Title: Naomi and Mateo's Camping Adventure
Summary: Naomi finds herself failing science and goes on an extra credit camping trip with Mateo. What could possibly happen? Espeically if Mateo doesn't have his tamborita on him.
Note:
This was on my last story but to reach out to anons this is the way to do it: Also if someone named silverwolf is reading your story is being written but pushed off to a father's day date. You know who you are and the story. Wish I can tell you that I have some Spanish in this but not yet.
Day 1:
Naomi hated the forest and everything about it, from creepy crawling things to not being able to see the stars at night due to tree branches. She sat in front of a large carriage with several horses as the rest of her class gathered around her to look at Senor Herrera who waited patiently as his students settled down.
He cleared his throat as he looked at everyone. His glasses falling off his nose and hair already wild from the humid air.
"First off I would like to welcome you all to our week long extra credit science camping trip. Whether you are here because you are failing my class, need the extra credit, or just a general suck up. We are all going to learn something," said Senor Herrera as he pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled at the misfit group of kids.
At this Naomi giggled as she heard this and then spotted her friend, Mateo on the boys side of the group of twelve students. Then she turned back to her teacher as he continued to go on with instructions. Too bad she was one of the kids failing.
"Aright, four to a tent. Listen for your name and find your group as I call your names. Mateo de Alma, Jorge Carson, Dante Rubio, and one of our chaperone's Albert Carson," he called as Mateo snapped to hear his name as he mentally groaned. Dante was always the unlucky kid no matter what happened. Then Jorge was popular, he was captain of the school's olaball team. Then the fact that he was in the same tent as one of the chaperones.
"Lorena Gonzalez, Natalia Lopez, Naomi Turner, and Arabella Levi," he said after finishing the boys list. Everyone looked at each other as they tried to locate the people in their tents. After the cart was unloaded the driver gave them one last look before leaving them all there.
Lorena started to put up the tent on the side of the campsite marked girls. She saw Mateo volunteer to put his tent up by magic across from her own and without his tamborita at that, his mother had refused to let him bring it. Oh that was going to end well, she thought dryly. Sure enough she saw it fall and Naomi only snorted. She went over to her friend and saw that Jorge and Albert picked it up his fallen tent.
"See, you just put it in the holes, easy peasy," said Jorge as she narrowed her eyes at him. Oh come on it wasn't that simple was it?
Then around her more tents were getting put up. Maybe it was, she thought as she gathered Dante and Arabella to gather firewood. Great, she was stuck with Dante as she saw him start to already get off of the path and were still in sight of the campsite.
"Dante," she called as the others started to look for him. Oh great, now they were missing a person as she just let him slip away. He had to come back, she thought panicking some now. Her teacher was busy getting all of the food ready and showing a small group about tying it up in a tree. Looking at the other kids in her group she motioned for them to keep gathering wood. Making sure her map was still in her pocket and compass around her neck she went to look for her missing camp member.
"Naomi!" called Mateo as she saw him trip and stumble to her. Until she saw him rolling closer to her and closer to her until…
Crash! Now both of them were rolling down the small hill and right into Dante who looked lost. He had stopped them as Naomi was starting to feel dizzy from the rolling. Dante moaned as Mateo sat up straight. They had just practically barreled down one of the biggest guys in school.
"I'm alright," said Mateo as Naomi sat up too.
"Ditto, but I don't think Dante is," she said looking at his ankle.
The bulkier and taller student looked at them with tears in his eyes as Naomi saw that it was swelling. "I twisted it," he said as he started to cry some. For a big guy he was surely sensitive about pain. She would have to get it wrapped when they get back to the camping area. This was already a bad trip and it barely even started. Screw the extra credit she thought wanting to get out of here already. Maybe if she ran she could catch that carriage and hide out at the palace.
"Dante, you need to stand and rest on Mateo and I," said Naomi as she looked smartly at her friend.
