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“This is fucking stupid.” The rugged teen spat with a scowl, his mop of dirty black hair bouncing as he set his head on the hood of the police car. He had some dignity left to make sure the officer couldn’t look at his bruised face, and he didn’t want to see the look of disappointment of the person who was searching him.
It had been a good run, all things considered. A very stereotypical and unproductive one, sure, but a good one nonetheless. During the last few months of school, Max just gave up and stopped going while his parents were off on an important business trip, and spent the majority of his time partying and chipping away at his father’s expensive wine stash. As expected, they weren’t happy when they got back to find their house trashed and a thoroughly sloshed Max mumbling to them about how he essentially dropped out and that he wouldn’t be attending for the final month before summer.
So naturally, after many hours of screaming and slapping, his wonderful parents drove him here to this hellhole, fully intending to drop him off at his least favorite place in the world (although it was arguably much better than his home life nonetheless). But an argument broke out - one that consisted of Max adamantly telling his thoroughly incompetent parents that they were dropping him off nearly one month early - that left him having to walk the rest of the way from town. Which, of course, wasn’t going to happen, not if Max had anything to say about it. His father, whether it was in the heat of the moment or because he was finally snapping, had clocked him in the face prior to speeding off, shouting something along the lines of them not coming back to pick him up.
Which Max was completely fine with, seeing as he’d packed with the full intent of never returning, anyhow.
“Fuckin’ dumb.” Max mumbled to no one in particular, still scrolling through the last couple of months in his mind. He’d been crashing at miscellaneous places, never staying at the same place twice, often stealing enough for fast food and cheap booze, anything was better than crawling back to that stupid camp a full month early - yeah, he was gonna go back eventually, but just to annoy David. Before ultimately deciding to hop on a bus to take him out of this shithole (and maybe back home to sort this out, maybe his dad was lying, maybe he didn’t mean it, they’d have to let him back, then they’d drop him back off at camp like clockwork, right?), he thought he’d stop by Camp Campbell to leave a present for David and Gwen before he returned later that year.
Of course, halfway through his highly detailed penis mural on the sign pointing the way to camp, he’d heard sirens approaching and took off as fast as his short little legs could take him.
Which, as the officer that currently held him in custody would say, honestly just complicated matters.
The police officer ceased his lighthearted humming and took the items out of the teenager’s pockets, making sure to place a hand on the kid’s back to keep him steady.
“Well, I 100% agree with you on that, kiddo. Vandalizing a sign on a busy street in broad daylight is just asking for trouble. And trying to scamper off didn’t help you out very much either, did it?” He asked, setting the nearly-empty can of spraypaint aside.
The kid in question clenched his fists, angrily tugging at his handcuffs.
“Why does it even fucking matter!? That place is shit! I say it’s an improvement, I’m sure the kids’ll love it.”
“Well, you’re probably not wrong,” The officer let out a slight chuckle before his weirdly cheery voice faltered, tossing a black lighter on the hood beside Max’s head.
“A lighter?” The office questioned.
Max glared up at the officer, his fiery red hair neatly tucked beneath a uniform cap. “How old are you?”
“Oh, wouldn’t you like to fucking know, copper?”
“Cigarettes… wallet…” The officer muttered, emptying the content of Max’s pockets beside him.
Max huffed.
“So I’m a criminal now, is that it?”
“You tell me, kid. What’s your name?”
“Fuck you.”
“Language.”
At that one word, Max tensed, his eyes widening in realization.
“... Wait.” He let out, trying to stand up straight before the officer pushed him back down.
“Hey now let’s not do that okay-”
“Wait wait wait wait wait… wait a fucking second. There’s no way. There’s no fucking way in hell. There’s just no way. No, no no no. Absolutely not, absolutely fucking not!”
The police officer looked over to get a better look at the kid’s face.
“Why are you… Max?”
With a slight wince, Max gradually looked up at the officer.
David. It was fucking David. Of course it was fucking David.
“Oh come on, are you fucking kidding me? You’re a fucking copper!?”
David flung the boy around and knelt down to get a better look at his face.
Sure enough, it was one of his previous campers. Although he’d grown slightly taller, he was still incredibly short. If it were possible, his hair grew even fluffier, nearly covering his eyes and bouncing in nearly every direction. There was a bruise just beginning to fade beneath his eye.
“Max, what are you doing this far outside of town?” He said, ruffling the boy’s hair.
Max tilted his head and shook it rapidly. “You tell me, you’re the officer!”
“No, I mean, don’t you live like, four hours away? Why are you here?”
“What do you think, camp man?” He spat the nickname venomously.
“Huh, that’s weird, your parents did usually drop you off early, but never this early.”
“Yeah well,” Max sighed. “There were complications. Let’s just hurry up and get this over with okay? I’m already stuck with you all summer, I’d rather not spend more time with you than I have to.”
David hopped back up, retrieving his radio.
“Hey Sal, it was just Max! We’re on our way back now.” He said before leading the boy to the open door of his car.
“Hey yeah speaking of that shit, how long have you been a copper!?”
David shrugged as he drove from the scene.
“Well, I told Sal about the business that happened with Mr. Campbell, and he offered me a position to help me keep the camp up and running! It’s not a full time gig, unfortunately, but it pays the bills. He said I’d make a pretty good candidate.”
“Really? You?”
David shot him a look from over the seat. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean? Besides, if it means being able to give back to my community, all the better! So let’s get you the station, sort this whole situation out, and get you back home so you can see me again at camp!”
Max groaned.
It had been a good run.