CHAPTER FIVE: GROUNDIES!

 As Fable Leon looked up at the stars the next night, she felt like she could see everything that was possible. She had stopped at a mostly abandoned playground to take a breather from driving, and to switch with Amy, but she had to admit that here, in the middle of nowhere Montana, practically Oregon, she truly felt like she was in a snow globe, able to see everything from her small world.

"Fable, come on, we're going to play Groundies really quick," Evie said to Fable, pulling her over to the playground, snapping her out of her thoughts as she quickly ran onto the playground structure that was designed to look like a castle, so that she wouldn't be last and it.

"Beckett, what are you doing?" Austin shouted at Beckett, who was standing on the wood chips, looking at his friends with a confused look on his face.

"What's even going on here?" Beckett asked Austin in response, who laughed.

"You're it for Groundies!" Austin told the dark haired boy, who if at all possible, looked even more confused than before.

"Have you never played Groundies before?" Jonas asked Beckett, who shook his head, like it was obvious. "Basically, you're it, and you're trying to tag one of us to take your place, because you don't want to be it, right? And so like, you can come up on the playground, but if you do, you have to have your eyes closed while you're on the playground. If you're on the ground, you can have your eyes open. Oh! And anytime you shout Groundies, if someone is on the ground, they're it, but like, you can't just shout Groundies the whole time, because that's not very cash money. Make sense?" Johnathan laughed at Jonas's choice of words, and Fable found herself rolling her eyes.

"Alright, ready, 3, 2, 1, Groundies!" Fable shouted, and the game began.

Beckett was, in short, terrible at the game. Fable almost let him tag her out of pure pity, because he just couldn't seem to remember that he could shout Groundies to get people, and Evie spent way too much time on the ground without being called on it, in Fable's opinion. But, miraculously, Beckett managed to tag Austin while he was running across the small bridge that connected one half of the playground to the other half.

"Alright, I'll count down from ten, and then go!" Austin shouted as he hopped down to the ground, and Beckett stood beside Austin awkwardly. "You need to get on the playground so I don't tag you." Austin's voice was sweet, but not to the point of condescension. Beckett nodded his head, and climbed up the ladder and onto the same platform as Jonas, who was currently trying to get onto the roof of the playground, like Johnathan had, because there was no way that Austin would be able to get there. "Ten, two, one, done!"

"Cheater!" Amy shouted at Austin, who smirked, and ran towards where she was standing. Austin's hand swiped at the blonde, who jumped in the air, and held herself between the bars on the side of the bridge. Austin swiped at her again, but Amy was on the move, getting on top of the left side, and walking on top of the handrail towards the larger platform, quickly dodging Austin. "Go after someone else, cheater!"

"I didn't cheat!" Austin protested as he reached through the bars to tag Amy's foot.

"You're supposed to actually count down from ten!" Amy shouted at him in response as she squealed and backed away from Austin, accidentally bumping into Evie, who had just got off of the ground.

Austin sighed in defeat, and backed away from the playground slowly as Amy laughed in triumph of her apparent victory over Austin. Fable watched as Austin slowly examined the playground, and how his eyes stopped on the stairs that were close enough to him and Amy that if he made a run for it, he would be able to get her without leaving her time to run away where he wouldn't see.

Austin made a break for it, and Fable laughed as Amy screamed and Austin collided with her, his eyes screwed shut.

"Austin Boston Morgan, I hate you!" Amy shouted, hitting the blond haired boy on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around Amy to give her a hug. Fable could tell he was trying his hardest not to laugh at her, his whole body was shaking from the effort. Amy buried her face in Austin's shoulder, and from Fable's seat on the monkey bars, she could tell that Amy was laughing as well.

Amy pouted her way down the stairs, and sat down on the ground. "I'm not playing, send somebody else down to be it." Fable shook her head, she knew exactly what Amy was getting at, and she knew that the second someone was on the ground, she was going to call Groundies. This was always the way Amy played, the second she was it she would fool everyone into believing that she was done with the game, and then the second someone stepped down to relieve her, she'd call Groundies and they were the poor sap who was too nice to see through her efforts, and they were it. Amy had been playing like this since before Fable could remember, and from what Soren told her, she had taught it to Hestia as well.

"Alright, I'll take over for you," Evie said after a moment, and Fable resisted the urge to stop the red-headed girl, who was currently walking down the stairs.

