Chapter Twenty-Five: Friends and Relations

David couldn't help but think the whole camp was reflecting Race's mood. Which, he mused, seemed oddly appropriate, since Racetrack seemed to be so much a part of the camp. But it was undeniable; despite the joyous shrieks of the younger campers, it seemed like all of the seniors were feeling particularly mellow.

Racetrack seemed to still be in recover from his family; it didn't help that a handful of brothers--David didn't bother to pretend he knew which ones--had decided to stick around for a few days. The sheer number of noogies and amount of loving abuse he took was astonishing; almost as astonishing as how it seemed to affect him. David would have expected Race to laugh it off, but the longer his brothers stayed, the more silent Race became. David just wasn't sure if it was depressed silence or angry silence, or maybe depressed silence that would lead to him snapping at any moment, pissed off.

David glanced around the dining hall, where people were gathered for their usual late-night snack. It definitely seemed more mellow than usual. Blink, rather than joking loudly with anyone who would talk to him, was sitting off at a table silently, clutching but not drinking a cup of cocoa. Blink not talking was kind of shocking. Almost as shocking as Smurf not talking.

David thought for a minute. He thought that the mood was Racetrack's, but Smurf and Blink had both been quiet and withdrawn--as much as either of them seemed capable of being quiet or withdrawn--for a few days. He frowned slightly and wondered what had happened and who might know.

But Racetrack was quiet, and Smurf and Blink were quiet, and Trixie attempting to make physical contact with Mush at the moment, so they were both quiet too.

There was some muted conversation from other seniors, but it all seemed subdued.

David went back to the notebook in front of him, and idly stirred his coffee. He picked up his pen and scrawled Dear Mom and Dad, before dropping it again and taking a sip of coffee. Writing to his parents seemed kind of pointless... After all, they were coming for parents' weekend the next day. To see the camp, see their children, watch Les in Oliver! and take Sarah home.

David was kind of even looking forward to seeing them. Except... They'd be at camp. They'd meet all of his friends. They'd meet Jack. And there was absolutely no way they'd do anything like embarrass him. Because they definitely had never accidentally humiliated him in front of his friends, classmates or crushes before.

He stirred his coffee and found himself suddenly full of apprehension.

Yeah, his parents visiting and meeting Jack. Absolutely no way that could go wrong.

*

Mayer and Esther arrived during dress rehearsal, though David didn't know that until he emerged from backstage, still wearing part of his costume. He glanced around the theater for Triage, who had her own sewing machine and had taken up residence in the theater seats so she could help finish up costumes, as she'd promised to adjust his vest so it would stop falling off his shoulders. And he found her chatting away merrily with his mother.

Somehow, he wasn't surprised. But he did glance back up at the stage, where Les was receiving a few final notes from Medda, and then picked his way past the rickety theater bench seats and stopped in the aisle next to his parent.

He coughed conspicuously. "Hey," he said.

"David, bubula!"

And the next thing he knew, he was wrapped in his mother's arms, as she kissed his cheeks and greeted him like she hadn't seen him in a month. Which, it occurred to David, she hadn't. He gave her the quick obligatory kiss on the cheek in response, and Les came skipping over and got much the same treatment, as David shed his vest. Free of his costume, he led his mother back outside, to see his father sitting on a rickety rocking chair on the porch, waiting for his family. His father gave him a hug, and ruffled his hair like he was a little kid, and it was only mildly embarrassing.

"Now, where would we find your sister?" Mayer asked, after they were done saying hello.

"Uh... Riding?" David guessed.

"Yeah!" Les agreed enthusiastically. "And if we go to riding, you can meet Cowboy! He's my counselor, he's real great."

And David even managed not to wince.

"So do you go to riding often?" Esther asked Les.

"Yup, I got a lesson everyday. Cowboy doesn't teach me riding, though, Morris does, but I like it when he's gone for the day because then Rebel does riding with us, and she isn't so bad, for a girl, but I still like Cowboy best."

Esther glanced at David, who rolled his eyes slightly, but he was used to Les's enthusiasm by now.

"And you, David? Do you go to riding?"

"Uh... No?"

"David--"

"Davey went to the stable and tried to pet a horse but he was a wimp and fell down and now everyone calls him Mouth," Les interrupted, and David wasn't sure if he'd rather have his parents know about that or scold him for his fear of horses. Though at least Les was fairly cryptic, if unintentionally.

