NOTE: hey everyone! I had lots of fun writing this chapter hehe…..and I really want to know what you guys thought of it, so please review! Tell me what you liked, you didn't like, anything! Okay…I'm done…..oh yeah, remember, I don't any of these characters, yada yada…..anyways, enjoy!



The hot sun beat down on Kitty as she hoisted her heavy backpack a little higher while Pietro carried his own enormous backpack as easily as a box of Kleenex, barely breaking a sweat. Kitty looked at the sparkling ocean and sighed. Too bad they couldn't just enjoy the beauty of the island instead of walking a million miles in the blistering heat. Suddenly….*SNAP*…..Kitty groaned as her backpack strap tore and fell to the floor with a thud. Great, just great, Kitty thought, rubbing her aching neck with one hand.

"What's the hold up, Pryde?" Pietro's irritating voice called. Then, turning around, began to laugh as he looked from the torn backpack to Kitty's face. Pietro tried to speak and then burst into laughter again much to Kitty's consternation.

"I'm glad you're finding this so funny!" Kitty exploded finally.

"Well, you shouldn't have packed so much," Pietro gasped, holding his stomach.

"I didn't! All I had in there was my swimsuit, sun screen, sandals, water, a snack-," Kitty began to list.

"Yeah yeah, and a partridge in a pear tree," Pietro interrupted impatiently. "There's a very easy solution to this," he said, striding back to where Kitty stood, and opening up her backpack, threw her swimsuit and her water bottle onto the sand. Then with one fluid motion, he picked up the backpack and hurled into the ocean. Kitty watched in shock, as the backpack landed into the water with a SPLAT and then began to bob crazily.

"You jerk! What is wrong with you!" Kitty yelled, throwing up her hands. Pietro turned to glare at her.

"Nothing, I did you a favor! Nobody asked you to bring every single thing you own on this treasure hunt!" Pietro retorted.

"Right, well I'm the one who had to pack the compass, and now it's probably somewhere on the ocean floor!" Kitty said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"We don't need a compass, I'm an excellent guide," Pietro said confidently.

"Well tell me then, Fearless Leader, how come we've been walking for close to 2 hours and we haven't even seen the first flag?" Kitty demanded. "The Professor told us there would be 3 flags throughout the path to the finish line."

Pietro rolled his eyes. "Who cares about the flags? Do you have to follow every single stupid rule the Professor gives you?"

"No!" Kitty said hotly. "Why can't you just admit that you don't know where we are?!"

Pietro glared at her. "I know exactly where we are, we're probably way ahead of everyone else!"

"Or way behind," Kitty interjected, fluffing out her brown hair. "From now on, I'm navigating. I think we're somewhere near Java point."

"No way, Pryde. We passed that eons ago!"

"What does the map say?" Kitty asked tersely.

Pietro reached into the pockets of his cargo shorts, and frowned. "That's odd," he muttered, reaching into the other pocket. Kitty bit her lip.

"What?"

"I put the map right here in my pocket and now it's not there," Pietro said slowly.

"WHAT?! You…lost the map!" Kitty said disbelievingly.

"Well….,uh," Pietro muttered, looking away.

"I can't believe this, we're lost, and we're going to be last," Kitty said bleakly, sitting down on the sand.

"We're not going to lose! No way!" Pietro argued determinedly. "Come on, let's change into our swimsuits."

"Why?"

"Because we're going to wade across that creek over there and take a shortcut through those trees. We'll get to the finish line twice as fast," Pietro said assuredly. "Now can you please turn around while I change?"

"That's supposed to be my line!" Kitty said, unlacing her sneakers.

"I wouldn't want you to be sneaking peeks at me and my glorious body," Pietro said, his eyes laughing at Kitty.

"I wouldn't "sneak a peek" at your malnourished underdeveloped pathetic excuse for a body if you were the last boy on earth," Kitty retorted, turning her back to him.

"Uh huh, that's what they all say," Kitty heard Pietro say behind her. Kitty gritted her teeth. It must have been somebody's idea of a sick joke to pair her with him! Cooperation, indeed! He's so full of himself, Kitty thought annoyed, as she pulled on her swimsuit.

"Okay I'm done!" Pietro yelled.

