Disclaimer: The bad thing about having a long story is all the stupid disclaimers I have to write. Okay. Does anyone actually think I wrote Ella Enchanted? Thank you! I didn't think so. Good. Now we've got that over with, I'll continue.
A/N: Sorry 'bout the long delay. My laptop keyboard is now fixed and I'll try to update more often. I'm also going to rewrite the story at some point and fix it up (not changing the storyline too dramatically, I hope).
Okay, the only time I've been to California is a few times when I've gone to Disneyland and California Adventure, so if I have my facts wrong, please correct me and I will change them when I do the rewrite. Also, any suggestions for the complete rewrite (of the whole story), please email them to me and put 'PLEASE FORWARD TO JAINA EOWYN' in Caps in the subject. Thanks, everyone!!
Chapter Twelve: California, Here We Come!"You're all dismissed," our youth pastor announced at the end of youth. It was a year later and I was now seventeen. We all stood up to leave when he suddenly waved his hands.
"Wait, wait!" We all stopped and turned around. "Don't forget: tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the youth vacation."
We all cheered. It was near the end of summer and every August or so we went to the beach for a 'youth vacation'. It was kind of like a youth retreat, but we just had prayer time and youth group meetings every other night instead of a speaker.
We walked upstairs in a big mob of teenagers to meet our parents who were coming out of the sanctuary at the same time.
Shean waved. "Hey, Mum, over here!" He called and his parents made their way through the throng to us.
"Hey, um, Mum, you remember when I asked you if we could go on the youth vacation this year?" He asked hesitantly. She nodded. "Well, can we go? 'Cause tomorrow's the last day to sign up." Kaetlin and I added our puppy eyes to give Shean's request more emphasis.
Their mother looked at us and sighed. Then she nodded. We all exchanged high fives. After saying thanks and signing up in the foyer, the three of us walked outside the church.
"So where are we going this, again," I asked. They had announced it weeks ago and I had forgotten.
"We're going to Cali," Kaet cheered, stretching out the 'a' in delight.
I grinned. "Oh, yeah ! I'd forgotten."
"We're all riding on the church bus's down to Cali pretty much non-stop except for food and restroom breaks," Shean added, sounding a little… un-ecstatic about several days in a bus with half the youth group having spit wads hitting him at all hours.
I groaned, but in truth, I didn't mind too much. I was used to longer trips than this, and in vehicles more uncomfortable than a bus and company worse than half the youth group (the other half was going in the other church bus). "So we have to bring a blanket and pillow, right?" I asked.
Shean nodded. "And don't forget your swimsuit!" He added, referring to an incident where I'd forgotten to bring a swimsuit to a friend's swim party.
I laughed. "Don't worry, I won't. And in celebration of a trip down the coast, I'll race you to the car," I called, taking off as I spoke.
Shean and Kaet ran after me laughing and calling, "No fair!"
The day finally came and we drove to the church early in the morning. We were a bit late and just barely managed to cram our stuff into the baggage compartment. Since some of the kids were bringing friends, both buses were almost full, except for the back seat of the second one, so we had to take that. It was more roomy, and I like the bumpiness, so I didn't mind.
The first day consisted of listening to CDs that people had brought, singin worship songs until the whole bus could sing every single one forwards, backwards, and sideways, and just talking. Actually, that's pretty much all we did during the other days, too, so I won't describe them too.
The sleeping arrangements weren't too much fun, though, since we couldn't afford to stay at a hotel every night, so we slept on the road. Two adults took turns driving the bus so one could sleep during the day and the other could sleep at night so we always had a fresh driver. We didn't have it as bad as some of the kids since our back seat was longer than all the other ones, but we fell asleep while we were trying to bore each other to sleep, so at least we had blankets on us so we didn't freeze. But I woke up the second morning to find my head on Shean's shoulder. I started to get up, but I found Kaet's head on my shoulder. Apparently we had all slipped towards the window and now I couldn't get up without waking up Kaetlin and that would be too… awkward.
So I waited for them to wake up and I was right: it was awkward. Unfortunately, Shean woke up first and asked what I was doing. I didn't get up, but tried to point to Kaet. He gave a soft little groan and turned his head to stare out the window since his head was already pressed up against it. Lucky him. I only got to stare at the back of the seat until Kaet finally woke up and I could sit up.
We finally got to the hotel we were all staying at and we all went to our rooms. Kaetlin and I were in a room with two other girls. We stayed up a little too late watching movies and forgot to set our alarm clock and thus were about ten minutes late for breakfast. But that was apparently late enough to get teased, especially since some other teenage boys (whom we didn't know and didn't even talk to) came it at the same time as us.
"Hey, girls, did you find yourselves too good to come down to eat with the rest of us?" Called one of the boys, Jacky, a known teaser.
