"Stop it! Go away!" A harsh voice interrupted their song. Both faces turned towards the figure on the couch, smiling. A little girl with long red hair stepped forward, grinning at their audience before turning back to her playmate, another girl but one with dark brown curls.
"Let's play!" She chanted waving.
"Okay."
Both girls giggled and fell to the ground running their fingers across the surface. "Look Ch…"
"Let's play Rosies!" Her red hair bounced as she stood to her feet helping pull up her friend.
Ring around the roses, pocket full of posies…"You don't belong here!"
"Cayleigh…will we be friends forever?"
"I guess." The little girl with all to clear blue eyes shrugged. "We're sisters."
Satisfied she started to walk away. "let's go bake cookies."
"I love you Chloe!" Cayleigh shouted running after her.
"I love you to Cayleigh."
And that was it; they ran away leaving the image of their white cotton dresses blowing in the breeze stuck in their guests mind. Hope held her face in her hands hiding from the light creeping through the blinds. That was the last time they had played together in the field next to their summerhouse because a few months later their parent's got a divorce as it turned out her mom wanted Chloe, so her dad got her. "Nothings changed." She mumbled standing to her feet and walking back to her room.
"Stop!" Sneaks cried out in her sleep thrashing in the covers making a knotted mess of the pale blue sheets. "Let go!"
"Sneaks it's okay! It's okay!" Hope whispered closing the door to their room and flipping on the light, "It's okay." She sat there looking around for anything, anything that could help her bring Sneaks out of her dream.
"Run Isobelle! Run!"
"What?" She looked around frantically hearing the sirens in the distance. "No!"
"Run!"
"I won't leave you!" She screamed grabbing for her brothers arm.
Graft stared down at her, her body trembling with adrenaline and fear. "You have to! That's the only way you're going to be safe."
"I can't leave you! I can't." He pushed her away from him.
"Go!" He heard the sirens becoming louder and louder. "They're almost here you have to go. You can't get caught."
"You go!" She pleaded running back towards him.
Graft wrapped his arms around her quickly for a brief embrace. He kissed her forehead and pushed her back into the darkness of the alley. "Go!"
Sneaks stood against the wall blending in with the night and watched her brother stand there without trying to fight them off. He knew it was his last chance he was seventeen he had to let her go.
"You! Put your hands above your head!" The police officer shouted handcuffing Graft's hands behind his back. "Think your tough?"
Sneaks whimpered in the dark, sinking to her knees. "It's not fair…he's all I have!" She wanted to run out there and scream at the officer to let her brother go to pretend this never happened.
WHACK. She heard the sound of cracking bone and a loud groan. Sneaks stood up and covered her ears so she couldn't hear the cries anymore, so she could get away and escape her brothers torment.
"I want to go!" She screamed punching the bed next to her.
"Hush little baby, don't say a word, mommas gonna buy you a mockingbird and if that mockingbird don't sing, mommas gonna buy you a diamond ring…" Hope sat on the floor in front of her twin bed and sang quietly, hoping it may help calm Sneaks down. "and if that diamond ring don't shine, mommas gonna buy you a…"
"Hope?" Sneaks whispered her voice cracking.
"Yeah?"
"Why are you singing?"
"You were having a nightmare…I couldn't think of any other way to maybe calm you down."
Sneaks smiled and sat up. "Well thanks for, well I don't know what for but thanks."
"You wanna talk about it?"
"No. Not yet at least."
"Okay." Hope stood up and grabbed her towel before heading to the bathroom. "I'm here though."
~*~*~*~
Sage pulled out a pair of blue jeans and a light green tank top her mother had bought her before she left. "Be careful, don't do anything to strenuous. I know you like to push your limits but please Chloe try to be safe." Her mother had pleaded with her in the car as if Sage was supposed to have some sort of wild idea and jump off a cliff while away at camp. She loved her mother she do anything for her. It's not like her life had been miserable and camp was a way to commit suicide. She had a decent relationship with her mom.
Sage looked over at Whisper to make sure she was sleeping soundly, and did everything in her power to keep it that way. She hated answering questions. Her hands were getting tanner as the rest of her body. Camp would be a good way to get sun was another one of her mother's comments in the advantages box. Sage just tied her long red wavy locks back. The green tank top was a little looser then it had been when they left but she didn't worry. When she changed her pants she noticed the green and purple bruise on her thigh. It was fresh. She sat there for a moment and scrapped her mind for a hint of where it came from.
