Newsies One-Shots

Treksies part 1 of 5: The Preparation

Description: Every 4 years, the youth of the LDS church preform their ritual; they dress in clothes from the 1800s, hike out in the middle of nowhere, pulling handcarts full of supplies. For three days, they split off into temporary families, and together they brave sweltering heat, insect bites, and rough terrain. They walk all day and make camp at night, honoring the ancestors who traveled the planes to find their religious freedom. They call their ritual... Trek.

Katherine didn't like going to church. She didn't feel like she belonged, she wasn't friends with any of the kids in her youth group, and she knew that if she were her true self, everyone would surely try to tell her she was wrong. 

She didn't want to go on Trek, either. Being stuck with people who she didn't get along with would be absolute torture. But she knew her stupid dad would make her go. 

All Katherine wanted to do was spend the summer with her friends... but maybe she still could.

"Sister Summers, are we allowed to bring friends on Trek?" Katherine asked one of her young womens leaders at a Tuesday night activity where they were getting permission slips for Trek, although it was still several months out. 

"Of course," Sister Summers spoke as if Katherine had just asked the most ridiculous question in existence, "their parents will just have to sign the permission slip,"

"Can I have some permission slips for them?" Katherine smiled.

"Sure, how many do you need?" Sister Summers questioned.

"Oh... something like... twenty?" Katherine smiled.

"Oh," Sister Summer wasn't expecting such a large number, "I'll have to go get more copies from the library. 

Katherine handed the permission slips out to her friends the next day at school. She explained what Trek was and asked if any of them had interest. 

"Dressing like a pioneer and hiking?" Her friend Davey blinked, "that sounds... pretty miserable, actually,"

"It'll be less miserable if we all go," Katherine shrugged. 

"Well, I, for one, would love to spend a few days out in nature with Katherine," Davey's sister, Sarah, decided.

"Honestly, yeah, it sounds fun," Jack agreed.

"Can I get an extra permission slip?" Race questioned, "I want to give one to Spot," 

"Oh, of course," Katherine handed him one. 

Katherine was shocked the next day when all of her friends returned with signed permission slips. That Sunday, she turned in all the permission slips, plus her own, to Sister Summers. 

"Wow, all of them, huh?" Sister Summers counted the slips, "well, I'm glad they'll be able to join us," 

A few weeks later, Katherine gave her friends some information about an activity.

"You all need to bring a five-gallon bucket and an IKEA bag, we're going to customize them so they'll be easy to find when we get to the trail," she informed them, "do you all have your pioneer outfits?" 

When everyone affirmed, Katherine nodded and sent the information about the activity into a group chat with all of them.

At the activity, everyone had a creative way of marking their bag, from writing their name in duct tape to putting a special symbol on their bags, any one of them could easily pick their bag out of a pile. 

"What are we going to pack in these bags anyway?" Jack asked Sister Summers.

"I actually have the packing lists right here," Sister Summers held up a stack of papers, "everyone come get a packing list!"

The packing lists consisted mostly of typical camping and hiking gear, but there was one thing on the list that Katherine's friends had questions about. 

"We're supposed to bring scriptures?" Race blinked.

"Well, you all don't have to, since you're non-members," Sister Summers shrugged, "but you should definitely bring a journal,"

"Hang on, phones aren't allowed?" Davey noticed the 'what not to bring' section at the bottom of the page, "so I won't be able to contact my parents?"

"Mas and Pas will have phones if you really need to contact your parents," Sister Summers promised.

"Plus, I'll be with you," Sarah reminded her brother.

"Wait, what do you mean 'Mas and Pas?'" Spot questioned.

"We split off into family groups that consist of a Ma, a Pa, and about six to eight youth," One of the boys in Katherine's youth group explained.

"When do we find out who's in our group?" Jack folded up his packing list and put it in his pocket.

"When you get there," Sister Summers answered.

Katherine's friends had pretty mixed emotions about trek. On one hand, they were excited for a new experience, but on the other, they weren't sure about all these specificities. 

It was a little while before Trek was brought up again, and this time Katherine was informing her friends that they had to drop off their bags and buckets at the church at 7:00pm the night before they left for trek.

Not many of Katherine's friends slept that night, whether it be due to nerves or excitement, and the next morning, they all got into their pioneer clothes and headed back to the church. That was where the adventure would begin.