AN: Well, I'm moving at a faster pace than Gryff darling, but then again, she's the one writing the original events. I just provide my side. This chapter takes us up through the end of Truth or Dare, just so you know. Next chapter starts the truly morning events. I'm not really looking forward to writing that.
Shouts!
Maddie: We make you evil for a purpose, honey. Be happy you're even in it. ^_^ Glad you didn't get in trouble, and this chapter should make you happy. ^_^
Cassie: Yay! I'll be seeing you next weekend, and hopefully by then I'll have another chapter posted. ^_^
Gryffin: Yes, the footnotes are scary, but necessary. And no, I'm not going to add in anything about the staff wanting to kill me because I didn't know they wanted to kill me. ^_^;; No one ever said anything, so it's not my fault. Don't be so anal-retentive, I hate it when my own thing works against me. Oh yes, Hermy is quite audacious, but we love her all the same. ^_^;
Sleep. It was such a precious commodity. That was why Artemis was incredibly reluctant to respond to the insistent poking to her side. Groaning, she rolled over and groggily faced the perpetrator.
"Can I help you child?" she asked, vaguely recognizing Gryffin in the dark. The older girl was grinning.
"Yeah, we're going to show some of the Newsies around camp. Care to come?" Artemis squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.
"It's past curfew. Go to bed guys." She could hear the grin in Gryffin's voice.
"Snitch is coming." Dammit! Gryff knew all of her buttons.
"Damn you." She glared at the older girl. "Okay, I'm coming." Praying that it wasn't nearly so cold out as it had been, Artemis slipped from her nice, warm, comfortable sleeping bag into the cool night air. She shoved her feet into her shoes and grabbed her red sweatshirt and GUARD jacket from the floor of her tent.
Outside, Snitch, Jack, Skittery, and Blink were just emerging from the Death Tent. Not really paying any attention to anyone else in the party, Artemis followed Gryffin and an incredibly hyper Blink across the creek to Orchard. When Gryff, Hermy, Kristan, and Eeyore left to find Christine and Brooke, Artemis sat down heavily on one of the picnic tables. Snitch came over and sat next to her, and Artemis, despite her brief bout of awake-ness, leaned her head tiredly on his shoulder. The group in the pavilion waited in silence until the others made their way back down the hill, and all entered the Log Cabin.
Inside, the lights went a long way towards waking Artemis up, and she soon started jabbering about the origins of the cabin. "It was built not long after the American Revolution but the Critchlow brothers. This part here," she indicated the area with the table, fridge, sink, and stove, "was added not very long ago, but the rest of it is the original cabin. I'm surprised we haven't burned it down yet, with our record," she murmured.
Snitch looked intrigued. "Whaddya mean?" Artemis noticed that Spot was trying hard not to appear to be listening. She raised her voice ever so slightly to accommodate him.
"Well, you see, for the eighty years this camp has been here, we've burned down our fair share of buildings. First was one of the original staff lodging buildings," she said, ticking them off on her fingers. "In that one the only things saved were photos of the Camp Director's boyfriend and her pet goldfish, and someone stepped on the goldfish in all the confusion. Then came the original dining hall, which is that chimney you see on the way over here, in the Sports and Games field.
"So we decided to rebuild the dining hall over on the other side of the creek. That one burned down in the seventies, I think, and they rebuilt right over it. The last building we had burn down was Merry Lodge, in the eighties sometime. We rebuilt and renamed it where it is now."
Snitch stared at her wide-eyed and Hermy sighed. "Artemis, don't you have anything better to do than memorize that camp history binder?"
Artemis grinned. "Nope."
Eeyore sighed and put an arm around Artemis' shoulders. "Smarty smarty Smarty-Pants. What are we going to do with you?" Artemis laughed.
"Nothing, because there's nothing you can do." The others in the small room laughed softly, remembering to keep their voices down. Brooke looked around curiously.
"Where's Gryffin and Blink?" Artemis' eyes went wide, as did Kristan's.
