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Now, on to the story!
The next morning, Elliot woke up with a scare! The whole world was shaking. He opened an eye and everything was moving. Another eye opened. Wait, he was in a tent. Why was the tent shaking? It was then that he noticed a silhouette against the light outside of his tent, reaching out to his tent.
"Wake up, sleepyhead!" a familiar voice called out. It was David. He must be the one shaking Elliot's tent.
With a grumble, Elliot sat up and pushed his covers away.
In a very over the top voice, David asked, "Are you decent?"
Elliot grumbled softly, "What do you think". He was not yet ready to face the world. Teen boys needed their beauty sleep!
Elliot was caught off-guard, again, as the zipper rushed down and David's head appeared in the tent.
"Good, you're up!" he said, beaming.
"No, I'm not, I'm still in bed," Elliot said exasperated. He did not have the energy for this level of awareness.
"Nope, big monster is definitely up!" David laughed, "Breakfast is in ten!" and off he went, zipping the tent back up.
Elliot looked down, damn, caught again! A huge piece of morning wood rested against his tummy. Yay, puberty!
While searching for a clean pair of clothes, he was happy to find his boner to have gone and his pair of shorts to fit decently again. He pulled on an oversized camo-shirt with the text `ADVENTURE' in bold white letters across the front. He loved the loose fit, and camo just screamed camping.
His toe was hurting much less, but with the bandage, he did not dare to put on his flip-flops. He pulled on a pair of low socks and his old comfy sneakers. He was ready to face the day!
As Elliot stepped out of the tent, he was met by bright sunshine, a bit of a breeze and the last few hours of a very silent campsite. That was bound to change as the other young campers came in. Elliot trotted off to the communal area and noticed no-one was at the fires. They must be in the main building he figured, used for most meals when all the campers were in, or for rainy day indoor activities. He took a right, past the campleader's building, and entered the main hall.
Everybody, well, the few people off the staff that were in, were here, sat at the tables, enjoying their breakfasts. Elliot noticed a free seat next to David and went over.
"Mind if I sit here?" Elliot asked.
To which David replied, "Not a problem, but I'd grab some breakfast first. Self-service, you know."
Elliot picked up an empty tray and went to the serving line. Indeed, bread was laid out, yoghurt, muesli, fruits. He made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and he grabbed a bowl of yoghurt. Fully loaded, he returned to his seat and sat down next to David. He found he was really hungry, and he enthusiastically attacked his sandwich.
Hugo, the older camp leader, was sitting at the same table and looked on in amusement. "You ate like half a cow last night, and you're still hungry? I'll alert the kitchen to order more supplies!" he said, laughing.
Elliot was too busy eating, besides, talking with a mouth all sticky with peanut-butter was just not an option. So he let it go, and he continued to wolf down his breakfast.
When he was done, he sat back contentedly, and he asked, "What time do the other campers come in?"
David looked at his watch, and answered, "First should be coming in in thirty minutes. But the busses will arrive early in the afternoon, they take a bit longer."
Elliot felt himself getting excited. He was looking forward to having some more people around, people his own age. Time to get camp started! He started rushing out but heard David calling him back.
"Young man, we do not leave our empty trays like this!" David admonished him.
Elliot rushed back, grabbed his tray and deposited it in the returns cart that was standing ready for this. Again, he rushed out, and again David called him. Elliot stopped in his tracks and walked back to David.
"Young man, we do not leave the table... without a hug!" David said, smiling beatifically.
"Seriously!?" Elliot exclaimed, but in all honesty, he did not mind at all. He gave David a hug and this time, he was able to get out the door.
Hugo turned to David and asked, "I see you're already bonding with the campers, for your sake, I hope you're not expecting a hug from every camper after breakfast."
David smiled, got up, walked over to Hugo, and hugged him while Hugo was still sitting down.
"I know you don't want to be left out, big guy," David grinned, "you can have a hug too!"
Hugo smiled, okay, perhaps the hugging things wasn't a bad idea. There were worse ways to start the day. Speaking of which, where had the coffee gone to?
-------------
Elliot had rushed out of the main building, past the firepits and the showers, and he ran towards the parking lots. It was a bit of a walk, or in his case, a run. The entry to the campsite was quite a bit away, so that cars, busses and things like that did not bother the campers. The main road was even further away, a bit of a drive through the forest, even by car. Camp Greenfields was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. A huge coniferous forest on one side, a big lake on the other side.
Elliot was now running up the hill, and he started to run out of breath. The gates suddenly appeared between the trees, and he continued at a normal walking pace. When he got there, the gates were only partway open, so he pulled the huge swing gate all the way open, fixing it in place with a big spike that went into a hole in the ground.
When he looked over the parking lot, which was not all that big, there was already a car there. A big silver grey Volvo. It looked stuffed to the max, and there was a lot happening in the back seats, apparently.
