Hamilton Road Trip

Squirt

(Aex's POV)
I stared at the leaping gold and orange flames. John was on the log beside me, also looking at the bonfire. Everyone else, tired from the trail riding incident, had gone inside already.
It was just me and John, under the midnight sky and the sparks of the bonfire.
I looked at John, and he turned around to face me.
"You wanna go explore?" He asked me, winking. I tried not to swoon as tiny tingles ran up my spine.
"...s-sure" I stammered out. In the light of the bonfire John somehow looked even cuter than he had in the daytime. If that was even possible.
I wished I had never started dating Eliza. If only I had opened my eyes a bit farther to see John... then we would have to be secretly dating. Then I wouldn't have to break Eliza's heart to be happy. I sighed, and John looked at me, concerned.
"You ok?" He asked me softly, and I nodded.
"Let's go" I said to him, and we both stood up. I wasn't sure where we were going, and probably neither did John. But we didn't say anything, just started walking through the woods.
Twigs cracked underneath our feet as we walked though the looming trees. Even though I was with John, I felt a cold chill run up my spine. I hated the dark. Darkness always made me feel useless, like I couldn't do anything against its evil grasp at night.
John yawned, but we kept on going, until we reached a small clearing in the woods.
I flopped down, John following suit. We lay on our backs, gazing up at the starry sky. The mossy floor was soothing, and soft, the moon full and beautiful. In short, a perfect night.
"So..." John said, breaking the silence.
I shrugged, not knowing what to say. There really was nothing to say. I looked at John, trying to count his freckles. After a moment I gave up, knowing there were too many.
I snuggled up closer to John, shivering from the cold. Why was it this cold? I wished I had brought an extra jacket. Or one of John's hoodies. Those were always warm and cozy and smelled of John.
John put his arm around me, and we sat there in silence, snuggling with each other. At the moment, it felt like the two of us against the huge, wide world.
John sat up suddenly, and I tried to push him back toward me, get him close to me, get him to snuggle with me again.
"Shhhh" He whispered, bringing his finger to his lips. "Listen"
I sat up, then froze. There was something shuffling and rustling in the distance.
I grabbed John, terrified. I squeezed him so hard I doubted he could breath. But I couldn't let go. My breathing quickened and my heart was racing so loudly in my chest I thought the whole world could hear it.
The shuffling grew closer. I hugged John tighter, and he wrapped his arms around me. Too terrified to move, we stayed there, as the shuffling grew closer, and close and closer...
It was footsteps now, not shuffling. Footsteps coming right to our clearing...
"What are you doing here?" The person said, and I screamed, before realizing it was Peggy.
"Oh. Hi Peggy" I said, flushed with embarrassment. I untangled myself from John, and we awkwardly stood up.
Peggy looked at us with mild amusement, her eyebrows raised. Just now I realized Peggy had caught us cuddling. At midnight. In the forest.
"It's not what it looks like" I blurted out, and she let out a little laugh.
"Really? Because it looks like you two were making out away from Eliza"
"We weren't making out!" I said instantly.
"Cuddling then. But still" Peggy said, rolling her eyes.
I bit my lip. What were we going to do?
"Don't worry" Peggy said, smiling at us. "I won't tell Eliza"
We both let out huge sighs of relief.
    "But you have to promise never to let her know, k? I know you guys are in love, but Eliza can't get her heart broken." Peggy said fiercely. "If you hurt her i WILL kill you two"
We nodded quickly. Peggy could be scary sometimes.
"Alright come on you guys, let's go back. This forest is scary and honestly aren't you two freezing?" She asked us, shivering.
Now that I wasn't cuddling with John, I realized that it was, indeed, freezing.
"Ok let's go" I said, and John nodded. We followed Peggy out of the clearing.

