The Adventure Club! (16/?) Updated 3/24/2015

[Blah!?]

Hey everyone!

Does anyone remember that "choose your own adventure" story I mentioned a little while ago? No? Well that's okay, because it's here anyway!Now, this isn't really a true choose your own adventure story, since I'm not going to be writing every possible option. Instead, what I'm going to do is post between two and (possibly) four options at the end of each chapter, and then you guys, the readers, can discuss and vote on which one you'd like me to write! Also, feel free to suggest anything that I didn't post if you think you have a good idea. I'll also take suggestions for characters, random situations, and any other sort of fun stuff you can think of if you have any ideas.

Here's a basic synopsis: Four friends are trying to put together a "do anything" club at their high school, but they need to find a fifth club member and a faculty adviser by the end of the month, or else they'll be shut down. In addition, they'll need to come up with a steady stream of club activities to keep interest up, otherwise their club might fall into disarray.If you can't tell, this is going to be so anime that it may cause you physical pain. Anyway, here it goes...

-----

"Hey Toby, think we'll get anything done today?" Andy said to me as we headed up the stairs toward our club room. I shrugged and shook my head, hardly feeling motivated to respond at all.

"Do we ever?" I replied with a question of my own, running a hand through my messy black hair. Andy shrugged back and gripped the club room door handle.

"I just hope everyone's here," he said, pulling the door open. I quickly headed inside to find only one other member of our group present. Tracy sat in her usual chair, the lower half of her face obscured by yet another novel. She seemed to read several books a day, and she was so often seen reading that nobody thought it was odd anymore. I sat down across from her, and Andy sat to my left.

"Where's Charlie?" I asked, noticing the motorbike helmet hanging on the chair to my right. Tracy didn't respond; she didn't know. However, the helmet was enough of a sign that Charlie was around somewhere, and she'd have to come back eventually. As if on cue, the door swung open again, revealing the tall blonde on the other side.

Her real name was Charlene, but she preferred to be called Charlie. The reasons for this were fairly obvious to her friends, which pretty much consisted of the people in this room, and a few others from schools she had attended in the past. Charlie outwardly embodied the tomboyish delinquent girl; her default facial expression was a look of disapproval, she wore the slacks intended for the boys' uniform rather than the skirts for the girls, not to mention her brown leather jacket, and to top it all off, she even rode her own motorcycle to and from school. I don't remember what make or model it was, but it was pretty cool, and most of the other students tended to agree as long as it wasn't taking up a faculty parking space to make the teachers angry.

"Hey Charlie," I said, waving subtly. Andy silently saluted over the top of his head, his chair facing away from the door. Charlie nodded back to me and headed for her chair, removing her helmet from it and placing it on the floor.

"I guess we're still just trying to come up with club names today," I continued, glancing around the room at my comrades. Andy slouched in his chair as usual, playing lazily with his necktie. He tossed it over his shoulder and then pulled it back, looping it around his fingers. Tracy adjusted her rimless rectangular glasses and returned her full attention to her book. I could have sworn Charlie was picking her nose, but she dropped her hands to her sides the instant she noticed me looking in her direction.

"No suggestions? Really?" I said, trying to spark conversation. The others glanced at me for a second, but they all remained silent. I made brief eye contact with Tracy and smiled subtly.

"How about something from you, Tracy? You're the only one who hasn't suggested anything before," I prompted, not truthfully expecting any response from her. Tracy remained silent, so I slumped my head back over the top of my chair and stared up at the ceiling.

"Shark," I heard Tracy say in her quiet, airy voice. I slid back into a proper sitting position to find that she had produced a large, plush shark and was holding it in front of her face.

"Shark club," she specified, turning the stuffed animal to face Andy and Charlie one at a time.

"I don't think anyone's going to want to join a shark club," Andy said bluntly, draping his tie over his face. Tracy placed the stuffed shark on the floor next to her chair, looking subtly disappointed.

"I guess it's not really indicative of what we do, anyway," I said, trying to justify Andy's harsh response. I turned to Charlie, who was fiddling with the goggles attached to her helmet.

"You have any ideas, Charlie?"

"I'm fine with anything," she said in her deep voice. "As long as it's not completely stupid."

"Turtle," Tracy randomly announced again, this time holding up a plush turtle. "Turtle club."