"Oh, no, no!" Cried one of his friends, who had obviously latched onto an even better reason. "I know why they were late! Their boyfriends 'detained' them," he said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows towards the unsuspecting boys who'd come in right behind us.
Most of the boys burst out laughing and I felt my face turning dark red, though I don't know if it was from anger, embarrassment, or both.
Then, to my complete and utter surprise, Shean of all people spoke up for us!
"Oh, come off it, Jacky! Leave 'em alone."
The other boys puckered their lips like fish at Shean and shook their head like he was a little kid who'd said something funny or absurd, then went back to eating.
We girls got our food and sat down to eat in (relative) silence. (the other table were noisy, but we were quiet)
We ate quickly and went back to our room to change into our swimsuits. Once we were changed, we ran down to the lobby with our towels to wait with all the others who were assembled there waiting for our youth pastors to come down so we could go to the beach.
I found I was practically the only girl there who wasn't wearing a bikini, which was a little strange. Sam (our youth pastor) finally came down.
"Okay, kids, let's hit the waves!" He called and we all cheered and ran out the doors of the lobby to get to the water.
I plunged right in, having learned to swim in the lake at a nearby kingdom several years ago. I skimmed through the water and outdistanced most of the kids. Kaetlin and the rest of our friends jumped in and followed me with some beach toys.
Some of the boys had made it out deeper than me and when the girls reached me, the boys gave a battle yell and charged at us, slicing the water with the crawl stroke. They caught most of the other girls and threw them away from the shore, but I made it out farther before getting caught and instead of just getting thrown, I launched myself off my captor and flew farther than I thought I would. All of us girls started swimming away and pretty soon almost everyone else who could swim worth their salt was out there and it turned into a giant game of tag and toss.
I finally got tired and started swimming back for the shore to go back to my room and wash out my hair. I suddenly felt frozen in place and a vision danced before my eyes.
My mother was walking on top of the water towards me while everyone else seemed to disappear. She walked over to me and sank into the water in front of me like she was on an elevator descending to my level. But she didn't appear to be treading the water like I was, it was more like she was standing on something.
"Avalla," she breathed. "Avalla, my daughter. We will have need of you soon. When you come back in a year, we will be at war with a faraway kingdom. You must have items that will aid us in the war and/or a list of items that can be obtained in this world that will aid us. Please, do not fail me! You will be the difference between victory and defeat. You may also bring one person along with you when you come back. Be prepared," she added with especial emphasis on the last two words.
As she was speaking, my arms and legs had gradually slowed down and stopped holding me above the water. I felt a hand grab mine as I sank below the surface.
"Think well who you will bring, for you may have to go on a long and possibly dangerous journey when you return. That is all I may tell you for now. Do not… forget," she added as she faded away.
Suddenly I was coughing and sputtering and strong arms were pulling my arm in a stroking motion and another hand suddenly grabbed my left one and started doing the same. I tried to kick and finally felt my feet touch sand. I tried to stagger to my feet, but fell to my knees on the beach, coughing and choking to get the water out of my mouth. I saw Shean's face appear in front of mine and he let go of my arm, which he had been using to pull me out of the deeper water.
"Val! Val, are you okay?" He asked, and I nodded as I coughed up the last of the water. He sat down and breathed a sigh as I collapsed backwards into the dry sand of the beach.
"Oh, good. For a minute there, when you went under, I thought you'd get down too far for us to get you. The lifeguard started to run in to get you until they saw that you weren't struggling much while Dave and I pulled you in."
"Hey, I was kicking back!" I said weakly, trying to put some humor into the situation. I saw Shean grin.
"Yeah, and my legs can prove it."
"Oops, sorry," I said. "Do you want me to kiss the boo-boo?"
He laughed. "Well, if you're joking, you're okay."
I sat up. "Oh, by the first egg of Faranth, now I've got sand in my hair!" For some reason, I now felt perfectly fine and I stood up and started back into the water so I could swim some more to get the sand out of my hair so I would only track water into the hotel. Shean jumped up and grabbed my arm, pulling me around to face him.
"Hey, do you really think you should go out there so soon after you almost drowned?" He asked in an almost worried voice.
"Yes, I'm fine," I said, punctuating my last word by pulling away my arm to prove it. I turned and saw some of the other kids who must have come in after Shean and Dave to see if I was all right heading back into the surf. I ran in and dived underwater. I still to this day don't know how I wasn't so exhausted that I couldn't walk, but I wasn't. One of the many mysteries of the world, I guess.
A/N: Do you think you know what happens next? Tell me! Since I write this freehand (no outline), I don't know what's going to happen next either. So if you think that so-and-so's going to do this, or this-and-such is going to happen, post it in your review or email me. There's a good enough chance I might put it into the story!