Chapter Text
It was a beautiful sunny day. A young, red-haired man, about 24 years old, stood in front of the entrance to an old summer camp.
He was wearing a counselor's uniform and looked tired. Beside him was a 10-year-old boy with a huge smile.
"Isn't it a beautiful day, David?" the boy asked cheerfully
"Isn't it a beautiful day, David?" the boy asked cheerfully. He had curly black hair, green eyes, tanned skin, and was wearing a yellow T-shirt.
"No," David replied curtly. "By the way, what the heck are you doing here, Max? Shouldn't you be playing with Gwen and the other kids?"
"Don't swear," the boy scolded him seriously before his beaming smile returned. "I heard two new campers are arriving today, and I came to welcome them!"
David sighed; he was fed up with the boy's over-the-top optimism. His exasperating cheerfulness and energy had made him the camper he disliked the most (which was saying something, because he disliked all the campers). Besides, for some reason, the boy always seemed to find excuses to spend time with him; he never left him alone.
Suddenly, a horn blared. The camp bus had arrived, and with it, the two new boys.
"They're here!" Max exclaimed happily, and ran quickly toward the vehicle. David reluctantly followed him.
The first person to get off the bus was a little girl. She looked about nine years old, was short, had blue-green hair and pink eyes.
She was wearing a red t-shirt and a yellow skirt. She looked around with disgust and confusion.
"This looks nothing like the brochure. Where are the luxury cabins and the gift shop?"
Max approached her and extended his hand."Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you, my name is..." The girl interrupted him with a scream and pushed him away.
"Who the hell let a Mexican bum in here?" she exclaimed in horror
"Who the hell let a Mexican bum in here?" she exclaimed in horror.
—Um... I'm not Mexican, I was born here, although I have Indian ancestry —Max replied, smiling awkwardly.Before the girl could answer, someone jumped on top of her and crushed her.
"Where's the court?!"
He was a tall boy, about 11 years old, wearing a red sleeveless shirt and yellow shorts. He had curly, messy hair and a lot of bandages all over his body.
He had curly, messy hair and a lot of bandages all over his body
"I came here for the sports. When's the first game?" he asked excitedly.
"Sports? What the hell are you talking about, idiot?" the green-haired girl asked, pushing the boy away. "This is the fashion and design camp."
"You're wrong, princess," replied the boy in the tank top. "This is sports camp, Campbell!"
"Don't call me princess, you idiot!" The girl looked visibly annoyed. They started arguing until David interrupted them.
"You're both wrong," he said irritably. "This is Camp Campbell, a camp of camps. We have fashion and design, plus sports and a bunch of other stupid, pointless activities that shouldn't be mixed together, but because our owner is a greedy jerk, he decided to."
"What?!" the girl exclaimed indignantly. The other boy looked confused."I think Co-Counselor Gwen can explain it better," Max tried to calm them, a little nervously. "Follow me, I'll take you to her."Max led them to the cafeteria, while the girl complained and the boy asked questions. David followed reluctantly.
Upon reaching the dining room, they were met with a chaotic scene: tables and chairs were overturned, a small fire was burning in the corner, and a short, brown-haired boy was chasing a taller, red-haired boy with a baseball bat. A blonde girl was drawing a pentagram on the floor, while next to her, a small boy dressed as a rabbi was hitting a tall boy, who was overdressed for summer, over the head with a book. The boy was curled up in a fetal position. A brown-haired boy was talking to a girl—or was it a boy? It was hard to tell—while was repairing a toaster, seemingly oblivious to the situation.
A brown-haired boy was talking to a girl—or was it a boy? It was hard to tell—while was repairing a toaster, seemingly oblivious to the situation
In the midst of all this was a woman with dark hair and red highlights, about 25 years old, wearing the same uniform as David
In the midst of all this was a woman with dark hair and red highlights, about 25 years old, wearing the same uniform as David. She seemed very nervous and was trying to calm all the children and stop the chaos.
"Kids, please calm down," she pleaded in vain, as none of the children seemed to hear her.
"Kids, please calm down," she pleaded in vain, as none of the children seemed to hear her
The two new children watched the scene. The girl with horror and the boy with excitement.
