Hello everyone! It's good to be back to posting. We're sorry for only putting out one 'dream' chapter, but the second one honestly didn't come out all that well, so we're going to be rewriting it and posting it later.

In better news: We have a ton of content for you all. You're going to notice that these next few chapters are going to be double, if not triple the length of what we normally post. With this being Robbie's side it is going to cover the stuff leading up to it along with new bits. That's why we're deciding to make these a lot longer so there has to be less chapters of catching up. Basically we just stuck two chapters together for this one.

We're also fully refreshed and hyped to continue this story! We hope you all enjoy it!

Link to the Discord: https://discord.gg/Gbh2t4UpAt

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I walked out of the hospital and into the sunlight with my friends and family. When we made it to the car, I quickly realized we didn't have enough seats for all of us.

"One of you is gonna have to sit in the back back," Dad said. The back back where there were no seats, but it wasn't a big deal since there was plenty of space, but before I said anything, Sophie volunteered and opened the back door.

"I can sit back there," I said to Sophie as I walked up, but she already climbed in.

"And miss a chance to ride like this? Hell no."

I was half tempted to climb in after her. So much so that Pern used his vine to push me to move forward and climb in next to her, and Emily followed right behind me.

"No," Dad said as he opened the driver's door, "Go sit in the back seat and strap in."

She instantly deflated, gave me a hug like she was a sad puppy and slowly climbed out. While Ben stuck his head in. "I'll sit up front with Emily and let you two have your time." He closed the door and went to sit up front.

Sophie leaned into my side as we got comfortable. Meanwhile, Pern was all scrunched up in front of us.

 

This moment won't last once Kendall gets back into the picture.

 

Don't ruin this.

 

"How are you feeling?" Sophie asked.

 

We need to deal with Kendall, we have to protect Holly and the best we have is that she might listen to us because of our threat to tell her parents what she did. That, and some friends we might be able to intimidate her with. We're stressed, but happy to be with her.

 

"Still worried about going to school, but I'm just happy we get to hang out with everyone again."

She wrapped her arms around me. "And soon we get to commence W.O.A.R."

"W - O - A - R? Weekend of awesome relaxation and stuff."

"Yup. And we're starting off with Lego's. Wanna see if we can invite the others?"

I strained my neck to look up front. "Can I invite Vanessa and Mark over too?"

"Of course," Mom said.

I took out my phone and started up a text to Vanessa.

"Hold on," Sophie said as she snatched my phone away from me and tried to hold back a smile, "Vanessa messed with me earlier, so I wanna mess with her back."

Pern crawled around to look at the phone as she typed away.

"What'd she do?"

"Swapped out my chocolate chip cookie for one with raisins"

Both Pern and I visibly shook. We never knew Vanessa could be so cruel, so I let her type what she wanted, and she handed it back to me.

 

To Vanessa:

12:16 PM: It comes with greatest urgency that doth cometh unto the Reynolds homestead for a swarray of the grandest calibour. Bringeth only thy finest consumables and snackiest snacks, for a great gathering shall occur to celebrate the day of the return of our amazing (and super hot) Robbie Rey Ray Rennington, fourth in the line of Robbie's that resides in The House of Reynolds.

 

I broke down laughing "I missed you so much. Wanna send one to Mark?"

'Sure." She grabbed my phone and opened another text. After some time, she handed it back to me.

 

To: Mark

12:19 PM: Dear Mark, I have unfortunate news. There's been a band accident, and as a result, I'm now a criminal. So now I must act like one.

You are to come to my house today and bring the good stuff.

No cops.

Come alone.

We'll be waiting. 

 

"A band accident?" I asked through my smile.

"It's always a band accident. Want me to send one to Holly too?"

"Well, I guess we were going to head over there to play some games today, so how about we go over there and surprise her tomorrow instead? I wanna see the look on her face."

"Alright," Sophie said as we cuddled. There was some giggling going on up from, but I didn't pay much attention to it the rest of the ride home.

Soon enough, we pulled up and everyone climbed out.

"Is Ben playing with us too?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, I'd love to hang out with you too," I said.

Ben shut the car door, "I did come along in the first place."

"Yaaaay!" Emily shouted and hugged him.

 

We can't even remember the last time Ben even saw Emily, and she already likes him.

 

Yeah, but Ben's always been good with kids so I'm not surprised.

 

The moment we walked into the house, Emily dragged me to her room and slid out the big container filled with Lego's. "Bring this out to the living room." She said with as much excitement as a kid her age could muster. I lifted it up and brought it out into the living room with the others. We all sat around and dumped it all out in the middle of us. I sat next to Sophie and Emily, with Ben across from me. And we each started to make our own little thing.