We walked for a couple of minutes in silence, before John suddenly let out a yelp.
"I stepped on something! Something moving!" He said, and we went over to look.
Beneath John's foot was a turtle. A tiny, scared, some-of-its-shell-crushed turtle.
"Oh my god" John whispered, his face white.
"How did a turtle get here?" I asked Peggy, who shrugged.
"There's nothing nearby- no stream, no river, I don't get it" She said.
"Oh my god oh my god oh my god I stepped on a turtle I stepped on a turtle oh my god" John whispered, putting his head in his hands.
"John, it isn't your fault" I said, grasping him by the shoulders and turning him so he was facing me. "It isn't your fault, ok? It isn't your fault. You had no idea that turtle was there"
"We've got to help it!" Peggy said anxiously, looking at the poor turtle, The corner of its shell was completely crushed.
"There's... there's a veterinary clinic nearby" John stammered. (A/n: I honestly have no idea if Yosemite even has one of these but for the purpose of the story it does) "It's for wild animals that get injured... we could take Squirt there"
"Squirt?" Peggy said, giggling.
"Oh. Well. I don't know where that came from" John mumbled.
"I think it's a great name" I said, smiling at him. "So where is this clinic?"

A couple minutes later we were walking toward the clinic, holding Squirt, who was wrapped in John's hoodie.
    Lucky I thought, then immediately felt bad for thinking it.
    "If this map is right the clinic should be right.... Here" Peggy said, then looked up. In front of us was a small building with a sign labeled "Yosemite Animal Hospital"
    "Alright, let's go inside" I said. I walked up to the building and opened the door. A jingly bell connected to the door rang, signaling someone was stepping inside.
    "Hello?" I called out, and a man came up to me.
    "Yes?" He said, looking frazzled. He was in a doctor's suit, with a small name tag labeled "Dr. Charles Lee"
    "We found a pet turtle, and my friend accidentally stepped on it" I said quickly, seeing John look down in the corner of my eye.
    "Eh? Let me take a look" He said, and walked up to Squirt.
    "Oh! There's Shelly! I've been looking for her!" He said, and grabbed Squirt He walked over to an empty fish tank and threw her into it.
    "Are you even a vet?" Peggy asked, clearly outraged. "You can't treat animals like that!"
    "How I treat Shelly is none of your business little girl."
    Peggy walked forward and slapped him. Then, she reached in and carefully took Squirt out.
    I cheered, looking with delight at the man, who was now red in the face.
    "Run!" I said to her, and we all ran out of the clinic.

    Once we had gotten a safe distance away, I looked at Peggy and John.
    "What are we going to do with Squirt?" I asked. "Obviously we can't take him to that awful 'doctor'"
    "Maybe John can take care of him?" Peggy suggested, smiling at John. "He already has the tank, and he knows everything about turtles! We can look up on the internet how to treat broken shells, and Bubbles can have a buddy to play with!"
    John started smiling, but then he frowned again. "But... I stepped on him!" He said.
    "IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT!" We both yelled at him, and he started laughing.
    "Alright alright! I guess Bubbles will like the company" He said, beaming at Squirt.
    "t... what are we going to tell the others?" I said, and we all looked at each other.

    "YOU DID WHAT?!" Angelica yelled as we looked at each other guiltily.
    "Let me get this straight" She continued. "You two sneaked out at night to go explore. Then, after stepping on a turtle, you slapped an animal doctor in the face and ran off with his pet turtle" The whole group glared at us.
    "You should have seen the way he treated Squirt though!" Peggy objected. "He threw him into an empty tank like he was a rock or something!"
    Angelica just shook her head. "What are you two planning to do now?" She asked angrily.
    "Well, we were going to put him in with Bubbles..." John said quietly. I looked around the group. Everyone looked angry, upset, or irritated. Angelica looked furious.
    "You know what?" Angelica said, throwing her hands up in the air, "I don't care what you three do. You obviously don't care what I think either, running off in the middle of the night to explore."
    John and I looked at each other guiltily. Peggy glared at her older sister.
    "We are going to make Squirt happy. That is a good thing." She said, then turned back to John and I.
    "Where do we start?" She asked.

A/n: another chapter with turtles! Yay? This definitely was not me completely running out of ideas...hehe...