Cassie picked Toad. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out "Aww, I wanna be Toad." Smooth, Dan, smooth. I mentally kicked myself. Cassie shot me a look and grinned. "That's cool broski, I'll be Toadette." She switched avatar to the pink version of Toad. I grinned thankfully and selected Toad. Only then did I notice the look on Phil's face as he stared at us. Not saying a word, he just picked his avatar, Luigi, and the race began.
***EIGHT RACES LATER***
CASSIE'S P.O.V.
I skidded across the finish line and threw my controller down in triumph. "Yay! I win! I win!" I sung as I did a little victory dance. "Get out of the way!" Phil yelled as he and Dan pushed me aside. Oops, I forgot that they were still racing. They finally finished. "How did you manage to win eight races in a row?" Phil asked, genuinely surprised. I smiled shyly. "I played all of last summer." I explained to them. "And why did you pick Toad?" Dan piqued up. I furrowed my brow in confusion. "He's just my favourite, I guess." I said. "Maybe I thought that you guys would feel less sad losing to the hands to a boy avatar, instead of one with pink pigtails." I grinned cheekily. They smiled. "You know, Dan," Phil said, ignoring me for a second. "I think that she's mocking us." Dan nodded in agreement. "Yup. She's being very cheeky. The twins wont be happy knowing that they've got competition." "You know Dan, I think that we should do something about her attitude." Phil said in a mock serious manner. Oh no, I didn't like where this was going. They both turned to face me.
I dodged a flying pillow and sprinted past Dan and Phil, out into the hallway. Down the stairs, and along the corridor. I could hear them catching up. Not surprising, considering that they know the apartment better than I do, and they're almost 6 foot. Dan was basically on my tail, so I took the first left and slammed the door in his face, locking it quickly. Right. I was in the bathroom. Not the best place to be, but it could be worse. I heard them banging on the door. "Cassie! Come out!" Dan hammered on the door. "Never!" I yelled in reply. Quick, think Cassie. Think.
DAN'S P.O.V.
I could hear water running inside the bathroom. What was Cassie doing in there. I didn't have to wait long to find out. The door opened, and Cassie flicked water in mine and Phil's eyes, then sprinted back the way she came. God, she was good. We followed her into the kitchen. "Stay where you are!" Cassie yelled from across the kitchen. I looked at her. She was holding my bucket of Maltesers upside down and had her hand on the lid. "One more step and I drop this bad boy." she threatened. I raised my hands in defeat and she grinned, returning my precious bucket to it's rightful place on the bench. "Now!" I screamed as me and Phil dived towards her and tackled her to the ground. We started to tickle her. She giggled in that adorable way of hers. "Stop it!' she pleaded in between her laughter fits. "Never!" I cried and tickled her even harder.
Her eyes flicked open. Suddenly, she twisted to the left, while hooking her right leg behind mine, and flipped so that I was on the ground and she was sitting ontop of me. "Die Howell, die!" she shouted and tickled me on my weak spot, my tummy. I screamed and tried to shake her off. "Help me Phil!" I shouted in desperation. He sighed, gave in and grabbed Cassie from behind, dragging her off me and into the living room. I follow close behind. Cassie twisted out of his grasp. "Lets call it a draw." she suggested, offering me her hand. We shook hands and flopped on the couch. "Do you want to watch a movie?" I asked her. "We have a reasonable collection." I indicated to our hundreds of DVD's in our shelf. She nodded in agreement. "Let's watch your favourite." she told me.
Authors Notes
Hola ambross! Before I say anything, I want to thank love_evolves_from_friendship for being the first person to review my work! A million thank yous! (It is totally not sad that I have only one review.) Sorry about the filler chapter, btw, but the next chapter will be coming soon (gosh, I sound like a movie trailer...) Anyway, stay amazing and see you later!