"I think I'm going to pass out on my bed and sleep until dinner." May decided, basketball under her arm. April paused.
"That doesn't seem like a possibility, May." April stage-whispered. On the top of their cabin roof, was their beds. Also, stuck to the flagpole was a stuffed bear....June's stuffed bear.
"Frankie!" Her youngest sister cried, nearly falling off of her back. April's eyes widened in disbelief.
"How did they get those up there?!" She cried, nervously stroking her ponytail. May's eyes darkened.
"I've had enough of this." The middle triplet exclaimed. "Lets go, girls, I'm going to have a talk with those boys."
"May, don't hurt them." April begged, grabbing her sister's arm. May pulled it away.
"No promises." She replied. Her eyes went over to the bushes - and April spotted a rather familiar red hat. "Hey, you three!"
Louie's head popped up from the bushes. "Who, us?"
"Yes, you!" May fumed. "What'd we ever do to you?!"
"You embarrassed me!" Dewey defended, popping up next to his brother.
"Once...." April pointed out.
"Exactly! Once!" May cried. "And you go and make one sister jump into the lake and impale the other's only stuffed animal! Look!"
"We thought that was April's...." Dewey attempted to state.
"That would've been worse! Listen, bub, they weren't involved in your petty grudge! Now guess what? Now those two are involved."
"May-!" April exclaimed, trying to pull her sister away. She wouldn't budge.
"I tried to stop them-" Huey pleaded. Once again, May wouldn't have any of it.
"No. Not listening. I'm done listening."
And with that, May stormed into the cabin, dragging June in with her. April sighed apologetically.
"I'm sorry about my sister," she said, "she can be a little....headstrong....."
"That's one way to put it." Louie muttered.
"We don't need your apologies, it's war!" Dewey declared. April wrung her hands together.
"Fine. Alright." She replied. She glanced at Huey, who returned her sad gaze. With another sigh, she turned and went back to the cabin to help take down the beds.
That night, she awoke to the creaking noise of the door opening. April sat up, and rubbed her eyes.
"May?" She asked, making out the figure of her sister in the pitch black darkness. "Where are you going?"
"On a walk." May replied. "Go back to bed before you wake up June."
"Ok." She yawned sleepily. In the morning, she would come to regret that.
-
"You did WHAT?!"
May winced at the loud shriek produced by her older sister. She hadn't expected April to react like that, she usually responded with panicking and tears- oh wait, there they were.
"They had it coming, they've been nothing but awful to you two since we got here!" She argued. "And we've only been here for three and a half days!"
"The counselors are going to find out." April pointed out, pacing. "I don't want to get in trouble."
"It's not your fault." May scoffed.
"But we're guilty by association!" June cried, squeezing the freshly stitched Frankie to her chest. "We'll go to jail!"
"We aren't going to jail, June!" May sighed. "I'll take the fall for it. It was my doing."
That's when they heard a knock on the door. April shrunk back and June buried her face in the head of her stuffed bear. May took a deep breath and headed for the door, making sure to put on her most angelic face possible.
"Is something the matter, sir?" She asked sweetly as possible.
"Yes!" Dewey exclaimed, stepping out from behind the counselor....covered from head to toe in chocolate syrup. Huey and Louie were also there, being soaked in maple syrup and caramel respectively. May stifled a laugh.
"Ok, kids, a little friendly rivalry is encouraged," the counselor groaned, "but turning each other into walking s'mores is a completely different thing!"
"Actually, if we were s'mores, I'd be covered in marshmallow." Huey interjected. His brothers glared at him.
"We have no choice but to relocate all of you to the isolation cabin." The counselor continued. May tensed up. Louie pulled up his hoodie, and Dewey opened up his mouth - probably to protest - but what cut off by his brother.
"All of us?!" Huey exclaimed. "I was barely involved!"
"Yes, but all of you were the cause."
"Please, sir, reconsider!" April begged. "May can be...impulsive....but she really is absolutely, truly sorry! Right May?"
"Mm." She only shrugged in reply.
"Boys, go take a shower, pack your things and meet us here," the counselor instructed, "girls, you pack your things as well."
"This is worse than going to jail." June muttered, throwing Frankie down to her side and crossing her arms bitterly.
