Disclaimer: Through careful reading of old ideas, Sarah and I came to the conclusion that we might have been able to claim some ownership of WC. Unfortunately, I don't think Iginio Straffi would agree.

Okay, I finally have an update for you guys! I know it kept getting postponed (if you ever looked at my profile where I'm saying when I'll update) but once you start reading, you'll understand why. First, this chapter is insanely long (and is, unfortunately, the first of possibly many long chapters to come). In Word, it came to be nearly 32 full pages with Calibri size 11 font. So hopefully you guys can forgive me for the long-ish wait. Just be warned it may take a couple weeks for the next chapter, too. Wish I could get ahead of my postings, but it'd take way too long to do that so we're stuck with it being this way. I'll try to keep updating my profile with what I'm doing, sooo... yeah~ xD

Well, I don't have much to address in here, except that the thing I stated in the disclaimer is true. We seriously came up with Jason before Season 3 even aired (and he came in Season 4)—and we had some others, but my memory is failing me at this moment. As an explanation: we used to have way too much fun roleplaying through IM's. :D [/good times]

Anywho! I won't keep you. Let the story continue~ :)

Chapter xii: PMD

Flora was naturally an early riser. No matter what time she was supposed to get up, her internal clock always managed to wake her up early. That was why, at four in the morning, the brunette girl was quietly making her way downstairs to try and make (or find) something to eat for breakfast. If she'd known what she was going to find en route to the first-floor kitchen, she would have (probably) stayed upstairs and taken the risk of waking everyone else up.

The brunette teen caught movement out of the corner of her eye when she walked past the living room. She stopped short when she realized it was a person, and she felt the adrenaline spike before her eyes widened at what she was seeing. Her face flushed as the raven-haired boy stretched his arms out, her gaze drifting down to take in the lean muscles of his bare torso. Her breath caught as his abdomen muscles contracted when he stepped his right leg out (bent at the knee) in what she could only assume was one of the warrior poses for yoga. (1)

Her sharp intake of breath must have alerted him to her presence because his head turned to look at her. His lips curled into a warm smile as he raised his right arm over his head and shifted his left arm down his left leg. Flora was fairly certain she squeaked as she averted her gaze—she would be absolutely mortified if he knew she was ogling his chest.

She heard Helia shift poses, and she glanced at him to see he was balancing on his right foot, his upper body and left leg parallel to the ground and perpendicular to his right leg. He stayed in that position for a few breaths before he brought his left foot back down and straightened his back. She found herself watching him (again) as he fluidly pulled on the shirt he'd draped over the couch.

Helia chuckled when he glanced at her and saw she was watching him rather intently. Her gaze shot up to his, and he smiled as her face flushed. He walked up to her and brought a hand up to cup her cheek. His heart pounded against his chest as she instinctively leaned her head into his touch. She smiled sweetly up at him, her green eyes shining, and he felt his heart skip a beat. Leaning his forehead against hers, he stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Good morning, Flora," he greeted quietly.

Flora was having difficulties remembering how to breathe. "Uh, g-good morning, Helia," she stammered, feeling her face burn hotter in embarrassment. She silently cursed it. She didn't understand why she became a stumbling mess when he was around. She'd had weeks to get acclimated to his spontaneous displays of affection when they were alone, but for some reason, it seemed like she'd lose any ground she picked up. Of course, it didn't help that at this moment all that kept flashing in her mind was a broad expanse of lightly tanned skin stretched across lean muscles. She unconsciously bit down on her lower lip at the mental image. She really hated teenage hormones at that moment.

Helia felt his lips twitch into a grin at the unfocused look in Flora's eyes. It was apparent she was lost in her thoughts. He opened his mouth to try and get her attention back when he felt her fingers tracing his chest. His breath stilled in his lungs, and his eyes shot to hers. Judging by the still unfocused look in them, he came to the very reasonable conclusion that she wasn't even aware she was doing it—which, really, was absolutely unfair. Swallowing thickly, he allowed himself to relish in the moment before he lightly gripped her wrists to abate the movements. Flora blinked several times as she came out of her thoughts, and Helia waited for her to register the situation.

The brunette girl frowned down at her hands (that were still lightly pressed against Helia's chest) before peering up into Helia's face. "Did I...?" she asked, unable to form the sentence.

"Yes," he answered. "You seemed to be lost in your thoughts. Otherwise, I might not have stopped you."

Her cheeks flushed prettily, and Helia smiled as she squeaked, "I'm sorry!"

Helia tilted his head slightly, studying her. Without warning, he leaned down and kissed her. He felt her stiffen slightly in shock, so he released her wrists to cup her jaw in his hands. She seemed to relax, and a moment later her lips were moving gently against his. Tentatively, he licked along her lower lip, and he heard (and felt) her gasp. She trembled slightly as his tongue gently stroked hers, and her hands fisted in his shirt. He quickly realized it wasn't something she was very comfortable with, so he slowly pulled back from the kiss. Resting his forehead against hers, he waited patiently for her to calm down.

"I'm sorry, Helia," Flora mumbled as she slowly loosened her grip on his shirt.

Helia frowned, his thumbs lightly stroking her cheeks. "There's no need for you to apologize, Flora. I only want to take things as quickly or slowly as you can deal with them. I'm well aware of when I may be pushing your limits. I don't mind stopping."

She opened her eyes to look up at him and eventually nodded. "I... If you say so, Helia."

The raven-haired boy chuckled. "A smile would have made your statement more believable, love," he teased. Flora's eyes widened at the pet name, so he picked his head up and kissed her forehead before stepping around her. "I'm going to get changed, but I'll be back down to help make breakfast shortly."

Flora didn't even get the chance to protest because he was already retreating down the hallway. A smile quirked her lips as she watched him, and she finally turned to head into the kitchen. He'd called her "love." It was enough to make her burst with happiness. She so wouldn't have chosen to cook on the second floor if given a do-over; what had just happened far outweighed her embarrassment.

Tecna was walking out of the bathroom when she ran into Timmy. Literally.

The ginger-haired boy scrambled to catch her by the wrists before she fell backwards. "S-sorry, Tecna!" he stammered as she became stable on her feet.

The fuchsia-haired teen smiled up at him. "It's all right, Timmy. I wasn't paying attention, so it's partially my fault, too."

Timmy made a noise that could have been an affirmative or a denial, and they were silent. They both stood there awkwardly for a long moment before Timmy cleared his throat. "So, uh, did you sleep well?" The question felt odd coming out of his mouth, but Brandon had assured him that it was a normal thing for a guy to ask his girlfriend.

Tecna smiled and nodded. "I did, thank you... And you?" she asked after a slight hesitation. Stella had told her several weeks ago that it was only fair (and nice) to return the concern and pleasantries that her boyfriend might ever speak. This, however, was not one of their normal conversations.

"Great! That's great! And I, uh, I slept well, too. Brandon's pretty cool to bunk with," Timmy replied, which was partially a lie—he hadn't gotten very much sleep since Brandon had felt the need to give him some tips on the "normal" things couples did. Things Timmy had never really heard of as being expected, and especially things he'd never done. Tecna seemed to be fine with it all thus far, though.

Tecna nodded. "That's good to hear. I typically wouldn't have any complaints, but Musa stormed into the room at one point and—upon noticing she woke me up—briefly ranted about Sky being an idiot before she apologized and let me go back to sleep. It was a little amusing until my alarm went off. She emerged from the cocoon of covers to maul the alarm clock before she retreated," the fuchsia-haired girl sighed.

Timmy chuckled with a shake of his head. "I don't envy whoever has to wake her up, then. And I'd suggest calling dibs on rooming with Flora and ditching Bloom with Musa on our trip."

"I might do that. Bloom is probably more suited to dealing with that sort of thing. She'd probably just dump Musa on the floor," Tecna murmured with a touch of amusement. They were quiet for a moment before Tecna cleared her throat. "Well, I guess I'll let you get ready. I'll see you downstairs." She moved to go around Timmy but was stopped short when she was pulled awkwardly into a hug. She stiffened, her hands pressed firmly against his chest. Part of her was happy about the display of affection, but mostly, she felt awkward and uncomfortable.

Timmy tried his best to ignore how awkward and uncomfortable the situation made him, and he hesitated slightly before pressing his face into her hair and kissing the top of her head. He felt her arms move to slip around his waist, and then they simply hung there uselessly. Brandon hadn't told him how long he was supposed to hold her, but this whole situation was just weird. He cleared his throat as he released her, glancing off to the side in embarrassment.

Tecna paused for a moment to collect herself before she looked up at her boyfriend. "Um, Timmy?"

The ginger-haired boy shifted his gaze to her, his hand going to the back of his head in a nervous gesture. "Y-yeah, Tecna?"

"Don't get the wrong impression or anything, but I... I think we should just stick with our usual, simple 'good morning' statements. I don't really require intimacy this early in the morning, and I'm not exactly very good with giving it when I've just woken up," Tecna explained, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.

Timmy relaxed in relief. "That sounds perfect, Tecna. It really, really does."

Tecna smiled and backed up a couple of steps. "Good morning, Timmy."

The ginger-haired boy laughed, reaching out and lightly squeezing her hand. "Good morning, Tecna," he answered warmly. Releasing her hand, he let her move around him before he walked into the bathroom. Maybe he needed to find someone other than Brandon to take advice from. (2)

"Hey, Brandon, will you do us a favor?"

The brunette boy blinked up from his meal, finishing chewing and swallowing. His gaze settled on the redhead who had spoken. "Sure."

Bloom grinned. "Awesome. Can you go wake up your girlfriend?"

Brandon's brows furrowed. "Not that I mind doing it, but why do you want me to go wake up Stella?"

"Because you're the only person we can think of who might be able to wake her without her making a huge fuss," Bloom answered sincerely.

