hey everyone so, wow it's been a long time hasn't it? heh…my bad :$ I'm pretty sure in the last chapter I mentioned getting this up like the next day or something….but obviously that didn't happen and then I forgot about it and then I was just going through files on my laptop today and I was like hey what's this… and that is the pathetic story of why I have not poste this or anything in quite a while :3 anyway enough boring talking on with the story
disclaimer: I don't own Jez or Morgead no matter how much I wish I did
oh also Jez and Morgead are going to be like 15 and 16 here so yeah totally adorable
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Leadership Camp
"I'm sorry, but I have to what?"
"Jez…" Coach Grants leaned back in his chair and massaged his temple. "It's already decided. There's no point in complaining. You have to go."
Jez stood and slapped her hands onto her gym teacher's desk. "But I don't want to!"
The coach stood with her. "Sometimes, we have to do things that we don't want to do, Red. But there is no discussing it!" Coach Grants crossed his arms and peered down his nose at Jez. "There's nothing you can do about it. Now please, just get out of my office before my headache comes back."
A muscle in Jez's jaw twitched. She glared up at her teacher for a moment, wising more than anything in the world that she could throttle him. Instead, she growled deep in her throat and spun on her heel. Coach Grants stared after her as she slammed his office door shut so hard it rattled on its hinges.
Nothing she could do? Nothing she could do?
She'd show them just what she could do! As soon as she figured it out herself…
Go time.
Coach Grants cracked his office door open and glared down as Jez gave him the brightest smile she could muster. She even batted her eyelashes for good measure.
"Redfern," her teacher sighed heavily through his nose but opened the door slightly wider. Assuming what was meant to be an intimidating pose in the door frame, he growled, "I thought I told you yesterday, there's nothing you can do! The decision's been made, and it wasn't mine!"
"Oh, sir, I understand that!" Jez twirled a strand of her hair absently as she attempted a diplomatic expression. "But I was thinking…maybe you'd let me in so we could make a compromise?"
"A compromise?" the coach barked out a laugh and shook his head. What could she possibly have to offer? "I really don't think this is a 'compromising' situation, Redfern."
"Oh, but I think it is." Jez looked straight into the coach's eyes and asked, "Aren't you going to let me in?"
Coach Grants blinked once. Twice. He shook his head sharply and grunted incoherently. He flung open the door and stepped aside for Jez to enter his office. "You've got five minutes Redfern, don't waste my time."
"Perfect." It was barely a breath, much too quiet for Coach Grants' deaf little vermin ears to hear. Sliding into the chair placed in front of her teacher's desk, Jez stared into his eyes and told him, "I'd like to take my friend Morgead with me, if that's alright." As she spoke, she reached out for his mind, gently prodding and whispering from the inside.
Listen to her. What harm can it do? It'll keep her docile, isn't it worth it? It's just one extra kid, what's the harm?
She waited for her suggestions to take hold, helping them along with a few vocal words.
"I would be so grateful if you let Morgead come, sir. I wouldn't even make a fuss. I'm sure it wouldn't be too much trouble. Just say yes…" she watched with fierce triumph as her teacher's cloudy eyes stared blankly through her. She felt a stirring in his mind, and saw a stirring on the outside.
He shook his head as if clearing cobwebs, and blinked a few times.
"I – I suppose it would be…acceptable…"
"Great!" Jez shot up out of her chair and clamped a hand in her hair to keep the face splitting grin she felt coming on from showing itself. "Then I suppose I'll see you then, Coach!"
Off to Morgead's then to deliver the news.
"Get your lazy butt outta bed, Morgead!" Jez yelled as she burst in through Morgead's front door. She had to kick it several times as it stuck on the floor. "I've got news!"
Morgead groaned and clutched at his ears lamely. He was lying face down on his futon with his shirt pushed halfway up his chest. He still wore the rest of his clothes – muddy boots included – and had his face buried in the corner of the cushions in a futile attempt to block out the light streaming through the dirt-caked window.
"Up, up, up!" Jez cried as she ran over and jumped onto Morgead's legs.
He grunted and swatted at her as Jez landed with her fists on his exposed back. With a vicious cackle, Jez spread her hands and pressed them into his bare back. Morgead's skin was hot underneath her fingers – a stark comparison to her ice cold hands.
"Jez!" Morgead squirmed around so he was on his back and knocked her hands away from him with an awkward jerking motion. He yanked his shirt back down so it covered him. "What the hell do you want? And get off of me!"
Jez vaulted off of Morgead before he had the chance to push her to the ground and laughed. She sat on the coffee table facing Morgead and crossed her legs. He propped himself up on his elbow and stared at her blearily.
