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

[Skyler]

Oh my gosh! I was reading all the old chapters at the start of the week and thinking about how much I love this story and how much I missed it...and you UPDATED! The chapter was as good as ever, it was really nice to have Toby and Charlie together, and the singing at the end was cute I vote for Andy and Charlie!

[Candy]

Andy and Tracy

Also... I love Liz's sneeze. Would love to see a guest appearance

[Snz.]

Awesome! So glad this is back up and running, I love your stories, they crack me up and keep me interested. Can't wait for more!

[Bobsuperawesome]

Am I allowed to vote for Tracy and David? Honestly, I know not many people voted for this, but I thought it would be really cute because Tracy is really shy and quiet so she wouldn't talk much and be focused on the project, but because David doesnt know her very well he would feel awkward and try to be overly nice and a little odd, but I can imagine them still being sick, and his photic amazingness and her dust allergies I can imagine her sneezing because of all the dust in the theatre and old props.

Also, if you want a plot bunny, even if it's Tracy and Andy or Tracy and David if you want a plot bunny: they're in the theatre looking for some last minute props and one of the opposing clubs locks them in the props closet. Eventually all the dust gets to Tracy and she can't stop sneezing. :3

[Blah!?]

Alright! I managed to finish up the next chapter ahead of schedule, and as such I will post it now. This one is a lot lighter than the previous few, but I still think it's a lot of fun. I really hope you all enjoy it. Pretty plotless this time around, but I think there's some nice character interaction in there.

Anyway, let's get to it.

-----

Okay, there's just no way the Theater club's contest could be anywhere near as crazy as the last few. Right? I mean, how could it be? Besides, we already knew Liz, and she was pretty normal. The rules seemed fairly simple this time too. Just pick two props, and then act out a little skit for a panel of unbiased judges. How hard could it be?

In order to give the teams a bit of rest, a last-minute modification was added, declaring that the selected club members for this contest couldn't be the driver and navigator from the last one. That meant Charlie and I were out, and I don't think Charlie was even going to come to school today. I couldn't blame her, really. I wanted to sleep in too. But still, I couldn't let the club down, so I decided to swing by and at least help out behind the scenes.

As such, I found myself in one of the theater department's many prop storage rooms. I have no idea why we needed multiple rooms for this as opposed to just like a closet, but if I was going to start complaining about all the weird crap at this school, having more than one room for props wouldn't even make the list.

And so, Andy, David, Tracy and I found ourselves milling about the prop room. I didn't even know what I was looking for, really. Especially since I wasn't going to be the one using any of it. Andy never planned a thing in his entire life, so naturally he was our first choice for the skit. David and Tracy, on the other hand, were our only remaining options for our second player, and neither of them seemed particularly stage-inclined. Although she would never admit it, I had a feeling Tracy's shyness would ultimately win out and David would have to be Andy's wingman.

"Hih! Hih-CHH!"

And besides, it was entirely possible Tracy wouldn't survive the dust in this decrepit old room anyway. I approached her as she started rubbing her nose. She sniffed quietly and her breath caught in her throat, but she managed to rub the second sneeze out of her nose before it could escape.

"You okay?" I asked when Tracy still couldn't stop rubbing her nose after a moment.

"I'mb fide," she murmured back, the stuffiness in her voice betraying how not fine she must have felt. Her nonstop nose-rubbing was making her glasses slip, and when she finally pushed them back up, a sudden sneeze sent them sliding again.

"Hi'CH!"

"Bless you-"

"I'mb fide! It's just sobethig id the air."

Yeah, something like dust, maybe. I had no idea why Tracy was always so stubborn about this sort of thing, but as she quickly walked away from me to look for props elsewhere, I figured it wasn't really my place to tell her how to feel.

"Ooh! This is glorious!"

Upon hearing Andy shout, I quickly made my way to him to make sure he wasn't about to ruin anything. He had been digging through some boxes, and his efforts were rewarded with what I could only describe as a comically large three musketeers hat with an even more massive feather sticking out of the brim. I didn't have it in me to tell him that was more of a costume piece than a prop. It would have been a waste of my time anyway; we could all tell he was dead set on it. Despite how ridiculous the hat looked, I guess I figured it was relatively harmless. He could have picked something way worse.

Did I speak too soon? Of course I did. Andy turned around to show us his amazing discovery, and in doing so the hat's massive feather hit Tracy right in the face. A huge cloud of dust exploded out around her head, and I could only guess as to how severe her reaction would be.

"Oh, uh... Sorry, Tracy," Andy mumbled, but that didn't stop him from trying the hat on and striking various poses. Tracy's eyelids fluttered, occasionally squeezing shut as she wrinkled her nose around in desperate little circles.

"Ighh-!" she gasped lightly, waving a hand up and down in front of her face. Tracy tried pinching her thin nostrils, but it took her only a few seconds to decide that wasn't going to work. She began furiously scrubbing the side of her hand back and forth under her nose, but despite her efforts, her head began to tip back with a series of sharp gasps.

"Hih-Hihh-Hihhh! HEE-CHHHHH!"

Tracy bent forward with an uncharacteristically harsh sneeze, but I could tell it wouldn't be the last. Turning away from Andy as quickly as she could, Tracy cupped her hands over her nose and fell headfirst into a sneezing fit.

"Hih-CH! Hih-Hihhh! Hih-CHH! Hih! CHHHH! Hig-! Hnghk... HEE-CHHHHOO!"

Tracy's face turned bright red after her final sneeze. Everything about it seemed to bring her endless humiliation, from the snorts of inhalation beforehand to the squeaky expulsion. It was pretty loud, especially coming from her. Tracy frantically rubbed her nose for a few seconds, and her blushing only deepened when she noticed I was looking at her. Truth be told, I did feel kind of bad for staring.

"Um, how about we get some fresh air?" I suggested, making my way toward the door. I tried to turn the handle, but it stuck before I could open the door. Of course, it just had to be locked. Jiggling the handle, I tried to open the door again, but alas it was still locked.

"Oh, come on..." I groaned, trying a third time. When I still couldn't turn the handle, I slapped my palm against the door a few times, hoping someone was on the other side.

"Hey! Is anyone out there? We're a little stuck in here."

"Oh, this is bad," David whined, slowly approaching me from behind. "If we're stuck in here for too long, we're going to miss the contest! We'll have to forfeit!"

"Never give up! Never surrender!" interjected Andy, loud as ever. I turned to see him proudly wearing the stupid hat he found as he strutted up to the door. He lightly pushed David and I aside, and then he drew back a fist and punched the door. I don't know what he was expecting. The instant Andy's hand made contact with the wood, his eyes bulged and he bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain. He then hopped away on his toes, frantically shaking out his hand.

