Boy Oh Boys! (Season 1)

Chapter 13-1

"NO. WAY." Charlie sweated. "No way am I staying here alone with Pace!"

Charlie tried to stand but the pain in her ankle sent her directly back onto her bed.

"Please keep your foot up and rest," Max instructed, carefully propping Charlie's foot onto a pillow.

"But-" Charlie cried.

"We'll be back before you know it," said Apollo.

"If you survive my haunted house," smirked Rib.

"See? You're not really missing anything," sighed Demeter as he followed the others out of the room.

"I may not be stuck going to Rib's haunted house," Charlie gulped, "but I think being stuck here might be much worse."

Laying back, Charlie stared up at the bunk above her, wondering how she was ever going to survive an entire week alone with Pace.

~~~

"Have fun," Charlie waved as her fellow roommates carried their bags out of the dorm.

"We'll see you soon," waved Demeter.

"And please take care of your ankle," Max ordered motherly.

"Peace!" called Rib as the Athens boys disappeared down the hall.

"Happy Spring Break!" she limped after them longingly, but no sooner had she bid them goodbye, than Printz joined her in the hallway.

"I thought you were going with them," he asked curiously as the last glimpse of the twins turned the corner.

"Me too," Charlie sighed.

"Then why aren't you?" Printz frowned down at her, then noticing her wrapped ankle, went on. "What happened?"

"I twisted my ankle," she sighed again.

"Well, I'm glad," said Printz. "Well, not about your ankle," he chuckled. "Just that you're still here. Maybe we can still have that private practice for the play now. What do you say?"

"Sure," Charlie brightened.

"Great! We can do a little rehearsing and then maybe grab some lunch tomorrow before I have to leave," he suggested.

"Sounds good," smiled Charlie.

"Okay, then I'll meet you tomorrow afternoon," Printz grinned charmingly. "Make sure you bring your script- and your lips. We need to practice the final scene," he added with a wink.

"Oh, right. The final scene," Charlie stared nervously at her bandaged ankle. "Well, I should really get off of this foot. I'll see you tomorrow," she finished, turning back for the door.

"Let me help you," said Printz, and before she could take a step, he wrapped her arm around his shoulder and led her into the dorm.

"Thanks," blushed Charlie when he had helped her onto the common room sofa.

"So, this is what the Athens Dorm looks like," said Printz, looking around. "I feel sort of weird being here though. Like I'm breaking the law or something," he chuckled lightly.

"Then maybe you should leave," a voice rumbled from the bedroom doorway. Pace was taking turns leering at Printz and Charlie.

"Pace! He's not doing anything! He just helped me into the room!" Charlie tried to defend Printz, but he quickly spoke up.

"It's okay. No reason to get mad. I'm going," said Printz, taking a step towards the door. Then, glancing one last time around the room, his eyes fell upon the pinup of the athlete that Charlie had tried to move. "Nice poster," he smiled at Pace before spinning around and exiting the dorm.

"What do you think you're doing, bringing Spartans into Athens?" Pace growled as he slammed the door behind Printz.

"What do you care? It's not like the dorm rivalry matters! Because of you, we're not even entering the Olympics!" Charlie shouted before thinking.

"You're right about that," said Pace, storming back into the bedroom and slamming that door as well.

"Jerk!" Charlie called after him. "And I'm sleeping in Max and Rib's room!"

Charlie limped to the bedroom next to hers, but immediately began to rethink her decision.

"Okay, maybe I'll sleep in Apollo and Demeter's room," she gulped, looking around at all of Rib's creepy decorations.

Quickly retreating to the last bedroom down the hall, Charlie stepped towards the twins' room, but Pace suddenly threw open his door again.

"Don't forget this," he grumbled, flinging her nightlight at her and slamming the door once more.

Heaving a sigh, Charlie picked up her evicted nightlight, entered Apollo and Demeter's bedroom and looked around. The walls were plastered from ceiling to floor with posters and pin-ups of pretty girls.

"It's going to be one long week," she thought.