duh duh dum...and here it is...Chapter 3 and 1/2!
Since this is really like chapter 3.5, I'm going to skip all the witty jargon I usually put here and save it for chapter four, so we can continue with the story right away. Refer back to chapter three for summary/author's notes/disclaimer/random insanity- but be warned, this chapter also contains some bad words –gaspity gasp-
Anyways, hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it; this is my favorite chapter so far –wink-
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The woods were light and airy in the midsummer afternoon, but all that was lost on the boys picking their way through the tangles of roots and vines. Tottering, Sora tried to balance a pile of thesticks and branches in his hands, and thought glumly to himself, At least we get to go climbing tomorrow.
His team had not spoken a word to each other yet. Sora looked around for them; Roxas was somewhere nearby finding more sticks, and Riku had taken it upon himself to cart over some of the heavier logs. Axel had disappeared with the matches. Sora was slightly worried, but he hadn't heard any screams thus far, and was taking that as a good signis .
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a flash of silver hair. The other boy had his back to Sora, bending over to pick up another log, before turningand beginning to head back toward the fire-pit,a frown lining his pale face.
Sora wondered why the other boy was so grouchy all the time. Didn't he want to be here? Why couldn't he just tell his parents he didn't want to go, if he hated this place so much?
Sora, contemplating hard, didn't realize his sky-blue eyes had gone blank and unfocused, or that they were still focused on the silver haired boy. But someone did.
"I realize that I am devilishly good looking, but please, this is getting annoying."
Sora snapped out of it with a start, only to find a scowling Riku standing in front of him, one hand on his hip.
"Wha…what?" the smaller boy stammered out.
"This is fifth time I've caught you staring at me.. I don't know whether you're terrified of me or just want to do me, but I'd appreciate if you stopped. I've got enough stalkers as it is."
"WHAT?" Sora yelled, almost dropping his pile from surprise.
"Gross, Riku. And why would he want to touch you, anyways? You might be catching," Roxas said, sidling up from the cover of the trees to stand protectively in front of Sora. "We're probably at risk of getting an STD just from being within two feet of you."
"You wish, shrimp," Riku said with a lazy smile. "And what about you? Who wouldn't want to date you, with snappy comebacks like that?"
"Shut up, asshole."
"Make me."
"Maybe I will!"
They were nose to nose, eyes burning with hatred, before Sora decided to intervene.
"He's not worth it, Roxas," he said, pulling the other boy back by his shoulder. "C'mon, let's get this over with."
Smoldering, the three boys turned their backs and began the long process of gathering more wood to add to the fire.
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Axel, as it turned out, had been in the fire-pit the whole time, and was only slightly more charred than when Sora had last seen him. Unfortunately, he had left them a grand total of two matches to get their fire started.
"Great," Roxas sighed, overdramatic. "You'd think a pyro would know how to start a fire, but I guess you really do fail at everything you attempt."
"Oh, shut up," the redhead said, and grabbed the matches out of the other boys' hands. "Watch and learn."
Axel struck a match with expert precision, and then brought it slowly to the heart of the pyramid-shaped pile of logs they had erected. Eagerly, the orange tongues of flame stretched out to lick the dry leaves at the bottom of the triangle, worming their way to consume the smaller sticks, and then the bigger logs. Soon, the fire was crackling merrily, a smaller version of the bonfire of the night before.
"All bow the Master of the Flames," Axel said, brandishing an imaginary scepter.
"More like Master of the Freaks," Roxas said under his breath to Sora.
"Again with the clever comebacks! Anyone ever tell you to become a comedian?"
"Look, Riku, maybe its better that we didn't talk. Let's just wait this out, and then we can go back to ignoring each other."
"Oh, that's right. You're grouchy because you're away from your girlfriend."
"My what!"
"Kairi," Riku said, a malicious smile spreading across his handsome features. "Don't tell me you haven't put the moves on her. If she wasn't socially inept, even I would…"
"AHH!" Roxas cried out with horror, clapping his hands over his ears.
"So I see I've hit a nerve. So tell the truth- you like her? I could help you out, if you want," Riku said, looking the picture of friendly innocence.
"Because you're such a godammned saint."
"When I see a friend in need…"
"And exactly when did you get a personality transplant? Besides, I don't like her. She's a friend…that would be way too weird…" Roxas said, then trailed off. "Why am I telling you this?"
"Because I'm such a caring, understanding person?"
Roxas snorted.
"Fine. It's too late, anyways; my prediction is that she'll be all over Hayner by the end of the summer. Unless your little friend here takes the initiative." He said, smirking.
Sora felt his hands curl into fists involuntarily. "I'm not little!" he burst out.
Riku's icy eyes swiveled over to rest on him. "Not that I think she would like you, anyway. Kairi usually goes for guys with a little more meat on them."
"What's your problem? I haven't done anything to you!" Sora said angrily. He was not little! He was EIGHTEEN!
