Categories > Original > Drama > The Stupid Boy and the Outsider
Chapter 14
Jackie looked pretty happy when she was done... whatever it was she was doing. It was nice seeing her happy like that.
"So," I said to her.
"So, let's go camping."
We all hit the road and half an hour later we were driving into a parking lot.
"I though we were going camping," I asked while we all stepped out of the van.
"We are," Mr. M said to me. "I just want to talk to the park ranger first."
"Can the cars get to the camp site?" Kevin asked dad.
"Arthur says there's a road that leads up there. Don't worry about it," he said.
After a few minutes we were back on the road. It was pretty bumpy, but flat for the most part. We finally got to the camp site and started setting up the tents. Mom and dad were putting up the tent they were gonna share with Frankie, Kevin and I were working on the tent we're sharing with Nick, Mr. and Mrs. Mwere working on theirs, Jackie and Berna were working on theirs, and Nick was watching Frankie.
"I'm hungry," Berna said as she gave up on trying to put up her and Jackie's tent.
"You are not leaving me to do this by myself," Jackie said.
"Berna how about you get some fire wood," Mr. M said. She agreed and went off.
"Don't wonder too far," both mom and Mrs. M yelled after her.
Jackie just stood there sending her dad a glare. "I'm almost done here Jackie, I'll help you soon," Mr. M said when he saw Jackie glaring at him.
"I'll help her," Nick volunteered. "But someone should watch Frankie."
"I'll watch him," Mrs. M said.
"That's okay Erin, I've got him," mom said. "Paul's almost done too." The two moms ended up watching after Frankie. They just wanted to play with the little guy. They're women and he's a toddler of course they wanted to take care of him.
Wait, did she say dad was almost done too? Geez they were fast. Kevin and Iwere still figuring this out. Nick walked over to Jackie and her tent. I made it a personal mission to at least beat them at putting our tent up, but I honestly think I made it worse.
"Joseph that belongs here," Kevin said about the pole I was holding.
"Oh yeah?" I challenged. "How do you know?"
"Because it says it right here," he held up a piece of paper.
"What's that?"
"Uh... directions." He took the pole from me and did something to it. I didn't pay attention because I saw that Nick and Jackie were already done. "There," I heard Kevin say. I looked and saw our tent finished.
"You're done," I said a little surprised.
"Yeah I am, no thanks to you," he said causing Jackie and Nick to laugh at me. I just brushed it off.
We spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up setting everything else up, getting more firewood, water from the stream, making sure our food were in asafe place, and other stuff like that.
When we were done setting up we were all sitting around the fire pit. The sun was still out so we didn't need the fire just yet. Mom and dad let us bring the guitars so Kevin and Nick were playing around with those while Jackie, Berna, and I talked. Actually Berna and I were talking while Jackie added a comment whenever she wanted. She was too busy with Mr. M's camping book.
"You know we could put our drinks in a stream to get them colder," she said after reading it.
Berna and I gave her a weird look even though she wasn't looking at us, then looked at each other with a she's-kinda-weird look.
"So anyway," Berna said. "You kinda did some of her list." She was talking about what we did today in town.
"Her list?"
"You know like in A Walk to Remember, the guy did some stuff from her list?"
Jackie put the book down and said, "I don't have a list."
"It's an expression," Berna said rolling her eyes. "When people say a needle in a haystack are they really talking about a needle and a haystack? No."
We dropped the whole "list" thing after that. The rest of the day wasn't exciting. Well we had fun finding out where the bathrooms were. Maybe a four day camping trip wasn't such a great idea, but I have to say, being out in the wilderness at night was pretty cool... and scary at the same time.
--- --- --- ---
I woke up this morning thinking about going out for a run. When I opened my eyes I remembered we were out in the woods. If we went jogging... we'd probably get lost. Bright side? Kristine comes today! I got out of the tent and saw our parents were already awake.
"Good morning Joe," Mr. M greeted before everyone echoed his good morning.
"Good morning parents. What's for breakfast?"
"Cereal," mom told me. "That stream thing Jackie mentioned yesterday actually does work."
"That and keeping them in a cooler while we drove up here helped a lot too,"dad said.
Eventually everyone woke up and were eating their breakfast.
"So what do you kids wanna do today?" Dad asked us. We all looked at each other not really knowing what we could do out here. "We could go exploring a little bit right Arthur?"
"Yeah," Mr. M said. "Maybe you could find some hidden cave," he joked.
We all agreed that we should do some exploring. That could be fun right. Maybe we'll see a... raccoon? Dad and Mr. M were gonna take us on a little hike while mom, Mrs. M, and Frankie stayed in the camp.
"What kind of animals are around here Mr. Mathews?" Nick asked as we started on our hike.
"Do you really wanna know?" Mr. M said leading the way while dad brought up the rear.
