With a boatload of enthusiasm and a bit too much eagerness, Scarlett yanked open the stark door with so much force that she nearly wiped out on the hard floor in front of her. As she began to peel herself off the floor, she heard Chrissy's loud laughter from behind her. Scarlett scoffed and rolled her eyes at her younger cousin's amusement as Marcus, also chuckling (but in a politer manner) came to her side and helped her back to her feet.
The rest of the group warily filed in around them, drinking in the somewhat bland main room of the apartment with their wide eyes. Once Scarlett had recovered from her wipeout, she took a look at her teammates again, interested in their reactions to the small apartment.
Chrissy's eyes were big and round as she wandered curiously about the apartment, with a touch of anxiety mixed with the surprise in her pretty brown irises. Sage's expression was grim and he kept his gaze glued to the floor. Scarlett could tell he was scared out of his mind; his hands were shaking. Marcus had his stare fixated on a small couch, centered on the wall opposite the door. Martinus gradually walked over to where Chrissy was, his face blank of expression. Scarlett thought he looked drained, not physically, but mentally and emotionally.
Scarlett let her eyes wander around the room after evaluating her teammates. She saw a few doors, probably leading to bedrooms and a bathroom or maybe a closet. She noted the single window behind the couch and the odd symbol decorating the couch's throw pillows that matched their clothing.
She was pulled out of her examination when she heard a door creak. She whipped around and saw that her adventurous cousin was the first one brave enough to open a door. As Chrissy slowly pushed open the first door, Sage followed her example and cracked open the door on the opposite side of the room. Martinus gravitated towards Sage and peeked over his shoulder as Chrissy disappeared beyond the other door.
Scarlett shot a glance at Marcus, who slowly walked over to the couch and eased down onto it. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and melted into the plush cushions. Scarlett took that as her cue to follow Chrissy and let him have some space.
Beyond the other door, Sage gazed around the plain room, simply filled with two dull colored beds sporting the reoccurring symbol. Sage noticed that the symbol matched the pillows outside and he turned to Martinus with wide eyes.
"You have that same symbol on your sweatshirt!" Sage exclaimed, throwing a finger in Martinus direction. He seemed oblivious to the one plastered on his own gray hoodie.
"As do you, my friend," Martinus said blankly as he took a moment to examine the room. He kneeled down and pulled out one of the trundle beds. "So, I will take the trundle bed and you and Marcus can have the others."
"Absolutely not," Sage replied firmly with a head shake. "I'll take the trundle. I will not allow you to sleep on that," he gestured to the trundle like it was a dumpster.
"Oh, please," Martinus shrugged, patting the trundle. "When Marcus and I go on tour, we sleep in beds that are much more uncomfortable than this." The blond slowly lowered his shoulder to the trundle bed and shifted around a bit before looking up to Sage with another shrug. "See? It's not nearly as bad as tour bus beds. I'm used to the discomfort."
Marcus breezed into the room causing both other boys to swivel their heads. He went directly to his brother who was spread out on the bed.
"I will take the trundle bed, you two will take the others," he told them simply, batting Martinus shoulder so he would get off. Martinus hesitantly lifted himself off the floor bed and Marcus flopped down onto the trundle in his place as both of the others stared down at him. Marcus finished, "That is the end of this discussion."
No one argued otherwise.
**********************************
Scarlett pushed past Chrissy into the bland bedroom and jumped into the air only to smack down onto a plushy bed.
"I call this one!" she exclaimed very loudly.
Chrissy rolled her eyes and meandered over to the other bed. She gave the bed a couple of pats, feeling how soft it was, before settling down onto it. She relaxed and felt the bed engulf her tired body.
"Gracieeeeeeeee," Chrissy whined out slowly, staring up at the ceiling.
"Chrissssssyyyyyyy," Scarlett Grace cried in reply.
The girls didn't have to say another word. They both knew exactly what each other was thinking. They were scared but also filled with excitement to have this one of a kind experience. Both had it set in their minds that they had to win this.
Chrissy tore her eyes off the ceiling when her cousin abruptly jolted upright. Scarlett turned her icy blue eyes to give Chrissy a worry-filled stare.
"Chris," she said, her voice soft and scared. "What'll happen if we don't win?"
