Camp Mendinghell part 3/?
Disclaimer: I don’t own the O.C. or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction and not intended to infringe on any copyrights.
Rated: T
Summary: This is an AU where Ryan meets the Newport kids at a tough love wilderness camp.
Later that night, Seth began to see that it was called a three man tent for a reason.
As the tallest and leanest he had been the natural choice to sleep horizontally at the others’ feet, an arrangement he had agreed to because the Tetris player in him knew it was the only way. It couldn’t hurt to score some points with the other guys either.
He was regretting it now- big time. Luke’s feet were in his face, and the new guy kept kicking him in the ribs.
Lying awake, sandwiched between three pairs of feet and a wall of nylon, he soon tired of playing the alphabet game, his thoughts turning to his fellow Lions.
Luke had always been a bit of a jerk, but given the present circumstances it was better for the group if they got along.
Besides, better the jerk you know, right? And having the ammo to tell everyone that Luke had run down Carson Ward’s lover in a stolen Porsche didn’t hurt either; Luke was pretty sensitive about his gay dad.
The new guy, Oliver, was weird from what little first impression he’d been able to make in the moonlight. It was also weird that Bob would change the groups after only two days; unless Oliver was truly a ‘problem teen’ and Roberta hadn’t been able to handle him.
With any luck, he would keep A.J. occupied and limit the number of attacks by digging instruments on the rest of the group.
Ryan seemed like a nice enough guy, from what he could gather. He worked hard and was helpful around camp; cutting logs into firewood and refilling the canteens without being asked. He didn’t say much unless prompted, but Seth had managed to learn that he was from San Bernardino and didn’t like oatmeal either.
The burning question of ‘why are you here?’ hadn’t been broached yet by any of the campers.
He knew about Luke, and himself obviously, and Oliver seemed like the kind of kid who would start fires and kill small animals for fun.
Anna had openly admitted to setting fire to a Dunkin Donuts that had threatened to put her town’s historic peanut butter cup pie shop out of business.
“What can I say, I don’t like chains,” was all she had had to say in way of explanation, and Seth couldn’t really bring himself argue with her motives.
Standing up for what you believed in was more admirable than being bribed to take the blame, in his books.
Taylor Townsend hadn’t said anything, but her mom was yet another of Newport’s rich bitches, so her enrolment was probably either for the ‘character building activities’ or an overreaction to some minor transgression.
Ryan didn’t seem like a pothead or a bully, and Summer had never even had detention from what he could remember.
He wasn’t sure what to think about them being here; but then again if he, Seth Cohen, was an ‘at risk youth’ then it couldn’t be too difficult to qualify.
He felt some movement at his feet and saw Ryan move and unzip the tent; not overly keen to resume the alphabet game (he was at q) he followed.
Taylor was sitting on a log by the fire, but got up as soon as Ryan came out, as if she had been expecting him. She took his hand and whispered something in his ear, and the two of them disappeared into the bushes.
He was disappointed not to have anyone to talk to, but didn’t fancy being the third wheel on their midnight rendezvous.
He went and took Taylor’s spot by the fire, poking at the coals with a long stick and wishing the graphic novels he’d packed weren’t locked up in Bob’s office.
Looking up at the sky he marvelled at how much brighter the stars were in the mountains than they were in Newport, or maybe it was just the absence of streetlamps and patio lights that made them seem that way.
He could picture his mom, back in Newport, sitting by the pool in a bathrobe with a cup of tea. She battled insomnia off and on, and sometimes he would wake up at two or three in the morning and find her out there, just sitting and watching the stars.
Having taken an astronomy course years ago she knew the names of all the constellations.
As a little kid he’d spent many evenings sitting beside her, listening raptly while she pointed out Orion and Scorpius and told him little stories of how they’d gotten their names.
The next morning they’d be rubbing their eyes, but sharing that secret little smile with his mom at breakfast had always made it worth it.
His dad had the surf, but they had the sky.
He hadn’t stargazed with his mother in years; he didn’t even know if she still did.
…
Summer was up early the next morning, putting the pot of oatmeal on the fire to cook and gathering more wood for the fire while she waited for the girl’s showers to be opened.
Showering was the worst part of camping, she had learned.
Three minutes under a stream of cold water, and then nothing; even if you still had shampoo in your hair or were completely lathered in body wash, the taps automatically turned off after three minutes and if you still needed to rinse it would have to be in the lake.
By seven o’clock, all the campers had showered and shovelled down their daily allotment of hot cereal. Everyone was onto smaller portions now, the oats being divided seven ways; no one had volunteered to ask A.J. or Bob for more food when Oliver had arrived.
Talking quietly amongst themselves, they sat around the circle wondering what the day, and A.J., had in store for them.
It was some time before they heard activity, mainly in the form of expletives, emanating from the pup tent.
A.J. was awake, and he was already pissed off.
“Shit! We were supposed to meet the other groups in the gully an hour ago! Thanks for waking me up, you little fuckers,” he swore, slipping on his boots and rummaging through some papers in his bag until he found the map.
“Get down there,” he ordered, handing it to Ryan. A.J. whispered something in his ear, and the boy nodded slowly.
Ryan and the others puzzled over the crudely drawn map for a few minutes before getting their bearings and finding the right trail. They hiked in silence through the thick forest, following the narrow path single-file, Ryan in the lead and Oliver trailing behind the others.
