Chapter 2 Survey

Stella, Joe, and Kevin made their way through the main hallway of Horace Mantis Academy thinking that it was a normal day. They just took a World History quiz so the three of them were relieved to have their favorite period of the day—lunch time. Even though the two boys were exhausted from having to memorize important dates for World War II, they patiently listened to the fashion-designer-in-the-making as she gave them pointers on what to wear during their next performance. They were conversing with one another until they reached their usual table. Nick and Macy were already there and everyone exchanged their usual hellos.

"What are you guys talking about?" Macy asked her best friend as the blonde girl filled the seat next to hers.

"Oh, you know, the usual," Stella sighed. "I have this vision for what the boys should wear but I'm hesitant because I know putting them in something white can only lead to disaster. And yes, I'm talking about you Joe."

Joe protested this accusation and just like that, he and Stella had one of their usual fights during the day. Macy just smiled at them and she was about to ask Kevin how was his day but she was interrupted.

"Macy! Nick!" called a familiar voice.

The both of them exchanged a nervous glance and turned towards the voice that called out their names.

"H-hey, Penny," Nick greeted her anxiously as he nervously glanced at his brothers and Stella. He and Macy haven't told anyone about their plan to pretend-date.

"So I was talking to Jimmy," Penny started to say. "And it turns out that he has a track meet on Saturday so can we reschedule our double date to Friday night instead?"

Unfortunately for Nick and Macy, the minute Penny said double date Joe and Stella immediately stopped arguing.

Macy laughed nervously at Nick who was also hesitant to answer but because Macy promised Nick that she would do her best to let him win Penny's heart, she took her role seriously and smiled warmly at Penny and said, "Well, I don't find that a problem. You're free on Friday, aren't you, sweetie?"

She said the last part while looking at Nick.

"Sweetie?" was what they heard Kevin whisper loudly utterly confused.

"Um…ahem," Nick cleared his throat as he ignored Kevin. He could feel five pair of eyes staring intently at him as he finally said. "Y-yeah that'll be fine."

"Great!" Penny said excitedly. "I'm really excited! Maybe we can catch a movie after dinner. That new scary movie just came out. You know the one with the serial killer stuck in a suburban town?"

"Yeah, I saw the trailer for that and it looks pretty interesting," Macy piped in. She assumed the role as spokesperson for she and Nick because he apparently chose to be silent. "We just love scary movies. Don't we, Nick?"

She said this as she grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze because Nick was not acting very boyfriend-like. He could blow their cover.

"Ow! I mean, yeah we love scary movies because it's so…uh…scary," Nick said and then blushed because he realized what he just said was completely redundant. Great, he's making an even bigger fool out of himself in front of Penny. He tried not to look at his brothers and Stella because he could feel their stares digging a hole into his body.

Penny laughed because she found Nick adorable when he got flustered but she said, "I understand just what you mean, Nick. I also like scary movies. But come on, now. We all know that no one really pays attention to movies in the movie theaters. You know what I mean?"

She winked at them because she clearly misunderstood Nick's hesitation for something else.

Nick and Macy exchanged a confused look with one another. What did she mean they don't watch movies in the movie theaters?

Macy was about to say something but then she realized what she meant and turned a deep shade of red. Nick was slow to follow but when he saw Macy he understood what Penny was implying and he also turned red once again because there was no way he was going to make out with Macy in a movie theater…

"No need to be embarrassed!" Penny said as she laughed because it was cute that Macy and Nick both turned a matching shade of red. "Don't worry about me and Jimmy since we'll be busy just like you! We won't cramp up your style. Hahahaha."

If it was possible both Nick and Macy turned an even deeper shade of red. Penny was still amused at their reactions. They were so modest and cute.

"But anyway, I got to go," she said as she waved good-bye. "Looking forward to Friday!"

"Y-yeah, us too!" Macy called after her. She looked at Nick who was busy looking at a spot on the floor. He was determined not to look up at the other occupants sitting with them in their table.

"Guys, explain?" Stella said sternly yet in a perplexed voice.

Macy sighed. It seemed that she was going to have to clear everything up alone. She looked at the three of them and saw Stella with a puzzled look on her face. Joe was gaping at them with his mouth hanging open and Kevin looked simply dumbfounded.

"You see," Macy started to say. "Nick and I are dating…"

"WHAT?" all three of them exclaimed in unison.

"Relax! It's just pretend!" Nick finally interjected. "Macy! You should have said that first!"

Macy narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Well, looks like someone found his voice again! Anyway, Nick's right. We're not really together. We just decided that we are going to fake this perfect romance to make Penny jealous."

"I don't follow," Kevin said simply. All three of them still had their look of puzzlement settled on each of their faces as they continued to stare intently at Nick and Macy.

