15~*Eve's Room*~
"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Alex. "I *love* this top! Can I borrow it sometime?"
"Of course!" Eve smiled, as she watched her friend fiddle with the top.
It was a sleeveless white tank top with a picture of a small, shiny, red rose on the right.
"So what are we doing today?" asked Eve, as she took out the 8th pair of shorts from her bag.
Alex looked over her shoulder, "I'm not too sure...you decide! You're the guest and how in the world can you fit all that in your bag?"
"I'm a really good packer," she winked.
Alex let out a giggle and began dancing around the room. She twirled like a ballerina and did dance moves from the year 2000 all the way back to the 70's. Eve burst into laughter as she watched her friend dance her heart out; she threw the shirt she was holding onto bed and joined her friend. They danced the dosey-doe and then began to do the "Titanic" spin. Eve felt herself getting dizzy and the next thing you know, she accidentally lets go of Alex' hands and the two of them fly to opposite ends of the room. Eve continued to laugh as she lay down on the bed where she landed, while Alex rubbed her head on the spot where it hit the wall.
"Now that was a bit painful," she grinned, still massaging her skull.
"You were the one who began this dancing parade in the first place," Eve grinned back.
Alex scoffed and pulled herself back on her feet. "So how do you like this summer so far?"
"It's only been less than 10 minutes, but it's really rocks!" she replied with a smile.
"Yah..." smirked Alex, "especially with my cousin here and all, right?"
"Oh be quiet," she blushed.
Alex smiled and ran a brush through her dark, silky, hair.
Alex was a carefree and playful young lady. She loved to have fun, but she still knew where her limitations were. She cared very much for her friends and family and always did her best to help others. She may be a princess, but she wasn't a spoiled brat. Her being part of Royalty never got in the way of how she acted around other people. To her and her close friends, she would always just be a regular teenager.
"So what do you think of Carter?" Eve asked curiously.
"Don't even *think* about it Missy,"
"Oh come on!" she exclaimed, jumping on the bed, "you don't even think he's a *little* cute?"
"Well..." began Alex, looking at the floor, " maybe a *llliiittttttllleee* bit."
"AHA! I knew it! How about if you, Blade, Carter and I go on a da-"
"N-n-n-n-no!"
"But why not? We'll have a blast! Imagine living in the same house with your boyfriend! A lot of girls would *kill* for that!"
"Not if he was cheating on you!" she shot back. "You even said so yourself, he's a player; I don't go for players."
"Oh what do I know?! Your cousin seems to think he's a good guy!"
"My cousin is weird."
"Your cousin is hott!"
"..."
Eve bit her bottom lip and let out a nervous laugh, "Sorry bout that, I guess that sounded kinda weird to you, huh?"
Alex raised an eyebrow and nodded vigorously. Eve opened her mouth to let out another apology, when there was a knock at the door. The two girls turned around in time to see the door open.
"Girls, lunch is almost ready," announced Belle.
"Alright Belle," responded Alex, "we'll be down in just a few more minutes."
Belle smiled and nodded as she closed the door.
"Okay then," began Alex as she turned back to her friend, "we gotta get one thing straight. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT *EVER*EVER* mention Blade being 'hott' to me *EVER AGAIN*, capiche?"
"D'accord! Je comprende, mon amie, (Okay! I understand, my friend)" she answered.
"Okie dokey then!" gleamed Alex. "Let's go have some lunch."
Alex quickly turned her back, ran to the door, opened it, and dashed off in a wink of an eye. Eve stared after her friend and rolled her eyes.
'Good gosh,' Eve thought to herself as she let out a sigh. 'That girl has *got* to be one of my most craziest friends.'
Eve giggled softly as she headed for the door and into the hallway to join Alex and the rest downstairs.
~*Carter's Room*~
"Geez Carter, hurry up and finish packing! I'm *DDYYIINNGG* for some food!" complained Blade in a whiny voice.
"Food is for the weak," retorted Carter with a grin, "are you saying that you're weak?"
Blade glared at his friend and responded in an annoyed tone, "food is also what keeps as alive. C'mon dude, just hurry it up!"
"Gawd, do you not have patience?"
"NNOO! Not when I'm starving to death!"
Carter groaned as he took out the last piece of clothing from his bag.
"There, I'm done, happy now?"
A wide grin spread across Blade's face as he walked towards the door, "actually, yes. Now, can we please go?"
"Yah, yah, yah," replied Carter as he followed his redheaded friend into the hall.
As they became nearer to the stairs, Carter came to a halt.
"What are you doing man? You're not a statue, c'mon!"
