Chapter 15: Families Suck Sometimes

Chapter 15: Families Suck Sometimes

Time went by quickly after Halloween. The parents of many students were outraged by the party, and school became sort of boring after that. People were around evaluating things all the time, and before Blue knew it it was Thanksgiving. She went home for Thanksgiving, as nearly everyone else did, and hung out with her family for the extended weekend. This proved challenging, because she honestly didn't understand her sister, and she thought she didn't understand her parents.

This left her talking on the phone to Malik, who was hanging out with Teddy. Blue didn't really think it was fair that the two of them were from the same place and got to hang out with each other when they went home. Teddy was “venting” about his very large extended family, while Malik tried to talk to Blue. Blue's boyfriend then described to her how to create a “Skype,” and soon she was in a video call with Malik and watching Teddy run around in the background, falling all over himself and snorting, with a steady stream of curses pervading Malik and Blue's conversation.

Despite Teddy's presence in the room and ability to block off everything Malik was trying to show Blue somehow, Malik showed the girl his room. His walls were stripes of various grays, and they were lined in posters of his favorite shows, actors, bands, and movies. Blue didn't really care as she asked, “WHERE IS ME IN YOUR ROOM?”

Malik laughed, “I don't have any good pictures of you. Do you remember how you have a lot of energy? You're blurry in all my pictures of you.”

“PUT THEM UP ANYWAY!” Blue demanded, then watched Teddy in the background carefully.

“And then Moneybags goes 'money!' and...!” at this point he fell over himself and declared a very loud swear which caused Blue to glare at the space that had been occupied by him.

“Hold on,” Malik told Blue, as he went to tend his friend. “You OK?” Malik asked, and though Blue couldn't see it, Teddy probably shook his head. Malik helped Teddy up to his bed, where he sat and coddled a bleeding knee. Malik went to get a band-aid, leaving Teddy to stare at his knee. Eventually, and apparently for the first time, he noticed Blue and waved.

“HI BLUE!” he shouted, and Blue as pretty sure it was because she was on Malik's desk in a computer, and Teddy was all the way over on his bed, where Blue wouldn't be able to hear him well. The thing is, Teddy was really good at projecting, and when he shouted it hurt Blue's ears.

A girl who couldn't possibly be related to Malik or Teddy showed up on Blue's screen then, giving Teddy a “look,” as Blue liked to call it. “Teddy, can you keep it down? We're playing Wii. Has that been you thudding around all over the place for like twenty minutes?”

“My family is so frustrating!” Teddy declared, as Blue realized this girl must have been kidnapped! Or she was there to kidnap Teddy and Malik? Oh no! Blue wasn't there to save them, so she tried to will Uni there to help them out, but Uni didn't show. Blue was disappointed in her.

“Teddy, everyone's family is frustrating,” the Asian girl insisted, but Teddy just looked bitter as Malik returned with band-aids and a washcloth to help with Teddy's scrape.

“Li-Mei,” Malik greeted, and Blue almost remembered that name but couldn't place it.

“Malik,” Li-Mei replied, “your gay boyfriend is loud. And bleeding on your carpet.”

Malik made no attempt at responding to Li-Mei's “gay boyfriend” comment, so Blue thought they might be cheating on her but she didn't say anything. Not yet. “Teddy,” Malik said with a less sympathetic voice, “try to contain your blood.” Teddy gave him the puppy eyes, which Blue knew well, and Malik sighed, “Here, take this washcloth and put some band-aids on your knee.” Teddy nodded with his sad eye mode still activated as Malik returned to Blue with a sigh.

“Sorry, but disasters of Teddy and his family are best averted early on or allowed to run their course and managed along the way,” he explained, and Blue nodded.

“Who was that girl?” Blue asked, and Malik seemed surprised Blue had forgotten his sister. “I knew it...She's your wife, right?”

Malik laughed at Blue's dismay then, and lied, “She's my sister. Adoptive sister. That means we're not related by blood, but we're still related. We're siblings. She's my parents' daughter as much as I'm parents' son.” Malik only felt the need to continue on for so long because Blue was shaking her head at him.

“Your parents have been lying to you,” she insisted, and Malik sighed.

“We've had this conversation,” he responded simply, and Blue didn't believe him.

“You crazy. I had no idea your parents were kidnappers,” Blue sighed, and Malik shook his head. Blues's mom called something to her then, and she asked Malik what she had said, since Malik seemed to understand her.

“You need to go eat dinner with your family,” her boyfriend stated, and Blue nodded at him.

“OK,” she said, “I'll Skyperize you again sometime perhaps? Have fun with Teddy!”

“Yep,” Malik replied with a smile, “have fun with food.”

Malik disappeared from her screen then, and Blue sighed as she went to join her family for a meal. She had a fairly small family, so she was always a little jealous of people with big families, but Teddy made it seem like it was sort of awful. The only people joining her family unit for Thanksgiving were her uncle, aunt, and their three-year-old daughter. Meals and basic family interactions were a chore considering how little they all understood of each other, but it was extraordinarily boring. She wondered what her friends were doing with their families at that time.

Teddy was still sitting in Malik's room, staring at his knee with its new band-aid while Malik ate with his family. Pretty soon he received a phone call requesting his return to his house and begrudgingly drove home, where his large family was waiting for him. Though he tried to sneak by them, his family trapped him in a series of exchanges, relating but not limited to how big he'd gotten, what year of school he was in, why he thought wearing glitter on his pants was a good idea and whether all young men were doing that, whether they missed his birthday, calling him by his much larger brunet cousin's name and then asking his name when they were corrected and many other questions, eventually resulting in Teddy retreating to his room.

One of his cousins stood in the middle of his room, and he stared at her with giant eyes until she noticed him. “Oh, hey,” she said finally, but apparently couldn't see how flabbergasted Teddy was by her uninvited presence in his room.

“Hey,” Teddy replied, his voice dripping with animosity. His cousin missed it entirely as she sat on his bed and spoke to him.

“So what are you doing in here?” she asked, opening one of his nightstand drawers as she did so.

“This is my room,” Teddy replied. His cousin nodded as she picked out a notebook from his drawer and started flipping through it. Her blond cousin just stared at her, until he finally just walked out of his room and into his sister's room. It was on her bed that he flopped down, face first, and just lay there, totally still. It was in this position his sister found him later, and she patted his arm, as if sympathizing with a pain she didn't feel. While he stayed on the bed for the rest of the evening, Malik at the very least showed his family the courtesy of his presence.

Malik's family wasn't at all like Teddy's; they remembered everything about him. It was almost a little creepy, he thought, when they asked him, “You were in a reality show? What was that like?”

“Your class is doing the play As You Like It? How fun. You have to double up on parts though, right? That must be tough.”

“So how is your new girlfriend, Blue? I hear she's a little odd.”

Later in the evening, he and his two aunts, one uncle, twelve cousins, and two grandparents played Trivial Pursuit together, and every single time anyone got an answer right there was a chorus of, “Good job!” and “You're so smart!” coming from almost every adult in the room. After the adults were all tired and went to bed, the cousins who were older than twelve all gathered in Malik's basement, where they complained about how annoying their relatives could be. Malik entertained himself by counting the number of ethnicities shared by the seven of them. His mom's side of the family, which was the group gathered at his house, was all into adopting foreign children, so most of the occupants of the room came from different countries. There were seven ethnicities among the six of them, the only odd kids out being the two biological children in the room, one per aunt (though they were each half white half something else, so there were slight differences between them).

“And yes, I'm pretty smart,” Li-Mei was saying as Malik's phone started buzzing and he saw the words, “Teddy (home)” on the screen. He excused himself from the group as Li-Mei continued, “but I don't need to be called a genius all the time. How is that going to motivate me to become smarter?”

Malik answered his phone, expecting Teddy, but instead ended up talking to two of Teddy's prepubescent cousins. “Hey,” one of them greeted, and the two giggled as if they thought they were incredibly funny, “hey, um...hey,” the boy stopped and told the other he couldn't “do it” then. The speaker changed and Malik blinked in confusion.

“Hey have you and Teddy...kissed yet?” the second cousin said, as if it was a dirty word. Malik had forgotten that literally every member of Teddy's family thought he and Teddy were dating. “Because...Because that's gay!” A reinforcing voice came from the other boy, urging him to “ask about the butts and wieners,” at which point Malik hung up the phone.

When he returned to his own cousins he was rubbing his temples and trying to forget the phone call he'd just received. If his estimation of Teddy family meltdowns was correct, Teddy had given up for the night and didn't even know what his cousins were up to. Malik ignored the subsequent phone calls and eventually ended up in his bed, which was being occupied by one of his cousins as well.

In the morning he received a call from “Teddy (mobile)” and answered it, hearing Teddy sob from the other end, “I'm so sorry, Malik. They're so stupidddddd.”

“Haha,” Malik laughed, “I don't mind it. How was Thanksgiving for you?”

“OH MYYYY GODDDDD THEY'RE NEVER GOING TO LEAVE!” Teddy whined, and Malik laughed again.

“Power through it,” he said, as one of his aunts greeted him with an overly cheery, “Good morning!”

“I want to go back to school! ...That's the worst thing I've ever saiddddd,” Teddy maundered, before someone stole his phone from him and Teddy squeaked something along the lines of “How did you find me?”

“IS THIS MALIK?” a thirteen-year-old girl screeched. From her voice, Malik knew who she was. He was speaking to none other than Teddy's second cousin, Hillary, who had a crush on him. She firmly believed she could “awaken” his “love for the female form,” even though she hardly had a female form herself.

“Hi Hillary,” Malik replied, and the girl literally screamed.

“He recognized my voice!” she declared. “It's true love I know it!” From the sound of things, Teddy then described Blue to her, and the line went dead very suddenly. Malik shrugged as his family got ready to leave his house, and called Teddy back when they were all gone.

“Hi Malik,” Teddy greeted cryptically, “I'm thinking I might just hit my head against the wall until I give myself a concussion...or die.”

“Would you like to tell me about it?” Malik asked. Teddy then started the tale of his Thursday, before he showed up at Malik's house in the middle of the day, through when he passed out late at night to the sound of raucous laughter from his great uncle that haunted his dreams. Unfortunately for Teddy, his family was still at his house, and before he finished telling Malik of his woes his phone was taken from him.

“Who are you talking to? Your family is visiting! You spend time with them!” one of his aunts ordered him, as Teddy wrestled the phone away from her.

“Malik I have to go I love you bye!” he shouted into the phone, before it was removed from his possession again. His best friend laughed, then found Teddy's behavior made him miss Blue, so he called her up again.

Blue was finished with her Thanksgiving celebrations as well, and she was delighted to receive a call from Malik, “Hey Babyface,” she greeted with.

“...I don't have a baby face,” Malik replied, sounding completely confused.

“I thought it was, like...a pet name?” Blue responded, jumping onto her bed as she did so, and making an “Oomph” noise that confused Malik further.

“Oh. No, I don't think so,” he mumbled, glad to be talking with her again, even if the conversation started out in confusion. They'd only been apart for a couple days; this missing her already thing was not good for his sense of independence.

“Sorry. I'll try again...Hey Dollface,” Blue corrected, and Malik grinned.

“Hey Dollface,” he simply laughed. They spoke for a while, and eventually their conversation turned to how everyone else from school was spending their Thanksgiving...

Gerda and Alec spent Thanksgiving in the dorms, trying to comprehend why exactly it was celebrated, and dissecting what turkeys had to do with it.

“Perhaps the color of the turkeys,” Gerda suggested, and Alec nodded at her to continue, “reminds them of the Native Americans they exploited?”

“Well, that could be,” Alec replied, scowling. “Yes, I imagine it has something to do with Native Americans...”

“Maybe Hakan knows...”

Kip spent Thanksgiving at his home, apparently having a staring contest with a large ham that was sitting on his table while his parents took notes about his reactions. He hadn't moved since he'd gotten home and gotten led into the kitchen, where his parent sat him. Even they seemed surprised when he was still sitting there after they'd gone to bed for the night. Eventually they moved the ham, and he immediately fell asleep at the table. In some attempt to not be the worst parents ever, they moved him to his bed, where he spent the rest of the extended weekend.

Rashida spent Thanksgiving in her grandparents' house, doing generally regular Thanksgiving sorts of things. Hammy, Reg, and Miss Allberry had a slightly more "exciting" Thanksgiving.

“No, seriously,” Hammy insisted to Today's parents, where they went by default at Thanksgiving time. Hammy's family was a no-go, and Reg's didn't celebrate the holiday, so Today's hippie style parental home was the destination of choice. The meal was completely vegetarian. Since Hammy was already a vegetarian, Reg pledged to become one too after they got engaged. Today didn't often cook for herself, so she'd become a vegetarian by default after moving in with Hammy.