"Oh! I have an idea..." I muttered to myself, digging my phone out of my pocket. Charlie might not have been at school for all I knew, but at least she wasn't locked in here with us. I quickly hit her picture in my contact list and held the phone up to my ear as the dial tone buzzed.

"Hey, you've reached Charlene."

"Charlie? Thank god! Get down to the school! We're locked in the-"

"Please leave a message..."

"God dammit!"

Beep.

"Charlie, change your voicemail message! It is very misleading! Get your butt down here and get us out of the prop closet!"

I hit the end button so hard I felt like I was going to break my phone. Part of me wanted to throw the damn thing on the ground, but I managed to restrain myself. Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, I turned back to the others and shrugged. To my surprise, Tracy took a step forward and offered some rather sound advice.

"Try Liz," she suggested, her soft voice still strained and stuffy. "She should already be id the theater departbent."

Rubbing her nose with one hand, Tracy removed her phone from her pocket with the other and prepared to send her friend a text message. Only a few seconds later, however, the locked door suddenly rattled as someone on the other side began to unlock it. Afterward, the door swung open and lo and behold Liz stuck her head inside.

"You guys!" she whined, waving her arms at us. "You're up next! You have to go! Why'd you lock yourselves in here!?"

"We... We didn't lock ourselves-"

Before I could even start explaining our situation, Andy suddenly grabbed Tracy by the wrist and started to run for the door.

"There's no time to explain!" he bellowed, ironically taking a moment to pause in the doorway to say that. Liz took a step inside to let him and Tracy pass. After ushering Tracy out into the hall, Andy smiled back at us as he placed a hand on the doorknob.

"Action, camera, lights!"

"No! Don't close the-"

He had to be doing this on purpose. Andy pulled the door shut, trapping David, Liz and I in the prop room once more. I tried to open the door, hoping it would still be unlocked, but luck was really not on our side today. Rubbing my temples in irritation, I turned to Liz and then gestured to the door.

"You have the key, right? Can't you just unlock it again?"

"Well, um..." Liz trailed off, nervously swaying her hips from side to side. "It only unlocks from the outside."

"What kind of sense does that make!?" I shouted, only realizing afterward that Liz might have thought I was yelling at her. "Is there any other way out of here?"

"There's that window over there," Liz pointed out, already familiar with the layout of the room. Surely enough there was one of those little basement windows, narrow and close to the ceiling. I must have noticed it before, but given that I couldn't reach it from the floor I probably ignored it.

"You think we can reach it?" I asked, walking over to the window in question. "There isn't really anything big we can stack up."

"I could give you a boost," suggested Liz, folding her arms and shrugging her shoulders. I wasn't about to tell her she couldn't do it, but to be honest I had my doubts. Liz was easily the smallest person in my circle of friends, and I just didn't know how she'd pull it off.

"You sure that'll work?" Hopefully that was phrased gently enough. Liz put on a proud grin, raising her hands and flexing her arms.

"Yeah! I build sets all day, remember? I'm strong!" she proclaimed, marching up to the window. David approached us, putting on a nervous smile.

"I think I'm a bit lighter, so you can try me first," he offered. Liz nodded and squatted down, cupping her hands for David to stand on. Placing both hands on the wall for stability, David stepped into Liz's hand. Then, with no visible effort at all, Liz straightened her legs and lifted David up to the window.

"Hey! Great job!" he said, waving one hand back down at us. "It looks like there's some kind of latch on the window. I should be able to unscrew it, though."

"Take your time," Liz reassured, giving me a casual smile. I leaned against the wall beside them and listened to the quiet, rusty sounds of David fiddling with the window. A few seconds later, however, I heard something a bit more ominous. I glanced over at Liz just in time to see her wrinkle her upturned nose with a dry sniff.

"Sure is dusty in here," Liz breathed, scrunching up her nose again.

"Don't even go there, Liz," I said, hoping she wasn't foreshadowing David's doom. Who am I kidding? Of course she was.

"I think... I think I'm going to..."

"Liz, don't!"

I took a step toward her, but what the heck was I even going to do? It was already too late. If I had a few more seconds, maybe I would have tried putting a finger under her nose or something, but there's no way that would have worked anyway. Then, I tried to move around behind her to catch David when he inevitably fell, but I wasn't even quick enough for that.

"AHHHH-CHIIOOOOOOO!!!"

Liz threw back her head as she gasped for air, and that alone was enough to get them falling. She usually thrust forward when she sneezed too, but even she didn't have the power to overcome David's weight and their momentum. It was almost comical how Liz's buildup tipped them over and then her explosively loud sneeze seemed to propel her into the ground even faster.

Luckily for David, there was a large beanbag chair not too far away. His upper back landed right in the middle of it, breaking his fall. Not so luckily, the damn thing was about as dusty as everything else in the room. A huge cloud exploded out of the beanbag chair, threatening to fill the whole room.

" HEIISHH! Heh... HEISHHH!"

David sneezed twice, thrusting himself up into a sitting position. He stood up from there, and then he and I both pulled Liz back to her feet. Sniffing quietly, she wrinkled and rubbed her nose.

"Sorry!" Liz whined, squeezing her nostrils shut for a second. "I couldn't help it!"

David and I both opened our mouths to, presumably in David's case, tell her it was alright. Before we could say a word, however, we heard somebody unlocking the door again. All three of us turned in anticipation as two people I didn't recognize opened the door and held it for us.

"Oh my gosh! Thank you so much!" Liz squealed, jogging over to our saviors. Presumably they were her colleagues from the theater club, judging by the fact that they knew her and had a key to the prop room.

"How'd you even know we were in here?" I asked, realizing afterward that I probably should have been more grateful. Both of the theater club members pointed at Liz, who immediately stared down at her feet and shied away.

"We were in the other room when we heard Liz sneeze," explained one of the theater clubbers.

"So we figured she must have locked herself in the dusty old prop room again," said the other.

Again? I turned to Liz, finding her still staring down at her feet and pressing the tips of her index fingers together in embarrassment.

"Does this happen a lot?"

"Maybe a little..."

After thanking the other theater club members as profusely as I could in the span of a few seconds, I quickly ran out to the auditorium. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, I made it just before Tracy and Andy had to go on. The club before us was just finishing up, though I couldn't even tell who they were at first. I only figured it out when I heard the telltale cry of "duuuuude" sound from the audience. A few people clapped as two faceless members of the motorsport club made their way off the stage, and I took the time to jog up to Tracy and Andy and wish them luck.