Brandon shook his head with a chuckle. "I doubt that, but I'll do it. Just let me finish eating." He punctuated his statement by biting into a slice of bacon.

Bloom rolled her eyes but walked away with a call of, "Thanks, Bran~" over her shoulder. He hadn't the foggiest idea where she was headed, but she stopped short when the door to the kitchen swung open (narrowly missing hitting her) to reveal Sky and Savannah, the latter of which was being carried by the blonde teen. Bloom quirked a brow at him. "Couldn't you have slowly pushed open the door, Blondie?" she teased as he set Savannah down on the ground. "Jeez. You need to watch him, Savannah. He's going to knock someone out." She grinned at the exasperated look on Sky's face before she ducked down to kiss the top of the little girl's head. "Morning, Savannah. Flora's making you some pancakes." And with that greeting out of the way, the redhead moved around the siblings and exited the kitchen.

Savannah didn't waste any time darting over to Flora and Helia, eager for her pancakes whenever they were finished.

Brandon chuckled before grinning at his blonde friend. "Morning, dude. Nice to see you made it in safely."

Sky shot him a glare. "Don't you dare start. I've already been yelled at by Musa, and Savannah got mad at me over it this morning, since she was too sleepy last night to do anything but talk about—" The blonde cut his rant short, his face pinkening slightly. "Whatever. The point is that I don't need another lecture."

Brandon snickered. "You do know I'm just going to ask Savannah what she said, right?"

The blonde shrugged. "I doubt she even remembers it, so go right ahead."

Brandon nodded gravely. "You're right. But I think I could easily jog her memory. I mean, I know it's about Bloom, given that blush you were just sporting," he stated nonchalantly. Sky looked slightly murderous, so Brandon jumped up. "Well, I'm off to go wake Stella by decree of said redhead. I shall return shortly with victory, and you can reprimand me then, my liege," he stated dramatically, bowing low, before he turned on his heel and ran out of the kitchen.

Sky shook his head and looked over at the other four teens in the room.

"Is that common for him?" Tecna asked to break the silence.

The blonde sighed, though his lips twitched into a smile. "Unfortunately, yes. It's kind of an inside joke. He used to do it when he thought I was acting like a spoilt, rich kid—but now he does it when the moment strikes him."

"Oh, so he acts like a servant," Helia murmured. "Nice."

Sky wasn't sure if that remark was sarcastic or appreciative, but he made a face. "Not just any servant—he thinks he's acting like a Knight."

"Sometimes he even makes Sky play along," Savannah added helpfully.

The four teens didn't even try to hide their laughter as Sky winced. Leave it up to his little sister to make it worse.

"Now that I've got to see," Timmy stated with a grin.

Meanwhile, Brandon was venturing into Stella's room. He stopped beside her bed, smiling at how peaceful she looked. He honestly didn't want to wake her since he knew she hadn't been sleeping well recently, but he also knew he didn't have a choice since she still had to get ready.

He lightly placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her. She stirred easily, opening her eyes and peering up at him. "Brandon?" she queried softly.

"Good morning, Princess," he answered quietly with a warm smile. "It's time for you to get up." He brushed some of her hair back, and she closed her eyes at the feeling.

"Five more minutes, Bran," she mumbled.

Chuckling, the brunette leaned down and kissed her forehead. "No can do, Princess. My orders were to wake you. I'm fairly certain Bloom waited as long as she felt she could."

Stella made a noise of protest, but she pushed herself up into a sitting position and rubbed at her eyes. "All right, I'm up," she mumbled before covering her mouth as she yawned.

"If you're really sleepy, you can always nap on the ride there," Brandon pointed out as his eyes roved over her face. She always looked so beautiful—even now, with her hair rumpled and her face entirely devoid of makeup. She could easily be with just about any guy she wanted, and yet she was with him. He wasn't sure what he'd done to deserve her, and part of him wasn't even sure if he did deserve her, but he was so grateful that he had her. She was kind-hearted but honest, and he knew from experience that she really cared about her friends' happiness and well-being. He adored her, and he'd willingly shout it off the rooftops if she wanted him to.

The blonde girl shifted to stand, so he moved back slightly, only to have her arms slip around his waist and her head lay against his chest. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling the top of her head. In a way, this was probably like letting her have more time to sleep (in that she needed to be getting ready) but there was no way he could turn down the chance to even simply hold her.

Stella smiled as she snuggled into Brandon. She'd never had a boyfriend who wanted to just hold her like this. And if they did, it usually only lasted about five minutes—if even that—before their hands started straying. But here Brandon was, and he was always willing to do something simple like hold her hand or curl up with her. He did push his luck, of course—he was a teenage boy after all—but he usually knew when she was in a good enough mood to be willing to fool around a little. She probably didn't deserve him, but there was no way she'd let him go without a fight. She'd never felt this fierce need for someone before, and she honestly wasn't sure what she'd do if she ever lost Brandon.

With a sigh, the blonde girl extracted herself from Brandon's arms, smiling warmly at him. "All right, I'm fully awake now. Thanks."

The brunette boy flashed a grin. "It was my pleasure, Princess," he answered, bowing. "Your breakfast awaits you when you're finished."

Stella smiled. "Oh? Thank you for telling me." She paused before adding slyly, "Snookums."

Brandon laughed and quirked a brow. "So you came up with 'Snookums,' huh?"

"You don't like it? All the others are so redundant or silly," the amber-eyed girl protested with a slightly playful pout.

He shook his head at her antics and leaned down to kiss the pout off her lips. "I can deal with 'Snookums.' It'll grow on me. Now go get ready so you can eat something. I will ensure your food is prepared properly, Princess."

Her amber eyes glowed up at him, and he felt his heart somersault. God, he loved this girl. (3)

"Hey, Tec? Where's Musa?" Bloom queried when she noticed she hadn't seen hide nor hair of the raven-haired girl.

Tecna looked up from her spot beside Timmy. "I believe she's attempting metamorphosis," the fuchsia-haired girl answered helpfully. "And I am not going to prematurely break that cocoon."

The redhead resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Of course not. Why does everyone cower when it comes to waking her up?"

"Waking up whom?" Sky asked as he and Savannah entered the living room.

"Nice to see you changed into clean clothes," Bloom observed with a grin. "And we're talking about Muse."

"Not it!" Sky and Savannah exclaimed at the same time.

Chuckles echoed in the room while Bloom crossed her arms. "Wuss," she muttered.

Sky shrugged, though the slight pinkening of his face betrayed his embarrassment. "I don't care. I've had to wake her up for years. She's hostile."

Bloom threw her hands up in the air exasperatedly. "You should be a pro at it, then. But I guess I'll go do it since no one's really jumping at the opportunity."

"Good luck!" Savannah called after her.

Bloom smiled to herself as she ascended the stairs. She could only hope she had a child like that when she got older.

The raven-haired girl was still sleeping soundly when the redhead ventured into her domain. The unsuspecting girl bundled in a mess of sheets was about to be in for a rude awakening. Literally.

To be fair, Bloom had tried to call out Musa's name and had even shaken her, but no sign of life emerged—the girl didn't even twitch. So she did the only other thing she knew to do: grabbed the sheets and jerked, hard.

A loud yelp sounded in the room followed by the sound of a body thudding into the floor. Musa jumped up, exclaiming, "I'm okay! I'm awake! What's happening!?" Her wild eyes settled on the laughing redhead, and it took her sleep-addled brain a moment to realize what had happened. Her eyes narrowed when she pieced it together. "What the hell, Bloom!?"

The redhead was still overcome by her laughing fit, but she managed to wheeze out a response in between laughs. "I... I couldn't... wake you up... so... so I pulled... I pulled the covers... and you just... you just kept rolling."

"You are so lucky I'm not violent enough to strangle you," the raven-haired girl muttered darkly pushing past the redhead.

Bloom was totally unfazed. "Good morning to you, too, star shine!" she chirped, dodging the hand that swiped at her.

"I hate you," the raven-haired girl responded as she bent down to dig through her bag.

Bloom grinned. "See you downstairs, Muse," she called as she turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

Riven was eating his breakfast in peace when Musa walked into the kitchen. She seemed completely oblivious to his presence, which was fine with him. In his experience, when a girl looked that moody, you didn't draw attention to yourself. It was really tempting, though; the pig-tailed girl was rather amusing when she attempted to be fierce. And cute. But that was irrelevant.

Musa found her plate of food in the microwave (where Flora had put it to keep it warm) and grabbed a fork out of a drawer. She turned around to head to the table and stopped short when she saw Riven observing her as he ate. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked, rather mildly for a girl who looked ready to murder someone.

One of Riven's eyebrows shot up. "I'm eating."

Musa rolled her eyes and moved the few steps she needed to reach the table. She set her plate down before slipping into the seat across from Riven. "You were watching me," she finally remarked, stabbing at some eggs with her fork.

"I was waiting to see if you would notice someone else was in here," Riven retorted, shifting his gaze off his plate and up to her. "I wasn't aware you were that oblivious to your surroundings. Must be nice."

Musa would have been offended if she didn't know Riven was saying it just to get a rise out of her. She wasn't in the mood to rise to his bait, so she chose to chomp a piece of bacon instead.

They sat in rather companionable silence for a few minutes, each looking at the other when he or she wasn't paying any mind. Musa broke the silence first when she'd gotten up to venture toward the refrigerator to find something to drink. "Your sister is insane, by the way," she stated offhandedly as she rifled through her drink options. She settled on grape juice (since it was in small bottles) and walked back to the table.

Riven was purposely picking at his food in order to keep her company (or at least, that was what he was telling himself). He glanced up at her as he waited for her to elaborate. She didn't. "I'm aware she has random bouts of sanity loss," he replied noncommittally, shrugging.

