And chapter eight arrives! In this instalment Sissi plots and plots, while Em and Jer are cute. In other news, those of you were are reading and enjoying this fic should go check out RenaYumi's Summer of the Traveling Princess. It's completely adorable and halarious and if you review I can stop waiting for updates from her. I MEAN...it's cute! But seriously, if you like this fic, you'll like hers. And with that said, away with us~
"We're leaving in fifteen minutes, you know that right?" William asked as he ran a towel over his hair.
"Of course I do." Jeremy, who was already dressed and ready to leave, didn't look up from his computer. "I just want to check in with my friends and see how they're doing."
"Just be quick," William advised. "You know how Sissi will get if she even thinks we're running late."
"Even though she'll take an extra fifteen minutes to do her hair."
William nodded as he began digging through their closet for something to wear. As he changed in the background, Jeremy logged into his online messenger. Scrolling down his short list of friends, he grinned when he noticed that one of them was at their computer. Right before he could click their name, however, a video chat opened on his screen.
"Good morning!" the four faces crammed into the window cheered, around their mouthfuls and fork-loads of omelet. Jeremy laughed at what had become his friends' standard evening greeting.
"Good evening," he said, settling into his seat. "How are you all? Surviving Odd okay?"
"Barely," Ulrich mumbled, earning himself an elbow to the ribs from the blonde.
"I'll have you know, I'm a great host."
"When you're minding your own business." Odd scowled.
"I'll show you my own business."
As the pair dropped from view Yumi and Aelita scooted into frame.
"Hi Jeremy!" Aelita chirped. She lifted her plate, showing Jeremy her half finished breakfast. "Look what Ulrich showed me how to make!"
"She's a regular master chef," Yumi joked.
"Wow Aelita," Jeremy said, grinning at his friend's enthusiasm. "You'll have to cook something for me when you get back." Aelita grinned, blushing under the praise of her friends.
"Jer, you look all dressed up," Yumi observed. "Going somewhere tonight?" Behind himself, Jeremy could hear William jumping into his jeans. Yumi and Aelita raised twin eyebrows when the boy bounced by in the background, toppling over a moment later. Jumping back up, William buckled his belt as he joined Jeremy by the computer.
"Sissi thinks we need to spend more time seeing the sights," he explained, leaning on Jeremy's shoulder as he spoke. "We're going to eat and see a movie.
"Group date?" Yumi teased.
"Yeah, Sissi and Theo really hit it off," Jeremy said, rolling his eyes. William laughed.
"Just some friends going out for the night," he said. He waited until Jeremy looked away, and then winked to the two girls. They quickly stifled excited giggles before Jeremy leaned his chin in his hand, eyes back on the computer screen.
"How about you guys?" he asked his friends, "any plans for the day?"
"You know it," Odd said, appearing between the two girls. "We're going to go scuba diving!"
"Really?" Jeremy said, glancing to Yumi for confirmation.
"So Odd thinks," she said. "What he keeps forgetting is he's going by himself."
"Nonsense," Odd said, waving a dismissive hand. "You know you all want to come with me."
"And be eaten by sharks?" Ulrich asked, also appearing. "I think not." Jeremy and William exchanged glances.
"Sharks?" William asked. Odd nodded.
"They come around the islands this time of year to breed. It's really cool—my dad takes us out to see it every year."
Silence followed Odd's words. Then—
"Odd. You are not taking Aelita anywhere near sharks," Jeremy said. He paused, and then added, "Or Yumi, for that matter." Over his shoulder, William nodded his agreement.
"What about me?" Ulrich asked.
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Jeremy said. The thought of Ulrich alone with Odd and sharks didn't bother him nearly as much.
"And don't worry," William added, "I'll still be here to protect Yumi when you get eaten." Ulrich scowled, while Yumi rolled her eyes good naturedly.
Their conversation was then interrupted by someone pounding at their door.
"Hurry up you two!" called a distinctly familiar voice. "We have to leave in five minutes!"
"Is that Sissi?" Ulrich asked, pulling a face. William sighed. Leaning over to his bed, he grabbed a pillow and tossed it at the door.
"We're coming!" he shouted. Jeremy frowned.
"Yeah, that's Sissi," he said. "For some reason she's become obsessed with getting us all to spend time outside of class together."