"Hey, break a leg," I said, not sure what else I could tell them at this point. Andy grinned massively and gave me a salute. Tracy was still rubbing her nose, bending it left and right with the top of her hand. Not wanting her to go out on stage feeling so miserable, I searched around in my pockets until I found a small, half-empty packet of tissues.

"Here, take this first," I offered, holding out one of the tissues. Tracy shook her head and waved a hand at me. Despite her efforts to refuse, however, her eyes began to flutter and her normally slit-like nostrils opened wide in anticipation of a sneeze. Without another thought, she snatched the tissue from my hand and held it over her nose.

"Hih-CHH!"

Tracy sneezed softly, making the tissue flutter like a flag in the wind for a second. Then, she took a deep breath through her mouth and blew her nose. Her nose-blowing was usually just as soft as her sneezing, but this time it all came trumpeting out as a loud, desperate honk. I made a mental note to get Charlie to talk to Tracy about her dust allergy denial. I'd never seen her get this bad before. But alas, that was all the time they had before they had to get started.

"Behold! We are The Adventure Club!" bellowed Andy, throwing back his head and thrusting his arms toward the ceiling.

"Yes, we know who you are," groaned one of the faculty judges. I could tell from his tone that it wasn't just Andy that was bothering him. I'd probably be just as fed up if I had to spend all day watching a bunch of idiots who can't act.

It occurred to me in that moment that I never saw Tracy choose a prop. Now that she was out on stage, I finally noticed her holding something. She had a pair of scissors, held nervously in both hands in front of her waist. It looked like she had no idea what to do with them, and in all likelihood she probably didn't. Hopefully Andy would set the scene reasonably well.

He didn't even say anything. Andy simply strutted out to join Tracy in the middle of the stage, the massive feather in his hat bouncing up and down. For a few seconds, Tracy looked as helpless as a deer in the headlights. She cocked her hips from left to right in a fit of nervousness, but eventually she swallowed her stage fright and managed to say something.

"Um, how can I help you?"

Tracy's voice was always quiet, and a little husky too, but the fact that she was mumbling nervously now made it almost impossible to hear her. Luckily, that one line was all Andy needed to get going. I hate to admit it, but if anyone could save the day in such an idiotic situation as this, it was him.

"Yes indeed, my dear," Andy projected, speaking in what I could only describe as an "opera voice."

"It would seem my locks are in need of a trim," he continued, pointing to his head. Tracy nodded subtly, gesturing to the single chair placed onstage.

"Oh, um... Take a seat, please."

Andy obliged, plopping himself down in the chair and kicking his feet up. Tracy stood behind him, still nervously holding her scissors with both hands. She swallowed and then pointed at Andy's ridiculous hat.

"Could you, um... Please remove your hat?"

"What hat?" asked Andy, turning his head to look back at Tracy. This actually had the makings of decent comedy improv, but I don't think Andy realized what he had just done. As he turned his head, the massive feather in his hat brushed across the underside of Tracy's nose. Her face went slack almost instantly, and she began to furiously rub her fingers against her flaring nostrils.

"Ighh... Hih!"

Tracy gave a barely-audible snort as she fought hard not to sneeze. After a few seconds of vigorously rubbing her nose, she managed to get herself back under control.

"Your, um..." Tracy paused, both to calm her nerves and take in a deep sniff. "Your hat on your head."

"Preposterous!" Andy cried, raising his arms for a second. "I sport no such topper!"

He turned his head the other way, causing the massive feather to whip across Tracy's face yet again. She waved a hand up and down in front of her face before rubbing hard again. Despite her efforts, Tracy was unable to contain her latest sneeze. Removing one hand from her scissors, she held the back of her wrist under her nose and turned to the side.

"Hih! Hi'CH!"

"Unthinkable, insisting that I wear a hat," Andy grumbled, filling the silence while Tracy was unable to respond. She rubbed her fingers against her nostrils for what I'm sure the judges felt was far too long, but eventually she did manage to stop. Tracy pushed her glasses back up the high bridge of her nose and then softly cleared her throat.

"I, um... I can't cut your hair with this, um... Hat in the way," Tracy said, her shy voice barely a whisper. Putting on a mock-irritated expression, Andy turned to face forward. The motion was more gentle this time, but this did end up putting the massive hat feather right over Tracy's nose.

"I dare say I don't know where you get your delusions of a hat. I have no desire to speak to you further until you have finished."

Tracy pushed the feather to one side to get it away from her face, but the instant she let it go it simply swung back under her nostrils. She puckered her lips and wrinkled her nose around before reaching a hand up to rub it.

"Ihh... Ghihh..." she spluttered, rubbing as hard as she could for a few seconds. Still, it was clear that the damage had already been done, and it was only a matter of time now. Tracy took a moment to futilely push her glasses up her nose before immediately returning to her rubbing.

"Hih... Hih-Hih-Hih! Hghh... Hhiggie..."

Maybe the judges wouldn't mind this, thinking it was part of the act. To me, though, it was just so painfully obvious that this wasn't supposed to be happening. I was a little worried about how embarrassing this must have been for Tracy. Once the skit was over and she could do as she pleased, I had no idea how she would react.

"Hhnghkt!"

One snorty gasp of air later, Tracy had tipped her head back so far it almost looked like she was going to fall over. She lifted a foot and took a slight step back, though whether to steady herself or to get away from the feather, I wasn't sure. I suppose it didn't matter now.

"HEEE-CHHHHHOO!"

Flinging herself forward, Tracy blew out the biggest, loudest sneeze I'd ever seen or heard from her. She bent so far at the waist that she actually knocked Andy's hat clean off of his head, sending it fluttering over the edge of the stage. Her glasses were just barely clinging to the tip of her nose, and out of habit she took a second to push them back up before doing anything else. Then, Andy's eyes went wide as Tracy began to desperately rub her nose.

"My hat!" he cried, leaping to his feet. "What have you done to my hat!?"

"Wh-what hat?" Tracy whimpered, opening one eye as she continued rubbing her nose. Andy jabbed a finger at the empty space above his head.

"The hat that once resided here! Until you... You...!"

"CHH! Hih-CH!"

Keeping her fingers pressed to the underside of her nose, Tracy sneezed twice more. Andy flung up his arms and paced around in a circle. Once he move out of the way, I was shocked to see how red Tracy's face had become. I got the sense it wasn't because of anything Andy had done. In all honesty, he was probably doing what any of us would have in this sort of improv situation. I couldn't say for sure, but I think Tracy just couldn't handle being the center of attention for much longer.

"I should have known," Andy continued, placing a hand on his forehead. "Coming to a place like this to fit myself for a new hat..."

"But... But you... Hih-CHH!" Tracy tried to speak up, pausing to sneeze and rub her nose in the middle. "You said you weren't... W-weren't wearing... Hi'CHH!"

