~*~
DAY THREE
Suspended Motion’s camp lay absolutely still for the first time in two straight days. The first sign of life didn’t show until close to eleven, when Kate stirred, yawned and stretched, ready for a brand new day of fun.
The others did not see it entirely her way. At all.
Besides from the hangover 2/3 of them had, Daniel also sported a brand new black eye and a bruise from where Lex had embedded her foot. While they were all trying to force down some breakfast, Kate was bouncing in a circle around them, babbling so fast that none of them could understand a word. Eventually Daniel grew tired of her and pushed her back into one of the tents.
Sammie, who had decided to make a semi-truce with Kate after the previous night’s debacle, asked if she wanted to come along to the festival with Anna, Jeff and Chris. Kate, who had forgot all about their fallout, bounced, if possible, even higher.
Matt and Anthony decided that they wanted to go and make sure their equipment was still packed away safely in one of the storage rooms that the organizers had arranged for all the performing bands. Fred and Lex offered to join them but Jeff quickly suggested that they should stay behind in case one of the officials would come by with Kate’s packing.
Even though that seemed very unlikely, considering Kate hadn’t reported anything missing, everyone rallied around this idea and headed off before Fred or Lex could object. The two of them watched as the others scattered and hurried off.
“Well, we’re the least liked of the bunch, apparently,” Lex stated confusedly. “Do I smell or something?”
“You smell great,” Fred told her, and then blushed. “I mean, uh-”
Lex didn’t notice much of his rambling, as she turned around and spotted Daniel standing behind them. “Why the hell am I here alone with you guys?” he exclaimed, glaring at Lex. “Don’t tell me they left me with you!”
Fred grinned. “I’m actually your best friend-”
“Oh, you would like that, wouldn’t you?” Daniel snarled, sounding upset. “I’m not staying here with the two of you.”
“What’s wrong with us?” Lex asked, trying hard not to laugh.
“You’re the two most boring people in this damn group!” Daniel said, walking back and forth. “And you kicked me!”
“All right, all right,” Fred tried to calm him down before Daniel would annoy Lex enough to earn him another beating. “I was planning to check out the market. You can come with us, but you don’t have to hang around or anything.”
Daniel thought this over. “Fine, but if either of you try to ruin my game, like yesterday, I’ll-“
“You’ll what? Scare us with your bleeding lip?” Lex snorted. “Nice eye, by the way.”
They all left the campsite, Daniel picking up the pace so he wouldn’t have to hear Fred and Lex laughing at him.
They hadn’t taken the mud too seriously before (except for Kate and her designer jeans) but the difference between mud and mud became a lot more obvious as the day progressed and the dark clouds in the sky began leaking big rain drops.
Despite whining about their company all morning, Daniel still followed Fred around throughout the day, to Fred’s dismay. Whenever he thought of something interesting or marginally funny to say to Lex, Daniel interrupted him with some lame complaint. It didn’t get better when the rain never stopped, either. It was still rather humid, and between the rain and the heat, Daniel just couldn’t choose what he liked less of the two. They sat down to eat, and Daniel complained that he couldn’t eat because his lip hurt. They offered to buy him a foam football and he just stared at them like they were idiots. They finally managed to shake him off by leaving him by the beer tent. Apparently his lip didn’t get affected by alcohol.
Fred and Lex were hiding under the fashionable rain coats they had purchased at one of the market stands. It didn’t help much as they had mud up to their knees, but at least they were wearing matching clothing. Fred would probably have appreciated it more if his sneakers didn’t get stuck up to his ankles each time he took a step.
They had a really nice day, even though it was raining heavily and Daniel did everything in his power to bring down the mood. Lex and Fred were chatting about everything they could think of, making Fred think that he might have a shot with her after all. Ever since he had first met her, Lex brought out something in him that he had never felt before. He had no idea why he was constantly so unlucky whenever he tried to get her attention, but it was enough just being so close to her, even if he knew that being her boyfriend would top being her friend.
There was nothing he wanted more than to declare his real feelings for Lex, hoping she would return them back. She was so sweet and easy to talk to, and she seemed to enjoy his company. It felt right, somehow, to be with her. He wanted to be her boyfriend so he could feel like this every day and spoil her in every way possible, just because she was so special.
It meant the world to him that she even considered him a friend, that she would hang out with him and appreciate his company. He had been following her around for almost six months now, being completely head over heels in love with her for almost a year. He figured there was nothing that could feel so real than the feeling he got, every time she came within the same range as him.
