Author's Note: Growing Bumlets obsession? Oh yeah, baby. And by the way, I'd like you guys to know that this story takes place in 2130 AD. :-) There was a little confusion on that, lol. It's futuristic sci-fi! HOORAY!
Disclaimer: CASTING CALL CLOSED! Thank you guys SO MUCH for your characters, I LOVE THEM ALL! The newsies belong to Disney, casting call characters belong to their respective owners, and Stewart and the Island belong to me. WOO HOO!!
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"People — you can't live with 'em, period."
-Marshall Kirk
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The problem wasn't that I liked where I had been. That orphanage was absolute crap, I hated it there. Really. I was glad to get away.
No, the problem was that I now found myself sitting in a small elevator that smelled strongly antiseptic and looked overly clean, and I had no idea where I was heading off to. There were no windows so I couldn't even make some sort of vague assumption as to where this thing was going. I was just — stuck.
Ironically enough, the thing stopped just then, the door opened, and the whole thing kind of tipped, pushing me out. "Holy shit—" I swore as I hit the ground and toppled onto all fours. Stupid machine. Probably did that just to annoy me. I rolled over, rubbing the side of my face where it had hit the ground, and sat with my elbow resting on my knee.
The elevator sat there for a minute, gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight. Cocky.
Then I blinked — and it was gone.
"Whoa," I muttered to myself, still gingerly rubbing my cheekbone. What the hell was going on?? I had been in the middle of a lesson with the rest of the guys, and suddenly a bunch of dudes in black came in and swept me away.
And now I was here.
For the first time, I really looked around. I was sitting at the edge of — something. I had never seen so many trees in my life. There were hundreds of thousands grouped together, their leaves a gleaming rich green in the sunlight. I had seen one or two scrawny little trees a little while ago when I was moving between orphanages, but never so many — and so healthy. I didn't know forests existed any more.
Because that's what you would call it. A forest, right? One of those fantastical legends from a billion years ago.
The grass around me was thick and green, fading slowly out into yellow-white sand. And — oh lord — there was this vast expanse of water stretching as far as the eye could see. Blue-green, ever-moving, salty water.
Holy shit. Where the hell was I?
I scrunched up my nose, thinking hard. I have the tendency to do that, it drives people crazy. The guys in black hadn't given any sort of explanation. They had handed Mrs. Selden an envelope which she read with eyebrows raised before looking at me.
"Good luck, Marius," she said.
I hated that. That she used my real name instead of my nickname, Bumlets, and that she hadn't clarified anything at all.
And with that they brought me outside and forced me into a large black automobile. One of the real nasty ones, with the hard metallic smell and no driver. Just a control panel operated by the car itself. The two dudes sat on either side of me we drove off to some other building, from which I was dumped into the elevator.
What. The. Hell.
"HALLELUJAH!" someone yelled from behind me, causing me to jump a foot in the air. I bit my lip so as not to swear as strong, slender arms were wrapped tightly around my shoulders.
"What the—" I tried my best to turn around, but soon realized that it was impossible. Instead, I was forced to wait for the person to let go of me and sit down on the grass beside me.
She was rather small with strawberry-blonde hair and big blue eyes. A pair of sunglasses rested over her forehead, reflecting the sun directly into my eyes.
Sometimes I think God really hates me.
"Aww man I'm so happy!" she gasped. No shit. "I thought I was the only person here! I'm Sapphy, it's nice to meet you." She held out her hand.
I looked her over before tentatively shaking her hand. Her grip was surprisingly firm and her smile didn't falter at my hesitation. "I'm Bumlets," I said finally.
"That's an interesting name."
"Heh. Sapphy."
"Aw shaddup, at least mine makes sense in context." She pulled her knees up to her chest and looked out over the ocean, still smiling vaguely. How the hell could she be so goddamn HAPPY?? We were on a friggin' deserted island!
"So," she said after a minute. "Any idea where we are?"
"No."
We sat there for a couple minutes more without saying anything. She stuck her finger in the dirt and drew a squiggly line. "Man, you really don't talk much, do you?" she said finally.
"No."
"Ah well. To each his own." She stood up and brushed her hands off on her skirt.
"Whoa."
"What?"
I pointed at her shirt. "You're from Winters Orphanage?"
"Thus the Winters Orphanage uniform, yes." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Why?"
"I'm from Tuckerman's, we're right around the corner," I said, shrugging.
"Seriously?" she asked, eyebrows raised. "That's weird. What're the chances of the only other person on this island living right around the corner? That's ... That's weird."
"There could be other people on the island," I said quietly.
