Author's Note: *Sigh* I think I know what you're thinking.. I think you would like to see some coupling. Specifically Reggie and Twister, or Reggie and Sammy, or Reggie and somebody. Personally, so would I! But my main goal is to write a good story here; one with a steady plot. The thing is, if I decide to put in some kissing or making out right now, the plot is going to feel very pushed and forced on, and I don't want that. You guys are so awesome with your reviews, and I know that some of you are hinting that you like Reggie/Twister, and you want to see it happen! All I can say is to stay tuned, readers, and I will do my best to make this story an enjoyable one! But for now, feel free to read the fourth chapter, which I think you will like.. ;-)
***
Getting There
By Taryn
Chapter 4: Into the "Circus Tent"
***
Audrey's portable alarm clock began to emit loud screeching sounds that pierced her dreams horribly.. She was surfing in Ocean Shores with Otto, when a huge pelican flew right into her and started 'chirping' terribly. It was a moment before Audrey's dreaming self realized that the 'chirping' was really her alarm clock. As she slowly drifted out of her wonderful slumber, she faintly realized that it must be six AM. Six already.. She groaned and slowly rolled over, carlessly slamming her hand onto her clock until her fingers pushed the 'off' button on her alarm. Reluctantly she stumbled out of bed and clasped her arms behind her back in a stretch. She squeezed her eyes shut even more so than they already were, and forced them open unpleasantly. Audrey had only gotten six hours of sleep last night, because she and Reggie had stayed up late talking. Six hours of dreaming about Otto hadn't seemed to be nearly enough. But Audrey was somewhat glad that she was awake now, because today was the big day - the first race.
Audrey's alarm had cut into Reggie's dreams as well, although she was rather thankful.. Twister and Sammy had been sumo-wrestling, wearing nothing but adult Pampers, and Reggie was drowning in quick-sand off to the side. Then Jared from the Subway commercials Reggie had seen far too many times had come up to Sammy holding his old pair of pants that he used to wear before he lost all that weight, and started making a screeching sound that had merely turned out to be the alarm. Reggie's eyes popped open, her heart thumping fast inside her chest.
"Oh my god," Reggie muttered to herself, placing her hands over her face and rubbing her eyes. "I did not get enough sleep."
"Me neither," Audrey mumbled. But she was now fully awake. It rarely took her more than a minute or so to become alert in the morning, no matter how tired she was when she woke up. "But aren't you excited? Today is our first big race. I wish we weren't on separate teams!" she said with disappointment as she looked herself over in a large wall mirror that hung inside their cabin.
"Yeah," said Reggie, still rubbing her eyes. "I really wish I would've met you before we chose our group."
"Maybe next year, if we all enter the competition again, we can be on the same team," said Audrey enthusiastically, slipping out of her pajamas and changing into an old t-shirt and a pair of Adidas shorts. "Well, I'm gonna go for a jog," she said to Reggie, who was still nothing but a tired lump under the blankets of her air matress. "You want to come?"
Reggie removed her hands from her eyes. "That's okay, I need more time to wake up," she said with a huge yawn that made her jaw give a scary crack.
"Alright," said Audrey. She put on a pair of old Nike gym shoes and, closing the cabin door behind her and leaving Reggie alone to fully wake up, started jogging at a steady pace, while her mind flooded with thoughts about what would happen at today's race.
* * *
Otto was up and ready to go at 6:05 am. The minute his alarm sounded, he was zapped from his dreams about winning the sponsorship and thrown back into reality. The moment Otto realized he was awake, he had leapt from his bed and changed in about thirty seconds' time. Half of him was extremely excited about the race, and his other half was still very nervous about what Theodore had said to him last night.
Otto looked around the cabin briefly, and his eyes stopped on Twister, who was still sound asleep in his bed and snoring loudly. Otto frowned, picked up one of his pillows, and whipped it across the room so that it hit Twister directly in his face.
Twister's snores came to an abrupt halt and he began coughing instead. His previously limp hands flew up to the pillow on his face and chucked it instinctively back across the room, where it knocked down a plastic picture frame of his family with a nasty crash. "Dude, what was that for?" Twister asked sleepily, pulling his covers over his head.
"Come on, come on," said Otto impatiently. "You have to get dressed, in, like, five minutes! I want to get out to the equipment tent early, so I can check out all our stuff and make sure Theodore didn't do anything to it!"
"Ugh, not that again!" said Twister with frustration. "Dude, nothing bad is gonna happen!"
Otto picked up some clothes from Twister's open duffle bag and threw them at him. "I just want to be sure. Now come on, get dressed! We're going."
Five minutes later, with heavy persistance from Otto, Twister was dressed carelessly in mismatched clothes and unlaced gym shoes, still extremely groggy but nevertheless prepared to go to the equipment tent with his best friend.
"I still don't get why you're being so careful," muttered Twister as he and Otto closed the cabin door behind them and headed down a dirt path toward the main campground. "I could have been in bed for at least another whole hour!"
