AN- Thanks to everyone one who reviewed! Thanks! ::hands out chocolate chip cookies::

princessdeleon, dolphingurl1, Lil Aussie Alias Chick, hannahbanana, Natalie, mangoes are yum, star16, me, and mel.

::hugs::

So this chapter is sorta short, but I'm thinking the next chapter should make up for that ::wink::

Chapter 7

Sydney and the rest of them were standing at the edge of a field. The field was wide and long, turned brown by the Summer heat. She looked it up and down, noticing the two piles of gear, at opposite ends of the field. 'I wonder if those are for the game.' She turned back to Angela, who was deep in a conversation with Eric. She had seen how quickly the two of them seemed to hit it off. In a way, they were both perfect for each other.

"Hey," She interrupted them. "Do you know when we're going to start?" Sydney asked. They looked at her for a moment before shaking their heads.

"Nope, no idea." They answered, before turning back to each other. She sighed and looked around, noticing that a certain someone wasn't there to keep her bored mind occupied.

"Hey, where's Mike?" She was surprised that she hadn't noticed he wasn't there before.

"Oh, he's still up at the cabin. He should be here soon though." Eric glanced over as he replied.

"Oh . . . Okay, thanks." She turned back to survey the field. She looked up and saw a few ravens flying above them. 'Uh oh, I remember when dad told me that story. About more than one raven flying together being bad luck. I hope that's not the case today' She sighed, pondering her thoughts. A few minutes later she felt someone's breath on her neck. She spun around quickly to see who was there.

"Mike!" She gasped. "Don't do that! It tickles!" He smiled at her, reaching out to grab her hand.

"But it makes you smile...And I love it when you smile." Sydney's faced reddened a little. She was about to reply when a loud booming voice made her jump.

"Hey!" She looked toward the voice finding it was in the middle of the meadow. Derek was standing there, walking back and forth in semi-circles so as to see everyone. "Are ya'll ready to get started?" He yelled.

"Yes!" the kids shouted back.

"What's that now? What did you say? I couldn't hear you." He yelled back.

"YEESSS!!" they shouted, louder than before.

"That's better! Okay, I need the white team over here," He pointed to the left side of the field. "And the blue team over there." Pointing to the opposite end of the field. Mike grabbed Syd's hand and started walking toward the left side of the meadow. When they got there, Mandy and Trevor were handing out bags of gear, including water bottles, the correctly colored bandana, and a first aid kit.

"Heh." Mike grunted, swinging the pack onto his back.

"Aw, you big baby, it isn't that heavy." Sydney teased, easily picking up her own pack.

"What? Yours must just have less stuff in it." He said, trying to defend his muscles.

"Sure." She said sarcastically. "I bet that's why." Michael responded by rolling his eyes.

A Few Minutes Later

They turned toward Mandy and Trevor, awaiting further instructions.

"Okay, gather around." Mandy said, getting out some papers. "Our Guards are Charlotte and Marcus, and Halley and Zack. You protect our flag. Our defenders are Breigh and Nathan, Carly and Tyler, and Talissa and Chad. You look out for the other team and try to tag them and take them to our prison. The prison Guards are Leah and Flink, and Halley and Josh. You keep the prisoners from escaping. And last but not least, the most important assets to the game, The Spies. They are Angela and Eric, and Sydney and Michael. You try to find where their flag is, and capture it to win the game. Got it?" A general mumble of 'Yeah' went up, as they started talking again.

"Okay then!" Trevor shouted. "Get to your positions! The flag is at Corky's Corner, so start heading over there. Wait for 20 minutes before leaving. Now win this thing and do us proud! Go!" He waved his hand and they picked up their packs and headed off into the woods, towards the corner.

Michaels POV

I followed in behind the others as they headed into the shade of the forest, stepping on the covering of leafs lying beneath the branches that towered above our heads. I sighed, glad to be out from under the glare of the sun.

"Oh, hey! I have another joke!" Eric announced gleefully, like a toddler would about his new toy. I groaned loudly, Syd and Angela echoing me.

"No, not another joke man. I can't take anymore." I said wearily.

"What? They aren't that bad." Raising his eyebrows he challenged us to say otherwise. I decided it was easier just to leave him and his deluded thoughts alone.

"okay . . . " Angela muttered, shifting her head to look away from him, a soft grin playing on her lips. Eric shot us all a wildering look, or tried to anyway before continuing on to his joke.

"So, what do you call a stick," He paused for a moment, trying, unsuccessfully, to add suspense. "that walks really fast?" He looked at us all eagerly, awaiting our guesses, his eyes moving quickly in excitement.

"Uh . . . " I stalled. " A umm . . . A walking stick?" I knew that wasn't it, but oh well. It was enough of an answer to satisfy him.

"Nope!" He yelled happily.

"Then what is it?" Syd asked imploringly.

"A Hurricane! Get it? A Hurry Cane?" He started laughing, and Angela and Sydney joined in politely.

"Yeah, that was great Eric." Angela said, rolling her eyes at Syd when Eric wasn't watching.

"See Mike? The lady's like my jokes. That's all that matters." He winked before hooking his arm through Angela's and walked up ahead, leaving Sydney and I behind.

"Well . . . . " Sydney looked at me, laughter in her eyes.

"Yeah." I started laughing and she joined in. After a few minutes of uncontrollable insanity, we were able to pull ourselves together and continued to our destination. During the walk there we were surrounded in a comfortable silence, just knowing the other was there was enough.

TBC

So there should be an update in about a week at the most hopefully :D

Chey