Chapter 14

"The upperclassmen are nuts," Ace said.

"For real..." said Deuce. "That monster is just as strong as the one we fought... Maybe stronger, from the looks of it."

"I know," I said. My eyes fell on Floyd. Something about the way he used magic fascinated me. He was really into it and really good. Plus, he appeared to be enjoying himself. He was clearly in his element.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Floyd said to the monster. "People who can't take a hint really grind my gills. But you better not just give up. 'Cause if you did that... ...You'd bore me to TEARS!"

"Man, Floyd's brutal," said Ace. "He keeps throwin' huge spells right at the monster's squishy bits..."

"Yeah..." I murmured.

Ace roughly nudged my shoulder. "Don't look at him like that."

I blinked. "Like what?"

"Freshmen!" shouted Sebek. "Are you content to relinquish all glory to the sophomores and juniors?! Weaklings, the lot of you. If you cannot muster any valor, then stand back before you get hurt! I shall slay this creature!"

"Those are some bold words, bro," said Ace.

"Yeah!" said Deuce. "We've definitely improved since last time!"

"Sounds like things are gettin' spicy," said Floyd. "Hey Sea Lion. Sharksucker. I'm tired of this thing. What's say we wrap it up?"

"Sounds good," said Leona. "Doesn't feel right to keep kicking a whatever-this-is while it's down."

"Okay, let's send it packing!" said Ruggie.

Ace, Deuce, and Grim joined in the fray. I stood back and helped them with their aim. It only took a little more for the monster to crash to the ground, defeated. I let out a huge sigh of relief. Finally, no more danger.

"Is it... over?" Ruggie said hesitantly.

"Looks like it," said Leona.

"Wheeew. I am BEAT. Things got dicey for a moment there. Everybody make it through?"

"I would never lose to a creature whose basic nature I cannot even discern," said Sebek.

"Wish it would've stuck it out a bit longer," said Floyd.

"Now I can finally leave this tunnel," said Deuce. "I came back for the pickaxe, and that thing attacked me. I fled further into the mine, summoned a cauldron, and jumped inside. But I think... I've had enough..." He nearly fell to the ground, but I put my arms around him to steady him.

"Whoa there, Mr. Wobbly Legs," said Ace. "Are you okay?"

"Were you hiding in that cauldron this whole time?" said Jack. "You must be exhausted..."

"You need to get food and water pronto," I said. No sooner had the words gotten out of my mouth than a loud sound roared form Deuce's body.

"Myahahah! Was that your STOMACH?" said Grim. "That was loud enough to cause a cave in!"

"Look, I haven't eaten since yesterday!" said Deuce. "What do you expect?"

"Boy, way to make a fool of yourself," said Ace. "But hey, at least you're okay."

"Yeah," said Jack. "I'm glad we decided to come. I wouldn't have been able to sleep if we'd left you in the lurch."

"Thank you for coming to get me," said Deuce.

"Thank goodness we formed a search party," I said.

"You're welcome," said Floyd, and I smiled at him.

Deuce leaned in close to Ace. "What's with them?" he said in a low voice.

Ace shook his head. "Don't ask."

"You guys done yet?" said Leona. "We need to get back before our clubs get disbanded."

"AH!" Sebek shouted. "I completely forgot! If we don't make it back to the cottage in time, all our hard work will have been for naught!" Ruggie crossed his arms and glared at the ground.

"Hm? What's with the scowl, Sharksucker?" said Floyd. "Aw, lemme guess: You don't wanna go back? You sad that camp's over?"

"Of course I don't wanna go back. I've come this far. I just CAN'T leave without snagging some magestones!"

"So you'd be okay with your club getting shut down AND losing out on the prize?"

"...Yeah, I could live with that. Sure, our club might get disbanded, but if I dug up a decent number of magestones and sold 'em... My return would more than make up for it!"

"Wow, he really doesn't care about anything but his bottom line..." said Ace.

"He'd actually be okay getting the Spelldrive Club abolished?" said Deuce. "Talk about scary."

