Hey, Clue Hunters! I feel like I haven't updated in years, which is probably true, but I'm not going to make a habit of it. Boy, Amy has some problems in this chapter. BTW, what Genni does on the morning of the play is basically what I do if anyone wakes me up before ten on the weekends.

That night, I was a nervous wreck. Tomorrow was the play, and Dan and Nellie were going to be showing up here any moment. They were actually going to be staying in a spare room next to me! Even Dan, who looked pretty happy about it being an all girls dorm, would be staying next to us.

I was giving Genni the run through on how things were with these two.

"Well, you know Dan. But, you haven't yet met the fully unleashed chaos and mayhem that is my brother. And Nellie is pretty laid back, but very loud. She normally blasts her music until twelve in the morning. But, she's an amazing cook. Hopefully she can help us score some good food instead of the cafeteria."

Genni nodded and said, "Okay."

Suddenly, a small black cab pulled up to the building. As soon as it stopped, Dan burst out saying, "Enough with the heavy metal, Nellie! I think my ears are going to explode!" His dark blonde hair was messed up, probably from covering his ears on the ride here.

I hadn't realized just how much I had missed my ninja-obsessed little bro until he got here.

I smiled as Nellie stepped out, looking as crazy as ever. This time however, her hair had purple streaks instead of yellow.

"Amy!" she yelled, giving me a huge hug. "I've missed you!"

"I've missed you too, Nellie," I told her, realizing just how much I meant it.

Dan followed behind Nellie and shoved his hands casually in his pockets. "Hey," he said.

"Don't 'hey' me!" I grabbed him in a hug and showered him in fake kisses. "Oh, Dan! I've missed you so much, and now all you can do is say hey? Oh, woe is me, my baby brother didn't miss me! What have I done to make him hate me?" I said in fake despair.

"Get off me!" Dan said, struggling to get out of my arms.

Nellie laughed and said, "Yep, that drama class definately has paid off!"

"Eeww, sister germs," Dan said when he finally was freed, miming wiping away dirt.

I stepped away from Dan and turned to Genni. "Genni, this is Nellie and Dan. Nellie and Dan; meet Genni! She's my best friend here."

"Definitely!" Genni said, giving me a high five. "Hello, guys! Nellie, I've heard a lot about you, and Dan, well, hey Dan."

She gave him a wave that he returned a little too enthusiastically. "Hey, Genni!"

"Hi, Genni! It's nice to finally meet you. Dan has told me soooooo much about you!" Nellie said, giving me a lopsided grin while Dan protested. "Janus, right?"

"Of course! I'm just thankful that I'm not a Lucian." Genni shuddered theatrically and then smiled.

"Come on guys, time to show you where you'll be staying!" I said, starting to walk towards the building.

~lovelovelove~

"And that's the stage and auditorium, and over there are the stables and the track field, and over there is the gardens."

I was giving Dan and Nellie a tour of the grounds, while Genni went and helped the teachers with one thing or another.

"Oh my gosh," Nellie said, as we walked passed one of the gardens on campus. "Are those roses?"

I nodded. "The red ones are my favorite."

I led them into the dorm building and down the hallway to their room.

They crashed almost immediately, and I laughed at their expense. Obviously they weren't used to a time difference yet.

I stepped into the common room and looked around for Genni. She was nowhere to be seen. I checked the room, the bathrooms, the library, and even texted her. I even checked Dan and Nellie's room.

Surprisingly, they had disappeared as well.

"Where is everyone?" I asked myself aloud.

Suddenly, my phone beeped and a new message from Genni appeared.

I opened it up and read it.

Hey, Ames! Come to the drama room ASAP!

I texted back: OK.

I took my time walking out to the drama room, and happened to run into Ian on the way there.

"Do you know what's going on?" he asked as we neared the building.

I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

The doors were cracked a tiny bit, but it was pitch black inside. No light, no nothing. I could barely see two feet in front of my face.

I heard a noise in the corner and grabbed Ian's arm in surprise. "Sorry," I squeaked.

"It's okay," he told me, smiling in amusement.