Suddenly, one of the back doors swung open, and a smallish boy almost rolled out, quickly followed by an even smaller bundle of boy. Both got up and Elliot got a good view of them. They were younger than him. Quite a bit younger, he guessed they might be ten, or nine. He was not entirely sure. Both had wild, blonde hair, a bit of a young surfer look, actually. Right down to board shorts and tie-dye shirts!
Elliot walked over to the car, and he could hear the boys arguing with someone in the car.
"But mom!!! We can't wait out here for another hour! It's boooooring!" the older boy whined, stamping his foot on the sandy parking lot. Something was said back from inside the car, but Elliot was not able to hear what was said.
The younger boy now piped up as well, "Someone's already here!". He must have spotted Elliot walking up to them.
Elliot gave a little wave to the boys, and he could now see through the car windows that the kids mom must be sitting behind the wheel. "Hi folks!" Elliot greeted them all, "Welcome to Camp Greenfields!"
The kid's mother also came out of the car, looking rather harried. "Are you the welcoming committee? Aren't you, a bit young?" she said, looking at Elliot as if sizing him up.
"No ma'am, I'm just the first camper in, I arrived early yesterday," Elliot explained, "we have just finished breakfast and David, one of the camp leaders, said the first campers would arrive in half an hour, so I came here to see who's coming."
The boy's mother was looking at her watch, the car, and at her eager boys. She sighed, "Do you think they'd mind terribly if we started unloading? I'm way early, the gate looked closed and no one was here, so I figured we'd wait."
David looked at the boys, they were almost jumping up and down with excitement. "I'm sure nobody would mind, but it is a bit of a walk, and I see you have quite a lot of gear."
Both boys shouted, almost simultaneously, how they'd carry `Everything!'.
The boys' mom relented. The gates were open, someone was here, and she would not mind getting back on the road a bit early. She had been up since five in the morning, getting everything packed and in the car. Finding lots of things that had not been packed, re-arranging everything to make it fit in the car. She did not understand how two boys that went camping could need so much stuff! And they were not even bringing their own tent! She'd be happy to get unpacked, kiss the boys farewell, head home and drop right back in bed!
"Okay," she said, "let's get unpacked, boys!" She reached back in the car, pushed some kind of button, and the back hood popped open.
Both boys started grabbing shopping bags and two large duffel bags out of the back of the car. It got all piled up next to the car and the pile was reaching quite a height.
It looked like the duffel bags had straps on them so that they could be carried on your back. But where the duffel was already very large on the older boy, the younger boy looked more like the duffel bag had a boy attached to it, instead of the other way around.
Elliot walked up to them and extricated the younger boy from the clingy duffel bag. "Here, let me help you," he said, "I'm Elliot by the way," he introduced himself.
Getting his arm freed from the straps, the younger boy held out his hand and very seriously shook Elliot's. "Hi, I'm Jack," the high-pitched voice of the boy named Jack said, "and this is my brother, Tobias," he said, pointing at his brother.
Tobias grabbed two more bags and was almost keeling over under the weight. He nodded his head in acknowledgement. The weight of the bags had stymied his need to be very talkative.
Elliot grabbed the remaining duffel and said, "I'll help you guys. Jack, if you'll take the rest of the smaller bags?"
Within a minute, all three of the boys were fully packed. The boys' mom locked the car, and the three of them headed back to the camp site.
When they were almost there, both younger boys looked rather flustered and tired. "Almost there guys!" Elliot said, trying to motivate them.
Suddenly, Scott, the photo guy, came around the corner of the shower building, and he saw the troop arrive. "Ho there, who are these pack-mules!?" he exclaimed.
The boys' mom rushed forward to shake Scott's hand. "Hi, I'm Susan, we are the Wilson's," Susan said.
"Ah, right on time!" Scott said, then checked his watch, "Nope, you're actually early. Not a problem though." At that, Scott turned to Elliot, "Would you mind helping the boys get setup? The shed is open, you can grab a tent there."
Elliot grinned, feeling rather smug that he was deemed old and experienced enough to help set up the new campers. "Sure thing... Boss!" he said, smiling.
Scott directed Susan to the camp leader's building. "If you'll come this way, we'll arrange any paperwork, and you can grab a cup of coffee."
Susan was not going to decline a cup of coffee, she seriously needed it. And of course, there's always more paperwork to sort out. She followed Scott to the building and left the boys to do their own thing. She'd say goodbye when everything was in order.
Elliot headed off to the field his own tent was set up on. He had already taken a liking to the boys and wanted to make sure they'd be set up close to his own tent. Tobias and Jack picked up the bags they had put down just a moment ago, and followed Elliot, moaning all the way.
At Elliot's field, he dropped the duffel close to his own tent, and both boys quickly followed. There was now a pile of bags, and two very red-in-the-face boys next to Elliot's tent.
"Well guys, this is mine," Elliot said, "Would you like to set up camp here, or did you want to use one of the other fields?" he asked.
Not being weighed down any more, Tobias, as the older brother, quickly answered, "Here will be fine! At least we'll know one person here already that way."