"This is definitely an exciting camp," he remarked to Max, who seemed much less enthusiastic than he was about everything that was happening.
David watched the dining room with boredom and resignation, used to it all. Finally, he grew tired of it and, with a sigh, went inside.
"Okay, everyone stop!" he shouted, and all the children stopped what they were doing to look at him.
"Good," David continued, "Neil, leave Nurf alone and apologize to him. Meredith, clean up that ugly drawing you made. Rudolph, don't hit Preston. Nerris, I want that toaster fixed by six o'clock."
All the children groaned in protest, but they did as the redhead asked.Gwen approached her companion, relieved.
"Thank you so much, David. What would I do without you?"
You'd be dead. These spawn of Satan would have killed you in less than two seconds," the man replied bitterly. "Anyway, we've got two new brats. Explain to them what a scam this camp is and all that crap. I'm going to put out that fire before it gets any worse."
David went to get a bucket of water. Gwen shook her head affectionately.
"Grumpy old David, he'll never change." Then she turned to the children and smiled brightly. "Welcome to Camp Campbell! You must be Neil and Nicolette! I hope you have fun here and..."
Nicolette interrupted her:"Listen, you bitch, can you tell me why the hell this camp doesn't look like the brochure?! This isn't what my mom paid for, damn it!"
Gwen's smile faltered, but it didn't disappear completely.
"Well, little lady, first of all, watch your language. It's not proper for young ladies to have mouths like truckers!"
Nicolette flipped her the bird. Gwen decided to ignore it and continue her monologue:
"And about the second thing, little lady, I have a song that explains it perfectly!"
The woman pulled out a small, purple accordion-like device.
"You've got to be kidding me, are you some kind of Disney princess or what?" the green-haired girl complained, annoyed. Max, on the other hand, was excited, and Neil was curious.
Just as the camp consultant was about to start singing, she was interrupted by David, who had already finished putting out the fire.
"Don't even think about it, Gwen," he said angrily. "We have a deal: I don't read pornography in front of the kids, and you don't sing your stupid songs."
"Fine," the disappointed girl replied as she put her instrument away.
"Will you two stop being so stupid and tell me once and for all where the hell my damn fashion camp is?!" Nicolette was fed up. Her head was pounding, and those two idiots were making it worse. She just wanted to spend three months away from her stupid mother and make friends with other girls who loved clothes. Was that too much to ask?
"Oh, yeah, you're right, I forgot. Sorry, kiddo," Gwen said, her enthusiasm returning. "Follow me, I'll show you!"Gwen led Nicolette and the other two children out of the dining room, forcibly dragging David with them.
They arrived at a clearing. There, the other children were doing various activities with materials of little or no quality:
The boy who was too bundled up (who apparently was named Preston) was listlessly typing on a computer that looked like it was from 300 BC. Until the device caught fire, and the boy sighed in resignation.
The boy dressed as a rabbi (whose name was Rudolph) was furiously kicking a deflated American football. Beside him, the blonde girl, whose name was Meredith, was writing in an old notebook with crumpled pages.
The short, brown-haired boy was a little further away from the rest, squeezing stress-relief toys until they broke.
The red-haired boy, named Nurf, was near a broken punching bag. He gave it a gentle tap, immediately burst into tears, hugged the bag, and apologized to it.
The brown-haired boy in a lab coat was mixing chemicals with some flasks carved from wood, while chatting with Nerris, who wasn't listening because them was still repairing the toaster.
"The fashion and design camp is over there!" Gwen said with a huge smile, pointing to a part of the clearing.
There were a bunch of poorly made homemade mannequins, a table covered in old fabrics (many of them dirty), and a rusty sewing machine that was puffing smoke.
Nicolette laughed in disbelief.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Watch your language, young lady," Gwen scolded her.
"Shut up, bitch!" The little girl exploded. "This camp is a fucking joke! This isn't what my stupid mother paid for, and you and that skinny redhead are fucking scammers!"
"She didn't lie," David told Gwen, but she ignored him.
"Listen, Nikki, can I call you Nikki?"
"No."
"Okay, well, Nicolette, I know this wasn't what you expected, but I'm sure you'll have a great time! A good fashion designer like you can do amazing things with any material, right?"