"You see, Macy came up with the idea of us faking our relationship to help me win Penny over," Nick said.

Macy nodded and added, "Yeah, I'm going to hype up Nick to Penny about how great of a guy Nick really is so that she can really start to consider him as boyfriend potential. She'll hopefully start to fall for him in the end. And Nick and I will stage this huge break up giving Penny the chance to make her move. It's as simple as that."

"Mace, you know how messed up that sounds?" Stella pointed out as she frowned at her best friend for not realizing this.

"Yeah, I agree with Stella," Joe said. "Besides, Penny has a boyfriend, doesn't she? You're just basically planning to break up a perfectly good relationship for another one."

"Like you're the one to talk!" Macy argued. "Didn't you do the same thing with me when Van Dyke took Stella out on a date?"

"That's different," Joe said in a lower voice.

"How so?" Macy questioned him as she crossed her arms waiting for his rebuttal.

"Yeah, Joe. How so?" Stella repeated what Macy said. It seemed like the blonde girl suddenly switched positions.

"First of all, Stella and Van Dyke were not boyfriend and girlfriend!" Joe pointed out. "That's why this is completely different. We didn't intentionally break up a couple since they weren't one in the beginning."

"Well, we could have been together, Joe!" Stella said now taking an active part in this argument. "If it wasn't for you, I could have been with Van Dyke right now."

"Are you serious, Stella?" Joe asked her incredulously. "You're really considering Van Dyke as boyfriend material? If anything, I was doing you a favor!"

"A FAVOR?" Stella yelled back angrily.

"Hey you guys, you need to chill!" Kevin said as he tried to ease the tension between Joe and Stella.

Normally, Nick and Macy would intervene and help Kevin to calm them down but since the attention was drawn away from them, they took advantage of this and sneaked away from their lunch table.

"Well, they didn't seem to like our plan," Nick said as he followed Macy down the hallway.

"I wasn't really that surprised," Macy said. "But trust me, Nick. It might take awhile but in the end you'll be guaranteed a chance with Penny. I swear."

Nick sighed. He really was putting a lot of faith into Macy.

"Okaaay," Nick said. "I trust you. So what's next in this master plan of yours?"

"Well…" Macy said as she began rummaging through her bag. "For starters, we need to know everything we can about each other. Since we're supposedly been dating for awhile, I need to know some stuff about you and you need to know some stuff about me."

"Okay, that makes sense," Nick agreed.

"So…I've prepared this extensive survey that you need to fill out," Macy said as she found the group of papers she was looking for. "It has everything from your favorite color to what is your idea of your ideal date."

But Nick wasn't really paying attention to her because he was flipping through what seemed to be twenty pages of endless questions.

"Macy, how long is this thing!" Nick exclaimed. It was the size of a small booklet instead of a sheet of paper, he was expecting.

"It's twenty-three pages," Macy replied sheepishly. She really didn't think the length of her extensive survey would be a problem.

"TWENTY THREE PAGES!" Nick repeated loudly as he continued to flip through the pages to look at some of the questions being asked. "Macy, I can't possibly finish this all. Besides why do I need to answer this question that asks if I prefer to be on top or at the bottom? You don't need to know that. How far in this fake relationship do you think we are?"

He blushed when he realized what kind of question that was but he kept skimming through the survey and saw that the questions got either way too personal or way too outrageous.

"Okay, I admit some of the questions are kind of out there," Macy said. "But I just copied the questions your fans posted on my site and I forgot to filter the crazy ones. And really, Nick, it won't take you that long. It only took me two hours to finish."

"TWO HOURS!"

"Yeah, but it was really fun," Macy pointed out as she tried to give him an encouraging smile. "Besides, I gave one to Penny as well and she was more than glad to fill it out."

Nick looked at her skeptically.

"Really?" he said in a calmer tone.

"Yes, she filled one out too. I told her it was for an extra credit project I have for my history class—the changing profile of an American teenager in our world today," Macy said proudly. Macy was really happy that she was able to come up with a good and seemingly legit excuse for Penny to fill out her survey booklet.

Nick looked at the questions again but this time he tried to imagine what Penny wrote for each one of them.

"And…" Macy said as she rummaged through her bag once more until she found another similar packet. "I have her answers right here."

Nick thought she was going to give it to him so he tried to grab it but Macy quickly pulled it away and said, "Oh, no you don't. These are for my eyes only until you finish yours and then I'll let you see hers. Besides, don't you want to see how compatible you are with her without cheating?"

She was right.

Nick let out a big sigh to show that he faced defeat.

"Fine, I'll do it," Nick said reluctantly.

