Hop, Skip, and a Jump
Posted on Fri Sep 2nd, 2022 @ 12:09pm by Scott Summers & Connor Bruin & Cameron Hood & Elias Buckley & Tammy Thompson & Bliss Hawkins & Levi Rousseau & Hayden Davis
2,667 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2: Northern X-Posure
Location: Breakstone Lake, Salem Center, NY
Timeline: August 1st, 1990
Life on Muir Island was fun, but it was limiting. There were borders marked by tall cliffs that led to certain death upon wave-tossed rocks far below. America was different. Tall mountain cliffs, deep forests, and still the same ocean he'd known his whole life not far away. While Connor could not run to the ocean, there was a lake within view of the mansion.
What took place next was a phenomenon called "elopement," which is a nearly irresistible compulsion to run from one's current location.
Connor had one foot in front of another, though he barely knew it. His eyes were fixed on the blue water that became partially obstructed through trees. Not stopping or even slowing, Connor kicked off deadfalls, flipped through low-hanging branches, and in all ways barreled his way through nature's obstruction. It was like living a dream where he was a passenger in his own body, not thinking or feeling, but observing while the object of his fixation--Breakstone Lake--magnified into view as his body dashed toward it.
Once his feet hit water, though, his compulsion faded as quickly as it had triggered. The gentle waves had been disrupted by his charge into the water, as had the harmony of their rhythmic lapping against the muddy shoreline. What replaced them was the lingering churn of Connor's splashing and the metronome drip, drip, drip from his hands.
Wetness! Connor had been wearing shorts due to the summer heat and he'd only went knee-deep, so his clothes remained virtually dry, but his shoes were soaked. There was only one thing to be done. Without hesitation, Connor ripped off his shoes and tossed them back to dry ground. They would not be needed for the happy splashing that was decidedly best performed while barefoot.
"Who's that?" Levi stopped in the shade of a tree near the boathouse and set down one of the picnic baskets that had been lugged down from the mansion and squinted down the shoreline toward the burley red head in the water. He was sporting a pair of red swimming trunks, a dark tank top that fit his slight physique, and a pair of sandals.
He could have performed a showy dive or sprinted in from the shallows like the other mutant, but Elias chose to simply rise up from the deeper water and bob there in Connor's line of sight, before offering the other teen a friendly wave. There was something about the complicated simplicity of how Connor operated that intrigued him. "Hey!" Elias called, head and bare shoulders above the water. "Can you swim?"
In response, Connor backflipped into deeper water and charged Elias, his body undulating like an eel head to toe. When he reached the other boy, he began swimming circles around him fast enough to create a mild vortex.
"Nice moves, dude," Elias conceded, as he trod water more aggressively to stay in (more or less) the same place. "So solid yes on swim-skills," he confirmed out loud. "Wanna race?"
Connor flipped over Elias like a dolphin at Sea World and then darted away toward the deeper water.
For a second, Elias simply allowed his gaze to follow Connor's motion, the only compliment the acrobatic teen was about to get any time soon. Then the pursuit was on, Elias ducking under the water and utilising a little kinetic energy from the resultant underlying wave to supplement his own forward motion.
And for his effort, Elias got a wave of water kicked right in his face. Connor cackled mischievously as he burst forward.
Said wave washed over the space where Elias had been, the boy's head already underwater and distant from that laughter. He noted Connor's direction from beneath the surface and moved, ignoring the physical space between them and stepping straight to a further forward position. From out in the middle of the lake now, Elias regarded the scene back towards shore.
With a backpack and hamper full of snacks and water, Cameron followed the student body down to the lake. His eyes were hidden behind his shades, and his hair was covered by a baseball cap. But his shirt was gone and the sun was pleasantly hot upon his bare shoulders. He made his way to the boathouse and put his load by the door. A single key allowed him entry to to shelter.
Bliss was bringing up the rear. She had a huge cooler full of iced drinks on her shoulder. She might as well have been carrying a styrofoam box full of air for all that the cooler seemed to hinder her. In her other hand she carried a open bottle of yoo-hoo. She was wearing a black and gold bikini top That matched the school colors. She had a pair of denim cut offs barely hanging from her hips as she took her confident steps down to the lake.
"Cameron! Wait up!"
She skipped easily down the trail to catch up to the current team leader.