"What me? I can't lift him, he's kind of bulky-" started Mateo who turned red after he realized that he shouldn't have said that. "Not that I couldn't- it's just that-"
With a look, Naomi and Mateo had the taller boy hanging on their shoulders as she lead them uphill and back to the campsite. She looked up noticing that it was starting to get dark. Just about one day down she thought grudgingly. It was going to be a long week.
Day 2
She heard Lorena snore all night. If this was the way she snored Naomi wasn't going to be getting any sleep for the rest of the week. Or she would just be camping out underneath the stars. Now that would be fun and she wouldn't have to watch Arabella sleep like an egg beater. Natalia was the only one that wasn't driving her crazy, but instead concerned since it seemed like she was dead.
Psst, was a sound from somewhere. Or maybe it was Senor Herrera walking around and making sure that the campsite was okay. Or maybe it was a snake or something else that made her sit upright in her sleeping bag.
Then something moved near the front of her tent. Maybe it was a person, she thought as hoped to see the form of someone. After all a full moon would make anything easy to see, right? Then there was a rustle outside the tent. Oh crap she thought as she wanted to wake one of the other girls up. Maybe Lorena since she was the one that snored. Then she heard a crack from somewhere.
There was a killer outside she thought remembering the last book she had read. Oh they were all going to die. She didn't see anyone outside of her tent as she heard that psst again. Forgetting about her tent mates, Naomi lite up her lantern with a match.
That was when she saw it: snakes three of them had somehow gotten into their tent as one was near Natalia. Letting loose a scream everyone else in the tent woke up. Before scolding her all three girls saw the snakes that had gathered in their tent. Screams and multiple screams at that.
"Get it out of our tent," shouted Natalia. "Get it out of our tent!"
Naomi could see another snake resting inside of Arabella's backpack. How did they all get in here?
"Get it out," squealed Lorena as they heard feet. The tent flap opened as Naomi had thrown a shoe (she was sure that it was Arabella's) directly at Senor Herrera.
"Fascinating," said Senor Herrera as he leaned into look at a snake close to him. "All of them must have come in here for a reason."
Naomi couldn't believe her ears. Her teacher wasn't going to do anything about this. She went searching for her pocket knife she had started to keep on her belt. Ha yes, she thought wondering what exactly to do with it though.
"Gimme that," said Arabella grabbing it from her.
"Don't throw it!" said the voice of Mateo and the other tent had gotten up after hearing their screams.
"That is nature Ms. Levi, you do not kill these snakes," said Senor Herrera. Oh great, he wasn't going to help and then let snakes bunk with them tonight. One slithered near her as she hugged Lorena close. Oh crap snakes were everywhere as she hugged the girl closely. It actually felt pretty good as the snake made itself comfortable in her sleeping bag.
Lorena squeezed her as Naomi freaked as it seemed to get closer to them. Senor Herrera had stepped in their tent and seemed to get close to the snakes. Oh gross, her teacher was even nuttier than she thought.
"Get them out," said Arabella nearly crying over the fact that there were snakes on her things. First Dante and now her. Although she saw the snakes slither over her bags too which was understandable at this point.
That was when Mateo came into their tent in his simple red pajamas. He had something in a small bowel with Jorge behind him to see what the screaming was about. "Here, this should lure them out," he said as the snakes seemed to be attracted to whatever he made.
Senor Herrera watched as did the girls as Mateo had successfully gotten almost all of them out. One even popped out of someone's purse. Oh, this was nasty, she thought watching as they all followed Mateo the snake charmer. Apparently even without his tamborita he could still do some magic. Thank goodness for that one, she thought.
"Our hero," said Arabella a bit star struck at this and then turned to the blond. "Does Mateo have a girlfriend?"
Naomi thought about the magical girl that had moved to Avalor recently. She seemed to like Mateo and he liked her back. Too bad neither of them had admitted anything right now to each other. "Kind of?" she said as the redhead popped into her mind.
