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 Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:57 am
Peter had given camp a few days to change his mind. Maybe it was just his own bad attitude about not being able to get on the internet was hindering his judgement of a rather fun and exciting place? Maybe he was just not seeing the forest for the trees? Maybe he was just bitter that his parents had left him there instead of taking him with them to Europe and was taking out his frustrations on the camp?
Well, there were plenty of trees and he was pretty sure they were dead smack in the middle of a giant forest for miles on end in every direction. And while the lack of interent, or just phone service in general, didn't make anything better, he was pretty sure that the camp would have been sucky either way. He was still definitely bitter with his parents for abandoning him, but there wasn't really anything he could do about that at the moment. Maybe he could guilt trip them once he got home.
He'd tried getting away with playing Angry Birds all morning (they were just so angry!), and that had been fun for a while, but spoilsport Christopher said that he would take his phone away and delete all his applications if he didn't at least sit through activities... Jerkface...
So now Peter was stuck, being bored out of his mind, while the other campers ran around making macaroni art (were they in kindergarten?!) and doing other things that the counselors thought would be 'fun' but really weren't. And the other kids were probably just as bored so they went with it since there was nothing better to do... Or something like that...
It was just after lunch, and Peter laid on his back in the grass, staring up at the flag hanging high above on the pole. He wanted to try and get to the top to see if there was any reception, but he just needed to plan out how... Ugh... He'd figure it out eventually. Maybe he would try when everyone else was busy doing things...
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 10:10 am
Most of the other kids were actually having a good time. Paris didn't know if he should be surprised by this or not. He'd never been to camp as a child. He didn't know what it was like on the other side of things, but he imagined he would have liked to come if his parents had actually thought to send him. He wondered why some of the teenagers who weren't counselors came, since there were probably less juvenile things for them to do back home that didn't have anything to do with gluing macaroni on paper, but the younger kids were generally pretty into it.
Well... except for Peter...
Paris hadn't said very much to him since the first day, though one time he'd asked him (very nicely) to be a little more friendly around some of the other kids. Peter wasn't a bully, but he wasn't showing a very good attitude and he tended to get snippy at people when he was in a bad mood -- and considering all of his desperate attempts to get phone service had failed, he seemed to be in a pretty bad mood all the time.
He saw him laying out on the grass after lunch, and with nothing better to do before the next round of activities, Paris went over to sit down next to him. It amused him how Chris and Peter didn't seem to get along. Chris was such a nice guy, he'd assumed he got along with everyone -- or could force himself to, if need be. But Chris and Peter butt heads so much it was a wonder they were actually brothers.
Or maybe that's how all siblings were supposed to be. Paris didn't know. He'd never had any.
"Having a bad day?" he asked, adjusting his skirt as he sat down.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 10:25 am
Christopher got along with almost everyone?? But how? He was such a boring spoilsport about everything. He was surprised that anyone could stand him.
Peter glanced up as Paris sat down next to him, frowning as he was reminded of his bad mood. "Or a bad two weeks," he grumbled, remaining with his back in the grass. Maybe he could get bitten by a poisonous spider and be sent back to Destiny City... They at least have televisions in the hospitals.
He frowned up at the girl with the skirt and the blonde hair for a few moments, before asking, "You're the one dating my brother, aren't you?" Or something like that. She'd been the one to come to camp with him, so he figured they were going out. "Why? Isn't he boring?" he wondered, still bitter that Chris had threatened to take his phone from him. It was bad enough that he didn't have any service. The least he could do was just... let him hold onto the one piece of technology he had with him there.
It wasn't as though he hated being outside. He loved it. Just... the internet... and the fact that everyone thought it was such a stupid thing for him to be upset about. They didn't understand... He couldn't learn anything without the internet. He was pretty certain he already knew most of the stuff they would try spouting out to him since he was a Cub Scout and they'd already gone over plenty of nature facts. He paid attention in school when they talked about nature stuff, so he knew that, too... And he looked up even more things once he was home and bored and just... wanted to learn things.
