Previously:
The black gate opened and Daphne stepped in, turning back one more time to wave at Fred, "Walk safe," she ordered softly.
Fred waved back, "See you tomorrow at the tree house," he said before walking off.
"Come on, Velma, at least tell us something," urged Shaggy as the four teens and Scooby sat under the tree their childhood tree house sat upon. They'd long outgrown the spacious wooden box perched high up in the branches of the beech tree, so now the gang simply sat beneath it.
"Forget it, Shaggy," answered the unmistakable voice of Velma, who had not even spared a glance to him as she just continued working on the same device she'd been fiddling with yesterday afternoon, "Let's just leave it at: I can be very persuasive when I want to be. And little Macky simply hates my methods of going about it."
"Daph, come over here and take a look at this," called out Freddie from beside Velma and Shaggy on the grass. Daph, who was sitting a little ways away from them all on a plush patio chair, looking through a fashion magazine with her legs propped up on the side of the deck, tore her gaze from an article about ten different techniques of applying mascara to look over at her friends. Setting her magazine down on the table beside her, Daphne stood up and walked over to where they were.
"What is it?" Daphne asked, taking a seat on the grass in front of Fred.
Grinning, Fred handed over a section of the Coolsville Journal. Her brows burrowed as she looked at the classified ads Fred had just given her. "Which one?" she asked, looking up at him.
Fred pointed to a part and Daphne inspected it. With a small lopsided smile, Daphne looked back up and said, "Freddie, this is a corvette. There're not enough seats for all of us."
Fred's face broke into a wide grin and he shrugged, taking the paper back from her, "There's no harm in dreaming, Daph." With a loud giggle, Daphne playfully shoved Fred's shoulder and checked her wrist watch, her face dropping.
"Oh, I guess it's getting late. I've still got to pack for the trip."
Fred and Velma checked the time as well, their shoulders sagging slightly. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," said Velma. The four teens stood up.
With a slightly dampened spirit, Shaggy pet Scooby and asked, "Like, when do you guys leave?"
"Well, our jet is leaving tomorrow at 11 a.m. sharp," Daphne answered, fingering her thin scarf around her neck.
Fred and Velma exchanged looks. Even though they weren't going to the exact same camp, their buses would be meeting in the same place to take them. They had agreed earlier that day to walk together to the Coolsville football field, the said meeting place.
"Our buses leave at 9 a.m. tomorrow," answered Fred.
"So, I guess this is goodbye for the summer," chimed in Velma, biting her lip and looking at her shoes.
"Guess so," Daphne said softly, looking at her hands clasped in front of her.
Scooby gave a great sniffle, causing four pairs of eyes to look his way. "Oh, Scooby, don't cry," said Daphne in half soothing/half quivering voice as she strained to blink back tears.
"Yeah, Velma and I'll only be gone for two months, that leaves two entire weeks at the end of summer to hang out," spoke Fred.
"And I'll be back a little later after that," said Daphne, walking forward to give Scooby a big hug. Velma came over as well and patted his head while Fred and Shaggy exchanged a manly secret handshake. After that, the girls both gave Shaggy great big bear hugs.
"Come on, girls, I'll walk you home," said Fred, waving his final farewells to Shaggy and Scooby.
"You've got those numbers we gave you?" called back Velma as the three others walked out of Shaggy's yard.
Shaggy held up a sheet of Daphne's purple stationary, showing three separate numbers in pink ink, "Like, yeah, man, I've got 'em."
"Don't hesitate to call if you need to, Shaggy! And have a great summer!" shouted Daphne right before they walked out of view.
"So you two will get to see each other, then?" asked Daphne as Velma and Fred went into more detail about their camps' schedules and plans.
Fred shrugged and replied, "Well, every other Saturday. That's when the two camps are allowed to interact with each other. Since our camps are right across the lake from one another, we switch hosts. One visit my camp will go over to Velma's, the next visit hers comes over to mine."
Daphne smiled and nodded, squinting as the sun's last bit of visible rays peaked out from behind the horizon, past some larger trees up ahead. "What do you guys do on the visits?"
"Well, we have competitions, mostly. This will be my seventh year there, and it's always tradition to start off the visits with one massive tug-a-war between the two camps." She grinned mischievously at Fred and went on, "My camp always wins."
Fred grinned lopsidedly as he objected good-naturedly, "No way, Velma. It's always been my camp!"
"Uh-huh, well we'll just have to see this year, won't we?" said Velma, slowing down as they neared her house. She gave a sigh and turned to look at the other two, "You guys didn't have to walk me home. It's not even in the general direction of your house."