"I...forgot something."
"What!?" exclaimed Blade. "Damn! ... just hurry up!"
A guilty look crossed the blonde's face and he said, "look, you just go downstairs since you're *dying* without any food. I'll be down in a sec."
"You sure?"
"What am I? A 3-year-old? I don't need a baby-sitter. Go on man, it's not like there are ghosts in this house."
Blade grinned and nodded, "Okay, but seriously, HURRY UP; I don't wanna be stuck down there with all that girl talk."
"I will. Anyway, if worse comes to serve, you can just stare at Eve," he smirked.
"You dare breath a word about that and I will kill you," threatened his friend.
Carter laughed and nodded, "Whatever you say man."
"I'm serious."
"So am I. Now, stop stalling me and go downstairs."
"You're one weird dude, man," commented Blade as he began to descend down the stairs.
Carter leered as he headed back to his room. He slowly turned the knob and walked in. He went over to his backpack and unzipped it. Slowly, he pulled out a silver chain; on the silver chain hung a word also in silver that said, 'virtù' which meant virtue in Italian. Carter clasped the chain in his fist and held it close to his chest. His older brother, Kevin, gave this chain to him...right before he died.
~*Flashback: 6 years ago*~
A 9-year-old Carter cried softly in his father's shirt; his younger sister Maria crying too. The 3 of them waited hopefully and patiently in the lobby of St. Andrews Hospital in New York. Carter clenched his fist as a million thoughts ran through his young mind.
'Why is this happening? Mommy died a long time ago...is Kevin gonna die too? Who's gonna b next? Is it me? Is it Maria? Is it dad? This just isn't fair!'
A young nurse with light brown hair came through the hallway and began to approach the small family. Carter's dad slowly got up and told Carter and Maria to wait for a second while he talked to the nurse. The two of them listened obediently and nodded. Carter watched as his dad as the nurse began to talk.
'Why does daddy look so sad?' he thought to himself. 'Why is he crying?'
Mr. Trybal finished talking to the nurse and walked back sadly to his children.
"What's wrong daddy?" asked Maria in a small, fragile voice. "When is Kevin coming home?"
A agonizing expression materialized on his face, "he's not sweety."
"What do you mean he's not?" she asked in a scared tone.
"The nurse told me that..." he stopped as an overwhelming pain washed over him, "she told me that...that...well honey, you see, Kevin is going to be with your mother soon..."
Carter choked back his tears as he heard those words leave from his father's mouth. 'No! Why is everyone leaving? I just want my family back!"
Tears began to stream uncontrollably down Maria's cheeks.
"Come on kids," their father said warmly, "the nurse said that we can go see him."
The two young children nodded and as their hearts throbbed with anguish, they followed their father. Carter entered the white hospital room and his eyes frantically searched for his brother.
"There..." he whispered to himself.
Carter saw him lying down in a white hospital bed, his features twisted in pain. The 3 of them quickly arrived by his bedside.
"Son..." began Mr. Trybal.
"Don't say anything dad..." Kevin choked out, " you were right...I should've listened to you...I'm sorry."
Mr. Trybal began to open his mouth again, but closed it and embraced his son tightly. He just couldn't believe that he had to watch another member of his family die once again. The embrace ended, and Mr. Trybal simply observed his son intently, as is he was memorizing his every feature.
"Kevi," began Maria, her voice filled with innocence, "Are you sure you can't stay?"
Kevin smiled whole-heartedly at his little sister, "I wish I could, but I can't...I'll tell you what though, I'll always be watching over you with mom, okay?"
Maria smiled back, "Okay, I'll still miss you though."
"Me too squirt..."
Maria broke into tears again and hugged her brother as tight as she could, "I'm gonna talk to you every night like I do with mom," she whispered in his ear.
The hug ended and Kevin grinned, "I'll be listening."
Kevin then turned to Carter, who looked at him with a dark pools of sadness in his eyes.
"Hey there little bro...you're gonna have to take care of you little sister now, alright?"
Carter nodded, unable to speak.
Kevin struggled as he reached for something around his neck and pulled it over his head.
"Here."
Carter looked into his brother's open palm at the precious silver chain that their mother had given to him a long time ago.
"Mom always believed in virtues...I guess I didn't follow them too well, huh? I want you to have it Carter; I know you won't let mom down...or me either."
Carter took the silver chain into his small hands and put it on his neck carefully. "I won't Kevin, I promise."
Kevin nodded and smiled as his brother leaned down and gave him a final embrace. Carter held on for as long as he could. He was about to lose his brother...the one he looked up to, the one who taught him how to ride a bike, the one who got him out of trouble, the one who always encouraged him.