Musa snorted. "She has rather unorthodox methods of waking someone. She rolled me out into the floor."

Riven smirked, imagining it again. He'd already been briefed by his sister about how deep of a sleeper the raven-haired girl was. "She said she yelled your name and shook you, and you didn't even twitch. I'd have gotten ice water," he murmured nonchalantly.

Musa shot him a withering glare that only succeeded in making him laugh. Her narrowed eyes widened at the sound of it, and her jaw dropped a little. In these past couple of months, she hadn't heard him genuinely laugh even once. It was a shame, really, because his laugh was... adorable.

Riven's amusement shifted into wary embarrassment when he realized she was staring at him with warm, azure eyes and a cute smile. He dragged his gaze from her and back to his plate. He couldn't handle that look; it did things to him that he was fairly sure were unhealthy. His appetite lost (and his flight senses kicking in) Riven stood and took his plate to the trash. "When you're done, everyone's waiting in the living room," he muttered without looking at her, and then he walked out of the kitchen.

Musa frowned slightly at his abrupt withdrawal, but she'd kind of expected it. Too bad that knowledge didn't keep the lance of pain from going through her. (4)

"All right, you lot, there are going to be some rules," Ms. Cooper announced to the group of eleven. "First, unless you are related or are sitting beside each other in the driver and shotgun seats, there is to be no co-ed seating. Girls must be beside girls, and boys must be beside boys. Second, you will not get ahead of the buses and will stop where we stop along the way. Third, if there seems to be a problem, call me and let me know so we can take care of it properly. And the last but most important rule is that only Riven and Sky are allowed to drive the rental vehicle. They're the two I put on the list as possible drivers, so they're the only two who will be covered by the rental insurance if there's a crash. Do you guys have any questions?"

Tecna put her hand up. "What about our luggage?"

Ms. Cooper paused and thought it over. "We'll put your suitcases on the first bus. You have luggage tags on them, correct?"

There was a chorus of, "Yes, ma'am."

Ms. Cooper smiled satisfiedly. "Good. Any other questions?"

"Do you have the itinerary printed out?" Bloom queried.

The black-haired woman put a hand to her head and sighed. "I do not. Could you go do that for me?"

The redhead smiled and nodded before she darted out of the auditorium to do Ms. Cooper's bidding.

"I have no idea what I'll do when she graduates in two years," Ms. Cooper mumbled. "Well, if you have no more questions, please head out front to where the buses are. I'll pull the rental around front shortly." Without really even giving them a chance to ask any more questions, the drama teacher turned around and walked off.

"I guess we should head to the front porch, then," Brandon announced after a long silence. There was a murmur of agreement and the group moved to head outside.

They were all quiet as they huddled together on the sidewalk outside. It was still cool outside with it being an early spring morning, so they were mainly concerned with keeping warm. There wasn't much discussion going on between them when Bloom finally showed up, one piece of paper in her hand.

"You only printed one sheet?" Timmy inquired.

The redhead paused in her beeline to Musa's side. "For our group, yes. All it says is what time we need to be up for what parks or places we'll be going. If you don't know what time to get up, you can text us and ask." She resumed her pace and pulled Musa off to the side. Lowering her voice, she spoke quickly, "We have a problem."

Musa blinked. "Already?"

"We aren't going to a Disney park tomorrow, and on Wednesday we're not going to a park at all," Bloom continued as though Musa had never spoken.

Musa grabbed the itinerary out of Bloom's hands. "Sea World?" the raven-haired girl breathed out. "Oh. My. God. We're going to Sea World!?"

Bloom looked shocked. "Why are you so excited about this?"

"Whales, B! We get to see whales!" the pig-tailed girl exclaimed excitedly. (5)

"Oh, good god," Sky groaned. Bloom blinked and looked over her shoulder to see the group had migrated closer because of Musa's excitement. "She's going to be going on about the whales forever..." he mumbled, rubbing at his face.

"Don't be dissing the whales!" Musa snapped. She then looked back at Bloom. "Why did you call this a problem?"

Bloom sighed. "We're going to Disney World, Muse. There are four major parks there, and we're only going to two. Do you understand now?"

"So in essence we're only seeing half of Disney World?" Timmy asked.

"Yes, exactly," Bloom answered.

Tecna cleared her throat. "Actually, I believe it will be less than half. Animal Kingdom is the largest park, and Epcot is fairly large as well. According to this, we're only going to Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios," the fuchsia-haired girl pointed out.

Bloom hissed, "Tecna, hush."

Tecna looked slightly hurt. "What?"

Bloom glanced meaningfully in the direction of Savannah, who was slightly pouting. The fuchsia-haired girl looked chagrined but since an apology would be useless, she stayed silent.

Stella tried to do some damage control. "At least we're going to the two best-known ones. She can meet Ariel at Magic Kingdom and can get a princess dress and everything!"

"I heard that the 'Fantasmic' show they do at Hollywood Studios is their best nighttime event," Helia added. (6)

Savannah brightened considerably at this news, and Sky looked relieved almost immediately.

Flora happened to glance over at the buses in time to see an SUV pull up behind them. "Bloom, is that the rental?" the brunette girl asked, effectively changing the subject as everyone looked over to see.

"Yeah, that's it!" Bloom answered, nodding her head. "Should we go ahead and get over there to see what our seating arrangements will be like?"

They all agreed and started filing through the students to get to the rental vehicle. When they reached the dark red SUV (7), they came to a stop and looked at their teacher.

Ms. Cooper started to hold the keys out to Riven but aborted the movement. "You better not do any reckless driving in this rental vehicle, Mr. Peters, or I will take away your driving privileges."

"I won't," Riven muttered, waiting rather patiently for the keys, Bloom thought. The drama teacher handed the key over to him before heading toward the front porch to (most likely) tell the students to board their respective buses.

Helia opened the back door and peered inside. "Wow, this is nice. And it looks like we'll be sitting in groups of three."

"I wanna sit in the very back," Brandon stated suddenly.

"I'm fine with that, too," Timmy agreed. "I don't like riding shotgun.

The raven-haired boy took a slight step back. "I suppose I'll sit back there with you two, then," he offered.

"I wanna sit between Bloom and Musa," Savannah requested.

Both girls grinned and shrugged. "I'm down with that," Musa replied.

"So am I," Bloom agreed. She shifted her gaze to Sky. "Guess that means you get to ride shotgun."

Sky didn't seem very happy about the news, but he didn't make a comment as he opened the front passenger side door and got in. (8)

"I wanna sit near Sky, too," Savannah murmured with a slight pout.

"We can sit in the first row of three, then," Musa answered.

Bloom, figuring it was the easiest route, climbed into the SUV and slid to the seat to the far side so she was behind Riven. Savannah happily took the middle seat while Musa sat behind Sky. The grin on Musa's face worried Bloom a little. "Muse, I will force you to switch seats with me if you pester him the entire ride. I don't want to deal with him being any more irritable," she warned, which caused the raven-haired girl's grin to drop slightly.

"But it's almost a twelve-hour drive from here," Musa protested. "There's no way I can go that long without bothering him, B."

Bloom resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I don't believe that, Muse. But if that really is the case, then you'll have to switch seats with me."

"You two are sounding like a mother and her child," Riven muttered, sending them both a glare. "It's annoying."

Bloom and Musa shared a look before wisely shutting up and putting on their seatbelts.

Tecna leaned over to whisper to Flora, "Is it already starting?"

The brunette girl glanced at Stella (who was seated to her right) before looking back at Tecna. "Why do you think Stella's been quiet?" Flora answered Tecna's question with a rhetorical one. "This ride can either be very long and bad or very long and good."

Tecna nodded before resuming her original upright position and looking out the window. The had the potential to be one of the worst road trips ever, though she didn't comprehend why Riven might possibly dislike this vehicle.

They all sat in a rather awkward silence as they waited to see how Riven would react, even though they were still parked and waiting for the buses to depart. A couple of minutes passed before Riven was finally able to shift the car into "drive."

Still, silence reigned.

Until finally...

"Bloom?" Riven spoke his sister's name so suddenly that nearly everyone jumped in their seats.

The redhead hesitated slightly. "Yeah, Riv?"

"I love this SUV."

The relief that washed over everyone in the car was immediate (and audible).

"I'm glad you think so, Riv," Bloom answered sincerely.

Riven was practically caressing the steering wheel. "It's a lot better than that car you just had to have."

"There is nothing wrong with my car!" Bloom protested.

Riven snorted. "Bloom, if I didn't know how to repair it, your car would have cost more in repairs than we paid for it. How many times have we had problems with it ingesting oil and with the battery cables refusing to stay secure?"

"Those are minor issues! And besides, Ursula hasn't caused any chaos for us recently!" Bloom retorted.

Sky turned in his seat with a laugh. "You named your car?"

"What's wrong with naming my car?" Bloom asked, crossing her arms.

Sky grinned and shook his head. "Oh, nothing."

Musa chose to hit him upside the head at that moment. As he hissed in pain, the raven-haired girl announced, "There's nothing wrong with that. I named my car 'Merryweather.' It gives her personality." She paused before adding, "By the way, I call yours Galadriel."

Sky's brows furrowed. "Isn't that the elf queen from Lord of the Rings?" (9)

"Yeah. She made me think of you because you both have long, blonde hair. But that's where the similarities end because she's really intelligent and almost kind of omniscient. Plus, she's supposed to be known for being extremely beautiful. I wanted to name your car after Thranduil, but it looked too feminine," Musa answered.

Bloom snorted, "And Randy Thrandy doesn't look feminine?"

Musa pretended to stroke her chin in thought. "I totally wasn't thinking about that. I guess it's not too late to change the name to Thranduil. I'd have a blast calling his car 'Randy Thrandy' when I got the opportunity."

