A/N: Wow, I'm really cranking out chapters without school getting in the way. I hope y'all enjoy this chapter. Oh, and now that I know how to put the name of the chapter up there at the top, I can stop writing it down there! Hey nameless reviewer, what do you want your teen to look like, and what do you want to be called?
Cloudy Hope
Flint was 18 when he first went to the States. He had graduated from high school a week before, and now it was time for his graduation present.
A week before he had graduated, Tim had asked him what he wanted to do. Flint had told him he wanted to go to the States.
And that was how Flint ended up where he was now, standing next to Emma, who was now basically his sister, on an old ferry on the gray stormy seas. The only bad part about the trip was that he couldn't bring Steve.
"Do you think Steve will be okay?" asked Flint.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," muttered Emma. She was standing at the front of the boat, her eyes closed, letting the wind blow her shoulder-length blonde hair back.
Flint's lab coat fluttered in the breeze, and he came and stood beside Emma.
"Thanks again for letting me come with you," he said.
"It's no problem," she said. She opened her smoky green eyes and looked at Flint. "If you wanted to come to the States so badly, why didn't you come with me before?"
Flint shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I was just kinda... well... nervous! I've never left Swallow Falls before." He sighed. "Are you sure it's okay with your friend if I come?"
Emma smiled. "You haven't met Logan yet. She doesn't care who I bring as long as I visit her."
Flint looked up at the gray clouds. He felt a sprinkle of rain. Taking a deep breath to calm down, he looked at Emma. "So where are we gonna be going?"
"Everywhere."
"Care to elaborate?"
"Well, we can stay in the States as long as we need. Logan lives in Virginia, so once we get to the dock, we'll drive up and stay with her for a few days. Then we can drive up to Busch Gardens. They have a new ride there called the Griffon. It's awesome. We can get a hotel, spend the day at Busch Gardens, and then we can drive up to D.C. the next day. Then we can go to Baltimore. After that, I promise you I'll take you to New York."
"Wow. Busy week."
"Yep," said Emma proudly. "After that we can drive back down to Rhode Island and take a ferry back home."
"Sounds good to me," said Flint, yawning. It was about 10:00 at night now, and they had been on the boat for about 9 hours. The ferry was supposed to dock some time around 11:00 the next day. "Can't wait to get off this boat. Hey, did those drinks at dinner taste kinda weird to you?"
"Yeah, they did. They tasted sweeter than they should have been. Probably put a crap-load of extra sugar in there to make it taste like actual lemonade and not sardine pee." She laughed a bit. "Go get some sleep, and don't worry about it. We've got a busy week ahead of us."
"What about you?" asked Flint, stretching.
Emma laughed a bit. "I'm nocturnal. Don't worry, I'll get tired around 3."
"Don't stay up too long," muttered Flint as the gentle rocking of the boat started to put him to sleep, making him dizzy. "You're doing all the driving tomorrow."
Emma smiled and closed her eyes again, enjoying the breeze. Meanwhile, Flint made his way below deck. He and Emma were the only ones on the boat besides one other random business man, so Emma had the girl's sleeping cabin all to herself. The business man was already asleep on the far side of the room, so Flint took the bed closest to the door.
He had always been good with boats; he had never gotten seasick before. But right about now, he wasn't feeling so good. Maybe it was just being on a boat for an extended amount of time. Or maybe it was just from being uneasy about being so far from home. Either way, he was starting to feel like crap.
Without the cool sea breeze in his face, Flint felt like it was getting hotter and harder to breathe. He sat up and rested his face in his hands, trying to take a deep breath. After a minute, he became more dizzy and felt nauseous.
He slowly stood up and almost tipped over. He was so dizzy he could hardly stand, and the rocking of the boat didn't help at all.
He stumbled into the bathroom and stood at the sink for a minute, coughing, feeling ready to puke. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. After a minute, he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Someone appeared in the doorway.
"Flint? Are you okay?" asked Emma.
"Can't... breathe..." gasped Flint, clutching his chest. Suddenly, the boat seemed to lurch and Flint lost his balance, collapsing on the ground. The last thing he saw was Emma bending down in front of him before the world turned black.
xxx
Flint slowly opened his eyes to find Emma looking down at him.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Flint moaned. "What happened?"
"I came downstairs and heard you coughing. I went to make sure you were okay, but you told me you couldn't breathe and then you passed out!" exclaimed Emma. She pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Flint. "I used this on you." It was his asthma inhaler.
Flint slipped the inhaler into his pocket. "What time is it?"
Emma looked at her watch. "About 11:30."
Flint sighed and pushed his hair out of his face. Emma handed him a glass of water, and he gratefully took it.
"You were right," she said. "There was something in the drinks."
Flint almost choked on his water. "What?"
Emma held up something and it took Flint about half a second to realize what it was. A strawberry. "Oh... well that explains it..."
"I talked to the cook. He said he puts a bit of strawberry juice in it to hide the gross flavor."
Flint sighed and laid back down, exhausted. "I can't wait to get off this boat."
xxx
As soon as the boat docked the next day in a port in North Carolina, Emma and Flint sped out. They rode in Emma's car with the hood up and the AC on high.