"Five ta one they're makin out upstaihs," Race said. Kristan nearly whooped.
"I'll take you on that, but if I win I get a kiss from Spot." The leader of Brooklyn whipped his head toward them from where he'd been examining the bulletin board. He looked as if he were going to protest, but a look from Race shut him up. Kristan and Race clambered up the narrow, twisted staircase.
Artemis looked at the remaining staff members. "Remind me not to get between those two when they're like that," she said. Everyone returned to their previous activities and Jack called Artemis over to him. Snitch followed without really meaning to.
"Artemis, I'se gots a question foah ya." She nodded that he continue, holding in her sarcastic comments. The later is became, the stronger the sarcasm generators became. "Well, da t'ing is, I'se kinda likes Luna, 'cept she hates me." Artemis pursed her lips in thought, then nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, she does. She doesn't like you guys invading her barn, and she's really protective of her horses. If you're gonna go after her, just don't piss her off, please? She gets really, really pissy and likes to take it out on me, seeing as how I'm her walking therapist." Artemis sighed. "If that's all, I'm just gonna-"
The loud slam from the port-a-potties silenced the room. Involuntarily she said, "SSHHHHH," and inwardly cringed at the loud sound. The door shut again and as the footsteps wandered back up the path, the group in the cabin quickly cleaned up and exited.
Artemis paid only minor attention to the conversation as they walked down the path to the Corral. Something about making faces, and Snitch teasing Jack, and then she was knocked to the ground by Jack.
"Dude! What do you think you're doing? Dat ain't cool, Jack, goin' aftah a guy's goil when 'e's jus' playin wid cha." Jack may have knocked the wind from her, but Snitch's comment left her nearly breathless. Despite that, she regained her cool quickly enough.
"'Your girl,' Snitch?" Her voice was more…teasing than she would have liked it to be as he pulled her from the ground, but it did its job.
"I'd like yas ta be. If you'll 'ave me." His eyes met her, and understanding passed between them. In a heartbeat, she repeated her actions of that morning, this time wrapping her arms around his neck.
"W00t!" she exclaimed, and kissed his cheek. She wasn't yet ready for anything more. He placed her back on the ground, one arm still around her waist. She kept one arm around his, and the two walked to the Corral side by side.
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It was after three in the morning when they left the Corral. Artemis, sitting next to Snitch and leaning her head on him, munched quietly on her sugar cookie. The chocolate-chocolate chip ones just made her really thirsty. She listened with amusement to the first round of questions, but Skittery's dare shocked her. How could Eeyore do that? Not…not yet, not at all preferably. A quick idea came to her, and she whispered it in Snitch's ear.
"Kiss me, and then Skitts won't be your first kiss." His whole face lit up. She leaned in, closing the gap between them, and kissed him. It was soft, and sweet, and short, and she pulled away feeling incredibly shy. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on them, smiling though none could see her face. She didn't watch as her boy was kissed by his best friend.
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Gryffin and Blink wandered off to the bathrooms and the rest of the group recovered from their shock. It had been a powerful image, those two kissing like that, and Artemis snuggled in next to Snitch. He draped an arm around her shoulders and back as the game continued.
"Artemis, truth or dare?" Kristan asked, grinning evilly. The older girl thought for a moment, then responded with Truth.
"Okay. Are you ticklish?" Artemis' eyes went wide. In actuality, she was incredibly ticklish, having a reputation to curl up into a fetal ball and/or convulse wildly. She considered lying, but knew that all of the staff knew how ticklish she was.
Glaring fiercely at Kristan, Artemis replied, "Yes," in a terse voice. Hermione laughed loudly and poked Artemis in the side. Artemis yelped and jumped, twisting her body so as to make her side less accessible to Hermy. She pouted at the circle as they laughed.
"You guys are mean, you know that?" Her comment just caused more laughter but also earned her a hug from Snitch. As she looked at him, the game continued.
End chapter 4Just be nice and review, that's all I ask!