"Dude, for all we know, Theodore could be trashing our whole team's stuff right now! You want our team to win the races, don't you? You want us to get all that RE-PLAY gear, don't you?" he persisted.
Twister sighed as a warm breeze swept down from the sky and glided gently across his face. It reminded him of Reggie's kiss on Christmas. "Yeah," he muttered distractedly as he let himself get lost in the pleasant memory.
* * *
Audrey jogged silently and aimlessly for what she estimated was two miles on one of the many dirt paths that branched out into the forest by her cabin. It was still very early in the morning, and the weather was absolutely perfect. It was one of those times when it was neither too hot nor too chilly, and a perfect breeze ran elegantly and continuously throughout the atmosphere. The sun was still rising, and only visible as a half circle on the far right side of New Zealand, amongst a clutter of pinkish pastel clouds.
Audrey was the only one on the path, and she loved it that way. It gave her a chance to be herself and get lost in her thoughts. After about ten minutes, Audrey was pleasantly surprised to find that the path had been shaped so that it ended where it started, right back at her cabin. Audrey smiled with content and wiped a trickle of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. When she opened her cabin door, she found Reggie sitting on the floor and stretching her legs, dressed and ready to go.
"Hey, Audrey!" said Reggie happily as she stretched forward until her fingertips brushed the top of her left foot.
"Hey," she breathed as she closed the door behind her.
Reggie looked at her watch. "It's only 6:20 AM, and I'm already up and ready to go! That's big for me," she muttered with a grin. "We still have about an hour before breakfast, and two hours before the starting race. Anything you want to do in the mean time?"
Audrey knew immediately. She had wanted to do it ever since the thought crossed her mind last night. "I want to check up on something. Why don't we go to the equipment tent to make sure our gear is in-tact and everything for the race today?" she suggested casually.
Reggie raised her eyebrows. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well," Audrey muttered reluctantly as she took her scrunchie out of her hair, letting it fall down to her shoulders in a tangled mess, "You know.. Remember how I mentioned last night about Theodore not liking Otto? I just want to make sure.."
"..that he doesn't do anything to Otto's stuff?" Reggie finished for her. "That's a great idea, even if it is a long shot. Let's go right now, while it's still early!"
Audrey nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Let me just take a quick shower first, though; I smell like a rancid pig!"
Reggie laughed as she got up from the floor. "All right."
Five minutes later, Audrey emerged from the cabin's bathroom in a newer and more stylish outfit than before. Reggie sat on her bed and kicked her legs up and down as she waited for Audrey to brush her hair and put on some lip gloss. "Let's go," she said finally after she capped a tube of pink gloss and placed it carlessly on her dresser. She started toward the cabin door.
"Right behind you!" said Reggie, leaping from her bed and following Audrey at her heels. Although she doubted very much that this was even worth their time, she was somewhat curious as to what, if anything, they would find discover in the equipment tent.
* * *
"Come on, dude, we're almost there," said Otto, stopping abruptly on the gravel path he was traveling on and beckoning impatiently for Twister, who was quite a distance behind. "Geeze, if you can't even walk half a mile to a frickin tent, I don't even wanna know how you're gonna do in the race today.."
Twister panted heavily as he jogged up to Otto with a bit of difficulty. "Dude, the 'half a mile' you're talking about is two miles, uphill, with you running the whole way. What do you expect me to do, want to race? It's six AM, Ottoman!" he breathed with exasperation.
Otto merely frowned and started to make his way toward the ten once more. "I'm just anxious, that's all."
"Why does our cabin have to be so far away from the equipment tent?" Twister whined as he trudged on behind Otto, ignoring the stitch that had formed in his side long ago.
"It'll be worth it to catch Theodore wrecking our stuff," said Otto savagely. "Maybe we can even get him disqualified from the competition!"
Twister stared incredulously at his best friend. It seemed as though they didn't only switch time zones upon arriving to New Zealand, but personalities as well. Usually it was Twister who had far-out ideas, and Otto who was there to talk some sense into him. But not anymore. "Hello?!? Ottoman, you're jumping to way too many conclusions! We don't even know what Theodore's planning, if he's planning anything at all! For all we know, he forgot about his stupid threat by now! So don't be disappointed if our equipment is in perfect shape..," he muttered, frowning at Otto.
The two boys had finally reached the tent filled with the equipment belonging to every race participant in the competition. Otto faintly remembered Rahiki explaining the tent to all the competitors in the meeting, but he had been far too busy staring at Audrey to pay the slightest bit of attention. It didn't really matter, though. All that was important was that he and Twister were there, and that they made sure their race equipment was in perfect shape for the start of the competition.
It was 6:45 am by then. Twister stared up at the huge white tent with fascination. "Woah, Ottoman!" he exclaimed in a whisper, "This is just like one of those circus tents, except without all the stripes and flags! And it doesn't have that smell of popcorn and elephant crap either.."
Otto scowled briefly at his best friend before turning his gaze back to the bottom of the tent, trying to spot some sort of a door or entrance. "Just follow me," he muttered to Twister, "And make sure to keep your voice way down."
