only on pizza, please

xiv.

"well, this trip hasn't been all that bad, huh?"

"yeah," nick rolls his eyes. "sure." the two decided they should catch up during their time before dinner. ellie was with the rest of the posse, tk and max also with them.

"i mean, you got yourself a girl, i got...nothing. but that's fine, i wasn't expecting much anyways. actually, i have this apple."

omar tosses his apple up in the air and reaches to catch it, but someone beats him to it.

"ha," eleanor laughs, taking a bite out of her freshly stolen apple.

"you're really living up to your nick name, aren't you?"

"i told you, it's meagan." eleanor shrugs and then runs away.

nick laughs at his friend and turns to face his other one. "so, what should we do now?"

"nothing. nothing at all. well, tell me about this girl you've been with."

nick blushes furiously. "who?"

omar rolls his eyes dramatically. "ellie. duh."

nick looks into the distance and smiles. "she's not mine. but i wish she was."

omar looks at him seriously. "why don't you get her then?"

"i can't. i'm too nervous and, i mean, she doesn't even like me." nick shakes his head. "you know what? you're annoying me. goodbye."

and with that, nick leaves to find someone else. his first thought is to find ellie, but he doesn't now what he'd say to her. so instead, he goes towards the abandoned dormitory.

much to his surprise, there's no on here. nick looks around in confusion. he thought at least tk would be there. disappointed, he starts to move away.

"pssst, nick."

nick head shoots up to find emma gesturing him over to behind a tree. nick raises his arms in a 'what are you doing?' way, but walks over. eleanor is also standing by. she points between the branches, and a wild tk and max emerge in their natural habitat.

nick squints in their direction. "what are you—"

"shhhh," eleanor scolds. "it's happening.

as much as nick tried not to be a creepy fangirl, he couldn't help it. tkmaxx was his otp, afterall.

tk puts his right hand on max's waist, and it looks to the three as if he's going to kiss him.

emma sneezes.

"fuck, RUNNNNNNNNNNN," eleanor screams, sprinting to the great hall after shooting across the road. nick is close behind. emma, however, is trailing. she doesn't think to stop at the road, but someone grabs her shoulder to stop her.

"NO, WE'VE LOST ONE," emma hears eleanor shout.

"KEEP RUNNING," nick yells.

emma starts to turn around to find out who stopped her from sprinting into the road, but a truck zooms in front of her, inches from where she stood.

"you're welcome," smiles nicholas (also known as nicole).

"thanks," emma grins in return. her smile fades when she finds max holding tk's hand walking towards her.

"i've gotta run...PEACE OUT SUCKERS."

she dashes, racing to catch up with the others, but tkmaxx catch up with her first.

-

"that," nick pants, "was way too close."

eleanor shrugs. "but it was worth it."

they both laugh and head to where ellie was sitting, next to the rest of the posse. nick glanced at eleanor nervously- facing the posse was slightly daunting. she pointedly ignored him and sat down.

"what've you guys been doing?"

"waiting for food," john replies. food. cri.

"reading," lily says. kate and amy and kriti were talking about some new fandom they'd discovered, freaking out a little bit.

"ellie?" nick asks. ellie immediately responds to him with a nod.

"oh, i was just wondering what you were doing..." nick trails off. ellie looks confused, she hadn't been listening to the conversation. although she was flustered that nick was talking to her, it was startling.

eleanor could sense awkward situations, and this was definitely one. not being able to let this tension occur between her power couple, she attempted to save it.

"r00d. you didn't answer my question," eleanor chimes in. "i asked what everyone was doing."

"sorry," she laughs. nick can't help but smile at her. "i was literally sitting here."

the truth was, ellie had wanted to be with nick, but omar got there sooner. she'd waited for half an hour before giving up.

"HELP!" they group hears a cry from a few metres away. the see emma, trying to break from tk and max's grip. ellie, along with the rest of the posse, look confused. nick runs over, and soon eleanor goes to help emma.

they break her free and consider fleeing again, but tk speaks up.

"what were you doing?"

"tk, we're making a scene," complains max, looking out at the kids lingering in the great hall. "let's go over here."

they proceed to the edge of the river running along the edge of the camp site.

"tk, max- we know you're together. and we're happy for you. end of story," nick summarises.

max blushes like crazy and tk faces the river behind them. eleanor laughs at the bashfulness of them, and apologises to emma for ditching her.

"it's okay. i'm always happy to take one for the team."

nick smiles, but looks back in the direction of the great hall. he watches ellie stand up and head towards them. nick murmurs a goodbye and jogs to meet her halfway.

"what's going on?" she asks.

"tkmaxx drama," jokes nick. ellie smiles and grabs his hand, pulling him away.

"where are we going? what are you doing?" nick questions.

"i'm not doing anything!" ellie defends. "nothing at all..."

nick raises his eyebrows.

"stealing eleanor's food okay."

-

#damn leave me alone