"I'm telling you, this is wholesome and healthy for the soul. At least, when Mama Octopus isn't trying to force you to do it," Uma explained as she stepped through the sheared grass of the pasture.

After Evie's whole saloon issue, the girls at some point had managed to find everything on Anne's list at the general store. It was nearly evening when they managed to get back after Evie dragged them to several different stores just to look.

Once they had gotten back, George and Anne had informed them that they were going to have fish for dinner, and that the girls needed to go and catch them in the pond that was in the cow pasture.

At this point, they were treading through the cow pasture at dusk, dodging piles of cow waste with their fishing poles swung over their shoulders.

"All I can see is the cow poop around me, so I'm sorry I haven't slowed down and seen the wholesome in this. And I don't see how you're seeing the wholesome in it solely because of your Mama Octopus," Audrey sarcastically remarked. Uma just rolled her eyes and she stepped over another pile, avoiding it just barely. Mal huffed at Audrey and tried to stick close to Evie's trail since the brown-eyed girl had not yet stepped in the poop.

"I think it's cool that we're hunting for our food. It shows the boys that we can be outdoorsy," Evie informed them all, and Audrey just raised an eyebrow as she looked up at the bluenette.

"Did you suffer a few more knocks to the head than we thought? All this shows is that we're behaving like some kind of savage creatures!" Audrey nigh hysterically informed them, and Uma resisted the urge to groan at the whining girl.

"You could go back to the house, you know," Uma told her, and Audrey threw a longing gaze toward the warmly lit farmhouse.

"Well… Would anybody judge if I did?"

Everyone offered her various forms of agreement, and the pink princess sighed, unimpressed as she dodged another pile of crap.

"Honestly, how much do these things poop?!" Audrey cried and Mal shrugged. Uma immediately got an enormous grin on her face as she looked back at the princess.

"I don't know. They must be full of it. You ought to be right at home, then," Uma jabbed, and Audrey just stewed silently as they started to climb a small hill.

Evie clambered up to the top first, quickly followed by Mal and Uma, and they all looked down upon the sight of the pond below.

"Wow. It's bigger than I thought it'd be," Mal trailed off, and Uma shrugged.

"It ain't no biggie," Uma blew off Mal's oddly concerned tone. Evie, however, paused beside Mal as she gazed at her carefully. Evie leaned over so that her lips were nearby Mal's ear.

"Are you sure you're good to go?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Mal assured her, and the group started down the hill behind Uma.

"Yes, baby! There are boats," Uma announced once they had descended the hill. Mal's eyes went wide as she immediately realized what was implied that they'd have to do. She stopped abruptly, and Evie wrapped an arm around her as she tried to subtly comfort Mal and cover up the fact that the other girl had stopped.

"Alright, you, Evie, and Jane get in the bigger boat, and me and Audrey can get in this smaller one," Uma explained to Mal, gesturing over to a boat. Uma stepped off the small dock, pulling out the container of worms that she had. Audrey followed her, grumbling all the way about fishing, and Jane took a container of worms and sat in the bigger boat.

Mal was too stuck on the fact that they were going to have to get in a body of water that had a depth that was likely over her head. Evie was just standing there, her head leaned near Mal's as she tried to talk Mal through the mental barrier.

"You're going to be okay. It's fine. It's just water. You drink it every day," Evie assured her, and Mal barely blinked as she stared at the ripples in the liquid.

"You trust me, don't you?" Evie questioned and stepped to the front of Mal, taking Mal's hands and holding them firmly as she pressed her nose against the shorter girl's in an attempt to gain Mal's undivided attention.

"Yes," Mal immediately replied, not a hint of hesitation in her tone as she answered Evie. Evie allowed that to bring a slight smile on her face, and she squeezed Mal's hands, reassuring her in that way that was solely Evie.

"If you manage to end up in the water, I'll jump in and help you," Evie assured the faerie, entirely serious, and Mal couldn't help but giggle nervously at Evie.

"How are you going to do that? You don't know how to swim either."

"Maybe not, but I have grace and physics on my side," Evie informed her confidently, and Evie stepped to her side, wrapping an arm around Mal's waist as they slowly strolled toward the boat.