"Don't scare him dad," Jackie scolded.
"I'm serious; do you guys really want to know?" He asked again, this time turning back to looking back at us. We all looked at each other before we nodded. "Well, there are a few wolf sightings and bears too, but not too much, mostly just deer."
"Uhhhh..." I couldn't think of what to say, but I definitely was keeping an eye out for these wolves and bears.
"Don't worry Joe," dad said. "We took safety precautions, so there will be aslim chance of a bear coming to our camp."
"What about the wolves?" Berna said a little scared.
"Same with the wolves," Mr. M assured. "Really kids don't worry so much."
It was pretty fun hiking. We hiked to the stream where we chilled our milk. It was actually really cold and there was fish! Ha! "We should go fishing for our dinner one night," I said as we passed the stream.
"Are you willing to gut and clean the fish if we do?" Kevin asked me.
"Ew," Jackie said with a laugh. Ew is right.
"Watch out for the animal droppings," Mr. M warned us.
"The wha... oh," Nick said as he stepped in some poop. "That's gross."
We all laughed at Nick as he tried to scrap off the poop with a stick.
"I hear another stream," dad said. "Let's find it and wash off your shoe."
We all found the stream and just like the other one it was just as cold, but this one connected to a lake or something.
"Hey maybe we could go swimming tomorrow. You know when the poop from Nick's shoe washes away," I joked.
"Very funny Joe," Nick said as he splashed me with some water.
After getting Nick's shoe cleaned we decided to just hang out there for alittle bit before heading back. I didn't want to be gone for too long.
"Do you think the lake is as cold as the stream?" Kevin said kneeling next to it.
Berna stuck her hand in and said, "It doesn't fell that cold."
Jackie didn't look to excited about going swimming. Ever since that accident at the pool she's been pretty scared of drowning and stuff.
"So Joe do you think your friends are here?" Dad asked me.
"Friends?" Kevin asked.
"Uhh... I don't know if they're here yet."
"Well then we should head back to see," Mr. M said.
"What friends?" Berna asked with a raised eyebrow. I just gave her a shrug before walking away. "There is no way I'm sharing a tent with that... thing," she whispered so that dad couldn't hear.
"You don't have to; she said she was bringing an RV."
When we got back there was no RV there and we all just ended up lying around doing nothing. After about an hour or so of being lazy we heard a car coming. When I looked toward the sound I saw a big RV. It was like a tour bus or something.
When it stopped the first person out was, surprisingly, JD. "Hey man what's up?"
"Woah, I didn't know you were coming."
"Yeah well, Cindy couldn't come so Kristine asked me." That was nice of her.
Soon Kristine and Francis came out of the RV followed by Mr. Koonz. He joined the adults in their adult talk and the rest of us went into the RV. I could see Jackie had to bate Berna into coming on to the RV, but they weren't there for very long and headed outside. Nick was next to leave when he got tired of all the gadgets.
"Miss me?" Kristine asked as Kevin, JD, and Cindy had their own conversation.
"Of course I missed you." She leaned in and gave me a kiss. That kiss got deeper and deeper, but I pulled away knowing there were three other people in there with us... or at least there was. I looked up and we were alone. "I guess they left," I said.
"And we're all alone," Kristine said as she leaned in again. This time I didn't mind making out with her. We were alone right? So, why not?
After a while it started getting dark and I could hear some music coming from out side.
"Hey guys," JD said. "Listen we don't really wanna hang out in the front anymore so you think you could come outside with us?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked JD. That didn't make any sense.
"Well, if we're all out there and you two are in here I don't think your parents would be really happy about that," he explained. "Some of us have been hanging out in the front to cover for you. Kevin already left so we should too."
"Oh alright." Kristine and I got up and followed JD outside.
I thought the music coming from outside was from a radio that JD brought with him or something, but it was Nick and Jackie on the guitars. They stopped playing when we walked out of the RV.
"Jackie," Kevin said to draw the attention away from us. "Why don't you play asong for us to sing?"
She nodded before starting a slow tune. Mr. M, Kevin, and dad all started singing on cue. It was like they've practiced before or something. I didn't even know Mr. M could sing like that.
Whenever I'm weary
From the battles that rage in my head
You make sense of madness
When my sanity hangs by a thread
I lose my way but still you
Seem to understand
Now and forever
I will be your man
Sometimes I just hold you
Too caught up in me to see
I'm holding a fortune
That heaven has given to me
I'll try to show you
Each and every way I can
Now and forever
I will be your man
Now I can rest my worries
And always be sure
That I won't be alone anymore
If I'd only known you were there
All the time
All this time
Until the day the ocean
Doesn't touch the sand
Now and forever
I will be your man
Now and forever
I will be your man
Author's Note: I don't own/know the Jonas brothers. I also don't own the song in this chapter, that song was "Now and Forever" by Richard Marx. I don't know/own him either.