"How self-serving can you be?!" said Sebek. "We have no time to indulge your avaricious fantasies. The rest of us are leaving!"

"But I can't just leave him after he came to rescue me..."

"Yeah, it wouldn't be right," I said.

"Okay, now I'm annoyed," said Floyd, crossing his arms. "We took down the monster. There's nothin' left to do. I'm tired of standin' around in this cramped, dingy cave." He turned to Ruggie. "Hey, Sharksucker?"

"Yeah?" said Ruggie.

"Remember when you said you'd do any one thing I asked? I wanna get outta here. Give up the magestones."

Ruggie's eyes widened. "WHAT?! But that's not fair..."

"A deal's a deal, right?"

"Hahaha! I don't see a problem!" said Sebek. "The request meets all your criteria!"

"Rrrrrgh... Fine," Ruggie grumbled. "I'll let it go this time. I just hope no one else finds this spot before I get a chance to come back. We should block the back tunnels with a boulder. You guys'll help me with that much, right?!"

"You're seriously gonna come back here?" said Leona.

Ruggie sighed. "Okay, let's just get out of here before I really regret it." We all but ran back to the campsite. I could already see Crowley with Vargas standing in front of the group of campers. "We're here!"

"Ah, at last," said Crowley. "You made it right at the proverbial buzzer."

"What took you all so long?" said Vargas.

"Okay, get this..." said Ruggie. "There was a monster!"

"A monster?"

"Yessir! For real!"

"Deuce was still missing after all the ruckus, so we went into the mine to find him," said Sebek. "There we were set upon by a strange creature."

"It just wouldn't go down," said Floyd. "Next thing we knew, two hours had just whizzed by."

"So you were held up battling a particularly persistent monster," said Vargas. "THAT'S THE LOUSIEST EXCUSE I'VE EVER HEARD!" My group recoiled in shock. "Bad enough that you were almost late, but to make up some outlandish lie about it? I'm not even mad! Just disappointed! And your muscles are sagging in disappointment too! Did you learn NOTHING from Camp Vargas?!"

"Now, now, Coach Vargas," said Crowley. "Putting aside our students' prevarications, do not you see the look in their eyes? They carry the keen gaze of those who've fought for their lives and emerged on the other side. I believe your camp has achieved its intent. They've grown as individuals. I look forward to seeing what you accomplish at the next Camp Vargas."

"Hah hah hah! Let's not get too ahead of ourselves! All right, boys - and Ona. Everybody stick with their club. We're going back to school!"

"Wait, you're not even gonna let us get a word in edgewise?!" said Ruggie. "Coach, hear me out—"

"Don't bother, Ruggie," said Leona. "That musclehead wouldn't believe the sky was blue if he didn't see it himself."

"But—"

"It's a waste of time tryin' to argue with him. Our fate was sealed when we made the call not to tell him before setting out."

"Aww, come on..."

"Vargas is a real piece o' work," said Grim.

"To be fair, that's a pretty normal reaction to someone telling you they saw a monster," said Jack. "I didn't believe Deuce at first either."

"Yeah, I get it," said Deuce. "If anything, it's wild that I got attacked by that monster twice now."

"I wonder what those monsters are," I mused.

"Hopefully we will NEVER find out."

I had to agree. Fortunately, there were no more incedents before we returned to school. I was about to walk off with Grim to our dorm when Ace grabbed my arm. "Ona, do you have a second?" I said.

"Sure," I agreed.

"Make it quick," said Grim. "I'm ready to collapse on my bed and not wake up until morning."

"Duly noted," said Ace. He looked at me with a serious expression. "I noticed you seemed to be pretty friendly with Floyd."

"Yeah," I said. "So what?"

"So, I don't think he's a good friend for you."

I lifted my eyebrows. "What are you, my father?"

"No, but that doesn't mean I can't be concerned. Look, I'm in the basketball club with him. I know what he's like. You've probably only seen the best of him. You don't know how nasty he can get. You're lucky if you haven't set him off so far, but that will change one day. I don't want to see you get hurt because of it."

