Tuesday, 1 August 2017
The first night in the girls' camp was full of legends that Croix and Ursula told about Luna Nova, which scared the trio of Akko, Hellene and Marianne a little, thinking that it was more real than it seemed. After these legends were told, each one went to their respective tent, where they went to sleep to wake up the next day that will have some more activities to do in the camp.
It is seven o'clock in the morning of the first day of August, the girls of the red team get up after a long night of sleep, seeing that the other girls were also getting up, at that moment Croix and Ursula were preparing breakfast, frying some eggs and roasting some sausages, as the girls were appearing.
" Good morning Akko! " Said Ursula as Kagari yawned, taking a seat at the table, starting a morning feast there.
" Good morning Ursula, good morning Croix " Said the sleepy Atsuko and soon Hellene and Marianne also appeared joining the table.
" Good morning Akko, did you manage to sleep after those legends? Hahaha " Hellene said mocking her friend.
" I hadn't even remembered, I just kept sleeping, wrapping myself more in the blanket, this thing doesn't warm anything, the cold was my biggest worry " Said the Japanese woman.
" Tell me about it... I couldn't stand it tonight, I was freezing, these blankets didn't warm me at all, and my back hurts with the mattresses, I felt like sleeping on the floor... Ahhhh " said Marianne.
" I can sleep with you tonight, so we'll be a lot warmer," said Cavendish a bit shyly.
" Oh that would be wonderful, let's call Akko too, then the three of us will be warm, we have to have a meeting of the three of us," said Leclerc getting excited.
" Ah... Sure, a meeting of the three of us... If it's better, then let's do it like this... It'll be fun to get together in this tent, apart from the fact that sleeping alone makes me cold... I just wanted to cuddle with... " The frustrated redhead is immediately hugged by both the brownish and the dark haired girl with reddish highlights.
The time went by, the girls had practically had breakfast, practically all of them had woken up that morning, which was very sunny and hot, then Croix and Ursula took some waistcoats from their tent, calling all the girls to get in line.
" Well, now we are going to have a little competition, do you see the canoes on the other side? Today we are going to have some fun, you are going to do a race through the lagoon course in front of us, you need to complete five laps, but first, put on these waistcoats and I also recommend you to change your clothes, because you are going to get wet and a lot haha " Ursula said.
" So it's going to be a canoe race? How are we going to go in them? And what about the teams? " Akko asks.
" You will leave with your team, each canoe has three places exactly to represent your teams, in the case of teams like brown and purple, they will go with Ursula in a canoe so as not to be unfair " Croix explains.
The girls all understand, so they go to change, besides putting the waistcoats, generally they went with shorter clothes as shorts and the Luna Nova t-shirt, with the only exception being Sucy who went with trousers, since they were going to get wet, already prepared for the occasion of probably falling on the water and not having the risk of sinking.
With all ready, they organize themselves lined up near the pier, where Croix and Ursula are also there, the blue haired one goes next with Marianne and Hellene, since they are with fragmented teams, to help the girls.
" All right, as you can see from the buoys, you have to follow the course around the lagoon, it is a team effort, make sure you paddle well and in sync, that is all you will need to make it through this competition, ready? I will shoot and you run to the canoes with the colours of your respective teams " Meridies warns everyone.
Then the Italian girl shoots a barrel of fireworks that spits the rocket up in the air and all of them go running towards their canoes, with all the excitement of the world, there were 20 canoes with the colours of the teams, they were trying to find them, as soon as they found them they climbed on top, starting to paddle, Akko and her team did not take long to find their canoe.
" Come on Lotte and Sucy! We can win this one! " said Kagari.
" Calm down Akko, the canoe won't fly away, although it will probably just swim away haha " Manbavaran said.
" We're still going to get out in the middle of the mess " said Yanson getting into the canoe and so did the pink haired one.
Quickly and euphorically the three of them started to grab a paddle each, pulling it to one side or the other trying to understand how it all works. On the other hand the blue team was in trouble, as Hannah and Barbara had managed to paddle the canoe the opposite way, so that the canoe ran aground and Diana had to get off.
" I told you it was the other way! You're stupid Hannah! " said Barbara scolding her classmate.
" Can you help me here or will I have to pull the canoe myself? " said Cavendish getting out of the canoe and going to pull the stranded boat.
" I'm sorry Diana, but her! That stupid girl who can't talk fast, she's really stupid! " Said the furious Hannah, as the Scottish lass ran her hand over her face pulling the canoe back into the water.