He wasn't stupid. He just wasn't being stimulated very well.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 10:35 am
Paris raised his eyebrows at Peter's question, glancing down at him with an amused smile. "No, I don't think he's very boring," he said, not answering the first question because he still wasn't sure if what he and Chris did could be called "dating." They were just going out. And kissing every once in a while.
Before, he might have thought Chris would be boring. He was guilty of judging people based on how they looked sometimes, and Chris didn't exactly give off any other image aside from prep and goody-two-shoes. But Paris liked spending time with him. They didn't always do exciting things, but even just having dinner or walking around the park with the dog was nice sometimes.
He didn't need excitement and parties all the time. Occasionally it was nice to just chill out. He could see why a kid would think that kind of stuff was boring, though.
"He just doesn't want you getting in trouble," he said, though he thought it was really a bit more than that. Chris did look legitimately annoyed sometimes when he was dealing with Peter. "If you keep taking your phone out during activities, someone's going to take it away. What are you going to do then?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 10:44 am
Peter wrinkled his nose when Paris didn't agree that he was boring. Ugh... She'd obviously not been around him long enough. Or maybe she was boring, too. Probably. A boring girlfriend for a boring guy. He was always doing boring things and getting mad when others didn't do boring things, too. And everyone always praised him for being so boring and it was boring listening to everyone praise him.
It was okay, though. He was still the favorite. Except for the fact that his parents had left him. Ugh.
"Yeah right," Peter said, rolling his eyes. "He's always mean to me. He just wants me to suffer and be bored. And if anyone took it away, I'd get them on charges of stealing and maybe even sue them for being neglectful to my education," he said with a shrug, even if his parents hadn't exactly let him try to sue anyone yet. But if he had a good enough reason, like theft, then he was pretty sure he could at least get them in jail for a night or so.
Maybe not, but he could dream.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 10:51 am
Paris did his best not to laugh. Something told him Peter wouldn't appreciate that very much.
"If you're not supposed to have your phone out in the first place, I don't really think it's theft if they take it away from you," he said. "Besides, they'd give it back at the end of camp."
Er... not that he was trying to lecture him or anything like that. Paris was usually pretty hopeless without his phone, too. He happened to like texting, but he wasn't having a bad time at camp either, so he supposed he could go without it for two weeks if he had to.
"I'm not going to take it away from you, but I can't really stop Chris or any of the others from taking it," he explained. "If Chris is mean to you, it's only because he doesn't want you breaking the rules. If you get in trouble, how's that going to make him look? He's one of the Senior Counselors. All the kids are supposed to listen to him, and if you make it seem okay to talk back and ignore what he says, then all the other kids might start doing it, too."
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:45 am
What was she doing? Trying to be his mother? He didn't like that at all. It was annoying...
"What? You don't use your phone for a clock or alarm? I don't have a camera, so I use it for that, too," he said with a shrug, not seeing the problem with having a phone at camp. It was a stupid rule, anyway. Having him not use his phone.
Ugh, and more nagging. Why was he always nagged at. Just because she was dating Chris or whatever didn't mean she had to be an idiot and believe everything he told her...
"You do know that he likes making out with his best friend, right?" he said, pushing himself up from the grass, giving Paris a serious look. What? He didn't like how he was always being harassed about things, so he was just going to have his own fun. Look! He wasn't even using his phone to do it! "You've met her, right...? I think she's working as a forest ranger here. But that's only because they didn't have room for her in the senior counselor's cabin. Otherwise she'd probably be rooming with Chris."
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:56 am
He wasn't going to argue with Peter about the phone anymore, since it didn't seem as if anything he said was going to make a difference. He didn't really see what a kid his age needed with a phone. The alarm clock was convenient, yes, but the kids tended to wake each other up, and if they weren't up by a certain time then one of the counselors could usually be depended upon to go get them. The camera was a bit more important, he supposed, though Paris had a separate camera since his phone didn't have very good picture quality.
