title: Driftwood | Chapter 1 rating: G author: Mir email: incandescence@juno.com website: http://cathedraldragon.tripod.com/sm/ disclaimer: Sailor Moon, et al. belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, etc., etc., and so on and so forth ^_^. The other characters belong to me...for whatever that's worth. I have no money to speak of, so suing me will not make you rich. Yes, this camp is based on an actual camp. Events are not, and characters are entirely fictional (although I have to admit that I have a certain weakness for windsurfing myself...). I'm drawing near the end of my other multi-part fic, "Elusive Thoughts," and I'm sooo excited. I've worked so very hard on it, and I'm pretty sure that there's going to be a sequel sooner or later. So...read it :) - it's not a comedy like this one is, but it's got some nice scenes (from my biased point of view). *Chapter 1* "You want me to live in that?" Serena exclaimed, standing before the platform tent and shrieking in indignation. She stepped backward, tripping over her trunk and landing on the ground, throwing a small cloud of dust into the air upon impact. And, as if to add insult to injury, she sneezed. "Hey, you must be Serena. Welcome to camp!" A lively young woman appeared beside our fallen hero, short brown ponytail swinging behind her. She stepped deftly around the trunk and offered Serena her hand. "I'm Lily, your counselor for the next four weeks." Serena eyed the woman warily but eventually decided that anything was better than sitting in the dirt. She reached out to grasp the other's hand but froze as their fingers brushed. "Wow! Did you make that?" She tugged downward, bringing Lily's braided friendship down to eye-level. "Um, well, Sweetheart, I guess it's time we were leaving..." Serena's Dad mumbled quietly, moving swiftly towards the car. He managed to touch the door handle before the shock wave hit him. "Don't go! I thought you loved me!" Serena, shrieked, twisting around to glare at her disappearing parents. But while they cringed and looked tiredly at each other, Lily rode the storm out well, hauling her young camper to her feet and placing a finger to her lips. "Shhh...we're going to have a great time together. Do you want to meet you tentmates?" Serena's eyes lit up - she was always in the mood to meet new people, and her gaze shifted from Lily's face to the entrance to of the tent. "Don't tell me that we're going to have to live with -her- for a month." A dark-haired girl sighed, leaning against the tentpost, eyebrows raised in skepticism. Serena quickly brushed herself off and returned her tentmate's glare. "Just because you were here first doesn't mean that you can be mean to me. I've got ears too, see?" She pointed to the body part in question, shoulders squared stubbornly in indignation. "Yeah, Rei, if you scare everyone off you won't have anyone to do activities with." Lita placed her hands on the other's shoulders, stopping her from storming out of the tent to confront Serena. With their daughter thus distracted, Serena's parents silently slid into their car and pulled away, reassured by a wink and a nod from Lily. "Hey you two, do you wanna help Serena move her trunk into the tent?" Rei began to mumble something about having to help little whiny brats, but Lita punched her in the arm then hopped down beside Lily. "Hey, I'm Lita. Is this your first year here?" Serena nodded, surprised that her tentmate was as tall as her counselor. "Uh huh...is this a good place?" Lita grinned, grabbing one end of the trunk and lifting it off the ground. "Yeah, it's the best!" Inside the tent, two girls sat on the wooden platform playing cards. The one with long, blond hair was sprawled on her stomach, legs waving in the air behind her. The other leaned against her trunk, knees drawn up to her chest. They both looked up as Lita and Serena struggled in, dragging the laden trunk between them. "Hey guys, this is Serena." Lita dropped her end of the trunk and pointed to each girl in turn. "That's Ami, and that's Mina." The later dropped her cards and sprung to her feet. "Great to meet you, Serena! This place is so cool. You're going to love it! I mean, what's there not to love?" "I think I could do without the mosquitos," Ami interjected quietly, staring at a particular spot on the floor. "Um, Mina, I think you dropped a card through the floorboards." "I did not!" The accused turned away from Serena, frowning at the indicated area. The platform was constructed of boards laid side by side - with small gaps between them. She hunkered down on her knees, nose to the board and butt in the air. "Damn, I did! I can see it; it's the five of diamonds!" She sighed in exasperation. "Arggg..." Somewhat amused by the proceedings, Serena couldn't help smiling. "Do you want any help?" She offered, trying to make friends. Mina stared at her. "Oh girl, you don't know what you're volunteering for, do you?" Serena shook her head. "C'mon, then." Mina bounced over to Serena, grabbed her arm, and hopped down to the ground. There was a good half foot of space between the ground and the platform of the tent, half a foot of disgusting looking weeds, cobwebs, and other nastiness. Mina