"We're not turtley enough for the turtle club," Andy sighed, a telling smirk on his face.

"Shut up, Andy," Charlie said with an irritated grunt. The two of them always seemed to clash over something. It was almost like they did it on purpose. I folded my arms over my white button-down shirt and tried to think. It was strange to see Tracy offering up the most ideas, even if hers weren't exactly useful, and Andy and Charlie were being oddly useless. Andy at the very least usually had a million ideas he wanted to push on us, but today was a painfully slow day.

Tracy placed her stuffed turtle next to her chair, opposite the shark. As she turned back to her book, I finally noticed the cover. I couldn't see all of it, but I could see a few figures in armor doing battle with each other.

"Hey Tracy, what's your book about?" I asked, leaning forward in my chair. Tracy looked up at me, then back at her book, and then she turned it around to look at the cover. She adjusted her glasses again and tipped her head slightly to one side.

"Not much," she said quietly. "Just an adventure. Not the most interesting adventure."

I could almost hear something click inside my own head. I slapped my fist down into my open palm, resisting the urge to stand up from my chair. Grinning to myself, I glanced around at my friends and nodded.

"I think I've got it. The Adventure Club!" I said, giving in to my urge to stand. The others peered at me with curious looks on their faces, but they were listening.

"Think about it! We're the club that does everything! We're going to try something new every day, so in a sense, we're just having adventures. So yeah, Adventure Club."

"That sounds fihh…" Charlie was about to express her approval, but she suddenly stopped in her tracks. In the middle of Charlie's already masculine face was a thick, blocky nose, and as it slowly began to crinkle up at the bridge, I knew she was going to sneeze. Her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth snarled, her face contorting until her broad, fleshy nose couldn't scrunch up any tighter. I resisted the impulse to take shelter behind my chair, knowing how loud and explosive Charlie's sneezes could be.

"HHH!" She heaved a final, desperate breath; a clear sign that she was ready for release.

"HH'GNXT!"

Charlie let out a massive splat of a sneeze, bending so far forward in her chair that she nearly fell out of it. Her sneezes tended to completely clear her nose, and they usually made a mess for anyone nearby. Luckily, Charlie wasn't feeling terribly stuffy today, so the only product of her sneeze was a thin string of snot hanging from her left nostril.

"Bless," Andy said lazily, not even looking up. Charlie responded by slurping the snot back into her nose with a loud snort. I cringed, but I remained silent. This wasn't any more disgusting than Charlie's usual behavior, and I had mostly gotten used to it.

"YASHOO!"

My head whipped back to Andy to see that he had bent forward with a sneeze of his own. He covered his mouth with one hand, using the other to maintain his perfectly parted hair. I raised an eyebrow, finding their back to back sneezes to be just the slightest bit odd, but I didn't respond. It wasn't until I glanced over at Tracy that I really felt something strange was going on.

"Hih... Hih-Hih... Hih-Hih-Hih..." Tracy's breath was steadily hitching, her head tipping back with each inhalation. Her long, aquiline nose wrinkled ever so slightly, causing her glasses to slip, but they didn't get far before her head snapped forward with a soft "Hih-CH!" Tracy's desperate expression immediately disappeared and she slid her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, returning to her book.

"Two is a coincidence, three is a trend," Andy said, raising an eyebrow. I opened my mouth to agree with him, but I choked before I could utter a single word. My eyebrows arched as I felt a sneeze of my own rearing its ugly head.

"Heh... Het'CHMF!" I managed to muffle it into my elbow, but when I looked up again, I noticed everyone else was as suspicious as I was.

"What the hell just happened?" Charlie asked, rubbing her index finger back and forth under her thick nose. I shrugged, but Andy provided some of his usual words of wisdom.

"Clearly someone must be talking about us. I've never heard of this happening to so many people at once before."

"You know that doesn't happen in real life, right?" Charlie responded, folding her arms and frowning.

"Well, how do you explain what just happened then?"

Before their argument could continue, the club room door suddenly opened again, revealing an endlessly unpleasant individual. Cheerleading captain Olivia stood in the doorway, snickering to two of her faceless goons in the hall.

"Hey you four!" Olivia said, waving to us obnoxiously. "It doesn't matter if you come up with a name or not! If you can't find a fifth club member and a faculty adviser by the end of the month, your club is long gone!"