Cameron had thrown the doors open, revealing a white and black speedboat gently bobbing in the water. One wall to the side had water skies, life jackets
When Connor heard Bliss call out for Cameron, his head snapped to look in her direction. A snapshot of her skipping in her revealing outfit burned into his mind's eye, forcing him to look away with reddened cheeks. All thought of his contest with Elias was forgotten.
Bliss saw Connor cavorting in the water, so is she saluted him with her bottle of yoo-hoo. She was still trying to get to know people, and doing her best to drop her personal emotional shields. She figured that the picnic would be a nice way to get to know people without too much pressure.
"Connor don't exhaust yourself before I get in the water! I want to have some fun too!"
Oh no! She'd seen him! Connor dove back under the water and swam in frantic circles. The way she skipped along had been a classical representation of the winsome feminine form that was equal parts aesthetic and functional, a natural rhythm that Connor appreciated as much with his mechanical sense as well as his, ahem, masculine sense.
But then she greeted him. Even if he had been able to return the greeting, he wouldn't have known what to say. A tactical retreat was called for, but he could only hold his breath for so long. And so he surfaced, his wild hair draped across his face and neck, and scanned the shoreline. People were watching, but so was he. Was he at the center of attention or just one in a sea of faces? It was impossible to tell. Blinking helped, though, as it dispelled the captivating snapshots seared into his mind's eye and allowed him to focus on the moment. What had he been doing a moment ago...
The smile that Bliss had been wearing faded when she saw that he fled her presence. Either he's super shy or she's butt ugly. She drained the last of her chocolate drink and tossed the bottle into the closest trash receptacle. That trash receptacle was 120 yards back towards the house., And she did it without looking or any seeming effort.
With a little less spring in her step, she continued towards the beach. Her eyes watching her step needlessly.
"WHAAAAA!" Connor wordlessly exclaimed. Astonishment overcame his self-conscious embarrassment. Leaving Elias behind, their race utterly and completely forgotten, Connor hurried toward Bliss, though his body was angled 15° to one side so as not to face her directly. For most people, it would have been an uncentered trajectory that left them off balance, but Connor glided fluidly as though on rails.
"Ha-ha-hoo-hoo-oo..." Connor struggled to speak before finally giving up in exasperation. He pressed his fingers together in front of his chest with hands cupped, and then rolled them forward to an upside down position. Then he thrust a finger back toward the trash can more than a football field's distance away.
"Hey you two!" Cameron called from the dock as he had thrown open the second door. "Want to help me get the boat out on the water?"
Connor snapped his head toward Cameron, though his face stayed angled away. After a moment's visualization of Cameron's words, he grinned wide and turned back to Bliss. His hands cupped together, palms up, and moved up and down. "BOOOO!" he shouted before galloping off at high speed toward the boathouse on all fours.
But when Bliss did not make haste to follow, Connor turned back. "GO!" he managed to shout with a wide wave of his arm.
Hayden was at home in the water long before her abilities manifested. This excursion to the lake was exactly what she needed to relax...no classes, no books, no learning. Just fun. She strolled up to the lake in her red, one piece swimsuit similar to the one the female lifeguards wore on that popular TV show, a pair of flip-flops, sunglasses, and a towel around her shoulders. She could see the goings on, but not really hear what was being said. She walked up next to Bliss and said, "Looks like the guys are already having fun."
From the middle of the lake to back on dry land in the time it took him to blink, Elias strolled leisurely towards the two young women with a confident saunter. Gradiented blue Quiksilver swim shorts showed off his olive skin, musculature clearly indicating he worked out on a regular basis, and he offered up a wry smile. Socialising wasn't really his thing, but they looked so damn fine he'd opted to try at least.
"Plenty fun to go around still," Elias noted with more casually offhand charm than enthusiasm. "Looking awesome, ladies."
Tammy came out with a large basket of fired chicken she had made herself according to her mother's recipe. She was wearing a bikini, red with black trim. She had her sunglasses on and was ready for fun. Her parents tended to be somewhat overprotective but she was a grown woman now!
"OK gang! Fried chicken for whoever wants it!"
"Is there any other way to look?" Hayden asked Elias. "Especially when there's sun, a lake, and no school." She paused when she heard Tammy's announcement of fried chicken. "And food," she added. "So are swimming, taking the boat out, or eating?"