Arabella looked disappointed but went cautiously back to her sleeping bag. Natalia laid back down as she checked her sleeping bag too wondering if more was in her bed. Lorena gave her a long look before going back to her sleeping bag as well. Then Naomi went to her sleeping area thankful that all of them were gone for the night.
Day 3
Mateo had found her the next morning as she smiled gratefully at him about last night. First thing she wanted to do was to thank him for getting rid of those snakes last night.
"Mateo I need to thank you for last night. All of us were freaking out over those snakes," said Naomi as she gratefully hugged her friend. Mateo seemed surprised before hugging her back as well. It felt nice to be hugging each other there.
"I don't blame you," said Mateo as he pulled away from the hug as he lingered a bit. "Some of those were poisonous and could have killed you."
Oh that made her feel so much better, she thought dryly. She could have died last night because of those snakes. It would have been in the woods with four girls that she knew since she was two years old. Naomi didn't think of that thankfully and tearfully wishing that her dad was there.
"Well let's just go to breakfast," said Mateo as they went to get some of the food hanging from the tree. Senor Herrera had showed them that he had put all of the food in one bag. Then took rope and tied it up high in the tree. All they had to was get it and…
That was when both Naomi and Mateo shared a horrified look. Unless they had the wrong tree all of the food was gone. Naomi could make out the netting in the moss on the tree and a few pieces straying here and there. The food was gone and she felt her stomach grumble at exactly the right time.
No breakfast and no dinner and no lunch. Luisa's tamales sounded good right now she thought. Okay, breakfast she thought. That was when she realized that they would have to go off and tell the teacher. Then she realized that she could fix this.
"Mateo, you and I are going to go fishing," she said with a nod. "We have to get the new food and fish will be the place that we get it from."
He nodded as they turned and saw Jorge there with Lorena. Both must have heard that the food was missing for the group. With any luck they'll tell their teach and they can go home early. Only three days roughing it and this is what they get.
"We saw some food earlier that was from this area. We salvaged some bread and Senor Herrera has some food being cooled," said Jorge. "We'll see what we can find and then after you have enough fish we could probably survive for the rest of our trip."
Just great she thought as she just gave him a fake smile. Okay, this was not going to be a good week she thought. Together she and Mateo went down to the lake and get some fish. It didn't take long with fishing for years with her parents. Lorena had come to drop off a bucket as she looked like she wanted to say something. They'll be having fish for the rest of the week.
Mateo gently rubbed her shoulder. "Thanks for saving our class," he said as she just smiled. At least she can be named a hero in this case. Walking back they had noticed, well smelled it, before seeing it. A skunk as it seemed to be cornering them.
"That's not a normal skunk Naomi," said Mateo as it seemed to have bared its teeth at them. Getting back they found themselves against a tree. More skunks started to surround them as they were in a patch of some kind. Maybe they had walked into the skunks home. "Oh crap."
She looked at it as she noticed that it was pretty large, like the side of a large dog.
"What do we do?" asked Mateo.
Naomi looked around to notice that the trees hung low and the branches close together. Maybe they could climb across the skunk's, if she could call it that, nest. That could work out. She nodded at Mateo to climb. She secured their fish buckets around their waist as they started to crawl. That kept their attention away from themselves. And that seemed to keep their attention from them.
Until she felt the branch shake that is. Mateo had gotten on the same branch she had. All that weight on one branch wasn't good as she reached up for one just above her. That eased some weight until…. Crack. She saw Mateo fall right into the pit of the skunks den.
After they had sprayed before running off Naomi dropped to get her friend. "Mateo, Mateo, are you okay?" she asked panicking. She couldn't lose her friend she thought as he moved from under her.
"I'm fine, oh, and I stink," he said realizing that.
"Here let's get you back to the camp."
Day 4
Fish and Eggs was last night's dinner and this morning's breakfast. Everyone had called Mateo and Naomi a hero for thinking on their feet and fishing for food after finding some of it gone. Naomi looked gloomily up at the top of her tent as she struggled to get comfortable. Nobody would be awake just yet for the class call. Yesterday after dinner she had successfully identified two types of birds and got bonus points on that.