"Good afternoon to you too, Olivia," Andy said, holding up his middle finger over the back of his chair. Olivia stuck out her tongue at us, and she was answered by three more middle fingers, including one from the usually passive Tracy. Frustrated with our lack of outburst, Olivia slammed the door shut and left, plunging our club room back into silence.

"Unfortunately, she's right," I said, resting my forehead in my palms.

"Yeah, if we don't find another member and an adviser, we're up shit creek," Andy said, slouching in his chair again. "But I have an idea for a name."

"I thought we already had a name," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no, just hear me out," Andy continued, sitting up properly. "The Avengers."

I mouthed the word "no" and shook my hands at him, but the idiot continued.

"It's what we call ourselves. It's sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes type theAORGH!"

In the blink of an eye, Charlie had stood up from her chair, grabbed Tracy's plush turtle, and shoved its head into Andy's mouth to shut him up. Andy fell out of his chair and began to writhe around on the floor, trying to pry the stuffed animal from his throat. Charlie nudged his twitching body with her toe and clenched a fist.

"The Adventure Club was fine!"

-----

What should the Adventure Club do next?

• Find a 5th member.
  
• Find an adviser.
  

-----

Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope to get some good responses, otherwise this whole experiment of mine will probably fall flat on its face. xD Whether you leave a vote or not, thanks for reading!

Edited March 24, 2015 by Blah

[Dye]

XDD Loved the comment on the Avengers.

I'm thinking a 5th member.

[Pilgrim]

I see you really like names that end with an "ee" sound

I think they should go find an advisor!

[Emily]

My vote goes to the adviser. :> This is interesting heh

[VividBubbles!]

This is so cool!

My vote goes to getting a fifth member. hotguyhotguyhotguy *crosses fingers*

And it's all tied up!

[Oolia]

Can *I* be the fifth member?! PLEAAAAASE!

MOAR!

[Akahana]

Find a fifth member

[TheCakeIsAlive]

My vote goes to finding an advisor (so he/she can shove potential 5th members at the group or so xD).

But anyway, great read. ^^ Really enjoyed it. AndIwannaknowwhytheyweresneezingbecausenotknowingbugsme.

Loved the stuffed turtle bit. xD

[Sitruuna]

FIND FIFTH MEMBER

THEY SHOULD TRY AND FIND THE FIFTH MEMBER o3o

Okay, this is interesting as a story, fetishy stuff aside. And I still think that's the most important part of any piece of fiction. This is... kind of flowing? That's the best way to explain it that I can come up with, anyway. That quality is something that makes reading always more enjoyable and the general feeling is... lighter. A text that doesn't flow is heavy to read and it's easy to lose interest in it.

I didn't find this too "anime", so to say. You said something like if one isn't really into anime and hasn't watched it all that much, this might come out as a little weird. It might be a little hard for me to say anything since I do watch anime, but I don't think this is all too anime styled. I mean, yes, this is, and I can see some things that you have obviously done to make it more animu and a little silly but in the end there's some very non-anime things mixed in. Kind of. But it still has the feeling most anime series like this have. Obviously the idea is pretty anime and Tracy is... well, she's Tracy. xD But hey, it's great. Kind of reminded me of Clannad at some point (maybe it's the fact that they are lacking one member and an advisor and someone is being bitchy about it to them), but that's the... anime thing. xD Hard to explain, but you should know how many animes take place in school and center around some club thing, lol. So it's not a bad thing. I think this is awesome and will be just that in the future as well.

...so it's anime styled, but not too slightly or overly much, mixing in a little clearly western elements..? lol I don't know.

Blah-san, you are a good writer. o3o Keep it up~

*goes to re-read*

Edited November 13, 2012 by Sitruuna

[SweaterWeather]

Oh Avengers ... I almost died laughing! Um um um umumumum Advisor!!! I really can't wait to see where this goes Blah. With your mind, it's going to be awesome...

[Blah!?]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the awesome feedback!

It looks like they're probably going to be finding a fifth member for now, but both of these things still have to happen, so don't worry if you voted for finding an adviser first. However, I should probably point out that some choices will be mutually exclusive, so even though both of the current options are going to happen eventually, that doesn't necessarily mean every possible outcome will be taken care of in the future.