"Good point!" Elliot said, "Let's go find you guys a tent!"
All of them returned to the communal area, and way in the back, there was indeed a shed-like building. One end open to the firepit and camp-area, the other end could be opened to face the lake. All kinds of things were stored in here, but the main things the boys noticed was the large rack with tent bags, and a huge rack with canoes stored in them.
Tobias and Jack rushed over to the canoes, touching them. "A bit rough, but they'll do!" Tobias said.
Jack looked inside one of the canoes, "They look solid enough. They did look prettier in the on the website, though."
Apparently, both boys knew a thing or two about canoeing. Elliot joined them and said, "Well, that's the magic of photoshop. Any scratches and bumps magically disappear, and the canoes look brand new!" He went over to one of the older ones and continued, "These have been here before I first came to camp here, and they get used like, a lot!"
He grabbed both boys by the shoulders and turned them back around, "But we're here to get you guys some accommodations, so let's find a bag that says it's a two-person tent!"
The boys went through the rack of tent bags and quickly found a purple bag that had a label on it with two people. They had found what they had been looking for, and dragged it from the shelf.
Supplied with their tent, Elliot walked them back to their field. Both boys carried one end of the longish bag. Must be the tent poles in there, making the bag so very long.
Back at their field, Elliot started to wonder what he should do next. Obviously, the tent needed to get set up. Should he help them? Would they even know what to do? He decided to ask them.
"Tobias," Elliot asked, "Do you guys know how to set up your tent?"
Tobias sniffed at that, "Of course we do!". Jack was not looking as convinced as his brother had sounded, Elliot noticed.
"Well, okay, hop to it then!" Elliot said, pointing at the bag.
As the two brothers got started with unpacking the tent, Elliot reached back into his own tent and got his folding chair out. He sat it up in the grass in front of his tent and he sat down in it. It turned out that watching the two brothers try and set up their tent was actually quite an amazing show. But if Tobias was so very convinced they could do it themselves, he certainly was not going to offer any help, unless asked of course.
He noticed other campers arriving as well now. Some carrying bags with their own tents, others the brightly coloured bags that Camp Greenfields used to store their tents in. Some kids joined them on their field, seeing there were already things happening there. While others thought that was the perfect reason to opt for one of the virgin, empty, fields, more uphill.
After half an hour, something that looked like the skeleton of a tent had arisen, and both boys were working up quite a sweat. It was at that point that the boys' mother came, and she hugged each one in turn, gave a small speech about behaving themselves and not getting into any trouble. And if they did, to make sure to tell one of the camp leaders, or this very nice boy they had already met. Elliot's ears perked, hearing the praise.
After two big slobbery kisses, and some final delays, the boys' mother, Susan, finally turned around and left. Jack looked like he was instantly homesick, while his older brother, Tobias, actually looked rather relieved. "I thought she'd never leave!" Tobias exclaimed.
Jack punched his older brother on his arm, "Not nice!". Jack appeared to be a bit of a momma's boy, being very protective of her. It got Elliot wondering how old the boys truly were.
"Hey, Jack," Elliot called out and Jack looked up, "How old are you guys? I'm thirteen, by the way."
"Oh, I'm nine," Jack answered.
"And I'm ten, almost eleven!" Tobias chimed in as well, immediately disappearing behind a piece of tent fabric he was trying to figure out.
"You wish!" Jack laughed, "Your birthday is not even close!"
"It is," Tobias complained, "Only three more months!"
"That's a, ehm...", Jack appeared to be calculating, "That's a quarter of a year! That is like, forever!"
Elliot was enjoying seeing the two brothers arguing like this. He sometimes missed having a brother, or a sister. But he had always been an only child. Elliot decided to throw a bit of oil on the fire.
"Well, at least any "ten-year-old would be able to set up a simple tent. Wouldn't you agree, Tobias?"
Tobias' head re-appeared from behind the tent fabric with a sour smile, "Sure, no problems here!". And he tried turning the piece of fabric around again, trying to figure out which end went up.
Elliot knew the tents were not at all easy to set up. Which made it even funnier to him to see them struggle. It had been a relief to him that his new tent had been much easier, even though it had been a bit tough to handle. The Greenfields tent consisted of lots of different pieces that had to be attached first, before they formed an actual tent shape that you could throw over the tent poles. They were never going to figure it out without first attaching all the individual pieces. And if you did not know they were all colour coded, you could spend the entire day trying to make sense of it. Elliot decided to have a bit more fun with the boys, and he gestured to Jack that he should come over, quietly. He kept making hushing gestures, to make sure Jack knew not to tip off his brother.
Elliot gestured Jack to come even closer, and he indicated that he wanted to whisper something, "See the strings on all the tent flaps?" he pointed them out, "And the coloured pegs?" he pointed those out as well. "You need to attach all of those first to put the tent together. Red goes with red, green with green, and so on."