As they returned to the camp, Fred hadn’t noticed at all that it was almost evening and he also hadn’t noticed that he was wet through all his clothes. Daniel followed glumly as they got some dry clothes to change into.
The rest of their friends were already back when they arrived by the tents.
Lex and Fred walked up to Anna and Kate, who were chatting rapidly with each other. Jeff and Chris also seemed to be back, as well as Matt and Anthony. The girls were noticeably excited about something but none of the others seemed to know about what.
"What's up now? Where's Sammie?” Lex asked, trying to spot her somewhere. Daniel was lurking around behind them, trying and failing to keep his distance to Anna. For some reason, Lex noticed that Daniel's obsession with Sammie appeared to have cooled off after the events last night. Anna was about to explain, which obviously caught the attention of the guys as well, because they were all gathered around them in a matter of seconds.
Anna hesitated. ”She's still at the festival,” she said with her voice lowered. ”She decided to stay and catch another band.”
"And you left her there all alone?” Lex asked, confused as to why Anna would agree to let Sammie stroll around by herself at night.
Anna bit her lower lip, throwing a worried glimpse in Matt's direction. ”We didn't have much of a choice. She told us she would fine and that she'd be back later, I mean, she's a big girl and we can't act like her babysitter-”
”Sure we can!” Jeff exclaimed. ”I'll go back to find her. Did you try calling her?”
”I don't know if that's a good idea,” Anna mumbled.
”Why?” Jeff questioned determinedly.
Kate simply couldn't take the suspense anymore. ”Sammie met a guy!” she hollered excitedly.
”What?!” Matt and Daniel sputtered at the same time. Matt gave him a threateningly stare but decided to let it slide for this time.
Anna lowered her head and moaned. ”Kate... Stealthy was the watchword.”
Kate ignored her. ”He was really hot and kept flirting with her when we were buying more beers-”
”No more beers for anyone!” Matt angrily cut her off.
”I don't think it was the beer, McDougal,” Chris stated. Matt turned his death stare to him instead.
”So, she’s just out there all alone with a complete stranger?” Anthony said disapprovingly. ”Anna!”
”I tried to talk her into coming with us back, but she wouldn't hear any of it.”
”Is she completely out of her mind?” Matt snapped.
Kate shared some more of her ill wanted information. ”He invited her backstage to his show,” she smiled. ”Isn't that exciting?”
The reaction from the guys clearly showed that they thought it wasn't exciting at all. Matt growled quietly, sounding like a tiger. This made Kate giggle, and that made Matt want to kill her. Fred thought it would be better for him to steer Kate away from there while the band members discussed this by themselves. With a bit of persuasion, he also managed to drag Daniel away from the group.
”Why are you so upset?” Fred muttered after they had found a secluded place where neither Daniel nor Kate could eavesdrop on the conversation. ”I thought you were done with this whole Sammie approach of your plan.”
”It still sucks,” Daniel complained, touching his sore lip. ”Blondie was obviously ready to hop into bed with someone and it could just as well have been me if it weren't for that damn gorilla!”
”Yeah, that’s why it never happened,” Kate said, rolling her eyes. ”I thought you and Anna were getting close last night?”
Fred sighed at the childish level this discussion was stuck at. ”Stop teasing, Katie,” he said, as Kate stuck her tongue out at Daniel. ”Blondie – I mean, Sammie – would never have done anything with Danny anyway, she would never do that to Anna.”
”Why would Anna care?” Kate asked innocently.
”Maybe she likes me,” Daniel pointed out with an arrogant tone of voice.
”Oh, like that would ever work out,” Kate started laughing. ”She's expecting you to date her, not sleep with her and dump her!”
”I can do both!” Daniel claimed indignantly.
”Like hell you are,” Fred interrupted their banter. ”Anna is our friend, and you can't treat her like you treat your usual 'girlfriends'.”
Daniel frowned. ”Who are you to tell me what to do? You're all younger than I am, you should be listening to me!”
”It's not a lot to brag about,” Kate determined. ”It just means you flunked out of your freshman year.” Kate and Fred started sniggering. ”You're stupid,” Kate concluded. Daniel flicked her nose with his fingers and she winced. Fred broke them up before another fight was started.
Anthony interrupted their feud, tapping Fred on the shoulder. ”We're going back to the stages to look for Sammie,” he announced quickly, already on his way back towards the tents.
