Chapter 18:
Capture the Flag
"Go!" Mel and Will whispered.
We shook our heads in agreement and took off. Alex immediately morphed in a jaguar.
"Get On" I told Sophie as we walked.
"What? Why?" she asked.
"I'll go by the trees and you and Alex can go by foot. That way we can see more."
"Nessie, you can hardly move your arms less be able to climb a tree. Maybe you should ride Alex" she suggested.
I grimaced. Right. "Fine" I agreed with poor grave as I got on.
Alex nuzzled my leg before we took off. I kept down low so they wouldn't spot us. I had no idea where to go. I was going by smell here. The stronger it is, the more they are around it which means that is probably where we'll find the flag.
We ran and ran and still no sign of it. I got a feeling that we were going in circles. There was a path Alex never took. I guided him toward it but he hesitated. Suddenly, I felt fear. Like there is 2 doors. One makes you feel safe and the other make your knees want to turn to jelly. That just about describes it. He morphed back.
"Doesn't help to have animal instincts on top of everything" he said.
I looked up and saw Sophie jumping trees. She started getting excited and pointed forward, probably saw the flag. Suddenly, a huge, and I mean hugerock collided with her and sent her flying back a couple yards.
"Sophie!" we both yelled. Alex ran towards her. I was about to when I heard voices.
"Yeah! I've got great aim. That should buy us some time. I wish Edward, Alice and Rosalie would hurry up already" Emmet voice whispered.
So Edward, Alice, and Rosalie were their offense. Nice.
"Yeah. They're all worried. It gives us about 1 to 4 minutes. Ready with that next rock?"
"Yep, got it"
"Be ready"
I ran as fast as I could without making noise. I saw red but continued to run. Then I made a wide U-turn. I sneaked up behind them. Their backs were to me about a couple yards in front. That is so babysitting but whatever. We'll win anyway. I tried to feel worried about Sophie so Jasper wouldn't catch me. She would probably be fine with Alex there. Turns out, I was already worried about getting caught. I climbed the small rocks and looked for Alex and Sophie. I saw Sophie on a tree. I try to play charades and showed her Emmet throwing her a boulder. She understood and ducked as one flew past her.
"Damn it!" Emmet cursed as he grabbed another one.
Sophie climbed back up. I showed her the flag next to me. Her eyes widened. I put my fingers over my mouth to signal her not to talk. She nodded. I tried to show her distracting them but she didn't get it. Distract them. I mouthed to her. She looked at me like I was crazy. I threw a rock at Emmet's head and ducked. He turned for a minute, checked the flag, and then turned back, searching for Sophie.
I saw her on a different branch. She nodded as she jumped down. Finally! A few seconds passed when it came. Tress, rocks, dirt, everything was flying at Jasper and Emmet. Alex and Sophie made noises and would occasionally pop out of the trees. That distracted them alright. I was about to grab the flag when they turned around. I ducked quickly and they didn't see me. They turned back and tried to catch Sophie and Alex.
"Hey! Dumb head, can't catch a girl" Sophie called.
"How pathetic" Alex crowed.
Emmet and Jasper were losing their cool. I grabbed the flag quickly ignoring my shoulders protest. I quickly pulled it down and the pain ceased. I ran off in the opposite direction. I pushed my legs as fast as they could go. I hoped our flag was still safe.
"JASPER!! WHERE DID THE FLAG" I heard Emmet yell.
Crap. They noticed. I pushed my legs harder.
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE WATCHING IT" Jasper yelled back.
"NO!! I WAS TRYING TO CATCH EMOTION GIRL AND MORPH BOY"
Emotion girl and morph boy?? Definitely no originality there.
"Excuse me!" I heard Sophie and Alex call at the same time. "We have names!" they yelled.
"WHERE IS THE FLAG" Emmet and Jasper yelled.
"What do you mean it's right beh!!! Where is it?! It was right there a second ago. Wait! You're trying to distract us. It won't work, we'll find it" Sophie said as she and Alex ran off, their footsteps getting lighter and lighter.
"Crap, we lost the flag. They're so going to kill us" I heard Emmet whine.