Elliot could see Jack's face light up as he realized what they had been missing. He continued whispering, "Don't tell your brother, just get to it and make it look like you knew all along," Elliot said, giving a Jack a big wink.
Jack beamed and almost started laughing, he could only just contain himself. He walked back to the strewn out tent and started looking for matching colours. Having found two matching sections, he started to casually connect them together, and moving on to another section.
Tobias noticed something was happening and appeared again, as if from behind a curtain. "What are you doing!?" he demanded of Jack.
"You know, just putting the tent together," Jack said as innocently as possible, "weren't you too?"
Tobias looked confused, Jack seemed to have put together the entire front section of the tent. With a zipper, rain flaps, all the works. How did he do that?
Elliot could no longer contain himself, and he stood up from his chair, laughing. "You put all the coloured pegs through all the same coloured holes and strings first," he explained, "and then you pull the entire thing over the tent poles. And of course he could not help adding, "Jack figured it out right away, see?"
And indeed, Jack had just finished another section.
Tobias huffed, "You could have told us earlier."
"I would not have dared," Elliot said, "You were dead set on doing it yourself."
Tobias wanted to argue, but he could see there was no point. He had said they could do it themselves. And he had at no point asked for any help or pointers. So, finally, he relented. "Elliot, could you please give us a hand? We were the first ones in today, I don't want us to be the last ones to finish."
Gladly, Elliot gave the boys a hand. Within mere minutes, all the sections had been connected. They now had a ground sail, an inner tent with bug screens and an outer tent to keep the rain and the wind out. To Elliot, it looked pretty much like what he had had last year, so he had good hopes they had got it right.
Next, the boys had to put in the ground sail, throw the outer tent over the poles and then attach the inner tent to that from the inside. This is where Jack came in really handy again, being the smallest of the three of them. He easily got into all the corners of the tent and attached all the pegs through all the loops. Or at least, he thought he had got them all.
With a cheer, Jack attached the last peg, and he crawled out of the tent, butt first. Elliot loved seeing the small butt wiggle backwards. The three of them stepped back and took a good look at what they had built. It could have been a little tighter, but there was no mistaking, this was a tent. A big and very red tent. Not as big as Elliot's though. But the boys would fit nicely, they were smaller than Elliot.
"Now, let's get unpacked!" Tobias shouted, throwing in the first two bags through the tent opening. Quickly, the two boys got everything stowed away in the corners of the tent.
Elliot looked up at the sun, it was almost at it's highest, should be time for lunch soon. His stomach rumbled again, luckily the boys were still in the tent, and they could not hear him. Elliot was taken by surprise as he saw a bright white pair of tight-fitting undies wiggle back out of the tent, followed by the rest of Tobias, who appeared to be missing quite a lot of his clothing.
"There is no room to stand in there!" Tobias complained, reaching back in the tent and grabbing a clean shorts and a fresh t-shirt. He busied himself getting dressed outside the tent, hopping on one leg trying to get his shorts on as quickly as possible, looking around to see if no one was looking. He did not mind Elliot seeing him in his undies, Elliot was a boy as well, but this was a mixed camp, and he dreaded standing here in his undies being ogled by a girl!
Finally, he had his shorts on, and he pulled on a bright yellow t-shirt.
Being distracted for a moment by just how bright and yellow Tobias' shirt was, it took Elliot a moment to register what he was seeing coming out of the tent this time. Bare feet, bare legs, bare butt, bare... wait, bare butt!?
And indeed, Jack came crawling out of the tent, stark naked, dragging along a pair of clean clothes as well. Jack stood up, and apparently did not care very much about other people seeing him naked.
"You're, ehm.., " Elliot started, "Naked!"
Jack looked down at himself, of course he was naked, he needed room to get dressed! He hardly ever wore undies, they always crawled up his but, or wedged themselves awkwardly in his crotch. Whenever he had the chance, he went commando. Jack was still of an age where he could not care less who saw him naked. He was just a little boy, with little boy bits, and nothing interesting happening. He did not understand the fuss people made about being nude. Still, he knew he should not stay standing out here in the nude, so he pulled on his shorts, but kept his shirt in his hands.
Elliot was still recovering. Jack crawling backwards out of the tent had been quite a sight. A tiny bum and a pink hole staring him straight in the eye before Jack had got up. He got flustered, and his body decided to embarrass him yet again by pitching a tent in his shorts. Luckily his shirt was very long and this covered most evidence of what was happening, but he did find he had to adjust himself a bit.
Tobias, being already a bit more alert to signals like that, and only too aware how awkward the whole sudden-boner-syndrome could be, realized why Elliot had had to adjust himself and found it rather funny. He was very much used to finding his younger brother naked all the time and in the weirdest of place, and this did not affect him any more. It had, for a while, at first. But not any more. Still, the oddest of things could set still set him off. Just last week, he grabbed a banana in the supermarket, and he boned up instantly! Over a banana! Mind you, he was not that much bigger than his younger brother, but growth had definitely started to happen! Soon, he'd be part of the big boys gang.