"What?" Chloe exclaimed looking from her mother to her doctor. "This isn't happening."
"I'm afraid so." Dr. Trough told her.
"Mom, mom say something!" Chloe shouted.
"What do we have to do?"
"She'll have to be on medication and maybe even come in for some more tests. This is a serious issue but since we detected it early on it will be easier to prevent any relapses or further growth. We'll be able to control it."
"That's it?" Chloe looked at her mom wearing a hopeful expression.
Of course not, Dr. Trough interrupted. "Actually you will need to rest more often so your white blood cells can reproduce efficiently. You won't be allowed in crowded areas for at least the first few months until were positive what form you have."
"So no school?" Her mother asked.
"No I'm afraid not, not until the tests results are back."
Chloe flipped through the pamphlet her doctor had given her to "explain the rest." "So what am I supposed to do?"
"Act normal, carry on with your life. Of course avoid people who are sick because you have a very high chance of contracting whatever illness they have."
"Normal! Normal with giant bruises on my thighs and my arms?," She mumbled sarcastically.
"Hunny, we'll buy you some more pants and a few jackets alright. Everything will be okay." Her mother reassured her massaging her shoulder.
"Hey whisper." Sage checked her arms and then tucked the jacket back under her pillow. "Whisper wake up. If you're going to take a shower you may want to head on in there now. It sounds like Hope's finishing up."
"Don't you have to take one?" Her voice was low and her eyes shut.
"No, I took mine last night to avoid the epic "who gets to use the mirror first" fights." Sage smiled and left the room giving her poster of Derek Jeter a quick wink before heading out.
Whisper stared at the picture and sighed heavily wiping a tear from her eye.
"Yes! Can you believe we are going to see Derek Jeter in like five hours?" Nichol asked grinning from ear to ear.
"Even though we've seen him before," Whisper joked.
"Yeah I guess, but it's still exciting and this time we have the best seats in the house."
"Will you two pipsqueaks quiet down?" Nichols grandpa asked jokingly.
"Yes sir."
"You may want to get some sleep its going to be a long trip and I know you two want to be like energizer bunnies when you see Derek Jeter play, AGAIN." He told them.
Quietly Whisper pulled out her pillow and leaned it up against the window blocking the sunlight and closing her eyes. "Have a nice nap Nichol."
"You too..." She mumbled already half asleep her leg sprawled over her friends lap.
That was the last day she would ever see a baseball game with Nichol. Whisper stood up and grabbed her clothes bringing her Yankee baseball cap with her.
~*~*~*~*~
Cassidy sat on the edge of her bed staring at a picture of Tuesday.
"I can't do this." She mumbled tracing the pregnancy test box in her hands. The pink cardboard shining back in her pupils, the fluorescent light blinding her making her feel alone and the other moms are buying their teens tampons while she was holding the dreaded pink box. "16" she whispered turning the box over and reading the back. "I'm only sixteen! I'm way too young for this." She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.
Curse boys who couldn't control their raging hormones. Curse her for accepting the date with him and not calling her mom after he had had a drink. It wasn't her fault she told her then again her mother didn't know she was pregnant…or could be.
"Do you need help?" A young lady asked her pins reading "ask me I'm here for you."
"No. I know how to read a box thank you."
"Alright." She started to walk away and Cassidy bit her lip.
"Actually could you help me with what brand to get. There's like twenty and I just need one answer. I'm not sure what to do." Cassidy didn't look the lady in the eye she stared at the ground.
"Here we go." She handed her a teen box and put the other one away. "If you don't mind me asking where the boyfriend is?"
"There isn't one."
"Do you know how to read the test results?"
"No."
"Here I'll help you." She followed Cassidy to the restroom and let her sit in the bathroom for as long as she wanted until she shared the results. Positive. Positive for ruining her life and making teen years all the more complicated.
"So I'm pregnant. I'm another statistic." She mumbled choking back the tears before collapsing against the bathroom door in front of the lady who had helped her and crying just like as a baby would.
