Spring Break Camping Trip

[Harlan Worth]

Harlan penned his name under Michelle's.

He helpfully added "bear wrestling" to the suggestion line.

[Westbrook Academy]

TJ Armstrong eyes the list, recognizes a few names from P.E. class, and a suggestion for co-ed tents. He decides he can't let Coach Kerry go it alone. In bold black letters he adds:

COACH ARMSTRONG

under suggestions:

weenie roast

[Asher Scott]

"Asher Scott" is hastily scrawled on the list, along with: "I can probably get another tent if we need one."

[Eternal-Equinox]

Sam woke with a smile on her face. She showered, got dressed and headed down to the common area. She had a few things left she wanted to pick up for the trip. Sam was going to get the snacks and she needed to pick up her own sleeping bag yet. Stopping in front of the camping list she read the list of names again. The list of kids signed up made her smile. It was going to be a fun night she thought till she got to the end of the list.

"Coach Armstrong..." She said quietly with a sigh.

It wasn't that she thought she was going to be able to pull off anything like the naked twister or the co-ed tents, heck none of those things had crossed her mind. She did however think that with just one teacher and that one teacher being Coach Campbell that they might be able to get away with a bit more. She obviously never had class with Coach Armstrong but she had heard enough about him to know he didn't let things slide. There wasn't anything she could do about it now though. At first she didn't want to be the one to plan this out but now she was actually enjoying it all. Feeling the need not to make sure everyone had a really fun time she was taking pride in making sure everything went smooth. She picked up a pen and added to the bottom.

'Thank you all for signing up. Everyone that has a tent and can bring one the better. And I thank you all that are bringing one out. We'll figure out who is sleeping where once we get out there and do a head count. I want to thank both Coach Campbell and Coach Armstrong for coming out with us and letting us have this trip. Without them there would be no camping trip at all so thank you. We'll be there over night and into the next morning. So everyone pack a change of clothing, your toiletries and sleepwear. I'm taking care of the food for everyone. See you all tonight and I hope you all have fun.'

Happy with that she nodded to herself and went out first to get some camping gear. She had talked to dad over the weekend and convinced him to wire her some cash for the trip. Thank god dad had answered the phone. Mom never would have sent the cash. Picking out two camping back packs, a small cooler, a nice warm sleeping bag and a tent that sleeps 5 she figured that'd be more then enough to hold her clothing in the one bag and the food in the other. She struggled to get this first load home but finally managed. Dumping it all in a corner of her room she hoped Wil didn't mind the mess. She just got moved in with Wil so didn't know much about her as a roommate.

A second trip into town was needed to get the food. Getting to the grocery store Sam took her list out, she didn't want to forget a thing. This was going to be a classic camping trip so Sam knew what she needed. She took very little time weaving in and out of older couples as she quickly made her way from aisle to aisle filling up her cart. Dumping in a bag of ice, several packages of wieners, and several bags of marshmallows. Not sure if people wanted s'mores she thought to be safe she'd get graham wafers and chocolate. Looking over the milk she grabbed two cartons that would fit in the cooler. Then the cereal aisle, she found the party packs of the small single serve cereal boxes and dumped a few packs of these in her cart. She was careful to get a little more then she actually thought she'd need. Sam didn't want anything to go wrong on the trip. She also grabbed a few of the more popular flavors of potato chips, as well as pretzels and a bag of party mix. Lastly she put two cases of soda and a case of bottled water into the bottom section of the cart. Lastly but no less important she grabbed some paper towels and toilet paper. Satisfied she had everything she had the bagboy pack it all in a cardboard box. She struggled with it from the store to the tram then from the tram to the dorms but when she finally set it down on the floor of her room she let out a sigh.

"I think that's everything we'll need."

With the rest of the day yet left to her, she went out to the spot she had picked out for the camping trip. She picked enough stones to make a circle and dug out what would be the fire pit. She collected enough wood from Perez Park for the night. Setting all the wood off to the side she dusted her hands off. Sam was tired and her shoulders a bit sore but was happy with everything she had got done. It felt good to get back to a hard day of work, it almost felt like being back home. She looked first over to the main part of Talos, she hoped this was far enough away from the city lights that they'd all get to see the stars out. She missed the stars, back home she used to sit out at night in the quiet and watch the stars. Two things she wasn't able to do since coming to the big city. Working hard for something she was looking forward to was worth it to her. Over the past few days her sour mood had really started to pick up, mainly do to her deciding to pick herself up, quit feeling sorry for herself and to just have fun. That, added with the past few nights hanging with a bunch of the kids form school having a real fun time had peaked her mood. Hell it was even helping with her powers, for the past three nights in a row she had been able to display different aspects of her powers. The two nights patrolling had really helped. She wasn't there yet but she could finally see light at the end of the tunnel where her powers and their control were concerned. That and she had finally answered the question, which power, ice or fire she'd get access to when happy. Turns out happiness lets her turn up the temperature around herself, the happier, the hotter it got so she found out. Blushing slightly she turned and made her way back to the dorm to pack for the night.