pulled her closer. "If I was mean I'd make you crawl through that as some sort of cruel introduction ritual..." she whispered. Serena's heart beat faster. "...but that's crazy. Ami will just have to live without her card." She began to laugh, an infectious giggle, and Serena could help joining in. "What's so funny?" She asked as soon as she'd recovered sufficiently. Mina pointed to the entrance of the tent. There stood Ami, one hand on her hip, the other holding the troublesome card. "How in the world did you do that?" Mina demanded, leaving Serena and marching over to inspect the card. "Simple. I used a twig and a bit of duct tape," Ami replied with a touch of smugness. Her eyes drifted down to the floor where a long twig wrapped in grey tape lay discarded. "You mean I spent all last year crawling underneath tents when I could have just found myself a good twig?" Mina exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "I once ran into a garden snake underneath one of the platforms. Do you hear me, a g-a-r-d-e-n s-n-a-k-e, garden snake!" Lita shook her head as if she'd head it all before. "Yeah, yeah, garden snakes and monster spiders and turtles with cute little tails..." She turned to Rei, who had appeared beside her. "Any ideas for the skit tonight?" "The skit?" Serena asked, by this time having completely forgotten about her parent (parents, what parents?). "What kind of skit?" She picked up the twig and began to roll it around in the dust, managing to cover the duct tape with a fuzzy tan coating. "Oh, it's just a way for everyone at camp to introduce themselves at the beginning of the session," Lily replied, deciding to join the conversation. She leaned over Serena, taking the stick and lightly bopping her on the head with it. "All the tents have to come up with a short little skit in which each member of the tent says her or him name." "Anything?" Serena ducked away from the dirty twig, trying to grab it from her counselor's hands but not succeeding. She threw a pitiful glance at her new tentmates, hoping that one would come to her rescue. "Yeppers, anything we want," Mina replied as she picked up another twig from the ground and began to poke Serena in the stomach with it. Serena-the-victim wrapped her arms around her middle and looked hurt. "As long as it's not profane, girls," Lily clarified, handing her twig over to Rei. She wiped her hands on her shorts, smiling at her little minions. "And I'm not going to help you this year - you're going to have to think of something all by yourselves." "Aww, you don't really mean that, do you?" Mina wined, turning her proficient poking skills on Rei. The unfortunate girl; jumped away in surprise, managing to accidentally jab Ami in the process. "Yes, I certainly do. It's going to be all you this time, and you're going to love it, love every second of it." Lily nodded, and, deciding that sharp objects were too much for her kids to handle, snatched up the twigs and shoved them underneath the wooden platform. "Now, who has an idea?" "I know - there was this one time when me an my old boyfriend were at the movies, and there was this old man next to us who wouldn't shut up, and I leaned over and told him that if he weren't quiet then I'd - " Lita explained excitedly. " - and what does this have to do with a skit?" Rei interrupted, obviously tired of hearing Lita's boyfriend stories. "What about if we just got up and did a line dance or something?" "And be boring?" Lita countered, her eyes narrowing. "I can't stand when people make boring skits. It just puts me right to sleep." "Yes, we do want to avoid being boring at all costs," Ami piped in, reappearing from the tent with a pad of paper in hand. "Why don't we just throw out ideas, and I'll write them down. After all, we've all day to think of something good." Serena, for once, kept quiet and listened to the ongoing debates about introduction skits. Never having seen a camp skit before, she was unsure of what would be acceptable and what would be ridiculed. But as the minutes passed by and no conclusion was reached, she decided that there was no better time for intervention than the present. "I still think that the human pyramid would be cool," Lita insisted, trying to convince Ami that the idea deserved a star upon her magic pad of paper. The girls were sprawled beside each other in the grass, some gazing at the sky, others playing with the dirt. "I told you, we can't do that because the Sr. 3's did that one last year," Rei retorted, releasing a handful of damp grass over Lita's head. "Senior three's?" Serena inquired in puzzlement, tucking a few stray wisps of hair behind her ears. She rolled over onto her stomach, fists tucked beneath her chin. "Yes, the camp's divided into different age groups. All the campers under 11 are called juniors. 