Chapter Ten:

Into The Open Air

One Week Later...

Gabriella was tying her hair back into a high bun as she glanced outside her bedroom window. The leaves were a beautiful mixture of brown, yellow and orange and falling from the trees.

A soft smile touched her lips just as her vision caught the twins walking up the driveway. While Alexy bounced inside the house, Armin looked up, as if feeling her gaze.

A smile crossed his lips as he held up a hand in greeting, making her stomach fill with butterflies as she remembered something.

She and Armin were partners for the orienteering race.

Originally, she wanted to go with Violet but she was teamed with Kim. Gabriella then figured going with her brother would be a nice change of pace but he wanted to team up with Alexy...

Her next option was Nathaniel but he was never around when she wanted to ask, Castiel and Lysander teamed up so that left Armin.

As Armin disappeared from her vision, Gabriella let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding in. She closed her eyes briefly, placing a hand over her hammering heart.

It wasn't like she didn't want to be teamed with Armin; in fact, she was rather happy about it. He always managed to bring a smile to her face or make her laugh...it's just, whenever she was around him lately, her heart wouldn't stop running a marathon and her stomach flipped a lot.

Not wanting to think about anything else, she grabbed her school sports uniform jacket, throwing it on and her white knitted scarf before leaving her room. As she walked down the steps, zipping it up, she found her mother waiting downstairs with a camera in her hand.

"No," Gabriella objected immediately, not a big fan of having her photo taken.

"Oh Gabby, it's not such a big deal," her mother reassured her before forcing the four of them to stand together, Gabriella sandwiched between Julian and Armin. Julian smirked, finding his sister's discomfort slightly amusing as he threw his arm around her shoulder.

"Belt up and smile, Gabby," Julian told her in a sweet tone, knowing it pissed her off.

Gabriella scowled at him briefly before it disappeared and turned into a slight blush as Armin's arm snaked around her waist. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and saw a small blush on his cheek as well but he focused his attention on her mother.

"Everyone, say cheese!"

"Cheese!" Julian and Alexy chirped together while the other two remained silent but smiled anyway.

"Alright, mum," Gabriella broke away and threw her shoes on, wanting to be as far away from her mother and that damned camera. "We should go or else we'll be late for fannying around."

Her mother's yellow eyes frowned slightly. "You're not fannying around, but you're right. Be safe you four," her mother paused before giving Gabriella a serious look. "Sweetie, are you rugged up enough?"

"Yes mum," Gabriella rolled her eyes, a little annoyed with the smothering she was receiving and in front of Armin no less!

"Are you sure? Do you feel faint? Maybe you shouldn't go."

"Mum, I'm hunky-dory."

Her mother didn't seem convinced but nodded anyway and allowed them to leave. As soon as the four of them climbed into Julian's car, the twins immediately jumped on their slang for a translation.

"Fannying around?" Alexy questioned with a puzzled expression.

"It means procrasinate," Julian translated as he started the car and pulled out of the drive way.

"Hunky-dory?" Armin asked Gabriella who sighed tiredly, not a huge fan of translating their slang to Americans.

"Something along the lines of 'I'm fine,'" she answered him and before he could open his mouth once more, she cut him off. "Belt up is another way of saying shut up."

"I don't see why you guys don't speak english," Armin complained and the two of them exchanged looks.

"That is english, Armin," Gabriella told him, slightly amused as he rolled his eyes.

"American english," he clarified for them as Alexy and Gabriella laughed while Julian shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. As soon as the car was parked in the school parking lot, Alexy practically dragged Gabriella with him to confirm their attendances.

Along the way, the two of them met up with a nervous Violet and a confident Kim just as Melody passed them, wearing a slightly disappointed look on her face.

"What's wrong with her?" Gabriella questioned with a slight frown. "It looks like someone took a biggie in her Happy Meal or something."

Blank looks were all she received before Kim caught on what Gabriella had meant.

"If you mean, took a dump, then yeah," Kim nodded in agreement. "Apparently your dear Nathaniel turned down her offer to partner up so she's teamed with Iris."

Gabriella scowled at the dark skinned girl at the insinuation. "He's not my 'dear' anything. Nath's my friend," she told Kim firmly before turning on her heel and heading out of the hallway, towards the courtyard since that was where everyone was supposed to meet.