A whistle sounded, loud enough that everyone in camp must have heard it. Elliot's ears perked up, he knew that whistle. And, from the look of other campers turning around and heading to the main building, there were a lot of repeat visitors. That was the mealtime whistle, lunchtime!
Elliot grabbed Jack and Tobias by the hand and started dragging them along.
"What's happening?" Tobias asked, all confused.
"My friends... Dinner, is served!" Elliot said theatrically, "It's lunchtime!"
The campers that knew what was happening made sure to drag along all the new campers and within a few minutes, all the tables were full in the main building. It looked like there were close to a hundred young campers. Camp Greenfields was filled to the brim.
Inside the main building, there were now five long rows of tables, most fitting around twenty campers. As Elliot looked around, he noticed that, somehow, the tables seemed to have organized themselves mostly by age. At each table, one of the camp leaders was present. Elliot quickly found David's table and saw there were still a couple of empty seats. He took Jack and Tobias with him and they all sat down.
David noticed Elliot and his new buddies, "I see you've already made some new friends, Elliot," he said.
"These two were early birds as well, I caught them arriving early in the parking lot," Elliot said. Then he pointed to Jack first, "This is Jack, he's nine," next he pointed at Tobias, "And this 'know-it-all' is Tobias, he's ten."
"Almost eleven!" Tobias instantly added.
David looked both boys over. They were younger than Elliot, but they looked like a cheerful bunch. He was happy to see that Elliot was looking over them like a big brother. It was something the Camp Greenfields tried to encourage with the older campers, to help look after the younger or new campers.
"Hi guys," David started introducing himself, "I'm David and I am one of the camp leaders." He was now grinning and pointed at Elliot, "I got acquainted with that monster over there yesterday, and he hasn't stopped bothering me since!"
"Ha!" Elliot exclaimed, "You're one to talk! You kept barging into my tent yesterday!"
David turned a slight hue of red remembering yesterday all to well, not just the slight mishap with the tent. He'd have to be careful around these guys. "Anyway, welcome to Camp Greenfields!", he welcomed Tobias and Jack, "Just sit tight for now, Hugo will be welcoming everyone officially in a moment, and then we'll grab lunch."
And, as if he had heard his name, their appeared Hugo, on a small, raised, podium area at the right hand side of the rows of tables. All the campleaders made sure their table got quiet and Hugo made a microphone appear from behind his back.
"WELCOME!" he bellowed. "A warm welcome to you all to Camp Greenfields. I believe you have all pretty much settled in and setup your tents. Some looked a little, ehm, special, but as long as it's not storming, I'm sure most of you will be allright."
He looked around at all the campers. Gave them all a good stare. "I am Hugo, I have been around Camp Greenfields for ages. And I hope to be here for many more years. I'm one of five camp leaders, there's one of us at each table you'll find. Well, except for my table ofcourse!" Hugo said, and he pointed at the table furthest away, which promptly erupted in a cheer.
"Next, we have Jennifer's table," he continued, pointing at the next table, and Jennifer stood up and gave a little wave to everyone.
"Secondly, and you may have already seen him running around with a camera, we have Scott. Our camp photographer. He'll make sure everyone will get a nice photographic reminder at the end of camp, so you can share your adventures with friends and family. And, ofcourse, spread the word about Camp Greenfields, so that our fields may for ever be fully stuffed full of tents!" Hugo continued.
"Third," and he pointed at the second to last table, "we have Blake. He's our survival expert and will guide groups of you in workshops with fire building, trekking through the woods, survival foods and wood carving." Blake stood up and everybody got a good look of the twenty-five year old, black haired camp leader. He looked like the kind of guy that had been an emo kid, but grew up less emo, but still not completely out of his all-black phase. You would not have figured him to be a survival expert.
"And, finally," he pointed at our table now, "we have our new camp leader David. Twenty two years old, and a bit of a water rat. He'll be in charge of the boating trips, swimming lessons and all that."
Elliot kicked Tobias under the table to get his attention and started cheering. Tobias joined in, and that was all that was needed to make the entire table cheer for David. David got up, turned around so that everybody could see him, and his bright red cheeks, and he quickly sat down again.
"Monster!" he hissed half-heartedly at Elliot.
Elliot only responded by sticking out his tongue at David.
Hugo tapped the microphone a few times to get everyone's attention. "Okay, a few camp rules! First of all, and most important, we are all here to have a great time! Makes sure you do. If anything is bothering you, ask or tell an older camper, or come to us. We are here for you!"
Hugo took a deep breath, "Second, safety always comes first. Even though you are camping, the campers are not allowed to have a knife of there own. There will be activities, like the wood carving, where you will be supplied with a camp safety knife by us, which you will hand in at the end of the activity. This is a very serious rule, if we find anyone with a knife, outside of a designated activity, camp's over for you!" he let that sink in for a moment. This rule was instituted two years ago, when a camper had had an accident and she had actually lost a finger because of that. There had been a lawsuit, a lot of trouble, but fortunately the judge had decided that the camp or the camp leaders were not to blame. Still, the camp's owner, Mr. Green, decided that this should never happen again.