"Suck my balls, idiot!" Nicolette wasn't going to stay and listen to nonsense. She was a five-time undefeated beauty pageant winner, and this cheap camp wasn't up to her standards.
"You're a girl, you don't have balls," Max corrected her shyly.
"Girls don't have balls?!" Neil asked, surprised.
Nicolette pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed wearily.
"Am I the only one with a brain here?" she asked desperately.
"Yes," David replied with a hint of pity. Deep down, he knew scamming children wasn't right, but this camp was the only place he'd been given a job because of...his record.
There was an awkward silence, broken by the enthusiastic Gwen.
"I know how to break the tension! A song!" She quickly pulled out her accordion and started playing.
David started yelling at her to shut up, Neil watched the scene amused, and Max sang along with the counselor.
Nicolette observed the situation with disdain when she saw something that caught her attention: the camp bus.
Eureka! That was her chance to escape.
While Gwen continued singing and David was yelling, at Nicolette she took the opportunity to grab Neil and Max by the arm and drag them away from there.
While Gwen continued singing and David was yelling, at Nicolette she took the opportunity to grab Neil and Max by the arm and drag them away from there
"Where are we going?" Max asked, confused.
"As far away from this horrible camp as possible," the girl replied without even looking at him, completely focused on getting to the bus as quickly as possible.
"That's good," Neil commented, letting himself be dragged along with a smile. "This place was starting to get boring..."
Max, on the other hand, wasn't happy.
"What do you mean, leave?! We can't leave! This camp is the best!"
"Shut up!" the green-haired girl yelled at him, when suddenly she realized something: Quartermaster, the man who had brought them to camp, was heading for the bus.
He was much closer to the vehicle than they were, so he would arrive first, and they wouldn't be able to leave that horrible place.
Nicolette stopped, devastated, letting go of the two boys.
"We won't make it," she said, on the verge of tears. "That damn old man will get there before us, and we won't be able to leave."
Max sighed in relief.
"Good. Now let's go back to David and Gwen. I want to keep listening to the song."
However, Neil stopped him, a determined look on his face.
"No, we won't give up," he said confidently.
"And what the hell do you plan to do?" Nicolette asked angrily, wiping mascara from her teary eyes.
Neil didn't answer. He just hoisted the girl onto his shoulders, tucked Max under his arm, and started running at an impressive speed toward the bus.
"What the fuck?" Nicolette exclaimed in surprise.
Quartermaster was about to get on the bus when he was suddenly tackled by one of the two children he had brought to camp today, knocking him to the ground. The boy was carrying the other girl on his shoulders and one of the older campers under his arm.
"What are you doing?!" the poor old man asked, surprised, as he tried to get up.
"Leaving here," the boy replied with an arrogant smile, then snatched the bus keys from his hands and climbed into the vehicle, still carrying the other two children.
"WHAT? NO! WAIT!" the man shouted desperately, but his pleas fell on deaf ears, as the bus began to pull away. The Quartermaster quickly got up and started chasing after it.
Meanwhile, David had resigned himself to his companion continuing to sing and covered his ears when he happened to look up.
"Hey Gwen, if the Quartermaster is chasing the bus, who's driving it?" he asked.
The woman stopped singing and saw that what her friend was saying was true: the Quartermaster was chasing the bus, which seemed to be driven by...
"OH MY GOD!" she exclaimed in horror, quickly dropping her instrument and starting to run toward the moving vehicle.
David took advantage of his partner walking away to take his accordion and throw it in the trash.
Meanwhile, Neil and Nicolette celebrated their successful escape.
"We're getting out of this filthy place!" the green-haired girl exclaimed happily.
"Yippee!" Neil, behind the wheel, was equally excited.
Max, on the other hand, was anything but happy.
"I didn't want to leave," he complained angrily. "Why did you force me to flee with you?"
"Because we needed an illegal Mexican immigrant to blame if we got caught," Nicolette replied matter-of-factly.
"I already told you I'm not Mexican!" the boy exclaimed, fed up with that racist and boastful girl. "I was born here, I have Indian heritage, and my parents came to live here completely legally!"
"Mexicans, Indians, they're all the same thing," the girl replied indifferently.
"We're not even from the same continent!"