Jez tried not to focus on the compete adorableness of his bedhead and instead told him, "You have drool on your chin."
Morgead frowned and rubbed absently at the corner of his mouth. "So is that what you came to tell me, then?" he asked.
"Nope!" Jez sprang off the table and darted into Morgead's room. Morgead sat up and called, "Hey –" as Jez grabbed his ratty old knapsack from his closet and tossed it onto his bed. Morgead climbed over the back of his futon as Jez started rifling through drawers and throwing random shirts and pants – even a pair of his boxers! – on top of the bag.
"Jez! What the hell are you doing?" he caught her wrist and she stopped shoveling clothes into the bag.
Jez gave Morgead a bright smile and patted his arm. "I'm packing for you!"
Morgead opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He snapped it shut before he blurted, "Why?"
"Because that's what friends do, silly!"
"No," Morgead pushed his hair from his eyes as he watched Jez finish stuffing the last t-shirt into the bag. "I mean what is this for?"
"For tomorrow, of course," Jez rolled her eyes like Morgead should have some clue what she was talking about. "you can't very well go without clothes, Morgead. I'm pretty sure that going around naked is frowned upon in polite society."
"Jez have you lost your mind? Or are you just not feeling well? When was the last time you fed?"
"Oh Morgead…it's not me you should be worried about," Jez purred as she handed him the knapsack and glided past him to the door. She obviously expected to be followed.
"So you're not going to tell me what this is for?" Morgead frowned and followed her out of his building.
Jez swung her leg over her bike and started it up. The roar of the engine made it pointless trying to speak aloud. As Jez tore off down the street, Morgead heard her voice in his head.
I'll tell you when we get to my house.
The thought had been short and direct, and the link severed the second after. Obviously there was something Jez didn't want him to know about just yet. Which meant it was most likely something Morgead wouldn't enjoy.
But, instead of acting like the selfish, cold-hearted vampire he was supposed to be, Morgead started up his bike and raced after Jez like the lovesick puppy that he was instead.
When he pulled up Jez's drive she was already long there. Her bike was parked carefully like always, her helmet discarded carelessly on the ground a few feet away. The front door was open.
Morgead sighed and walked into the house.
Up in Jez's room he found her throwing clothes onto her bed. Walking in, he caught something lacy and held it up with a crooked grin. "Nice bra."
Jez spun around and glared at Morgead. Snatching her bra from his fingers, she scowled and muttered, "Shut up!" Morgead laughed as Jez shoved it deep into the pile of clothes on her bed.
"Oh, so you can go through my underwear drawer, but I can't even make fun of yours? I see how it is."
"Morgead!" Jez growled and flung something at him. He batted it away as Jez yelled, "You are such an ass!"
"Yeah, whatever," Morgead rolled his eyes and jumped onto Jez's bed, stretching out so he kicked clothes off the side. "can you just tell me what this is for?"
Jez scowled, but announced, "Grants is making me go to this stupid overnight leadership camp thing tomorrow, and you're coming with me!"
"Umm, excuse me?" Morgead pushed himself into a sitting position and glared at Jez as she pulled a small duffle bag from under her bed and started transferring clothes into it. "I'm not going anywhere!"
"Please Morgead! You have to come!" Jez abandoned her packing in favour of begging Morgead. She seized his arm and shook it back and forth violently and whined, "If you don't come I'll die! I know I will!"
Morgead wrenched his arm from her grip. "Quit being so dramatic, Jez," he snapped. "it's not the end of the world."
"Yes it is!" she cried and threw herself across Morgead's lap so that her shoulders dangled off the edge of her bed. "It's all about trust exercises and getting along with people and everything else that makes me want to stake myself!"
"Exactly why I don't plan on going," Morgead snarled. "now get off me!"
Morgead pushed Jez off his lap and onto the floor before she had time to grab hold of anything. Popping her head up above the mattress, Jez summoned the greatest puppy dog look she could, and batted her lashes at Morgead. To his credit, he held out until her lip started to wobble.
He glanced away and muttered, "Jez, I'm not doing that." But he sounded unsure now.
"It's only one night and a day and a half! Come on, please! I will seriously love you forever if you do this for me!"
Morgead narrowed his eyes warily at Jez as she curled her legs under her and sat beside him. She wasn't nearly as frantic or loud as she'd been a moment before, so Morgead figured she was pretty serious.
She stared solemnly up at him until Morgead finally blurted, "Fine!"
"Really?"
Morgead nodded.
