The Mysterious Benedict Society - Short Story

Day Two: Part One

"Kate! Reynie!" Constance's small fingers fumbled with the complicated zipper of their tent. The pair sprang apart, faces a furious red. With a frustrated grunt, she kicked the dark blue canvas. Reynie yelped, surprised, but quickly turned it into a 'manly' cough. He reached over to unzip the tent, and Constance tumbled in, landing squarely on Kate with a startled "oof".

Sticky more cautiously stepped in. "Good morning," he yawned. "Constance was whining about how bored she was so I brought her over here."

Amused, Kate and Reynie stared at Constance, her hands firmly crossed together. "I was not whining! I'm eight, not four anymore."

The other three laughed and Reynie smiled as he thought about all the adventures they had and the unexpected capture of Mr Curtain. Of course, things were different now. Sticky, finding that the drafts around his head were unbearable, had grown out his hair and was now wearing it in a stylish quiff. Constance had copied Kates breezy ponytail and her hair now swished around with the breeze that came in through the open tent.

"It's not copying!" she had said. "Kate said I could if I wanted to!"

Kate. Just her name made his face lift and he shifted his gaze to her. She had matured, definitely, but wasn't even a tiniest bit less spunky than before. Right now, her lips were curved up into a happy arch; oh, how soft they were! And how sweet they tasted! Reynie shook his head. He sounded like a sappy romantic from the middle-ages.

Constance watched him, grinning in delight. It became obvious that she had not lost her ability to read minds when she suddenly cried out, "Kate! R-"

Reynie clamped a hand over her mouth. Sticky and Kate stared at them confusedly. Reynie felt a warm, wet thing touch his hand, trailing upwards. He jumped back, wiping his hand on his jumper. "You licked me!"

"You shouldn't have silenced me so diabolically!"

It took a moment for her words to sink in. "Oh," Reynie breathed, eyes lighting up with understanding. Kate cast a glance at him. He really looked adorable, with his mouth slightly open and eyes alight. A lock of brown hair had tumbled in front of his eyes, and he blew it away. Kate almost swooned  then she realised that she was Kate and Kate did not swoon.

"Kate? Kate!" Sticky placed a hand on her shoulder shaking her gently back into reality. Reynie suddenly scrambled out of the tent, returning a minute later with wrapped ham-and-cheese sandwiches from the gigantic cooler they had brought. He handed them out and they sank their teeth into the soft white bread.

"What do we do now? I'm bored," Constance complained, chewing. Sticky pulled a neat list out of his pocket. He looked around at the others, making sure they were listening, then started to read.

1. Go hiking

Kate eagerly nodded at this and Reynie could not help but follow suit. Sticky took out a pencil and made a check next to it.

2. Go swimming in the river
3. Go fishing
4. Have picnic somewhere sunny

"Not number three," Constance interrupted. Sticky gritted his teeth before crossing it out.

5. Conjoin tents together to form big tent

Kate raised a perfect eyebrow. "Like a giant sleepover?" she asked, a little sceptical of the idea. Sticky, slightly embarrassed, made a move to draw a bold line over it, was stopped by Constance who, rather dramatically, lunged at the pencil, stabbing herself and breaking the point in the process. She winced, but did not cry out.

"Sleeping with you is boring," she pouted, nursing her injured hand. Sticky grinned and whispered loudly enough for Constance to hear that she was just scared. The eight-year-old glared at Sticky. Kate laughed and good-naturedly ruffled her hair.

"It's fine, Reynie was nearly wetting his pants last night," Kate comfortingly patted ("More like slapped," Constance bitterly said afterwards) her shoulder. Reynie stared at Kate indignantly but she winked at him. His heart melted and he nodded at once, grinning sheepishly at Constance.

"Shall we go?" Kate stood up, having swallowed the last of her sandwich.

Constance had barely finished a quarter of hers and the two boys had just plowed through half of theirs. They stared at Kate. She blinked back at them.

"Are you guys going to finish those?" Kate asked, twirling a strand of loose hair.

"How on earth-"

"Are you really-"

"Yes, yes, but hurry up please," she impatiently rummaged through her bucket, eventually pulling out some paper bags and a tiny toolbox. She hurried around the campsite, glancing at the smouldering bits of burnt wood. Kate quickly used some branches she found on the ground to construct a sort of bridge-like structure over the once-roaring fire at almost lightning speed. It had nearly gone out, but Kate added a few more twigs. It was a freezing cold day, so she grabbed all of the Society's coats and jackets and draped them over the bridge to warm them up.

By this time, the other three had wandered blearily out of the tent.

"Wha-"

"Take a paper bag each and put in whatever picnic-y food you want. I would suggest that you get some more sandwiches, crisps and, I don't know, an apple or something?" Kate stuffed all through items into hers, along with a carton of orange juice and paper cups for them to share.

They stuffed the paper bags into Kate's backpack (she was, by far, the strongest) and set off, pulling their various winter wear (England was significantly colder than America) off the makeshift rack. Sticky remarked that this was a very effective way of heating their jackets up and blabbered on about the first people who did this and how this was really impressive back then.

Constance shut him up by "accidentally" stomping on his foot. He hopped around, face contorted with pain.

"Sorry Sticky," Constance giggled as she pulled on her jacket.

"Well, let's go!" Kate happily hoisted her bag onto her shoulders and set off. The sky was clear and the birds were chirping, all except for one whom Madge was feasting on. Reynie winced at the gruesome sight, but Kate's positive attitude was so infectious that he felt his lips curl up. It was going to be a great day.

A/N: this was a bit of a filler chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it! vote, comment and share this with your friends!