"And what does that mean, Dave?" his father asked.

David shrugged innocently. "Well, everyone else in my bunk had a nickname; I was tired of being out of place, anyway."

"David, that's wonderful! Now, I told you that if you just put your mind to it--"

"Yeah, yeah." David rolled his eyes again, which he realized he did about a thousand times more often when his family was around. But they were getting close to the stables now, and Les danced on ahead, urging his family to walk faster. The pace was picked up, if only slightly, and they arrived.

David hesitated as his family walked in to the riding area; on the one hand, he still didn't really want to be surrounded by horses, on the other hand, he could see Jack leading a horse with a vaguely terrified looking seven-year-old atop. He couldn't hear Jack's voice, but could see easily that Jack was talking calmly, keeping the kid from freaking out, while he expertly controlled the horse.

Not far from there, Sarah was leaning on the area's gate, watching Jack with a predator-like expression on her face. And David almost had to smirk, because no matter how hard she tried, Sarah really wasn't going to get anywhere with him.

David cleared his throat. "That," he said, pointing slightly, "would be the infamous Cowboy. And I think that's my sister, but frankly, I try not to say that too loudly."

"David!" Esther scolded, and waved over Sarah, who reluctantly abandoned her Jack-watching post and walked over. She was greeted as enthusiastically as the boys had been, although her reaction was definitely less so. But David barely noticed, because he was watching as Jack helped the camper down off the horse, and had a quiet but excited conversation with the kid. He gave the kid a pat on the back, the horse a pat on the nose, and then led the horse over to where the Jacobs family was having their reunion.

"Cowboy!" Les exclaimed excitedly. "This is my mom and my dad."

Jack nodded a little. "Nice to meet you," he said, and with an exaggerated tip of his cowboy hat added, "Ma'am," to Esther, who laughed the same way that Sarah--and half the girls at camp--did whenever Jack spoke to them.

David smiled a little bit at that. For all Racetrack kept saying they were too obvious and were going to get caught, Jack had too much of a reputation as a lady killer for David to really worry about it.

"So you're Cowboy, we've hear so much about you," Esther gushed.

"Good things, I hope," Jack answered.

"Oh Jack, what else could anyone say about you?" Sarah said, and giggled slightly.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You're too kind, really." He turned his gaze quickly to David, and his grin became genuine. "You know, Davey, so long as you're here in riding anyway..."

"I don't think so," David answered quickly.

Jack glanced at the parents watching. "Don't worry; I'll get him riding by the end of the summer. Just you wait."

"Oh, that would be wonderful. We keep telling David that if he'd just have a little more confidence in himself--"

"Mom!" David interrupted quickly.

Jack laughed a little, and David scowled, but Jack just smiled back fondly at him. "I know what you mean, Mrs. Jacobs," he said. "This is my tenth summer here--I've met lots of kids who start the summer off shy and end up so confident they never want to go home. So everyone is helping Davey with that confidence problem all the time."

"Jack!" David yelped. That was not exactly what he wanted to hear his boyfriend say about him to anyone, let alone his parents.

"Oh, so you're Jack," Mayer said, coming to the realization. "Well, who'd have thought Davey would end up such good friends with a riding counselor?"

"Dad..." David whined.

"Oh, Dave here has made lots of interesting friends," Jack promised. "I'm sure if he takes you around camp, you'll meet all of them."

"Well, that sounds like a good plan," Mayer agreed. "It was nice to meet you, Cowboy."

"You too, Mr. Jacobs," Jack answered sincerely, tipped his hat again, and led the horse back towards the stables.

*

More parents began to flood the camp, and David slowly discovered his bunkmates' families.

Skittery was flanked by parents who sported thick Long Island accents, and a sister who was walking around camp in high heels, complaining loudly about bugs. Skittery looked kind of like he wanted to kill himself, and David nodded with sympathy.

Snitch, apparently, was from the Midwest somewhere and his folks couldn't fly out too meet him, but he was spending the day hanging out with Swinger and her family--they were from the next town over and knew him anyway, he explained. (Though he only explained it after Swinger spent five minutes also explaining it, but rather ineffectually, since no one understood a word she said.)

