Chapter 8

*~!~Squid's Back~!~*

Magnet and Rattler looked towards the door, and Black Ice was standing there, mouth open, with a look of shock on her face. Magnet leapt off of Rattler and instantly tried to start explaining.

"She tried to escape! I had to do something!"

"Yeah, I tried to escape from here, and he had to pin me down!"

"Cheating on Squid and sneaking around behind his back when he's almost, and possibly, DEAD! I can't believe you two!" She ran away, her hands covering her face.

"Magnet, you idiot! What'd you do that for?!"

"I had to keep you from jumping up again, somehow!" She hit his arm and jumped out of bed to run to the door, but by the time she was half-way there, D-tent had come running followed by Black Ice.

"There they are!" she screamed in hysterics. "They were about to have sex on her cot!"

"WE WERE NOT!" Magnet and Rattler yelled at the top of their lungs in unison.

"What the hell were you thinkin, Black Ice? They know better," Tank said, frustrated.

"I swear!" she said shrilly. "Rattler was laying down, and Magnet was on top and everything! They were even breathing heavy and everything!"

"This ain't true, is it?" X-ray asked.

"HELL NO!" Rattler screamed.

"No, I promise! Nothing happened!" Magnet said, getting more and more frustrated.

"I take your word for it," he replied, and there were murmurs of agreement among the group. "Black Ice, next time you want to tell a lie, make sure there's at least some evidence. Rattler ain't even laying down, which by the way, you should be!"

"Sorry, I was getting up to go pee!" she said, throwing her hands up, innocently.

"THAT'S A LIE!" Black Ice screeched.

D-tent walked back to their "classes", while Rattler, Magnet, and Black Ice stayed.

"I will prove to them what happened! Even if it's the VERY LAST THING I DO!"

"That CAN be arranged, you know," Rattler hissed. Magnet grabbed her shoulders and led her back to her bed.

"Lay," he commanded. "You're not supposed to be up."

"Magnet! I told you not to make a move on her!"

"What the hell is she talking about?"

"No you didn't! You told me TO make a move! And I know exactly why you did, too! So Squid would get mad at me and dump her!"

"We weren't ever going out!"

"So! It would have worked better if you had tried that while he was still ALIVE! But now, he's DEAD, so I can't-"

"HE'S NOT DEAD!" Rattler screamed, jumping off of her bed, tackling her. She punched Black Ice in the eye, making her cry like a baby.

"GET OFF OF ME!" she screamed, flailing her arms.

"I knew you never really liked him! You only wanted him because I had him! Everything I had, you WANTED! That's the way it always was! HE DIDN'T EVEN LIKE YOU, YOU BITCH!"

Magnet, though very much amused by this, decided against what he wanted, and pulled Rattler off of Black Ice. "Calm down," he muttered. He pushed her, for a third time, onto her bed. He walked over to Black Ice and helped her up, only to push her out of the tent and told her to go away.

"What was that all about?" he asked her, almost instantly.

"What? Nu-uh, before I answer any questions, what was THAT all about? About the "makin your move" thing? Hmm?"

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"No, tell me!" she demanded. "I want to know when I'm being talked about!"

"No," he simply replied.

"TELL ME!"

"Fine. I liked you when you first came, but no one knew that. Then, one day, Black Ice figured it out somehow, and she asked me what was up with my staring at you." Rattler blushed at this. "But you were into Tank weren't you?"

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons I left you alone. Because it was Squid had you to work on, and I Tank to work with."

"Oh."

"Anyways, when she asked, I told her that it was none of her damn business and she needed to go away. She got smart with me and I about slapped the shit out of her, but she told me she was gonna tell you. And I didn't want you to know, especially since Squid liked you. If he found out I would have been dead in a New York minute."

"Wait, wait, hold up. So, Squid HAS liked me this whole time?" she asked, just wanting to hear it in real life.

"Yeah, he did. He, uh...." he hesitated. The memory of Squid seemed to be a lot for him. "He told me that he wanted you to be his.... first."

"His first what?"

"The person that he lost his virginity to." Rattler's cheeks went beet red.

"He did?"

"Yeah. But, apparently, that's not gonna happen."

"I know he's not dead. I know he WON'T die.... at least any time soon."

"Yeah."

There was a long, awkward silence. "So, Magnet, um..... about the "move" thing?"

"Oh, um, yeah. So, anyways, where was I?"

"You would have been dead if Squid found out."

"Oh, yeah. So, she TOLD me that I SHOULD make a move..... but I knew why she wanted me to. And that's so she could have Squid to herself. Besides, I wanted to see the outcome of the bet."

"Bet? Oh, yeah! I remember 'the bet'! That seems like centuries ago! Woah!" she laughed, but very weakly.

"Anyways, what was up with that 'You always wanted everything I had' deal with Black Ice back there?"

"Oh, um, we-" She was cut off by Mom running in there, gasping for air.

"It's Alan! He's, he.... he...."

Rattler jumped out of bed and ran over to him. "What is it, Mom?!"

