The Kerfuffle

Monica Bishop swung open the front door to the Ravers family cabin, took a few steps forward before she halted in shock. Jared Lockett was on the floor with Ashley Woodsen standing above him, a completely naked Ashley Woodsen. Behind Monica, Chloe McRose let out a loud gasp at the sight.

Suddenly, a naked Brandon Cole appeared from Monica's left and jumped on Jared, swinging away with his fists, while screaming, "Fucking kill you!" The naked teenage boy seemed to have the upper hand for a few moments until the larger clothed teen managed to throw him off. Climbing to his feet, Jared waited for Brandon to stagger back to his feet, then Jared lunged, spearing the other teen in the stomach with his shoulder, sending them both backwards onto a coffee table that made a cracking sound.

Seeing the beginning of the destruction of the coffee table, finally led Monica to find her voice. "Boys, stop this right now! Jared! Brandon! Stop!" she screamed out, but both combatants ignored her.

"Mrs. Bishop?" the naked Ashley managed to mumble out in shock, finally noticing the newest arrival.

Monica looked back over to her friend's naked daughter, "Ashley, what the hell is going on here?"

"I...I screwed--," she started to answer before being interrupted by a scream from Brandon as he kicked out at Jared, who had begun to climb off of him and stand up.

The son of her friend managed to get out a "motherfucker" before he was flung backward almost falling into the nearby Ashley, who scrambled back herself. This brought a fourth person to Monica's attention, as Victoria Walker stood just outside the room in a hallway that led to the west side of the cabin. Unlike Ashley, Victoria was mostly clothed, her jeans were unbuttoned and pulled down slightly to her upper thighs. The girl had tears streaming down her face as she watched in horror at the fight. Behind her, Monica could see that down the hallway there appeared to be a small table or shelf lying in pieces broken.

"Alright, that's enough! You two stop this crap right this minute!" Monica again tried to gain the two fighters attention but was ignored as Brandon had risen off the table and now stalked over to the fallen Jared.

Jared lashed out with a vicious kick, hitting Brandon with a direct shot to his naked groin. A howl of pain followed as the injured teenager staggered backward. Jared struggled to climb off the floor initially, and he now moved back over to finish inflicting pain on the other boy.

"Enough, Jared!" Monica screamed **** to put a stop to the carnage she was witnessing.

A sudden high-pitched sound pierced through the room. It succeeded in finally drawing the attention of the four teenagers that Monica had walked in on. They all turned in surprise and looked past Monica to where Chloe was pulling her fingers away from her mouth, after finishing her attention drawing whistle. I never thought learning that from the girls on the team would come in handy like this, the redheaded teen mused about her soccer teammates.

"Mrs. Bishop?" Jared managed to ask right before Monica interrupted.

"What in the hell is going on here? You two had better not start back up, or I'm calling your mother this very instant, Brandon Cole! And Jared, I can guarantee your mother is going to be pissed when she sees how you helped destroy Robert's furniture."

"My mom?" a dazed Brandon uttered out as he rolled onto his side, cupping his groin pain.

"Oh shit," Jared muttered in fear as he realized just how much damage had been done to several tables, and at the thought of his angry mother.

With a large, loud sigh, Monica assessed the room and the teenagers, deciding how to deal with the situation, both boys were bruised and bloodied. Brandon had several small cuts over his body from the broken furniture, to go with a bloody lip. Jared had the beginning of a nasty bruise forming around his left eye. "Ashley, go get some clothes on, grab some for Brandon too. Jared, start picking up those broken pieces. Victoria, pull up your pants and go sit down on the couch," she ordered. Then looking around at the layout of the cabin, she pointed towards the east side of the room. "Chloe, it looks like the kitchen is over there. Can you try and find some ice for these two? Thank you."

Chloe nodded, happy to help and to get away from the naked Brandon. Seeing a boy naked for the first time in the middle of a fight was definitely an odd first she thought. If this is what happens after sex, I guess it's a good thing I never had any yet. Seeing the oversized refrigerator, she started pulling open drawers looking for a plastic bag or towel to put ice in.

While waiting for the two girls to return, Monica thought over what might have caused this scene. Ashley and Brandon being naked clearly meant they were planning to have sex, were in the middle of having it, or finished with it when something sparked a fight. Then there was Victoria with her pants unbuttoned, and finally Jared's role in all this. Hmm, Ashley said something about screwed before she was cut off. Did she cheat on Brandon with Jared? They've only been here a day and a half, could it have happened that fast? Shit, if they did, Gabby isn't going to punish her son, she'll start crying in joy over the possibility of him and Sarah's little girl getting together. Whatever happened here, I'm the one that's going to have deal with this first, so I need to put on my mom face. I can't let my dislike for Brandon, and love for Jared, allow for any favoritism here.

