Well, here's chapter ten! Wow, this story is long! I'm loving writing this, and I have a few more ideas for summer MTR fics, too. Hm...enough of my ranting! Oh crap! It's 7:00 am! I have to get to school! Please read and review! -saves, closes laptop, and runs out of the house-
-Robin
►▲▼◄
The next day, Lewis and Wilbur started out for the woods. Wilbur was a little nervous about camping out in the woods until he and Lewis could find him a better hide out – or better yet, a way home.
"Are you sure this is such a good idea? I mean, won't there be bears and stuff like that?" He asked and Lewis eyed him suspiciously.
"You have hylephobia, don't you?" He asked.
"Hy-phob-i-lee-whata?" Wilbur asked. He had never had his father's gift of remembering scientific names and such.
"Hy-lee-phob-i-a. It's the fear of the woods." Lewis said.
"Wilbur Robinson is not afraid of anything!" Wilbur said stubbornly.
"Sure you're not." Lewis said.
"Hey, I'm not!"
"I never said you weren't." Lewis said calmly.
"You were implying it, though!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Was too! Come on and admit it!" Wilbur said. "You think I'm a chicken, don't you?"
"I never said that. You did!" Lewis said, looking sideways at Wilbur.
"Look, that dead dude ghost thingie always did freak me out. And I was just a kid when that happened, and it scared me. Especially since they found a real criminal hiding out there that was wanted for murder. They found him when another person went walking back there a few hours after I did."
"Whoa, you never told me that part." Lewis said. "You have a right to be scared of the woods!"
"I'm not scared of the woods! I'm merely wary of them, that's all."
"Alright, alright. You're not scared of them, you're wary of them. You win." Lewis admitted defeat.
"Thank you." Wilbur said.
"I'm amazed that you and I both aren't chronophobic!" Lewis said.
"That's another word I'm not even going to try and pronounce." Wilbur said. "What is it?"
"The fear of time."
"Why would anyone fear time?"
"Well, I don't know. I don't think I have a phobia." Lewis said, thinking. "So I don't think I know how to explain it."
"But still. How could someone fear time?"
Lewis thought about it a minute. "Well," He began. "Time stops for no one, and time makes up everything. A whole life can change in one second. The whole world could change in a minute. And no one knows how long they have."
"I guess…that makes sense." Wilbur agreed.
"Anyway, we're going to want to set up this tent in the far back, where no one will see you. And you're going to want to not walk around during the day, either. If a cop finds you, he could bring you to school, thinking you're skipping. Whatever happens, don't tell them anything that will give you away." Lewis commanded.
"Look, I'm not an idiot." Wilbur said. "But don't worry, I won't."
"I wasn't implying that you were an idiot, I was just saying that it's easy to slip something like that, even just a hint. Trust me, I know."
Wilbur just shrugged and the two continued on. They rounded the corner, when suddenly, a voice called out:
"Hey, look, guys, it's the chickens!"
Lewis froze. The dodgeball game! He thought. We missed it!
"Who are you calling chickens?" Wilbur asked Nash, who ran over with Jamal, Kyle, and Jim.
"You, loser!" Nash laughed.
"Look, Nash, we forgot, OK?" Lewis said.
"Yeah, whatever." Nash said. He pointed to Wilbur's sprained wrist. "Or did your wrist hurt so bad you couldn't play and stand a little pain?"
Wilbur couldn't take that. He could take being grounded until he died, but not being called a chicken or a loser.
"I'm no loser, Nash. You are." Wilbur retorted.
"Oh yeah? Prove it." Nash said.
"Fine. Dodgeball. Now. In the park." Wilbur said. Nash narrowed his eyes.
"Deal." He said. "Meet us there in ten minutes."
"Done."
Nash and his buddies walked away.
"Wilbur, are you crazy?" Lewis asked.
"No, why?"
"Just wondering." Lewis mumbled. "Let's just get to the park and get this over with."
The two made their way towards the park. They found Jamal, Kyle, and Jim were already there, but Nash was nowhere to be seen.
Where is he? Lewis thought suspiciously. Suddenly, Nash bolted from the woods and ran onto the dodgeball field.
"Where were you?" Jamal demanded.
Lewis listened close.
"I couldn't find my other wristband." Nash said. "Dang! Those are my lucky one's too! I scored twenty bucks in a kickball game wearing that wristband!"
"Forget the wristband." Kyle said. "Let's just beat these two losers and get it over with."
Lewis squinted at Nash's other wristband. His eye's widened when he saw that Nash's wristband was yellow, and it had something Lewis couldn't ledge from where he stood written in red floss.
