In Love, Actually.
Chapter Six: The Days When the Goose Fattens Up (aka Halloween is Coming)
"So what do you guys want to do on Friday?" asked Chris, sitting down on the patch of grass he and his friends usually occupied during lunch.
"Dude, seriously, what is with you and Halloween?" asked Benji.
"Why do we have to go through this every year?" asked Chris, slightly annoyed that his friends weren't more enthusiastic about his favourite holiday. "Why can't you just accept that I'm really into Halloween? It was always a big deal in my house when I was a kid and it has just rubbed off on me I guess. It's only these past few years I've been allowed to celebrate it with my friends rather than my family, well other than the obligitory daytime celebrations and I don't see why you all can't just humour me!"
"Fine, fine, what do you want to do?" asked Katie, obligingly.
"There's a big Halloween party in Extreme," suggested Chris. "I've checked around and a decent enough crowd are going."
"OK," relented Katie, after a moment or two of deliberation. "I'm in, as long as there are no costumes."
"There aren't," laughed Chris. "So what about you two?"
"I can't," said Tom. "My mom and dad are going out so I have to babysit Kirsten."
"She's twelve!" protested Chris. "She can look after herself!"
"Try telling that to Crooks," said Tom.
"Who the hell is Crooks?" asked Katie.
"My mom's favourite ornamental dog in her ornamental dog collection who was cruely smashed before his time, coincidentally the last time Kirsten was left in the house by herself," said Tom.
"A dog?" asked Chris increduously. "An ornamental dog is the reason you can't party on Halloween, the greatest night of the year?"
"Afraid so," said Tom.
"I can't go either," said Benji.
"What!"
"I promised Mary I'd go with her to her friend's party."
"Whatever, your loss," said Chris. "Looks like it's just you and me," he said to Katie.
"Well it'll be fun," said Katie. "Besides when we get bored with each other's company I'm sure there will be plenty of other people there that we can talk to."
"Really?" asked Chris, "You know Kate, I don't think that's how these clubs work. I mean it's a pretty private deal, you are only allowed to talk to the people you arrive with, they're surprisingly strict about these sort of things. They even tag you, so that if you talk to anyone else, you get this electric shock that likes . . ." Katie playfully smacked him around his shoulder for making fun of her just as her cell phone began to ring. "Ooh, I've gotta take this, it's Wyatt," she said, getting up and walking away from her friends to answer it. "Hello? . . . Hey! How are you? . . . Good, me too, I just miss you that's all," they heard her say.
"Oh brother," said Chris, rolling his eyes.
"Your brother to be exact," said Benji, grinning.
"Ha ha," said Chris. "How wonderfully witty of you, you should do stand up."
"I prefer sit down actually," said Benji.
"Smart ass."
"So do you wanna hang out after school today?" asked Tom.
"I can't," said Chris, grimly. "I have tutoring with Claire, who is just super psyched to be helping me out with such a super subject like physics! I'm meeting her in the hall with the rest of the tutoring pairs at half three and she hopes that I will find the whole thing as super as she does!" said Chris, while putting on a wide, beaming smile and a high pitched voice before stretching out his face and glaring at his friends, daring them to laugh. "I mean it's so unfair, surprise pop quizes should not constitute as a test."
"Oh come on, cheer up," said Tom. "It will probably be way super-er than you think!" he said, adopting the same high pitch voice as Chris had used, along with the grin that is normally only induced by an overdose of serious anti-depressants.
"I could kill you with my thumbs you know," Chris warned.
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"We need to make another attack on the Charmed Ones soon," said one high ranked Filarka, Krut.
"But we don't want to attack them," argued Dadak, a Brughad demon. "We need them out of the way if we are to finish the pentagram ritual on the book."
"How do we even know this ritual of yours will even work?" asked Kuran, the Filarka leader.
"I could feel the protective magic surrounding the book that repels evil weakening," insisted Dadak.
"Either way, we need to get back on track," said Krut. "That was our last attempt at the book and many others have made their bid for the book since then."