Jackie looked pretty happy when she was done... whatever it was she was doing. It was nice seeing her happy like that.
"So," I said to her.
"So, let's go camping."
We all hit the road and half an hour later we were driving into a parking lot.
"I though we were going camping," I asked while we all stepped out of the van.
"We are," Mr. M said to me. "I just want to talk to the park ranger first."
"Can the cars get to the camp site?" Kevin asked dad.
"Arthur says there's a road that leads up there. Don't worry about it," he said.
After a few minutes we were back on the road. It was pretty bumpy, but flat for the most part. We finally got to the camp site and started setting up the tents. Mom and dad were putting up the tent they were gonna share with Frankie, Kevin and I were working on the tent we're sharing with Nick, Mr. and Mrs. Mwere working on theirs, Jackie and Berna were working on theirs, and Nick was watching Frankie.
"I'm hungry," Berna said as she gave up on trying to put up her and Jackie's tent.
"You are not leaving me to do this by myself," Jackie said.
"Berna how about you get some fire wood," Mr. M said. She agreed and went off.
"Don't wonder too far," both mom and Mrs. M yelled after her.
Jackie just stood there sending her dad a glare. "I'm almost done here Jackie, I'll help you soon," Mr. M said when he saw Jackie glaring at him.
"I'll help her," Nick volunteered. "But someone should watch Frankie."
"I'll watch him," Mrs. M said.
"That's okay Erin, I've got him," mom said. "Paul's almost done too." The two moms ended up watching after Frankie. They just wanted to play with the little guy. They're women and he's a toddler of course they wanted to take care of him.
Wait, did she say dad was almost done too? Geez they were fast. Kevin and Iwere still figuring this out. Nick walked over to Jackie and her tent. I made it a personal mission to at least beat them at putting our tent up, but I honestly think I made it worse.
"Joseph that belongs here," Kevin said about the pole I was holding.
"Oh yeah?" I challenged. "How do you know?"
"Because it says it right here," he held up a piece of paper.
"What's that?"
"Uh... directions." He took the pole from me and did something to it. I didn't pay attention because I saw that Nick and Jackie were already done. "There," I heard Kevin say. I looked and saw our tent finished.
"You're done," I said a little surprised.
"Yeah I am, no thanks to you," he said causing Jackie and Nick to laugh at me. I just brushed it off.
We spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up setting everything else up, getting more firewood, water from the stream, making sure our food were in asafe place, and other stuff like that.
When we were done setting up we were all sitting around the fire pit. The sun was still out so we didn't need the fire just yet. Mom and dad let us bring the guitars so Kevin and Nick were playing around with those while Jackie, Berna, and I talked. Actually Berna and I were talking while Jackie added a comment whenever she wanted. She was too busy with Mr. M's camping book.
"You know we could put our drinks in a stream to get them colder," she said after reading it.
Berna and I gave her a weird look even though she wasn't looking at us, then looked at each other with a she's-kinda-weird look.
"So anyway," Berna said. "You kinda did some of her list." She was talking about what we did today in town.
"Her list?"
"You know like in A Walk to Remember, the guy did some stuff from her list?"
Jackie put the book down and said, "I don't have a list."
"It's an expression," Berna said rolling her eyes. "When people say a needle in a haystack are they really talking about a needle and a haystack? No."
We dropped the whole "list" thing after that. The rest of the day wasn't exciting. Well we had fun finding out where the bathrooms were. Maybe a four day camping trip wasn't such a great idea, but I have to say, being out in the wilderness at night was pretty cool... and scary at the same time.
--- --- --- ---
I woke up this morning thinking about going out for a run. When I opened my eyes I remembered we were out in the woods. If we went jogging... we'd probably get lost. Bright side? Kristine comes today! I got out of the tent and saw our parents were already awake.
"Good morning Joe," Mr. M greeted before everyone echoed his good morning.
"Good morning parents. What's for breakfast?"
"Cereal," mom told me. "That stream thing Jackie mentioned yesterday actually does work."
"That and keeping them in a cooler while we drove up here helped a lot too,"dad said.
Eventually everyone woke up and were eating their breakfast.
"So what do you kids wanna do today?" Dad asked us. We all looked at each other not really knowing what we could do out here. "We could go exploring a little bit right Arthur?"
"Yeah," Mr. M said. "Maybe you could find some hidden cave," he joked.
We all agreed that we should do some exploring. That could be fun right. Maybe we'll see a... raccoon? Dad and Mr. M were gonna take us on a little hike while mom, Mrs. M, and Frankie stayed in the camp.
"What kind of animals are around here Mr. Mathews?" Nick asked as we started on our hike.
"Do you really wanna know?" Mr. M said leading the way while dad brought up the rear.
"Don't scare him dad," Jackie scolded.