“I don't think that's possible,” Today's mother, May Allberry, replied.

Reg chimed in then, “Yeah, actually it's pretty much everywhere.”

“I still don't think toilets flush normally,” Today's father, Birch Allberry, replied after a pause.

“They do,” Today deadpanned, and her sister, Tomorrow, and brother, Yesterday, nodded to enforce her words.

May and Birch shook their heads, “Nahh.”

Austin spent the majority of her break in her room, only coming out to eat and tell her brothers, Evan and Ewan, to be quiet. Kendall spent time with her family as well, awkwardly staring at her younger brother Kendrick as he spoke to their extended family. Pablo, Hakan, Estela, and even Kakahi also had fairly "regular" Thanksgivings, too, in their own rights.

By Sunday they were all back in their dorm rooms, and while Blue and Malik discussed how much they missed each other, Teddy sobbed into Pablo's shoulders about how annoyed with his family he still was.

“And then I didn't have any time without them until I left earlier today and...and they were still there! It was so awful,” he whimpered, as Pablo held him consolingly.

“I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, my family sounds a lot like yours, but they all speak in Spanish,” Pablo consoled, and Teddy stopped sobbing to blink at him in confusion.

“Do you speak Spanish, Pablo?” he asked, and Pablo smiled.

“Claro que sí,” he said, “pero no hablo ningún idioma asiático. Me siento como un fracaso.”

“De repente, tú te has convertido más atractivo para mí,” Teddy said, leaning in toward Pablo, all but forgetting his familial woes.

“Dame un beso,” Pablo replied, seeming to be equally as turned on by Teddy speaking his mother tongue. As they started kissing, Kip walked into the room, gave them a look only to be described as “Oh. Ehh...I'll deal with the awkward to stay in my own room” before flopping down onto his bed and sighing loudly. The other four occupants of the room ignored him.

“What else about me did you missssss?” Blue asked, and Malik frowned. Kip sighed again.

“Seriously, though, Blue...I just listed every one of your personality traits. I missed everything about you...I can't...I can't move on from there,” he replied, and Blue grinned. Kip sighed even louder.

“Well I missed your abs and your pretty green eyes,” Blue said. “Oh, and your smile. Mmm. Love me some Malik smiles.” Blue stopped, and Malik looked a little disappointed. Another sigh from Kip floated toward them, but no one noticed.

“Nothing else?” he asked, and Blue shrugged.

“Sometimes you do silly things with me,” she suggested, “but you're pretty much perfect, aren't you? I missed your awesomeness.” A great big sigh came from Kip's direction.

“Perfect?” Malik mumbled, not taking it as a compliment as Blue hoped he would have. “I'm not—,” he tried to say, but Kip interrupted him.

“NOTICE ME,” Kip ordered, and both couples abruptly pulled away from each other and gave him curious glances.

“Is there a problem, Space Invader?” Teddy asked, and Kip sighed again.

“Rashida...Rashida...broke...up...with...me,” he said sadly, and the couples each glanced at each other.

“Why?” Malik asked, voicing the rest of the room's feelings.

“Higlork,” he mumbled. “She thinks I don't take things seriously or something. Like...religion is somehow something serious now. Who knew?”

“It usually is,” Teddy replied.

“Radish broke up with you?” Blue mumbled, with her mind starting to spiral out of control. If Kip and Rashida broke up, then anyone could break up! Plus, Teddy and Malik were quite possibly cheating on her with each other.

“Yeah,” Kip sighed, “I just said that. Anyway, I know I'm a dude and for some reason dudes aren't supposed to express their feelings, but do you all want to watch a sad movie with me? Preferably we would invite someone who is single as well so I don't feel terrible about it. You guys cool with that?”

The four of them nodded, and spent the evening with Alec and Kendall for very strange company. In the middle of the movie, Teddy left to answer a phone call. Even with the volume turned up almost as high as it could go, they could hear him shriek, “NO! Diaries from sixth grade are still very personal! Just because they happened a long time ago doesn't mean they become public domain!!! Hillary...Put it down or so help me I will call the police! How did you get it, anyway? ...Hillary, stealing is wrong! ...Hillary! Why did you call to ask if you were just going to read it anyway?”

I wrote a new chapter! It was more Teddy focused than I actually intended. Writing about his family was a lot of fun though. Yayyy! :D

Chapter 14: Halloween

Halloween

“TRICK-OR-TREAT!” Blue yelled at the top of her lungs.

“More emotion!” Miss Allberry commanded forcefully.

“...I'm sorry, I just can't. I've given it all I've got,” Blue mumbled.

“Well, all right. Sit down,” Miss Allberry permitted, and Blue shuffled over to her seat. “So as I was saying, you all have very important homework other than memorizing lines tonight! You must, and I mean must, dress up in a costume and act as if you are whatever the character is. Never break character! I also expect you all to show up at the school's Halloween party tonight. Now will you please all tell me what you'll be going as?”

“Ooo! Me first!” Blue said, waving her hand in the air. “I'm going as a vampire! Like a cool one. Not like Twilight, right?” Teddy nodded as if this was something they had previously discussed as Miss Allberry wrote down Blue's costume choice.

“I'm going as Captain Jack Harkness from the British show Torchwood,” Teddy said with a proud grin.

“Omnisexual means you need to be into girls too,” Kip informed him with a proud grin of his own. Teddy stuck out his tongue as Miss Allberry waited for the next person to tell her his or her costume.

“I will be dressed as Vlad III of Romania,” Gerda stated with a twisted look that was only visible if you looked very closely.

“No sh--?” Teddy gasped, but Blue saw his words coming and interrupted him.

“BEEP!” Blue yelled.

Teddy rolled his eyes affectionately before turning his attentions back to Gerda, “Vlad III? As in, 'Vlad the Impaler'? Inspiration for Dracula?”

“Yes,” Gerda replied.

“That's going to be a fun character to stay in. This gives us no right to murder, correct?” Teddy laughed, and Miss Allberry nodded.

“If you kill anyone you're going to go to jail,” Miss Allberry warned, and Gerda rolled her eyes as she nodded.

“I'm going as Jesse from Team Rocket,” Malik muttered.

“And I'm going to be James!” Kip declared, causing Rashida to roll her eyes from the seat next to him.

“I was somehow suckered into dressing as Meowth. Which will be absolutely awesome in terms of staying in character,” Rashida sighed.

Silence followed as everyone turned to look expectantly at Austin, who glared at them all. Finally she stated, “I'm going as Austin Connelly, AKA me, and I'll be staying in my dorm room.”

“Stop being such a terrible non-team player. I can fail you,” Miss Allberry snapped.

“Fine, I'll come to your thing. But I'm not dressing up,” Austin sighed.

“You could go as Grumpers!” Blue said, and Austin rolled her eyes and sighed again.

“All right, if that's the best you can do,” Miss Allberry agreed as she wrote down Austin's choice. “Mr. Paddington and I will be dressed as Mario and Luigi. We tried to convince his fiance, Reginald the British, to dress up as Peach. We haven't convinced him yet, but we totally made him a costume, so he'll probably be guilted into it.”

“You know, not to be sizist or sexist or anything,” Teddy stated, using a term Blue coined herself, “but wouldn't you or Hammy be a better choice for Peach?”

“No way,” Miss Allberry replied singularly.

“So which one of you will be which?” Malik asked, and Miss Allberry shrugged.

“You'll just have to show up to find out,” their teacher replied. They spent the rest of the class period discussing how and where they got their Halloween costumes, and then preparing for their roles.

The next highlight of their day, as happened often, was Hammy's class, where he gave the class the same assignment. In his class they played improv games in character of their costumes, and discussed why exactly the Halloween celebration that was happening was happening the first Friday of November. Hammy explained that since it was a school sponsored event it had to be on a Friday or Saturday and since Halloween had been on a Sunday, they put it on the nearest Friday after Halloween. When asked why it couldn't have been on October 29^th, Hammy simply shrugged.

After class the kids got ready for the night's party, dressing up in their costumes. Alec was predictably not going, so Blue told him to take good care of Shelly while she was away. After the group finished getting dressed in Teddy's room, they met up with the rest of their acting group, as well as a couple of tag-alongs by the names of Hakan, Pablo, Estela, and Kakahi. Hakan was dressed as “Pyro” from X-men, and had real flamethrowers attached to his arms, to everyone's concern. Pablo and Kakahi were dressed as Spock and Captain Kirk, respectively. Estela was dressed as a chopstick, since she'd allowed Kakahi to pick her costume as long as Kakahi wore Estela's choice. They'd all agreed to go along with the assignment as well, though Estela was having trouble deciding how to be a chopstick, Hakan was Hakan, and Kakahi and Pablo were convinced Spock and Kirk were lovers. Unfortunately this caused both of them to whine all the way to the gym, where the party was being held.

“I mean, I'm into girls and all, but I don't want to cheat on my beautiful boyfrienddddd.”

“And I'm totally a dude right now but I'm still only into girls, really...Except for...I'm not really a guy right?”

Estela sighed as she replied, “No, you're still female, even if you dress up like a guy. We talked about this, remember?”

“...Right,” Kakahi mumbled, as she fidgeted with her costume.

Blue was running ahead of the group, biting on a practice dummy's neck, when she was greeted by a sight that made her scream. “It's Justin Bieber!” she declared, and Teddy laughed as he ran to catch up with her.

“I forgot to tell you Kendall got dressed and left before us,” he whispered, so as not to get caught out of character.

“I must...suck his blood!” Blue declared, pouncing for Kendall.

Teddy got in her way, though, stating, “Whoa, whoa. Don't make me take you out, vampire.”

“I wanted to be a vampire...,” Kendall mumbled, “but my b—.”

“It's Justin Bieber!” Kakahi yelled, running over to “him” and grinning. “I love you! You're truly an inspiration to lesbians all over the world! ...I mean! Damn! Captain Kirk!” she shouted, as if an order to herself. She then took a rather feminine stance and wiggled her hips, as well as her head, back and forth with each word, “Captain Kirk has no need...For Justin Bieber. I fly space ships, thank you. I fly the 'inner prize.' I got it out of a cereal box.”

“That's not quite right...,” Teddy mumbled to himself.

“Most illogical, captain,” Pablo stated as he caught up with them.

“What is illogical?” Kakahi asked, snapping a “z” with her fingers.

“The way you're talking,” Pablo replied, stifling a giggle.

Kendall walked away while Teddy made “attractive” faces at Pablo to try to attract him over to him. Pablo, in true Spock fashion, ignored Teddy. Blue ran inside the gym then, and Kakahi chased after her, yelling something about space vampires and needing to shoot her with a “pew pew-er” gun. Pablo followed after, because he figured he should stay with Captain Kirk, since they were in love he was pretty sure. Hakan flew by them as well, simply because he wanted to beat everyone else inside.

Rashida, Kip, Malik, Gerda, Austin, and Estela caught up with Teddy, who shrugged at them when they asked what happened to everyone else. They walked inside, and were immediately greeted by Mario and Luigi.

“It'sa me, Mario!” Hammy declared loudly, and Miss Allberry nodded.

“Anda me, Luigi,” she added. “...And you are?”

“Uh, Jesse and Ja—.”

“Nu-uh,” Miss Allberry interrupted. “Don'ta you havea thinga to saya?”

Malik and Kip glanced at each other, then at Rashida and then started speaking, “To protect the world from devastation.” Malik sounded creepily like Jesse, they all noted.

Kip spoke next, “To unite all people within our nation.”

“To denounce the evil of truth and love.”

“To extend our reach to the stars above.”

“Jesse.”

“James.”

“Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light.”

“Surrender now or prepare to fight.”

Rashida chimed in at last, with what was probably her best Meowth impression, “Meowth, that's right!”

“Aha,” Hammy grinned, “welcome, please come ina!”

As Hammy and Miss Allberry stepped aside, the group realized exactly what it is that they had walked into.

“Shit,” Teddy mumbled, as they all looked around and their teachers faded from sight. “Blue! Pablo! Don't be idiots!” he shouted, though their friends were nowhere in sight. They all looked around then and realized they were in a scene very befitting of a horror movie, and the doors had been locked behind them. The only source of light was a dull glow, which showed a maze like structure which was divided up into various rooms. Every so often something would move, and the light would flicker out completely.

“So...Blue, Kakahi, Pablo, and Hakan. Off on their own in this...,” Malik mumbled, sighing. “Not good.”