"And they have all failed!" said another Brughad demon. "Patience could be our best option here. Let all the others go in and get themselves killed! All it is doing is narrowing down the competition for us! We seem to be the only ones who realise that the only way to get the book is with the Charmed Ones out of the house."
"Yes but we must learn from our mistakes and realise that it is not just the Charmed Ones we need out, but the whole family. The manor will need to be empty if we are ever to successfully complete the ritual," said Dadak.
"Indeed, but that is easier said than done," said Kuran. "There are so many of those blasted witches crammed into the house that I doubt it is ever completely empty for more than ten minutes."
"How long does the ritual take?" asked Krut.
"Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes," said a Brughad general, Makih, who was in charge of their rituals and who in fact had came up with this one. "The defensive magics on the Halliwell Book of Shadows are extremely powerful, they are an ancient form of magic that is extremely unique and therefore very difficult to break."
"Then why are we wasting our time on it?" growled Kuran.
"Settle Kuran," said Makih, "Difficult but I believe not impossible. We just need to use higher ranked demons in our clans next time."
"That would cause greater losses which would have a bigger impact for both of our clans if we were interrupted again by one of the witches," said Krut.
"If it pays off, however we both know the reward is more than worth it," said Dadak. "We just need to bide our time a little longer, make sure all of our demons are at full strength before we pick the five who should make the next attempt."
"Very well," agreed Kuran. "We shall wait."
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"Hey Piper," said Jason as he entered the manor living room.
"Hey, how are you?" asked Piper, looking up from her notebook.
"Good thanks," said Jason. "All ready for Friday?"
"Yeah, having a big bash at the club. Chris refuses to go though cause I made it fancy dress again this year," said Piper. "But like everyone else he will be there during the day for our normal Halloween rituals, you know educating all the local kids about the true meaning off Halloween via traditional fun and games."
"Sounds like fun so what are . . . DEMON!" Jason yelled frantically, making a dive for the floor.
Piper, sighed and without looking round, he simply flicked her wrist in the direction Jason's horrified expression had been looking and blew him up. "Sorry about that, you were saying?"
Still in shock, Jason picked himself up off the floor, his gaze fixated on where the demon had been. "Aren't you . . . didn't you . . . what about . . ." he stuttered. Piper gave a small, amused smile before clapping her hands together to snap him out of it. "Sorry," he said, still slightly dazed.
"No worries," said Piper. "So what were you saying before we were so rudely interrupted?"
"Oh I was just going to ask how your plans were going for the P3 restaurant."
"Not well," she said, rubbing her forehead. "I'd forgotten how tricky getting P3 up and running was. It's just that I started a club because it was cheaper than starting a restaurant, but P3's profit margins have been so good this past year or so, for the first time I really think I could do it."
"So what's the problem? I would have thought setting up a restaurant would be similar?" he asked.
"It is," said Piper, "My main problem at the moment is finding a suitable space."
"Ah, I anticipated that. I know the guy who owns that Italian restaurant a few doors down from P3 and well, nothing's official or anything, but he's thinking of selling," said Jason.
"Really?" asked Piper, excited. "Because that would be perfect! It's big, got a good clientelle and close enough to P3 that it would be associated with it and I could run back and forth!"
"I thought so," said Jason. "Which is why I told him that if he were going to sell it, you would be very interested so he promised to give you a call to give you first dibs if he does put it on the market."
"That's fantastic!" said Piper, getting up to hug her brother in law. "Thank you so much Jason! Ooh, I have to go tell Phoebe that she has impecible taste in men!"
"I've always thought she had," smirked Jason. The doorbell rang and he got up to answer it.
"Hey Mr. Dean, is Chris here?" Tom asked.
"He's just out running an errand with Paige but he will be back at any moment, do you want to come in and wait?" Jason offered.
"Sure, that'd be great thanks," said Tom, stepping into the manor.
"Take a seat, Tom," asaid Jason. "I'll just go call Paige on her cell, see whereabouts they are and just make sure they won't be much longer."
"Thanks." Tom sat down on the nearest seat and began twiddling his thumbs while generally looking around the room.
"Hey." Tom spun around in his seat to find Patricia joining him in the living room. "You waiting on Chris?" she asked, sitting down beside him.