"You've done this on purpose, haven't you?" Andy sneered, leaning in close. Tracy scrunched up her face and furiously shook her head, causing her ponytail to flap left and right. When she opened her eyes, Andy's face was only a few inches from her own. She leaned away, nervously pushing her glasses up her nose.

"I refuse to vacate the premises until such time as you apologize for your misdeeds. What have you to say for yourself?"

Tracy swallowed, adjusting her glasses yet again. I could have sworn I saw smoke coming out of her ears. On the one hand I wanted to smack Andy upside the head for being forceful, but at the same time I could tell he was trying to rush things along. The sooner they could wrap this up, the better.

"I..." Tracy whimpered, her face so red she hardly looked like herself anymore.

"Enunciate!"

Whatever barriers Tracy had put up around her shyness finally gave out. Her shoulders tensed, and she scrunched up her face so tightly she looked like she was going to explode. She flared her nostrils as wide as they would go and filled her lungs with a deep snort of air. Finally, Tracy raised her scissors above her head in one hand and then flung them down at the floor, embedding the point in the stage.

"You... You man! You stupid, stupid MAN!" she yelled, her airy voice cracking to a screech at the final word. Then, before anyone had a chance to react, Tracy simply turned and ran off the far side of the stage. Dumbfounded, Andy turned to our panel of unbiased judges and shrugged.

"That's all, folks."

Some genius in the audience clapped, but I didn't bother to see who it was. David and I made our way onto the stage. I mostly wanted to find where Tracy had run off to, but I paused as the judges gave their verdict.

"I'm afraid I can't mark you too highly for that one," said the first judge, staring at us with a pair of judging eyes. "The plot made no sense, and the acting was... Inconsistent."

"Come on, man!" Andy groaned, lazily flinging one arm at the judges. "It's improv!"

"Don't get too upset," reassured the second judge. "You're still not in last place."

"We're not?" David exclaimed, earning a stink eye from Andy. All three judges sighed, shaking their heads in one synchronized motion.

"The swimming club's definitions of "skit" and "improv" were, well, different to say the least."

"What does that even mean?" I asked, taking a step past Andy toward the far side of the stage.

"Look, they just went up on stage wearing nothing but bathing suits and struck poses for a few minutes. At least you did something. Congratulations, you haven't been eliminated. Yet."

Andy turned to David and I with a shrug.

"Well, this feels about as harmlessly insulting as every other participation award I've ever gotten," he muttered, scratching the back of his head. "But hey, at least we're still in the running."

"Yeah, that's nice," I blurted quickly, jogging toward the still-open door that led outside from the far end of the stage. "I'll see you guys later. Bye."

Tracy was nowhere to be seen outside. I suppose it's possible that she just went home, in which case I'd leave her be. If she was still at school, however, I had a feeling I knew where she went. I made my way to a building on the other side of campus and climbed the stairs to our club room. Calmly opening the door, I leaned inside and found the room empty on first glance. Figuring that maybe Tracy really had just gone home, I stepped into the room anyway to at least take a rest.

"Hih-CH!"

A familiar, soft sneeze caught my attention. I turned around to find Tracy hiding under the table next to the door. She was sitting against the wall, her knees tucked up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her face was still crimson, though she at least looked a little more calm.

"Go away," Tracy grumbled, lowering her face to wipe the underside of her nose on one knee. She gave no further protest as I slid under the table to sit next to her. I retrieved the packet of tissues from my pocket and held them out to her, but she slapped it away and sent it sliding across the floor.

"You mad at Andy? Because honestly that's not very hard," I chuckled, hoping to lift her spirits. Tracy sniffed and shook her head, refusing to make eye contact.

"We lost, didn't we?" she muttered, her voice muffled by her knees. Sniffing again, she wrinkled her nose and then removed one hand from around her legs to push her glasses back up.

"We didn't lose," I reassured. "This competition is free of the swimming club now."

Tracy sighed, and then her lips curled into the slightest smile. That was probably the only sign I would get that she was starting to feel better, but it was enough. I rubbed my palms and then wove my fingers together, leaning away from the wall.

"Alright, let's get out of here."

In a moment of true failure, Tracy and I both forgot we were sitting under a table as we tried to stand up. Our heads hit the wood at the same time and we both fell back to the floor. I swear I wasn't consciously planning this, but I found myself leaning toward her and our shoulders bumped against each other. Tracy and I stared straight ahead for a few seconds, surprised by our own carelessness. Then, without a word or even making eye contact, we shared a much-needed hug.

-----

And thus concludes the latest installment of Club Wars. As always, I hope you all enjoyed, and if there was anything you particularly liked (or even didn't like), please do let me know.

Up next is the contest hosted by the cheerleading club. I changed my mind about what to do for this one a lot, but I finally arrived at something that I thought would be fun. The contest is going to involve the club making up their own cheer and routine, during which one member has to wear a mascot outfit. Finally, all clubs must complete a successful cheer pyramid. Since those require a minimum of six people, The Adventure Club might have to rope in their adviser for help. And so, your two choices to make are:

- Who should wear the mascot outfit?

And

- Who should be at the top of the cheer pyramid?

Both of those can be the same person, but they also don't have to be. Totally up to you guys!

Anyway, The cheerleading club chapter probably won't actually go up until November. For the rest of October, I have something very special planned. Something that I'll start posting one week from today. Beware...

[Bobsuperawesome]

OMG YASS BOO YASS!!! Definitely Andy with the Mascot, and I definitely think that the main character should be at the top!!!!!!

[SneezeloveronGirls]

Liz should be at the bottom of the pyramid.

[MoonDuck]

Oooh! Another update, and so soon! Yay okay uh Toby or Charlie or Tracy or someone who wouldn't really be willing to wear a mascot costume, and maybe Andy at the top?

[Snz.]

This story just keeps getting better and better! Andy should be the mascot, and Tracy should be at the top.

[Bobsuperawesome]

Wait, maybe Tracy or Andy in the Mascot and Toby at the top! I don't think we've heard a lot of Toby sneezing, so it would be "unfortunate" if something happened on top of the piramid!!!

[a red nine]

Oh man. This chapter is so adorable and funny all at the same time. Andy really has a knack for this acting thing, those judges are crazy! Like, if I were in the audience, I would have been laughing and cheering a ton. And don't worry so hard Tracy, I think the fact that you kinda stunk at acting gave Andy a lot to work with. And her sneezes, along with David and Liz opening the window, were all super precious. I could tell you were in the mood to write something cute and lighthearted, not necessarily a purposeful contrast to the action in the science club and motorsports club chapters, but still noticeable.