"I, for one, could do with less Theo-and-Timothy bonding time," William grumbled. Jeremy nodded.
"Why don't you tell her you're busy?" Odd suggested. Both boys laughed.
"We have to exact same schedule," Jeremy started,
"And we live next door," William finished. "We have no chance of tricking her."
"Besides," Jeremy continued, "it's me and William. She knows we have no life."
"Good point," Odd said.
"Well, we'd better be going," Jeremy sighed, as the sound of Sissi banging on Theo and Timothy's door echoed into his dorm. "She'll be back here soon enough." William sighed as well.
"Off we go, to go stand in the hallway and wait ten more minutes while Sissi finished primping."
"Fun," Ulrich said, looking completely unsympathetic.
"Have a good night!" Aelita said, waving brightly to both boys. "Send us an email to let me know how it goes."
"I will," Jeremy assured both her and an expectant looking Yumi. As the sounds of Sissi's impatience floated down the hall, the boys finished saying goodbye.
"Here we go," William said, frowning at the door when Sissi's 'I won't tell you again!' sounded from the other side.
"I hope this isn't an indication of how the rest of the night's going to go," Jeremy said. Quirking an eyebrow, William laughed.
"Impatience and being rude, an indication of how a night run by Sissi is going to go? Impossible." Jeremy sighed.
"This is going to be a long night."
Emily was already waiting in the hall when the boys emerged, purse clutched before herself consciously. Noticing the boys she flashed them a small smile, twirling towards them and asking,
"How do I look?"
"Uh," Jeremy stuttered.
She wasn't wearing anything overly flashy: a simple blue skirt and white top, covered with a long cardigan. Her hair fell in soft curls around her shoulders—Jeremy assumed this was Sissi's doing—and for the first time the blonde could recall, she was wearing makeup. Not the kind of dramatic look Sissi would have gone for, but enough to bring out her eyes and her skin and suddenly make her look beautiful to Jeremy.
Normally William would have stepped in at this point to help his friend out, but he knew Sissi had helped Emily dress up for a very specific reason, and leaping to Jeremy's defense right now could jeopardize Sissi's carefully laid plans.
"You look lovely," Jeremy finally said, only to blush brightly at his word choice. Emily, as unused to the look as Jeremy, blushed right back, ducking her head sheepishly.
"Thank you. You don't look to bad yourself."
Jeremy, struggling to control his blush, tugged absently at his collar, using his other hand to push his glasses up his nose.
"Thank you," he told the carpeting below his feet. If he could have, William would have openly sighed at them both. Seeing them in tandem awkwardness, he could suddenly understand why Jeremy's friends were so desperate to get the pair together. Yumi and Ulrich were bullheaded enough for each other, Aelita and Odd were just as crazy as the other, and now they had Jeremy and Emily, the awkwardly bookish duo.
Sissi's dorm door flying open distracted William from his thoughts, getting the group's attention as Sissi stepped regally into the hall. She struck a pose, hand on her hip, to show off her choice of her outfit.
"What do you think?" she asked, giving what she must have assumed was a doe-eyed look to her gathered audience.
"Lovely," William said, with much less sincerity than Jeremy had given Emily. Sissi seemed not to notice, looking content with the compliment.
"Alright, let's go," she announced, before taking the lead in marching down the hallway. Exchanging eye-rolls, the boys and Emily followed after her as she traveled the short distance to the room of their final party members. Raising her fist, Sissi was about to pound on the door when it swung open, Theo and Timothy standing together in the doorway.
"We're rea—whoa," Theo said, taking a step back. He stared at Sissi for a moment, glanced back at Timothy, and then sighed. Timothy grinned as Theo fished into his pocket, pulling out a few bills and handing them to his teammate.
"Thank you," Timothy said, counting the money before pocketing it. The others watched the exchange in confusion.
"Okay, let's go," Timothy sighed, looked deflated as he skipped past Sissi and started down the hall, Timothy strutting proudly behind him.
"This is going to be a really long night," William whispered, Jeremy and Emily simply nodding.
Sissi pranced into the restaurant like she owned the place, her friends following at a slightly less pompous pace. Spotting the host, Sissi skipped right around the people waiting in line and, while her friends gaped around the very expensive looking restaurant, demanded to know if the Delmas party's table was ready.
The host, who had been all but stalked by Sissi for the past month as she set up this dinner, was unfazed by her attitude.
