Teardrops

Chapter 35: Justice Oreos

Chapter 35;

There wasn't any reason for us to stay at the hotel for extra time. We had our next reservations for tonight, in a community campsite where we would be sharing space with other kids like Shelly.

Kids with estimated expiration dates.

Shelly wasn't excited about the "people in charge" wanting her to "bond with other kids just because we all have dying in common". I hoped she would be okay, nonetheless. We wouldn't be on this trip if it weren't for the people who had planned this part of the trip, so I felt like we owed it to them to appreciate what they did and at least show up for it.

Shelly had the same opinion about the whole thing as Merida from Brave had about getting married. Just cancel it, and deal with the consequences another day. This momma bear wasn't backing down though.

I couldn't say no when she begged for the slushy though. I was such a pushover. Donny and Shelly burst into the gas station like twin conspirators, hunting for snacks. I followed more slowly. I felt kind of old hanging out with them. I was the adult. I was kind of the outsider, the one expected to be responsible.

"MUSHMELLOW!!" Shelly squealed, dashing around the corner and bumping into me, throwing like 20 bags of giant marshmallows into the air. An old man chuckled at the sight when he walked past with his coffee.

"SMO's!!!" She cheered.

"Shelly." I shook my head at her, "We could make s'mores for the entire campsite with these many marshmallows." Shelly paused for a few seconds before nodding enthusiastically.

"SHE SAID YES!!" she bounced up and down on the white tiled floors, and then like 40 Hershey's bars were raining down on my head.

"I'll go get the graham crackers!!" Donny volunteered when the last one had fallen into my lap.

"Guys, stop." I had to say. Donny looked down at me, "Why?"

"You really want to make s'mores for all those people?" I cornered Shelly with my stare, "I thought you didn't want to go?"

"Just because I'm not excited about being someplace doesn't mean I want to be rude to a bunch of kids who are being forced to be there just as much as I am. It's better to have fun in spite of something you don't like, than to be miserable because of it."

Well, what can you say to that? Shelly really surprised me with her maturity sometimes. ...As much as you can call someone mature when they call marshmallows 'mushmellows', anyways.

"What's taking you so long to get those crackers, Donny?" I teased, smiling reluctantly. He sprinted off, whooping.

"Help me get these to the-"I trailed off when I looked down to see Shelly giggling to herself as she made a 'mushmellow and chockit' angel right there on the floor of the store. Her eyes were glowing with happiness and her smile was contagious.

"Come on, squirt." My heart swelled with love when I helped her up off of the floor, "Pick up your mushmellows."

"What's all this for?" The man at the till was incredulous at the heaps of marshmallows.

"S'mores party." I grimaced when I realized that I would have to deal with Shelly on a sugar high, at night. For some reason nighttime made her excited, too.

The man nodded, accepting my answer as fact and began swiping the items across the scanner. Shelly looked around as he did, and I knew who she was looking for. Donny had yet to come back with the graham crackers.

I didn't say anything, only waited, as there was a huge amount for the checker to scan before he would need the graham crackers. He was only a part of the way through the chocolate, and then he still had the marshmallows.