Author's Note: Alrighty! Here is the third chapter.. Once more, there is a ton of conversation going on, and tons more talk about Twister and Reggie, however this chapter is much shorter than the others so far. FYI: There is going to be a 'Midnight Conversations' chapter for each night of the competition, so expect four more in the near future! Enjoy..

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Getting There

By Taryn

Chapter 3: Midnight Conversations, Night One

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The sun had officially set in New Zealand, leaving everywhere, including the competition grounds, covered in a calm blanket of darkness. The huge campfire had almost died down, and most of the kids had gone back to their cabins in hope of getting as much sleep as they could to prepare for the first race tomorrow. It was about 11:30 pm at that time.

Reggie and Twister were still sitting by what was left of the fire, leaning back and looking at the stars. After toasting and eating four bags of jumbo marshmallows, they were extremely full and very tired. Ray and Tito were talking quietly on the other end of the campground. Other than that, the place was gloomy and deserted.

"Oooooohhhhh, I don't feel so good," said Twister, groaning and arching his back against the ground. "I had more marshmallows than my stomach can handle!"

"Me too," muttered Reggie, with a queasy look on her face. "And we have the first race tomorrow! Let's hope our stomachs settle down by then."

"Yeah," Twister mumbled as he rubbed his belly, which was considerably rounder than earlier today. He was going to start to look like Sammy soon..

"But it was worth it," said Reggie quickly. "Tonight was really fun." She gave Twister a relaxed smile that somehow made him extremely nervous.

Twister hesitated, then said, "Hey, Reg, there's something I've been wanting to ask you for awhile.." He could feel his heartbeat quicken as he said the words, and his voice sounded extremely strange to him.

"Sure Twist, anything," said Reggie, turning to face him. "What is it?"

Twister gulped. He couldn't believe he was finally going to do this.. Maybe it was too soon.. She probably still liked Sammy way more than she would ever like him. But they were alone, with no distractions, and no Otto.. It was now or never. Twister took a deep breath and spoke. "Will you.."

"Kids!!!" shouted Ray frantically from across the campgrounds. Twister watched with great disappointment as Raymoundo jogged up to he and Reggie.

"Reggie? Twister? You guys need to get some sleep!" Ray exclaimed with a hint of panic as he walked up to them, followed by a very sleepy looking Tito. "I totally lost track of time," he muttered, glancing down at his digital watch. "We all need to get to bed now if we want to wake up at 6 am tomorrow!"

Reggie's mouth dropped. "Six, dad?" she asked incredulously, staring up at her father like he was crazy. "Are you out of your mind?!" she demanded.

Ray just shrugged. "If you guys want to do well in this competition you'll be willing to step out of your comfort zone," he said stubbornly. "And plus, Otto is gonna need to spend a lot of time warming up."

"Why drag us into your obsession with Otto.." Reggie muttered angrily under her breath as she slowly got to her feet.

Tito noticed Reggie and merely nodded. "Raymoundo is right, little cuzzes, you need to be well rested for tomorrow's race. You'll thank him when Team Rocket wins first place tomorrow!" he added enthusiastically, but neither of the teenagers seemed to notice.

"Alright, already," Reggie grumbled. "Oh, I almost forgot - Twister, you were about to ask me something..?" she said suddenly. The three of them turned to look at Twister.

"Uh...." said he said with a distant trace of panic to his voice. There was no way he was going to ask Reggie to be his girlfriend in front of her father.. That had bad news written all over it. He didn't want Raymoundo and Tito there. It would have to wait.

"Never mind.." Twister said quietly, getting up from the ground as well.

"Alright then, let's get to bed!" said Raymoundo urgently, as he nudged Twister toward his cabin.

Reggie shrugged. "'Night, guys," she sleepily, and began to stroll lazily in the same direction Audrey had left in.

Twister watched Reggie go, and reluctantly walked into the woods and followed a path to the cabin he shared with Otto. Once he arrived, he slammed the door behind him in frustration.

"Dude! You're gonna wake everybody here if you slam the door that loud!" whispered Otto, poking his head out from under the covers on his bed.

"Sorry," muttered Twister, walking over to his own bed and falling carlessly onto it.

"Anyway," said Otto, ignoring Twister's depressed mood, "I wanna talk you. You wouldn't believe the things that happened to me today.."

Twister sighed. "You mean there's more? After you blab something about Theodore and have everybody laugh at you, you're telling me there's more?!" he said with disbelief as he climbed into his bed and pulled the covers over his head.