"Third," Hugo continued, "you are allowed into the woods, but you are not allowed to go past the yellow marked trees without the guidance of a camp leader. Except for special survival treks, but we will explain how that works when you get there." Hugo looked at everyone again, "Seriously, you can not miss the yellow markers. You can go in quite a bit into the forest before you reach them, but you should not get lost if you do not pass the yellow markers. Feel free to explore, this is a nature camp, after all! There are some really special things and sites to find in the forest."
Hugo took out a big whistle. It was what had called all the campers to lunch. "We have this big whistle hear, you heard it when we called everyone for lunch," Hugo explained, "One whistle means it is time for either breakfast, lunch or the evening dinner. Two whistles means everyone is to gather in the communal area. We'll be starting activities or have a general announcement to make." Again, Hugo took a moment to look at all the campers, making sure everyone was listening. "Three whistles is very serious, everyone is to gather here in the main building, immediatly. It is a warning for a dangerous situation, like a bad storm coming, and we have even had to alert everyone because a bear had gotten onto the camp site!"
That got everyone excited, an actual bear! Just imagine.
Hugo spread his arms, "That's all folks! Enjoy lunch. Follow the directions of the camp leader at your table to know how everything works," Hugo stepped off of the podium and he got a round of applause from all the campers.
David got up, "Okay, campers at table one, listen up. We are the first to go grab lunch. If you look to the right, just beyond the podium, you'll see the serving window. We're all going there, grab a tray, and collect what you want for lunch. What you get, you'll eat. If you don't finish what you're getting, you'll be helping doing the dishes. That's another camp rule!"
That was new to Elliot, it had not been a rule in previous years. But he could understand, there was a lot of food being thrown away each time as people got more than they could handle. It was a huge waste.
David started hurrying everyone along, "Come on, the other tables want to get a go as well!"
Elliot, Tobias and Jack got up together and almost ran to the serving window, wondering what would be served. Camp Greenfields had an actual kitchen staff and both lunches and evening meals were often very nice. As they approached the serving window, grabbing a tray, they looked at what was available. Elliot opted for a plate of hash browns, tomato salad and a glass of orange juice. Tobias and Jack both grabbed a plate with fishsticks and fries, served with salad. Quickly they returned to their table and started digging in.
All three made sure their plates were thoroughly clean and David pretended to make a lot of work checking everything had indeed been eaten. "Okay, good going campers. I'm sorry for the kitchen staff, but you're all safe from doing the dishes," he said. "This time!" followed ominously.
The boys dropped off their trays with empty plates in the cart that had been pushed out from the serving window so that everyone could turn in the trays with dishes easily.
The table behind them erupted in laughter and cheers, and one very sorrowfully sounding "Noooo!!!", one of the campers had not eaten his salad and was finding out the rule about doing dishes was not a joke.
"Jeez," Tobias said, "they were serious about the dishes! I thought it was a joke!"
"Quick, let's go outside before they figure out another rule that will get us doing dishes as well," Elliot said, hurrying outside, quickly followed by the younger boys.
As they were about to head back to the tents, Elliot noticed that Jack was looking a bit awkward, jumping from foot to foot.
"What's up, Jack," Elliot asked.
"I ehm," Jack said, "I gotta go!" He was now grabbing the front of his shorts. Apparantly, he needed to go pretty bad. "I had to go during lunch, but I was too afraid the camp leader would say I had not finished my plate."
Elliot understood. "Well, I'd say this an excellent moment to give you guys the grand tour of the communal area," and he looked at Jack, "starting with the toilets, by special request."
Jack looked thoroughly relieved, knowing that he'd soon be at a toilet. But he did not dare let go of the front of his shorts.
Elliot took the boys along, and, as promised, first showed Jack the building with the toilets. As the signs here indicated as well, to the left was for the boys, to the right for the girls. Jack quickly disappeared to the left and returned a few minutes later, looking very much relieved indeed.
Next, Elliot showed the boys the changing rooms and showers. He got slightly flustered, remembering the previous night with David in there.
The boys had already been to the shed, and the building of the camp leaders was hard to miss. So, finally, Elliot took them along to the firepit area and showed them the different firepits and cooking grills and pots above them. The fires would be lit in the evening for everyone who wanted to gather around the fire, socialise and perhaps try their hand at the guitar.
It looked like they were getting the rest of the afternoon off, some of the kids were still making adjustments to their tents, others were clearly unpacking. On one of the field, somebody had erected a very large pole and had hung a pirates flag in top. It waved to and fro in the little bit of wind that there was, showing the pirate skull real well.
Elliot, Tobias and Jack returned to their own tents. Elliot's chair was still out, but Tobias and Jack did not have a chair. They decided to pull out a blanket and laid it out on the grass so that they could sit on it.