"Thank you!" Jez cried and flung her arms around Morgead's neck in a tight hug. The sheer force of which she launched herself at Morgead nearly knocked him back, but with one hand on Jez's waist and the other planted on the bed behind him, Morgead managed to steady himself.
"You are the absolute best, Morgead!"
Morgead swallowed as Jez squeezed him tighter and then jumped off the bed and continued throwing clothes into her bag.
"Sure…whatever you say Jez."
As Jez packed, she babbled on and on about how unfair the situation was, and how if she had her way, the people who were at fault would end up drained and gutted.
"Anyway, we're supposed to meet at the school tomorrow at eight in the freaking morning, so I figured you'd just stay here and we could take your bike in. No need for me to start getting crap before this stupid thing even starts."
Morgead's brows furrowed. "Wouldn't it just make more sense to use a saddle bag?"
"No, Morgead! I am bringing too much stuff for it all to fit in the bag. And besides," Jez glared at Morgead as she heaved her bloated duffle bag off the bed and tossed it at the door. "we can just strap these things to the back of the bike."
Morgead eyes Jez doubtfully. "How?"
"With duct tape? I don't know, we'll figure it out later for god's sake!"
"If you say so…"
"Try to enjoy yourselves, you two!"
"Very funny, Uncle Bracken!" Jez called over her shoulder at her uncle as Morgead gunned the engine and turned out of her neighborhood.
Morgead drove so fast the whole way that Jez almost fell off twice. She had to grip around his waist while maintaining a firm hold on the duffle bag and Morgead's knapsack at the same time. Vampire or not, it was a hard task at a hundred and twenty miles per hour.
Driving so fast, it took barely any time at all to reach the rendé vu point at the front of Jez's school. As they pulled into the parking lot, everyone who had been milling about the entrance or talking together in groups turned to stare.
As the bike rolled to a stop, Jez dismounted as gracefully as she could manage and glared at everyone. "What? You never seen a bike before?"
Morgead climbed off behind her and muttered, "Cool it, Jez."
Jez opened her mouth, a witty comeback on the tip of her tongue, but Coach Grants beat her to it. Jez glared at him as he hollered, "You couldn't have been any later? I was beginning to think I was going to have to drive the bus to your house for pickup duty."
"Yeah, well my plan fell through at the last minute," Jez sneered.
Coach Grants pretended not to hear the venom in her voice and declared, "And this must be Morgead," while regarding him with a stoic expression.
Morgead nodded with tight lips. He was getting that disapproving look that always came from adults he met, even ones he passed on the street. Rolling up in a motorcycle without a helmet probably wasn't doing him any favours, but he couldn't help it! If he wasn't out with the gang on his bike, then he preferred to let the wind tear at his face and hair while he rode.
Besides, it's not like Jez was wearing a helmet either.
Someone from the crowd called out, "Wait, is this guy coming?"
The coach sighed and turned to address the twenty or so students. "Yes, he's coming! And don't you all go thinking that this means I'll be giving you all leniency! This is a special occasion!" Coach Grants added as there were cries of injustice and outrage. "Now, Morgead," he turned his harsh face back to Morgead and continued, "why don't you introduce yourself and maybe say a little something about you as well."
Morgead glanced over his shoulder at nothing in particular and muttered, "I'd rather not…"
"Aww, c'mon Morgy…" Jez purred. She gave Morgead a rough shove towards the crowd and snickered, "Are you scared or something?"
The coach clamped a big hand on Morgead's shoulder, looking as if he were going to try and hold him there. And sure, the coach was a big man, but Morgead was only a few inches shorter, and much, much stronger. If Morgead wanted out of there, he would be gone.
But instead, he sucked up his pride and scowled towards the students – some of which he even recognised.
"I'm Morgead…"
A few whispers from the crowd of students.
"Oh, I remember him!"
"Wow, he looks even better now than he did in fifth grade!"
"Huh? I've never seen this guy before…"
"He looks scary."
Coach Grants spoke over the quiet voices. "And where are you from, Morgead?"
"Here."
Grants glared at Morgead and Jez snickered in the background. Morgead wasn't giving the teacher much to work with. But he asked anyway, "And where is it you go to school?"
Morgead frowned, but when he didn't answer, the coach crossed is arms and prompted, "Well?"
With a stiff shrug, Morgead muttered, "I don't."
A few people murmured in confusion, and the coach said, "What do you mean?"
"What does it matter?" Jez scoffed, but she was ignored.
Morgead announced, "I dropped out when I was twelve."
Stunned silence.