"Physics maybe, but grace? I'm not so sure."

"I am graceful," Evie ploughed right through Mal's suggestion that Evie could be clumsy.

"Okay, do you remember when you tripped up the stairs?"

"That's because I wasn't thinking of physics. Physics doesn't support falling up," Evie informed her playfully, and Mal's mind was starting to drift from the fact that Evie was actually stepping into the boat in favor of engaging in a silly bantering argument with her best friend.

Mal paused as soon as Evie started to gently guide her into the boat. Mal looked down at the water fearfully, but brought her gaze back to Evie after the bluenette squeezed her hand. Mal took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, stepping into the boat carefully.

It rocked underneath her movement, and she immediately clung to Evie's arms with her hands tightly. Evie nodded to her reassuringly, and Mal returned the gesture as they slowly sat down on the wooden seats of the little boat.

"Well, physics says I'll sink like a rock," Mal spoke after a bit of a silence, and Evie just laughed, which was a very nice sound to hear considering that Mal was absolutely terrified at this point.

"No, physics says that the human body has natural buoyancy," Evie emphasized, and she made sure to avoid adding the minor technicalities involving the depth of the water as well as someone's density.

"I'm physically a rock," Mal persisted shortly. Evie just giggled at her ridiculousness, trying to take away the nervousness from the other girl as she reached for an oar and handed Jane one as well.

Evie just shook her head as they started to row, trying their best not to disrupt the boat's movement too much and scare Mal.

Audrey and Uma had started to row as well, and Mal tried her best not to look in their direction or in any direction besides that of her sister's. She was currently so bewildered that she didn't want to see anything that related to water, despite the fact that she was on a boat of all things.

"Alright, y'all, row out to the middle," Uma spoke, her voice hushed as she paddled along. Audrey was grumbling and mumbling the entire time, but she was rowing, which Uma considered a good sign. After all, they all had to be into activities so that the boys didn't declare them to be going against the bet.

Both boats ended up in the middle of the water, Uma and Audrey's some distance away from Mal, Evie, and Jane's.

"Now, hook the worms on your poles," Uma informed them carefully, and Mal couldn't resist throwing a slight barb in Uma's direction, largely due to her immense nervousness.

"Who made you Queen Fisherman?" Mal questioned, and Uma just shook her head, choosing to focus on the task at hand over Mal's antagonizing.

Evie just shook her head at the two, wrinkling her nose as she tried to work up the nerve to take a worm from the container. She reached toward a big, fat, juicy one, but she could quite convince herself to grab it. Mal watched her struggle for a few moments before grabbing it and hooking it on Evie's pole carefully.

Evie shot her a grateful glance, and she stood up, trying to figure out how to cast it out. She furrowed her brow, turning to look at Uma as she kept herself as still as possible so that it wouldn't scare Mal to death.

"How do I cast?" Evie questioned, and Uma looked up from her examination of the fishing pole to instruct Evie.

"Hold down on that button by your thumb, pull back, and when you sling it forward, you let go of the button so the line will fly," Uma informed her, and Evie nodded, offering Uma a thumbs-up.

"Cool!" Evie grinned widely before sticking her tongue out just barely as she cast out. She watched the line soar, smiling widely as it landed in an area to the right of their boat.

Evie looked at Mal, proud of herself for her success, and Mal smiled at her fondly.

"Keep the line taut. Reel it in a little," Uma instructed, and Evie complied easily, quickly learning Uma's teachings. Uma grinned at Evie's success, and she handed the container of worms to Audrey.

"EW! I am not touching that slimy, wiggly worm!" Audrey immediately announced, and Uma resisted the urge to groan as she caught Audrey's dangling line in her hand. She took a worm from the container and she hooked it onto the end of the pole.

"Did it just squirt juice out?!" Audrey cried, and Uma rolled her eyes, her hand still on Audrey's line as she moved it so that it was near Audrey's face.

"I don't know, take a look for yourself!" Uma laughed wickedly, and Audrey drew back, having a fit in the boat as it moved backward a bit in the water.