"Ya think so?" Sapphy smiled at the prospect. Definitely a people person, I decided. "Well then let us find them! Come, good sir, we shall turn our backs on this desolate place and ensue good company!" She grabbed my forearm and pulled me up.
Whoa. Weird.
But — good.
I liked her.
The two of us headed into that — that mass of green leaves and black trunks, Sapphy singing some random song in Old English. ("PAAASTIME WITH GOOD COMPANY, I LOVE AND SHALL UNTIL I DIIIIE! ENVY SOME BUT NONE DENY, SO GOD BE PLEASED THUS LIVE WILL IIIII!") Honestly, if there was any other form of human life, I think she may have scared them to the other side of the island.
"Hey Sapph?" I said suddenly.
"Mm-hmm?"
"Do you think there's any kind of ... like, wild animals here?"
She stopped and ran a hand through her hair. "I honestly have no—" She broke off abruptly, looking through the trees to the side. I followed her gaze.
Three figures were standing at the edge of the trees, hands in their pockets, deep in discussion. Their backs were to us but I could tell that two of them were guys and one was a girl. I looked at Sapphy.
She smiled at me. "Aw come on, we should go and say hi!!" she said brightly and hurried over to them.
I knew she would say that.
I allowed myself to be dragged over to them, cringing inwardly. I wouldn't call myself antisocial, but I'm definitely an introvert. Not too anxious to meet every single living creature on this — island thing.
"Hey!" Sapphy called out. The three whipped around, surprised. The girl on the end almost fell over. Ha, I could relate.
"Hey," said one of the guys. He was tallish with large teeth and brown hair. He looked friendly enough, I guess. Kind of scared, but friendly.
"I'm Sapphy," said Sapphy.
"I'm Snitch," said the guy. His smile was growing steadily more confident now that he realized neither of us was holding bloody spears or loaded guns. "And this is Scout and Skittery," he added as an afterthought.
"Hey," said Scout amiably, shaking Sapphy's hand. She looked at me.
"Oh — this recluse over here is Bumlets," said Sapphy. She patted my back and winked at me. "He's an introvert."
Aw thanks.
"As opposed to...?" said Snitch, smiling at her.
She grinned back. "An extremely extroverted sixteen-year-old orphan with a lot to say."
"You're an orphan too?" asked Skittery slowly. I was beginning to understand his name. Paranoid lunatic, he kept looking around nervously like something was about to jump out of the bushes any minute.
"Yeah."
"Are you kidding me?" Scout demanded.
"What — you're an orphan too?" said Snitch, surprised.
"Yes! I lived in a Connecticut orphanage for all my life."
"The Jefferson Orphanage of California," said Snitch. "Too weird."
"We're all orphans here?" I asked.
Sapphy looked around. "Well — yes."
Whoa. I could tell I wasn't the only person really creeped out by all of this. I think I spot a pattern! Ooh goody, I'm so clever!
Just then, two other girls came around the corner from where they had obviously been walking along the beach. The shorter one, who was quite pretty with black hair, brown eyes, and pale skin, was giving some sort of vivid description (and using her hands a lot as she talked, might I add). The other girl was taller, also with black hair, and she was listening intently.
"HELLO!" Sapphy yelled. "ARE EITHER OF YOU BETWEEN THE AGES OF FOURTEEN AND SEVENTEEN AND AN ORPHAN?"
Both girls looked up with identical expressions of astonishment on their faces. Then they glanced at each other and headed over to us. "Um — yeah," said the taller one. "I'm Kyriel — and yeah, now that you mention it, I'm sixteen and an orphan."
"AAH! Seriously?" the other girl gasped. "Me too! I'm Coin, by the way," she added, smiling at us.
"Well, coincidentally, we're all orphans of about the same age," said Snitch, running a hand through his hair. "And I am wicked creeped out."
Californians. Gotta love 'em.
"Allow me to introduce everyone, since it seems like nobody else is going to do it," said Sapphy, grinning. "I'm Sapphy, and this is Scout, Snitch, Skittery, and Bumlets."
"Nice to meet you."
"ON MY OWWWWN! PRETENDING HE'S BESIIIDE MEEEE! ALL ALONE I WALK WITH HIM TILL MORNIIIIIING! WITHOUT HIM I FEEL HIS ARMS AROUND MEEE! AND WHEN I LOSE MY WAY I CLOSE MY EYES AND HE HAS FOUND MEEEEE!"
A girl and a boy waltzed from the trees — or rather, the girl waltzed and the guy kind of trailed behind awkwardly.
"You know Les Misérables??" Sapphy gasped.
