AN: Hello, guys, and welcome back to ROTLON! I think this one's gonna be quite short but we'll see how it goes! Enjoy!
Nick, Lucas and I are sitting in the stands outside with the rest of the class, watching the soccer game. Well, I say watching - it's been really foggy all day so far and it's kinda hard to see anything. In fact, I'm not even sure if we're even winning at the moment. That's how hard it is to keep track of the game.
The crowd around us begins cheering in response to our mascot's encouragements. I've never really gotten whether our mascot is supposed to be a pirate, a Viking or a mixture of the two.
"Jessica's doing a pretty good job out there," Nick comments. "Considering how last minute it was that she had to be a replacement!"
"Yeah, it's a real shame Gina got sick but at least the mascot costume is in good hands!" Lucas agrees.
Normally Gina is the mascot of the soccer team but she'd gotten tonsillitis about a fortnight or so and Jessica, being her best friend, had naturally offered to take over her mascot duties until she was fully recovered from - I presume - having them taken out.
"I'm just glad I'm not out there playing!" I chime in. "I mean I like a good game of soccer as much as the next person but I'd also like to be able to see where I'm going!" It's honestly kind of surprising to me that nobody's scored an own goal yet.
Through the thick fog, I just about manage to make out Coach Johnson, a man with greying hair, gleefully fist pump the air. "Woo-hoo!" he exclaims. "We won again! I can't believe it! Woo-hoo!" Yeah, see what I mean by how hard it is to keep track because of the fog? I didn't even realize the game was over!
As everyone begins making their way down the steps, we do the same and stop at the door that leads back into the school.
Eventually Jessica walks over, carrying the rubbery head of the mascot costume under her arm while still wearing the rest of the costume. "Uh, why do you still have the mascot costume?" Lucas asks, confused. "I thought that Gina was gonna go back to being the mascot now that she's better!"
"That's what I thought, too!" Jessica responds with a sigh as the four of us head back into the school. "But Coach Johnson apparently wants me to be the mascot...permanently!" She stares at the head of the costume and lets out a groan of dismay. We walk out of the front entrance and down the street as Jessica continues to lament. "It's not fair to Gina that they're forcing me to be the mascot!"
"Well, she'd better get used to it!" Nick points out. "They've got another game later tonight!"
"Don't remind me!" she complains. "I can't wait until this tournament is over!"
"They should cancel the games because of this fog!" I say. "How can the players even see the ball?"
"It looks like a healthy, moist fog!" Lucas says thoughtfully. "But there's something odd about it!"
As we pass a store with TVs in the front window, I hear the familiar jingle that means that the news channel is about to report breaking news so I stop to have a look, Lucas doing the same thing.
"Everyone in Venture Falls is walking on cloud nine!" the male newsreader says via voiceover as the screen shows people trying to move around in the thick fog. It even seems to be affecting transport as a ship blares its horn as it moves along the road instead of the ocean. "Fog is just a cloud that touches the surface of the earth...and you're walking through it!" He chuckles at his own joke.
"He failed to mention that fog - or ground clouds - is made up of millions of tiny droplets of water!" Nick says, apparently forgetting that school is over for today.
"Hey!"
I scream, hearing the others do the same thing. "Razzle!" we exclaim. It's bad enough when he does his sneaking up on us thing in ordinary weather but, with this thick fog...
"Millions of tiny droplets?" he exclaims after scurrying up onto Nick's head. "I'd hate to be the guy who has to count them all!"
"Since you're here, I guess this strange fog is something to do with the Gorm!" Lucas says.
"It's cupboard time, ladies and gentlemen!" is Razzle's response before he climbs down and tucks himself inside Nick's pocket as we head home as quickly as we can, trying not to outright run since we're struggling to make out what's in front of us a lot of the time.
Eventually we make it - somehow without incident - and immediately make our way down to the Primal Pad. Once we're gathered in front of the control panel, Razzle scampers up onto it to give us our briefing.
On the screen, we see lightning flashing and fog swirling around the forest. "There's a fog in the Gorm, too!" he begins. " But it's far more dangerous! It's making its way across the land and any Gormiti that goes in doesn't come out!"
