Here's the next part of our tale. This one's pretty big.
A beautiful sunrise was visible from the roof of the hotel. The sky was shinning a light red as that large yellow star rose above the cityscape. Unfortunately, the only two people who got that beautiful view were a toque wearing teen and his redheaded roommate who had forced him to see this view at 6:30 in the morning.
"Isn't this beautiful Zeke?" Izzy asked.
"I guess, eh. I've seen better back home." Zeke yawned. "Now can I go back to sleep?"
"Why waste your day sleeping when you could be using it to live?"
"You've got a point there, eh." Zeke sighed.
"So, what do you want to do next?" Izzy stared at Ezekiel intensely. This creeped the prairie boy out to no end.
"How aboo't we get off the roof before we get caught?"
"But that's the best part!" Izzy made a pouty face. "Alright, I guess we could go have some breakfast or something." The two teens made their way back down to their room, watched a little TV, then headed to the lobby.
"So what are we doing for breakfast, eh?" Zeke felt his stomach growl.
"Let's go to the buffet!"
"Wait, they actually serve food here? Then why did we go to the supermarket yesterday?"
"They don't have Frosted Flakes here, and I needed Frosted Flakes!"
"Alright, let's just go see what they've got." Zeke cautiously entered the dinning hall. He saw the incredible buffet that laid in front of his eyes. "They've got a lot, eh!"
"Sweet!" Izzy grabbed Zeke by the hoodie and dragged him inside. They filled their plates and ended up finding their fellow TDI contestants at a table.
"Hey guys!" Tyler moved over and made room for the two of them.
"Hi Lizzy, hi Deke!" Lindsay waved.
The others didn't even seem to notice their arrival. Noah was busy reading a very thick book, Bridgette was cuddling up with Geoff, Katie and Sadie were chatting with one another, and Owen was just going to town on all that food he had piled onto his plate.
"Scrambled eggs. Yum yum!" Izzy dove head first into her eggs and sent little pieces flying.
"Alright, who got egg on my book?" Noah asked. He looked over at Izzy who was nearly drowning in her breakfast.
"Izzy, are yoo' okay?" Izzy wasn't moving anymore. "Izzy? Izzy!"
"Surprise!" She sprang to life, which sent her whole breakfast flying. Everyone at the table was now covered in egg, syrup, and the occasional hash brown. "Oops. My bad." She got up and then quietly snuck out.
"Another book ruined." Noah dropped it on the table.
Owen did a Scooby-Doo style cleaning. He literally licked all the syrup off of his face. "Mmm, that's good syrup."
"Now your kisses will taste even sweeter." Geoff said to Bridgette. She blushed a bit, then the two of them kissed. When they tried to pull away, their lips were stuck together.
"That's embarrassing." Katie said.
"Really embarrassing." Sadie replied.
"I think I'm gonna go back to my room, eh." Zeke sprinted up the stairs and ran inside his room. He saw no sign of Izzy. "I guess she ran into town or something." He peeled off his syrup covered clothes, except for his hat, and threw them into the laundry bin. He pulled out some clean clothes and headed into the bathroom to shower.
"Now how do I work this thing?" Zeke turned a nob and hot water poured from the shower head. The warm water washed away any last traces of breakfast off of him. He turned the nob the opposite way and the water stopped. As he took his first step out of the shower, he was greeted by Izzy holding a phone in her hand.
"Compromising photos, check." Zeke covered himself up as Izzy ran out of the bathroom.
"Wait, what was that for, eh?" He put on the clean clothes and ran after her. He caught her in the lobby and grabbed the phone out of her hand.
"Don't worry, I wasn't actually going to do anything with those, for now." Izzy took the phone back and hid it in her top right along with her secret stash of crackers.
"Please doo'n't pull anything like that again, eh." Zeke was out of breath from chasing the redhead. He took a seat in a nearby chair.
"Alright, I promise." She held up one hand, but her other was behind her back. It's fingers were crossed.
"Is it safe to come in?" Noah was outside Room 266. "Am I going to covered in honey or some other sticky solution?"
