Disclaimer: I don't own House of Anubis.
"That's it! We're sleeping on the ground under the stars. I give up." Jerome finally groaned in defeat, throwing the poles of the tent he was trying to build onto the ground. Joy sat on a rock, watching him with amusement dancing in her eyes. Alfie and Eddie smirked and looked up from the other side of the little clearing they were in, where they had just finished pitching the other tent.
"Oh, come on Clarke, even Amber could pitch a tent." Patricia chided as she walked past him, towards the tent Eddie and Alfie had just finished.
"Are you making fun of me?" Amber asked, putting a hand on her hip as she looked at Patricia challengingly.
"Not at all. That was a compliment." Patricia smirked, bending down to look into the tent and frowning. "I hate sleeping in tents. We should have rented an RV." She mumbled.
"Quit whining, Yacker." Eddie teased, jabbing her in the side as she stood up. Patricia scowled and batted him away, and then crossed the clearing to sit next to Joy and watch Jerome struggle to pitch the tent.
"Oh, I can't take it anymore. Move, Jerome." KT finally sighed, taking pity on the tall boy and walking over. "Did you even look at the directions? This isn't even near the right spot…" She muttered, pulling a pole out of the crumpled heap of a tent and putting it in the correct place. Jerome glared at her as he stepped back, but let her take over. Joy laughed, and he turned to glare at her next.
"Don't be laughing, Mercer. I don't see you doing anything important." He teased, raising his eyebrows at the small brown-haired girl.
"What do you want me to do? Go mess up the tent like you were?" Joy teased right back, standing up to face him. Patricia rolled her eyes and did a gagging motion – teasing was only cute when she and Eddie did it, otherwise it was sickening.
"Funny. You could go collect some firewood, if it wouldn't hurt your poor little feet." Jerome said; his voice high as if talking to a child. Joy smiled and leaned forward, bringing her lips so his just as Patricia jumped up.
"Ugh, come on." She groaned, tugging Joy away from Jerome and towards the other girls. Joy whined at being tugged away, but stopped as they neared KT, Nina, and Amber.
"Want to go get firewood? If I have to watch Joy and Jerome flirting for another minute I'm going to puke." Patricia asked, letting Joy's elbow go and crossing her arms. Amber did a high-pitched 'aww'.
"Jeroy is so cute though, Patricia!" She complained, and Joy nodded her head.
"Now you know how I feel when you're being all lovey-dovey with Eddie." Joy chimed in, smiling at Patricia's uncomfortable glare.
"Come on, Nina, KT, we'll go find some ourselves. And where's Willow gone?" Patricia added as an afterthought, glancing around.
"She said something about good vibes and took off over there." KT shrugged, jabbing her thumb towards a clump of wild-flowers. Patricia rolled her eyes and stalked off, the other four girls following close behind.
"So, Stutter Rutter, how's making out – I mean, up – with Nina coming along?" Jerome asked slyly, walking over to the pile of bags and suitcases with the other guys.
"I – We're not – she's – She's a friend, my best friend." Fabian stammered, not really even answering Jerome's question. Eddie feigned a look of shock.
"She's your best friend? Thanks, dude. Thanks a lot." The blonde American said dramatically, bending down to pick up a few bags.
"Fabian, we all know you like her. It's really sad to see you even try to deny it." Alfie snickered, mimicking Eddie.
"Shut up." Fabian muttered in defeat, slinging a bag over his shoulder. The other three boys laughed loudly, Eddie clapping him on the back. They separated, Alfie and Jerome taking some bags to one tent and Eddie and Fabian to another. The bags were completely mixed, and the girls would probably have to sort through them upon returning, but they really couldn't care less.
"So, really, are you two getting back together?" Eddie asked, plopping down on top of the bags he had just dropped onto the floor of the tent.
"I – I don't know. I don't want to bring it up and ruin the trip for everyone, you know?" Fabian sighed, scratching his neck. Eddie didn't respond, and Fabian looked up to see him digging through a bright pink bag. "Eddie! You can't just go through their stuff. What if that's Patricia's bag? She'll kill us…" He trailed off, glancing at the opening flap of the tent as if she was going to storm through any moment. Eddie gave a loud laugh.
"You're scared of Patricia? What's she gunna do, glare you to death?" Eddie laughed, rolling his eyes and looking into the bag with a bemused expression.
"She – she hits hard!" Fabian defended weakly.
"That's a point. But this defiantly isn't Patricia's. I think it's Amber's – look at all the crap she brought!" Eddie said, shoving the bag towards Fabian. Fabian looked in timidly.
"Make-up." Fabian said incredulously, blinking in surprise. "She brought a bag of make-up to the woods." He said; shaking his head and throwing the bag back down.
"Oh – gross! Get it! Get it!" Amber squealed and screamed, shaking her hand in front of KT's face. KT was laughing; trying to grab Amber's frantically shaking hand to brush the small spider off.
"Hold still! There, I got it, it's gone." KT ordered and then brushed the little spider off, shaking her head affectionately at the blonde. Amber shuddered dramatically and brushed herself off.
"I didn't realize there were so many bugs out here." Amber said distastefully, bending down to pick up the small pile of sticks she had dropped upon seeing the spider crawling up her arm.
