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Oscar felt utterly defeated, it was all over. And he single handedly ruined the hundred year old prophecy. Campers gathered all around the destroyed cabins, Oliver was digging through the rubble to see if his piano was intact at all. Alexa helped Lem lift up rubble to try and find her stuffy, while the rest of the campers gathered and discussed what had just happened.
“Susie's tornado destroyed magic?” Max whispered
“Well actually my tornado didn't destroy magic, Oscar ramming it right into the diamond did” Susie piped up, she felt that bitterness rise back up inside of her. Due to Oscar destroying the diamond she never got the chance to apologize to Mildred like she had planned on doing and she was quite bitter.
“Oscar YOU destroyed magic?” Lucy shouted, her brow lowering into a scowl. “Are you serious?! You're such an idiot! My yeti family is all gone, all gone because of YOU.” She was marching towards Oscar and starting to push him backwards.
“I'm sorry! It was an accident i-”
“Sorry, it doesn't cut it, Oscar! Thousands of magical creatures are Gone now, and it's all your fault!” Lucy growled. She yowled angrily in frustration and stomped off in a different direction, all the campers were looking at him with different expressions. Shock, Pity, Rage, and resentment. Even Max looked disappointed… “I'm sure you didn't mean to do it Oscar..” Max sighed disappointedly, with a hint of frustration in his voice. Hedgehog put her hand on Oscars shoulder as a attempt at comfort but it only made Oscar more frantic. He looked her in the eyes for a moment and then broke away. he dashed off, just to get away from everyone. And to find his parents and get on that boat back home, he couldn't handle being here any longer.
7 Days Later
Oscar felt hot tears run down his face as he looked up at the ceiling of his bedroom, he was back in New Jersey after all this time. But everything was different now, he failed. The past hundred days were completely out the window, and he had only been at camp for technically a week. Oscar was in shambles, oh god was he in shambles. He had to beg his parents to take him home from camp early, even though all the other campers left shortly after him anyways because of the camp being completely destroyed. He couldn't stand looking at his fellow campers anymore, he couldn't stand looking at the witches anymore, he could stand looking at…. Hedgehog anymore.
Oscar sniffled and choked out a cry, he was huddled under his blanket and clutching his pajamas that used to have a friendly face on them and sobbed into them. He was in the fetal position trying to close in on himself as much as possible as an attempt at comforting himself.
He wasn't sure if he would ever feel ok again, he had failed, he had FAILED. It was his job to save magic, his job to save all of his friends but it's all gone. The monsters are gone, the yetis are gone. Hundreds of thousands of magical creatures are gone; and it's all his fault.
Oscar attempted to stop the loud sobbing by pressing his hands firmly against his mouth and holding it shut, but no matter what it failed and he crumbled and he cried.
Hedgehog was holding it together much better than he was,
she had chased after Oscar and left the island early with him. There was no way she was going to let Oscar go through this alone, besides she didn't think she could handle even a couple days without him, let alone the entire summer.
Hedgehog was much the opposite of Oscar after they failed. She firmly believed that magic wasnt gone yet, that they were still gonna save magic. It was just going to be a lot harder this time. She tried to talk to Oscar on the boat ride back to New Jersey, but when she reached out to him he couldn't respond. As the boat rocked and wobbled along the restless waters and the stormy sky, Oscar's face made an expression hedgehog had never seen him make before. Pure unfiltered shame and guilt painted his face, and the way that he stared at her utterly speechless, shocked, and terrified. Was more than enough to break Hedgehog's heart. She knew that she needed to stay strong for him, and that she needed to convince him that there was still time to save magic. She couldn't get that image out of her head though… her hand on oscars shoulder, slightly shaking him. Calling out his name in hopes for a response, but still no answer. Just that expression on his face.
Oscar was mid sobbing sesh when he heard his flip phone begin to ring, not to his surprise it was Hedgehog. Who was still desperately trying to get ahold of him. It's already been an entire week since they've talked to each other. He stares at the phone with conflicting feelings in his mind, unsure of whether or not to pick it up. But Oscar knows that he's too scared of what will happen if he does. He lets it ring and eventually goes to voicemail. Hedgehog had been leaving him voicemails every day since they last saw each other, mostly asking Oscar how hes doing, then saying how she was doing. Going on about her day and then, telling him that there's still hope for magic.
