History Project – or – Gaining a New Friend
"Are you sure your dad is going to be okay with us using his notes?" Victoria asked as she and Joel followed Alex to the 'infamous' Drake house.
"Don't worry too much about it Vic!" Joel laughed, earning a glare from her. "Mr. Drake really doesn't care if we borrow his notes or not."
"But what about Miss Bonnibel? I heard you got into a lot of trouble for using your dad's notes on the Crusades." Victoria went on, "Are you sure this isn't going to be a problem?"
Alex shrugged, "It's not like we're stealing research. Dad keeps all of the books he's ever used for research. For our report on the Crusades, me and Joel just looked over Dad's notes and then researched on things that we wanted to expand on. It's not cheating. It's using our resources."
"Yeah! I'd bet you twenty bucks Bonnibel wouldn't have an issue if his dad was a history professor or something." Joel gave Victoria an encouraging pat on the back as Alex smiled at her. "Don't worry your pretty lil' head off! We'll get an A without issues!"
"Well I didn't doubt about getting a good grade. I mean, both of his parents write for a living." She sighed, giving Alex a playful shove as they walked up to the Drake home.
Joel gave Alex's shirt a quick tug, making him stop. "Uh…You know she's never been over before." Alex quirked an eyebrow and Victoria gave the pair a confused look. "Don't you think she deserves a fair warning?"
"A fair warning for what?" she asked.
Alex turned to face her, rubbing the back of his neck. "About my parents."
"What about 'em? From what I've heard, they're sound like anyone's parents." Alex gave her a strange look. "Okay. So they sound a little odd-"
"It's about what you're most likely gonna see when you step inside my house anytime." Alex interrupted. "My parents have never really left the honeymoon stage." Victoria froze. Her mouth opened and then closed it. Alex looked down at his feet, shuffling back and forth nervously.
"Oh...okay?" Was all she said in reply. Joel stood there awkwardly, watching the two of them do their nervous shuffles.
"Uh… Let's go in?" Joel finally said, motioning towards the front door. "History projects don't start by themselves." Alex laughed and led everyone in. Leave it to Joel to break tension.
"Mom? Dad?" Alex shouted, not bothering with an 'I'm home'.
"In the kitchen!" Elena shouted back. The three teenagers heard giggling as they got closer to the kitchen. Joel comically covered his eyes with his hands as they walked in and Victoria rolled her eyes and laughed a little at the action. Though as they filed into the kitchen she could see why he Elena and Nathan Drake were practically plastered against one another; Elena was giggling like mad as her husband placed kisses up and down her jaw-line and neck. Needless to say, Victoria's face was a very good impression of a tomato as they walked in.
"Hey guys." Alex said, "I brought Joel and Victoria over. We got a project for history we need to do."
His parents broke apart to officially meet and greet Victoria. "You must be Victoria. Nice to finally put a face to the name." Nate held out his hand and she shyly shook it.
"Nice to meet you too Mr. Drake, Mrs. Drake." She smiled at both of Alex's parents, her nerves of being in a slightly strange home melting away. It didn't feel like she had just walked in on something intimate.
"Bonnibel's pretty big on the group projects it seems." Nate mused as he shook hands with Joel.
"Yup. We got a theory on that." Nate quirked an eyebrow, cueing Joel to continue. "Alex and I think she's trying to teach the slackers to slack and the ones who actually do all the work not to depend on anyone." Nate laughed at that.
"So what have you guys have to report on? Elizabethan? Victorian? Renaissance?" Nate asked.
"We chose the Italian Renaissance." Victoria supplied, "We were, uh, kind of hoping you lend us your notes."
Nate and Elena laughed. "Yeah! Go for it." Nate clapped his son on the back, "Let me go ahead and grab my notes and stuff ya. Gonna set camp in the living room again?" Alex nodded and after a quick gathering of snacks and beverages, they headed out to the living room. Both adults in the house brought out every book, notebook and scrap piece of paper Nate had on the Italian Renaissance. Victoria gaped at the tall stack of books that was placed on the coffee table.
"That's…that's a lot of books." Victoria said in awe as she picked the closest one up. Alex laughed as he and Joel started sorting through the material.
"Well, considering that the basement is essentially a library, this is just a small amount of what we probably could use." Alex explained as he flipped through a particularly old looking book. Victoria just nodded as she helped organize things.
"See? Told ya you didn't have to worry about anything. We got all that we need right here!" Joel said, patting the stack of books in front of him for emphasis.
Victoria smiled, "We totally got this in the bag."
The three of them sat quietly in front of Miss Bonnibel's desk, all of them staring at the counselor and their history teacher as they talked. "Now, no one is accusing you of anything!" the counselor Mr. Hardly said, "But some of your fellow peers have expressed concern that the three of you may have received more than acceptable amount of help for your last project." The man gave a set of nervous twitches. How this man became a high school counselor was something Alex, Joel, and Victoria all wondered. Mr. Hardly seemed way too timid and naive to be working in an advice giving position. Or just working directly with opinionated people.