The group broke out into intense whispers; everyone had something to say on the matter. But Jez didn't bother listening for what they were saying; she just glared moodily at the back of Coach Grants' head as he argued with Morgead.
"You're saying you haven't gone to school since you were twelve?"
Morgead nodded curtly.
"Why?"
"None of your business."
"Now you listen here, boy! I won't tolerate your –"
"Hey!" Jez yelled. Immediately, everyone's mouths snapped shut, and every eye was on her. Jez was fine with that though. She stood at the front of the livid crowd with her hands on her hips and a fierce scowl on her face. Glaring at Coach Grants, she asked airily, "Didn't you say something about being late?"
The coach narrowed his eyes and watched Jez for a moment. It seemed that she was more upset about Coach Grants hassling Morgead than the boy himself. To the teacher, she looked almost like the evil goddess from an old Irish folklore his grandmother used to tell him, with silver eyes that threw the light back at him and hair that seemed to crackle with electricity as she stood in a stiff, restrained position. The coach looked back at Morgead who was standing with his hands buried deep in his pockets and a smug look on his face like he'd accomplished something great. He was watching Jez.
Cracking his knuckles, Coach Grants pointed a crooked finger at the bus and bellowed, "Everybody on!"
Over the years, both Jez and Morgead had learned that there were different approaches for different situations. Sometimes, it was the time to be obnoxious, or to be vicious or even high and mighty. But for the next seven hours, the pair recognised the need to lay low.
They spent the whole ride slouched in the back seat of the bus – the one Jez had bullied her way into – with their heads bent together plotting. At one point, Jez fell asleep with her head on Morgead's shoulder, and he sat as still as a statue with her curled against his side.
When they finally pulled into a deserted gravel parking lot and were told to, "Get your butts off the bus!" as put by Coach Grants, they merged in with the two other schools participating and were given the run down on the rest of the afternoon.
It was nothing special, mainly simple trust activities and teamwork building tasks and challenges. Obviously, neither Jez nor Morgead were pleased with this, and couldn't help making things slightly more interesting for everyone.
The first was the trust fall exercise. Everyone was assigned a partner, someone whom they did not know. For Jez, it was a particularly enthusiastic boy from another school.
As the instructions were being re-told, the boy gave Jez a boyish grin and whispered, "Hi!" to which, Jez said nothing. And yet, he tried again. "So you're Jez, right? Not to sound like a weirdo or anything, but you're really beautiful, Je – oof!" the boy was shoved roughly from behind as Morgead bumped into him and kept walking with a mumbled, "Sorry," thrown over his shoulder.
"Nice," Jez snorted.
Jez's partner – who apparently thought she was talking to him – rubbed his shoulder and muttered, "Man, some guys can be such jerks! They just think they're so much better than everyone else so they can do anything they want!"
"Trust me," Jez drawled, smirking a tiny bit. "he's not thinking that."
The boy gave Jez a peculiar glance. "You know him?"
Jez didn't bother answering.
The aftermath of that exercise, was Jez "accidently" dropping her partner when he fell towards her, and Morgead starting a fist fight with his own partner and his friend over who knows what. Even holding back, Morgead was clearly the victor of that battle.
After a military drilling from Coach Grants, Morgead was released back to where Jez and the rest of the students were getting more instructions for the next activity.
"Alright everyone, so get into your groups and get started!" the overly-perky teacher at the front of the mob sang.
Morgead looked at Jez warily and asked, "More groups? What are we doing?"
Jez only succeeded in rolling her eyes before the pair heard her name being called. Both Jez and Morgead looked to the side to see Jez's earlier partner waving them over frantically. Jez and Morgead exchanged a glance.
"Jez…"
"We need a group, Morgead," Jez snapped and stormed over to her partner and his three buddies.
"Jez, hey," the boy grinned at her again, one much too friendly and warm for his own good. That boy was going to be Morgead's next victim if he wasn't careful.
Jez stopped and crossed her arms stiffly. "Hey…"
The boy blushed. "Brady," he supplied. "and this is Chad, Alex and Michael." He waved at the boys standing behind him and they nodded to Jez. Two of them seemed to be twins.
One of the twins looked at Morgead standing just behind Jez and asked, "Dude, what's your name?"
Morgead's glare cut from the perky instructor woman at the front to the boy's dull brown eyes. "Does it matter?"
"Well, it'd be nice to know…" the other twin mumbled uncertainly.
"Sucks."
"His name is Morgead," Jez told them just to piss off Morgead. Naturally it worked.
"Oh," the twins chorused.