"Right this way," he said, motioning for the party of teens to follow him. While the gaggle of adults awaiting tables frowned disapprovingly, the young party was lead through the restaurant.
"Did you get a table in the kitchen?" Theo grumbled, only to be quickly hushed by Sissi.
"And here we are," the host said, gesturing to their table—a rounded both set into a quiet corner in the back of the restaurant.
"Perfect," Sissi said with a clap. William whistled appreciatively.
"You don't make dinner plans lightly, do you Delmas?"
"Does anyone?" Sissi asked. As she spoke, the host bowed to Emily, motioning that she take a seat. Flashing a small smile at her friends, Emily shuffled into one end of the booth.
Is if on cue (or signaled by Sissi's suddenly shoving at them) Timothy and Theo piled into the both from the other side, quickly scooting around to be beside Emily. Rolling his eyes, William followed, Sissi promptly taking the booth's end spot. Suddenly finding himself without a seat, Jeremy was left to take the remaining spot on Emily's other side.
Jeremy fixed William with a suspicious look as he took his seat, but William's response was only a small shrug and innocence. However, as soon as Jeremy looked away, the dark haired boy was scowling at Sissi.
Obvious much? he mouthed. Sissi shrugged.
Direct, she mouthed back.
Their silent discussion was cut short by the arrival of their waiter, who successfully distracted the group with the promise of yummy food. In an accident that Sissi looked oddly satisfied with, the waiter arrived short a menu, leaving Jeremy and Emily to share. After ordering, Sissi continually directed the conversations in a very scholarly direction. Then, as soon as Jeremy and Emily were deep into conversation, the rest of the group turned towards their own discussion.
Although it was obvious they were trying to be discrete, Jeremy's friendship with Odd and Ulrich made him well attuned to noticing things like the way Sissi kept continually glancing his way, or how, every time Emily tried to pull one of the boys into the conversation they either stumbled frantically (Theo and Timothy) or artfully directed the topic back to Jeremy (William).
But it seemed that Emily was blissfully unaware of the group's odd behavior so, for her sake alone, Jeremy refrained from pointing it out.
Emily remained innocently unaware of the antics of her table mates for the rest of the night. Jeremy, on the other hand, found it more and more of a struggle to not call them out on it.
What began as covert looks and directed questions began turning into Timothy and Theo inching along their seat, gradually forcing Emily and Jeremy to sit closer and closer to one another. More than once Sissi pushed the idea of the bespectacled pair studying or working on projects together, William's barely concealed eye rolls giving away Sissi's deeper intentions. And the fact that the waiter just happened to arrive at their table short one desert, forcing Emily and Jeremy to share, was in no way lost on the blonde.
But eventually the dinner came to an end, and Jeremy was able to escape the incredible awkwardness of it all as Sissi graciously paid for the entire evening (Jeremy, for his part, was not all that will to contribute anyway, after realizing the kind of matchmaking trap Sissi had tossed him into).
"That was a fun way to spend the evening," Emily said, smiling as she waited beside Jeremy. William, hands stuffed into his pockets, shrugged.
"It was okay," he said. "It felt a little…planned." Jeremy struggled not to laugh, while Sissi pranced outside to join them.
"Are we all ready?" Sissi asked. Her gaze seemed to linger a moment longer than necessary on her target couple, as if gauging the effectiveness of her plan so far. Jeremy frowned at her.
"Yeah, yeah," Theo sighed, Timothy nodding beside him. Sissi only spared them the briefest of looks, and Jeremy was a little worried to notice that, as soon as she looked away, the pair exchanged grins. He had enough time to think that whatever was about to happen wasn't likely part of Sissi's plan before the duo made their move.
Sissi stared at her hand in confusion after Theo darted past, for a moment unsure what the boy had done. It only took her a second to figure it out, however. She turned on the boys with a growl, in time to see Theo duck behind Timothy, waving Sissi's purse in the air. Blinking, Timothy pulled away from Theo, scowling at the boy.
"You give that back right now!" Sissi barked, lunging at Theo. Timothy quickly snatched the purse before Sissi could reach it and then, with a manic laugh, bolted down the sidewalk.
"Can't catch me!" Timothy shouted, waving the purse tauntingly behind him, Theo laughing and running beside him.
