Chapter 14

"Disneyland! Disneyland!" Gazzy chanted as Jeb paid for our overly expensive tickets. Nudge looked like she was about to explode from being so excited.

That's right, folks – we were headed to the Happiest Place on Earth, also known as the most expensive place on earth. There were crowds everywhere, and within minutes of entering the park, some lady with a stroller almost ran me over.

I rolled my eyes, then looked at Gazzy, who had the map. "Where to?"

He shrugged. "I dunno! I can't read!"

I sighed in exasperation, yanking the map out of his hands. "Give me that."

"Let's go to Sleeping Beauty's Castle!" Nudge suggested, pulling the map away from me.

"Boo, that's boring!" Gazzy yelled at her. "Obviously we should go on Pirates of the Carribean!"

"How about Space Mountain?" Fang asked.

"It's Mickey Mouse!" Gazzy shouted, running off towards some guy in a mouse suit.

I frowned. "Get back here!"

"Make me!" Gazzy yelled back, cutting everyone in line just so he could have his picture taken with a giant rodent.

I ran over and grabbed Gazzy, pulling him back towards our group. "Come on, Gazzy. Behave. Be like Angel," I advised him, then looked at Angel. She was perched on Jeb's shoulders, happily yanking his hair.

"Okay, never mind," I told Gazzy. "Don't be like Angel."

~~::~~

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!" Gazzy, Nudge, and Iggy belted as loud as they could. Fang looked like he had a headache, and I was just pretending I didn't know them. Angel wasn't tall enough to go on pretty much every single ride, which left her outside with Jeb.

"Max, isn't this so much fun?" Nudge asked, turning and beaming at me as Gazzy started singing the song again.

I rolled my eyes. "It would be, if you guys weren't being so annoying."

"Come on, Max! Lighten up!" Iggy told me. "We're at Disneyland! It's supposed to be fun!"

I looked at him a bit strangely. Iggy had been feeling down yesterday, but today he seemed like he was back to his old self.

Hmm. Oh well.

"Where are we going next?" Gazzy asked as we got off the ride.

"Hmm," I said, frowning. "Good question." That was when I spotted Jeb, waiting outside the ride entrance with Angel in his arms. He seemed oblivious to everything that was going on around him. I was sure he wouldn't notice if we left…

I smiled. "Come on, let's go to Haunted Mansion."

Nudge gave me a weird look. "What about Jeb? Isn't he waiting for us?"

"Don't worry," I replied with a grin. "He won't mind."

~~::~~

"This ride is so scary!" Nudge cried, clinging to me. "There are ghosts everywhere!"

I sighed. "Nudge, they're fake."

"AAH!" she screamed as a robotic zombie popped out from behind a gravestone. "Don't kill me!"

Finally, we got off the ride. Nudge looked like she was about to burst into tears, and Gazzy, Iggy, and Fang just had bored expressions on their faces.

"Um…." I said, looking around for some other ride.

"Tom Sawyer Island!" Gazzy yelled.

"What? No, that sounds boring," Iggy complained.

"How about Splash Mountain?" Fang suggested.

About a half hour later, we were about to get on the ride. "I call not sitting in the front," Nudge yelled.

"Alright, alright," Gazzy said. "We know, you've been saying that for ten minutes straight."

When the Disneyland employee directed us to get on the ride, we all scrambled on, except for Nudge, who was busy fixing her hair or something.

Unfortunately for her, the only open seat was in the front.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" she yelled as she got on. "I hate you guys!"

Gazzy gave her an evil smirk. "We don't care!"

As you can imagine, Nudge complained for the entire ride.

Finally, we got to the big drop, and Nudge was screaming, "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"

The rest of us were basically laughing like crazy at her.

When our log got to the bottom, water splashed up, soaking Nudge. She started yelling at us again. "I hate you guys! This was the worst ride ever!"

"Enjoy your day at the Happiest Place on Earth," the Disneyland employee told us as we got off the ride.

"Yeah, right!" Nudge said, her arms crossed over her chest.

Fang stopped to buy ice cream for Nudge to make up for her being forced to sit in the front, and of course Gazzy wanted one too. That left me with Iggy, so we sat down on a nearby bench and waited for the little kids to get their ice cream.

I grinned at Iggy, though I knew he couldn't see it. "Having fun?"

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess."

Suddenly I remembered something. "Oh, yeah! Iggy, what was it you were going to ask me yesterday?"

His face turned bright red. "What? Oh, it was nothing. I mean, it wasn't too important."

I shrugged. "Well, what is it then?"

"Um…" Iggy replied, frowning. "Um, I forgot."

I raised an eyebrow. "Riiiight. Come on, just tell me."

He shook his head. "It's kind of embarrassing."

I smirked. "So you do remember!" If possible, Iggy turned even more red.

"Yes! I mean, uh, no. I don't."

I laughed, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Iggy. Tell me. I won't tell anyone."

"Well…" Iggy trailed off, frowning. "Okay. Okay, I'll tell you."

I waited to hear what he was going to say, pretty curious. He sure was getting worked up over whatever it was.

Suddenly he turned to face me. "WellMaxyouseeIkindofreallyli keyou."

I just stared at him. "Wait….what?"

"Hi, Max! Hi, Iggy! We got ice cream!" Nudge yelled, running over to us.

Fang sighed. "There goes my allowance."

"What allowance?" I asked him, smirking, but my mind was on other things.

"Come on, let's go on Space Mountain!" Gazzy shouted, and I laughed, leading the way.

But as we walked, I kept looking over my shoulder at Iggy.

What the heck was that supposed to mean?