"He.... he...."

"Mom, take a couple of deep breaths. Rattler, let him get his breath back," Magnet said, walking over towards the two. After another minute of Mom still breathing heavy, Rattler shook him. "Dammit, Mom! What about him?!"

Just then, a pair of arms wrapped her around her waist. "Oh!" she uttered in surprise. She turned around to tell the person off, but she saw that it wasn't just SOMEONE. It was Squid.

"SQUID!" She wrapped her arm around his neck and held him in an embracing hug.

"Hey," he said, exhausted.

"Oh my gosh, it's you!" she whispered. Tears slowly started to fill up her eyes, until she blinked them out. They made their way down her cheek, to her chin, then dropped on his shoulder.

Only this time they weren't tears of sadness or pain. For the first time, she was crying because she was happy. Squid pulled away only to see the tears fall from Rattler's face.

"I had to come see you," he said, staring at her. "I had the strangest.... thing happen to me. But it doesn't matter. I'm with you, again." He hugged her again, and Rattler suddenly remembered something.

"Um, Squid?"

"Yeah?"

Rattler hesitated. She didn't want to ruin the wonderful feeling. "Never mind."

"Okay." He pulled her closer to him, wanting to stay like this forever.

"Squid, man! How are ya, dude?" Magnet asked, finally interrupting the couple.

"Barely here," he replied, half-serious.

"I'm gonna go tell the others you're here," Magnet said, about to start running, but Squid grabbed his arm and had a surprisingly strong grip.

"Naw, man. Please don't. I want to spend a little time with her first," he said, nodding towards Rattler.

"Alright. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone," he replied, winking and grinning.

"Thanks, man."

"Thanks, Magnet, babe!" Rattler called after him as he left with Mom.

"Now, Rattler. You haven't been upset, have you?" he joked.

"Yes, of course I was! I thought you were gone! I thought I lost you for good! You scared the shit out of me!"

"Woah, calm down. It's okay. I'm here!" he said, laughing.

"It's not funny, Squid. We thought you died!"

"Well, I didn't, did I?" he asked, smirking.

"No, but still....."

"It's okay." He led her to a bed and the sat down together.

He carefully slipped an arm around her waist and bent down to kiss her. They were lost in the warm, sensational feeling until someone broke the peace.

"SQUID!" Black Ice ran into the tent and tackled Squid, wrapping him in a hug.

"GET OFF OF ME!" he yelled, pushing her onto the floor.

"Yeah, Jade, you're gonna get him put back in the hospital if YOU sit on him," Tank said, smirking, walking in followed by the rest of D-tent, each gaping at the sight of Squid.

"Shut up."

"Aw, you're making her mad. Be careful, we don't want her to throw another temper tantrum, do we? It might cause a SCENE this time!" Rattler replied, sarcastically.

"What are yall talkin about?" Squid asked.

"Squid! What're you doing here, man?!"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"When did you get here?"

"Where... when... how?"

"Oh, they're talking about earlier, when your whore of a girlfriend cheated on you with your hispanic friend!" Black Ice replied coldly, a small smile slowly forming on her mouth.

"WHAT?!" he yelled, jumping up.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED SQUID! I TRIED TO ESCAPE EARLIER AND MAGNET HAD TO GET ME TO CALM DOWN SOMEHOW, SO HE PINNED ME DOWN, THAT'S ALL!"

"HE GOT ON TOP OF YOU AND PINNED YOU DOWN?!"

"HOW ELSE WOULD YOU PIN SOMEONE DOWN?!"

"MAGNET! I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRL!"

"Dude, I didn't make a move on her," he said quietly.

"MAGNET, WHAT ARE YALL TALKING ABOUT? YOU TOLD ME THAT YOU ONLY TALKED TO BLACK ICE ABOUT ME!"

"I asked him how he felt about you cuz I thought I might ask you to hang every once in while. That was before the bet, of course."

"MAGNET, I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM HER!"

"Dude, I did. I promise!"

"APPARENTLY AS SOON AS I LEFT, YOU COULDN'T KEEP YOUR DAMN HANDS OFF OF HER!"

"Squid! LISTEN TO ME!"

"NO!" Rattler looked at him as if he just slapped her.

"Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that I trusted my friends enough that, while I'm inches away from death, they'll keep their filthy hands off of you!"

"But I was trying to escape! He didn't try ANY moves on me! I promise!" This seemed to calm Squid down.

"Are you telling me the truth? He didn't try ANYTHING at all with you?"

Rattler was in half-mind to tell him that, yeah, he did slide his hand up her thigh, and she didn't NOT like it, but decided against it. "Yes. I promise that he didn't try anything at all with me." Her look was soft and innocent, and Squid found it absolutely irresistible. He brushed her hair out of her eyes, and everyone started "whooping".

'Just like old times,' Rattler happily thought.

Kiwi: I hope you enjoyed it!!!!! Thnx to all the ppl who reviewed last time! I'll give yall shout outs next time, I'm just too la-z to today!