A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews - I'm really sorry I haven't had the chance to reply to all of them yet, I've been a bit busy - but please continue to write them, they really and truly make my day!!
Chapter 4:
Once all of us had arrived, the tour began with the 'mess hall,' as Sue called it. It was to act as cafeteria, as well as a general meeting place for any events at the camp. It was really just a very large, open barn-like room with a cafeteria style kitchen set up in the far left corner.
Following that, we were taken on a tour of the grounds. We were shown where to find Jasper's cabin in case we needed to contact maintenance, and I couldn't help but notice Alice 's smirk as we passed this particular building. It was slightly larger than our cabins, and there was a huge old, rickety-looking shed that was attached to the back of the cabin. Knowing Alice had already inspected the property, and quite sure she would never happily approve of the appearance of it, I glanced curiously over at her. She met my gaze evenly as her mouth turned upwards even more, progressing from a smirk to a full grin. What was she thinking? I guess only time would tell...at least until I could ask Edward about it later.
Next we were shown the individual recreational areas for the camp activities. Some of them surprised me, and I asked if we would be expected to participate along with the campers, or if we would just be supervising. Thankfully, it was the latter of the two. Even so, I noticed Edward looked rather perplexed as we went through the different stations; he looked almost ill when we got to the mini Archery course.
After touring the activities areas, Sue led us around the back of the property to a large lake. She mentioned that the manual stated that the kids particularly love to spend their free time there, and that there were supposedly beach toys in the shed behind Jasper's cabin. She said she hadn't actually been in the shed yet, but that the manual said the maintenance man would gladly set the things out for the counselors to collect if they chose to visit the lake.
As we continued our walk, we were circling back up towards the front of the campgrounds when Sue came to a stop outside a small, freshly whitewashed building. While my gaze flickered over the exterior, I noticed faint traces of sawdust scattered around the base.
Sue heaved a loud sigh before speaking. "Well now, this here building wasn't mentioned in the paperwork left by the last owners; I'm really not sure what to do about it – the door's locked," she said, scratching her head. "I only toured the grounds yesterday, so I'm a little confused."
Alice bounded forward and lifted the corner of the new-looking mat in front of the door and picked up a key from under it. "They're always in the most obvious places," she smiled back at us as Sue watched with interest. She pushed open the door and within a second had the lights on. She reappeared in the doorway holding a sheet of paper.
"Well I guess they didn't mention it in the paperwork you have cause they left all the instructions right here," Alice said. "It's a shop for the campers - it says it's a new feature the previous owners had in mind before they resigned. It says that the counselors will have tokens," she said, pausing. She reached back inside the building and removed a box containing shiny silver tokens, holding them up for us to see. "And the counselors will award their campers with the tokens however they see fit – for example, good behavior or something. The campers can then cash in their tokens for items within the shop." She glanced up from the sheet. "Seems pretty self-explanatory to me," she said, shrugging.
Edward sighed heavily, turning his head slightly away from the others' view as he rolled his eyes.
"Wait a minute – what about stocking it? Does it say where I'm supposed to get the money to stock the shop?" Sue asked, suddenly concerned that she was completely unprepared.
Alice smiled, glancing over her shoulder to the inside of the building. "Yes, it says that since it was going to be a new feature, the previous owners took the liberty of pre-stocking it for you – there are boxes already here. It says that in the upcoming years you can ask the parents for donations. Oh – hang on," she said, disappearing back inside. A second later she came back out with a sign in her hands that said ' Camp Store ,' and hung it on a nail next to the door. "There – now all we have to do is open all the boxes and sort through them, and we'll be open for business!" Alice said proudly.
"Huh. Well…makes sense to me!" Sue noted, looking a bit dazed. "Maybe a few of you can come back later after orientation and get it sorted?" she asked. Alice nodded eagerly, and Sue slowly began walking away from the unexpected building, shaking her head. She motioned for us to follow to continue with the tour, glancing back at the little shop once curiously.
Edward was smiling knowingly at me and tugged gently on my arm, reminding me how to move. I was speechless; I had been from the moment I'd realized what Alice had done. She had built and fully stocked her own store on the campgrounds…and she'd convinced the person running it that it had been a new idea from the previous owners. Resuming her place on my other side, Alice looked up at me and winked. Amazing.
Finally, we ended the tour back near the mess hall by a giant flagpole. "Well, that should do it. You all are clearly capable of familiarizing yourselves with the bath houses near your cabins, so it should be fairly self explanatory from here. We start every morning at camp with the traditional flag raising, and I expect each and every one of you to have your campers there on time. Oh – and for tonight's dinner, I ordered pizza for all of you, which should arrive shortly. Feel free to help yourselves - it will be delivered to the mess hall. Just to make sure you don't have any issues or last minute questions, I'll be at your campsite tomorrow morning to greet you before the campers arrive."