Mush's family, it turned out, was almost as large and psychotic as Race's, though they weren't all present. His father and a younger brother, apparently named Sheppard, were there to visit and to see his performance that night in Oliver!, but his mother and three sisters (referred to as Faith, Hope and Charity; David noticed a theme in their names and couldn't help but wonder what, exactly, Mush's given name was) were at another camp, visiting Hope, whose parents' day was the same as Mush's.

Blink evened them out, though; he was an only child who lived with his father. David wondered what had happened to his mother--so far as he knew, Blink hadn't received any letters from her, and he'd never heard Blink mention her--but he didn't really just want to ask so bluntly.

His parents were sufficiently impressed by the camp and the staff, as David noticed a few more unfamiliar faces. Second session campers had begun to arrive. David saw one boy who looked almost like he could be David's own cousin--slightly gangly with thick, curly hair. David didn't catch his name, but he had already moved into Ferguson by the time they met.

The other person he noticed was a girl who was hanging out first with Trixie and then with Smurf, and then he saw the three of them together. Smurf and Trixie didn't seem to be speaking to each other directly, but as far as David remembered, that was the first time they'd really spoken to each other at all since the incident between those two and Blink, which David still didn't know all the details of.

The show was set to go on at seven, and the cast got an early dinner at five so they could start getting ready at six. Medda had even ordered pizza for them--and non-camp food was always a reason to be excited. David found himself sitting around the theater, scarfing down pizza and Coke with Mush, Blink, Trixie and a few of the other senior campers, and for just a moment was shocked.

He pictured it from his parents' perspective. There was their awkward, loner son, and instead of sitting off by himself wishing he could be at home, reading or writing or just avoiding everyone else, he was sitting with friends, and joking, and laughing. And he genuinely wanted to be there.

He smiled behind his can of Coke and relaxed.

*

David had to admit, it was kind of shocking how well the show went, given it had been put together in a week. Only a few cast members dropped lines, and thank to the hours Bumlets had spent drilling them (David was pretty sure it had been three full days) the dancing was spectacular.

Well, almost. But David really didn't have to dance very much, so it was okay. Though Bumlets did keep giving him dirty looks...

On the other hand, the acting was nearly flawless, dropped lines aside. Mush hit his role perfectly, almost creepy enough to give David the chills, seeing him on stage; Blink managed to stay in character almost the whole time and didn't crack up once, unlike every single run through they'd done. And Les positively shone, stealing every scene where he appeared. David did have to grin with brotherly pride and kind of ruffled his hair fondly after they took their bows, right before Les went skipping off stage to be congratulated by his parents, Medda, and everyone else at camp.

David sat on stage, waving to a few friends and their families while he waited for his parents to finish cooing over Les and remember that he'd been in the show too, but for a change, he didn't fall into his middle child resentment. Les had done a great job, after all.

And anyway, it was only a minute before Jack tapped his shoulder and greeted him with a big--but casual--hug. "You were great, Davey."

"Thanks, Jack," David said, shrugging modestly but glowing inwardly.

"I mean it." Jack coughed. "I don't think anyone will even remember you were dancing in that scene."

"I know I've already tried to block it out."

"Aw, Dave. I'm kidding."

"I know."

"Anyway, just wanted to let you know I'm off tomorrow--well, now, really but like I was gonna miss your show--so I figured I'd ask if you wanted anything from town or anything."

"I thought I only got junkfood if I made nice with the horses?"

Jack shrugged. "You're too cute, I relented."

"You're sweet." David coughed a little, glancing around. No one had noticed in the buzz of post show hyperness. "Anyway, I'm fine, if slightly craving chocolate covered pretzels."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You're a weird guy, Davey." But he grinned. "Which is why I like you."

David just grinned back at him, and then noticed his parents had finally looked around for him and were heading over. He shrugged at Jack, who laughed and pushed him at his parents and snuck off to go congratulate other friends.

David had no sooner opened his mouth to say hello to his folks than Ether was hugging him and babbling about how wonderful he was. And David just smiled as he watched Jack wave at him one last time before slipping out of the theater.

*

"So, would you two care to tell me just exactly what the hell is going on?"

Trixie looked at Smurf uncomfortably, and Smurf looked over at her equally uncomfortably, and they shrugged in unison.

Jenna--known around camp as Arrow now that she was in her fourth year--sighed. She'd known something was up, due to the lack of letters from Smurf, and Trixie had only written about the usual things. Mush was still cute. Jack was still cute. Medda was still insane. Shows were good.

