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Gold was starting to get awfully tired of seething over Miss French’s…odd way of leading her troop, and, so help him, he’d get his troop interested in good, old-fashioned camping traditions if it killed him. Although, what could he possibly do that would keep their attention? He’d already tried engaging them with a campfire but that didn’t really work… Heck, if anything was going to keep their attention, it was going to be that, considering he had planned to have them make s’mores before they decided to wander off to the Bookworms’ little cabin, so what could he do, really?
He had originally tried to teach them all how to pitch a tent, but that obviously didn’t work out very well. He also tried getting them to fish on the lake, and he thought that was going to be interesting for them, but one had briefly gotten a hook stuck in his hand, poor thing, and most of them got a bit bored when they weren’t immediately catching something, so that didn’t really work. He tried to teach them some more survival skills on the edge of the forest, but of course, he made the mistake of trying to teach them how to analyze animal scat. He should’ve known 11-year-olds wouldn’t be quite mature enough to take it seriously.
Gold sighed to himself. He had get something to work, he just had to… It was time to get out the big guns…
***
That night, Gold managed to successfully light up a campfire, much to the surprised delight of the troop. He could feel his heart rate getting faster as he sat there awkwardly trying to keep the troop engaged just long enough to enact his plan, but he was still a bit nervous. He took a deep breath in, then out, and managed to pull out a rather handsome looking guitar in front of him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bae’s mouth drop open in shock. Oh yes, that’s right… He’d never told Bae he knew how to play the instrument he now held in his hands, let alone that he was actually quite good at it when he was in college, and he played little songs for Bae when he was in his mother’s womb and when he was just months old to sooth him to sleep. Things between Gold and Bae’s mother had gotten pretty… rough, to put it lightly, when the boy was barely 2 years old, all but forcing him to stop playing his beloved instrument and focus his efforts on raising an infant son by himself when Bae’s mother left them. On occasion, when Bae was asleep in bed, he’d take out the beautiful instrument to clean and tune it, and maybe practice some scales, but he was still woefully out of practice. He supposed he’d owe Bae an explanation when this trip was over, but for now, he could hopefully keep his troop engaged with his almost-forgotten talent.
He plucked at some of the strings, making sure it was in tune (thankfully for him, the rough ride out to the woods didn’t bang up the guitar at all), then paused for a moment. What songs would these children even know out of the ones he knew how to play? He knew quite a few songs, but he knew they’d probably… ‘date’ him a bit, as it were… It’s not like he really had much more of his dignity to lose after some incredibly pitiful attempts at being a ‘manly’ scout master, but, regardless, this was worth a try. He took a deep breath through the nose of fresh, clean, forest air and began to play.
*****
Emma Nolan knew deep down she didn’t really fit in with this troop very well. In her parents’ ever-continuing quest to sign her up for as many different activities as possible, they had ‘nudged’ her in the direction of this troop. Granted, she couldn’t really blame them too much for this. In fact, she could full-heartedly see why they were all but thrilled to sign her up for this. Emma did like painting her nails on occasion, and usually preferred to pick out her own clothes to create her own style, and she even recently learned how to make dream-catchers and some other small arts-and-crafts-like projects, but baking? Ugghh… This was all a bit too girly for her…
She loved being outdoors, even sometimes sleeping in a tent in the backyard, or just under the stars if it was nice out, instead of her own bed, just for the fun of it. Frankly, she was vastly disappointed upon finding out that Miss Belle had rented a little cabin in the woods instead of vouching to camp outside like the Storybrooke Imps were doing. She had been so pumped up when Miss Belle had started teaching them real survival skills to use in the woods ‘just in case’ before they came here, but Emma had a feeling none of them were going to be used at this rate. She loved going on hikes, and wanted to learn things like archery and maybe even how to hunt for game in the wild, but noooo, she was ‘too young’ to learn archery right now, and learning to hunt was ‘dangerous for a girl, let alone one of her age’. ‘Bah humbug’ is what she said to that!
