Camp Happy Trails
...
It's a strange feeling, being super excited and completely irritated at the same time.
"Shuddup shuddup shuddup–" Logan grumbled to himself, his eyebrows creased and body slumped in the bus seat. Beside him Carlos kept fidgeting, singing along with the rest of the passengers to the "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer" song, glancing around at everyone and occasionally shouting (thoughtlessly in his ear) how "awesome" this trip was gonna be.
They made it to bottle number seven and Logan was about ready to tape his mouth shut. Or knock him out.
He whipped around the seat to face Kendall behind him, his movement catching the blond's peripheral and he glanced up from his phone, plucking an earbud out that was still blasting music. Logan jabbed a thumb toward Carlos and snapped, "You're bunking with him!"
Kendall humorously rolled his eyes and spoke loudly amongst the chatter. "C'mon Loges, we're almost there. Don't focus on this–" he waved his hands to gesture around the stir-crazy group of fellow teens. "And focus on how you're gonna be one of the junior nurses!"
A faint smile formed on Logan's lips. Kendall, Carlos, and some of the other kids here were all signed up to be camp councilors, James took interest in the lifeguard position (naturally) while Logan had volunteered to be a junior nurse. Excitement churned like butterflies in his stomach at the thought of living two dreams in one: singing and medicine! Just like the time he'd spent with Dr. Hollywood while Mrs. Knight engulfed herself with magazines.
"We're here!" some spiky-haired kid shouted from up front. Logan thanked his lucky stars. After a trip like that, he's gonna need an aspirin.
The bus rumbled into the gravel parking lot and stopped with a hiss. Everyone else filed through the door while he gathered his bag off the dirty floor, soon squinting at the blinding sun as he stepped off.
Breathing in the clean and sharp pine air was a stark contrast to an hour in the stuffy bus. Throwing on his shades, Logan felt his headache slowly ebb away as he stopped by his friends to take in their home for the next month.
The lush, green woods surrounded the camp, with cabins scattered around shaded by trees. They couldn't see much from where they were standing, but Logan remembered reading about a pool, a tennis court, a volleyball court, and a lake to go canoeing on the brochure. With their second album complete and plans for a U.S. tour in the works, Griffin (upon retiring from a luxurious mountain vacation) decided the guys should "freshen up" at a summer camp to recharge themselves (and gain more publicity with the kids) and thus bring more profit, so long as they do a small concert at the camp once the month is over.
With a hand shielding his eyes, James let out a whistle. "Boy I'm gonna miss civilization after this," he said. "I'm telling you, the showers better have hot water or I'm gonna walk back."
"Pfft," Carlos snorted while playfully punching his friend's bicep. "Dude, if you walk back, a bear will eat you and then Griffin will replace you!"
Looking like that stung just a little, James countered, "Yeah well, look how that turned out when everyone tried to replace me before!" and slapped Carlos' chest, starting a mini, immature slap fight with a few feminine shrieks between them and protests of, "Watch the hair!"
A few other teens running around and exploring the camp slowed down to stare. Kendall and Logan shared a glance. "Like I said, you're bunking with him."
"I don't even know if we have a choice." Kendall grunted out while prying his two friends apart. "Guys, we've gotta get to that mandatory first meeting with the owner before we get yelled at."
James and Carlos dusted themselves off, and they all grabbed their hockey duffles before trekking over the crunchy gravel towards the cabins. They had been assigned Cabin 3, and threw their bags into the building before leaving for the mess hall.
The cement building was in the middle of the complexes of cabins. It was larger than the rest of the buildings—big enough to hold a few hundred starving kids and teens.
Stepping inside, they could feel the cold air conditioning doing its work, providing relief from the dry, oven-like heat outside. Logan wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked around at everyone shaking hands and smiling warm welcomes. The feeling inside was alive with the buzz of conversation and excitement. Though he was a little nervous, he stuck with his friends as they went around and made introductions too, even laughing at James' lovestruck face when a pretty brunette walked by, winked and waved her fingers.
