Chapter Text
"...That means I'm telling you—"
"Kids are gone."
David had been a Camp Campbell counselor for six years, and in all those years, he had never witnessed ten-year-olds driving a bus. Heck, he'd never seen it even before the job. There's a first time for everything, right? Sadly, it wasn't the first time that the Sleepy Peak law enforcement had to come down to address the issue. The issue was caused by campers.
"I'm tired of having to come down here, David." Sal sighed, writing on a slip of paper and then tearing it off to hand to David. It was filled with a fine that David would have to pay from his own pocket, mingled with a fair share of Gwen's money and also some of the camp's funds.
"I know, Sal," David took the paper, slumped over. He could sense the glare of a certain trio at his back, and he meant to have a serious discussion with them after this. They had committed multiple crimes in one evening; destruction of public property, destruction of property in general, endangerment of the public... if they weren't ten, he was sure that Sal would have them sent down to the local station by now. "Sorry again."
"You keep those youngins' under control," Sal shoved a thumb in the direction of the campers behind them. David nodded, staring at them from the corner of his eye. He could spot Gwen making exaggerated gestures with her arms, swinging them around as she scolded the three. A scowling ravenette boy with a blue hoodie, an excited teal-haired girl in red overalls, and an anxious lean brunette wearing a turtleneck; one of the most unlikely trios David had ever encountered. "Otherwise next time, we're going to have to contact their guardians for payments."
"Don't worry, Sal! I've got this under control," David reassured him as he gave a friendly wave along with a smile. He didn't want any worried parents filing lawsuits. "I hope you have a swell day, sir," Sal grunted, giving a brief nod and mumbling under his breath before turning to the police station wagon and piling in. David watched as the car slipped away, then sighed, staring at the paper. He turned to face Gwen and the campers, frowning. She was still ranting to them, but it had gone from discipline them about the bus to an unhinged bluster about how she never wanted her "liberal arts degree to get her here". David coughed to get her attention, and she faced him slowly, eye twitching.
He waved his arms in front of his chest to signal that she needed to calm down. It was one of the things they had learned to do after becoming coworkers. Moving into place beside Gwen, he placed his hands on his hips, pulling a pouty face at the three campers. "What do you three have to say for yourselves? You could've gotten killed!"
"We learned that prepubescent legs can never maneuver a bus properly." The brunette raised a finger, brows furrowed and eyes squinting as the ends of his face pulled down.
"Shut up, Neil." The boy in the blue hoodie had shoved his hands into his pockets, glaring at the brunette with a fiery expression. His lips were curled up into a nasty grimace, and his dark face almost looked red. "We would've escaped if you weren't so fucking slow."
Just as Neil opened his mouth to protest, David beat him to the punch. "Language, Max! And Neil, what you learned was beside the point." David stuffed the yellow note from Sal into his inner vest pocket, using his free hand to rub at his forehead while he closed his eyes and breathed out his nose. "I'm going to have to make you sit out on tomorrow's activity as punishment."
A cheer erupted from Max and Neil, while Nikki pouted, knitting her brows together and making her arms hang at her sides pitifully. "What? Come on, David!" She laced her fingers in conjunction and frowned. "We were only playing!"
The expression tugged at his heartstrings, but he refused to back down. He shook his head as he spoke; "Sorry, Nikki. It's either that or your pocket money." He could see Max and Neil high-five each other behind her. "As extra punishment, you will have to spend the entire day with Gwen tomorrow." Upon saying so, he watched the smiles fall off their faces as if melted off, and he would be lying if he said that he didn't feel some sadistic glee inside upon seeing the newfound expressions.
"What?!" Neil flailed his arms, and Gwen smirked next to David. "Fuck you! Come on, that's... what the hell, man!" Neil went off into a demented harangue that Max soon joined in on, along with Nikki, resulting in all three of them barking complaints to David. However, he had gripped onto all three of them and dragged them into the camp station wagon— nicknamed the "camp-mobile".
They managed to start an argument with Gwen too, so the four of them continued their bickering as David gripped onto the steering wheel, driving back to camp. The crashed bus was to be taken care of tomorrow, where the police had already left tape around it to keep it secure; meaning David would have to return to the site by lunch tomorrow, which also meant that he would have to leave Gwen and the Quartermaster together supervising kids. Hopefully, tomorrow will run smoothly, or he won't be able to attend to the bus issue either.
Soon, they arrived at camp. Thankfully, the kids had only managed to drive the bus around four kilometers away before it crashed. Not to say that David liked the fact that they crashed it! No sir, he did not like that idea. But it was still a good thing that something had managed to stop them from getting far. Not to mention the lawsuits that should be enforced but weren't because of the lack of authority coming from the Sleepy Peak law unit; Gwen was practically twitching in anxiety before she figured out that they were in the clear. As soon as they arrived, the kids threw the door open and ran out, Max flipping the bird at David. Gwen empathetically patted his shoulder, muttering a lackluster "there, there," before walking off, leaving him to walk behind her.