“I think someone is going to get burned,” Kip warned, referring to Hakan and the presence of others who were clearly put there to scare them.

“IN CHARACTER!” they heard a shout from outside the door. “You're constantly being monitored!”

“Right,” Teddy and Malik mumbled at the same time causing them to give each other weary glances.

“We're here to...Steal your Pikachu?” Malik mumbled, to himself mostly.

“Hey! I know there's a vampire around here somewhere!” Teddy shouted. There was no reply, other than a dull mumble from Austin.

“I'm leaving,” the redhead stated, turning toward the door and knocking on it, “let me out!”

“You're doing perfect staying in character, Ginger. Unfortunately, letting you out is against the rules! Which, coincidentally, are simple. Find your way through the maze and get to the other end! Have fun!”

Austin growled at the door before turning back around to see find herself all alone. “Awesome,” she mumbled as she started walking forward.

Blue was sort of starting to regret how excitedly she'd run into the room. Because, well, even with Pablo, Kakahi, and Hakan with her, she wasn't exactly sure she was safe. The gym and a few other rooms, she and Kakahi and Hakan figured (though Pablo didn't agree for some crazy reason) had clearly been attacked by real life scary people, and it was haunted. Also, judging by the sounds they heard, there were murderers with chainsaws in there with them. So they stopped to talk and form a plan.

“X—Sorry, Pyro believes we should burn it down! Burn it all down!” Hakan shouted, cackling maniacally.

“Illogical!” Pablo declared, with a little more emotion than he should have, he knew, but he was a little worried by the group he was with. Sure, he acted like a moron most of the time, but he'd never suggest “shooting everyone” or “biting everyone” or “burning everything down.” Pablo cleared his throat then and spoke calmly, “We have to find the exit, right? So let's just move forward and...Oh god...There's an arm hanging down from the ceiling I'm scared!”

“X—Pyro will protect you!” Hakan declared, aiming his flamethrowers at the ceiling. The arm, to all of their alarm, moved out of sight as they watched.

Kakahi whimpered and buried her face in her hands, Pablo whimpered and buried his face in Kakahi's wig, and Blue and Hakan “got down to business.”

“OK, the way I see it, we have no other choice but to eat everybody's blood and then shoot them and light them on fire! And don't you have a death grip, sir?” she asked Pablo, who sighed.

“I suppose,” he mumbled.

“Let's move!” Hakan shouted. “I'll hold down the rear, you take care of the front, madame vampire-face!”

“OK!” Blue agreed.

“Teddy,” Pablo whined to himself, “I'm scared...”

“Don't worry,” a creepy voice said, from behind them. A blood curdling scream followed, and the entire group stopped moving at the same time.

“I wanna go home!” Kakahi declared.

“Be strong captain,” Pablo mumbled, as they heard a crash. The next thing they heard was a yelp, followed by the sound of flames bursting out of the cylinders attached to Hakan's arms.

“OH MY GOD YOU WEREN'T KIDDING WHEN YOU SAID THOSE WERE REAL!” Pablo shrieked, and Hakan nodded.

“Of course,” the daredevil replied. “I made it myself this time. I learned that the things Gerda makes for me always tend to be better for play. I made this for work and serious times.”

“Did Gerda help?” Blue asked from the front of the line as she flailed at the air when she heard something that sounded like a growl.

Hakan glared at the ground, “Only a little.”

As if on cue, the flames spurting from his arms died down, eventually becoming nothing more than torches. Hakan kicked at the air angrily, hearing a grunt as he did so and seeing a ghostly face. Hakan let out a scream and stumbled into Pablo and Kakahi, causing the three of them to fall onto Blue. A chorus of screams could then be heard from the group, as a voice shouted out to them.

“Hold still, you four! Captain Jack is on his way!” Teddy shouted, and Pablo threw Hakan and Kakahi off and ran to his boyfriend, hugging the spray dyed brunet and crying into his shoulder.

“Where's everyone else?” Pablo whimpered, and Teddy shrugged.

“They got grabbed and taken to another room. I'm glad I managed to find you, Spock. I trust you have Kirk, the vampire, and Pyro with you?” Teddy asked, and Pablo nodded as he noticed a ghostly pale arm touch Teddy's shoulder.

“God dammit,” Teddy mumbled, brushing the hand off his shoulder and turning around to stand between the figure and his friends. Blue let out a tiny squeak of terror as she, Kakahi, and Hakan stood up and backed into a wall. They looked all around and realized they'd walked into a dead end. An arm fell down from the ceiling again, and a person crawled down attached to the arm, causing Kakahi to hide in a corner. Hakan held his arms up threateningly to the two figures, who both were, notably, covered in blood. One had a badly mangled hand. The other held her arms up to approach Hakan, Kakahi and Blue, while the first grabbed for Teddy.

Teddy pulled something out of his sleeve as Hakan turned his flames on, now at a dull lighter-like level, and Blue held her arms up menacingly. A loud bang sounded, and the man approaching Teddy thudded to the ground. The woman walking up to Hakan stopped momentarily, then smiled creepily and walked away with no warning. Teddy grabbed Pablo's hand and pulled him over to where the other three were as Blue and Hakan gave each other high fives for scaring the woman away.

Teddy smiled at the sight of them, then started to speak seriously, “So this is basically a maze we have to get through. Unfortunately, I don't think the school planned this well. Though we definitely walked through security scanners when we walked in, I don't think they did their job if I still have this. It's a, well, I call it a stun gun. Vampire, you and Pyro used these previously in the zombie apocalypse. Since I was able to sneak this in, one can only assume others could have sneaked things in as well. Therefore take every threat as real and stick together as closely as possible. OK?”

“Where's Malik?” Blue asked, and Teddy sighed.

“You get points off every time you use their real names, careful. And I'm sorry. We were walking when someone with a chainsaw popped out and grabbed him. James and Meowth panicked and chased after Jesse, and they vanished from our sight, leaving only the chopstick and I.” Kakahi perked up at Estela's mention, but Teddy shook his head sadly at her excitement. “As the chopstick and I walked, we heard a shout and turned to look at it. What can only be described as a faceless man came running in and grabbed her around the waist. To be honest, it was a bit scary. Let's get going though, they'll find their way...I'll drop you guys off and head back in.”

“What about Vlad the Impaler?” Hakan asked, and Teddy laughed.

“Oh, she's fine. Don't worry about her,” he stated, shaking his head and smiling.

“So what do we do?” Blue asked, as Teddy frowned.

“You guys need to follow me. Stay close, and trust no one. The special effects department is having a great time with this,” he replied, grabbing Pablo's hand and intertwining their fingers, causing Pablo to smirk.

“This is sex for me, as a Vulcan,” he said, and Teddy rolled his eyes.

“You want to hold my hand, or make jokes?” he replied, and Pablo looked ashamed.

“Hold your hand...,” he mumbled, then shouted as he looked up. “Pyro! Look out!”

Hakan screamed as arms grabbed him from seemingly inside the wall and pulled him through, as Kakahi and Blue ran as fast as they could into Teddy. “Pyro!” Blue shrieked, as Teddy pulled her forward.

“Vampire, we know you are quite brave,” he said, “so I would ask that you please take the other side of our chain. Join hands with Kirk. Kirk, would you please join hands with Spock?” Kakahi and Blue nodded as they grabbed onto each others hands, then Kakahi grabbed Pablo's. “Step carefully. I saw a girl fall through the floor on my way to find you guys,” Teddy warned, and the other three glanced at the ground, only to notice that it was littered with bugs. Blue whimpered as they walked through the “wall” they'd previously been backed against, after Teddy did some sort of magic to it. As they walked the dim light flickered for a final time, and the room became pitch black. Screams echoed throughout the building, undoubtedly from other students lost within the maze.

“I'm worried about Jesse,” Blue mumbled, and Teddy nodded as he halted all of them to let a wandering translucent figure walk by.

“I'll find him as quickly as possible and return him to you,” Teddy guaranteed, and Blue nodded sadly.

“Thank you, Captain Jack,” she mumbled. They kept walking through the maze, and apparently Teddy knew his way through somehow,. Even though it was dark Blue felt only moderately terrified. The lights flickered back on and she was overjoyed, but only for a quick moment, since there was someone with a face that looked it had started partially melting off mere inches from her own.

“Hello,” the old woman uttered, and Blue buried her face in Kakahi's shoulder.

Teddy held his gun up at the woman, and Blue realized for the very first time that her bestie was left-handed. The woman simply smiled at him and vanished into thin air, causing Blue to cry inside her mind. “Don't worry,” Teddy assured quietly, “we're almost to the end. Just keep walking.”

“How do you know?” Blue asked, as Kakahi shifted her hand against Blue's. Though this scared Blue for an inexplicable reason, Teddy's words repeated in her mind. “Just keep walking,” she mumbled to herself, as she waited for Teddy's response to her question. Kakahi stopped walking, though, so Blue asked, “What's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong,” a creepy voice responded, and Blue screamed. From the distance she heard someone gasp her name, then swear loudly and use her character name instead.

“Hold on, vampire. The exit is right there, Spock. Take Kirk and leave. Through the door!” Teddy shouted, running back to Blue. Blue, though, had started panicking because the person holding her hand started pulling her away. As it occurred to her that vampires wouldn't be scared of anything, even people trying to kidnap them, Blue made a big decision.

She bared her fangs big and proud and said, “I vant to suck your blood,” in her best Transylvanian accent. The person holding on to her hand hesitated for a moment, obviously in fear of Blue, and made a funny sound a little like laughter. Clearly it was a muffled cry of terror, and Blue felt pretty proud of herself as Teddy returned to her.

Her bestie grabbed her hand and started to run with her to the exit, making a huffing noise as if annoyed by the predicament they were in. Within a moment she was pushed through a door, and greeted by Estela, who scowled at her for a moment than smiled that she had company.

“Chopstick!” Blue said with delight, and Estela smiled.

“It's OK to break character in this room,” she replied. “I thought I would wait here for you guys. You're the first to show up...”

“How did you get here?” Blue asked, and Estela glanced at the ground in shame.

“Turns out if you start crying and curl up into a ball on the floor saying you want to go home one of the seniors dressed up like a ghost will take pity on you and walk you to the exit,” Estela replied with a light laugh. Teddy appeared in the doorway then and shoved Pablo and Kakahi through the door, smiling when he spotted Estela.

“I'll be back with everyone else, OK?” Teddy said, and the group nodded.

“Be careful out there,” Pablo and Blue said at the same time. Teddy titled his head and smiled at their simultaneous words before returning to the scary room inside. As soon as he was inside, he looked around for other members of the group. “Team Rocket” were hopefully still together. Teddy knew all he really needed to do was look for “Jesse's” beautiful abs. They would stand out in the darkness, right? Before that, though, he wanted to confirm that Hakan was OK.

“Pyro!” he shouted, then heard a shrill response.

“No touching Pyro! Pyro has flamethrowers!” Hakan shouted, and Teddy followed his voice back into pitch black darkness. As he walked the faint light flickered back on, and his eyes began to be able to see just a small amount. He followed Hakan's screams and his eyes to the entrance of the maze, and ended up in a secluded area, where four people were approaching Hakan as he held his arms up menacingly.

When Teddy realized what the people walking over to Hakan were saying to him, he found himself laughing. “Listen, we just want to get you out of here. We're sorry for grabbing you, it was a mistake.”

“That's what they all say!” Hakan shouted, and his eye twitched. There were four people talking to him, three looking like ghosts and the final one looking like she was in some terrible accident.

“Yes, we are all saying that! Because we don't want you to burn us, even with tiny lighters in your arms!” the girl insisted, and Hakan's eye twitched again as he looked at her and the swollen bloody growths covering most of her body

“NOOOO!” Hakan yelled, starting up the flames on his arms. Teddy decided to wait no longer as he jogged over.

“Hey Pyro,” he greeted, and Hakan excitedly hugged Teddy.

“These guys are trying to kidnap Pyro!” he exclaimed, and Teddy nodded.

“I know, they absolutely are. Let's go, I'll take you to the exit,” the smaller boy stated. Hakan nodded and began following Teddy, but held his flamethrowers up to the ghosts just in case they tried anything. Many of them rolled their eyes, and they all dispersed. Teddy held his gun up to a couple of wandering figures who looked very similar to the girl who'd been speaking to Hakan and they left the pair alone. Teddy wasn't sure yet, but it seemed like there were less roaming people trying to get them.

Once Hakan was safely with the others and had been reassured many times Gerda was absolutely fine, Teddy headed back inside to look for Malik, Kip and Rashida. As he searched he wondered if the “Space Invader” had had a psychotic meltdown yet.