Time for the news: When I get a ton of feedback like this, I'll probably try to update twice a week, depending on my personal schedule. However, I'll always try to update at least once a week unless I get no feedback at all. Hopefully that won't be too fast or too slow for anyone.

@Pilgrim: Yeah, I like cutesy names. Sue me, Pilgrimy.

@Endless_Sneeze: I have a feeling you're not being totally serious, but if you'd actually like me to base a character on you, I'd certainly be up for trying. xD

@Sigrith: There's a very silly cliche in anime that basically means "If you sneeze at random, someone's talking about you behind your back." Olivia was talking about them out in the hall, so they sneezed.

@Sitruuna: Thanks, that really means a lot. I did have a tiny sliver of hope that this would be a little less niche than I thought it was going to be.

@Everyone: I'm glad the Avengers gag didn't turn out to be 110% lame. More like 85% lame in reality, give or take.

@Anyone: I'm definitely getting ahead of myself by asking this, but this unexpected wave of comments has boosted my confidence, so I thought maybe I'd push my luck. Would anyone be willing to try drawing the main characters? They wouldn't have to be sneezing or anything, it would just be for fun. Simple profile pictures or something, just for kicks.

See you all soon!

[Sitruuna]

Would a little sketch be okay? You know I'm always willing do a drawing or two even though I have a bunch under work at the moment. lol

...I also understand if you'd like to see stuff done by other people for once. xD

But yeah... If I'll do PM or talk to me on Skype about it and we could maybe discuss a little about their looks (because I want to know how you've pictured them in your head).

[Dye]

Um~

This is how I saw Tracy in my mind...

ihatebodies

You don't have to use this, this is just how envision her.

Her eyes are a sort of burgundy colour.

[a red nine]

LOOK AT YOU MR. POPULAR

Though it's too late now, I think I would have also voted fifth member! I look forward to seeing what anime shenanigans you can bring into introducing us to these next two characters. And also learning more about Toby, Andy, Charlie, and Tracy!

[Curiosity234]

I love choose your own adventure stories! I'll be sure to get a vote in for the next one...

[Blah!?]

Hey everyone!

I'll deal with the remaining comments first, and then get on to the good stuff.

@Daisoku: Thank you so much for the drawing! I think it's totally adorable. Love the little ponytail. <3

@a red nine: And more shenanigans you shall have. Same bat-time, same bat-channel.

@Curiosity: Well, here's your chance to vote.

Time for part two, in which the Adventure Club searches for a fifth member!

-----

Classes resumed shortly after our mostly useless meeting, but we did make two important decisions. From now on we would be known as the Adventure Club, and we decided to look for a fifth club member before finding an adviser. We all knew subconsciously that most teachers would tell us they'd only sign on once we had five members anyway, so we knew not to bother yet. Each of the others in the club had a friend they could try to invite, and since my class schedule conveniently overlapped with theirs one at a time, I figured I'd accompany them on their respective recruitment missions. I had someone I could ask as well, but since I knew I'd be seeing her at the end of the day anyway, I decided I'd save her for last.

The first was Andy's friend, someone I hadn't met before. All I knew was he was a member of the school band, and that he and Andy were the only two male life forms in the entire school who still wore their suit jackets and ties on informal days such as today. Andy always said it made him feel classy, so I could only assume his friend had the same mentality. This worried me.

"Hey Declan, you in here?" Andy called out, pushing the door to a small rehearsal room open with his foot. People were actually named Declan? I kept to myself out of respect, but I couldn't help but feel it was a bit odd. The sound of a cello stopped as soon as Andy spoke, so I knew we had at least found someone.

"Must you interrupt me now?" said another young man from the far side of the room. He wore the full navy-blue suit of the boys' formal uniform, and his side-parted black hair was straight out of the 1940s. Best of all, he spoke with what I could only describe as the fakest English accent I had ever heard, and I had to physically keep myself from laughing at it.

"Yeah, we got stuff to discuss," Andy responded, pulling up a chair, turning it around and sitting backwards in it to face Declan. The musician removed his bow from the cello's strings and sighed, obviously wanting to be left alone. However, with Andy involved, spontaneous combustion was more likely than peace and quiet. I began to wonder how someone so calm could have ever become friends with someone as insane as Andy, but I wasn't one to judge.

