I woke up the next morning, not feeling groggy like I do every day. I actually woke up feeling pretty good. 

"Hello?" I asked while answering the phone. 

"Hello," Madeline sang over the phone. 

"Are you sure you're calling the right person?" I asked in confusion. 

It's usually William who calls while Madeline sleeps. "William's in the shower so I'm taking charge of the alarm clock today, get up and ready we're going to Jungle Island," she said before hanging up. 

I huffed while getting out of bed, grabbing my clothes, and changing. If we're going to Jungle Island then surely, we're interacting with animals. Don't get me wrong, I love animals but coming back smelling like one isn't so fun. 

I freshened up before getting dressed and heading downstairs for breakfast, meeting Liam and Emma on my way down. They were in the elevator when I got in. Obviously, I wasn't happy to see them having a conversation but a conversation does not mean that she likes him. 

"Hey," I nodded at both of them while stepping inside. 

"Hi," Emma gave me a small smile but Liam didn't say anything. I'm cool with that. I went and stood beside Emma, having her stand in between Liam and me. "Well, this is awkward," Emma mumbled under her breath and I don't think he heard it but I did. 

I bit back a smile and we stepped out when the elevator dinged open, splitting up as we walked through the buffet. 

There's only one chocolate muffin left. 

I took it before someone else could and added it to my plate. 

I'll save it for her. I know she likes them. 

After getting my food, I found a seat at the table beside Landon, leaving the other seat beside me free for her to take. And like I wanted, she did. But she was frowning. 

"Hey," I said while she sat down beside me as I looked at her in confusion. 

"Hi," she huffed, plopping down in her seat. 

"What's up with you?" Zoey asked her. 

"They don't have any chocolate muffins," she huffed, leaning her head back and staring at the ceiling. 

Zoey rolled her eyes before getting back to her food. 

I took the muffin and left it on her plate before beginning to eat. 

She sighed and looked down at her plate, staring at the muffin in confusion. 

I cleared my throat, "I saved you a muffin." 

Her head snapped to my directions and she looked at me, dumbfounded. 

"I saw the last one," I shrugged. 

"Thanks," she grinned. 

"You're welcome," I chuckled. 

-----

"Is this really what we're gonna be doing? No offense, but we're hanging out with flamingos for the entire day?" Emma huffed, looking up at the entrance while squinting at the sun. 

"Well actually, I have a backup plan," I cleared my throat, resting my elbow on her shoulder. 

"What?" she looked up at me, stealing my sunglasses and putting them on. 

"How do you feel about going to a haunted house? Or two?" I questioned, taking my sunglasses back. 

"Aren't the others gonna mind?" she asked as we headed to the entrance. 

"Well, you, Zoey, Landon, and I can get away, I'm sure my dad won't mind and neither will yours or Zoey's. Yes or no?" I asked, looking at all three of them. 

"Kids, come on!" Zoey's grandma called us over. 

"We're going, let's go," Zoey concluded. 

After a roughly ten-minute drive, we reached Paranoia Miami. 

"This is what we're doing today? Haunted houses?" Zoey asked. 

"Yup, here and then we'll see how we're feeling," I shrugged. 

"That's a nice warm welcome, a white car with blood all over it, that's always a good sign," Emma sighed.

"Are you scared?" I teased. 

"Shut your trap," she rolled her eyes at me. 

"I think we should go in pairs, it's scarier that way," Landon laughed. 

"Yeah, how about you two go together," I nodded at Zoey and Emma. 

"No!" they both said simultaneously. Landon and I laughed, giving each other a high five. 

"Um- question. Doesn't this place open at five pm?" Emma asked while looking at the sign. 

"Not when you rent out the entire place, come on," I pushed her inside with the other two following us. 

"All right, who's going first?" Landon questioned. 

"You," Emma huffed while looking at him, "You asked the question, you are the answer, go on then," she sat down on the bench in the waiting area. 

"All right, Nick, let's go," Landon nodded. 

"No," Emma stood up and grabbed my arm, "You go with Zoey," she nodded. 

"Gee thanks," Zoey mumbled while going inside with Landon. We stood there, watching the entrance for a minute before Zoey's deafening scream echoed along with Landon's laugh. 

Emma jumped and her grip on my arm tightened. 

"Emma?" I asked, chuckling lightly. 

"What?" she asked in confusion. 

"Are you planning on letting go?" I questioned while glancing at her death grip on my arm. 

She let go almost instantly and sat back down. "Why couldn't we go to like- I don't know- an escape room instead of this?" she flung her arms around, gesturing to the place. 

"Because my dad had rented this entire place out for us, he said we could come any day we wanted while on this trip, and this seemed more fun than Jungle Island, no offense to the animals there," I huffed while sitting down. 

"Oh, my god!" Landon and Zoey screamed in sync. 

Was it really a good idea to come here? 

"No, no, no, Nick, I don't wanna go, please let's just leave, I-" Emma began pulling me back to the exit. 

It was our turn but she wasn't having it and Zoey and Landon weren't gonna let us walk out of here without going through this. 

"Nick, please I- Fuck!" she screamed at the top of her lungs when someone popped out. I laughed while grabbing her hands and pulling them off of my arm, pulling her to my side. 

"Emma, we'll be fine, it's not real. They're just people," I laughed. "Hey, high-five," I held my hand out to the person who just popped out. He actually gave me a high-five. 

"Nick, fuck you," she glared at me while reluctantly and hesitantly walking by my side. 

"Do you remember that time when we-" I began talking to distract her but she was so scared right now, it's quite adorable. 

"Nick!" she yelled when a skeleton fell from the ceiling in front of us. 

"Emma," I laughed pulling her along with me. 

"How long is this thing?" she questioned. 

"Thirty minutes, we'll get through it," I shrugged as we turned the corner. 

It was a dark hallway with one flickering light. 

"Nick, I am not going down there, I am not doing this, fuck that, Nick, no!" she began turning around but I kept her rooted. "Nick-" she began talking but we both froze when the light went out. 

It turned back on and there was a clown right in front of our fucking faces. Like Pennywise type of shit. 

"Oh, my God!" we yelled in sync. 

She grabbed me, hiding in my chest while I sealed my eyes shut while the light went dead again before turning back on to a clear hallway. 

"Emma, let's go, let's go," I pulled her and we ran through that hallway, avoiding all the pop-ups and falling paintings of clowns on the walls. "Holy shit," I placed my hand on my chest, leaning against the wall before we entered the next room. 

She looked at me before she started laughing, "Look at you," she covered her mouth, trying to stop laughing but she couldn't. 

I glowered at her while taking a deep breath. 

"Oh, come on, Nicky," she laughed, "Don't be a wuss now," she arched an eyebrow at me before opening the door and waiting for me to walk through. 

I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me. The room was full of mannequins, great. Neither of us said a word as we walked through, avoiding any contact with anything in this room. 

"Boo!" she screamed, scaring the living shit out of me. 

"Emma," I pushed her back. She fell back, bumping into a mannequin that actually pushed her back to me. 

"Fuck off!" she threw the person's hands off of her when he tried to steady her. "You're supposed to scare me, you did that already, Jesus," she huffed. 

"They were helping," I laughed as we entered the next room. 

Hospital beds, dead bodies, bloody walls. 

"Nick, I have one thing to say to you for coming up with this idea," she said, staring at the room while we stood at the entrance. "Fuck you," she huffed.

Thanks, Emma.

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Chapter sixteen