A subdued Ashley returned first, once again clothed, and handed Brandon a shirt and pants. She sat down next to a still sniffling Victoria on the middle couch. Seeing Chloe returning with two baggies full of ice, Monica turned to Jared. "Okay, that's enough for now. Go sit down on that far couch."

Once Brandon was clothed and holding a bag of ice to his mouth, Monica moved over in front of the fireplace, Chloe chose to sit behind the couches in one of the two chairs around the small round table in the corner. Noticing all four teenagers in front of her had their eyes pointed down at the ground in fear or shame, she started with the teen she knew best, "Alright, Ashley tell me what happened."

"It's all my fault, Mrs. Bishop. I screwed--," the petite blonde began to say before Victoria interrupted.

"No, Ash! It's my fault, I was the one acting like a slut," the other blonde babbled out before breaking into more sobs and covering her face with her hands.

Oh, geez, it's going to be as bad as I thought. Monica groaned to herself. "Okay, so let me get this straight. What started the fight was Ashley cheating with Jared?"

"What!" shouted at least three of teens, maybe all four but Monica couldn't be sure based on how loud they all yelled in shock.

"No, I would never cheat on Brandon, Mrs. Bishop!" she cried out in denial, even as Brandon's face clouded back over in anger, his eyes moving back forth between his girlfriend and the suggested other man.

"Whoa, nothing like that happened! We just got here yesterday, Mrs. Bishop," Jared pointed out, with a bag of ice over his eye, like that was the main reason he didn't sleep with Ashley.

"Okay, sorry, sorry. It's just twice you started to say you screwed something, Ashley. I just was making a guess," the older woman explained, glancing over to Chloe in the back of the room, who was taking in everything with wide eyes.

"Oh no, I didn't screw anyone--well just Brandon--I was saying I screwed up," Sarah's daughter blushed as she admitted to her mother's friend that she had sex with her boyfriend. "Um, me and Brandon were in the bedroom when I noticed Vicky at the door watching," she looked over to her friend, who had just given another loud sob, and reached to put an arm around her.

"Okay, so Victoria walked in and then..." Monica prodded.

"I guess I kinda liked it, being watched I mean," she continued but stopped as the others in the room swung their heads to look at her in shock. "It made it more exciting, and I wanted to show Vicky how fun sex could be."

"You knew I was watching?" her best friend asked shocked. "I didn't mean to watch. I swear, it's just that I was going into the den to get my bag and I heard you two...and I next thing I knew I was standing there watching."

I've never been more thankful until right now about how little Taylor and Zack have dated. Sarah already had her hands full with Hannah, and now this with Ashley. That poor, poor woman. Deciding to wrap this up as quickly as she could, Monica continued with her questions. "Okay, Victoria walking in on you two still doesn't explain how a brawl broke out here."

"It's because I turned into a slut! I started to touch myself, and then Jared came up behind me and joined me. I should have controlled myself, but I couldn't. I rubbed my butt on him like a stripper!" rambled out a nearly hysterical Victoria.

Grimacing to herself, Monica realized this just got much worse as she heard Victoria's confession and Chloe's loud squeak of surprise. Zack's going to be heartbroken when he hears his longtime crush is involved with Jared. Her son might not know she knew about his crush, but a mother can tell these things. How her son reacts to a name, how he avoids that said name, and, of course, they overhear comments her son makes to his closest friends that she isn't meant to hear.

"Victoria, calm down. What happened doesn't make you a slut; it makes you a regular teenager," Monica soothingly told the upset girl. She walked over and gently grabbed the young teen's hands. "Look at me, Vicky. You didn't do anything that made you a slut, okay."

Hearing this from the older mom, and Ashley's agreement next to her calmed down the crying blonde, who nodded. "Okay, Mrs. Bishop."

Turning back to look at the more calm Ashley, Monica directed her question again at her. "Now, tell me how that turned into a fistfight?"

"Um...you see when Brandon finally started to...do the deed with me, he blocked my view of Vicky, so I didn't see Jared arrive. I really wanted to help loosen up Vicky, like Heather kept telling her that she needed to do, so I wanted to put on...a show for her. I figured if Brandon knew she was watching it would make it better."

