The following day, they all arrived in Oslo. "I've got the bus booked," Mark said as he rejoined the group, who were sitting in a coffee shop in the airport. "It'll be here in half an hour,".
Katy was holding a road map of Norway. "I've planned a route to Bodø," she announced. "It's quite a long way,".
Ben took the map from her and looked at the route she'd planned. "Hmmm... I'm sure there must be a quicker way. Look, we could take a short cut through the mountains,". He traced his finger along the map, showing the others the route he was thinking of.
"Ben, we can't go that way, do you know how difficult it would be to drive though all those steep mountain roads?!" Paul exclaimed. "I agree with Katy, we should stick to the main roads. It may take longer, but it's safer and easier,".
Lisa shook her head. "I'm not scared of driving through the mountains and forests. Me and Ben will hire a car and take his route!".
"OK then, let's have a race," Paul grinned. "Ben and Lisa, you two hire a car and go your way, and the rest of us will go our way on the bus. Then we'll see who gets there first,".
"OK then!" Ben agreed, with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Come on Lisa, let's go and hire a car,".
"Good luck, you'll definitely be needing it!" Sam laughed as Ben and Lisa left. She then turned to Paul. "They're mad. It's obvious that we're gonna get there first,".
Paul felt himself going red as Sam spoke to him. "Um... yeah,". He couldn't help getting tongue tied when she was around.
Sam knew this was the right moment to ask him out. "Paul, come with me to get another coffee,".
The pair of them walked to the counter and ordered drinks. "I heard that you like me..." Sam said, looking into Paul's eyes. "Is that true?".
Paul let out a nervous laugh. "Um, yeah. I do,".
Sam smiled, and without saying a word, leant over and snogged Paul, totally taking him by surprise.
"Go Paul!" Mark shouted from the table.
Paul turned around and shot him a look. He then turned back to Sam. "Wow..." he smiled, glad that Sam had finally made a move.
Ben and Lisa had no trouble hiring a car. So while the others were all still at the coffee shop, they were already on their way to Bodø.
"I love this car," Lisa said, admiring the leather seats and cool stereo system. "We should trade in our old car for something more like this,".
"Yeah, I love it too. When we return it I'll get us a brochure," Ben said as he steered the car round a corner. "Lisa, can you get the map out again? I can't remember what way we have to go next,".
Lisa opened the glove compartment and got out the road map. "OK... we're outside of Oslo right now... we need to head west towards the coast. Follow the directions to Bergen,".
Before long, they had driven away from the towns and entered the mountains. "I bet were already halfway there," Ben smiled. "The others probably haven't even left yet,".
Lisa took another look at the map. "Well, we've still got a long way to go,". She looked out of the window at the beautiful countryside. "It's really nice here, why don't we get out and have a walk around,".
"No, not yet," Ben smiled. "We can stop for the night though. Hmmm, maybe we could find a nice little hotel to stay at,".
Three hours later, they were still driving through the mountainous forest. "I haven't seen any signs of civilisation in ages," Ben said, getting a little worried. "We're not even driving on a proper road,".
"Yeah," Lisa said. "But if we've been going the right way, then we should be approaching a city soon,".
Ben yawned. "It's getting dark, and I'm getting tired. We'd better find somewhere to stay for the night,".
Just as he said that, the car came to a sudden stop. "What the..?!". Ben jumped out and opened up the bonnet. Smoke flew up into his face.
"Oh damn!" Lisa shouted as she joined him. She waved the smoke out of her face.
Ben tried to start the car but it wouldn't move. He swore under his breath. "Oh, this is great!".
Lisa put her arm around him and stroked his hair. "Getting annoyed won't do any good," she said soothingly.
Ben sighed. "I suppose so,". His frown turned to smile. "It's getting late so why don't we go and find somewhere to stay for the night,".
Ben grabbed their bags and they started walking though the forest, looking for signs of a town. As they got to the top of a mountain, they had a good view.
"I can see a town," Lisa said, straining her eyes to see as it was dark now. "But it will take a while to get there,".
"Look!" Ben cried, pointing in the other direction. "I can see a house!".
They rushed down the side of the mountain, to come to an old mansion.
"Maybe the people who live here will let us stay over night and call the breakdown service," Lisa said as she knocked on the door. But as she knocked, the door fell opened with a loud creak.
Ben and Lisa looked at each other with wide eyes. "Let's go in," Ben whispered.
Inside the house was pitch dark. Lisa found a light and turned it on. One single bulb lit up the room in a dim light.
"Wow," Ben gasped. They were standing in a grand dining room. In the centre of the room was a long oak table, with velvet chairs down the side.
Lisa ran her finger along the table. "It's thick with dust," she said. "I bet nobody's lived here in years,".