"Or you could, you know, not name my car," Sky retorted.

"Oh, come on, dude, lighten up," Brandon called from the backseat. "There's nothing wrong with your car being named Thranduil."

Sky shot his best friend a dark look. "I don't even like Thranduil. His character is ridiculous."

Musa grinned. "All the better, then! 'Thranduil' it is!"

"Musa, we could at least choose a girly character he somewhat likes," Bloom admonished.

"Of course, B. What did you have in mind, oh loyal defender?" Musa queried, sending the redhead a look that prompted a dark blush.

Though Bloom knew Musa was saying it in jest, the comment still had a barbed ending, and she visibly flinched. Face burning hotly in embarrassment, Bloom turned her head to look out the window in order to keep from snapping back. It was oddly quiet in the car.

Sky shot Musa a "what the hell?" look, and the raven-haired girl frowned. She hadn't meant to hurt Bloom's feelings; it had just been one of her usual, teasing comments.

Musa opened her mouth to apologize, but Bloom didn't let her get that far. "What about Lindir? He's not blonde, but he always struck me as feminine," the redhead mused.

"Who the heck is Lindir?" Stella inquired.

Helia piped up from the back, "He's Elrond's aide."

"He's a brunette elf. If you saw The Hobbit, he was the one who was basically following Elrond around and was also the one who alerted him that the dwarfs and Bilbo had left," Timmy added.

"Oh, I know who you're talking about. He was okay," Sky agreed.

Both Bloom's and Musa's mouths dropped open. "'Okay'? 'He was okay'?" Musa repeated.

"Lindir's amazing! He was absolutely adorable!" Bloom exclaimed.

Riven snorted from the front. "Lindir didn't do anything to be considered 'amazing' from what I recall."

"He's not even a major character! How is he supposed to do something amazing?" Bloom retorted.

"You don't have to be a major character 'to do something amazing.' There were plenty of minor characters who did cool stuff," Riven replied.

"Oh, really? Name some," Bloom challenged.

"Eothain, for starters," Riven answered immediately.

Bloom sighed softly. "The young boy who was sent to Edoras with his little sister? I guess I can see his riding there and fainting as 'amazing.' But that's only one character."

"What about the boy at Helm's Deep who helps in the battle? He talks to Aragorn about how the older men think they won't survive," Helia suggested.

"His name is Haleth," Tecna added helpfully.

Bloom frowned. "There were tons of kids who fought, though, and we don't know if he was any good at fighting."

"I'd still call that amazing," Sky threw in his two cents.

"He wasn't given a choice, though. If he'd been like Gavroche in Les Mis, then yeah, I'd be all for calling him 'amazing.' But he wasn't out there fighting solely because he wanted to. He was out there because they didn't stand a chance without every available fighter, whether they could fight or not," Bloom argued.

"Aw, Bloom, why'd you have to bring up Gavroche?" Flora murmured quietly, sounding close to tears.

The redhead frowned. "Sorry, Flora. I didn't have any other references."

Helia spoke up, "Bloom has a point, even though Gavroche could be considered a major character. I'll concede that Haleth is nowhere near the same level as Gavroche, and they were both supposedly fourteen."

It was silent in the car again as everyone sunk into thought.

"What about Eowyn?" Brandon finally suggested, sounding rather proud of himself.

"Eowyn isn't a minor character," Musa shot down. "She killed a nozgul, for goodness sakes, and had plenty of scenes she was involved in."

"Does Haldir count as a minor character?" Tecna inquired after another moment of silence.

"I even remember Haldir," Stella commented. "I don't think he counts as too minor. He was in two of the films, wasn't he?"

"That was only because Peter Jackson wanted him to appear for the Battle of Helm's Deep. In the novels, Haldir led them through Lothlorien blindfolded, and then he was never brought back up," Timmy answered.

Riven grumbled, "But that means he only did anything in the films, and if the privileged princess-wannabe remembers him, he's not all that minor."

"Even if Stell didn't remember Haldir, he had an epic death scene," Bloom retorted. "If they take time to highlight his death like that, he's really not that minor."

After staying quiet for so long, Savannah finally gave her own input to bring them back to their original discussion. "I like the name Haldir. Can we name Sky's car that?" the strawberry-blonde girl asked, looking between her brother and her cousin.

Sky shrugged. "Haldir was my favorite elf. I'm all right with it."

If there was anyone on this earth that Musa couldn't possibly say "no" to, it was her little cousin. "Fine, we'll name his car Haldir," she muttered begrudgingly.

Savannah's face split into a grin, and Bloom hid her laugh beneath a cough. The redhead ignored the glare Musa sent her way. "Oh, and Riven? Eothain was the only one you came up with. Feel free to think on it If you want, and get back to me," Bloom offered, her voice overly sweet.

"Bloom, shut up," Riven retorted, though his tone was lacking its usual bite were he really angry. In fact, it even sounded like there may have been a touch of amusement to it.

Bloom grinned and answered with fake sweetness, "Of course, dear brother!"

Ultimately, yes, she had defeated the purpose by speaking, but Riven felt his lips twitch as he fought back a smile. His sister could be such a pest sometimes, but he loved her anyway.

Several hours later they were pulling off the interstate, and Bloom perked up immediately. "Oh, thank god, we're stopping for lunch!" she exclaimed in a rush.

There were several echoes of the same sentiment, and a few minutes later they were parked at a McDonald's that was placed in the middle of a row of several other fast food restaurants. Bloom was one of the first ones out of the SUV, and she stopped short when she caught sight of what was next to the McDonald's. "Musa!" she called back over her shoulder. The raven-haired girl was putting away her iPhone. "Musa!"

"What?" the pig-tailed girl asked uninterestedly, though her tone was touched with a hint of annoyance.

"They have a Taco Bell next door!" Bloom exclaimed.

Musa's head whipped up, and she jerked up her purse. "What're you waiting for!? Pick up Savannah and go!"

Bloom nearly fell over laughing at the urgency Musa showed to get to Taco Bell, but she did as Musa had ordered and picked up Savannah before booking it over to the Taco Bell.

The others were still in the process of climbing out of the SUV, but they had stopped to watch the two girls for a moment.

"Am I the only one who is completely confused by that response?" Timmy asked.

Sky laughed. "That is a normal response from Musa with any place that sells tacos. She loves them." (10)

Flora shrugged. "Bloom really likes the Doritos Locos Tacos at Taco Bell."

Riven snorted, "Not as much as she likes Chick-Fil-A."

"What's wrong with Chick-Fil-A?" Brandon asked defensively.

"Nothing's wrong with her choice of restaurant," Riven answered.

Stella laughed. "Yeah, we don't have anything against Chick-Fil-A. But Bloom... Well, let's just say that Bloom would have been at that Chick-Fil-A in seconds. There would not have been a 'calmly get out of the car' option. She'd go through the car window if she had to."

"The only thing she likes more than Chick-Fil-A is pizza," Riven elaborated. After a pause, he added, "And maybe hot dogs."

"As interesting as all this may be, I'm starving, and Taco Bell sounds really good right now," Brandon stated before the conversation could develop further.

Several people laughed. "Is everyone all right with Taco Bell? Flora, Helia?" Sky inquired.

The aforementioned couple shared a glance, and Helia looked at the blonde with a quirked brow. "Why does everyone always check with us?"

Sky hesitated slightly. "Aren't you vegetarians?"

Flora's brows furrowed. "No," she answered with a hint of confusion. "What made you think that?"

"Wait—you're not?" Brandon asked incredulously. "But you never eat meat!"

"Correction: you've never seen us eating it," Helia remarked. "But that doesn't mean we don't eat it."

Flora shrugged. "I just prefer to eat fruits and vegetables and salads. All that grease messes with my stomach after a couple days eating it."

"My uncle is a big meat eater, so I like to eat different foods when I'm not eating dinner at home," Helia explained.

Timmy smiled and shook his head before he adjusted his glasses. "Wow. I never would have expected that."

"You three don't seem too surprised," Sky commented, looking between Riven, Stella, and Tecna.

Stella crossed her arms and scoffed. "Flora's one of my best friends. Of course I know her eating habits."

"And if you guys had paid attention, Bloom asked Helia about his food preferences one evening," Tecna added.

Riven simply shrugged. "That pretty much covered it. So can we go eat now?"

"No one's keeping you, Riven," Brandon replied.

"I can't lock the doors when you're still halfway in the car, Brandon," Riven retorted flatly.

The brunette boy grinned as he fully emerged from the SUV and shut the door. "Oops," he stated unrepentantly.

The car beeped twice to signal it was locked, and Riven turned around and headed to the Taco Bell.

By the time Sky worked his way through the line and found the trio of girls, they had mostly finished eating and were in the company of Nicolas.

"Hey," the dirty blonde greeted Sky around a mouthful of taco.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Nick," Bloom told him absently as she unwrapped her last taco.

Nicolas blushed faintly and swallowed the remnants of the bite in his mouth. "Sorry," he murmured before looking up at Sky. "Dude, have you ever had one of those Doritos Locos Tacos? They're amazing. Bloom let me try one of hers and I had to go back and order some."

Sky knew it was ridiculous, but he felt a flash of anger burn through him at the thought. Nicolas was a good friend of his, but he couldn't stand the idea of Bloom doing anything overly friendly with the dirty-blonde boy. Setting his tray down a bit too roughly, Sky slid into the seat directly across from his sister.

Bloom looked up from her taco just before she was going to take a bite and quirked a brow at him. "What's wrong with you? You've been in a pissy mood all morning."

"He didn't get his beauty sleep," Musa answered, causing Sky's eyes to narrow at her.

