Charlie opened the front door of her house, happy to be back from her stay at Beth's. Beth followed behind Charlie, as they both planned on hanging out in her room, while they worked out some suggestions between the two of them of where they could hike to with the hiking club.
However, Charlie had to make a detour when she saw the state Cherie was in on the couch. The sight of which hit Charlie like a ton of bricks. The severe weather the night before would have been hard for Cherie and Charlie had completely forgotten about it. Cherie looked like she hadn't slept well the night before and had been asleep on the couch until Charlie opened the front door and came inside with Beth. It was clear that Cherie hadn't slept well the night before, if at all.
"Would you give me a minute, Beth?" Charlie asked. "There's something I need to talk with my sister alone about first."
Beth nodded. "Sure, I understand. Sometimes family issues need to come first and secrecy can be important about those issues."
"Thanks," Charlie said, moving to the living room as Beth climbed the stairs.
"Are you doing okay?" Charlie asked her sister as she sat down. The only reason she could think of that her sister would still be awake when she hadn't slept well was that she had something to say to Charlie, given Charlie was the only one not there when morning came around when the storm left. Otherwise, the TV could be playing a rock concert and Cherie would probably sleep right through it.
"What do you care?" Cherie asked, the hostility clear in her voice.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you last night," Charlie began.
"Don't," Cherie interrupted. "Just don't. I know you won't always be there to help but, but you didn't even think about it did you?"
"I'm sorry I forgot about that," Charlie said. "You know I would have cut my stay at Beth's had I remembered."
"Would you?" Cherie challenged. "I'm not as sure about that as you are, I guess. All I know is that it was a long night."
"Is there anything I can do for you?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, don't make noise. Let me sleep," Cherie replied, the anger gone from her voice, leaving just the fatigue from having stayed awake at least most of the night.
Charlie wondered how much of the hostility from her sister was from being tired and how much of it she really meant, but there wasn't any point in discussing it now, so she merely left her sister to sleep on the couch. Cherie probably had taken to the couch because she'd probably be able to get something to eat and then go back to sleep quicker, but that's all Charlie could think of.
Shrugging, the situation off, since she couldn't determine much else, she made her way to her room to find Beth sitting on Charlie's bed, waiting for her.
"Everything all right?" Beth asked as Charlie entered the room.
"Yeah, just had to talk with my sister about something I forgot," Charlie replied as she sat on her bed.
"Anyway, got any ideas of where we could go for hiking trips for the club?" Beth asked.
"We could always do Pike's Peak, that's one I'm sure many might like to climb," Charlie said.
"Maybe, but I was thinking of places that weren't so close to a city. Like maybe Mount Democrat or Mount Lincoln."
"Yeah, but those would take a little more to get to. At least Pike's Peak is somewhere that would be easier to find. I mean, it even has a road to climb it so once we hike up it, our rides could meet us there rather than having to take the time to hike back down it."
Beth laughed. "True, but would that really set the tone for the club that would help us prepare?"
"Maybe it would be good for a place to start at least. I mean, while some of us have gone camping before and done some hiking, we probably wouldn't be up for some of the hiking trails out there, let alone some of the other fourteeners."
"Good point. It starting there also might help our parents think that we're trying to expand our horizons with these hiking trips. Maybe adding camping to some later on would help, especially if we work our way up to various trails."
"So, do you know of any other-" Charlie started to say.
"Charlie! There's someone here for you!" Charlie heard her mother call up to her.
"Coming!" Charlie called back. Then as she turned back to Beth she sighed. "Anyone you can think of that this might be?"
Beth shook her head. "Not a clue. If it was any of the others, I'd expect to have gotten a text or call from them before they showed up here."
Charlie got up and went downstairs with Beth following. As she started descending the stairs, she saw at the front door Shirley and Cassie. Charlie's mother had clearly let them in and they were just waiting at the front door still. "What're you two doing here?"
"Well, we were talking with some friends and the idea came up that we should try hiking the trail that leads to Sunlight Peak, Windham Peak, and Mount Eolus. We plan on it being a three day trip and we thought we'd invite you along," Cassie said.
It took Charlie a minute before she could get her thoughts together to respond to the idea. "What makes you think I'm interested in that?" she asked, mostly because she didn't remember talking much with Cassie when she was at camp and barely much more with Shirley.
"We just thought we'd ask anyway," Shirley said. "We tried Roberta, but she wasn't interested. Nick jumped at the chance but couldn't get any of his friends to join. Lily was excited to come, and I even got my brother Rick interested. Though, we were hoping to have as large of a group as possible, so we thought we'd offer to let you join us. Though, we tried Emily, Kate, and Betty with mixed results. We couldn't reach Emily, Kate is a definite maybe, and Betty already was busy with other things."