When a lady came by and handed them a sheet of lined paper and a few pens, she shooed them towards another small group of six and chirped, "Let's just make you guys into a bigger group so you get to know more people!"
After hearing names immediately forgotten by Morgead and Jez, the group got started on the task. Much to Morgead's dismay, it turned out to be a creative writing challenge, and each person was taking turns writing one sentence. And just his luck, he got handed the paper right after the most girly, childish high schooler he'd ever laid eyes on.
Quickly skimming everything written before, Morgead groaned and jotted something down. He passed it to Jez and watched as she read it over. When she got to the part Morgead added, the scowl that had been tugging the corners of her lips downwards and drawing her eyebrows together lifted and was replaced with a cruel smirk. She rolled her eyes and wrote on something to the end.
After the paper cycled through their circle once more, someone called time and it was announced that everyone had to read their stories aloud.
After listening to a short story about a soccer player/princess and another about an armadillo who ran for presidency, it was Morgead and Jez's group's turn to go.
Brady stood up and cleared his throat. "Once upon a time, there was a wise old man with a pet mouse. His name was Sir Pixistix. He was the Lord of the land of Pumpkinvill and ruled with the help of his Queen. She was actually the one running the country though because her husband was a piece of crap deadbeat who needed her to do everything for him because he was a pompous windbag male. One day, the Queen sent out for her daughter to go to the cottage far into the woods. A witch lived there. On her way, the princess stopped and met the fairy Queen and they had a nice, polite chat for a long time and they were both super beautiful and really, really nice and they decided to pick flowers together and then they braided each other's hair and decided that they would be best friends." Brady paused and squinted at the paper. "But, what sucks for them is that while they were busy being frilly, stupid little girls, a blood-sucking, flesh-eating, fire-breathing demon from another world was coming to suck up their blood and eat their flesh and overall just brutally murder and eat them. When it came, they screamed so loud that their throats started to bleed, which only made the demon more bloodthirsty and then it began to – you know what?" Brady gave an awkward half laugh; half gurgle and rubbed the back of his neck. He lowered the paper and said, "That's all we've got."
"Oh…alright…er, next group then?"
"Aww," Jez cooed in Morgead's ear while he chuckled silently. "he didn't read what I wrote."
"Shocker."
The two didn't bother listening to the rest of the group's stories, and instead discussed their gang for a while.
By the time all the groups had shared what they'd written, Morgead and Jez were in the midst of an intense plan that needed to be completed ASAP.
"But we need –"
"Are you guys coming?" Morgead snapped his mouth shut and glanced around. Everyone was getting up and leaving. How had he missed that?
"Oh, yeah," Jez mumbled. "what's going on though?"
"Diner, I think."
As it turns out, Brady was right, it was diner. But not the type of diner Jez was expecting. Everyone got either a barbecued hotdog or hamburger, and was told to go to the fire pit for the camp fire. And when Jez heard, "fire pit" she didn't picture what she was now standing before.
It was a gargantuan fire pit ringed with rocks of various sizes, and there were stone bleachers encircling the entire thing. It reminded Jez of the inside of a hockey arena, really. Excepts for the roaring fire in the middle.
And just like that, Jez got what they needed.
"Morgead…" Jez murmured as they sought out the most secluded spot they could find. "setting fire to something would be a good distraction, right?"
Morgead blinked. Slowly, he nodded.
By the time everyone was present, the sun was already sinking. The enormous fire casted strange shadows across the dirt ground and the stone seats.
Once the woman from earlier had finished her bubbly recount of the afternoon, Jez and Morgead rose to their feet and slunk towards the fire pit. Morgead split off from Jez and stood by the entrance to the fire pit. There was a short, mean looking man standing on one side and on the other was Coach Grants. Morgead ducked into the shadows and waited for Jez.
Across the fire, Jez stood with a marshmallow speared onto the end of her stick and dangling over the fire. Jez lowered it farther until it dipped deep into the flames, and watched as they danced around the sweet and caught on its surface. She watched as the marshmallow ignited, waited a moment to be sure it was good and fiery, then turned and launched it into the bleachers.
She heard someone shriek as the flaming projectile hit a mark, and watched in triumph as a small patch of flame leapt up in the dark sea of people. More voices rose, and people rushed in each direction.
Suddenly, Morgead's voice: Jez, it worked! They're gone and heading your way! Run around back!
Jez nodded even though Morgead couldn't see her, and slipped around the other side of the hearth. She jogged up to Morgead by the entrance and was met with a waiting high-five.
"Let's go."
Jez took off into the night with Morgead hot on her heels. Their footsteps crunched lightly as they ran across the parking lot to the lodge where everyone had unloaded their bags.