"Musa, you're not helping," Bloom remarked mildly in order to keep Sky from snapping at the raven-haired girl. Musa made a face but went back to munching on her taco. "All right, Blondie, what's the problem? Did you really not get enough sleep?"

"I got plenty of sleep," Sky retorted acidly.

Bloom was slightly taken aback by his tone. "All right, Sky. I'm sorry I asked," she muttered, half angry and half hurt. She looked back at her taco and bit into it to distract herself.

"Skyler Johnson!" Savannah suddenly exclaimed angrily. "Apologize to her right now!"

It was suddenly very quiet on their side of the Taco Bell, and all eyes were cast in their direction. Brandon (who had finally showed up with his and Stella's food) whistled lowly. "Wow, she means business, dude. You really made her mad," he mumbled to his blonde friend as he sat down across from Musa.

"Savannah, don't cause a scene. We're in public," Sky whispered angrily.

"Oh, no," Nicolas muttered, finding his food very interesting all of a sudden.

Savannah couldn't seem to decide between hurt or anger (or she was trying to be angry to cover the hurt).

Bloom pushed her chair back and stalked around the table. "Up, now," she ordered the blonde boy. When Sky didn't move, she gritted out, "If you think Savannah caused a scene, then I don't know what you'd call what I'm about to do if you don't get up, Sky."

Sky stood up (slowly) and Bloom gripped his forearm tightly as she dragged him through the Taco Bell and outside. Rather than start yelling at him immediately, she continued dragging him until they were in the grassy area that separated the Taco Bell and the McDonald's. She released his arm and tried to calm down before she turned to look at him.

"All right, I don't know what the hell your problem is, Sky, and quite frankly, I don't give a damn at this moment. You've been acting petulant all morning, and it had seemed to clear up a bit in the car. Obviously, it didn't or we wouldn't be outside the damned Taco Bell right now! I don't give a freakin' rat's ass if you apologize to me for how you spoke, but you are not going to talk to your eight-year-old sister like that! For god's sake, you sounded like Diaspro!"

Sky released a noise out of frustration and ran a hand through his hair. He seriously had way too much pent-up irritation that he needed to get rid of. He felt like he was being haunted by Diaspro's actions, even though he knew Bloom and Nicolas weren't like that with each other. It was just eating him alive. "I'm sorry," he finally told her hoarsely, turning to face her. "You're right. I shouldn't have said that to Savannah, and I'm sure I did sound like Diaspro. I'm just...still bothered by some stuff that happened yesterday, and then I honestly didn't get much sleep. This morning I woke up to Savannah scolding me about last night, and my mood has progressively gotten worse."

Bloom studied him for a long moment, even though she knew she wouldn't stay angry with him. Sighing softly, she shifted on her feet self-consciously. "Don't take offense to this, but I really think you have a mind like a girl's sometimes. Minus the whole 'I'm not going to tell anyone anything even though I might get angry enough to mutilate someone' mindset that most guys seem to have."

Sky gave her a look that showed he wasn't really in the mood for anything even remotely like a joke or teasing. "Not funny, Bloom."

Bloom smiled and shrugged. "I wasn't really doing it for your sake, anyway." Her turquoise eyes glinted up at him, and he felt his breath catch. Something in her eyes shifted after that, and she looked away. "We should probably get back in there. Your food's getting cold, and there's only so much comfort Nicolas can offer your sister."

Sky nearly tripped over himself to get at least one pace ahead of her. "Wouldn't she get it from Musa, anyway?"

Her laughter startled him. "Oh, wow, you don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Sky asked warily as he opened the door.

Her turquoise eyes were alight with mischief when she answered, "Your little sister has a crush on Nicolas. I noticed it the first night I met her and have only strengthened the conviction over the past weeks."

Sky was dumbfounded. She had to be joking.

Bloom's eyes narrowed slightly. "Don't say anything to her about it. She's obviously tried not to let anyone know, and it's common for girls her age. She'll grow out of it." Sky still looked like nothing would ever make sense again, so Bloom grabbed his hand and tugged his arm lightly to make him walk. Several heads turned their way, but she didn't release his hand until they reached their table.

Since Savannah had (as she'd expected) taken her seat next to Nicolas, Bloom took the strawberry-blonde's vacated seat beside Musa. Sky (not-so-subtly) asked Nicolas to move so he could talk to Savannah, so Bloom directed her gaze to Musa (who had finally finished her eight tacos).

"Thus far we've done a shitty job of keeping you two from being alone together," Musa commented, just to make the redhead laugh.

It worked. "Thanks, Muse. I needed that," Bloom told her softly.

"No problem. But I feel I should warn you about something before I forget," the raven-haired girl replied.

Bloom looked cautious. "Um, okay?"

"It's highly possible you two might hear comments about Savannah," Musa stated vaguely. When Bloom simply sat there looking at her, she elaborated, "Half the Taco Bell thinks you're her parents."

Bloom's eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"

"It's true," Riven muttered from the other side of Musa.

"Yeah," Brandon also felt the need to add assurance. "Several parents told their kids, 'That's why you don't have sex until after you're married; you could end up with someone you don't get along with for the rest of your life.' I don't know how old they think you two are since Savannah looks at least four and that would mean you'd have had her when you were twelve."

Bloom held up a hand to keep him from continuing. "Brandon, they weren't thinking through it like that. They saw a blonde and a redhead with a strawberry-blonde girl, and that was all they needed to make their assumptions."

"That was all who needed to make their assumptions about what?" Sky asked as he sat down in the seat he'd been in prior to being dragged outside (which was now the one across from Bloom).

"According to Musa, half the Taco Bell is under the assumption that Savannah is our daughter," Bloom answered without any inflection.

Sky blinked, startled. "Wh-what?" he stuttered, his face flushing.

"Yeah, we know; they're idiots," Riven replied, causing Musa and Brandon to snigger.

Bloom didn't comment as she picked up her discarded taco from earlier and bit into it. After she swallowed that bite, she motioned at Sky's tray of food. "Eat, or I'll have Brandon force-feed you," she ordered, her tone serious.

Brandon snorted but didn't speak out against her statement. Sky didn't believe his best friend would do it, but he set to eating his food anyway; he was hungry after all. Besides, there was no need in causing more commotion and drawing even more attention to their group—they stuck out enough without being loud. And of course it didn't help with what his friends and cousin had said about the patrons thinking his little sister was actually his daughter.

The only benefit that came from such ridiculousness was that he was distracted from the insecurity that had been plaguing him for the last twenty-four hours.

Riven was quite certain these next few evenings would be extremely awkward. He wasn't really "close" with any of the guys he was rooming with, and it took everything in him not to claim the couch as his sleeping quarters the moment he saw it. He had no intentions of being anyone's "roomie."

"This room is bogus," Brandon announced spontaneously as he came out of one of the two bedrooms.

Timmy blinked at the brunette. "What are you talking about? This room is a suite."

"I know, which is why it's bogus. One of the rooms has a king-sized bed while the other has a set of double beds," Brandon explained, crossing his arms.

Timmy's eyes widened. "Dibs on a double bed!" he shouted.

Riven held up a hand. "I'll take the couch."

Brandon deflated. "Which means we're stuck with the king-sized bed, Sky."

Sky resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I knew that the moment you said there was a king-sized bed. It wouldn't be fair to make the others stay in the same bed. Besides, we've done it before," the blonde muttered as he moved around his brunette friend and headed to his "designated" room.

"Yeah, but I didn't have to deal with you being in a pissy-ass mood," the brunette mumbled to himself as he followed after the blonde.

Timmy shook his head before carting his suitcase to the room with the double beds.

Helia didn't move as he watched Riven set his bag on the couch. "You don't have to leave your bag in here. I'm sure there's a closet in at least one of the bedrooms."

Riven was slightly startled by Helia talking; he'd thought the raven-haired boy had gone after Timmy. "Thanks," he answered shortly, hoping that was all.

But Helia wasn't through. "If you want, Timmy and I can switch out with you so you aren't on the couch every night."

The burgundy-haired boy shook his head. "No, it's fine. I prefer the couch." After a pause he added, "But thanks."

Helia looked like he wanted to say more, but he kept quiet. As he turned to head into the room he'd be sharing with Timmy, he stated, "If you change your mind, let me know."

Riven didn't dignify that with a response as he moved his bag to the corner nearby before promptly plopping down onto the couch in a seated position. He let his head fall back against the couch cushion as he stared at the ceiling. He felt out of place in this little "group" of theirs. He didn't really get on well with any of them—hell, really, the only two who seemed to know each other were Sky and Brandon. He, Timmy, and Helia were all just kind of...there, without any real attachment to each other or to Brandon or Sky. It didn't seem like it bothered Timmy or Helia, though.

Riven picked his head up when he heard someone sigh and sit down. He quirked a brow at the blonde boy, but he didn't comment or ask a question. In return, Sky didn't say anything; he simply sat there with an odd expression on his face that Riven was sure he'd seen before but couldn't quite place.

Riven had just allowed his head to fall back against the cushion again when Brandon emerged from his and Sky's room and pulled one of the armchairs over near the couch. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not really tired yet," Brandon commented as he sat down, and Riven had to bite back a curse. He'd driven nearly twelve hours and they'd already stopped and had dinner. All he wanted to do was sleep after the long day he'd had.

"You might just be the only one, then," Sky replied. "I'm exhausted, and with all the driving he had to do, I know Riven has to be."

Brandon crossed his arms. "No offense, dude, but you're the one who stayed out late last night, so I can't say I really pity you."

"Brandon, be nice. I'm sure he had his reasons," Helia admonished the brunette lightly as he sat down on the floor and crossed his legs Indian style.

Brandon snorted and muttered something beneath his breath.

"Oh, shut up," Sky snapped, his eyes narrowing at the brunette. "You don't know a damned thing about last night!"