"Thanks for sharing," Kitty said dryly, turning around. Her jaw dropped open. Oh my dear god, Kitty thought. Pietro looked like a silver- haired Adonis in his dark blue trunks. Calm down, breathe Kitty, she told herself. How could a mere combination of smooth tanned stomach and muscled chest be so….distracting! I am not checking him out, I …am…not….checking…him…out, Kitty repeated to herself.

"You're checking me out!"

"You're insane!" Kitty said hotly, trying to fight the fierce blush that was working its way up her cheeks. Pietro was grinning widely at her.

"You were, don't bother denying it….Kitty," Pietro said, in a softer voice. Kitty reeled in shock at being addressed for the first time by her name. He'd actually called her Kitty! Will wonders never cease, Kitty thought. Kitty snapped out of her thoughts when she realized he was mere inches from her face. Kitty looked up into his blue eyes, and felt the stupid blush jump again to her cheeks. Don't fall for those blue eyes, Kitty told herself sternly, you'll never live it down.

As his lips came closer to hers, Kitty fought the urge to lean her head against his chest. This was Pietro…..Motormouth Extraordinaire! Why was it becoming harder and harder for her to hate him? In the beginning it had been so easy, Kitty thought. I can't be falling for him, Kitty thought desperately, and jumped back at the last second.

Pietro's eyes flew open and he looked at her for a second. Kitty felt a wave of embarrassment, as she stared down at the sand, refusing to look up at him. An awkward silence settled between them. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Pietro said casually, as if nothing had happened, "We should get going, we have about 2 hours left before Mr. Summers comes with the Blackbird."

Kitty blinked in astonishment. He was pretending as if they hadn't almost kissed! A bolt of anger shot through Kitty as she stood up. Two could play this game, thought Kitty furiously. If he was going to act as if nothing had happened, so would she! "Yeah, let's move," Kitty said just as casually, and grabbing her water bottle, moved towards the creek, silently fuming.



1 hour later, Kitty could have strangled him. They were now utterly and hopelessly lost, Kitty realized, slapping angrily at another mosquito. The "creek" that Pietro had suggested they wade through had in actuality been more like a swamp. A swamp infested with mosquitoes that viewed her as a human blood bank. To top it all off, the sun had gone down and now it was downright cold, and the final injustice was that she'd left her clothes on the sand next to the ocean. Instead of celebrating victory, she was stuck here shivering in her bathing suit, getting bitten to death by hundreds of mosquitoes, and stuck in the middle of a forest that looked like the one in The Blair Witch Project. And she had Pietro Maximoff to thank for all of it.

"How much time do we have left?" Pietro asked her, running a hand through his hair.

"What difference does it make?" Kitty muttered darkly. "Thanks to you and your shortcut from hell, we're probably going to die here."

"Jeez, and they call you the optimistic one," Pietro remarked irritated.

"Excuse me if being eaten alive has made me a little cranky," Kitty said sarcastically.

"Look I'm sick of getting all the blame. If it weren't for me we wouldn't even be here!" Pietro shot back.

"Yeah…. FREEZING to death!" Kitty exploded. "We are about 12 million miles from civilization, and I'm willing to bet that we'll be the last ones to reach the finish line because to even get out of this stupid forest we'd have to retrace our steps, which we can't do because YOU lost the map!"

"That's just great, we're lost, and it's all my fault!" Pietro yelled. "If you hadn't been moving so slow maybe we could have still made it before it got dark!"

"Well, it's too late now! Now hurry up, we have to get there before Mr. Summers leaves, because I for one, am NOT going to be stuck with YOU on this godforsaken island for 1 more day!" Kitty said angrily.

"Well, I'm not thrilled at the idea either! Your about as much fun as a grandmother!"

Kitty clenched her teeth, and forced herself to remain calm. The only thing that mattered at this point was getting off the island. Throwing him one last glare, she squared her shoulders and trudged on. I can't believe for a second I was thinking about how cute he was, Kitty thought, gnashing her teeth as she scratched another mosquito bite on her arm. Her face burned at the memory. One thing was sure, when they got out of here, she would definitely strangle him. That is, if they ever got out of there, Kitty thought grimly.