At the bottom of the mountain, Summer paused. The mountain somehow looked a lot bigger from here than it had out of the Sage's window.
"What's up?" asked Freddy breathlessly, running up behind her. "Scared?"
"Oh, that's so original," replied Summer. Now was obviously not the time to realise she was scared of heights. "No, I'm not scared. I bet you are, though." Freddy glared at her.
"No, actually, I'm not."
"What a surprise," Summer replied smoothly. "The great Freddy Jones, never scared of anything."
"Neither is Summer Hathaway, who never puts a hair out of line." Summer rolled her eyes.
"I think you mean I either never put a foot out of line, or never have a hair out of place."
"Look, whatever. The sooner we start going up there, the sooner we get back, ok?"
"Ok. Cough loser cough."
"Look, Tink, just saying 'cough' doesn't have the same effect as actually coughing."
There it was again. 'Tink'. He was the only one who called her Tink. I mean, sure, he did it just to annoy her, right? It's not like, like a pet name. No way. After all, this is Freddy Jones we're talking about.
"I know that. Just... Just let's go, ok?"
"Ok. Um... where exactly do we start?"
Summer glanced at him. "From the bottom, obviously."
Freddy rolled his eyes. "Obviously. What I meant was is there a path somewhere, or do we just pick some random spot and start climbing?" Summer took another look at the mountain, looming up before her. It looked dark, and ominous. She gave an involuntary shiver. Freddy caught sight of that shiver, and smiled. He liked her showing that she was scared, or worried. It showed that she was human, and not some Band Manager 3000 machine, as he sometimes thought.
"I... I guess we just pick some random spot."
Freddy ran up to the mountain, and scrambled up onto the first ledge. "How about here?" he said, going a bit higher and then, with difficulty, a bit higher. Summer shook her head.
"When I say 'random', Spazzy, you should know I don't actually mean random." Freddy looked at her in wonderment. Did she just call him by his nickname? He couldn't tell though, as she was briskly walking around the mountain, examining every speck of it. He figured it was lucky that they'd set off on an impulse and not had any time to prepare, or she would probably have some sort of a clipboard. He jumped off the ledge, and sat a little way away from it.
"Ok then," said Summer, coming back to him. "I've analysed some soil samples in retrospect the steepness of the slope, that's at a 90 degree angle to the peak of course, and I've come to a conclusion that the best place to begin is..." she frowned at her notes, on a tiny notepad, "here!" she stated triumphantly. Freddy looked up. She was pointing at the same place that he'd been climbing up a few minutes earlier. He shook her head. It was going to take them quite a while...
Three hours later, and they were going to kill each other. Cheerfully. They hadn't even made it that far up the mountain, due to the fact that Summer had to stop every few minutes to have a rest and check that they were still going in the fastest direction, and Freddy ran on ahead, waited for Summer, got bored of waiting for Summer, tried to do a handstand/cartwheel/back flip, and ended up tumbling down the mountainside in a shower of dust, dirt, rocks and pebbles.
Summer sighed for what must have been the thousandth time. They'd been climbing for hours, and hours, and hours. Well, three hours, anyway. But with Freddy it seemed more like three years. And it was getting dark. It'd been... let me see... she'd gone over to Zack's at two, then spent about... half an hour there? So she'd been at Dewey's for about another half an hour, so that meant it was... four o'clock when she's been at the Sage's house, then she'd been there for, wow, two hours! Now they'd been climbing for three hours. That meant it was nine o'clock now, and getting dark.
"Freddy?" He turned to her, the surprise clearly showing on his face. They hadn't said a word to each other since they'd left the Sage's house... hut... thing, and now here she was, talking to him!
"Yeah?" he said, his voice cracking slightly because he hadn't used it for a while (three hours!). "Wha-What is it, Tink?"
Summer blushed. She couldn't help it, every time he said Tink or Tinkerbell her stomach turned over, and she felt slightly sick. "Well, it's quite dark."
Freddy frowned. "Your point?"