Uma eventually took it away from her face and let it dangle as she stood up, ready to cast her line. However, she tripped a bit on her seat as she positioned herself, and the boat rocked a bit.

To catch her balance, she stepped a little hard on the side of the boat as she kept from falling in. She honestly didn't care if she was in the water, but she'd rather walk into it on her own terms than fall in and look like a complete moron.

Naturally, this step caused the boat to rock harder.

"Stop doing that!" Audrey cried suddenly, and Uma stopped, looking at her as she realized exactly what the girl was talking about. Obviously, the rocking was bothering the princess.

"What? This?" Uma raised an eyebrow, rocking the boat experimentally. Audrey immediately clung onto the sides of the boat, trying to steady it.

"Yes, that!" Audrey screeched, and Uma huffed out of her nose.

Ever since Audrey stayed in the house that morning and didn't even offer to help one of them with their outside chores, Uma had been on the lookout for a way to hand out payback to the princess. Uma subtly looked at the water surrounding them, and she knew that she had found her way to give that prissy princess what she deserved.

Uma's face lit up in the beginnings of a grin as she shook the boat back and forth, steadily turning it more and more.

"You mean like this?" Uma asked with a growing smile as Audrey fought to keep the boat as steady as possible.

"Stop! Stop it!" Audrey cried, but Uma just kept rocking the boat.

Mal, Evie, and Jane were just watching the two throughout all of this, and Evie furrowed her brow disapprovingly as she eyed the two, knowing where Uma was going with this.

"Uma, we're out here to fish, not to throw Audrey in the water!" Evie called, but Uma didn't listen in the least, instead moving it even harder.

"Quit! Just quit now!" Audrey screeched, her whining becoming even louder the closer that the boat came to turning over in the water.

"Stop!" Audrey yelled as the boat almost tipped over completely in the midst of Uma's rocking.

Evie suddenly felt an enormous tug on her fishing pole, and she jerked forward, nearly falling in the water. She regained her footing firmly, and she pulled against the fish, trying to keep a hold on the fishing pole.

Mal's eyes widened and she put her pole down in favor of grabbing onto Evie tightly, trying to keep her in the boat with them. Evie almost flew into the water once again, even with Mal hanging onto her. Jane dropped her pole and held onto Mal's waist firmly as she helped the faerie.

"Evie! Reel it in!" Mal cried in a panic, and Evie moved her hand quickly, pulling at the fish as it yanked against her as hard as it could manage.

Audrey and Uma were too absorbed in their current engagement to pay any attention to the others' struggles.

Uma shoved with a mighty tug, leaning with it, and Audrey's scream illuminated the evening as the boat finally tipped over, dumping the two girls in it.

Audrey rematerialized beside the boat's overturned form, breathing hard as she spluttered in an attempt to get pond water out of her mouth. Her hair was hanging around her, and she coughed violently as she started to screech at Uma.

"You are horrible! You evil, terrible, wicked person!" Audrey screeched, smacking the water in her pure anger as she pumped her feet to keep afloat.

However, after a moment, she realized Uma wasn't with her and she quieted a bit, her eyes going wide with worry. It was then that it was silent enough for her to hear Evie, Mal, and Jane's struggle. She turned in the water, watching as all three of them pulled at the line.

Her eyes went wide as she watched them drag a fish bigger than any that she had ever seen into their boat.

But before she could concentrate on that, she felt a sharp tug at her leg trying to drag her under. She screamed, trying to remain above water level.

"It's got me! IT'S GOT ME!" Audrey screamed, and just as her head was about to go under, Uma suddenly materialized next to her, shaking the water from her head and wiping her eyes as she laughed.

"I got you, alright," Uma pointed out with a laugh, and Audrey immediately started to throw a fit, sloshing water all over Uma as she headed for shore. Uma laughed, blocking the water with her hand as she followed the princess.

Evie, Mal, and Jane were sitting in their boat, gaping at the sizeable fish that they had caught.

"Wow. It's enormous," Jane breathed.

"I'm an excellent fisherwoman!" Evie announced proudly, but immediately screeched and jumped back against Mal as the fish flopped on their boat.