”Wait, shouldn't we come with you?” Fred asked, walking back as well. Kate and Daniel followed, still scuffling with each other.
”Matt didn't think that was such a good idea,” Anthony said pointedly, looking at Daniel.
Matt came storming up to them, and Daniel instinctively stepped back, but Matt paid him no attention as he brusquely grabbed Kate's hand and pulled her along. This brought back some of Daniel's courage. ”Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing? You're hurting her!”
”No, he's not,” Kate said calmly, apparently quite content with being dragged along.
”Shut up, Red, nobody cares what you think,” Daniel spat.
”Matt can manhandle me any day,” Kate giggled, which made Matt let go of her hand and glare at her. ”What? You're a good-looking man, who wouldn't wanna be bossed around by you?” Matt had no answer to that.
Before the missing Sammie could be upgraded to an emergency, Lex received a call on her cell phone from Sammie herself. ”She told me we shouldn't worry,” Lex said after she hung up.
”Easy for her to say,” Chris muttered.
”Apparently she's backstage with this guy, he's a singer in some band. She wasn't being very specific, but she's okay.”
”Okay?” Matt screamed. “Do you want me to remind you of the trouble she's been in previously?! When the hell is she coming back?”
”When they close the festival area,” Lex guessed. ”Not much else we can do, really.”
The air went out of them when they realized she was right. Matt still didn't seem very eager to let Kate out of his sight and Chris also had something to discuss with her, so the three of them broke out of the circle and sat down outside Matt and Chris's tent.
Lex and Anna left together to get something to eat, leaving Fred and Daniel to longingly stare after them while they were leaving. Jeff laughed at them. ”You two are so sad,” he grinned. ”Come on, we need some help chatting up those girls next door... or in this case, tent. Anthony and I have laid the ground work, but we need some help distracting the other two girls.”
”I'm not interested in any other girls,” Fred complained.
Daniel patted him on the shoulder. ”You're a chick magnet, Fred. Embrace it.” With that, he turned around and abandoned Fred to his fate with Jeff and Anthony.
Matt watched as the guys made their plans and disappeared in different directions. ”We need to sort this out, McKinley,” he said seriously.
”Okay,” Kate cheered happily. It was difficult to be serious with her when she was so overly upbeat all the time.
Matt gave her a disapproving look. ”Anyway... Chris told me what you said about Lex yesterday and he's been over it with Jeff, and there's not a chance in hell that it's true. So my question to you now is: what the hell is your damn problem, you annoying ball of freak?”
Kate was playing with a string on her skirt, happily letting it dance along the side of her shoe. This annoyed Matt to no end. Chris decided to meddle. ”What Matt so eloquently is trying to say: Kate, why did you say that about Lex when it isn't true?”
”But it is true,” Kate claimed. ”I would never lie,”
”How would we know that?” Matt asked her angrily.
Chris, however, had a feeling Kate was telling the truth. ”So, why didn't Jeff know about it? It's kind of a big thing to just throw out there, if you have in mind that Lex never in a million year would fall for someone like Daniel.”
”She didn't fall for him,'' Kate rolled her eyes. ”They messed around at a party, that's all. Lex probably didn't know who he was.”
”Lex would never do something like that!” Matt objected.
”Have you never had a random hook-up?” Kate questioned. ”I mean, it's nothing to be particularly proud of, but I've messed around with my share of people I really wished I hadn't. I call them pig-people.”
”Because they act like pigs?” Matt asked.
”No, because they look like them.”
Chris burst out laughing. Kate’s humor could be inexplicably funny from time to time. “Do me a favor. Ignore Matt and please tell the story from the beginning. The whole story-”
“And nothing but the story?” Kate added. She threw her hands up when she got another death glare from Matt. “Okay, fine! We were at this party over at Ryan Hansen’s house. He was dreamy, but it was right after he was declared gay so he didn’t wanna hook up with me for some reason-”
“Skip the part where you drooled all over him, would you?”
“The nerve! Anyway, Ryan doesn’t really get along with Danny-”
“Nobody does,” Matt snorted.
“Don’t disrupt the story!” Kate whined. “Lex was there, but we didn’t know who she was, and Fred never saw her. He and Danny were fighting over something, can’t remember what, so they avoided each other all weekend, and we didn’t go together to the party. Daniel just told me later that he hooked up with her, and he usually doesn’t lie. They were both drunk and stupid, ya know. Could happen to anyone.”
