Patch struggled in the grip of an older man who had shaggy white hair and looked wild. His eyes darted around the group, looking all of us over. He was waiting for the other man, who had a knife to Ace's throat, to join us. The remaining four of us were huddled together, our two leaders captured. What could we do? What were the men going to do to us? Maybe if I offered them money they'd let us go? I don't know if they'd ever heard of my father, but it was worth a try.

Before I was able to speak Melody shouted. "Let him go!" I could see tears running down her cheeks as she watched Ace being led at knife point to us, and I had to admit that as much as he and I didn't get along these days, seeing him like that had me near hysterics too.

"Ain't that sweet? Your little girlfriend there is all worried about you!" The younger man finally made it to where we were all standing, one hand gripping a fist full of Ace's hair, the other hand still holding the knife to his throat. "Don't worry sweetheart, I won't hurt him too much, though he is kinda pretty."

Everyone was silent at that comment, and the scene took on a whole different feel. Exactly why were these guys hiding in a cave? And who were they hiding from? Were they escaped convicts? What were they going to do to us?

I looked at Teddy, whose eyes were wide and I could tell he was struggling with the situation. He wanted to fight them; he wanted to protect his friends. But I could tell he was scared. Both men were rather large, and the one holding Ace had bulging muscles in his arms. How could we possibly fight them?

I looked back at Ace then, but was shocked when I looked at his face. His lips were pressed tightly together, almost as though he was trying not to laugh. I looked over at Patch and was shocked and horrified to find her with the same expression.

Suddenly the man holding Ace let him go, shoving him away. "Oh go on then, you just ruined it all! I thought you two said you were going to keep it serious for a bit until you really scared 'em all!"

"We were," Ace replied, "Until you went and called me pretty. I couldn't help it," he laughed then, his hand massaging his throat where the blade had been pressed.

The four of us in the middle stood with mouths gaping open in shock, disbelief written across our faces. Had this really all been a part of the joke?

"What the fuck, guys? You tricked us?" Teddy asked, looking from Ace to Patch and scratching his head.

Ace nodded, now looking smug. "You should have seen your faces! It was hilarious!"

"Yeah, it was great! I'm impressed we kept it up as long as we did," Patch had a smug smirk on her lips now, and I still couldn't believe they'd done this.

"Wow guys," Teddy said, "I can't believe that was all part of the plan! Talk about elaborate pranks," he grinned at Ace and I felt so angry at him for that. Couldn't he see what they had done to us? How could he forgive those moments of pure fear?

Before I had a chance to say anything though, Melody lunged at Ace, open palm flying out to slap him across the face (and I couldn't help but feel good at how loud the slap was; it was going to sting). "How dare you?!" she yelled at him, "I can't believe you thought this was funny!"

Ace had the decency to look confused and at a loss for a moment, but he recovered quickly, brushing her concerns off. "Oh come on, Mel, it wasn't that bad! We were never in any danger."

"You don't know that! What if there really had been someone in here, hiding out?"

"Oh there's no chance of that, missy," the older man spoke up, "these caves been sealed up for years! Used to be used for minin', all closed down now though. Don't be mad at your boyfriend, he was just havin' a bit of fun."

Melody whirled on the spot to look at him, and I was kind of shocked to see how angry she looked. It was a good reminder to never get on her bad side. "Who the fuck are you anyway? What kind of people are you, to agree to this?! Are you all insane?!" Before waiting for an answer she turned again and stormed off in the direction of the cavern.

"Mel, hold on," Ace yelled in her direction, though he made no move to catch up with her. "At least wait for someone with a flashlight," he grinned after making the comment, and I was kind of surprised, kind of not surprised, to see that he apparently didn't feel the slightest bit of remorse for upsetting her.

"You're such a jerk, Ace," I couldn't have held the words in if I'd wanted to, and it kind of felt liberating to finally say them after all this time. I wasn't expecting them to have any effect on him though. Ace was a master at not letting anyone get to him.

"What's wrong Lance," he asked in a mocking tone that set my nerves on edge, "You didn't piss yourself did you? I saw your face, you were pretty damn scared."

I couldn't believe him. "Don't you even care that Mel's angry at you?" I sort of disappointed myself with that reply, but even though I wanted to, I just couldn't bring myself to really unleash my feelings on him. Not yet, anyway. I probably would one day.

He just laughed, not bothered by the question. "She won't stay mad, trust me. I'm too charming when I need to be," he said, winking at me before turning back to the men. "Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate your help."

I stood there in silence, listening to him talk to the men. Turned out that the old guy was the man who owned the convenience store where they'd got their food from earlier, and the younger man was his son. Not that it really mattered as far as I was concerned. I still couldn't believe that Ace would pull something like this on all of us. And it also pissed me off that Teddy seemed to think it was so cool how they'd done it all, like Ace was suddenly a hero in his eyes. It made me sick.

