"The mid-term ball." Max reminded her and Camille pursed her lips.
"This is the only reason I wanted to make this a single-sex camp," she spat at him and massaged her head, "so that I wouldn't have to chaperone at rubbish events like this-"
"Everyone looks forward to it," Max folded his arms, "you are the only girl who hates attending it and yet everyone wants to see you there." Razor muttered something about not caring what everyone else wanted. "It's the one night we can play music that loud and stay up that late." Razor muttered something about sleep deprivation. "And the little kids get dressed like they're going to a tea party, and then the pre-teens dress like they're going to a disco and the teenagers just don't bother changing their clothes because conforming to the normal rules of a social gathering is not what teenagers do and then the oldest, us, dress like we're part of a Conservative government. With you, Thatcher, as our leader." Razor simply stared at him before sighing.
"I always have to chaperone." She complained, "I never have fun at these things. The little kids cry or puke up on me. The pre-teens try and sneak something illegal in and the most illegal thing that they can get here is…what, more fizzy drinks than they can handle? The teenagers always shout at me to stay up later and then I don't get to spend any time with people my age."
"But you may have a good looking, slightly geeky, British boy to distract your self with." Max winked at her and she shuddered. "Oh, you love it really." Max said and opened the door to her office, before he walked out he turned to her. "You should talk to him you know…" He stopped as Razor looked at him with a you-don't-say look.
"I just, I don't, I can't…how the hell did it happen?" She asked and Max slammed the door shut so hard that she jumped and looked around to him in alarm.
"Like you weren't trying it on." He said and Razor wasn't sure why he was so angry. "I'm fed up of this I care for no one but myself, attitude." Max snapped and she bowed her head in shame. "You need to start acting like you give a damn, and not shrug away every time a guy looks at you-"
"Alright, alright!" She said and shuddered, "since when were you my guidance councilor?" Camille asked and Max shrugged.
"Since I decided you were crazy." She wasn't listening to him any more and she stood up.
"You're right," Razor admitted, "I need to, err, grow up?" He nodded and she smiled. "I need to find Hex-"
"Go!" He shouted at her and pointed to the door.
"And I need to talk to him-"
"Yes." Max agreed as she walked past him.
"I need to be just as kind as I was ten minutes ago!" She exclaimed and opened the door to her office.
"Yep." She turned back to him and shut the door.
"I need to change out of my night clothes." Max looked her up and down.
"Definitely." Max agreed. "Seeing him in your shorts and high school hoodie just scream desperation."
"Camille?" Paulo said sleepily and rolled over in his bed. He looked towards the door, to where the only stretch of light spilt into the room and was surprised to see Hex stood at the doorway. The boy let himself in quietly and shut the door, turned around and almost jumped when, in the first few rays of sunlight; he saw Paulo's sleepy eyes blinking at him.
"What?" Hex whispered back and walked over, with light footsteps, so as not to wake Alex, to his own bed. He sat down gently and rubbed his eyes.
"I can smell Camille." Paulo said simply and Hex covered his mouth as he yawned.
"Right. Well, goodnight." Hex said quickly and Paulo, who was still half asleep, could see Hex was avoiding his eye and conversation.
"What I mean to say," Paulo said quietly as he propped himself onto his elbows and looked over to Hex, "was that I can smell Camille on you." Hex removed his t-shirt and shrugged.
"What does that mean?" Alex murmured as he turned over, pulling his duvet over him, his eyes were still closed. Hex looked to Alex and his face fell, suddenly the icy feeling of betrayal crept into his stomach and nestled itself there.
"It doesn't mean anything." Hex snapped suddenly and as soon as he did this Alex's eyes opened and the blonde's grey eyes looked over to Hex with scrutiny. Paulo, who had been watching Hex for a while, noted some very familiar gestures Hex made. Hex claimed he had no idea what Paulo was talking about but he rubbed his neck and hands as though trying to rid himself of something that had seeped into his skin. Perfume perhaps?
"You kissed her didn't you!" Paulo exclaimed with as much triumph as you can have in a whisper. Alex, who had been fiddling with the folding of his duvet, stopped slowly and turned to Hex who gulped and did the one thing he shouldn't do, he let his hands pass over his lips.
"Did you?" Alex asked after a minute of silence and Hex, who had been trying to ignore them both, looked to Alex quickly and then to Paulo.
"I didn't do anything." He lied and the other two seemed relieved, "I just kissed her." He admitted and it took a moment for it to register with the other two. Alex said nothing, simply stared at Hex as though he had never seen him before, Paulo, on the other hand, started to laugh. Once he noticed the fallen and crushed look on Hex's face, his giggles subsided. "What's funny?" Hex sounded like a small child being ridiculed.
"Nothing," Paulo said, "but, seriously, Razor?" He asked, for once he was genuinely serious. "She's so…" He gave the universal, male glance and gesture for attractive, "but," he said quickly, noticing Hex's raised eyebrow, "you're really…." Again, the simple look, "too." Alex, whose eyes had been stuck on Hex, looked over to Paulo with an open mouth. Paulo's expression faltered. "I don't personally find you attractive, is what I mean to say, but what I'm trying to say is that-"
"Stop talking, Paulo." Alex said sternly and the Argentinian boy looked at his friend.
"Thank you," Paulo said and sat up properly. "So what exactly happened?" Alex sat up too and wrapped his duvet around himself. And so Hex began the long, strange and embarrassing retelling of what had happened in that last half hour.
By breakfast the news had spread throughout the camp faster than anyone could have anticipated. No one knew how the secret spilled so easily but they all knew one thing; Razor, the anarchistic, violent, wonder woman of the camp, had fallen for someone that no one knew the name of. But soon everyone knew Hex's name, people he had never met came up to him and patted him on the back in a congratulatory manner.