“Voicemail from HEDGEHOG, would you like to play it?”
asked the automated voice, Oscar clicked yes and let her speak.
“Hey Oscar!” He winced with guilt at the upbeat but concerned tone in her voice.
“I hope you're hanging in there, I know this must be really hard for you… I miss you alot buddy, I'm thinking about you every second. I think this is the longest weve gone without talking to each other in well… ever. My mom took me out grocery shopping with her today, and it's kinda funny,she was talking about this weird dream she had about me when i was still at camp. And it's the same dream I had when I was earning my gibbous right! Probably the same weird situation with you and your dad sharing that dungeon dug “Dream” but in different contexts. Anyways I'm um… still trying to formulate a plan on how to get magic back without the-'' Oscar felt a pang in his chest even before she said that word. His heart began to race and his breathing got all funny, the diamond. The diamond.
The wind inside the tornado thrashed and clawed at oscar and susie, they were steering almost aimlessly trying to guess which direction they should be heading in to reach hedgehog and mildred. Susie suddenly felt a tree branch that the tornado had sucked in hit her hands violently rendering them unusable at the moment. “Argh!” Susie yowled; she immediately fell backwards and was unable to control the tornado.
“Here let me try!” Oscar yelled to susie over the tornado, he took hold of it and attempted to steer it towards the mountain without causing major damage. He quickly realized he had no idea how to stop the tornado. “Susie! Susie! How do I stop it!” Oscar yelled, terrified. “Help me!” He said in a panicked voice. He then heard a loud shatter and crack from below him and his face dropped. He leaned back, pulling the tornado back with all his force, and it finally came to a halt. “What was that?” He whispered, his voice shaking. “Susie? What was that?”
“Sounded expensive..” she mumbled.
Oscar ran down and out the tornado and saw shards, hundreds of shards on the ground beneath him. Threatening to cut up his shoeless feet, shiny and mocking, reflecting his face which could only express horror.
“Oh no.. oh no no no!” he started to shake and pick up the pieces, “It's fine! It's fine I can-i can put it back together!” he clanked to gray shiny shards together and tried to get them to fit, when he failed he only tried picking up more shards and putting them together.
Hedgehog peeked her head out of the mountain entrance where she and Mildred had been trying to find the magic backup, “I can fix it- i can- i c-” His breathing was rattling and quick. He was in hysterics at this point. Hedgehog quickly rushed over to his side. He looked up at her and the back of his eyes began to burn. “Hedgehog i- i can- i didnt mean- i - i- im trying to- i- i ruined everything!” his breathing quickened and he was shaking violently and unable to keep still. “Oscar, calm down please! Its ok-”
“It's not ok!” he cried, Hedgehog sat beside him and captured him in her arms.
Oscar felt all the built up stress from the entirety of camp begin to pour out of him “I was supposed to save magic, i-i killed magic Hedgehog! I ruined magic!” he cried out.
“Oscar it's ok, I'm sure there's some other way…” Hedgehog's voice didn't sound convincing and neither did her face, because she wasn't convinced. She was completely stunned at this moment, she had no idea what they were going to do next after this. The diamond was gone.
Oscar's mind flooded with thoughts, all his magical creature friends were gone forever, he killed them, he killed them, this is all his fault.
Oscar slowly calmed back down and realized he had missed most of the voicemail. He couldn't bother to try and listen again. He flopped over to the other side of his bed and tried to let the darkness of sleep take over him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Hedgehog knocked on the door of Oscar's new jersey home. She knows she could've used the spare key that his parents had given her but that was only for
special
occasions, when she actually had an emergency.
“Oh just one minute sweetheart!”
Oscar's mom yelled,her voice muffled by the door. The sound of her quickly stomping toward the entrance could be heard, and the door swiftly opened to the sight of Oscar's mother.
“Hedgehog! Hello, oh it's so nice to see you. How have you been sugar?” Sue chirped, folding her hands together and gazing at her enthusiastically.
“I'm good Ms.Peltzer, does Oscar happen to be home?” Hedgehog asked worriedly.
“Oh yeah, he's home all right. He's barely left his room in over a week! I'm surprised you haven't come over yet.” Sue said, waving Hedgehog inside.