"Psst, Naomi are you awake?" asked someone from on her right. Lorena, she thought as she saw the girl looking right back at her.
"Um, yea," she said grateful that she wasn't the only one that was sitting there awake although she could feel her eyelids becoming heavy. Oh great, now she was falling asleep. Now then never she supposed. She heard Lorena say something…
"Can I tell you something?" she asked but before Naomi could approve that she could, she talked on anyway. "I think I really like you Naomi." Before she could respond back sleep had over taken her.
Morning finally did come as she woke up with the other girls. Lorena smiled and waved but didn't say anything. Did she really hear a confession or was that a dream of some kind? Either way, talking with Lorena would be pretty stupid right now she thought. Okay she cleared her mind as everyone had changed and went out to meet with their teacher.
They were to go out and look for more firewood and such as Naomi found Mateo quickly enough. She felt bad for avoiding Lorena but if she really did confess something like that, then she needed to talk to a friend first. When they were roughly about at the lake Naomi got her fishing stuff ready as she had volunteered for the others to catch dinner and tomorrows breakfast.
"Are you okay Naomi?" asked Mateo bumping shoulders with her. She looked pretty confused and like she wasn't sure what she was doing. Hmm something was up and he wasn't entirely sure what to be honest.
Naomi looked at her friend with a smile as she contemplated it. "Not here."
She grabbed his hand and they went down to a cozy spot near the lake and threw their fishing line into the water. Their bait was worms some of the class had found for her to use. With the most being found by Dante who was nicknamed worm boy for the rest of the trip.
"Are you okay Naomi?" he asked as they were safe and she was sure that nobody else was around.
It was serene and peaceful up here she thought. Naomi had gone from the boy next to her to look at the lake. It wasn't the ocean but it reminded her of home. Where something didn't try to bite you every five minutes. Then the sun beating down on her face making more freckles than usual.
So, she told him about what Lorena had said to her and her thoughts on that. "And I'm just confused. I like Lorena as a person and maybe even a friend. I'm just not sure if I'd like her that way or even what she really meant by that."
She tugged at her fishing pole and reeled in a fish, Naomi threw it into a bucket and cast again to catch another fish. Right now the bucket was about half way full. She looked over at Mateo as she caught him looking at her.
"What?"
"I think you should just trust your instincts. You said you liked someone and you weren't sure completely on Lorena," he said pointing out her thoughts. "What you should do is step back and don't worry about it right now. I don't know though I'm not an advice columnist." He shrugged as Naomi only snorted at this.
"You're right, you're not great at advice," she said laughing a little. "Although you are right that I shouldn't jump into anything without thinking about it."
Mateo looked confused at this before saying anything. "I didn't exactly say it like that but it works," he said with a smile and another shrug of his shoulders. "Naomi, I love you and you're one of my best friends and like a sister. I can say that I-"
"Tried," she finished cracking up at that. Naomi smiled as she looked from him to the water and then back to him. She caught another fish and put it in the bucket considering it enough for the night and tomorrow. They would be home before nightfall tomorrow she hoped.
"Thanks, you're one of mine too. We better get back to camp."
"Yea, before we get attacked by skunks again."
Together they laughed at this as she wished that there was a way she could just forget about this week. Although she would like to remember this as she had fed the entire fourteen people group (counting the chaperones!) almost by herself with a friend right beside her. Maybe it wasn't too terrible besides the skunks and snakes and Dante Rubio's ankle. She did feel a bit guilty at causing his sprain.
"Oh and Naomi, I'm sorry for not convincing my mom to bring my tamborita."
At this she looked at him a bit confused. "Why?"
"I could have healed Dante's ankle, got rid of those skunks, summoned what was left of the food. And I really miss doing magic."
