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By the time the class had reached the campsite, the sun had disappeared over the horizon and the slightly spooky but magical feeling of the night took over. Thankfully, the weather wasn't harsh and the temperature was just right for a campfire with s'mores and blankets.

"Time for scary stories!" Grian cheered, getting half positive and half uneasy responses from the rest of the group.

Graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate were revealed from Xisuma's bag, raising the excitement levels in the clearing. Kids were already searching for good sticks around the area to use for skewering marshmallows- unaware that actual skewers had been provided. Joe handed the lighter to Cleo, who happily and hastily took it from him and ran over to the unlit campfire that was already ready due to preparation before the mini hike.

Soon enough, Hermits were huddled together with blankets around the now-lit campfire, with an optional drink of their choice. Scary stories were told, most being quite harmless- but some making others retreat to their tents for the night.

"And then, there was a scream." Cleo said in a spooky tone, pausing for dramatic effect. An actual scream followed a few seconds later, surprising everyone left around the campfire; including Cleo who hadn't planned for that to happen.

They all turned their heads. I was coming from inside one of the tents. The story-teller got up from where she was sitting on one of the logs, everyone else staying seated. She walked over to the tent it was coming from, recognizing a pair of antlers as well as two other shadows.

"What happened?!" She asked urgently, opening the tent.

Gem and False looked at the other in the tent, just as confused and worried as Cleo. The other, Stress, was backed up in the corner.

"What is it?" False asked.

"Sp-pider!" Stress faltered, staring at the small creature with a somewhat terrified look on her face.

Cleo tried to hide her laughter. It was understandable that the stressed Stress was afraid of spiders, but Cleo found it a little funny nonetheless. She ducted into the tent, spotting the bigger-than-tiny spider and picking it up.

The frightened brunette began to calm down once the spider was out of the tent and in Cleo's hand. She waved at them before leaving with the spider to go sit back at the campfire.

"They're fine, it was just a spider," Cleo assured as she sat back down, setting the black spider down and watching it crawl away.

She let someone else tell the next story, as hers was still a lot longer and it had already taken up a lot of the time, and they would probably only tell a couple more stories anyway because the people that had retreated back to their tents were getting tired and wanted to go to sleep peacefully.

The only people left around the campfire were Pearl, Cleo, Bdubs, Etho, Doc, and Jevin. They each wanted to be the last person standing, but time was running out. Eventually, Bdubs left because it was past his bedtime- making them laugh, Ren made Doc retreat, because that was the person he knew he could convince and it was one less person to take down, meaning the "competition" would be over just that much sooner. Now it was just Pearl, Cleo, Etho, and Jevin.

"Sooo-" Pearl started, confident she was gonna win. "How're you holding up, Jevin?"

The slime looked at her with annoyance in his eyes, but with full awareness he would turn into a green puddle if he didn't regain his energy. Unfortunately for him, it used up even just the slightest bit of his energy to hold himself together which made all the difference at the end of the day.

Jevin rolled his eyes, stood up from the log- unintentionally leaving green slime behind, and tiredly walked back to his tent so he could sleep and not melt.

Pearl smirked as she watched Jevin leave the campfire circle.

Cleo was the next to say something. "Three of us left, who's gonna give it up?" A yawn followed after.

Etho just sat there, completely emotionless. This annoyed the zombie, but she knew he would sit there for the whole night if it meant winning. "Y'know, Etho," She paused, sighing with sleepiness. "You can use your phone if you just- get up and go back to your tent,"

This tempted him, but he was sure he could last without it for however long it took both of them to retreat. "You don't have any caffeine, Cleo. You're only gonna last for a few more minutes at most," He finally spoke, observing her extremely tired and caffeine-dependent face.

They all turned their gaze to a tent to the left of them in the clearing. "Oh look! A really cool and really big spider!" The voice that was obviously False's called out.

"REALLY?! WHERE!" The sleep-deprived zombie immediately got up and ran over to her.

"Thanks, you're going to bed now!" She said, grabbing Cleo's arm as she struggled.

After a few moments of complaining and arguing, it went quite again. Now, only Pearl and Etho were left.

"So.. are you ready to give it up, Etho?" Pearl asked confidently, but with sleepiness in her voice. "You look pretty tired,"

"I always look tired- besides, don't you wanna go back to your tent where there's warmth? It's pretty cold out here!" Etho challenged, also fatigued and tired from the energetic day. Although Pearl realized she was crossing her arms and leaning forward slightly to stay warmer due to the chilly night air, the dying flames in the campfire and her thin jacket would hopefully last her long enough to win.

In just another twenty minutes, both highschoolers had passed out right where they were sitting, and a few hermits had gotten up to give them pillows and blankets. Now that the competition of who could stay up the longest was over, everyone could get to sleep peacefully and without disturbance. They would deal with explaining what happened in the morning.

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hi, I was supposed to post on Monday but I didn't cuz I was sorta kinda busy :D

Word count: 1013