"We-Well, I, I just don't think we should be out here in the dark." She could hear a voice in her head. For goodness' sake, girl, pull yourself together! Stop acting like everything you say is a question! You're Summer Hathaway, you're always right, and what's more, you know it. You ooze self-confidence, you emit balance, and assurance, you walk tall and hold your head high. You are full of professional-ism! Professional-ism? What? Is that even a word? That's right! It's not! Hold on to that!
Yeah, thought Summer. That's right! I am full of all that!
"We definitely shouldn't be out here in the dark," she said, with a new edge to her voice. "It's dangerous."
"Why?" asked Freddy, teasing her. "Are the scary growly bears going to come and eat ickle Summer alllllll up?"
"No," said Summer witheringly. "It's dangerous to continue in the dark because for my first point you can't see where you are going. Now, that might not bother you, Jones, but I certainly have a problem with that. We may be accidentally going in circles, and not only that we might lose each other, although personally that could be a good thing. Finally, there aren't any bears on the mountain, but there are foxes, goats, deer and possibly badgers."
"B-Badgers?" stuttered Freddy. "Did, did you say badgers?"
Summer looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, Jones, I did say badgers. Why? Are you scared of badgers?"
"N-no," said Freddy, colour rising to his face.
"Oh, my gosh, you are!" squealed Summer. She knew she sounded like an over-excited cheerleader on helium, but she really didn't care. This was too good to pass up. "Freddy Jones is scared of badgers. I don't think any of us would have seen that coming."
Freddy went even redder. "I'm not scared of them! I-I just had a bad experience with them when I was younger, ok?"
Summer simply looked at him. "But badgers?"
"Look, can we just find some shelter?" asked Freddy angrily.
"Not until you tell me," said Summer.
"I'm not going to tell you!" growled Freddy.
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me," said Summer, and to prove her point she sat down on the rock beneath her. Freddy smiled smugly.
"Fine. But I think you should know that you're sat on moose dung."
"Ewww!" squealed Summer, leaping up and brushing off her skirt. Her eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. There's no moose on this mountain."
"True."
"Well, in that case..." Summer sat straight back down. Freddy sighed, and headed off. He'd just got a few metres away, when;
"Hey! A cave!"
Summer rolled her eyes. "Well, isn't that just clichéd and perfect?" she said sarcastically, although Freddy was too far away too hear her. He came running back a few minutes later.
"C'mon, let's go!"
"I told you, I'm not going anywhere!"
Freddy sighed. "I really didn't want to have to do this..." Leaning down, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. (A/N: If anyone doesn't know what this looks like, it's how Shrek carries Fiona in Shrek, when she refuses to move after he's rescued her from the tower.) Summer squealed, for the third time in the last few minutes.
"Freddy Jones, put me down this minute!"
"No."
She began to beat on his back with her fists.
"I'm wearing a skirt!"
Freddy smirked. "I know."
"Put me down!"
"Promise not to ask about the badgers?"
"I swear, ok?"
"Ok." Freddy carried on walking. Summer got a dangerous look on her face.
"Frederick David Jones put me down this instant or I swear you are going to regret IT!" Her voice not only speeded up, but got steadily higher and higher, until the last word came out as a shout, as Freddy calmly lifted her down. He smiled at her.
"There. No need to get so worked up about it, was there?" He began to carry on walking. Summer fumed.
"You're an idiot, Freddy Jones!" she called after his retreating back. He turned around.
"Wow. Nice comeback, Tink."
"No kidding, Jones." She hurried after him, and began to walk beside him. The two continued in silence until they got to Freddy's cave.
Ok then, not much really happened in this chapter, I guess. Next chapter look out for;
Secrets!
Confessions! And, if I'm feeling really kind, some...
Freddy/Summer action!
But then again, maybe not! :P
Here... Some sneak previews... Shh! Don't tell anyone!
In the next chapter...
"What was wrong with her? He immediately ran through all the possibilities – pneumonia, cholera, TB, typhoid fever, fear of caves, fear of stone, fear of him... "
"Freddy's voice sounded really weird, almost like he was trying to sound like Dewey, or something."
""What are you doing?" shrieked Summer, but Freddy just laughed."
""Freddy... Freddy, what are you doing, Freddy? Please tell me you aren't going to strip, Freddy! Freddy!" "
Hehehe... Bet you can' wait for me to update now, huh?