And there hadn't been a single goofy letter from the two of them, written by stealing the pen from each other, crossing out everything the other tried to write, and generally making fun of each other. And they always sent Arrow those letters.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Okaaaaay..." She rolled her eyes and leaned back on her bunk. It wasn't quite curfew yet, but she'd dragged Smurf and Trixie out of the evening snack early to try and figure out why they weren't speaking to each other. They were alone in the bunk, where she'd moved in earlier that day.

"She stabbed me in the back," Smurf finally muttered.

"She won't let me apologize!" Trixie yelled back. "I've been freaking groveling for a week now and she won't even talk about it!"

"Woah, okay... what happened?"

Another silence, and finally Smurf dug around in the mess she called her bed, produced a limp, worn doll, and tossed it to Arrow, who raised an eyebrow. She'd been friends with the two of them almost as long as they'd been friends with each other; how could he not recognize Daisy? Who remained, of course, a shade of light blue.

"You did this?" Arrow asked Trixie.

"No," Trixie answered. "I didn't. Blink did."

"You helped him!"

"I did not, I--"

"Shut up!" Arrow interrupted, and tossed the doll back to Smurf. "What happened?"

Smurf scowled at Trixie and answered, "She was so desperate to get a date with Mush that she made a deal with Blink. She gave him Daisy, he talked Mush into going to the dance with her."

"Trixie!" Arrow yelped, a little shocked.

"It wasn't like that!" Trixie yelled back. "I mean... It was kind of what happened, but I didn't think Blink was going to do anything bad. I thought he was just going to make fun of her or something--drop the doll in the lost and found so he could laugh at her when she claimed it. Nothing bad. And anyway, I didn't know about her grandmother! I wouldn't have done it if I'd known that."

"Grandmother?" Arrow looked back at Smurf, who crossed her arms angrily... But kind of looked away and down at the floor, guiltily. "Smurf? ... Elsie, come on."

Smurf groaned. "I kind of... exaggerated."

"You what?!" Trixie shrieked.

"You what?" Arrow asked, calmer, still confused.

"I, uh... Well, I told Blink about how my grandmother gave me Daisy--which is true!--but I kind of... Added some stuff."

"Like?"

"Um..." Smurf bit her lip. "I dunno. I... kind of laid it on thick about it being the last thing she gave me before she died and how she taught me how to sail and, uh... yeah."

"You mean..." Trixie stared at her. "The whole thing about how she... She gave it to you to remember her? For good luck? And then she died? You mean you made that all up?!"

"No! Not all of it. Just... Most of it. She did give it to me... And she taught me how to sail..."

"But no sob story."

"Not really."

And now it was Trixie's turn to glare and Smurf's turn to shift uncomfortably. Finally Trixie let everything out with a screech of, "You could have freaking told me that!"

"I didn't mean it to be such a big deal!" Smurf yelled back. "I mean, I did, but not for you. I just wanted to get to Blink."

"You could have told me that," Trixie snapped again.

"I wanted to! I just felt, uh..."

There was a long silence.

"Really guilty?" Arrow suggested, trying not to roll her eyes.

"Yeah. And I was pissed that you'd sold me out to Blink, by the way."

"Yeah, but--"

"Okay, hold it," Arrow interrupted. "She--" she gestured at Trixie, "messed up, obviously, by helping Blink. And you messed up by letting her stew in it when you knew you weren't that upset and she was. So you're both guilty, now apologize and get over it."

She said it with the kind of authority that might have made Mrs. Higgins proud. Smurf scowled and Trixie scowled right back. Arrow sighed. "Look, it's either that or you two can freaking give up on being best friends over something incredibly stupid. And six years is a lot to waste."

The scowling slowly stopped. Trixie swallowed and Smurf coughed, and finally Smurf said, "Sorry. I guess."

"Yeah, me too."

"Okay, then."

"Okay."

"So," Arrow said, "friends again?"

"I guess."

"Sure."

"Great. Now we just have to figure out how to tell Blink that you were exaggerating..."

Smurf groaned and collapsed on to her bunk. Somehow, she'd known that was coming.

*

Three days in a row with non-camp food. David was experiencing a state something like bliss. His parents had taken all of their children out for lunch before they left with Sarah; and David was reveling in having a menu. And food that was actually cooked properly.

It was a nice little diner that resembled a truck stop more than anything else, David noted as he took in the dŽcor and the menu, but it hardly mattered. It seemed to be the only place around to eat that wasn't fast food. The city the camp sat outside of was hardly large enough to even be called a city.