"I have no clue. . ." Chrissy replied, moving her eyes off to the wall as she sat, silently trying to recall everything that counselor Benno had told them. "I don't think Benno or that other guy. . . what was his name? I think it started with a G."
"You mean Galdavue?"
"Yeah, Galdoo. Er, I mean, Galaboo?"
Scarlett snickered at Chrissy's failed attempts at pronouncing the counselor's name. "Anyway, you were saying?"
"Oh, right!" Chrissy shook her head to get back on track. "I don't remember them mentioning anything besides 'being eliminated'."
Scarlett visually shuddered, "That sounds really creepy. . .'eliminated'."
"Agreed," Chrissy huffed gently.
Suddenly Martinus popped his head through the doorway, soon followed by Marcus.
"Uh, guys, don't we have a dinner-thing to go to?" Marcus asked, shifting his eyes from girl to girl.
"Yeah, of course," Chrissy replied, lying still for a single moment more before she lifted herself off the bed.
"Yay! Food time!" Scarlett called enthusiastically, leaping off her bed and throwing a fist in the air.
Chrissy took a moment to blissfully stretch as the twins watched Scarlett sprint through the door and out of sight. She rolled her eyes again at her older cousin and followed the twins out of the room.
Once everyone was together in the main apartment again, Scarlett punched Sage's shoulder lightly and motioned for him to follow her out the door and into the hallway. Everyone trailed behind hungry Scarlett into the hall, where several teams were also making their way down the stairs to the cafeteria down below.
"Let's go!" Scarlett called back to her teammates as she skipped ahead.
Chrissy shook her head and folded her arms, continuing after her cousin.
"What is up with that girl's enthusiasm?" Martinus asked, tilting his head slightly.
Chrissy shot him a grin.
"You're usually enthusiastic," Marcus said, lifting an eyebrow at his twin.
"Yeah, but not when I've been kidnapped by aliens!" Martinus replied, throwing his hands out dramatically. Marcus just walked on, only replying with his smirk. Martinus turned and asked Chrissy, "Is she always like this?"
"You mean Grace—er—Scarlett Grace?" Chrissy studdered.
Martinus nodded his head expectantly.
"Not really. I mean, sometimes when she's with close friends," she replied, sending a glance down the stairs to where Scarlett was currently smiling and nudging Sage with her elbow.
"She seems to have taken a liking to Sage," Marcus noted, watching as the two brunettes in front of them chattered on. Well, more of Scarlett chattered on and Sage nodded along.
Chrissy kept an eye on her happy cousins as the stairs ended and in front of them opened a small room with two doors, one leading outside (the way they came in) and one opening up to a diner looking cafeteria.
The team stopped short at the door as a wave of bustling teenage chatting swept over them. They took in the air of the place, glancing around the mostly full tables and short lineup at the counter.
Scarlett wheeled around and marched up to Chrissy, "Sloppy space burrito or alien hamburger?"
Chrissy was confused for a moment until her cousin guided her eyes up to the menu board, displaying two entree options for the day. One was a spilling over burrito type wrap that appeared extremely artificial and the other was a square hamburger with an odd color tint to it. Chrissy wrinkled her nose at the two choices before giving her cousin a devious smirk.
"Do you think your little mommy-made-lunches stomach can handle this grade of food, homeschool girl?" Chrissy sarcastically asked.
Scarlett appeared taken aback by her joke.
"Whoa, you're homeschooled?" Sage asked, gravitating back towards the group. He seemed to be acting a bit reserved and wary like he was wanting to be friends with the team but he wasn't sure that was a good idea. "You're not a nerd, are you?"
"Uh, no," Scarlett gave him a look that showed she was opposed to the stereotype. "I'm not smart enough to be."
"Guys," Martinus said suddenly, breaking up the conversation. His eyes scanned the room. "We may want to hurry up and get our food. Unless we are not going to sit together, I mean, that's fine too, I guess."
"Nonsense," Scarlett scoffed. "Of course we are gonna sit together. Let's get in line and we can decide meals while we wait."
They stood in line for a few minutes before they all got their meals and gathered once more to find a table to sit at.
"There's an empty space at that long table over there," Chrissy said, attempting to point with her lunch tray in hand. Scarlett was very amused by this.
"Looks like that is the only place we'll be able to sit together," Marcus commented, staring into the maze of tables and teens.
"Then that is where we sit," Scarlett decided, already weaving around the small spaces in between tables to grab a seat.