Daphne shrugged, her face bright, and said, "We wanted to." Her expression turned sadder and she looked down at her hands once more, "Have a great time at camp, Velma," she said quietly. Daphne closed the distance between her and Velma and embraced her in a warm hug, which Velma sadly returned. When they parted, a tear had made its way down Daphne's cheek while she sniffled and backed away.
Fred grinned as he threw a comforting arm around Daphne's shoulders and said, "I'll be over around 7:30 tomorrow, alright Velma?"
Velma nodded, sniffling the tiniest of bits herself before answering, "Alright, see you tomorrow Fred. Daphne, have a safe and fun trip. Bring me a souvenir."
Daphne's laugh quivered slightly as she replied while Fred and her started to walk back in the same direction they'd just come from, "Will do. Keep in touch, ok?"
Velma nodded and walked into her house.
Daphne leaned her head on Freddie's shoulder, frowning. It was going to be really hard to leave her friends for that long…but, they'd all done the same thing each year. Daphne couldn't even remember a time when all four of them had been home for the entire summer together. Despite the yearly tradition, it was still hard each time to not see her friends everyday. Not seeing Freddie would be the hardest though. He was her best friend, and she his.
She knew Fred the longest out of all of them from way back in kindergarten. Though her parents had seemed adamant about their only daughter attending a- gasp- public school, Daphne had thrown a temper tantrum to change their minds purely because she knew that the private school they wished to send her to would make her wear an ugly, and quite unfashionable, school uniform. That was something Daphne simply would not allow. First grade was when she'd met Shaggy and Velma. Velma had skipped through kindergarten straight up to first grade because, well, face it, she was a genius.
"So, tell me a little about your camp friends, Freddie," Daphne finally spoke, pulling her head away from the said person's shoulder.
Fred smiled nostalgically, "Well, let's see…there's Mike, one of my closest friends there. He can play basketball almost as good as me," Daphne laughed at Fred's fake cockiness and he continued, "Then there's Brian, basically he thinks he's as good as Mike and me at sports… but really he isn't. Larry, Phil, Dave…let's see…Tori, Candace, Sheryl, and finally Becky."
Daphne smiled and asked playfully, "Is that all?"
Fred poked her side and laughed, "Probably not, but at the moment I just can't remember."
Daphne gasped in an overly dramatic way, bringing the back of her wrist to her forehead, "Oh dear," she said in a breathless and sarcastic tone, "Poor Freddie…too many friends, he just doesn't know what to do."
Again Fred poked her side and she jumped, poking him right back. They both continued walking in another comfortable silence. They soon reached the Blake's family manor and stopped right outside the black iron gate.
Daphne turned around to face Fred, frowning. She fiddled with the edge of her pink, casual summer dress for a few moments. Tucking a lock of red hair behind her ear, Daphne looked up at Fred. Forcing a sad smile, Daphne moved forward, stepping on her toes and embraced him fiercely. He earnestly returned the hug, burying his face in her hair, breathing in her strawberry scented shampoo. Pulling back, Daphne's bright smile was back on her face.
Though it didn't need to be asked again, Daphne repeated the same question she'd asked only the night before, looking him straight in the eyes, "You will write to me, won't you?"
Nodding reassuringly, Fred replied, "I promise. Every single Monday. And I expect a reply from each of them."
Smiling again, Daphne reached for Freddie's hand, squeezed it, then let it drop to his side when she turned around and had Jenkins let her through. She stood on the other side of the gate, watching Freddie walk away to his own house. He paused once to turn and glance back at her. She raised her hand slowly to her mouth, half of it meant as a motionless wave and the other half used to partly over her mouth as a silent sob overtook her body. Simultaneously, Daphne and Fred both turned their backs and walked in different directions, each going home.
A/N- that's longerJ. Well, anyhoo I hope you enjoyed it! I'd love to hear some feedback (hint- I love to read long reviews, lol). Special thanks to:
Eternity15- thanks for reviewing again! I just hope I'm not making them too out of character, teehee.
Reviewer- Yeah, my computer does that sometimes, too. Don't ya just hate technology sometimes :-)? Thanks for the review and that is such a sweet compliment. You rock!
Dreamdog- Thanks so much! I'm honored; you've added me to your Favorites! Wahoo! Yeah, I know this story could use a little more work hopefully it gets better as I go along .
Keira- I kept writing :-). Thank you so much for reviewing!
Seal Pup- I think your question should be revealed in later chapters, though I can't be positive on that ;-). Anyhoo, I hope you like this long chapter as well! Thanks for the review!