Gwen's Worst Nightmare (One Of Them At Least)...

Chapter 7: Strengths and Weaknesses

Sobs? Sobs coming from one of the beds? He knew David was already forcing the campers into doing an extra activity, so that left only one other person in the room: Gwen.

"Gwen?" Max said, looking around the room. Gwen heard Max's voice and sat up, wiping her face with her arm. "Hey, Max." She said, fake smiling at the 10 year old. "I take it you're here because...." She waited for Max to respond, hoping to sort of "break the ice" in a way. "Oh uh. David is doing Extreme Sports Camp right now. And I'm in no shape for that." Max said, sitting on David's bed. "Extreme Sports Camp, huh? We haven't focused on that since before he went on vacation." Gwen replied. Max clearly doesn't pay attention since he isn't even signed up for any of the activities, not like he cared that much to begin with. But in one of those rare instances, he actually felt empathy. "...Are you ok?" Max questioned. "That's a bold question for you to ask." Gwen answered. "Yknow not that I... Care or anything." Max said, feeling himself blush with embarrassment. "Nah it's fine, kid." Gwen brushed Max off, "I just needed a little space from the campers today." She said, finally laying back on her bed. "Because of Nikki?" Max questioned. "...Yeah..." Gwen answered. 

"David? I'm not sure I can do this." Neil said, standing on one of the skate ramps as Ered put a helmet and skate pads on him. "Come on, kid it's no big deal. I'll show you the basic steps to skateboarding." Ered replied, strapping knee pads onto the science whiz. "I'm with Neil on this one." Added Dolf. "My little legs are too small to handle being on a skateboard." He said, trying to use his height as an excuse to get out of camp. "Now now, Dolf. Don't knock it till you try it! We did Art Camp last week and it seemed to have a positive affect on Nurf!" David said. "It's an investment for the sake of my mental health and breaking a toxic cycle." Nurf interjected. Dolf turned to Harrison, who was standing behind him. "Harrison. If I don't make it, please use some of your magic to either heal me or revive me, depending on the circumstance." Dolf pleaded. "I haven't mastered any healing spells yet, but I can certainly try." Harrison said, hoping that would put the young boy at ease. "Now let's get started!!!!" Ered announced, with little to no fanfare from the other campers. 

Gwen was almost at her breaking point, she felt like screaming into a void. Anytime she thought about telling someone, the intrusive thoughts kept crawling back. And poor Max was still recovering from the rock climbing incident, the last thing she'd wanna do was vent her frustrations to a 10 year old. Despite him knowing about her fear of doctors. "Look, Gwen. I dunno what's wrong with you, but something is up." Max finally spoke. "You aren't a light sleeper like David, so waking up during the night, or fuck, not sleeping at all, is really out of character for you." He said. "And it's very out of character for YOU to be concerned about MY well being!" Gwen replied. She was right... Why did he care so much? It's not like Max was David, or at the very least, David material. So why was he so concerned? Maybe it could have been because Gwen was actually there for him when he broke his arm? The fact that she went to all the trouble to take care of him, comfort him even, when he was so used to being ignored when he was hurt or scared? "Could... You excuse me for a moment?" Gwen asked before she grabbed her phone and made her way to the bathroom. Max walked up to the door and pressed his ear against it while Gwen locked it on the other side. 

