A/N: While watching Addams Family Values yesterday, I started wondering: what happened at Chippewa between the Harmony Hut and the play? Wednesday must have continued acting normal, or the counselors wouldn't have trusted her as much as they clearly did.
And then the plot bunnies attacked. For those of you who've been keeping up with my other two TAF stories, this drabble is semi-AU (because, in those, Lucas didn't know about Chippewa until Wednesday told him).
"Hi! Do you mind if we sit here?"
The voice was agressively cheerful and, to my surprise, female. I looked up as the babble of conversation around me fell silent. Christopher leaned across the motorcycle magazine open on the table between us to whisper, "That's the girl Michelle told me about. The weird one."
An unusually pale girl with long, black braids stood at the head of the table, grinning widely and flanked by two boys. I shot Chris a disbelieving look. Apart from her coloring- and the overwhelming smell of sunscreen that surrounded her- she could have been any of the orange-and-khaki-clad girls now filling the dining hall with giggles and chatter. I dimly recognized the bespectacled boy in the plaid shirt from my woodworking group, but "the weird one" and the other, pudgy boy were unfamiliar.
The girl stood like a statue, her smile undimmed. Honestly, it was a bit unnerving. Finally, Mark cleared his throat.
"Um...yeah. No. Sure." He gestured to the mostly empty end of one wooden bench.
The trio sat down, their leader (why did I think that?) chirping a "Thanks!" and turning the full force of her glee on Mark for a moment. It was probably the only time I'd seen him flinch.
After a few minutes, our comparison of Yamahas and Harleys picked up again; the debate became more and more intense, until Chris was gesturing so violently with his fork that baked bean sauce flew in all directions. I tried to resume my adamant Yamaha defense, which, until five minutes ago, had seemed vitally important. But for some reason, the conversation at the end of the table kept distracting me.
"We got a package from home," the girl was saying as she speared a French fry. The fat boy blinked at her in surprise.
"We did?"
Rolling her eyes, she glanced quickly around the room and whispered something in his ear. I could almost see comprehension light up his face.
"Oh yeah!" he said, nodding slowly. "That package!"
The boy with the glasses- Joel, I suddenly remembered- leaned forward. "Does it have...cookies?" he asked furtively, with an odd emphasis on the last word.
I didn't know how it was possible for that gleaming smile to get any wider, but it somehow did. "Joel," the brunette said with a giggle, "you're acting awfully strange lately."
Joel abruptly jerked upright as if pulled by a string, and answered her grin with a tentative smile of his own. "S-sorry," he replied; "you know how much I love sweets."
"Of course it has cookies! You know Moth- Mom always sends some in her packages!"
"Oh, so it's a package from your mom?"
"Yep! Hey, you know what? We should share the cookies with everyone else," the girl's brother interjected. "Tonight, after taps."
Their conversation continued, sounding completely ordinary- and yet, suspicious. Something was off here, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The trio's collective demeanor was like...
Like spies talking in code.
But that was silly. What reason would anyone have to talk in code at summer camp? Get a grip, Lucas, I chided myself, taking another bite of my sloppy joe. I resolutely turned back to my friends, who were now arguing over whether Chris should have to pay for laundering Jim's sauce-stained shirt. Soon, somebody mentioned the canoeing test later today, and all thoughts of code and strange kids were driven out of my mind.
When the plantation bell outside began to ring, I took my empty tray and joined the crush of people moving towards the dishwashers' window. Or, at least, that's what should have happened. Instead, I was too busy examining a glossy photo of a red Honda in the magazine to watch where I was going, and-
"Oof!"
Someone collided with me; I dropped the tray, a ketchup-streaked plate landing flat against the orange polo shirt of the "weird" girl from earlier.
I smiled awkwardly. "Um, sorry about that. Here, let me...help..."
The look she gave me killed any further thoughts of speech. Nothing less like her earlier (usual?) smile could have been imagined. It was a look that promised a slow, painful death to anyone it fell upon. So why did something inside me suddenly relax?
I stumbled backward a few steps, which seemed to bring the girl back to reality. The grin returned, snapping into place like a hastily-remembered mask, and she pulled a few napkins from a nearby dispenser.
"It's fine. No harm done," she said, wiping off the red goop. "Have a super day!"
And with that, she vanished into the crowd.
"That was you?"
"That was you?"
Wednesday pulled back slightly in my arms, rare shock clear in her dark eyes. To her credit, she didn't miss a beat, but continued revolving with me to the band's slow waltz. But a storm of whispers still began among the crowd of guests, because I couldn't help laughing.
Even after leaving camp a week early with chicken pox, I'd wondered what had become of that girl. And now, nine years later, we were married.
"Hey," I murmured, leaning down so that my lips brushed her ear, "stranger things have happened."
A/N: I haven't written much from Lucas' POV, so I hope he's in-character. The idea of him having been at Chippewa was too good to pass up.
Some news! Thing the First: I saw the touring production of TAFM. Um...let's just go with "no comment." I actually do have comments, three handwritten pages of them, but it would be very much tl;dr (just ask Gleefully Wicked, who has the patience of a saint).
Thing the Second: The plan is to post a new chapter of My Big, Fat, Addams Wedding tomorrow, as a Twelfth Night gift. In case you're scratching your head, Twelft Night is a holiday celebrating the last night of Christmas- or, in my case, an excuse to make a cake and bully my parents into leaving the decorations up past New Year's. :)