title: Driftwood | Chapter 2 rating: G author: Mir email: incandescence@juno.com website: http://cathedraldragon.tripod.com/sm/index.html 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...). AN: Ack, it's been soooo long, I know, and I do feel terrible for leaving everyong hanging. There really isn't too much of a plot to this fic yet, I know, but I'm thinking (truly I am). Anyhow, isn't it nice that it's summer already? Where oh where does the time fly to? *Chapter 2* As our girls frolicked along to Boys Side, the sun shone warmly upon them. The road, a light dusty brown, twisted haphazardly down to the waterfront, and the every now and then the odd fuzzy rabbit would poke its head out of the nearby bushes. "Ooh, did you see that? Isn't it just the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Serena exclaimed, pointing at a particularly tiny rabbit. The animal sat up on its hindquarters, regarding the newcomers with suspicion. Its soft pink nose twitched back and forth, and then with a wave of its little beige tail, it disappeared back into the undergrowth. "Yeah, yeah, just wait until you get to Boys Side," Lita replied with a wink and a grin. "Then you'll see what 'cute' really means." She ducked expertly as Rei reached up to slap the back of her head. "You know that camp relationships never last beyond fall," Rei groaned, rolling her eyes in either disgust or frustration - or perhaps both. "You mean that you and that guy didn't, you know, like hook up later on in the summer?" Mina asked, suddenly interested in the conversation. "He was such a hunk...all blond hair and dreamy eyes - " " - and two years older than me," Rei finished, this time clearly annoyed. She sighed heavily, feet dragging in the dust. "He said he wasn't going to come back this year...something about getting a summer job, I think." "Well, he doesn't have a clue what he's missing!" Lita finished, smile spreading happily across her face as the beige tents of Boys' Side sprang into view. "Or perhaps he decided to fold to the competition..." This time she wasn't quite quick enough to avoid Rei's flying hand, and at her loud exclamation of "Ow" several parents turned their heads in surprise. A not-so-discreet elbow in her ribs kept her from returning the playful blow. "C'mon, guys. You don't want to be an embarrassment in front of all the boys, do you?" Ami's gaze was slightly worried, mostly joking. For if it was anything, camp was a place to come and embarrass oneself -- it wouldn't be truly be summer otherwise. "Hey, who's that?" Serena attached herself onto Mina's arm, pulling the other girl over to the side. She pointed at a nearby tent, partially hidden by a dark blue Volvo station wagon. Inside, three chubby, pimple-covered young boys were fighting over a tattered stack of baseball cards. Suddenly, the shortest one with dull brown hair gave a mighty tug and fell backwards, head-over-heels, landing outside the tent with his feet in the air. "Huh?" Mina's brow crinkled in confusion. Surely Serena couldn't mean one of those boys...not when the selection was so rich with potential. Before she could respond, though, the Volvo pulled away, and when the dust had settled, the real object of Serena's attention stood gently bathed in dappled sunlight. "Oh...you mean *him*. That's Darien; he was a CA last year...must be his first year back as a counselor. Yeah, he's great isn't he? Until you get to know him. A first-class jerk, if you ask me. Don't be fooled by the looks." Lita sighed dramatically. "Even when I first saw him I knew it had to be too good to be true. No guy could ever be that perfect." She ground her teeth in regret. "Ah, if only…" "- if only what?" The girls spun around at the unexpected comment behind them. The speaker was a slim boy with blond hair so light it was almost silver underneath the dense canopy of trees. "You girls lost your way?" he continued, teasing. Rei frowned, annoyed at being address in such a way, and Ami's eyes narrowed slightly, but Mina blushed, pink spreading from her cheeks across her nose. "It's open sides today, remember? We can go wherever we want!" she replied cheerfully. "Of course, how could I forget?" The boy smiled, a surprisingly sweet smile to offset such serious eyes, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm Kevin…want to come see my tent?" Serena, meanwhile, was following Darien's every move, falling deeper and deeper into trouble by the minute. She quick averted her eyes whenever he glanced in her direction, not wanting to let him know that she was looking at him. 'If what Mina says is true I wouldn't want to encourage his ego anyway'. "Hey, slowpoke, are you coming or what?" A hand grabbed onto her arm, suddenly pulling her out of her musings. "All right, all right, I'm coming, I coming." Serena glared at Rei, jerking her arm from the other's grasp but adding a smile to soften the action. "Oh, who's that?" "That's Kevin…never seem him before. I think he came the other secession last year," Rei replied in a low voice. "Look at Mina, isn't she cute? I think she likes him." She rubbed her hands together in anticipation. "Wouldn't it be fun if we set them up?" "Really? You don't think she'd mind?" Serena asked, trying both to take in the scenery and watch where she put her feet. "Oh, I'm sure she'd mind…but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be fun to see the expression on her face." Rei grinned. "You