Monday, it was Monday and Max was beginning to feel better, meaning he had spent his entire weekend feeling like shit. He couldn't complain really because he did get more comfortable around Gwen and David, but he was lying when he said that he forgave Neil. He didn't forgive him, he was gonna get him back… and he had a plan.
David was in the middle of showing the other campers how to row a boat, and honestly, Max was getting bored. He just stood there and thought about how he was gonna make Neil feel like shit. He had a couple of ideas but he wasn't in the mood to make elaborate set up like he usually does.
As soon as David finished talking, all the campers dispersed and went back to their normal camp activities. Max walked over to Nikki, "Hey Nikki, let's get out of here, I'm bored as fuck."
Nikki looked over at Max in surprise, "Are we setting trees on fire again? Cuz that was fun!"
Max rolled his eyes, "No, we are not setting trees on fire..."
"Aw, why not?" Nikki looked over at Max and sighed, "I really wanted to burn it down…" Nikki's eyes lit up "LET'S RAID THE PANTRY!" Nikki grabbed on to Max's arm and began dragged him towards the mess hall.
Max stopped her and grabbed onto her overall straps, "Incorrect, we are not going to get food, we are going to do something I've been planning on doing for a while now…"
"And that is?" Nikki looked at Max and noticed he was deep in thought.
"I have no fucking clue… which is why I need you to help me."
"Okay." Nikki looked over at Neil, "We should go get Neil… He's a smart human-"
"NO." Max didn't mean to scream that out, "I mean… no... He looks busy…"
Max and Nikki looked over at Neil who was talking to Space Kid, "See, told you, He's busy."
Neil saw his two friends and smiled, "Wait I'll be right back Space kid." He walked over to Max and Nikki, "Hey guys!"
"Hey, Neil!" Nikki greeted Neil and looked over at Max, who just waved.
"What are you two doing?"
"Oh, we were -"
"Nothing! We weren't doing anything."
Neil jumped the sudden outburst, "If you say so…"
An awkward silence.
"Sooooo... I'm gonna go back over there and help Space Kid with his ship… See you guys later?"
Max gave a short nod and watch as Neil went back to Space Kid, who seemed rather excited for him to return.
Nikki looked back at Neil, "Why are we leaving him behind?"
"Because, fuck Neil"
"I thought you forgave him…"
"It's called lying."
Nikki looked at Max and gave him a worried look, "Are you sure about this Max? I mean… It was an accident…"
"Relax," Max brushed off her comment, "It won't be that bad…"
Nikki shrugged, "If you say so…" She walked with Max to the activities circle, "So what exactly are you gonna do?"
"I don't fucking know…"
"Hmm," Nikki dripped down to the ground and began picking grass, "Well, he has a computer you can mess with."
"Oh shit… you're actually on to something."
Nikki gave an approving smile, "Of course"
An idea came into Max's head, "I'm gonna fuck up his computer."
"But he's been working on his computer since he got here… you messing around would- OHHHHHHHH "
"Exca-fucking-sactly."
"Well, The computer is in his activity tent which is right across from where he is now… I'll distract him while you get in there."
"No need, he's over there being a nerd with the other nerd… we'll be fine." Max helped Nikki off from the ground and they casually walked closer to the tent.
They entered Neils science room and walked over to his work desk. Sitting on top was a vintage computer, grey and old, but new at the same time. Max turned it on and up popped a screen with a bunch of numbers and letters and weird symbols.
Max let out an irritated sigh, "Damn, and here I am thinking he had internet… we could have totally-"
"Played games!"
Max looked over at Nikki, "uh… yeah, games. That's exactly what I was gonna say…"
Nikki walked over to Max and saw the coding for the computer, "Ew, that looks nasty."
"Very, and it also looks very valuable."
Nikki looked at the computer and tilted her head, "no, they look like something that's worth a lot, you know"
Max scrolled through the computer, thinking about how he was gonna execute his plan. "So, delete all this shit?"
"I guess…" Nikki shrugged, "Max… are you sure you really want to destroy everything he's worked for?"
"Yes."
Nikki looked at Max and back at the computer.
"Jesus fucking christ Nikki, if it bothers you so much then… I'll delete half…"
Nikki sighed and walked to the entrance of the tent, keeping an eye on Neil.
