"Joy, for Heaven's sake, will you slow down!" Disgust never had a hard time of making herself heard. Her additude spoke for itself; a nasally whine punctuated by obvious distaste. "You're making Riley spill milk all over the table! It's going to sit there and get all smelly and crusty and- Yick!" The green-shaded emotion shivered in self-induced horror just at the thought.

Joy, however, merely chuckled. With another enthused push of a lever, she reassured her friend. "Aw, come on, Disgust; Riley's excited! She's been waiting for this all month! Practically forever!" She pushed a button on the console that seemed to make Riley work through her bowl of cereal with even more vigor. Bits of Cinnamon Loops escaped her spoon, along with droplets of creamy white milk, falling to the wooden surface of the tabletop in intricate, abstract patterns. It was a good thing Mom had taken the tablecloth off to wash it, otherwise the consequences of the resulting mess might have been more severe. "Anyway, Mom will clean it up long before any of that happens." She gave a shake of her head, a smile clearly visible on her face.

Disgust still appeared to be fully unhappy with Riley's less-than-proper behavior, but decided to remain quiet. But she wasn't the only one with concerns.

"Careful," Fear warned from Joy's immediate right. "You don't want her to choke." Joy gave him a look of amused exasperation. "What?!" he exclaimed indignantly, "It happens all the time! It could happen; lots of things could happen. She could choke, or scratch her throat with dry cereal, or-"

"Or spray milk out her nose, like Meg made her do once," Disgust interjected with a shudder.

Fear crossed his thin arms over his chest. "Exactly."

Joy paused and looked at her two friends. They gazed back at her with obvious concern, and though Joy knew they meant well, she knew their worry was completely unfounded. But since her adventure with Sadness, in which she had come to realize that every entity within Riley served a very important purpose, Joy had come to understand that she needed to listen to her companions rather than push them away. Even if their suggestions seemed ridiculous. With a sigh, she eased up on the console a bit; slowing Riley's rate a bit. Though, still, only a little.

Knowing that Fear and Disgust couldn't be the only ones feeling bothered by Riley's actions this morning, Joy turned to her left, where Sadness and Anger resided. She expected to see them glaring at her; well, Anger at least, but, instead, she found them occupied with the View Screen. Anger was grinning in a lopsided fashion; probably tickled pink by Riley's sloppy performance of etiquette . It went against all the 'mamby pamby, girly girl manners', as Anger called it, that Riley's Aunt Kelsey always tried to force into them. Riley just wasn't that type of kid. She liked to get dirty; liked to play rough, that was why she liked hockey. Aunt Kelsey's long-winded speeches seemed unfair to Anger; and Anger was all about things being fair. If Riley wanted to be a slobby tomboy, Anger saw nothing wrong with that.

Sadness seemed content. In fact, she wasn't doing anything. Her hands, held gently folded in front of her, weren't even touching the console. It meant that, as far as Riley's mind was concerned, there was no need for Sadness to intervene. But it also made Joy a little nervous. Since Riley had run away five months before; back when they had just moved from Minnesota, Joy had relied on Sadness a lot more. It had gotten to the point that Joy sometimes felt uneasy when Sadness wasn't directly at her side. Why? Joy couldn't say; but she soon found herself thinking that way about all the Emotions. They were a team after all. They had to work together, all the time. Joy shuddered to think what would happen otherwise. Riley's world had already nearly fallen apart once; for it to happen again would be crippling.

Joy shook the negative thoughts from her mind, as if it were a physical thing she could dislodge. She was not going to let those thoughts get to her. Everything was fine now. Riley was thirteen now; practically an adult. In the last five months she had made friends at school, redecorated her room, asked Meg back in Minnesota to forgive her, and was making progress in all her subjects, even math. Life in San Francisco were turning out to be far better then they had seemed. In fact, Riley was starting to love it. Oh, sure, she still missed their old home. If she thought about it too deeply the tears would always come back, usually in the dark of night, when no one could see. But during the day Riley forgot about it; her mind occupied with making new memories.

And that was the way the Emotions liked it.