"What is it you want?" Declan asked, starting to put his cello away. Apparently he already knew Andy well enough to realize that from now on, he wouldn't be getting anything productive done. I figured now would be a good a time as any to explain our club, so I chimed in.

"We're trying to form a new club, called the Adventure Club."

"What is it you do?" Declan asked, locking his cello case.

"Well, anything, really. The whole point of the club is that we want to try something new every day. You wouldn't have to come every day, but it would be great if you could join us. School rules for clubs state that each member must attend at least one meeting a week unless otherwise excused, so you'd basically just have to sign up and come whenever you want," I explained, strangely feeling like I was beginning to sweat. Something about this guy made me uncomfortable, even if he was just a total weirdo.

"You assume I'm too busy to attend," Declan replied, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Well, I, uh, you just seem like a very busy person."

Why was I explaining myself to this guy!?

"I am, which is why I must regretfully inform you that I can only join you under one condition," Declan said, starting to remove a few books from his music stand. "I can only take the time to join you if you absolutely need me, which is to say 'if you can't find anyone else'."

"Great, thanks for nothing, you jackass," Andy said, slapping Declan on the back. The musician brushed Andy away with the back of his hand, shaking his head in disapproval.

"If you'd prefer, I could rescind my acceptance entirely."

A light bulb went on in my head. It finally dawned on me. The idiot and the prude could stand to be friends with each other simply because they were both just so ridiculous. That's all there was to it. Apparently, weirdness loves company.

"Alright, alright. We'll let you know if nothing else works out," Andy said, picking up the last book from the music stand. He snapped it shut, sending a cloud of dust exploding out of it toward Declan. The musician's eyes narrowed, and he shoved his hand into his breast pocket to retrieve a handkerchief.

"Hah…" Declan's breath hitched, his head tipping back ever so slightly. He covered his face with the handkerchief and let out a tiny, quiet "Hat'CH!"

I raised an eyebrow, taking a backward step toward the door. That sneeze was so, well, polite, for lack of a better word, that it could probably teach a class on etiquette. I waved a hand at Andy to get his attention and headed for the door, deciding to wash my hands of this weirdness as quickly as possible. At least we had a backup plan now.

---

Next, I had an English class with Tracy. As everyone else at school expected, the bookworm had already demolished the day's assigned reading months ago, so she was reading her own book at the back of the room, never once getting caught by the teacher. I hardly even saw her move the entire time; Tracy was perfectly still during the entire class, moving only to turn the page or to push her glasses up the high bridge of her nose. She didn’t make a peep, either. I think she sniffed once, I guess. That was it.

After English class, Tracy led me to the school theater to meet her friend. Most of the theater was devoid of life, but the backstage area was bustling with the sounds of heavy lifting and various power tools. Tracy and I ascended the stairs to the stage and headed off behind the curtain to find a relatively short girl standing in front of a drill press. She fed a few inches of a wood plank under the drill, pressed the spinning drill bit down through it, and then slid the plank a little farther. I could see earplugs protruding from her ears, so she didn't notice us until she finished drilling her holes.

"Oh, hey Tracy! Who's your friend?" the girl said in a perky voice, turning around to face us. Her short, brown hair was pulled up into a small ponytail, most likely to keep it away from the various backstage tools, and she wore a pair of cheap plastic safety goggles for similar protection. The girl's big blue eyes were fixed on Tracy most of the time, but I noticed her sizing me up every few seconds.

"Toby," Tracy said softly, introducing me. She didn't even gesture or look at me, but that was her way.

"Hi, I'm Liz," the theater techie said, extending a hand. I shook it and smiled, glad to be talking to someone normal after the weirdo that was Declan. I gave Liz the same explanation of our club, and while she seemed excited, I already knew what she was going to say.

"That sounds really cool! But I'm really busy, so I don't know how much I'll be able to help. Actually, I'll tell you what. If nobody else says yes, hit me up and I'll come right over! Always willing to help a friend in need."

"Speaking of which, how do you and Tracy know each other anyway?" I asked, trying to start a conversation. Liz was the only questionably normal person I had spoken with in a long time, and while I'd never give up my friends, having a sane conversation every now and then was refreshing.