"You're it!" Amy shouted as she tagged Evie the second the red head stepped onto the ground. Evie gave an exasperated sigh, and watched Amy run up the stairs in glee.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" Fable shouted at Evie, who ran a hand through her hair and sighed once more.

"Is this just a thing that she does?" Evie asked, and Amy laughed gleefully, Fable nodding her head in response. Evie got a wicked grin on her face, and Fable, fearing for her life like any sane woman sitting atop monkey bars would, pulled her legs up so that Evie couldn't pull her down.

Evie ran up to the other side of the playground, where both Jonas and Johnathan were sitting atop the roof, talking to each other about something and not entirely paying attention to the very intense and important game that was commencing, their legs dangling over the side, just in reach for Evie, if she was careful. Fable watched as Evie quietly climbed onto the playground, and made it underneath the roof, her eyes closed as she slowly made her way forward, closer to where Johnathan and Jonas's legs were hanging. It felt as if the entire playground held their breath as Evie waved her hands out in front of her, and began to walk like a caffeinated zombie.

"Got you!" Evie shouted in surprise as her hands collided into Jonas's legs, nearly causing him to fall off the roof entirely. Luckily Johnathan caught Jonas, quickly wrapping the soon to be senior in his arms and making sure that he wouldn't fall.

"You nearly killed me!" Jonas shouted down at Evie good naturedly, and Evie rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

"That's what you get for sitting on the roof then! Should have thought that one through just a little bit more!" Evie shouted back in response. Jonas slipped out of Johnathan's arms and onto the platform, sticking his tongue out at Evie before making his way down to the ground.

"Alright, ready or not, here I come!" Jonas shouted, running onto the playground platform, sending Evie scurrying away.

"That's the wrong game you nerd!" Fable shouted at him, and he just shrugged his shoulders, in the direction that he thought she was in, but in actuality, the complete wrong direction altogether.

"Marco!" Jonas called out, and Fable started to laugh, along with Johnathan and Evie, who had made her way onto the bridge, where she thought she was going to be safe from Jonas.

"Freddie, that's the wrong game!" Johnathan shouted down to the boy, who ran in the direction of the sound, and Johnathan's legs shot into the air to avoid being tagged by Jonas, who hit a bar by mistake. Jonas fumbled around before he found the ledge of the roof, and began to jump, until he successfully tagged Johnathan's leg.

"Got you," Jonas bragged, as Johnathan hopped down from the roof, and handed Jonas his camera.

"Good for you, you absolute dork," Johnathan replied, in his most serious voice ever. Fable laughed, not noticing how her legs were swinging down freely again, she was mostly focused on the stars, which over the past twenty minutes that they had been playing the game seemed to get brighter and brighter.

Fable looked around her, momentarily taking her eyes off of the stars, and noticed that Johnathan was nowhere to be seen. She looked around, trying to figure out if he was going for someone else, but it was almost impossible for her to tell.

"Boo!" Johnathan shouted from beside her, hitting her leg, and Fable screamed, holding a hand over her chest.

"Don't do that to me, you big jerk face!" Fable shouted laughing, trying to keep her most serious face on, but ultimately failing. "Now, help me down, won't you?" Johnathan, while laughing, nodded his head, and helped Fable get down off of the monkey bars. "I, 2, 3, Groundies!" Fable shouted quickly, slapping Johnathan's shoulder.

"That's so unfair!" Johnathan shouted, and Fable shrugged her shoulders, backing away from her friend. He glared at her, and she laughed. As he started to count down, she turned her back and ran, because she knew that Johnathan was going to try and tag her out. She made her way over to the smaller playground equipment (the one that was smaller and typically for the really small, young kids), when she turned around to see that Johnathan wasn't chasing her any longer. She continued to back-up, until she accidentally bumped into someone.

Well, she did say the playground was mostly abandoned, Fable thought to herself as she slowly turned around to see who it was exactly that she bumped into.

story gif made by: skaikrurogers

AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS:

Hi guys! I hope you guys liked the chapter, and if you did, I'd love it if you guys would vote and comment your thoughts! :D
Anyways, this chapter might seem like a bit off fluff, but I pinky promise, we're getting into the exciting stuff soon, so yeah, I hope you guys are ready, because act one is almost done already. (Which is like short or whatever, but you know, act two was always going to be longer lol).

Also you guys should totally comment here what your favorite line from this book is so far! (It doesn't have to be like, something someone said, it can also be a part of the narration as well!)

Anyways, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!