Chapter 35

Laine stumbles into the room, analyzing the header at the top of the page and scratching her noggin. The giant virtual white washed wall display two simple letters. She reads the two large, bold-face words, and her brow creases in confusion.

"Haven't I seen a chapter 35 before?" She asked, utterly confused. "I'm almost sure that I did..." She trails off, thinking utterly too hard-- when Nicolai suddenly bursts through the door, alarm drenching his face.

"No!" He exclaims, sinking to his knees before the giant white wall, holding his head in his hands. "It must have been a hard-drive malfunction!" He yells, throwing his hands into the air. "We're back to thirty five??" He exclaims, starting to sob. "Where did it all go wrong!?"

A deep voice echoes from the hallway approaching the room.

"What's going on in here?" Chaz asks as he steps through the hallway. He instantly blinks back at the brightness of the nearly-empty screen. "What the...?" His voice trails off as his eyes adjust, allowing him to read the text. "What!?" He exclaims, as a tremor rips through his spine. "This had better be a mistake." He growls, trying to calm himself with a few soothing breaths.

"I don't understand..." Laine adds again, looking up at the two words. "How could this happen? I mean-- computer glitches and things but... you never think it'll happen to you..." She said, a tear forming in her eye. Nicolai, still in a fit of rage stands up quickly, starting to pace the length of the giant screen wall, muttering things under his breath.

"Of course it happened to us." Chaz growled, clenching his fists. "Of course!" He yelled, throwing his arms into the air. "0nly me." He mused, hands starting to shake more violently. "Only me."

All of their heads snap towards the door as a body stumbles through the doorway. A tall, but slender hooded figure, with hands clutching their head approaches the center of the room, stopping mid-step. Their head turns upward, and they spin around, squinting back at the walls from every angle, before you hear them curse under their breath.

"Wrong effing room, Ander. Way to go." He mumbles, shuffling back towards the door.

"What's up with him?" Chaz asks, pointing towards the pathetic boy.

"He still had a caffeine -migraine situation back in chapter 35!" Nicolai wailed, pointing towards the wall. "It's a sign-- a sign that I'm right! That the other chapters have been lost and we have to start back here." He whined.

"Gandhi." Ander hissed. "Shut. Up." He said, glaring. "I've got a flipping migraine here."

"So... do you know what's going on with this?" Laine whispered, pointing towards the two lonely words on the wall. Ander sighed, blinking up at the wall. Suddenly, his hands dropped from his head and his jaw fell open.

"No." He breathed. "No, no, no, no, nooooooo." He moaned, turning back to his friends with a pained face. Suddenly his face fell back into an indifferent state. "Do you really not know what's going on?" He asked, flatly.

"Um..." Nicolai offered, looking back at Laine.

"Mayyyyybe." Chaz said, looking back at the wall, as if he were missing something.

"Pshht. No one reads author notes anymore, do they?" He said, rolling his eyes. The three exchanged glances before lowering their heads in shame, shaking them slowly. "Didn't think so." He stated sadly. "You really need to read you memos, people. It will help you a lot."

Just then, Aiden entered the room with two cups in her hands.

"Hey there you guys are." She said with a big smile, as she handed Ander one of the cups. "And there is your coffee."

"Thanks." He said, with a shy smile. "I really was coming to get it, but I got lost, and a little side-tracked by these three." He said, nodding his head at the direction of the other three.

"Side-tracked how?" She asked, confused. Ander pulled the lid off of his coffee, blowing on the top of the steaming liquid.

"They didn't read their author notes." He said, before taking a sip of his beverage.

"Guys." Aiden said, shocked, and slightly disappointed. "Is this true?" The three simply nodded, eyes still cast downward.

"We thought we had to go back to chapter 35..." Laine admitted embarrassed. Aiden simply laughed, shaking her head.

"Oh, what am I going to do with you?" She chuckled. "No, just for clarification, we are not going back to chapter thirty five." The informed them. "You see, andixcore just finished revising the story."

"I don't understand." Nicolai admitted.

"Well the concept isn't that hard." She explained. "She just went over and corrected mistakes, changed a few sequences, and combined chapters."

"Changed a few sequences!?" Chaz exclaimed. "No! It worked the first time! Why-"

"Silence!" Aiden commanded, pointing her index finger at him. "It's still the same story, okay?" She reassured them all. "The author only changed minor details to make certain things sound better, alright?"

"Alright." Chaz breathed. "But what about this combining deal?" He asked, worried. She shrugged, sipping at her coffee.

"Again, no big deal." She assured him. "She just combined a few of the shorter chapters to make the total number of chapters smaller. Chapters like "Stupid Paul" and "Evil Glares, Evil Smiles" are now combined into one larger chapter. It's easier to read, too." She explained.

"Well, I guess that makes sense." Laine said, nodding. Nicolai and Chaz nodded along with her.

"Now, you'll all read you memos, won't you?" Ander said, smiling. They all nodded again, and Aiden chuckled.

"Good." She said, turning to walk out of the room. "Oh! By the way." She said, looking back at Chaz. "The author is looking for you in the writing room." He groaned, shuffling his feet to the door.

"What is the next sequence about?" He whined. "Please, not another school scene!" Aiden chuckled, shaking her head.

"First of all, it's Sunday." She said. "And second of all, it's the one about Alex." His face brightened at that, and he disappeared out the door. "If you read you memo you would know what!" Aiden called out after him-- but he was already gone.

(a/n)
Gonna read you author notes, now aren't you? Yeah, I thought so. Look for Chapter 35 soon! In the mean time, you cuold look through and see my minor changes that I made. Thanks for not giving up on me! Updates are soon. Love, love, love.