"Oh, well, she used to write plays for the theater club," Liz said, taking off her goggles and wiping her forehead with the back of her wrist. I glanced at Tracy, not quite believing what I was hearing. The quiet girl was still staring straight ahead, giving no response.

"I don't know if she told you, but Tracy's just as much of a writer as she is a reader. She can just be shy about it sometimes," Liz explained, approaching her friend. Liz reached a hand up to the taller girl's face and pushed the tip of Tracy's nose up with her index finger. Tracy gently rubbed her outstretched pointer finger back and forth under her long, slit-like nostrils, but she didn't even acknowledge Liz's presence otherwise. I already knew Tracy had her own wacky way of being shy, but I never knew she was a writer. One for the memory banks, I guess.

I was about to ask why Tracy wasn't writing plays anymore, but Liz suddenly held up a finger, her face going slack. Her upturned snub-nose flared, and she pressed her outstretched finger up under her nostrils, clearly trying not to sneeze. Liz held her breath for a few seconds, but eventually she threw back her head, heaving a high-pitched "AAAAAHHHH!!!"

I took a step back, hoping to avoid any potential mess.

"CHHHIIOOOOOOO!!!!!"

The small girl let out a huge sneeze, bending forward as far as her waist would let her. Liz continued to hold her finger under her nose for the duration of the sneeze, not that it did her any good. She straightened up and rubbed said finger back and forth under her nose, slowly but firmly bending it from side to side.

"Gesundheit," Tracy said in her airy voice, removing her glasses and cleaning them with a handkerchief. I could only assume Liz had sprayed them with her sneeze. This was also the first time I had ever heard Tracy offer any sort of blessing for a sneeze. I suppose that meant she and Liz were close, as in closer than Tracy was with the rest of us.

"Thanks, Tracy," Liz said, putting her safety goggles back on. "Did I get your glasses? Sorry." Tracy slipped her spectacles back onto the bridge of her nose without a word, clearly not terribly bothered.

"Yeah, I have a big sneeze," Liz said apologetically. "It's the sawdust. I love the way it smells, but it always... Always... AAAHHHHHH-CHHHIIOOOOOO!!!!!"

I couldn't help but crack a smile at Liz's antics, and I mentally kicked myself for it. The way she threw her head way back and then bent way forward made me think of those weird drinking-bird things boring offices always have on their desks. Luckily, she didn't seem to notice, and she simply rubbed her nose again.

"Gesundheit," Tracy repeated, cleaning her sprayed glasses a second time.

"If sawdust makes you sneeze, why work in the theater tech department?"

Crap, I said that out loud. Luckily, Liz didn't seem fazed by it. She smiled her usual perky smile and immediately offered up a cheerful explanation.

"I like sneezing! It's fun!"

That earned her a few weird points.

---

I had a class with Charlie next. It was a particularly boring math class, so naturally neither of us were paying much attention. I was at least trying to look like I was taking notes, but Charlie simply sat in the back of the room with her finger shamelessly stuck up her left nostril, diligently digging around for who knows what. I was obviously grossed out, but I kept glancing back at her to figure out what she was actually doing. Every time I did, she gave me a death glare that nearly made me wet myself, but I kept looking anyway.

By the time class was over, Charlie had finished excavating her nasal cavity and we were ready to find her friend. That math class was Charlie's last class of the day, and since she was going to head home, we headed out to the front parking lot.

"I imagine we're meeting your friend in the parking lot?" I asked, supposing afterward I already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Charlie responded tersely.

"Who is this guy? You've never mentioned anyone before."

"He's just someone I met a while ago," Charlie explained, shrugging her shoulders. She briefly rubbed her index finger back and forth under her wide nose, looking a bit distracted. "We met at a motorcycle club a few years ago, and I just found out recently he goes to school here too."

"When you say club, do you mean, like, gang?"

Crap! Why did I ask that!?

"Do I look like I'm in a gang to you?" Charlie asked, giving me one of the most threatening glares I had ever seen. I didn't respond to that.

After an awkward moment of tension she seemed to have forgiven me, so we continued on. We shortly came upon Charlie's motorcycle, and after seeing the word "Ninja" emblazoned on the side, I remembered it was a Kawasaki something or other. Charlie removed her helmet from under her arm and hung it on one of the handlebars, getting ready to head home.

