This was written for Circulation Three of the Newsies Pape Selling Competition. Check it out, all the stories are really great! Sorry in advance if there are formatting issues, Doc Manager was being issumatic.
Name: FansieFace
Team: Kings of New York
Position: Reporter
Title: Half Pipe Pains
Task: Your Newsie(s) go to the water park.
Prompts Used: Pencil, the color yellow.
Word Count(without A/N): 2,067
"DAVEYDAVEYDAVEYDAVEYDAVEY!" Les shouted as he tugged at his brother's sleeve. "C'mon, Dave! Ya gotta change! The bathroom is this way! C'mon!" Davey sighed and allowed Les to pull him into the small, somewhat grimy changing room. He regretted letting his parents talk him into this day trip. Now that he had his drivers license, Les was constantly begging to go places with him, and this water-park was a favorite. Davey hated places like this, always crowded and dirty, with too much chlorine in the water and bad food that left him feeling off for a few days afterwords. But Les loved the water-park, and their parents had finally convince Davey to take him. He sighed again as he slipped into his bathing suit, a sensible plain green, not too dark or too neon. As was his habit, he took everything from his shorts pockets and put them into the pockets of his trunks, not really realizing that he was doing it. Les was bouncing impatiently by the time Davey left the changing stall, even though it had oh been a minute.
"C'mon, Dave! Let's do the toilet bowl first!"
"Les, it's called the Super Bowl, not the toilet bowl, and before we do anything we need to get a locker for our stuff. You know, stuff like the keys for the car and my wallet that we don't want stolen.
"Yeah, sure! But the toilet bowl first, 'kay?"
"Fine, we'll go on the Super Bowl first."
"I don't care if it's called the Super Bowl! It's like a toilet. First ya leave the butt, then ya go around the bowl, until ya hit the pipe and then it dumps ya in the sewer!"
"Don't say stuff like that out loud in public, Les!
"I just wanna go on the TOILET BOWL!" Les practically shouted the last words, earning several odd looks. Considering what Les had just said, and how he said it, they deserved the looks.
"Les! You're making it sound like I'm not letting you go to the bathroom! Stop!" Les just continued chattering to the world at large about the rides he wanted to go on. Davey sighed once more. This was going to be a long day. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
By the time the clock struck one, Davey was sopping wet, slightly queasy from his lunch, and ready to strangle Les. The kid was just getting more and more hyper as the day went on, always tugging at Davey, insisting "You'll like this ride!" or "Please? This is the last time on this one!" He never seemed to calm down or pause for a minute. Now he was tugging Davey to the one ride he most wanted to avoid. It was called the Half Pipe, and looked like certain death. It was a huge, white half pipe with water flowing down the sides. You sat in a tube at the top and the worker pushed you over the edge, sending you zooming down the steep side and up the other over and over until you lost all momentum. Davey did not like heights much. Or speed, really. In fact, he didn't even really like water slides. This thing managed to combine all three, and Davey really, really wanted to avoid it. But Les was insistent, and somehow the pair ended up standing in the line. Which was short. Probably because the thing was terrifying. Les seemed totally unafraid, clutching the firm black tube and chattering away like usual. Davey pretended to listen, nodding along, when in reality he was staring up at the huge white behemoth of a water slide and wishing to the high heavens that he was able to resist Les's puppy-dog eyes. The line was moving slowly but steadily, and the Jacobs brothers were slowly moving up the stairs that led to the top. Davey gulped as he and Les finally reached the top. Les placed his tube near the edge and sat down. Looking up at Davey, he smiled.
"Here I go, Dave! Wheeeeeeeee!" He was shrieking as he shot down the steep white side, disappearing then reappearing on the other slope. He slowed down quickly and stepped off to the side to watch Davey's descent. Davey gulped and sat on his own black tube. He was sitting there still for a moment, and then he was suddenly zooming down at a sharp angle. He screwed his eyes shut and let out a shriek of terror. He hit the bottom and continued up, moving more and more slowly until he started down again. He shifted, trying to get himself into a position that would maximize his drag, making the ride end sooner. Instead, there was a loud bang and suddenly he was no longer sitting steadily on a tube, he was on his butt, spinning wildly. He fell onto his back and was going down head first, water shooting up over his head, his back in pain, and his shriek getting louder and more terrified. He felt a tug and the pain was no longer just his back, his butt was burning too. He sloshed through the water at the bottom and slowly went up a little way up the other side before sliding down and landing in the water. He kept screaming, not quite believing it was over. At least, until he heard Les yelling.