"Amber, we're in the middle of the woods, of course there's going to be bugs everywhere." KT laughed, picking up a long, dry stick and nestling it with the others she carried. "I think we have enough to shut the guys up – I wonder where the other three are…"
"I hate camping. I hate bugs, and I hate being out in the woods. I hate rain and mud and everything. This was a stupid idea." Patricia's complaints slid from her mouth in a rude hiss as she trudged behind Joy and Nina. She had just fallen in a mud puddle after proving a point to Joy, and now almost the entire half of her body was covered in mud, as well as some in her hair and on her face. Joy and Nina were having a field-day over it, still snickering at their friend's misfortune.
"I don't even care about these stupid sticks. If the guys want a fire so bad they can find stuff to burn themselves. I'm going to get changed." Patricia finally huffed, throwing the two twigs she had picked up onto the ground and stomping off back towards the camp-site. Joy and Nina laughed louder as they continued on, chatting quietly – if not a bit awkwardly. Both girls seemed determined to forgive and forget though; they were really making an effort to become friends.
Eddie looked up from the circle of rocks he was arranging when he heard something walking nearby. Soon enough, a very cross looking Patricia erupted from the brush, muttering under her breath and kicking at the roots and rocks. Eddie noticed she was covered in mud and smirked broadly, standing up to greet her.
"And I thought Amber would be the one complaining for a mud-bath." He teased, blocking her path to the tents. Patricia glared at him, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Eddie, not now. I fell in this big stupid mud puddle and there's no place to shower out here and now I get to feel gross for four days –"
"I have an idea, come on." Eddie cut her off and grabbed her wrist, tugging her towards the woods.
"Let me go! Stop! You doofus, let me go!" Patricia's complaints got weaker and weaker, as her curiosity got the better of her and she did want to know what this brilliant idea of his was. "What's that noise?" She asked suddenly, as Eddie paused and glanced around.
"Jerome said there was a path to it…" He muttered, his eyebrows knitting together as he thought about the other boy's instructions. "Oh! Here, this way." Eddie exclaimed suddenly, grabbing her wrist again and yanking her down another overgrown path. He pushed through and then stopped, smirking as he looked down at Patricia.
"This'll do, weasel. I forgot they said there was a lake up here. Getting in with me?" She asked, slipping off her shoes and socks and setting them down on a mossy rock. Eddie made a face and shook his head, looking at the little waterfall and pond carefully.
"Nah, it's probably cold." He said, watching Patricia walk over to the waters edge. He smirked and quietly walked up behind her, the sound of the waterfall muffling his footsteps across the ground. He bounded forward and made to push her in, and his plan would have worked – if only Patricia hadn't seen his reflection creeping up behind her and moved out of the way. Eddie tumbled in, splashing a laughing Patricia.
"These shoes are going to be ruined!" Eddie gasped as his head broke the surface, glaring at Patricia. She rolled her eyes and eased in beside him, letting the water soak her jeans and shirt.
"You're such a girl." Patricia teased, dipping her head under the water. He was right – it was cold, and the fact that the sun was slipping behind the trees now didn't help.
"One of us has to be." Eddie grumbled as she emerged again, earning him a faceful of water.
"Where are Eddie and Patricia?" Nina asked as she threw her armful of sticks into the partially assembled fire-pit. Fabian shrugged, tapping his fingers on the old log he was sitting on.
"No clue. Eddie was setting up the rocks around there one minute and then he was gone." Fabian sighed, watching Nina turn and smile at him.
"Ah, well, Patricia fell in this big mud puddle and came storming in here – he probably took her off for a walk or something to cool her down." Nina figured, walking over and sitting down next to Fabian on the log as he nodded in agreement.
"This is nice. I've missed you – er, all of you – so much." Nina said, a light blush decorating her cheeks for a moment. Fabian's cheek mirrored this and he stared ahead for a moment, nodding.
"I – we – missed you too, Nina. It was odd not having our Chosen One helping us figure out the mystery." Fabian breathed, turning back to face Nina with a small smile on his face. Nina's face reddened a bit more, though it was getting hard to see as the sun's light diminished. She was about to reply when Alfie came bursting out of the tent behind them.
"We're lighting the fire up! Yeah!" He cheered, leaping over the log Nina and Fabian were on and to the fire-pit. KT stood up to help him fix the rocks around the pit, glad to get away from Amber and Willow's talk about Amber's wardrobe. Fabian and Nina exchanged an awkward smile and lapsed into a happy silence.
Wow, it's hard writing 10 teens all at once! I'm trying to give them all a bit of time in the spotlight, but I find myself drifting back to Patricia and Eddie xD I really understand their personalities and dynamic more then I do any of the other characters/couples, they're so much easier to write for me.
I see KT as a pretty outdoorsy type, as well as Eddie and Alfie - and Willow likes being out there for the flowers. Amber and Patricia are defiantly not the biggest fans of camping (even if it was partly Amber's idea in the first place). And then the rest are just along for the ride, ahaha.
Anyway, bare with me guys! This might have a few more chapters then I expected at the beginning :D And keep those reviews coming, you guys are all amazing!
xGaloshes