"Yeah, because you won't tell anyone!" the brunette retorted heatedly.

"Oh, for the love of—that's why you're so angry!? Because I won't tell you this one thing!?" the blonde exclaimed.

"It doesn't have to be me, but you at least need to tell someone! You've been acting like a jerk all day!"

"Guys!" Timmy suddenly shouted to cut their argument short. Both boys glanced at him, startled, and he continued in a more normal tone, "Will you stop yelling? We haven't even been here twenty minutes and you're already well on your way to getting us in trouble. Brandon, you're the only one who keeps provoking Sky. Even Musa stopped after lunch. We know he's been acting like a jerk, but coincidentally, it's only really bad when someone's pestering him."

Helia nodded. "Timmy's right. You can't get mad at him for snapping at you when you keep making provocative comments. He's not slipping up and telling you what you want to know or hear, so stop doing it."

Brandon opened his mouth to reply, but this time Riven cut him off. "You're making everyone around you miserable. We aren't defending Sky's outbursts and his girlish sulking, but you definitely haven't been helping to calm him down."

"What do you mean my 'girlish sulking'?" Sky muttered irritably.

Riven shrugged nonchalantly. "You've been heaving sighs randomly like you want someone to talk to you about whatever's bugging you, but when anyone tries, you make a huge deal out of it. That is the way all girls I have ever met sulk. Guys sulk quietly and will eventually just tell someone without making a big deal out of it."

Sky snorted, "Guys make big deals out of things when they sulk, too, Riven."

"You're free to think that, but not many guys sulk the way you have," Riven remarked with a smirk as the blonde heaved an exasperated sigh and slumped back into the couch.

"You're impossible. Probably even more-so than your sister," the blonde muttered.

Riven really didn't like how often Sky compared him to his sister. This was one of many (past) observations that Sky had made, and it irked him because he and Bloom couldn't be fairly compared. "Will you quit making statements about my sister and me? We may have the same parents, but we still weren't brought up the same way. I don't care how much you think you know about her, but you don't know a damn thing about me," Riven growled.

The other four boys were slightly taken aback at Riven's harsh reply. "I'm sorry, Riven. I didn't know it bothered you. I'll try to keep from doing it again," Sky answered softly, and Riven gritted his teeth.

At that moment, Riven's cell phone went off, causing all five boys to jump slightly. He fished it out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Oh, jeez. You're already irritated. What happened?" Bloom sighed on the other end of the line.

Riven saw Sky perk up when he heard Bloom's voice, and he had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Brandon and Sky argued because Sky was sulking like a girl. It was entertaining until he made a remark comparing the two of us."

His sister was quiet for a moment. "I assume by 'he' you mean Sky, and by 'us' you mean you and me. Is that right?"

"Yes."

"I know you hate it, but it's not that big a deal. We are a lot alike, even if we didn't get that way the same way. He's not being judgmental when he says it."

Riven hated it when she made his outbursts seem petty. "Whatever. Why'd you call?"

Bloom laughed. "We just wanted to check up on you guys since Sky's been in a bad mood."

The burgundy-haired boy smirked at that. "Hold on. I'm putting the phone on speaker, and I want you to repeat what you just said," Riven ordered.

"Riv," Bloom sighed, and he imagined she was shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

Riven pulled his phone away from his ear and pressed the button that would put her on speaker. "Okay. Repeat what you said."

"We just wanted to check up on you guys since Sky's been in a bad mood," Bloom replied.

"Oh, come on," Sky complained as Brandon hooted in laughter and Riven's smirk grew. Even Timmy and Helia seemed to be fighting smiles.

Bloom laughed slightly. "Sorry, but you have been."

Sky didn't reply and instead crossed his arms and proceeded to sulk.

Brandon laughed as he stated, "Since you can't see, he's currently pouting."

"I am not pouting!" the blonde protested, his face flushing darkly.

"That's even your pouting voice," Musa snorted, and there was some background noise that none of the guys could decipher. "And in case you're curious, you're on speaker phone over here, too. Bloom's gone to get the others, and Savannah's taking a bath."

"Please tell me she heard about Sky pouting," Brandon entreated hopefully.

Musa laughed. "Oh, yeah, she did. You probably heard her laughing, but she said he wasn't allowed to pout when we're this close to the happiest place on earth."

That set Brandon off into another bout of laughter, and Sky seriously contemplated smothering his best friend with a pillow.

"So Musa, what are the sleeping arrangements in there?" Timmy asked in order to change the discussion to a safer topic.

"Well, it looks like we've got a suite or something. There are two bedrooms and a living room area. One bedroom has two double beds, which is where Flora, Tecna, and Stella are staying. The other bedroom has a king-sized bed, which is where Bloom, Savannah, and I are staying."

Timmy grinned. "Hey, you guys have the same room layout as we do."

"Huh. That's cool. How are you guys set up?" Musa asked, though she didn't sound all that interested.

"Timmy and I are sleeping in the room with the double beds; Brandon and Sky have the king-sized bed; and Riven called dibs on the sofa," Helia answered.

"Ha! I was right!" Bloom announced triumphantly.

"Yeah, yeah," Stella retorted.

"Please tell me you didn't bet on what the sleeping arrangements were," Sky stated incredulously, emerging from his sulk.

"Unfortunately, no, or Bloom and I would be thirty bucks richer," Musa answered.

Riven smirked and shook his head. His sister chose some of the weirdest people to befriend.

"So I take it Sky's still living since I heard him speak," Stella commented cheekily. There was a semi-loud smacking sound followed by Stella exclaiming, "Ow! What was that for, Bloom!?"

"Stop trying to provoke him. Your boyfriend's the one who has to deal with it if he gets mad," Bloom reprimanded.

"Besides, it's not any fun to pester him when he's already pissy," Musa added.

"You guys, be nice. Sky really hasn't been that bad," Flora scolded. "And when he does get mad, it's because you guys have made comments."

"Yeah! My brother hasn't been that bad!" Savannah suddenly exclaimed. "So stop bothering him. He'll tell us what's wrong when he wants to."

Sky was slightly relieved to hear his sister's voice since that gave him the opportunity to change the subject. "So you finished your bath, huh?"

"Yep!" the young girl chirped. "And Bloom's gonna dry my hair after we get done talking to you!"

"That's good," Sky replied, smiling. He'd never seen his sister warm up to someone as quickly as she had Bloom, and he was glad that Savannah liked her and vice versa. Diaspro had never cared about Savannah's opinion of her, but Bloom seemed to care more about Savannah's opinion than anyone else's.

"We should probably be going to bed soon," Tecna commented. "We have to be ready to leave by seven in the morning. We're supposed to meet with the trip advisors and get our tickets for Disney World and Sea World."

"Of course. It's always 'get up early' with the school trips," Stella complained.

Riven rolled his eyes. "Quit your whining, Princess," he retorted sarcastically. "You've had a nap today."

"I have to have at least seven hours of sleep or I get bags under my eyes! Concealer only works so well, you know!" Stella retorted.

"Okay, okay—obviously we need to go ahead and stop this conversation. It sounds like several people need sleep already," Bloom sighed.

"Yeah, before the PMD continues to spread," Musa agreed. (11)

Everyone went completely silent, and the guys looked between each other in confusion. What the hell did "PMD" mean?

"Uh, Musa, what does 'PMD' stand for?" Sky asked hesitantly.

"Pissy Mood Disease," the raven-haired girl answered brightly.

"Okay, then!" Bloom announced quickly, and it sounded like she clapped her hands together. "Girls, say goodnight before Musa causes Sky to mutilate everyone."

Brandon and Riven sniggered, earning a dark look from the blonde.

"Goodnight, Timmy," Tecna was the first to obey Bloom's order.

Timmy smiled bashfully. "Goodnight, Tecna!" He paused and blushed before adding, "Je t'aime."

The four boys glanced at each other in confusion when Tecna answered, "Je t'aime, trop."

"What does that mean?" Brandon asked the ginger-haired boy quietly.

Timmy blushed a little darker but was saved from having to answer by Stella. "Goodnight, Snookums! I'll see you in the morning!" the blonde girl exclaimed.

"Goodnight, Princess!" he replied warmly. "Sleep well, milady!"

"Goodnight, Helia," Flora spoke slightly bashfully.

Helia smiled. "Goodnight. Sweet dreams, love," he replied.

"Y-you, too!" Flora squeaked out, and there was the sound of muffled giggles.

"Goodnight, Sky~" Savannah chirped. "I love you!"

Sky blushed slightly at the looks the other boys sent him. "Goodnight, sweetie. I love you, too."

Riven snorted. "You sound like her father," he muttered, and Sky glared at him.

"All right, boys, don't stay up too late. We won't be able to stand all of you in bad moods. We'll see you in the morning. Night, Riv. Night, everyone else." Bloom paused, and there was distinct noise in the background. "Okay, Musa and Savannah decreed that I say goodnight to you personally, Blondie, so that you won't pout, so... g'night!"

Sky's face flushed darkly at the accusation, and he muttered, "I would not have pouted."

"Yes, you would've," Brandon and Musa retorted at the same time.

Timmy, Riven, and Helia tried to muffle their laughter at the look on Sky's face. "Wait—is Bloom gone?" the blonde asked suddenly.

"Yeah, she drying Savannah's hair," Musa answered. "Why?"

Brandon grinned. "Aw, he wanted to tell her goodnight," the brunette teased, and Sky finally gave into temptation and chucked a pillow at his best friend.

"Eh, you can always text it to her," Musa replied, uninterested. "Well, goodnight! Let me know if Sky needs any Midol—I always have some with me 'cause you never know when you'll need it. See ya!" There was a clicking sound as the line went dead.

