Chapter Ten

Although it was nine months away, Liam, Evangeline, and Sapphire all counted down the days until they would go to America on June 12th. Their father didn't even know what all was going on. Sapphire came up with that they had won a summer trip to New York through the school that came with eight tickets. They then explained that they were only taking Liam for supervision so Darius wouldn't have to miss work.

Over those nine months, Gabriel and Evangeline started dating. Though they hadn't actually kissed, they were nearly inseperable. When they first started dating, they were the same height. Then, Gabriel hit a growth spirt and now towered over her by a good four inches. As for Tancred and Sapphire, nothing happened. They had gone to a movie several times but nothing over that.

- -

"Sapphire, release your grip on my arm, please. It's starting to go numb!" Tancred complained.

"Sorry!" she said, unbedding her nails from his arm as the plane steadied in the air.

"I think that'll actually leave a scar!" Tancred murmered, looking at his injured arm where there were four, extremely deep, moon-shaped indents.

With Evangeline and Gabriel, it was Gabriel who was freaking out. He was sitting bolt up right in his seat, his eyes were closed, and was breathing deeply. Evangeline could tell that all of the muscles in his body were tense by the way the muscle in his forearm was sticking out.

"Gabriel?" she said.

"Yeah?" Gabriel said quietly through clenched teeth.

"Relax, okay! It's fine, we're horizontal again." she told him, resting her hand on her forearm in hopes that he'd relaxed. He didn't.

"I know. It's just, I don't like planes." he said.

"Hang on, let me try something." she said, repositioning herself in the rather comfortable seat so her body was facing him. "Gabriel, turn toward me." he obeyed. "Now open you eyes, and take my hands, both of them, and just look into my eyes." he did so and after a long moment of this, he sighed. "Better?"

"A lot." he sighed again.

"Gabriel, I think your bag is ... squeeking." Evangeline told him.

"Oh, Rita, I forgot!" he exclaimed and grabbed the bag.

"You brought your GERBIL!" Evangeline said in disbelief.

"Uh-huh!" Gabriel nodded and the tiny gerbil poked its head out of the bag. "Rita, get in!" he said, zipping the bag back up.

"I can't belief you brought your gerbil!"

"Gerbils. I brought five."

"Five! And where are they supposed to stay for three months? In your bag?"

"Nope, I brought a cage!" Gabriel said. "Hang on, where's Tiny?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"RAT!!!!!!!" Liam screamed. Him and Olivia were sitting in the seats across the isle from Evangeline and Gabriel.

"Found him." Evangeline said and resituated herself into her seat with her blanket. "I'm taking a nap."

"Okay." Gabriel said, slipping the escaped gerbil into his bag.

"If you start to freak out again, you wake me up." she said. Paton had been smart and booked them night flight.

Lysander, who was sitting beside Emma in the row across from Tancred and Sapphire, was so enchanted with his book that he failed to notice that Emma as she slept, was resting her head on his shoulder. He rolled his eyes as he glanced up and Tancred gave him a thumbs up.

- -

He stepped into the bathroom without knocking, which he should have done.

"Sapphire?" he asked, his voice cracking from the extreme humidity of the bathroom. She screamed slightly.

"Tancred!" she said, poking her head out from behind the shower curtain.

"Oh, sorry, I'll just ... yeah." he murmered and reached for the door knob.

"No, no, stay. I needed someone to talk to." she said and he akwardly sat down on the bench in the luxurious bathroom.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked loudly over the noise of the shower.

"Oh, nothing. Just when I woke up, you were gone." Tancred said.

"Yeah, great job keeping an eye on me." she snorted. "When did they say they'd be back?"

Gabriel, Evangeline, Lysander, Emma, and Olivia had gone out to walk around town for the night. Sapphire had been extremely tired and had been asleep when they even talked about going out. Tancred had volinteered to stay and keep an eye on her, but, he too had fallen asleep.

"They didn't say." he yawned.

"Okay." Sapphire said. "Tancred, could you hand me my towel and my green shirt?"

He hadn't even noticed that the shower had stopped but he picked up the white fluffy towel and a green shirt and put it into her outstretched hand.

"So, are you feeling better now?" Tancred asked. "Evie said that you got sick when you got up to the room."

"Yeah, I'm fine now." she said, throwing back the shower curtain and straightening her long t-shirt that went to just above her knee and hung shapeless from her small frame.

"Flattering." he said, trying to sound cool. She rolled her eyes and grabbed a pile of her clothes.

"Hey Tancred?"

"Yeah?" he asked, trying to sound even cooler.

"You're kind of, standing on my bra." she said.

"Oh, right." he said, picking it up between two fingers and tossed it to her.

"Thanks, now get out." she said and Tancred blushed and slipped out of the bathroom.

Five minutes later, she came out, dressed in pajamas, towel drying her dark hair. She sat down cross-legged on her bed and smiled at Tancred. He noticed that her skin was still flaming red from the heat of the water.

"How hot was that water, anyway?" he asked, brushing his hand over her hot cheek as he sat down beside her on the huge bed..

"I'm fine, Tancred." she told him with a smile. "I just needed some hot water, to help me make sure this is all real."

"Make sure what's all real?" he asked, frowning.

"My mother's alive, I'm in America, I'm here with you." she said rather dreamily.

"What's so unreal about you being here with me?"

"Now that I'm actually here, absolutly nothing." she said, biting her bottom lip.

She didn't notice but through the course of this entire conversation, he had been inching closer and closer. Now, as they locked eyes, he moved just an inch closer and their lips met. Her lips felt incredibly hot on his and her still dripping hair fell over her shoulders and dripped on both of them. His hand, cupping her cheek, felt cool on her warm face. He was surprised when she broke it off, giggling.