Those of us that actually eat food looked positively grateful at the mention of pizza, and we all thanked Sue as she turned to head back home for the night.
Later, as Edward and his other siblings made the illusion of heading off to bed, I turned to Alice in earnest; I'd been recalling our last camping excursion when she'd continually fought for me to stay up all night with her – the words, 'Wake up Bella, it's time to pretend to sleep,' echoed in my mind. "Please, Alice . I need to sleep tonight. I'm really nervous about tomorrow, and I need my rest so I'm not negligent." Images of kids falling off cliffs were resurfacing in my mind.
Alice blinked back at me, looking far more acceptable of my request than I anticipated. "Absolutely, Bella - I understand. Get your rest, everything will be fine," she said, smiling encouragingly at me. She probably just wanted to get back to that little building and start arranging whatever was in all those boxes.
"Ok..." I replied, fairly confused. This was incredibly un-Alice like behavior. Still wondering, I turned to Edward, who leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I'll be in the second Newton , Jessica and Angela are all settled."
Nodding and smiling, I made my way back into my cabin. Just as he promised, Edward appeared at my side minutes later and settled in beside me.
Reflecting on the day's events, I remembered something. "Edward? What was Alice so happy about Jasper's cabin for? She looked like she'd won the lottery or something, yet that place looks like it's almost in worse condition than ours," I whispered.
Edward chuckled. "Alice is just adjusting and dealing with the situation Bella, that's all. The inside is a bit roomier than what we have here."
"What possibilities? I don't understand," I replied, already half asleep. I was so tired...
"Bella, have you ever known Alice to react well when she's told she can't do something? Restrictions aren't good for her…it's not of her nature, and can often cause the exact opposite of the desired behavior," Edward murmured.
What the heck did that mean? I would have to give up for now – his cryptic talk was beyond me at this point. Snuggling closer, Edward held me securely as I drifted off into sleep, my mind mulling over all the possible situations the following days would bring.
I awoke to cold, sweet breath whispering into my ear. "Bella, it's time to wake up, love." This was by far better than any alarm clock I'd ever had.
Hastily, I spun my body around to face Edward's. My hands automatically wound their way through his hair, and I pulled myself closer, when once again, I suddenly remembered a huge difference between us, and immediately longed for my toothbrush.
Edward quickly sensed the change in my demeanor, and knew me so well he didn't have to ask.
"Good morning, Bella. Go, have your human moment. I'll meet you afterwards. I need to make myself presentable as well," he said softly, as he kissed my forehead.
Right. The Cullens didn't need to do any such thing - they were always presentable. The only reason they took showers was to get the dust out of their hair.
Edward hesitated at the door. "Oh, and Bella? Don't be too startled when you come outside, all right?"
What - was I the last one getting ready? Was everyone else already waiting on me? Great. I nodded in response at Edward, and started rushing to collect my things. After gathering my toiletries, I began to make my way to the bathhouse, but I only made it about two feet from my cabin before stopping dead in my tracks. I closed my eyes, shook my head slightly, and hesitantly opened my eyes again. Nothing had changed – it wasn't an illusion.
Nobody was waiting on me - in fact, Edward had woken me up in plenty of time, as it appeared that I was the first one up - or at least outside, considering over half of our staff didn't actually sleep. What he had been trying to prepare me for could only be the work of one certain pixie-vampire, who has endless energy and no time restrictions to affect her work. Yes, this had to be the work of Alice .
All eight cabins surrounding me were now each a different shade of pastel - it looked like a kids' ice cream parlor had thrown up in our campsite. The four cabins on the boys' side were all different shades of sage, yellow, blue and beige. The four cabins on the girls' side were now all sporting brand new coats of paint in tones of pink, apricot, lavender and cream. Even the two bathhouses were coordinated in appropriate tones.
The previous signs on the posts of the cabins which identified each one by a number had also been replaced; now there were intricately hand-painted plaques with our individual names on them in Alice 's easily recognizable script. Unbelievable.
I was still standing in the exact same place, with my jaw hanging open when a rustling in the woods behind me caused me to snap out of my trance and turn around just in time to see an exuberant Alice bounding towards me.
"Bella! Good morning! What do you think of my overnight cabin makeover? I think it's a vast improvement - surely those kids will like this much better! It's just more cheerful - it adds to the spirit of the camp," she trilled while embracing me in a gentle hug.
