Radioactive

Chapter 22

"Fine." Waldo threw his hands up in exasperation. He abruptly stood up and brushed the grass off his black pants. "I think I'm going back to the village." Waldo turned towards the other girl.(her name still eluded Danny) "Phoebe are you feeling better now?" he gently put his large hand on her shoulder. She bit her lip and nodded at the ground.

"Yes I do. Thanks for asking Waldo." Phoebe glared at Florence who immediately shrunk away from her glare. Okay , Danny thought, so Phoebe isn't as quiet as I originally thought, but she still won't be much of a potential threat for anything."

"Look," Florence announced " why don't we just get off this crazy rock thing and get back to the village."

"Go Flo, go go Flo!" Waldo cheered as Flo began to walk towards the path that led off the bluff. Danny eagerly followed her, anxious to get home and sleep.

"Wait a second you guys, does anyone know how to get back to the village?" Phoebe spoke softly as she kicked the dirt. Danny glanced around and realized that now everyone (including himself) were giving her a blank stare.

"...Well crap." Waldo said after a few silently awkward moments.

Danny smirked "Good job you guys." They all glared at him but Danny pretended not to notice. He was used to being given the evil eye, though this time he wished he had kept his big mouth shut. These three were his only hope of getting back to the Drome and he had to make them trust him.

"Well maybe instead of sitting there you could help us." Florence snapped as she paced back and forth. Hm maybe Danny could charm her out of her anger.

Danny put his hands up in the surrender position."Woah babe, just calm-"

"DON'T CALL HER BABE!" yelled Waldo as Phoebe jumped a bit at the sudden noise. Danny flinched back. Did Waldo have a thing for Flo? Well then, this could be fun.

"Yeah, don't call me babe. It sounds like curse word coming from your mouth." Florence angrily replied angrily through gritted teeth.

Danny looked up at her and decided that she looked kind of cute when she was angry. Like a cute little bunny trying to be fierce. Standing up, he began to walk towards her. "Okay, sweetheart," he started, but before he could continue she grabbed his shirt collar and slammed him into the rock behind him. He felt his feet lift off the ground and he began to panic.

Holy crap she was strong. And a little less cute.

She leaned in close, her face carved into a scrowl. "Listen closely you jerk, if you call me one more name like that, I swear I will kick in the balls so hard that your grand kids will have scars. If someone ever likes you, which I doubt." Okay she wasn't cute when she was angry. She was down right fricken terrifying.

And ouch that last remark had hurt. Sure he wasn't the nicest guy around, but still he hoped to settle down one day with a nice girl.

He noticed how close she was to him. But Danny didn't dare to try anything, or she might just kick him in the lower region. And that would hurt, a lot.

"Um, Flo? Did you eat strongman pills today?" Waldo asked breaking the tension.

"No why?" she ask as she still held Danny aloft. She glared at Danny, an then she glance at the ground. She jerked her head up again to look at Danny, but now she seemed scared. She immediately dropped him and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." He mumbled humbly. Flo nodded, not even noticing him as she stared at her hands, looking ready to burst into tears. Waldo carefully made his way towards her, and he slowly embraced her into a hug. She began to cry as she returned the hug.

"I'm turning into a freak. What's wrong with me Waldo?" she sobbed into his shoulder. He stroked her hair, as he pulled her into him even more. Danny was torn between going 'aww' or gagging, but he decided to keep quiet.

"Hey, Flo, nothing is wrong with you. You are perfect, and just because you've gotten a bit stronger doesn't mean that you're a freak. Don't you dare think of yourself like that okay?" Waldo spoke gently and he rested his chin on her head.

Danny leaned over to Phoebe. "Just like something from a book huh?"

"Shut up I'm enjoying this." Replied Phoebe with a smile on her face. Girls are so weird, Danny thought as

he watched Waldo whisper something to Flo who laughed in response.

"Thank you." Flo said as she and Waldo broke their embrace, both blushing. Danny thought that if they started dating, he would probably throw up. Max and Raina were already bad enough as it was.

"Well now that that's over," Danny said "could we go back to the village?"

"None of us know how to get back there, idiot. We've already been over that" Waldo barked at Danny as he protectively put an arm around Flo, just like Danny himself had done earlier, but Flo didn't try to push Waldo off like she had done to Danny earlier. Waldo seemed to notice this and he smirked at Danny.

Jerk, Danny thought.

"Um actually Waldo, I do believe that I know how to get back." Phoebe said smartly as she stood up.

"Maybe if you'd asked her earlier, we'd be back in the village now." Danny smirked as Waldo's face flushed pinker. Point for Dan the man, Danny thought to himself.

"Okay, since we now know how to get back to the village, can we please go now? It's getting chilly up here." Flo said as she shivered. Waldo immediately wrapped his blue sweater around her shoulders and she smiled at him. Danny rolled his eyes as Phoebe brushed past him to get to the path leading down from the bluff.

Danny ran after her, anxious not to be stuck behind the two slow moving lovebirds. When he reached her side she gave him an are-you-seriously-doing-this look, which he chose to ignore. They remained silent until the reached the bottom of the bluff.

"I don't see how Flo thinks it's cold, I'm actually sweating right now." He remarked as they entered the forest.

"I'm sweating as well." She replied. "But Flo didn't want his sweater because she was cold."

"Well then why did she ask for it then?" Danny was actually super confused. None of the girls he knew would ever ask for his sweater.

"It's a girl thing. You know, wanting your crushes sweater to wear." Phoebe said as she pushed aside a tree branch aside.

"Yeah I've never heard of girls doing that." Danny said absentmindedly as he accidentally brushed his shoulder against Phoebes. She immediately jerked away.

"I'm not surprised about that. You probably don't even know any girls." She said sharply as she walked ahead of Danny.

Note to self, Danny thought as he trudged behind Phoebe, although she may seem quiet , Phoebe was the wrong person to be mad at you.

Danny abruptly tripped over a root, and as he stood up, everyone quietly laughed at him. Turning red, he walked faster.

In his opinion, Mother Nature could jump off a cliff.

Suddenly a twig snapped, and everyone immediately froze in fear. Another twig snapped, sounding even closer than the last.

"Hey Flo can you go all strongman again please?" Waldo asked nervously as the four of them nervously formed a circle, all facing outward to find the source of the noise.

Suddenly a voice boomed out from the bushes. "I know you're all there, so don't even think about running." Danny couldn't tell if the voice was male or female and this made him nervous.

Before Danny could ask this mysterious voice whom they were, the person stepped out of the bushes, and everyone gasped loudly.

"You!" Florence shrieked, as Danny felt his stomach turn.