As the sun set over the campgrounds, the boys entered the cabin where they found five small boxes neatly packed in the corner of the room. The group sat in a circle on the dusty cabin floor as they passed out and opened their packages.
Mordecai mumbled as he shuffled through his box, "Clean duds… new contacts…socks… deodorant…"
"Courtney did us all a favor." Liam teased.
"Shut up," Mordecai paused as he pulled a piece of notebook paper from the bottom of his box, smirking as he stared at it, "Well, looks like my little brother drew me a picture."
"Aw, how old is he?" Junior asked.
"He's almost three. I'm sure he's been getting antsy; I've been gone so long. He doesn't even like it when I leave for school."
Cameron chuckled as he opened his box, "Yeah I'm sure my brother has been having a party since we left."
Tissue paper covered the inside of his box, protecting the contents inside. Cameron struggled to lift the large object inside, setting it in the middle of the circle.
"What is that, a radio?" Mordecai questioned.
"Yeah," Cameron explained, "I mostly listen to my CDs in here. I didn't bring any with me, so I'm not sure why I got it here."
Cameron stuck his hand back into the box to make sure he cleaned it out. The others watched his face light up as he pulled a small box from the package.
"Now here it is, Cameron's picks!" He exclaimed as he held up the small black box filled with jewel cases.
Addison queried, "Cool. You got any 3rd Bass in there?"
"I don't think that's in the 'picks' box," Cameron clarified, "I keep all my CDs organized by genre Except my favorites, those go in here."
Liam squinted as he stared at Cameron's box, "Why does your package say Ronnie on it?"
Cameron turned red as he rotated his box, "Don't look at that."
"Why don't you open your box next?" Junior offered to Liam.
Liam sighed as he ripped the tape off the top, "There better be a hot stone massage in here."
Liam stared down into his box and picked up the small items laying on top.
"My sketchbook. Guess that's easier than drawing on loose paper. And some bread, obviously."
"I thought you couldn't eat bread?" Addison teased.
"Yeah, I don't eat the cheap stuff." Liam peeked back in his box and grabbed the clothing filling out the bottom. He stared at the thin knitted sweater at the bottom of his box for a while before holding up to his face, getting a small sense of home.
"Glad I'm not the only one that got clothes." Mordecai chuckled.
"Well, let's hope the pants have been hemmed because I didn't bring a belt."
Junior chimed in as he began to open his box, "I could definitely use a couple of extra shirts."
He looked into the box and smiled as he pulled the items out.
"My favorite throw, some cheez-its and a note. Not too bad."
"Read the note." Addison demanded.
"No way." Junior deflected, "If you get a letter, you can read it."
Liam sighed, "Please no, there's more than enough letters to go around already."
"Hold on! Wait until you see what I got packed in here!" Addison bragged while he ripped open his package. The teen raised an eyebrow as he observed the large black book packed inside his box; tucked inside the front cover was a small note.
"What is it?" Cameron asked.
Addison handed Junior the book while he read the note, "Is this the picture you were talking about?' What picture was that?"
"Oh, Junior noted, "Well here's a blast from the past. It's pictures from the reunion party. Makes you wonder how old we all were at the time."
"Wait…" Addison snatched the book back and laid his gift on the floor for the others to see. He opened the front cover to reveal a photo of a young child smiling towards the camera while holding onto a small baby.
"Okay," Addison explained, "This is the first ever picture of me and Zarra. The one we talked about at the campsite. I guess I was wrong about the wedding part."
"Zarra? What are you talking about?" Mordecai asked.
Junior chuckled, "Addison thinks they're gonna get married or something."
"Well what else is in this book?" Cameron wondered as he flipped to the next page, showing a collage of photos showcasing the large group at the party. Most notably, a side-by-side photo of the original taken at the dock and a recreated version from that day.
"Woah, it's the whole gang," Mordecai marveled as he stared at the photos, "A lot of them aren't even recognizable anymore. How many of us do you think were there?"
"Well, Junior speculated, "the date on the photo is March 7th. Probably anyone older than Rosie and I. Rosie's birthday is on the 3rd and mine's the 21st."
"March 7th was the day I met Addison and the start of my decline." Liam noted.
Addison gibed, "Shut up Liam you probably weren't even invited."
"Crazy you'd think there could be a party without me." Liam reached over and skimmed through the pages until he recognized a few faces near the back of the book.
He pointed towards a picture of two kids sitting under a blanket on the gymnasium floor.
"That's me and Ike," He explained, "I've seen this picture before but I never knew where it was from."
"Ike's a fat baby." Addison noticed.
"Well he was probably twice my age at that time."
The five boys sat on the floor and spent time looking through Addison's gift. Sharing memories and stories as they uncovered old photos of themselves and their parents.
"Okay okay," Addison announced as he closed the book, "You can look at the book later. I'm getting tired and the book is mine so I'm taking it to bed with me."
"Hey Addison," Cameron intervened while pointing back at his bed, "Where did you get sheets for your bed? And how do I get some?"
"I didn't put sheets on my bed," Addison refuted, "I don't even sleep on the bottom bunk."
Addison got up and inspected the seemingly vacant bunk he'd always used for luggage. He ran his hand across the mattress and felt the silky soft sheets that covered it. While lifting the pillow, he noticed a small piece of cardstock just underneath.
"Reserved for V.T" Addison read, "What does that mean?"
"That's really weird," Mordecai pointed out, "It's unlike Bobby to be handing out special treatment. Especially this late in the game. But who is V.T?"
"I think it's short for Liam." Liam added.
"No no," Junior suggested, "I think we should all just leave it alone until Bobby comes back. Who knows what's going to happen with this crazy game?"
"Okay, but if Callum pops out of that mattress in the night, I'm just gonna say now, I called it." Mordecai teased. The boys had a laugh and went to bed for the night, knowing that everything that they thought they knew about the competition was about to change forever.