"We can't let that happen to any more Gormiti!" Lucas exclaims.
"So who's behind it?" I question.
"I have no idea!" Razzle responds. "But I do know that if it isn't stopped, the entire world - the Gorm and here - could be permanently covered in fog!"
"Yikes! Imagine a world covered in fog!" Jessica says. "We would all have to walk around like thisto find each other!" As she speaks, she starts walking around with her hands held out in front of her while the three of us laugh.
Once we've recovered from the amusement, we run to stand around the Gorm Gate and cry out, "Elementals!"
"Air!" Jessica begins.
"Water!" I yell.
"Forest!" Lucas calls.
"Earth!" Nick finishes.
"Reveal to us the Keeper and give to them your chair!" we say together.
"And the Keeper is..." Razzle announces as the rapidly spinning chair slows to a stop, revealing a dark-blue icon with the Water symbol on the back, "...Water!" He points at me and says, "It's you, kid!"
"Let's get this party started!" I exclaim cheerfully before walking up to the chair and sitting down. I wave my hands over the crystals to open the Gorm Gate and look over briefly to see the others jumping in. "And...touchdown!" I open up the Travel Tome and announce, "Okay, guys, Travel Tome says you should be in a fog-free zone in the Forest Nation!"
"We are," Nick responds. "But it won't be fog-free for long!" I look at the screen and see that fog is already clouding the area. Suddenly I notice a familiar figure walking forward, holding two rocks in his hands. He stops in front of the fog and plants his feet in a steady position
"Hey, it's Cannon Trunk!" Jessica exclaims. "What's he doing?"
"Vile cloud!" the Forest Gormiti shouts, addressing the...fog? I don't think fog is capable of hearing. "This charade has gone far enough! Reveal yourself!" He places one of the rocks in his hollowed out head and fires it directly into the fog. Nothing seems to happen so he places the other rock in and takes a couple of steps forward before firing it in as well.
"It's like he sees somebody in there," Lucas says. Oh, well, that makes more sense! I thought it was a bit odd that he was trying to talk to the fog! "We need to help!"
They run out from behind the rock as Cannon Trunk yells, "Begone from these woods!" Suddenly he lets out a cry as the fog seems to swirl around him and I can no longer see him on the screen. The others reach the place where he'd been standing and look at each other, confused, when they can't see him.
Lucas looks determined as he says, "We need to go into that fog to find out what happened to Cannon Trunk!"
"You can't go in there!" Razzle wails. "You'll get lost like everyone else!"
Nick looks thoughtful for a moment. "Unless..." he says. "Lucas, do you still have that length of rope you used to carry around with you?"
Lucas digs around in his pockets and pulls out a reasonably long piece of rope. "Never leave home without it!" he exclaims. "Why?"
"Because we can use it to make sure we don't get lost in that fog," Nick explains as he begins wrapping the rope Lucas had passed to him around himself before feeding the length back to Lucas so that he and Jessica could secure themselves too.
Razzle takes the end of the rope once Jessica's done and wraps it around a nearby tree before tying a knot.
"The ropes are tied," Nick says to the others. "Now if we get lost in there, we can easily get out!"
"Hold on, Cannon Trunk!" Lucas calls out. "We're coming for you!" After this, Nick begins leading the way into the fog.
Jessica hesitates for a moment. "It...can't be that bad in there...right?" she asks before following the others inside the fog.
Immediately I notice how much harder it is to see where they are. It seems that the further inside the fog they walk, the more difficult it is for me to keep track of them.
I move the crystals around to attempt to conjure up a projection but it takes at least two attempts just to get it to work. "Guys," I say, once I'm sure they can actually see me. "It's hard to get a clear signal in there! Any sign of Cannon Trunk?"
"All I see is fog, fog, fog!" Jessica responds, looking around.
"It's so vast!" Nick exclaims. "I can't even see where we're going or where we came in!"
Suddenly there is a strange moaning sound. "That's gotta be Cannon Trunk!" Lucas says as they walk in the direction of the moans.
Sure enough, he's right. Cannon Trunk is lying motionless on the ground as the others approach him. "He's unharmed," Lucas reports, stepping up to the unconscious Gormiti to take a closer look. "But his energy level is completely depleted!"