"Listen, if I chose my friends based on who I thought could possibly hurt me, I would be all alone. All of you have some problem or another as far as I can tell. And Floyd has been nothing but nice to me since we met, unlike you. You didn't exactly give me a first impression."

Ace frowned. "That just proves you're a bad judge of character."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to be friends with who I want, Ace." I paused. "But thank you for worrying about me. It's actually really sweet."

Ace rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not like that. I-"

I smiled. "I know."

"Ona, are we going or what?" said Grim.

"Yeah, we're going. See you later, Ace." I waved him off and walked away with Grim.

"This isn't over yet, Ona!" Ace called. Unfortunately, I believed him.

I was peacefully eating lunch with Grim, Ace, and Deuce on Wednesday when a loud voice shouted across the room, "SHRIMPY!" My companions froze with looks of terror on their faces as Floyd ran over to us.

"Hey, Floyd," I said, completely calm. "What's going on?"

"It's time to fulfill your promise." Before I could ask him what he meant, he picked me up and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "You're coming with me."

"Hey!" Ace protested.

"You can't do that!" said Deuce.

I made no attempt to get away from Floyd. I knew it would do not good and that he would not hurt me. Once we were in the courtyard, he set me on my feet. "Okay, what promise are you talking about?" I asked.

"You promised to teach me that move!" Floyd said. "At Camp Vargas. Remember?"

"Oh yeah. I have time now. I can teach you."

I started off by having him pin my to the ground so I could demonstrate the move again. Then I did slowly, explain each step. Finally, I let him try it out for himself. For someone more focused on brute strength than agility, he was a surprisingly quick learning.

"Ahaha! I got you, Shrimpy!" he said, having pushed my off of him and gotten on top of me instead.

"Stop, right there!" said a familiar, stern voice. "Release her now!"

Floyd frowned and looked back. "Eh? Why should I?"

"I will not allow you to harm a student under my watch."

"I'm not hurting anyone, and I don't like your tone, Golfishie."

"Riddle, this isn't what it looks like," I said quickly, hoping to diffuse the situation. "I'm teaching him a Wing Chun move. It's martial arts, see?" I performed the move myself, successfully getting our from under Floyd. Then I stood up to face an angry Riddle, Trey, Cater, Ace, Deuce, and Grim.

"Why would you do something so reckless, Ona?" Riddle said. "You still could have gotten hurt."

"Could not," said Floyd, annoyed.

"Accidents happen," Trey said.

"I wouldn't let 'em," said Floyd, baring his teeth.

I moved in front of Floyd to block him from the others. "Okay, let's just all take a deep breath. Nothing happened."

"Now I'm bored. You can play with them, Shrimpy. I'm gone."

I swung around to face Floyd in surprise, but he was already walking away. "W-Wait!" He gave me a wave before disappearing in the distance.

"Good riddance," said Riddle.

I glared at him. "What was that for? He's my friend!"

"Why would you want to be friends with someone like him?"

"I like spending time with him - not that it's any of your business."

"If you keep spending time with him, eventually you're going to get hurt."

"I am not!"

Riddle sighed and stepped closer to me. "You're a freshman and may not be aware, so let me explain something to you. I'll admit there is an alarmingly high number of students who are quick to resort to violence to solve problems or for fun. Floyd is on a different level. He has more infractions for fighting than anyone else, and multiple victims have ended up in the infirmary."

I swallowed hard. "But he wouldn't hurt me."

"There is no way you can know that for sure. As soon as you no longer entertain him, he will turn on you."

"I don't appreciate you judging him - or me! Can you honestly say that you are any better? Floyd has never tried to hurt me, but you - you tried to kill me! By your logic, I should stay away from you!"

Riddle's eyes widened. "That's different I-"

"I don't want to hear it. I say you don't know Floyd at all. So, stop telling me what to do!" With that, I turned away and stormed off.