Somehow, the Mess Hall stayed clean; a sharp disparity from what had happened that morning with the kids... and the Quartermaster. Although the Quartermaster had been at camp since David himself was a tot, he barely had any skills in dealing with children. It really made David wonder whether the Quartermaster was qualified for the job. The redhead shook his head at the thought. Of course not! The Quartermaster just needs some help with kids. No matter, David could provide that training... soon. When he found time. He pulled up a smile on his face - As his motto went, no use frowning when you could work with a smile! - and stood at the counter in front of the Quartermaster, watching the kids with his arms crossed over his chest lazily.
His mind drifted off to how he would pay for the camp's recent funds. The bus wasn't the only thing that needed to be paid for; in total, he had a sum of $200k to give in. He internally grimaced at the thought. The last time he needed to pay for something this big, Gwen had teamed up with him for chocolate and chip sales, but that only resulted in 1500 dollars. Besides, that money was gone, and they didn't have any more chocolate. Not that they kept chocolate around that much anymore. One year, a diabetic infestation occurred, and ever since then, candy had been forbidden at camp. David didn't like that much, after all, he had a massive sweet tooth, but it wasn't much of a mishap afterward. Well, except now. They would need to sell something, otherwise, David would need to scrape money off of Gwen, which he didn't want to do. His coworker would probably punch him— okay, that was an exaggeration, but he wouldn't put it above Gwen.
His grin grew strained as his mind piled through multiple ideas that would most likely fail. Honestly, he wasn't sure what he could do besides using the funds coming from the campers and using Cameron Campbell's money. But that was a problem: Mr. Campbell had left earlier that day, so David couldn't ask for permission. Well, he could call Mr. Campbell, but the man had instructed him not to do so unless the situation was absolutely dire. So, in other words— as a last resort. Perhaps David could take up a second job along with this one? He was an insomniac, it wasn't like he needed sleep... more specifically, not like he could sleep, actually. Oh, no, but he needed to stay on high energy for the kids.
He forced the edges of the smile on his face to soften, so as to appear calm. He didn't want to worry the kids or Gwen. He shook his head as if he was mentally scolding himself. Suddenly, he felt as if a light had turned on in his head. The Quartermaster! Honestly, David's head would fall off if it wasn't kept to his neck by his ascot. He'd ask the Quartermaster for help— surely the man had been in a situation such as this before? Well, minus the crashed bus and the lack of presence from Mister Campbell.
David turned his back from the counter to face the Quartermaster, who was slipping tomatoes into a bucket that said... pig's blood? Well, it's never too early to prepare for Halloween, right? At least, that was David's opinion. Please be a Halloween preparation...
"'Morning, Quartermaster!" He chirped, feeling the positive energy flow back. That's it. A good feeling because of a good plan.
"'Mornin'," The Quartermaster grumbled, placing his bucket on the edge of a sink and then reaching for a new bucket titled "Crack". David pulled a face at the name for a split second before focusing back on the Quartermaster, folding his hands together.
"Well, Quartermaster, since you've been here for a long time," The Quartermaster took a green, translucent crystal out of the bucket he was holding, "I was wondering; has the camp ever been in a financial hassle?"
The elder man pulled a mortar and pestle from the shelf above. "There's been times." He plopped the crystal into the bowl and aimed the pestle at it as if the conversation was over. David waited a few more seconds before realizing that the Quartermaster wasn't continuing. "Ah! Right, well, what did you do to fix the situation then?"
Quartermaster slammed the pestle into the bowl, causing a reverberating sound to echo from it. David winced, backing away a few steps. "Campbell gave us money, o' course."
David felt his eye twitch. "...Right. What did you do if Mister Campbell wasn't there?"
Quartermaster shrugged, taking the shattered remnants of the crystal and placing it on a chopping board. "Du'no nu'thing, boy. You need money?" Quartermaster placed a rolling pin on the board and began sliding it against the crystal, which strangely stayed in place, despite being solid.
"Yes, we need money." David couldn't help the remark that rolled off his tongue, and even though he didn't want to sound rude, it just happened.
"Don' be smart wit' me, boy," The elder grumbled as the crystal finally crushed properly, disintegrating into a lime glowing powder formula. "You need money, you gotta work for it."
David couldn't tell what he meant by that. Working... as in a second job, or as in favors? "U-Um, how...?" He fiddled with his interlaced fingers in confusion, trying to communicate through the confusion. Communication is key, after all, as he always says.
"Use what'ver resources you got t'make money." Quartermaster pulled out a ziplock bag and slid the powdered crystal into the pouch, using the flat side of a knife.
David hummed in appreciation towards the information. "Ah. I see." Quartermaster finally looked at David, eyeing him as if expecting more questions. "Any suggestions?"
The elder man lifted up the ziplock bag that was pierced through the center with his hook hand, then pointed at it. "I'm sellin' this t' cretins for money. Try s'methin' like that." The Quartermaster soon turned and left to go to the door in the back. David watched the man until the door slammed shut, frowning, and then sighed as he turned around. At least he got an answer. Now... What could he sell to make money? Or what could he do to make money?