"Great!" Macy exclaimed as she gave him a quick hug and then said teasingly. "You're definitely getting well-earned brownie points for being such a good boyfriend."

Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head because he didn't appreciated Macy teasing him. So during all of geometry class and history class, Nick filled out the long questionnaire Macy prepared for him. Of course, he left all the inappropriate ones blank. There was no way Macy needed to know what position he preferred or what other nonsense that was asked. Because a good majority of the questions he kept blank, Nick was able to finish just in time before school ended.

"MACY!" Nick called after her when he spotted the petite brunette walking out of the girls' locker room.

"Hey, Nick!" Macy greeted and when they saw Jimmy pass them by, Nick gave Macy an awkward hug to show that they were acting all couple-like.

"Here, I finished."

"Great," Macy said as she skimmed through his answers. "Okay, I'll give you mine and Penny's as well so that you can study them before Friday."

Nick quickly grabbed the other set as soon Macy took them out of her bag. He hurried home and quickly sat on his bed and poured over Penny's questionnaire first. Like him, she left a majority of the questionnaire blank. That was something they both had in common. He continued reading it and found himself enjoying all her responses. It turned out that he and she were more alike than he initially thought. They were perfect for each other.

"What do you have there, bro?" Joe said as he entered his room.

"N-nothing," Nick quickly said as he immediately put the papers underneath his pillow.

"Doesn't look like nothing to me," Joe retorted and he quickly made a dash towards his bed and grabbed the pieces of paper that Nick just moments ago stashed away.

"GIVE THOSE BACK JOSEPH!" Nick yelled at him but Joe was running away from him as he began reading out loud.

"Favorite color: baby blue. Favorite food: Pizza. Traits I look for most in a guy: Honesty, modesty, athleticism, and a killer smile…awww isn't that sweet," Joe said. "What is this, Nick?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Nick said waspishly. "Give it back!"

But Joe was flipping through it and noticed the name on top of the survey.

"Penny Madison?" Joe said at first confused but then he realized what this was for. "How'd you get her to fill this thing out?"

"Macy did it," Nick confessed. "It was all her doing."

Joe bit his lip and he finally gave back the survey to Nick and said seriously, "Nick, I really don't think you and Macy should do this."

"Why?" Nick asked confused. If anything, Joe was usually the brother inclined to do all the scheming.

"Because someone is going to end up getting hurt," Joe answered.

Nick didn't understand why Joe was so against their whole plan but Macy did bring up a good point during lunch.

"Way to be hypocritical, Joe," Nick argued. "You're telling me not to do this but Macy was right. Didn't you do the same thing with her?"

Joe sighed in frustration and said, "How many times do I have to point out that was totally different. Macy knew I was hung up over Stella. We have so much history together. You and Macy and Penny for that matter have no history at all. You're just toying with fire. Believe me."

"Whatever, bro," Nick replied. "I know what I'm doing. Macy is just being a good friend and helping me out."

Joe shook his head disapprovingly and said, "Fine, do what you want but don't say I didn't warn you."

Nick wanted to protest some more but his brother had already slid down his pole to go downstairs. He looked at the papers again and tried to think about what Joe said but he honestly didn't believe anyone would really get hurt…well maybe, Jimmy would... but Nick didn't want to dwell on that because he and Macy were already so far into this lie that they created. There was no turning back.


Closing Remarks:

Is Joe right? Will someone really end up getting hurt in the end? If so, who would it be?

This chapter didn't have any drama but it's more or less a build up for what is in store for Nick and Macy in the story. Even though this story will have some minor drama, I find it refreshing that I chose to write a story that was not as serious and dramatic as my other stories. I hope you guys enjoy it. As I mentioned before, it's probably going to take me awhile to finish this but I already know how I want to end this story. As I mentioned in my profile, I try to create a story with the ending already in mind so that the story can flow. In fact, I already wrote the epilogue to this and I think you guys will find it really cute. But you'll need to wait for it. Sorry for being such a tease :-P LOL

For most of my stories, besides a 'Complete 180', I tend to write the epilogue before I'm even finished with the story itself. It's like a bad habit of mine because then I need to think up of filler story-lines since I get so excited for the conclusion to happen. Haha. I just love writing about the future of the characters in my story. This story is probably going to be my top priority before I continue my other story 'Trust Me', which is a dramatic story. That one is a little tricky to write because I kind of have an idea where I want to go with the sequel to 'Remember Me' but I still need to tie in some loose ends. So while you wait for the next update, please, if you haven't done so, check my other stories out too and please review them as well! Some of the material may be inappropriate for a younger audience so read with caution and good judgement. Thanks.

READ AND REVIEW! THANKS! Things will pick up in the later chapters.

-Penelope36