A/N: Sorry for the delay in updates, my computer got attacked with an awful virus and has been in the shop. I just got it back this morning and here I am, updating for all of you! Loved reading about all of the New Moon movie experiences, and glad that everyone enjoyed reading the outtake on Newton's thoughts. Now - back to the story!
(Previously):
Suddenly the cat leapt onto Emmett's outstretched hand, hissing wildly. It scrambled unsteadily against the marble-like surface, claws flying, fighting his way up Emmett's arm.
"That's it – there you go, buddy," Emmett said encouragingly.
"Emmett you idiot, it's trying to attack you," Edward snapped.
Emmett glared at him. "Is not – he's just having a hard time. He's uncoordinated like Bella – I don't see you turning her away because she can't keep her balance."
"Thanks a lot, Emmett," I said, wishing the cat could actually harm him.
The kitten successfully found something it could latch onto – Emmett's shirt. It meowed violently as it crawled over his shoulder onto his back, each of its paws clinging to the soft fabric.
Emmett was trying to reach around to his back to grasp the cat. "Wait now, that's not a good place for you – hang on, let me help you down," he said unsteadily. Unable to reach the animal, he began peeling his shirt off over his head, which was a bad idea. Now the kitten had hold of both his shirt and his hair, leaving Emmett in an awkward position with his arms raised in the air, t-shirt tangled around his head blinding him. The cat hissed and fought, creating the odd illusion of Emmett's head spinning inside the shirt.
"What are you doing? I'm trying to help you! Argh – no, no, no, no," he muttered, stumbling blindly around the room. He bumped into an end table and spun around, completely losing his balance. He ricocheted off the couch, ran into the expensive stereo equipment which crashed to the ground, then went hurtling into Alice's 'back-up inventory' supplies, sending all the neatly piled items flying in all directions. Jasper intercepted him before he could run into anything else and led him in the direction of the cavern's door, which he kicked open while simultaneously pushing Emmett and the cat out.
The cavern was quiet except for the sounds coming from the CD skipping in the background.
"And he wants to be my Assistant Manager…I don't think so," Alice murmured, eyeing her store's scattered supplies.
Jasper sighed heavily and began working on the stereo equipment, trying to put it back in place.
Chapter 19:
When Edward woke me Saturday morning I realized I had managed to sleep for the remainder of the night following the kitten fiasco, which was pretty impressive considering my company. Feeling fairly rested I got ready and we returned to the campgrounds much the same as we did the day before - before anyone else was awake. Rosalie asked why Emmett had returned to the campsite in the middle of the night sulking, but we all claimed innocence and said he must have gotten bored with us.
Once everyone's kids were up and ready for the day, we made it to the flagpole as scheduled, with Edward's group following behind us and Alice's group at my side as usual.
Glancing at the top of the flagpole, the sight I had become used to seeing by now was waiting to greet me; this time it was TheGreen Lantern blowing in the breeze. I glanced over at Emmett, who'd arrived before us. He still looked slightly disgruntled, but apparently his mood hadn't been bad enough to interfere with his morning tradition.
At breakfast we all settled in at our table. Carlisle was waiting on us, and after Esme was done with her work she joined us as well.
"Today should be interesting…are all of you looking forward to it?" Carlisle asked, smiling warmly at each of us. Everyone nodded in response, silverware clattering and fake chewing in unison. I picked at my toast and frowned, wondering how well I would fare the water balloon fight; was it possible to drown without actually being underwater? I shuttered slightly at the thought, and Edward glanced over at me curiously. I offered him a reassuring smile.
Emmett chuckled, and I focused my attention back to the conversation around me. "You guys are going down, that's for sure." He stabbed a piece of watermelon with his fork, examining it closely. "If you eat the seeds, why doesn't it start to grow in your stomach? What if you ate soil with it?" he mused, mostly to himself. Everyone ignored him, obviously immune by now to the mysterious workings of Emmett's mind. I had to wonder if he'd really ever been human.
"I'm just glad it's water balloons – they'll hurt way less than something like paintball would have," I muttered.
"Damn it! I should have thought of that," Emmett exclaimed, hitting the table, the watermelon seeds suddenly forgotten.
Carlisle gave him a stern look. "Language, Emmett. Besides, the camp would never have been able to pull off getting enough supplies for such a thing."
"Maybe someone could have donated them," Emmett snorted in reply. Carlisle glanced at him curiously, but Alice quickly jumped in, asking Esme if she'd been enjoying the week cooking for all the kids.