"Yeah."
"In that case I'll just have to keep you company."
Meanwhile, Jason dialled the numbers for Paige's cell phone and Chris answered. "Paige Matthew's cell, this is Chris her favourite nephew speaking."
"Hey Chris, your friend Tom is here and I just wanted to see how much longer you were going to be," he said.
"Oh we're on our way back now, should be there in two or three minutes," said Chris.
"That's great," said Jason, "I'll let him know, see you soon, bye!" He hung up the phone and went back into the living room to find Patricia and Tom laughing about something. "He said he'll be here in a few minutes."
"Thanks, that's great Mr. Dean," said Tom politely.
"No problem," he said, walking out and towards the kitchen to talk to his wife.
A few minutes later, Chris and Paige came crashing throught the front door in a fully heated debate about the modern music scene. "What do you mean Koala suck! They're one of my favourite bands of the moment! Their latest album was a slice of guitar rifting genius!" insisted Chris.
"Oh please! All bands nowadays suck!" said Paige. "I mean at least you are into the classics as well but there are too many teenagers running about thinking that Koala are original and that there has never been anything like them before. I mean hello, have they never heard of a little thing I like to call the 1980's?"
"You are just getting old," he taunted, "But we'll finish this later," Chris promised, turning into the living room as Paige headed for the kitchen. "Hey guys."
"Uh hey Chris," said Tom, slightly nervously while Patricia gave a small wave. Chris frowned and surveyed the scene in front of him with the detail of a crime scene investigator. He noticed that Patricia was looking slightly flushed and Tom seemed noticeably paler than usual. Suddenly a sense of deja vu hit him, he'd seen this before only with a different sibling and a different friend and that was in his bedroom back in March. "You two are seceretly dating!" he proclaimed.
"What!" yelped Tom, springing further away from Patricia. "No we're not!"
"Well you were making out then because I know those looks!" said Chris, slightly hysterical. "I saw those looks on Wyatt and Katie after I'd just walked in on, well tumbled in on actually, I was coming through the window," he explained. "But that's not the point!" he rambled on. "She was looking all red and he was all pale because they'd just been seceretly kissing!"
"Chris . . ." started Patricia.
"Oh no! Don't you 'Chris . . .' me missy! I've had enough of those 'Chris'' to last me a lifetime thank you very much! I mean don't get me wrong, I love my friends, they're great but just as that, friends!" By this point he was practically shrieking and he had taken to frantically pacing back and forth in front of the couple, who were to afraid to do anything but sit and listen. "I just don't want to be brother-in-law to all of them one day!"
"Um, don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself there?" asked Tom.
"No!" screeched Chris. "I mean have you seen Katie and Wyatt recently? 'Oh Wyatt you hang up first!' 'No you!' 'Nuh uh, you! Cause I love you more!' 'Don't think so I love you more,'" said Chris, jumping back and forth acting it out before doubling over and making sick sounds. "And just how long have you been seceretly kissing!" he demanded to know.
"A good two minutes now," said Patricia.
"TWO MINUTES!" squawked Chris, who appeared to be outraged at this revelation. "A full two minutes! I can't believe this is happening!" He sat down and put his head in his hands, giving Patricia and Tom time to exchange nervous looks. Chris looked up, a new course of action decided upon, he jumped to his feet. "I'm going to kill you," he said determinedly to Tom as he took huge, menacing strides across the living room towards him.
"Woah Chris, slow down there for like two minutes," said Tom, leap-froging over the back of the sofa to get away from his furious friend.
"TWO MINUTES!" Chris howled. "Do you know any other period of time?" he asked as he chased him into the hall until they were both at opposite sides of the table. More deja vu, this was becoming increasingly uncanny.
"Chris calm down," said Patricia who had followed them out to the hall where she was standing with her arms folded, tapping her foot with an impatient expression. 'Boys!' she thought in exsasperation while rolling her eyes.
"Calm down?" asked Chris as though it was the most ridiculous request he's ever heard. He turned back to Tom. "How am I supposed to calm down when you two have been making out! That's my baby sister!"