Floyd was nowhere to be found, of course. I wondered if he had been so annoyed that he would not want to hang out with me again. I leaned against a tree and shut my eyes, trying to hold back tears. I would not exactly blame him if he did not want to get involved in the drama of my friends.

"Ona?" said a soft voice.

I wiped my eyes with my arm and looked at Cater. "What do you want."

Cater held up his hands defensively. "I'm not here to tell you what to. You're smart enough to make your own choices. I just want to make sure you have all the facts."

"Fine."

"Don't be too hard on Riddle. He said all that stuff because he cares about you."

I scoffed. "He cares about trying to control me."

"He does care about enforcing the rules, but you weren't breaking any rules, were you?"

I frowned. "Well, no."

"Then he said those things because he cares. He doesn't want to see you get hurt."

"Well, he's still wrong."

Cater shrugged. "Maybe. What he said about Floyd is accurate, but he forgot to mention that he usually acts that way on the behest of Azul, his housewarden. If you don't cross Azul, you'll probably be fine."

"So, he was exaggerating."

"Riddle and Floyd have had issues since they met at orientation, so his opinion is a little biased. I don't think you're in danger of being physically hurt. You clearly can take care of yourself. But I do think Floyd could emotionally harm you. You're the type to get attached to people, aren't you?"

I hesitated. "Yes..."

"Riddle is right that Floyd is unpredictable. He only cares about something as long as he thinks it's fun. One day, he may decide you're no longer fun and leave."

I frowned. "But maybe he'll always think I'm fun."

"Yes, but do you want that to be the reason he stays?" Cater ruffled my hair before walking away. "Just think about it." And I did.

I decided to take a bit of a break from hanging out with Floyd. I figured we both needed it after the excitement that happened recently. Then, when I finally decided to visit the cliff where I always ran into him, he was nowhere to be found. I tried several times on different days with no luck. I tried not to think too much on it. It's not like we agreed to meet on a regular basis.

And if what Cater said was true, maybe it was for the best. I needed stability and reassurance in my life, and Floyd did not fit the bill. Not that I couldn't enjoy being with him every once in awhile. I just could not allow myself to get used to his company. So, I fought back the urge to seek him out, instead waiting for fate to bring us together again.

Fate came in the form of an invitation from of an invitation from Ace to attend a basketball game. He had asked me several times before, but I always had something going on. Finally, in the middle of November, I relented. Grim chose to stay at home, so I left the dorm without him.

I reached the school and realized I did not quite know where the basketball court was located. Fortunately, Riddle spotted me and headed my way. "Hello, Ona," he said. "Did Ace invite you to watch the basketball game as well? Would you like to go together?"

I smiled at him in relief. "That would be great." We had gotten over our spat last month relatively quickly. We both agreed to disagree on the situation and had become quite amiable to each other.

"Then let us be off."

I made a mental note about the location of the stadium as Riddle led the way. Surprisingly, we were one of the first ones there, so we got seats in the front. "Do you like basketball?"

"It's not bad. I attended a few games last year. And you?"

"I enjoy playing more than watching, but it will be interesting to see Ace."

"Yes. He talks himself up enough. Let us see if his actions can back up his words."

It turned out Ace was pretty good. Or perhaps it was because he knew Riddle and I were in the audience. Either was, I was impressed. Floyd, on the other handed, acted like he had never played in his life. No, it was more like he was totally uninterested in the game, which clearly annoyed his teammates.

At halftime, Ace jogged over to the stands. "Ona! Housewarden!" he said. "What do you think so far?"

"You have performed quite well," said Riddle, "but I will hold my final evaluation until the end of the day."

Ace shrugged. "Fair enough. How about you, Ona?" He smirked. "Were you impressed?"

"Actually-" I started.

"Shrimpy!" Floyd said loudly, pushing Ace off to the side. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming to see me?"

"She came to see me," Ace said, glaring at him.

"Floyd, it's been awhile," I said, giving him a small smile.

"It has!" said Floyd. "I tried visiting you at the cliff, but you were never there!"

"You were never there when I was there!"