Otto slowly crept closer to the tent, with Twister tip-toeing right behind him, still staring with awe at the size of it. When Otto was close enough, he pressed his hands against the hard cloth material of the tent and began walking around its perimeter, still searching for some sort of entrance. After walking around what seemed like half of the tent without any luck, he pressed his ear against the cloth, hoping at the very least to see if there was anything going on inside. Twister did the same.
"Do you hear anything, dude?" Twister asked after a moment in a normal tone.
"Ssshhhhhh!" said Otto, pressing his ear more firmly against the tent's material, hoping it would help. He listened carefully, however the only things that could be heard could hear were the chirping of hundreds of birds scattered throughout the campground, as well as the soft rustling of the many forest trees as the light wind weaved through their branches. But then.. Otto listened harder, trying to drown out the familiar sounds, and he heard it.. Footsteps coming from inside the tent..
"Do you hear that?" Otto whispered immediately to Twister.
"What, a bunch of annoying birds and-"
"No!" Otto hissed. "Listen harder! The footsteps!"
Twister mimicked Otto's position and pressed himself harder against the equipment tent. After a moment Otto saw the realization dawn over Twister's face. He nodded eagerly. "Yeah, dude, I hear it!" he whispered. "What could it be?"
"Theodore, of course! And maybe that other kid that he hung with.."
Both boys listened harder. Otto could hear the footsteps coming closer toward his end of the tent wall, and then they stopped. He could faintly make out the sound of two people whispering to each other. Then there was silence once again, the birds all around them droning on endlessly. All of a sudden, the boys heard a loud crash from inside the tent, and the gasps of two inside.
"That's it! We got em!!" said Otto with excitement. "Let's move in!"
Twister and Otto bolted around the remainder of the tent until they finally found the door, and blindly charged at the two suspects. Otto tackled one with all his might right to the ground, and from the commotion behind him he could tell that Twister had gotten the other.
The two people they had tackled screamed loudly.
"Aha!" Otto announced victoriously as he started to turn over the person he had tackled while continuing to pin them down with his knees. "I've got you now, you son of a- AUDREY?!" Otto gasped with horror.
He hadn't even bothered to look at the face, or even the clothes or body type of who was in the tent when he made his tackle. He had been so sure it was Theodore that he didn't even think it was necessary.. and he had actually tackled and pinned down the one girl who he was in love with.. The one girl who had decided to give him a second chance to make a better impression of himself. And there he was, pinning her to the cold ground with all his weight.
Otto numbly scrambled to his feet and, once he was standing, reached out his hand to help Audrey up as well. To his great relief, she took it. Otto quickly averted her eyes as she rose shakily from the ground, and looked at Twister instead. He wasn't surprised to see that Twister had tackled Reggie in a similar manner. The two of them seemed too shocked and embarrassed to say anything to each other. Twister was merely helping Reggie up without a word, his face glowing bright red.
Why couldn't it have been the other way around? Otto thought furiously. It wouldn't have been a big deal if I'd tackled Reggie. But I just had to go for Audrey..
Otto quickly turned back to Audrey, who was now brushing the wrinkles unnecessarily out of her pants and staring at the floor. Otto swore he imagined it, but he thought he saw a grin begin to spread across Audrey's face. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, she burst out laughing. She started laughing so hard, in fact, that she doubled up and fell right back onto the floor. There were no words in the human vocabulary to describe the relief Otto felt at that very moment. There was only one thing he could do - join in. And he did.
Reggie and Twister looked disbelieveingly at Audrey and Otto, and then directly at each other. They each blinked once, and suddenly, at the exact same time, burst out laughing as well. Nobody had officially kept count, but it seemed to be a good five minutes of nothing but laughing, over and over again, before the situation finally lost some of its humor.
When Otto was able to stop himself, he looked past Audrey to see where the crash he'd heard had come from. It looked as though a snow board had fallen off it's hook, and knocked down four others, creating a sort of domino effect. Audrey's last few giggles died down and she followed Otto's gaze.
"Reggie and I decided to check the equipment tent since we were up early, to make sure each of our teams' gear was okay for the race today, just to be safe," she explained to Otto as she got up off the ground for the second time, being the first one to actually speak. "And we accidentally knocked down a board, as you can see," Audrey said as she waved a hand toward the small mess. She was sill quite shaky. "I guess you guys had the same idea..?"
"Yeah," muttered Otto. And suddenly, he snapped back into reality. "Are you hurt?" he asked Audrey so quickly that it startled even Reggie and Twister. "Oh my god, Audrey, I am so sorry I tackled you, I don't know what I was thinking, I wasn't looking-"
Audrey quickly shook her head and grinned. "Otto, it's okay," she interrupted gently as she took a step toward him. "I'm fine - just a little surprised, that's all. Have you ever played football before?" she asked jokingly.
Otto merely grinned and shook his head. "I'm glad you're okay," he muttered, looking directly at her.
In an attempt to remind them that he and Reggie were still there, Twister spoke up. "Somebody got a cheesy threat from Theodore and wanted to make sure his gear was still in shape for the race," he said, staring pointedly at Otto. "That's why Otto and me came here in the first place."