"I know!" said Tom. "And I'm sorry, I really am, but she also happens to be your really cool and extremely pretty baby sister." He let out a yelp for not having recognised his mistake before and raced around the table as Chris made another run for him. Chris subtley waved his fingers, telekinetically tripping up Tom, who fell to the floor and skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairs.
"I saw that," said Patricia angrily as she headed towards Tom but Chris got there first where he pinned him to the ground and raised his clenched fist. "Chris let him go," Patricia warned, her teeth gritted as she glared at her brother.
Chris looked at Tom, then Patricia back to Tom. "If you hurt her . . ."
"I swear on my life, I won't even look at her sideways in a way that could even possibly be misconstrewed as hurtful," said Tom, quickly, already half wincing in preparation for Chris' fist making contact with his face. He'd never before been on the receiving end of one of Chris' punches before but having obsevrved them, he had never wanted to. Chris sighed before getting up and offering his hand out to aid Tom. Tom suspiciously gripped Chris' hand and was surprisngly helped up rather than dropped back to the ground. "Sorry," muttered Chris, running a hand through his hair distractedly, while examining the ground.
"Thank God!" said Patricia. "Did you loose your freaking mind!"
"We're not quite at the stage where you get to be mad at me yet," said Chris, who was still looking rather traumatised.
"Oh please!" said Patricia. "It's getting to the point that you are going to be known as 'The Over-reacting Halliwell,' rather than the 'Most Sarcastic Halliwell,' title that you currently hold."
"I don't over-react!" insisted Chris.
"Hmmph!" said Tom.
Chris spun on his heels and glared at his friend. "OK now I know, that you aren't saying anything else that is going to annoy me quite yet."
"Sorry," Tom practically whispered, once again looking down at his feet.
"So how exactly do you suggest we figure this out?" asked Patricia.
"Well," said Chris, "In the spirit of deja vu, we're going to sit down and use 'the tools.'"
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"So how's school going, how much trouble have you got yourself into since last time we talked?" asked Wyatt. It was Wednesday night and he had orbed home to pick up his laundry and some dinner left-overs but had decided to check in with Chris to see what he'd missed out on in the last few weeks or so.
"Not too much," said Chirs. "A couple of detentions here and there but not for anything major. Oh did you hear about my Physics tutor?"
"No!" said Wyatt. "You are getting extra physics lessons? Isn't that like . . ."
"My own personal hell, yes yes," said Chris. "But the girl who is tutoring me, is the most melting person I have ever met. Then again what can you expect from someone who offers to tutor people in physics? Her name is Claire and she's so chirpy, she actually enjoys Physics and she keeps putting her name in every other sentance!"
"What do you mean?" asked Wyatt, intrigued.
"Like last week, I was in a bad mood and when I sat down I said, 'Right, let's just get this over with.' So she goes 'Aww, is little Chrissy in a bad mood?' I could've killed her there, but oh no, she went on to say, 'You know what you need, some TLC, a little Tender Loving Claire!' Then she got up and hugged me. I wanted to barf." He shuddered at the memory.
"Oh my God, this girl is hilarious!" said Wyatt who was laughing.
"You know I may have cracked a smile the first time but by the end of the lesson when she is 'claire-ifying' things for me instead of normal regular clarifying I'm more than a little irritated," said Chris, whose irritation was increasing with Wyatt laughing, clearly unable to comprehend his brother's plight. "I really think I am going to loose my mind between Physics tutoring, Mom reminding me every five minutes that I'm helping out on Friday in P3, Petulia constantly singing Halloween songs, especially that one about how the goose is getting fat and the old beggar man."
"So what's going on with everyone else?" asked Wyatt, after he'd stopped laughing.
"Well, Benji is fine, nothing really new with him, you speak to Katie more often than I do and Tom," said Chris, pausing for effect. "Is dating our little sister."
"What? When did that happen?" asked Wyatt, who was more than taken back.
"I'm not even sure," said Chris. "I walked in after they'd been kissing last night, supposedly for the first time but who knows."
"Let me guess, you over-reacted," said Wyatt.