"So, what do we do now?" Tobias asked.
Elliot shrugged. "Up to us, I guess. Haven't heard two whistles, so we're not being gathered for group activities." Elliot had an idea, he looked at both boys daringly, "We could play... Truth or Dare!" he almost whispered.
Tobias had played the game before, Jack had not. So, they had to explain the rules. You asked each other, in turn, 'Truth or Dare'. And if you chose Truth, you had to answer any question you got asked honestly. But, if you were afraid to share things about yourself, you could ask for a Dare, and you would have to do something challenging or humiliating as a dare. Jack thought he understood.
Elliot said he'd ask the first time, as he was oldest. "So, I choose you, Tobias, Truth or Dare?"
Tobias considered for a moment. He did not know Elliot very well, but it would be kind of chicken to go for a dare already. "Truth!" he said, defiantly.
Elliot laughed, "Okay, I'll start easy for you. Ehm, have you ever... eaten something out of your nose?"
Tobias laughed and wanted to say no... but he had to be honest, and in all honesty, he did sometimes put a booger in his mouth. It was a force of habit, he didn't even really think about it. But he also did not want to admit to it. He squirmed a little, but decided to honor the rules of the game, "Okay, yes, I may have done that."
"That's a half-hearted answer," Elliot noted, "Have you, or haven't you?"
"Yes, yes I have," Tobias relented with a sigh.
Jack rolled over laughing, pointing at his brother! "I knew it!" he exclaimed.
"Ha, you better be careful," Elliot warned, "It's your brothers turn now, I would not want to get him on my bad side!"
Jack very quickly quieted down and sat back on his place on the plaid.
Tobias already knew he was going to ask Jack, but he wanted to make the game more exciting. "Hmm, who to ask, who to ask," he pretended to wonder, looking from Jack to Elliot.
Finally, he let his eyes rest on Jack. "Yes, I think, it will be you, Jack," he said, finally, "Truth, or Dare?"
Jack did not really have any experience with the game, all he could think of was that he did NOT want to be asked if HE had ever eaten a booger. Having just laughed at his brother, he could not admit to doing the same thing. "Dare!" he therefore said decidedly.
Tobias had expected that he would have to think of a question, no one ever started with a dare. When he played the game with friends, the dares would usually be kind of explicit in nature. He could not do that right now, to his little brother. But, then again, he had laughed at him, he needed to be taught a lesson.
"Okay, I dare you... to run all the way to the last field, where they have the pirates flag, touch the pole, and run back!" Tobias decided. Not exactly humiliating, but it was a long run, and Jack would have to dodge tents and tentlines all the way.
Jack looked shocked, those were the dares? That was like a five minute run! Maybe longer, with all the tents!
"Wait, I'll answer a question!" he quickly tried.
"Sorry, little guy," Elliot said, "no backsies in Truth or Dare. Once you've chosen, you have to stick with it! OR, you could forfeit, and then you'd be the very first loser!"
Jack was not about to lose a game at his first challenge! So, he got up, and started running.
Elliot and Tobias got up to see how he was doing. Jack looked like a rabbit jumping and running between the tents, dodging kids. Wait, almost dodging, he had crashed into a girl. Jack quickly got up, appeared to be saying something and continued running.
In less time than expected, Jack had reached the pirates flag and he made it a point to very clearly touch it. Some big kid started coming out of the tent right next to the flagpole, and Jack immediatly dashed away, back to his brother and Elliot. The big kid had now fully emerged from the tent and appeared to be yelling something at Jack, but they could not hear him.
Jack returned, panting heavily, "What a jerk!" he managed to get out.
For a moment, Tobias thought Jack was talking about him, "But, what?!" he said, confused.
"Not you," Jack said, he took another deep breath, "The guy with the flag."
"We could hardly see what was happening, it looked like he was shouting something?" Elliot asked.
"He sure was," Jack said, "He was calling me names and that I was now an 'enemy' of the Pirates."
"What a jerk!" Elliot said, disgusted.
Tobias was already on his feet and ready to give the pirate a piece of his mind. Elliot had to drag him back by his shirt.
"No way mister!" Elliot said, "Violence is as big of a no-no as having a knife!" he explained. "You'll get booted out of here, and then you'll leave it up to me alone to look after Jack!"
Tobias considered that for a moment, it made sense. And the guy had looked pretty big, even from this far. He deflated a little.
"Did I do... the dare right?" Jack asked, still wheezing.
"You did amazing!" Elliot beamed at Jack.
"You sure did, lil bro!" Tobias agreed.
"So, now it's my turn, right?" Jack asked. "I can choose one of you two, and ask, 'Truth or Dare', right?"
"You sure can, those are the rules," Elliot answered.
Jack had already been thinking about it while he was on his way back. He had chosen to ask Elliot, he had not yet had a turn. And he had heard his brother play this game with friends in his room, he knew there were way better questions!
"Okay, I choose you, Elliot," he said, pointing at Elliot, who, by now, had returned to his chair.
