Chapter Text
John was woken up by the sounds of screaming outside the tent. He got up and yawned. Smitty shot up, looking around alarmed. “Morning,” John muttered.
Smitty grunted, rubbing his eyes. “What the fuck are they yelling about out there?”
John made a noise. “Go check it out?”
“You’re coming with,” Smitty ordered.
John stuck out his tongue but didn’t complain. He followed Smitty out the tent and to the campground, where David and Anthony were banging pots and pans together. John picked up a small rock and threw it at Anthony’s back. Anthony stopped his banging and threw a small pan towards John but it bounced off the ground halfway there, stopping four feet away from John and Smitty.
“What are you guys doing?!” Smitty asked.
David whipped around dramatically and clanged his pots together. “Waking everyone up! We’re going swimming!”
“It’s barely eight!” John yelled back.
Anthony let out a loud laugh. “It’s twelve.”
“Really?” Smitty asked John. John scrabbled back into the tent and unlocked his phone. Sure enough, it was twelve thirteen. Smitty peeked into the tent and John nodded.
“Well I guess we’re going swimming,” Smitty muttered, rubbing his eyes.
“No food?”
“Bryce will probably set up a picnic or something. He’d better or we’ll all go insane.”
A few minutes later, everyone fully woke up and changed into swimwear - or anything resembling swimwear - in or behind tents. It was rather chilly so they had loose shirts and sweats over their swimwear and made their way to the lake. Bryce and David were carrying coolers full of food. John made sure to stick close to everyone and not wander off too far, as he didn’t want to get lost again.
He followed everyone northwest and soon came to a large body of water. Bryce and David set up the food area on a table by some grass covered by the shade of trees while everyone else got onto the dock. Anthony let out a war cry and shoulder checked Scotty into the lake before flinging off his shirt and pants, cannonballing into the lake.
Scotty resurfaced a few seconds later. “You bitch!” He yelled, dunking Anthony when he breached the surface. He let go after a couple seconds and Anthony splashed Scotty.
“Y’all stupid,” Smitty said taking off his shirt and pants, calmly jumping into the lake.
David took out a nerf football from one of the coolers and threw at Scotty. It hit the dock and landed in the water, bobbing up and down behind Anthony.
Anthony picked up the football and threw it at Smitty’s face.
Smitty flipped him off and dived underwater. John didn’t know what happened after but Anthony screamed and flailed in the water.
Smitty soon resurfaced and laughed. In another area on the shore, Bryce and Ryan were splashing around, chasing each other on the shallow beach. David walked down onto the dock and sat down, kicking the water.
Anthony responded with a loud pterodactyl screech and sent a wave of water at Smitty’s face.
“You going to go in?” Bryce came up to John.
“Soon,” John replied.
“You know how to swim?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you’ve been in space your whole life and I don’t think you’ve been near a large body of water since the Omiah and you’ve never even gotten into the water,” Bryce said smugly.
John blew a raspberry. “I’ve been in water!”
“A bathtub doesn’t count. It’s just water, it’ll just be like zero gravity, just with more effort.”
“And if I drown?”
“You won't, Smitty will save you,” Bryce grinned.
John raised an eyebrow. “What makes you so sure?”
“He’s never been talkative about or even to people he’s just met. If anyone can save him, it’s you.”
John took a deep breath. “I’m trying, I really am. I just hope I’m not the cause.”
Bryce cocked his head to the side. “Why do you think that?”
John shrugged. “Just a feeling I guess.”
“You’ve done nothing wrong, don’t worry. Now get into the damn lake.”
John groaned but complied. He took off his shirt and sweats and tossed them to Bryce. A little hint of fear started blooming in John’s chest when he got closer to the edge of the dock.
“John! Come on, get in!” Smitty exclaimed. He splashed some water onto John’s legs. The water was pretty warm. John groaned and cursed to himself, jumping up and down a bit before jumping into the water. He sank with a less than graceful flailing and managed to get to the surface before panic really set in. John coughed and held onto the dock post until he could get a better grip on staying afloat. Smitty paddled over. “You lived.”
“So far.” John let go and sank a few inches before vigorously kicking to stay afloat.
Smitty laughed. “Don’t tense up, try to spread yourself out and kick in an eggbeater fashion.”
John mimicked what Smitty was doing and managed to stay floating easier. “Fuck water.”
“Poor you. You can get closer to shore if you want,” Smitty said.
John rolled his eyes. “I ain’t a pussy!”
“Well don’t blame me if you drown,” Smitty stuck out his tongue and splashed John a bit. John sputtered and slapped the water in front of Smitty before quickly climbing back up onto the dock and ran around to the shore where Anthony had Scott on his shoulders. Scotty waved to John and called him over. “Let’s play chicken!”
John jogged slowly over to the shallower area where the two were and Smitty swam over. “John and I are going to kick your asses,” Smitty declared.
John crossed his arms and nodded. “Get on me, Smitty.” John knelt down onto the sandy floor.
Smitty snorted but complied, getting onto John’s shoulders. He pat John’s head when he was ‘settled and secure.’ John got up and walked backward a few steps. “Get ready, bitches.”
“You’re gonna lose,” Anthony threatened.
Smitty guffawed and counted down from three. On one, the two teams charged forward as best as they could in water. They reached the center of the battleground and Smitty shoved Scotty as hard as he could, almost pushing Scotty off Anthony’s shoulders but Scotty held on, pushing back. John dug into the loose, wet sand as best as he could. He kept a hand on Smitty’s leg and pushed Anthony with the other.
They were at a stalemate until Smitty let out a loud yell and pushed Scotty’s shoulders, making him fall back into the water. He resurfaced with a small cough and wiped off his face, flipping off Smitty before walking over to the other three on land.
“We won!” John boasted. “What do we win?” He looked up at Smitty who shrugged.
“Better be something worth while.”
“Well right now, I want food,” Anthony sulked. John shuffled over, patting Anthony on the shoulder.
“You put up a great fight,” he said, bowing his head.
Anthony made a noise and gestured the two to follow him to the shore and back to the food area. Ryan ran back to the table with Bryce hot on his tail and vaulted over the table. “Y’all want food now?” Ryan asked. He opened one of the coolers and dumped out a bunch of sandwiches and granola bars. Everyone that was there grabbed their favored thing and chomped down.
It was around four when everyone decided it was time to go back to camp, David strongly suggesting it would be a great idea to race back and then disappeared into the trees. John just followed Smitty back to the camp where Ryan asked everyone if they wanted to drive home or stay for another day. No one really gave a straight response and just looking around to the others for opinions and silently muttered to themselves. They decided to leave after another day. They packed all the food and left all the essentials to survive the rest of the night, or ‘challenge mode’ as Scotty said. Meanwhile, Ryan thought it would be a great idea to throw small pebbles and twigs at Anthony. It was a while before Anthony snapped, throwing a half empty water bottle at Ryan. Smitty was back at the grassy area where he was lying down yesterday. John passed Bryce - who was scolding Anthony and Ryan - and walked over to Smitty, lying on his spot yesterday. “You alright?”
Smitty nodded. “It’s just relaxing here. Quieter, away from the chaos.”
John inhaled the air. “It is.”
Smitty hummed. Today was a good day.