"WE'RE HERE! FINALLY!" Chloe shrieked.

"What the heck?" Savannah snapped, taking off her eye mask. "This princess needed her beauty sleep, that's NOT how you wake a princess up."

Sawyer snorted. "I fear for the existence of mankind if princesses behaved the way you do."

Savannah shot Sawyer a nasty glare. Zac opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but decided against it.

"Well, that was a short trip," Axel commented.

"Short?" Chloe walked over to Axel, putting her hands on her hips. "That was the worst, and most BORING trip ever. How DARE you say it was short?!"

"Wow, are you threatening me?" Axel said, amused. Standing at five foot ten, he towered over Chloe. The top of her head barely reached his shoulders.

"Yes," Chloe pouted.

"I'm so scared," Axel grinned goofily.

Chloe rolled her eyes and walked away. "Dream, I didn't know you had such terrible friends."

"You were the one who was acting like a spoiled baby," Dream shrugged. "Forgive him for thinking you're funny."

Chloe pouted. "I'm going to go check out our cabin. Want to come with me?"

"Sure," Dream hopped off the van.

"There's two. Which one do you think is ours?"

"I don't know, let's see," Dream said, fishing a key out of her pocket. "This key fits the door to the cabin Marc assigned to us, so..."

"I don't see a door on that cabin to the left, so maybe the one to the right?"

"Okay, let me try." Dream tried to open the door with the key, but it wouldn't budge. Instead, it made a couple annoying noises. "It's probably the other one," she said nervously. "I think someone is here and I don't want to look like we were trying to break in."

"Good idea," Chloe said, moving away from the door when it suddenly burst open.

"What the heck?" the girl inside the cabin shrieked, giving Dream and Chloe a particular nasty look. "Were you guys trying to break into my cabin?"

---

"The cabin next to yours?" Marc said on the phone. "Oh! As a thanks to helping us win the court case, I let Alexander's estranged kids book that one. It's smaller, though. You guys have cabin number 1126."

"I think we figured that out," Dream said with a sigh. "It was an awkward experience, though."

"I'm sorry I wasn't clear before," Marc said. "I haven't been to the ski resorts in Brooklyn in a while, and I didn't remember the layout of the cabins."

"It's okay," Dream said.

"Okay then," Marc said. "I hope you guys have a fun trip and don't run into any more awkward encounters." With that, he hung up.

Oh, Dream thought. There are going to be awkward encounters all right.

"What did he say?" Savannah asked.

"Francesca, Fatima, and Damon are apparently the estranged kids of the lawyer who recently helped Marc win a court case. So, well...yeah, they're not here by mistake. And Marc didn't know that we knew Francesca from school, so it's not his fault."

"Yay," Savannah said unenthusiastically.

"Francesca isn't that bad," Zac shrugged.

"I guess," Sawyer agreed.

"Um, hello? Have you guys all forgotten? Francesca, school bully?" Savannah said, looking confused that everyone was standing up for Francesca.

"But, didn't Francesca save Dream and Zac when they got kidnapped?" Chloe asked. In the period of time between Dream's visit to Miami and the present, Chloe often pestered Dream for full details on the kidnapping.

Dream watched dreadfully as the expressions on Savannah, Sawyer, and Axel's face turned from confusion to sheer horror. Zac gaped.

"What the heck?" he snapped. "How does she know that?"

"Don't blame her," Dream said. "She didn't know we weren't planning on telling anyone."

"Sorry," Chloe said. "I thought all your friends knew."

"Well, no," Zac spat. "And thanks to you, now they do."

Dream groaned. "Stop! Calm down!"

"Well, are you going to explain how you two were KIDNAPPED, and why you didn't tell us?" Savannah demanded. "And rescued by the school bully, Francesca? For heaven's sake!"

"We were kidnapped in a scheme organized by Mrs. Woods," Dream sighed exasperatedly. "And Francesca's dad - well, estranged dad - is a European lawyer with an irrational hatred of Mrs. Woods. Put two and two together, it's not that hard. Obviously Francesca hates Mrs. Woods and anyone who works for her. So, she beat up that guy who kidnapped Zac and I and rescued us."

"Wait," Zac frowned. "How come I didn't know that this scheme was organized by Mrs. Woods. You didn't think to tell me?"

"And Mrs. Woods organized a scheme to kidnap you guys?" Savannah said. "I mean, I knew Lili Robinson filed a lawsuit against Mrs. Woods but I thought there was another reason for that. Your teacher is a kidnapper?"

"Is Pebblebrook Creek High even safe," Sawyer muttered.

"Ugh," Chloe said. "All this drama, is it even necessary?" she paused. "Wait. I like drama!"

"Stop! Talking!" Dream said, covering her ears. "Oh my gosh."

Everyone grew silent.

"Zac," Dream said, sighing. "I found out that the hooded guy who kidnapped us, his name is Sinclair, and he is Mrs. Woods' right hand man. My trip to France wasn't really a vacation, unlike what I told you guys. Mrs. Woods tried to sue Marc for thievery and copyright infringement, and my dad went there to be a witness and submit evidence during the court case. That's when I found out."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Zac demanded.

"I guess I forgot? My life has been a huge, crazy mess in the past week, okay? Forgive me for not dropping everything and immediately telling you whatever information I learn."

Zac sighed. "All right, I guess I'm sorry. And Savannah...I had a suspicion that Mrs. Woods was a kidnapper and I told Dream. That's how we became friends in the first place. We've been discussing Mrs. Woods a lot in the past few months. Dream wanted to tell you guys, but I told her not to. The fewer people who know, the better. If you guys had known, then maybe all of us would have been kidnapped that day, and I doubt Francesca alone could have been able to rescue us."

Everyone else in the group reluctantly mumbled, realizing there was some truth to what Zac just said.

"And," Dream sighed. "No, Sawyer, Pebblebrook Creek High isn't really safe right now. But hopefully, Mrs. Woods doesn't know you exist and won't bother you. And, there's a court case happening in mid-January, and hopefully, Mrs. Woods will be sent to jail after that. She already has a bad record, being the center of parents' complaints and falsely accusing a large corporation of copyright infringement and thievery..."

"Yeah, hopefully," Zac muttered.

"I love drama," Chloe sighed, looking at them. She was sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn.

"What..." Dream said. "Where'd you get the popcorn from?"

"Does it matter? That was like watching a movie. Hopefully there'll be more drama to come," Chloe grinned.

I certainly hope not, Dream thought in exasperation. 

---

A/N

I won't leave you guys with a long author's note today because I am very busy, but thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to vote, comment, and share :)

Next update: Wednesday

💙, Stella Rose