To the Camporee!
"Okay, guys. Time to go through this annual bullshit," Max sighed to the campers and his fellow counselors.
"Wait, what's going on?" Nikki asked him.
"The Camporee."
"Aw, man. I remember that." Gwen raised her hand. "Yes, Gwen?"
"What's the Camporee?"
"It's a competition between the three camps around the lake," Max explained. "Us, the Flower Scouts, and the Wood Scouts."
"That's right, Maximus!" Mr. Campbell agreed, hopping behind his counselors.
"For the love of—" Max groaned, face-palming.
"What do we get if we win?" Harrison piped up.
"We get a dumb wooden trophy, a year's supply of smores, our picture in the newspaper, and bragging rights," Max replied with a deadpan expression. Campbell had a guilty expression. "God, what did you agree to?"
"The Wood Scout leader offered me the profits from their popcorn sales if we won. If we lose, the boys here have to join the Wood Scouts." The campers and Tabii gasped. Nikki, Neil, and Max just sighed.
"At least that's the worst that can happen. The Flower Scouts hate us."
"They hate us?" inquired Space Kid.
"Yeah, they do," Tabii replied. "I used to be one, but they hate Camp Campbell because we rough it and we're co-ed."
"Yeah," Max agreed. "There's no way in Hell that the Flower Scouts will want anything from us. C'mon, kids. Let's get ready." They followed Max over to the tents.
Mr. Campbell, on the other hand, was preparing his speech for when Camp Campbell won.
At quarter to ten, the Flower Scout van pulled up. It was driven by one of the two Garden Mothers of Troop 789, Sasha. She was the same age as the counselors at Camp Campbell, and had even gone to Flower Scout Camp with Tabii. Back then, they'd been good friends, but that friendship had been shattered by Tabii abandoning the Flower Scouts to work at Camp Campbell. The other Garden Mother, Erin, was in the seat next to her.
"Ugh, this is stupid," Sasha complained. "Why do I have to come? From what I heard, Camp Campbell has, like, four counselors, their Quartermaster, and Cameron Campbell."
"Because we were told by Miss Priss to keep an eye on the Flower Scouts and make sure they're not infected by Camp Campbell," Erin replied.
"Whatever." They got out of the van and ushered their Flower Scouts over to the flagpole area. Sasha turned to the mess hall and saw traitor Tabii standing with who could only be the adult versions of Neil, Nikki and… Sasha felt her heart pounding as her eyes landed on the last counselor in the row.
He had soft-looking, curly black hair that was held off his neck by a scrunchie and a skin tone that was a lovely sun-shade color. His eyes were a blue-green that seemed to pierce her soul and his face held a devil-may-care expression, along with a few hairs on his chin. On top of that, he had a small, thick silver hoop earring in each ear. His clothes were that of a typical Camp Campbell counselor, but he had a blue hoodie wrapped around his waist and she could tell that his muscles were well-defined from working outdoors, even from the distance she was at. Her breathing became labored.
"Oh my God," she squeaked to Erin, motioning towards the guy. "Who the fuck is that and how can I get closer to him?"
"I don't know," Erin whispered. "I think he's their head counselor. He's not as hot or rugged as Snake, though."
"Shut your mouth, Erin."
"Oh, fuck," they heard Tabii groan. "Sasha and Erin are here."
"Goddammit," the older Nikki grumbled. Sasha flipped her hair and walked over, completely blowing off the first three counselors in the lineup.
"Hello," she purred to the last one, the curly-haired bad-boy type. He looked at her with a mixture of disgust and alarm as she clung to his arm and walked her fingers up to his face. "I'm Sasha, Garden Mother and currently single."
"I know who you are, Sasha," he replied as he tried to pull away. "We were at camp at the same time. It's me, Max." She gasped and loosened her grip enough for him to free himself.
"Max?!" she asked in shock. "Oh my God! You got hot!" Her expression was full of glee.
"Um… thanks?" He backed away, then his gaze went over to the gate. "Never thought I'd say this, but thank God the Wood Scouts are here." He ran towards where the army-style transport truck was pulling up, away from Sasha.