In the green team, they managed to do very well starting to paddle practically at the beginning of the course, which also had a nice synchrony between them pulling to each side with Amanda looking forward, and the other two were kind of on their backs grabbing the oars and pulling harder than O'Neill.
" Come on girls, we'll soon be able to lead this! Pull hard! Pull hard! " said the American girl, and who was next to her was exactly the pair that was pushing with Ursula.
" Hey Amanda, be careful not to eat dust " said Hellene who was rowing with intensity.
" Eat dust, we're in the water, you'll just swallow water till you drop " said the one with the salmon-coloured hair.
" That we'll see, me and Mari have plenty of arms to push that one.... " Said Cavendish who went to show off her biceps until simply Jasminka lifts her arm without much effort making evident the muscle mass Atonenko had, leaving even the redhead awestruck.
" Guys, what is this arm? We'll try our best, but this Jasminka is worth it for both of us," said a stunned Marianne.
" Oh you guys want help with strong arms, which one of you has the strongest arm? " Ursula asks and then Leclerc points to Cavendish.
" Me?" said the confused purple-eyed girl.
" Great! Then you go looking forward Marianne, you guide the canoe for us, I'll paddle with Hellene " Said Ursula who was showing her arms impressing the two, it was not the monstrosity of Amanda, but she already had a strength there.
In this the competition heated up a bit as the duo from the green team started to give a slight distance, but after the help from Chariot and also from Hellene, this difference wasn't increased. In the back there was also the presence of Akko, who with her team was pushing the three practically backwards, in order to have as much strength as possible.
" Akko! Don't you think this is a bad idea? How are we going to see what's in front of us? " asks Sucy.
" I am here in front, looking behind, don't worry, we are approaching a cake here, we will manage to get along well, you can be sure, this way we will get more speed, then we will switch to be only one in front " Atsuko answers.
At this time they were also noticing that they were opening a certain distance from the girls of the blue team, and a fight was even breaking out. It was even notable how the canoe kept shaking from one side to the other, almost as if it was going to overturn.
" Seriously, those little bitches of Diana's only get her into trouble," Kagari said.
" I feel sorry for Cavendish," said Sucy.
" Hey don't call her that, Diana is very nice, she will manage to make these girls act more cautiously, she just needs a little patience " said the Japanese girl.
" She needs a lot of it, I don't know how she puts up with these two, somehow at least she makes up for the bitchiness of these girls haha " Manbavaran said continuing to mock the girls.
There in front the green team was catching the leaders of the race, the yellow team led by Wangari, the three were in sync and paddling nicely, taking the canoe to the limit, but it was evident that the strong arms of jasminka gave a good speed, but that was until the corners, where they had to change the paddling rhythm and even the speed of the curve, which the green team had not done a very good line which made them lose time and even some positions.
This was great for Ursula's team who passed them both in the turn as they managed to do it in a tighter manner, using the momentum to try and catch up to the yellow team, while being alongside the purple team who impressively were paddling well, led by Avery.
" Did you forget to brake? You have to remember there's a curve here," Hellene said, showing her tongue to Amanda, who replied with her middle finger.
The competition didn't die, Amanda still had the strength, she was paddling hard, together with Jasminka and Constanze, pulling that canoe to try to reach Ursula's, getting as close as possible, pulling at the limit, but they wouldn't let them stay behind, soon the green canoe was reaching the lilac one and Ursula's, besides the yellow one, it was a dispute of four for the first position.
In the back the reds were little by little climbing the pack, they were in tenth position when they started, climbed to eighth and were about to pass the aqua
team by the seventh position, led by Rita.
" Let's go! We can still win this! " Akko said.
" Wow, this is going to blow my arms off when it's over," said Sucy.
" Tell me about it, but we have to try whatever we can, we have a chance of winning, come on! Let's not give up! There are still four laps to go! The race only ends at the last flag! " said Kagari.
A little further back in the last position the fight was going on between Hannah and Barbara, they were diverging a lot for the control of the canoe, paddling from one side to the other, which was making Diana a little angry.
" Stop fucking rowing that way, are you stupid? You have to row straight! " said Barbara furiously.
" Fuck you you imbecile, I'm trying, but that paddle is heavy " Answers Hannah also furious.
" Silence! Fuck you both " said Diana who had already lost her patience.
" Diana? " They were both a little afraid even.
" I'll tell you what you have to do, stay back, row as I command, we're back there and we're going to take a tumble from everyone if we keep this up, row as I tell you and we'll try whatever we can to repair the damage," said the furious Cavendish and the two just turned back as Diana was commanding, where finally something was rolling.