Max looked at the coding on the computer and scrolled through it. He hummed in thought. Deleting half of the code seemed like a pretty reasonable idea… He did deserve it after all… But something told Max that maybe it wasn't the best idea. Just in case, Max took out Davids phone and took pictures of the code he was about to erase. Once he had them on the phone he began hitting the backspace button. He stopped as soon as he hit the halfway point and smiled. "Welp… That was fast..."
"Neil's gonna be mad." Nikki looked back at the computer screen.
Max shrugged, "so what? I'll fuck him up."
"Max I don't think-"
Max rolled his eyes and turned to face Nikki, "I told you, relax, if you're worried about getting in trouble then you'll be fine because this was my idea."
"No, I just think this is stupid and pointless"
Max sighed, "why don't you call Neil over… tell him we need him over here."
"Okay…" Nikki ran out of the room in the direction to Space Kids activity spot.
As she got closer to her destination, she saw them work on a small machine, that actually looked like a rocket ship, "oooooooohhhhhhh prettyyyy"
"Oh, why thank you, Nikki!" Space Kid rolled under from under the ship and got up. He dusted himself off and walked towards her, "It wouldn't have looked like this if it weren't for Neils help!"
Neil smiled, "it's whatever, it was actually pretty fun." He turned his attention back to Nikki, "You and Max finished whatever it was you guys were doing?"
"Oh yeah! That's why I'm here! Max wants to show you something!"
"Max wants to show ME something? Is it wrong that I'm a little scared?" Neil nervously laughed.
"Nah." Nikki tried her best to not sound upset or disappointed or something.
Neil sighed and began to follow Nikki, "See ya later Space Kid"
"Bye! Thanks for helping me!"
Neil waved back at the small boy as Nikki began leading him towards his lab area. "Wait… Nikki this is my lab…"
"Yeah!"
"Why are we going to my lab? Wait, were you guys here the whole time?! How did I not see you guys go in there?"
"Shhhhhhhh" Nikki walked towards his little lab booth and went inside the small tent that held his computer. "Max, we're home!"
Max stood next to the computer with a shit eating grin. "Hello"
Neil felt himself begin to panic… Max was right next to a computer he built from scratch and a 2 months worth of coding lines, "Max. Don't you fucking dare-"
"Oops, too little too late you piece of shit. Half of your ones and zeros are gone."
Neil stood there in shock and looked at his computer screen, he walked towards it and began scrolling through his work. He began realizing that everything he's been working on for the past month was gone. He felt a surge of rage wash over him.
"You asshole." Neil looked up at Max and furrowed his brows, "you did this shit on purpose didn't you?"
"On purpose? Me? I would never!" Max smiled and laughed, "Maybe if you had kept your science shit away from me this would have never happened…"
Now, Neil wasn't exactly the fighting person. In fact, he would avoid any type of confrontation at all cost, but this was different. This wasn't a random stranger on the street or the popular football player from school… This was Max. His friend.
Neil took a step back from his computer and turned to Max, "You Motherfucker." He grabbed Max by the neck of his hoodie, "DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO FINISH THAT CODE SEQUENCE? DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS THAT COST ME?"
Max grabbed Neil's hand and pulled it away from him, "Well, first of all, lose the fuckin attitude. Second of all, I already told you that you... your fucking science BULLSHIT is a load of fucking crap."
"You ERASED HALF OF MY PROGRAM! THAT WAS TIME THAT I WON'T EVER GET BACK!" He pulled his hand away from Max's grip and instinctively pushed Max back.
Max looked at Neil and regained his balance, "Don't fucking start with me"
"Start? Oh no, we already have begun." He threw the first punch.
Max grabbed his arm and pulled it down, causing him to fall onto the floor, Max got on top and began beating the shit out of the poor kid. Neil, however, surprised Max when he began to fight back.
Nikki watched the two boys fight until she decided that enough was enough. She casually walked outside and went over to David and Gwen, who were outside near the entrance of the activity field, "Neil and Max are fighting"
David looked down at Nikki, he didn't even notice she was there. "What?"
Gwen looked down at Nikki, "Did you say they were fighting?"
"yep."
She sighed and told the small child to take them to Max and Neil.
Max and Neil were still wrestling with each other when David, Gwen, and Nikki arrived back.
"God Dammit, we leave you little turds alone for one fucking second…" Gwen watched as David broke them apart.
"DAVID! I WASN'T FINISHED KICKING HIS ASS"
Gwen already knew what was about to happen so she turned to Nikki, "Sweetie why don't you go… I don't know, be Nikki somewhere else?"