"What the fuck, Sasha?" Tabii asked, pulling her ex-friend's arm so that they were away from everything.
"What? He's hot! What happened to you, Tabii? You used to be cool!"
"I realized that Neil was right—the Flower Scouts are full of ignorant fucking cunts!"
"Well, once a Flower Scout, always a Flower Scout!" Sasha crossed her arms. "You're just here to hit on Max, aren't you?"
"What?! No! Besides, we all know he has a thing for Nikki."
"A thing?"
"You know, like a 'cover-my-lap-with-a-pillow-or-something-until-I'm-somewhere-private' thing."
"Are you serious? Over fucking Nikki?!"
"According to Neil, he liked her back when we were all at camp twelve years ago! It just wasn't like that." Tabii narrowed her eyes. "Don't get any ideas, bitch. Max hated you back then, and he still hates you now."
"Well, I'm about to raise the stakes." She went over to Cameron Campbell and tapped his shoulder. "Mr. Campbell, I would like to propose another stake into this competition."
"Yes, what is it?" he asked.
"If the Flower Scouts win, we get to bring the head counselor from Camp Campbell back to our camp for the rest of the summer."
"What?!" Max yelled. "Uh, no! Fuck no!" Campbell held up a hand to Max's face.
"Hang on, Maximin. And what do we get if we win?"
"For fuck's sake…" Max muttered.
"If you guys win, you get half of our cookie sales," Sasha proposed.
"Deal," Campbell agreed.
"What?!" Max yelped. Sasha smirked seductively as Campbell walked away. Max was rooted to his spot in shock and barely reacted as Sasha slipped her arm around his.
"Well, well, Max, it seems as if you and I will be spending a lot of time together this summer. Hope you like cookies… and me."
Nikki glared at the two and let out a deep-throated growl as she began creeping towards them. Neil and Tabii grabbed her arms before she got too far and she struggled to get free, snapping her teeth and snarling in rage.
"Calm down, Nikki!" David begged her. "We aren't going to let Max go with the Flower Scouts!"
"We aren't?" Gwen asked.
"Would you rather have me or Max as head counselor?" Neil inquired of the campers.
"Max," they all answered in unison.
"Well, then we have to win. We're not losing campers or counselors today."
Needless to say, the first few rounds were a disaster. David and Jaspar managed to pull through a couple like baking, flower-watering, and scrapbooking, earning them some points, but Camp Campbell was in dead last.
"Neil," Max called. He'd managed to get away from Sasha and over to his group.
"What is it, Max?"
"I want you to promise me something. If we lose to the Flower Scouts, you will shoot me in the head."
"What?! No!"
"I'm not spending the rest of the summer as Sasha's toy! If you won't shoot me in the head, shoot me somewhere non-vital so I can spend the rest of the summer in the hospital."
"I'm not going to shoot you!"
"I will!" Nikki said, popping up with an unhappy expression. "I'd rather have you in the hospital than with stupid Sasha all summer. I mean, we just found each other again, and I'm not losing you to her!" She gripped Max's shirt and got within two inches of his face so that they were eye to eye. Everyone stared at her, including Max himself. "Uh, I mean, we aren't losing you to them… heh."
She released Max's shirt and backed away quickly.
The Wood Scout section of the competition didn't go much better. Max had Nikki and Tabii making sure Sasha didn't get too close to him, and he found himself wishing for death. Then, an idea sprung into his head.
"Kids, huddle up!" he called. They all crowded around their head counselor. "I know it seems hopeless right now, but—"
"Are you about to give a 'work together' speech?" Neil asked.
"Hell no. Kids, do not work together. I want five of you to each come up with an event. Dolph, Ered, Harrison, Nerris, and David, you're up."
Dolph was first, and he came up with the idea of painting a perfect replica of a famous work. He was the only one able to do it because neither of the other camps had an art program to that degree.
Ered had motorcycle repair, which was a disaster for everyone except her.
"Dammit!" Sasha cursed.
"Yes!" Max whisper-cheered, pumping his fist.
Harrison's illusion event went just as terribly for the Flower Scouts, who were almost bitten by the camp mascot—the platypus.