"Forget it, squirt. Now, where were we?" Riku said, his gaze trapping Roxas once again. "Oh, that's right. Your sexual experience, or lack thereof."
Roxas sighed noisily. "I'm really not in the mood for recap of your latest sexcapade, thanks very much."
"Oh, but I think it would be educational for such a virginal figure like you. Wouldn't it, Axel?"
Axel looked up once, his emerald eyes resting on Roxas for a brief moment, then shrugged his assent and bent over the fire once again.
"So who was it this time? Melissa? Claire? April?"
"A little here, a little there.A medley, if you will."
"You're disgusting." Roxas said with conviction. "I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would touch you with a ten foot pole."
"I'm a stunning teenage boy," Riku said, shrugging. "Hormones, testosterone. I'm a slave to my libido. Poor me."
"You're so full of shit," Roxas said, turning to Sora. "Right?"
Sora thought back. He couldn't answer the question truthfully, because by the sounds of things, Riku had done more things than he could ever dream of. The problem was, he had never had a really serious girlfriend. There were always little things, here and there, but he hadn't even gotten to first base with anyone, and he was almost eighteen. It was, as a matter of fact, a little embarrassing, and certainly not something he was about to share with the group.
Looking at Roxas, he shrugged his assent, careful to avoid Riku's pericing gaze. Wouldn't want him to think I was a stalker, or anything.
Riku snorted loudly. "And to think, Axel and I were actually going to have fun on this trip. Until they went and put you killjoys in with us, and no girls to boot. Well…there is always Kairi…."
But as Roxas leapt up to strangle him, another voice piped up from behind them.
"Well, I can see we're all going to get along nicely."
Alysa stood behind Sora, a smirk on her lips and her hand on her hips. "We'll have to work on that, won't we? I'll leave that to Doug; he was always more into the 'we should all get along' part of camp than I was."
"Anyway, your fire looks nice and flamey, and now I'm bored of educating you, so I thought we'd head down to the lake for some swimming. Go get your suits on, and meet me down there in ten minutes. Otherwise, I will have to come hunt you down, and you don't want that." She said, with a bit of an evil grin. "No, you don't want that at all."
The boys stood up and began to brush themselves off, exchanging glares. Sora and Roxas went in one direction, and Riku and Axel in the other. Roxas was silent, but Sora was beginning to understand his words at the campfire last night. Stay away from them.
Sora was beginning to wish he had.
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The water was freezing, but Sora didn't mind. After spending the whole morning next to a burning hot fire, a douse of cool water to the face was exactly what he needed.
Too bad he wasn't alone.
"CANNONBALL!" A scream echoed throughout the lake, and a redheaded blur plunged off the raft, making it shake. The huge splash got Sora right in the face, and he sputtered, trying to wipe his eyes as he swum out into the middle of the icy lake.
"Nice one," Riku said lazily, pulling himself onto the raft. He was dripping wet. Sora watched as the streams of water running down his body plastered his wet hair to his back and made his navy shorts cling to his legs, liquid pooling along his abdomen and lining the ridges of his stomach muscles.
Sora looked down at his own flat, boyish chest and tried not to scowl. Stupid Riku.
Sighing, he slicked back his messy spikes and pulled himself onto the raft.
"CANNONBALL!"
Just in time to get soaked again.
He wiped his face angrily and stared at the two grinning faces bobbing in the water below him. "You're getting me wet!"
"But you're already wet, Sora," Riku said with a smirk.
"Where's your buddy? We could get him wet too," Axel said with a similar expression, looking around.
"Don't even try it," came a dry voice from behind him, as Roxas pulled himself up the ladder. "And I thought we agreed not speaking was best?"
"Sounds good to me," said a very drenched Hayner, coming to sit beside Sora. "I'm getting tired, anyway. We've been swimming for hours."
"I don't think Kairi and Alysa are going to get bored anytime soon," Sora said dryly, pointing toward the shore, where the two females were chatting aminatedly, side by side. Doug lay a few feet off, his nose already burnt red and looking rather annoyed.
"Well, let's keep jumping, then," Riku said to Axel. "Unless, of course, certain pansies can't handle it…."
"The only thing I can't handle is watching your lame excuse for a cannonball," Hayner said, shielding his eyes against the sun. 'Looked more like a pirouette, to me."
"And those swan dives you've been doing are the very essence of masculinity,"Riku said dryly.
"You're one to be talking, you…!"
"HEY!" Alysa yelled from the shore, and all five's heads shot up. "WE CAN HEAR YOU ARGUING FROM HERE, SO CAN YOU FIND SOME WAY TO SETTLE THIS WITHOUT TORTURING THE REST OF US?"
"Fine. It's on," Riku said, his eyes glittering coldly. "If you're so good, why don't we just have a contest? Biggest splash wins."
"Fine," Roxas said quickly, springing to his feet.
The other two pulled themselves onto the raft, making it bobbing slightly in the current. Pine trees ringed the distant shores, and the sun beat down on their bare skin.