"I could get used to this," James slyly commented while gently raking his comb through his hair. They settled at their assigned table in maroon plastic chairs, talking about video games and the pool they'd soon be swimming in.
"Good afternoon and welcome, Camp Happy Trails councilors!" a familiar voice blared from a microphone on the stage. Everyone looked up, and the guys froze, their jaws slack with dreaded surprise.
Up on the stage with a confident grin stood their arch enemy, Hawk.
Hawk owned this summer camp!
...
Kendall slammed his dinner tray down on their table later that evening, brows furrowed in frustration. In total disbelief they had to sit through Hawk's welcome speech and ground rules like no swimming at night, no feeding the wildlife, or only walk on the trails that have been marked. He huffed out a breath and plopped down beside James. "Well this vacation's ruined," he stated while stabbing his plastic fork into his grilled chicken.
James didn't really acknowledge him though, continuing to glance up at Hawk standing on the stage talking with a fellow camp leader. Though a mouthful of food he said, "We've gotta find out what he's up to."
"Exactly!" Kendall snapped while jabbing a finger on the tabletop. "Which is why our vacation's ruined!" With his mouth set in determination, he glared at their enemy that tried to ruin them before. He looked so smug with his grin and his arms folded while he spoke. Not to mention those stupid shades he's freakin' wearing inside! He felt the gears already turning in his head with the overwhelming urge to protect his friends, as well as himself and the band as a whole. He leaned forward towards James and Carlos and said, "Which is also why when Logan gets back, we're gonna excuse ourselves to make a little phone call." With a devilish grin, he held up his phone.
"Yeah!" Carlos fist-bumped him, but then asked, "Wait, do we even have service here?"
Before Kendall could look, Logan suddenly ran up to the table, balancing his tray of food and an additional paper plate. He set down his own tray and displayed the plate to James. "Dude look! They have your favorite pie! Man I thought the food here would be bad, but boy was I wro—oof!"
Someone shoved Logan forward, the table's edge knocking the wind from his gut and making the pie fall on James' dinner with a squishy plop. "Watch it, nerd," the kid sneered with a couple friends flanking him. They snickered as they walked by, throwing away their trash and soon calling over to some of the girls sitting at another table.
Kendall's nose flared with an angry breath and the moment he went to stand, James gripped his shoulder and made him sit back down. "Not worth it, Ken," he insisted. "Let's just focus on Hawk."
Logan's big brown eyes appeared a little wide and cautious but he sat down beside Carlos nonetheless, his friend giving a playful, I'm-here-for-you nudge to his shoulder with his own. Through a giant bite of his burger, he said, "Kendall has a plan."
In somewhat disgust at the crumbs falling from Carlos' mouth, Logan laughingly brushed them off his arm. "Cool, let's hear it." He looked to James. "Sorry about that, dude."
"About what?" James happily replied before taking a giant bite of cheese pizza that dripped with whipped cream and chocolate filling.
Kendall leaned forward in secrecy again, the greasy and sweet smell of burgers, pizza and pie invading his nose. "Okay. I've only got two bars on my phone, but that should be plenty to call Gustavo so he can get us out of here. As soon as dinner's over, we go back to our cabin like good little councilors and boom! We make the call, he sends a ride, and we're free!"
"Yeah!" Carlos cheered and pumped his fist discretely as to not attract Hawks attention. Hawk definitely knew of their presence though. He'd scanned over them several times with a wicked smile during his welcome speech.
Satisfied with Kendall's spur of the moment plan, they finished their dinner and threw away their trash before meandering through the exit like many of the other kids. Including the four of them, there were maybe about thirty fellow councilors total, and many were walking towards the cabins.