Still stunned, I was searching for words when Edward appeared at my side. "I think she's in shock, Alice - as surely some of the other residents will be - perhaps the ones that don't fully understand our capabilities?" he hinted, his eyes moving from Jessica and Angela's cabin to Mike's in one fluid glance. "And what do you think Sue will say when she shows up this morning?" he added, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh please, Edward. "You know as well as I do that Sue won't be a problem, so quit being so negative. And I don't need a vision to tell me that our classmates aren't going to be an issue, either - the only perceptive one out of the three is Angela, and she's such a good-hearted person she'll only be thinking of how considerate it was of all of us to stay up to do this. Actually, she'll probably say that we should have asked her to help," Alice replied, dismissing Edward's concerns with a wave of her tiny hand.
"Well technically it was only you, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett that did it - and he only helped because Rosalie desperately wants the kids to be happy, and because he's incredibly afraid of getting on Rosalie's bad side again," Edward said.
I looked away guiltily, as I knew the only reason Edward hadn't helped was so that he could stay with me all night - at the same time, I couldn't help but be happy about his choice. Besides, with the four of them, the whole painting process had probably taken less than four hours anyway. Regardless, my thoughts and the conversation were quickly interrupted as the other humans in camp began to stir.
Jessica was the first one out on her and Angela's porch. She began making her way to the steps, but as she glanced up and took in all the new bright Easter-like colors, she ran straight into the post that was holding the plaque with their names on it, and it went crashing to the ground from the impact. She yelped in pain, grasping her forehead in her hands.
At the same moment, Mike surfaced from his cabin. He was halfway across the campsite, toothbrush, soap and towel in hand before he bothered to look up from his feet. He instantly froze as if he'd been caught in a helicopter's search light and began spinning around in circles in a slightly crouched position, his eyes wide with incomprehension.
By now, Rosalie and Emmett had also emerged; they most likely heard the commotion and were eager to watch the show. Something moving behind Emmett's cabin caught my attention, and I realized it was Jasper, standing within the trees - apparently this was entertaining for all of them.
As Mike kept spinning and spluttering, and Jessica kept gawking at the new scenery, Angela finally stepped outside having heard Jessica's whimpering. Being the good person she was, she asked Jessica if she was all right, and when Jessica merely pointed a finger outward, Angela lifted her gaze and took in the new campsite.
"Whoa. How did all of this happen?" Angela asked, taking in her surroundings.
Alice stepped forward. "We all thought it would be a nice way to welcome the kids - it's much cheerier this way, don't you think? When I saw all the extra cans of paint in the maintenance storage shed, I thought surely this is what they were for - I guess that other guy just quit before he could get around to doing it. Since there are so many of us and the cabins are fairly small, it didn't take long at all!" she explained, making the whole thing sound completely rational. Edward appeared to be concentrating on Angela, then suddenly turned his back and rolled his eyes.
"Amazing... Alice was right," Edward murmured, just barely loud enough for me to hear.
"Wow! You guys - why didn't you ask me to stay up and help out? This is absolutely incredible - the kids will just love it! How thoughtful of all of you!" Angela gushed, looking around at each of the Cullens - and me - in awe.
Somehow, not only had Alice had managed to recruit the other Cullens - aside from Edward - to refinish the exterior of eight cabins overnight, but she had also managed to convince three of our previous classmates that it was entirely possible that we could have managed such a task.
Mike and Jessica listened to Angela and seemed to accept what she was saying; eventually they'd both resumed their trips to the bathhouses and gotten ready. I followed behind, still shaking my head in shock – I don't know why I was so dumbfounded, I should have realized the second I'd seen the bland exterior of the cabins when we'd arrived that they didn't stand a chance against Alice.
About ten minutes later Sue arrived and speechlessly took in the sight before her. She stood staring and blinking for a few minutes as if she was trying to determine whether or not what she was seeing was real, and then cleared her throat awkwardly. "Err…what exactly happened here?" she asked, apparently unable to think of anything else to say.
Alice jumped up, explaining how we had worked through the night, all in order to surprise the campers – she went on about how much more the kids would love the new look of the cabins, and recited a whole speech about how if the kids were happy about such a thing it would only improve the whole spirit of the camp, and in turn would encourage future business. It was all very convincing.
After Alice had finished, Sue slowly nodded her head, processing everything Alice had said. "All right…well that's just fantastic! I guess Chief Swan was right about you kids – you go all out," she chuckled. "Wait – where did you get all that paint?"
Alice merely shrugged. "We found it in the maintenance shed. One of the previous workers must have ordered it and had a project in mind that they never got around to," she said rationally.
"Huh. I guess one of these days I really need to check that place out – I have no idea what's in there," Sue murmured. "Anyway, great job - now let's get you all ready to meet your campers!"
A/N: The kids will arrive in the next chapter. Please review! Oh, and please vote for CFCT I for Best Comedy (if you feel it deserves to win) at The Silent Tear Awards before September 1st. Thanks!
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