Tuesday turned one last Tuesday, three days before she was shipped off to Camp label-Not. Now after she had held her baby, felt her soft skin and seen her first smile there was no way she could get rid of her or even wish she had never had her.
"I wanna soak up the sun!
I wanna tell everyone to
Lighten up…" Bottle cap walked in with her hair wrapped up in a towel and sitting on the top of her head with her hair brush acting like a portable microphone. "Hey nugget. Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah." She was snickering.
"What?"
"You just look like a freak from a movie."
Bottle cap laughed. "Oh that's it? I was worried it was something serious."
"Do you take anything seriously?" Nugget asked because she had noticed most of the time BC acted like she didn't have a care in the world.
"Trust me. I have learned not to take what other people say seriously. Plus I knew you were joking, sometimes you're not so lucky."
"Just do it!" He screamed.
"No! I don't want to, I'm not ready." Andrea told him ordering him to turn her car around.
"You'll be sorry." He warned before speeding off into the distance.
The next day Lori was the first one to arrive by her side. "Did you really do that?"
"Do what?"
"Sleep with Todd!" She exclaimed praying it wasn't true.
"You were kissing him in the hallway yesterday."
"So you kiss Justin in the hallway and am I asking you if you slept with him?" Andrea snapped.
"It's all over the bathroom walls, you're number. He's saying you slept with him and his friends last night Andrea!"
"He's lying!"
"I hope so! But if you did no ones going to blame you."
"Look I don't need you to tell me whose going to blame me! If you believe him then I don't need you to talk to me."
Lori shook her head. "I didn't say I didn't believe you Andrea!" But it was too late she was gone, halfway down the hall and she knew Andrea had no intentions of turning around to acknowledge that Lori existed.
~*~*~*~*~
Jack sat on the porch his knees pulled into his chest, wearing his Cowboy hat and red bandana. The sunrise was suppose to give you hope. At least that's what his mother had always told him.
"We'll go to Sante Fe one day jack." Her dark brown eyes bored a hole into his mind.
"I know."
"You'll like it." She promised. He could almost feel her hand against his shoulder.
"I'll be a cowboy." He closed his eyes and tried to remember his mother's scent.
"I know. I'll be proud of you no matter what you do mom."
Sometimes in the quiet he had been finding himself talking to her like old times, as if she was right there and ready to help him at a seconds notice with whatever he needed. "I promise I'll make you proud mom. One day you'll love me again and we'll be together. Don't worry." He looked up at the sky and smiled.
"You talk to your mom?" Dibs asked taking a seat next to him.
Jack looked around slightly uncomfortable. "Yeah. I'm not crazy you know." He snapped.
"I know! I talk to my brother too." Dibs told him.
"You do?"
"Yeah."
"I've never met anyone that actually understands." Jack told him.
"I miss my brother sometimes so bad that it hurts and I wish I was dead because I can't stand the pain."
"Yeah, Its like your alone." Jack agreed.
They both sat their in silence but it wasn't tension filled or the slightest bit uncomfortable, if anything it was reassuring.
~*~*~*~*~
Jake sat on his bed and strummed on his guitar humming his new melody.
"I bet you your brother would like to learn to play guitar." His mother told him one night at dinner.
He looked up from his soda. "So?"
"So why don't you teach him?"
"Why don't you just buy him lessons?"
"He'd like it better if it were you. He likes you."
Jake pushed his soda away and stood up. "Well I don't like him."
Still to this day Jake had no intention of teaching his new adopted brother how to play guitar and of course his parents bought him lessons and the most expensive guitar they could find.
Spot changed into clean clothes and crawled back under the covers. "Way to early to wake up." He told his roommate half asleep already.
"We're leaving." His parents crouched above his bed and smiled. "It's just s short business trip to Spain."
"Are we coming?"
"No sweetie…we can't bring you, I'm sorry." His mother kissed his forehead softly. "Don't worry though well be back sooner than you think."
"Promise you'll come back?"
"Yes of course."
"Promise you won't be gone to long?" He asked.
"Yes sweetie, we're only going to be gone a week tops." His father said as he stood up and left.
"I love you." His mom whispered giving her son one last kiss.