"Are you okay?" asked Emma. Flint, who was curled up in the passenger seat, moaned. He sat up and readjusted the AC vent so that the blast of cold air was still blowing on his face.
"I still feel like crap," he muttered.
"Good thing all we're doing today is driving. When we get to Logan's house tonight you can go right to sleep."
They rode in silence for a while, driving down the interstate. Emma seemed to really know her way around.
After a while, Emma turned to Flint. "I've never seen you have an allergic reaction that bad before."
"Normally it's just an asthma attack. I guess being on the boat made it worse. That and the fact that it was the first time in a long time that I've actually had strawberries in my system." He rubbed his throat and coughed a bit. "The day after an attack, I'm always real thirsty and have a fever."
"Do you want me to pull over? You can crawl in the back and take a nap," suggested Emma.
"Tempting," muttered Flint. "How much longer do we have to drive?"
Emma looked at the clock on the dashboard. "We'll get there at around 6:00."
"What time is it now?"
"Noon."
Flint moaned and curled back up again, pulling his knees up to his chest and facing the window. "What kind of idiot puts strawberry juice in lemonade?"
"The same kind of idiot who does that on the side of the interstate," muttered Emma, looking out her window. Flint sat up to see what Emma was talking about, but they had already driven by it.
"What was it?"
"You don't wanna know."
Flint shrugged and laid back down. "Not the best way to start a vacation, is it?"
"No, but at least you know nothing worse will happen!"
Flint sighed and started to fall asleep again. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he sat up. "I've gotta call my dad!"
"What? Why?"
"He told me to call him when the boat docked. I totally forgot!"
Flint pulled out his phone and started to dial Tim's number, but he stopped. "Aw man, I have no idea what to say!"
"Dial his number and let me talk to him," said Emma. "I can probably persuade him."
"Good luck," said Flint, dialing Tim's number. He handed the phone to Emma.
After a minute, Emma said, "Hi Mr. Lockwood!" She quickly pulled the phone away from her ear as Tim shouted. After a minute, she brought it back. "He's fine, sir!" After another minute, "No, you can't talk to him. He's asleep."
Flint looked at Emma, confused. Emma gave Flint a little 'trust me' nod and went back to talking. "Yeah, he had a rough night last night... Food poisoning... Yes, he's fine... I'll have him call you when we get to my friend's house... Thank you... Bye." She hung up the phone and gave it back to Flint.
Flint put his phone away. "Thanks."
"Any time, bro."
They drove for another couple hours in silence. Around 3:00, when Emma pulled into a gas station to get some gas and a drink, Flint fell asleep.
When Flint woke up later, he found he was in the back seat and no longer in the front. He had a blanket thrown over top of him. He was still tired, but at least he felt better. Sitting up, he saw that the sky was dark blue as the sun set behind the cloud cover. Emma was driving down a dirt road in a heavily forested area.
"Hey, where are we?" yawned Flint. "And how did I get in the back seat?"
"Well, look who's back from the dead," said Emma, glancing back at Flint. She grabbed a bottle of water from her cup holder and gave it to Flint. "We are driving down a dirt road in the middle of the forest with no cars around going to my best friend's house."
"Okay, good to know, but how did I get in the back seat?"
"You're only 60 pounds, Flint. You're not that hard to lift."
Flint's face flushed from embarrassment. "Uh, h-how long until we get there?"
"About 10 minutes." Emma looked up through her windshield. She pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. She hit a switch or button or something and the roof slid back. "Climb up here."
Flint scrambled back into the front seat and buckled up. Emma started driving again.
Flint looked over at her, and then at the speed she was going. "I didn't know Lead-Foot Emma could drive slow," said Flint.
"Just consider yourself lucky that Logan doesn't like strawberries," said Emma.
Flint laughed a bit and laid back in the warm leather seat, closing his eyes and letting the gentle breeze rustle his hair. Before he even knew it, Emma said, "We're here!"
Flint opened his eyes and gasped. Logan's house was huge. The edge of the property was surrounded by the forest, and the house itself was on a hill. At the bottom of the hill, back behind the house, was a lake. Standing outside the front door stood Emma's friend.
Emma parked the car and put up the hood. She got out of the car and so did Flint. Logan ran from the front porch and pulled Emma into a bear hug.
"Oh my gosh, Emma! I haven't seen you in like forever!"
"Aka egh mph," choked out Emma.
"They're doing awesome, thanks for asking!" said Logan, letting go of Emma, who promptly doubled over, gasping for breath.
"And who's this?" asked Logan, gesturing to Flint. Now that she wasn't moving around, Flint saw that she had really short brown hair, freckles, green eyes, and she was as tall as Emma.
"This is Flint," said Emma, standing up again. She stretched and her back made a wicked cracking noise. "That's gonna hurt in the morning..."
"Well come on!" exclaimed Logan, gesturing for them to follow her.
"Hang on, Sugar Monkey," said Emma. "Let us get our shields."
"Shields?" asked Flint.