“Team Rocket” wandered the room they'd been shoved into together absently, wondering if they were ever going to make it out. “Meowth” was holding hands with “James” for a time, until Rashida decided Kip was just being too annoying. None fo them were doing well with being in character.

“What?” Kip asked, and Rashida and Malik glared at him.

“Just knock it off,” Rashida commanded, as they walked forward.

“Seriously though, I don't see how any of this is scary,” Kip replied, and Malik and Rashida glared again as a ghost popped out then disappeared. The latter two in the group jumped, and Kip just shook his head and shrugged.

Malik spoke in spite then. “Guess how many of us there are here?” he growled, and Kip glared.

“Don't you dare,” he warned, and Rashida and Malik glanced at each other.

“Three,” they said at the same time. Kip screamed and covered his ears.

“What the hell?” Malik mouthed to Rashida, who just shook her head and shrugged. They kept walking forward, their eyes adjusted to the dim lights of the room by that point, until they found where they'd come in. Walking through the door, they realized they had finally made it back. To the room they'd started in, at least. They rejoined the maze, noticing a distinct lack of anyone at all trying to grab them anymore. Suddenly they heard someone shouting their character names, and shouted back. At least, Rashida and Malik did. Kip seemed to be both bitter at them for scaring him and frustrated that this place was supposed to be scary.

Teddy ran over to them with this awkward smile on his face, motioning the exit. They walked through the door and Teddy explained he felt bad leaving Austin behind and went back into the room. Once he was back inside the room, he laughed at the sight in front of him. Gerda stood among a field of bodies, cackling evilly. Teddy just laughed to himself as he called out to her, “Vlad! Have you seen Austin?”

Gerda turned to look at him and every hint of evil in her faded away, “Is she lost? I have not seen her. I will find her though. One moment.” She turned and sprinted back into the maze, and Teddy bent down and inspected the bodies lying on the ground. Gerda had apparently rounded up every single person who was terrorizing them that night and put them to sleep with weapons she'd specialized to fit Vlad the Impaler.

Teddy was admiring her handy work when she returned with Austin, who turned into a color that could only be described as “snow white” when she saw the bodies. Teddy guided her out of the room as Gerda made sure she didn't leave anyone behind. Once the group was all together again (minus Gerda, who was seriously enjoying the other room) they walked into the next area, where a happier Halloween party was taking place. Reg was there, dressed as Peach as Miss Allberry and Hammy had predicted, and there were buckets full of candy for them to consume. For the rest of he evening the group hung out and ate candy to drown out their sorrows.

So that's that. It's been a while since I posted a chapter, but yep. It might be a little long, actually...Anyway, I hope you liked it. :)

Chapter 13: Blue Gets Sick

Hi-d-ho! I did say I was almost done with this chapter, right? It's not quite as...lively as most, but I enjoyed writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it.


Blue Gets Sick


“Achoo!” Blue shouted loudly. Malik smiled at her and rolled his eyes.

“Sneeze like that too much and karma's going to get annoyed and make you get sick for real,” he warned, and she shook her head.

“Who's Carmen?” she asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Malik just smiled and shook his head at her.

“Never mind,” he replied, as she grinned at him.

“Soooo Malik,” she said, grabbing her boyfriend's hands, “what are we doing tonight?” Malik turned a funny bit of red, so Blue gasped, “You look like you're sick now! Oh no! I made you sick with my words!”

Malik smiled at Blue, then leaned forward and kissed her lips lightly. “Let's just watch the movie.”

Blue nodded and moved over to sit right next to Malik, mumbling to him, “You better not have just gotten me sick,” as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Kip had given the room for a night, since they frequently repaid the favor and let he and Rashida have nights in the room to themselves. They snuggled in to watch the movie, but then Blue got tired and fell asleep instead.

When she woke the world was a blur...





Ummm...What's going on? Is anyone going to pick this story up? I get it, I guess. The story is dependent on Blue's continual consciousness. The writer is somehow unable to handle third person while she's unconscious for as long as she will be. Then I guess I'll take over. My name is Teddy Albrecht. You probably know me as Teddy Albrecht from this story. See, as a genius, I am able to tell that this story is a story. I'm also aware on some level that I am a fictional character, but I try not to let it get me down. I guess I'll take it from here! Where were we?

Right, so when Blue woke up, it was as she feared! She was totally and repugnantly sick. Malik called me over to his room, worried, and I helped him get Blue back to her bed. Her face was red, her forehead was hot...In my expert opinion, she had a fever. I informed Alec Potts, my arch-nemesis (sorry, did you not get that yet? Well he's my nemesis) about it, promised my super best friend Malik Blue would be fine, and went to bed. The next day was a Friday, so I had to promise Malik I would watch over Blue while he was in class.

As I sat in her room, watching Alec Potts secretly to try to understand some of his secrets, I made a brilliant discovery!

“How are you feeling Blue?” I asked, not expecting much of an answer.

“Just fine,” she replied, “well...sick of course.” Now this wasn't the usual “crazy girl” tone of voice I'd come to expect from her. Dare I say it she sounded normal. At this point I wasn't really sure how to utilize this new discovery, but I was sure I would figure something out. In the mean time, I shelled out some ibuprofen for her to keep her fever down, which she took with a glass of water, like any sane sick person might. I figured I didn't really need to watch her every moment, so I brought along my laptop to do fun things with. I didn't really have much stuff to do though, so I mostly tried to think of things to ask Blue while she was, let's say, lucid.

“Sooo Blue,” I said to her, making a cute face (all my faces are cute). “How do you like the school so far?”

“It's all right,” she shrugged, “I mean I love you and Malik, and most of the people around here are pretty cool. It's still kind of scary though.” Teddy nodded, and Blue smiled at the air with her eyes still closed. “You guys make me feel better about it though.”

“Hmmm...How did you know about Steel being an assassin? It took me at least a week to figure it out,” I asked then. Yeah, yeah, I knew he was an assassin. But I was lonely and a bit lusty and he was a decent enough companion. His name should have been a dead giveaway, I know, but...Well, it's not his real name, either. His first name is Steel, but his last name is something like Rocque, which could have been intimidating like “Kilmeistah” but I guess he liked his made up name better. Yes, I do know everything by the way. Don't test me.

“I just had a hunch I guess,” Blue replied. “When I think about it, I don't know why. Sometimes I just get these ideas in my head and I can't get them out.”

“Well I guess that one just happened to be spot on,” I stated, then glanced to Alec Potts. Alec Potts and I didn't get along....Well, that was a lie. We were always perfectly...civil. He was also pretty helpful in a bind, like a couple weeks back when he helped me hack some websites. At his core, I guess he might be a decent guy. There's a lot about him that you don't know, though, and I'm not at liberty to disclose it. I spent a while after that trying to think of questions to ask Blue, and I asked them until Malik returned to the room. Shortly after Malik showed up, so did another young man I had come to know very well. He goes by Pablo Martinez, and he identifies himself as Asian (he is Korean by my analysis), even though he's also part Hispanic. In his defense, he probably doesn't realize he's both, since he was, in fact, abandoned as a baby. Don't question my knowledge. By the way, Malik was correct a while back when he said he was a “pharaoh” if by that he meant Egyptian as I suspect he did. Blue is Israeli, I guess, but Israel didn't exist yet when her grandparents lived there. She can think whatever she wants, but she is definitely at least partially Middle Eastern and probably a bit Eastern European. And this has been my lesson in racial appearances, since I have studied them and I am an expert...I have a lot of free time.

In any caseee, Pablo ran into the room like a stampede. Like, I mean, I jumped pretty bad. It was scary. “I heard you were sick, Blueberry!” apparently, he'd started calling her Blueberry. I don't know why. Sounded weird to me.

“It's fine,” Blue replied, “I'm going to be fine. It's just the flu.”

“Oh, all right,” Pablo replied, as both Malik and he shot me strange looks.

“She's basically a regular person right now,” I explained, smiling at them, “and I am totes out now. See ya'll laters.”

“OK,” Blue agreed. She was sweet, letting me go. I waved bye and left the room, pondering what to do for the rest of the day. Though talking to Blue was vastly interesting, I was bored, and nerd as I was, I wanted to go do some other stuff. My hobbies, by the by, include violent video games, watching horror movies, bedazzling, reading up on things, looking at pictures of attractive men, trolling the Internets (only outrageously stupid things, mind you, so everyone knows I'm atrolling like telling people I'm going to marry my favorite characters and listing all our children), listening to good music, making faces in the mirror, practicing various talents, and napping. Which of these did I pick? None of them! Ha trick question! Hammy, our lovable teacher, was wandering around the dorms with his big blues eyes looking like a lost puppy, so I naturally decided to talk to him.

“Hey what up hamdog?” I asked. It was pretty brilliant, calling him “hamdog,” in my humble (OK, humble probably isn't the right word) opinion.

“I...I don't know. I was just wandering,” he replied, and I was perplexed. Why wander the dorms of our school? I asked myself.

I then posed the question, “Why wander the dorms of our school?”

He shrugged then replied, “When I was in college I always wished I would have gone to this school. I've never been in the dorms so I was curious what they were like. I'm not just a creeper or anything...”

“Oh...Well I'm bored. Sorry I missed class, Blue is sick and Malik is paranoid,” I explained to him, then smiled at him. I smiled a lot, you see. Cause Hammy is a cutie, and I can say that cause I'm a cutie too...or I used to be, before I hit my growth spurt. When Blue showed up I was about 5'6” and by this point I had surpassed 5'9” and I officially hated it (and was still growing). Growing just took away my ability to be cute. See, Hammy could be cute as long as he wanted (though I don't think he tried, with that fashion sense of his) because he stopped growing around 5'6” and therefore was just barely in the cute height range for males. Well I talk a lot about random stuff, huh?

“Oh is she?” he asked, and I nodded. “That's too bad. She should go see the nurse.”

“Not much the nurse can do. She has the flu. She's remarkably normal when she's sick, by the way,” I informed him, and he smiled.

“Odd,” he replied. “Sooo I should be going now...”

“Wait I'm super crazy bored. Wanna get some coffee?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“Sure,” he replied, “Reg has the afternoon off. Mind if he meets us there?”

“Of course not,” I replied and smiled again. Hammy, Reg and I got coffee together every so often. As we walked out to Hammy's car, I pondered his nickname. It wasn't a very good nickname, Hammy, but I didn't know what else to do with his name “Hamilton Paddington.” If I was correct his middle name was “Ezekiel” which also didn't really help the regular name goal. I considered calling him “EZ” (like “easy”) then giggled to myself.

Hammy glanced at me with a confused look and asked, “What?”

“Do you like your nickname?” I asked, and he shook his head immediately.

“Not at all,” he replied. I figured he didn't like it, cause I'm smart. “I can't help but feel there's some kind of dirty joke in it that I don't understand.” I nodded as he continued, “I think Today gave it to me a few years back. I hate that it stuck.”

“Ah,” I replied as we got into his car. We spent the journey to the coffee shop discussing alternative nicknames for him, but we didn't come up with anything conclusive.

Reg was waiting for us at the coffee shop and he greeted Hammy with a light kiss. And yeah yeah, I was like a creepy third wheel, our relationship was totally inappropriate for a teacher and a student, we were crossing a boundary blah blah blah. The truth is, Hammy and I were pretty close. He admittedly used me to help make up for some of the guilt he had from abandoning his siblings. So basically we were brothers, I depended on him to help me out with my issues.

I looked at Reg as I sipped my coffee, who counterbalanced Hammy pretty well. Where Hammy was short and cute and smart, Reg was tall and fairly masculine if not a bit dumb. I talked to both of them for a while, about life and everything, and eventually Hammy drove me back to the school and I walked back to Blue's room.

Malik was sitting on Blue's floor, making funny faces at his laptop, so I slid next to him and glared over to Alec Potts.


Alec Potts glared back, and Alec Potts would like Theodore Albrecht to stop acting like he is the king of this story and the only one able to hack into the writing of it.



And and! Gerda Bbjornstrand wants everyone to know kittens are pretty cute. At first I didn't know what to do with it, but we have become close friends. My new kitten helps me to do whatever I want.


...Give me the story back please...OK, Teddy here again. Alec and apparently Gerda decided to hijack the story. For future reference, do not get on the bad sides of either of these people. Anyway! Where was I? I sat next to Malik, and he glanced over to me. I think he might have just figured out that I used his computer for some major hacking, so I spoke before he got the chance to.

“What up?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“I feel like I like her best when she's all crazy and stuff,” he mumbled.

