Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies. I don't own my friends, and I don't own Redwing. (yeah, I'm running out of interesting things to say in these) I wouldn't mind owning Blink... or Davey... or Jack... or... you get the point. I wonder who lucky reviewer # 50 will be. I have a prize for them. ^_^ I don't own the song either, it belongs to John Denver. Oh, and I don't own Vash either. (ick, thank God! thought I'd mention him because he's not one of my friends)
Chapter 10: A Predawn Hike
Tuesday Dawn
"Guys, its almost dawn. I think its time to go to bed," Hermione stood up, yawning. "I need some sleep before I have to go to breakfast."
"I don't want to go to bed yet," Gryffin replied. "You can go, if you want."
"I'm not going to bed," Artemis said from her position on the floor. "I have to be up in an hour or so for Polar Bear Swim anyhow. Its quite pointless to go to sleep now."
"Are you staying up, Willow?" Hermione asked.
"No. My knee hurts, and I'm going to sleep for a while."
"I'm goin' ta bed too." Jack stood up. "I'll walk wid yas ta Laurel Oaks."
"I want to go to sleep too, but I need someone to walk me to Christy. I'm not walking down there in the dark." Eeyore put the last of the chocolate milk back in the refrigerator.
"I'll go wid cha," Skittery said. "Den I'll head back ta my tent. I's tired, an' I want some sleep."
"Just us then?" Gryffin asked. "Okay. Good night guys." The others left the kitchen silently. Spot, Race, Kristan, Gryffin, Blink, Artemis and Snitch were left alone. "Do you know what I've always wanted to do? I have always wanted to see the dawn at camp. I've never seen it before. It would be so pretty."
"Not really. We're in a valley," Artemis reminded her. "The view would be obstructed. It would be light before you could see any colors."
"Yeah, that's true." Gryffin dropped her head. "It would be so cool to see it though." They lapsed into silence. Kristan probably could have seen the wheels turning inside Gryffin's head. "But you know... we could always walk up the hill, so that we're not in the valley any more. Then we could see!"
"I don't know... leaving camp property in the middle of the night?" Artemis questioned.
"Sure, why not? We'll be back before anyone misses us. Just in case, we'll tell Willow and Hermione where we went, just so that someone knows if something happens." Gryffin was genuinely excited. She was almost as hyper as Blink, who was examining the Hobart. "Come on guys, let's go! It will take a while to get up there. If we get there early, we can just wait for the dawn." Gryffin was walking out the door before anyone could stop her. Kristan grabbed Race's arm and followed. Spot seethed at the thought of that... that GIRL touching his boyfriend. Blink looked up and skipped out of the kitchen. Artemis and Snitch followed, with nothing better to do at the moment.
The walked out the main entrance of camp, keeping very quiet so that their voices would not carry to Outback, where the camp director slept. It was a very short distance from her tent to the road, if one went crashing straight through the woods. They crossed the rail road tracks, and began to talk again.
"So Artemis, what do you want to do for the Kitch*Nsynk skit this week?" Gryffin asked.
"Hold on a minute," Snitch said. "What is this kitchen sink thing? You've been saying it all night." Gryffin and Artemis exchanged a glance.
"See, Kitch*Nsynk is kind of hard to explain," Gryffin started.
"It all started when we wanted to do a staff skit for All Camp. Each week, every unit does a skit. Sometimes, staff gets involved and does their own. The kitchen kids (Dave, Eeyore, Phoenix and Brooke that year) were making up a skit of their own. They got Gryffin involved in it, and Willow too. It was Lip Synch night, just like this week actually, and they did a dance to Cotton Eye Joe. The award that week read "Kitchen Staff, Ect." And it was the "I blame the Bleach" Award."
"We continued to do skits for the next few weeks," Gryffin picked up. "Willow had written a short comedy piece about monkeys from England."
"Underpants snatching monkeys to be exact," Artemis added.
"Yes. The next week was Paper Bag Skits. Traditionally, you get a paper bag filled with very random things like one rubber duck boot, a whistle, a lawn chair, stuff like that. They didn't give us anything though. So, we made our skit about the paper bags. We made paper dresses and put on a fashion show to some of Artemis's random music."
"The music is from this anime called Excel Saga, and it is this dog totally howling a song. We got the award for the "Worst abuse of paper" and for the "Most traumatizing Music."