"I DO NOT OVER REACT!" yelled Chris.
"No, you're right, you take things calmly and react the perfect amount," said Wyatt, rolling his eyes.
"I'm just sick of people telling me I over react," said Chris in an futile attempt to defend his outburst.
"You chased him around the table, didn't you?" asked Wyatt, though it was more of a rhetorical question because he was relatively sure that he already knew the answer. Well, what the truthful answer.
"No . . ." Chris was avoiding making eye contact with his brother. He looked up, "Maybe . . . oh all right I did but he deserved it!"
"Like I deserved it?"
"More than you deserved it, that's why I pinned him to the ground and came pretty close to punching him."
"Well I suppose he was macking on our baby sister."
"Exactly!" said Chris.
"I'm definitely going to have to have a word with him about that," said Wyatt, planning this threatening talk in his head.
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Chris yelled, "Come in!" The door to their bedroom swung open and to both their surprise it was Katie. "Oh my God Wyatt!" she squealed, upon recognising him and running towards him and flinging her arms around him.
"Uh, Katie hey," he said as she stood up. He quickly flicked his wrists and froze her. "What are you doing here?" he asked the frozen Katie.
"MOM!" bellowed Chris. As he got up to the door he came pretty close to banging into Katie.
"Chris! Watch out! You could have unfroze her," said Wyatt.
"Woah, sorry," said Chris.
"It's fine, just be more more Claire-ful in future."
"That's so not funny," said Chris, glaring at him.
"I beg to differ," said Wyatt, who was quietly chuckling at what he regarded as his own comic genius.
"What?" asked Piper, entering the room a minute later. "Oh dear," she said upon noticing Katie. "Wyatt I didn't know you were still here! I thought you orbed out a while ago!"
"I was going to until I sensed Chris orbing in so we came up here to catch up!" said Wyatt. "Now I am going to have to explain why I am home and didn't tell her, this is just great."
"I'm so sorry," said Piper. "I would never have let her in if I'd known you were still here."
"Uh, duh!" said Chris.
"On the brightside you'll get to spend some time with her," said Piper.
"OK, just go so I can unfreeze her," said Wyatt. Piper apologised again before leaving the room. "Ready?" he asked Chris as he got back into his previous position.
"Yep," said Chris, doing the same.
Wyatt flicked his wirsts again, reanimating Katie. "What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"Uh I decided to skip my last few days of classes and come home for the Halloween weekend," he said, thinking quickly. He could always tell her that he was doing family things when he orbed out to attend class.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, sitting herself down in his lap, her arms still securely around his neck.
"I, uh, wanted it to be a surprise, I was going to call you once I'd unpacked," he said.
"Where are your bags?"
"I just finished unpacking so I put them away," stuttered Wyatt.
"Well I'm definitely surprised," she said. "I didn't even see your car outside."
"I, uh . . . "
"He car pulled!" jumped in Chris. "He car pulled with a friend who also decided to come home for the Halloween weekend, he dropped him off about half an hour ago."
"Yeah, that sounds about right," said Wyatt, silently thanking his brother. "So what are we doing on Halloween?"
"Well me and Chris were going to go the party in Extreme if you are up for it," said Katie, happily.
"Yeah, sounds good," said Wyatt.
"Well count me out," said Chris.
"Why? Come on I haven't been out with you in ages," said Wyatt.
"No, I'm really not in the mood to be third wheeling it, thanks all the same," said Chris, feeling slightly awkward.
"You wouldn't be the third wheel!" said Katie.
"How do you figure?"
"Well that's why I was coming over, to see if you minded if my cousin Rachel tagged along. She's no plans cause her friends aren't really up for doing anything so I said she could come with us as long as you didn't mind."
"Yeah, right," said Chris.
"No really," insisted Katie, "I was talking to her on the phone last night. Which totally works out cause now it is just four friends hanging out."
Chris deliberated over this for a few moments, "OK then, but if this 'cousin' of yours doesn't show, because you've made her up, I am so outta there."
"Deal," said Katie. "And I haven't made her up and she does want to go."
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"Rachel please you gotta go!"
"But Katie I already have plans!"