Floyd laughed, shaking his head. "We just missed each other. You should meet me this weekend."

"I don't know..."

"As enlightening as this conversation is, Floyd, you need to do a better job helping out your team," Riddle said sternly.

Floyd frowned. "Aw, why should I? I'm not feeling it today."

"For one, I'll never come to a game to watch you if you play like that," I said.

Floyd glanced at me. "Huh?"

I purposefully looked away from him and smiled at Ace. "You, on the other hand, were great, Ace. I was super impressed!"

Ace grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah, and it looked like you were having a blast."

"Of course. Basketball is the best!"

"Hey, I can be impressive too," said Floyd.

"You haven't been so far," I said. "Maybe you're not as much fun as I thought." I held up a hand before he could protest. "But you still have a chance to prove me wrong. And maybe I'll be hanging out at the cliff after school on Monday to hang out with the best player."

"I can be the best player, Little Shrimpy!" Floyd practically shouted. "Just watch me!" Then he ran onto the court.

Ace looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Are you sure that will work?"

I shrugged. "It's worth a try."

"I'll be surprised if it does," said Riddle.

And it did work. Floyd played incredible. It was like he was a whole different player. He dominated everyone he went up against. I could not take my eyes off him. In the end, he helped the team win a surging victory.

I kept my promise and stopped by the cliff on Monday after school. I waited for several minutes and almost thought Floyd had forgotten or did not feel like showing up. Then I heard him say behind me, "Hey, Lil' Shrimpy. Are you waiting for me?"

I spun around and smiled at him. "Hey, Floyd! How's it going?"

"Pretty good now. What do you want to do?"

"Well, I was really hoping you could help me study for finals coming up. If you want to, that is. After that, we can do whatever you want. I thought we could make up song lyrics again... if you're interested."

Floyd cocked his head. "Finals, huh? If you need help studying, I can hook you up with Azul. He's got a really great study guide."

Something about his offer made me uneasy. Cater had warned me about him, hadn't he? Until I met him in person, I best not get myself into a situation I might regret. "No thanks. I would rather study with you. I'll have much more fun."

Floyd grinned. "Alright. What've you got?"

"The test is over, whelps," Crewel announced on the last day of finals. "Put your pens away and hand over your answer sheets like good little dogs." I set down my pen and breathed a sigh of relief. "And with that, I do believe exams have come to a close."

"YEAAAH!" everyone cheered.

"Down! SIT! Don't start celebrating yet. Any bad boys who fare poorly in their exams will be given mandatory remedial lessons over the winter holidays. Consider yourself warned. Class dismissed."

I hurried out of the classroom with my friends. "Whew, FINALLY," said Ace. "It's over!"

"I gave it my absolute best," said Deuce. "All that's left now is to wait for our scores to come back."

"Myah hah hah! No lousy test is a match for my brilliant mind," said Grim.

"Really?" said Ace. "You guys usually look like your lives just flashed before your eyes after written exams. Now you're changing your tune?"

"Heh heh. You bet your bottom thaumark I am. Today marks the dawn of a new and improved me! You better be ready, 'cause soon you'll all be callin' me 'Galaxy Brain Grim' and beggin' for scraps of my knowledge."

"That's a bold claim," said Deuce, "but I'm pretty confident in my performance this time myself. No offense, but I'm definitely gonna outscore you."

"Says the guy who's perpetually biting his lip and barely staying above a falling grade," said Ace. "Of course, this test was a piece of cake for me, so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna come out on top."

"You must have all studied hard," I said. It was unusual for them to be this confident.

"Pretty much, yup! This's baby-tier stuff."

"Anyway, exams are done and dusted," said Deuce. "I'm gonna hit up the track club."

"Y'know, I could stand to get in some exercise at the basketball club myself. Let's break this huddle for today, guys."

"Let's head back to the dorm, Ona," said Grim. "I'm dead on my feet after that all-nighter."

"Okay," I said. "See you later, guys." I waved at them and walked off with Grim. After all that hard work, I could use a break myself. Now all that was left was the results!