When Audrey heard that, she looked alarmingly at Otto. "Can we talk?" she asked him quietly. "About that.."
"Sure," Otto said quickly, then looked at Reggie and Twister. "Are you guys all right?"
Reggie nodded and threw Twister a playful look. "I'm fine, thanks. Twister and I can put these boards back. You guys go ahead to breakfast, alright?"
Audrey smiled gratefully at them. "Thanks guys," she said. "I owe you one." She began to walk toward the door of the tent, and beckoned for Otto to follow her. With one last appreciative look at Reggie and Twister, Otto quickly crossed the length of the equipment tent to follow in Audrey's wake.
Audrey and Otto walked slowly out of the tent together. Audrey chose a faded dirt path that led a scenic route through the forest and along a large lake that Otto hadn't noticed in his short time here. He silently walked at her side, staring at the ground. For the next few minutes, the only thing that could be heard was the soft crunching sound their feet made as they advanced upon the path.
Audrey finally turned to look at Otto and grinned. "That sure was weird in there, huh?"
"Yeah," Otto breathed with a grin.
"So," she said meekly, examining one of her fingernails, "What was that about back there? When Twister said that Theodore threatened you?"
"Oh," said Otto, laughing slightly. The last thing he wanted for to Audrey to know he was actually worried about it. "Theodore came up to me before I went to bed last night, and basically told me he was going to do something to me if I didn't leave you alone," he said casually.
"He said that?!" said Audrey angrily, her hazel eyes bulging out as she turned to face Otto. "I'm going to give him a piece of my mind when I see him-"
"No, you don't have to!" Otto insisted quickly. But he regained his cool composure in an instant. "Don't go out of your way," he said nonchalantly. "At least wait until all the races are over."
Audrey sighed and ran a hand impatiently through her hair. "I'll try," she muttered. "I'm just really sorry that he made you worry. But I suspected he would do something he like that. That's just the kind of person he is."
"He didn't worry me!" Otto said quickly. "No, uh, I just wanted to make sure he wasn't going to do anything.. The competition is really important to me, you know."
"Well, about that," Audrey said, a bit more cheerfully, "Reggie and I checked out your equipment, as well as hers and Twister's. Reggie just wanted to make sure that it was okay for the race. And everything is fine," she assured him. "We were checking the snowboards when you guys, er.."
"Again, I'm sorry about that," Otto muttered, the heat rising in his face. "It was so stupid."
But Audrey just waved a hand and grinned. "It's okay," she said again. "I forgive you!"
After a short while of walking in silence once more, Audrey and Otto finally came upon the familiar entrance grounds, where the cafeteria cabin sat peacefully, the aroma of bacon and syrup floating from it temptingly.
They entered the cafeteria and were mildly surprised to find that it was completely full. Every other kid at the camp had apparently woken up early and gone to breakfast as well. Audrey and Otto found a seat amongst the others right next to Sammy.
"Squid, this is Audrey," Otto muttered unimportantly as he took a large bite of frech toast. He didn't really want to draw too much attention to her. The last thing he needed would be for the Squid to suddenly like her too.
Sammy turned from a book he was reading at the table to Audrey, who sat on the other side of Otto and smiled. "Hi," she said, putting up her hand into a little wave.
"Hello," said Sammy cheerfully, turning back to his book.
Audrey glanced curiously at the book that Sammy was reading. "Is that the Lord of the Rings?" she asked with interest.
Sammy looked back up, surprised. "Uh.. Yeah," he said with a grin. "So wait, you read?"
Audrey raised an eyebrow and looked at him skeptically. "Er.. yes, I love Lord of the Rings. And many other books," she said acidly.
"No, no! I didn't mean it like that!" Sammy said immediately, shaking his chubby head from side to side. "I'm just surprised, that's all. Usually serious athletes aren't into books." Sammy laughed and jerked his thumb at Otto. "I'll bet the longest thing Otto's ever read was an article about Tony Hawk."
Otto's face turned red and he smacked Sammy on the back of the head. "Shut up, Squid," he muttered. Audrey was watching them with amusement.
"I read!" Otto said indignantly to her. When she only grinned, he said, "What? I do!"
To Otto's great relief, he noticed that Reggie and Twister had arrived at the breakfast cabin as well, skimming the various tables for any sign of their friends. Audrey noticed as well, and together they were able to flag them down.
"Hey, dude," Twister muttered to Otto as he sat heavily onto the bench of their table, next to Sammy. Reggie took a seat on Audrey's empty side.
After a while of talking, eating, and laughing about the incident in the tent, Otto noticed out of the corner of his eye that Theodore was sitting at a neighboring table, glaring right at him.
Audrey noticed as well, and leaned toward Otto to whisper in his ear. "He's jealous," she explained quietly. "That I'm sitting with you."
Otto could feel her warm breath on his ear with each word she spoke, and it sent soft shivers up his spine. He turned his head to look at Audrey, and her face was only inches away from his, if even that far. He had a sudden urge to kiss her, but instead, his hands started to shake and he dropped the cup of orange juice he was holding, right onto his lap.