Morgead propped the door open for Jez to enter before him and whispered, "How are we getting away?"
Jez began digging through the pile of bags from their school. "Can't we just hi-jack a bus?"
"The bus is gone, idiot!" Morgead hissed.
Jez wretched her bag from the bottom of the heap and tossed it behind her. She looked at Morgead with huge cerulean eyes and repeated, "Gone?"
"Stupid! Morgead cried. "The bus isn't coming back until tomorrow evening!" he scowled and slung Jez's bag over his shoulder. "Looks like we're walking back."
"Are you kidding me? There's no way I'm walking the whole way back! It took like, over seven hours to drive here!"
"What the hell did you expect?" Morgead's voice was getting louder.
"I don't know!" Jez snarled, oblivious to the rising volume of their conversation. "Don't one of these happy morons have a car here?"
Morgead paused and thought for a minute. "I suppose whoever didn't come on a bus would have a car here…but where?"
"You guys're gonna steal one of their cars?" an unfamiliar voice said from the door.
Morgead cursed under his breath, and for one terrifying moment, Jez thought that they'd been caught. But when she turned around and looked at the silhouette in the door frame, she began to breathe again. Jez saw moonlight glinting off of golden hair, and wide eyes looking in at them.
Jez asked, "Who're you?" just as Morgead spat, "No! Of course not!"
They both looked at each other.
"Umm…sure…" the guy in the door sounded uncertain. "I'm Kyle though. And if you guys are trying to sneak out, I won't tell if you let me tag along."
"Not a chance," Morgead scoffed.
Jez narrowed her eyes at Kyle and asked, "Why are you here?"
"Uh," Kyle scratched his head awkwardly and took a half step into the building. "I was on my way to the bathroom next to the lodge and I heard you guys arguing, so I came to check it out…?"
"Likely story," Morgead muttered.
"It's true!"
"It doesn't matter, Morgead," Jez interrupted. "as long as no one –"
"What are you kids doing in here?"
Morgead threw his hands in the air and cried, "Oh, come on!"
"Kyle, I saw you sneak off. You'd all better have a good explanation for this! Everyone was supposed to stay by the fire pit!"
Morgead glared at Kyle and muttered, "Sneak off, eh?"
Kyle grimaced and stammered, "W-well, you see Ms. Greenburrow, I saw –"
The teacher in the door held up her hand for silence. "I do not care for your excuses, Mr. Kenneth," she snapped. "and you two," the woman turned her accusing glare on Jez and Morgead. "you must be Ms. Redfern and Mr. Blackthorn. I've heard all about you from Mr. Grants," she crinkled her nose as if smelling something putrid and held the door wide open. "come with me."
Jez grumbled something about stupid adults, and Morgead glared at Kyle until he turned pink and ducked his head, staring at the ground the whole way back to the fire.
Just outside the entrance to the fire pit, Ms. Greenburrow spun around and folded her arms across her chest sternly. Sounding more tired than she should have, she asked, "Now, who'd like to tell me what was going on?"
Jez flicked her eyes to Morgead and sent him a silent message to play along.
"I needed to use the washroom, Ma'am," Jez mumbled.
"Really?" she didn't sound very impressed. "Then why was this fellow with you?" she nodded accusingly to Morgead.
Jez tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and chewed her lip as if embarrassed, and Morgead crossed his arms shamelessly.
"I'm a little…frightened of the dark, Miss. Morgead was coming with me 'cause that's what he's always done since we were little."
Ms. Greenburrow seemed to be wavering; searching for flaws in her mind. Finding one, she asked, "Then why were you in the lodge, the toilets are in the next building. And you had your bags."
This was the tricky part. Morgead shifted uncomfortably beside her, averting his eyes awkwardly, and Jez thought of the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her. Luckily, it worked.
She hugged herself and looked at the woman's shoes as a hot blush crept up her neck and engulfed her face. "I just, ah…I needed to get something first…"
"Mm? And what would that be?"
"Uh…feminine products?"
"Oh, I see," she sighed apologetically. The teacher turned to Kyle with a pointed look. "And you?"
As Kyle stood spluttering nonsense about hearing a weird noise and deciding to investigate, Jez gave him a smug look.
Then, as if Morgead and Jez's luck wasn't as bad as it possibly could have been that day, a loud voice called out to them just when it seemed that the teacher was about to release them.
"Redfern!"
Everyone looked to see Coach Grants storming over with two girls in tow. He looked as if someone had just flying tackle-kicked his grandmother with the glare he was giving Jez. He stopped and crossed his arms in front of her, putting his back to the rest of the group. The two girls stood off to the side looking moody.