“Well, I have been calling him everyday this past week but he hasn't picked up. So I decided that an intervention was needed.” Hedgehog explained, she sat down on the living room's maroon couch she was so familiar with and looked around. she knew this place like the palm of her paw. The living room had many bookshelves, not only that but random assortments of items such as a weightlifting kit, art supplies and craft supplies. Oscar's family were fanatics when it came to picking up random hobbies all the time. The walls of the living room were barely seeable under hundreds of photographs of Oscar's family, Drawings made by Oscar, and potted plants on poorly made DIY shelves. Oscar's parents were the opposite of hers when it came to decorating, hers were minimalists and his were maximalists.
“Well i'm glad you came Hedgehog,” Sue bellowed from the kitchen, Hedgehog assumed she was getting her a snack as she usually does when she comes over.
“Oscar’s really been down in the dumps since leaving camp early. I've seen him act like this before, but it's never lasted this long!” Sue chuckled worriedly. “He really needs you right now Hedgehog, more than eva.” She walked out of the kitchen with a tray of two peanut butter and honey sandwiches. “How about you go upstairs with these and talk to my bubbeluh, kay?” Sue smiled at her and ruffled her needles before handing her the tray. Hedgehog took the sandwiches graciously and stood before walking up the stairs. She slugged cautiously towards Oscar's room, she was unsure about what would happen when she knocked on his door. It was fully possible he would ignore her like he had been the past few days or he would tell her to leave him alone, bracing herself for the possibility of rejection, She knocked softly on his door and heard the reluctant squeak of his bed before hearing him slowly walk over to the door and open it.
He had bags under his eyes and looked more than just sleepy. He tried to smile weakly at Hedgehog but gave up halfway through. She observed he was still wearing his pajamas which was concerning to say the least but Hedgehog decided to let it slide.
“Hey booboo” Hedgehog said sweetly, smiling at him with a worried look in her eyes.
“Hey..” Oscar replied, his gaze locked on the floor.
“It's been over a week and all i get is a hey?” Hedgehog laughed lightheartedly, even though concern laced her voice.
“Sorry…” He mumbled,stepping aside to let Hedgehog into his room.
As soon as she got in he flopped back into his bed, face down on his pillow, and let out a muffled groan.
“Wanna talk about it? Hedgehog requested, placing the peanut butter and honey sandwich atop of Oscar's head, in which he reacted by grabbing it but not eating it quite yet.
“I'm sorry Hedgehog….” He murmured. She gave him a reassuring pat on the back. “It's ok boo boo.” she kept her hand on Oscars back for a moment longer before drawing away.
“It's not your fault anyways, you were only trying to help. Besides, magic isn't doomed yet”. In response to this Oscar let out a whine, “How do you know that…”.
“Because, like you said, TIME preserves magic. And there's always going to be more time Oscar”. He let out a huff in response. “Not only that, but yesterday was the full moon. I didn't transform fully but, my hearing still got sharper and my eyesight got stronger. Not only that but I felt that weird itching sensation I always get before transforming.” she explained
“How do you know it wasn't just a ghost sensation, like your body is so used to being a werewolf on the full moon it starts to make up the sensations in remembrance of what's not actually there!” he lifted up his head and rolled over on his back, crossing his arms.
“Just trust me Oscar, it was real.”
“Okay…”
“Maybe i should tell you my new plan for saving magic later, for now how about we just do a regular sleep over? Would that cheer you up?” Hedgehog offered, Oscar nodded slowly and began to eat his sandwich. As soon as he took a bite he got a forlorning look on his face, she guessed he had been reminded of making peanut butter and honey at the monastery.
“Howa bout we go downstairs and watch your favorite movie?”
He sunk into his bed and frowned,an unsure expression on his face.
“Cmon.. i know you love ' ‘a Goofy movie’” She teased, poking at his shoulder, he huffed out some air and nodded. The two took their sandwiches and headed down stairs.
Before popping the VHS into the TV Oscar and Hedgehog decided to make the couch more comfortable. Designing blankets and pillows onto it, which caused a sudden pillow fight to break out between the two of them. Oscar had tossed a pillow to Hedgehog so she could place it onto her side of the couch but it landed right on her face. “Oh i'm sorry- '' Oscar apologized before quickly being cut off by Hedgehog throwing her pillow back at him. “Hey!” he laughed, tossing it back at her while Hedgehog started throwing even more pillows at him. They both burst out in a fit of giggles while continuing to toss pillows at each other, this continued until one of Oscars pillows accidentally knocked over a potted plant placed on a shelf on the wall.