Nerris tried to have everyone destroy the one ring.
"Final event," David announced. "Camp songs."
"Camp songs?" asked Daisy, the lead Flower Scout.
"Camp songs." He pulled out his guitar.
"I've got this," Rosemary, another Flower Scout, giggled, pulling out her own ukulele. He stared at her then had a determined expression.
"I know a place that's tucked away,
"A place where you and I can stay.
"Where we can go to laugh and play
"And have adventures every day!
"I know it sounds hard to believe!
"But guys and gals, it's true.
"Camp Campbell is the place for me and you!"
Rosemary strummed her uke, but she wasn't able to match David's energy. That was exactly what Max had been counting on—David's endless energy and eagerness to please him.
"And the winners are… Camp Campbell!" Mr. Campbell announced, handing the trophy to David.
"Yes!" Max yelled, hugging Nikki tightly. She hugged him back, squealing just as loudly. They stared at each other for a second and quickly let go, backing away from each other. Gwen and Jaspar watched the interaction and started giggling.
"Ugh! Whatever!" snapped Sasha. "C'mon, ladies."
"That was fantastic!" Mr. Campbell told Max. "Not that I expected any less from your campers, Maxim!"
"It's just Max."
"What did I say?" He pumped his arm. "I earned two hundred dollars today from the Flower Scouts and fifty from the Wood Scouts. It was a good day!"
He left and the summer residents of Camp Campbell were left alone in the campground.
"Hey, kids," Tabii called. "How about we have a fire and roast marshmallows to celebrate?"
"Woo!" everybody cheered. Max headed down after Nikki followed the campers, watching her the whole time. Gwen noticed from behind him and tugged at Neil's shirt.
"Yes, Gwen?" he asked.
"Neil, does Max like Nikki?" she inquired.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because he stares at her a lot and he grabs her hand sometimes. And he hates hugs and being touched, but he just hugged her all by himself, without her hugging him first." Neil smirked. At least the campers caught on quickly.
"Yes, Max does like Nikki. He's liked her since we were campers at Camp Campbell." Gwen smiled.
"Then why doesn't he tell her?"
"Well, you see, Gwen, when you get older, it becomes harder to make friends. Max and Nikki are really good friends, and Max doesn't want to ruin their friendship on the chance that Nikki doesn't like him back that way."
"But she does!"
"Max is bad at picking up clues like that."
"Can't we help them?"
"Maybe. Come up with an idea and I'll get back to you on that."
At the campfire, Max watched the campers roast marshmallows and make smores. He felt a pang from his own days at Camp Campbell, remembering the day he was initiated into the Order of the Sparrow and handed leadership. He still had the staff, and had even brought it with him that summer. Maybe he'd hand down leadership to one of this new generation.
"Whatcha thinking about?" Nikki asked, sitting down next to her old friend.
"Remember that first summer at Camp Campbell? When the counselors spent an entire day trying to get us to respect nature and shit?"
"There were a lot of days like that."
"Specifically, everyone but me did it because they thought they were getting a prize?"
"And the prize was just a bonfire and a stupid stick that you got."
"I still have it."
"No way! You thought it was the stupidest thing ever!"
"Yeah, well… maybe it's time to pass it down."
"You want to do the Order of the Sparrow thing?"
"I don't know. Maybe?" She smiled.
"Aw… you're not as much of an aloof hardass as you try to make us think." She elbowed him.
"Whatever." He crossed his arms and looked away.
"Max…"
"Fine. It was a fun day anyway, so… you gonna help me?"
"We doing this racist or accurate?"
"Accurate. I feel like they'd appreciate that more."
They were both silent for a moment before David came up and sat between them.
"It's been a good day," he declared to both counselors. His eyes drifted closed and he leaned on Nikki's shoulder. She looked at Max and they smiled at each other.
If you didn't know better, you would've said it was a beautiful family moment.
Next time, Max will perform the Order of the Sparrow ceremony with the help of Nikki and Neil, who actually know what it is. Tabii will be initiated along with the campers, but Gwen is taking notice of Max and Nikki's chemistry.
That will lead to something in the chapter after the next one.
So long and thanks for all the fish!