"I really have – it's been nice having Angela help out in the kitchen from time to time, she's a lovely girl. She'll have a bright future," Esme smiled. I agreed, and Esme spoke a bit more about the enjoyment she'd had this week in watching the children's expressions as they went through the line; the food was obviously much better this year than they had been expecting, definitely not your typical camp food. She really had quite a talent in the kitchen.
Before long Sue entered the hall and began the awards ceremony. The camp made it a point to make it fun and non-competitive, so all the kids were enjoying themselves and cheering for their friends. A couple of my campers even placed – one for swimming, and Sophie managed to get second for 'most creative kite decorating.' I briefly wondered if my glitter-glued hair had been included in that particular vote. Regardless, all the campers had fun and the mood was enthusiastic as we headed back to camp to prepare for the water balloon fight.
The rules for the balloon fight were fairly simple. All groups started from different points surrounding the lake and had to work their way back to the campsite. Whichever group made it with the driest number of campers won. Any kid that was hit with a balloon was still allowed to play to help protect the ones that were still dry. Each camper and counselor was given a sling to carry their balloons in, and there were extra balloons in various locations throughout the woods between the lake and camp for re-loading.
My nerves were nearly shattered as my group stood near the edge of the lake waiting for it to begin. The other groups were all within site, but nowhere near close enough to actually hit one another – yet. I'd instructed my group to start running like crazy at the signal and not to stop until we couldn't make it any further. My goal was simple – get away from the very fast vampires and the idiot boy that had a relentless crush on me – knowing my luck, Mike would revert back to preschool behavior and decide to hit on me by actually hitting me or my campers with the stupid balloons.
My plan had seemed reasonable when I'd thought of it, but now, as we all stood panting in the middle of the woods I was second-guessing my brilliancy. I looked around trying to figure out where we were. The only thought I'd had was to get away from the others as quickly as possible – sure, the Cullens would have to act at human speed, but even so their aim was impeccable and if we wanted to stand a chance we had to get out of range. The problem now was that I hadn't been paying attention to which direction we'd been running in as we'd wildly thrashed our way into the woods as if being chased by fire.
My campers surrounded me, huffing for breath, their little balloon slings hanging off their shoulders and resting on their hips. I was trying to figure out where to hide next when rustling from above and sudden movement caused me to jump back in surprise. With quiet grace, Jasper landed swiftly in front of me having leapt from a branch above.
He grinned at me. "Hey Bella. I was wondering if maybe you might want some help."
Why would he want to help me? Surely he would be looking out for Alice … As if reading my mind he continued.
"Don't get me wrong – I love Alice – this was actually her and Edward's idea," he explained, glancing over my shoulder at my campers. "Edward thought it best if someone…kept an eye on you, and Alice wanted me to be able to join in the fun – she knows I love this type of thing, and she certainly doesn't need the help," he finished, smiling apologetically at me.
Jasper went on to explain how he'd been competing in various things with his family long enough to know and understand how they think, what moves they'll make.
"They're almost predictable, really. Emmett gets overly competitive and will do something ridiculous, Edward and Alice will mind-play each other relentlessly, and given Rosalie's recent behavior, she'll just be trying to figure out how to protect her kids from getting hit," he surmised easily, leaning back against a tree. My group was watching us curiously.
"Won't Alice um, know what's happening? Which in turns means Edward will too? How can that help our situation?" I asked, selectively choosing my words due to our audience.
"All part of the game, Bella. Trust me, Alice and Edward almost always get caught up trying to cancel each other's moves out," he answered confidently.
I heard a kid laughing in the distance and realized I'd better make up my mind and fast. "What do you guys think? Should we let Jasper be on our team? He hasn't been able to participate in anything this whole week, and remember how nice it was of him to bring your lunches and all those toys to the lake? Shouldn't we let him play too?" I asked my group – I wanted it to be up to them.
They studied him for a second, and then each one began nodding in approval. "Looks like you're in," I said smiling.
Jasper began to map out a plan. He arranged the kids in a perimeter-type situation, and set one of the girls up to be a trap – she'd wander out just far enough to get attention, then run back toward us, where someone would be ready in any given direction. After they were all in place, he helped situate me up in a tree, which was in the middle of our area; if anyone got past the girls then I'd try and get them from above. We'd repeat this scenario, continually moving closer to camp and re-setting our traps, including moving me from tree to tree. Before leaving me on the first branch, Jasper paused. He removed a small length of rope from his backpack and circled it around my waist onto the tree trunk at my back – he'd either been lectured by Edward about my safety or was just used to my unfortunate lack of stability by now.
