"Please pass forward your essay assignments now," Professor Gisbourne told the class. Each of the groups passed forward their essays and made pile of paperwork on the front desks. Gisbourne walked along the front of the rows collecting paperwork. "Thank you. Now please get together with your groups so that I can get the projects easier." He walked around the class, retrieving the visual presentations. From group one he got a traffic cone signed by every member of the advanced art class, group two gave him an extremely accurate and detailed model of Sherwood Forest (thanks to the time Robin spends in the forest), group three had a collection of rocks painted like the animals in the Chinese Zodiac, and group four gave him a macchiato.

"Thank you all. As I didn't expect this to run so smoothly, you may use the rest of the class period as 'Unstructured' time." Gisbourne moved back to his desk and began grading the papers while sipping his drink.

Sherwood HighSherwood HighSherwood High

"So what do you wanna do after school?" Will asked as his face turned a violent shade of red. He was laying on two desks with his head and part of his upper body hanging off the desk, with blood rushing to his head.

"We could show off Greentree," Much suggested. He was finally beginning to accept that the Social Elite weren't all out to get him and his family. Robin and Little John looked at him to gauge how serious he was while the others looked from him to the Loxleys in confusion.

"Why don't you boys explain what Greentree is before your new friends burst," Tuck suggested. He was sitting behind his desk, grading homework packets. The newly formed 'full' group was gathered in his classroom, and seated on every available surface. Robin was sitting cross-legged on the teacher aid's desk in the back of the room. Little John was sitting in the seat at the desk, and Much was using the counters as a tightrope. Marion, Meg, and Cecily were sitting in a little clump trying to finish their homework before lunch ended. Alan was on the floor leaning against Tuck's desk and playing a lute softly. Will, Nasir, and Azeem were in another clump, and had been playing Snap until looking to the cousins for answers.

"Greentree is like a fort in Sherwood. It's where Little John, Much, and I spent most of our childhood. It's where I always went when I got sick of listening to Dad shout, Little John went there when everyone assuming he was dumb got to be too much for him, and Much…" Robin trailed off, looking at Much as if uncertain of whether or not he should continue.

"I practically moved in there after my mom died. My dad was trying to drown himself in work at that time, so it was good arrangement."

"And you guys are willing to let us… invade your sanctuary?" Marion asked.

"Well, when you word it like that…." Robin trailed off, then grinned at his new friends. "If we didn't want you to come, we would've told Much no immediately and this conversation wouldn't be happening."

Suddenly, Wil cocked his head to the side and stared at Robin, as if trying to figure him out. Robin looked down at himself then at his surroundings. "What?"

"You seem really different. More sure of yourself… Did something happen?"

"A couple things. Dina's making Dad go to therapy for his 'feelings of resentment' toward me, and I've got friends beyond my brother and cousin. Besides that, Little John and Much have been working with me more."

"More?"

"I've always been able to fight. I've just never been any good at it. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm kinda small. I don't have a lot of power in my punches or kicks, and they're sort of… teaching me ways to use that to my advantage."

"Why didn't they ever do it before?"

"I've never turned into a living grape before, so we never thought it was necessary. Much and I always thought we'd be there to protect him," Little John answered.

"While I'm glad you're all opening up, I'm going to have to kick you out," Tuck announced. "Lunch is nearly over, and I have a dentist appointment that I need to get to." Everyone said their goodbyes to Tuck and left the classroom. After school that day they met at the bleachers and the cousins lead their new friends to Greentree.

Greentree was more than a simple fort. There was a collection of about five different – roomy – tree houses all connected by thick rope bridges. The tree houses were surrounding a small, pentagon-shaped clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a small fire pit. Under one of the trees was a naturally hollowed boulder. It looked almost like an overturned bowl. Under it were camping supplies like pots, pans, and a book of matches. In the tree houses were sleeping bags, a first aid kit, changes of clothing for all three cousins, and canned foods.

"This is amazing," Meg breathed in awe as she looked around the campsite.

"We usually use the spare tree houses to store things, but you guys should feel free to use them. We can set up more in some other trees and connect them all. Oh, and feel free to come here at any time. Eventually we'll have to put up signs to show who gets which tree, but for now we can just all share everything," Robin said, his eyes sparkling at the thought of all the plans that had to be accomplished.

"Why do we need to have specific trees?"

"So no one walks in on someone else who is hiding out. We can use all of them really, but the house with your name on it will be the one you can tell other people to leave if you want to be alone, or you can leave your personal stuff in there."

"That makes sense. Thanks you guys."

"It's what friends do, right?"

"Right." And with that, Marion kissed Robin deeply. Meg smiled and leaned against John, who she had just started dating the day before.

The End

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A/N: Weak ending, I know, but that's all I could think of. As always, please review and tell me what you think.

Thank you cowgirlnm-1 you were my only reviewer for the past chapter. Did I send you the house format? If not, let me know. I agree completely about the jock/cheerleader thing. WAY too much en masse. I plan on redoing those pictures someday. If you want to keep a lookout on that site in the gallery section, they should - hopefully - appear sometime in the next month or so. Thanks again!