"Who did this?" Stephanie called out, running her finger along the scratches in the glovebox of her kart. according to the wolf nothing was stolen but the door was wedged open and coated in scratches. Andy stood along beside his cabinmates. He did not even need to tell the wolf the kart was messed with.
Stephanie ran her palm along the scratches, hoping she would be able to buff it out, if not she would have to replace the whole glovebox. The wolf huffed as none of the Beans seemed to know anything or have reason to break into Steven's kart, so he had no leads to go one.
"I need a drive" Stephanie decided, needing to cool down as she jumped over the door, her butt plopping right on the driver's seat as she turned the key, starting the kart, Jakk offered to tag along as Stephanie refused, wanting to be alone.
Flooring the gas pedal the kart drove off as she drove her kart out of the camp. Stephanie just needed to clear her head about the direct violation to her vehicle, not even bothering to ask who or why, she just needed to go to the scrapyard and fix the damage done. The group watched the wolf drive off. They eventually decided to let Steven handle the incident with the kart as they still had stuff to do.
"What's that?" Jakk asked, pulling a toothpick from his pocket, running it along his teeth as he held it out at the binding around Tusk's wrist as the boar held out his arm showing a bracelet made of string with beads all around it, commenting that Amber made for him, since they are now officially boyfriend and girlfriend.
Andy looked at him, proud for his friend to have a girlfriend as Tusk blushed. he would have asked them to keep it on the DL but both and Amber agreed to take the plunge and make it official, and that meant people would know. it wasn't long before people would find out.
"Well, it looks good on you" Andy complimented as Tusk smiled, lowering his arm. apparently Lumpus was supposed to take them on a hike today, so Tusk checked the gold pocket watch around neck. he believed that Steven should have enough time to fix the kart and be back before the hike as they had time to kill.
Lazlo approached The Cocoa Beans and asked them if they wanted to play 'Floor is Lava' in their cabin. Andy agreed, seeing it as a valid way to kill time, asking how they do it, playing by a lives system or if it was sudden death.
The rules were pretty simple, each scout had to make it to the other side of the cabin without touching the floor and the one who made it in the shortest amount of time would win. Jakk decided to keep watch for Steven, standing outside Jelly cabin. a few minutes of the sounds of jumping of banging were heard.
Jakk retreated to Cocoa cabin to get his guitar before sitting on the steps of Jelly, running his fingers along the metal strings, plucking them with his thumbs in finger. Jakk often found music to be relaxing as he plucked along the strings on his Fender Strat. without an amp the sound coming out was very muted by the kangaroo could still hear it.
Despite this the sounds of the boys playing inside the cabin were the main sound. Jakk was happy that Andy and Tusk were able to take a break from leading the Orphans and fighting with the neighborhood gangs and just be kids. it wasn't until Jakk noticed a figure walking across the campground that Jakk took notice, spitting out bubble gum.
Walking through Camp Kidney was Gretchen Langlade, storming through Camp Kidney like the owned the place; no, more like a bull angrily walking toward a red flag as her eyes were staring dead in his direction.
"Out of the way" Gretchen ordered as Jakk turned to the gator, taking his hand off the neck of his guitar, asking her to stand down, reminding Gretchen that the Beans and Squirrels had a truce going on. as Gretchen stared Jakk down, probably hoping to strike some fear into him. "Where is Lazlo, is he in there?"
Jakk was piqued with interest, wondering what Gretchen wanted with Lazlo as Gretchen called out for Lazlo to come out. The door creaked open was Lazlo poked his head out. wonder what he did this time. the last time Gretchen wanted to 'Get Him' she had poor reasoning but at least he understood her flawed logic, this time he had not done anything.
"You. me. private. now." Gretchen called out reaching out for Lazlo as Jakk smacked her hand away. The kangaroo explained that while they had a truce, he would not hesitate to lay Gretchen out as she scoffed at the idea, considering herself to be the strongest kid on leaky lake, well strongest behind Clam but the rhino wasn't violent.
"Don't push your luck, where I'm from Gator Wrestling is a sport" Jakk responded as Gretchen took a deep breath, explaining she just wanted to talk to the monkey in private. Jakk was quick to not believe this due to how pissed Gretchen seemed, but the gator swore it was true.
"Don't get me wrong, I want to pulverize that monkey into paste, but I promised Patsy, I would not hurt him" Gretchen explain as Andy and Tusk poked their heads out. the tiger telling her if she had anything to say to Lazlo, she could say it to the rest of them. Gretchen refused saying it 'personal' as Lazlo agreed to go with her.