The twins exchanged shrugs. Chrissy sighed loudly before wheeling around, shoving her tray off to Martinus, and then grabbing silent Sage by the sleeve and leading the way towards her cousin. All five of them settled down around the long table, next to teenagers they didn't recognize before they gave their trays of food glances of concern.
"Well," Chrissy said, examining her plate with disgust. "This looks like they found it in a New York dumpster."
"I don't even think a goat would eat this stuff," Scarlett agreed, poking her burrito thing with a fork.
Sage leaned forward and sniffed the burger like food he had in front of him. He immediately drew back and turned his nose upwards, "That is actually terrible."
"And the texture is awful," Marcus said, rubbing the burrito filling between his fingers.
"Honestly, I don't think this is edible," Scarlett whined.
"Let's count to three and then we'll all take a bite at the same time," Chrissy suggested, wrinkling her nose.
"Yes, I'll count." Martinus volunteered.
Everyone sighed and glanced at their trays.
"Ready?" Martinus asked.
"Here goes nothing," Scarlett muttered through clenched teeth.
"One," Martinus started.
"Two," Chrissy joined in with a whisper.
"Three!"
Everyone took a decent bite of the slimy or grimy meal in front of them. Scarlett held a straight face for a bit before starting to involuntarily gag. Sage didn't even attempt to fake it, instead, he spat his out all over the table. Marcus barely managed to swallow his bite whole before choking on it. Chrissy sputtered out several, "Yuck!"s in the midst of her quick chewing. Martinus was the calmest of them all, eating somewhat normally despite the horrible flavor.
"It can't be that bad," some girl sitting at their table rolled her eyes.
"Oh, it is!" Scarlett shouted back, furiously trying to wipe the taste from her lips.
The girl scoffed and turned rudely back to her team, shoving her tray to a fellow teammate and stating that, with her figure, she couldn't afford to eat dinner every day anyway. Scarlett just rolled her eyes and turned back to her own, kind team, and instantly she saw Sage's attention had obviously been caught by that mean girl and her starving figure.
Of course, that's just the kind of girl Sage would be into. Scarlett thought to herself, examining Sage's expression.
"Anyway," Chrissy tried to get the focus off the mean girl. "Does anyone know if aliens use condiments? Like ketchup or something to drown this trash in?"
"Beats me," Scarlett shrugged.
"We will have to eat something eventually if we want to survive this," Marcus commented.
"But does it have to be this?" Scarlett sighed, staring down at her meal.
"I don't know, that Benno guy seems to be nice. Maybe we could ask him for a menu change," Chrissy suggested.
The table went silent for a bit, with Marcus and Martinus muttering to each other softly a few times. Chrissy and Sage both quietly grumbled and shuffled their food around their plates.
But the whiny silence was soon abruptly shattered when Scarlett Grace unexpectedly slapped her hands down on the tabletop, sending a loud clap through the buzzing cafeteria. Her teammates all glanced up from their "food" and eyed her strangely, but she just ignored them all and stared straight ahead with slight amusement traced on her face.
"Oh my gosh," she hoarsely whispered, catching Chrissy's confused glare.
"What's wrong, Gracie?" Chrissy asked, leaning in on the table and examining her cousin's face.
Scarlett finally tore her eyes off whatever she was staring at beyond Chrissy's shoulder and instead turned to stare directly into her cousin's worried expression. She tried to explain, her voice as low as possible as if she was trying to tame some great eagerness. "Chrissy, I want you to slowly turn around. Act casual and don't do anything crazy or stupid.
"What are you talking about?" Chrissy questioned, her voice rising to a new place of aggravated hysteria.
"Okay, I'm lost," Sage said, shifting his eyes from girl to girl and drawing back from the now tight huddle the team was in.
"What is going on?" Marcus asked, seeming impatient and very confused.
"Turn around!" Scarlett urged Chrissy, doing a circular motion with her hand.
"Okay, okay!" Chrissy hissed.
Chrissy sighed, straightened up and cautiously turned herself to glance over her shoulder. She almost instantly tensed up and sharply shifted back to face the group, groaning, "Oh, sweet baby J."
Martinus raised an eyebrow in her direction and gave her a look.
Chrissy's pretty round face was painted with utter disgust as she crumpled up against the table and buried her head in her hands, muttering, "I can't believe she's here."