They went into the next room, which looked like a living room. "Wow, this looks like a house from an old romantic film," Lisa said. She took Ben's hand. "Let's see what's upstairs,".
They walked up the grand marble staircase. "Hello?" Ben called out loudly. But there was no answer.
Lisa switched on a light as they entered the grand bedroom. "Oooh Ben, this looks fantastic!". She sat down on the kingsize four post bed and stroked the lacy covers.
Ben smiled. "I'm tired, why don't we go to bed now,".
Grinning at each other, they got under the lacy covers. "I'm kind of glad we broke down after all," Lisa smiled as she snuggled up next to Ben.
"Me too," Ben said, wrapping his arms around Lisa and giving her a big snog.
"We're going to win," Paul said to Sam as they danced together under flashing lights. They were well on the way to Bodø, and had stopped overnight in the town of Trondheim and had found a club.
"Yeah, I bet Ben and Lisa are lost in the forest right now," Sam laughed.
Over the other side of the club, Mark was sitting having a drink with Debbie. "Mark!" Lauren shouted. "It's your turn to drive the bus tomorrow so you shouldn't be drinking!".
"Sorry," Mark said, putting his glass down. He asked the barman for a coke instead.
"Debbie, come here," Kathryn called. She was with Helen, Lucy and Heather and they were laughing over something.
"I'll see you later," Debbie said to Mark before going to join her friends.
That left Mark alone at the bar. But not for long.
"Hey Mark, I don't mind driving the bus tomorrow if you wanted to drink tonight," Jo said as she came and sat next to him.
Mark smiled. "Thanks Jo, that's nice of you,".
"No problem," she replied, before ordering a Vodka for Mark and a diet coke for herself. They sat at the bar chatting for an hour and there was no sign of Debbie.
"Oh no, they're playing 'Take On Me'," Mark laughed, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Jo put her hand on his. "Let's go and dance to it," she suggested.
Mark smiled back at her. "OK then,".
After the song ended, they went outside for some fresh air. "Sometimes I really envy Debbie," Jo whispered in Mark's ear. "She's so lucky to be going out with you,".
"Oh yeah?" Mark said moving closer to Jo.
"She tells everyone how good you are at kissing and stuff, is she telling the truth?".
Mark laughed. "Yes! I'm a world class kisser,".
"Prove it to me,".
Mark didn't hesitate to lean over and kiss Jo. After the kiss, they left the club to go up to Jo's hotel room.
But in the bushes lurked a photographer. He couldn't believe his luck. "I got some super shots of them," he smiled to himself.
Back in the old mansion, Ben and Lisa were getting scared. "What was that noise?" Lisa cried, pulling Ben closer to her.
Ben was frightened too. "Let's go and have a look,".
They got out of bed and put their clothes back on. Ben held Lisa's hand tightly as they crept down the staircase in the darkness.
As they walked, there was another crash, followed by a strange noise, almost like a scream.
"Aghhhh!" Ben screamed, making Lisa shriek out too. "I think we should just go back to bed and forget about it," Ben whimpered.
"No," Lisa said firmly. "I want to know what's making the noise,".
"It might be a ggg... g... ghost," Ben stuttered, feeling terrified.
"There's no such thing as ghosts," Lisa told him, but she was just as terrified.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and walked into the dining room. Ben flicked on the light to see... the chairs had fallen over and some of them were broken.
"They weren't like that just now!" Ben cried, hugging Lisa.
"Someone... or something... must be in here," she replied, a shiver going down her spine.
There was then another crash, coming from the next room. Ben ran towards where the noise was coming from, Lisa following closely behind.
At the back of the living room was a dark figure. "Who's there?" Ben demanded, trying to find a light switch.
The figure moved slightly but made no sound. It then ran out of the door.
Ben ran after it and grabbed it. At that moment, Lisa found the light.
They stood in silence for a moment, then started to laugh. The 'ghost' was nothing more than... a deer.
"Awww, he's sweet," Lisa said, walking over to stroke the creature. "Looks like a reindeer,".
"We must have left the front door open," Ben laughed, leading the deer back outside. "Go on, back to the forest," Ben said to it as he left the deer outside and went back in, closing the door firmly after him this time.
"You've got to admit, that was kind of funny," Lisa giggled as they went back to bed.
"Yeah, but I wasn't scared anyway," Ben said, folding his arms.
"Yes you were!" Lisa laughed as they got back into bed. "You screamed and said it was a ghost!".
"No I didn't!" Ben blushed, throwing a pillow at her. Before long they were having a huge pillow fight.
"What was that?" Ben gasped as there was creaking noise from downstairs.
Lisa lay down and pulled Ben close. "Don't worry, it'll be nothing. I've had enough scares for one night,".
"Yeah, let's get to sleep," Ben agreed. "And tomorrow we'll carry on our journey. We're going to arrive first!".
.