It was a lot more calming than I thought it'd be. Maybe it was being with friends and family, maybe it was being back home, or maybe it was just nice for things to get back to normal. At least as far as my weekends went.

 

It's all of those things together.

 

Pern slid up to my side and tried to pick up a couple pieces, but of course nothing happened, so I picked them up for him and started to follow his lead. He selected the pieces to pick up, and I put them where he wanted them to go.

 

This is nice. Working together like this.

 

It is. We haven't done this before, but we should find more things to do together.

 

Yeah…So what are we making?

 

That's a secret for now.

 

I focused on building with Pern as Emily said out loud, "I'm making a castle!" when Ben offered to help her. And Sophie? She was making some sort of eldritch abomination. At least that's what it looked like, but knowing her that's exactly what it was.

"What are you making?" I asked Sophie.

She shrugged. "Probably a tree." She put another piece on. "I'll figure it out when I'm done."

 

Ha! God we missed this girl.

 

We each went about making our own thing. And as I put the last piece on, it clicked.

 

We're making a pot?

 

Yup.

 

Pern shrunk down and climbed into the pot. Once he was settled, he looked up at me and I had to hold back a laugh.

 

We made ourselves a nice little home now. We like it.

 

It fits you.

 

Let's keep this and put it in our room.

 

"Hey Emily," I said as I held up the Lego pot I made, "Is it okay if I keep this in my room?"

"Yup!" she said with the biggest smile.

Pern stretched out a vine to rub her head.

 

We've got a good sister.

 

Yes we do.

 

Not long after that, Dad walked by. "Hey Robbie, did you go check your room out yet? There's that surprise in there for you I told you about."

"No I didn't," I said as I got up. Sophie followed me as Ben stayed and played with Emily. 

Once I opened the door and stepped into my room, my face lit up. There was a new shelf, and all of them had little saplings. But one thing stood out the most. Something that made my heart bounce all over as I almost broke into laughing. My Bird of Paradise was just starting to bloom!

"I replanted all the plants you had before and got you a new shelf. It also looks like your Bird of Paradise is going to be ready just in time for the convention next week."

I turned around and hugged him as tight as I ever have. "Thanks Dad! I love you."

"Love you too, son." He returned the hug as Sophie walked around and checked out my Paradise plant.

"I don't know how hard it was to get this little guy to bloom," she said as she walked up and slapped my back. "But I'm super proud of you being able to pull something like this off."

"Thanks" I said while on top of the world. Even Pern wrapped his vines around me in a hug. Things really couldn't get any better than this.

 

We can think of one way.

 

Oh?

 

Ask Sophie to spend the night, and then let's go over to Holly's tomorrow morning.

 

Sounds like an amazing time.

 

"Hey Sophie, wanna spend the night? That should be fine." I looked up at Dad. "Right?"

"Yeah. She can stay."

"I was going to ask if I could anyway, so I'm happy to. I already told my parents I was going to try and spend the night here."

My face probably showed them how amazing I felt right now, and this was exactly what I needed.  Now that there was no way to make this better, Sophie and I went back to the group to see that Ben and Emily actually made a lot of progress with their castle. They actually made a pretty good team. 

We spent the rest of the time working on our Legos. Pern decided he wanted the pot to stay just as was, so I went to help Sophie with her…thing.

It was just a ball of spikes that split off of the middle like an urchin, and the spikes had even more spikes growing off of them.

"So did you have any plan with this?" I asked.

"Nope." She put another piece in some seemingly random spot, so I started adding to it. In the end, we had a complete and pretty complex castle, a pot, and something that I imagined only Sophie could make. By the time we finished, it was getting late. Ben took out his phone and after a couple seconds. "I have to go."

"Alright. Thanks for coming. It really means a lot."

"Any time," Ben said, "We should hang out more."

"Did Mark or Vanessa ever reply back?" Sophie asked. I took out my phone and didn't see any new messages.

"Nope. Guess they're both busy."

"That's fine." Sophie latched onto me. "We'll just drag them along for later then."

Ben got up, waved us off and headed towards the door. Before he got there though, Emily ran up to give him another hug. as Pern looked at them for a pretty long time.

 

They sure got attached to each other real fast.

 

Yeah, but like I said. He's good with kids.

 

We know. 

 

Then what's with the look?

 

Don't know. We're probably just tired. It's our first day back, so how about we call it for the night and get some rest?

 

That sounds good to me.

 

I scooted up to Sophie. "Is it okay if we stop here for the night and head to bed?"