The Cocoa beans shrugged their shoulder as Raj called out, begging him not to go with the alligator as Lazlo asked for Gretchen's promise that she would not hurt him as she crossed her arms, huffing "Yes, I promise".
The scouts stood by as Gretchen grabbed a hold of Lazlo's arm leading him away from Jelly Cabin to outside of the latrines where she looked around to make sure no one was watching them as she composed herself.
"What is the matter with you?" Gretchen asked, looking at the monkey who was confused more than anything, asking what he did to her this time as Gretchen took another look that it wasn't about her.
It was about Patsy, telling Lazlo how he broke her heart. this came as a genuine shock to the monkey who recalled the discussion they had the previous night, telling Gretchen that from what he saw Patsy took it really well and understood. Gretchen counter telling Lazlo that Patsy was sulking in her bed, stuffing herself with cookies because HE broke up with her.
Lazlo explained that he did not 'break up' with Patsy as they were never together, he simply turned down her advance and told her they could not be together. but he never planned to hurt Patsy's feelings as the Mongoose seemed to understand this.
"I Never meant to hurt Patsy's feelings Gretchen, I would never hurt anyone's feelings" Lazlo added as Gretchen took a deep breath, knowing Lazlo was right. The Monkey did not have a bad bone in his body. She was just upset with seeing her best friend acting in a slump as Lazlo looked at her, asking Gretchen what she thought he should do.
Gretchen simply retreated, having no experience with relationships and honestly not knowing why she came to Camp Kidney, she did not want Lazlo getting with Patsy and knew that probably wasn't going to happen. Was she just looking for an excuse to lash out. Gretchen's idea of handling problems resulted in violence, but this wasn't something she could fix with her fists.
"Just find a way to fix it" Gretchen responded, not really understanding emotional stuff as she got up, storming off, scouts running out of her way as she made her way back into the woods. Lazlo made his way back to Jelly Cabin where Raj and Clam breathed sighs of relief seeing Lazlo uninjured; Raj asking what that was about.
Lazlo rubbed his shoulder, he knew that the Cocoa beans knew about his thing with Patsy as Andy was the one who suggested he cut her loose, but Raj was, well he did not like the girls, seeing them as evil demons. Lazlo really did not want to tell him, if Raj freaked out over Lazlo sharing a seat with Patsy; he could only imagine how the Elephant would react to Lazlo having feelings for her.
"Oh, look. Steven is back" Lazlo dodged the question, pointing to the kart driving back into the campgrounds. The wolf showing off the new glovebox, which now came with a locking system as Stephanie got out of the kart, asking if she missed anything. Andy mentioned that Gretchen stopped by to talk with Lazlo, but the monkey deflected saying it was nothing important.
Stephanie simply shrugged, saying that she fixed the glovebox, even got better brakes for the kart, asking is she missed the nature hike as Lazlo shook his head, saying this still had a few minutes as Stephanie got out of the Kart, stating she might as well use the toilet before that start hiking.
The Wolf left again as eventually the older moose showed, sitting in his lawn chair which was somehow controlled with a joystick on one of the arm rests, as he looked at the kids, asking if the scouts were ready for the nature hike. Andy told him that Steven was in the bathroom but should be out soon.
The Moose let up a deep breath, saying he was giving the wolf a minute, but after that they were leaving without him.
"Sir is that really wise" Slinkman asked if leaving a camper behind was a good idea as he defended that Steven would catch up, instructing the scouts to leave as the minute passed. The boys followed him down the hiking path.
Three minutes later Stephanie left the bathroom, drying her hands with a paper towel, thinking about how gross it was that someone pissed on the seat and how she had to wipe it off before sitting down, while Stephanie was enjoying her time at Camp Kidney the latrines were among her least favorite part.
She left seeing the rest of the camp had already left without her as she ran down the hiking path, trying to catch up with the rest of the scouts. The wolf huffed it down the path, luckily there were ribbon nailed into the trees.
"How could they just leave me?" Stephanie asked herself as she stopped, she saw the path split in two and could not any more ribbons down either side, realizing it was a fork in the road. She questioned the irony before deciding which path the take.
This chapter was mainly to make Lazlo aware to how Patsy was feeling and to build up an upcoming arc with Steven/Stephanie.