Mal giggled breathlessly and held onto Evie as she looked to see what Uma and Audrey were doing. She watched as Audrey approached closer to shore, their boat turned over, and Uma pulling the said boat behind her as she followed Audrey, a giant smile on her face.

Evie followed her gaze and shook her head at the sight of Uma and Audrey. She pulled her phone from her pocket and positioned her camera's focus on the fish. She made sure that her, Mal, and Jane's feet were in the shot, and she took the picture quickly. Mal grinned at her tiredly, resting her chin on Evie's shoulder from behind.

"Good job, E."

"It was us," Evie correct her. "Good job, us."

Suddenly, Audrey started screaming louder than they had heard her the entire time they were out. The three turned around and spotted the princess just standing there on the shore, screeching, and Uma was laughing at her.

Evie sighed, reaching for an oar, and her and Jane rowed them back to the dock as they went to see what was wrong with Audrey now.

They pulled up to the dock, and Audrey was making all sorts of noises of panic and disgust. Evie stepped out first, taking Mal's hand and pulling her out. As soon as Mal's feet touched the wood of the dock, she almost felt like kissing the ground.

Evie headed over to Jane and Audrey, and she immediately spotted the positively disgusting creatures attached to Audrey's legs. Evie shook her head, wincing as she hurried over to help.

"This is all your fault, Uma! I HAVE LEECHES!" Audrey screeched, and Evie knelt down beside her. She hesitantly reached over to one and swallowed hard before plucking it from Audrey's skin. Once she got started, Evie pulled several more of them off, Mal and Jane approaching her from behind.

Once Evie had pulled them all off, blood was streaming down Audrey's legs from the little holes worn into her from the leeches' feeding.

"This is disgusting!" Audrey screamed, stomping over to the grass and heading up the hill, yelling complaints all the way.

Uma chuckled at her, shaking her head as Audrey stopped at the top of the hill to examine her legs closer.

"Look what we got, Uma!" Evie exclaimed, grabbing Uma's dripping wet arm and pulling her over to look in the boat.

Uma's eyes went wide as she gaped at the fish in the boat.

"Holy crap! That is frickin' enormous!" Uma cried, a huge smile on her face as she reached down and grabbed the fish carefully.

"AAAAHHHHH! DANGED COWS!" Audrey's voice suddenly sounded off from up the hill, and everyone looked at each other, knowing that the princess had stepped in poop. Uma shook her head before examining the fish closer.

"It's a catfish," Uma pointed out as she held it up for the rest of them to see. It moved violently in her grip suddenly, and Uma tightened her hold.

"Alright! Let's take it back to the folks!" Uma told them, and they nodded excitedly, starting up toward the house, Evie, Mal, and Jane's phone flashlights on.

As soon as they topped the hill, they spotted the barest hints of Audrey's form stomping over to the gate and climbing it carefully. They followed her, scaling the gate as she had done, and they spotted her not too far from it turning on the hose pipe.

Audrey was seething, her movements quick and jerky as she plopped down on a nearby stump used for chopping firewood so she could hose down her foot. Mal cleared her throat awkwardly, and Uma looked at the lot of them, the fish held tightly in her hands.

Evie took a deep breath, knowing that she had to try to fix this at least a little. Evie hesitantly stepped forward.

"Audrey-"

"I'm not talking to any of you right now," Audrey informed her, which Evie thought was a little unfair to the innocent members of their party. However, she understood that the princess was a little overwhelmed at this moment.

"Okay…"

"These were designer sandals!" Audrey almost screeched, and Evie winced, opening her mouth to say something else before Uma interjected.

"Why don't we let her call one of the guys, so maybe she can blow off a little bit of this steam?" Uma suggested, and Evie stopped for a moment, looking back at Uma as if she had lost her mind. Uma shrugged nonchalantly, and Evie raised an eyebrow. Uma leaned over and whispered something to Mal, and Mal's eyes went wide as she came over to Evie, leaning near the older girl.

