I don't own the Rugrats. I wish I did.
Tommy loved this. He looked at Chuckie, who was picking his way slowly but surely through the dense underbrush and gave him a thumbs up. Chuckie replied with a small smile. Even Phil, who had gotten over his initial doubts, was having fun. He was whistling a soft, sad tune that he had picked up in an old western movie and seemed lost in thought.
Tommy thought back to an hour ago. They had been waiting to start and were saying the last of their goodbyes. The mothers, after fretting over them so much that anyone would think they'd be gone months instead of four days, had already backed away and joined the crowd. All that was left were the kids.
Dil and Kimi, who were both too young to meet the cut-off age of fourteen, were none the less pleading to go along. Lil, who was of course old enough, had whispered something to Phil that made them both laugh. Lil would help hold down the fort until they got back.
They had started off, each of them carrying a backpack and Chuckie carrying a small cooler besides. It was a gorgeous day; warm for May, and not to sunny. Perfect.
Chuckie's frantic scream tore Tommy out of his reverie. He looked up to find Chuckie flat on his bottom, his hands up over his face. Phil was laughing hysterically.
"What happened?" Tommy asked, dashing forward to help Chuckie off the ground and glaring at Phil. He knew that the brown haired teenager was somehow involved with this scheme.
"Spider!" Chuckie exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Phil, who was still laughing. Tommy turned and whacked Phil on the head, just to shut him up.
"It's not funny." Tommy said as calmly as he could, though he really wanted to scream at Phil's childish prank. "Chuckie had all the water in that box-" he pointed to the crate that lay empty in the middle of the path. "And now it's gone."
Phil nodded, all laughter gone. He started hunting for the water bottles up and down the path. All three knew that they needed to find the water, or else they'd have to turn back.
"You shouldn't let him get at you like that!" Tommy admonished Chuckie, who had a long history of feuding with Phil.
"It's not my fault!" Chuckie protested, holding up both hands. "He was the one who came at me with that spider!"
Tommy bent down. "A fake spider?" he shook his head. "We're not two anymore, Chuck, you shouldn't be afraid of fake spiders." He threw the toy into the woods.
"It looked real." Chuckie muttered before helping his comrades. They found fifteen out of the twenty water bottles, which was enough for them to continue their journey.
When the boys started off again, nobody was looking at each other. And Phil had stopped whistling.
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