"Noah, for the 20th time, I'm not going to do that again." Izzy put up her hand.
"I made sure of that, eh." Zeke added. Noah cautiously entered the room. Right as he went to sit down, Tyler tripped through the doorway and crashed into him.
"Sorry dude." Tyler got up and straightened his headband. Noah pulled himself up and dusted off.
"Taylor, are you in here?" Lindsay walked into the room. "Oh hi Nathan. Why are you in Libby and Zeus' room?"
"It's Noah, and I came in to make sure Izzy wasn't going to repeat this morning any time soon."
"I already said I wouldn't." She put up her hand again.
"So, I came to ask you two something." Tyler said. "Lindsay and I were heading out into town tonight, and we wanted to know if you wanted to join us."
"I doo'n't know, eh..."
"We'll do it!" Izzy answered.
Zeke looked unsure, but he thought to himself, "I guess I could trust Izzy on this one."
"Alright!" Tyler said. "We were planning on going out around 6. We'll meet you guys in the lobby."
"Take care, eh." And with that, the couple left the room.
"Zeke, don't tell Owen about this." Noah said.
"Why not, eh?"
"Trust me, it'd be for the better." Noah got up and left too.
"We've only got two hours to get ready!" Izzy started freaking out.
"But that's plenty of time, eh."
"Izzy needs her date to look his best, so you're gonna need all 2 of those hours."
"Wait, we're going on a date?" Now Zeke started freaking out.
"Yeah, we're double dating with Tyler and Lindsay." A smile appeared on her face. "You don't even know what's going on, do you?"
"I doo'n't knoo' a thing!" Zeke was panicking even more now.
"Don't worry, Izzy's gonna help you out Zekey ol' boy." She put an arm around the confused prairie boy and pulled him close. "I'll teach you all you'll need to know." Zeke gulped.
"Where are they?" Lindsay asked. She and Tyler were waiting down in the lobby for the two teens. "It's 6 'o clock on the dot!"
"Give them a minute." Tyler looked at his own watch. As if on cue, Izzy appeared and was sliding down the staircase's railing. Ezekiel was a lot less flashy with his entrance. He just walked down the stairs.
"Alright, let's go!" Izzy shot her fist into the air and ran out of the hotel.
"Wait up!" Tyler called out. They chased after the redhead as best as they could.
The couples ended up finding a nice Italian restaurant in town with open seating. They sat down and listened to songs of "amore". A waiter appeared a few minutes later with a small notepad and pen.
"So, what will the lovely couples be having tonight?"
"We'll have a big bowl of spaghetti and meat balls. To share." Tyler said. He looked at Lindsay and she looked back at him.
"And for you two?" The waiter looked over at Ezekiel and Izzy.
"I'll have the lasagna." Izzy licked her lips at just the thought of it.
Zeke looked at the menu. He didn't know what any of these things were, so he just randomly chose one. "I guess I'll have the ravioli, eh."
"I'll be back with your orders promptly." The waiter ended up heading towards a couple who was sitting a few tables away.
"Here comes the waiter." The girl pointed the man out to her boyfriend.
"Hey wait, who's that behind him?" The guy rubbed his eyes and looked again. "Isn't that..."
"Tyler and Lindsay, but then... Homeschool and Izzy?" The girl was furious. "That sexist bastard is actually on a date?"
"Calm down a little Courtney." Duncan put a hand on the CIT's shoulder. She swiped it away.
"Trust me, he's going to treat her like dirt. I can already tell. CIT's intuition."
"I don't know, maybe he's changed..."
"What are you talking about?" Courtney was nearly screaming. "He's the same old sexist pig. He hasn't changed a bit. Listen, next time he gets up to use the bathroom or something, I want you to set him straight." She whispered the rest of her plan into Duncan's ear.
"If you say so princess." Duncan sighed. "Maybe he hasn't changed after all."
A few minutes later, Zeke got out of his chair. "I need to use the bathroom, eh." He began walking towards a sign that said "restrooms". Duncan kept a steady distance from him.