Charlie nodded. "When would this trip be? Do you plan on going today?"
Cassie shook her head. "No, we just thought we'd ask now. We plan on heading out Thursday and we'd drop you back off on Sunday. After all, school starts the day after that, right?"
"Yeah, it does, but would Charlie be able to bring friends along?" Beth chimed in.
"Of course," Cassie said. "The more the merrier!"
"It's really more her idea," Shirley said offhandedly, looking putout. Though, Charlie got the sense that there was a different reason as to why Shirley wasn't as excited about the trip as Cassie was.
"Oh, we might need to know how many are coming," Cassie added after a minute. "That way we know how much food to bring along."
"I'll call the others and let them know," Beth said. Then added with her magic to Charlie, –This would be a good chance for some real hiking experience. And we might be able to find out what Shirley's up to.–
"I'll ask my mom about it," Charlie said, following Beth's lead. –Why do you think she's up to something? – Charlie asked Beth with her magic.
–It's a hunch. I assume you met Cassie at your camp, and as far as I'm concerned, anyone at that camp, unless they can prove otherwise, I'm going to assume are with Heathcliff. Which means he's probably the one who came up with this idea. What they plan on doing I don't know, but I'm sure they're going to try something.–
Charlie wanted to say that Beth was being paranoid, but she couldn't deny that she had a point. Charlie found her mother in the kitchen. "Mom, would it be alright if I went on a hiking trip with Shirley and Cassie and some friends?"
"You mean, today?"
Charlie shook her head. "No, they said that it we'd leave on Thursday and get back Sunday." A sudden thought occurred to Charlie that sent a shiver of dread down her back. What if her mother vetoed the whole idea? Charlie was more than a little surprised to learn that she really did want to go on this trip, regardless of who it was with.
"Hmmm. Let me talk with Shirley and Cassie," her mother said after thinking for a minute. "Those are the girls who came to see you, right?"
Charlie nodded. "Yeah, they were counselors at camp."
Charlie's mother nodded as she started walking towards the front door with Charlie following. "So, what are your plans for this 'trip?' she asked Cassie and Shirley.
"Well, Mrs. Rivers, we were going to hike the trail that leads to Sunlight Peak, Windham Peak, and Mount Eolus. If we can't climb the mountains that's fine. We were just looking for a last trip for summer before school starts," Cassie said, her enthusiasm so clear that Charlie wondered if Cassie was in on whatever Beth suspected Shirley was planning or if the plan was piggybacking on Cassie's idea.
"Who will be chaperoning?" Charlie's mother asked.
Charlie glanced at Shirley as Cassie gave her reply and was surprised to see that Shirley was mumbling something under her breath. "Shirley will be the oldest of the group," Cassie said. "She was the head counselor for the girls anyway. Then the next oldest would be Nick. He's a good friend of ours and very responsible.
"That sounds adequate," Charlie's mother replied, which shocked Charlie. Not about her agreeing, usually she'd ask such questions, even if she was going to allow it in the first place, but the words didn't sound like her mother. "Charlie will be ready when you leave Thursday."
Charlie glanced at Shirley again and saw she wasn't mumbling anymore. Which made Charlie suspect that magic was used on her mother. Which meant there likely was something going on that they wanted or needed Charlie to be there for. Though, she was definitely not happy that they'd used magic on her mother. Like how Charlie had decided to do what she could to not hear the thoughts of her friends or family, she felt that using magic on them to sway their decisions was crossing a line. Regardless of the reason.
"Thanks Mrs. Rivers," Cassie said. Then she turned to Charlie. "We'll see you Thursday, short stuff."
Charlie scowled at the nickname and waved to them as they left.
"'Short stuff?'" Beth asked, laughter in her voice.
"It was a nickname Shirley gave me at camp," Charlie said, passing Beth on the stairs as she started to head back to her room.
"I guess you didn't like it, huh?"
"Anyway, what do you think they're up to?" Charlie asked, ignoring Beth's question and hoping she'd let it go.
"What made you decide they're up to something?"
"They used magic on my mom!" Charlie replied, a little surprised at how angry the thought was making her. "They made it so she'd agree to it."
"Yeah, that would be clear they're trying something," Beth agreed. "But at the same time, we first would need to know what they're up to before we can really defend ourselves against them."
"Did the others agree to come?" Charlie asked.
Beth nodded. "Yeah, Tim said that he'd get his parents to agree one way or another, Wes' parents pretty much decided for him, Ralph said he needed to be gone around that time anyway, Hannah and Amelia were eager to agree as well."
"Why does Ralph need to be gone during that time?" Charlie wondered.
