I have brought you another chapter!! Finally...

Sorry this took so long, I've been awfully busy. But school will be over soon and that means I will have more time to work on my writing!!

Chapter nine already...I cannot believe it. I do believe that this is farther than I thought I would make it with this story! Thanks to everyone who reviewed or favorited or subscribed!!! I couldn't have made it this far without you! There will be at least two more chapters, maybe three if you care to stick around.

Enjoy!

The conflict at the airport had eventually been straightened out to a manageable level. This allowed them all enough peace to be able to climb into the waiting car—which was actually a limo—and head back to the McGregor's mansion. They did, however, make it a point to keep Oliver and Johnny separated for the ride.

The trip was uncomfortably quiet and everyone was relieved when they finally arrived at their destination.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing or sleeping. Enrique and Oliver had at last run out of energy and allowed jet lag to catch up with them.

The next day they had recovered completely, and now had plenty of energy. Although to acquire that energy they had slept nearly half the day away. They had woken up, eaten lunch, and were now sitting on the bed in Oliver's room, completely bored. (A/N: Boredom seems to follow Enrique like silence follows Johnny. XD)

At the moment, the two were having the age old conversation that goes something like this:

"What do you wanna do?"

"I dunno. What do you wanna do?"

"I asked you first Olive. So you've gotta answer me first."

"Says who?"

"...I dunno." A pause. "What do you wanna do today?"

"Enri, I told you I don't know! You figure out something to do." Oliver told his boredom-prone friend. "I came up with something to do last time."

Enrique did not seem to remember this. "What last time?"

"You know, that one day when you were bored..." the Frenchman answered vaguely.

"But Oli! I've been bored loads of times!"

"Exactly." That was the only answer he received.

"...What?" Enrique got an adorable look of confusion on his face.

Just then there was a knock on the door and Antionette opened it and poked her head in. "Boys? What are you two up to?"

"Nothing." Enrique said, frustrated as he flopped down on the bed.

"There is absolutely nothing to do!" Oliver exclaimed, copying his friend's action and flopping down beside him.

"Well there has to be something you boys feel like doing," the woman stated, the rest of her body joining her head in the room.

The smaller of the two boys heaved a dramatic sigh. "Let me check," he said. "Enri, what do you want to do on this fine day?"

The Italian turned to look at his friend instead of the ceiling. "Haven't got a clue." With that, both went back to staring at the ceiling.

"See? Told you there was nothing."

Antionette raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really," her son answered helpfully.

"There's plenty of stuff to do here," she informed them.

"We don't feel like doing any of it." Enrique said stubbornly.

"Are you sure?" the Frenchwoman inquired.

Oliver just continued to stare up at the ceiling. "Want me to check again?"

Antionette laughed. "No, that's alright." She thought for a moment. "Why don't you go explore?"

"This house?" her son asked, sitting up.

She nodded. "It's rainy and muddy outside and I don't want you out there, so exploring would be the perfect thing to do."

"But last time we were at a new place you wouldn't let us explore," the other boy said, sitting up as well. "Remember?"

"Yes I do very well," Antionette answered, "But that's because that time we were visiting my uncle in the hospital. This time, I want you to explore. You'll get to know the house better."

"And if we get lost?" Oliver wondered.

"If you ask one of the servants they'll point you in the right direction."

"Okay! C'mon Olive let's go exploring!" Enrique was obviously excited at the idea of exploring when he had actually been given permission to do so.

"Don't call me Olive!" the Frenchman objected as he was dragged off the bed.

"Hang on," Mrs. Boulanger stopped the boys from leaving the room. "There are a few rules I want you to follow."

"Curses," the blond mumbled.

"Bummer," Oliver agreed.

"First off," the woman began, ignoring the boys' comments, " I want you to knock before you open any door. And please don't try to force the locks on the locked ones. Also, do not go into the master bedroom on the fourth floor or the two rooms at the end of the third floor corridor. Those rooms are private bedrooms and I do not want to hear you've been snooping around."

"But that's half the fun of exploring!" the French boy said under his breath. Enrique nodded in agreement, but Antionette didn't seem to have heard.

"Stick together," the woman stressed, "And if you need me, I'll be in the front room with Kristen." The Frenchwoman stepped out into the hallway and her son and his best friend followed.