"What the fuck was I supposed to do? I see that fucking pervert over there spying on us fucking!" Brandon finally joined the conversation by shouting and sitting forward. His eyes giving Jared a hard stare, looking ready to spring back up and resume their fight.

"You're just lucky I was more worried about getting Vicky out of the way when you charged me. If it weren't for her, you wouldn't have gotten those first shots in. Instead, your ass would have been knocked the fuck out," Jared mimicked Brandon with his loud reply and leaning forward ready to fight again too.

"That's enough from you two. There's going to be no more fighting. We'll wait to deal with this more once the other parents return. Until then I think it would be best if you two kept to different rooms, maybe head back to the room your sleeping in," ordered Monica.

"But we're sharing the same room!" exclaimed Brandon, causing Monica to let out another loud sigh.

"Are there any rooms with a tv? Then one of you go there and the other somewhere else. I don't care where, just stay apart," the frustrated mother told them.

"Fine, I get the rec room tv," Brandon told the other guy with a victorious sneer, who just shrugged in return. "C'mon, Ashley, let's go downstairs."

"No, the girls will be staying with me," informed Monica. "It's starting to get dark out, and the others will be back soon. When they hear what happened here, some of them are going to be upset. So the least we can do is have some food waiting for them."

The walk back from the Cyan Hot Springs to the Ravers family cabin had been mostly a quiet affair. Zack, Heather, and Skye were all lost in their thoughts over what happened in the cavern. Kimberly proud of her actions wore a smug grin, while Owen a frown over his concerns. Damon mostly winced in pain from his sore back, with Sarah mothering him, leaving most of the talking to Jeff, Gabriela, and Phillip. Robert too had been consumed with his thoughts, but as the group entered the final stretch back, he called out to his daughter.

"Heather, hold up a moment."

Waiting nervously for a few moments as her father caught up to her, Heather remembered the multiple looks of disappointment he had flashed at her. "Um, what's up, Dad? Everything okay?"

"I just wanted to have a chat with my little girl," Robert answered vaguely. "You didn't wear your necklace did you?"

"Oh, no. I wouldn't risk losing it. It's the best Christmas present you've given me in years," she happily told him.

"I would hope so. It's far more expensive than that Barbie Dream House you badgered me for years ago. I'm surprised that I'm not still finding pictures you left as blatant hints in my office, bedroom, and bathroom," her father said with a laugh. "Did you have fun today?"

"Um, I guess," she answered.

"That's good. Who did you have more fun with, Owen or Zack?" her father asked, leading in the direction Heather had hoped this conversation would avoid.

"Dad, Owen's my boyfriend, of course, I had more fun with him. Zack's a friend, but not even a close one," she replied a little defensively.

"I know you had fun with Owen; I think several others know you had fun with him too," Robert snapped back before letting out a sigh. "Look you can't jerk off your boyfriend right there in the water and not expect others to notice. I get that it might seem exciting, I've done worse things than that in public, but you need to use your head and be more discreet. Alright? And especially not in front of family friends and their kids."

"Okay, Dad, I understand," his daughter said looking down before flashing him a sad puppy dog face. "Are you at mad me?"

"No, but I'm a little disappointed at how reckless you were today. What actually happened that angered Ranger Matheson that much?"

"Ugh, it wasn't even that bad, Dad. I swear. We were taking pictures, Skye and I got caught up in the moment and kissed. It might have been an intense one, but he made it sounds like we were having sex right there," she denied, downplaying their activities a little.

"What about Zack? You weren't doing anything with him when the ranger showed up?"

"When we were taking pictures? No. He was the one with the camera; he didn't touch either of us then. Zack's not like that Dad, he knows I have a boyfriend, he's a good guy," Heather insisted, technically not lying to her father since Zack only touched her in the later encounter.

"Hmm, what about later? Kimberly said you two were sneaking around right before we found you in the cave," continued Robert.

"Ugh! That woman is messed up, Dad! I don't know how Uncle Harry could have stayed married to her for all those years. She's so fake," Heather exclaimed, ignoring the question altogether.

"You might find this hard to believe, but she was different when we were younger. We all thought she was great for Harry, kept him from disappearing too much into his own world. But people change over the years, as you'll find out yourself as you grow older, and often they change for the worse," her father explained.

"Well, it's her loss for divorcing Uncle Harry. He's a great guy, even when he forgets about everything around him. I wish he had come here instead of her," the teenager added.