The blue race was a recovery, needing a lot of Diana's orders to advance something, there in front the dispute was heating up, between Ursula and the greens, the three of Amanda's trio approached, but again there was another curve, which was giving a relief for the trio with Hellene.
Lap after lap was passing, the yellow lead was little by little coming across the lilac, purple and green, coming with everything, in the second lap the dispute for first position between four canoes.
Back there the reds were climbing to the sixth position, little by little getting close.
On the third lap, it was where things were heating up more with the overtaking of the purple for the first position, taking the lead of the race, a collision happened between the green with the yellow, opening the way for this leadership, also for the purple that were taking advantage of this gap.
The reds were moving towards the fifth position, and the blues were climbing as far as they could, they were in the sixteenth position and were picking up the pace.
On the fourth lap, where a reddish canoe was approaching the canoes to fight for the first position, the purple ones were still in the lead and were holding on to the lilac ones. The blues were up to thirteenth position and had chances to go to the top ten since some canoes were very close.
On the fifth and last lap, the red team is very close to the front group, starting a dispute for the lead with five canoes, still with the purple leadership, which was heating up a lot, the concentration was great, at times, Marianne simply sat back to have a gain even if minimal speed. The
turn was in the last curve, the purple ones had the advantage, but the purple ones tried an attack, starting to paddle with all their strength trying to pass by the right, suddenly the green and yellow canoes appeared to attack in that line.
The reds also found space, there were five canoes fighting for the first position, side by side, pulling with all the strength they had in their arms, it was very noticeable how the paddling of the reds was intense, as if the girls were giving their blood.
The canoes crossed the finish line, Croix took a photo, the victory was the purple ones, with Ursula, Marianne and Hellene, they had the best line and final speed, behind them in second position the purple ones, in third position the yellow ones, miraculously in the fourth position the red ones did better than the green ones who got the fifth position.
In the back there was the biggest dispute, but who came out the best were the blue girls who secured the tenth position after a race of recovery.
" The winners are the purple ones! " says Croix, and they celebrate, returning to the pier, somewhat exhausted.
The reds look at the classification noticing the fourth place and Akko throws herself tired on the ground, but at the same time celebrates as if it were a victory, after trying so hard going with everything, in the same way the blues that were dead tired celebrate.
" We lost the fourth position to you guys by a few centimetres, out of nowhere you became a rocket, now that explains why you beat us," Amanda said, holding Akko's hand and helping Kagari to stand up.
" It was all or nothing, I wanted to see how far we would go, the race is not over at the first corner " said the Japanese woman.
" You're right, that's why I admire that determination of yours Akko, you always go far " O'Neill said.
" I didn't realise canoes could tire so much. " said the breathless Hellene.
" I think we have our winning tactic, just put Hellene on our team and we win hahaha " said Atsuko laughing.
" It's true, every competition we've done until now was always won by the team that had Hellene with her, this girl looks like she has her ass turned to the moon," said the American.
" I won some of them, but not all of them, what counts is skill not luck, do you think we won by luck? Jasminka has huge arms, we had to go with what we had and go with the best lines to get this lead " Answers the one with purple eyes.
" Whatever, I just know that this is finally being a nice place, before Luna Nova I thought it was a boring place, an orphanage like any other, it had some nice things, but I soon found it routine. But today I think differently, this is one of the most fun places in the world.
" Hey girls, you must be exhausted, how about a nice barbecue to unwind and also replenish that energy from the paddling, you must have put those arms to test by now " Croix said calling out to the girls.
Soon they go excitedly to the tables, where from there Croix starts handing out trays full of slices of meat that she prepared by roasting with an improvised barbecue grill using the fire and a grill she brought to roast the food, besides also a little bit of garlic bread and some sausages, which was making all the girls' mouths water.
" This is a real barbecue, not that rubbish from across the Atlantic where they grill burgers and sausages," said Croix.
" Hey! " said Amanda.
" Where did you see that Croix? " Hellene asks as she takes a slice of meat.
" In South America, when I travelled to Argentina with Ursula and also around the countries, they barbecue this way, I kind of have a family that lives there, so we paid a visit, it's a wonderful meat, it's very good," said Meridies.
The girls were really enjoying the barbecue that Croix was making, it was finishing very fast, but luckily there was plenty of meat being made on the improvised grill, the smell was also very nice.
And the second day of camp was only in its beginning, with this very intense dispute of canoes, being only the beginning of the fun that still has much to happen, in these three days of pure relaxation.
See you, boat witches...