A/N: I'm not honestly sure where this idea came from, but it wouldn't leave me alone, so I decided to write it anyways. Plus now that I'm almost finished with Let the Flames Begin, I need something to occupy myself. This shouldn't be more then seven or eight chapters, so it'll be on the shorter side of my stories. Anyways, enjoy.
Honestly when my dad announced that the Abrams family was going to spend a week in the woods, I wasn't sure what to think. Our family never went out of town. If you knew the first think about me, it wasn't hard to see why. As I finished my last minute packing of toiletries, I began to wonder if my parents were thinking. The middle of a forest never really stroke me as the most wheelchair accessible place to go as a family, but I guess their hearts were in the right place.
When the doorbell rang, a smile appeared on my face and I pushed myself away from my bureau to the full-length mirror across the room. After two strokes of a comb though my untamed hair, I looked decent enough to answer the door.
"Artie be careful!" Mom scolded from the dining room as I skidded around the corner that led to the kitchen.
"Sorry mom." I smirked, looking back at her displeased face as I mindlessly unlocked the front door. She definitely worried too much. I was already paralyzed from the waist down – there wasn't much else I could screw up.
After backing myself up, I reached for the doorknob and swung open the door to reveal our guest: Tina Cohen-Chang. Her silky black and blue streaked hair was woven into two lose congruent braids. A fiery red cadets cap sat atop her head. She looked totally ready for a week in the woods in a pair of camouflage Capri's and a black V-neck tee shirt that complimented her figure. Even more so, her thumbs were tucked within the straps of her backpack.
"Arthur Abrams, are you for real?" She asked looking at me up and down.
"W-what?" I asked surveying myself.
"We're spending a week in the woods, not attending a science convention." She said taking a step inside and closing the door behind her.
"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?" I questioned, turning myself ninety degrees to the right.
"Normal people don't wear beige dress pants and a white button down shirt to go camping." She said resting her hands on her knees and looking me dead in the eyes, eyebrows raised.
"Well I think the way I'm dressed is appropriate." I said placing my hands in my lap.
"Too bad." She said making her way to the back of my chair. I crossed my arms like a five year old as she pushed me back to my bedroom. This definitely wasn't the first time she found the need to fix my attire, and it wouldn't be the last either.
"I like this one." She said pulling out a black tee shirt with a series of colorful Gibson made guitars on the front. After taking the shirt off the hanger she hung it over her arm and continued browsing.
"And this. Perfect." She said taking a pair of neatly folded blue jeans off the lowest shelf and adding them to her arm.
"Is this really necessary?" I asked as Tina walked back towards me. She folded the articles of clothing in my lap before looking down at me with her hands on her hips. There was my answer.
"Fine." I mumbled rolling my eyes. She smiled resting her hands on my knees and kissed the side of my face. I suppose the extra effort would be worth it if it made her happy.
"Art, your mom's calling. Hurry up." She called from behind the door.
"Hey, you try getting pants on when your legs don't work." I said pulling the waistband over my pelvis. It was intended to be a joke, but the silence afterwards made me realize that I made her feel bad. As fast as I physically could, I finished up and wheeled myself to the door and prayed that she was still there waiting.
"Sorry." I said tilting my chin down and looking up at her. She simply smiled and mouthed her forgiveness before squeezing between my chair and the doorframe. She understood, and for that I was grateful.
The three-hour car trip was relatively painless for me. For one, my family had a wheelchair accessible van that made travel easier. Secondly, I fell asleep half way though leaving Tina alone in the back row with my thirteen-year-old sister, Nora. After my mother reached back from the passenger seat to wake me up, I noticed a pile of crumpled papers in my lap from Tina's signature stationary. With one of the papers held in my gloved hand, I looked back at Tina. One of her pigtails was replaced by a dozen sloppily done braids obviously done by my sister. She held her arms over her chest in a child like manor as she blew a strand of hair out of her face. Tina Cohen-Chang was not pleased.