"That's fine with me. We can even put on some movies if we want."

"Sounds good," I said as I stood up and walked her to my room. Before we got in, foot steps ran down the hall as Emily ran into me to give me a hug.

"I'm happy you're home again!"

"Same here. But right now I'd like to spend some time alone with Sophie. Is that okay?"

"Yup!" she said as she let go and ran up to Sophie for her hug. Sophie was a lot more energetic and played up the hug. I wondered if I was going to ever find out where she got all her energy from. When they were done, Emily ran off and we went into my room. Where we curled up on my bed and put one the first movie we saw. Dinner was made for us, but we ate in my room. I just wanted some alone time with Sophie as we ate and slowly fell asleep to the movie.

The next morning, I woke up next to Sophie and Pern.

 

Good morning. If we're going to go to Holly's, then we should get going since she's probably been up for awhile already.

 

Let me eat first at least.

 

I looked over at Sophie sleeping there, and poked her cheek until she woke up. With a big stretch and a yawn, she rubbed her eyes. "Morning."

"Morning. Want some food?"

"God yes."

We both got up, had breakfast with Mom and Dad and didn't say much. Both of us were still drowse. At least until we were done eating, then only I was drowse while she became her super upbeat self.

"Wanna head out to Holly's now?" She asked.

"Yeah. That okay?" I asked Mom and Dad.

"Sure. Go have fun," Mom said. After that, I went to my room and picked up some games and we were off. I mostly listened to Sophie talk about what she's been up to as we walked.

"So the hearing went well. I got off with a slap on the wrist, and my dad helped out a lot, but I still need to be careful about not getting into any more fights like that. And Dad was pissed at me, but he's right. I can't take stuff that far…"

"So it's over with then?"

"Yup! Don't need to worry about it anymore."

"Anyone that knows Kendall would understand why you did it anyway, so I wasn't that worried."

"...Yeah…"

We made small talk until we walked up to Holly's house. Sophie knocked on the door and pushed me out of view. "Stay there. I have a plan."

I hid off to the side until Holly opened up the door. At which point, Sophie pulled me into view, held out her hands towards me and exclaimed 'Holly! I present to you, Robbie!"

She seemed happy, but that was a nervous smile if I ever saw one.

"When did you get out?" Holly moved to the side to let us in. "You should've called."

"We wanted to surprise you," Sophie said as we walked into her living room.

 

Are we interrupting something? It might have been a good idea to call after all.

 

She doesn't usually have plans though.

 

"It's good to see you," she said as she gave me a hug. "I bet you're happy to be back home. How was it over there?"

 

Something's off, and she keeps looking off to the kitchen.

 

Holly acting weird isn't all that new.

 

"Yeah. It was Alright. Met some pretty nice people. Boring though. What about you? I heard about what Kendall did to you."

"Oh. You didn't tell him?" Holly asked as she put her attention on Sophie.

"Tell me what?" Pern hovered over Sophie as I asked.

"Shhh we can talk about this later, but right now you're gonna have the best weekend of your life. That means no thinking about Kendall."

"But-" I tried to say, but Sophie cut me off.

"Nope. No buts. Besides, Ben, Holly and I dealt with Kendall yesterday."

"Dealt with? What do you mean?"

"...It's a long story, but I miiight have jumped the gun when I told you that Kendall taught Malisa how to do that crap. After what happened yesterday, I really don't think she meant to make things harder for Holly."

"Then can you at least tell me what happened? I promise I'll drop it if you do."

"Okay so," Holly said as that awkwardness disappeared. "I know the kind of stuff she did to you was really mean, but Sophie and Ben streamed Kendall bullying Malisa to me yesterday."

…

 

This isn't right. There's something very wrong about all of this.

 

"Why would she- What?"

"Yeah," Sophie said, "Malisa pissed Kendall off a lot, so Kendall talked me and Ben into bringing Malisa to that alleyway. Kendall said she wanted to make it up to Holly, so we streamed it to her."

"...I really don't believe that's why she did it."

"Even if she was lying," Sophie said, "You told me what she used to do to you, and this was a lot worse. Like 'I'll make you this eat this old banana peel if you don't say you're a freak thirty five times' kinda worse. You're right that she's a psycho, but if she's serious about leaving you alone, then maybe you don't need to worry about her anymore."

"If it was that easy, then I would have gotten her to stop doing shit to me years ago."

"Alright. I'm not going to push it," Sophie said, "But anyway, yeah. Can we move past her now and have fun?"

"Yes please," I said as Pern kept hovering over Sophie.

