Love Scouts

Chapter 3

This is picking up from where chapter 1 left off! <3

**Lennons POV** 

Dax and his friends finally stopped their whispers and snickering after receiving a look from Scoutmaster Tom that gave them the message to quiet down.

Scoutmaster Tom stood in front of all the seats, filled up with us boy scouts upfront and the parents sitting behind us in the back.

"Alright," the man standing up said as he rubbed his hands together, eager with excitement, "I'm glad everyone could make it to today's meeting!" 

"As you know, today we will be going over our very first activity of this summer, which will be..."  he grinned, hesitating with suspense, "the first camping trip of summer 2020!" He stuck his hands out to his sides with jazz hands. 

I pursed my lips as I looked around the room to see the reactions of the other Scouts. Some of the younger ones, around 14 or 15, seemed to be quite excited after hearing the announcement of the first camping trip of that summer,  while the rest of us had mixed feelings about the news.

I looked at clay, who sat on my left, and he gave me a shrug while told me quietly that he didn't know about the trip until right now like the rest of us. Turning to Porter on my right side, I watched him just scrunch up his nose in contempt and give me a small smile to go along with it. 

Scoutmaster Tom cleared his throat loudly to stop the small whispers that had broken out throughout the scouts around me, and in a few seconds, the room became quiet as Tom continued to speak. " I know what you guys are thinking, Are you flippin' kidding me, dude? This is just going to be like every year," he mimicked us, " But this camping trip is going to be different!"

 I could see a couple of other scouts exchanging confused glances with one another as he said this.

"This year, instead of our normal three to four-day trip, we will be camping for two weeks!" Tom explained. My lips parted, I could barely stand our normal four-day trip, but now we had to be out in the wilderness for 2 weeks? Meaning no fan to keep me cool at night, and no soft mattress to sleep on? 

I know that it sounds really weird coming for a boy scout, but camping has always been my least favorite thing to do. It forced me to hang out with my troop more than I would like, and sometimes we would have to share tents. Also, I don't get to sleep wrapped up in 2 blankets in my freezing room on a soft mattress behind walls, not the thin material a tent is made up of.

 Plus, most of the time, I wasn't fortunate enough to end up sharing a tent with one of my friends. I was praying that for this camping trip, the world would be on my side for once, and I would get to share a tent with someone I don't exactly hate.

I watched my Scoutmaster take a deep breath in before speaking again, " Oh! And one more thing, sorry in advance to anyone younger than sixteen because... only the older kids will be staying the whole two weeks." 

"What? " a kid gaped in the seat in front of me, "why do we have to stay a whole 2 weeks?" 

As I looked around the room again to see many jaws on the floor along with mine, I understood that most of the other scouts weren't too keen on the idea either.

Tom looked at the kid, then looked at the kid's mom, then back at the kid, "You guys are getting old enough to where we can push your skills a little harder." he said with a small encouraging smile. 

"Wait then what about us people who happen to be younger than sixteen?" a kid named Brandon voiced his confusion. "Ah Yes! Those who are younger than sixteen will join the rest of the troop on the camping trip for the last three days."  our Scoutmaster responded.