"Ah, the good old days. When we kept doing skits and including more people who didn't work in the kitchen, we decided we needed a new name, and came up with Kitch*Nsynk. It turns out though, that everyone in the core group has worked in the kitchen at some point or another. I worked in it in addition to being a junior councilor for about a week. Willow worked there when she was the Office Aide. So did Luthien. Artemis, Brooke, Phoenix and Eeyore all worked there as kitchen staff. Now we do skits every week. They're always off the wall, and completely random."
The boys nodded, unsure if they truly understood or not.
"So, its Lip Sync night again?" Kristan asked. "What do we want to do?"
"I don't know. I can't think of any songs off the top of my head that would be interesting." Gryffin looked to Artemis. "You got any ideas?"
"Well, you know, Harmony's been playing this song at the pool an awful lot. It is a bit strange, and a little risqué, but I think we could pull it off if we tried. God knows, with the Newsies here, it would be appropriate."
"What song, Arty?"
"Bring on the Men, by Linda Eder from Jekyll and Hyde."
"Perfect! Hey Blink! Do you think some of the Newsies would want to be in our Kitch*Nsynk skit?"
"I dunno. I'll be in it if you want. Hey look, it's a dog."
"Oh, I think its Julie. She comes to camp a lot, even though she's not supposed to be here," Artemis said. Gryffin leaned down and started petting the dog.
"Arty, it ain't Julie. She's got a blue collar. Julie's is red. Hey puppy, do you want to go for a walk with us? Okay."
They continued on up the road. An occasional car drove by, but nothing of much interest happened. There must have been something in the air that day, because all of the dogs were acting weird. One set of dogs, that were known to be vicious, came out on the street in front of their house and scared the girls. The Julie-look-alike went over and seemed to be talking to the white dog that was trying to attack them. Eventually, they made it to the top of the hill. They took a place on the side of the road on a small incline and sat back, waiting for the sun.
The dawn was beautiful that morning. The sky faded slowly and softly from black to deep purple to blue streaked with pink and purple. It then became light blue, and the sun was just visible over the distant horizon. Gryffin leaned back onto Blink's shoulder.
"Welcome to my morning,"
This is so perfect.
"Welcome to my day,"
Watching the sun flow over the hills. It belongs to me, and I am going to take all advantage of it.
"I'm the one responsible, who made it just this way."
It's straight out of a fairy tale.
"I made myself some pictures."
This is an awesome picture.
"To see what they may bring,"
I wonder what today will bring?
"I think I've made it perfectly. I wouldn't change a thing!
Welcome to my happiness,"
I don't know if I've ever been happier in my life. At Redwing, surrounded by my best friends, and a new guy who is absolutely wonderful.
"You know it makes me smile,"
My smile is as broad as that horizon.
"It pleases me to have you here, for just a little while.
While we open up the spaces,"
I love the wide open spaces and the country air.
"And try to break some chains"
This definitely breaks boundries.
"And if the truth is told, they will never come again.
"Welcome to my evening,"
This is morning and evening. The obvious dawn of a new day and the dusk of a wonderful night.
"The closing of the day. I could try a million times and never find a better way,
To tell you that I love you,
In all the songs I play,
I'll thank you for allowing me,
Inside this lovely day!"
It is so perfect. God, thank you for this dawn. Thank you for last night. Thank you for Artemis and Kristan and… Blink. Look at that face… Boyish and handsome. Beautiful eyes and soft lips. Who could be more perfect?
"Welcome to my morning.
Welcome to my day.
I'm the one responsible, who made it just this way.
Made myself some pictures,
To see what they may bring,
I think I've made it perfectly,
I wouldn't change a thing!"
"I changed my mind," she said softly, so that nobody else could really hear unless they were listening. Blink looked at her questioningly. "I do want to try it again."
His questioning look melted into a soft smile as he leaned down and touched her lips, just as the sun made its appearance above the trees. It was the perfect end, to a perfect night.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When they returned to camp, Race and Spot went to bed in Christy. Blink and Gryffin went to get the Trail's End campers up for Polar Bear Swim, and Snitch and Artemis went straight to the pool. When Gryffin and Blink returned with the campers, Vash and Eeyore had joined the pool staff.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," Vash said, as he headed toward the Guard's room and shut the door. Nobody paid him any attention. Most of them were too tired to care much. Girls came out from the showers and headed into the pool. Since there were so few campers awake and swimming, Artemis, Eeyore and Snitch could sit on the deck and watch the water from there. Snitch kept falling asleep on Artemis's shoulder. She was only awake because she had a mug full of tea settled between her hands.
