AN/... Chapter 2 =D sorry if you notice any grammatical mistakes because I'm not very good at grammar, and if their are typos then I probably just missed them when I proofread the chapter, sorry =/. Enjoy!
Chapter 2 - the theme park
Wheatley POV -
"Are you sure I have to do this?" I said timidly, quivering with fear. A 40m tall vertical drop towered over me, and loop the loops and corkscrews and God knows what else writhed around me like a snake, all attached to the same bloody roller coaster.
"Awh, stop being a baby!" Rick told me, pulling me into the all too short ride queue. I grabbed Chell's hand for reassurance, as we stepped into the dark cabin where unsuspecting victims had to get on the ride. I gulped. Why did I let Rick show off his flashy new driving license by taking us on a surprise day trip? I knew he lived on the extreme side! I knew he would take us somewhere that would scare me! The worst thing was, both Chell and Rick weren't scared, and I was petrified! Rick jumped onto the ride, pulling the restraint over his body with more force than necessary. I clambered on next, shakily strapping the restraint over my body and already gripping the handles for dear life, turning my knuckles white. Chell strapped herself in next, and the assistant gave a yank on each of our harnesses before we jolted out of the station.
"Hell yeah!" cried Rick loudly, punching the air. How was he not holding on? Chell laughed, and patted me reassuringly on the arm, as the roller-coaster began to slowly climb the steep slope to our doom.
"Why did I let you drag me on this?" I yelled, as the coaster slowly straightened. I could see the whole park, but not even the view could calm me. I gripped the handles even tighter with my clammy hands, and jammed my eyes shut. The cart slowly teetered off the edge of the drop, and suddenly we were plummeting towards the ground at an abnormally fast speed. I felt like my stomach had been abandoned at the top of the ride, however the feeling was slightly bearable. As we spun upside-down, I gritted my teeth, feeling like I was going to scream. I swore I was about to fall out of the car. I risked opening my eyes, only to find myself staring at the ground behind us. The drop went in on itself, like an implosion. I looked over at Chell, who was smiling and laughing. Then I glanced at Rick, who's hands were high above our heads. He was shouting insults at the unsuspecting people we passed over the top of, and all around just acting like we weren't on the biggest free-fall roller-coaster in the country.
"That ride was for babies!" Rick cried as we exited the dim shelter onto the main path again. My legs were shaking, and I tried to stop them, embarrassed.
"That ride was fun," Chell smiled at me, grabbing my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "But we should go on a smaller ride now, for a laugh," I almost sighed with relief. I'd have to thank Chell later for saving me.
"Let's go on 'Perilous Plummet'!" Rick said, already charging off. That doesn't sound good, I thought hesitantly. It's perilous, and it's a plummet, not my sort of thing. I followed anyway, it kept Rick happy, and Chell seemed to be enjoying herself.
Perilous Drop. A huge cave, with blood writing on the outside. A fake skeleton with flashing red eyes stood outside the entrance.
"Err, we shouldn't go in there," I gulped. "It says 'enter at your peril' on the outside. In blood."
"It's not real blood mate," Rick said, patting my back. As surprised as I was at his sympathy, that wasn't my issue.
"I know it's not real blood, but symbols and bad omens and all that," I said in a submissive voice. I was fighting a battle I'd already lost.
"Come on, you'll be fine mate," Rick put his arm round me, and led me to be submerged in darkness. Dim lights showed us where to sit and nothing else. I collapsed in the seat next to Chell, pulled my restraint on, and grabbed the handles. Although this time was different. Chell prised my hand off of the metal, and held it. I felt instantly comforted. I'll be fine, it's just a ride, I thought determinedly. Hundreds of people go on this ride every day, and everyone comes out again perfectly fine. However, despite my optimistic mindset, when the cart lurched forwards, I immediately wished I was elsewhere.
I looked up at the ceiling, only to find that it was covered in fake cobwebs and spiders with red and yellow eyes. It was irrational for me to feel fear, we weren't upside-down or falling down vertical drops, we were just slowly chugging through a dark tunnel with most likely plastic spiders above me. I'm not even scared of spiders!
"I wish I still had my flashlight," I groaned aloud.
"Yeah, but you die if you turn them on, so it's slightly pointless," Rick replied.
"Well, before, Chell and I were stuck in complete darkness, couldn't see a thing, so I decided to risk turning it on, and I didn't die! It didn't even hurt! The scientists must have lied for some reason," I felt proud for discovering something before Rick did, and despite my surroundings I couldn't help but smile.
"Huh, really? Wow that's pretty brave, Wheatley," I was gob smacked, there was a hint of admiration in Rick's usually arrogant voice.
It was this elevated feeling I felt from the pride, that caused me to feel less scared when we nearly crashed into a coffin, or had red eyes following us along the dark tracks. Rick kept leaning out of the car to touch the models, and practically squealed with excitement when his hand returned full to the brim with a fake spider and some elastic cobwebs. It was like he was a kid sometimes, in fact mentally I think he is. I was actually enjoying this ride, glad it seemed to have lied about the 'perilous plummet'. That was until a dim spotlight illuminated eerie red paint on the wall. I looked at it closely, and there was an arrow pointing off to the left. Sprawling writing carefully depicted the phrase 'going down'. Oh great, I thought sarcastically. The ride didn't lie at all, we swerved around the sharp left bend, and dropped to our doom through the dark. When I saw the dead body laying at the bottom of this pit, I couldn't help myself from screaming. Rick laughed, and Chell squeezed my hand in an attempt to comfort me. Of course, later that day I realised my fear was again, irrational, and there was no way it was a real body. At the time though, it seemed pretty real, as we swung around it at the very last millisecond, and made the now seemingly gentle climb upwards, towards the station.