Otto ignored Twister's remark. "Well, I saw this path right after today's meeting...." Otto began. He told Twister about how he took a walk and discovered the ice rink, and saw Audrey again by coincidence. Then he told him about their little conversation and about how Audrey had been slightly mad at him - omitting the part about his falling and getting a bloody nose - and lastly, about how Theodore confronted him an hour ago, and left him really confused and slightly nervous. Twister listened to what Otto had to say, but couldn't help thinking about Reggie the whole time. Would he ever get the chance to tell her that he loved her? Well, maybe love was a bit of a strong word.. It was more like-

"Twist!" said Otto impatiently, his voice cutting suddenly into Twister's thoughts. "Don't fall asleep on me, dude! So what do think?"

"About what?" asked Twister distractedly. "So you found an awesome rink, got to know Audrey better, and survived an argument with Theodore. Sounds like you had a pretty good day, if you ask me."

Otto rolled his eyes in the dark. "What do think Theodore meant when he told me that I'd be surprised what he can do?"

Twister could tell that Otto was actually worried about it. "Dude! Forget about it! You're blowing things way out of proportion!" he insisted casually.

"That's what you said earlier about getting out of the cabin for awhile, and it turned out that Audrey was pissed at me, and Raymoundo yelled at me for disappearing for so long," Otto muttered acidly.

Twister sighed. "Just listen to me, alright? He's probably just trying to make cheap threats to throw off your concentration for the races. I bet he'd do anything to make you look bad and increase his odds with his precious Audrey. He probably figured that you already made a fool of yourself earlier, now all he needs to do is have you embarass yourself a little more."

"Hello?! Duh! Listen to what you just said! If he would do anything to make me look bad, and I bet he would, then I do have something to worry about.."

"Uh... What I meant to say was...," Twister stuttered for a moment, "Just don't worry about it! Theodore's jealous, that's all. You know Audrey's into you, you're the best athlete here, and Raymoundo'll be on your tail, watching you and making sure his precious son wins first place, for all of tomorrow! Dude, you can't possibly lose! He'll have no opportunity to ambush you or anything."

Otto sighed. "I guess you're right." Then he paused for a moment. Twister was never right.. Theodore was definitely planning something.

After a bit of silence, Twister decided to change the subject. "You like Audrey, don't you?" he asked as a smirk spread over his face in the dark.

Otto sat up abruptly in his bed and looked at Twister through the dark. His mind was racing - should he tell Twister? He could trust his best friend. "Is it that obvious?" he asked tentatively. If someone like Twister could tell that he liked her, that means it must be incredibly obvious to everybody else, too.

"No," said Twister quickly, "I just wanted to see how you'd react to me asking you. Aside from that whole staring-at-her-in-the-meeting thing, I just noticed that you hung out with her for awhile tonight instead of me, which is unusual. So I take it you do like her?"

"Yeah, I guess I do," Otto muttered reluctantly, lying back down on his bed. But then another thought came to him. "Hey Twist," he said suddenly, with a hint of annoyance to his voice, "the reason I hung out with Audrey tonight was because you ditched me for Reggie! What was up with that?!"

Twister froze in the dark, thinking fast. He'd wanted to hang out with Reggie - big deal, right? "I, uh..," he began. "Well, I just wanted to say hi to her! You could have followed me if you wanted to!"

"Yeah, right," Otto muttered dryly. "Do you have a thing for Reggie?" he asked without hesitation.

Twister gulped. "Uh.. What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded after a moment, getting flustered. He was silently thankful that the lights weren't on.

"I mean," Otto said, propping himself up on his pillow with one arm, "do you like Reggie as someone more than a friend? You know I'd totally kill you if you did," he added, and Twister honestly had no idea if he was joking or not.

"No!" Twister lied immediately, laughing nervously. "Why would you say I have 'a thing' for Reggie?"

Otto lay back down on his bed and shrugged, seeming a bit relieved. "I dunno. Ever since Christmas you've been all anxious to be 'alone with Reggie', or 'help Reggie', or 'want to ask Reggie something'. It just seems a little weird to me, that's all. What the hell happened on Christmas, dude?" he asked jokingly.

Twister's heart pounded in his chest. "Nothing!" he exclaimed with a nervous laugh. "You know me," he said casually. "I'm just being friendly.. But is there any other reason you'd ask?" he said somewhat anxiously. "Reg doesn't like me or anything, does she?"