"Ready?"
"Less talking, more jumping," said Axel, rolling his eyes.
Glaring, Roxas turned and got a running start, his bare feet beating a rhythm on the wooden planks of the dock. Before he plunged off the edge, he pushed off in a high jump, wrapping his arms around his knees before he hit the water with a wet smack.
Everyone was soaked by the spray.
"I'd say good luck," Roxas said, popping to the surface,"But there's not much of a point, is there?"
Without a word, Axel copied his motions and took a flying leap off the raft. His pale body flying into the waves, water shot upward around him in a splash that was easily as big as Roxas' had been.
"Who's laughing now?" Riku said as Axel's bright head broke the surface of the water.
"There's still Hayner," Roxas said, his arms crossed across his wet chest. "And I still hate you."
"What?"
"I thought we had gone too long without saying it."
"Oh. Right then."
Hayner's splash was large, but not big enough to match Roxas' and Axels.
Roxas' button-blue eyes fixed on the smaller boy. "So Sora….it appears you're our last hope. Please tell me you're the county cannonball champion, or something?"
Sora gulped. Truth be told, he had never been very good at this. "Sure," he lied. "Sure."
Riku covered his laughter with a hand. "Are you kidding me? What does he weight, ninety pounds?"
"Yeah, which is why it will be even funnier when he whoops your ass." Roxas said with confidence, though his eyes belied his worry.
Sora's stomach dropped.
He moved to stand at the edge of the raft, wondering how he should do this. Just jump, or back up and take a running dive? Would this work better if he did a bellyflop? He winced at the thought, and as a result almost missed the warning cries from behind him.
Before he could react, two large, slippery hands had fixed around his small waist, and before Sora could turn, before he could even gasp, he found himself plunging headfirst into the waves.
Spitting out water, he looked up to meet laughing aquamarine eyes. "Couldn't resist…" Riku said with a sarcastic smile. "Better luck next time, Sora."
Sora opened his mouth to retort, but Alysa cut him off once again. "I SAW THAT, AND AS A COUNSELOR I FEEL I MUST TELL YOU I AM DISPLEASED. BUT I'M TOO HUNGRY TO PUNISH YOU, SO CONSIDER YOURSELVES LUCKY. GET YOUR BUTTS BACK IN HERE, ITS CHOW TIME."
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At dinner that night, Sora contemplated his day as he munched on his food. Roxas and Hayner were laughing beside him, and he tuned out of their conversation. It was clear they hated the other boys, but at times…their disgust would ebb a little, and they could tease the other two, stand to be around them for more than five minutes.
Sora wasn't sure if he felt the same way. Riku's talk at the campfire, his insults, pushing him into the lake, insulting him…he didn't know how anyone could be that bitter and mocking, and he had never met anyone so…so resentful, with nothing to be resentful about.
Bringing his eyes up from an almost empty plate (swimming did nothing to curb Sora's insatiable appetite) he surveyed the cafeteria before his eyes came to rest on the other two. Axel was picking at his food, looking uncharacteristically mellow, while Riku….Riku smiled, shark-like, at the girl sitting on his lap.
Claire, he thought Roxas had called her. So this was one of the three girls he had mentioned.
As Sora watched, she flipped her long brown hair out of her face and tweaked the soft plane of Riku's nose. He smirked back at her and smoothly pushed the back of her head down to meet his lips, but before they could touch a counselor hurried over and yanked the girl away. Claire gave Riku a little wave, giggling, as she was carted outside for a lecture. Riku smiled lazily back, seemingly unperturbed, and turned back to his meal with abandon.
Sora looked away, his appetite suddenly lost. For some reason, he felt sick to his stomach. But then again, he had never liked PDA.
And he sure as hell wasn't looking forward to spending an entire week with these maniacs. Who knew how much more he would have to take?
He would find out soon enough.
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Mwahaha. Being evil is ever so much fun. Yes, yes I know. Riku's in denial. Don't fret- they'll all come around, soon enough.
Anyway, I can tell you with certainty that the next chapter will not be up for at LEAST a week, because of two pressing concerns: one being the hell commonly referred to as finals, and the other is the displeasure of my painting muses. They are complaining that I have been favoring the writing muses, and are getting rather annoyed. And when they get annoyed, they storm off and I can't paint for like, a month. So I need to work on that.
Next Chapter: Leaving for the big trip! Our eight lovable, insane, tempermenal characters...all alone, in a car, for long hours…the possibilities are endless. And I think you be happy to know we also have Sign of Sexual Tension Number One. Yes, I label them. So GET READY!
And one little side question: is there any way to get a story into C2 communities, or do the people who run them choose? Should you like, message them? Haha I'm a total newbie to this site, so I don't know exactly how this works...and I would really love for this story to be in one. So if you know of any/ can answer this question, tell me in a review, prettyplease.
Me Write. You Read. You Review. Simple, see? –grin-
