Camping In General

Day 1

"OK, I've got the second one up!" Nephlite shouted to his fellow generals who were gathering fire-wood and starting a fire.

"I'll help you with the others if you want." Malachite offered.

"There aren't any more tents." Nephlite mumbled whilst shaking a green bag upside down. A hammer fell out and onto his foot. "KUSO!" He screamed like a girl. Zoisite popped her head out of a bush and giggled quietly. She then climbed out, brushed down her tunic and headed for the small camp.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Go and get Jadeite." Malachite said.

"Oh, OK." She ran off into the group of trees. "Jadeite?" Zoisite called.

"Yeah?" he replied, carrying a pile of sticks and twigs.

"Malachite wants you."

"Coming." He said, and followed Zoisite through the trees. When they got back to camp, Nephlite was massaging his left foot and Malachite was searching through the bags.

"We've got some bad news." He paused whilst everyone groaned. "Beryl only packed us two tents. So, who's sharing with who?" Everyone stared at one another in silence. After a while, Zoisite said something.

"There should be a girl tent and a boy tent." Jadeite started nodding his head but suddenly shook it.

"That's not fair. Nephlite has over twice as many hair products than you. I won't have anywhere to sleep." Jadeite protested.

"Jadeite's right. Two in each tent." Malachite agreed.

"I can share with Zoisite if no one else wants to." Jadeite said.

"No. You two are around the same age; we don't trust you two alone. Or I don't anyway. I'll sleep with her." Nephlite tried to hide a small smirk.

"Ew! And by the way, her has a name, Nephlite!" Zoisite sulked.

"I guess it's settled then. Teachers with students. Let's go and set up our tents." Malachite said and crawled into the first tent. Zoisite followed.

"What side do you want?" he asked her.

"I don't mind." Zoisite couldn't care less.

"OK, you've got the right side." Malachite said and pulled three bags through the door. "We're keeping the food in here because I can't trust the other two not to eat it all." He explained whilst neatly making his bed. Zoisite pulled out a thin roll-mat, a sleeping bag and a little cushion and did the same thing. Malachite finished his bed first and started to unpack a few things like a torch, a book, and a kettle.

"I'm going to make some tea. Who wants some?" Malachite shouted to the three other campers. Zoisite shook her head and Jadeite said,

"Me and Nephlite do!"

"Are you sure, Zoisite?" Malachite asked.

"I don't like tea much." She replied. Malachite took the kettle out of the tent and filled it up with water from a small stream. He looked around as he was doing so. The sun was slowly hiding behind the mountains in the distance and the trees were swaying in the slight breeze. Meanwhile Zoisite was muffling her laughter with her cushion.

"Keep your hair stuff on your side of the tent!" Jadeite shouted at Nephlite.

"It is on my side!" he yelled back.

"I will slap you!" Jadeite threatened.

"You can't slap me! I'm your teacher." Nephlite looked shocked.

"Oh yeah...sorry..." Jadeite wondered out of the tent and sat by the fire. Zoisite stopped laughing and pulled her face out of her pillow. 'Malachite sure is taking a while. Maybe I should look for him?' So Zoisite got up, slightly messing up her bed as she did so, and went to the nearest part of the stream.

Malachite was back in camp by the time Zoisite had gotten to where he was. He hung the kettle over the fire to boil it and went back to his tent. He noticed immediately that Zoisite's bed wasn't as neat as his own. He sighed and started to remake it. As he pulled up her sleeping bag, he saw a small notebook. He picked it up and turned to the first page. In big, red letters it said 'DO NOT READ!' Malachite looked around quickly and turned to the next page. It had an 'All About Me' profile. He skimmed over it, only reading bits and bobs of it.

Name: Zoisite

Birthday: 30-10-1998

Favourite Colour: Pink and green

Favourite Song: The Power Of Love by Gabrielle Aplin

Favourite Animal: Bird or horse

Crush: Malachite

It was the crush bit that Malachite paid most attention to. He read it over and over again, checking that it wasn't spelled differently to his name. Then he heard Nephlite say,

"Zoisite, where were you?"

"I was looking for Malachite." She answered.

"He's in the tent." Nephlite rolled his eyes as Zoisite quickly crawled in. Malachite tried to hide it but Zoisite came in too quick.

"Have you read it?" she whispered, her eyes green full of fear.

"We'll talk later." He said, and handed her the book before going out. Zoisite suddenly burst into tears. She threw her diary at the tent wall and screamed into her cushion. Unfortunately, because it was such a small cushion, it just sounded like she was screaming normally.

"Should we see if she's OK?" Jadeite asked Malachite.

"No. If she's scared of a bug or something then she'll have to get over it herself." Malachite knew what was wrong really, but he wasn't going to tell anyone anything. Half an hour later, Zoisite came out of the tent.

"I'm going for a walk." She said bluntly.

"No you're not. Dinner's nearly ready." Malachite said. Zoisite sighed and sat down next to Jadeite on the floor. As Malachite handed them each a plate, he avoided making eye contact with Zoisite. A jacket potato was placed on each with a small wedge of butter. During dinner, the convocation was very light. Only Jadeite and Nephlite said anything, and even then not much was said.

"Hey Malachite?" Jadeite asked with a smile. Malachite looked up to show he was listening. "Do you want to build a snowman?" he burst out laughing and his fork fell on the floor, shortly followed by his potato.