* * *
Note: FYI, the competition finally starts next chapter!! Romance doesn't start for a few more chapters. Hang in there! As a hormone-enraged, romance-obsessed teenager, I feel your pain! ;-)
***
Getting There
By Taryn
Chapter 4: Into the "Circus Tent"
***
Audrey's portable alarm clock began to emit loud screeching sounds that pierced her dreams horribly.. She was surfing in Ocean Shores with Otto, when a huge pelican flew right into her and started 'chirping' terribly. It was a moment before Audrey's dreaming self realized that the 'chirping' was really her alarm clock. As she slowly drifted out of her wonderful slumber, she faintly realized that it must be six AM. Six already.. She groaned and slowly rolled over, carlessly slamming her hand onto her clock until her fingers pushed the 'off' button on her alarm. Reluctantly she stumbled out of bed and clasped her arms behind her back in a stretch. She squeezed her eyes shut even more so than they already were, and forced them open unpleasantly. Audrey had only gotten six hours of sleep last night, because she and Reggie had stayed up late talking. Six hours of dreaming about Otto hadn't seemed to be nearly enough. But Audrey was somewhat glad that she was awake now, because today was the big day - the first race.
Audrey's alarm had cut into Reggie's dreams as well, although she was rather thankful.. Twister and Sammy had been sumo-wrestling, wearing nothing but adult Pampers, and Reggie was drowning in quick-sand off to the side. Then Jared from the Subway commercials Reggie had seen far too many times had come up to Sammy holding his old pair of pants that he used to wear before he lost all that weight, and started making a screeching sound that had merely turned out to be the alarm. Reggie's eyes popped open, her heart thumping fast inside her chest.
"Oh my god," Reggie muttered to herself, placing her hands over her face and rubbing her eyes. "I did not get enough sleep."
"Me neither," Audrey mumbled. But she was now fully awake. It rarely took her more than a minute or so to become alert in the morning, no matter how tired she was when she woke up. "But aren't you excited? Today is our first big race. I wish we weren't on separate teams!" she said with disappointment as she looked herself over in a large wall mirror that hung inside their cabin.
"Yeah," said Reggie, still rubbing her eyes. "I really wish I would've met you before we chose our group."
"Maybe next year, if we all enter the competition again, we can be on the same team," said Audrey enthusiastically, slipping out of her pajamas and changing into an old t-shirt and a pair of Adidas shorts. "Well, I'm gonna go for a jog," she said to Reggie, who was still nothing but a tired lump under the blankets of her air matress. "You want to come?"
Reggie removed her hands from her eyes. "That's okay, I need more time to wake up," she said with a huge yawn that made her jaw give a scary crack.
"Alright," said Audrey. She put on a pair of old Nike gym shoes and, closing the cabin door behind her and leaving Reggie alone to fully wake up, started jogging at a steady pace, while her mind flooded with thoughts about what would happen at today's race.
* * *
Otto was up and ready to go at 6:05 am. The minute his alarm sounded, he was zapped from his dreams about winning the sponsorship and thrown back into reality. The moment Otto realized he was awake, he had leapt from his bed and changed in about thirty seconds' time. Half of him was extremely excited about the race, and his other half was still very nervous about what Theodore had said to him last night.
Otto looked around the cabin briefly, and his eyes stopped on Twister, who was still sound asleep in his bed and snoring loudly. Otto frowned, picked up one of his pillows, and whipped it across the room so that it hit Twister directly in his face.
Twister's snores came to an abrupt halt and he began coughing instead. His previously limp hands flew up to the pillow on his face and chucked it instinctively back across the room, where it knocked down a plastic picture frame of his family with a nasty crash. "Dude, what was that for?" Twister asked sleepily, pulling his covers over his head.
"Come on, come on," said Otto impatiently. "You have to get dressed, in, like, five minutes! I want to get out to the equipment tent early, so I can check out all our stuff and make sure Theodore didn't do anything to it!"
"Ugh, not that again!" said Twister with frustration. "Dude, nothing bad is gonna happen!"
Otto picked up some clothes from Twister's open duffle bag and threw them at him. "I just want to be sure. Now come on, get dressed! We're going."
Five minutes later, with heavy persistance from Otto, Twister was dressed carelessly in mismatched clothes and unlaced gym shoes, still extremely groggy but nevertheless prepared to go to the equipment tent with his best friend.
"I still don't get why you're being so careful," muttered Twister as he and Otto closed the cabin door behind them and headed down a dirt path toward the main campground. "I could have been in bed for at least another whole hour!"
"Dude, for all we know, Theodore could be trashing our whole team's stuff right now! You want our team to win the races, don't you? You want us to get all that RE-PLAY gear, don't you?" he persisted.
Twister sighed as a warm breeze swept down from the sky and glided gently across his face. It reminded him of Reggie's kiss on Christmas. "Yeah," he muttered distractedly as he let himself get lost in the pleasant memory.