“Yeah,” I agreed. We fell silent as I checked up on Blue, who was fast asleep, then asked Malik, “Do you want to go do something? No use sitting here, right?”

“Sure,” Malik replied, standing and shutting his laptop.

“Hey Potts,” I called over to Alec Potts, who sort of glanced at me, “watch over Blue and make her take medicine if she gets any worse please?” He nodded just barely. I was pretty sure he liked Blue, at least a little bit, so I figured he was trustworthy with her.

So Malik and I walked back to my room together and sat on my bed to try to figure out what to do. As much as I loved Blue, I was still a little bitter that she took away valuable Teddy-Malik bonding time. And have no fear, my crush on him ended long before this, I just really enjoyed our friendship. Kendall sat on the bed across from us. Have no fear, I will reveal the mystery! Kendall is a girl. Yep. I couldn't claim to know everything and not know that, could I? We've shared a room for long enough. She's a little sensitive about it, though...Also I haven't told Blue because Blue might tell everyone, and I think Kendall enjoys the mystery despite being sensitive. Don't judge my contradiction. I'm sure it's one of those two...So shhh don't tell anyone.

Back from that distracting little tidbit, Malik and I lay on my bed and pondered what to do. I suddenly got the urge to play with small animals, and Gerda, as I recalled, had a kitten. So I suggested, “Let's find Gerda and ask her if we can take her kitten for a walk.”

“Uh,” he replied, “in my experience kittens aren't really good at going for walks.”

“But...It's Gerda's kitten,” I replied. Apparently he didn't understand, “I'm sure it can walk...”

“...If you say so,” he replied. One look in his eyes told me he still didn't believe me, but I didn't really care. We walked over to Gerda and Hakan's room and knocked, and the door clicked open. We didn't see anyone inside the room, but the kitten I mentioned before stared up at us from the floor.

“Told you,” I mumbled, then leaned down to the kitten. “Would you like to go on a walk with us?” I asked, and I could practically feel the “you're crazy” looks Malik was giving the back of my head. The kitten gave a small meow and began trotting toward the door, but I found myself frowning. “Sorry, do you have a leash?” I noticed a leash hanging from the door of Gerda and Hakan's closet, so I grabbed it and attached it to the kitten's leash. Kitty and I walked out of the room, and Malik just stood behind me dumbfounded.

“Oh, will Gerda be worried?” I asked, and Kitty made a noise something like “no” so I kept walking.

“Oh my GOD!” Malik shouted, as he finally came running after us. “You are part of some sort of crazy conspiracy aren't you? I thought so back home but now...”

“You sound crazy Malik dear,” I replied steadfastly. I was not supposed to tell even Malik about these things. I should definitely quit making Malik suspicious.

“But that kitten is clearly...uh! And it was normal a few weeks ago!” he shouted. I wasn't really sure how to get out of this one.

“What do you think? There's some sort of organization of geniuses who are able to teach animals to do crazy things?” I asked. Hopefully, he would think it sounded crazy. Maybe I should have made it sound even more outlandish.

“Maybe,” Malik replied, but thankfully let it die. “So how has life been since you were nearly assassinated?” OK, he might not have let it die quite as much as I hoped.

“Do you know how scary that was?” I countered, and then he felt bad. As he should.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “So Pablo is honestly crazy about you. Have you ever taken him seriously?”

I thought that one through pretty carefully. After Steel broke up with me, Pablo did swoop in pretty immediately. He wasn't too pushy after I yelled at him that he was making me feel worse. Then he was pretty sweet to me, and I guess I did actually have fun with him. Much like Blue, he had a penchant for making up song lyrics and dances to go with them. The difference between the two of them was that Pablo was actually good at it (not that Blue wasn't entertaining). He was an excellent rhymer, and obviously an awesome dancer. My favorite song by him was titled “Teddy needs to smile.”

It went as such:

“Teddy needs to smile,

He hasn't in a while,

I think he needs to remember,

Before it becomes December,

That his smile is cute awesome hot,

And I really miss it a whole lot.”

It wasn't perfect, but it was sweet. He was sweet, and I was well aware of that, “He's nice.” Malik grinned at me as we walked outside. I noticed it was getting a little chilly, and Malik turned to make sure I knew he was smiling.

“He'd be good for you,” he said. “He'd be a big difference from Steel. I mean, he talks enough for at least two people.”

“Yeah, probably,” I replied, then glanced down at Kitty. She apparently wanted to chase a beetle that was walking across the ground, so I let loose on her leash a little bit.

“We could double date!” Malik declared loudly.

“Sure, maybe...Oh, how have things been since the whole Kahi incident, by the way?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“Good,” he replied, “I can't believe I'm attracted to such insanity, but good.”

“Hooray!” I cheered as we arrived at a park bench in our nice little “on campus mini-park” AKA the courtyard. Kitty hopped onto the bench next to me, as Malik shot me a little look.

“Why are we stopping?” he asked.

“Break time!” I declared. Malik rolled his eyes but sat on the other side of Kitty. We had this weird unison sigh and then looked at each other and laughed. “You remember my old cat?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Totally,” he said, “I loved putting that little tutu on him. He was beautiful, but he totally hated me. Roscoe, yeah? I still have that scar he gave me.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. We reminisced for a while after that, and I remembered why I loved my best friend so much,. We sat there on that bench for a while, I leaned against his shoulder the way I used to when we were young, and Kitty chased bugs all around us.

“Um, actually...,” he mumbled as we spoke, “can I admit something?”

“Sure,” I replied, as Kitty jumped to my lap and I petted her.

“I tried for weeks to be gay for you,” he said. It came off a little funny, but it was insanely sweet.

“Thanks,” I laughed, “but what's not meant to be isn't meant to be. And what's not gay just...Isn't gay.”

“Yeah,” Malik agreed. “It's kind of why I understood what Blue was talking about, at least a little bit with her whole bisexuality thing...But, like...If you could somehow marry into my family...I mean, I guess Li Mei isn't your type, really, but...Life without you would be so weird...”

“Oh we'll keep in contact,” I promised with a smile, as someone shouted something at us.

“Stop! ...In the name of lovveee.” It was Pablo, of course, and his words must have reminded him of the song. Pablo's words often did that to him.

I sat up to look at him and counteracted what would have been a sure spiral out of control from him, “Malik is my best straight friend. Our relationship, though it doesn't always seem that way, is totally platonic. Malik's completely faithful to Blue. I'm completely single.”

He stared at us, then finally mumbled, “Oh.” Malik stood from the bench and grabbed Kitty's leash, smiling at me as he went.

“See you later,” he said, “Gerda's probably wondering where her cat is.”

“Bye,” I replied with a wave, as Pablo jumped onto the bench next to me.

“Hey you,” he said. “You sexy thing, you sexy thing...”

“Stop singing,” I ordered, and couldn't hold back a small chuckle. He grinned at me, so I smiled faintly at him.

“So it's been a few weeks,” he stated, “and that's what you wanted, right?”

“That is what I said,” I replied. It was easy to assume what he was talking about. Pablo wasn't too complicated of a thinker, so I usually understood what it was that he was thinking.

“Go out with me?” he asked. There was this funny bit of hope in his eyes that I wanted to crush for only a tiny moment, as I gave him a smile.

“OK,” I agreed. The light in Pablo's eyes filled my heart, and I felt wholly appreciated. It was a good feeling, so I decided to go ahead and go for it. What is it, you ask? I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him toward me, gently and carefully connecting our lips. We kissed for a short moment, and the look on his face when he pulled away only cemented my decision. I had feelings for him, and it was about time I moved on from Steel. This might seem sudden to you, but we've been developing a steady friendship for a while. This story just tends to focus more on Blue, you know? And that's cool, I don't need too much spotlight, though I am loving this bit of attention at the moment. Pablo and I walked back to the dorms after a short while to visit Blue, who we talked to about sane things for quite some time.

It was a couple days later that she got better, but not a lot happened in that time. I would like to say goodbye now, after my lovely time of being in charge of this story. My time has been enjoyed, but I would like to take a break now. Goodbye, peace and love to all.


Blue woke three days after her sudden illness with no memory of what had transpired while she was hardly conscious. When she woke Teddy, Malik, and lots of her friends were there to support her and she felt very extra special. Something seemed different about them, she knew, but she couldn't really place it. Teddy smiled at her, and she felt all happy inside her soul, so she finally figured out what it was that was different in the room.

“I'm glad you're happy again, Teddy,” she said to him, and he grinned at her.

“Yeah, me too.”

Glee

So tonight I did in fact watch Glee. And just cause you're worried doesn't mean you can't enjoy life.

Enjoy.

Glee.
Awesome Scene.

If only Darren Criss were gay (seeing as I'll never have him, what's it to me?) even my mom thinks they would make a cute couple. :)

Disasters

So everybody know what happened in Japan, right? It's absolutely awful. I looked at pictures and I wanted to cry for them. So donate to the Red Cross by texting REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. I plan on doing this momentarilly. I did the same for Haiti. I think it's a really important thing to do to feel like you're helping, if only a tiny bit.

This whole thing brings me to a greater point: the world is a disaster. Has anyone else noticed this? The Middle East/Northern Africa (a lot of Africa) is a mess, Japan just got devastated, and well...Where in the world are things good? Not a lot of places. And I understand other places might consider ways of living acceptable that I just don't get. I wouldn't force my lifestyle on anyone, but...It's times like these I'm reminded that although I don't love or even like many aspects of living in America, I'm incredibly thankful that I live in the United States.

I can't help but to worry about the world, though. All of the things people go through...Unimaginable things...Places like Darfur still exist. And here I am sitting at home, enjoying a night of watching Glee. And I love Glee, I do. But there are certainly more valuable things I could do with my time...

That's what I plan to look into in college. Finding a major where I can do something. I know that I joke around about taking over the world or whatever, but I say it with the best intentions. I worry about the world. I worry about religion and the rights men think religion gives them. I worry about the power-hungry and the manipulative taking advantage of the easily manipulated.

And I don't know what to do.

Chapter 12: Blue is Bisexual?

So I know it's been a while, but...I don't know. I was weighed down with Calculus, let's say. I'm not sure what to say about this chapter. I probably haven't proof read it very well. Not a lot actually happens in it, but there are some developments. You'll see them. Ummm...I meant to post some other stuff and things, so maybe sometime.

Blue is Bisexual?

Blue and Malik had been dating a week. A week, and now this?

“Hello all, I would like to introduce you to my new girlfriend, Kakahihi,” Blue motioned a teen girl with a grin.

“It's actually Kakahi,” she corrected with a smile, “and in lieu of being called Kaka, since that has been my lifelong nickname, I would love it if you would call me Kahi. I feel, like...Indian or something when people call me that. It's kind of like Mahi Mahi. Which might be food or something. Sounds delicious.” Kakahi gave a proud little smile, as Teddy, Malik, and Kip all stared at Blue, dumbfounded.

“You remember that you're dating Malik, right...?” Teddy mumbled after an extended pause, where Kakahi smiled at everyone, looking like she was dazed.

“Whatttt?” Kakahi replied. “You're cheating on me?”

“No, it's OK, I'm bisexual now,” Blue insisted.

Everyone, save Kakahi, who had started dozing off, was dumbfounded again. Kip was the first to speak, to Teddy, “You told me that wasn't how it worked.”

Teddy twitched his head a couple times and finally stated, “It's not. Kahi, right?” Kakahi nodded, and Teddy momentarily wondered if the girl was high. “Can you give us a moment alone with Blue?”

“Sure, I guess...Oh my God!” she shrieked. “I left the iron on! Did I? I can't remember...I'm going to go check...Maybe it was the oven...The bathwater? No, I didn't take a bath today...” Kakahi mumbled the entire way out of the room, and once she was gone Blue blinked at her friends.

“I'll let you two handle this one,” Kip mumbled, as he realized Malik was staring into the floor, paler than he'd ever looked with that tan skin of his.

Teddy scowled at Malik, then stated, “Take this one with you.” Kip nodded and pulled Malik off the floor. The young man highly resembled a lost puppy as he stumbled out the door of his and Kip's room.

“What's wrong?” Blue asked, and Teddy sighed.

“I want you to tell me why you think you're bisexual,” Teddy countered immediately.

“Cause I read a website that told me I could, if I wanted. Well, it said bisexual people could become straight, so I thought straight people, like me, must be able to become bi!” Blue cheered, and Teddy scowled more deeply. “You're going to get wrinkles,” Blue stated with a grin, and Teddy sighed.

“You remember how you're dating Malik? My besty who you promised not to break the heart of,” Teddy said to Blue, who nodded.