The embrace ended all too soon and with that, Kevin took a deep breath and said, "I love you guys."
The three of them, still hoping that this is all a bad dream, held his hand tightly and whispered back, "we love you too."
With one last smile, Kevin closed his eyes and left this world. Maria cried even harder as her father tried to comfort her. Carter watched his brother; his feelings erupting with an unknown sadness to him. He wrapped his fingers tightly around the chain as a single tear rolled down his cheek.
'He's gone...he's really gone...'
~*End of Flashback*~
Carter shook his head forcefully, breaking him out of his trance. He sighed quietly as he put the chain over his head and tucked it underneath his shirt. With that, he quickly exited the room and ran downstairs to the dining room.
~*In the Dining Room*~
"Are you crazy Lexi?!" exclaimed Blade as a few bits of his croissant flew out of his mouth. "You seriously want us to go camping tonight? And where exactly are we going?"
"The forest by the Bay of Biscay! I even already asked Belle and Sterive if we can go and they said 'yes'!" she grinned happily.
"WHAT!? That's it, you *are* insane," he announced. "It would take us hours and hours to walk there!"
Alex let out a sigh of exasperation, "you are quite dense; did you know that?"
"Dense and proud!" he grinned arrogantly.
Alex shot a quick glance at Eve, who was giggling at Blade.
'Gosh,' she thought to herself, 'how in the world can she think he's funny? Wait a minute, how in the world can she just like him in the first place? Geez, she sure's got weird taste in guys!'
"I know that it takes hours to walk there, but it only takes half an hour to get there with a car," she stated confidently.
"Still, Lex, isn't going in the woods to sleep in kind of…primitive and childish?"
"OoOoOo! *Primitive*, did you look that up in a thesaurus?" she teased as she ate another slice of pizza
Blade gave his cousin an evil glare and stuffed another croissant into his mouth.
"He probably did," said a voice from the hall.
Thee 3 of them looked towards the entrance of the dining room and there stood Carter with that impish grin of his.
"Shut up man," warned Blade.
Carter smiled and began towards an empty seat beside Blade. He sat down coolly and said to Alex, who was sitting right across from him, "I heard you guys talking about camping tonight. It sounds pretty good to me, but I don't think we should go because poor Blade here is afraid of the dark."
"NO I'M NOT!" he protested, "I got over that last year!"
Eve looked at Blade in amazement and asked, "You didn't get over your fear over the dark till you were 15?"
He turned his head to meet her eyes; he began to blush, "I guess not…"
She smiled at him, "don't feel bad, even today, I'm still scared of the dark."
He grinned back at her and the two of them just stared at each other for a few seconds.
"ANYWAY," began Alex as loud as she could, "are you coming camping or what?"
"Don't put him on the spot like that," said Carter as he raised an eyebrow, "We don't want him to pee his pants when it gets too dark at night for him there."
"SHUT UP!" he snapped. "I'm not scared of nothing! C'mon! Let's go *right* now!"
"Cuz, CALM DOWN," laughed Alex. "It's not even 2 o'clock yet. We'll leave at around 5 so then we'll get there at 5:30 and we'll have time to set up and have some fun!"
"Um…Alex?"
"Yes Eve?"
"Have you ever set up a tent before?"
Alex shook her head.
"Have any of you?"
The two boys shook their heads too, and Eve bit her bottom lip.
"How about we pack everything we need and just leave right away?" she suggested.
"Why though?" asked Alex.
"Because we are going to take *FOREVER* and I mean seriously *FOREVER* to set up *two* tents. I had a sleep over with my friends last year and we decided that we'd sleep in the backyard in a tent. None of us knew how to set it up and…well…put it this way, after the first 2 hours, we just got my dad to do it for us."
The 3 of them looked at her vacantly.
"Oooooookay then!" announced Alex, breaking the silence. "You heard what Eve said you guys, let's get packing! Oh wait a sec, Carter, you didn't get to eat lunch yet."
"Oh that's okay, I'll just have a quick bite of pizza. I'm not that hungry."
"Alright everyone, pack your stuff; we're going camping!"
"Gawd, and just when I just finished unpacking everything," commented Carter as he rolled his eyes.
The 4 teens finished up their food hastily and immediately started packing.
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Alright, I know that sucked *criez* I seriously wanted to do a better job but its almost 12am here on a school night and I just wanna submit another chapter. I know this chapter was kind of boring, but hey! I gotta build a story line, right? Don't worry, it'll get better ^_^ PROMISE! Well, thanx for readin!