"Wilbur!" He said. "We were right!"
"About what?"
"Nash is the one who stole the time machine!"
"Are you sure? How do you know? I need answers here!"
"Look!" Lewis said. "His other wristband! It's yellow and has something written in red floss!"
"If it says that name on it, we're in the clear! Can you read it?"
"No." Lewis said. "Can you?"
Wilbur shook his head. "No."
"Hey losers!" Nash called. "Get over here!"
"Don't you ever get tired of dodgeball, Nash?" Lewis asked.
"Who says we're playing dodgeball, loser?" Nash said. "We're playing baseball!"
Wilbur and Lewis exchanged a glance.
"Do you know anything at all about baseball?" Wilbur asked.
"None." Lewis said. "Dang! If only Goob hadn't moved to Chicago!"
"We'll win this one." Wilbur said. "I mean, how hard could it be to hit a ball with a bat?"
►▲▼◄
Apparently, very hard.
By the bottom of the ninth inning, Nash's team had 46 points, while Wilbur and Lewis had 23.
"I told you that you would lose, losers!" Nash said as he laughed. He and his friends walked away.
"That dude is really starting to get on my nerves." Wilbur grumbled as he and Lewis headed towards the woods. Lewis nodded in agreement.
"You'd think he'd give it rest." Wilbur said. This time Lewis shook his head.
"No, Nash never gets tired of giving me trouble." He said.
Wilbur didn't say anything. He was busy thinking. He had never heard of Nash Sinclair before until now. Who was Nash, really?
"Well, here we are." Lewis announced, stopping. Wilbur glanced around. They were in a small clearing, much like the one over in the park where they had hid the time machine, but a bit bigger. Lewis sat the tent box on the ground, along with the ropes and other small things he could carry. Wilbur sat down the small cooler filled with bottles of water and a few sandwiches, enough to last Wilbur a couple of days.
"Then let's pitch the tent." Wilbur said.
Lewis dumped the contents of the box out onto the grass in front of them and pulled out the instructions. He handed them to Wilbur.
"You read them and I'll pitch it." He said. Wilbur shrugged and took the piece of paper.
"OK, first we have to get the poles set up." He said. He showed Lewis the diagram, and Lewis quickly began to assemble the tent. He grabbed the tarp-like covering and slid it onto the tubes that made up the bottom of the tent. Then he attached the side tubes to the bottom tubes. Wilbur showed him the next diagrams, and he followed them.
Finally, after about twenty minutes, the tent was finished.
"Well, it's finished." Lewis announced.
"Great." Wilbur said. He picked up the cooler of food and water and moved it inside.
"Sorry we don't have a sleeping bag to spare." Lewis said as he handed him a pillow and a blanket. "But this should work."
"Let's just hope it doesn't get too cold out here or I might be sleeping in your garage!" Wilbur said, and Lewis didn't know if he was joking or not.
"And on Tuesday when we go back to school, you might want to just stay here." Lewis warned. "If the cops find you, they'll bring you to school and you could be in big trouble."
"Don't worry, have I ever done anything that stupid?" Wilbur said. Lewis looked at him funny. "Don't answer that."
"Wasn't planning on it." Lewis said. "Listen, Mom, Dad, and I have plans today, so you'll have to stay here. Will you be OK?"
"You sound like my Dad already!" Wilbur said. "I'll be fine, Worry Wart."
"OK, then." Lewis said. "See you later, Wilbur."
"See ya, Lewis." Wilbur said and Lewis turned and headed back the way they came. Wilbur sighed. He sat down on the cooler and tried to think. He wished he had brought something to work on – he was even willing to read a book, had he brought one. Finally he reached into the tent and brought out his cordless headphones. Putting them on, his music began to play, and he silently thanked that he never went anywhere without his headphones.
Wilbur walked over to a tree and sat down in front of it. He put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. A sudden movement in the bushes caused him to jump and take off his headphones. He shoved them in his pocket, and looked around.
"Hello?" He called. No one answered. Wilbur began to get a little nervous.
"Hello? Anyone there?"
Still, no one answered.
"Phew. OK, Wilbur, it's just a…a…a squirrel or fox or something. Nothing to be afraid of…" Wilbur said to himself. Lewis was right. He did have hylephobia.
The bushes rustled again behind him and he whirled around.
"Whoever you are, this is isn't funny! C'mon out!" Wilbur called.
Then, very faintly, he heard someone laughing. Wilbur's eyes widened and he ran as fast as he could after Lewis's trail.