"We just want to ensure that you didn't have an unfair advantage." Miss Bonnibel added on.
Victoria frowned and glanced over at her friends. Both looked completely at ease with the conversation. "All Mr. Drake did was bring out books and we just picked and choose what we wanted to use."
"Vicky! We're not accusing you of anything!" Mr. Hardly exclaimed, missing how Victoria glared at him. She hated it when people shortened her name.
"You know we did this last time." Joel yawned, leaning back in his chair. "And the project before that, and that big, take-home test two weeks ago."
"The last time my parents actually helped me out with a project was back in the fourth grade for a science project." Alex said as he mimicked Joel.
The five people in the room watched one another. The three teenagers waiting for the authority figures to make their move; Miss Bonnibel was treating this like a chess match while Mr. Hardly was in his usual skittish state of trying to 'peacefully' resolve things. To Alex and Joel's surprise, it was Victoria who broke the stalemate.
"Are there any other students who've been ask to see you for presenting a project that surpasses expectations?" she asked.
"No, but none of your peers are in the position –"
"-To receive help from a parent who is willing to lend the same resources he used to write a historically accurate series." Victoria finished for Miss Bonnibel, expanding on what their history teacher was trying to say. "I think the three of us would be more understanding if we had done a project looking into the possibility of Mr. Drake's Creed series. However, we did a project over the connection between the art of the time and religion." She gave her mother's cold smile, the one that she gave to her opponents in court. The one that challenged the other person to prove her wrong. With Miss Bonnibel looking at a loss for words and Mr. Hardly shaking and turning slightly pale, Victoria would say it was working. "Hardly something to get worked up over, especially in an advanced placement class."
"Well, I-I suppose not."
"Then I don't see why we're having this conversation. After-all, there's more joy in knowing you set the bar higher by your own efforts and within the boundaries set. Wouldn't you agree?"
Miss Bonnibel and Mr. Hardly nodded, both of them unsure of what force they had just unleashed. "Well," Mr. Hardly cleared his throat. Completely unsure of what to say next, he stuttered before finally speaking a full coherent sentence. "We just wanted to make sure!" All three teenagers could see Miss Bonnibel resisting the urge to face-palm and smack Mr. Hardly at the same time.
"It's understandable but I'm willing to assure you that since there's a history of this, I will be informing both of my parents of this." Victoria had to fight down the evil smile at the questioning looks of the authority figures in front of her. "They're both lawyers. Are we free to go now?" She didn't even wait for an answer as she got up from her seat, Joel and Alex eagerly following her lead. "Have a nice day Miss Bonnibel, Mr. Hardly." They said with a wave as they walked out of the door. The three of them held back their laughter until they reached their lunch spot. Joel practically fell to the ground while Alex tossed his arm around Victoria.
"That was great!" Alex said between bouts of laughter, "I've never been able to get 'em to squirm like that!"
"Oh~! That felt good!" Victoria said with a stretch, "Do you guys go through that every time you do a project?"
"Eh, mostly with Miss Bonnibel." Joel replied with a shrug.
"I think she just gets upset that I tend to know more than her." Alex replied, easing himself on the ground. "But it's like this every year. I'm sure my parents would love to tell you about my elementary days where I was correcting my teachers about Columbus and other wonderful half-lies they tell you."
"So… Bonnibel is just in a long list of teachers who don't know what to do with you and your ever growing knowledge of history." Victoria mused.
"Sounds about right." Alex looked over at her, "Are your parents really lawyers?"
"Yup. Well, my dad is a legal consultant and my mom is the lawyer. You learn a lot of interesting ways of making people uncomfortable." She shot him a smile before plopping herself between Joel and Alex. "You know, I've never tried the 'I-dare-you' smile before. That was fun!" Both boys laughed and they all pulled out their lunches.
"Well! Now that is all done!" Joel said loudly, standing and holding up his drink, Alex joining him. "I would like to inform you, Miss Victoria L. Evardeer, that Mr. Alexander Sullivan Drake and I, Mr. Joel von Allmen-Bree, would like to officially invite you into our club of gentlemen!" Victoria laughed at Joel's overly dramatic tone of voice.
"Club of Gentlemen? Sounds very exclusive." She teased.
"Well, you will be the first lady to join if you accept our invitation Miss Evardeer." Alex said in the same overly dramatic tone.
She laughed, "And how many people are members of this fine Club of Gentlemen the pair of you are a part of?" She matched their overly dramatic tone.
"As of this precise moment, Mr. Allmen-Bree and myself." Victoria laughed and picked herself off the ground. She held up her water bottle.
"Mr. Drake, Mr. Allmen-Bree, after much consideration, I, Miss Victoria Lawliet Evardeer, humbly accept your invitation to join your Club of Gentlemen." Victoria said in her best British accent. Her two companions quirked their eyebrows.
"Lawliet?" Joel asked.
"Yeah. It was my great uncle's name." Victoria explained.
"Alright then." Alex cleared his throat and returned to their overly dramatic tone. "Then, Miss Victoria Lawliet Evardeer! Let us welcome you to our highly esteemed Club of Gentlemen. I see many years of friend ship ahead of us." He lifted his water bottle, the other two following his lead. "To you, Miss Evardeer!"