I snickered. I turned my head and smash into Edward, our flag in his hand. Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!!!!!
"Crap" I whispered.
His eyes widened as he saw my flag.
"Crap, is right. Now Nessie, why don't you give me that and no one gets hurt" he said.
I looked at him and almost started laughing. Almost. His clothes were half soaking wet, half burned and his hair was all staticy. Will. Will!
"Will, Mel, HELP!" I squealed as I tried to dodge Edward's attempts to grab me.
When they didn't come, I realized they must be busy with Alice and Rosalie or too far away to hear me. He almost caught me but I slipped away. Unluckily, he caught on to my shoulder before.
"OOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!" I yelled.
Suddenly, he was tackled by a very familiar jaguar.
"Go Nessie, GO!" Sophie called as she pulled him back down for he was getting up.
I ran full speed. Just my luck, I slammed into Alice. I flew back and hit my shoulder on a tree.
"Ow" I whimpered for I didn't want Alice to know my weakness thought she probably already knew. I got up and moved as she walked towards me. She was charred as well.
"Nessie, give it to me" she said in a deadly voice.
I saw Mel and Will sneak up behind her but I motioned with my eyes to wait.
"Yeah, right, of course I'll just give it to you" I said as I slowly extended my arm. Right when she was about to grab it, I threw it to Will and sank to the ground in pain.
"RUN!" I yelled through my tears. He nodded and ran full speed back. Melinda made Alice fly back as she picked me up.
"Come on, let's rub it in" She said as she carried me back to Will.
He put it where our flag used to be and shot the red flare attached to it. Obviously the humans played it a lot simple in the field, the flag in plain view, the flags 30 feet apart but we are totally jazzing it up. I wonder where they got the flares. A soon as Will shot it, our family regrouped.
"YEAH!! WE WON!" we yelled as everyone high-fived each other. I looked okay but didn't high-five anyone, just nodded.
"EMMET! JASPER! HOW COULD YOU JUST LOSE THE FLAG" I heard Alice and Edward yelling at them
"Dude, it seriously disappeared. One second it was there the next, gone. Poof! Even the other team was surprised it was gone"
Their conversation made us laugh harder.
"Come on, let's go back, the bell will be ringing soon" Will said as we all ran off. They ran with me since I was slower than normal vampires, most of the time.
We went back into the lockers to change. As I passed my locker, I saw Rosalie's and Alice. It was all decorated and had a bunch of stuff in it.
"Hey Sophie, come help me" I said as I grabbed their lock.
I thought she would destroy it but instead, she unlocked it. I looked at her in awe.
"You just hear for the click and that means you got the right number" she explained.
I just nodded and grabbed their backpacks. I saw shampoo in their backpacks. ?!?!?!?.
"Who carries shampoo in their backpack" I asked.
"OH! Wait Nessie, don't put it away" Melinda called as she ran to her locker. She came back with paint tubes.
"Art. Now to commence plan #21" she said as she opened the shampoos.
She filled Alice's with part of neon pink paint. She filled Rosalie's with neon green paint.
"Shake these" she ordered as she put the paint away.
We shook them and put them back in their backpacks. We zipped them up and slid them into their lockers. Sophie attached the locks just as the bell rang and kids filled in.
"Let's go" Sophie said as we grabbed our bags and left.
On our way out, we saw Alice and Rosalie. It took everything we had not to fall to the floor in laughter. Not only did they have no ride home, they would have neon hair tomorrow and they were charred and burned and some of their clothes shrunk because of the water.
"Not. A. Word." Rosalie warned us. "Oh, Nessie, I hope I didn't hurt you" she said as she purposely grab my shoulder, hard.
I bit my lip so it was bleeding so I wouldn't yell. I blinked back the tears.
"No" I said in a small voice when I found my voice.
We walked off and met up with the boys outside.
"Nessie, you look like you're about to cry, what happened" Will asked.
I just shook my head and got into my Lexus.
"Maybe I should drive" Sophie suggested.
I nodded and moved over. Everyone piled in. She inserted the keys into the ignition and turned but nothing happened except a Click, Click, Click.