"Where's your friend?" I asked, glancing around like a clueless idiot. Charlie gestured behind her bike, and for the first time I noticed a second motorcycle in the parking lot. It was different from Charlie's but it looked just as fancy to me. It took me a moment to see that there was someone squatting behind the second bike, but as soon as I did, I approached and said hello.

"Hey, I'm David. You're Charlie's friend, right?" he said, extending a hand.

"Yep, that's me. I'm Toby," I replied, grabbing his hand for a quick shake. He seemed awfully polite to be a friend of Charlie's, but weird relationships had been popping up all day. This was just a drop in the bucket. He did look like a bit of a dweeb though, and I had to admit I was a little surprised that a tough, statuesque girl like Charlie didn't scare him off. I guess he was about average height, taller than me anyway, but he looked like a stick figure. Add reddish hair and braces on his top teeth to the mix... The dude was a nerd.

"She told me about your club, and it sounds really cool."

But...

"But I'm actually really busy. I think I could spare a little time, but probably not as much as you'd need. If they won't let you form your club, I'll totally sign up though. I wouldn't want you to miss the requirement by just one person."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," I said, nodding slightly. I was kind of sick of hearing this response, as we'd gotten nothing else all day. But three backup plans was better than nothing.

"How do you two know each other anyway?" I asked, legitimately curious. I wasn't surprised that Charlie could make friends or anything mean like that, but she pretty much never talked about the other people she knew.

"Well, we met at a motorcycle club a year ago or so," David explained, squinting as the sun started to slide out from behind the school buildings. "But we didn't even know we went to the same school until about a month ago. We both ended up in the same computer science class, and I sort of helped her along."

"You took computer science?" I asked bluntly, turning back to Charlie. She definitely didn't seem like the type.

"Is that what it was?" Charlie responded sarcastically, absent-mindedly picking at her other nostril now. I ignored her and turned back to David.

"But anyway, that's basically all there is to it," he said, strapping his helmet on. The sun hit David's face full on, and he suddenly squeezed his eyes shut, holding up a hand.

"H-hold on... Heh... HEISHHH!!!"

David quickly cupped his raised hand over his mouth, covering his sneeze. He quickly straightened up and mounted his motorcycle, Charlie doing the same behind me.

"Nice to meet you, Toby," he said, nodding at me. "Hopefully I'll see you around later."

I nodded back, watching as the motorcycles sped out of the school parking lot, kicking up clouds of white smoke as they took off. Given the normalcy of the situation, I was beginning to believe Andy was the only one with a weird friend.

---

Finally, I had one more class at the end of the day with Tracy and Andy. It really was just that one class where pretty much nothing happens, so I almost can't even remember what we're supposed to be doing in it. Tracy read her book, Andy played with his tie, and I doodled in my notebook while pretending to pay attention. After 45 nearly-endless minutes, the class was over. Tracy sat on a bench outside to read for a while before walking home, and Andy spent a few minutes dicking around in the parking lot before driving off, but I headed for the basketball court almost immediately.

Today wasn't a practice day for the sports teams, making it a perfect time to get in touch with my candidate for member number five. In freshman year, I was study partner with a girl named Sydney, and she was basically the exact opposite of me. I didn't do a whole lot, but she was pretty much the star of the basketball team. Because of that, I already knew she was going to give me the same 'only if no one else joins' spiel that everyone else had, but I thought I'd try anyway. Plus, I sort of just wanted to drop by to say hello.

"Hey Syd," I said, finding her shooting hoops by herself in the deserted basketball court. She caught the ball and held it under her arm, waving to me as I approached. I waved back and continued my approach, noticing the annoying scent of fresh polish on the wood floor. I hated that damn smell.

"Hey Toby, what's up?" Syd said, effortlessly throwing her basketball into a storage bin next to the wall. Despite my lack of interest in sports, her ability to play basically any game without breaking a sweat never ceased to amaze me. Syd let her dirty-blonde hair down from its ponytail, indicating that she had most likely decided to go home after we finished chatting. I explained the Adventure Club for the fourth time, and Syd gave me an odd look.

"You're still that same weirdo you were when we met freshmen year, aren't you?" Syd accused, putting her hands on her hips. I shrugged, deciding not to take it as an insult.

"I'll be honest, asking me now probably wasn't the best idea. I'm on the varsity basketball team. I don't think I'm going to have a whole lot of... Lot of... Huhh... HUH! HMMMP!"