As David settled on a grilled chicken sandwich, he halfheartedly listened to Les expound at great length about the boys in his bunk, the activities he'd tried, and the counselors he'd met. Sarah was rolling her eyes at him, but only slightly; she was in a good mood, knowing that in a few hours she'd be back at home.

And David was just really happy to have actual juice, not juice-flavored liquid from a mix.

He got happier, though, as Sarah abruptly kicked him under the table and pointed towards the door of the restaurant. "Isn't that Jack?" she demanded.

David craned his neck to see over his parents, and broke into a wide smile. "It is. He's off today, he must be here for lunch too."

Les, sitting between their parents, twirled around in his seat and started waving frantically and yelling Jack's name. Jack looked over at them, startled for just a second, but then it faded to a content smile and he sauntered over toward their table.

"Why, hello again, Cowboy," Esther laughed.

"Howdy, ma'am," Jack answered obligingly, as he slid his cowboy hat off to hang around his neck. "Small world, I guess."

"It is!" Les squeaked. "Jack, Jack, did you see the show last night?"

"Of course I did." Jack reached over to tweak Les's nose and he giggled. "You were great, but now I'm not sure I can trust you when you say you're sick..."

"Cowboy, I had chicken pox. Dad, Dad, did I show you the scar? One of them scarred 'cause I picked at it too much, Triage said, and it's right on my elbow, see?"

"Les, not at the table," Esther sighed, slipping into her patient mother voice.

"Sorry, Mom."

Jack grinned at him. "I've got a scar from falling off a horse once, on my knee. I'll show you at camp tonight."

"Awesome!"

"Jack," Mayer mused, "we haven't ordered yet, if you'd like to join us. I'm sure we could squeeze you in at the table..."

"Oh, uh..." Jack shrugged. "I dunno, I wouldn't want to interrupt your family time."

"Come on, Jack," David put in, looking up at Jack, trying to catch his eyes. Jack blinked once, and smiled slightly, looking down and away.

"Now, David, if he doesn't want to spend his day off with the campers he sees every day--"

"Oh, no," Jack interrupted Esther. "You've got my favorite campers right here anyway."

Sarah giggled giddily. "Oh Jack, you're just saying that..."

"Nah, it's true." He smiled at her, but his gaze shifted slightly over at David, who felt himself blush slightly.

Sarah slid over on the seat, closer to David, to give Jack room to sit. But Les began to pout. "I want Jack to sit next to me, he's my counselor!"

"Les, grow up--"

"Sa-ar-ah!"

"Mom--"

"I--"

"Hey, hey," Jack interrupted. "Why don't I sit between Sarah and David so I can face you, Les? That way we can talk better."

"Well... Okay," Les agreed, nodding after pondering for a moment. David reflected that his little brother probably considered anything Jack suggested as the sagest advice ever given to man.

Which David found kind of endearing.

Sarah stood up and Jack slid into the booth, thigh to thigh with David. "Thanks for letting me join in, Mr. Jacobs," Jack said, reaching for David's hand under the table. "It's no fun eating all alone."

He leaned over David to look at his still-open menu, and David gave his hand a squeeze, and if they were touching slightly more than was strictly necessary, no one noticed.

*

At snack at that evening, Jack actually came to join the campers; though he got a cup of coffee and after a few quick hellos slid out onto the porch. Racetrack raised an eyebrow at David, who shrugged, finished his cookie, and followed Jack.

"You okay?" David asked, watching Jack watch the moon's reflection on the calm lake surface.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, and dug into an oversized pocket, pulled out a small bag of chocolate covered pretzels and handed the to David. "Your parents seem really great, Davey."

David shrugged. "I guess they're not bad."

"You're lucky."

David swallowed a little bit. "I... I guess I am."

Jack shrugged, and turned to face him. "I guess I just wish... I used to pretend, you know, that my family was like yours. Happy to see me."

"Jack..." David said softly.

"Yeah, well, I was just a kid. Pretending doesn't do much good, and anyway..." He shrugged. "It could be worse."

"I wish I could make it better."

"Davey..." Jack gave him a wan smile, but it was a genuine one nonetheless. "You do."

And not kissing Jack right then was the hardest thing David had ever done.

[End Chapter Twenty-Five]
Chapter 26: Happy World Land