"We need to get him out of here!" Nick says frantically.
"Who could have done this?" I wonder aloud.
"Uh...probably that guy!" Jessica answers, sounding worried as she points in front of her. I just about manage to make out a hulking figure standing in the direction she's pointing but the fog makes it hard to tell who it is.
"Where?" Nick asks, looking around at where she's pointing.
"There!" Jessica points out, pointing at the exact same place.
"Where?" Nick asks again, fiddling with his glasses. "This fog is so thick and disorienting!" His eyes widen as he finally sees the figure. "Oh, right...there!"
Lucas springs to his feet. "Whoever you are, stay back or we'll be forced to fight!" he warns. The figure merely laughs as he begins stalking forward menacingly.
"Okay, Toby, we're gonna need a little power over here!" Jessica tells me, sounding a little nervous.
I look over my shoulder at the orbs as I move the crystals around. When they start rising up off their pedestals, I know that they're fully charged. "I'm ready for ya!" I exclaim. "It's glow time!"
"Elemental powers flow, Gormiti - Lords of Nature, go!" they chant together before transforming.
The figure laughs before firing fiery shards at them, forcing them to duck.
"Don't say I didn't warn ya!" Jessica shouts angrily. "Fighting Feathers launch!" She shoots sharp feathers out of her hand but the figure laughs as they seem to miss him completely. "Come on!" she complains. "There's no way I missed!"
"Okay..." Nick says slowly. "That doesn't inspire confidence!"
Out of nowhere, Jessica and Lucas cry out as fog begins swirling around them rapidly. I notice that their orbs seem to be running out of power all of a sudden, too.
"Wait, where are we?" Lucas asks, confused. "It feels like I'm drowning in fog!"
"And there's no lifeguard on duty!" Jessica adds as they both struggle.
"Let them go!" Nick shouts, punching the ground in front of him, sending cracks towards the figure who, once again, seems to disappear. Luckily the fog swirling around Jessica and Lucas seems to disappear as well.
"Okay," Lucas pants. "This could be tougher than we thought!" The figure reappears behind them and fires the fiery shards at them again, forcing them to dive to the ground.
I look around and see the orbs take a major dip in energy. But while Nick still has quite a bit of power left, Jessica and Lucas are just about out of power, probably because of that swirling fog attack earlier.
"A lot tougher!" Jessica exclaims.
"That was some powerful attack!" Lucas agrees, sounding exhausted while I manage to project my image near them.
"Jessica, Lucas! Your power levels are super low!" I tell them. "You need to get out of there right now!" I let out a cry as the figure fires its fiery shards in my direction. Good thing I'm safe here in the Primal Pad or those shards could have really done some damage!
"Come on, guys!" Nick says to the others as he stands up. "We need to vacate the situation!"
"Where? How?" Lucas asks, also standing up.
"Over there!" Jessica says, going in one direction before changing her mind and going the other way instead. "Wait, no, here's the line! This way!"
As they run for the exit, following the rope, the mysterious figure fires lots of fiery shards in their direction, probably angered that they can find their way out.
Eventually I see Lucas and Jessica walking out of the fog. Razzle goes over to greet them but I frown when I notice Nick isn't with them. They were all tied together. Could something have happened in there?
"Where's Nick?" he asks them.
Lucas looks confused as he responds, "What do you mean? He's right..." As he and Jessica turn around to look behind them, they finally realize that Nick isn't there like they thought. "Nick!" they both exclaim.
"Check the rope!" I suggest, projecting my image near them. Lucas begins pulling on the rope and I know immediately something's wrong. Nick's the heaviest of all of us when he's transformed so if the rope were still attached, Lucas would be finding it difficult to pull.
As the frayed end of the rope comes into view, confirming my fears, Lucas says worriedly, "Oh no!"
Razzle hides his face with a groan while Jessica guesses, "One of the attacks must have severed the rope!"
"We have to go back and get him!" Lucas says immediately
"Not a good idea!" I point out. "You don't have any energy! You won't be able to do anything!"
"He's right," Razzle agrees. "And how are you ever going to find him in there?"