"Hey guys, we have a problem," Neil interrupted.
"What kind of problem, idiot?" Nicolette asked.
"I can't drive," he admitted, embarrassed.
Nicolette and Max looked at him in silence.
"I don't know how to drive either," Max finally said.
"Me neither," Nicolette added.
"We're screwed, aren't we?" Neil asked.
"Yes," the green-haired girl acknowledged.
The three children screamed, terrified for their lives.
Gwen and the Quartermaster ran as fast as they could after the bus, but the old man, due to his age, quickly tired.
"We won't be able to catch them," he said, panting. "They've already escaped."
"Not on my watch," the woman replied decisively, quickly increasing her pace and catching up to the vehicle, which left the man stunned.
The co-counselor somehow managed to grab onto the vehicle's door and climb onto the roof.
"Not on my watch," the woman replied decisively, quickly increasing her pace and catching up to the vehicle, which left the man stunned.
The camp counselor somehow managed to grab onto the vehicle's door and climb onto the roof.
"We're going to die, we're going to die, we're going to die..." Max was having a panic attack, wondering why he'd befriended those two rowdy kids instead of staying and chatting with Nurf or listening to his co-counselor's songs, when he suddenly realized that she was on the roof of the bus.
"Gwen!" he exclaimed happily.
Nicolette (who was yelling at Neil) turned around when she heard her friend's shout. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of the woman.
"How did this bitch get here?!" she exclaimed in surprise.
Gwen kicked out of the bus window and climbed inside.
She pushed Neil aside and took control of the vehicle, stopping it just in time before it crashed into a tree.
"Thank you so much for saving us!" Max said, crying tears of joy as he hugged the adult.
"You're welcome, buddy," Gwen replied, returning the hug and letting out a sigh she hadn't realized she'd been holding in.
"That was awesome! Can we do it again?" Neil asked excitedly.
"I don't think so, champ," she replied, ruffling his hair.
Nicolette, on the other hand, wasn't happy.
"We were so close to escaping," she lamented. Gwen ignored her complaints and, along with the other two children, led her off the bus.
Once they got out of the vehicle, they were greeted by David and the Quartermaster.
"Shit," David cursed, "what the hell did those little devils do to the bus window?"
"Actually, it was me," Gwen said, embarrassed. "I had to break it to get in."
Before David could answer, he was interrupted by the Quartermaster:
"Are you alright?!" he asked, hugging Gwen. "Are the children okay? Are they hurt? Should I get the first aid kit? No, never mind, I'd better call an ambulance..."
"Relax," the woman replied, trying to calm him down. "The kids and I are fine, right, guys?"
"Well, I'm a little traumatized, but I think I'm still alive, I guess," Max answered with a grimace that was meant to be a smile.
"I had fun," Neil said, grinning broadly.
Nicolette said nothing, she just stared at the floor, annoyed.
Gwen smiled at the old man.
"See, Quartermaster? We're fine!"
The man didn't look very convinced, but he shrugged.
"Okay, if you say so. Anyway, I'm going to town to buy lunch."
The older man got on the bus and left.
Gwen watched him walk away with a smile, then turned to the children and spoke to them seriously.
"What you did today was very dangerous," she scolded them. "I expect you to be more careful from now on."
"No, Gwen, YOU'RE the one who needs to be more careful," Nicolette replied, her eyes annoyed and determined. "Now that these two idiots and I are friends, nothing will stop us. We'll make your life miserable and escape this stupid camp."
Then she grabbed Max and Neil by the arms.
"Let's go, guys, we have a lot to do."
"YES!" Neil exclaimed happily, letting himself be led by the girl.
"But, I don't w-" Nicolette didn't let Max finish, as she dragged him along with them.
David and Gwen watched the three children walk away.
"Well, that was a disaster," David commented.
"What are you talking about, Davey?" Gwen asked. "That was great! The new kids fit right in, and Max made two new friends!"
"I think he was more like kidnapped," the redhead replied, watching Max try to break free from Nicolette's grip in the distance.
"That's how you and I became friends, right?" the woman replied with a smile.
"We're not friends," her companion responded, heading towards the counselors' cabin.
Gwen watched him go and shook her head affectionately.
"Old grumpy Davey, he'll never change."