Riven started laughing silently, his shoulders shaking, as the other four boys looked at each other in confusion. When Riven noticed he was the only one who understood, he smirked and explained, "Midol is a type of medication made specifically for girls when they're cramping. Your cousin just insinuated you were on your period."

It was silent for a moment before Brandon asked, "Dude, why do you know that?"

Riven looked at him like he was an idiot. "You've met my sister, right?"

"I have a sister, too, but I don't know anything about that," Sky retorted.

Sometimes Riven wondered what his sister saw in the blonde boy. "Your sister is eight; my sister is sixteen. There's a reason you've never heard about it since your sister's too young to have started that. In a few years, you'll know more about it than you ever wanted to. Trust me," Riven grumbled.

"Joy," Sky muttered. They all went quiet for a long moment, and Sky suddenly stood. "All right; I'm off to bed. Night, guys." He maneuvered around Timmy and headed off into the room he was going to share with Brandon.

Timmy stood and stretched. "I'm gonna head to bed, too. Goodnight," he called with a wave of his hand.

"I may as well turn in, too. Goodnight," Helia bade them, covering his yawn with his hand as he stood and walked after Timmy.

"Night," Riven grunted.

"G'night, guys!" Brandon exclaimed, causing the burgundy-haired boy to roll his eyes. That wasn't necessary. Brandon turned to face him with a grin. "So I guess it's just you and me, huh?"

Riven didn't dignify that with a response as he made himself comfortable on the couch.

Once he'd finally stopped moving, Brandon asked, "So, what's going on between you and Musa?"

Riven was so startled he nearly fell off the couch. "What do you mean?"

Brandon shrugged. "It just seems like there's something there. I'm pretty sure she likes you."

Riven waited for the punch line, but it never came. "...and?"

"And it seems like you like her. Don't think no one's noticed how often you two willingly spend time together," Brandon teased.

"Well, I'm so sorry to disappoint you, but nothing's going on, Brandon," Riven snarled.

"Yet," the brunette amended.

Why did he never seem to make any sense? "What?" Riven asked.

"Nothing's going on yet. But I know Muse. She's about as stubborn as they come, so if she really wants a relationship with you, she'll make it happen so long as she knows you like her back," Brandon explained with a shrug.

Riven didn't like where this was headed. At all. He'd already been told as much by his sister, but he had a rule that unless more than one person felt the same conviction about something, then it wasn't likely. Yet here Brandon was, telling him that Musa liked him. "And who says I like her back?" he bit out.

Brandon smirked. "You do. You treat her distinctly differently than you do the other girls," he answered, standing and stretching. "All of us have noticed it." Grinning, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and started walking toward his room. "Well, night, buddy! See you in the morning!"

Riven was baffled by the short, and mostly one-sided, conversation he'd just had with Brandon. Was his attraction to Musa that apparent? And why had it seemed like Brandon was fishing for an opportunity to give him advice on it? He shook his head at himself to keep from getting wrapped up in it; maybe Brandon had just been talking to talk. Although... he had seemed sincere enough. Riven stiffened slightly—what the hell was wrong with him? He was acting as though he had a reason to trust Brandon when they weren't even friends (though Brandon sure as hell seemed to act like they were).

Grunting slightly to himself, Riven turned onto his side (changing into pajamas be damned) and closed his eyes. He could think about this tomorrow; right now he just wanted to sleep.

Timmy was fiddling with his phone when the raven-haired boy returned from changing into his pajamas and brushing his teeth in the bathroom. Helia grinned as he slid onto the unoccupied bed. "Texting Tecna?" he asked as he made himself comfortable against the headboard.

Timmy nodded, smiling somewhat bashfully. "Um, yeah, I was," he murmured, staring down at his phone. "But she's actually going to sleep now, so…"

Helia chuckled softly. He could relate with that feeling. "It's weird, knowing they're right down the hallway. Kind of makes me want to break the rules."

"Yeah," Timmy agreed. "I mean, I know Tecna and I don't show all that much affection in public, but still, it's hard to stay here when I could be in there."

Helia angled himself slightly so he was facing Timmy as best he could. "You don't have to be publicly affectionate with each other to enjoy being together. Flora doesn't really like it, either, but I'm happy just being in the same room with her. I imagine that's how you and Tecna feel with each other."

Timmy nodded in an affirmative response, and they were quiet for a couple minutes, both lost in their own thoughts. "So," Timmy spoke up suddenly, angling his upper body to where he was facing Helia. "You call Flora 'love' now, huh?" The ginger-haired boy grinned as Helia shrugged.

"Yes, I've decided it may be the easiest way to acclimate her to the word for when I think she's ready to hear me say it," Helia answered sincerely. He knew it probably sounded odd, considering they hadn't been together very long, but he was almost certain that he had fallen in love with the brunette girl—and if he hadn't yet, then he was definitely in the process of it.

Timmy could understand that. He wished he'd been as confident about it as Helia, but things had turned out perfectly fine for him and Tecna. Granted, they were still in the stages of saying it in English, but at least they had a way to say it where it wasn't as embarrassing for them to speak it in front of the others.

"Timmy?" Helia's voice brought the ginger-haired boy back to his surroundings. Almost like thinking about it had conjured the thought to pop into the raven-haired boy's head, Helia continued when he noticed he had Timmy's attention, "You said 'je t'aime' to Tecna when we were telling the girls goodnight. What does that mean?"

Timmy fiddled with his phone nervously, pushing his glasses up onto his nose more securely. "It's, um, French," he stammered slightly. "For 'I love you.' Some of Tecna's family lives in France, so she taught me a little of it."

Helia smiled at how nervous Timmy was acting. He was a great guy, and it was easy to tell that Tecna adored him. Helia just wished Timmy could use that to feel less self-conscious about it. "So I assume that 'je t'aime, trop' means 'I love you, too'?" Helia queried, feeling no need to make things more awkward by commenting on Timmy's insecurity.

"Yes," Timmy answered shortly, though not unkindly. After a short silence between them, Timmy asked hesitantly, "Helia?" Helia hummed softly to show he was listening, and Timmy paused before asking in a rush, "How will you know when Flora's ready to hear you say that?"

Helia chuckled softly, relaxing back against the headboard. "I don't think that's what you're really asking me, is it?" he teased kindly. Timmy blushed faintly but didn't respond so Helia assumed he was correct. "Girls drop subtle hints the same way guys do. If the back of her hand brushes against yours more than once when she's not standing or walking that close to you, she probably wants you to hold her hand. If she has her head tilted back and is smiling up at you, she's likely angling for a kiss. If she's teaching you French just because she wants to and happens to tell you how to say 'I love you' in that language, then you can probably bet she wants you to say it to her. " The raven-haired boy grinned at the blush that darkened Timmy's face. "Those are just a few things, obviously. And I bet you'd notice more of them if you thought over things Tecna may have done or said that didn't seem to make sense in the context."

"Huh," Timmy intoned, staring down at his phone in his hands. Helia had given him quite a bit to think about, and he had to say he preferred this sort of advice over the advice Brandon had given him. He shifted his gaze to the raven-haired boy and smiled brightly. "Thanks, Helia! I really appreciate it."

Helia smiled and nodded. "Anytime, Timmy. That's what friends are for, right?"

Timmy was slightly startled by the term "friends." He hadn't really thought of anyone in their group as a friend since these weren't typically the sort of people he'd hang out with. But if he thought about it, maybe they were friends. They certainly hung out often enough, and they helped each other out (within reason). An unexpected burst of happiness welled up in him, and Timmy grinned. "Right!"

Sky emerged from the bathroom and glanced at Brandon to see the brunette boy had a goofy grin on his face. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers before making himself comfortable. He ventured another glance at his best friend to see he was still spacing out and grinning. Unable to stand it, the blonde asked, "I take it you've spoken to Stella?"

"Yeah," the brunette sighed happily. "She called me." And since he was incapable of not teasing his friend a little bit, he added, "While you were sulking in the bathroom."

Sky closed his eyes and sighed wearily, refusing to rise to the bait. "What did she want to say?"

"She wanted to say a proper goodnight." Brandon's grin transformed into a smug smile. "She also told me what she was wearing." (12)

Sky held up a hand. "That's more than I wanted to know, dude."

Brandon was unrepentant. "You're just jealous because you don't know what Bloom's wearing."

"You forget that Bloom's already slept in a pair of my clothes before," Sky retorted. The answering curse from Brandon was all Sky needed to feel satisfied with his choice of response. It was silent for a few minutes, and Sky was about to drift off when Brandon nudged him. "What?" he mumbled, turning his head to look at the brunette.

"Did you text her?"

Sky tried to blink through his sleepy state. "No. I figured it'd be pointless since she didn't say goodnight to me voluntarily."

Brandon snorted and rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot, Sky. Not even Savannah can make Bloom do something she doesn't want to do. It just gave her the excuse she needed." Sky didn't look very convinced, so Brandon threw his arms up exasperatedly. "Fine, don't believe me. But if you asked everyone else, they'd say the same thing."

Sky frowned, glancing over at his phone. He honestly did want to text her, but he was worried about how she would respond. She'd been acting a little off all day, and she had practically ignored him while they were eating dinner. He was used to everyone else interrupting any sort of moment they had, but he wasn't used to her avoiding talking to him. She'd also kind of jerked away from him when he had touched her arm to get her attention. The thought sent the pain of the rejection lancing through him again, and he shut his eyes tightly. There was no use in thinking about that.

Brandon suddenly got up, and Sky's eyes snapped open as the bed shifted slightly. "What're you doing?" the blonde asked suspiciously. Brandon didn't reply, but it became obvious pretty quickly when he snatched up Sky's phone. Sky laid there in shock for a couple of seconds, and then he was scrambling up. "Brandon, what the hell!?" he exclaimed, going after the brunette as he retreated, intent on what he was typing. "Brandon, give it back!" The order fell on deaf ears, however, and Sky started struggling with his best friend in an effort to get to his phone.