Mateo was a smart guy she thought with a smile. "You know what Mateo? I like you either way, it wouldn't have been half as adventurous as the trip had been." This was true and it was surely an interesting one.
Friday
The day of the week that she could go home, she thought waking up. The carriage wasn't going to be here until around three and it was only two she thought looking at Jorge's watch. She, Jorge, and Mateo were throwing their old firewood into the woods together while other students were packing up their stuff. Thankfully, Naomi had already done that. They had lunch and thankfully nothing seemed to go wrong so far.
"Thank goodness this weekend is over," said Naomi as she looked at the two boys.
"Speak for yourself," said Jorge grumbling. "I had to take care of worm boy after he sprained his ankle."
Both Naomi and Mateo shared a look remembering exactly how he had sprained his ankle by rolling directly into the poor boy. Which was sad because they did nothing to him at all. They started to laugh a little at the name too.
"Was it something I said?" he said a bit confused at them laughing.
"It's nothing Jorge," said Naomi as she threw the last of her pile into the woods, far from the campsite. She was just thankful that this week was over just about. She noticed that it was starting to get a little darker but if it was going to rain, let it wait until they were gone. And maybe she would be at the castle by the time it was starting to rain.
Jorge sat down on an over turned log as Naomi shared a look with Mateo. "What are you doing Jorge?" asked Mateo as raised an eyebrow.
"Getting in tune with nature."
Okay, so he's nature boy, she thought dryly. Mateo looked just as weirded out at this, because he had some woods around his house.
"My dad and I used to go camping all the time. Don't you guys just want to settle down and not have to worry about anything?" he asked smartly at them. It was true, she had been worrying about how this trip was going to go the entire time. From snakes to skunks and twisting someone's ankle she had been worrying about too much.
So, without much of a thought Naomi sat down next to him her back resting against the log. Then Mateo say down next to her in some leaves as he had made himself comfy. After a minute, she felt silly sitting there just doing nothing. Then realized slowly that it was peaceful. The sky looked gray but overall it wasn't too hot or humid. The air wasn't salty but the breeze was there. Sounds of crickets and chirps of birds. It was nice as Jorge had said and Naomi had taken this time to clear out her mind. Everything about this week from her mind.
She also couldn't help but think that it was nice to sit next to Jorge. He had a nice pine scent to him from camping this week. Also the way his hair flopped on his forehead.
Then next to her Mateo started to itch.
"Mateo, are you okay?" she asked seeing him scratch his legs.
"Oh, my gosh Mateo, Naomi," said Jorge as he got up and pulled him from his feet. "We're sitting in poison ivy!"
With that Mateo scurried away from his spot as Naomi gasped looking down. Except for Jorge both teens were sitting in a patch of poison ivy. Jorge's legs just brushed up against the leaves while he was getting comfortable. She could already feel the itch start to come on. Oh come on she thought knowing this week wasn't going to go too good. Her head was scratching too.
Then she could make out Jorge swatting at his legs too. Oh this can't be good she thought.
"Mateo, can you whip up something for poison ivy?" she asked knowing that magic can cure stuff like this. It better she thought.
He scratched his head as he looked distracted. "Not here but back at home either me, mama, or even Sonia could."
They better she thought dryly. This was not the way she wanted to end her trip, sitting there was therapeutic enough but now she was really regretting it. Then she heard the crack as she could see heat lightening flash across the sky. The rain was going to come any minute.
"We have to get back to the carriage," said Mateo as she pulled them both to their tent area which wasn't too far away. What was worse was that she could see the carriage. An open carriage. Naomi felt her eye twitch at this.
Jorge had pulled something out of his bag as it was starting to lightly sprinkle on the science group. He had a rain coat?! "Didn't you bring yours?" he asked looking at her. "It was on the packing list."
Then she remembered why she didn't bring one, hers was too big to fit in her small bag. Taking a breath she sat next to Mateo who offered to share his with her.
What a way to end a week, she thought. Never again as she gave Mateo a silent promise never to speak of this.