Ryan was just beginning to worry they had gone the wrong way when they heard voices up ahead.
“There’s group two!” Roberta called out, pointing in their direction. Bob came over, shaking his head and dramatically looking at his wrist.
“Punctuality is important, group two; making other people wait for you is a sign of disrespect,” he admonished as walked to meet them.
The Lions nodded with what they hoped were apologetic faces.
There was no point in explaining; even if Bob believed them it would only make A.J. more furious when he found out they’d ratted him out to his boss.
They followed him into a deep valley where the other groups were gathered. Steep faces of rock surrounded them, studded with a rainbow of coloured handgrips and footholds. A tent was set up nearby with crates of harnesses and ropes, and a folding table had been placed beside it bearing a thermos of coffee and boxes of donuts.
“Is this like a reward challenge?” Seth whispered to Summer, nodding at the pastries.
“This is boot camp, not Survivor,” she answered with a grin, elbowing him in the side.
Bob gave her a disapproving look, and she stopped smiling, embarrassed.
“Welcome to the climbing wall. This morning we are fortunate to have Ian and Sarah with us.”
He paused to point at a man and woman sitting in the tent. They were both tanned and freckled and waved cheerily at the mention of their names.
“They’re instructors from Shasta Base Camp and have generously donated their time this morning to teach you how to climb safely. I’m going to turn things over to the pros now; if anyone needs me, I’ll be in the tent eating a donut- which are for staff only, I might add,” he said, looking at Seth accusingly.
Sarah was petite and had crazy fiery hair held in bunches by two strained looking elastics. Ian was taller, and had closely cropped hair and stubble that was on the verge of becoming a beard.
“Okay guys, pair up while I tell you a little bit about what we do. Rock climbing is all about trust and communication,” Ian began. The campers were listening carefully now, unable to mask their collective excitement.
...
Twenty feet off the ground, with his harness connected to one measly rope held by Luke Ward, Seth was beginning to wonder if the universe took pleasure in seeing him squirm.
His blistered hands were in agony but he gripped the handholds with all his might, pulling himself upward at a respectable pace. He turned his head slightly and saw Anna climbing to his left. Clearly not afraid of heights, she looked over and smiled at him.
“How are you so good at this?” he asked, breathlessly.
“I’m just happy not to be shovelling shit. You don’t seem overly thrilled, though,” she answered.
“I’m not exactly feeling the ‘trust’ Ian mentioned, with Luke holding the rope,” Seth admitted, embarrassed of his shaking hands as Anna moved methodically beside him.
“Confidence, Cohen,” she advised him.
“Race you to the top?"
…
It was after twelve, and the campers weren’t even missing their noon meal today; they were having too much fun.
Ryan craned his neck to follow Taylor’s progress, carefully letting out more rope while maintaining the tension on the rope. Sarah had said they hadn’t had a single accident in the ten years she’d been an instructor, but he’d still feel better when Taylor’s feet were firmly on the ground.
Taylor, on the other hand, was having a ball; she’d scaled the wall a half dozen times and he envied her fearlessness, wishing he shared her indifference to heights.
“Why haven’t you gone yet?”
Ryan turned around to see the new guy, Oliver, standing beside him. He and Taylor had paired up, and then Anna and Summer went together. Luke, in a surprise move had chosen to partner with Seth, apparently preferring him to the new kid.
Oliver had been the odd one out, and when Sarah came around he’d been paired with a kid from his old group.
“Taylor really likes it, I thought she’d want another go,” he answered, semi truthfully.
“She’s been more than twice. Why haven’t you been?” the other boy had dropped any guise of friendliness and seemed oddly confrontational.
“My hands are kind of sore from yesterday, not that it’s any of your business,” Ryan lied, as he held the rope with his calloused palms; this guy was starting to get under his skin.
“You don’t have blisters, you’re just a pussy,” Oliver hissed.
“Fifteen minutes left, let’s start wrapping it up,” Ian called out.
Taylor reached the ground and stepped out of the harness.
“You sure you don’t want a try, Ryan? The view is amazing!”
Oliver smirked over her shoulder, and Ryan found himself saying, “Sure, why not?”
...
Bob Cameron sat in the tent, munching a bear claw as he waded through all the incident reports filed in the last two days.
Most were for swearing, and insubordination; common offences early on in the program, when many of the kids were still testing the rules. There was also a fairly thick pile of more worrying offenses, all perpetrated by the same camper.
Bob sighed and reached for another donut; he had been afraid of this.
He’d been bribed to take the Trask boy and he knew it.
But the trails needed work, and the generous donation had allowed him to let more underprivileged kids come to the camp; kids he had a shot at helping, unlike Oliver.
Uttering threats, paranoid, obsessive behaviour; Oliver had only been in her group for twenty-four hours when Roberta first informed him of a problem.
“There’s something not right with that boy, Cameron. I know they’re all troubled, but that one… it’s more than that.
There was a report of an altercation between Oliver and another boy, Johnny, from his former group; something about a girl. At least they seemed to have resolved it by themselves; he’d seen them partnered together for climbing.
Maybe there was hope yet for Oliver.
He had just signed the last report when a scream punctured the silence, and suddenly everyone was running.
TBC
AN: I had a bit of trouble making this chapter come together, but hopefully that isn't apparent. All reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated as always!