Brandon suddenly turned around with a grin and dropped the iPhone in his best friend's hands. "There. You have your phone back."

Sky clenched his free hand into a fist that he barely kept from swinging at the brunette. He'd never wanted to hit the boy more in his life than he did now. "What the hell, Brandon!?" he exclaimed, his blue eyes dark in anger.

Brandon held up his hands defensively. "Will you calm down? You haven't even read the text I sent, and already you're about to strangle me. I'm just trying to help."

"How is this helping, Brandon?" Sky hissed. "Don't you think she's going to be a little put off that I wanted to tell her goodnight when she's tried to avoid talking to me as much as possible?" Brandon frowned slightly at that statement, and the look on his face gave Sky pause. It was like the brunette boy had forgotten something. He opened his mouth to get it out of Brandon when his phone went off. He looked down at it warily (and surprised) to see it was a text response from Bloom. He slid the little green box across the block that had popped up on his lock screen and read the green bubble of text first.

"Hey Red this is Bran. Sky is sulking cuz he wants to tell you goodnight but he thinks you don't want him to and he won't listen to me. I'm risking my life sending this btw."

Sky sent his best friend a glare. "Real mature, Brandon," he muttered, to which the brunette grinned.

"What can I say? I have a way of getting to the point. Now what did she say?" he asked eagerly.

Sky prepared himself for the worst as he looked back at the message and read the gray bubble. "Bran, somehow I think you'll live through it. But why didn't you just send this from your phone? Sky, don't kill him. I get why he sent it. And I don't mind if you tell me goodnight. Just don't make it awkward."

Brandon—who had moved so he could see the text, too—laughed and clapped his friend on the back. "See, it's fine. 'Just don't make it awkward,'" he parroted.

"What does that even mean?" Sky asked, furrowing his brows as he looked at the brunette.

Brandon sighed and shook his head. "It's not that difficult to understand, Sky. She's basically saying you need to leave it simplistic. Say something a friend would say. Like... 'Goodnight, Bloom. See you in the morning.' You might be able to get away with a 'sleep well,' but don't even attempt to say 'sweet dreams' or anything akin to that. That is rather flirty, and therefore awkward." Brandon paused before he added, "And do not use emotes, dude. When it comes to texts like this between friends, only girls are allowed to use emotes."

"Brandon, I don't even use emotes," Sky muttered as he started to type out a response.

"Don't send it until you tell me what you typed," Brandon warned, causing the blonde to roll his eyes.

"Whatever," he sighed, and a moment later he looked at his friend. "Okay, I'm saying, 'Goodnight, Bloom. I hope you sleep well. I'll see you in the morning.' Is that acceptable?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Brandon ignored the sarcasm. "The second sentence is a little awkward-sounding, but go ahead and send it," the brunette answered.

Sky shook his head as he returned back to his bed and slid back under the covers. "This is stupid," he muttered, more-so to himself.

"Last I checked, she's not the one who has a boyfriend," Brandon commented, causing Sky to grit his teeth. Why did everyone have to keep throwing Diaspro in his face? Jeez, he couldn't get his mind off that situation for more than a few minutes, and none of his friends were really making it easy for him to tell them about what had happened.

His phone chimed again, and he slid the green box over again so he could read it. "Goodnight, Blondie. Sweet dreams." Sky felt his heart thump hard against his chest, and he tried to ignore the burst of warmth that spread through him at such simple words. There was absolutely nothing to get excited about over four words like that, but he couldn't help himself as he smiled. His phone vibrated as another grey bubble popped up, and he almost laughed at what he read. "And for future reference, just leave it at 'I hope you sleep well.' It has more of an effect."

Feeling absurdly happy, Sky pressed the lock button on the top of his phone before setting it on the nightstand. He closed his eyes and settled down comfortably against the pillows, managing to ignore the brunette who was apparently having issues getting comfortable. After the bed had shifted a couple of times—and Brandon still hadn't found a comfortable position—the brunette angled his head to look at Sky. "Sorry, dude. I can't get comfortable," he apologized.

Sky lifted his head slightly to look at his best friend before laying it back down on the pillow. "It's fine," he mumbled, his eyes slipping closed. "Just... don't stroke my arm."

Brandon tried his best not to laugh, but that had to be one of the more ridiculous things Sky had ever said. "Dude, do you even know what you just said?" he asked after he managed to calm down.

Sky looked irritated as he glared with his one open eye. "No, I don't. I'm tired."

"You said..." Brandon started laughing slightly, and he cleared his throat to compose himself. "You said, 'Just don't stroke my arm.' What... what the hell does that mean?"

Sky honestly didn't know, and Brandon's laughter was somewhat infectious now that he knew what his reply had been. "I don't... I don't know," he replied sincerely, and that only set them off into more laughter.

If there was one thing Brandon and Sky could say about their friendship, it was that they hardly ever had a dull moment. (13)

(1) This idea came around because of Sarah. I had no idea what I wanted to do for Flo and Helia, and she started laughing and told me she'd always imagined Helia doing the warrior pose. And it just developed from there. ;)

(2) Sarah and I both agree that we don't see Tecna and Timmy being really intimate with each other, even in private. So I came up with the awkward scene of him trying to hold her just to do it, and Tecna being like, "Okay... I like this a little but not enough to keep my mouth shut." I just don't see Timmy being confident enough to pull off that sort of thing properly. Maybe later, but I doubt it. Sorry. [/shrugs]

(3) This part was one of the ones that gave me the most trouble. I really did not enjoy writing their scene. Blame my newfound adoration of Bloomdon shipping. [/sigh] But I'll prevail. I'll get back into the swing of Stellandon. Hopefully. [/cowers]

(4) I don't want to hear any bitching about this Rusa-ish part. Just be happy it's in here. I don't see Musa and Riven rushing into a relationship (considering they never did in the show) so I'm taking things slow. Riven's still a little flighty when it comes to dealing with his reaction to her. Deal with it. It's in character.

(5) Sarah and I both died while watching Season 5. Musa seriously bugs out over those singing whales. Hence, Musa likes whales. Just wanted to clarify where that came from. :)

(6) So this is a matter of personal preference, actually; I seriously think that "Fantasmic" is the best nighttime event Disney has to offer (if we don't include marathons they host). So... yeah~ That's why they're going to Hollywood Studios. :D

(7) The SUV I found for this is not one that we have in the States, but just go with it. xD If you want a visual, do a Google search for "2013 SsangYong Stavic" and you should find some article about it. [/nodnod]

(8) I noticed around this time that Sky wasn't acting normal, and so it gets a little out of hand when Bloom confronts him about it. I'm basing this off the mood swings my mother had when she went through a divorce with my father because he cheated on her. So his mood swings are not entirely bogus; it's a normal response, from what I've heard about others.

(9) This was supposed to be a short discussion, but then it got out of hand. So, if you know which LotR and The Hobbit characters are being referred to, kudos to you! Even more kudos if you know Gavroche from Les Mis! :D [/showers you with love and candy]

(10) This is dating back to 4kids era when they let the members have "chats" with the "Winx girls." Someone asked Musa and Riven what their favorite foods were, and they both answered "Mexican" because they liked spicy foods. Ergo, we have tacos.

(11) And thus we have our title. I couldn't come up with anything I liked, so... PMD it was.

(12) I'm still debating on if this statement was true or not. Brandon says lots of things just to mess with Sky, so... it could just be him saying it. Then again, maybe Stella would tell him if he asked. I leave that one to your interpretation.

(13) This is a true occurrence. Brandon just replaced Sarah's name while Sky replaced mine. I just thought it'd be a nice ending, and Sarah agreed that we should have it happen to two of the guys in the story. :D

Well, that's it for now! Next chapter will be them at Sea World. I'm looking forward to it but not at the same time. Sky will finally get the Diaspro thing off his chest, though. :)

Btw, if you're curious, the seating order is as follows: Front- Riven, Sky; First Row of Three: Bloom, Savannah, Musa; Second Row of Three: Tecna, Flora, Stella; Third Row of Three: Timmy, Helia, Brandon. (So the three established couples are sitting in front of or behind their respective partner.

Onto reviews! :D

darkredheart, thanks for the review. I hope this update was quick enough for ya. Sorry for the slight delay. (And I've addressed this once, but I will get to Rusa when I can; they don't do anything right now, so I can't write them.)

Semie, I've updated! xD I'm glad you're enjoying the story~ That's all I can ask. :)

Moreanswers24, I answered you once before, but thank you again for the review! I hope this chapter works for you!

Musa1992, thank you for being diligent and reviewing both the chapters I posted. In regards to chapter 10, I had already had one posted that you reviewed on, so it wouldn't let you review it again. FF is weird that way... As you already know, Sarah adored the shout-out you gave her. You made her day. :D (And I understand; anime is addicting.) As for chapter 11, I'm glad you think I kept Diaspro in character. I've tried, given the constraints of the character they show us. I just don't see her really liking Sky for the right reasons. ^^; Anyway! Here's a nice long chapter for ya, m'dear!

HappyHappy102, well hi! I hope this was a quick enough update for you since you've just recently reviewed (but it'll be a couple weeks between each update, I'd wager). I'm glad you're liking it, though!

Since I forgot to address this earlier (and I'm too lazy to go back up) - I'm going to try to focus on the guys forming friendships when I get the opportunity. I feel bad because they're not being focused on at all, so... yeah. Here's to hoping it'll go well! [/crosses fingers]

As always, I'd love it if you guys reviewed, but it's not necessary~ 'Til next time!

The Dynamic Duo~ ;)

P.S. - Yes, I changed it again. The other "signature" was annoying me... ^^;