wouldn't guess, would you, that we're all such romantics at heart." - - - - - - - - - - Later that evening, the girls were back on their own side, just lounging around and talking, when the clanging of a bell cut through the noisy chatter. It was an announcement that all had been eagerly waiting for - an announcement for dinner. "They always have pasta the first night," Lita explained to Serena as the group emerged from the tent and began to make their way up to the dinning hall. "Spaghetti and three kinds of sauces - red, cream, and pesto." "And it's really good when you mix the tomato and pesto ones together," Mina added, licking her lips in anticipation. "Of if you don't like pasta there's always the salad bar." Serena turned to her with a look of disbelief spread across her face. "Not like pasts, are you kidding? Can you eat all you'd like?" They were approaching the dinning hall - a large wooden building, vaguely circular but with many sides in actuality (10 or perhaps more…it was hard to tell). Screening was stapled across the large windows, and the metal room was a horrendous shade of green. "All you can eat," Mina replied cheerfully. She waved at a group of her friends from another tent. "It's family style - you know, the counselors sit at the heads of your table serve the food at first, but afterwards you can just pass the dishes around and take what you want…different tables follow their own policies, but most counselors will say, 'you kill it, you fill it'." "Which means that…?" They stopped besides a large gnarled tree, and Serena glanced around, observing the other campers who waited outside the dining hall. Her stomach growled in protest. "Why can't we all go in yet?" "Questions, questions," Mina teased, chuckling. 'It means that the kitchen staff stands at the bar - this huge old counter attached to a metal frame - and you bring your bring your empty bowls up to be refilled. You'll see when you go in…which we can't do because only counselors and CA's are allowed in early. After they're all up at the dinning hall they tell us we can come in." And, as if right on cue, a deep man's voice resounded from inside the dinning hall. "Come on in!" A flood of young boys raced for the entrance, shoving one another aside to be the first inside. One bumped into Serena and would have knocked her over had Mina not quickly pulled her out of the way. "You'd better watch out. These boys'll push and show like there's no tomorrow..." she warned, laughing. Once inside, though, Serena found herself alone -- alone amid a sea of benches, tables, and noisy kids. Her eyes traveled from corner to corner, and she froze, unsure of where she should go. "Hey, you there, are you okay?" She glanced first over her right shoulder and then her left, trying to decide if the voice was addressing her or not. Not that it mattered, for she couldn't distinguish the speaker out of the turbulent masses anyway. "Uh, I guess so..." Her reply was addressed to the air, almost more of a question than an answer, and she couldn't help but feel silly talking to herself in a room full of people. "Here, what's your name? I'll help you find your table." This time, a hand reached for her arm, and as she was pulled away from the madness, a pair of light hazel eyes met her. "You do know your name, I hope... mine's Jared." Serena blushed, biting her lip and feeling immeasurably dense. "It's Serena, Serena Tsu--" But she was interrupted before she could finish. "-- Oh, I saw your name; you're over there at that table -- " he pointed above the heads of the swarming kids to the far side of the dinning hall. " -- it's the one with Andrew and Darien." "What? C'mon, you can't be serious!" Serena stared at her new acquaintance, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. Between the rushing bodies before her she could just barely see the two counselors sitting at opposite ends of their table -- like two angels, one light and one dark, presiding over the garden of good and evil. "What are you trying to do, get me killed?" Jared shrugged. "Hey, go look at the list yourself if you don't believe me. I'm not the one who made the assignments," he replied before wandering casually off in the opposite direction. "See you around." "No, wait -- come back!" But it was too late. Once again alone and at the mercy of fate, Serena clenched her hands into fists and turned toward the scene with new determination. Fortunately by this time, the bedlam had died down to a gentle roar, and she was able to weave her way across the dinning hall (only suffering a few bumps and bruises along the way). "And you must be Serena...." She glanced up as she heard her name -- and met the blue eyes of the counselor at the far end of her table. His grin was somewhere between arrogant and amused, and as he balanced his chair precariously upon its two back legs, he turned to scan the list of names behind his head. "...and you have the privilege of being biddy today." "Biddy? What's that? Why me?" The only seat left was the one next to Darien, and as she sat down gingerly in it the counselor at the other end of the table threw her a look that was filled with sympathy. "It means that you go up and get the food and then clean up the table after everyone's one," the blond-haired counselor explained. He shrugged. "Everyone has to do it so you might as well get it over with sooner rather than later." Tapping his fork absentmindedly against