Backing me up

"Let's keep on going, now that we have settled" said Curtis as he turned around and he began to start walking.

"We will only truly settle once I actually see that you change Curtis, just know that" said Maddie seriously.

"I know Maddie, I know" said Curtis as he could not help but smile as he continued to walk on, he knew that Maddie would never leave, she would not, and well she was right about one thing, he cared about them all, even though he did not show it most times.

"Wow gee, thanks guys for backing me up" said Maddie as she looked at Annie, Ollie and Matt as Curtis walked on.

"Sorry Maddie I…" said Annie as she was cut off.

"I understand why you didn't say anything Annie, I'm looking at the rest of them" said Maddie as she smiled at Annie and she frowned at Ollie and Matt, so much for her being backed up by them, Maddie knew that Annie would never do, or say anything bad against Curtis, and she did not blame her, Curtis was her guardian after all, but these two… so much for them being guys, when they kept so quiet that she even forget that she and Curtis were not alone.

"Well you obviously don't value my opinion, and If I did speak, you would try to punch me" said Ollie as he replied and he smiled as Maddie scoffed at him, of course she could not count on him, why did she even bother.

"I already know that you are useless to me" said Maddie as Annie shot her a warning look.

"I mean… I know that there was nothing you could possibly do" said Maddie as she so unwillingly corrected her words.

"Thank you, I really did want to help" said Ollie as he smiled and Maddie rolled her eyes at him, just who did he think he was? He had better not overstep his boundary, or else, once Annie wasn't looking, there would be a big pebble flying straight to the back of his blondie head.

"What I mean is that why didn't my so called friend Matt… Matthew Sundew, pop in and help me?" asked Maddie as she looked at Matt and she shook her head, so much for friends having each other's backs, that was non existent here, no one was going to stand up to Curtis, and that annoyed her a lot.

"You and Curtis were talking, I didn't see a need to pop in and interrupt" said Matt as he replied.

"But you would not be interrupting, you would be backing me up" said Maddie.

"You and I both had more or less the same idea, I thought that we were on the same page" said Maddie as she looked at Matt and she shook her head.

"But it would seem that it is everyone for themselves now isn't it?" asked Maddie as she did not sound pleased at all, and oh she wasn't everyone was just getting on her nerves today, and it wasn't even funny, not at all, it was irritating, was she the only one seeing clearly here?? Then that would be very alarming.

"Maddie it's not like th…" said Annie as she was cut off.

"Stay out of this Annie, I don't blame you, but Matt over here, I thought we were together" said Maddie as she kept eye contact on Matt and Ollie just looked at Annie, his eyes telling her to just stay out of it as Maddie had said.

"Matt, can you please explain to me why you kept quiet? Just like that, you didn't say anything at all, you just left me there, all alone" said Maddie.

"Maddie I…" said Matt as he was cut off, now that Maddie put it like that, he felt bad for leaving her alone like that to face of with Curtis.

"You know what save it, I can't deal with this right now" said Maddie as she scoffed and she walked away as she ran to catch up with Curtis, at least now she knew who was on her side, and who wasn't.

"She's really upset this time Matt" said Annie as she looked at Matt.

"I know" replied Mat coldly as he walked away and Annie was just there, wondering what she did to him to deserve such coldness, up to now, he had never been like that at all to her, but now… he was just being cold… it hurt her.

"Don't mind him Annie, it would seem that everyone here is in a bad mood" said Ollie as he turned to look at Annie, he could tell that she was upset, and he wanted to make her feel better, she did not deserve to fee hurt just because her friend was being mean to her.

"It's only you and me that are in good moods, because we are carefree people" said Ollie as he smiled.

"I guess so?" said Annie as she forced a smile, she was starting to think that maybe coming to this mountain was a bad idea, they had done nothing but fight, argue, and fight some more, it was like the mountain was doing this to them, or something.

"Come on let's go, before we get left behind, I don't know about you, but I don't want to get lost on Caligo" said Ollie as he smiled and he stretched out his hand to Annie.

"Sure, I don't want to get lost either" said Annie as she smiled and she took his hand as they followed after Maddie, Matt and Curtis who all seemed to be in their own worlds.

…

"We will set up camp here" said Curtis as he removed his bag and he placed it on the ground, he was sure that they had covered enough ground today, and they would have to rest for now, before the sun set.

"Don't you think it's too early?" asked Maddie as she looked at Curtis, judging from where the sun was, it was only 3pm, way too early for them to start setting up camp, they could have used this time to go one some more.

Because to Maddie, she did not want to spend five days, trying to reach the highland of the mountain, the quicker they could get there, the better it would be for them all, so they could all return back to their normal lives.

"You forget that we have no magic Maddie" said Curtis as he unzipped his bag and he looked through it.

"We will have to set up our tents manually, we have to find wood, and kindle a fire manually" said Curtis as he explained.

"Ah… right…" said Maddie as all those preparations skipped her mind, at this point, they would get nothing done quickly at all.

"Yes, so Matt, come along with me, help me gather some wood for the fire" said Curtis.

"Maddie, you Annie, and Prince Oliver" said Curtis as he was cut off.

"Correction Ollie" said Ollie as he smiled and he corrected Curtis.

"Whatever Ollie, the three of you stay here, and try to set up the tents" said Curtis.

"Alright then" said Maddie.

"Come on Matt let's go" said Curtis as he looked at Matt.

"Alright" said Matt as he put all the bags he was carrying on the ground as he followed after Curtis.

"Don't go anywhere, stay here, and Annie be careful, don't hurt yourself" said Curtis as he walked away.

"Okay I won't, and I'm not a child" said Annie as she sighed and she shook her head, Curtis treated her like a child, it was annoying.

"So, we are a team now" said Ollie as he turned to look at Annie and Maddie and he smiled.

"Ugh" said Maddie as she groaned and she turned around as she walked to their bags, Ollie was just too much, she could not deal with him right now, she did not want to, all she wanted to do was get this over with, and well she could not say anything to him, or else, Annie would be upset with her.

"Just don't push it…" said Maddie as she turned to look at Ollie and she shook her head.

"I don't push things" said Ollie as he smiled and Maddie scoffed at him.

"Anyway, let's get these tents set up" said Maddie.

"I will help" said Annie as she smiled and she walked over to Maddie.

"Gosh, these bags are heavy, Matt is really strong with the way he carries them as if they are weightless" said Maddie as she tried to life her bag, she only realized now just how heavy it was, she really had to give it to Matt, even though he was being a jerk right now.

"I tell you, his strength is so cool" said Ollie as he smiled, which reminded him of all the questions he wanted to ask Matt, but well, that would not be right now, seeing as Matt was still in a bad mood.

"Very" said Annie as she smiled at Ollie and Ollie smiled happily at her.