That was a lie, they came home for a day and then went off to France and so on. They were never home for more than a week at a time and when they were they sure weren't actually at home. They dragged their buts in around six am after a long night of drinking cocktails. After a few years Spot assumed they just stay gone. It'd be a lot easier on him and Andrea had they never come back.
~*~*~*~*~
Skittery woke up in a cold sweat. He had the same nightmare. The one where they were chasing him down alleys and back up streets screaming after him to stop but he hadn't been stupid; they had bats, crow bars and other objects to use against him. All he had was his speed and the fact that he knew the city all to well. Screw prep school gangs he thought to himself. A normal gang, one from the "hood" was just a bunch of angry kids with no money and they sure didn't have a bunch of options. But the prep school gangs were much more dangerous they were filled with anger and hate, weekends with alcohol and drug binges. Their means were unlimited and their daddy's could buy them out of trouble. That's what made them dangerous. The fact that there was no end. Eventually they caught him a beat him. He broke his leg, shattered his knee and had to wear a brace for almost a year.
~*~*~*~
12:00 Noon
Brent field
Challenge Number 3
"The tangled web we weave"
Counselor: Kari
~*~*~*~
"Did everyone wake up okay? I know you guys have only been here for three days and haven't had any real challenges. I want to congratulate Mason high for winning the trivia game we had yesterday. They were the first ones to agree on all the answers and get them right. Way to go Mason. Today however we are going to make the challenge difficult. Everyone from your school will stand in a circle and hold hands, except after grabbing hands the counselors will come around and have you move around while holding hands and then it will be your job to untangle yourselves without letting go. If your team lets go of another members hand you will be disqualified. The point of this activity is to initiate team work. Some of your members will be wearing blindfolds and they will not be able to talk to help aid in untangling your team. If they talk however you will be disqualified. This activity is worth 50 points to add to your team's total number at the end of the week we'll calculate who has the highest points and let them have a day in town. I have handed out the bandanas to your school counselor who will distribute them to the appropriate students. Each bandana has a name inscribed on it and you must be wearing the correct name or it could result in disqualification. Are we ready?" Kari looked around and sighed. Some looked happy but most looked downright aggravated.
Hope eyed her bandana carefully before folding it over her eyes. "Nugget, could you tie this please?"
"Sure, no problem." Nugget smiled and held the ends together before knotting them.
"Ow! Not so tight!" Hope screeched grabbing the back of her head.
"oops."
"She did that on purpose." Spot whispered to Hope.
"Shut up Blondie."
"What did you say?" He asked pulling his bandana to around his neck.
"I said Shut…up…Blondie." Hope pronounced each syllable and stared at him after pulling her own bandana off.
Spot pushed her back. "Don't call me that."
"Alright stupid."
"You think you're just too high and mighty for the rest of us Hope. Too bad you're not you're nothing."
"And you're a jackass whose parent's never come home."
"And you're the stupid statistic of parent's who divorce and then get rid of the kid they don't want." He spat back his father had been home for that case. Usually he only dealt with business cases but for some reason he took a simple divorce case.
Hope stared at spot stunned for
a moment. "and you're nothing but a worthless piece of trash and you're parents
must agree or they'd probably come home."
Spot shoved hope with all
his might. Her foot got caught on a rock and she fell backwards landing on her
ankle. "Shit." She cried out grabbing her ankle.
Sage stared at Spot for a moment before pushing him backwards. "Do you like being pushed? Do you like it?" She shouted shoving him again. "Don't touch her again you egotistical piece of shit."
"What are you going to do about it?" He snarled.
"This" She grabbed his shoulders and threw him back against the pole that supported the volleyball nets.
Kloppman ran over after another student brought it to his attention that his student's had been fighting. "Hey what is going on here?" He asked quietly.
"Spot's hitting girls." Sneaks replied.
"She asked for it." Jack defended Spot stepping forward.
"No she didn't! He said mean things to her too but she didn't push him to the ground." BC shouted.
Dibs walked over towards Kloppman. "Look Hope and Spot were fighting and he pushed her, she lost her balance and fell backwards. That's all."
Kloppman looked down at Hope and smiled. "You okay."
"I'm fine. Just enjoying the view," she replied sarcastically.
"Here let me see your ankle." He reached for her foot but she pulled it away. "Don't touch me." She mumbled trying to stand up.
