Chapter 4 - 4- In which an English Teacher is a nuisance to on

Chapter Four- In which an English Teacher is a nuisance to one hobbit, and makes another hobbit cry.


"I spy… something… that's brown… and tall…. and-"
"It’s that mountain over there."
"Wrong! It's the mountain over there." Tracey said triumphantly, pointing to a random mountain.
Frodo sighed impatiently. The three were hiking along some god-forsaken mountain trail, as they had been for the past two weeks.
"Arwen," Frodo said with annoyance, "Do you think you can just be quiet for a while? I'm trying to concentrate."
"On what?" Tracey cried. "What's there to even think about around here? We've been just walking in the general direction of that mountain over there, which we can only assume is Mount Doom, and it's going to be several weeks before we even get to Mordor. I mean, come on, Frodo. Lighten up!"
"Lighten up?" Sam snapped indignantly. "Bless me, lady, but he's got a burden far surpassing any of ours! Just look at him." He gestured to the other hobbit, who blundered along behind them slightly, listening with vague irritation. Sam continued. "Forgive me, Arwen, but he has every right to be preoccupied. He has to concentrate on not letting the Ring swallow him whole!"
Tracey snorted skeptically, rolling her eyes. "Come on, Sam, you and I both know that you should be the one to carry the Ring, anyway. Frodo's gonna go insane at the end, and Gollum kills himself to stop him being an idiot. And plus, he won't even get there anyway if you don't carry him, for crying out loud." Suddenly, she stopped talking, realizing that she had just given away half of the remaining plotline. Silently cursing herself, she tried to ignore the hobbits' befuddled stares.
So they continued walking. Tracey was silent, staring at a nearby mountain as she walked. About forty-five minutes later, it seemed no closer than it had been. She groaned audibly. Frodo shot an accusing glare at her.
About an hour later, Tracey started whining again. "Oh jeez, we're never gonna get there."
Frodo whipped around and stared at her. "No one asked you to some with us, begging your pardon, lady. In fact, truth be told, we'd prefer it if you weren't on this journey at all. But no, you just had to go and volunteer. Why can't you just go home and go back to your embroidery?"
"Hear, hear!" Sam cried viciously. Tracey shot him a look, before launching into her yelling campaign.
"Listen, midget boy, don't you start. No one asked you to go and play hero! Face it, you have no more idea what you're doing than I do. Why don't you just go back to your cozy, safe little hobbit-hole? I know if I weren't here to yell at, you'd be whining about how much you wish you were back at the Shire, and bless me little hobbit feet, I do sometimes wish for a flagon of ale back at the good old Green Dragon. So don't you go accusing me of anything, little man!"
Sam burst into tears. Frodo stared in shock at Tracey, who merely smirked. She turned and marched away primly, ignoring the dumbfounded hobbits behind her. Finally, Frodo began walking again, and Sam followed tearfully.
No one said anything for several hours, though Tracey thought she heard Sam whispering to Frodo, "How does she know about the Green Dragon?"

Finally, when the last rays of light disappeared behind the silhouette of the ominous mountains away yonder, Frodo stopped and turned to the others.
"I think we should stop here," he said quietly, avoiding Tracey's triumphant sneer. Sam gratefully dropped his pack and collapsed on the ground.
As Frodo began to scrounge for firewood, Tracey wandered away into a clearing a few hundred yards away. As she sat down on a rock to rest, a great booming and naggy voice resounded in the trees. Tracey jumped up, startled, as Vienna's irritated voice yelled at her.
"Miss Bosso, what's wrong with you?!"
"Excuse me?" Tracey demanded, sitting back down, and glaring angrily at the sky.
"Are you aware how much of the story you gave away earlier?"
Tracey sighed. "I know, I'm sorry! I just got carried away, that's-"
"And then you go making poor Sam cry! He didn't do anything wrong!"
"Except being to loyal to that wimpy little loser."
"Listen, I'm not arguing with you there, but you need to apologize. Sam is just so sweet, and you can't go offending him or insulting Frodo around him."
"Don't tell me what to do," Tracey snapped obstinately.
"I'm serious, Miss Bosso!" Vienna cried, now sounding positively desperate. "Leave him alone!"
"Fine, fine!" Tracey yelled angrily. "But how much longer am I going to have to wander through the wilderness, your Majesty?"
Ignoring this, Vienna replied. "Just around a month. Okay? Then Gandalf the Grey… as opposed to Gandalf the White… will come and rescue you from Mordor, and you can marry Aragorn, and everyone can live happily ever after."
"And then?" Tracey pressed.
"And then… if you actually make it that far, I'll explain everything, and take you back home, if you want."
"'If I want?'" Tracey echoed scornfully. "Of course I do. I need to get out of here and take a proper bath- I mean, this is just nasty!"
"Whatever you say, Miss Bosso," Vienna's disembodied voice sighed, and fell silent. Recognizing her absence, Tracey leaned back on the rock and sighed. Knowing Vienna, this was some impossible-to-grade extra credit assignment, though God knows how she's doing it.
After a while, she wandered on back to their campsite, where Sam was fast asleep and Frodo was mulling over by the fire. When he saw Tracey approaching, he hastily put something into his pocket. Tracey scowled.
"Hey, you wanna stop stroking that freaky Ring? It's really creeping me out."
Frodo looked much taken aback. He looked as if he didn't know what to say, so Tracey spared him the effort and turned away to get some food from her pack.
A few minutes later, she sat munching on some lembas bread, watching Frodo carefully. He kept reaching into his pocket, where, Tracey knew, that evil Ring lay concealed.
"What an idiot," Tracey muttered, massaging her temples.
"What?" Frodo said sharply.
"Nothing," she replied sweetly, "O Frodo, son of Drogo."
He looked at her suspiciously, but said nothing. They both sat in silence for a while. Suddenly, in the moonlight, Tracey caught a glimpse of two shining eyes glittering nearby. Then, as abruptly as they had appeared, they vanished. Frodo shuddered involuntarily, and Tracey grinned, knowing that soon Gollum would be joining them.

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