Alex was surprised to find he was slightly jealous; yesterday he was the one getting attention for his promotion and all Hex did was kiss some girl. Well, she wasn't some girl; she was Camille. The girl he never knew he knew when he was a child. He shrugged off the weird feeling of inadequacy and went to his first lesson of the day with Hex and Paulo. Their lesson was in the Bell Quad, outside in the fields and they approached what appeared to be an artificial wall in the middle of all the greenery. They met Li and she was jumping up and down with excitement, she cartwheeled past them a few times before jumping up to greet them.
"Hello!" She shouted, trying to suppress her excitement, "we're rock climbing today!" Li exclaimed and bounced away. Soon the boys understood her excitement, before the teacher, a blonde man in his early thirties, had even given the lecture, she'd shimmied up the wall and practically jumped back down to the open mouthed class. The lesson proceeded with a lecture and then, much to Alex and Hex's amusement, Paulo insisted on racing Li to the top. But before he had even got half way, she was shouting for him to come down for she was bored of waiting. And before they knew it they had two hours to spare. Paulo knew he had to go and see Amber, simply to keep her company as she lay, bored nearly to death in her hospital bed. Li had insisted on climbing in her free time and Hex said he needed to tend to something he called a "proprietary system." Even though Alex could guess it was to get away from the other student's questions about Razor. As Alex was left on his own he decided he'd check out the shooting range situated in the fields a few hundred meters away. He jogged there and enjoyed the cool, clean air of the outdoors and the rush of freedom that came with running in open fields.
He approached the shooting range and was greeted by the Range Conducting Officer, or RCO. An ageing man that looked like he was wearing away in his uniform he insisted on wearing. It was so ancient Alex couldn't even recognize it, it may have been the uniform of a different countries army or even another century's army. The man looked down his nose at Alex and swiped the card around Alex's neck, into a small gadget he had attached to a metal wire on his hip. All of Alex's relevant information came up immediately and the man saw the Alex had completed rifle training. Alex was permitted to enter the shooting range.
The outdoor shooting range was required for long distance shooting, in this case two hundred yards. The range was backed by a high retaining wall, to prevent the ricochet of bullets or shots going outside the bounds of the shooting range. There were small booths for each person but they were wide enough for four, in case an RCO and others wanted to watch over you. Alex had retrieved his air rifle and went to the booth he had been allocated. He secured his earmuffs and placed on the goggles they had supplied him with. He loaded the rifle slowly and carefully, so as not to make any mistakes. He placed the rifle butt into the pocket of his right shoulder and lifted his right elbow for balance. He distributed his weight equally on both his feet and secured his grip. He was ready. Alex looked down the sight of the rifle and aligned it with the metal target a few two hundred yards away.
Suddenly, Alex felt a weight land on his shoulder and he jumped. He turned, furious, to the person next to him and removed his goggles and earmuffs. His anger died out as he saw it was only Razor. She looked worried.
"Alex," she said in a manner far too polite than what he was expecting from her, "have you seen Hex?" Alex simply stared at her cat-like eyes, "it's just that," Razor began again as he said nothing, "I need to talk to him."
"No, I haven't." Alex wasn't sure why he lied but he turned away from her, snapped his earmuffs back on, took aim and pulled the trigger. Razor covered her ears as he fired and then looked to the target; he'd hit the center mark. She was never a girl that was good at controlling her temper and Alex's lack of communication was already annoying her. She jabbed him on the shoulder. Again, Alex removed his earmuffs and turned to her.
"Look, I'm being nice," she said and poked his chest, but Alex's eyes had moved instinctively to her bokken which she had curled her fingers around, "now start talking to me like a Superior, or get out of the firing range-"
"You can't do that!" He protested.
"I can and I will, if you don't stop acting like such a weirdo." She exclaimed and Alex shook his head.
"I'm not acting weird-"
"You just shot that target like it caused you personal insult." Razor folded her arms and looked him up and down before her eyes softened. "What's wrong?" She asked and Alex shrugged.
"Nothing." He replied and ran a hand through his thick blonde hair. Camille looked to the ground.
"Shoot the target, dead on the center again and I'll tell you how to gain access to the private firing ranges, miss and you have to tell me where Hex is." She proposed and Alex shook his head.
"I hit the center and you teach me how to use a bokken," Alex changed her terms and she was impressed; it was strange that someone else her age wanted to learn such an ancient art.
"Fair enough." Alex took aim again, Razor covered her ears. He shot. He missed the center by mere millimeters but it was still clear from where they were standing. "he's in our room." Alex muttered, defeated. Razor knew something was bugging him and so took the rifle from his hands.
"I'm rubbish with guns." She muttered and reloaded the rifle. "So if I hit the center, do you still want that lesson." Alex's lips flickered to a smile and he nodded, "and if I miss, you owe me a dance." She murmured and lifted the weapon.
"Wait, a dance?" He asked but she took aim and pulled the trigger. She missed and as she lowered the rifle to check, she cursed.
"Looks like you owe me." She said and handed the rifle and earmuffs back to him. Alex was still wondering how that deal had worked.
"What dance?" Alex asked as she walked away.
"You'll see," Camille shouted back and waved to him. The blonde watched her figure disappear into the distance and he cursed softly; he knew exactly what that feeling of envy was, he just didn't want to admit it. But something Alex didn't know and Camille didn't understand, was that the girl had missed on purpose.
I'm sorry, I know this chapter isn't perfection but I wanted to get the fic moving again, get me back into the KMIYC vibe. I wanted to include a lot more this chapter but I think it's long enough.
Reviews appreciated. Keep my hopes up that I'm not making a mockery of the first AF AU. :)