Matt felt a nervous breakdown coming on. “She slept with him?!”
Kate shrank back. “I don’t know! Danny doesn’t tell me any of the disgusting details! Plus, Danny never mentioned it again after we started hanging out with Lex, and Lex didn’t seem to remember him when Fred introduced them, so what do I know?”
“But you’re certain that they…” Chris made a face, unable to put words to the horrific mental images he was having.
“They were alone together in Ryan’s bedroom for at least half an hour,” Kate said solemnly. “If Fred ever found out about this, he’d be devastated. Please don’t tell him.”
Chris buried his head in his hands again. “No. No, we won’t mention this to anyone else. Jeff, fine, he knows already, but he won’t say anything and he already thinks it’s a lie anyway. If this is true, as you say… This could screw up the whole… I don’t know.”
“Gang dynamic?” Kate suggested.
Chris got up from his sit-upon, looking upset. “This is really bad, don’t you get it?” He stormed off in true Kate-style, leaving Matt and Kate alone, looking confused.
“What’s up his butt?” Kate asked, again smiling. “It’s not that bad, is it?”
Matt shrugged. “Don't worry 'bout it. He just needs to vent.”
“How very insightful, Mr. Oaf,” Kate said with a nod. “Can I leave now?”
Matt leaned over and grabbed her ankle as she tried to get up. “No! You were with Sammie when she met that guy, right?”
Kate sighed. “Sheesh, obsessed much?”
Matt ignored her. “Tell me everything. How old is he? What does he look like? Where does he come from? Everything, now, McKinley.”
“Would you like me to go and measure his penis as well?” Kate asked tiredly. Matt glared again. “Fine. Let’s play a game!”
“McKinley…”
“No! You ask a question, I ask a question – it’s only fair! You can start if you like,” Kate offered nicely, as Matt was looking like he was about to strangle her.
Matt decided with forced calm not to kill her. At least not now. “Sammie… who’s the guy she’s with?” he pronounced slowly, thinking Kate probably wouldn’t be able to follow the conversation otherwise.
“Some musician,” Kate replied cheerfully. “Okay, my turn! What’s your favorite color?”
“What the-? Why the hell do you need to know that for?!” Matt exploded.
Kate watched calmly as Matt kicked on a twig. “Are you done, mister? Now, if you don’t wanna play the game, I can’t help you.”
“Fine! Green.”
“Like my eyes?” Kate hoped. Matt growled. “What, you can still give me a compliment – hey, your eyes are green too!”
“What kind of musician is he?”
“Devil worshipper.”
“I’ll tear those green eyes out of your head.”
“Hey, no need to get gruffy, Scrappy.”
Matt tore away the candy bar she was munching on. “You don’t get this back until I get some serious answers to my questions!”
Kate whimpered like a wounded puppy. “Fine. His name was Luke and he played in a band called Mountain Rainbow Bunnies.”
“Did you make that up?” Matt said warningly, waving the candy bar in front of her nose.
“Yeah, but only because I can’t remember the real name!” Kate answered truthfully. Matt let her have half the bar back. “My turn: what’s your favorite pony?”
Matt closed his eyes, knowing it’ll be a long night.
During the trivial pursuit of Matt McDougal’s life, Daniel was more than ever in over his head. He had been stalking Lex and Anna for a while, until they discovered him and pulled him out from behind the tree he was hiding. Now they were all three walking around watching other people’s camps and their camp fires. Daniel couldn't even bring himself to be sarcastic about it, and he knew that something like that could only be followed by some sort of apocalypse.
The only thing to do, really, was to stop having these feelings for Anna. It screwed with his immune system and made him some (cooler) kind of version of Fred. He knew he couldn’t sleep with her, because Fred would kill him. He knew he couldn’t date her and have her as his girlfriend, because it was completely against his nature. He knew he couldn’t be close to her without wanting to be nice, and that just made him just feel sick.
There was nothing he could do with Anna. He couldn’t do what he wanted, he couldn’t do what she wanted, and he paid absolutely no respect to what anybody else wanted. So what more was there to do?
Lex wasn’t being nearly as annoying as she usually was. She didn’t interrupt or cling on to Anna or anything of the like. Daniel almost appreciated her presence as she made the silence between him and Anna a little less awkward. How could you impress a girl that couldn’t be manipulated?
“Do you want a hamburger?” he offered her nicely, hoping she wouldn’t be a vegetarian.
“No, that’s okay,” she laughed.