Opening the door and stepping into the cool, autumn morning air, Gabriella sought out Armin's figure. Scanning the crowd, she spotted him with her brother, the two of them talking. She noticed her twin's serious face and went to approach them but someone grabbed her wrist.

"Looks like Little Britain is going to get lost," Castiel smirked when she spun around, finding him holding her wrist. Lysander was there beside him, smiling softly in greeting at the younger Holmes. "You all rugged up?"

Gabriella pursed her lips in annoyance. "Since when did you start acting like my mother?"

"We don't want you to get pneumonia again, that is all, Gabriella," Lysander told her calmly and Gabriella's annoyance left her face as she sobered up.

Castiel placed his large hand over her forehead and found it was slightly warmer. "You should stay home."

"I'm fine," she snapped, slapping his hand away. "I'm just a little warm from all of this," she gestured to the jacket and scarf wrapped around her neck.

Castiel opened his mouth to scold her when Julian and Armin walked over to them and Julian felt his sister's forehead. He pursed his lips when he saw her stubborn expression.

"The minute you feel dicky, pull out of the race and head to the bus. I don't care if you want to keep going, the teachers know this as well," Julian warned her firmly and she nodded.

"All right, everyone gather around!" The principal called, forcing the entire student body that was participating to group near the teachers. "Thanks to everyone for coming! As you know, today is the project in which each one of you helped with will become a reality. And we would like to thank you."

"For this occasion, we are going to go to the forest, where the teachers are already waiting for us. Please get on the bus in front of the school so we can be on our way," the principal continued with a smile as everyone began climbing onto the many buses.

Armin was adamant about Gabriella sitting next to him and close to the window as Alexy and Julian sat further behind them. She looked at the gamer in suspicion as the bus began to drive onto the road.

Armin caught her gaze. "What's wrong?"

"What did you and Julian talk about?" she asked, having a feeling she knew already but wanted to hear it straight from Armin's mouth.

"Nothing," Armin answered quickly, looking like he wasn't going to give her the truth. She held his gaze for a few more minutes before sighing and resting her head on his shoulder. She was still tired, having to wake up earlier than usual today.

A chill went up her spine and Gabriella shivered slightly before Armin wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to his warm body. She smiled softly to herself and snuggled in, getting comfortable before slowly, falling asleep.

oOo

Gabriella was stretching her arms over her head with Alexy doing the same as Amber sauntered over towards them.

"Great," Gabriella muttered as Amber examined Gabriella.

"Phew, I was scared that this uniform wouldn't do much for me, but I was wrong! I look great" she boasted. "However, I can't really say the same for you."

Gabriella barely looked at her as Alexy looked annoyed. "You can't talk, your style is horrible!" Alexy exclaimed.

Amber gave him a disgusted look. "I wasn't talking to you, faggot."

As soon as those words left Amber's mouth, Gabriella clenched her fists at her sides before glaring at her.

"I don't think you're in any position to talk," Gabriella told her, eyes narrowed. "After all, you've banged more men than the grand old duke of York."

"At least I'm straight. With your family and company you keep, I'm not surprised if you're a lesbian."

Gabriella had to dig her nails into her arms to stop her from knocking the lights out of the blonde as a crowd began to gather around them.

"You know what Amber? I'm pretty sure you were conceived through anal sex because there is no way being this much of an asshole is natural," Gabriella informed her and smirked when there were a few snickers.

Amber's face grew red from embarrassment and anger.

"Fashion tip for you Amber," Alexy cut in, still standing firm next to Gabriella. "You only need to wear one pair of socks at a time and they belong on your feet, not in your bra."

"Then again, she needs all the help she can get with her body," Gabriella said outloud but her gaze was on Alexy. "This is what happens when her lady bits have been invaded more than Poland."

Now everyone around them burst into laughter as they high-fived before giving Amber and her friends expectant looks, wondering what their next move was.

"Says the girl with no hope of developing," Amber said. "You're the long lost eighth dwarf everyone forgot about. You're a fail."

"So was your dad's condom."

"At least my brother isn't an abomination against God!"

It was as if the entire forest went silent as Alexy grabbed onto Gabriella's arm. She shook it off, walked over to Amber until she was a centimetres apart.

"I would like to do nothing more than hit you, but that would be animal abuse," Gabriella told her in a quiet, icy tone with a deadly glare in her eye. "Don't start a fight you have no chance in hell at winning. Now clear off and stay away from us for the rest of the race."

