'How mad would Grian be if I pushed Jimmy into the pond?'

Martyn laughed, glancing over at Joel as he stood, completely oblivious of Tango's bushification, in front of a large pool of water and lilypads, a couple hours into the day out.

'Grian would probably kill you.'

'Besides, what if when in the pond, he ponders, responding by ponding you too.' Joe pointed out Joeishly.

'He can try.' Scoffed Joel. 'That bloody idiot couldn't pond m.'

'What... Are you lot... talking about?' Asked the ever-innocent Jimmy.

'Nothing, nothing. Joel was just wondering about pushing you into the pond.'

Jimmy stood quickly, eyes widening.

'You- you wouldn't. Grian would literally kill you.'

'Oh we know.' Martyn paused for effect. 'But what if we did it anyway?'

'Martyn... You wouldn't.'

'Oh, no no of course not. But we COULD do it.'

'Get in the pond, Tim.' Was Joel's blunter attempt.

'GRIAN WON'T LET YOU!'

'GRIAN DOESN'T KNOW, TIM!'

'I mean... That is true.' Martyn wandered closer to Jimmy. 'What's the harm of just a little push?' A push, just enough for him to squeal, but not enough to dump him into the pond.

'MARTYN- I- I HAVE THE LUNCH!' Jimmy held the straps of the backpack of food they'd bullied him into carrying.

'It's in airtight containers though. And I'm not going to push you in. It's just a little...' Another harmless shove, another terrified squeal.

'If we put Jimmy in the pond, surely if our food is ruined, it will put the pond in despondent when we can't eat anything.' Joe added.

'YES. Yes, thank you Joe. Don't shove me in. Please. I'm begging you. I'll do anything.'

'I'm not going to push you into the pond!' Insisted Martyn, stepping so close that Jimmy was wobbling on the edge of it. Joel was laughing behind. Joe looked less convinced of the bullying, but didn't do anything.

'Don't. Please. I have the food. AND if you do anything to me, I won't let you have any.'

'What are you going to do, nerd? There's no other way this ends, Tim?'

'I... Will... Do... This!' With the strength of a man with twice his confidence and intimidation, Jimmy grabbed Martyn's t-shirt, dragging him out the way and towards the pond before breaking into a sprint. Martyn stumbled and with a scream, fell backwards.

And into the pond.

'JIMMY!'

'BYE!'

Joel followed, screeching about revenge and murder. Through peaceful rose gardens and into the wilder forest area they sped, Jimmy staying out of sight but not reach of Joel or his rage. But there was still hope when...

'WAIT, ETHO!' He skidded to a stop, spotting the fellow member of the photography competition pretending to be a tree. A squeak, and the ninja retreated further into the leaves. Jimmy disappeared.

'Joel?! Oh my goodness dude you gave me a heart attack.' Ren appeared. 'What are you doing here? Where's the rest of your group?'

'I chased Jimmy after he shoved Martyn into a pond and stole all our bloody food!_

'He did WHAT?!'

'And then I stopped because I saw Etho in the tree.' A glance at the tree he was still hidden in.

'It's Treetho.' Was the mumble back.

'He's now a tree.' Explained Bdubs casually, appearing too, followed by Doc.

'Yeah... Apparently Etho's spirit animal is actually... Trees.'

'Tree.' Confirmed Etho, while secretly taking a 5th picture of Joel and, as they ran in, Joe and Martyn.

'Come on! The bag of food may have been a blessing in disguise and, like a wicker basket at a  picnic, hampered him!' Joe called as motivation. 'Joel! Did you find him?'

'I was distracted by Tree-tho! I mean Etho! I mean I don't bloody know any more!'

'Hey Ren!' Was Martyn's more conventional greeting. 'We're hunting down Jimmy because he shoved me into a pond.' Despite the run, his hair and clothes were still dripping, and he was still shivering from cold.

'Dude! Why would he do that?!'

'That's what I thought! And he's got our lunch... Can you share some of yours? We're starving.'

'Of course! Doc, do you still have the food, dude?'

Doc dumped his own group's food bag on the ground. The others gathered around, including Etho, who Bdubs managed to coax out of his tree. They all enjoyed a slightly limited lunch, before deciding to split up into their groups again and hunt down Jimmy down until he was found, soaked, banned from lunch duty and properly humiliated.

Across the gardens, Grian and Tango's groups were also splitting ways again, now they were out of the maze. They still had an hour to explore the places they hadn't seen already and continue any games they were playing. Which included Cub trying to come up with an 'N' for the alphabet game.

'Surely there's a shop...' He muttered, still with no idea 10 minutes later as they entered the walled garden. But in the end, Grian and Scar's terrible clues helped him come up with No Wings Club ('it's... A group without feathers?'), and Pearl was left on 'O'. By the time they reconvened with the other groups at the entrance, including the still-drying Martyn and still-leafy Tango, they were on U. Ren and Martyn's groups tried to explain the game they'd ended up playing where they never mentioned the game, but all knew it was being played and they had to avoid seeing each other at all costs (accidentally invented by my actual family).

All 15 of them returned home, eating what actually turned out to be a very good meal by Scar, despite the utter chaos of the kitchen, and then went off their separate ways to relax.

'I feel like we left something behind.' Muttered Grian, finishing clearing up the remains of food and tupperware in the 3 lunch bags as Joe and Scar tidied up the kitchen behind. 'But I don't know what.'

'We can always go back for it if we did leave something.' Joe decided. Grian nodded, exhausted, heading off for an early bedtime, falling asleep quickly.

It was midnight when he woke up and realise, scrambling out of bed, hammering on the closest door he could find and hoping it belonged to someone who could drive... Martyn appeared, bleary eyed and confused.

'...Grian?'

'We left Jimmy behind!'

Yeah, this is a very fun book.

And I know what the next day of chaos is going to be as well.