Syd quickly reached a hand up to her face and pinched her heavily-freckled nose shut, firmly stifling a sneeze. She mashed her nose upward with the palm of her hand and then turned her attention back to me.

"Sorry, it's the polish smell. Always gets up my nose."

I chuckled at her pun, but based on her total lack of a reaction, I'm not sure she realized that she had even made one to begin with.

"Next, I suppose you're going to tell me you'll only join if no one else does," I predicted, rolling my eyes. Syd gave me a suspicious look and then shrugged.

"I'll be honest, I hadn't thought of that. But sure, if nobody else signs up, I'll do it. For you, study-buddy."

She held up a fist, and I gently punched it. I don't remember why, but the fist-bump had become our official handshake during our time as study partners. Even though Syd and I weren't super close anymore, we still did it every time we said goodbye to each other.

So, after a day of searching for a new member for the Adventure Club, we had no major successes. Only four mutually-exclusive backup plans. Tomorrow, we'd have to make our decision.

-----

And so, the Adventure Club has its choice laid out. Now, it's time to decide.

Who should the Adventure Club recruit?

• Declan, the musician.
  
• Liz, the theater techie.
  
• David, the programmer.
  
• Syd, the athlete.
  

Note: This choice is more mutually-exclusive than the last (in that only one of them will join the club at this time), but no matter the decision, the other characters will still exist in some capacity. There may also be more opportunities in the futures for the others to join the club. Also, no matter who is chosen, the existing four characters will still be more important. The chosen character will be more of a supporting character, appearing more often than the others that aren't chosen.

Thanks for reading!

[Emily]

That sneeze was so, well, polite, for lack of a better word, that it could probably teach a class on etiquette

Totally cracked up on that line. :'D I really like the way you use really stereotypical character types in this. And also that flow

My vote goes to Declan, the weird musician with the bad British accent.

[Curiosity234]

I will vote for Liz! Because tech and stage are both awesome!

[VividBubbles!]

Really, I'm in love with David and Syd. But, I guess if I can only choose one, umm, my vote goes to David. He just sounds so nerdily cute! Plus, I like his sneeze.

BYE!

[Dye]

I like David, he's pretty cool.

[Akahana]

I think I like David. I mean, a nerd who rides a motorcycle?!? That's AWESOME!!!!! He sounds fun too, I think he would be cool to have on adventures.

[count tiszula]

What a clever and enjoyable idea. Do clubs really have all these regulations to comply with?

Anyway, even though I don't know the difference between a nerd and a dweeb, I would pick Liz; can you guess why?

[SweaterWeather]

I gotta go for Declan. Just, the fake accent...and his hair... Yep, my vote goes to Declan. Gawd Blah, this is so awesome! It makes me wish I would have made a club like this back in freshman year. But now I can live it through this series ^ ^ Keep up the always wonderful work!

[a red nine]

There's certainly a smorgasbord of characters out there now, and it's honestly hard to choose which one I want to join the club! Declan was pretty hilarious and I feel like the antics would wear on him, providing for some extra humor (also I'm surprised he and Andy are friends! Not in a bad way at all though, in an anime way, which is obvsly what you were aiming for). But David was also really sweet and kind and adorable, so I see why he's the crowd favorite. But my final vote rests with Liz, because I think your writing stood out the most in her section. I think she also would be a great inclusion, because while she's friends with Tracy, she works as a foil for almost everyone in the club and will bring out their personalities well. So yeah, Liz it is for me, but whoever gets chosen I won't be disappointed. Can't wait for part 3!

Edited November 16, 2012 by a red nine

[Sitruuna]

I gotta say...

I WANT THE NERD TO JOIN THEM. So David. xD

It's kind of funny how every introduction also has a "sneeze introduction". How they sneeze and what (at least) can make them sneeze, heh~ There's something told about each of them when it comes to these things. xD I guess it's something that can only be founf in a story around this forums or at a very random occasion... I like it. I also like how all the four possible new members of the club contradict the club member who they are friends with.

All the four are interesting, though I must admit I like Liz and David the most. Somehow I get a somewhat fiery picture of Liz. xD And David... What, nerds are great.

...somehow I also find myself enjoying the fact that people like David. xD