* * *
Audrey jogged silently and aimlessly for what she estimated was two miles on one of the many dirt paths that branched out into the forest by her cabin. It was still very early in the morning, and the weather was absolutely perfect. It was one of those times when it was neither too hot nor too chilly, and a perfect breeze ran elegantly and continuously throughout the atmosphere. The sun was still rising, and only visible as a half circle on the far right side of New Zealand, amongst a clutter of pinkish pastel clouds.
Audrey was the only one on the path, and she loved it that way. It gave her a chance to be herself and get lost in her thoughts. After about ten minutes, Audrey was pleasantly surprised to find that the path had been shaped so that it ended where it started, right back at her cabin. Audrey smiled with content and wiped a trickle of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. When she opened her cabin door, she found Reggie sitting on the floor and stretching her legs, dressed and ready to go.
"Hey, Audrey!" said Reggie happily as she stretched forward until her fingertips brushed the top of her left foot.
"Hey," she breathed as she closed the door behind her.
Reggie looked at her watch. "It's only 6:20 AM, and I'm already up and ready to go! That's big for me," she muttered with a grin. "We still have about an hour before breakfast, and two hours before the starting race. Anything you want to do in the mean time?"
Audrey knew immediately. She had wanted to do it ever since the thought crossed her mind last night. "I want to check up on something. Why don't we go to the equipment tent to make sure our gear is in-tact and everything for the race today?" she suggested casually.
Reggie raised her eyebrows. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well," Audrey muttered reluctantly as she took her scrunchie out of her hair, letting it fall down to her shoulders in a tangled mess, "You know.. Remember how I mentioned last night about Theodore not liking Otto? I just want to make sure.."
"..that he doesn't do anything to Otto's stuff?" Reggie finished for her. "That's a great idea, even if it is a long shot. Let's go right now, while it's still early!"
Audrey nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Let me just take a quick shower first, though; I smell like a rancid pig!"
Reggie laughed as she got up from the floor. "All right."
Five minutes later, Audrey emerged from the cabin's bathroom in a newer and more stylish outfit than before. Reggie sat on her bed and kicked her legs up and down as she waited for Audrey to brush her hair and put on some lip gloss. "Let's go," she said finally after she capped a tube of pink gloss and placed it carlessly on her dresser. She started toward the cabin door.
"Right behind you!" said Reggie, leaping from her bed and following Audrey at her heels. Although she doubted very much that this was even worth their time, she was somewhat curious as to what, if anything, they would find discover in the equipment tent.
* * *
"Come on, dude, we're almost there," said Otto, stopping abruptly on the gravel path he was traveling on and beckoning impatiently for Twister, who was quite a distance behind. "Geeze, if you can't even walk half a mile to a frickin tent, I don't even wanna know how you're gonna do in the race today.."
Twister panted heavily as he jogged up to Otto with a bit of difficulty. "Dude, the 'half a mile' you're talking about is two miles, uphill, with you running the whole way. What do you expect me to do, want to race? It's six AM, Ottoman!" he breathed with exasperation.
Otto merely frowned and started to make his way toward the ten once more. "I'm just anxious, that's all."
"Why does our cabin have to be so far away from the equipment tent?" Twister whined as he trudged on behind Otto, ignoring the stitch that had formed in his side long ago.
"It'll be worth it to catch Theodore wrecking our stuff," said Otto savagely. "Maybe we can even get him disqualified from the competition!"
Twister stared incredulously at his best friend. It seemed as though they didn't only switch time zones upon arriving to New Zealand, but personalities as well. Usually it was Twister who had far-out ideas, and Otto who was there to talk some sense into him. But not anymore. "Hello?!? Ottoman, you're jumping to way too many conclusions! We don't even know what Theodore's planning, if he's planning anything at all! For all we know, he forgot about his stupid threat by now! So don't be disappointed if our equipment is in perfect shape..," he muttered, frowning at Otto.
The two boys had finally reached the tent filled with the equipment belonging to every race participant in the competition. Otto faintly remembered Rahiki explaining the tent to all the competitors in the meeting, but he had been far too busy staring at Audrey to pay the slightest bit of attention. It didn't really matter, though. All that was important was that he and Twister were there, and that they made sure their race equipment was in perfect shape for the start of the competition.
It was 6:45 am by then. Twister stared up at the huge white tent with fascination. "Woah, Ottoman!" he exclaimed in a whisper, "This is just like one of those circus tents, except without all the stripes and flags! And it doesn't have that smell of popcorn and elephant crap either.."
Otto scowled briefly at his best friend before turning his gaze back to the bottom of the tent, trying to spot some sort of a door or entrance. "Just follow me," he muttered to Twister, "And make sure to keep your voice way down."
Otto slowly crept closer to the tent, with Twister tip-toeing right behind him, still staring with awe at the size of it. When Otto was close enough, he pressed his hands against the hard cloth material of the tent and began walking around its perimeter, still searching for some sort of entrance. After walking around what seemed like half of the tent without any luck, he pressed his ear against the cloth, hoping at the very least to see if there was anything going on inside. Twister did the same.