He rushed over to the green plant, the pot was shattered from the center and dirt spilled out from the cracks. The plant inside lay defenseless without its shell to protect its roots.
“Oh no.. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-” he desperately started trying to put the pot back together but it was pointless. “Its okay Oscar.” Hedgehog assured, she had already made her way to his side. She started to gently pick up the pot pieces and place them into her hands.
“How about you go get your mom?” She suggested before walking over to the trashcan and throwing away the bits of ceramic. After retrieving his mother Oscar walked shamefully over to the recently de-potted plant and pointed at it pitifully.
“Oh Oscar, that's ok, I have a spare pot we can put it in!” Sue guaranteed.
She stepped away for a moment to go to the garage and came back with a new pot and some new dirt.
“Just because this plant's original pot is gone doesn't mean the plant itself is gone! We just need to find a new pot and maybe some new dirt is all. Without its shell the plant is left unprotected but it's not doomed, it just needs something new to keep it intact!” Sue recited, his mom was always good at using the current situation as a metaphor to help someone feel better.
“The plant is still alive, it just needs a new pot…''
Oscar pondered to himself, he looked over at Hedgehog who smiled at him upon eye contact. He decided that the connotations of that was a thinker for later, for now he just wanted to sit down and watch his favorite movie with his best friend and not stress out or feel guilty.
“Thanks mom” he walked over to her and gave her a hug, she gave him a forehead kiss and the two parted. She whispered “thank you” and gave a wink to Hedgehog before going back upstairs.
A few hours later
The movie had already been long over and had Oscar fallen asleep before it even ended, he was cuddled into his side of the couch and legs sprawled out far enough to reach the Hedgehog's lap. This left Hedgehog to her own thoughts, mulling over how to tell Oscar her plan of bringing magic back without freaking him out. It was very bold and very dangerous, but the only way she could think of. She let out a long sigh and decided that she just needed to go ahead and bite the bullet.
“Osc.” She whispered, shaking him lightly.
“Osc!” Her whisper turned into a whisper-shout effectively waking him up.
“Wuh huh! I'm up!” He gasped, sitting up quickly.
“Aw man, did I miss the end of the movie?” He sighed and sank back down into the couch.
“Yes but that's unimportant, i need to tell you my plan on how to save magic” Hedgehog stated. “Do we have to? It's the middle of the night and I'm tired” Oscar whined, rubbing his eyes to emphasize. “That's exactly why we have to do it now actually, because we can't risk your parents being awake to hear this” she hissed, scooting closer to Oscar. “Okay okay, I'm all ears.” He jested, flipping his massive elephant ears to reveal the insides. Hedgehog huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes at him.
“You see Oscar magic is like that potted plant from earlier, the pot was keeping the dirt and plant inside of it to protect it. But when the pot broke all that dirt was left to spread out, useless now that it's no longer compacted. And the plant was left unprotected. But that doesn't mean that it's gone, it just means it needs to be brought back together with a new pot! Thats what happened with the diamond, when you broke the diamond magic didn't have anything to keep itself together with so it started to spread far and thin. All we need to do is find a new pot and put the dirt back inside! And since some of the dirt is too far gone that just means we will have to get some new dirt…” Hedgehog explained, Oscar nodded with understanding.
“What do you mean new dirt?” he asked.
“Well remember that one time we had to help Romona create time babies?”
“Yeah?”
Hedgehog hesitated before continuing “Well… maybe it's like that with the magic that we can't get back. Friendship creates magic right? And we need alot of friendship to remake a lot of magic. I know we're supposed to be the two best friends that save it all, but I think we will need the help of a lot of other friends if we're gonna get all that lost magic back.”
“Meaning?” Oscar said suspicious of Hedgehog
“Meaning, we're gonna have to find the other campers and get the camp back together.”
“Meaaningg?” he said leaning in closer and raising his eyebrow
“........Meaning we're going to have to run away so we can find the others and bring them with us back to the island.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It had been three days since Hedgehog initially told Oscar her plan to save magic, and now the two of them were in Hedgehog's room doing further research on exactly HOW they were going to initiate it.
“Hedgehog I still don't really know about this whole “running away” thing.. Like, what if we just asked our parents to go?” His voice had an anxious tone to it and he shifted awkwardly in the place he was standing, while Hedgehog was sitting at her desk repeatedly dialing the same phone number over and over trying to get the other person to pick up.
