This chapter is dedicated to my lovely reader, BananaLollypop. Happy birthday! I hope you enjoy the chapter and have a great birthday! :)

Chapter 17

Ari's POV

I tip toe down the stairs and sneak past the remaining adults, who have now retreated from the tent outside into the kitchen. It's gotten pretty late and the only people that remain are family and close friends.

I quietly pull the back door open and sneak outside. As soon as I get outside, I quit tip toeing and quickly make my way to the lake.

I step up to the water's edge and take a deep breath. "It's just a frog, Ariana. You can do this." I crouch down next to the water and listen for the sound of croaking. I faintly hear it off to my left so I get up and walk in the direction of the noise. I see a small frog resting atop a lily pad.

I slowly creep forward, my hands outstretched toward the frog, when it lunges toward me. I let out a shrill shriek and stagger away from it, falling backward onto my butt as I trip over my own foot. The frog jumps toward me again and my eyes widen as I crawl backward away from it. I slowly push myself up off the ground, my eyes never leaving the frog. It jumps at me again and I take a step back, but it doesn't stop like it did before. The frog begins to pursue me, chasing me toward the other end of the lake.

As I get to the other end of the lake, I spot another frog sitting on a lily pad next to the edge of the pristine water. As soon as I get close to it, it hops off its lily pad and jumps toward me. I emit another shriek and mutter profanities as I back away from the advancing frog.

Suddenly a third frog joins the two frogs hopping toward me, followed by a fourth and fifth frog. I let out a huff of air. "Are you bloody kidding me?"

The frogs croak and hop toward me, advancing toward me quickly. I pull out my wand and shakily point it at one of the frogs as I slowly back away from them. "This is SO not worth it…"

I trip over myself again and curse loudly as I fall on my butt again. One of the frogs jumps near my head and I let out a loud scream, squeezing my eyes shut tight as another one jumped to the other side of my head and another jumped by the top of my head. I open my eyes suddenly and see the fourth frog jump next to my stomach. I glare at it and shake my head. "Don't you dare…"

It croaks once and jumps onto my stomach. I let out a wail and throw the frog off my stomach as I jump up off the ground and fling my hands around wildly as I bounce around on the balls of my feet.

Suddenly I hear laughter behind me. I recover from my fit quickly, rapidly brandishing my wand and turning to face the sources of the laughter.

James' POV

Freddie grins at us. "Is she downstairs yet?"

Al runs over to the railing and nods. Freddie claps his hands grins again. "Roxie, Bri? Are you two sure you don't want to be a part of this? It's sure to be brilliant…"

Roxanne shakes her head. "Oh no. I would much rather just watch."

Bri points to Roxie. "Exactly. I think it will be much funnier if I watch."

Freddie shrugs his shoulders. "Suit yourselves." He turns to Eli, Al, Landen and me. "Alright you lot. You know what to do."

We all nod and wave our wands at on another. I watch as the three guys in front of me all turn into small green frogs. Brittney picks up me and Freddie while Roxanne picks up Al, Eli and Landen. Brittney whispers, "Hold on tight guys…" then she nods to Roxanne, who nods back. With that, we apparate down to the lake with a loud "POP!"

She sets us down by the water just as the back door shuts. She nods to us as she and Roxie run and hide behind a bush next to the water. Ariana walks right past them and the bush as she kneels by the water. I hop onto a lily pad and hide, watching Freddie take his place at the far end of the lake. He lets out a loud croak and Ariana gets up and walks over to him slowly. Let the fun begin…

Ari's POV

"Bri? Roxie? What the hell are you two doing out here? I almost hexed you into next week!"

They both clutch their sides as they continue to laugh. Brittney holds up her finger as she and Roxanne wave their wands at the frogs.

One by one, the five frogs slowly grow in size and change into James, Eli, Al, Landen and Freddie. I gasp at the realization and narrow my eyes at them. "You lot are a bunch of assholes!"

Freddie grins at me. "You should have seen your face! It was bloody priceless!"

Landen laughs. "You should have seen it all! You looked so girly! Flailing your hands around and squealing…"

I smirk at them. "Wait, does this mean I don't have to kiss a frog?"

Eli steps forward with a menacing smile as he pulls his hands out from behind his back. Sitting in his hands is a big, green frog. "Well, you were dared…"

I sigh and step toward his hands warily. The frog lets out a loud croak, causing me to step back and look around nervously. "Do I really have to?"