Cheerleading club sounds like it'll be the same brand of fun. Mascot costume vote has to go to David. It's highly possible Andy's going to get voted for that one though, which is fine too. And I pick Toby for the top of the pyramid, since he's the club's founder. 'bout time he got a little recognition.

Edited October 5, 2014 by a red nine

[Pearlised]

I think Charlie should wear the mascot uniform because she'd whinge about it. And I think that Toby should be on top, because he doesn't seem to be all that comfortable in the limelight.

Now Blah, babe, will you PLEASE gimme some TobyxTracy kthnx

Edited October 6, 2014 by Pearlised

[Sitruuna]

...I had missed two chapters. D:

While I really would like to read more stuff with David I have to say Charlie as the mascot (because I can't imagine her be too happy about it) and Andy on top of the pyramid.

[guiltyascharged]

Lolol remember that time, like FOUR MONTHS AGO when you said the next part was coming up in november? Good times...

[Blah!?]

The last hiatus I took lasted for eleven months and nobody raised any complaints. These breaks in updates are never something I plan, and I'm not terribly fond of the fact that I haven't posted anything in a long time myself. Between writer's block and being busy in real life, I've desperately wanted to get back to this but I just haven't been able to for a while.

Furthermore, the fact that you haven't had anything to say about this entire series until now leads me to believe that you can be patient for at least a little longer.

[guiltyascharged]

[Blah!?]

In the words of the world's wisest mandrill:

It Is Time.

Sorry for the delay, everybody! I've had some crazy stuff going on, and I only found the time to keep writing this pretty recently. This chapter was a little bit difficult to finish off, probably because my mind's been all over the place, but in the end I think it turned out pretty nicely. But as always, that's up to you guys.

And in the words of Michael Bolton:

Now back to the good part!

-----

"Barry, Barry, he's our man! If he can't do it-"

"No."

"Who the hell is Barry anyway?"

"I don't know, I'm just spitballing."

Today's competition was easily going to be the most difficult for us, despite technically being one of the simplest overall. Our meager club consisted of four people who don't talk much and a walking obscurist thesaurus. This combination of people a successful cheer does not make.

"Well, club wars sure has been fun," groaned Charlie as she laid down on top of a table in the corner of the room. "Can we go home now?"

"Aw, don't give up yet!" said David, leaning against the table. Charlie weakly threw her arms up in the air and then let them drop on her chest.

"It doesn't even matter if we come up with a cheer or not," she groaned, closing her eyes. "Don't we have to do some dumb pyramid thing at the end too? We need six people for one of those. Did you forget the part where we only have five?"

That part did seem a little fishy to me. Every club has to have at least five members, and there were plenty of others at the school who didn't have any more than that. Plus, it was always in the club wars rules that each competition could only require five members or fewer from each club. Clubs with a larger roster would still be at an advantage, but a club like ours wouldn't be shut out just for having the minimum.

"Alright," grunted Charlie, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the table. "Unless we can recruit a new member in the next five minutes, I'm going home."

She grabbed her motorcycle helmet from the corner of her chair as she passed without even slowing down. The rest of us sat up out of our collective slouches and watched, unsure of what to say.

"If we're going out anyway, I might as well save myself the humiliation."

"See you at Denny's?" Andy asked as Charlie stepped past him. She turned her head back to him just as she was about to reach the door, a complacent expression on her face.

"Denny's is for winners."

Charlie opened the door, fully prepared to abandon the cause. I can't say I blamed her. I was about ready to throw in the towel myself. Luckily, what we saw on the other side of the door proved to be our saving grace.

"Miss Quinn!"

I don't think I'd ever seen the five of us so excited before. We all rushed to the door and fawned over our faculty adviser, once again reaffirming the fact that at least on some level, we all thought of her as the long-lost kindergarten teacher we never had. Miss Quinn smiled sheepishly and waved, and after the excitement died down we all returned to our previous lazing. Then, I finally noticed how the teacher was dressed, and I simultaneously realized her intentions.

Miss Quinn typically dressed a bit too formally to be teaching at a run-o-the-mill high school like this one. Suit jackets and pencil skirts, or slacks every other Thursday for variety. Today, however, she was clearly dressed for another kind of business. Synthetic tank-top and running shorts, and a pair of sneakers with obnoxious neon trim that only a mother could love. She was, however, still wearing her huge, round glasses, and her hair was up in the same tight bun as always, making her look a little like somebody stuck Business Barbie's head on Exercise Ken's body. In the end, Miss Quinn's inconsistent appearance did nothing to stop Andy from crossing his legs.

"I guess they tried to pull the rug out from under us with this one," said the teacher, stepping into the club room. "Apparently it's some sort of secret backup rule that faculty advisers can join in if you're short by one member. Given the nature of the contest, I'd say you guys are pretty lucky I'm not some ancient, arthritic lecturer."

"Ain't we just?" Andy mumbled to himself with a grin. Luckily Miss Quinn didn't seem to hear him.

"Call me a conspiracy theorist," Miss Quinn continued, putting her hands on her hips, "but I think somebody wanted you to resign before you found out."

"I have no trouble admitting I was about to go home," groaned Charlie, laying on the table again. Miss Quinn jabbed a finger at her, putting on a determined expression.

"Hey! Don't be mean, Charlene! If we can just come up with a good cheer, I'm sure we'll... Ween!"

The teacher giggled at herself, glancing around at us for our reactions. I couldn't even bring myself to fake a smile. No matter, we were back in the running now, and lord knows terrible jokes have never stopped us before.

"I might not be able to help you with a cheer, but I did find a little something that could help. I don't know why in the world this was just laying around, but there was a mascot costume up for grabs," said Miss Quinn, gesturing out at the hall. Before the teacher even finished speaking, Andy was on his feet and out the door to claim his prize. I'm sure he was the only one of us who actually wanted to wear it in the first place, so we raised no objections.

"Um, Miss Quinn," David spoke up, raising a hand nervously. "What about your allergies? Are you sure you're okay to do a cheer pyramid?"

"Oh, I have it all taken care of," Miss Quinn answered proudly, waving a hand at him. "I took twice the recommended dosage of my medicine this morning, and I haven't sneezed all day!"

"Was it non-drowsy?" I asked with a slight smile. I intended it as a joke, but Miss Quinn suddenly locked eyes with me as she broke out in a cold sweat. Her face contorted into a fractured smile as the terrible revelation washed over her. Then, before I could even formulate a reaction, our faithful adviser did a great many strange things. Her eyes drooped shut, she instantly began to snore, and then she slowly tipped forward toward me like a recently-chopped tree.

"Guess not," I deadpanned as Miss Quinn fell on me, her nose squishing into my cheek. I just barely managed to catch her before we both hit the floor; luckily she wasn't too heavy. I staggered back a bit, but after regaining my balance it wasn't too hard to support the doped-up teacher.