"Do you hear anything, dude?" Twister asked after a moment in a normal tone.
"Ssshhhhhh!" said Otto, pressing his ear more firmly against the tent's material, hoping it would help. He listened carefully, however the only things that could be heard could hear were the chirping of hundreds of birds scattered throughout the campground, as well as the soft rustling of the many forest trees as the light wind weaved through their branches. But then.. Otto listened harder, trying to drown out the familiar sounds, and he heard it.. Footsteps coming from inside the tent..
"Do you hear that?" Otto whispered immediately to Twister.
"What, a bunch of annoying birds and-"
"No!" Otto hissed. "Listen harder! The footsteps!"
Twister mimicked Otto's position and pressed himself harder against the equipment tent. After a moment Otto saw the realization dawn over Twister's face. He nodded eagerly. "Yeah, dude, I hear it!" he whispered. "What could it be?"
"Theodore, of course! And maybe that other kid that he hung with.."
Both boys listened harder. Otto could hear the footsteps coming closer toward his end of the tent wall, and then they stopped. He could faintly make out the sound of two people whispering to each other. Then there was silence once again, the birds all around them droning on endlessly. All of a sudden, the boys heard a loud crash from inside the tent, and the gasps of two inside.
"That's it! We got em!!" said Otto with excitement. "Let's move in!"
Twister and Otto bolted around the remainder of the tent until they finally found the door, and blindly charged at the two suspects. Otto tackled one with all his might right to the ground, and from the commotion behind him he could tell that Twister had gotten the other.
The two people they had tackled screamed loudly.
"Aha!" Otto announced victoriously as he started to turn over the person he had tackled while continuing to pin them down with his knees. "I've got you now, you son of a- AUDREY?!" Otto gasped with horror.
He hadn't even bothered to look at the face, or even the clothes or body type of who was in the tent when he made his tackle. He had been so sure it was Theodore that he didn't even think it was necessary.. and he had actually tackled and pinned down the one girl who he was in love with.. The one girl who had decided to give him a second chance to make a better impression of himself. And there he was, pinning her to the cold ground with all his weight.
Otto numbly scrambled to his feet and, once he was standing, reached out his hand to help Audrey up as well. To his great relief, she took it. Otto quickly averted her eyes as she rose shakily from the ground, and looked at Twister instead. He wasn't surprised to see that Twister had tackled Reggie in a similar manner. The two of them seemed too shocked and embarrassed to say anything to each other. Twister was merely helping Reggie up without a word, his face glowing bright red.
Why couldn't it have been the other way around? Otto thought furiously. It wouldn't have been a big deal if I'd tackled Reggie. But I just had to go for Audrey..
Otto quickly turned back to Audrey, who was now brushing the wrinkles unnecessarily out of her pants and staring at the floor. Otto swore he imagined it, but he thought he saw a grin begin to spread across Audrey's face. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, she burst out laughing. She started laughing so hard, in fact, that she doubled up and fell right back onto the floor. There were no words in the human vocabulary to describe the relief Otto felt at that very moment. There was only one thing he could do - join in. And he did.
Reggie and Twister looked disbelieveingly at Audrey and Otto, and then directly at each other. They each blinked once, and suddenly, at the exact same time, burst out laughing as well. Nobody had officially kept count, but it seemed to be a good five minutes of nothing but laughing, over and over again, before the situation finally lost some of its humor.
When Otto was able to stop himself, he looked past Audrey to see where the crash he'd heard had come from. It looked as though a snow board had fallen off it's hook, and knocked down four others, creating a sort of domino effect. Audrey's last few giggles died down and she followed Otto's gaze.
"Reggie and I decided to check the equipment tent since we were up early, to make sure each of our teams' gear was okay for the race today, just to be safe," she explained to Otto as she got up off the ground for the second time, being the first one to actually speak. "And we accidentally knocked down a board, as you can see," Audrey said as she waved a hand toward the small mess. She was sill quite shaky. "I guess you guys had the same idea..?"
"Yeah," muttered Otto. And suddenly, he snapped back into reality. "Are you hurt?" he asked Audrey so quickly that it startled even Reggie and Twister. "Oh my god, Audrey, I am so sorry I tackled you, I don't know what I was thinking, I wasn't looking-"
Audrey quickly shook her head and grinned. "Otto, it's okay," she interrupted gently as she took a step toward him. "I'm fine - just a little surprised, that's all. Have you ever played football before?" she asked jokingly.
Otto merely grinned and shook his head. "I'm glad you're okay," he muttered, looking directly at her.
In an attempt to remind them that he and Reggie were still there, Twister spoke up. "Somebody got a cheesy threat from Theodore and wanted to make sure his gear was still in shape for the race," he said, staring pointedly at Otto. "That's why Otto and me came here in the first place."
When Audrey heard that, she looked alarmingly at Otto. "Can we talk?" she asked him quietly. "About that.."
"Sure," Otto said quickly, then looked at Reggie and Twister. "Are you guys all right?"
