Recap from chapter 16- In chapter 16, Spot and Kim have a heated struggle for power alone in the girls cabin with the other seniors listening at the door. Once Spot realizes Kim is not trying to move in on his territory he admits to liking her. Finally the two almost kiss, but they are then interrupted and have to go to practice. When Blink hears Spot say that he likes Kim he storms into he boys cabin followed by Mush. Kid Blink then tells Mush that he wanted to date Kim and then he accuses Mush of spending to much time with Mandy to even notice he's alive.
Chapter 17
The practice at the pavilion felt like the longest practice yet to everyone in the section, even though in reality it was the shortest practice of the day. All of the underclassmen were bewildered by Spot and Kim being to occupied watching each other to play the music correctly. Also Kid Blink wasn't talking to anyone. Blink was just staring hard at his music with a stone cold look in his eye. Mandy was watching Mush who was watching Blink. This worried Mush because he was afraid of losing his best friend. This worried Mandy because she was afraid of losing Mush. To top all of this off, the section kept getting yelled at by the directors for not playing things correctly and for not paying attention to what was going on around them. Finally once practice was over, it was free time for the two and a half hours until dinner.
"So, do you want to hang out with me during free time?" Kim asked Spot.
"Sure. There are some really cool trails in the mountains that I know, if you want to do that." Spot informed her.
"Sounds great!" Kim smiled. The two then took off down the trail.
"Mush, do you want to play hide and seek with me?" Mandy inquired walking in front of Mush as he started toward Kid Blink.
"No thanks. I think I need to hang out with Blink right now." Mush said pushing past her, following Blink as he walked down to the cabin.
Mandy frowned to herself. She knew she had to occupy herself so she wouldn't think of Mush being with Blink instead of her. She looked around at the remaining band members in the pavilion. She didn't really know any of them and was interested to make some new friends. She quickly noticed a girl with long brown hair putting away a trombone and she started to walk over.
"Hey Mandy, would you like to hang out with me during break?" A bass drum with blonde hair and glasses asked as she passed him. Mandy turned toward the boy. She was pretty sure he was a junior, but she couldn't remember his name for the life of herself. "I'm Dutchy, incase you forgot." The boy added.
"Oh that's right!" Mandy exclaimed, "I'm sorry, I just couldn't remember your name, but yeah I'd love for you to show me around this camp during break."
Dutchy smiled and held out his arm. Mandy linked hers with his and they walked in the opposite direction of Blink and Mush.
Eventually, Mush spotted Blink as he neared the cabins. He jogged to catch up with him and gently grabbed a hold of his shoulder.
"What?!" Blink asked angrily as he kept walking.
"What the fuck is going on with you!" Mush demanded. This caused Blink to stop and turn toward Mush; after all it wasn't every day you heard Mush cuss.
"Come again?" Blink inquired.
"What's going on? I'm your best friend, and I deserve to know what I did to piss you off, or what Mandy did to make you angry, or what this thing with Kim is and why I didn't know about it." Mush requested.
"Where do you want me to start: you and that girl or Kim?"
"Start with me and Mandy." Mush decided.
"First off this is our senior year! We had plans for this year! We were here for five minutes and you totally ditched me for that girl and haven't spoken to me since! I mean I was fine with it at first, but then all you've done this morning is hang all over that girl! If I hadn't stopped listening to Kim and Spots' fight and went to the cabin, you would have never even noticed something was wrong and you would be off macking with that girl right now!" Blink fumed, "And Kim… well that is just a whole different story! For once I like a girl and she seems to be interested in me too, bum eye and all! Then, of course, Spot comes swooping in and steals her away from me! I mean, do you realize I haven't had one girlfriend, ever? They all get too repulsed by my eye patch to even get to know me! You wouldn't notice that though, would you? You're to busy dating every girl you meet! Ya know what Mush!? I'm sick of it!" Blink shouted. He then stalked off into the cabin, leaving Mush confounded behind him.
"Hey! She has a name ya know! It's Mandy in case you forgot, not 'that girl!'" Mush shouted after regaining his composure.
Mean while in the middle of nowhere, Kim followed Spot up steep rocks to the top of a mountain. She looked down the other side to see a straight drop into a gorge.
"Where are we, Spot?" Kim asked, nervously.
"Devil's Hill," Spot replied, "We're not suppose to be here. They say it's too dangerous for us kids, but I come here every year. Apparently many years ago, someone fell and got severely hurt," Spot said, calmly.
"Wonderful…" Kim whispered uneasily, "So why are we here?"
"So I can do this…" Spot smirked. Spot then grabbed her waist and pulled her tight to him and kissed her hard on the lips. Her lips were soft and she smelled like pear and strawberries. The two stood kissing for a long while. Finally, they pulled apart, smiling.
"That was nice. I've been waiting all of camp for that kiss." Kim beamed. She looked deep into Spot's cool, gray eyes. Suddenly, Kim lost her footing and fell into the gorge.
"Kim!" Spot shouted, grabbing a hold of her hand as she fell, "Hold on!"
In the meantime, across the park, Dutchy led Mandy around showing her everything about the area where they were staying. The two saw where the laser light show was held, the zoo, the bus stop that went to the pool, and all around the preserved nature areas.
"Wow, this place is really cool!" Mandy smiled.
"I'm glad that you like it!" Dutchy grinned back.
"I'm delighted that you asked me to come with you. I'm really happy I got to know you. Now I know one more person at this camp," Mandy told him.
"Well the reason I asked you is because I thought if I got to know you that I would like you, and I do," Dutchy explained.
"I like you too," Mandy decided. A wide smile crossed Dutchy's face and her then leaned in and kissed Mandy firmly on her mouth.