"Lancer?" Suddenly Bon Bon was at my side, flashlight in hand. "I'm going ahead to find Melody, you wanna come?" I could see in her eyes that she was upset about the whole thing too, but she wasn't as impetuous with her feelings like Melody. She held it in more.

"Yeah let's go," I said quietly, hoping the others wouldn't follow us right away. I so did not want to see Ace's smirking face any more tonight. We found Melody waiting around the bend, standing against the wall. I thought it looked like she was crying.

"Hey Mel," Bon Bon went to her friend, "I got Teddy's flashlight, let's get out of here." The girls walked arm in and arm and I followed behind, torn over my feelings. Part of me wanted to go back and yell at Ace again after seeing how upset Melody was. But my desire to get out of this stupid cave and stay with the girls won out.

"I just can't believe he'd do this," Melody started, "I was so scared when I saw that guy holding the knife! I thought he was going to kill him," there were definitely tears in her voice, and it made me feel horrible even though none of this was my fault.

"Yeah, it was pretty outstanding, even for Ace and Patch." Bon Bon didn't sound as upset, but I knew she was just trying to keep herself together for Melody's sake.

"I don't know why he does it, B," Melody wound an arm around her friend's waist and leaned over, her head tilting towards the other girl's, "He really pisses me off sometimes. And the worst part is that he never apologizes! It's like no matter how much anyone is bothered by what he does, he's always right."

I could barely keep from butting into the conversation then and there. I wanted to scream at her Why would you stay with a guy like that? You could do better! but I managed to keep my mouth shut. I wasn't really sure how she would react to that. In my experience, when a girl complained about her boyfriend being a jerk, and another guy told her she should find a guy who wasn't a jerk, the tables were quickly turned on the nice guy, because he just didn't understand the jerk boyfriend.

Sometimes it just wasn't worth it to butt in. Maybe, if I was lucky, Bon Bon would talk some sense into her and get her to see that Ace wasn't worthy of anyone's affection, except his own. Moments later there was light ahead and we could hear the sound of the rushing water from the waterfall. We were free.

As I followed the girls out I was relieved once again that Sweetheart hadn't been invited. She probably would have had a heart attack going through that, and then I probably would have gotten in a fight with Ace. He would have won, of course, because he always wins. It was just another thing I hated about him.

We stood outside for a few minutes, waiting for the other three because none of us knew where the canoes were to get back to camp. If only I could remember which way we'd come, I'd have suggested that we go back now and leave the others here.

But then we heard loud laughter and suddenly they were coming out, and it was kind of like the laughter set Melody off all angry again (because she'd gotten sad and upset walking back out with Bon Bon and me). She turned to face the group and set her eyes on Ace, her gaze venomous.

Before she had a chance to speak Ace walked over to her, all cocky and arrogant and not the least bit remorseful. "Mel, don't be mad at me," he said with a laugh, reaching out his hands to touch her arms (probably making sure she wouldn't slap him again, though he totally deserved it, I thought).

"Oh I'm not mad at you," she said, though she clearly was, "I don't think mad covers what I'm feeling right now."

It was kind of awkward, all of us standing there seeing them in the middle of what was shaping up to be an epic argument. But I knew Ace better than that – he was a master at manipulating people to give him the reactions he wanted, and even though I wished Melody would scream at him and slap him again, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that by the time we got back to the canoes, things would be happy and cheery again.

"Melly," he said, just enough softness in his tone of voice to diffuse her rage, "don't be like that. You know you'll be laughing about this in a few days," he was in close to her now and lifted one hand up to her cheek.

"Yeah, I'll be laughing at you when you're single," she said, though I could already hear that the majority of the fight had gone out of her voice. How the hell did he do it?!

"You're not breaking up with me over this, don't be ridiculous," he said, before leaning his head down to kiss her. I shook my head in disgust, angry at Ace. He didn't deserve that kiss after what he'd done! I was kind of angry at Melody too right now. How could she let her anger go so quickly with only a few words?

"He should teach classes on that," Teddy said from beside me. I'd been so focused on the couple that I hadn't noticed him walk over to me. "If I tried that with Bon Bon, my front teeth would be on the ground right now." Teddy grinned and I felt disappointed in him. Why did everyone always give in to Ace? How did he do it?

"Whatever, he's a jerk," was all I said in response. I knew he'd probably tease me about being upset, but I didn't care any more. I was too angry at Ace and disappointed in everyone else for not being just as angry as me. "I just want to get back to the cabin and go to bed."

"Oh Lance," Teddy said, his tone one of amusement, "You don't have to be so serious all the time."

I didn't bother answering Teddy. He just didn't get it.