"Now what is-" I started

Suddenly, the lights blared on, and a group of people yelled, "SURPRISE!"

Standing in front of me was everyone in my drama class, Dan and Nellie, and so many others.

Genni raced up to me and gave me a hug. "Surprise!"

I looked around the place in awe.

"What is this?"

She grinned. "It's a party to celebrate our wonderful play this year, and our two star performers."

I laughed. "You're kidding!"

Genni shook her head. "Nope!"

Ian gave me a shocked smile from the opposite end of the room, and I realized that he had been getting the same explanation from his friends.

Genni was still smiling. "And it's all Christmas themed, since Christmas is only a little ways away!"

I nodded. "Only four more days."

I finally noticed all of the holly and the red and green, and the Christmas tree in the corner. Realizing this, I gave myself a mental smack in the face for not noticing earlier. In the corner by the stage was a bundle of mistletoe, ditto under both EXIT doorways.

I made a note to self to steer clear of those general areas.

We all talked and ate party food and had a good time. Much to my dismay, Mr. James made me and Ian take countless pictures together for the yearbook and such. Ian didn't seem to mind so much...

~lovelovelove~

The party lasted for a couple of hours, and I somehow managed to make it through without Dan commenting too much on the photos of Ian and me.

When it was over, I offered to stay and help cleanup, since I had done nothing to help. Surprisingly, Ian offered to help me, along with some of the staff.

"Where do we start?" I asked, looking at the mess we had all made.

Ian shrugged. "We may as well start from the back and work our way forward. Let's start in the corner."

I felt a tugging thought at the back of my mind-something that had to do with the corner of the room. But I waved it off and went to help.

I felt something hit the back of my neck and whirled around. Ian was laughing at me from behind.

"You little," I growled. I picked up an empty cup from the ground and chucked it at his face, hitting him square in the nose.

"Hey!" he yelled indignantly, throwing an empty juice box at me. I ducked and fell into the doorway of the emergency exit.

I was now on my back, staring up at the ceiling when I realized why I hadn't wanted to come over here. Ian helped me up, and I prayed, don't look up, don't look up.

Guess who looked up?

"Tradition is a tradition," Ian said, gesturing to the mistletoe.

I panicked. "Uh, yeah, b-but n-n-no one actually l-l-listens t-to it," I stammered, fighting the urge to run off.

"Well, you have to kiss me during the play for three days in a row, so, you can just think of this as...practice," Ian said, staring at me in the eyes.

He leaned forward and gave me a light kiss on the lips, sending a jittery shiver down my back.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked, humor in his voice.

I shook my head and said, "I guess not." Then, I went back to cleaning as if nothing had happened, when in reality, I was freaking out.

~lovelovelove~

The next day was the day of the play.

I woke up, turned around, shoved my face into my pillow, and screamed at the top of my lungs.

The clock read: seven forty five, blaring in big red block letters.

"Genni, wake up!" I shouted, throwing a pillow at her head.

"I'm up, I'm up!" she said, stumbling out of bed. Then, she saw the clock and said, "I'm not up, I'm not up!"

She fell back into bed and pulled the covers over her.

"No, wake up!" I said, literally pulling her out of bed.

Genni fell onto the floor and covered her face mumbling, "But it's seven forty seven on a Saturday."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but I'm freaking out!" I told her, pulling her up.

She rubbed her eyes and stumbled over to the bathroom. "Give me a minute, and then I'll let you rant about it."

"Thank you!" I shouted as she closed the bathroom door.

I waited until she came out and sat on my bed to start ranting.

"Well, mainly I'm freaking out about the play, I mean; I've never performed in front of an audience outside of class. And I have a tendency to stutter and have freak attacks, like on the Clue Hunt, and then there's the whole Ian situation! He kissed me yesterday, saying it was practice for the play, and I didn't know what to do! To be honest, it made me feel giddy, I guess you could say, but I don't know how to talk to him, especially after he said that he likes me!" I ranted, pulling at my pillow in frustration.

"Oi, girl, you've got some problems," Genni said, rubbing her temples.