"Look. Just because I'm the 'Ice King', it doesn't mean you have to make fun of me!" he stood up and shouted sternly. After that everyone kept quiet except from Jadeite cursing as he tried to salvage most of his potato. Once everyone had finished, Zoisite got up to take the plates to the stream so she could wash them up.

"No, let Nephlite do it." Malachite said.

"That's not fair!" Nephlite grumbled.

"Jadeite's going to keep an eye on the fire and I need to have a chat with Zoisite about her training." Zoisite gulped. She felt sick. She felt her hands shaking ever so slightly as she followed Malachite through the group of trees and to the top of a small hill.

"Sit down." Malachite ordered. Zoisite did as she was told, watching pink rose petals be carried away by the wind. Malachite sat down a few feet away from her and stared at the clouds dancing slowly in the sky.

"Why did you write that?" he almost whispered.

"I don't know..." Zoisite murmured.

"You do know, don't you?" Malachite said softly. Zoisite didn't reply. Minutes passed, the sky darkened, an hour passed, the moon and stars rose.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I don't know what I was thinking. I just...never mind" She got up to leave but Malachite grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down, accidently on his lap. Zoisite just closed her eyes and let the tears spill out. To her, everything was going wrong. Her life was now ruined and she would not be able to show her face in front of Malachite ever again.

"Don't worry." Was all Malachite could say. The way the moonlight illuminated her silver tears took his breath away. With one hand behind her back, and the other brushing back long, thick hair out of her eyes, Malachite finally said to Zoisite,

"I love you." He slowly lowered his head till it was centimetres away from Zoisite's. She could feel Malachite close to her. With shaking lips, he closed the gap between them with a short but long kiss. It lasted a few seconds, but felt like an eternity. He pulled back and looked up at the shining stars above him. Zoisite finally opened her eyes and did the same.

"I love you too." She breathed. For the first time in forever, Malachite was truly happy. Never in his life had he felt so grateful to be alive. He was on top of the world all thanks to his beautiful student. He smiled at her.

"We should go before the others come to find us."

"OK." Zoisite got up and held out her hand to Malachite. He took it and stood up.

"Don't ever say a word of this." He warned.

"I won't." Malachite let go of Zoisite's dainty hand and they walked back to camp together. When they got back, no one was there. They could hear voices mumbling to each other from one of the tents though.

"Hurry up and read the next page, Jadeite!" Nephlite squealed quietly.

"OK, OK... Ahem, Today was awesome! I got to sleep in (woohoo!) and Malachite even made me breakfast. I would be nice if I could cook something nice for him. Too bad I can't cook. But that's not even the best part. Nephlite tried to attack me on my way to Queen Beryl's throne room and Malachite sort of swooped in and saved me! Not like Cape-Boy, but like a real man. I'm going all dreamy-eyed now so I'll stop writing. Oh wow. She's got it bad."

"Got what bad?" Malachite was standing in the doorway of the tent with Zoisite peering over his shoulder.

"Ummm..." Jadeite started.

"First things first. You have no right to be in mine and Zoisite's tent. Second of all, you should not be going through other peoples stuff. And lastly, you shouldn't be eating the food! That has to last us a whole week you know." Malachite shouted as he noticed most of the biscuits gone. "Now get out!"

"Did you know that Zoisite had a crush on you?" Nephlite asked as he plodded out of the tent.

"Yes. Is it any of your business?" Malachite was clearly irritated.

"No but-"Nephlite got cut off.

"So that's why you two were alone for ages. Are you officially a couple or what?" Jadeite bounced up and down in excitement. Malachite sighed.

"Look. I don't know what's happening and neither does Zoisite so stop bombarding us with questions and go to bed."

"Oh." Nephlite and Jadeite sulked like little children and went to their tent.

"I'm sorry." Zoisite said to Malachite.

"You didn't do anything. I'll wait out here whilst you get changed." He replied and went to tend to the forgotten fire. Zoisite got changed into her fleecy pyjamas quickly and walked out the tent.

"Where are your shoes?" Malachite stared at Zoisite's bare feet.

"Well, all I have is my boots and I'll get blisters if I wear them without socks." Zoisite smiled innocently.

"Go back in the tent and just don't look whilst I get changed." Malachite said quietly, in case Jadeite or Nephlite heard and got the wrong idea. Zoisite nodded and went back inside. She wriggled into her sleeping bag and faced the tent wall. Malachite came in shortly after. He took his boots off, and then his socks. He took his trousers of and swapped them for grey pyjama bottoms. Next he took his treasured cape off his tunic.

"It's alright now Zoisite." Malachite whispered. Zoisite rolled over and thought for a moment.

"But you're only half changed."

"I don't mind." He said and unbuttoned his tunic and took it off, showing his bare chest. He folded everything up and put it carefully in his bag.

"I should've done that." Zoisite sat up in the dim light and pulled her scrunched-up uniform out. She shook it, folded it, and put it in her bag. She zipped it up and lay back down, pulling the sleeping bag up to her eyes.

"Lights out guys." Malachite called to Jadeite and Nephlite and they turned their torches off.

"Didn't you bring a torch?" he asked Zoisite.

"It's somewhere in my bag." She replied sleepily. "Goodnight everyone."

"G'night."

"Sleep well guys."

"Goodnight." And everyone fell asleep, tucked up warmly in their sleeping bags.