"I'm going to wring your stupid little necks!" Sissi bellowed. She paused just long enough to kick off her heels, and then she was after the pair. There was the briefest of moments when the boys hesitated, obviously surprised by Sissi's speed. But it was only brief, and before long all three had vanished down the street.
Watching them go, William sighed.
"I guess I should go after them," he said, sounding as if it were the very last thing he could ever want to do. "They really should have adult supervision and all that."
"Good luck," Jeremy said.
"You're going to need it," Emily agreed.
As William sauntered off after their wayward friends, Emily and Jeremy were left standing alone outside the restaurant. Sighing, Emily looked up at Jeremy, her expression flat.
"Why do we hang out with such weird people?" she asked. Jeremy could only shrug.
"Oh, look!" Emily pointed, smiling brightly as she aimed for the cluster of flowers outside the small florist. Clutching her purse to her chest, Emily's eyes lit with her smile as she leaned over the flowers. "Aren't they so wonderful?" she asked Jeremy as he stood beside her.
"I'm guessing you're a flower person?" Emily nodded, smiling.
"I love them. I hope to study them one day."
"Really?" Jeremy asked. Emily grinned.
"My parents think botanist is kind of a weird career goal, but I can't imagine doing anything else." Her gaze was bright with her enthusiasm as she spoke. "I like nature, and I like science. Why shouldn't I do something that includes both?"
"That's a good attitude," Jeremy said admiringly. Emily grinned.
"I like to think so."
"So," Jeremy said, as after they'd lapsed back into silence. "Do you have a favorite?" Emily nodded, her eyes scouring the flowers before her.
"Carnations are nice," she said, pointing to a bunch of multicolored flowers, "and lilies are fun," she motioned to few large orange blooms. "But I think my favorites are tulips."
"Like this one?" Jeremy asked, pointing uncertainly to a red colored, cup shaped flower. Emily nodded. She then gasped, pointing to a white flower next to it.
"That one's my very favorite," she said, fairly bouncing at the sight of the flower. "They usually bloom in the spring; I'm surprised this shop still has some left."
"I thought you liked tulips," Jeremy said, eyeing the star-shaped flower.
"I do." At Jeremy's confused look, she added, "This is a tulip. It's part of the Lady Tulip species—they're very pretty, and unlike some other tulips, these ones open all the way. As it gets darker they'll close back up. This one specifically is known to be the most beautiful of tulips: it's called the Lady Jane. It's scientific name is really interesting, the second name…uh, yeah," she trailed off, suddenly blushing.
"What's wrong?" Jeremy asked, baffled. Emily ducked her head, pulling at a lock of her hair.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I tend to babble about stuff like this. I don't mean to."
"Oh, no, it's fine," Jeremy quickly assured her. He was no stranger to babbling about things that interested him to people who were less so. "If it's something you're interested in, then I don't mind listening."
As soon as the words were out, both teens were ducking their heads and blushing. Scuffing her toe against the ground, Emily angled herself down the sidewalk.
"We should probably get going," she said, her gaze averted.
"Yeah, okay," Jeremy said. Turning, Emily started back towards the school. Jeremy started to follow, and then paused, eyes drawn back to the tulips. Glancing at Emily's retreating back, Jeremy reached for the flowers, grabbing a handful of the Lady Janes, tossing a handful of Euros down before hurrying after Emily. Reaching her side, he hesitated for a moment and then, cheeks bright red and eyes averted, he held out the flowers.
A soft gasp from Emily let him know she'd spotted the flowers.
"Oh, Jeremy," she breathed. "Are…are these for me?" Jeremy nodded stiffly. "Oh wow. I don't know what to say."
"You deserved something to make up for Sissi's idea of a fun night."
"They're so lovely," she said, gently taking the flowers. Pressing her nose to the blossoms, she sighed. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Jeremy looked up and met Emily's excited gaze. "I'm glad you like them."
"I love them," Emily assured him. She paused, glancing between the flowers and her blushing friend. A smile pulling at her lips, she reached out and took Jeremy's hand in hers. The blonde blinked his surprise, and he looked like he couldn't decide if he should say something or not.
Emily made the choice for him. With a light tug she started back down the sidewalk and Jeremy, after a moment, followed, a smile growing on his own face.
Wow, he thought, matching Emily's pace. Maybe I should let Sissi plan dinner more often.