"Uma said that it'd be a good idea for her to vent all of her frustrations on somebody who's not us, because we'll have to put up with her ourselves quicker than we'd like. Maybe with one of the boys, she'd be distracted for a minute before seeing us," Mal whispered, and Evie furrowed her brow, tilting her head slightly.

"So you're saying we pawn her off on one of the boys?"

"Well, do you want to deal with her when she's like this?" Mal asked, and Evie spared a glance at the fuming princess who was trying to take the plunge and actually let the hose pipe touch her legs. Evie shook her head, taking her phone from her pocket and offering it to Audrey.

Audrey looked up, positively fuming, and Evie kept a small smile on her face in an attempt to dissipate her anger. Audrey snatched it from her and started to video chat a boy of her choice. The other four looked at each other before hurrying off for the house, the fish in tow.

Before long, Jay's face came onto the camera, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, babe, I thought this was going to be Evie," Jay laughed a bit, and Audrey's eyes lit up in a burning fire.

"Well, it's not," Audrey huffily replied, and Jay's eyed widened as he watched her, knowing something was up. He was really quite curious as to what had gotten her this way, so, despite his better judgement, he decided to prod just a bit.

"Umm… Are you okay?"

"NO! I am not okay!"

"Alright… What's wrong?" Jay questioned, his voice a mix between genuine concern and mirth as he watched her expression as she tried to hose down her foot with one hand outside of the camera's view.

"Oh, nothing! JUST EVERYTHING ON THIS DANGED FARM!" Audrey screamed, not caring if Jay thought they were losing the bet or not. Her consensus was that if they were still there, they weren't losing.

"Well… Where're the other girls?"

"Inside! Where I would be if I hadn't stepped in cow shidooky and had to call you of all people!" Jay huffed out of his nose, trying to keep his laughter as quiet as possible so he wouldn't invoke her wrath even more greatly.

"Who else would you have called?"

"Nobody! That's the problem!" Audrey announced, her eyes widening momentarily in her irritation.

"Okay, okay! I understand! You're not in the mood to talk," Jay raised up his hands in a placating gesture, trying to get her to calm down at least a little.

"No, I am not!" Audrey yelled, frustrated with the fact that the cow poop was not coming off of her foot. Jay blew a breath out of his mouth, scratching the back of his neck before shaking his head.

"Let me see some proof that you're still at the farm, and I'll let you-"

"DOES THIS LOOK LIKE PROOF TO YOU?!" Audrey screeched, shoving the camera down near her poop-encrusted toes. He swallowed hard, trying valiantly to keep from laughing at her. He knew if he let loose even the barest of chuckles, she'd go completely off the grid.

"I think you need to calm down a little," Jay told her carefully, knowing that it was going to be taken the wrong way but still really hoping she'd take his advice. Audrey's gaze snapped to his, and with the fury and intensity that she held in it, he was a little afraid that there was a bit of the Queen of Mean left in her after all.

"Never mind. I love you," Jay told her in a sweet tone of voice. Audrey kept her stare firmly locked onto his, a million thoughts running through her mind as she considered all that she could say at that moment. However, fortunately for Jay, she decided to settle on something slightly calmer.

"I love you, too!" Audrey grumbled in response, immensely irritated with the entire situation.

She hung up quickly, sitting the phone on the fence nearby, and she took off her sandals begrudgingly, rubbing at her toes carefully as she examined them. Once she had managed to clean them enough to see her skin with no brown-black splotches, however slightly stained by the cow waste.

After a moment, she noticed something black on the inside of her leg and she moved around, using her flexibility as a cheerleader to her advantage. Her eyes went wide as she gazed upon the creature that had attached itself to her that Evie had somehow managed to miss in her scouring earlier.

Audrey's lip trembled, and only partially from the urge to cry. She clenched her teeth, holding the impending noise back before finally letting loose with a scream.

"UMA!"

A/N: Well, Audrey got what Uma felt she deserved after staying in the house that morning. Uma might have gone a tad overboard, but oh, well. The princess needs a bit of old-fashioned fun every once in a while. XD I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to share what your favorite part has been so far! :) It really helps to know so I can learn and do better in the future as a writer.