"I'm trying to get a location fix on Nick!" I tell them. "But the fog is really playing havoc with the readings!"
"We can't leave Nick behind!" Lucas insists.
"I'd agree with you, normally," I tell him while I resume using the crystals and tomes to try and track Nick down. "But I'm gonna have to bring you guys back anyway!"
Pausing only to open up the Gorm Gate to get the others back here, I immediately get back to work. Flipping through pages of the tome and occasionally moving a crystal around but my efforts have yet to bear fruit. The screen remains as cloudy as ever and I have yet to even catch a glimpse of Nick.
"This fog is making it impossible to pinpoint Nick's location!" I complain as I continue to work.
"I don't want to be the bearer of more bad news but it looks like that fog is spreading!" Razzle says suddenly.
"You sure you don't want some help, Toby?" Lucas asks, sounding worried. "You've been going at it pretty heavy for a while now!"
"I'm not stopping until I find Nick!" I insist, almost to the point of snapping. Though I appreciate the offer, a part of me feels that it's my responsibility and mine alone to find Nick. Not just because I'm the Keeper but because he's my brother. "Look, this could take a while," I add, still flipping through the tome. "You guys need to head back to school and cover for us."
"I guess you're right," Jessica says before adding unenthusiastically, "Anyway I have a large and uncomfortable mascot costume to wear in a few minutes!"
"As soon as you find something, call us!" Lucas tells me. Without looking around, I nod my head, still moving the crystals around.
The Primal Pad falls silent, the only sound being the pages of the tome as I look through it over and over again.
At one point, I almost think I've found something. "Hey, Razzle, what do you think?" I ask, looking around, expecting to see him perched on the back of the chair. "Oh, you're not here..." He must have gone with Lucas and Jessica. It turns out to be a false lead anyway. Great.
"Come on, Nick!" I mutter, rubbing my forehead. "Where are you?" If only my teachers could see how hard I'm working right now. They'd probably all pass out with shock!
Through some stroke of luck, I see an image of Nick appear on the screen. "Nick!" I exclaim, wanting to pinch myself just to make sure I'm not dreaming. "It's me! Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
He doesn't respond. I'm not even sure he's conscious, though his eyes are open. Maybe he had his energy drained like Cannon Trunk. "No audio communication," I say to myself. "But it's a start!"
I glance down at the tome once again, hoping it can help me out. I'm just glad I've seen Nick and he appears to be unharmed. If I hadn't been able to find him, I'd never have forgiven myself. He may annoy me sometimes but he's my little brother and I gotta look out for him, even if most of the time it seems like it's the other way around!
I move crystals around like crazy with one hand while reading the tome, occasionally looking up at the screen as well. The sound of footsteps about ten or fifteen minutes later tells me that Jessica, Lucas and Razzle have come back. They seem to be having some sort of conversation but I ignore it. Eventually, once more, I see Nick's image appear on the screen. "Nick!" I call out again. "It's me! Can you hear me?"
"Toby!" he exclaims as I just about manage to project my image near him.
"Nick, you can hear me! Are you okay?" I ask frantically.
"I'm not hurt!" he assures me. "But I don't know how much longer I can last in here!"
"I've got a lock on your location but the fog is preventing me from gating you back to the Primal Pad!" I tell him.
Suddenly Lavor fires one of his fiery shards which hits the tree Nick is hiding behind. Having been discovered, Nick starts running, Lavor continuing to shoot the shards after him. "We don't have much time! Lavor is behind this mess! He's using the Shroud Portal to control the fog!"
The connection begins to go dodgy once again and I lose sight of him. "Nick!" I exclaim but there's no answer. "I had him but I lost him!" I say. "But I'll find him again!"
While I work to try and trace Nick's location, I catch bits and pieces of the conversaton the others are having. Apparently Jessica and Gina had fallen out over the mascot costume but, according to Razzle, it could also have had something to do with Lucas.