She sat outside the little cabin on its small patio, staring off into the distance towards Mr. Gold’s troop sitting around a roaring campfire. Those stupid boys didn’t know what kind of fun they were missing! She could practically feel herself drooling when she found out that Mr. Gold’s troop had gone fishing the other day… she would’ve killed to go with them for that! She loved fishing with her dad! But, of course, she was stuck inside making lanyards… joy… She knew Miss Belle was trying to incorporate a wide range of activities so even the youngest of the girls in the troop could get into this, and, more importantly, wouldn’t get bored, but man she wanted to do more stuff outdoors so badly! She could barely wait for the mysterious scavenger hunt she started hearing snippets about between Miss French’s mumblings to herself about it, and some of the boys talking just a touch louder than they probably should’ve been.
She sighed longingly, still staring at them all, but perked up a bit more when she saw Mr. Gold pull something out from behind him. Was…was that a guitar? Her jaw dropped a little in shock. Of all the things Mr. Gold of all people could do, one of the last skills she could imagine he’d have was the ability to play an instrument. Granted, she couldn’t give him too much grief for that. In fact, even she herself knew a bit of guitar after her parents had saddled her with numerous music lessons, apparently wanting her to have a ‘well-rounded’ education. It’s not like she, of all people, could really make fun of him for doing something people wouldn’t expect him to do, but she still totally had to see this for herself.
Emma sneakily looked back into the cabin where some of the younger girls were braiding each other’s hair (making her roll her eyes a little bit at the sight, besides at Lily, because Lily was cool in her book), some were munching on cookies, and some were talking with Miss Belle. Speaking of which, Miss Belle did know Emma was out here ‘getting some fresh air’, but she figured she could be back before Miss Belle even knew she was gone. What was the harm in that?
Emma moved as quietly as possible, pretending she was a ninja sneaking up on an unsuspecting victim until she was securely hidden behind a bush a small distance away from Mr. Gold’s troop. By the time she got there, she heard Mr. Gold plucking the chords of ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, much to apparently the confusion of some of the younger kids. For God’s sake, how could they not know Sweet Home Alabama?! That was a classic! Bae seemed to know it, though, lightly singing along with his father. Thank God for him, too, since she would’ve lost a bit of respect for both father and son if Bae didn’t know that song. She sighed to herself. She knew they were ‘rival troops’ or whatever, but Mr. Gold was really trying here, and he clearly needed some help. She wasn’t the best singer in the world, but she did know some guitar, and she had to do something…
She popped out from behind the bush, giving the whole troop quite the fright for a moment. She couldn’t help but smile when Bae looked at her and flashed her one of his million-dollar grins that never failed to cheer her up when she was sad.
“Hi, Emma!” he loudly proclaimed.
Mr. Gold couldn’t help but look at her in confusion as she walked up to him then sat right beside him like she had been with them all the whole time and had just come back from ‘stepping out’ for a moment.
“Emma, while it is nice to see you, shouldn’t you be back at the cabin with your troop? Does Miss French know where you are?” he whispered to her.
“Yeahsurewhatever” she practically slurred, whispering back. “Mister Gold, do you know the ‘G’ ‘A7’ and ‘D’ chord?” she asked him.
“I… yes, of course I do, why?” he asked her.
“Cause I’m about to save your butt!” she quickly whispered back.
She proceeded to give him an order of chords to memorize, telling him she’d ‘cue’ him when he should change to the next cord.
Mr. Gold couldn’t help but smirk a little, being rather impressed with Emma’s guitar knowledge, and thanking whatever deity would listen that he had good memorization skills. He positioned his fingers to the ‘G’ chord, and strummed it for her.
She gave him a thumbs up before nervously turning to the boys, taking a deep breath, and starting to sing.
Let’s gather ‘round the caaaaaampfiiiiiire, and sing our campfire song…
Sure enough, some of the boys, especially Roland perked up a bit upon hearing the first line of the song.
Our C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G song,
And if you don’t think that we could sing it faster than you’re wrong,
But it will help if you just sing along!
Bae seemed to catch onto what was going on here, moving closer to Emma and his father, taking on a rather goofy-sounding lower pitched singing voice.
“BUUUUUMMMM, BUUUUUUM, BUUUUUUUUUUMMMM….” Bae ‘sang’, making some of the boys laugh.
Then, to Mr. Gold’s surprise, Emma actually did start singing faster, with the only difference in lyrics being her repeating the ‘Our C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G song’ line a few times, with Bae continuing to sing in the lower, goofy-sounding voice, until suddenly Emma extended a hand towards Bae in the middle of the song.