Someone tapped on his shoulder, and he flinched, not knowing anyone was next to him— how'd they even get there? Upon realizing it was just Gwen, he gave her a shiny grin. "Hey, friend! Is it time to let the campers out?" Gwen simply nodded, pointing at the Mess Hall door.
"Right." David straightened up, fixing his bandana, and then puffed his chest out, returning to the cheery disposition he was originally in. He grinned at the campers. "Alright, campers! You can go to your tents now." The kids all cheered at the prospect of getting to their tent, and most began to rush out. Gwen however, had taken the time to go to a certain trio and had gathered them together to take to David.
"You three will be staying with us." Gwen glared at Max specifically. "We wouldn't want another accident." Max reflected her fiery glare; the only difference was that his bloodshot eyes made him seem like flames were radiating off the look.
"Oh, goddamn it," Neil mumbled under his breath, scuffing the ground with the heel of his shoe, frowning harshly. Nikki also looked downcast, though more disappointed than anything. Max, on the other hand, was having none of this. "Hey, come on, we don't wanna stay with you!" He pointed at David.
"Well, you wouldn't wanna stay with Quartermaster, huh?" Gwen immediately came to his defense, crossing her arms over her chest. When none of the three argued about the point, she smirked. "That's what I thought. Now shut your fucking yaps and get to the counselors' cabin. We've got a long day to kill." She dragged out the word 'long', resulting in Max's eye twitching.
"...right. Let's go!" David grinned wide and marched to his cabin, hoping that the others would trail behind him. Obviously, they were reluctant, but Gwen made sure to shove them into the path of action. Grumbling, they all headed over to the cabin, David patiently waiting at the front. "Welcome in." He displayed the door to them as if it was some sort of golden trophy.
Max shoved himself in, pushing David out of the way with his shoulder, and causing the man to stumble backward, raising his arms to prevent hitting the ground. Gwen muttered something harsh under her breath and walked inside, ignoring David on the way. He sighed and ushered in Neil and Nikki. Neil was somewhat nervous, Nikki was just smiling.
Gwen sat the three down on the floor in front of the t.v, and crouched down to their eye-level, preparing for a lecture. And as much as David would love to contribute to it, he had work to get done. So whilst Gwen chewed them out, he got into his chair and picked out paperwork on the desk, working through. Occasionally, he would turn his head to sneak a peek at them, but then he would resume his work. Alright, great job, David! He mentally congratulated himself after around thirty minutes. Good thing he'd started this a week ago. Taxes paid. Now for the money…
He placed the paperwork on a neat pile in the corner and finally faced Gwen and the campers. Apparently, she had given up on telling the kids off and was sitting on the bed, typing something on her laptop. Probably another writing project. He admired Gwen's love of the fine arts— maybe he could read one of her fictions one day. Nevertheless, don't get distracted, David. Another turn of the head made him look at the kids, and they silently sat in front of the t.v, watching Rob Boss. Phew. At least they'd be out of his hair. No one can resist Rob Boss' charm!
He silently slipped out of his chairs and turned to Gwen. Leaning down a little, he whispered. "Hey, Gwen? I need your help." She slammed the lid of her laptop down in a panic, flinching at his sudden appearance. Looking at his confused expression, she sighed - in relief? - and nodded, frowning slightly.
"Sure, what do you need?" She asked, moving her laptop away and tilting her head. He looked at the campers, who were still indulged in the t.v, and then back at Gwen.
"About the bus situation... we don't have much money for that." He twisted his fingers, still watching her. She nodded, looking down and chewing on her lip. He continued. "Do... Do you have any ideas? Ideas to get money?"
There was a pause. Silence, besides Rob Boss talking in the background, and the small commentary between Nikki, Neil, and Max. After what seemed like an eternity, Gwen responded. "...No."
"ᴼʰ."
"..."
"U-Uh, well, that sure is unfortunate," David said, rubbing the back of his head, and trying to lighten the mood with a small smile. "I'll just... I'll go and— ...outside. I'm going outside." She shot him a look, then bobbed her head up and down as she watched the kids. He took that as a 'yes', turning around to swipe a notepad and pen from the desk.
Fresh air for fresh ideas, right? Any new ones he'd get, he'd jot it down in his notepad. Watching the kids out of the corner of his eyes, he silently opened the door and headed out, a smile blossoming on his face. He shut the door with a soft 'chink!' and walked off to the Activities Field, getting ready to look at the different camps.
Usually, Gwen and David would send off the campers to their tents immediately after lunch, but sometimes it was necessary to check up on them. At times, they'd find Preston sneaking into the theatre to write down script notes, or maybe Nurf would be outside practicing wood-carving— a surprising trait from the young boy, but David trusted that if Nurf was doing it, then he'd at least know what he was doing.
Ooh! There's an idea! He could ask Nurf to make some wood carvings and then sell those! He jotted the idea down in his notebook, pausing in his tracks for a moment. He'd check it out later with him to see if it would work out.
Continuing on, he moved forward, hoping to find a little more inspiration.