She laughed as they 'clinked' their drinks together and sipped their drinks. "I'm not going to lie; this is the fastest I've ever made friends." They drew her into an awkward three person hug.
"Well, you're going to have a hard time getting rid of us!" Joel chuckled, Alex nodding in agreement.
"I guess three weeks and a group project is all you really need to make good friends." Alex commented as they sat themselves back onto the grass.
"Probably helps that I totally owned Miss Bonnibel." Victoria giggled.
Movie Night – or – Italian Horror Film
The large group of teenagers were utterly silent, all of them completely transfixed by the images on the screen. Sophie and Casey huddled together under a blanket, their friend Robin sitting on the floor in front of them, hand frozen in mid-air. Joel's mouth hung open while Victoria clung onto Alex's arm. Alex just stared wide-eyed. They had heard that Suspiria was one of the scariest films of cinema, but they didn't really believe it. They had expected it to be overly melodramatic and silly, after-all it was made in 1977. But barely fifteen minutes in and they had all just watched a woman get stabbed multiple times and then fall through a large stain glass window.
"A-Alex?" Sophie whimpered softly.
"Yeah?"
"How long is this movie exactly?"
Alex grabbed the DVD case and looked down. "An hour and thirty-eight minutes." He heard Victoria let out a small 'meep'. "Does anyone want to turn a light on?" They all looked at each other for a few moments. No one dared to move from their spots, "Okay. We can finish this in the dark." Sophie, Casey, and Robin huddled closer together. Victoria clenched onto Alex's arm a little tighter and Joel moved a little closer to the middle of the floor space in front of the couch. Alex hit the play button, removing the film from its paused state.
"It's horror night for them, right?" Elena asked as they turned into their driveway.
"Yup. I don't think we'll have anything to worry too much though. I don't think anything they picked out is going to really scare them." Nate laughed. They got out of the car, joking about how nearly all the lights were off. The first thing both adults noticed was how seemingly quiet it was in the house. Elena gave Nate a questioning look and all he could do was shrug.
"Go check on them, okay?" she asked, removing her coat. He nodded and headed to the living room. He paused as he saw Sophie and her friends huddled together under a blanket on the floor. Nate looked over to where his son was sitting to find that Joel leaning as far away from the TV as possible and Victoria was all but in cowering in Alex's lap.
"Uh, this is an unusual sight." Nate said loud enough for them to hear. All six of them jumped and screamed. Then the movie they were watching began playing some sort of creepy music, which really made them all squirm.
"Oh god!" Sophie wailed, "Someone's gonna die!"
"I'm never gonna get this out of my head!" Casey moaned.
Nate couldn't help but noticed that none of them were looking away from the TV though. "Uh… what we all watching?" he asked.
"Suspiria." They all answered in unison. He nodded and stepped into the living room, being sure not to block the TV too much. It wasn't too hard to find the DVD case. A quick look at the front told him all he needed to know. "One of the Scariest Movies of all Time" it said. He watched as the camera zoomed around the dark open plaza type setting, jumping (but definitely not screaming) as a dog suddenly attacked the man on screen. Nate eyes widen at the bright, rich colour the blood was in this movie. Sure, he had seen plenty of dead bodies to fill his lifetime, and every movie with blood in it tried to make it realistic. Not this one apparently. Apparently this one liked to make every colour as vivid as possible. He set the case down and walked out. Might as well let them finish their movie.
"What's with all the screaming?" Elena laughed as he came into the kitchen.
"Eh, the movie they're watching has them really creeped out apparently." He explained as he took off his tie.
"Oh? And what movie would that be?"
"Suspiria. Looks like I'm gonna have to give a go." Nate looked up at his wife, who had a surprised look on her face. "What? Have you seen it?"
"Yes actually, while I was in college. The student union did this thing of showing old horror movies on Halloween and my roommates dragged me to go see it." She laughed, "No wonder that music seemed familiar!"
"Is it really that scary? It kind of seems like a movie full of jump moments." He chuckled.
"Yeah but from what I remember, I got scared because I would be looking at all the gorgeous set pieces and then be put on edge during the killing scenes. It was my first Italian horror film if I remember correctly."
"Okay, I'll give it that." The two of them looked towards the living room, "Should we be expecting nightmares from the six of them?"
"Maybe. I know I was a little jumpy in rooms that were painted in bright, oversaturated colours for a little while." Elena said with a laugh.
Nate let out an airy laugh, "As long as parents don't call me about letting their kids see good, old fashioned Italian horror movies."
"You didn't know they added that into the line-up for this month?" He shook his head and Elena shrugged. "Well, neither did I. But hey! At least they're having fun." They smiled at one another and kissed. Another round of squeals, screams and 'Oh My God!'s echoed through the house. Nate and Elena stifled their laughter.
"Twenty bucks tomorrow Sophie is gonna try and figure out how they got the blood so red on that set." Nate earned a laugh with that.