"Oh, this is bad!" whined David as he rushed over to me. He and I managed to drag Miss Quinn to the nearest chair and sit her down. Her head slumped lifelessly over the backrest as she let out another snore, but at least nobody was falling over.

"What are we going to do!?" David moaned, gesticulating wildly in my direction. I pondered this for a moment myself. We could probably just wake up Miss Quinn at any time, but if she fell asleep again during the cheer pyramid, broken bones could potentially ensue.

"Well, we don't actually need her for now, right?" I asked, though I had a feeling nobody else really knew. They all shrugged in ignorance. I wanted to try lifting their spirits, but my train of thought was sent sailing into a ravine as a bipedal shark suddenly moonwalked into the room.

"YASHOO!"

Andy sneezed loudly, nearly falling over in his shark costume. The sound did absolutely nothing to rouse Miss Quinn from her slumber, so I abandoned trying to wake her up altogether. In the meantime, Andy did some sort of awkward spin flip thing to right himself, and then he hopped back and forth, waving his shark fins in the air. It was a bit of an odd shark costume, with Andy's head visible in the mouth.

"This costume smells frakking terrible!" he exclaimed, a big, excited smile on his face.

"So get rid of it then," Charlie grumbled, glaring at him. Andy crossed his fins and then swung them down toward the floor in a big "no" gesture.

"Absolutely not! Every girl's crazy 'bout a shark-dressed man!"

As Andy continued to dance around, I noticed something on the shark costume's belly. It looked like somebody wrote something on it in permanent marker; clearly it wasn't something that came on the suit originally. "Pete." I guess somebody wanted to name the shark Pete. Dumb name for a shark, but it got the gears turning. I ignored Andy's antics for a few minutes while I searched for a sharpie of my own, and then we were finally ready to go.

"Hold still," I instructed, kneeling down in front of our fanciful mascot. Andy obliged me just long enough for me to start writing, but naturally he started dancing around again mere seconds after I touched the marker to the costume. Despite Andy's best efforts, I managed to add a jaggy "Re" before shark man's name.

"What the frak are you doing?" asked Charlie, sitting up on her table. I straightened up, putting my hands on my hips. It was already pretty obvious what was about to happen.

"Now look," I began, jabbing my fingers at my club mates. "Since nobody has come up with any ideas of their own, none of you have any right to complain about my idea. It's not a good one, but it's the only one we have. We're doing Pete and Repete."

Charlie, David and even Tracy groaned loudly like a bunch of preschoolers who were told there would be no ice cream. Andy danced. I didn't care what they thought of it. We were down to the wire and we had to do something.

"I'm not happy about it either," I said, placing a hand on my forehead. "But it's all we've got. Would you rather try and lose or not try at all?"

"Why are you taking this so seriously?" grumbled Charlie.

"Pete and Repete is for losers," mumbled Tracy of all people, starting to read a book.

I don't know why I felt so committed to this all of the sudden. I guess I just felt like we'd come too far in club wars to lose because of something this stupid. Hanging my head, I sighed in defeat and made my way to the nearest chair so I could sit down. Before I could reach it, however, Andy danced up behind me and put his flippers around me, giving me a shark hug. He was right: this costume smelled frakking terrible.

"Eh... Het'CHFM!"

I sneezed once, wrapping an arm around my face. Andy patted me on the head before going back to hugging me.

"How do you stand this thing?" I choked, barely able to vocalize. "Get away from me."

"Aww," Andy groaned, letting me go. It didn't keep him down for long, though. Nothing ever did.

"Toby's right, though! Let's do this! Time to take CHARGE!!!"

Andy floundered toward the door, waving his flipper arms all over the place as he ran. I wasn't sure if he'd even fit through it, but it didn't matter. Before he passed through the door, Andy let out another loud "YASHOO!!!" The confusion caused him to run head-first into the wall, and he fell to the ground in front of the doorway with a brief, high-pitched shriek. I let my face fall into the palm of my had, but after a moment of disappointment I think I finally came up with a way to get the club moving.

"If you all go outside and do this thing," I began, looking up at the others. "Pizza party. My treat."

Without a word, Charlie, Tracy and David all rose and made their way out the door. They stepped over Andy like he was a fallen log rather than a human being, and once they departed I rolled him out the door after them.

Once we were all out on the field, surrounded by all the other competing club members, I fully understood why none of the others wanted to go through with this. Did I think it was worth giving up over? No. But was this going to turn into one of those moments you remember three to ten times a year for the rest of your life, and every time you do it kills you a little on the inside? Absolutely. We didn't even have uniforms or any sort of costumes to hide behind, save for Andy who clearly didn't even care. He continued to dance around us just as he had before, without a worry in the world.

Just as I was about to declare us ready to start, it occurred to me that we never rehearsed any sort of choreography. We just stood there awkwardly for a moment, the eyes of every other club wars contestant burning into our souls. I turned to the others and shrugged. Charlie shrugged back at me, aggressively, I might add. Letting out a humiliated sigh of defeat, I hung my head for a second and then took a deep breath.

Here goes nothing.

"Pete and Repete were sittin' on a fence! Pete fell off! Who was left?"

Charlie and David didn't join in the chant until I'd already said half of it by myself. I don't think Tracy even said anything. On the plus side, we did all finish it off by pointing at Andy for dramatic effect. That is until we realized he wasn't even facing the right away. Charlie punched the front of his shark head hard enough to make him turn around, allowing our audience to actually read the hastily scrawled "RePete" on his chest.

The world hung in limbo for what felt like an eternity. I swear, nobody in the audience even blinked. The silence was slowly eating away at my sanity, but then it happened. The most stupidly glorious thing I have ever witnessed finally happened.

"Repeat!"

I still don't know who actually said it, but somebody in the audience shouted out the one word that would bring about our salvation. Unable to stop myself from smiling, I turned to the others and nodded. Whoever our mysterious savior was, we obliged him.

"Pete and Repete were sittin' on a fence! Pete fell off! Who was left?"

"Repeat!!!"

The response came much more quickly this time, and from more than just one person. Without me having to give any sort of signal, the club jumped into it once more. The cycle went on and on, and each time we and the audience all got more enthusiastic. After half a dozen repetitions, we were jumping around and flailing our arms like a bunch of maniacs. I mean, we already felt like a bunch of maniacs before we even started this thing, but we had reached the point where we didn't care anymore.

People in the audience were standing up and egging us on. I don't think I'll ever truly understand why they got into it. Most likely it was just some kind of memetic idiocy. It started off as a joke, but by the end nobody wanted to look like they didn't get it, so they were all as enthusiastic as could be. Still, all good things...