“Yeah, but the website said bisexual people can have as many 'partners' as they can handle at a time, so I figured I'd get one girl and one boy,” Blue explained, still grinning at Teddy. “What's the problem? I hear gay men are even worse. I heard you slept with six people in one night.”

Teddy stared at Blue, sighing deeply again, “That is just...offensive! And it sounds absolutely exhausting...”

“No, the website said you enjoy it,” Blue insisted, “and that you created STDs. Why would you do that?”

“Blue...,” Teddy mumbled, “though I know you don't realize what you're doing, you're pissing me off. So much. So much that I might start swearing again. Like really bad. Please tell me the name of the website and get. Out.”

“Ummm, OK?” Blue replied, then mumbled, “I just searched for bisexial. Like spelled how I said it. In the search box.”

“OK awesome, go enjoy yourself you're dismissed,” Teddy mumbled, pulling a laptop out from underneath Malik's bed. Before Blue could question how Teddy had gotten onto Malik's laptop with such ease when she knew she'd tried to get in there so many times Malik had informed her that he changed the password weekly, Teddy waved her away.

She trotted out of the room, blissfully unaware of how annoyed Teddy had become. What she saw in the hallway was her smiling “girlfriend” waving at her. “Ready to go?” Kakahi asked, and Blue nodded.

“So where are we goingggg?” Blue asked, as they walked past Kip and Malik. Kip was staring at them, confused, and Malik was just repeatedly sighing.

“We're going to eat lunch. Would you like to do that?” Kakahi asked. Blue nodded, so Kakahi guided the girl outside of the building with her, a glazed over expression on her face all the while. The pair headed toward a weird looking restaurant, and settled in at a table together.

“So what kind of fooood should I order?” Blue asked, and Kakahi shrugged.

“I usually order...,” she trailed off, then stared out the window for a moment. Blue waited for a while for Kakahi to continue her sentence, but she never did.

“Kahi?” Blue asked, and Kakahi blinked at her.

“Do you see that?” the other girl asked. Blue looked out the window, blinked and nodded.

“Totally,” she replied. “That person and the dog are talking to each other. Like that dog can speak English, wow.”

“No, no...” Kakahi shook her head, “no, no…That sign…what is that letter?”

Blue looked around, then smiled, “Oh no, that’s a kitty cat.”

“That’s a new letter,” Kakahi mumbled. “Longer name than most too, huh?”

“No, those lines make the shape of a kitty cat, see?” Blue explained, and Kakahi stared at the cat symbol for a while, tilting her head and tilting it back.

“Is that part the…ear?” she asked, and Blue nodded. Kakahi smiled at her as a waiter walked over to them, and sighed on sight.

“Do I have to explain what ‘banned’ means again?” he asked, and Kakahi shook her head.

“No but I can’t join your band. I can’t remember song lyrics remember?” Kakahi replied with a sweet little smile.

“No banned as in…you are not allowed to be in here. You almost started the place on fire the last time you were here,” the waiter explained, “and you’re really sweet but so incredibly destructive. Please leave.”

“Like a tree?” Kakahi asked, and the waiter sighed again.

“Can you get her to go?” he asked Blue, and the other girl shrugged.

“Sure, but…I can join your band if you need somebody,” Blue offered, and the waiter sighed.

“I don’t have a band,” he stated, “now if you’ll go…” Blue shrugged and stood up as Kakahi offered her condolences to the waiter for his band breaking up. Blue tugged her out as the waiter tried to explain that he’d never had a band.

They got outside the restaurant and Blue offered that they go eat in the school cafeteria instead, and Kakahi agreed. Soon they were sitting at a table, as Blue handed food over to Kakahi, who'd been unable to decide on a choice of food.

“What is...Going on? Teddy says I should be concerned,” Estela stated to the both of them with a casual head tilt.

“We're on a date,” Blue replied with a grin, and Estela made a light “hm” noise.

“Ok, well, we're going to need to have a talk,” she stated, then smiled at Kakahi. “I'm sorry to say, as far as anyone can tell, this girl is completely heterosexual. Don't get your hopes up.” Kakahi scowled.

“Are you talking about...yourself in third people?” Kakahi asked, and Estela shook her head.

“No, I'm talking about Blue. You're delightfully dumb, aren't you?” Estela chuckled, and Kakahi smield at her.

“Nope,” she replied, and Estela rolled her eyes with a smile and pulled up a chair.

“Hi, I'm Estela,” she greeted, and Kakahi smiled airily.

“It's Kakahi, and in lieu of being called Kaka, since that has been my lifelong nickname, I would love it if you would call me Kahi. I feel, like...Indian or something when people call me that. It's kind of like Mahi Mahi. Which might be food or something. Sounds delicious, “ she rehearsed. Estela smiled in this weird little way, and Blue got immediately annoyed. She stood and glared at the both of them as Estela chatted up her girlfriend, so she decided to go complain to Teddy about it.

Barreling into Malik's room, where Teddy was not located to her surprise, she scowled. She checked in Teddy's room, but he wasn't there either, and she scowled at Kendall. Kendall cackled creepily and told her something about her own room and Blue wandered off to check it out, only slightly worried. What she saw inside the room was mostly shocking to her: Teddy sat on her bed, still playing with Malik's laptop, and Alec was typing away furiously. Pablo was rolling around on the floor, complaining that he was bored.

Blue immediately shouted, “Estela is flirting with my new girlfriend! Pablo what are you doing? What are you two doing?”

“Hacking,” Alec and Teddy replied in creepy unison.

“I was waiting for you,” Pablo replied, grinning and standing from the floor. “We're going to have a talk. Teddy called for a meeting of the people who could hopefully talk to you about what's going on. We figured together Estela and I could work through this. Where'd she go again?”

“She fa-lirting with my girlfriend!” Blue declared, outraged. Pablo sighed at her then, but smiled momentarily.

“Good for her,” Pablo replied. “Now let's do a quick talk, because Teddy tells me some concerning stuff. Why do you think you're bisexual?”

Blue blinked, then tapped her chin, “Cause I wanna be.”

“See...Let's sit down,” Pablo mumbled, pulling Blue to her own bed to sit as he continued, “Let me...Let me put it this way. What would you think about kissing that girl you were just on a date with?”

“Ummmm,” Blue replied, thinking seriously, “I don't want that. It would be icky. I just wanna hang out with her and tell everyone I'm bi because that makes me cooool.”

“The thing is,” Pablo stated, still choosing his words carefully. “That website you read was a lie. If you were actually bi, you would want to kiss girls. You would be attracted to them, see? Feel the capacity to fall in love with them...Do...do you get it?”

Blue blinked, sighing, “I...think...Maybe. But I still wanna tell people I'm bi, right?”

“The thing about that is...People can be really mean to you when they learn you're bi. I mean, girls less so...But being a bi guy is just...Sigh. In any case! It's also misleading, and you don't want to hurt people's feelings, right?” Pablo asked with a big grin, and Blue shook her head. “Of course you don't. So if you're not bi, don't say you're bi, all right? Now you should go apologize to your boyfriend. Because no one should date more than one person at once. It's unfair to the people involved, OK?” Blue nodded and ran off to find Malik and apologize, as Teddy spoke while typing on Malik's laptop.

“These douches suck so hard,” Teddy stated, “but I would like to tell you...It sucks that bisexuality is kinda harder than even homosexuality for guys. I'm cool with bi guys.”

“Thanks. You cool with dating bi guys?” Pablo asked, leaning toward Teddy and wiggling his eyebrows.

Teddy didn't so much as turn to look at him as he replied, “Still pretty shaken up. Ask me again in a couple weeks.” Pablo grinned delightedly and glanced at what Teddy and Alec were doing.

“So what exactly are you doing?” he asked, and Teddy finally looked at him and smiled.

“Hacking every stupid website with information like what Blue read. Potts is in charge of giving viruses to the computers of everyone who runs the sites. It's for the greater good,” Teddy explained, and Alec nodded as if to agree.

“I have to agree with that,” he stated, “which is why this favor is coming half-price.”

Pablo nodded and smiled as Teddy continued on, “Obviously they'll be changed back eventually, but I hope this, I don't know...Send a message.”

“You know...,” Pablo stated, “you...You have so many random talents.”

“Being a genius isn't a choice,” Teddy stated with a smile, “it happens by accident.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Pablo replied. “One question, though...Is this not illegal?”

“Ehhhh,” Teddy replied, “who'd suspect me? They'll just arrest Malik anyway. It's his laptop,” Teddy declared, then smiled, “and Malik's not really smart enough for this, but I'm smart enough to get him out of being arrested.”

“So it's completely fine,” Alec assured, as the two returned to ignoring Pablo and mutilating websites.

In the cafeteria, Blue was just finishing an impassioned speech saying that she was a fool, after which she started rhyming various words with fool, staring with “cool” and ending with “Nazgul” which she insisted was on one of the “pointy buildings” (churches) in town. Kip explained Nazgul were from Lord of the Rings, and went off to try to figure out what Blue was talking about. Malik sighed and forgave Blue, but also took the time to explain she was thinking of “Nazarene” which was not the same thing as Nazgul. Blue didn't really listen, because apparently Kakahi was still around. She ran over to the girl to break up with her, then realized she was still talking to Estela.

“Stella!” Blue declared, scolding her, “PDA is illegal.”

“I don't think flirting constitutes PDA,” Malik offered as he trailed behind Blue.

“So I'm breaking up with you, Blue informed Kakahi, who simply smiled at her.

“Thattt's OK,” she stated, “Stella and I are going on a date later. She told me you're a hetero, so it's cool. I understand...Being bi makes you look cool, probably.”

“Exactly!” Blue declared. “makes me look BA.”

Malik and Estela shared nearly identical smiles as they looked at the girls, then glanced at each other and smiled again.

“If this pans out, you and I should go on some double dates sometime,” Estela stated, and Malik nodded.

“Sounds fun,” he replied, as Kakahi and Blue went off on a weird tangent about what other things “BA” could stand for other than bad ass. Malik sat next to Estela as Blue flopped into a chair next to Kakahi and continued their conversation. Malik noted Estela's genuine smiles as the two shared a separate conversation and a shared attraction to “idiocy” as both deemed it.

“Perhaps bah ambug,” Kakahi suggested.

“No, I think the thing you're thinking of is bah humbug,” she replied, as Estela and Malik listened to the conversation.

“I think it could mean best amigo,” Estela interjected, and Kakahi and Blue nodded and made oh ah noises.

“Or maybe brown apple,” Malik offered up, and Kakahi and Blue wrinkled their noises.

“Yuck,” Blue protested. The conversation continued on for quite a while, until they were shooed out of the cafeteria and eventually Kakahi left the school with a promise to go on a double date with Estela, Blue and Malik.

Chapter 11: Inter-Species Relationships

Soooo, this chapter is pretty much superrrr long. I don't know if you'll like it completely, but a lot of stuff happens in it. I could cut down some stuff if that's a good idea. I don't know. Feedback?




