"Aaaah!"
 "What was that!" Frederick shouted, glancing up from the floor.
 "@#$!" the long cry escalated and flew through the small tunnels, echoing off them.
 "Guys, it's Steph!" I exclaimed.
 "Stephanie? Stephanie? Stephanie?" Alex called out once, and it resounded throughout the room.
 "Hel-lo?" Stephanie called back. "Alex?"
 "I'm here darlin'! Keep talking, I'm gonna follow the sound of your voice."
 "Alex! What are you doing up there?" Stephanie began crying out. I found it impossible to figure out which of the numerous tunnel openings in the room the voice was coming from. Alex on the other hand listened a moment then fled into one of the hatchways. We waited a few seconds, trying to listen for Alex and Stephanie. Our ears were strained once they both stopped calling to one another. Then Alex came rushing back in the room.
 "Guys!" he panted. "It's Steph, she's caught. We've got to pull her up into the vent!"
 "Well maybe we don't want to!" I shouted. "She deserted us, we should do the same to her."
 "Andrea, she's gonna die if we don't get her out!" Alex whined.
 "Who's to say that we weren't gonna die too? Who knows what Godiva might have done to us!"
 "She was in no place to help us! She would've only gotten herself caught too. You've got to understand."
 "This time I'm not so easily convinced." I mumbled. "I'm getting out of here without the help of you two!" I turned and ran off down a tunnel.
 Frederick shouted after me. "Andrea! No, don't! Andy, come back." I ignored him as my face flushed and my eyes filled with anger.  My mind began yelling rationalisations so despite the fact that I was running away from Frederick, I felt that it was my only option. I couldn't believe Alex! That rude snob deserted us! It doesn't matter that she was outnumbered. It hadn't stopped her from running right through them the first time. She just wanted to get rid of us. We'd helped her escape and get this far and she felt we were no longer needed! Well I wasn't going along with it. They could get her out themselves. Mind you, they probably would do it too, but I wasn't going to be around to help. How could they be so blind? She doesn't--
 "Ummph!" I grunted, as I was forced to the ground from behind. "What the?" I managed to breathe out despite the fact that all the air had been pushed from my lungs. There was a heavy weight on my back. I sucked in my stomach and quickly flipped around to face my obstruction. I stared straight into a pair of bright blue eyes, even though the tunnel was barely lighted. The eyes opened wide when they met mine.
 "Uh, sorry," Frederick said, and his breath felt warm on my lips. I felt his neck vibrate when he spoke. It tickled and I laughed softly. I was too dazed to come up with a response. I just took in a full breath of air and stared in his eyes.
 Hey, I thought to myself, I finally understand that stupid one-liner. "Excuse me, but do you have a map? I just keep getting lost in your eyes." I laughed again.
 Frederick propped himself up on his elbows. "Are you hurt?" he asked.
 "Um, I don't think so. How do I look? Is my chin bleeding?"
 "You look. . ." he paused as his eyes searched me up and down. ". . . perfect. You look perfect." I smiled at him and brushed some hair out of my face.
 "You know, Frederick, there are easier ways of getting my attention. It's why I have a name."
 He sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, well I tried that! Doesn't ‘Andrea, Andrea come back. Oh for the love of–Andy, stop, please, can't run much longer, Andrea!' sound familiar?"
 "Um, not really. My mind was on a bit of a one track setting."
 "Why did you do that?"
 "What?"
 "Run away from me? I lost you once already. It's not happening again."
 "Frederick, Alex can't rescue her! She's not on our side! She. . .she. . .she's just evil!" I finished.
 "Ya think?" he laughed at me.
 "I most certainly do."
 "Well, I won't argue with you. I will say that I believe Alex is right. That's just my opinion, as your opinion is only yours. I'd rather go back so that the four of us can continue on, together. However if you're not going back, neither am I. I'm not letting you get away from me."
 "Normally I'd argue that it's not your place to control who I am with, but I'd say you really do have the upper hand in this situation. Actually, it's more like the ‘upper everything'!"
 "Oh, sorry about that!" he blushed He got up and outstretched his hand toward me. My hand fit so perfectly in his palm, and I could feel the strength with which he pulled me to my feet. All this running around must have been making him stronger.
 "Well, Fred," I told him, "if you think that Steph means well, maybe you're right. Let's go back and help Alex free her."
 "Great!" he smiled, and he looked around us. "Now. . . which one of these tunnels did we come through?"