So sorry for late update! School started, and it was hard to find time to continue this story. I hope you like this chapter? Thanks for sticking with me XD
Alois shot down the track like a bullet, and came into a small lead early on. The other runners were hot on his tail, the race too close to call.
"Go Wendy, go!" Peter shouted to his partner, set up on the track stationed next to Ciel.
Everyone cheered for their respective teammates. Not joining in, Ciel silently watched Alois run.
The blonde reached the end of the track and turned around before he bolted back toward Ciel. He kept a small lead, arms pumping. Near the back of the incoming runners was Luka, who was paired with Edward, and McMillan, who was with Derrick. The latter tripped on the muddy ground before picking himself up once more.
Alois came closer…, closer…, slapping Ciel's outstretched hand, the blue-haired boy began running with all his might (which was not much).
"Go Ciel! Run!" Alois shouted.
Ciel neared the end of the track, not paying much attention to his position relative to the other runners. Arms pumping and head down, Ciel skidded to a stop before he turned around and sprinted back. He flew across the mud and experienced a sensation akin to flight.
"Almost there! Faster- fas-"
With a crash, Ciel tumbled onto one of the rocks that separated his designated area from Peter and Wendy's, his body splayed in the mud. Lifting his face from the dirt, Ciel tried to stand but couldn't find the strength.
"YOUNG MASTER!" From Ciel's pocket a voice blared- Sebby.
"This system has no logic," Ciel thought. "I turned off my phone, but Sebby can still speak. And he seems to know what happened to me."
"Watch out!" Wendy shouted to Peter as he headed straight for Ciel. Ciel's leg nearly tripped the boy, but he neatly jumped over it.
"See ya, cheater," Peter waved behind his back as he passed by Ciel.
"Uggh," Ciel groaned in response. He turned his head to get a view of the remaining participants. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alois. The blonde facepalmed, not willing to look at his partner out of disappointment- or rage- Ciel couldn't tell.
Peter currently had the lead, Jumbo close behind him. Sieglinde was at the back of the group, trailing behind her opponents. Every step she took made her face contort in pain.
"Her feet are so small," Ciel noticed. Sometimes laying in the mud has its advantages.
Peter neared the beginning of his track. Jumbo was only inches behind him. Edward, who was close behind Jumbo, suddenly put on a burst of speed, and then-
"What a show, darlings, what a show!" Grell smiled, showing off his teeth once more.
"Yes." William agreed. "Now, we will announce the group that won today's activity. They are-"
"PETER AND WENDY!" Grell interrupted, glomping Peter and ignoring Wendy. Peter wrestled himself out of Grell's grip and, dripping with sweat, went to congratulate his partner. After their celebration, they both reverted their expressions to smug smiles.
"What's our prize?" Peter asked, impatiently. Wendy eagerly nodded her head.
"Your prize is not getting punished." William stated.
The winning duo looked stumped.
"That's right!" Grell chimed in. "I forgot to mention that anybody who didn't win today will get a punishment~"
"What kind of tyranny is this?" Ciel thought while in the mud. "They must be joking."
"And the losers get punished EXTRA~" Grell wiggled his body suggestively. "Speaking of losers, that mud isn't very attractive on you, Ciel," the redhead pouted.
Finally finding his strength, Ciel dragged his body out of the gunk and began walking toward the campers.
"So much better!" Grell celebrated, but didn't help as Ciel began to wipe mud from his frame.
Despite the effort, clumps of it still hung off Ciel's body. Alois looked at him in disgust.
"Look what you did now. I would've won without you as my partner," Alois whispered truthfully to Ciel.
"Why did you hesitate, then?" Ciel gathered his courage. "Doll and Jumbo both wanted to pair up with you yet you turned them down. It's almost like you wanted to be with me, isn't it?"
Alois growled through his teeth, livid. He raised his fist slightly, but then seemed to cool off and stalked away to talk to Peter and Wendy. They once again formed a group of three, Ciel finding himself as isolated as always.
"I wonder if Sebby would have helped me. He did call my name, after all," Ciel found himself wondering. He was being silly, of course, Sebby was only an app.
"Enough chatting!" William's voice shot through the noise of the campers' conversations. "It's time for your punishment. Ronald, you take over while I escort Peter and Wendy back to their cabin."
"But William," Grell complained- he saw no reason why Ronald should be put in charge. The redhead was his senior, after all.
"No buts, Sutcliff." Will concluded. "Ronald, explain the punishment now."
"Yes sir!" Ronald saluted William as the latter headed back around the lake in the opposite direction, Peter and Wendy on his tail.
Ronald addressed the campers, "as today's punishment, you will prepare a lunch for me, Mr. Spears, and Mr. Sutcliff, and the winning group. You will then take care of the dishes from breakfast. We will now go to the counselors' cabin where we will begin. Any questions?"
Doll raised her hand, Ronald nodding for her to proceed.
"When do we get lunch?"
"You don't," Ronald replied, much to the campers horror. A collective groan rang out from the kids, Ciel included, who knew they would spend the rest of the afternoon starving.
The counselor's cabin wasn't a cabin at all. It looked more like a mansion, the huge house surrounded by pools of water. Ciel looked up at it in awe.
"I wish I lived in a house as grand as that," he thought. Although he was rich, Ciel didn't live in a very big house. Rachel Phantomhive thought that smaller spaces bring families (and people in general) closer together - a theory with which Ciel and his father didn't necessarily agree.
Ronald opened the door and stepped inside, leading the children to the kitchen. Stacks of dishes were piled between two small sinks. On the other side of the kitchen, a countertop piled with glistening food awaited.
"Because Mr. Phantomhive and Mr. Trancy's group was dead last, they will be taking over dish duty. The rest of you, I expect a high quality lunch. If anyone needs me, I'll be right outside the kitchen," Ronald said as he walked out the door.
Watching the counselor leave, Ciel turned to Alois.
"We'd better get started. There's a lot of work to get done," the small boy told the blonde. Alois leaned closer to Ciel, backing him up against the wall. Their chests almost touched as the taller boy stared down at the shorter. Had they been the same height their faces would have been merely inches away.
"DON'T YOU DARE ORDER ME AROUND, PHANTOMHIVE!" Alois yelled, pairs of eyes flicking on him as the other campers watched what was going on. "I'll have you know that I am only in this mess because of YOU! I would have won! WON! But now, you'll get what you deserve for humiliating me! Cheaters never win," he added.
The last thing Ciel saw was Alois's raised fist, then a flash of black, and then nothing.
:( Poor Ciel
Anyway, I promise things will get better for him from next chapter on. :D
Maybe leave a review for me? (*.*)
Thanks! :)