James sighs loudly from the back of the group of boys. "Come on now guys. We did scare the hell out of her… Let's give her a break with the dare."

Landen shrugs his shoulders. "Well, if you're too scared…"

I flip him off and step in front of Eli's still outstretched hands. I take a deep breath then quickly plant my lips on the frogs head. I only let my lips linger for a moment before reeling back in utter disgust. I splutter and wipe my hands over my mouth, making strange noises in the process. Apparently I look hilarious because everyone is doubled over with laughter.

After I feel like every nasty frog germ is gone from my mouth, and everyone has finished laughing at me, Al pats me on the shoulder with a grin. "Now that we've all had a good laugh, I think we should head up to bed."

I playfully push his hand of my shoulder and shake my head. "Let's camp out here tonight!"

Freddie gives me a skeptical look. I push out my lip and give him my best pout. "Please, Freddie-o?"

He looks at everyone else, each person saying their approval, and then sighs. "Fine… I'll go get the tents while you lot go change your clothes."

I give him a quick hug and run off to go change. I get into my room and dig through my bag, grunting when I can only find my pajama shirt. I silently thank Merlin that I decided to wear a pair of shorts under my dress. I slip off my dress and pull on my favorite red button up shirt I got from James as a "gift" last year. I pull my hair out of its bun, crazy brown curls cascading down onto my shoulders. I groan at my sporadic hair and put it into a braid. I look in the mirror again and laugh. "I'm pretty sure I wore this same outfit last year too…"

I walk out of my room and over to Landen's. I knock on his door and patiently wait for him to answer it. He opens the door and rolls his eyes. "Seriously? That's the shirt you brought? Where did you even get it?"

I let out a laugh and shake my head. "It was a gift!"

James laughs behind us. "Yea… A gift… Pretty sure you stole it from me!"

I flip him off with a grin and walk into Landen's room. He takes off his dress shirt and pulls on his pajama shirt then tosses me a pair of pajama pants. "What's up?"

I shrug my shoulders as I pull the pants on and tie the drawstrings tightly around my waist. "I guess I just feel like I haven't talked to you in forever."

He rolls his eyes. "Probably because you've only been hanging out with James since you got back from America…"

I throw a pillow at him. "You know that's not fair Lan."

"How is it not fair? I'm old news now, I get it."

I throw my hands up as I groan. "You are such a girl sometimes! Landen, do you know why I was so upset when James lost his memory?"

He rolls his eyes again as he leans against the bedpost. "Because you lost your boyfriend and blah blah blah."

"Well yes, I did end up losing my boyfriend, but I also lost my best friend. Now that his memory is back things are almost like they were before. Sure, I missed having him as a boyfriend, but I really missed having him as a friend too." I watch him intently as I wait for him to react.

He lets out a sigh. "Alright… By the way, I hope you're not mad but I think I'm going to ask Roxie out."

I feign hurt. "You've replaced me already? I didn't realize we were officially over!"

"Well I thought that, since you have James back and all… And we never really started back up when you returned… I thought that you wouldn't mind if I-"

I hold up my hand with a grin. "I was joking. I think that's a brilliant idea."

He breathes a sigh of relief and grins. "Okay good. Now get out. I have to change into my pajama bottoms."

I roll my eyes with a laugh. "Okay, okay. I'll see you in a bit." I walk out of his room and downstairs, heading straight for the kitchen. I grab a bowl of sliced up fruit and make my way back outside. I look out by the lake and grin.

Freddie has four tents set up in a square, all the tents entrances facing each other. There are tables and chairs set all around the center with a lamp on each tent, lighting up the area. I walk over to him and laugh. "You really went all out, huh?"

He nods as he lounges on one of the chairs. I plop down in one of the chairs next to him. "Aren't you going to go change?"

He shakes his head. "No… I'm bloody exhausted."

I chuckle at him and shake my head. "Why don't you go to sleep then?"

"Good idea…"

I roll my eyes and gesture to one of the tents. "I get those every now and then… Now go!"

He chuckles and holds his hands up defensively as he gets up from the chair. "Alright, alright I'm going!" He gets up off his chair and walks into a tent. James, Landen, Eli and Al come outside a few minutes after Freddie went into his tent. Brittney and Roxanne come out soon after.

Everyone but Brittney sits down and gets comfortable. She looks around then asks, "Where's Freddie?"

I nod my head toward the tent he went into. "He went to bed."

