Cleo sat under her umbrella and on her (not so coincidentally) pink, purple, and blue towel. She was waiting for something exciting to happen. What to do.. She thought silently, observing what everyone else was doing. Looking around, the zombie considered any activity she could join in that would cure her boredom. Eating? No. Swimming? Definitely not. Selling random items found around the beach for money? Normally, yes- but right now she didn't want to cause any extra trouble for Xisuma who was taking a much-needed break at the picnic Stress and Gem had set up.

"Hey, Cleo!"

She turned her head to the direction the voice came from. It led her to Hypno and xB, who were running toward her. Once they reached her, Hypno was the first to talk.

"Would you like to buy something?"

The shaded zombie thought about it for a few moments before responding. "Do I get to know what you guys are trying to sell me before I give you my money?"

"Nope!" xB replied.

Knew it.

"But you like taking risks, right? I mean, you are ZombieCleo,"

All three paused, waiting for who was to say something next. On one hand, they're probably going to scam me with a piece of junk. On the other hand, it could be something worth my time and money.

"Yeah, I suppose so," She said, not totally convinced.

After another moment, Cleo decided she would buy the mystery item they were offering her, just because there was a small chance it could be something cool. Probably not, but maybe.

"Fine, how much do you want?"

"Yes!" Hypno half-shouted. "Um, two dollars?"

The ginger-haired zombie rummaged through her bag, looking for her wallet. "There you are,"

Each took one dollar, and then Hypno revealed the item.

"Sunglasses?" At first she didn't know what to think, but after putting them on, it was definitely worth it. They fit and matched her perfectly, plus made the world around her fit her dim preference of lighting.

"These are perfect, thanks!"

xB and Hypno high-fived, then ran back to the rocky side of the beach to continue looking for things, most likely crap, to sell to others.

I guess it wasn't completely junk! The zombie got up, put on her Lady Dimitrescu-style hat to shield the rest of her from the sun, and walked over to the picnic area.

"Hey, Cleo!" Gem greated as Cleo walked over. "Wow, where'd you get those sunglasses from?"

"I bought them from xB and Hypno who probably got them from the lake," She responded.

"Cool! Want any food?"

"No thank you, I'm just walking around to find something to do."

"Okay, cya later!"

Things continued to run smoothly as the hermits enjoyed their day at the lake. Cleo ended up playing volleyball with some of the hermits, relieving her from her boredom. Scar even beat Iskall in a swimming competition, although Iskall easily won for who could stay in the more or less cold water the longest.

The picnic area was set up on the beach around the old and worn down benches. "What are we doing tomorrow?" Stressmonster asked Xisuma.

He gulped down a bite of one of the delicious sandwiches she made, responding vaguely. "We're going to go on a hike,"

"Everyone's legs are going to be dead before we even start!" Stress joked with a hint of doubt.

There was silence for a brief moment, then Gem whispered something into the class president's ear. After he nodded in response, she cheered. "Yes! Don't worry, Stress, the view will be worth it- Trust me."

"Okay..-" The brunette responded, still a little doubtful.

Not too long later, Ren and Doc came walking over to the picnic area, snickering and whispering to each other. The three, not including Tango who was laying on one of the tables, looked over their shoulders to see them eyeing Xisuma specifically. "Hi, you guys need something?-" He asked.

"We have a dare for you." Ren responded immediately.

Dares never ended well with the hermits. Once, Grian ended up stuck on his own roof. Another time, Zed's parents came home too soon and was grounded for leaving a burnmark, easily noticeable and recognizable to this day. On one of the walls. Only those who saw it happen knew what happened and swore they wouldn't tell anyone else. Even though this big group of friends had been through a lot together, he didn't think it was a good idea to agree to a dare; especially from Ren and Doc. "I don't know guys-"

"-Don't you wanna at least know what it is?" Ren proposed, Xisuma being slightly cut off from an immediate response again.

The brunette sighed. "Okay, what is it?"

"We want you-" Doc began as Ren's tail started wagging mischievously. "To push Bdubs into the lake."

"Wait what? Are you guys crazy?!" Xisuma shifted his position so he was facing the two now. "First of all that would be rude, second of all, you know that bad, bad karma would bite back." He wondered why they wanted him to do that. Was it because Bdubs had slapped him in the face with a pulled back tree branch the day before on the mini-hike? Actually, that made sense. Of course Doc would want payback for that. He still didn't think it was a good idea for him to get involved, though.

"Oh come on, please??" Ren pleaded with puppy eyes. Thankfully, that didn't work on the class president; he shook his head. "Don't you wanna have fun though?"

"I am, right here, not pushing people into the lake."

Gem and Stress exchanged an uneasy glance, not sure if they should get involved or if they should just sit and watch. "Fine, I guess you don't have to if you don't want to. Just don't come crying to us when someone calls you boring and not able to have fun!" Doc said, giving one more chance for Xisuma to change his mind before walking away.

After a moment, the disappointed Ren and Doc started walking away. "Wait-" They turned around. "Fine, I'll do it," He sighed. This is a bad idea.

The three walked over to where Etho was. "Ladders!" Doc shouted in his direction. The snowy-haired highschooler turned his head to where the voice came from, distracting him from the very competitive game of volleyball he was watching.

"Hi, you guys need something?" He asked when they got close enough so he didn't have to yell.

"Are you free to record Suma pushing BdoubleO into the lake?" Ren asked as Xisuma stood there doubtfully, wishing he left his answer at no.