"Probably best we don't know," Beth laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised if it has to do with a prank or something."
_
Beth closed the door to her room and sighed. It had been a long day already and it wasn't even dinner time yet. The trip idea with the counselors from the math camp was a surprise and while it was clear they were up to something, Beth didn't really think they had a real choice in the matter.
If Charlie did manage to duck out of this trip, it was likely they'd try something else that might actually catch them off guard. Whatever they were planning, Beth was determined to turn the tables on them to get them to stop altogether. She wasn't sure what it'd look like, but knew she'd burn Heathcliff's house to the ground before she'd give in to whatever he had planned.
Beth fell on her bed, staring at the ceiling as she contemplated how much her life had changed in the past six months. Not only was she friends with the girl in school that hardly talked to anyone, but now she found herself thinking of ways to protect that same girl. While she didn't think she had feelings for Charlie, she couldn't rule the possibility out.
"Beth, have you seen mom?" Stacie's voice came from her door.
Beth looked at her sister and shook her head. "Sorry, I just got back myself."
"Okay, just checking. I thought she should be back by now, but maybe she's pulling a double," Stacie said, walking into Beth's room and sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed.
"Need anything?" Beth asked, turning her gaze back to the ceiling.
"Nah, just wanted to just spend time with you." At first Beth thought Stacie was just sitting there, but then she heard the sound of a paper page turning and realized her sister was reading.
Beth nodded. She opened her mouth to say something else, when her thoughts clicked in her mind. It wasn't that she was romantically interested in Charlie, it was more like she felt the girl was almost like a sister. Beth was used to being an older sister and heaven help anyone who dared to try and hurt any of her siblings.
Charlie was so much like her siblings in that regard that she couldn't think why she didn't realize it earlier. While Charlie was more independent than even Stacie, who was her oldest younger sister, she was almost as vulnerable when it came to other people. Stacie was fine around the house and with the few friends she had, but otherwise she was the classic painfully shy archetype for TV characters. While Charlie seemed otherwise shy from the reasons she'd given Beth as to why she didn't have any friends, she still was able to talk to people she didn't know. However, it was clear Charlie didn't really know how to stand up for herself very well. Part of that was why Beth knew she was so worried about whatever Heathcliff might try or is going to try through Shirley on this trip.
Beth felt herself starting to doze off when she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. Beth groaned as she knew she should answer it, even though she'd like nothing more than to have the call disappear at the moment.
Beth doesn't look at her phone as she pulls it out of her back pocket and answers it before holding it up to her ear. "Yeah?"
"Beth, I had to ask, does Charlie have any dresses for a dance?" Alex asked.
"Why do you ask, Alex?" Beth asked. "Are you looking for a way to back out of asking her to the homecoming?"
Alex laughed nervously. Beth was certain she hit it on the mark until Alex replied, "Actually, I asked her when I talked with her in your room."
Beth sat up in shock. "Wait, you what?"
"Yeah, I asked her. I mean, she wasn't mad or freaked out about my verbal diarrhea when I didn't know she was there. So, I thought it was as good of a time as any, but now I can't help but wonder, what will she wear to it? Do I have anything that would complement it or would my dresses clash with hers?"
Beth sighed. She really wanted to laugh but could tell Alex wasn't in a state to handle that. "Relax. I'm quite sure Charlie doesn't have any dance dresses. I'll work with her and her mother to make sure she has something that will go well with what I'm sure you'll wear to the dance."
"Did she say anything about me after I left?" Alex asked.
"Actually, she didn't say anything. I didn't even know you asked her. I thought that it was something that you were going to wait at least until the start of school to do," Beth replied, getting up from her bed, careful not to disturb her sister and started walking out of her room. She couldn't say why but she was starting to get thirsty.
"Oh."
"Don't worry about it," Beth assured Alex. "There's been several things where she hasn't told me or our other friends right away. Even things that the others were a little mad that she didn't say something right away."
"Well, that's good, I guess," Alex said. "I mean, not good that they were mad about it, but that it's not something that might mean she's having second thoughts about accepting my asking."
Beth smiled at Alex's fumbling with words. "Slow down Alex," Beth said. "I'm not sure you're listening to what you're saying, but you're starting to make less sense."
"I know," Alex moaned. "Why can't I just know what she's thinking?"
Beth couldn't help but laugh at that. "I'm not sure we'd be able to get you out of her head if you could read her thoughts. You might not want to come out, even if your worst-case scenarios can be found there."
"I'm not sure I'd mind."
"I bet," Beth said as she arrived in the kitchen and started getting herself some water.
"Do you think she'd be okay if I came over to her place, like Friday?"