Katie sighed. After leaving the manor she had came straight home to ring her cousin Rachel and beg her to come out with them on Friday night. She didn't want to leave Chris out, it was his favourite holiday and Wyatt's as well.
"Rachel you don't understand!" pleaded Katie, down the phone.
"What's not to understand?" asked Rachel. "You made plans with your boyfriend's brother, now your boyfriend's home and you want to hang with him instead so you are trying to fob off the younger brother on me!"
"It's not like that at all, I just don't what Chris to feel left out!" said Katie.
"How is that different?"
"Come on, you'll have fun I know you will, they are both great guys to hang around with on a night out. It's going to be really casual and you can stay over at mine like we did in the old days and catch up, we never talk anymore."
"That's because we don't go to the same school any more, I finished junior high, the year after you went to a different high school than me and we just went our separate ways."
"I'm well aware of that so, please, for me? For old time's sake?" asked Katie.
"I can hear you pouting over the phone," laughed Rachel. "Fine, I'll come over to yours about seven to get ready," said Rachel, relenting.
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" chirped Katie into the receiver.
"But you owe me one."
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"Well it looks like I'm staying here for a couple of days," said Wyatt, after making some calls to his room mates at college.
"Oh I'm so glad," said Piper, hugging her eldest son.
"So what demon do we have here?" asked Chris, noticing the demon in the crystal cage.
"Don't know, he isn't in the book," said Phoebe.
"That's unusual," said Wyatt.
"Yeah, Paige went back to Magic School to check the books there," said Piper.
"I'll go see if she wants any help," said Chris, orbing out after taking a good look at the demon.
"You know if you actually let him go to Magic School he would be the world's biggest nerd," said Wyatt.
"So Mr. Demon, when you going to tell us what we want to know?" asked Piper, ignoring this remark.
"Never!" growled the demon.
Half an hour later, Paige and Chris returned with a book. "Mosi demon, energy balls, blah blah blah but more interestingly, has a fear of water," announced Chris proudly.
"A fear of water?" asked Phoebe, disbelieving.
"Yep," said Paige. "Wierd, I know."
"OK then," said Wyatt, conjuring a glass of water.
"Wyatt!" scolded Piper. "Was that really necessary? It would have taken an extra minute to go downstairs and get one! How many times must I warn you about personal gain with your conjuring power?"
"Sorry, but it's here now so can we just threaten him with it?"
"Fine, threaten away," said Piper, folding her arms.
"OK, Mr. Mosi," said Wyatt, stepping closer to the demon. "So you tell us what's going on in the Underworld and you don't get wet." When the demon only glared, Wyatt tipped the glass a little so a few drops hit the floor surrounding the demon who immediately shot back to the other side of the cage to get away from it.
"The Council!" the demon yelped.
"What Council?" asked Phoebe.
"The demon High Council," said the Mosi demon, whose eyes were fixated on the few water droplets that were a few inches away from him. "They issued a decree that said whoever brought them the Charmed One's Book of Shadows would be rewarded with a place on its council."
"Why do so many demons want this spot?" asked Piper.
The demon fell silent again. "Wyatt, splash him," ordered Piper.
"Power!" said the demon quickly as Wyatt moved to tip the glass. "A place on the High Council grants you extra powers."
"What sort of extra powers?" asked Paige. The demon grew quiet once again so Wyatt poured the water over him. The demon let out a yell of pain before his skin started to bubble until finally the demon exploded in flames.
"Oops?" said Wyatt.
"Apparently that fear of water wasn't so wierd after all," said Chris.
"It would seem so," said Phoebe.
"Ugh, now we are going to have to wait for the next demon attack to find out more!" said Piper who was by now rather frustrated.
"Meh, the five minute break before that happens will do us good," said Paige, causing everyone other than Piper to break out in a smile.
"It make me nervous that we haven't heard of this Council before," said Phoebe.
"Me too," said Paige. "I mean if this many demons want a spot on it, it must me pretty prestigious. Sounds like it has been around for a very long time."
Piper, sighed, "That's true, I'm also pretty sure that there is nothing about them in the book, which means . . ."