Reggie nodded and threw Twister a playful look. "I'm fine, thanks. Twister and I can put these boards back. You guys go ahead to breakfast, alright?"
Audrey smiled gratefully at them. "Thanks guys," she said. "I owe you one." She began to walk toward the door of the tent, and beckoned for Otto to follow her. With one last appreciative look at Reggie and Twister, Otto quickly crossed the length of the equipment tent to follow in Audrey's wake.
Audrey and Otto walked slowly out of the tent together. Audrey chose a faded dirt path that led a scenic route through the forest and along a large lake that Otto hadn't noticed in his short time here. He silently walked at her side, staring at the ground. For the next few minutes, the only thing that could be heard was the soft crunching sound their feet made as they advanced upon the path.
Audrey finally turned to look at Otto and grinned. "That sure was weird in there, huh?"
"Yeah," Otto breathed with a grin.
"So," she said meekly, examining one of her fingernails, "What was that about back there? When Twister said that Theodore threatened you?"
"Oh," said Otto, laughing slightly. The last thing he wanted for to Audrey to know he was actually worried about it. "Theodore came up to me before I went to bed last night, and basically told me he was going to do something to me if I didn't leave you alone," he said casually.
"He said that?!" said Audrey angrily, her hazel eyes bulging out as she turned to face Otto. "I'm going to give him a piece of my mind when I see him-"
"No, you don't have to!" Otto insisted quickly. But he regained his cool composure in an instant. "Don't go out of your way," he said nonchalantly. "At least wait until all the races are over."
Audrey sighed and ran a hand impatiently through her hair. "I'll try," she muttered. "I'm just really sorry that he made you worry. But I suspected he would do something he like that. That's just the kind of person he is."
"He didn't worry me!" Otto said quickly. "No, uh, I just wanted to make sure he wasn't going to do anything.. The competition is really important to me, you know."
"Well, about that," Audrey said, a bit more cheerfully, "Reggie and I checked out your equipment, as well as hers and Twister's. Reggie just wanted to make sure that it was okay for the race. And everything is fine," she assured him. "We were checking the snowboards when you guys, er.."
"Again, I'm sorry about that," Otto muttered, the heat rising in his face. "It was so stupid."
But Audrey just waved a hand and grinned. "It's okay," she said again. "I forgive you!"
After a short while of walking in silence once more, Audrey and Otto finally came upon the familiar entrance grounds, where the cafeteria cabin sat peacefully, the aroma of bacon and syrup floating from it temptingly.
They entered the cafeteria and were mildly surprised to find that it was completely full. Every other kid at the camp had apparently woken up early and gone to breakfast as well. Audrey and Otto found a seat amongst the others right next to Sammy.
"Squid, this is Audrey," Otto muttered unimportantly as he took a large bite of frech toast. He didn't really want to draw too much attention to her. The last thing he needed would be for the Squid to suddenly like her too.
Sammy turned from a book he was reading at the table to Audrey, who sat on the other side of Otto and smiled. "Hi," she said, putting up her hand into a little wave.
"Hello," said Sammy cheerfully, turning back to his book.
Audrey glanced curiously at the book that Sammy was reading. "Is that the Lord of the Rings?" she asked with interest.
Sammy looked back up, surprised. "Uh.. Yeah," he said with a grin. "So wait, you read?"
Audrey raised an eyebrow and looked at him skeptically. "Er.. yes, I love Lord of the Rings. And many other books," she said acidly.
"No, no! I didn't mean it like that!" Sammy said immediately, shaking his chubby head from side to side. "I'm just surprised, that's all. Usually serious athletes aren't into books." Sammy laughed and jerked his thumb at Otto. "I'll bet the longest thing Otto's ever read was an article about Tony Hawk."
Otto's face turned red and he smacked Sammy on the back of the head. "Shut up, Squid," he muttered. Audrey was watching them with amusement.
"I read!" Otto said indignantly to her. When she only grinned, he said, "What? I do!"
To Otto's great relief, he noticed that Reggie and Twister had arrived at the breakfast cabin as well, skimming the various tables for any sign of their friends. Audrey noticed as well, and together they were able to flag them down.
"Hey, dude," Twister muttered to Otto as he sat heavily onto the bench of their table, next to Sammy. Reggie took a seat on Audrey's empty side.
After a while of talking, eating, and laughing about the incident in the tent, Otto noticed out of the corner of his eye that Theodore was sitting at a neighboring table, glaring right at him.
Audrey noticed as well, and leaned toward Otto to whisper in his ear. "He's jealous," she explained quietly. "That I'm sitting with you."
Otto could feel her warm breath on his ear with each word she spoke, and it sent soft shivers up his spine. He turned his head to look at Audrey, and her face was only inches away from his, if even that far. He had a sudden urge to kiss her, but instead, his hands started to shake and he dropped the cup of orange juice he was holding, right onto his lap.
* * *
Note: FYI, the competition finally starts next chapter!! Romance doesn't start for a few more chapters. Hang in there! As a hormone-enraged, romance-obsessed teenager, I feel your pain! ;-)