Etho thought about it as the volleyball game continued. "Yes! Etho, did you see that??" Cleo cheered, while Cubfan sighed in defeat, relief, and exhaustion; letting the next contestant play against her. Etho whipped his head around in a pointless attempt to see what happened, but Cleo had already taken the victory and the next player, Impulse, would try to break her undefeated win streak.

"Dammit!" He swore under his breath, turning back to face Doc with an annoyed expression in his eyes. Both him and Ren's non-verbal expression told him they still wanted him to catch Xisuma pushing Bdubs into the lake on camera, and even though the game he was watching had just finished, Etho wasn't convinced pushing his friend into the lake was a good idea- just as X had thought. Despite being well aware of all of this and having no current grudge to hold against Bdubs, for some reason he agreed anyway.

The four made their way over to the dock where Bdubs and Keralis were sitting together on the edge. "Guys, I'm really starting to think this isn't a good idea!" Xisumavoid half-whispered. Etho shared the same thought, but didn't say anything and just reluctantly pulled out his phone. This couldn't go terribly wrong, could it?

"Don't worry!" Ren half-whispered back. "If he gets too mad- which he won't, we'll say it was our idea and we are to blame."

"Fine- but after, I'm saying that you two made me and it wasn't my idea."

"Deal!"

---

Keralis and Bdubs sat on the edge of the dock in silence. They listened to the other hermits splashing in the water or conversing in somewhat small groups, as well as the natural sounds of birds and occasional wind blowing through the atmosphere. The weather was perfect for outside activities, although neither could think of anything to do but sit there; which was enjoyable nonetheless. "This is nice, thank you for the company, Bubbles." Keralis finally spoke, after what seemed like too long for silence.

Bdubs hummed in response, looking down at the peaceful water. Suddenly, something small and metallic-looking made a quick splash, then disappeared again. "Hey! Did you see that?"

"See what?" Keralis looked into the water.

"I saw a fish jump out of the water I think," He replied thoughtfully.

"Doesn't that mean good luck or something?"

Bdubs chuckled. "Hopefully."

They both turned their heads, just as X and Etho had done, to see something neither of them were expecting. X was reluctantly and hesitantly walking towards them, while Etho had his phone out recording whatever the pink-shirted teenager was doing and Ren and Doc both watching behind them.

"Hey-" Bdubs started, but all of a sudden he was pushed into the cold water by the person he would have least expected to do such a thing. Keralis sat there as his friend came back up to the surface, confused and only slightly annoyed, but quietly laughing anyway. Etho lowered his phone with both an 'I'm sorry' but also a 'you had it coming' look on his face, and in the background, Docm and Rendog- but especially Doc, laughed hysterically. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" The now soaking wet Bdubs practically screamed as he swam to the old and worn-down ladder to escape the unforgiving water he had been pushed into.

"Maybe it meant bad luck-?" Keralis muttered.

"I'm so sorry it was Ren and Doc's idea, and they made Etho record it-" Xisuma spoke as soon as Bdubs was fully out of the water. Bdubs angrily walked up to the noticeably taller out of both of them, and paused. Just as he was about to speak again, he was pushed into the lake himself. As he swam to the surface, he muttered, "I probably deserved that." The next person Bdubs looked at with his intimidating death glare was Doc. The cyborg smiled nervously, knowing that he too would be pushed into the lake, and that there was no escape. Bdubs ran at him. Ren was convinced that he wouldn't even be able to make him budge, but was surprised when he could, in fact, make him budge. And more than that. Doc went falling into the lake.

"Not so big and tough now!" The shortest one retorted, a grin growing on his face. Once again, Etho took out his phone to record where this not-so-nice prank went to a mostly playful water fight.

"You're lucky my arm and face are waterproof or else you and I both would be in big trouble!" Doc yelled back from the water below Bdubs.

"Yeah, yeah, I know!"

Ren gave a sigh in relief, thinking he was safe from the dark water lapping at the support beams of the dock. Just as his muscles relaxed, BdoubleO turned to face him, then came charging at him just as he did with the previous victim. The hybrid decided to voluntarily jump into the water to be saved from the dignity-crushing push. He went down T-posing though, brave as ever.

The only thing that saved Etho from being pushed as well was his phone he refused to let leave his side. "You're safe this time, Etho; But you better watch out!"

---

What started out as a rather brutal prank turned into a fun water fight. Many more Hermits joined in, and some just came to watch how everything would play out; though everyone had probably gone in and out of the water at least once, pushing each other back in. The day went by fast from then on, everyone ending up happy and entertained. The walk back was on the more dreadful side though, as no one wanted to leave the lake and only they barely made it back to the campsite without collapsing from exhaustion.

Xisuma announced to the rest of them that they would be going on a long hike the next day, advising that they all get some shuteye to have enough energy. Some Hermits tried to protest, but Gem and X knew everyone would love the view at the end, it being at least ten times better than the first hike's view. They said their goodnights to each other and were off to their own tents. No more fussing had been heard, they were all too tired to argue anymore.

---

Helloooo! Has it been a while? Honestly I don't know- anyways, sort of a long/longer chapter! Cool! I'm not very proud of the ending, but I was out of ideas by the time I reached the end. So yeah, lazy ending. Thanks for reading I guess, cya! (Btw idk if this needs any editing so I'll check later maybe)

(Word count: 2,158)