Back on the ground Jasper taught the kids various hand gestures to signal certain things – how many campers were approaching, if a counselor was in front of them, and so on. He really had thought of everything. Once he had the kids in position, he climbed up into a tree opposite mine, listening to the sounds of the forest and concentrating.
The first couple attacks worked flawlessly. Mike's group was the first to come near us. They spotted the girl from our group – seemingly alone – and came running after her. Of course she got hit, but when his entire group came within range we took out all but Mike himself and two of his campers before they caught on and ran off. The same happened with half of Rosalie's group – they'd run ahead of her before she could stop them and at least five of her campers got soaked, whereas only one more of mine got hit. I was sure she was silently cursing the necessity to move at human speed.
We'd moved forward through the forest three times now, and were really close to reaching the edge of the campsite. I asked Jasper why we didn't just make a run for it now, but he shook his head, listening to something in the distance.
The snapping of twigs caught my attention, and the new dry replacement we were using as 'bait' moved toward the sound as instructed. Jasper tilted his head, his eyes narrowed. Something was off.
Suddenly four boys stepped out from the trees and stood staring at my camper. I recognized them as some of Emmett's campers – not only were the Mohawks unmistakable, but they now had what appeared to be war paint smeared on their faces. Instead of running after her into our trap, they looked as if they expected her to run after them. The five kids just stood still for a second.
Jasper whistled softly from his place in the trees, sounding remarkably like a bird – it was the signal he'd taught the rest of my group to stay in hiding and wait. The girl facing the boys turned and ran, knowing she was going to get hit anyway. As a balloon sailed after her, the four boys stepped aside as one of them called out "now!" Suddenly an engine roared to life. Moments later bright lights flashed in the woods as Jasper's four wheeler flew into view, jumping up over the small hill it had been hidden behind.
"WOO HOO!!!!" Emmett bellowed, tossing balloons left and right while still steering. One of his boys sat behind him on the vehicle, clutching onto his waist with one arm and throwing with the other. His other four campers followed closely behind, running and tossing balloons at the shocked girls in my group who had momentarily frozen in place.
"Element of surprise, baby! Bet you didn't consider that, Jasper! Nice ride by the way!" Emmett called out as he and the rest of his kids disappeared past the edges of the forest and into camp.
Obviously Emmett's plan had been to try to lure campers in like we had, but then to take them by surprise and get past them quickly. Once they were gone we assessed the damage. Seven in all of my campers had been hit, but three were still dry, as was I.
I was sure that despite the shock we'd still managed to hit some of them. When he'd come roaring over the hill I'd practically jumped out of the tree in surprise; it had been a good thing Jasper had strapped me to my branch so securely. Half of my balloons had flown from my satchel in my brief moment of panic, but I'd salvaged a couple, one of which I knew I'd hit Emmett in the back with, and Jasper said he was sure a lot of the boys had also been hit.
After pausing, Jasper removed me from the tree and waved us forward, instructing us to sprint to camp. Panting, we arrived minutes later, and Jasper disappeared back into the forest as if he'd never been with us at all. We were the last group to arrive, and I looked around at the others' appearances. Mike's group was soaked except for one kid. Rosalie's group had similar results. Every member of both Alice and Edward's group, including themselves was dripping wet – Jasper had been right about them cancelling each other out. As my gaze came to rest on Emmett's group, I blinked in disbelief – seven of his kids had been hit, plus Emmett himself, which made a total of eight. Eight…which meant my group had won. Against all odds and laws of nature combined, my group had freaking won, and nobody was injured. Bless Jasper.
Angela counted everyone and announced what I'd already realized, and congratulations were bestowed upon my campers. All the kids were ecstatic – we hadn't expected to win, we'd just been hoping to survive. It was incredible, and all the other campers were happy as well. They didn't seem to care who'd won, they'd all just had a tremendous amount of fun. Emmett laughed and slapped me on the shoulder, saying he was proud of me but pretty sure that I would never beat him at anything ever again. I just grinned back – I was grateful that he didn't mention the secret coaching we'd had, and that he was content letting my campers enjoy their unexpected victory.
A/N: Please review!