Otto burst out laughing. "You're kidding, right?!" he asked incredulously. He buried his face in his pillow and Twister heard muffled laughing for what seemed like an eternity, and as each second passed by he began to get angrier and angrier. "Oh, man.." Otto said finally, taking his face off of his bed and wiping tears from his eyes. He chuckled some more. "That was a good one, dude.." he muttered.

When Twister did not say anything but just merely turned around in his bed so that his back was facing Otto, he wondered for a moment if Twister had been serious.

"Come on, dude," he said with disbelief. "We both know that Reg likes Sammy. The whole town probably knows it by now! And you know Reg - she's not the kind of girl who gets crushes too easily.. Just having a crush on Sammy is huge for her!"

Twister merely nodded, his back still facing Otto. But he considered what his best friend had just said.. Reggie wasn't really the type of girl who was boy crazy. What if she never saw him as more than the goofball next door?

"And plus," Otto said, "It's not like Reg tells me who she likes. I wouldn't even have known that she liked Sammy if it hadn't been for that dream she'd had last year.. 'Oh, Sammy, you're so funny!'" Otto said in a shirll voice, mimicking Reggie. "'Sammy, you're so handsome! Will you be my boyfriend?' She was saying that crap so loudly in her sleep that the Stimpletons might have heard it."

Twister scowled to himself at Otto's imitation of Reggie. But he decided to let it go. "When're you going to tell Audrey you like her?" he asked, trying to change the subject once more.

"Dude, I met her today. If I tell her I like her, I bet it'll totally freak her out! We hardly know each other."

"I don't think it would freak her out," said Twister, and he meant it. "I bet she likes you too.Why else would she still talk to you after what you did at the meeting?"

"Stop bringing that up," Otto snapped. "But why would Audrey like me?" he asked doubtfully. "She's pretty and nice and athletic and-"

"Dude, you're a star athlete," Twister said flatly. "That should be enough."

"I wish," said Otto, more to himself then to Twister. Then he thought of something. "Hey! Reggie and Audrey are sharing a cabin! Maybe right now they're talking about how us! Or Audrey about me, rather.. I'll talk to Reg later and ask her all about it."

Twister merely nodded. "Well, we should get to sleep," he muttered, unable to believe that those words were coming out of his mouth. He just no longer felt like staying up and listening to Otto talk about his own silly problems and how Reggie liking him was the funniest thought in the world.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It'll be a miracle if we both have the energy to wake up at six tomorrow, after staying up taking like this. 'Night, bro," said Otto sleepily.

"'Night, Ottoman," said Twister. He turned over in his inflatable air bed and though about what Otto said. Maybe they really are talking about us right now. Or only Otto, at the very least. . .

* * *

Reggie slowly walked toward her cabin in the pitch blackness of the night, thinking about all that had happened to her that day. In the past twenty-four hours, she had arrived at New Zealand, met and made friends with Audrey, and finally believed something that she had refused to for years. It was all too much for her to handle!

Reggie quietly opened the door to the cabin and peered in. Audrey, who was conveniently her assigned cabin-mate, appeared to be asleep in her bed. Reggie gently closed the door behind her with a soft click, and sank gratefully into the comfort of her air matress.

"Reg, is that you?" asked Audrey sleepily. She turned around slowly in her bed so that she was facing Reggie.

"Yeah," said Reggie, surprised. "I didn't think you'd still be up. I'm sorry if I woke you!"

"Oh no, you didn't," Audrey said quickly, now sitting up on her bed. "I couldn't fall asleep. I keep thinking about Otto and Theodore!"

"Theodore..," Reggie muttered. The name sounded strangely familiar to her. "Oh, right! He's the one you sat with in the meeting, right? The one Otto made fun of.. Oh," she said suddenly as the realization dawned on her. "I guess you think Otto's a real jerk, huh?" Reggie muttered, instantly becoming ashamed of her brother. "But wait, then why were you two walking around together tonight?"

Audrey just grinned. "Well, to answer your first question," she said as she shifted her wait on her bed, "Yes, Theodore's the one I sat with at the meeting. And I have to admit I was pretty mad at Otto for what he did.. But I can't really blame him. He and Theodore got off to a real rocky start when I introduced them."

Reggie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "How so?"

