AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But while Arlo wasn’t thinking about the next day, a certain Daddy very much was…
The sound of birdsong was mixed with the tired yawns and laughter coming from outside of Arlo’s tent. Having gone to sleep way past his usual bedtime, Arlo sat up and groggily unzipped his tent.
‘You guys are leaving?’ Arlo asked, crawling out from his warm cocoon and standing on the dewy grass underfoot.
‘Yeah, we kinda slept in,’ Marshall laughed. ‘I think I’m going to be late for work. Not think, IknowI am. I think Max might be pretty, pretty annoyed with me. But who cares? Life is for living. I wouldn’t swap our sleepover for anything.’
‘Same,’ Dale added, stuffing his collapsed tent back into its bag. ‘This place is kinda messy. I’d offer to stay and help tidy, but I think my Daddy is going to be angry enough about the potato chips already.’
‘No, that’s totally cool,’ Arlo giggled. ‘The tidying won’t take me too long. I’ve got all morning. It’s not like I have to be anywherrrr….Oh.’
Suddenly, Arlo remembered.
A quick look at his watch confirmed it.
He was late. In fact, he was way beyond late.
‘No! You were meeting Axel for an early breakfast, weren’t you?’ Marshall gasped.
‘Uh-huh,’ Arlo answered, his heart skipping a beat as he felt a mixture of guilt and irritation at having slept in so late.
However before Arlo could even begin to formulate an excuse and type out a message to Axel, he heard a rustling sound approaching through the undergrowth.
‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this,’ Marshall gasped, nervously looking back and forth with Dale and Arlo.
And Marshall wasn’t wrong either.
The three guilt-ridden Littles stood in frozen silence as Axel emerged from the thick bushes with a stern, unimpressed look on his face.
‘I think it’s time we left,’ Dale mumbled. ‘Come on, Marshall. We need to go.’
With that, Arlo watched helplessly as his two friends gathered their things and made a swift exit.
‘I… I… I guess I slept late…’ Arlo said, unable to make eye contact with Axel. ‘I don’t know what happened. I guess I got carried away…’
Arlo watched as Axel inspected the chaos around him. Torn candy wrappers, sticky marshmallow residue all over the ground and on Arlo’s tent too, plus crushed potato chips strewn everywhere. It didn’t look good. And judging by the look on Axel’s face, he was very much of that opinion too.
‘So not only were you a total no-show, but you also decided it was a good idea to trash Sunset Forest,’ Axel said, his voice gruff and his eyes brimming with anger. ‘I thought better of you, Arlo.’
Arlo bristled at Axel’s superior tone.
Despite knowing full-well that he shouldn’t have made such a mess in such beautiful surroundings, Arlo didn’t appreciate being spoken to like he was a naughty boy.
‘It’s a free country,’ Arlo said, rolling his eyes and folding his arms across his chest. ‘And anyway, ants and bugs can eat all the left over snacks. So… deal with it.’
Arlo felt his heartrate increasing by the second. He knew that he was pushing his luck with Axel, but something inside him simply wouldn’t let things lie.
‘If you’re so bothered, why don’t you clean it up yourself?’ Arlo asked, a cocky-as-all-hell grin on his face hiding his increased sense of nervousness around Axel.
In that moment, Axel walked up close to Arlo and towered over him.
‘Young man, I’m warning you,’ Axel said, his eyes full of intent. ‘One more hint of sass from you and there will be trouble. Now get to work, show some respect for your surroundings, and clean this mess up right this instant.’
Arlo could tell that Axel was far from joking.
Every inch of Arlo’s body and mind was telling him that he should follow Axel’s commands without hesitation.
And yet… Arlo chose another option.