Amber glared once more before pushing through the crowd and leaving with Charlotte and Li right behind her. Immediately, the principal called for everyone's attention as she began explaining the rules to them and handing out maps.

"I'll keep a hold of this," Gabriella told Armin who was watching her carefully. "What?"

"Are you okay? I heard about the Amber incident," he said and she shrugged her shoulders, playing it off. Armin caustiously took her hand into his ans squeezed it.

Gabriella's cheeks flushed a little but she squeezed his back, feeling the warmth of his hand and a secured emotion hit her. A loud whistle signalled the start of the race as every team ran into the forest.

When they arrived at the second part of the race, Gabriella figured they were in third place considering the only other teams there were Castiel and Lysander and Julian and Alexy.

"What does the list say?" Armin questioned, putting the items Mr Faraize gave them into Gabriella's small, white back pack.

"Created by man, something shiny, a leaf the size of a hand, inhabitant of the forest, a print and an insect," Gabriella listed off as they began racing against their brothers and Castiel and Lysander. The other teams began to arrive just as Armin caught the lady beetle with the jar.

"Come on, we need to catch up to the others," Armin said, his competitive nature kicking in as they ran to Mr Farazie who allowed them to pass onto the third leg of the race.

When they arrived, someone was standing there who brought a soft smile to Gabriella's face.

"Jade! I didn't know you were helping out," Gabriella greeted and he grinned.

"Wanted to keep it a surprise," he replied. "Your objective is to find the five letters in the trees to spell out the name of a city."

"See you in a bit," she waved as they headed off down the track, writing down the letters they found along the trees. Just as they walked to the last letter, Julian and Alexy were walking towards them.

"Oh hey, you two found the plastic rabbit," Julian said in mild surprise.

"Jul, we should go if we want to win!" Alexy smirked at his brother who glowered at the thought of his twin beating him. "See you two in the winner's circle."

Gabriella shook her head at them before finding the last letter and writing it down.

"Do you know what city?" Armin questioned as she wrote possible words out. He narrowed his ice blue eyes in thought. "Try Paris."

Gabriella did and saw it used all of the letters. "Good, let's go."

"Yeah, I'm not losing to Alexy!" he exclaimed as they ran back to where Jade stood. Before the gardener had time to ask them the question, they held their hands out. "The answer is Paris."

Smirking, Jade stamped their hands and told them to proceed. When Gabriella was about to walk down the marked path, Armin grabbed her wrist.

"If we take the same path as them, we'll never beat them. Let's take a shortcut," he suggested and Gabriella bit her bottom lip before nodding, wanting to beat Julian at a physical game as well.

oOo

Instantly, she regretted the decision.

They were completely lost and out of their elements when it came to these sort of things. What's worse was, the darker it grew, the colder it got and Gabriella was shivering.

Her chest hurt slightly and it was slightly difficult to breath but she didn't want to say anything. Not only did she want to avoid being fussed over, but she didn't want to seem weak in front of Armin.

"Were lost, aren't we?" Gabriella asked, coughing a little as they stopped at a tree. Her head was killing her and she bit her bottom lip, trying to stop herself from complaining.

"Yeah," Armin rubbed the back of his neck before sitting down. "We should wait for someone to find us."

She nodded and sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. As silence fell between them, Gabriella trying to stay awake as her body felt hot and tired.

"I'm sorry for getting us lost," Armin spoke up quietly. "It's my fault."

"No...it's not," Gabriella whispered, feeling slightly weaker as it grew more difficult to breath and her chest felt like someone was sitting on it. "I went along with it..." she coughed violently and Armin felt her forehead, finding it burning.

"Shit, Gabriella! Shit, shit, shit, I forgot!" Armin panicked, throwing his jacket around her body and pulling her closer to his body. "I'm such a fucking noob."

"No arguements...here..." Gabriella whispered before passing out.

Song: Into The Open Air from Brave soundtrack

Aaaaannnnd that's where I'm gonna end it for this chapter! I bet you're all hating on me, huh?

So yes, I have decided to do My Little Rebel: Rewind but that won't be up until after this one is finished and My Little Victorian gets back and running which I have posted the first, re-written chapter of. So if you guys want to check that out, let me know if I'm heading into a better direction than the first, failed attempt, do so. I would much appreciate it.

Oh, I have also posted a chibi version of what Julian looks like on my tumblr so get check that out!

Ugh, drowsy from pain medication...

Anyways, enjoy my little candies!