"I'm serious; do you guys really want to know?" He asked again, this time turning back to looking back at us. We all looked at each other before we nodded. "Well, there are a few wolf sightings and bears too, but not too much, mostly just deer."
"Uhhhh..." I couldn't think of what to say, but I definitely was keeping an eye out for these wolves and bears.
"Don't worry Joe," dad said. "We took safety precautions, so there will be aslim chance of a bear coming to our camp."
"What about the wolves?" Berna said a little scared.
"Same with the wolves," Mr. M assured. "Really kids don't worry so much."
It was pretty fun hiking. We hiked to the stream where we chilled our milk. It was actually really cold and there was fish! Ha! "We should go fishing for our dinner one night," I said as we passed the stream.
"Are you willing to gut and clean the fish if we do?" Kevin asked me.
"Ew," Jackie said with a laugh. Ew is right.
"Watch out for the animal droppings," Mr. M warned us.
"The wha... oh," Nick said as he stepped in some poop. "That's gross."
We all laughed at Nick as he tried to scrap off the poop with a stick.
"I hear another stream," dad said. "Let's find it and wash off your shoe."
We all found the stream and just like the other one it was just as cold, but this one connected to a lake or something.
"Hey maybe we could go swimming tomorrow. You know when the poop from Nick's shoe washes away," I joked.
"Very funny Joe," Nick said as he splashed me with some water.
After getting Nick's shoe cleaned we decided to just hang out there for alittle bit before heading back. I didn't want to be gone for too long.
"Do you think the lake is as cold as the stream?" Kevin said kneeling next to it.
Berna stuck her hand in and said, "It doesn't fell that cold."
Jackie didn't look to excited about going swimming. Ever since that accident at the pool she's been pretty scared of drowning and stuff.
"So Joe do you think your friends are here?" Dad asked me.
"Friends?" Kevin asked.
"Uhh... I don't know if they're here yet."
"Well then we should head back to see," Mr. M said.
"What friends?" Berna asked with a raised eyebrow. I just gave her a shrug before walking away. "There is no way I'm sharing a tent with that... thing," she whispered so that dad couldn't hear.
"You don't have to; she said she was bringing an RV."
When we got back there was no RV there and we all just ended up lying around doing nothing. After about an hour or so of being lazy we heard a car coming. When I looked toward the sound I saw a big RV. It was like a tour bus or something.
When it stopped the first person out was, surprisingly, JD. "Hey man what's up?"
"Woah, I didn't know you were coming."
"Yeah well, Cindy couldn't come so Kristine asked me." That was nice of her.
Soon Kristine and Francis came out of the RV followed by Mr. Koonz. He joined the adults in their adult talk and the rest of us went into the RV. I could see Jackie had to bate Berna into coming on to the RV, but they weren't there for very long and headed outside. Nick was next to leave when he got tired of all the gadgets.
"Miss me?" Kristine asked as Kevin, JD, and Cindy had their own conversation.
"Of course I missed you." She leaned in and gave me a kiss. That kiss got deeper and deeper, but I pulled away knowing there were three other people in there with us... or at least there was. I looked up and we were alone. "I guess they left," I said.
"And we're all alone," Kristine said as she leaned in again. This time I didn't mind making out with her. We were alone right? So, why not?
After a while it started getting dark and I could hear some music coming from out side.
"Hey guys," JD said. "Listen we don't really wanna hang out in the front anymore so you think you could come outside with us?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked JD. That didn't make any sense.
"Well, if we're all out there and you two are in here I don't think your parents would be really happy about that," he explained. "Some of us have been hanging out in the front to cover for you. Kevin already left so we should too."
"Oh alright." Kristine and I got up and followed JD outside.
I thought the music coming from outside was from a radio that JD brought with him or something, but it was Nick and Jackie on the guitars. They stopped playing when we walked out of the RV.
"Jackie," Kevin said to draw the attention away from us. "Why don't you play asong for us to sing?"
She nodded before starting a slow tune. Mr. M, Kevin, and dad all started singing on cue. It was like they've practiced before or something. I didn't even know Mr. M could sing like that.
Whenever I'm weary
From the battles that rage in my head
You make sense of madness
When my sanity hangs by a thread
I lose my way but still you
Seem to understand
Now and forever
I will be your man
Sometimes I just hold you
Too caught up in me to see
I'm holding a fortune
That heaven has given to me
I'll try to show you
Each and every way I can
Now and forever
I will be your man
Now I can rest my worries
And always be sure
That I won't be alone anymore
If I'd only known you were there
All the time
All this time
Until the day the ocean
Doesn't touch the sand
Now and forever
I will be your man
Now and forever
I will be your man
Author's Note: I don't own/know the Jonas brothers. I also don't own the song in this chapter, that song was "Now and Forever" by Richard Marx. I don't know/own him either.
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