"Adena? What are you doing here?"
"Tanis? What are you doing here?"
"Uh…" Cameron looked between the two girls, "Is there something you two wanna tell me?"
"I came in here to talk to Cameron," Tanis told Adena, ignoring the confused boy in front of her.
"So did I."
"Hello? Girls?"
"Well, I was here first. Too bad. Maybe you should leave."
"Maybe you should leave."
"Tanis! Adena!" Cameron shouted. "Care to tell me what's going on?"
Apparently alerted to his presence, Adena faltered, "We…um…we were just…"
"We both wanted to know if you'd be our partner for the doubles tourney!" Tanis exclaimed.
"…What doubles tourney?"
"You know…the doubles tourney," Tanis insisted.
"I didn't hear anything about a doubles tournament," Cameron said, even more puzzled than before.
"Well, I mean, there's bound to be one sometime, right?" Adena laughed nervously.
"So," Tanis said quickly, "who's it gonna be?"
"Erm…I don't know…"
"Come on!" Tanis barked.
"Choose!" Adena added.
"Uh…I…"
"Thank God we found you guys!" Cody burst through the door, Nate following closely on her heels.
"Wait, wha-,"
"We've been looking everywhere!" Nate interrupted Adena, grabbing her arm and beginning to drag her out of the room.
"We need your help," Cody said as she did the same to Tanis.
"With what?" Adena tried to break free.
"Uh…a tennis question!"
"A tennis question?" Tanis stared at them incredulously, "You two?"
"Yeah, well, never too late to learn!" Cody laughed uneasily. "Come on!" And with one final tug, she had gotten Tanis out the door.
"You don't mind if we borrow them, do you?" She called back to Cameron. "No? Good!" They dragged the two girls down the hall without waiting for a response.
"What are you two doing?" Adena shrieked after they had been dragged all the way outside. Ripping her arm from Nate's grasp, she glared.
"Saving poor Cameron," Cody told them, letting Tanis go.
"From what?" She spat, rubbing the spot on her arm where a mark was quickly forming.
"You two!" Nate told them.
"Us? What are you talking about?"
Cody sighed at Adena's words, "Look, you can't drag Cameron into this until you figure it out for yourselves."
"Or at least admit you like him," Nate added.
"Whatever," Adena shook her head, "I'm gonna go practice. I don't wanna be around her anymore."
"Well, I'm going to the library," Tanis huffed, "I may breakout if I'm around her for too long." And with that the two girls took off in opposite directions.
"Well, that went well," Cody spat sarcastically.
"Hey," Nate told her, "if we hadn't gotten there when we did, it would have been a lot worse."
"I guess," Cody sighed. "Oh, and, a tennis question?"
Nate chuckled, "So I crack under pressure. Shut up."
"Hey, Cameron!" Rick called, running up to him.
"Huh…oh…hey Rick…"
"Something wrong, buddy?"
"Nah," Cameron shrugged, "just chicks acting weird. As usual."
"I know what you mean," Rick laughed heartily, nodding. "Speaking of which, have you seen Cody?"
"Not for a while," Cameron told him, "you should try Bates' office."
"Ah, yes," Rick sighed sadly as the two boys sat down at a picnic table, "Nate. I don't get it…what does she see in him? What has he got that I don't?"
"Intelligence? Good taste in music? Similar interests? Vintage T-shirts?" Cameron offered, chuckling.
"Well, yeah, okay, there's that. But I have a rock collection. A rock collection!"
"Things aren't what they used to be," Cameron said sympathetically as he patted Rick on the back and stood up, "it take a lot more to win over a chick nowadays."
"That it does," Rick sighed to himself as Cameron walked away, "The times, they are a-changing."
"Oh, hey Squib," Dr. Myers said in a distracted voice as he emerged from his house with an armful of papers.
"Hi, Doc," Squib greeted him, making his way up the steps, "Cody around?"
"Uh, yeah," Dr. Myers was riffling through his papers, "she's in there somewhere," he waved a preoccupied hand toward the house and was soon out of sight.
"Cody?" Squib called, opening the door. Not hearing a response, he slowly made his way up the stairs toward her room. As he approached, he could make out the sound of laughter. Opening the door, he saw Cody lying on the bed on her stomach, with Nate on the floor, leaning against the piece of furniture.
"Okay, okay, check out this one," Cody passed him a picture over his shoulder, giggling.
Squib cleared his throat, and the laughter stopped immediately, "Uh, hey, I was just coming to see if you were coming to cards," he said, and then, remembering his promise, added, "Both of you."
"Oh, uh, yeah," Cody glanced to her wrist before realizing she wasn't wearing a watch. She quickly grabbed Nate's arm to look at his, when she became conscious of her actions and dropped it as if on fire, "Sorry, we, uh, lost track of time."
Squib nodded stiffly, "It happens. Coming?"
"Yeah," she cast a glance at Nate, who nodded, and the two got up, heading for the door. The unfortunate threesome reached the front door and both boys reached for Cody's coat. Luckily, she foresaw the action and grabbed it herself.
"Ready, then?" Squib asked.
"Yeah, let's go," Cody said, and the three walked toward the Open.
They really had to start avoiding these situations, Cody thought as the Top Guns sat in the Open. They sat in a circle around a table, Cody, Tanis, Nate, Cameron, Squib, Adena- the least dangerous order she could come up with.
"Uh…Nate, any two's?" She asked. She regretted her choice when she saw Squib glare at the boy.
"Go fish," Nate said, glaring back. Cody nodded and grabbed a card from the pile.
"Squib, any four's?" Adena asked. He nodded and slid a card over to her. "Tanis, any three's?"
"Go fish," she spat through clenched teeth.
"Well, fine then!" Adena angrily seized a card from the pile. Cody sighed. It was only mid-September, and already she could tell it was going to be a long year.
Nova-Janna: Lol, I tried to even out the couples…don't think it worked. Next chapter will probably be better, though, but I had to address A/C/T because of where I left it.
Not as long as I'd like, but it'll do. Now, be dears and review!