"Redfern," the coach growled again. "I know it was you who threw that marshmallow. Look at this!" he angrily motioned the two girls forward and jabbed a finger at each of them in turn. Jez could see scorch marks on one's hoodie, with tiny holes dotted here and there. The other girl seemed to have one section of her hair that was mysteriously shorter than all the rest…
"Just look at what you've done, Jezebel!"
Bristling, Jez abandoned her innocent act and regarded the coach through slitted eyes. "I didn't do anything. I've been out here for a while."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah," Kyle piped up from the back of the group. "She's telling the truth. I was with her."
Morgead's eyebrows flew up his forehead as he looked at Kyle. Why was this kid trying to help them?
"Don't be silly, Kyle," the girl with the burnt sweater chided him. "you were right next to us when that stupid flaming marshmallow hit Jen."
"Yeah," Jen spat. "and just because you think she's pretty, doesn't mean you have to try and cover for her!" she turned up her nose disdainfully. "Let's go, Quincy!"
Quincy huffed and linked arms with Jen, and together the duo strutted back to their group of friends inside the fire pit, and Kyle sulked after them.
Jez carried on as if no one else had even spoken. "Besides, how would I even throw a marshmallow if it was on fire?"
"I'm sure you'd use your bare hands if it meant causing trouble for someone else, Redfern!"
"Well you have no proof that it was me, anyway!"
"Hold on," Ms. Greendurrow interrupted. "these two told me they were on their way to the bathroom."
From off to the side, Morgead muttered, "She's a little liar."
Both adults looked at him, and Jez hit him.
"Idiot," she hissed. But Morgead just shrugged.
"Either way," Coach Grants continued angrily. "I'll be sure to separate the two of you tonight, and that's starting now. Go and get your bags and figure out who wants to sleep inside the lodge with the rest of the pansies, and who wants to sleep in one of the tents."
Grudgingly, Jez trudged back to the lodge with the coach a few paces behind Morgead.
"Do you wanna take the tent or here?" Morgead mumbled to her when they were standing in the lodge.
Swinging her duffle bag over her shoulder, Jez sniffed, "You can take the pansy palace. It'll suit you."
Mostly satisfied, Jez whipped around and met with the teacher from before. Great. Apparently she was getting an escort as well as a guard dog. Jez half expected her to try and strike up a conversation with Jez on their way to the camp sight. But thankfully, she was quiet.
When they reached the clearing dotted with lopsided circles of tents, the teacher told Jez she was able to pick any of the tents she wanted since she was the first one. So naturally, Jez picked the farthest cluster and chose the tent the most separated from the rest.
Ducking through the opening in the front, Jez threw in her things and zipped herself in for the night.
Meanwhile, Morgead was in the midst of receiving a stare down from Coach Grants in the lodge.
He was sitting on top of his sleeping bag on the floor a few yards away from where the teacher sat in a wooden chair giving Morgead the stink eye.
After a near eternity, Morgead snapped, "What already?"
"You know," Coach Grants grunted. "I'm regretting letting you come along, boy. Come to think of it," his frown deepened. "I'm not quite sure why I allowed this in the first place."
Morgead chuckled darkly and shook his head. "Jez is good at convincing people."
The coach grunted incoherently and shifted his glare out the window. Without looking back at Morgead, he asked, "What exactly were the two of you doing, anyways?"
Shoving hair out of his eyes with his knuckles, Morgead replied, "She wanted to get out of here."
"You were trying to sneak away?" he sounded mildly impressed.
"Yup."
"Ahh," the teacher leaned back in his chair and flashed a knowing smirk at Morgead. "I know what you were trying to do."
Morgead gave the man a weary look. Hadn't he just told him what they'd been doing?
"Sneaking off with a pretty girl…" the coach gave and amused chuckle. "Thought you could get some action, eh?"
"Action? With Jez?" Morgead's face turned bright pink, probably not a normal shade for a vampire. "Are you kidding me?" Coach Grants laughed loudly while Morgead spluttered and scoffed. "I told you already!" he cried. "We were trying to find a way to get back home!"
"Mm-hmm…"
Pushing hair out of his face again, Morgead scowled at the ground and muttered, "Whatever."
"When was the last time you got a haircut, boy?"
"What are you, my mother?"
Coach grants didn't reply, and soon enough, other kids began to file through the door. There were many sleepy yawns and a lot of mumbled talking between small groups. Morgead noted absently that the group was mostly made up of girls, and he could even see the girl who fell victim to Jez's flaming marshmallow attack.