"Magic School," said Paige. "I'll gather a team of students who are looking to pick up some extra credit to start looking," she said, orbing out.
"Look, I need the practise as I'm probably getting a little rusty so how about now that we know the specifics of what we're interrogating about, I head down to the Underworld, do a little re-con and see what I can find out?" suggested Wyatt.
"I'll go with," said Chris. "I have some venting to do."
"All right!" said Wyatt, felicitously while giving Chris an entusiastic high five. "The ultimate demon fighting team back together at last!"
Piper and Phoebe raised an eyebrow at him, offended looks at the ready.
"Apart from the Power of Three obviously," he said quickly.
"But that just goes without saying," added Chris, with what he hoped was an extremely humble look, it was unlikely though as he had never managed to pull it off before.
"Obviously," said Piper, after finally cracking a smile, "Fine, go, just . . ."
"Be careful," said Chris and Wyatt in unison, with a similar grin. "We know," said Wyatt, "And we will."
"Always are," said Chris.
"Pah!"
With a last grin, the two brothers orbed out.
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A/N: OK, so this chapter was originally like way longer but I then realised that I had even more stuff to put in it, so I just cut it off here and will put everything else into the next chapter.
Just in case you hadn't noticed, I changed my pen name, (reasons can be found on my profile) but I promise it is still me.
Also I meant to say this in the last chapter, directed towards all the American readers. In case you didn't know, I'm from N. Ireland, UK and have only the vaguest idea of how your schooling system works. So any mistakes just pretend that they change the system in the future.
The above actually kind of applies to everything, if somethings wrong, just assume it's different in the future. If this loophole doesn't work for something, please tell me and I will fix it.
Now on to the reviewers you wonderful people! I really appreciate your support, especially for the last chapter cause I was feeling kinda crap over it and you guys just lifted me right up again so thanks so much! I apologise once again for the lack of plot in this chappie also but that is really only because I had to split it in two as I said above.
Flephanie: Quadruple physics! Stares in horror That's illegal! Thankfully I will never have to sit through that, hell I never have to go to physics again! C'est fantastique! Anyway, I just spelt Smyth with a y because my teacher spells it with a y. Though my cousins who are Smiths spell it with an i. I wasn't aware it was an Irish thing. And no I'm not going to tell you why it's important. Well it's not so much 'important,' as . . . actually no. I'm not telling you anymore. Thanks for the review!
Kia-Kawaii Princess: Phew! Are you sure it's fixed? You are not saying it just because you are a little afraid of me now are you? Anyway, thanks for reviewing.
IcantthinkofaFnick: Did Chris freak out enough for you? grins And more Tom/Trish action in the next chapter, I hope, chapters tend to run away from me. And concerning the whole shipping issue I had my mind made up way before I even started this fic so one way or another I'm not being swayed by the reviewers, though there are a few twists, turns and bumps along the way. Thanks for reviewing, please continue to do so!
Bec7012: Thanks, I made sure to have Wyatt in a decent amount of this chapter because I know a lot of people love the Wyatt/Chris banter which is kind of hard to have without Wyatt. (Funny that, lol.) Anyway, so no need to miss him this chapter.
Chiara Storm: Tee hee! Picking up malteasers? I'm going to have to remember that. That bit was semi-autobiographical in a way cuz me and my friends are forever doing that only my stairs are pretty narrow so we blow up a lilo and put it in a smooth sleeping bag. Once there was a desk in the hall at the bottom of the stairs because some guy was coming to pick it up but we only realised half way down and crashed into it. I think I still have bruises. As for Physics it is my most hated subject, yes but I never have to do it again, yay! The three things Chris had learnt were pretty much what I knew until like the week before my Physics GCSE when I started cramming like mad. Attempting two years worth of work in a few days wasn't the best idea. Anyway, I'm going to stop now seeing as this is almost as long as the chapter so to sum up; thanks for the review!
Also a huge thanks to Maggie0, hazza123, Samantha, Sparkling Cherries, ilovedrew88, Gilmore-Buffy-Fan13 and fallen angel06 for their reviews! They kept me going!