"Dave! Dave! You need to get your trunks back on! You're naked!" He was laughing as he said it, but also had acute embarrassment shining through his in voice. Davey sat up, the information clicking together in his head as he looked around the ride. There were his green trunks, and there was the tube, looking very deflated. And there was...something. Something yellow. And pointy? What on earth was that? He scooted towards his trunks, getting closer to the thing. It was a pencil. A sharp number two pencil floating on top of the water. He slipped back into his bathing suit, trying to show as little as possible to the crowd who had gathered around the ride. He could feel himself blushing; he had always been modest. He winced as his trunks covered his butt area. It felt similar to rug-burn, the skin stretched, burning, and unbelievably painful for something that didn't seem to be bleeding. And yet, it was his fault. That was his pencil, as testified by the bite-marks on the eraser, something he did while thinking. It must have been in his pocket and popped the tube when he tried to shift position. It wasn't as if the park had been using unsafe tubes. Sure, maybe they could have invested in thicker, higher quality inner tubes instead of thin ones, but it wouldn't have popped if not for the pencil in his pocket. Davey carefully stood up, wincing again as his back stretched out.
"Hey, Mouth. Whatcha do, decide to ride down commando?" A voice full of amusement reached him. He looked over to Les and saw him standing next to none other than Spot Conlon. Spot was normally a pretty great guy, but he had a way if twisting stories into something way bigger than they were. If past experiences were anything to go buy, this story was soon going to be known by everyone. And it would be more like Davey stripping down and doing this on purpose.
"Hi, Spot. My tube popped."
"You sounded like you were having fun." Davey shook his head as he waded over to Les and Spot. "Didn't think such a great ride could do that to ya."
"Great? Great? How on earth is this ride great? It's painful!"
"I liked it, Spot! It was fast! And I didn't pop my tube!" Les seemed very proud if himself.
"Course ya didn't, mini-mouth. You ain't dumb enough ta leave sharp pencil in ya pocket." Davey blushed. He hadn't realized other people had seen the pencil. The crowd that had gathered had begun to disperse.
"So, um...what brings you to the park, Spot?"
"Heat, a car and Race." Spot said sarcastically. On cue, Race bounded up holding two snow cones.
"Hiya, Dave. What's with your back?"
"That monstrosity killed it, and my bum!" Davey pointed at the slide behind him. Race snorted as he handed a snow cone to Spot.
"How didja manage to do that while sitting on a tube?"
"It popped, and my trunks fell off and it hurts, and I'm not in the mood, so don't say anything." Davey said to him through gritted teeth.
"What he didn't say is that the tube popped 'cause he had a pencil in his pocket." Davey glared at Spot. "What? Mini was gonna tell him anyway." Davey shook his head.
"Could you maybe watch Les while I try to find something, anything, to ease the burning pain on my rear half?" Then he turned and walked away. Every step hurt, as the raw skin was stretched and moved with his legs. He knew that there was a nurse's station somewhere, but he wasn't sure exactly where.
"Hey! Mouth! Ya might wanna cover your rear end, I mean, unless ya want the whole park to see your skinned butt!" Davey whirled back around.
"What?"
"Your trunks are ripped down the back. You can see your bum." Les was gigging hysterically, Race was almost choking, and Spot had his usual calm look. He licked his snow cone. Davey turned his head, trying to look down at his butt. He could barely see, but he did see red showing through the green trunks.
"Stupid, cheap, junky, shoulda been tougher..." he muttered. "Les, where's our towels?"
"We...left 'em...on chair...toilet..." Les could hardly speak from laughing so hard.
"What?"
"Toilet...bowl. Chairs." Davey looked across the park to the Super Bowl ride. That was too long a walk with a ripped bathing suit.
"Either of you got a towel on you?"
"Yeah Dave, we're magical! I have my towel stored in my magical invisible bag!"
"Geez, no need for the sarcasm, Spot."
"It was a stupid question. Stupid questions get stupid answers." While Spot was saying this, Race was running off. He came back a moment later with something neon yellow in his hands.
"I found ya a towel, Dave. It's Spongebob!" He shook it the bundle to reveal it was indeed a large picture of Spongebob. Davey groaned.
"Why does the world hate me so much today?" He snatched the towel from Race and wrapped it around his waist. Trying to regain some dignity, he stalked of towards the main desk. His back was burning. His face was flushing as he felt the eyes of many other park goers following his neon yellow towel and bright red back.
"Excuse me?" He timidly asked the manager at the desk.
"What?"
"Is there a nurse's station here?"
"If you feel sick, leave before you puke into a pool."
"No, it's my back. I skinned it." He turned around and heard a slight intake of breath.
"Nurse's station next to the gate to the parking lot." Davey nodded and headed over. Ten minutes later he was looking for Spot, Race and Les freshly changed into his shorts with a paste on his back that numbed it. He finally spotted the three. Waiting in line. For the Half Pipe.
"Les! Let's go! We're leaving!"
"But Davey!"
"Nope. We're leaving now!"
"Aw, c'mon Mouth! Let the kid live a little!"
"Yeah! Let me live a little!" Davey shook his head.
"No. We. Are. Leaving. Let's go!" He took Les's arm and began pulling him away. As they walked towards the parking lot, Spot turned to his friend beside him.
"Race?"
"What?"
"I don't care if you are my best friend. If you try to pull me off like that, ever, I will judo-flip you." Race snorted.
"Spot Conlon, judo master."
"Don't try me!"
"Okay, okay!" Race held his hands up in surrender as the line began moving upwards. Spot may have been his best friend, but nobody messed with Spot Conlon. It just wasn't smart.