"Amazing. Even with your hair like that, you still end up being the prettiest girl I know." I said twisting at the waist to face her as I adjusted my glasses. Her mouth curved and arms plopped down on the seat from her chest. Mission accomplished.
"Ew." Nora commented, making a bitter face, as she pushed herself from her seat. At that point I couldn't decide whether having Nora around for the full week was going to be painful or amusing.
By the time Tina got though the tightly woven together bungee cords around my wheels, the work of an overprotective mother, the rest of the family was ready to hit the trails. That's the one think I didn't like about my family, they were always one or two steps ahead of me. At the same time, it's what I loved about Tina - she did things at Artie pace.
When I saw the bedding of the trail, soft mulch, I began to wonder what my parents were thinking by bringing me here. It was nothing I couldn't handle, but squishy ground just made my transportation even more challenging then usual. Tina walked ten feet behind the rest of the pack with me as she fixed the monstrosity that my sister made out of her hair.
"How are you holding up?" She asked twisting a black elastic band around the newly formed pigtail.
"Could be worse." I said, counting yet another splinter that found its way under my nail bed. Though the trail was frustrating, I tried to forget about my disability and focus on the beautiful greenery around me. You definitely didn't see trees that big in Lima.
"Artie, I can't stand this anymore." Tina said stopping.
"Fine…go catch up with my family then. I don't care." I said in a harsher tone then needed, as I continued to roll on.
"Not what I meant." She said catching up to the back of my chair. Once I felt her hands securely around the handles in the back, I withdrew my tired hands from my wheels and into my lap.
"Thank you." I said looking back at her, and thinking how lucky I was.
The campsite was a flat, cleared out plain surrounded by trees and new trail openings. In the middle was a medium sized fire pit, surrounded by old mossy longs arranged in a rectangle.
"Nora, Tina…here's your tent." Dad said taking one of the many bags off his shoulder. I watched Tina's eyes widen as my father placed the package in her hands. "Now a good place for it would be over near that big pine tree, it looks nice and flat."
"W-wait a minute." I butted in, the whole party looked down at me. "Don't you think three people and a wheelchair is a little much for one tent? Plus…Nora kicks in her sleep, and Tina's just not used to that and…"
"Artie, you could have just said you'd prefer to bunk with Tina." Mom smirked, rolling her eyes as she took the second tent away from my father. My cheeks turned about nine shades of red as I tried to think of a way to defend myself.
"Let's go, you." Tina said, tossing the tent in my lap as she pushed me though the campsite.
"Have you ever put up one of these?" I asked looking though the directions in an attempt to find the side in English.
"I was hoping you knew how to." Tina said sorting though the parts on the forest floor.
"Yes you know…with all of my camping experience and stuff." I said with a sarcastic tone.
She stuck out her tongue at me in a childlike manner before putting together two long black rods. I compared what she was doing to the instructions, and they didn't come close to matching up. I didn't stop here though, curious about how she thought a tent was put together.
"There, done." Tina said standing up off the ground and shaking dirt off her pants. Our "tent" stood at her waist and leaned to the right with a pole sticking out of the side. She was obviously proud of her work, but after it fell over in one big heap, I had to rain on her parade.
"Here, I'll do it." I sighed, playfully rolling my eyes at her as I handed her the instruction booklet. As I squared up to the clump of waterproof fabric and netting, Tina leaned up against a near by tree and crossed her arms. From the inside of the "tent" I rearranged the poles according to what I picked up from the instruction book. For a while the only thing keeping up the tent was the top of my head, which I imagined Tina was giggling at from afar, but after a few adjustments the tent snapped to life.
"Alright, you win." She said sticking her head though the Velcro flaps.
"It's only physics, Tee." I said resting back on my hands. My bags were thrown at my chest soon after, and that's when I realized how fun this whole camping thing could be.