Of course he doesn't get it but Jessica does, lamenting that she feels bad for yelling at her. I can kind of sympathise with Gina. She's had a crush on Lucas for about four years or more and he hasn't noticed. It's not a nice feeling liking someone who doesn't seem to know you like them, even if you're obvious about it. No wonder she got so desperate - I mean I don't think I'd throw my friend under the bus, figuratively speaking, just to get attention from somebody I liked but I can understand why she did it.
But I've got bigger things to think about right now. I cannot stop myself from smiling as I manage to lock on to Nick's location - it was much easier this time around, too. "I've found Nick's location!" I exclaim, interrupting their conversation.
"Let's roll!" Lucas says with determination.
"Guys," Razzle pipes up. "I think the fog is a weapon! When it swirls around you, it drains you of your power!"
"That's why Lavor's attacks seem more powerful in the fog!" Jessica says.
"We're gonna need a way to counter that fog and energy draining attack or we'll never get out of there!" Lucas points out.
"I have an idea!" Jessica tells him. A Jessica plan, huh?
After they've jumped through the Gorm Gate and landed just outside the fog, I move the crystals around so they can transform again.
"Hey, Toby, can you send the mascot costume through?" Jessica asks.
I blink slightly. "The...mascot costume?" Why on Earth does she want the mascot costume now of all times?
A little impatiently, she responds, "Yes, you know, the rubbery suit in the Primal Pad? The one that can't decide whether it's a pirate or a Viking? That mascot costume?"
"Okay, okay," I say, holding my hands up. "I'll get it to you in a second but why do you need it?"
"You'll see," she tells me before adding, "Thanks!"
I get up out of the chair and walk over to the mascot costume. "Alright," I mutter as I pick it up. "I don't know what Jessica's planning to do with you but it'd better be something good. I could do with a laugh right about now."
Reaching the Gorm Gate, I throw the mascot costume through before returning to the chair. "Okay, Toby, you've now gone from talking to an inanimate object to talking to yourself. You really must be going crazy!" I say to myself.
On the screen, I notice Jessica and Lucas walking into the fog, carrying the mascot costume. They stop and assemble it before walking away, much to my confusion.
"We only have one chance to do this!" Lucas says worriedly. "If we fail, we're not getting out!"
"Yeah," Jessica adds. "No pressure!"
They then split up. Lucas heads in the direction of Nick's location while Jessica stays relatively close to where the mascot costume is. "Lavor! Lavor! Come out and pla-ay!" she calls out in a sing-song voice.
"Hey, Lavor! What kind of plan is this if you can't even see who you have to defeat? I feel like I'm in some big game of hide and seek!" she taunts. "Lavor! Lavor! This is probably one of the worst plans I've ever see-"
Lavor shows up suddenly, letting out an angry yell. I have to laugh as I notice he's approaching the mascot costume rather than Jessica. So that's why she needed it! "My plan is brilliant!" he shouts. "You will regret insulting Lavor the Powerful! Now that I've drained your power, you will bow down and admit my plan cannot be stopped!"
He fires the fiery shards once again. "Ha! Where is your trash-talking now?" he asks before approaching and actually seeing the mascot costume, which is unsurprisingly on fire, considering it's made out of rubber. "This is unusual..." he mutters.
"It's called a decoy!" Jessica says coldly, stepping up on the other side of the mascot costume. She fires a white sphere of energy at Lavor who doesn't have time to react and gets thrown away. "We just needed to distract you until we could find our friend!"
Lucas and Nick walk into view. I feel relieved to see he's okay. "I guess that's why your parents didn't call you Lavor the Intelligent!" he quips. Yep, he's definitely alright!"
I look at the screen and see that the Earth is almost completely covered in fog. "Guys, you have to destroy the Shroud Portal!" I tell them, looking down at the tome again while I project my image near them. "It's the only way you can get out of there!"
"That's a great plan!" Nick agrees. "Unfortunately we need to locate Lavor first!"
"Leave that to me!" Jessica says before running forward and shooting a funnel of wind out of her hands. It blows away the fog surrounding Lavor, causing him to become visible.
"I'll be honest - I didn't see that one coming!" he admits.
"But you're definitely going to feel this one!" Nick yells before punching him, causing Lavor to lose his grip on the Shroud Portal.
"The Shroud Portal!" he says in protest as Lucas uses his creeper to pick it up.