Audrey sighed. "You remember how your dad said that he and my dad used to hang out together as kids?" Reggie nodded, and Audrey went on, "Well, Theodore's dad was there too. And apparently, from what Theodore's told me before and what he told Otto today, the first generation McGill and Rocket didn't get along too well. I guess Theodore just thought that since Otto was a Rocket, he might as well be mean to him like his dad was mean to your dad. You follow?"

Reggie nodded slowly. "Yeah..," she muttered. "What a jerk!"

"That's what Otto thought too," Audrey mumbled as she tugged at a loose thread on one of her blankets. "And I guess that's what triggered the insult in front of everyone at the meeting."

"Oh," Reggie said slowly, suddenly ashamed at herself for thinking that Otto was the jerk for all of today. "So for once, Otto wasn't wrong to open his big mouth."

Audrey grinned. "Otto's got a big mouth, does he?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"And to answer your second question," Audrey continued, "I don't think Otto's a jerk anymore.. We met up on sort of accidentally in the evening. Otto fell and got a bloodly nose - I felt so sorry for him.." Audrey told Reggie exactly what had happened that night between her and Otto - or at least everything she could remember."

Reggie either nodded, laughed, or said "aww.. how cute!" as Audrey explained everything. Finally, when she finished, Reggie spoke. "So, wait, Otto apologized to you and everything?" she demanded incredulously. "That does not sound like him.." But Reggie had a pretty good idea why Otto was acting differenly around Audrey.

Audrey merely shrugged. "I'm just glad we're on good terms. I really like Otto, you know."

Reggie's mouth dropped. "Well..," she spluttered after a moment. "I had no idea it would be that easy! I thought I'd have to pester you all night to get it out of you!"

Audrey grinned mischeviously in spite of herself. "I meant as a friend, Reggie," she said very unconvincingly.

"Ha!" she exclaimed with a smile. "Sure you did!"

"Just don't tell Otto, okay?" Audrey said, the grin quickly vanishing from her face. "I'd completely die if he ever found out."

"Are you kidding?" said Reggie, waving a hand. "I would never tell Otto. Your secret is completely safe with me," she assured Audrey with a grin.

"Thank you, Reggie," Audrey breathed with immense relief.

"So tell me more about Theodore," Reggie said, leaning across her bed to switch off a small lamp that was emitting the only source of light in their cabin. The lamp clicked off, and the cabin was suddenly covered in a thick darkness.

"Theodore?" asked Audrey. "Be glad you haven't met him yet - he's a real jerk. Completely self-obsessed."

"Reminds me of someone else.." Reggie muttered, referring about Otto. But she decided she wouldn't put him down in front of Audrey. She didn't want to be the one to cause any fights. "So if he's such a jerk, why can't you stop thinking about him?"

"It all has to do with what happened today. I'm just a little worried about things between him and Otto, that's all.. And especially since we met up with each other by the rink tonight and walked back together.."

"Sounds like you had a pretty good time with that," said Reggie simply, turning to face Audrey in the dark. "But what does that have to do with Theodore?"

"Well, Theodore has been my friend since I can remember. But now he seems to have gotten the idea that we should be.. more than friends," Audrey muttered, feeling slightly as though she were repeating everything she had said to Otto.

"More than friends..," Reggie muttered. "So you guys have hung out all your lives and then one of you wanted to be more than friends.." she said, more to herself than to Audrey.

"Yes. And I don't feel that way at all," continued Audrey. "But he doesn't get it. Whenever I talk to other guys, he gets really jealous and sometimes gets in fights with them. He thinks every guy is trying to steal me away from him, even though I was never 'his' in the first place. And now he's been acting like a real jerk to me lately, saying I'm flirting with other guys."

"He shouldn't be acting mean towards you," said Reggie with disgust, no longer distracted with her own thoughts. "He just needs to move on and face the facts. Why do you put up with him anyway?"

"The only reason I do is so I can be on his team for this competition," said Audrey. "He was the only person who offered me a spot in his group. And I really want to be in these races. Plus," she added rather reluctantly, "he is a really good athlete, and I think our team has a pretty good chance of winning. I really want to get all that RE-PLAY gear, if not the sponsorship."

"That makes sense," said Reggie. "But anyway, I think I know what you're thinking."

"What's that?" said Audrey.

"You're worried that Theodore might try to pick a fight with Otto," said Reggie sensibly.

"Exactly," said Audrey, sounding depressed. "If Theodore saw Otto and I walking today, which he might have, then he's going to want to get revenge on Otto, even though he didn't even do anything! I just feel it in my gut. And especially since Otto embarassed him at the meeting today.."