“You know that won't work, Oscar. they're not gonna believe that magic is even real and then ground us at the very suggestion that we're running away. Besides, once we get back and have proof that we just saved magic, they'll HAVE to understand.” she advised,
”But what if they catch us while we're trying to run away?” he asked nervously,
“Well, we'll just have to be out in the streets before anyone knows that we're gone.” she turned her attention back to her flip phone “Ugh why won't she pick up?” Hedgehog groaned, face planting into her desk and extending her hand with the phone out.
There was a sudden knock at her bedroom door and Hedgehog rushed to pretend that she was studying. Opening up a giant text book that resided on the side of her desk and flipping her note book to an empty page. “C-come in!” she stuttered, nervous her mom would somehow find out that she wasn't studying at all. Her mother walked in and observed Hedgehog and Oscar, Oscar was nervously waving at her while Hedgehog pretended to be enthralled with whatever she was reading in her text book.
“Hedgehog, I know you're studying. But I need you to stop for a moment and fill out this paperwork, it's very important.” Her mom had this slight rasp to her voice and intimidating tone that could make most drop with fear , especially Oscar. He got very scared whenever he was around Hedgehog's mom, his neck suddenly got itchy, his legs wobbly, and his brain all foggy. He could barely muster out words when around her due to the absolute force of the intimidating glare she always gave him. He thought his legs might as well just buckle beneath him under the weight of it. Hedgehog handled the pressure just fine though, she held the intensity of her mothers gaze with ease. Watching the two stare at each other almost seemed like a battle for power,as if trying to tell each other
you dont scare me, I'm in charge.
“What are the forms for ?” Hedgehog Inquired, “For you to start boarding school.” she said firmly.
“Boarding school?! But-” Oscar began but Hedgehog immediately shut him down with a ferocious stare on her face. Her mother gave Oscar a disapproving huff before continuing “Just bring the paperwork down to me once you're finished.” She then exited the room and Hedgehog waited for her to go all the way back down stairs before speaking again.
“Boarding school? BOARDING SCHOOL?” seriously?” she shouted, pushing her text book off her desk. “What is her problem? I don't need to go to boarding school! She's going to ruin my life with this!” Hedgehog's face scrunched up into a scowl and a look of hatred, she usually wouldn't react this intensely but she didn't get the anger out that she usually does on the full moon and she had already been frustrated from all the recent stress. She let out a deep seated growl before ripping up the paperwork with her teeth. Oscar stood still behind her, honestly a little bit scared but understanding. He put his hand on her shoulder and she started to calm down, she hadn't even realized how fast her heart was beating and how heavy her breath had gotten. “Sorry..” “It's okay”
There was a moment of silence before Hedgehog's flip phone began to ring again, she instantly picked it up.
“Susie!” Hedgehog exclaimed
“Hedgehog.” Susie groaned. “What do you want?”
“Can I have the information of the campers?” Hedgehog asked.
“No.”
“Wait wait wait-! It's for a good cause I swear! I just… want to have their information so that we can continue being friends even though camp is over.” Hedgehog knew that if she told Susie her real intentions she would have to jump through a lot more hoops than that. “Please, this will be the last time i'll ever bother you if that's what you want.'' That was also a lie.
She heard a long sigh from the receiver which turned into a groan and then turned to what sounded like Susie banging her head onto the table and then to her saying “fine.”
Hedgehog jumped out of her seat and jumped up and down,
“thank you thank you thank youuu!!!” she squealed with delight, turning to Oscar and giving him a high five.
“Alright calm down, calm down.” Susie grunted.
They spent the next 30 minutes writing down the campers numbers and addresses into Hedgehog's notebook, and Susie threatened to hang up every time Hedgehog asked her to slow down. In the end they had the addresses and numbers of Alexa and Lem, Max, Lucy, Oliver, and Pepper.
“Thank you Susie, I really appreciate you. And even if our time at camp is over, I'm glad you were my mentor and counselor.”
“Okay whatever” Susie tried to sound uncaring but even Hedgehog could hear the smile in her voice. She hung up the phone and turned around in her chair to look at Oscar.
“Now we gotta map out just exactly where we're going” she pulled her notebook off of her desk and layed belly down on the floor, in which Oscar joined her. She also pulled her writing utensils cup from her desk and handed Oscar a pencil and pen so he could write with her.