Inter-Species Relationships

When Friday came, after what felt to Blue like about a thousand years, she and Teddy snuggled into Teddy's room, since Alec had refused to leave his perch and Kendall was surprisingly accommodating to Blue and Teddy and offered to sleep in Blue's room. Teddy warned Blue that might be because Kendall was either a straight guy or a lesbian and he'd never figured out which, and Kendall might be slightly attracted to Blue. Or just friendly and extremely socially awkward, which Teddy believed to be the real reason, no matter how creepy Kendall could be. So it was that Teddy and Blue dressed up in their best pajamas and sat around on the floor of Teddy's room, trying to decide what to do first.
“I've never had a sleepover you know,” Blue stated, matter-of-fact.
Teddy gasped, bolted upright, and declared they would have to do a number of things, “First, we will...paint our toenails...? Because even I am not feminine enough to paint my fingernails. Then...Gossip. Then...Blanket fort. Then...Truth or dare, followed by more gossip. Then we will play some sort of game involving boys.”
“Yay!” Blue cheered, “I always wanted to do those things...”
Teddy then went on a search to find fingernail polish, though Blue was understandably shocked Teddy didn't have any in his slightly less sparkly pink than Blue remembered room. After Teddy tracked down some nail polish, apparently borrowed from Rashida, he painted Blue's toenails for her. Unfortunately for him, Blue wasn't very good at sitting still and twitched her leg so many times Teddy just painted her foot and called it good. For some reason Blue wasn't “trustworthy” painting Teddy's precious toenails, so he opted out of that one. They then had to move on to gossip. Because that's basically what slumber parties are for, according to Teddy.
“Sooo guess what I heard?” Teddy asked, and Blue gasped.
“WHAT?”
“The math teacher...He had an affair...with an eighty year old woman.”
“Oh ew!” And so they worked their way through their first round of gossip, until they figured it was time to build a blanket fort. They had to pool their resources for this one, and split up door to door to find people with blankets and pillows they could use.
Blue ran into her own room while Teddy knocked on Malik and Kip's door. Blue noticed some strange talk between the three of them until Teddy returned with an extra blanket and two pillows. They didn't get a lot of other help from others, most of them claimed to be “using” their blankets and pillows “to sleep” because it was “past midnight” or something. Whatever that meant. Blue was pretty sure they were just grumpy and probably had to pee. Sometimes she was mean to people when that happened to her. Niceness was the number one cause of weak bladders. At least, Blue was pretty sure, since all the nice old people she used to know seemed to pee quite frequently. The mean ones never seemed to pee, so...Well, Blue was grossed out thinking about pee until Teddy pulled her back to his room.
They made a magnificent blanket fort then and hid out underneath it for some time, where they decided to throw out the schedule and go ahead and gossip at the same time.
“Sooo what's going on with Radish and the Alien?”
“Dating I think,” Teddy replied, “but not facebook official. Apparently Radish has some religious hang-ups in relation to their relationship.”
“You say that word sometimes and I'm still not sure what it means,” Blue replied slowly.
“It's like how you're Jewish,” Teddy attempted to explain.
“I thought that was called 'race' or 'ethniii something,'” Blue replied.
“Yeah,” Teddy replied, “Judaism is both a race and religion though.”
“Oh,” Blue mumbled. “Maybe I'll never understand.”
“Yeah, that's just fine,” Teddy stated, “so how's Shelly? I haven't heard about him in a while.”
“HER,” Blue corrected with a glare. “Shelly is transgendered, and she would prefer to be called a 'she.'”
Teddy smiled at Blue, “Yeah, all right. How is she?”
“Well she's doing pretty well,” Blue replied. “Sometimes I think she likes Scamps as more than a friend. They stare at each other a lot like they're talking...I figured they have a forbidden romance, so I had a long talk with Shelly about inter-species relationships...But I don't think she listened.”
“Yeah, those are pretty bad,” Teddy stated, “I mean, with an inter-species relationship between a horse and rhino might make some kind of horse with a horn on it. And no one wants one of those.”
“WHAT-NO-I-WANT-ONE!” Blue shrieked.
Teddy smiled at his friend, “See? Don't be so quick to dismiss them...Though I can't say I would support an inter-species relationship...”
“Yeah, but since I love Shelly I guess I should be supportive of her, huh?” Blue mumbled. “And Scamps used to freak me out, but now I get the feeling Scamps would be my best line of defense if another zombie apocalypse happens.”
“That's probably true,” Teddy shrugged.
“I have a question,” Blue mumbled, then stared into Teddy's very blue eyes.
“Yes my darling?” Teddy asked, and Blue scowled.
“Kip isn't really an alien, right?” Blue asked, blinking a few times.
“Nah,” Teddy replied, “as far as you'll ever have to know he's not.”
“Doesn't that mean he is?” Blue gasped, and Teddy shook his head.
“He's not, don't worry,” Teddy insisted, and Blue sighed.
“Thank Uni,” Blue said, “not that I don't like aliens or anything, because I don't mind them I guess, but if him and Radish get married and have babies I don't want them to be half-alien. That'd be a tough life for them.”
“I see your point,” Teddy replied thoughtfully.
“Are there any other friends we have who are in weird relationships?” Blue asked, poking at the top of their blanket fort.
“Gerda and Hakan, I'd say,” Teddy stated. “Weird.”
“I don't think that one's that weird...But it is inappropriate that they share a room.” Blue nodded to agree with herself.
“Yeah,” Teddy replied, then predicted Blue's next question, “and no, I still haven't caught them sneaking in there to do anything inappropriate during the school day.”
“Good,” Blue stated, scowling slightly. “Anyone else? Like who else are our friendsss?”
“Well, in our acting class we're just missing Austin, who you think is named Ginger. I think she might actually have a boyfriend who goes to a different school. Hammy and Reg, I guess. Those two are...”
“Awesome for each other,” Blue filled in, “but your boyfriend is an evil assassin.” Teddy stopped and stared at Blue then.
“If I admit you're right will you stop bringing it up?” he sighed at last. Blue was so flabbergasted with excitement she just started twitching and left her mouth hanging open for a few minutes, until it dawned on her what that meant.
“He's going to come after me soon!” she shrieked. “I need to hire a bodyguard!”
“No, he's supposed to assassinate—,”
“OH MY UNI, who could protect me? I don't know anyone with more muscles than your terrifying boyfriend! OH MY UNIIII!”
“Me...,” Teddy mumbled, shifting slightly uncomfortably.
“WHAT DO I DO?” Blue gasped, and Teddy smiled at her.
“Ask Malik,” he suggested, “he'd work hard to protect you. Remember his six-pack?”
“Oh yeah,” Blue replied, eyes filling with delight at the memory of Malik shirtless.
“Speaking of Malik,” Teddy muttered, trying to figure out how to phrase his question, “how do you feel around him?”
“Safe and happy and warm right in my belly,” Blue replied without missing a beat.
“Good,” Teddy said. Blue didn't figure out why that mattered, but they gossiped for a while more until Blue's eyes shut on their own and she just couldn't stop herself from falling asleep.
The rest of the weekend Blue spent trying to catch up on missed sleep, and wondering if Teddy was plotting weird things, since he was acting strange. Monday rolled around, and nothing had really changed between them, despite their late-night gossiping, as Blue had expected it to.
On that particular Monday, Blue stumbled through her day until Improv, where Hammy skipped into the classroom, a grin plastered on his face. “Let's start...Heehee...Let's start class!” he apparently couldn't keep the smile down.
“I'll take this bait,” Teddy stated. “Why the ridiculous amount of happiness?”
Hammy grinned at Teddy, before waving his hand around in the air too fast for anyone to see what he was trying to show them. “I'm engaged!! Oh my God that's the best thing I've ever said in my life I'm so in love with that man!”
“And such a little girl,” someone side-remarked, and Hammy shot the boy a serious glare.
“You. Will. Leave. My. Room. Of. Happiness.”
The boy rolled his eyes, but replied, “Nah. I'd like to hear how this big engaygement came about.”
“OK,” Hammy replied. “It's the best thing ever, so be prepared for that. Mind BLOWN!” He jumped onto his desk and sat on it to make himself more comfortable, “OK, so, as some of you know, Reg, my now fiance's, parents came to visit us from England this weekend. We cleaned up the house and everything and I was really nervous and everything. Everything went all right, and all that. So Saturday was Reg and I's two year anniversary, though, and his parents were still around and stuff and things...I didn't really know why he chose that weekend to have them visit, but now I think I understand. ANYWAY! So on Saturday night we had a date at this fancy restaurant for our anniversary, so I got all nice and dressed up and went to meet him at the restaurant, since he was out with his parents during the day. So I got to the restaurant, told them about my reservation and whatnot and went and sat down. So then I sat there and waited for Reg to show up. I sat there for so long it felt like an hour, but since I was so eager to see him I figured it was less. When I looked at my cell phone clock I noticed it was actually an hour and a half later than Reg was supposed to get there. I figured I was either being stood up on my two-year anniversary date, or Reg did something stupid and was lost somewhere, and I neglected to notice I had two voice mail messages. So I decided to give him another half-hour, and then I was going to go home and cry to Today—er, Miss Allberry about how heartbroken I was. After that half-hour came and went I stood up and went to leave.
“As I was walking out, I ran into someone who was soaking wet. I was tearing up by that point because I was upset that Reg would screw something up that was so important, and I was in mood to be run into by someone who felt like he'd been river diving.
“'Watch where you're going,' I sniffled, and the man gasped. Oh, I'm paraphrasing here, by the way.
“'I AM SO SORRY!' he shrieked in an adorably British accent. 'Can you ever forgive me? I swear I have a good reason.' I didn't even consider who he was though, I just kept walking, thinking that apology was a little much for just running into me. I exited the restaurant, but he followed me. 'Hamilton, I love you so much please don't ignore me.'
“'Oh,' I mumbled, as it occurred to me he was Reg. I looked up into his eyes and he looked sooo guilty and remorseful I decided to give him a chance to explain himself. So he started this ridiculous story that was so Reg.
'OK, so my parents and I were out shopping like you know and all of that. We were buying your anniversary gift, because I wanted their help to pick it out. So, we got it all picked out and ready to go, and I was walking out of the store we were in with your gift in my pocket.' I noticed he was wearing a tuxedo when he said that. A tattered, pretty much completely ruined tuxedo. Anyway, he continued on, 'But then this vicious mutt of a dog came out of nowhere and stole it! He bit straight through my pocket. I don't know why he attacked me like that, but he ran off with my pocket and with the r—gift. So I chased after him, because that thing was important and expensive. I followed him so far that I was panting, and sweating, and he ran into a bog! A bog! I stumbled through some pokey bushes, tore my tux, and ended up immersed in swamp water, but I stood back up and kept chasing that stupid dog to a creepy swamp house. The dog went through a doggy door, so I knocked on the door. No one answered, so I climbed through the doggy door after the dog, which was a tight and awkward fit.'
“So then he went on, 'Inside was empty, but I saw the dog scamper into the basement, and then I followed it, but my foot went through one of the floorboards. I spent a long time trying to climb out of there, and once I got out I went down and finally caught the dog. This weird little old lady apologized to me from in the corner. Said her dog was trained to kill love and she was trying to break him of the habit. I told her that wasn't a real thing and left to come here. I ran the whole way and would've called you but I ruined my phone in the water. I told my parents to call you though, and they promised to leave a message and explain the situation. Didn't they? God, I hope they did.' I looked at my phone after that and nodded to tell him they did call me but explained I hadn't listened to the voicemail or noticed them call. We'd been walking for a while as he explained this story, and we eventually arrived at this really pretty spot by the lake in town, where you could see everything. I decided to forgive him for being an idiot, since he's really not clever enough to make up a story like that. I was still curious about the gift he'd worked so hard to get back, but he refused to tell me about it until we got to that pretty, relatively deserted place. Then he spoke to me really softly, and I almost meltedddd.”
Hammy grinned to himself and shut his eyes, “So he said, 'I know I look like shite for this...I had this night planned out perfectly, but it went so terribly. I can't wait to do this, though.' Then he knelt down and I almost died because I was so happy. Then he pulled this box out of the pocket that hadn't been torn off of his tux, and he held it up and said, 'Will you marry me?' And so I jumped up and down a little bit and hugged him and told him, 'Of course!' He gave me the ring and it was so awesome. Not a woman's ring, like I might have expected from him, but pure gold with a pair of diamonds in it, and our names inscribed in it. It is the most awesome thing ever. So then we kissed and, you know, it was so awesome that night. I was soooo happy. So we went home and told everyone, except Reg's parents already knew and they're awesome and they made me feel like I had real parents again and then I crieddd!” he probably only added the last part because he'd started crying again. “Happy tears...”
The class sat quietly, a relatively small class much like Miss Allberry's, and the boy who'd spoken before stated, “Gayest story ever.” He laughed, “But congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Hammy gushed, wiping his eyes. “I just needed to tell somebody.”
Jennifer, Malik's partner for their two-person improv scenes spoke then, “I hate to rain on your parade but same-sex marriage isn't—,”
“If you hate to rain on someone's parade don't do it,” Malik snapped. “That's an awesome story, Mr. Paddington, Hammy...When slash where is the wedding going to be?”
“We're going to get married in a couple months,” Hammy said with another brilliant grin, “In England. They won't recognize it here, but in England they have Civil Unions, which to them I guess is closer to marriage than it is here. And since Reg has dual citizenship I like to think that also gives me dual citizenship.”