“I’d like one,” Lex said, grinning.
“Here’s a dollar, go buy yourself one,” Daniel suggested without turning to look at her. Lex took the dollar bill but didn’t leave. “Go make yourself busy, O’Leary.”
“I am busy. I’m watching you flailing around, aren’t I?” Lex smirked. “Look, guys, I’m gonna go buy something to drink. Wait for me here?”
“Yeah. Scram,” Daniel said uninterestedly. Anna kept walking at a slow pace, until she passed by an empty bench. Daniel tried to make a smooth move when he jumped up on it to sit down, but slipped with his foot and landed on his butt. Anna had trouble holding back a smile. “Why are your friends so annoying?” Daniel asked, as if Lex had been personally responsible for his embarrassment.
Anna looked amused. “You mean, ‘cause you’re so well-adjusted?”
“Better than those other monkeys. I have a lot more experience with life, you know.”
“Because you had to re-take your freshman year in high school?” Anna asked mockingly but still with a sweet voice. “Most guys your age are already in college.”
“I was too mature for high school. They didn’t get me,” Daniel said to enlighten her. “My IQ is higher than all of yours combined.”
“You know, it’s easier to impress a girl when you don’t brag about how much better you are than everyone else,” Anna told him, sitting down across the bench with one leg on each side of the seat. Daniel did the same. “How many girls have you been with that actually meant something to you?”
Daniel shrugged coolly, even though the question made him a bit uneasy. “I guess they all meant the same at the moment.”
Anna moved in closer, and Daniel felt his heart pound faster, and he didn’t like that unfamiliar feeling at all. “Am I that kind of girl, too?”
“What kind of girl?” he tried to dodge the question, almost more nervous now than before. Anna made him uncomfortable and for some reason he couldn’t lie her straight in the face or distract her with a throwaway comment. He had no idea why his usual confidence disappeared whenever he had a private conversation with her.
“The kind of girl that would make you feel good for the moment, and for that moment only.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this,” he suggested, fidgeting with his lighter.
“Maybe this is exactly what we should talk about.” Anna put her hand under his chin and tilted his head up so she could have eye contact with him. Daniel shivered when he felt her touch. “You’re a jerk, and I’m aware of that. I don’t think you’re a jerk because you have bad self-confidence. I think you have too much confidence in yourself.”
“It’s not a bad thing,” Daniel said, starting to get annoyed even though he had no idea why. “And why are we just talking about me? What about you?”
“What about me?”
Daniel was about to make a snide comment, but couldn’t open his mouth and get the words to form correctly. It was okay to humiliate people and screw with their lives and watch them crumble under their own actions – but it wasn’t okay to hurt Anna’s feelings, just as it wasn’t okay to hurt Fred or Kate. But he had to let his self-preservation come first; just as he couldn’t let Kate walk all over him, he couldn’t let Anna make him feel this inadequate without taking a stand against it, no matter the cost.
“Dammit,” he muttered under his breath, unable to look her in the eyes any more.
“What?” she asked, smiling. He was addicted to that smile. This was insane. All of it was insane and it had to stop.
“I don’t think you realize that-” He almost couldn’t get the words out again, but he knew he had to. “-I have zero interest in you whatsoever. I was just using you to get to Sammie, but now when it doesn’t seem to work… I don’t really like you, Anna. You’re a pretty face, but that’s it. There’s no point in me talking to you anymore, ‘cause if you don’t wanna sleep with me, I really don’t have anymore use for you.”
With that, he got up from the bench and almost ran into Lex when he hurried away from them as fast as he could. His stomach was in a knot and his heart was beating harder than ever. He couldn’t believe how something he’s done so many times before could make him feel so ill just because it was… Anna.
Anna just stayed on the bench, staring intently at the same place Daniel’s face had been only moments ago. She swallowed hard, not sure whether he had meant to hurt her by lying, or if he was telling the truth and she had just been made a huge fool of.
Lex sat down next to her. “Anna? What happened? Did you fight?”
Anna opened her mouth to answer, but all that came out was a pitiful gasp. She tried to hold back her tears, but as soon as they started falling and Lex wrapped her arms around her to comfort her, she just let Daniel’s words sink in like a sledge hammer to her head and she cried into Lex’s jacket.
Matt was also close to tears at that point, as Kate was pestering him with all kinds of stupid questions. All the information he had gotten out of her was whether or not Luke was a rapist, and to that Kate had just said, “Eww, no!”