"Okay!" Enrique agreed eagerly (Oliver thought he probably didn't even plan on following the rules at all). He began to drag his smaller friend down the hall and towards adventure.

"And if you find Johnny," Antionette called after them, stopping the boys in their tracks so she could walk up to them and not have to shout down the hall. "If you see Johnny, I expect you to mind your manners. Even if he doesn't."

"I always mind my manners." Oliver assured her. Enrique gave him a suspicious look.

"Good. Now off with you!" Mrs. Boulanger said as she shooed them down the hall.

"She's letting them explore the house?!"

"Don't worry Johnny, I told her to tell them they aren't allowed in your bedroom or anywhere else like that."

"Why should they even be allowed to look around? It's not their house."

"They were bored Johnny! There wasn't much else she could do. Besides, they need to find their way around somehow...this way you don't have to show them."

Johnny 'humphed', but otherwise didn't do anything to show that—in a grudging sort of way—he was glad he didn't have to show the little freaks around.

"And they've got to have something to entertain themselves with. Goodness knows you won't have anything to do with them. In fact I'm surprised they haven't left after what happened at the airport yesterday."

"Of course I'm not going to spend time with them! I didn't invite them! I don't even want them here! And if you hadn't been talking, you might've noticed that the little girly one was being just as bad as I was!"

"I won't listen to you talk about our guests or anyone else that way! Whether you wanted them here or not, they're here now so you better get used to it." Kristen studied her son angrily for a minute. "His name is Oliver by the way. Not 'the girly one'."

"That fits him better though..." the boy mumbled.

"Well, if that's how you feel then you don't have to come out of your room until it's time for dinner. And your father will have a word with you when he comes home." With that, she turned and left the room, not even bothering to look back at the angry scowl she knew her son was giving her.

Robert had been standing next to the door completely still and quiet through the whole thing. Johnny was, of course, sitting on his favorite window seat.

The German had listened to the whole conversation without interrupting. By now he could pretty much guess how these types of conversations would end—with Johnny in some sort of trouble and very annoyed.

"Those two better not get into anything they shouldn't." Johnny grumbled.

Robert moved to sit on the bed across from Johnny's window seat. "They won't cause trouble on purpose. Not all people are like you."

The Scot glared at him. "Fine then. I hope they don't 'accidentally' get into anything they shouldn't."

The other boy sighed and slid off the bed. "Take whatever opinion you like..." he muttered. Then he caught Johnny still glaring at him. "Come on, let's go play a game of chess."

As the older boy walked towards the door to the hall, his redheaded companion slid the game from under his bed and followed Robert.

"Alright. But I'm going to win this time."

"You mean like you were going to beat me last time and the time before that and the time before that..." Robert said as he walked the short distance to his own room.

"Thanks for mentioning that." Johnny snapped as he followed.

Perhaps it should be explained that when Kristen tells Johnny to stay in his room until a certain time, she really means that he has to be in either his or Robert's room until that time. This had been established by accident when the woman had told Johnny to stay in his room for several hours and had come up later to find the two in Robert's room. The German had been teaching Johnny to play chess that time. Since then, that's usually where the two went whenever Johnny was sentenced to his room.

"Ouch! Enri that was my foot!"

"Sorry! It's dark down here." The blond apologized, coming to a stop as he heard Oliver's footsteps stop.

"And who's fault is that? Mr. I-don't-want-to-look-for-the-light-switch-because-it's-not-so-dark-down-there-and-we-don't-want-to-get-discovered-looking-anywhere-we-shouldn't-be." The Frenchman said sharply as he turned to face his friend—well, where his friend's voice had come from anyway. "Let's just go back. There's nothing interesting down here."

"Okay. There's plenty of other better-lit hallways around."

With that, they abandoned their current quest and walked back down the dark hallway carefully. Oliver kept a hand on the wall to his left and Enrique made sure he stayed behind Oliver—though the Italian was careful not to step on his friend's foot again. When they were halfway back to the entrance of the hallway, visibility was getting better and Oliver saw something they hadn't noticed on the way in.

"Enri!" he whispered, stopping suddenly causing Enrique to run into him. "Watch where you're going Enrique!"

"Sorry," the other boy apologized. "What is it?"

"Look!"

"Why are we whispering?"