"Bags," said Emma, opening the trunk of her car and pulling out their suitcases. She handed Flint his light blue one and held up her own green one. "Okay, we're ready."
"Ready for what?" asked Flint.
Logan cracked an evil smile. "C'mon, I'll show you!"
Emma and Flint followed her to the porch. When they got there, Emma leaned over to Flint. "Hold your suitcase in front of anything important," she said.
Flint got a bit paler.
Logan opened the door and the three stepped inside. Logan turned around. "OKAY!" she shouted. Then she immediately jumped out of the way.
No more than 2 seconds later, the sound of a stampede echoed through the house. And then, out of nowhere, an enormous black-furred Mastiff dog preformed a flying tackle on Emma, who just barely managed to get her suitcase in front of her stomach on time.
The Mastiff pinned Emma to the floor, his front paws on her suitcase and not her stomach. The Mastiff then began drowning her by licking her face. Emma was too busy laughing to do anything.
The next thing Flint knew, there was a crowd formed at his feet. Jumping on his leg was a small black-furred Chihuahua. Right next to it was a young Beagle puppy, howling at him. And finally, a large German Shepard and a Golden Retriever rounded the corner and made a beeline for Flint and Emma. The German Shepard went for Emma, and the Golden Retriever jumped on Flint, who just barely managed to hold up his suitcase in time. He too crashed to the ground.
Logan finally managed to stop laughing. She stood up straight and said with a firm voice, "Tiny, Dutchess, Lilly, Zeus, Farley! Front and center!"
All the dogs scrambled away from Flint and Emma and sat at attention in front of Logan in a straight like, with the Mastiff at one end and the Chihuahua at the other.
Flint and Emma stood up and wiped the dog slobber off their faces.
"Why does Tiny always attack me?" asked Emma, brushing black dog fur off of her white t-shirt.
"Because you smell like a dog," suggested Logan.
"I..." Emma discreetly sniffed her armpit. "Phew... I could use a shower..."
"Uh, the big one's named Tiny?" asked Flint.
"Yep," said Logan. "We've got Tiny the Mastiff, Zeus the Chihuahua, Lilly the Beagle, Dutchess the German Shepard, Farley the Golden Retriever, and-" she stopped short. "Ugh, where is he?" Logan put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. "Drix!" she shouted.
The head of a white-furred Siberian Husky poked out from around the corner.
Logan smiled. "Come here, Drix. Don't be shy."
The Husky, Drix, slowly crept out from around the corner and then sprinted over to Logan. She looked up at Flint. "He's shy."
Emma laughed as Drix flopped over on his back and Logan rubbed his belly. She looked over at Flint and saw him laughing too, but he was starting to look a little pale again.
"Hey Logan," said Emma. Logan, now covered in dog fur, looked up. "I'm gonna show Flint to his room. We can talk later."
"Gotcha," said Logan. She went back to playing with the dogs.
Flint followed Emma around the corner and down a hallway. "Kitchen's right here, living room in there, bathrooms here, and here's where you're gonna be sleeping." Emma opened a door and Flint stepped into a large room with a huge bed and it's own bathroom.
"How does she afford a house like this?" wondered Flint out loud.
"She hides the bodies for the mob," said Emma. Flint looked at her. She smiled. "I'm just kidding."
"So, how does she afford all of this? Isn't she only 18?"
"Well, she's 19 now, like you'll be in a couple weeks, but she works on weekends as an anesthesiologist. She's not supposed to get paid because she's underage, but she still does get paid."
"Okay... I'm gonna turn in," said Flint.
"Feel better," said Emma. "We've got a busy day tomorrow." She closed the door.
Flint walked around for a few minutes before pulling a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt out of his suitcase. He changed, turned the lights out, and laid in bed.
After a minute, he pulled out his phone and called home.
"Hello?"
"Hey Dad."
"Flint? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," muttered Flint. "Just tired."
"Was it really food poisoning?"
"Kinda. Strawberries."
"What? What happened?"
"It's a long story."
"I've got time."
"Dad," moaned Flint. "Please, I'm exhausted. I didn't get any sleep last night."
"Sorry. What time is it there?"
Flint looked at the clock on the bedside table. "About 7:30."
"That's not that late."
"Well, I'm still on Swallow Falls time."
"Right." There was a short pause. "Flint, are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, Dad. This is why I didn't tell you earlier. I didn't want you to worry."
Flint heard a sigh from the other end. "You're right. I'm sorry, son."
"S'okay..."
There was another pause. "Good night Dad."
"Good night. I love you, son."
"I love you too, Dad."
Flint closed his phone and was asleep immediately.
A/N: Okay, so, I had a pretty bad asthma attack a couple days ago, so what do you know, Flint gets one too! Don't feel bad, Flint. Just go read my other story. One of the characters got his right lung ripped out. Okay, so Flint and Emma's vacation will take up about two more chapters. The next chapter is another sight-seeing bonding moment, but the chapter after that is gonna be really important. Thanks for reading! Who's a slow updater now, nameless reviewer, huh? Thanks guys. I love y'all!