 

Why would Kendall try to do that? What is she planning?

 

I don't know. But Sophie's right. Right now is the time to have fun.

 

Sophie dug into my backpack and pulled out the games from last time. "We also brought that game we played last time," Sophie said.

"You can go set it up in my room," Holly said as she slowly made her way to the kitchen. "I just need to take care of something real fast."

"I need a drink first," Sophie said as she joined Holly going towards the kitchen.

"Wait." Holly stopped in front of Sophie. "I can get you a drink."

Sophie walked around her. "I got it. I just want some water."

She walked into the kitchen, and Holly marched up to grab my wrist to pull me to her room.

"Is everything okay?" I asked as I studied her. Something was going on, because this was a whole other level of awkwardness for her.

"Yeah," she said as she opened the door and pushed me in.

"If now's a bad time we can come back later."

"No. It's fine- just- Wait here." She turned around and went back out, closing the door behind her.

 

There's definitely something going on.

 

Yeah, but it's not a big deal. I'm just hoping that there's nothing bad happening.

 

That's when I noticed the TV was on. Not only that, but she was playing split screen? And there were two pillows and controllers on the floor.

 

Holy shit, so she had someone here.

 

Ha! Is that why she's that awkward?

 

I couldn't help but smile.

 

Did we drop in on a date?

 

She's an amazingly nice person, but it's not a date. She's not exactly the most attractive, and she barely speaks.

 

What are you talking about? She looks just fine.

 

She always looks tired, her hair's constantly a frizzy mess, her mouth hangs open all the time, and she kinda smells. Again, she's a fantastic friend and we love her, but it's not a date.

 

That's really not nice…

 

It's the truth.

 

The door opened and Sophie led Holly in. "So who's ready for some games?" Sophie said as she immediately eyed the TV.

 

We'll see about that.

 

"So you had someone over?" I asked.

Holly immediately turned bright red. "Just a friend."

"A girlfriend?"

Holly looked like she was about to burst from embarrassment. "Wha- No. she's not a girlfriend…" She went to sit down in front of the TV, and seemed to do her best to brush it off.

 

She had a girl over! Still think it can't be a date?

 

It's not a date. Besides, now we're more curious about who was over here. We never see her talk with anyone. Let alone any girls.

 

…That's a good point.

 

I went over and sat down next to her. "But you did have a girl over." I nudged her.

Her head spun to look at me with the most panicked look I've ever seen on her. "No I- I didn't. I mean. She's a girl but she's not a girlfriend…"

"Please don't go there," Sophie said as she sat next to me, "You're making it weird."

"How am I making it weird?"

"Don't worry about it. Let's just get to playing. I wanna kick both of your butts again."

 

It sounds like Sophie knows what's going on. Also, she said she was going to get water, but she doesn't have any.

 

She probably just drank some real quick when in the kitchen. She doesn't need to bring the glass with her.

 

That doesn't change that everything about this is off. Holly's acting weird, Sophie's acting weird, Holly had a girl that she's nervous about over. The last thing we need right now are any nasty surprises.

 

I don't know, but can you stop trying to make me think my friends are hiding something bad from me?

 

What if it has to do with Kendall?

 

Holly having someone over doesn't even concern us though. Why should Holly have to tell me everything that goes on with her?

 

…

 

I know you're paranoid because of what Kendall could do, but they're one of my best friends and my girlfriend. Kendall can't take that away. No matter how hard she tries.

 

We're right. Sorry.

 

Pern wrapped his vines around all three of us as we sat down to start playing. It was amazing to just sit there and lose myself with my friends. We played for god knows how long. Most of the day at least as we bantered back and forth.

"Hey Holly, is it alright if we stay the night?" I asked as I took out my phone.

"Yeah."

I opened up a text to Dad.

 

To Dad:

8:34 PM: Is it okay if I spend the night here?"

 

A few minutes later.

 

From Dad:

8:37 PM: Yeah. Have fun and don't stay up too late.

 

"I can stay. Is it going to be a late night then?"

Sophie bumped her shoulder into mine. "If you want."

"I do."

We stayed up until at least midnight before Sophie and I passed out on the floor together. Holly stayed up though, and she was awake by the time morning came as well, and she was still playing games.

"Were you up all night again?" I Asked.

 She didn't look away from the screen. "I got a few hours of sleep."

"I don't know how you do it."

Sophie stirred awake and sat up, rubbing her eyes. With half her eyes half closed, she looked at Holly, then me, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Ready to lose again?"

"I'm going to get better at this eventually. Just watch."

We both crawled up next to Holly and picked up our controllers.