"Sorry, dude, but you just jinxed it!" he tells Lavor delightedly. "Toby, how do I destroy this thing?"
I flick through the tome. Come on, there has to be something in here! Something? Anything? But all the book says is what the Shroud Portal does, not how to destroy it. "I'm not sure!" I tell him. "There's nothing in here!"
"I have an idea!" Lucas says, placing the object on the ground before stomping on it with his foot. When he moves his foot away, the object starts glowing a fiery orange.
"You didn't just do that!" Lavor says fearfully. "Tell me you didn't just do that!"
I watch the screen as the fog starts to get sucked back into the Shroud Portal which seems to grow slightly bigger. "Cool! It's working!" Lucas exclaims. "The fog is getting sucked back into the portal!"
Unfortunately it seems to be a little too powerful! "That can't be good for business!" I point out as the Shroud Portal starts sucking in everything, not just the fog. Once more, I find myself relieved that I'm safely in the Primal Pad after even my projection is sucked in. I swear I can hear the sound of laughter that sounds awfully familiar.
"Hang on to something!" Lucas calls out to the others, staggering to try and find something sturdy enough to do just that.
"The Shroud Portal is now a powerful vacuum!" Nick yells, clinging to a tree.
"Really?" Jessica asks sarcastically, holding on to another tree with all her might. "Did you figure that one out all by yourself?"
Lavor, meanwhile, has clung onto a rock. "Why did you have to ruin my plans?" he complains.
"Hey, that's our job!" Jessica tells him. "Don't take it personally!"
"It's personal!" Lavor responds angrily. "And you know how Lavor the Powerful gets revenge? He destroys anyone who-" Foolishly he lets go of the rock and stands up, only to be hit by what looks like a tree trunk and ends up getting sucked into the Shroud Portal as well.
As it sucks in more and more objects, it seems to become more powerful. Nick suddenly lets go of the tree he was holding and manages to walk over to a large boulder. And when I say large, I mean it!
With little to no effort, he raises the equivalent of what must be the weight of a small car above his head before tossing it. The boulder lands on top of the Shroud Portal and at once, the suction stops and everything is calm once again.
"Problem solved!" Lucas says as they approach the boulder.
"It's over!" Nick adds happily. "We did it!"
"Was there ever any doubt?" Jessica asks rhetorically and Nick laughs.
"Looks like Lavor's now trapped in the Region of Darkness!" Lucas says.
"And now he'll need a new way to get back!" Nick points out.
"And the fog has disappeared all around the world!" I tell them, looking at the screen that shows the Earth no longer obscured by fog. "We're all clear!"
Lucas returns to where they'd left Cannon Trunk and finds him awake. "It appears that everything is back to normal!" the Forest Gormiti announces as Lucas helps him up.
"Whoa, are you alright?" Lucas asks him.
"Er...except the mascot costume!" Jessica says awkwardly, looking down at the charred remains of the rubbery suit. It's still relatively intact but the burns and singe marks are clearly visible.
"Speaking of mascot costumes, doesn't the team have another match in about thirty minutes?" I ask. The groan I get from Jessica is answer enough. I move the crystals around and a portal forms above their heads and they rise up out of the Gorm Gate.
"Well, may as well get this over with!" Jessica says reluctantly, giving the mascot costume a look before running up the stairs with it in her arms. We exchange glances before following her.
The whistle for half time has just blown. Now that the fog has gone, it's much easier to keep track of the game. At the moment, we're winning two-nil.
"Hey, look!" Nick says. Lucas and I follow his finger and notice Jessica walking over to Gina who is standing at the edge of the pitch, carrying the mascot costume head under her arm. They have a short conversation, during which Jessica abruptly plonks the head on Gina before they hug.
"At least they've patched things up now!" I say before frowning. "I don't remember those two ever fighting before!"
"Me neither!" Nick agrees. "I guess there's a first time for everything!"
Lucas doesn't say anything. I think he's still trying to work out what the whole situation is. Poor guy...
To our surprise, we see Jessica practically skipping towards us, a wide grin on her face. She isn't wearing the mascot costume anymore which probably explains it.