Once I was starting to get sweaty, I decided I'd had enough. After one last round, I held up one arm and mimed a mic-drop. Then I turned away from the audience and thrust my hands up toward the sky, both doing the sign of the horns. To my great surprise, people applauded wildly. Seriously, for a second I thought I might cry.

The cheering died down as we dragged ourselves over to the bleachers, ready to finally rest after a hard day's stupidity. None of us except for David could even make it all the way to the seats; the rest of us just sat on the ground. Jumping around for our dumb chant wasn't even that hard of a workout, but I could tell we were all feeling exhausted. Must have been the mental strain.

"YEASHOO!" Andy sneezed once more, his shark outfit preventing him from doubling over now that he was already sitting down. He removed the shark head and threw it on the ground, and then he flopped over onto his side.

"Can I take this off now?" he groaned, rolling onto his stomach. I was beyond surprised that he actually wanted to stop doing something wacky, but the sooner he got rid of that rancid costume, the better. I gave him the go-ahead and he chucked the rest of it around the side of the bleachers.

We spent so long dawdling that we were the last ones to do a cheer. That meant the next thing to happen was the pyramid, and with any luck we'd be the last ones to do that too. I wasn't even paying attention as most of the other clubs did it. All I picked up on was that six of them would get into a cheer pyramid, some school photographer I'd never seen before would run up and take a picture, and then everybody would climb down. The theater club was the last group to go before us, so David went back to our club room to retrieve Miss Quinn while I finally decided to watch.

I didn't really recognize anyone from the theater club other than Liz. She was all set on the bottom row, beaming with a confident smile. I guess her claims of strength when she lifted up David earlier really must have been true; she didn't have any trouble supporting the others on top of her. As their final member started to climb up to the top, however, Liz's resolve began to break.

"Uh oh," she breathed, her nostrils flaring. Liz sniffed twice, wrinkling her nose left and right as she did. The climbing theater club member froze, and the others who were already set in the pyramid turned and stared.

"Itchy nose!" Liz complained, scrunching up her face. Panic set in across the rest of her club the instant the words left her mouth.

"Liz, no!" they shouted, bracing themselves for the inevitable.

"AAHHHH-CHHIIOOOOO!!!"

Liz bucked downward with the force of a loud sneeze, causing her side of the cheer pyramid to collapse. A few people in the audience gasped, but it didn't look like anyone was seriously hurt. Liz pushed herself up to her feet and shied away while the rest of her club members groaned in pain. One by one the others rose, and as disastrous as that had been it actually looked like they were about to comfort Liz. But then...

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're most likely going to be out of the running after that," announced the photographer, letting her camera hang from the strap around her neck.

"What!?" demanded all of the theater club minus Liz, who started nervously pressing her index fingers together when she realized what was happening.

"Well, you didn't even make the whole pyramid before you fell," explained the photographer. "Unless that last club falls even sooner, I'm afraid you guys are out."

"Liz!" the theater club scolded in a unified voice. "What do you have to say for yourself!?"

"AAHHH-CHIOOOO!!!"

Liz sneezed in their collective faces, and then she ran over to us of all people and threw her arms around Tracy, breathing heavily in humiliation. She let out half a sob and turned to look at the theater club. They were already packing up and leaving in defeat, so all Liz could do was bury her face into Tracy's chest again.

"I'm such a failure!" she wailed, nuzzling her friend. "What's the matter with me!?"

Tracy gently pushed Liz back with one hand and plucked a few blades of grass from the ground with the other. Then she lightly waved the cut ends of the grass around under Liz's nostrils, causing her eyes to glaze over. Liz sniffed twice, and then she threw back her head and sneezed right in Tracy's face.

"AHHHH-CHIOOOOO!!! AAAHHH-!"

Tracy winced after being sneezed on, but she acted quickly enough to stop it from happening again. She shoved her finger under Liz's nose and pushed up as hard as she could. Liz's face was frozen in pre-sneeze agony for a few seconds, but with Tracy's help she managed to recover.

"Sorry, Tracy," Liz whimpered, putting on an embarrassed smile. "I guess I must have hay fever, huh? I never thought grass would make me sneeze."

Tracy smiled back, removing her finger from under Liz's nose. The second she did, however, Liz gasped for breath and sneezed in her face again.

"AAAHHH-CHHIIOOOOO!!!"

"Liz!" Tracy grunted, her husky voice barely audible over her friend's snuffling. Liz rubbed her nose hard for a few seconds, and then she pushed back and hung her head in shame.

"Sorry," she repeated, gently flicking a finger under her nose. "I guess I should go..."

I felt kind of bad as Liz departed. She was really embarrassed, and none of us even said goodbye. Still, I saw David returning with Miss Quinn at the same time, and before long I wasn't too worried about Liz anymore.

"Hey guys," Miss Quinn greeted with a yawn. She removed her glasses and rubbed her sleepy eyes, looking a bit like she might pass out again at any moment. That probably wouldn't go over terribly well for us... To her credit Miss Quinn seemed aware of this, and she started doing awkward, sleepy jumping jacks to wake herself up.

"Alright, how are we laying this out?" I asked, turning to the rest of the club. "I mean I guess Charlie and Andy should at least be on the bottom row, but what about the rest of us? And who's going on top?"

"Tracy's probably the lightest," suggested David. I glanced at his nomination and she vigorously shook her head, looking scared.

"I think you should do it," said Charlie, giving me a surprisingly genuine smile. Tracy's frantic head-shaking immediately became a nod.

"Works for me," agreed David, shrugging his shoulders. I shrugged back, knowing better than to refuse at this point. It would just be a waste of our time, and the sooner we started, the sooner we could finish. We just had to last a little longer than the theater club and we'd be in the clear.

Charlie, Andy and David got down on their hands and knees to form the first layer of our pyramid. Next, Tracy and Miss Quinn climbed on top of them. None of the bottom three seemed to have any trouble holding them up, but I gave them a few seconds to get settled before I added myself to the human disaster area. When I did get going, I decided to climb up Andy and Miss Quinn's side, as they seemed a bit stronger than the other half. Plus I'd feel bad if I stepped on David. Andy not so much.

Miss Quinn trembled as I placed my hands on her back. I stopped, looking down at her nervously. Her head was at just such an angle that I couldn't see her face, but I could tell she was distressed.

"You okay?" I asked, trying to get a better look at her for a second before deciding it was a bad idea. The teacher shook her head lightly, and as her face turned to me for a second I could tell she was wrinkling her nose.

"My ah... My allergy medicine's wearing off," she mumbled, struggling to keep her breathing under control.