"A door!" Oliver said as he dragged his friend over to his discovery. The door was something unique, because all they'd come across on the other side of the hall were heavily curtained windows. They hadn't opened these curtains to let in any light because it didn't seem as though a dark and forgotten hallway classified as somewhere you were allowed to be.

"Cool..." Enrique said. He too was whispering now; it was almost as if they had uncovered some great and forbidden secret that should be kept to themselves.

"Let's open it!" The older whispered excitedly. "Who knows where it goes to!"

"But it's all the way down here in this dark hallway," the green-haired boy was a little skeptical. The door wasn't anything special exactly, but he just had a feeling that whatever was behind that door needed to stay a secret.

"That just means no one's probably been in there for a long time." Enrique didn't bother waiting for a reply and tried the handle anyway. But it was no use—the door was locked. "Curses," he mumbled, disappointed.

Oliver tugged on his friend's arm. "C'mon, it's locked. Let's go!"

The Italian gave in and they continued their trek down the now brightening hall. They had not been walking long when they unexpectedly ran into another door. Oliver regretted not switching back to the side of the hall with harmless windows.

"Try it if you want to. But I don't think it'll be unlocked." Much to the Frenchman's relief, it wasn't and the two finally left the dark and dusty hallway to explore a more inviting part of the mansion.

Their adventures led them all around the giant house, and they nearly forgot about the dusty hallway that was tucked into a forgotten corner of the mansion. They completely forgot about the knocking rule, however, and surprised many workers because of this. The two managed to steer clear of the front room where the women were talking, conveniently enough for them. They also kept their promise and stayed out of the locked rooms—but this was mostly due to the fact that neither of them could pick locks. They vowed to learn.

The boys had only seen about half of the house before Mrs. Boulanger tracked them down. She told them they only had a half-hour before dinner and made them promise to be in the dining room and ready to eat by then.

That certainly didn't mean the boys were done with their exploring yet. As soon as the woman was out of sight, they set off again. The two ran up a set of stairs and explored a few halls. This didn't take very long because they only wanted to see where these hallways led. They would look inside the actual rooms tomorrow. Then it was up another staircase and in no time at all, the boys found themselves at the end of a certain third floor corridor.

Whether they meant to end up there or not is debatable. If you were to ask Oliver's mother or Johnny, they would certainly tell you that the boys did indeed end up there on purpose. Ask anyone else and you'd get the opposite. We may never know the truth. But, on purpose or not, they were now standing in front of the door to the easily angered Scot's bedroom.

"Let's go in!" Enrique said, clearly excited at the prospect of being where he wasn't allowed.

"Uhhh...maman told us not to..." Oliver said; he was clearly apprehensive. Although you really couldn't blame him. This was Johnny's room, and knowing him entering without permission was probably punishable by death—at least if Johnny hated you. And let's be honest, Johnny wasn't exactly fond of either of the boys.

"Don't tell me you're scared of Johnny," the Italian said, looking at his friend in that way that seems to say 'you're a coward'.

"I am not!" came the indignant reply. "I just don't want to get in trouble that's all."

"You won't. We'll just say that we got lost. Besides, you never get in trouble." The blond reached for the door handle, having every intent to open it—despite Oliver's apprehension.

"Enri! Don't!" Oliver said, pulling his friend back.

"What is it now?"

"He could be in there!" the Frenchman whispered urgently.

Enrique just smiled. "Told you you were scared of Johnny."

"Not scared," Oliver defended himself, still whispering, "Just cautious."

"If that's what you want to call it," Enrique said with a smart voice. "Scared."

"Cautious."

"Scared!"

"Cautious."

"Definitely scared."

"No, definitely cautious."

"Scaredy cat!"

"Am not!"

"Fine then. If you're too scared to go in Johnny's room, then we'll just go in Robert's." the Italian declared as he moved to the next door.

"What? No!" Oliver hurried after his friend. "Let's go down to dinner."

"Hmm...maybe we'll be eating chicken," Enrique fake-mused.

"Alright fine! I get the hint." The Frenchman's voice sounded defeated.

"Good. So you're coming with me?" The blond stopped in front of the door and turned to face his friend. He had a smug look on his face that told Oliver that the Frenchman had just lost that argument.

Oliver did some quick thinking and decided that Robert would be more understanding than Johnny. Also, he didn't like when people made fun of him. Especially when that person was supposed to be his best friend. "Okay. But you're going first."