He wasn't trying to nag. He didn't exactly like it when people nagged at him. He was just trying to explain things to Peter and help him understand. And he was being friendly about it! It wasn't like he was being mean!
Paris blinked at the subject change, confused for a second, before he realized what Peter was talking about. "Wait, what?" he asked, taking a moment to process the comments before saying anything else.
Chris and... his best friend? Since when??
"I... don't think I've met her," he said, looking back over the last couple of days. He knew the female forest ranger from sight, at least, whether or not they'd been introduced. He hadn't really seen Chris hanging around her all that much, though, at least not any longer than he hung around other people, and Paris had never seen anything that looked suspicious about the two of them. If anything made him suspicious, it was how Chris had acted around that other girl.
"Wait... forget the best friend for a second..." Though he'd be more than happy to come back to that later. "What about the red head? Who's she?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:05 pm
It was his phone to do with as he wanted. Whether Paris thought she was nagging or not didn't make it any better. He would rather be let alone about his phone, thanks.
Peter had to hold back a grin when his lie caught Paris's attention. Awesome, she must be the easily jealous type, then. And that means she hadn't been around Chris long enough to meet Zee. Talk about luck! He was about to continue about Zee, but then the red head was brought up. Red head? Oh!
"Oh, you mean Skye? That's his ex-girlfriend from high school. Chris was planning on marrying her at one point, but then she cheated on him with some other guy," he said with a sage nod. He couldn't make stuff like that up. It had been pathetic seeing Chris mope around the house for weeks after it happened, but that's what he got for being such a goody goody. "It was probably because she ended up being bored of him. Or because she found out that he was with a bunch of other girls behind her back. It's always like that, though. Chris dating several girls at a time," he went on, amused by his own stories.
Well, if Paris believed him, then awesome. If not, then whatever. He'd just find something else to do.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:15 pm
Paris wasn't really sure if he believed him or not. Peter looked like he was being serious, but Paris also knew kids had the habit of making things up. He stared at Peter, trying to figure out if this was one of those instances, but he was too distracted by the thought of what he was implying to really read the kid properly.
"High school's a bit too early to start planning on marrying anybody," he mumbled. Any age was a bit too early to start planning a marriage, in his opinion. People should just not get married. Ever.
Paris frowned, recalling how awkward Chris had been around Skye and deciding Peter was at least telling the truth about her being Chris's ex-girlfriend. If she had cheated on Chris when Chris had been seriously involved with her, then it would explain the awkwardness, though Paris thought he should be more pissed about it than nervous to be around her, unless she was one of those girls that most guys had no clue what she was thinking and Chris was afraid she was plotting something.
Paris would have to keep an eye on her.
Of course, if Peter was telling the truth about that, then what did that mean about everything else he was saying? "So he's... dating his best friend, too?"
What?
It wasn't that he was jealous. He didn't think he had anything to be jealous about. Sure, the female forest ranger was pretty, but Paris thought he was prettier -- he always thought he was prettier -- so he didn't think he had anything to worry about in that respect. He was just confused, is all -- and maybe a little worried that he was being played as much as he was playing Chris; talk about a blow to his ego. He wouldn't have pegged Chris as the sort of guy to play around. He always seemed so serious about everything.
"Since when? I haven't really seen them together."
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 11:21 am
Him? Making something up? Never!
Peter shrugged when Paris started asking all her questions, inwardly amused that she was concerned about things like that. Really... Chris? Dating more than one girl at a time? Ha, he was too boring for something like that.
"Oh, yeah, they've been going out for years. I think it's more of a friend with benefits thing, though," he explained with a sage nod. "I just wanted to tell you to warn you!" he said, holding up his hands in an innocent fashion. "I hate seeing all the girls Chris dates walk away with broken hearts. He really is a jerk, you know." Okay, maybe he was pushing it a little too far, but the expression on Paris's face was priceless.
Did she really think his boring brother would be going out with multiple women at the same time? Guess she didn't know him all that well yet. Sucks for her then.
"Really, though. I'm sorry you ended up with such a lame guy."
