AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Asurvivalcompetition,” said Mabel.
“Nobody is having any competitions around here,” said Brandon. “This is a therapeutic exercise. And everyone is going to survive, so—”
“You want me to toughen up the Littles, don’t you?” asked Mabel. “This is how we do it. The Littles and I are allowed nothing except a tent, water, and a sleeping bag. The rest of you can have whatever you like. My group has to make it ten miles north. Your group has to hike ten miles west. And I bet you, my group will win.” She paused. “We’ll use GPS to track each other’s progress.” She held up one of the Little’s smart watches.
“Never put all your faith in technology,” said Rip. “Take a compass too.” He reached into his pocket and held out a compass.
This was just like him, trying to show that he was the most competent, most in charge. Pah. She’d show him. “Nah,” said Mabel. “I’m good.”
“Wait,” said Brandon. “Nobody’s going to be having any kind of hiking competition. This is about building trust and companionship—”
Gloria stepped forward. “You know, Brandon, the main point of this hike is to get the Littles ready for the shoot next week. Maybe there’s something in this?”
Brandon looked at Gloria, then back at the Littles. Then he looked at Rip. “Will you at least go with them?”
“No!” said Mabel, a little too loudly. “No, the whole point is that this is a… girl thing. It needs to be a safe space. Tell you what, how about we bring the counselor with us instead?”
The counselor, a woman in her fifties who clearly wasn’t used to going on group hikes, shrugged. “Well, I guess I could give it a go…”
“Yay!” squealed one of the Littles. “A competition!”
Mabel wasn’t sure if the Little wasreallyinto the idea, or just wanted more time away from Rip. In any case, it looked as though Brandon was being won over.
“Alright,” he said, “but at the first sign of trouble, you call me. Okay?”
“Of course,” Mabel said with a nod. She wasn’t going to tell Brandon this, but with the minimal equipment they were taking with them, they’d have no way of calling him. Besides, that would be cheating.
This was about survival, after all.
CHAPTER 7
You could say what you like about Littles, but actually, when it came down to it, most of them had hidden depths.
There was Georgia, who managed to catch three fish in the river using nothing but a sharp stick. There was Amy, who filled her pockets with blackberries and gave them all a sweet treat as a pick-me-up when morale began to dip. There was Lydia, who sang marching songs to keep them occupied, and Darcie, who made rosemary tea for everyone around the campfire in the evening.
It felt good to be among these people. She always misjudged Littles, for some reason. Always assumed that their thumb-sucking, hair-twirling, stuffie-cuddling meant that they were weak.
Obviously, the Littles were all grown adults. Adults who’d held down jobs in all sorts of industries, and who had arrived at acting after lots of training. But Mabel still had a tendency to feel surprised when they… well, when they acted like grown-ups. It made no sense when she thought about it, because she was a Little too. She was just a different kind of Little to everyone else she knew. They were all princesses, but she was aqueen.
Ugh. Maybe Rip was right. Maybe she was just a brat.
But it’s not like she got a kick out of acting up… did she? It was more that she felt like she had to prove just how strong she was all the time.
“Whatchya thinking about?” asked Darcie, as they sat around the campfire, looking at the flames.
Mabel sipped her rosemary tea. “Just… life.”
Darcie nodded. “Yup. That explains the look in your eyes.”
“Oops. Was I frowning?”
“Only a little,” said Darcie kindly. “You looked morepensiveI’d say.”
Mabel sighed. “I have a lot on my mind at the moment.”
“You’re not like the others, you know,” said Darcie quietly as she looked at the fire.
“I’m not?”