"Fine by me Olive."

"Don't call me that!" Oliver reminded Enrique yet again as the Italian carefully cracked open the door and peeked inside.

"They're playing chess."

"You mean that boring game my grandfather likes? Let me see!" Oliver whispered as he too peeked into the room.

The two didn't go undetected for very long. Although they were probably lucky it was Robert who noticed them first.

"Yikes! He's seen us!" Enrique backed away from the door. Oliver did the same, closing the door as though it would somehow erase the fact that they'd ever been there.

Almost instantly, the door was reopened and Robert stood there looking at them with a superior look on his face. "If you wanted to come in, you could've just knocked."

"It was his idea," Oliver pointed at Enrique.

"You didn't try to stop me," the blond defended himself.

Ignoring their excuses, Robert returned to his seat on the bed across from Johnny. He had left the door open, so Enrique and Oliver inched carefully into the room.

"Your turn," the German said to his redheaded companion.

But Johnny had apparently lost all interest in the game (which he was, of course, losing) and was now smirking at the new arrivals in that dangerous way.

"Don't start anything Johnny," Robert warned, "You're already in enough trouble. And you know your father is not going to be pleased when he finds out about the conversation you had with your mother earlier." The German had said all this in an intelligent voice that made it sound like he knew everything.

"Whatever. It's not like I've never been in trouble before." The Scotsman didn't seem phased by Robert's words. He continued to watch and smirk at the other two boys.

"Hey there girly-guy," Johnny said, deciding to start something. "How's your day been?"

"Just fantastic up until now." Oliver crossed his arms and pretended not to be completely outraged outraged at being called 'girly' again.

"That's lovely. How 'bout you blondie?" The voice was dripping with that constant sarcasm that never seemed to leave Johnny's voice.

"Probably better than yours."

"And why is that?" There was anger and annoyance edging the sarcastic voice now.

"Well, considering they keep you locked up all day..." Oliver mumbled.

Johnny's smirk turned into a frown. "That's it girly! You're going to be very sorry you came here when I'm done with you..." The frown was replaced with another smirk—this one saying Johnny was plotting against the two unwanted guests.

The green-haired boy backed up a few steps. The Italian was doing his best to glare that smirk off of Johnny's face. The redhead laughed—it was the mean sounding kind of laugh that bullies use when they have effectively scared someone.

Robert sighed. "I'm sorry about him," here he paused to send his own glare at Johnny. The Scot stopped laughing and settled for simply smirking once again. "He isn't exactly a people person."

Oliver put his hands on his hips and faced Johnny with his best 'I'm better than you' look. "He doesn't scare me."

Johnny's eyes flashed deviously at this. "Oh really?"

"Yes really."

"That's enough you two," Robert stepped in before things got too ugly. "Honestly, you'd think you were enemies."

"Well we're not friends." Johnny sounded almost disgusted as he said this.

"Yes but that doesn't mean you have to be enemies." The German's tone was a little harsher, which must have meant something to Johnny because he didn't have anything else to say on the matter.

"Johnny!" Kristen's voice shouted up the stairs. "Your father's home and he wants to talk to you!" (A/N: I know I know...Kristen has to have a pretty loud voice to be able to shout up two whole flights of stairs. But come on, Johnny has that type of voice that can be way too loud and annoying—he had to get it from somewhere. XD)

Muttering angrily to himself, Johnny climbed off the bed and stomped out the door and down the two staircases.

Oliver and Enrique had begun giggling the moment they were sure Johnny was out of earshot. There was something satisfying about knowing someone you didn't like was about to be punished.

Robert sighed and slid himself off the bed, leaving the chess game as it was. This was going to be the longest week of his life if he had to keep all three of the other boys under control. "Come on, we'd better get down to dinner." The German left his room, followed by the two now slightly happier guests.

There you have it! Probably the worst, most pointless chapter I've ever written. I hope you enjoyed it all the same.

And don't ask me how they knew which room was the master bedroom on the fourth floor, or which third floor corridor she was talking about...I really don't have a clue. XD But they managed.

I'm going to try to have another chapter up by the time school ends, which will be within the next two weeks sometime.

Just to let you know, there will most likely be a sequel to this, if that interests you any!

Review?