Swimsuit overload was definitely not a bad place to be in, Elias considered happily, allowing himself some friendly eye contact with the contents of those three swim outfits. Baywatch and a couple of fine bikinis... oh wait, Hayden was talking to him. And was that the smell of fried chicken? He declined to comment, just offered up a dumb grin to the girl with all the questions. All of the above sounded plenty fine. "What do you want to do?" He asked, well aware that gentlemanly skills existed, if rarely bothering him personally. Elias kept his emphasis on the word 'you'.
Hayden looked at the others. "Food sounds pretty good. But you know that they say, wait an hour after you eat before swimming. I'd rather hit the water skis first and then grab a bite."
"Working up an appetite? Sounds good to me," confirmed Elias, ignoring his rumbling belly.
At the far end of the lake, Scott took in the mass crowd of students that seemed to be swarming the lake. So much for getting anything to bite. With a sigh, he reeled in his fishing line and prepared to call it a day.
Meanwhile Cameron had opened the water-side gate and had climbed on the deck of the speedboat, checking the fuel levels.
Connor flipped over the side of the boat with ease and began pounding the hull with both fists. "GO! GO!"
Hayden shrugged and kicked off her flip-flops, leaving them on the ground. She ran down to the bank and waved at the two guys on the boat. She noticed Professor Summers packing up his fishing gear. Poor man, having his alone time interrupted, she thought. "Hey! Are there any water skis in there?"
"I need to check that she's topped up, then we'll go. Christ Connor." Cameron called with a laugh as he screwed back the second fuel cap. "Yeah, hop on board. We've two sets of skis."
Hayden giggled at the exchange and climbed on the boat. "All aboard," she said with a goofy salute.
On his way back to the Mansion, Scott passed by Elias, Bliss, and Tammy. "Looks like you'd better hurry if you want on the boat," he said. Although, reading the look on Elias's face, the new guy was exactly where he wanted to be.
Elias grinned, but he also didn't really need to hurry. "I've not been on many boat rides," the teen admitted. "You two coming with?" He offered out a hand to each, the ability to instantly change positions open to either or both if they held directly onto him, but there was no insistence. He'd go with or without them at this point.
The two engines rumbled to live. Cameron moved himself back behind the wheel, well technically the rudder. He gently nudged the throttle open a fraction, easing the boat out the boathouse. He turned the rudder left and turned it to the jetty and honked the boat horn. "Every who wants to get on needs to get on now!" Cameron shouted over the rumbling engines.
Hayden settled down in the boat and found the water skis. She didn't put them on quite yet, but wondered in the back of her mind if she even needed them. She'd never fashioned skis out of water before and decided that now wasn't the best time to try that. The blonde smiled as she saw the pile of life jackets. Now there was something that she knew she wouldn't need.
The feel of those engines thudding power through the small craft was definitely something awesome. Elias grinned a big dumb grin as he stood up, finding his balance with an easy grace and letting the wind and sun smack him in the face as Cameron took them out onto the lake proper.
Slowly egging the throttle up allowed Cameron to get a bit more comfortable in control. Then the end of this particular course came into view very quickly. He slowed down slightly and gave a tight turn of the wheel, banking the boat in a very tight corner. The inertia pulled at Cameron as his grin grew broad. Three more tight turns followed rapidly before he slowed the little boat again. "So... who wants to jump on those skis?"
Elias looked from Cameron to Hayden and gave the slender blonde an encouraging two thumbs up backed by a curiously raised eyebrow. Would she need the skis? What would it look like? He had every intention of just relaxing back and visually enjoying finding out.
Hayden smiled and returned Elias' two thumbs ups with one of her own. "I'll give the skis a try first," she said. "Then maybe we can see what happens without them." Hayden sat down near the back of the boat and put on the skis before hanging her legs over the side and looking for the rope.
Standing up, Elias moved to assist with the rope detection and handed the wet handle over to Hayden easily enough. "Good luck," he said. "May the Force be with you."
Hayden smiled and took the handle. "Thanks. Peace and long life." She giggled, knowing that she -- on purpose -- made a completely different reference.
Replying to Hayden with the two-fingered peace sign, Connor made sure the rope was attached and then thumped the boat to signal all was ready.
"Hold on!" Cameron shouted and pushed the throttle back open. As the loud noises came up a grin formed on Cameron's lips.
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