The next morning, Andrew was the only one who didn't wake up with the sunrise, so Emily decided to take a small caterpillar and make it crawl on his face.
With a mischievous smile on her face, Emily carefully held the caterpillar in her hands. With subtle, precise movements, she approached Andrew's sleeping face. The caterpillar slowly crawled up his nose and tickled him. Suddenly, Andrew let out a surprisingly loud sneeze and woke up startled. His eyes widened in surprise as Emily and the rest of the group burst into contagious laughter.
"Huh! What was that?" Andrew exclaimed, trying to understand what had happened that everyone was laughing so hard and so close to where he was sleeping.
Even Cloe was laughing so hard that her eyes were watering and she was completely red. Then, in between giggles, Emily held the caterpillar between her fingers and showed it to Andrew.
"It's all the fault of this little friend here. It woke you up with a sneeze!"
Andrew looked at the caterpillar with a mixture of disbelief and amusement. "Oh, you got me, Emily! That was a good one."
The morning banter brought a light and fun atmosphere to the camp. As everyone shared in the laughter, Andrew began to laugh as well.
So, as the early morning sun illuminated the idyllic setting of the clearing in the woods, the group prepared to begin the search for the golden tickets.
With renewed motivation, the group lit the campfire and headed into the woods. If the ultimate goal of the activity was to find a golden ticket, then that was what they were going to do. The cool morning air was already caressing their faces, and the chirping of birds and the soft sound of the wind in the leaves echoed around them. As they walked, each step made them think more and more about the mystery surrounding the golden tickets, and this question seemed to hang in the air, fueling the curiosity of Klaus and his friends.
As they walked along the path, Klaus noticed a series of strange marks on the surrounding trees. They were scratches, as if someone had left clues to be followed. Intrigued, he pointed to the marks, drawing the attention of the others.
"Look." He whispered. "I'm sure someone has been here before," Klaus suggested, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.
The group moved closer to the trees, examining the marks carefully. They exchanged glances, knowing that they were facing a clue, now the question was whether these marks were made by the teachers to be left as a clue, or by other students to remind them of the way back.
Obviously, they chose to follow these marks because it was better than just following the river without a clue to find a golden ticket. So when Klaus' group decided to follow the mysterious marks on the trees, they were bound to encounter a fascinating scene. As they entered the forest, they soon discovered that the marks on the trees led to a clearing, and as they approached the clearing, they heard loud sounds. These sounds were a mixture of groans of pain and hammer blows to the trunk of a tree.
Everyone in Klaus' group quickly exchanged glances and quickened their pace. At worst, someone could be in danger, and indeed they were.
The moment they got close enough to the clearing, Klaus and Andrew saw the same members of the athletic department who had once tried to intimidate Klaus in the campus cafeteria, those known for their extraordinary strength and endurance. And in the middle of the clearing, this group of bullies was scolding some students, throwing not only looks of contempt and displeasure at them, but punches and kicks as well.
The boys being beaten had dark circles under their eyes and were covered in scratches, evidence of a long sleepless night, probably in search of the golden tickets.
"You guys are useless! All you could find was one ticket?!" One of the club boys shouted.
"We searched the whole area, we promise-"
One of the four bullies grabbed the boy's hair. "Are you going to promise something you're not sure about?"
"I just-"
Without giving the boy a chance to answer, the second bully sank his face into the grass, making him eat dirt. "You just didn't look hard enough!"
Loud voices echoed through the square as the bullies criticized the students' lack of effort in finding the golden tickets. It was four bullies against four boys, theoretically a fair fight, but the physical difference between them was colossal. While all the members of the athletic department were tall and physically strong, the boys didn't even seem to be used to seeing sunlight.
Moreover, at the same time that three of the bullies were shouting their taunts, a taller and stronger man was lying in a hammock right behind them. He seemed indifferent to the heated discussions around him, sleeping soundly and snoring loudly.
Klaus and his colleagues watched the scene in confusion. The girls were unresponsive, with frightened faces. It was clear that these students had gone to great lengths to find the Golden Ticket and had found one of their own, but that didn't seem to be enough for the bullies to leave them alone.
Cloe, Andrew, and Emily looked at each other with a mixture of sympathy and uncertainty. They wanted to help the kids, but something told them to stay out of their way and avoid trouble.
But as the bullies continued to beat the boys, Klaus could not help himself, for he had seen it in his school days and regretted that he had never done anything about it. So he decided to approach them.
The bullies heard the rustling of leaves in the bushes and immediately lifted their chins to look in the direction of the sound.
"Sorry to interrupt, but can't we just talk politely and leave these boys alone?" Klaus asked, snapping his fingers.
...
If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske
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