I didn't have much free time recently but I've managed to write something for you (and this chapter is a little shorter than the last one) since you're so fantastic! Thanks for all the reviews! ;D

Crunchie cookie girl

When we got to Nasuada's house, we still had one more minute left, so I really didn't get why Saphira was making such a big fuss about being late. However, I decided to stay silent. It was no point in raising an argument on the subject.

I glanced at the house. It was really huge, rich and tasteful, but no matter how many times I've been there, I always felt slightly out of place. I certainly wasn't jealous of Nasuada. Her dad was a rich businessman, so she could get almost everything she wanted, including her own car. The bad side was that her dad – a real workaholic – never had time for her, even when she was a young girl. Nasuada's mom died when she was only five, so she didn't have anyone. Since I couldn't stop complaining about my dad always being somewhere abroad, at least I had my mom. I couldn't imagine life with no parents at all.

But even though I didn't like this place, I had to admit that Nasuada's house was just perfect for the gang meetings. Our flat – which definitely appealed more to me – was far too small.

Nasuada opened the door.

"You're not late" she stated, raising her eyebrows in amusement.

"Oh, really" Saphira argued. "It's not like we're always late."

"No" Nasuada laughed. "Only ninety nine percent of time"

"Well, that's not my fault" my sister concluded, stepping in the house.

Nasuada closed the door behind us and led us through the corridor to the living room which was about the size of our whole flat. It had two coaches, an armchair and a coffee table. There was a TV set, something near two hundred books and many pictures and photos on the wall. On the floor laid a big colourful Persian rug.

The rest of the gang was already there. Murtagh and Thorn were sitting on the couch, completely absorbed in one of the video games and a very heated argument, which main subject, as far as I understood, was cheating. Murtagh was one of first people Saphira and I met in the new school, however, he had changed so much since then. I could hardly recognise the boy who asked to borrow a pencil on the first day of school. There was probably only one thing which didn't change about him and it was the choice of colours. He always had something of an emo guy in him – from head to toe in black. Most of Thorn's clothes were also black, but he didn't seem to hate other colours so much (after all, he had dyed his hair red). They were a great pair of best friends.

The last person was Angela, currently sitting on the coach and reading some book. She was… well, definitely very eccentric. Just like Murtagh and Thorn, she preferred dark colours, only occasionaly wearing something more cheerful. It was because she believed that dark colours help to regain peace. I wasn't really sure of this myself, since when she was wearing her dark green blouse, I felt the need to murder her on the spot (yes, it was that awful). Maybe it doesn't sound unusual, but it was mainly her hair that drew everyone's attention. The shortest description possible? It always looked like a bird nest. It may seem kind of stupid, but in fact Angela was very intelligent. Her knowlegde was just... well, not what you would call usual school knowlegde. She knew such a wide range of strange facts, mostly from biology that it was hard to believe, but her marks were rather averege. Although she was better at maths than I was. However... If you thought about it, almost everyone was better at Maths than I was.

"Hey, guys" Saphira yelled, wanting to draw Murtagh's and Thorn's attention away from the game.

They both looked up.

"Oh, hi" Thorn replied, groaning when Murtagh killed one of his soldiers.

"Hi, you're not late" Murtagh greeted us.

"Stop it already, guys!" Saphira demanded. "I will say it one more time. We're not always late!"

"Okay, okay, just joking!" Murtagh put up his hands in surrender.

Apparently Saphira's deathly glare was affecting everyone without exception.

"By the way" Angela chimed in, wanting to somehow make atmosphere a little better. "Did you know that snails..."

"Oh no" This time it was Nasuada who interrupted. "We don't have time for snails right now. We have to plan our trip if you've already forgotten! And you two, stop with this thing"

The last sentence was addressed to Murtagh and Thorn, who right now didn't see anything apart from their game.

I could understand Nasuada. Really. If Angela started talking about different creatures and biology in general, there was no going back. It was almost the same with the whole group. We got distracted very easily.

"Oh, don't destroy all the fun" moaned Murtagh.

"Stop behaving like a child!"

"It's you who tries to take away my childhood!"

Now it was their turn to lead the conversation and they did pretty well. In fact Nasuada and Murtagh argued most of the time. But it was kind of love-hate relationship since nobody believed they really didn't like each other. We could only bet how much time would it take them to get together.

"Guys" Saphira tried to calm them down. "You'll have plenty of opportunities to argue later, but now let's talk about our trip."

She was obviously talking about the vacation trip which was the biggest dream of our gang since the day we met. And it was finally going to come true this year. And in the best location possible because in California. However, I didn't know what else Saphira wanted to plan. We had everything planned long time ago.

"What is it much to talk about?" I asked.

Saphira shot me a death glare.

"For example everything we will be doing there. We can't just sit and play video games for three weeks" she looked pointedly at Murtagh and Thorn.

The former didn't even notice, busy glaring at Nasuada and the latter pretended to look sorry, quite convincingly.

"Well" Angela broke the silence. "I have a better idea. Let's just chill out and see as the things will turn out."

I could do nothing but agree with her in one hundred percent.

"Yes, I hate sticking to the schedule" I supported her.

"Especially school schedule?" Saphira asked, winking.

I snorted. I played truant only two times during the last semester and both was Maths test, so I felt justified.

"Any schedule it will be" said Murtagh, finally having grown bored with glaring at Nasuada. "It will remind us of the school schedule. And we have the fucking vacations!"

Nobody knew what else they should say. Murtagh's words were so real that even Saphira and Nasuada, who definitely would prefer to plan everything in detail, had to agree with them.

"So we're dropping it?" I asked hopefully.

Nasuada sighed with surrender.

"I guess we don't really have a choice"

"Brillant" said Thorn. "So maybe we can watch a movie."

"Yes, yes" added Murtagh immediately. "Nasuada's dad has a great collection of films."

Before I could react in any way, Saphira jumped from her seat and ran to the other side of the room. Turning around, I saw what she had in mind. There was another bookcase but full of films instead of books. And Saphira wanted to choose one to watch now which of course was something I couldn't let her do. I wouldn't stand another romantic comedy.

"Wait!" I shouted.

"Oh, no!" Saphira shouted back "You're so not choosing a film for us!"

In a reply I ran to the bookcase as well and it was when the real squabble began. The rest could only look in amusement and - in Nasuada's case - slight pity. This was definitely the argument of the evening.