“Patrick!” she exclaimed.
To Mr. Gold’s utter horror, Bae started singing the song in broken, frantic- sounding words, practically looking like he was possessed. He didn’t really get much time to contemplate this as Emma then extended a hand towards Mr. Gold himself.
“Squidward!” she exclaimed.
His eyebrows shot upward, not knowing what she expected him to do here, but before he could even ask for clarification and break his stunned silence, she spoke again.
“Good!” she declared.
She cued him one last time to change chords, and started singing again.
It’ll heeeeeeeeeeelp, it’ll heeeeeeeeeeeelp, if you just sing a loooooooooong!
She stopped singing, and took a deep breath, as if ready to sing even more, but then, of all of the boys to chime in, no one expected little Roland to suddenly belt out a very loud, very rousing:
“OH YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Everyone was stunned, staring at Roland for a moment until they all burst into giggles, even with Mr. Gold letting out some chuckles at the silliness that just occurred here. He figured that there had to be some kind of ‘joke’ or something he wasn’t catching onto here, but either way, he definitely owed Emma something for this.
He leaned over to a giggling Emma as she wiped a happy tear out of her eye.
“Thank you, Emma.” He whispered to her.
She smiled, knowing she’d done a good thing today.
“Don’t worry about it… I should probably be getting back before Miss Belle wonders where I am, now, so see you Imps later!” she said to him, practically running away from them before Mr. Gold could ask any questions.
Mr. Gold smiled at the sight of his troop members calming down from their laughing fits, wondering if Miss F- Belle knew just how good of a little troop member she had on her side.
****
Belle, in fact, did know not only where Emma was, but also that, yes, she did have an excellent troop member on her side.
A bit after Emma had snuck away, Belle had popped onto the front patio, about to tell Emma that they were all ‘getting ready for bed’, only to find she wasn’t there. She was a mere second away from panicking, about to go look for her missing Bookworm, until she could hear the echoing sound of a guitar in the distance.
She looked up towards where Mr. Gold and his ‘Imps’ were all sitting, recognizing Emma sitting among them. Emma appeared to be singing by the way she swayed a little to a beat Belle couldn’t hear from this distance, but even more shocking, was the sight of Mr. Gold playing a guitar! She had no idea he could play an instrument! Then again, did anybody know he possessed musical talent of any kind? …Did anybody know anything about the mysterious Mr. Gold, really?
This thought alone intrigued her. No wonder Mr. Gold was such a grump! The poor man was trying to share his love of the outdoors with his troop, but since the boys didn’t seem to have much of an interest in it, what else could he possibly do? Now that she thought about it, she didn’t really see him ‘hanging around’ adults very much, more often than not, choosing to be around his son a lot more. He seemed to simply ‘tolerate’ all the ‘adults’, and no wonder, too, when a lot of them were tenants of his, and never seemed to show him a lot of respect to begin with.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard an enthusiastic, echoing cry of “OH YEAAAAAAHHHHH!” coming from their campfire, and couldn’t help but giggle upon seeing the boys practically fall over with laughter. She made a mental note to give Emma the recognition she deserved for helping others as she closed the front door of the cabin, going back inside. She figured Emma would come back when she was ready.
Belle knew Emma was a very kind-hearted and sweet little girl, but, for reasons she couldn’t really figure out yet, Emma never seemed too keen on making this immediately known to everyone. Then again, she was only ten… Belle knew that being that age was hard, especially when you were trying to figure out whom exactly you were and where you ‘fit in’ in life.
Then, while waiting for Emma to return, almost unwillingly, her thoughts flitted back to Mr. Gold. That’s right… it had taken her a while to get Emma to really open up to her, and let Emma show her true colors, hadn’t it? It wasn’t that Emma was shy, per say, but that she just had a noticeably hard time fitting in and being truly comfortable with people, strikingly similar to Mr. Gold, and even Belle herself in a way. If Emma could have an ‘adult’ conversation with Mr. Gold, then surely Belle could as well. Maybe it was time to follow Emma’s example, and start over. After all, the scavenger hunt was coming up, and surely her and Gold would have some time to kill, so why not get to know him then? There was only one way to find out…