"But I wanna see the action! It's like a real-life movie!"
"I don't know what kind of movies you watch but trust me, the movies are better. Now, go."
Nikki ran towards the activity area and joined the other campers play with the newly built spaceship.
Gwen walked over and looked at the two boys, "Explain yourselves"
Max wiped some blood off his hands and looked up at Gwen, "He came at me first!"
Neil was about to tackle Max again if it weren't for David keeping them apart, "You deleted my program… Something that took me months to perfect! You took away two months from me…TWO FUCKING MONTHS" Neil began to tear up, "I worked day and night on that shit and now it's gone! You erased it! I was almost done with it!"
Max watched as David pulled Neil aside and began tending his injuries. He noticed Neil wipe away tears and he couldn't help but feel kinda bad about it. He knew what it was like to have something you treasure to be taken away by someone you thought you could trust.
Gwen grabbed onto Max's shoulder and pulled him aside, "What the fuck Max!?"
Max shrugged, "Fucking nerd. If he didn't poison me in the first place this would have never happened… Him and his stupid experiments"
Gwen sighed, "Jesus Christ, is that what this is about? Didn't you get over this?"
"...No"
"You know you aren't the first person to get sick at this camp right?"
"That's not the point here."
"Then what is Max? Because beating the shit out of Neil sure wasn't." Gwen began to wipe off blood off his face and hands and disinfected some cuts on his face.
Max winced at the pain. He looked over to David and Neil and began feeling guilty over the events that just played out. He looked back at Gwen and didn't know how to respond. The revenge idea played out better in his head…
"Apologize." Gwen didn't look at Max.
"What?"
"You heard me."
Max furrowed his eyebrows, "No"
"You're being a dick right now Max, and you are about to lose one of the only friends you've got." She looked over at Neil and then back at Max "But then again… It's up to you" Gwen finished tending to his wounds and got up. She walked over to where Neil and David were at. Leaving Max alone in the corner of the tent.
"Neil, Neil, Neil… I'm all for watching people fight but damn…"
David looked over at Gwen and let out a small laugh, "He'll be okay…" he looked over at the kid in front of him, "Right Neil?"
Neil nodded.
"Good. Now I'll be right back with an ice pack. Don't go anywhere." David got up and walked out of the room. Gwen followed him out.
Now it was just Max and Neil in the room. It was awkward. Neil was sitting down on his computer chair and Max was still standing in the corner of the tent.
"Ummm. So, I should probably mention that I didn't erase your code shit…"
"What?"
"Well... I did... but it's not exactly gone..." He walked over to Neil and pulled out Davids phone, "see, I took pictures of it so you wouldn't have to figure it all out again"
Neil took the phone and almost began crying from excitement. "You didn't delete anything!?"
"well no, I did."
"You know what I mean!"
"Oh then no? Look, I'm not that big of an asshole…"
"well…"
"Shut the fuck up and be happy I didn't erase your entire existence"
"Sure." Neil laughed. He looked over at Max, "Wait, why did you take pictures?"
"Jesus fucking christ Neil, don't make this into a big deal, I just wanted to get back at you and have you feel just like I did…"
"You mean you wanted me to feel like complete shit?"
Max nodded and opened his mouth to say something but David walked into the room.
He gave an ice pack to Neil and he proceeded to place it on his head. David then gave Max a couple of Band-aids to put on his hands.
"Now, I need you two to be nice to each other. Friends are important and you have to respect them." He focused on Max, "Even when they make mistakes… reacting the way you did Max was unacceptable."
Max made himself seem unamused, "Yeah yeah whatever."
"And you Neil, this would have never happened if you would have followed the rules and not bring your science into the mess hall."
"I won't do it again"
David smiled, "Now, I want both of you to settle your differences and stay out of trouble… I'll be in the mess hall preparing your lunch for today if you need me!" and with that David left.
Max held out his hand, "Let's go on with our stupid lives and pretend this never happened"
"Neil shook his hand, "Agreed"
They both laughed and walked outside to join Nikki.
A/N: WOW! Have you all met writer's block? because I did... she's a bitch. I know, it's been a fucking month since I last uploaded but oof. I'm sorry!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It took me a while to write but here it is! This is also the last chapter in the story... well, I have an epilogue but in terms of the actual story... it's pretty much done! AH what a bittersweet feeling! Remember that comments and reviews are always welcomed and Happy reads my little shits! See you all next week!