Clouds

Part -19 Pink

Part 19

            The following morning I wake up all by myself.  There is no Karen and no Claire to force me into clothes I don’t need.  I glance at the clock.  It is three a.m.  I bold up and hurry to the bathroom to get ready.  Breakfast is in an hour!

            I brush my teeth, comb my hair, and wash my face before bolting to the closet to put on some fresh clothes.  I wear the same red shorts and leggings, but choose a simple purple top instead.  I look over at where my hair accessories are and choose a purple hair tie and purple ribbons to match.  Today is my first day of training, and I need to look my best.

            By the time I finish getting ready half of my time is already eaten up.  I lay out my tennis shoes and socks to put on later and look around for something to do.  Suddenly, my door bursts open.

            “Couldn’t you have knocked first?” I ask Kristen.  Claire follows soon after her.

            “If you needed privacy,” she says, “You would have gone to your bathroom or closet.”  She’s right.

            “Oh,” I reply, too tired to think of a good comeback.

            “Guess what,” Claire says, her voice excited.

            “What’s that?” I ask.

            “Your results came in.  The only person in this camp you didn’t surpass is Dakota.”  Wow!  “You and Colby nearly tied, but because of his mistake you’re one point ahead.”  She pauses. “The only reason Dakota is still ahead is because he was able to beat the leader of the B group faster.  I think it might have been Lucas, but I don’t know.”

            “It’s a good thing he beat you,” Kristen says.  “You can’t have a higher score than your boyfriend.”

            “Whoever said I was his boyfriend?” I ask.  Claire rolls her eyes.

            “Dakota called dibs on you.  Duh.”

            “You can’t just call dibs on someone!”

            “I was kidding,” Kristen says, laughing.  “But he really likes you.  If you open your eyes a bit you’ll see it.  I bet he would’ve asked you out already if it weren’t for Colby.  He stands over you like your own guard.”

            “Colby’s just my friend,” I reply.  I just expected a secret base where a few people lived.  But here I am in a camp full of boy and girls and drama.  Who would’ve guessed?

            “Tell Dakota that,” Claire says, beginning to whistle.  “Anyways, we had better head downstairs and get to the hash browns before they’re gone.”

            The three of us hurry downstairs.

            “Hey,” Kristen says, “do you have a weapon of choice yet?”

            “Yeah,” I reply.  I think of my dagger back in my bedroom.

            “What sort of stuff can you fight with?” Claire asks.  I shrug.

            “Just about anything,” I reply.  “Why?”

            “Well,” she says, “today we’re learning how to fight with what’s around us.”  She smiles.  “You’ll have to wear armor and everything to protect yourself since we’ll be fighting each other.”

            “Oh,” I reply.  That’s right, training.  I’ll have to deal with Lucas again.  But then I think of the prank Colby and I played and I break out laughing, right in front of my friends.  They stare.

            “Um, Victoria?” They ask, staring.

            “You’ll see in a minute.”

            Together we enter the cafeteria, to see Lucas right in front of us wearing a baseball cap. Colby is by the drinks, grinning.  He walks over to me.

            “We better do it now,” he says, eyeing Lucas.  “While everyone can see.”

            “Attention!” I scream.  Everyone stops talking and Claire and Kristen stare, confused.  The rest of the A group look at us, bewildered as well.  Lucas continues to order his food.  

            Quickly, I dash over to him and rip the cap off of his head.  The room is silent.

            Lucas’s head isn’t bright pink like we wanted, but a light shade of raspberry.  One by one, everyone begins to chuckle, and soon the room is filled with laughter.  Lucas turns bright red, drops his tray, and runs out.  For a moment I feel guilty, but he got what he deserved.

            “Where did you get the dye from?” Kristen asks after we take our seat with the the rest of the group.  Colby and I received a lot of high fives from Lucas’s other victims.

            “Colby made a mixture from some tools in the supply closet and food dye,” I reply.  “It will wash out eventually.  But I think we did him a favor.  He obviously likes the color pink; his shampoo was already strawberry scented.”  Claire snickers.                                                       

            “Well,” Roy says, looking at Colby, “I’m halfway surprised you two pulled that off.”  He frowns. “Don’t you think it was a bit much though?”

            “He deserved it,” Dakota says.  “The only problem I have with it is the fact that I didn’t think of it first.”  He begins to laugh again.  “No one messes with the A team.”

            “Still…” Roy mutters, looking at his food, “Don’t you think he’ll try to get revenge?”

            “My shampoo is clear,” Colby says.  We all burst out laughing.

            “That’s not what I mean!” Roy snaps.  He stands up in his anger, stops, and sits back down.  “What I mean, that is, is that you’ve just angered him.  Up until now Lucas teased us, but never took action.”  He sighs.  “Rage fuels everything.  We’ll have to work so much harder to stay on the A team at this rate.”

            “Oh,” Colby says.  “Well, then we’ll just work harder.  There’s nothing bad about that, is there?”

            “Nope!” Henry says. “But we need to eat in order to succeed.”  We all agree and begin to dig into our food.

            Okay so when I start editing way later on I’m going to include the days, since this is an adventure story and ultimately about traveling.  Right now I’m too far into everything to be able to organize everything properly, so if I start now I’ll end up messing it up and having to edit even more waaaay later on.  So thanks so muc