the waxy plastic checkered tablecloth, Andrew reached for his cup and began to rap against that as well. Serena, taking in the new information, turned toward Darien, frowning slightly. "Why pick on me, though?" She could barely make herself heard over the inhuman bedlam of kids screaming, chairs scraping, and place settings clashing, but one only needed to see the expression on her face to figure out what she was asking. "'Cause you're slow, and you were last," Darien replied calmly, his voice cleanly slicing through the noise as if it were cherry jello. He was grinning (obnoxiously). "He who snoozes loses." Then, as if on cue, the clanging of another bell suddenly swept across the dinning hall, and even the most roudy boys fell silent. "Hey campers, if I haven't told you already, welcome to Echo Hill for the summer of 2001!" The woman who stood at the front of the dinning hall was of medium height with short curly dark hair that was beginning to show streaks of grey. Her skin was tanned to a smooth brown, and she wore a T-shirt and a pair of faded shorts. "For everyone new this year, if you haven't noticed, this is the dinning hall -- where we eat together three times a day and where you'll sign up for activities. Here at Echo Hill we have what we call the 'biddy system'. Each day one camper will come up to the bar and get the food for the table. Then once everyone's done eating they'll clean up the table." "That's you." Darien leaned forward and whispered in Serena's ear. "You'd better pay attention, Meatball Head." She glared back at him. 'Meatball Head?' Ooh, he was going to get it, sooner or later, he'd be sorry. "...And so tonight, as is Echo Hill tradition, we have pasta with cream, tomato, and pesto sauces. When I ring the bell, biddies may walk -- not run -- and line up at the far end of the bar." Sarah, one of the camp's co-directors smiled, her hand once again on the bell chord, and campers all around the dinning hall slid to the edges of their seats (having no intention whatsoever of walking). Claaaang! - - - - - - - - - - After her tablemates had finished inhaling their pasta, Serena surveyed the situation. In one hand, a saturated purple sponge dripped water onto the floor. In the other was a crumpled wad of paper napkins. The task before her was daunting. Stray strands of spaghetti clung to the underside of the table, and generous globs of tomato and cream sauce with the occasional splattering of green pesto made the tablecloth look like a Jackson Pollack masterpiece. Plates, silverware, and plastic cups were scattered erratically across the mess, and the salt shaker was half-embeded into the butter. As for the pepper shaker...who knew where it had run off to? "Serena, do you need any help?" She tore her eyes away from the disaster zone -- and saw Ami standing beside her. "It always looks wore than it actually is. Here, I'll show you the system..." Willingly relinquishing control to her tentmate, Serena diligently began stacking glasses and gathering up forks as she was told. Before she knew it, she was drying off the (relatively) clean table while Ami used the sponge to sweep the last crumbs into her hand. Yes, with a good systematic approach, even the most impossible feats could be accomplished! But for Serena, her conquest was short-lived, as a quiet chuckling ruined the triumphant mood. "Uh, Serena --" Returning from dumping the handful of crumbs into the trashcan, Ami paused mid-stride, giggling. "What? What is it?" Serena looked left and right, down her front, and twisted around to inspect her back. "What's so funny?" Then Ami began to pull strands of pasta from her hair. One, two, three...six...eight... eleven... it was as though a whole family of noodles had decided to take up residence on her head. "Meatball Head, aren't you finished yet?" Darien, reappearing from wherever he'd disappeared to, squinted in confusion (for the sight of one girl pulling pasta from another's hair isn't quite your everyday occurrence), then suddenly found the scene exceedingly amusing. "Or maybe I should call you Noodle Brains now?" Serena blushed. "My name's Serena, S-e-r-e-n-a!" she repeated for what seemed like the millionth time that night. "Why don't you call me that, huh?" She glanced around for Ami (misery loves company), but the girl had run off, leaving a substantial pile of pasta behind her. "But 'Meatball Head' is so much more interesting, don't you agree?" Darien leaned over the back of a chair, head down at her eye-level. "Arg, you're so insufferable!" In response, Serena stuck her tongue out at him, brought her hands up to her ears, and waggled her fingers. "Bye!" And before he could get in the last word (bitingly sarcastic, of course), she had dashed away to find her new friends. *end of chapter 2* - - - - - - - - - - How's that? I know I kept saying and saying that I'd get this second chapter out...and then it wouldn't come. But here it is! I do have an excuse (kind of). I've been working diligently on my new Rurouni Kenshin story, "Nanafubuki." If you're not familiar with the anime/ manga I highly recommend it. If you do know of RK and would like to read the story you can find it on fanfiction.net or at my website http://cathedraldragon.tripod.com/rk/index.html ~ Otherwise...email, as always, is greatly, greatly appreciated! Maybe it'll help motivate me to get the next part out sooner (my inbox is so very lonely). Ciao - Mir (06.13.01)