"Damn, I need my whistle. I'll be back in a second Arty," Eeyore said, heading off to find her whistle. Artemis nodded. Gryffin sat against the fence, blinking to keep her eyes open. Kid Blink had joined Snitch in his philosophy, and was falling asleep with his head on Gryffin's lap. Gryffin's eyes were rolling back in her head, when a scream erupted from the Guard's Room, followed by a string of swear words. Eeyore ran back to them and threw her arms around Gryffin, crying.
"What's wrong honey!" Gryffin asked, pulling at Eeyore's hair, trying to get the girl to look at her.
"Vash... Guard's Room... Jacking off... in the good chair..." She collapsed into sobs again. Snitch started laughing. Gryffin was so disgusted that she felt she may throw up. The hairy, fat beast that was called Vash sauntered out of the Guard's room and headed toward the others.
"Vash, go away." Artemis recommended. "We don't need four guards here anyhow. Just... leave. Go away." He made a face at Artemis. He never liked being told what to do, and he rarely did it. This was no exception. Vash grabbed a milk crate and took it down to the other end of the pool, where he sat reading a book.
It was common knowledge that guys jacked off. It was even part of life. But to think of someone as gross and disgusting as Vash was when he was touching his... YUCK! That poor chair, it would probably have to be burned now. Screw the chair! Poor Eeyore!
"Its okay honey," Gryffin said, not meaning it at all. How could it be okay? "I got you. Its okay."
Nike showed up with a group of campers from Orchard just then.
"Why's she cryin'?" Nike asked. Artemis whispered an answer in her ear. Nike's eyes widened to the size of teacups and her jaw dropped open. She looked repeatedly from Eeyore to Vash. Nike headed down to the shallow end of the pool, no doubt to say some smart-assed comment to that... that... thing down there. Gryffin held Eeyore's head, and leaned her own head against the fence. Today was going to be a very interesting day.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Not the greatest ending, but it could have been worse. I apologize to the staff for making you relive this, and I apologize to everyone else, because the description is so poor. It is impossible to describe the disgust that was felt that day. Hope you enjoyed. REVIEW PLEASE!!!
Shoutouts!
Jessica: Here's a new face! Yay for new readers! ^_^ I'm glad you like it. You should come to Redwing, we always have a blast. If only the Newsies really showed up... *sigh *
Storm: Next chapter hon, I promise! I love you!
Maddie: For anyone who was wondering, Maddie is not only bringing me brownies, but she is also bringing me her 21 year old brother Toby to camp. XD Sure hon, I'd love a picture. I didn't plan on putting Artemis's kiss with Snitch in here, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't let Snitch get his first kiss from Skittery. It would have been traumatizing.
Kristan: Back off! Blink is my boy! Ya know, I've only known him for like, 2 days. I can't sit in the bathroom and make out with him. *lovely pictures running through my head * Um, yeah. I can't. Let me tell you, it was hard to write that part, when I really really wanted to go back and kiss him again. ^_^
Cassie: Is there ever any time when you are not totally hyper? ^_^ I love you hon. I'm glad you like the story, and maybe you'll get another line or two sometime soon. ^_~
Moon: I love you honny! You are the only thing that makes me write all the muck and romance as quickly as it comes out. Thank you for reviewing! I hope you enjoy the next chapter. ^_~
Luna: We'll be at the barn next chapter, and Jack will be all hot and sweaty and waiting for you. Mind you, he'll be dead tired from running around all night, but I'm sure you can think of a way to wake him up. ^_~ We don't really need Bug for anything. Luna's the new RD! Yay for Luna!! I don't want to kill anyone yet though. Maddie and Cassie are both getting up there with their constant ravings on whose sex Spot Conlon likes better. Maddie is bringing presents to camp though. I guess we'll just have to kill Cassie. ^_^
Artemis: If you like, I can change it so that you have a sugar cookie, but I like the chocolate ones. ^_^ I told everyone in the author's note that I totally made up some of the history in that. I didn't know how much of people's personal lives they wanted all over the Internet. That, and I was keeping you the cute little innocent Artemis-Chan that you are at camp. How did you manage to not hear about Phoenix's little story? You were a lucky person. I was almost squealing when I wrote Blink and Gryffin's kiss myself. I'm glad that you liked it too. I like your Polar Bear idea... I think I'll go with that. On that note... onto the story!