He heard Gwen tapping on the screen of her phone, almost as if she was dialing a number. There was silence, uncomfortable silence, with the occasional what he swore was her ringtone, "Hello?" A muffled voice that didn't sound like Gwen at all spoke on the other line. The silence returned, "....Hello?" The voice said again, Gwen couldn't speak. "What the fuck is she doing in there?" Max whispered to himself, making sure to be REALLY quiet so no one heard him. "Y-Yes. I'm here to..." Gwen finally spoke in a weak, shaky voice. "...Here to what?" The other voice said. "I'm here to cancel an-" Gwen said before she felt a rush of frustration cause her to hang up. Max stayed by the door, hearing the talking had finally stopped. He had a sinking feeling that whatever was going on behind that door didn't sound pleasant. And his suspicions were all but confirmed when he heard a loud sound coming from the other end. Gwen panted as she leaned forward, her arms holding her up on the bathroom counter. She held her head up and saw the print she left on the one side of her face. It stung, especially to the touch. She flinched, touching the print with her fingertips. "You NEED to do this, Gwen." She told herself. "You can't keep avoiding this forever." She wasn't sure if she should go back out, or wait until the print faded. She decided to take out her ponytail and hide it with her hair, it was just long enough to cover everything. Max heard the doorknob turn and he scrambled back to Gwen's bed. 

"Who hasn't gone yet?" David asked as most of the campers were already shying away after their first round, Nikki held her hand up while jumping in the air, hoping David would pick her.... Again. "Dolf hasn't gone yet, David." Nerris pointed out, causing Dolf to turn pale. "You want... Me? To skate down... There?" He stuttered, looking at the ramp. "It's really easy, Dolf!" Ered said, "Look at how Neil and Harrison turned out after their first try!" David chimed in, showing Neil curled up in a fetal position while Harrison threw up in a bush. "That's actually backing up my claim that I SHOULDN'T do this!" Dolf replied while Ered guided him onto the skate ramp. The older girl tried to put the skate pads on him, but struggled. "My God, your legs are tiny." Ered said, holding back a laugh. "Does this mean I don't get to skate down that big, scary ramp?" Dolf asked. "Now that you mention it, Ered. Dolf does have a point." David lamented. "If the pads don't fit him, maybe we should just let him skip it." Ered wasn't sure at first, but she sided with David and let Dolf go. But before she could tell him, he was already skating down the ramp with only a helmet, and the clothes on his back. The campers stared in shock, some even holding their hands over their mouths as the young boy almost went midair on the skateboard. But before he could fall, David caught him in his arms, causing an applause from the rest of the campers. Even Neil and Harrison applauded. "Annnnd that concludes our Extreme Sports Camp activity. Please report to the mess hall for lunch." David said, putting Dolf down. "I don't think I could eat anything after this near death experience." Dolf replied.

"I've never seen you with your hair down before." Max said, seeing Gwen leave the bathroom. "Yeah, well. there's a first time for everything." Gwen shrugged. She was really hoping Max hadn't heard what went on back there, but he did. He wasn't sure if he should ask questions, seeing as it wasn't in his nature to care about the well being of others.... Sometimes. He looked close at Gwen's face as she sat next to him and saw the print she had left behind. "What's that... Thing.... On your face?" Max asked, Gwen trying to move some hair over it, thinking she covered it up before he could spot it. "It's... Nothing, Max." Gwen said, lying through her teeth. "Come on, I know a hand print to the face when I see one." Max scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I've witnessed enough fights to know." He said. "Look, Max. I know you're trying to help, but this is something that I don't think it's you or David's business to know about." Gwen finally admitted. "So...You smacked yourself in the face to keep quiet about it?" Max asked. Gwen rolled her eyes in response before looking at the clock on the wall. "The kids should be going to the mess hall by now, I'd suggest we catch up with them." Gwen said, getting up from her bed. Max decided to follow her from behind, seeing as he wanted to catch up with Nikki and Neil about their day so far. 

The rest of the day ran smoothly with David letting the campers have a field day for the remainder of time they had left. Gwen tried her best to take her mind off what happened that afternoon, and it worked. She actually enjoyed being with David that day while occasionally having to tell some of the kids off. Nikki managed to talk her ear off about what happened at Extreme Sports Camp, which cheered the normally cynical counselor up just a bit. The day ended with David playing a few campfire songs before dismissing the kids to their beds while Gwen waited in the cabin. What seemed like a very long Wednesday was finally over... 

Friday was not too far away...