Chapter One~Adventure

And so our tale begins with a random adventure.

"And that's why you love me!" She smiled, leaning back in her chair.  Casually looking over her shoulder, she noticed Don was not amused.  Or, at least he didn't seem to be.  He had an amazing poker face, and could mask any emotion incredibly well.
 
"Swear to God, woman, you say one more thing and I will end you," he threatened.  Here he made a face.  He didn't like to be messed with while at work, and Andréa had a way of doing just that.  Whether it was paying for her sushi completely in pennies, stealing all of the free bamboo chopsticks, or singing the Hot Dog song at the top of her lungs, something was always going on to annoy him. 

"Come on, big brother, I love you. You'll forgive me, right?" She flicked back her long black hair and gave her famous grin. 

It had happened again.  Andréa was trying to make fun of Don by doing something creatively insane, and today it just happened to be rearranging all the gum so that the packages were color-coded in the order of the rainbow...all out of order of course.  It irritated him to no end.  Having slight OCD tendencies didn't exactly help either.  Andréa watched as he started rearranging the gum, in proper order of brand and flavor.  Peering at him, she caught his eye.  She was now sitting backwards in her chair like a squirrel, looking up at him with her big amber eyes--obviously amused.  Sitting to her left, Faye gave a little laugh, which sounded like the tinkling of bells.

Don worked at a smoothie shop in the local college campus of Nole, North Carolina.  That meant that not only was his job to make delicious treats, it was also his job to deal with stupid people.  The students who attended this college were mostly rich kids from throughout the country, learning to spend daddy's money and party every night.  Clearly, these people did not deserve deliciousness. 

However, there were people at this school whom the sibling deemed decent human beings, and actually pretty cool.  There was of course, Faye, the incarnation of the color pink, Connor, the writer, Josh, the jovial optimist, Lynn, his very rational girlfriend, Renee, the temperamental teacher, Alex, the quiet yet hilarious musician and Gareth, the giant teddy bear.

From the moment of their first meeting, these people had become the center of Don and Andréa's worlds.  Don had originally met him through work, and after a while decided to share his crazy sister with them.  They were quickly won over by her open and spunky personality, and soon all of them became a sort of family.  And what a crazy, dysfunctional family they were.  They were always doing something out of the ordinary, from watching Disney movies on one of the many couches in Faye's living room (there were three sofa beds), to writing on the sidewalks with chalk at three in the morning. However, this particular night was different.  Tonight Faye, Andréa, Renee and Alex were doing homework at a table next to Don's counter.  For once, they were bored.  Andréa stopped typing and stared into the screen, thinking of all the things she'd rather be doing at the moment. 

"I think we should do something different," she said finally, looking up from her computer.  She often kept it with her to write down their adventures together. 

"Like what, sunshine?" Renee asked. 

"Hmm, something Gareth would like to do...I want him to miss us insanely." Their friend Gareth had just recently started his study abroad in Zimbabwe.  He was interested in studying the country's folklore and the art of basket weaving.  Needless to say, Renee and Andréa missed him dreadfully. 

"How about we go ghost hunting?" chimed in Faye.  Being the group's main source of fun and excitement, she was always up for an adventure. "There's a local sight that's supposed to be haunted.  We could go up there and spend the night."

At this, Alex looked up from his homework and looked Faye dead in the eye.  "Okay, calling your bluff right now.  You won't do it."

"You wanna bet?" she scoffed.  "It'll be great!  We can bring games and drinks, and if nothing else we'll have an amazing story to tell."

Andréa put on her thinking face.  This was a tough one--on one side, it was an interesting adventure to go anywhere haunted.  On the other side was her fear of ghosts and the like.  She took a sideways glance at Don, who was finished rearranging the gum she had so artfully arranged for him and was now ringing up frat boys for their food.  He lived off of creepy things and watching people's reactions to them.  He'd probably eat this sort of thing up. 

"If that's what you guys want to do that's fine with me.  I'll probably be scared to death though," she giggled, nervously.  The thought of running, screaming her head off at an unseen horror was ridiculous, so ridiculous she just may do it.  She could imagine everyone's reactions too.  She, Renee and Faye would be running, Lynn and Josh would be walking side by side, not caring at all, and Don, Alex and Connor would be trying to scare the girls even more than they already were.

Faye and Renee chattered on about the plans, and who would bring what, who'd drive and who would be the look out to make sure the cops never caught on to the fact that there were underage people drinking with them.  Andréa imagined the dread going to the place.  She didn't even enjoy scary movies, much less being in the middle of one.  Alex noticed her disquiet.

"Hey.  All good?" he asked her pointedly.  She nodded blankly back. "Good." he stated, before directing his attention back to school work.  Even though he was one of the youngest, he always seemed to act the oldest in this mishmash group.  Andréa looked back at her own work.  She had a lot to get done, and a time limit to do it in; online classes were becoming brutal these days.  Sighing, she tried to figure out the next line in her paper. 

Author's Note

Work in progress, I know I have some continuity issues with the plot and character development. What do you think of the dynamic of the group though? does it sound believable?