"So you and Gina are okay now?" I ask as she sits down between Nick and I.
"Yep!" she says cheerfully. "From now on, Gina'll be the one cheering our team to victory while I stay in the stands! Just how it should be!"
"I don't suppose it really matters who's wearing the costume as long as they want the team to win!" Nick says thoughtfully.
Jessica grins mischievously. "In that case, next time she needs a replacement, I'll tell her you volunteered!" she jokes.
"Eh-heh, no thanks!" Nick laughs nervously. "I don't think I'd fit in the costume!"
"Anyway," she adds. "It's a relief that I don't have to wear that costume anymore! It smells funny and it totally ruins my hair!"
I glance at her momentarily. "Your hair looks fine to me," I say absent-mindedly as the second half begins.
The game ends and we've won again, beating the other team with four goals to zero.
"That was some quality cheering!" Coach Johnson praises, approaching who he must think is Jessica. "The team really fed off that energy! High five for the best mascot ever!"
"Thanks, Coach!" Gina says as she removes the rubber head of the costume. Coach Johnson's eyes widen in surprise before he high-fives her anyway.
"Go, Gina! You rule!" Jessica cheers loudly.
"I don't get it!" Lucas exclaims suddenly. "She just wanted a hug?"
I resist the urge to roll my eyes as I look at him. "You need to give up!" I inform him. "Boys will never understand girls!"
"Well, at least Lucas won't!"Nick jokes and the three of us start laughing. Jessica nearly falls over sideways and grabs my arm to steady myself. I almost jump, expecting the usual tingling but instead my skin heats up where she touches, almost like it's burning but not quite. It's a very odd sensation, not unpleasant or anything, just odd.
"I don't think I've laughed so much in my life!" she gasps out. She looks my way and says in a low voice, "There are exceptions, though, right?"
Knowing what she's talking about, I nod my head and manage to say, "Yeah." I'm kind of surprised I can say anything at all right now.
We make our way down the stands and start heading towards the school, Lucas attempting to ask us why we were laughing which just makes us laugh harder.
Just before we reach the school building, Gina joins us. Jessica immediately greets her but the dark-haired girl pulls her and me aside, giving us a look. One I'm not too comfortable with. Nick and Lucas carry on walking, Nick attempting to fend off Lucas' questions.
"So the rumour's true, then?" she asks casually.
"What rumour?" Jessica asks in return. I'm glad she can speak because I think I've forgotten how.
"That you guys are dating, of course." My mind seems to go numb. This isn't happening. This can't be happening. I hear her add how she always knew it would happen. Then she starts rambling about how someone had seen us hugging, someone else mentioned that we hug all the time and then another someone else had concluded that we must be dating, since we spend all our time together. At least I think that's what she's saying.
"We're not dating!" Jessica exclaims abruptly, laughing nervously before shaking me slightly. "Right?"
I nod my head silently, not trusting myself to speak in case I say something stupid, like admit that she might not be just a friend to me anymore.
"Well, with how close you two are, you can't blame everyone for thinking you're an item!" Gina points out. "I mean you guys are literally one step away from getting married!"
Fighting to stop my face from burning, I finally find my voice. "Come on," I say. "Not everyone thinks we're dating!"
Gina nods her head. "We're just friends!" we both exclaim frantically. She looks at us both, staring us down, as though waiting for one or both of us to crack.
"Alright, I believe you," she says after a while. "Just don't be too surprised if this isn't the last time it's brought up, okay?" We start walking into the school and she stops again. "You know, it's a shame you guys aren't dating!" she adds as an afterthought, sounding almost disappointed. "You guys would make a great couple!"
"Gina!" Jessica yells, chasing after her as she runs down the corridor, leaving me behind. I cannot stop my face from burning this time as I slowly walk, trying to make sense of everything.
I haven't even come to terms with what it is I feel yet but it seems as though everybody else knows - or rather they think they know.
It's at times like these that I wish I was as dense as Lucas because thinking about all this is quite frankly making my head hurt.
AN: Yay, I finished a chapter! Had to take some paracetamol before I finished the last part (have a headache which isn't fun). Sorry if it seems a little short or anything but hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! See you next time!