"Yeah, and what do I do?" I asked.

"Well, as far as the acting problem, it's not that hard to overcome stage fright. I suggest picturing yourself alone with the people in the play, not with the audience. It helps me and it isolates you with your fellow actors. It usually makes the play or musical better." What she said made a lot of sense to me.

"As for the Ian situation, I think that you should go with how you feel when you first see him. When he walks into the room, what do you want to do?" she asked.

I blushed. "Well, to be honest, I kind of want to be holding hands with him or something. I want to be able to go up to him and be able to talk to him and be with him." I felt silly saying it.

"And that's crazy, right? I mean, he tried to kill me-"

"No, his mother made him try to kill you," Genni interrupted.

"It's still insane!" I exploded.

Genni laughed. "Oh, Amy. It's not as complicated as you're making it. Ian likes you, and you like him, but you are just too stubborn to admit it and do something about it."

"I am not stubborn," I pouted.

"Whatever you say!" Genni sang, getting up from the bed we were sitting on. "Let's go get something to eat. All this Dr. Phil nonsense is giving me an appetite."

~lovelovelove~

As soon as we ate breakfast, we walked over to the theater to run lines one last time.

Surprisingly, a couple of other people had had the same idea. Ian and his buddies Jacob, Sam, and Stevie were sitting on the stage, practicing some of their lines. They didn't see us walk in and continued what they were doing.

As we got closer to the stage, Stevie said, "This is boring."

Sam nodded. "We know these lines by heart."

"Well than what do you suggest we talk about?" Ian asked, rolling his eyes.

His three friends shared a look, as did Genni and me. Simultaneously we sat down in the shadows in the corner.

"Tell us about that girl you've been obsessing over!" they said in unison.

I tensed up as Ian scoffed.

"Don't be such girls, since when do you care?" he asked defensively.

"Look, you've been basically stalking that Cahill girl since she got here, and I've heard you mention her a trillion times before she moved here!" Jacob said.

"You have a stalker!" Genni mouthed in the darkness, making a weird face at me.

"Shut up!" I hissed.

"You want to hear about her?" Ian asked.

His friends nodded.

Ian sighed. "She's amazing. Her eyes are the most amazing green color, and her hair is just perfect, even when she's running, which I saw a lot of on the Clue Hunt. And she's strong. I don't think I would've been able to keep going after all that happened to her on the Clue Hunt. She's forgiving, as well. If I was her, I never would have been able to forgive me for things I had done. And she isn't like any other girl I know. She's insecure sometimes, but I don't know why."

I probably looked like a tomato from blushing so hard.

Ian's friends started to laugh and Sam said, "You sound like a love sick puppy dog! Lord, did someone get that on film!"

Ian whacked him with his script and blushed. "I knew I shouldn't have told you guys."

They all got up, still laughing idiotically, before Genni and I did. (Get up, that is).

She gave me a big grin and said, "If you don't love him now, I don't know how you will!"

~lovelovelove~

The cast of the play met backstage in our costumes before the play started. Everyone was in their costumes, and the audience was sitting outside, talking amongst themselves.

"Okay, guys. This is what we've been working on for the past couple of weeks. I'm astounded at how great and quickly you guys have learned the script, and tonight is the night we get to show it off! Let's give a quick round of applause for our two leads, Ian and Amy!" Mr. James said.

I blushed as everyone started to applaud, and said, "You guys are the greatest! I am so happy that I came to this school!"

Yep, that's right. Amy Cahill, shcmoozing the crowd.

Ian gave me a small smile as everyone darted around, getting in position and said, "Amy."

"Yeah, Ian?" I asked.

He hesitated before saying, "Good luck."

Ian rushed off to the edge of the stage where he'd be waiting for his cue.

For some reason, my shoulders sagged, sad that he hadn't had more to say. Then, the curtains opened, the spotlight pointed on me, and I looked out over the crowd.

Show time.

Feel free to review. No, really, if you start feeling an urge to press that little blue button and comment on my story, don't hold back. It's proven that reviewing makes you happier.

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~Dani (Aka amianfan102)