"Oh…" She lets out a dramatic yawn. "I'm tired… I'm going to go to bed. Maybe we all should! We don't want to be tired tomorrow!"

I let out a laugh and give her an odd look. "What?" She gives me a stern look and inconspicuously nods toward Freddie's tent. I let out a sigh and a fake yawn. "Oh, yea… Christmas morning and all that… James, why don't you bunk with Freddie. Eli, Al, Landen. You three bunk together. Roxie, you can either bunk by yourself or with me and Bri."

Roxanne laughs. "I'll bunk by myself. Not because I don't like you, but because I DO like you. I'm a sleep talker."

Brittney and I nod our thanks to her as everyone goes into their designated tents. As soon as Brittney and I get into our tent, she sits on her bed and stares at me. I crawl under my covers and give her a weird look. "Why are you bloody staring at me you nutter?"

She rolls her eyes. "I'm not staring at you, jerk. I'm waiting…"

"For what?" I lie on my back and put a strawberry slice in my mouth.

She shrugs her shoulders. "Everyone to get comfortable and fall asleep."

I pop another piece of fruit in my mouth. "Why?"

She grins at me. "So I can go 'see' Freddie…"

I choke on the fruit in my mouth as I sit upright. "Excuse me? He's asleep Bri!"

She shrugs her shoulders with a smirk. "For what I have planned, he doesn't need to be awake."

I grimace at her and set my fruit bowl down. "Bri that's disgusting… Your brother is in the tent across from his!"

She rolls her eyes. "I just want to-"

I hold up my hand and shake my head with a frown. "I really don't want to know what you want to do with him… He's one of my best mates…"

She rolls her eyes again and gets up off her bed. "I think the coast is clear." She points her finger at me firmly. "You're not going to say anything, are you?"

I grimace again and shake my head. "I'm going to pretend this conversation never happened…"

"Good! See you in the morning!" She walks out of the tent and leaves me in the silence.

I pick up my bowl of fruit and eat the last fruit slice in the bowl.

"Hey, can I come in? It's bloody cold out here."

"James? Yea sure…" The flap opens and James walks in, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. "What are you doing here Jamie?"

He laughs as He sits on Brittney's bed. "Bri kicked me out of my tent. She can be a very scary girl when she wants to be! Do you mind if I sleep here tonight?"

I stifle a laugh and nod. "You can sleep in Bri's bed."

He nods his thanks as he crawls under the covers, pulling them up to his chin. He looks at me with a smirk. "By the way, nice shirt."

I return his smirk and shrug my shoulders. "Thanks. Some guy gave it to me."

"Again, I'm pretty sure you stole it from me."

I let out a laugh. "I did not steal it! I simply never gave it back to you."

He raises an eyebrow at me and chuckles. "Isn't that what I said?"

I smirk at him as I lie down in my bed. "Goodnight Jamie."

"Night Ari."

(Break)

I open my eyes as a tremor rocks through my body. "Why is it so damn cold?"

"It's snowing out. I just got up and checked it."

I look at my watch and groan. 12:18 am… "What are you doing up Jamie?"

He laughs. "I got cold. Are you cold?"

Another convulsion shoots down my body as I silence my chattering teeth. "I'm bloody freezing."

"Alright, then get over here."

I roll my eyes with a smirk. "Yeah, I'm not that cold…"

He chuckles at me. "But I am. Now get your butt over here before I get frostbite!"

I let out a laugh and get up from my bed. "Alright, alright! Just calm down you prat!" I quickly walk over and crawl under the covers with him. I didn't realize just how cold I was until now. His bed is so warm and his body is radiating heat. "You're not even cold you liar."

He shakes his head. "Not true. My toes are freezing…"

I roll my eyes. "Right… I would be mad at you but you're so warm!"

I can hear the wind blowing against the outside of the tent violently and groan internally. Another shiver passes through my body so I cross my arms tightly across my chest and scoot closer to James, pressing my nose to his chest to warm it up. I can hear the smirk on his face when he asks, "Better?"

I nod. "Yep. You?"

He nods and drapes an arm over me. "Yep. Night Ari."

"Night Jamie."

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a review, to those who have added this story to their alerts, and to all my other lovely readers! :) I really appreciate yalls continuous support! It really encourages me to write and update faster. :)

I am writing the next chapter now, so I will post it as soon as I finish writing it.

Thanks! :)

-Tx