"Kimberly was friends with Cassandra back when they were younger, so she had a right to be here. Harry might be absentminded, but even he remembers that. He bowed out so there wouldn't be any tension," Robert told her before shifting back to the subject he wanted to talk about. "Now be honest with me, do you like Owen?"

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't be dating him if I didn't. Why would you ask that?" she answered somewhat confused.

"It's just that we both know you tend to tire quickly of your boyfriends, and from the outside, it looks like you are already looking to move onto the next guy in Zack."

"Zack? Oh, Daddy! You can be hilarious without even trying. Zack isn't my type. Don't get me wrong; he's a great guy. One that that I probably should be better friends with, but I could never see us together. Besides I like Owen, we're still in the learning about each other phase so it might not work out, but I'm not sizing up his replacement," Heather barely holding back her laughter at the thought of her dad thinking she wanted to date Zack.

"That's good to hear. I don't want to see you repeat my mistakes in life, pumpkin. Cheating only leads to breaking the hearts of people you love, trust me I know, and that will leave you with guilt that lingers for the rest of your life," Robert told her in a hollow voice, staring off ahead of them, lost in thought.

"I know that, Dad. I would never turn into that kind of person," his daughter said with fire in her voice.

"Good, good, now I think you better sit down with your boyfriend and tell him everything that happened back there. Misunderstandings can lead to more trouble than you would expect. Ah, good we're here."

Monica and the three teenage girls were busy in the kitchen, having them help had been a good idea, as the two blondes had their minds taken off the events of earlier. Unsure of the food situation, Monica had opted to make pasta. She figured that would be a safe option, and mixed some ground beef together with spices to make meatballs, while the girls prepared garlic bread and boiled the water. Finding some aluminum tins, she had mixed the rigatoni with some mozzarella cheese and sauce and had it baking in the oven at a low temperature, ready to pull out as soon as the others returned.

It had been enjoyable for her to talk to the younger girls and get to know what was going on in their lives. Chloe quieted down considerably from the version in the car with the other two girls around. That added to Monica's worries about her. Ashley, as always, was a delight to be around. Monica wished that Hannah had been more like her younger sister and not so wild that Taylor had to be the serious one of the duo at all times. She had also been curious to spend some time with her son's crush. Of course, she knew the girl as she was often over at the Woodsen house, but this was the first time she was able to talk with her without other adults around.

Right when she started to fret over the dinner needing to be pulled from the oven before it dried out too much, the others stumbled back in from the sunroom. Wiped out from their long walks, they brightened up seeing that their old friend had finally arrived. Gabriela rushed forward and enveloped her little cheer-sister in a firm hug. Her husband joined in, wrapping his massive arms around both women in a group hug. That drew laughter from the others.

Zack was happy to see his mother finally arrive to be with her friends, but even more thrilled and shocked to see the redheaded girl, who's hair made her stand out, in the kitchen. Rushing forward himself, he wrapped up his best friend in his own firm hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming! I need to talk to you right away."

Surprised by how emotional Zack was to see her, Chloe just nodded. Zack's hug was replaced by one from a happy Mrs. Lockett, who was pleased to see the unexpected arrival. Unlike the others, Gavin didn't rush forward to hug his close friend; he instead appeared out of nowhere at her side with a quiet comment. "Good, you can deal with Zack. I think he's turning into a mess."

Before she could follow up on his concerning comment, Chloe uncomfortably found herself the center of the attention in the room. "Ah, now who's this lovely young woman?" asked Robert Ravers, seeing a person who he wasn't familiar with.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Robert. When Gregory pulled his...when he said he wouldn't be able to come with, I asked Chloe here to come with. I'm sorry it was rude of me, I should have called and checked if it was alright with you. She's my son's closest friend and would have been his guest originally if she didn't have a family party last night," Monica apologized feeling awful that in her anger with her husband she had just shown up with an uninvited guest.

"That's perfectly fine, Monica. No need to apologize. I'm sure the kids will be happy to have another of their classmates here instead of us old people," the cabin owner replied kindly and then turned to the other new arrival. "Welcome to Ravers Cabin, Chloe. I'm Heather's father, and I hope you have a fun stay with us," he warmly said before musing so quietly that only those right in front of him could hear. "Hmm, Zack's best friend you say...he sure seems to be a popular young man this stay already." Monica and Chloe both looked at him curiously over his comment but didn't have a chance to learn more. "Hey, what happened to my furniture?"