When he finally reached the bathroom, Zeke was tapped on the shoulder. He turned around and was promptly grabbed by the collar of his hoodie.
"Alright Homeschool, listen up. Stop while you're ahead."
"What do yoo' mean, eh?" Zeke was terrified.
"Dump Izzy now before you end up having your sexist way with her."
"I swear, I doo'n't really think about girls that way anymore. I've learned better, eh."
"I can't be too sure." Duncan readied his fist.
"Put that 'Zekiel down." Suddenly, a flurry of punches were hitting Duncan. He dropped Zeke and tried to defend himself. Zeke looked up and saw Izzy attacking Duncan. All he could hear was her screaming, "ATATATATATATATATATATATATA!" [1]
"What did I get myself into?" Duncan said to himself as he got a nice punch to the jaw.
Zeke was slowly fading in and out of consciousness. His vision a bit blurry.
Izzy then pressed her thumbs against Duncan's temples. "You're already dead." [2]
"Wait what?"
"No, just kidding." Izzy put on a playful smile. "But this is gonna hurt." She then delivered a legendary one-inch punch into Duncan's abdomen. He fell onto the ground in pain. Izzy ran over to Zeke. "Zeke, are you okay? Zeke?"
All Zeke could do was let out a groan before everything went black.
"He's waking up!"
"Zach's okay!"
"C'mon! C'mon!"
The first thing Zeke saw was Tyler, Lindsay, and Izzy standing over him. "Uh, where are we, eh? This doesn't look like the restaurant."
"This is the hospital dude." Tyler said. "You bumped your head pretty bad."
"It was even bleeding a little!" Lindsay almost passed out, but luckily Tyler caught her.
"How did you learn to fight like that, eh?" Zeke looked right at Izzy.
"From watching too many Bruce Lee movies." Izzy laughed.
"We're heading back to the hotel." Tyler and Lindsay started making their way out. "Goodnight you guys!"
"The doctors' say you'll have to stay overnight." Izzy then frowned a bit. "And sorry I kinda caused the whole injury thing in the first place. Whatever Duncan was going to do probably wouldn't of sent you to the hospital."
"Doo'n't be soo'ry. I really don't mind."
"Ah, that was a load off my chest. Speaking of chest..." Izzy reach into her top and pulled out her phone. "Mind if I take a picture of the two of us?"
"Not at all." Izzy got close to Zeke and held the phone away from them as she took the picture.
"Didn't it come out nice?" Izzy showed Zeke the picture.
"Really nice, eh."
"I don't care what the nurses told me, I'm staying here for the night!" Izzy curled up at the foot of Zeke's bed like a dog and pretended to fall asleep. Zeke hit the light switch and the room became dark.
As he closed his eyes, he could feel Izzy shifting around at his feet. She was twisting and turning. She gave up trying to sleep a minute later and crawled on top of Zeke. "Hey Zeke."
"Yeah?"
"I-I don't know what it is. It's keeping me up."
"What's wrong?"
"It's, it's, it's..." Izzy was at a loss for words.
"You can tell me. My Aunt Mary always said I was a good listener, eh."
"I-I can't really tell you as much as I can show you..."
"What do yoo' mea-" Before he could finish, Izzy swooped in a planted a kiss right on his lips. She looked into his eyes, and he looked into hers. He kissed her back.
"I-I love you." Izzy blushed a bit, but it was barely noticeable in the dark. "I don't know why, but ever since we started sharing that hotel room..."
That night, Izzy and Zeke stayed at the hospital. They cuddled together under the blanket to keep warm in the cold Canadian night. Their moment was uninterrupted. Not a single "bark" escaped Izzy's lips as the two lovebirds slept peacefully.
Things are really starting to heat up. Please remember to review, comment, and all that.
[1] The battlecry and the one-inch punch are references to famous martial artist Bruce Lee.
[2] Izzy's "technique" is a reference to an attack from Fist of the North Star. Let's just say that if she really knew how to do it, Duncan would be missing a head. Her one line was also a phrase often said by the main character after preforming one of these attacks.