"Oh Hope quit being so stubborn." Jake offered his hand to her.
"No! Don't touch me I'm not disabled all I did was sprain my ankle!"
Whisper rolled her eyes and grabbed Hope's hand. "Come on nobody dies if they ask for help."
"Why doesn't everyone here have their bandanas on?" Kari asked smiling nervously.
"I sprained my ankle." Hope told her.
"Oh that's a shame your whole team is required to participate."
"I'm not dead!"
"Okay then…can everyone please put their bandanas back on and then resume the circle position?" Kari asked.
"I'll have their bandanas back on in a jiffy." Kloppman smiled at her and turned back to his students. "We didn't come here to fight you guys that is not why I sent you here."
Nugget walked around and silently helped tying them back on jack, Hope, Spot, Sage, and Sneaks so they could start the challenge. "Look guys he's right. We can't spend the next few weeks here acting like every other one of us is our enemy. I have no reason to think you're my enemy." She pointed at jake. "None of us have ever done anything to another student here so we could move on and work together. Maybe even have fun." Nugget spoke so quietly that they had to strain to hear her. She was right of course none of them had any reason to hate each other.
Kari stood up on a soapbox trying to stop her hair from flying in her face. "Are you ready, get set…GO!"
"Umm…" Jake stared at the mess of kids around him and started laughing.
"What's funny?" BC asked.
"I have no idea with whom to start." He muttered stepping under Hope's arm.
"Well that was a start…"Nugget smiled.
"Okay Spot take a step to your left and twist your body under your right arm." Dibs shouted above the crowds noise.
"Good job!" Whisper screamed. "Here I'll take a step to my right and go under BC's arms then turn around."
"Oh la la." BC joked when Whisper came up facing her.
"It was worth a shot." Skittery called. "Now go back." Whisper did and BC and her acted disappointed to be separated.
"Umm Hope climb under the hand to your right and then wait for further instruction." Jake called out.
Hope stood there leaning her weight on her left foot. Spot stood there with his arms stretched around and kept hold of the hands smirking triumphantly after completing his next move. Jack just stood there not moving trying to figure out how close they were even through all the cloth over his eyes.
"Ow!" Sage shouted after Jack had stepped to the side and right on her foot.
"oops." He mumbled. They said they weren't allowed to talk, not cry out in pain.
Whisper looked around and found the answer. "Sage move over towards your right!"
Jake saw it too; if they could get all the people that were blindfolded to move correctly then they'd be untangled. "Sneaks! Follow this hand." He squeezed her wrist and pulled it to the right, followed by her stepping to the right.
"Whisper climb over Hopes arm to your left and then spin around, but raise your hand so it goes over her head."
"Hope! Hope walk forward and until you can't anymore." Dibs shouted.
"Who's left?" Skittery asked looking around, someone needed to move and then they could untangle themselves.
"I don't know!" Nugget cried.
"Nobody else is as close to being done we can still get this, everyone take a step backwards." Skittery coached.
"I can't." Jake muttered.
"It's you!" BC laughed. "You need to step to your right and untangle yourself!"
"Oh."
"That's freaking hilarious!" Dibs shouted breaking into a laugh.
"What?"
"That you were the one that needed to move all along." Skittery informed him.
Whisper turned toward Jake. "If you'd move sometime today, we could get this done. I'm tired of holding Spot's hand." She joked winking at him.
Jake took a step to his right and turned under Jack's arm. "Everyone go back as far as you can."
"You guys are done?" Kari asked walking over smiling approvingly. "Great team work," She noted scribbling something down in her notebook.
Everyone told their bandana's off and smiled. "We did it." Sage commented tucking her bandana in her pocket.
"Even without our masterminds," Spot bragged.
"Sorry to break up this party." Kloppman smirked walking towards Hope. "But you're going to the first aid cabin right now."
"All it is is a sprain."
"We need to be sure."
"Okay," Hope tried again. "I know all it is is a sprain, my ankle just twisted to the left and now its sprained."
"How do you know that?" He looked at her suspiciously.
"I'm the queen of broken and sprained bones. I've had a few in my lifetime." Hope said.
Time challenge ended: 2 pm. Total Points Lake Vista has: 50. Rank: 2
(The rank is according to all the other teams points)