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 11:38 am
Paris almost fell for it. Almost. In certain ways -- other than the fact that it seemed so un-Chris-like to do -- he wouldn't be surprised. Guys were guys. He was a guy. He'd been with plenty of other guys before. What was stopping Chris from doing the same? Paris didn't have any sort of exclusive claim over him, though he would very much like to keep him around for as long as he could to benefit from Chris's generosity.
Then Peter had to try and be sympathetic, and Paris was immediately suspicious. What ten-year-old expressed sympathy like that, or even cared what his eighteen-year-old older brother did with girls, especially if said ten-year-old and said eighteen-year-old were always butting heads?
Slowly, Paris became aware of the fact that he was probably being played more by Peter than Chris.
"Is that so...?" he asked, letting Peter think he had him strung along for a little longer. "That's funny. I haven't seen them together, or even any proof that Chris has been with other people. It's not like he's walking around with lipstick smudged on the collar of his shirt or hickeys on his neck," he observed, wondering if Peter was still at the stage where he was grossed out by any talk of intimacy and romance. "Actually, if he does nowadays, it's probably mine. Do you even know what friends with benefits are?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 12:40 pm
Peter rolled his eyes at the girl before glancing up at the flag on the pole again, moving over to it to wrap his hands around the metal. "Friends with benefits are people who are involved with each other, usually sexually, who don't expect any kind of lasting relationship out of it. It's casual and easy and a way to escape commitment that people these days apparently have such a big problem with," he rambled off, kicking off his shoes and pulling off his socks as he spoke.
"I'm ten, not two," he grumbled, not liking how she was assuming that he didn't know anything. "And they're together all the time. If you give me a boost up, I can probably spot them," he said, still looking up at the flagpole and trying to decide how he was going to get to the top.
"I wouldn't know if he had hickeys or lipstick anywhere. I haven't seen him in weeks. He doesn't exactly hang around the family all that much now that he's in college and has an apartment and a dog and a girlfriend." Why bother with an annoying little brother when he obviously had everything he needed. A little bitter? Probably, but he was more bitter about not having cellphone service than anything.
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 12:52 pm
Paris was quite sure now that Peter was trying to pull his leg, even if he wasn't admitting to it. He watched Chris's younger brother as the approached the flag pole, remaining where he was and considering things for a little while, before standing up, brushing some stray grass off of his skirt, and moving over to grab Peter under his arms and hoist him up, allowing him to grab onto the flagpole if he so chose.
"Why are you trying to make your brother out to be such a bad guy? Is it because you're jealous?" he wondered, trying to figure it out.
Peter made up such wild stories about his brother's dating habits that he had to wonder if it bothered him not because he found it "gross," but because his brother's attention was focused somewhere else instead of on him.
"You know, if you want him to hang around more, talking back to him and making him angry probably aren't the best ways to do that," he offered. "If you're antagonizing him because you want the attention, it's just going to backfire on you. Trust me, your brother is totally into the whole sweet and innocent act," he said. "Though that probably wouldn't work for you now that he thinks your a complete brat. He'll see right through you."
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:48 pm
Peter scowled when asked if he was jealous of is older brother, hardly thinking that was a conclusion to jump to in this situation. "Me? Jealous?" he asked, before letting out a humorless, sarcastic laugh, grabbing onto the flagpole and hoisting himself up after Paris had helped him get a start. Not wearing shoes was easier to get a good grip on the pole.
"No way, I'm not jealous of him. He's a jerk, and you'd be better off with letting him play kissy face with all the other girls he's seeing," he said, slipping a little on the pole as he tried to climb up higher.
"And I don't want to hang around him," he grumbled, already annoyed that he has to be watched by his brother at the camp instead of going with his parents. That would have been a lot more fun than this lame place.
"And exactly. He's a jerk and I'm a brat. He doesn't even give me the time of day without telling me to brush my hair or something else like that, as if he's our mom. Mom isn't even that obnoxious," he added, sliding to the base of the flagpole, before trying to climb up again.
Wait, how did they change subjects like this??
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