“Congratulations, seriously!” Teddy cheered, and he and Blue ran up to the front of the room to whisper. “We're invited to the wedding, right?” Hammy nodded to them.
“Of course. I hate to say it, but you're some of my closest friends. All of you are invited,” he announced to the room. “But it's in England, so I understand if you don't come.”
“Yeah,” a couple people agreed, “might be tough.”
“We'll be there,” Blue insisted, pointing to Teddy, herself and Malik. For the rest of the class period they just talked to Hammy about his wedding plans and were all pretty excited about it, even if he might not be legally married for a while. After class was over Teddy told Malik and Blue he needed to go talk to his boyfriend, so the two of them went to Malik's room to hang out together for a while. Blue noticed something weird between them, though, since Hammy's story, and was actually a little relieved Kip and Rashida were also hanging out in Malik's room that day.
“No way!” Rashida gasped when they told them about Hammy and Reg's engagement. “That's pretty awesome for them, I guess.” Kip nodded and shrugged.
“I'm indifferent, I guess,” he stated, “great for them, but still illegal here.”
“Yeah,” Malik agreed, “that kind of sucks for them...So I have a question about the two of you...You're dating, right?”
They looked at each other for a moment, before Rashida replied, “Yeah. But we don't want a ton of people to know. My parents might not be so keen on us dating. They're pretty traditional...”
“We do really like each other and everything though,” Kip explained, “we're going to tell our parents eventually.”
“I know what religion you are, Rashida,” Malik mumbled, and Rashida nodded. “But what are you, Kip?” he asked, as Blue tuned them out and thought about Uni charging around through a forest with her new boyfriend called Pega.
Kip blinked a couple times, then stated, “I follow the ethereal words of our one true ruler Higlork.”
Malik stared at him for a minute, trying to decide if he joking, until finally deciding to just move on. “And your parents wouldn't approve of...that?” Malik mumbled, and Rashida nodded with a light chuckle.
“Yeah,” she replied. “They wouldn't approve of that.”
Malik sighed and snapped his fingers to try to bring Blue back to reality, and Blue grinned at him as she reeled in her daydreams. “Uni and Pega might be getting married someday too,” she said. “Even though Uni is a unicorn and Pega is a pegasus, they're sure they can work it out. Because Inter-species relationships can work out sometimes,” Blue explained, “like with Radish and Alien, since that's an obvious difference. And Hammy and Reg, since Reg is British and Hammy is an ex-Amish...And lots of other people. Even Shelly and Scamps,” she finished with a gleeful smile. Malik smiled at her in response as Kip spoke.
“It seems like love is in the air, as they say,” Kip said with a shrug.
“Yep,” Rashida agreed. For a while the four of them just talked about random things, until Teddy ran into the room, looking absolutely frazzled.
“Oh my God!” he yelled, and Rashida and Kip glanced at each other.
“Should we go?” Rashida asked, and though Teddy shrugged, she took it as she and Kip's cue to leave, and pulled her boyfriend out of the room. Teddy flopped onto Malik's floor as they left and leaned against his bed.
“What happened?” Malik asked, as he and Blue both shifted so they were sitting at better angles to him.
“He admitted it!” he shouted. “He admitted he was a f—”
“Beep!” Blue interjected.
“—ing assassin!” Teddy finished.
“Oh my God,” Malik mumbled, “what happened?”
“Well, I went to visit him because I was wondering what the hell we've been doing in this relationship of ours, and then I asked him if he was an assassin, he said yes, held up a gun to my head for a minute, told me he couldn't kill me because he accidentally fell for me, but he was leaving and never going to come back, so we broke up. And I'm pissed!” Despite his protests of anger, tears started falling from his eyes, and he whimpered and covered his face.
Blue and Malik sat in silence, until Blue loudly declared, “I KNEW IT!” Malik gasped very loudly, and pushed Blue into a corner of the room and told her to think about what she'd done. So Blue did think about it, but all she could think was that she should really watch out for that Steel Kilmeistah, in case he came after her next, since she'd certainly never struck his fancy like Teddy had.
“What reason does he have for assassinating you?” Malik mumbled. “I mean, not to be rude, but wouldn't it be 'murder' in your case?”
“Shut up you dickface!” Teddy retorted cleverly.
“He's a potty mouth when he's upset,” Blue stated to the wall. “Don't worry, I'll get the beep next time.”
“Can't you just let me have this f—“
“Beeeeep.”
“—ing assassination thing? It makes sense, you just don't know why!” Teddy shouted, wiping away what had turned into angry tears. “Just tell me this sucks and you feel bad for me and shit!”
“Oh, missed that beep,” Blue stated to the wall very seriously. “I'm very very sorry, I won't let it happen again.”
“I'm really sorry Teddy,” Malik mumbled. “That was inappropriate of me as your friend. I'm sorry for what happened. That sucks. Would you like a hug?” Teddy nodded, and leaned forward to hug Malik, as Blue got up from her corner with a declaration that she loved hugs. So the three hugged for a moment, before Teddy gave them both serious looks through his tears.
“So since my relationship just shattered into a million sucky pieces, I'm going to be frank with you. You're into each other. Don't start dating right now, though, or I'm going to be upset with you both,” Teddy stated, and shut his eyes, causing him to miss the looks that passed between Blue and Malik, Malik of slight embarrassment and Blue of confusion.
“That's a little selfish,” Malik stated through a blush.
“Oh my God I just got you over the hurdle you've been standing behind and dancing around for weeks, be grateful,” Teddy snapped, then leaned his head back into the couch. “FINE God you have my permission to date! But I reserve the right to be whiny and angry about it! I'm going to my room to vent to Kendall since we're terrible buds!” With his declaration, Teddy stood and left the room, leaving Blue and Malik all alone.
“That was awful,” Malik stated softly.
“Yeah,” Blue agreed. “What did he mean, though?”
“Huhhh?” Malik replied, looking at Blue with a light flush.
“Something about you and me?” Blue asked.
“Yeah, he-he was saying we could go out...?” Malik mumbled. Blue still looked confused, so he went on, “Like on a date...?”
“But why would the two of us go on a date?” Blue asked, and Malik looked momentarily horrified.
“N-never mind! Let's do something else,” he said, standing up and running for the door. Teddy was outside, Kendall by his side, staring at the door. Malik and Blue both gave him similarly sad looks, and he grinned at them.
“Company in my misery! Let's go play some violent video games to release our upset-ness!” Teddy said delightedly. Malik and Blue nodded, and Teddy invited Kendall to play as well.
“No,” Kendall replied, “I'd rather just watch...”
So the three of them went to play a violent video game while Kendall watched, and Malik and Blue were both surprised by how good Teddy was at the game. Eventually they quit and retreated to their rooms. Teddy decided to do his friendly duties then, and tend to each of their rooms to figure out why Blue and Malik both looked moderately upset. He started out with Blue, despite the fact that he certainly loved having company in his misery.
He knocked on the door and waited for it to open up, and was surprised to see Alec open the door instead of Blue. “Welcome to our room, Albrecht,” Alec said slowly, then muttered under his breath, “don't touch anything.”
Teddy walked over to sit on Blue's bed, where she was sitting and petting Shelly, much like the turtle was a cat, as it furiously struggled to get away from her. “Blue, what happened?” Teddy asked, as Alec went back to his computer to do something.
“It's just, I...I just wanted him to say 'Cause you are so awesome, lovely, and super cute, Blue,'” Blue replied, and Teddy tilted his head to side.
“In reply to what, exactly?” Teddy asked, and Blue sighed.
“I asked why the two of us should go on a date,” she explained. “I just asked him so he would tell me he liked me...”
“Yeah,” Teddy replied. “I get where you're coming from, but I would probably take that as a rejection if that was me. You need to tell him you really do like him...One more thing I'm going to say...Do not break that kid's heart. He has been my best friend for years, and though you're my girl besty, he's my straight guy besty. That's a sacred bond that shouldn't be broken. And I can't stand seeing him hurt. Because he's so fricking nice.” Blue nodded as Teddy continued, “And I promise he really does like you that way. And you like him that way, don't you?”
“I do,” Blue admitted.
“So find a way to apologize for pseudo rejecting him, and tell him that,” Teddy said with a smile. “Now I need to go talk to him...I love you, Blue. Don't worry, he's pretty understanding. Everything will be fine.” Blue nodded and gripped Shelly's shell tightly as she pondered what she should do. Teddy left her room as she stared at her Uni poster and wondered what Uni would do.
Teddy ran off to his other best friend's room then, knocking on the door in case Malik wasn't alone in the room. Malik opened the door fairly quickly, and Teddy let himself in and jumped onto Malik's bed.
“Blue is an idiot and you know that,” he stated plainly. “She can make this up to you...” Malik looked at Teddy with a sad face, and Teddy smiled. “Let's just be sad together tonight. Once you two start dating you're going to have to deal with even more stupidity like this.”
“Once we start dating?” Malik echoed.
“I promise you will soon,” Teddy replied, as Malik crawled onto the bed next to him. Teddy leaned against Malik and made an unhappy face. “So can I be sad about breaking up with my boyfriend now?” Malik nodded, and the two spent the rest of the evening being sad together, like Teddy planned.
The next morning, Blue had a super awesome plan. It was super awesome. She got dressed in the closet again, and this time Alec didn't even care. He didn't ask if she was being attacked or point out they had a bathroom attached to their room, as he normally would have. Apparently he'd gotten used to Blue's strange behavior, just as she'd gotten used to his.
Once she was looking super pretty in her new skirt and leggings and long sleeved shirt and boots, she ran out of her room to head to class with Miss Allberry. As she sat in her seat in class Miss Allberry told them all about how Hammy had asked her to be his best man, and she was totally flattered and really happy.
Blue interrupted her with a raise of her hand, “I have something really important!”
Miss Allberry stared at her, “Something very important what...? To say? To do? To be?”
“To say slash do,” Blue declared, standing from her seat and walking to the front of the room. “Now as some of you know, when you feel certain things, it means you're attracted to someone. Like if your heart hurts when you accidentally upset him. So I accidentally upset somebody really important to me, and though I would like to say it was Teddy since that would be funny, it was Malikkkkkk. So, Malik, I drew you this picture to make up for it and tell you I want to go on a date with you. Will you go on a date with me?”
“I would love to, Blue,” Malik replied with a smile, standing up to go look at the piece of paper Blue was holding up. He stared at it and tried to figure out what it was, so as not to hurt Blue's feelings. Unfortunately, it looked like a duck sitting on top of a horned mountain (which he'd learned through experience was a unicorn) next to some kind of flying fish-like thing with an octopus on it.
Blue saved Malik the trouble of guessing and explained, “See that's you sitting on Pega, and there's me sitting on Uni.” Malik nodded and smiled at Blue. “And I signed it with a heart. Cause you're my ca-ca-crush.”
“Oh Blue,” Malik laughed, “let's sit down. This is shockingly embarrassing.”
“Wait, go out with me tonight?” Blue asked. “I'm going to cook, the cook ladies and men said I could.”
Malik smiled in a way clearly showing a slight fear for his life, but agreed, “That would be awesome, Blue.” The rest of the class was happy, Blue decided, but she was too busy thinking about her very first date ever that was going to happen that night. Suddenly her stomach started doing crazy flips and she was worried she was going to get sick. So she tried to focus on something else, until she got to improv class and Teddy told Hammy about Blue and Malik's date, since he figured he ought to. After class ended that day Blue was still just thinking about her date, and Teddy stayed behind to talk to Hammy about “stuff,” as he called it.
Blue was a little upset at him, since she was counting on him to help cook, but she got to work on dinner as soon as she got a chance. By six o'clock she'd had a few practice rounds and finally perfected her macaroni and cheese, so she brought the pan of it up to Malik's room, which Kip had promised to stay out of.
The look on Malik's face as she poured some macaroni into his bowl, which she'd stolen from the kitchen, made something inside her chest go “lub-dub” and so she smiled at him. The whole time they ate was strangely silent, since Blue had never been more nervous in her life, but after they finished eating Blue challenged Malik to a game of War, which somehow turned into Slap Jack when Blue forgot the rules. Malik didn't seem to mind, but insisted they stop playing after a while.
“So Blue,” Malik mumbled, and Blue's heart was once again doing weird things because Malik was sitting really close. “I really...I really like you, OK? Teddy told me that's why you asked me why we should go on a date. I can't help it, and I don't want to help it. I thought I would ask you two things. One. Will you be my girlfriend?” Blue's face got all hot and she worried she had a fever, but she nodded emphatically, “Two...Can I kiss you?” Blue stared at Malik, and then she got lightheaded, and really happy. She nodded again, so Malik leaned close to her and pushed his lips against hers lightly, causing her to grin at him, sigh, and bury her head against his shoulder.
They certainly would have done more kissing if Teddy hadn't burst in the room at that very moment and insisted that he had waited long enough and he was lonely, since, “Hammy left, and talking to Pablo is fun and all, but now that I'm single he hits on me even more than he did before and maybe I just want to be single for a little while since I had a gun held up to my head yesterday.”
So Malik and Blue did their friendly duties and welcomed Teddy into the room despite what they wanted. Blue found herself blushing again when she felt the comforting presence of Malik's hand on her own, and the three spent the rest of the evening together, though a few things had certainly changed between them this time.