The girl stopped and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. My — my mom has an old CD of all the songs. It's fantastic."
For once, Sapphy was at a loss for words. I honestly had no idea what the hell they were talking about; Les Miser-wha? Who listened to music anymore? It had been outlawed years ago. Sapphy mouthed silently for a minute and then grinned. "I'm Sapphy."
"I'm Ershey," said the girl. She flicked her wavy black hair out of her eyes and put her hands in her pockets.
"And I'm Mush," said the guy after a minute.
Snitch cackled. I didn't blame him. Mush ... and the ironic thing was, he was most certainly not a mushy kind of person. He was totally ripped, man! From what I could see through his long-sleeved t-shirt, anyway — which did, by the way, have the R. J. Williams Orphanage emblem on it.
We quickly introduced ourselves. Dude, the group was definitely growing fast. Sapphy, me, Snitch, Skittery, Scout (aah to many S-names!!), Coin, Kyriel, Ershey, and Mush...
Apparently, Scout was thinking along the same lines as I was. "Whoa. What are we now? Nine? This is crazy — WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??"
Dude. Applause. Couldn't have said it better myself.
"Ok, well — I was kinda dumped in this elevator-type deal for no clear reason and deposited here," said Ershey.
"Yeah, same here," said Skittery.
"And I'm getting really nervous," said Ershey.
"Yeah, same here," said Skittery.
"Skittery, hon, you're always nervous," Sapphy pointed out.
He actually smiled. He actually smiled. It was surprising — Sapphy had the tendency to bring out the best in people without any effort. I dunno how the hell she did it, but she was extremely good at it.
She looked at my suddenly. "All right," she said, "you're being freakishly quiet. Say something, for God's sake!"
I blinked. "I'd like to get moving," I said quietly. "It's a big island; there could be other people here, y'know?"
"Good idea," said Kyriel. "I'm getting kinda twitchy, anyway."
"Well then let's go!" said Coin excitedly. Yeah, she was definitely an excitable person.
Honestly? I didn't think we'd find anyone else. I mean, how many kids could they possibly have dumped on this place?
A lot.
Twenty-three, actually. No, I'm not kidding.
About fifteen of them were hanging out at the edge of the forest, pretty close to where Sapphy and I started out. A tall girl in the middle with cropped strawberry-blonde hair was telling some sort of story, emphasizing a lot and using a load of facial expression. The others were listening raptly, laughing and gasping (and singing, in the case of some) at all the right moments.
"AHA!" yelled the girl in the middle, stopping in mid-sentence. "NEWCOMERS ON THE HORIZON! AHOY!"
Sapphy's new best friend? You betchya.
"I'm Christabel, but you guys can call me Bel," said the girl, grinning. She then went on to introduce her fanclub: Nani, Specs, Dutchy, Cat, Granny, Jack, Alaska, Pie Eater (I think Ershey wet herself from laughing so hard when she heard his name), Emily, Spitfire, David, Flare, Itey, Blink, and King.
"Don't tell me — you guys are all orphans, right?" said Kyriel with a half-smile.
"My parents died a while back," Alaska said. "Why? Are—"
"Yeah, same here," said Blink. "Car accident. I got a souvenir, too." He gestured towards the patch that was covering his left eye with a grim smile.
King didn't say anything, but I noticed her shifting her long brown legs uncomfortably. There was a thin scar running from her kneecap to the middle of her shin and she seemed to be wishing she wasn't wearing shorts.
"Dude, this is just getting weirder and weirder," Skittery muttered to me.
"Tell me about it," I murmured back.
Cat sat (ooh it rhymes!) down on the sand and blew her dirty blonde hair out of her eyes. "Well I just think—"
Before she could finish her sentence, however, a gleaming white elevator materialized before us all. With a swishing noise, the doors slid open and a teenage boy was tossed out onto the sand. "Aw crap—" he muttered as he fell.
Face getting implanted into sand. I could relate.
The elevator disappeared and the guy stood up shakily, arms crossed over his chest. He looked up, spotted all of us, leapt backwards, then recollected himself and stepped forwards again. "Hey," he said slowly, smiling.
There was a resounding sigh from all the girls as the pupils of their eyes turned into little hearts. This guy was extremely good-looking, to put it simply. He had softly curled dark brown hair, a piercing in his right eyebrow, and a body to match Mush's (and that's definitely saying something).
In the end, it was King who spoke first. "Hey," she said. "I'm assuming you have no idea why you're here, either."
"You assume correctly," he said charmingly. "I'm James Charleston but you can call me Bandit — everyone else does, anyway."