“Now, Scrappy, all the intimate questions are almost over,” Kate cheered, clapping her hands excitedly. “We’ve gone through your first kiss: Sammie-”
Matt growled.
“Aaand your first date: Sammie.”
Matt snarled.
“And your first discovery of the female body: Sammie.”
“Could you stop narrating? I already know this!”
“And surprise: Sammie was your first girlfriend, too. Tell me again why you guys aren’t together?”
“None of your damn business. Is it my turn to ask a question yet, or is this a one-man show”
“One woman, please,” Kate said with a righteous nod. Matt tried to tug her closer so he could pinch her a little. “No, Scrappy! Bad Scrappy!” Matt had to be content with slapping her hand lightly, and Kate acted like he had just torn her arm off. When she finally calmed down and brushed her hair to the side, she said: “One last question, I promise. Did you and Sammie ever, you know… do the nasty?”
“You’re nasty,” he muttered. “I’m not answering that. It’s none of your damn business. I don’t ask how many unfortunate guys you’ve been with, right?”
“Eww, that would be nasty,” Kate agreed. “But back to you. Have you?”
“There’s no chance in hell I’d tell you, McKinley. Why would you care?”
“I don’t. But you care.”
Matt refused to even acknowledge that. He glared at her stubbornly. “There’s nothing else I wanna know.”
“Sure there is,” Kate smiled. “If you tell me this, I’ll tell you if Sammie ever made out with her new favorite musician.”
Matt’s eyes went wide with shock. “She didn’t do that, did she?”
“Did you do that?” Kate teased.
“No, seriously, Kate, you have to tell me if she did!”
“Answer my question and I will.”
“Kate!”
Kate determinedly turned her back against him. “As I said: if you don’t wanna play the game, I can’t help you.”
Matt was beyond desperate now. “Fine! Yes, I have slept with Sammie, okay? Are you happy now? It’s none of your business what we’ve done or what we haven’t done.”
“Actually, I already knew that,” Kate giggled. “So, what was it you wanted to know?”
The last of Matt’s patience completely vanished. “Did she kiss that fucking guy?!” he yelled at her with such force that she fell over with surprise.
“Take it easy, will ya?” Kate said worriedly, sitting back up. “I was just kidding, Matt. Does this really bother you this much?”
“Just tell me,” he begged tiredly.
Kate wasn’t sure she wanted to tell him now. “Yeah. She kissed that guy,” she said simply. “I’m sorry.”
“You and your friends are the worst disaster of all time,” Matt groaned quietly, attempting to get up from the ground.
Kate, realizing she might have gone too far, stood up as well. “Please, don’t be mad at me,” she said, grinning widely, hoping he’d find it cute. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise. I was just teasing you.”
Matt shrugged indifferently. “It doesn’t matter. I’m so sick of you. Get out of my face.”
“Please don’t go?” Kate begged, as he started to walk away. She instinctively leaned down and picked up some mud, throwing it at his back. He turned, staring discontentedly at her. “Got you to stay.”
“I’ll get you to stay, you stupid brat,” Matt said through gritted teeth, quickly hurling a huge pile of mud at her before she had the chance to run away. Kate’s horror filled scream pierced through the night.
“My skirt! Look at my new skirt!” she howled hysterically. Then she retaliated, of course.
Their loud screaming caught the attention of Fred, Jeff and Anthony, so when they hurried over to make sure no one was being killed they were met by Matt and Kate in a rampant struggle to drown the other person in mud. Matt had managed to wrestle her to the ground and was putting all his weight on her as she was fighting to get free. Mud splashed everywhere, especially as Kate was trying to shove as much of it as she could into Matt’s mouth.
“I see the talk went well,” Jeff said dryly, jumping out of the way of a huge mud pie.
Both Matt and Kate seemed to have forgotten about their initial fight and were now just enjoying the fun in getting to throw mud at each other. The mud fight ended as suddenly as it had begun when Fred grabbed Kate’s ear and pulled her over to one of the benches. Jeff gave Matt a hard shove in the chest, making him fall flat on his back into the pool of mud.
Despite being pulled away by the ear, Kate was laughing. ”That was great fun! Can we do it again?”
“No, we can not! Go take a shower, Katie,” Fred suggested. Matt and Kate both shuffled away towards the service building, talking louder than ever.
“I’m so glad Kate is on this trip,” Jeff muttered, making Anthony and Fred laugh.