Switch-Blade(s) [Camp Camp Angst]

Chapter 3

Max met with Nikki and Neil in the Mess Hall, both of which smiled at him. Nikki asked where he had been, and Neil only gave Max a tray of breakfast food. Neil had assumed it must’ve been a long while since Max has eaten, therefore he got him breakfast. He handed the tray to the boy, unaware of what he was getting into. "For you, enjoy." Neil spoke with a sarcastic but caring tone. They all sat at the table chatting, and David had been close by eating breakfast himself while chatting with Gwen briefly. Max took the tray from Neil and stuck his tongue out at the older. He looked down at the sorry excuse of a meal and started playing with it. Neil blinked twice, laughing a bit to himself. 'Cute.' He thought, but he would never say that out loud. The brunette then noticed how the other boy seemed to be avoiding taking a bite of the food, which concerned him. But, he figured he’d take his time, "Heh, sorry. Not many options on the breakfast menu, Gwen was up until 5 am writing fanfiction again and was not happy when David left earlier, speaking of that. Did you happen to see David earlier??" Neil asked, completely oblivious, curiosity getting the best of him.

"Hah, That idiot? Yeah, ran into him, he started nagging me about... stupid shit. Anyways he's here now," Max pointed to David and Gwen.

The older boy nodded silently, looking over at the cheery counselor acting himself per usual. "Oh, what was he nagging you about??" Neil asked, curious as to why David was bothering Max.

"Oh, uh- just the usual," Max responded. He didn't need anyone else to find out about what he did to himself.

"Hmm, gotcha." the boy went along with it, taking note of what happened earlier this morning. He knew his friend was struggling with his problems and he couldn't nag him about them, at least not yet, and not in front of Nikki. Neil had noticed Max hadn't touched his food, doing anything to go around eating it. Neil's expression got noticeably worrisome, but Nikki wasn't in the view where she could see his reaction to the scenario.

"Max, where's your hoodie? You never take that thing off." Nikki asks, pointing at Max's yellow shirt.

Neil joined in, acting natural "Yea, where is your hoodie?" The older teen looked with confusion, trying to figure out a scenario that could have resulted in Max taking his hoodie off. Max paused, not knowing what to say. He couldn't think of a lie that would get him out of this. He couldn't say that it was too hot, as it was barely seventy degrees Fahrenheit that day.

"I, uh-" He stammered, unable to come up with words.

It clicked. Neil immediately started to internally panic for Max, trying to change the subject. "Well, today has been a bit on the hotter side, I can't blame you man" Neil smiled and gave Max an understanding glance.

Max sighed in relief, feeling multiple sets of eyes on him. He could see Neil and Nikki, he could feel David's positive energy trying to stare its way into the back of Max's head, and he could hear the silence coming from around them. Max flipped up both his fingers to the teens around him and spoke to his friends. "Never mind the damn hoodie, how about we go cause some mischief today," He smirked.

The brunette smiled and unexpectedly bumped Max’s fist in cheer of fun. "Sounds like a plan, it's been a while since we've gotten ourselves into some wacked out mess." Neil spoke, getting up and Nikki following behind. David smiled a bit, Neil seemed to know what he was doing for the most part.

"To be honest, I have no idea what to do, but I'm up for suggestions." Max sighed, looking back at the two trailing behind. He hoped that one of the three of them could come up with something fun and dangerous, or something stupid to piss David off. They'd both agreed, thinking to themselves. Maybe they could go and hangover around the other scouts. It was always fun starting hell for David in Max's case anyway.