Eventually, it was night again. Louie was tossing and turning in bed, though June hadn't let out all her energy yet. Louie reached up to turn off the light, though May quickly turned it back on.
"It stays on." She told him.
"Your sister shouldn't be interrupting my brother's sleep!" Dewey argued. "It goes off."
"On!"
"Off!"
"On!"
"Off!"
"On!"
"Off!"
"Off!"
"On!"
"Good to see we agree!" May smirked triumphantly.
"For the love of god, just dim it half way!" Huey cried. Glaring at each other, May lowered the switch half way. Dewey crossed his arms.
-
June awoke to the cold breeze blowing through the window and playing with her pigtails. She noticed it was raining, and ran to close the window. It wouldn't budge.
"Let me help you with that!" Dewey exclaimed, and ran to help her close it. After a minute or two of struggling, they got it to close. The two of them sat there, panting.
"Thanks." She grinned, brushing her hair away from her face.
"Your welcome." Dewey replied.
"What's going on?" May asked, sitting up in bed.
"The rain is a jerk." June replied. "Dewey helped me close the window."
"He did?" May blinked. Dewey nodded. "Thanks....I guess."
"Is anything ruined?" Huey asked. April nodded, frowning.
"My sketchbook got a little torn up, but it's fine....." She explained, passing it to Huey. His brothers scampered over to join him as he flipped through the book - though June noticed it was a bit soggy from the rain.
"These are amazing!" Huey exclaimed. "Who taught you?"
"Our grandfather," June exclaimed, "he's an artist!"
"Oh...here's your..." Louie spoke up, picking Frankie from off the floor.
"Frankie." June replied, cradling it like it's a baby. Dewey stared at it, and June could tell. It seemed May did too.
"He used to be our mom's," May explained, "it's the last thing we have of her."
"Oh...what happened to her?" Huey asked softly.
"Car crash." April replied solemnly. "We live with our aunt in Mouseton."
"We lost our mom too," Dewey said, catching June's attention, "she got lost in space according to Uncle Scrooge. We don't know if she's even alive."
"Uncle Scrooge....wait! As in Scrooge McDuck?! The bajillionare?!" May exclaimed. "Now I know why you're so familiar. Ugh, I'm so stupid."
"Nah, you're not." Louie denied. "We didn't even know until months and months ago. We lived in a houseboat."
June watched as Louie reached into his drawer and pulled out a box. He produced a picture of a houseboat flaming deck and a duck in a sailor suit frantically attempting to put out the fire.
"That's our Uncle Donald," Huey said, "we've lived with him our whole lives. He's really always been like our dad."
May shivered, and stood up. June sent a concerned look towards her older sister.
"Are you ok?" She asked. May nodded.
"I'm fine, just a little chilly." She replied.
"Do any of you want some Oreos with peanut butter?" Dewey asked. June nodded enthusiastically.
"I didn't know anyone else liked that!" She exclaimed. "Everyone else says it's totally disgusting."
"Because it is." May groaned. June chose to ignore it.
"So what's your dad like?" Louie asked, grabbing a couple Oreos.
"Oh, we never met him." May shrugged. "It's not like we need him. Aunt Daisy is all we need, really. And Uncle Mickey and Aunt Minnie too, but they don't live with us. They're Aunt Daisy's best friends."
"How old are you?" Huey asked.
"Ten." April replied. "You?"
"Same here!" Huey grinned. "We've got a lot of things in common, don't we?"
"Yeah, I guess we do." April beamed.
"Oh hey, it stopped raining!" June exclaimed.
"Finally!" Dewey cheered. "Do you guys want to get a popsicle or something-"
"Wait!" Louie spoke up. "What's your aunt's name again?"
"....Daisy." May replied. "Why?"
Dewey's eyes widened and dashed back over to the box. He pulled out another picture - June couldn't see what it was.
"There's this picture that our sister-friend-whatever Webby found recently," he revealed, "and it was of our mom and someone named Daisy. It was ripped right down the middle."
"We have a picture like that too, ripped right down the middle," April said softly, reaching into her bag, "of our mom...and...."
"Donald." They all said together. June watched in anticipation as she clutched Frankie tighter to her chest. April pulled out the picture. It fit perfectly.
"Do you know what this means?" May breathed. "It means that we're like...related in a way."
"It means that we're like cousins!" Dewey's eyes widened.