"I'm sorry!" she said, giggling girlishly, rolling on her back onto the bed.

"What?" he asked, looking back at her as she still lay there giggling.

"Nothing, just still a little tired, I guess." she said, sitting up after her giggling fit. "I'm sorry." she told him again. By now her skin had turned back to its normal color.

"It's nothing." he muttered. She ressumed her spot beside him on the bed.

"Don't think I started laughing because I don't like you. Because I do like you. A lot actually. I started laughing because it just felt amazing to be here. I've never really had alone time with you outside of when we've gone to the movies, and half the time Gabriel and Evie are with us. I like it." she said and Tancred smirked.

"Well, I'm glad that you like it." he said, putting his hand under her chin and softly kissed her again. She smiled as he pulled away and said, "I'm going to go take a shower."

"Okay." she said, laying back on her bed.

- -

"Do you think it wise to leave Lysander with Olivia and Emma?" Evangeline asked shrugging off her jacket and tossing it onto a chair in the corner of the boys' suite.

"Most definetly." Gabriel said nodding with confidence and smirked as he fed the gerbils that were now in their cage, under the counter in the kitchentte area.

"What?" Evangeline asked him suspiciously.

"Nothing." Gabriel said, shaking his head.

"Fine then, don't tell me." Evangeline said, sitting down on one of the beds. Gabriel sat down beside her.

"I am so glad I decided to come." Gabriel sighed.

"Well, you know, you really didn't have a choice, either way, I was going to drag you onto that plane." she said.

"Oh, really?"

"Yep." she said. It's time she thought to herself, it's time to kiss him. She didn't even know that he was thinking the same thing.

She bit her lip nervously. He smiled and brushed several of her curls out of her face and behind her ear. As he did so, he was inching closer and closer and they locked eyes. The left corner of his mouth turned up into a smile and he shrugged, then he captured her lips with his. She felt weightless as he stroked her hair lovingly. He felt a smile against his lips as he wound one of her spiral curls around his finger.

"Whoa." they heard and they broke apart instantly. Tancred was standing in the door way combinding the the girls' and the boys' suite. Evangeline instantly turnedd as red as her hair and Gabriel also blushed. "Well, well, well." Tancred drawled out. "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just going to get a shower. Carry on." Tancred said, waving a hand at them as he went into the bathroom.

Once he was gone, Gabriel smirked. "Now, where were we?"

"Just about here." she said with a smile and kissed him lightly. "I better go." she whispered in his ear.

When she was half way to the door, Gabriel grabbed her arm and whipped her around and kissed her ... again. She stood on her tip-toes and reached her arms around his neck. He had one hand resting gently on the back of her neck and the other was rested on her silky cheek.

"Seriously, good bye." she said, giving him a quick kiss then rushing out of hotel room.

- -

"What are they talking about?" Olivia wondered as they heard all of the boys laughing. All of the girls were sitting in the dark, their ears pressed up against the door that conected their's and they boys' rooms.

"No clue, but I love this song!" Sapphire said. "G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S." she sang softly.

"Is anybody else wondering why they're listening to Fergie?" Evangeline scoffed.

"So you really like her?" they heard Tancred ask.

"Yeah." they heard Lysander sigh dreamily.

"Who, who does he like?" Olivia hissed impatiently.

"I don't know. And you're on my hand!" Emma hissed.

"You know, I'd rather not talk about that." Lysander said. "So, Gabriel, Tancred tells me you finally got some action with Evie." Evangeline blushed in the dark and every one looked at her.

"You kissed him? Or was it something else?" Olivia asked.

"Yes, we kissed." Evangeline told her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sapphire asked, "I told you about Tancred. Why didn't you tell me about Gabriel?"

"What about Tancred?" Emma asked, confused.

"We kissed ... again."

"So, Tancred are you finally going to ask Sapphire out?" Gabriel asked on the other side of the door.

Sapphire's ears perked up.

"I don't know, maybe if she'll let me."

"What do you mean?" Lysander asked.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Sapphire asked quietly.

"I don't know. She just seems really distant and out of it. I mean, she started to laugh when I kissed her today!" Tancred said.

"You kissed her?" Lysander said.

"Yeah." Tancred sighed. "You know, I think I love her." Sapphire's eyes widened in the dark. Love she mouthed the sacred and or evil word, depending on your view. Lysander snorted. "Hey, shut it Sander!"

"Tanc, you have dated several girls, and four out of five times, you say that you think that you love them." Lysander said. "What do you know about love anyway?"

"A lot actually!" Tancred said and Lysander snorted again.

"Lysander, just be quiet. You don't even have someone to love!" Gabriel snapped. Evangeline was taken aback. She'd never heard him snap at a friend before.

"What, now you going to say that you love Evie?" Lysander asked sarcasticly. Evangeline felt her face flame.

"I don't know. I mean, it's close, but not actual love yet." There was a pause. "Either way, I'm going to bed."

"I'm going to bed too." Evangeline said, still blushing.

"G'night." all her frieds murmered, still trying to listen to Tancred and Lysander's conversation.

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CONTEST TIME!!!!!!!!

Okay, here's the thing. We have a two new characters coming in. One is an eight-year-old girl. The other is fifteen-year-old boy. Whoever sends in the first correct answers gets to name them and we will send them special information concerning the character's before the chapters! The questions ... are song lyrics!!!! If you can guess all three song titles, you can name the girl. Get the artists, you can name the boy. The first review to get it right will be contacted and recognized in the first chapter including the new characters.

1.) "Talk to the mirror, oh choke back tears

And keep telling your self that, 'I'm a DIVA!'!"

2.) "Your dog would much rather

Play fetch by itself

You still live with your mom

And you're forty-two!"

3.) "I know I'm young

But if I had to choose her or the sun

I'd be one nocturnal son of a gun!"