11-year-old boys are called junior 3's, girls are called junior 7's. 12-year-old boys are senior 3's, girls are senior 7's. 13-year-old boys are junior 4's, girls are junior 8's. 14-year old boys are senior 4's, and girls are senior 8's. Then everyone who's 15 is a Counselor- in-training (CIT), and Counselor-Assistants (CA's) are 16," Ami explained. "It's an odd system, and I've no idea why they do it, but that's the way it is, you see." "So we're junior 8's, right?" Serena smiled, happy that she wasn't as much as a neophyte as she'd been only moments before. "That's so cool; it must be just the best thing in the world to be a CA...and we'll be CA's in - " she paused to count on her fingers " - just 3 years!" Lita grinned in amusement. "And won't that just be wonderful?" She was ripping handfuls of grass as she spoke, readying herself for another attack. "I bet the CA's have a great skit planned..." Ami sighed, falling backwards into the grass and letting her pad of paper plop besides her. "They always have the best skits." "Um, what about something like a psychic friends' network?" Serena had retrieved the pad and was skimming through the ideas (few that there were) when the idea hit her. "You know, something like you see on TV sometimes?" "Uh...I'm not sure if - " Ami was less than convinced but unwilling to offend Serena by a rapid dismissal of the idea. "I think it's a fantastic idea! Or at least the best one anyone's thought of today. I mean, it's so...original!" Mina exclaimed, hopping to her feet in excitement. She snatched the pad from Serena's hands and flipped to a clean sheet of paper. "We can each be having these problems..." "...boyfriend problems," Lita interjected, sitting up on her knees and letting the grass fall from her hands, forgotten. "And we can all pretend to call into this cool new psychic hotline to get advice." "But we have to remember to say our names at some point," Mina continued, scribbling rapidly upon the pad. "I know! Rei can be the psychic. You'd be great at it, right?" "I guess so...I could wear that sarong I got at the beach last spring." Rei glanced at Serena as if to say, 'it was your idea that got me into this predicament'. Serena shrugged, unsure of how to react to the other's glare. "We could all dress up too," she replied, mentally running through the mess of clothes she'd shoved into her trunk - or rather, that she'd refused to put into her trunk and her mother had packed for her. "Well...if you all are really into this, I guess It'll work fine," Ami said, expressing her belated acceptance. "We can use flashlights for effect, as well, because it'll be dark by the time our turn comes." And so the afternoon passed, an afternoon of planning and excitement. Serena forgot all about her parents ('parents, uh? what parents?) and threw herself, heart and mind, into the joys of camp. The summer had truly begun. - - - - - - - - - - "I think that's it!" Mina exclaimed happily. Only hours into the camp session and already the tent was a mess. Various articles of clothing lay strewn across the floor. At one in a makeup bag sat open, at another bits of crumpled paper were fluttering in the afternoon breeze. Music blared from a boom box at Lita's feet, and Lily lay underneath her bug net, eyes closed but not sleeping. "You know, today's the only day for open sides...if I were you guys, I'd take advantage it while you can," she suggested, stretching. "Oh, yeah, Boys Side," Rei replied as if the thought had just come to her as well. She began to gather the mess around her into a large stack that she proceeded to shove underneath her bed. "Yeah, we have to go and scout about...for raids later on!" Lita continued, hitting the "off" button on her stereo. "Have you been to Boys Side yet, Serena?" The questioned shook her head, wondering what a 'raid' was and what Boys Side looked like. "No, I just got here, remember?" "Well, it's just like our tents over here, but it smells bad (boys, you know), and it's really messy," Mina said in explanation. "And we want to go see where the boys in our age group are living so that we can raid them later on...a raid's when you go and do stuff to them - like putting shaving cream and ice cubes on their bugnets, or moving all their trunks out into the soccer field." Serena raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Don't they get mad if you do that?" she asked, fixing one of her buns as she spoke. "Nah, they'll do the same, or worse, to us at some point. One time, there was this boys tent that went around Girls Side at night collecting all the bras they could find. Then they put them all up the flag pole, so we'd see them flapping in the morning breeze," Lita interjected. The other girls giggled at the memory, and Serena could only speculate as to the different kinds of raids she'd be subjected to while at camp... "We'll just have to give as good as we get," she proclaimed with naive enthusiasm. And the others, while walking toward Boys Side, nodded their heads in compatriotic determination. Yes, this year they'd stand up for their rights - it was time Girls Side struck back! *end of chapter 1* - - - - - - - - - - Yep, I know it's been awhile - I've been working on "Elusive Thoughts" and other little projects, but now I've got my eyes back on this lively little piece, and am going to throw myself into its production with enthusiasm (um, well, maybe). With or without enthusiasm, expect more installments to come out in the near future! And email, email, email - I love to hear from you, and my mailbox is getting lonely again ^_^. - Mir 02.28.01