When she saw Morgead looking at her, her face immediately turned red – whether from anger or embarrassment, Morgead wasn't sure – and she abruptly turned around.
Rising stiffly from his chair, the coach instructed Morgead to go to bed. Morgead shrugged and tried not to focus on the bustle of kids all around him as he leaned back on his hands and stared blearily at the ceiling. Gradually, he felt his eyes flutter shut, and he waited.
At the crack of dawn, Coach Grants was awake. Of course, he'd been forced to sleep in the lodge with the students, and his back was screaming insults at him for doing it. Subsequently, this was the reason he was awake.
And once he was awake, he noticed something was wrong. There was an empty spot on the floor, and it was right where Morgead had been.
Heaving himself to his feet, the coach grunted and moaned and succeeded in waking up more than a few students. Some glared up at him with flat eyes, while other simply rolled over and ducked their heads below their sleeping bags.
Ignoring all the sleeping students, he stomped over to Morgead's vacant spot on the floor and stood with his arms crossed. He surveyed the rest of the room, looking for other missing students.
Satisfied that there were none, the coach called out loudly, "Has anyone seen Morgead?"
Once the coach's voice pierced the quiet air and woke the remaining students, there was a chorus of whining and moaning and groaning from all corners of the room.
"He's gone then," the coach muttered to himself. "Alright!" he yelled. "Everybody up! You can all thank Mr. Blackthorn for this rude awakening when we find him!"
Five minutes later, everyone had gathered in a sleepy circle in the wide space between the tents and the lodge. While Ms. Greenburrow orchestrated small search groups that would be dispatched to scour the grounds, Coach Grants contemplated suitable punishments to issue the offenders.
He was so intent on choosing just the right punishment; he failed to notice the tiny girl approaching him until she tapped his shoulder hesitantly.
"Umm, sir?"
"Eh? What?" the coach spun around and peered down at the girl idling in front of him. "Oh, Suzanna, what is it?"
"Oh, well it's just, I saw Morgead leave in the middle of the night –"
"What? And you didn't think to wake me or try and stop him?"
"I – I thought it was a dream," she whimpered.
The coach exhaled deeply and rubbed his temples. Maybe he'd make that Redfern clap erasers after school for a month, or erase drawings from old text books during her lunch. Heck, maybe both! Give her a taste of the old-school punishments.
"What exactly did you see?"
"Well, I saw him sit up and look around, and then he picked up all his things and headed outside." Susanna shrunk back from the coach's glare and mumbled, "I'm not sure, but it looked like he was headed for the tents."
Coach Grants grunted and waved the girl off. Obviously Morgead would be headed for the tents. He would need to stop and get Redfern…
Suddenly turning to Ms. Greenburrow, the coach called, "Has anyone checked Redfern's tent yet?"
The teacher briskly consulted the students around her before turning back to the coach to shake her head.
"Naturally," Coach Grants muttered to himself as he paced through the crowd, beckoning for Ms. Greenburrow to follow him.
Once they were free of the uninterested crowd, the coach turned to his fellow teacher and crossed his arms. "Take me to the tent Miss Redfern slept in last night."
Ms. Greenburrow nodded and motioned for the few students who followed her to clear the way. Then the small group marched through the labyrinth of tents until they reached the very back. There was one tent that – unlike the others – was still zipped tightly.
Coach Grants was starting to get a sneaking suspicion about what they might find – if not an empty tent. Slowly, as not to make too much noise, he drew the zipper around the track and peeled back the flap. Ms. Greenburrow and the accompanying students crowded closer to steal a glance inside the tent, curious as to what Coach Grants was chuckling about.
Laying inside the tent, were the two thought-to-be-missing students. There was utter silence from the group as they stared in at Jez and Morgead, loosely entangled with each other in deep sleep.
Looking in at Jez's sleeping face pressing into Morgead's side – the tiniest of sleepy smiles gracing her pale lips – the coach decided that perhaps he wouldn't punish her. After all, she hadn't technically done anything wrong, right? She hadn't run away, or burnt down the lodge, or even pranked any of the other students. Flaming marshmallow incident aside, she'd been quiet this trip with Morgead to occupy her attention. Maybe the coach could just embarrass her about this, and that would be enough.
Perhaps a commemorative photo…surely this would make a great addition to the student collage set up in the school's main foyer.
thanks everyone for reading :) don't forget to sign the petition and review for me ;) also sorry again for the super long wait and also if the ending is a little sloppy or something because I continued this so long after starting it