Reggie hesitated. "What do you mean by 'revenge'?"

"Who knows?" said Audrey. "You'd be surprised what Theodore could do. I've seen him do some pretty scary things over the past year.. Will you help me keep an eye on him tomorrow and make sure he doesn't do anything that might cause Otto to lose the first race? Not that he would, but just to make sure.."

"Of course!" said Reggie. "But maybe we're jumping to conclusions too fast. Theodore might not have even seen you and Otto together."

"I hope not," said Audrey. Then, figuring it would be the perfect time to ask her, she blurted, "Reggie, to you like your friend, Twister?"

Reggie almost choked on the air, if that was possible. There was a long pause where the only thing that could be heard was the soft chirping of the crickets in the forest outside.

"Well?" Audrey asked, although she was sure she already knew the answer.

Reggie laughed nervously. "Uh.. define 'like'?"

"Reggie!" she said impatiently.

"Okay, okay," she confessed. "I guess I have for a long time.. Since Christmas.. I just didn't want to believe it."

"Why not?" Audrey demanded, confused. "I talked to Twister today. He seemed funny! Plus, he was really cute. If I had a good friend like that, I'd grab him before anybody else could!"

"Yeah, I know," said Reggie. "But the only problem is, last year I told my other friend Sammy that I liked him, and I don't want to hurt his feelings by ditching him for Twister!"

"Wow, that really sucks," muttered Audrey. "I don't think I've met Sammy. Is he in your team, here in New Zealand?"

"Yeah," Reggie muttered.

"Well, just like Theodore, one of them has to face the facts!" Audrey declared. "Which one do you like more?"

"I really had a lot of fun hanging out with Twister tonight," Reggie admitted. "But Sammy's really smart, and I like that. I just don't know," she said, throwing her hands up into the darkness.

"Isn't it amazing that we just met each other twelve hours ago, and already we're sharing these huge secrets with each other?" asked Audrey.

"Yeah, it is," said Reggie, laughing slightly. "I think we're going to be really good friends."

"Me too, Reg," said Audrey sleepily. "Me too.." And those were the last words uttered from her lips that night, as she drifted off to sleep, dreaming about surfing the huge California waves, with Otto by her side.

* * *

Theodore McGill stormed into his cabin and slammed the door as hard as he could. His cabin-mate and best friend ever since he could remember, Jason, was still up, reading a skateboard magazine. He didn't even look up when Theodore walked in.

"Hey, mate, how's it goin?" he asked in his New Zealand accent.

"Awful," Theodore muttered bitterly.

Jason looked up. "What do you mean?"

Theodore flopped down onto his bed and sighed. "Audrey started hanging out with that new kid from the US, Otto Rocket."

Jason shrugged his shoulders. "So?"

"So, he's trying to steal her away from me! He's a really great athlete, unfortunately, and Audrey might think that-"

"Mate, you've got to stop worrying about Audrey! Just let it go, I don't think she likes you as anything more than a friend," said Jason honestly, running a hand through his unkempt blonde hair.

"Oh, shut up!" said Theodore angrily, pulling his bedcovers over his head.

Jason shrugged his shoulders again and went back to reading his magazine.

"I've got to get back at Rocket for doing this to me! He's going to pay for insulting me at the meeting, and trying to get close to Audrey..," said Theodore through the covers after Jason said nothing more.

Jason rolled his eyes, but grinned to himself as he remembered the look on Theodore's face when Otto had insulted him."You planning anything?" he asked lazily.

"Well, the first race is tomorrow.." said Theodore thoughtfully, taking his head out from under his covers. Jason looked up, and by the shine in Theodore's eyes, he could tell he was thinking up a scheme right then.

"Don't get too carried away, mate," Jason warned. "If you do something serious you could get our team kicked out of the competition.."

"Don't worry!" said Theodore casually. "If I can just show Audrey that Otto's not as good at racing as he says he is.."

"How are you going to do that, mate? He really is a great athlete!" said Jason. "Have you seen that newspaper article about him in the New Zealand Times?"

"Maybe if I...," said Theodore, thinking. "You'll just have to wait till tomorrow to see," he said mischievously.

"Whatever," said Jason, stretching his arms in the air and yawning. "Now let's get some shut-eye. We have the first race tomorrow, don't forget."

"Yes, the first of four races that Otto Rocket is going to lose," muttered Theodore.

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A/N: One more chapter till the first race. Thanks for all the reviews, keep 'em coming! :-)