All the chaos from before had settled. Things were under control. And now, with a warm Summer on the way, Riley's parents had given their daughter an awesome gift. The money to go away to camp for one, solid week. Riley had been so excited as her Mom and Dad had presented her with the pamphlet, depicting children having the time of their lives on the cover. There was to be boating, and swimming, and campfires with S'mores. Not to mention competitive games, of which Riley was sure to excel at. Just the thought had gotten Joy so excited that she had taken over the console completely for a good half hour; despite the fact that it was now large enough for all the Emotions to use at once. The others had simply let her have her moment; nearly as thrilled as Joy herself. Even Sadness had cracked a smile.

But that was two weeks ago now; and, while Joy's enthusiasm still ran high, as was her nature, the others were starting to have their doubts. Fear had come up with an enormous book - No, an entire series - of all the things that could possibly go wrong. Joy had heard them so many times now that she could rehearse the first six pages from memory. There was a section for everything; every possible scenario. Everything from stubbing her toe on a rock, to accidentally awaking a dormant volcano while playing kickball. But it was Fear's job, so Joy let him do it; even though it started to effect others in the process.

Sadness, for one, was sad about leaving Mom and Dad behind, while Disgust and Anger insisted that Riley could make it just fine on her own. After all, it was a camp. There were people there to watch out for Riley; keep her safe. And it was only for a week. What could happen?

Joy was determined to make sure Riley had the time of her life.

Riley finished her breakfast in record time, practically throwing her empty bowl in the sink before racing up the stairs guided second-handedly by Fear, who insisted that a broken leg would destroy all thought of camp in a heartbeat. Riley grabbed her sleeping bag and gear and then carefully, but swiftly, made her way to the door, with her parents trailing behind her.

"Why are they taking so long?!" Anger growled impatiently, moving to deftly flick a switch at his side.

"Hurry up! Come on; we're going to be late!" Riley's voice sounded, an annoyed tinge glinting within it almost as clearly as the red hue that had taken over the panel. Joy immediately followed the statement with a giggle. She didn't want Riley to sound disrespectful. After all, this trip was only possible because of her Mom and Dad's generosity. Anger gave her a glare, but did nothing in retaliation. Her action also sent a wave of power to Goofball Island, which had been restored and expanded since the whole Core Memory Displacement Fiasco. That only fueled Joy's smile.

"We're coming; we're coming," Riley's father responded, all in good humor. He inserted the key into the door as they left the house, making sure it was locked before the three of them got into the car.

The rest of the ride, in all honesty, was completely blocked out by Riley and her Emotions. Her eyes didn't perceive the outside world, but, instead, occupied her with numerous Daydreams of what camp would be like. Riley had never been to one; her family never really having had the money. And how they were suddenly able to afford it now was beyond Riley's knowledge, but, at the moment, Riley didn't care. Her imagination was full of the 'perfect camp'. With more fun than she had ever had before running its course inside her head, it wasn't long before the hour trip was over, and Riley found herself standing outside of the car before a large sign that declared 'Welcome' for all to see.

"Well, Sweetie, you're all signed in," Mom said, a hint of sadness in her own voice. She began smoothing Riley's hair, commenting that everything would be fine, and that they would be back to pick her up Saturday morning. All the fussing resulted in Anger once again flipping a switch, this time simultaneously with Disgust.

"Mom, I'll be fine."

By now, the Emotions had gotten used to Mixed Emotion Orbs; Memories made from more than one Emotion. Two-tone, and just as bright as any Memory, the shelves in headquarters were filled with them; lines of round lanterns of swirling combinations of gold, blue, red, green, and purple. In fact, it was becoming increasingly rare for a Memory to be of a single color anymore.

Boy, Riley's Emotions were getting complicated.

Mom sent Dad a worried look, which was completely absent from the father's face. Her plea for reassurance left unanswered as Dad locked Riley in a bear hug. "Have fun, Kiddo!" was his only support, and those in Riley's headquarters got the feeling it hadn't really been the kind Mom had been hoping for. Riley gave them both a smiley; anxious and excited to get down to the awesome life of camp.

Goodbyes were made as a camp councilor helped Riley unload her stuff from the trunk. And before Riley even really noticed, Mom and Dad had left. Hauling her remaining items in a travel case behind her, Riley only looked back once; just a flicker of Fear and Sadness in her eyes.

But that was quickly replaced by Joy.

Well, there's my first chapter. It might be a little slow at first; I've got a lot to build on...Looks like Joy might not have learned her lesson as well as she thought. She still wants to drive; be the main Emotion.

But, well...Sometimes our main Emotions change...