"HOLY SHIT! All right, I had NO IDEA there were so many people in this place!" someone laughed, coming across the beach. He was small and obviously Italian, and he was standing amidst about nine other teenagers. They were a lively bunch, kind of hopping over to us with big smiles on their faces. "Racetrack Higgins," said the guy, grinning. "Nice to meet you all. Kind of a scrawny bunch, aren't you?"
Sapphy snorted. "This coming from the shortest guy I have ever met," she said.
"Why thank you, miss," he said pleasantly. "And you are?"
"Sapphy."
"Well I see I'm not the only one with a bizarre name. Wonderful!" He clapped his hands together and grinned at us all. "This here's Spot, Braids, Irish, Chris, Soaker — aah, where's — oh there you are — Crutchy, Boots, Nova, and Swifty."
My eyes, which had been going over each person in turn, rested longest on Swifty. I don't know why. There was just something about him — the way he held himself, the good-natured vibes coming from him. He tilted his head to the side and smiled at me, wiggling his eyebrows slightly. I smiled back shyly.
"Has anyone figured out what we're gonna eat?" asked Pie Eater suddenly.
Way to ruin the romantic moment. Sheesh.
Irish looked at Chris. "I haven't even thought of that," she said slowly.
"We'll go fishing!!" Braids exclaimed, her braids bouncing. (Whoa — I just got it. Braids. Heh heh...)
Spot looked at her like she had five heads. "Are you outta your MIND??" he demanded. She grinned and opened her mouth (probably to say "But of course, my dear!") but he cut her off. "Does anyone here know how to go fishing? Seriously."
I kind of did. I didn't want to say anything, though, so I kept my head down and put my hands in my pockets. Nobody else raised their hand and Spot turned back to Braids, victorious. "Mwahaha," he said.
Am I the only one sensing major flirtation between the pair of them?
I didn't think so.
"It was just a suggestion," she said, pouting. "Besides, how else are we gonna get food? I didn't see any sort of ... fruit or anything in the forest."
"We can't eat raw fruit!" said Soaker. "Are you insane, it'd kill us!!" (A/N: I'm SO SORRY I gave Soaker this ditzy line; it's not because I don't like her, it's 'cause I'm trying to show that in this time period the human race is extremely...dependant on technology. FORGIVE ME, SOAKER!!)
"Does anyone have a watch?" Granny asked suddenly, looking at the darkening sky.
We all looked at our wrists. It was kind of funny — even those of us who knew we didn't have watches on still looked down out of habit. "They took my watch from me in the car," said Nova after a second of silence in which we all wondered where our watches were.
"Yeah, me too," said Emily.
"I HAVE A TANLINE FROM MY WATCH!" yelled Itey.
"Why do you think they took them from us?" Alaska wondered out loud. "I mean it's not like we could really do anything with them..."
"AAAH!" Flare yelled. "THEY TOOK MY LIGHTER!!"
"Ok," said Blink. "What the hell. Does anyone have anything remotely modern on them besides clothes and jewelry and all that crap?"
We all turned our pockets inside out and I think I saw Sapphy checking down her bra. "No," said Specs finally. "I'm completely cleaned out."
"I'm no better off; all I've got are my earrings and they're not even that nice," said Nani, grinning despite the rather morose situation.
"We're screwed," said Chris bluntly.
Just then there was a faint rumble of thunder in the distance, as if to say "Not yet you're not". Ershey groaned. "I hate rain!" she moaned.
"So do I," said Mush glumly.
"Hey, let's not make any assumptions," Racetrack pointed out, grinning. "It could be hail." Cat threw her hat at him.
And thus we went to bed, awkwardly curling up on the sand or leaning against tree trunks. I pulled my legs against my chest and leaned back against a tree, far from Sapphy and Ershey (who, as I soon realized, sang in their sleep). I had never slept outdoors before; it was a bizarre experience, with the wind rustling my dark hair and the soft splashing of the waves filling my ears.
It would have been relaxing had our situation been a little less confusing and frightening. I tried to clear my thoughts of anything vaguely relating to beaches, orphans, and sterile white elevators.
Nevertheless, the last thing I did before I was dead to the world was wonder blearily where Swifty had decided to sleep for the night.
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Author's Note: Man, that is LONG for me! WOO HOO! No shoutouts tonight, I'm sorry. I hope I got everyone in, and I'm sorry if you didn't get as many lines as you would have hoped. I'm new at this, all right? I've never worked with more than seven characters at a time, and here I was with 36. Dude. Anyway, leave a review and I'll love you forever! :-D
-Saturday