The lights buzzed when Kendall flipped the switch, engulfing the room in a dull yellow glow. Four bunks stood on each side of the room with storage areas at the ends of them. There was a window to the left with a dented screen, but other than that, the place looked atleast somewhat maintained. The room smelled faintly musty but atleast it had an air conditioner.
James lowered himself on the edge of a bed and bounced a little. The bunks were a bit short so he had to lean over to avoid bumping his head, but the mattress was okay. "Not too bad," he assured the others who were slowly making their way to unpack their things. "Y'know, if we survived that tour bus last year, we can survive this, right?"
"I guess," Logan murmured while setting a few books on the shelf. "Kendall, you still got two bars?"
Kendall fished his phone from his back pocket, the blueish glow illuminating his face as he stared intently at the screen. His fingers flew over the buttons to Gustavo's contact info. The others huddled around and he put it on speaker as it began its polyphonic ringing.
Their stomachs sank with dread when it went to voicemail after five rings but Kendall impatiently waited for the beep to relay his message.
"Gustavo! You've gotta get us outta here!" he rushed out. "This place is—"
"I'll be taking that!" a voice suddenly boomed from behind.
The boys whipped around and screamed in unison. Before anyone could blink, Hawk had plucked Kendall's phone from his fingers and gave it a teasing wave before slipping it into his pocket.
That stupid smirk. Kendall quickly recoverd and narrowed his eyes. He hated that smirk, as if he was a king and they were chess pawns.
Well not on his watch!
Squaring his shoulders, he stepped forward with that overwhelming, stubborn urge to protect his friends. His eyes only met with Hawk's Adam's apple but he stood tall and thrust out his palm. "Give it back, Hawk." He demanded through gritted teeth.
Hawk merely sniffed out a weak chuckle and shook his head. "Ah Kendall," he said as if mocking a kid. "Still bold as ever, I see. But really, is there even a line between boldness and stupidity?"
Kendall ground his teeth and was about to protest but Hawk smacked his open palm away and approached the others standing further back. Hawk held out his hand and said, "Perhaps you weren't paying attention to my welcome speech. No electronic devices of any kind are allowed at Camp Happy Trails. It takes away from the atmosphere."
"Atmosphere?!" Carlos burst out. "As if you care about atmosphere! We know you're up to something Hawk, and we're—" he put his arms around James and Logan and smushed them into him. "—not gonna be a part of your evil schemes!"
Realizing they weren't going to give in that easily, Hawk folded his arms and slowly shook his head, feigning hurt when he said, "I wouldn't expect you to believe me, but I'll tell you that I'm a changed man. I want nothing more than to revel in this retreat and the experience of owning such a place." He shot a pointed look at Carlos through his lowered shades. "Atmosphere is everything around here. With all that encompasses Camp Happy Trails, atmosphere is just the beginning of my changed self. So," His towering form leaned close and he held out his hand again. "Electronic devices, please."
There was a brief, uneasy pause between them. Logan's gaze kept flicking between their enemy and Kendall as if looking for guidance. Kendall only offered a disheartened shrugged. Right now he just wanted Hawk to leave, and if that meant confiscating their phones for a month, fine. They'll just have to come up with something else.
With annoyed huffs and eyerolls, the guys slapped their phones into Hawk's awaiting palms. Satisfied with their compliance, Hawk stepped back, but still faced them like a drill sergeant. "The kids will be arriving tomorrow afternoon. I expect you all to be up at seven sharp in order to prepare for the activities." With his usual smug smirk, he bid them a good night and left.
Kendall pinched his mouth into a thin line, his hands balled at his sides. "Well," he said with a huff. "Time for plan B."
...
Uugghhh I really bit off more than I could chew here lol. I should've just tried for a one-shot, but here I am attempting a multi-chap. Obviously since this story isn't complete, it doesn't count towards the challenge, but I'm gonna post anyways 'cause why not? :3 Sadly though, I feel like this chapter is so sub-par, I would hate to disappoint anyone who reads this!