Band Camp (boyxboy)

Chapter 5

♫Come on baby, light my fire

Try to set the night on fire♫

"What the fuck are you doing?" Sidney asked as I started to pry open the door to our room so I could leave. They had sent someone around to knock on the doors and inform us it was now time to play the sacred fire game. I was pretty sure it was made up, and that we were way too old to play games.

"They said to go outside?" I meant it to justify my actions, but fuck if I didn't feel inferior surrounded by grade twelves, and everything I said came out as a question.

"Don't you have actual boots? Or mitts? You're going to freeze to death." I shook my head and he began to riffle through his bag. He pulled out a pair of black knitted mittens with white writing on them.

"How long is this game?"

"Well, it's definitely longer than your-"

"Just pass me the effing mittens," I grumbled as Sidney laughed and the other guys in our room sniggered. The forever silent Ian hadn't moved from his bed since we got back from the hill, so it was clear he had no intentions of joining us outside, and I couldn't even blame him. Hudson and Jonathon on the other hand were completely decked out from head to toe, looking like they had just returned from the Artic. I could already sense the competition would be anything but friendly.

♫

"The rules are simple," the counsellor with the heavy German accent said, not that many people could understand him anyways. I was more concerned with the fact that I had only been outside for minutes and the wind whipping me was threatening to freeze me to death. We could have already been playing the fucking game but the stupid niners wouldn't shut up long enough to let him talk- until Hudson threatened to kill all of them. The thought of impalement by an icicle was efficient.

"Each team has a fire, the one team has yellow glow sticks and the other has green. You must have your sticks visible," he explained, and I hate to admit I was so immature that I laughed at that.

"The lodge divides the team's territory. You must carry the snow from your side, and if someone on the other team taps you when you're on their side, you have to go back to your side. The goal is to put out the other team's fire by throwing snow from your side into it."

Naturally, a bunch of people raised their hands asking pointless questions he had already answered while the rest of us grumbled about starting the fucking game already. He split us down the middle, and Sidney made sure to pull me at the last second to his side as the glow sticks were being handed out. I looped mine on my zipper and then the music started and we dispersed to opposite sides.

I was self-deemed defense, because I was not about to go run around trying to throw snow in a fire when I could stand around and tag people. Sidney stood close to our fire while I stood behind the lodge so I could jump out and tag people. There were a bunch of grade nine girls giggling around the fire and I could tell Sidney wanted to shove their faces in the snow. I would have.

Tagging people was almost too easy, and after a while I just made myself visible and started yelling along with the words to 'Can't Hold Us' and that was enough to keep people away. Probably because you can't carry snow while you're covering your ears.

"Logan," Sidney called out, and when I turned he was standing at the base of the hill that led to the equipment shed. He pointed upwards and then disappeared into the trees.

For the first time since the game had commenced I actually ran, and by the time I got to where Sidney had been I was winded.

"Sidney?" I tried to call out, but I was short of breath and could no longer see him. Like promised, he had headed to meet me at the equipment shed. I stared to mount the hill, but stopped when I heard voices. Maybe it was stupid to be afraid of two guys standing at the top of the hill in the dark, knee deep in snow, when all they wanted was to get past me and win the game, but if I failed to stop them and they put our fire out then I would never even make it to the equipment shed.