"Already!?" yelped David, his voice cracking. Miss Quinn nodded weakly, starting to pant.

I knew I didn't have any time to waste, so I resumed my ascent. Miss Quinn's arms buckled as I put more of my weight on her, but she managed to keep herself relatively steady. Tracy had no trouble holding me up at all, and I put a little bit more of my weight on her to take some of the load off of our teacher.

"Ahhh... Hhhaahhh... Ahh-Ahhhh-!"

"Come on, hold it in!" urged Charlie, looking up at the teacher and I. Miss Quinn sniffed harshly, scrunching her nose to one side. She gave no verbal response as she continued to wiggle her nose left and right, but at least she knew better than to pick up a hand and try rubbing. By now I was in place on top of her and Tracy, and the photographer was taking her place in front of us.

"Stand up!" she instructed, lifting a hand up toward the sky. My heart skipped a beat as I panicked for half a second, and then I did my best to oblige. I felt like I was trying to balance all of my weight on a basketball as I forced myself up to my feet. Miss Quinn continued to squirm under one foot, and Tracy did her best to compensate.

"S-sorry guys," wheezed the teacher, her head bobbing with her effort. "I r-really... R-really need to... Ahhhh... Aahhhhh... HHAAAHH-!"

"No, Miss Quinn! Don't sneeze!" shouted David, his voice breaking to a shriek. I half expected to suddenly wake up in the hospital with a broken arm, but the camera flashed and I was still standing. Miss Quinn was still panting uncontrollably, but she seemed to be frozen in place. Taking my time, I slowly climbed back down.

Once I was firmly back on Andy, Tracy climbed off of Charlie and David. I took Miss Quinn's hand as I passed her and helped her down to the ground, her face still frozen in a pre-sneeze expression. The second she was standing on her own she began to frantically fan her face with her free hand, still squeezing one of mine with the other.

"Heeh! Ehhh... Haahhh... Ah... Hooooh..."

Little by little Miss Quinn regained control of herself. She let out a series of strange-sounding breaths as she did, but at the end of the day, she had done her duty. Unless somebody suddenly came at us with some stupid new rule, we were still in the running.

"Good job," I half-congratulated, half-teased. Miss Quinn forced her watery eyes open to stare at me.

"For what?" she choked in a nasal voice.

"You did it!" yelped David, clearly resisting the urge to give the teacher a hug. Miss Quinn turned to him and gasped.

"I did it? I did it! I didn't sneeze!"

Miss Quinn pumped her fists and began to hop up and down with glee. She spun around in a circle and came to a stop facing me. The second she opened her mouth to speak, however, her urge to sneeze came back in an instant and she let one out.

"HAAHT'CHUUUH!!!"

Right in my face.

My eyes closed reflexively so I didn't see Miss Quinn's immediate reaction, but when I finally got another look at her, her face was bright red and she'd cupped both hands over her mouth and nose. Without so much as saying goodbye, the teacher suddenly turned and started to run away, waving her arms ridiculously.

"Come back, Miss Quinn!" I called after her.

"No!" she squealed in response without even looking back. I wanted to tell her it was alright and that she didn't have to be embarrassed, but she was too far gone and I was too tired to go after her. Then she fell flat on her face as she neared the edge of the field, which I'm sorry to say was actually kind of funny. She pushed herself back up and kept running away like nothing had happened.

"So," I began, turning back to the others. "That was pretty good, yeah? I mean, we thought it was going to suck, but it was kind of fun, wasn't it? But that's enough fun for one day. I'm tired, and I bet you all are too, so let's go home..."

I turned and lifted one foot to take a step, but a firm hand on my shoulder kept me in place. I looked up nervously to see Charlie towering above me, hunger and murder fighting for dominance in her expression. She tightened her grip and beamed down at me with an evil smirk.

"Not so fast, bucko," she sneered through clenched teeth. "Somebody around here promised us a pizza party, and nobody's leaving until we get one."

-----

And with that chapter done, the Club Wars finale is upon us. The final contest is a hyper-immersive virtual reality experience hosted by the Gaming Club. What kind of experience, you ask? Well, that part's up to you:

- Tank Tag: Each club operates their own tank, and a deadly game of tag ensues. The first tank to be destroyed becomes "It," and from there whichever tank it destroys becomes the next "It." Unlimited respawns, lots of explosions. Michael Bay would be proud.

- Survival: Good old-fashioned "hold the line." All clubs must survive against endless waves of enemies, and the last club standing wins. No respawns in this mode, but eliminated club members may still be able to interact in some way. Plus there are no rules saying you can't work together with your enemies...

- Oddball: Yes, I did just steal this one directly from Halo. Think of Oddball as a sort of reverse capture the flag. There's a single "ball" hidden somewhere in the game, and each club is trying to find it. Once it is found, the first club to hold it for a certain length of time wins. But, once one club has it, the others are going to be coming after them to take it for themselves. Plus, as an added bonus, the so-called ball will probably be something that causes sneezing...

As always, I hope you all enjoyed! And I hope all my followers haven't all gone elsewhere because of how friggin long it takes me to update! Sadly I can't say for sure when the next chapter will be up, but I sincerely hope it will take less time than this one. Thanks for reading!

[Sitruuna]

Awww poor Andy in a stinking dhark costume :' D

Nice update.

I'm definitely voting oddball.

[Serendipity]

Thank u soooooo much for updating! I loved the part with Liz on the cheer pyramid! I vote Oddball!

[a red nine]

This chapter totally cracks me up, everything from spirited Andy in a shark costume, to Charlie's lazy faithlessness and Tracy's new-found snark, to Miss Quinn just passing the heck out at the very moment they needed her help. The best part was definitely Toby needing to rally the troops with pizza but somehow making it all work with the lamest chant in history. I was totally into it though, enough to make me miss high school (not something that happens every day...), especially when Toby just owns the moment when it wraps up. This was definitely a humorous chapter, but there were so many different types of humor, all along the spectrum of "laughing at them" to "laughing with them" to "laughing next to them" in the case of Miss Quinn's freedom dash at the end. I know you struggled to deck this one out, but I think your fluctuating mood while writing the piece actually managed to make it more interesting.

And you know my vote. It's Oddball. No need to elaborate, just desire for more!!!!

[ElegantEgotist]

A tonne of great moments in this. Might be crushing a little on Miss Quinn.

Survival!

[Fishman44]

Can you update this story?

[Blah!?]

Hey @Fishman44, I'm glad you enjoyed this story, but it's been years since I worked on it, and at this point I'm definitely not going to be writing about high schoolers anymore. Maybe someday I'll bring these characters back, but it'll be with them as adults, and not a direct continuation of what I've written here.