Rick shoved the spider and cobweb into his pocket, so the ride staff wouldn't catch us. Thank God that ride is over, I thought queasily whilst we tumbled into bright sunshine again.
"I can't believe you screamed like a girl on that ride," Rick suddenly burst out laughing.
"I did not! It wasn't as high pitched as a female's scream!" I tried to sound brave, but my voice quivered halfway through.
"Whatever scaredy-cat! I wish I could have recorded it!" I gave Rick a semi-playful shove, and he returned it twice as violently. Chell picked up the slightly hostile atmosphere, and pulled me back.
"Guys stop it, what ride shall we go on next?"
I sighed in relief when I realised that the next queue line was really really long, so I could have a break from being flung around nearly fifty meters in the air. Okay, that was an exaggeration. But the thought still stands. Rick was trying to put the elastic cobweb in Chell's hair, and she was scrabbling at her scalp to remove them all. With her signature jump, Chell leapt high into the air and planted the cobweb on my head, giggling helplessly. I picked it out of my hair, and joined in the laughter, putting it in Rick's chocolate brown spikes. It looked comical, tangled between the gelled strands in a ragged curling pattern. Rick threw the plastic spider at me, and I stumbled backwards. I grabbed the battered spider off the ground and shoved it down the back of Rick's t-shirt. As he wriggled around trying to fish it out, Chell and I teased him relentlessly. Today wasn't so bad after all, along as we spend the rest of the day in queue lines.
After a few minutes of looking sullen, Rick finally decided to join in our laughter, and left the spider and its cobweb attached to the fence for some poor arachnophobe to discover. He then decided to deliberately point out that there was a bird I had failed to notice until now right by my foot.
"ARGH! BIRD! BIRD!" I shouted hysterically, hiding behind Chell with an anxious expression. Everyone turned to look at me, and I felt my cheeks pool with red. Rick guffawed at me, Chell scared the bird away, and I hid like a little toddler afraid of the monster under the bed. Rick can be such a jerk sometimes. Surprisingly, I actually felt relieved when we got on the ride, it meant I could escape the judging eyes of the people around us. I think I was getting a bit more used to the sensation of roller coasters now, at any rate.
And so, the day carried on in pretty much the same way. We went on rides, I got scared, Chell and Rick loved them, and I desperately avoided anything that might trigger Rick's relentless teasing. I was kind of happy when the day came to an end, and we piled back into Rick's car for the journey home. This time I sat on the back seat, next to Chell, since I was still reluctant to let go of her hand. I wrapped my arm around her, and Rick zoomed off. His driving was truly insane, I have no idea how he passed the test.
"Please don't start making out in the back of my car," Rick warned, as I kissed Chell's soft hair absent-mindedly. I looked up, not understanding.
"You what? What's make out?" I asked Rick, leaning forward with interested anticipation.
"Jeez, you don't know?" Rick asked, sounding slightly worried. "I feel sorry for your girlfriend." he added harshly. Well that just ruined the kindly touch. Chell was frowning slightly, and she interrupted. "We really do not need this awkward conversation right now!"
"Haha, yes we do! This is bad, Wheatley needs to know, it's an emergency!"
"You gotta tell me now, after taunting me with the expression you both know so well," I added, clearly taking Rick's side.
"Fine, don't blame me when he freaks you out," she replied, leaning back against the seat and rubbing her temples.
"Making out, my friend, is like kissing, but you add a bit of touching each other up and tongues,"
"Eh?" he might as well have been speaking in a different language, I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Touching each other up is where you touch each others-"
"Rick! Shut up and concentrate on driving rather than giving Wheatley biology lessons!" Chell suddenly interrupted, giving the now laughing driver a gentle whack around the back of the head. I sat back in my seat, non-the-wiser and defeated. I guess I'll never find out what making out is. Rick acted like it was important for me to know.
Just like the big kid I was, I sulked for the rest of the journey, and it took Chell half the evening to get me to stop. By this time, we were sitting on the sofa in our front room, and Rick had long since gone home. I wanted to know what making out was! Why wouldn't anyone tell me? Whoever said ignorance is bliss has no idea.
"Please tell me Chell?" I begged for the hundredth time.
"No, I don't want to have to explain it to you."
I rolled my eyes and sighed, crossing my arms defiantly. Her expression melted slightly, and I suddenly saw a way I might be able to weaken her. I pulled Chell into my arms and kissed her. She pulled away from my mouth with a smile playing on her lips.
"That's not going to work," she said, kissing my nose gently. "You'll find out one day, when the time is right. I promise."
AN/... Sorry it was a kinda short chapter, but the next one should be updated today as well, since I've nearly finished it haha! Please review =')