“Wait, shouldn't we get a map of Jersey before we do this?” Oscar noted,
“Oh yeah, you're right.” Hedgehog stood up and walked over to her bookshelf, she scanned it for anything that would be of use and landed on the book “State Maps”. Flipping through until she reached jersey, she thought about it for a minute and ultimately decided to just rip out the page entirely and put the book back. “Okay NOW let's get started. We live in Newark '' she drew a circle around it. “Max and Lucy live in Jersey city, which is in the county next to us. So we would go there first” she drew the line towards jersey city while Oscar wrote Max and Lucy next to the line.
Then we would go to Elizabeth, where Oliver lives. After that Somerville for Lem and Alexa and then last but not least New Brunswick for Pepper.” she held up the map proudly and began to feel excitement begin to seep in, this was a real adventure. It may be extremely dangerous and scandalous but it was
real
and they were making an actual difference doing this!
“Now we need to come up with fake identities, and
disguises
” Hedgehog said that last bit in a mysterious voice to up the dramatics. “Maybe we should come up with each others disguises, we know each other well enough to make ourselves unrecognizable” Oscar suggested, Hedgehog nodded “Okay do me first then.”
Oscar and Hedgehog stood up so they could get a better look at each other, he examined his best friend, circling her to get a full idea of what he needed to change to make her unrecognizable. “Okay first, the hats gotta go,” he stated.
“But my hat is important to my family's culture and history!” She complained, it was so important for the women in her family to wear these hats; it was extremely taboo to even take them off unless they were sleeping, showering, or taking part in a cultural event that specified that no hats were allowed.
“That's exactly why you can't wear it Hedgehog, it's too recognizable. If someone who knew you saw that hat out in public they would immediately recognize you!” she knew he was right, a frown spread across her face. She feels wrong when she's not wearing her hat, it's such an integral part of her identity! But… she knows it's for the greater good. “Can i wear it when nobody else is around?” she asked, Oscar smiled “Of course Hedgehog.”
Oscar had to ponder a moment longer about what else they could change “Hmm.. we could always dye your needles?” he suggested, she almost rejected the idea but then she started to think about it more, dyed needles, that would surely make her unrecognizable and honestly, would make her look pretty cool. It would also make her mother very angry if she knew about it which was honestly also a bonus. “I think really the only other thing we could change is the clothing, but we don't have to change that much since you really do dress like most kids.” he remarked.
“What should my fake identity be then?” she asked.
“Hmm… your name is.. Harper! Harper Hedge?” He suggested. Hedgehog did not like it, mostly because it wasn't her actual name. Hopefully they wouldn't be using their fake identities that much. “And you.. Live in Massachusetts and are visiting Jersey with your cousin, me! Your parents let you and your cousin roam without supervision because they know you're responsible, and they're too busy to supervise because their.. In court for a nasty divorce! Which is also why your cousin is with you, to cheer you up. Also, you're 13 years old.”
He laced up that story quick
she thought.
“ Do you really think I could pass as a 13 year old?” she asked, looking at her paws and fiddling with her shirt. “Hedgehog! Most people already think you're a 13 year old, look at how tall you are!” Oscar exclaimed, she knew he was right. Most people did think she was older than eleven.
“Alright now it's your turn Oscar.” he gave her a thumbs up and the two switched places, she thought long and hard about what they could possibly do to change his look. She honestly struggled a bit with their options, he didn't have any hair that they could dye. Sure, he has a bit of a floof on the top of his head and what she would describe as “peach fuzz” covering his skin. But none of that was enough to dye it. So that left the only option really being a change in clothing and.. “Makeup?” she said aloud, Oscar looked at her puzzled “Makeup?”. Something clicked in Hedgehogs mind, “Oscar! You should disguise yourself as a girl!” she exclaimed, “What?!” he was shocked, even he hadn't thought of that. “Well i guess it could work..” He honestly felt a little bit embarrassed, but not as embarrassed as most boys would be. He had a deep respect for girls! And having to pretend to be one shouldnt be embarrassing only because he, as a boy, was dressing as a girl. It should be embarrassing because it isn't him!
“Ok, i'll do it.” he said firmly. “Great!” Hedgehog enthused, “You don't have to wear dresses all the time, but you should probably wear a little bit of makeup.”. “Why don't we try out your look now?” She persuaded. She pulled out a dress from her closet, it was baby blue and a drop waist dress with ruffles at the end of it. There were faux buttons that climbed down from the collar until the waist dropped and the sleeves were puffy.