"Okay, shoot," Elliot said, "Truth!"
Jack was grinning now, he was going to turn up the heat! "Do you... jerk it off?"
It took Elliot a moment to register what had just been asked. Seriously? Had Jack just gone there? While he was trying to keep things 'family-friendly'?
"I thought you had never played this game?" he asked Jack.
"I haven't," Jack answered, "But I've heard Tobe play it with his friends." He giggled, remembering one time in particular. "And I know his answer to that question!"
"Not fair!" Tobias protested.
Elliot found it rather funny actually. He had not figured the little nine-year-old to be this world wise already. "I have to agree with Tobias here, Jack," Elliot said. "I'm the one being asked, and you just basically answered something very private for your brother as well."
Jack realised he had made a big mistake. He looked at Tobias, he had not intended to hurt his feelings. "Sorry, Tobe," he whispered. But then he glared back at Elliot. "But you have not answered yet!"
"True, true, I haven't," Elliot admitted, he was wondering if playing truth or dare had been his best idea. After all, they were a couple of years younger than him. But apparantly, Tobias was not a stranger to Truth or Dare, nor to masturbating!
"Okay, yes, I do it," he admitted, and he looked at Tobias before adding mischievously, "too!"
Tobias threw his arms up in the air. "Where does a guy get some privacy!" he exclaimed theatrically.
Elliot laughed. "Yes, going camping with your little brother is definitely the best idea for getting privacy!"
Tobias frowned, he had considered that only when they were already in the car on their way to camp. He had not yet found a solution to that predicament.
Elliot decided to test Jack a little, "And you?" he asked.
"Nuh uh, that's not how this game goes!" Jack shook his head, "I don't have to answer!"
"True, you don't," Elliot said, "Not by the rules of the game anyway." Then he added, "But you did kind of tell on your brother, which was not according to the rules either, don't you think?"
Tobias had to admit, Elliot was a smart one. And he had been wondering if his younger brother had already found the joy his little weiner could give him. He was flaunting it enough, but he had hardly every caught his brother with a hard on.
Jack considered. He had to admit Elliot had a point, and he knew from both guys they did 'it' too. He had only tried once, very recently. It had been very confusing. "Well, to be honest, I don't know if I have," he said.
Tobias and Elliot looked confused at that. How could you not know if you had been jerking your dick?
"I mean, I don't know if I did it right, so I don't know if it counts," Jack explained.
Tobias clearly felt a big brother moment happening. "So, let's check," he said. "Did it get hard?"
Jack nodded.
"Did you stroke it, or touch it," Tobias continued.
Jack nodded again.
Tobias felt himself turning red, and noticed he was now sporting a tentpole himself. He dared himself to continue though, "Did you, 'finish'," he asked, making air quotes on finish.
At this, Jack looked confused. That was the part he was not certain about. He had heard something spectacular was supposed to happen. But, even though it had felt pretty nice, he would not have called it spectacular. At one point he had just felt sore and he had stopped.
"I don't think I have?" Jack said questioningly.
"Oh, believe me," Elliot said, "You would have known!" He sat forward in his chair and conspiratorially told the two boys, "First time for me, that I really 'finished', I almost passed out! And my whole body felt like fireworks!"
"Yes, like that!" Tobias agreed, "And I felt like I had been about to piss myself!"
Elliot nodded, yes, he remembered, he'd been afraid of that as well. But he had been in the shower when it happened, so it would not really have bothered him that much. Next time he tried it, in his bed, he had been more afraid if he might in fact still piss himself, but that never happened.
Jack looked dejectedly, "I guess I haven't done 'it' then yet."
Elliot and Tobias looked at each other, and Elliot took over from Tobias. "Sure you have! You don't always have to finish. You can just enjoy jerking it for a while. But when you have the time, and the room for it, it sure is nice to finish!"
Jack beamed, he felt like part of the older boys. He had done 'it' too!
Tobias laughed, "Oh boy, someone's going to need a lot of practice! We should have asked for two tents!"
Elliot's mind was already racing, perhaps it would be fun, them having only one tent, and three weeks of camp ahead of them! If he had had a big brother, he sure would not have minded a lesson or two!
By now, Elliot was also not sitting comfortably any more. He stood a little, adjusted himself, and noticed both boys doing the same. They may be younger, but boys will be boys! He decided they'd better end the Truth or Dare. He had already shared much more with these two boys than he had expected to.
He decided to tease them a little and he got out of his chair, and fully stretched. He knew the bulge in his shorts must be very visible to the two of them. "I'm tired, I am going to lie down for a bit," he told the boys.
He decided to leave his chair out, and crawled into his tent, closing the zipper. Briefly he thought about stripping down and giving his boner some much needed attention. But with the boys this close by, and the other close encounters he had already had, he decided against it. He might try tonight, when everyone was sleeping. Elliot tried reading one of his comic books, but one page in, the comic fell flat on his face and Elliot had nodded off.
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