“Wait.. are you just making me try on my disguise so you can play dress up with me?” the elephant detected, Hedgehog giggled in response and shoved the dress into his hands and made him go into her closet to try it on. When he exited they both realized it fit him perfectly, Oscar was truly surprised. He actually really liked wearing the dress. It made him feel like he could move around alot easier due to the stretchy and comfortable fabric and the fact that his legs were not confined to anything but his shorts underneath the dress. Hedgehog grabbed some make up from the top of her dresser and put blush on Oscar “Hey i don't need blush! I already have perfectly rosy cheeks.” he huffed, jokingly mad. Hedgehog rolled her eyes and moved on to mascara, which honestly freaked Oscar out that she was almost touching his eye with a stick but it was soon over and then she just made him put on some slightly pink tinted lip gloss. He headed towards the bathroom with Hedgehog trailing behind him so he could get a look at himself in the mirror. “Wow!” he gasped. “I look like a whole different person.” he stared at himself in the mirror for a good minute before looking over to Hedgehog. “Okay Harper hedge” Hedgehog rolled her eyes, “whats MY identity.”
“Hmm…” she pondered “your name is.. Opal seltzer! And you live on the New Jersey countryside with your mom, who's super busy most of the time since she is a single mom and she works two jobs. Your dad is deceased and you have no siblings. You are 12 years old” He felt happy with this fake identity, Opal seltzer from the countryside..
Oscar had to wash the makeup off his face and change back into his regular clothing before Hedgehog's mom could see him all dolled up and ruin his secret identity. The two of them honestly felt pretty exhausted from all the excitement from the past 2 hours but Hedgehog decided to push forward with one last part. “Okay so, I'm sure you're already aware that we will be camping for most of this trip.” She said, Oscar gulped. He knew they would have to, but he was still nervous about camping all alone without adult supervision. “So we need to pack light, here's what I got.” she opened up her note book and flipped to a page that she seemed to already have written hours before.
“Two thermouses, one tent, one pot, and one big water bottle. But that's only for the part of the trip where it's only us two, so we're gonna have to hope that the other campers have their own camping supplies. Now, I have just enough money for 2 or 3 nights at a motel plus food expenses so we're going to have to spread that out across our trip. I'm also gonna have to have enough money to rent a boat." She stood up and walked towards her dresser drawer, shuffled around in it for a minute until pulling out a small wooden box. She opened up the lid and showed Oscar the contents, on the inside looked to be a stack of money.
“I have about 400 dollars total.”
“Where did you get all that money!” Oscar awed at the box
“I've been saving up Christmas and birthday cash for pretty much my whole life in case of an emergency.” she walked over to Oscar with the box in hand and placed it into his. “I want you to keep this safe with you, your house has most of the things we will be needing for the trip so it's better that we keep it at your place. Okay?” Oscar felt honored that Hedgehog trusted him with this box of her life savings, he felt pride swell in his chest and nodded intensely. “I won't let you down Hedgehog!” he yelled a little too loudly, the hedgehog shushed him and let out a quiet sorry.
It was well past dark by then, and the two eventually grew hungry so they decided to head downstairs to make dinner. “I Don't understand why your mom doesn't cook for you, MY mom tells me she never wants to stop making me dinner.” Oscar criticized.
“welp my mom thought i was old enough to cook for myself at 7 and she thinks im old enough to cook for myself now, it's not that big of a deal anyways. I usually just throw pizza bites in the microwave and call it a night.” she explained,
“that doesn't seem very healthy…”
Hedgehog was dumping the rest of the pizza bites out of the bag and into the microwave when they heard the sound of her moms footsteps behind them.
“Did you fill out that paperwork Hedgehog?” She asked, quite literally looming over her daughter and casting a shadow over her.
Shoot the paperwork…
she frowned “Sorry mother, i got too caught up with studying and forgot to do it.” her mother clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “Finish it soon.” She turned away and walked back to her office. Hedgehog let out a heavy sigh once the door closed and Oscar offered her a hug, she took it graciously and squeezed him before letting go.
“You should probably head home soon, you know how my mom feels about people sleeping over at my house..” She sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. Oscar nodded.
“G'night Oscar” “Goodnight Hedgehog” the two hugged again before Hedgehog walked him to her doorstep and waved goodbye as he walked off into the night.