Women's Empowerment Camp

Chapter 4: Nikk-Stickk

"And so far we've sold... 0 boxes." Max said, tossing a calculator behind him. "Be patient, Max. Not that many people have showed up yet." Nikki replied. "Like how David should've been here with those water bottles?" Max rolled his eyes. "I'm sweating bullets out here." He muttered under his breath. Suddenly, David came rushing back with a cooler in his arms. He was too busy focusing on not dropping it that he didn't realize he was running into oncoming traffic. Causing multiple cars to stop in the road. Max enjoyed this sight and took a video on David's stolen phone. "Caught in 4K, Camp-Man." He smirked, putting the phone back in his pocket. "I am so sorry, campers. There was a long line at checkout for some reason and it put me behind schedule." David said, apologizing profusely to the campers. Max could care less and grabbed a water bottle, rubbing it against his head. "Hey, David?" Nikki asked, poking David's leg. "Why yes, Nikki. What is it?" David replied. "If we don't make any money, does this mean we get to eat the candy bars?" Nikki's eyes were beaming with hope, not noticing the Flower Scouts were holding back laughter. "Of course not, Nikki." David chuckled. "Campbell wants these all sold by the end of the month, and I will make sure it ends that way." The counselor grabbed a fold out chair from the trunk of his car and sat in it as he watched the kids hopefully make a profit. 

"So this is another one of Campbell's 'get rich quick' schemes?" Sasha questioned, overhearing the conversation. "Why am I not surprised." Erin added, slumping her head into the palm of her hand. Tabii could care less about the conversation, as her eye was solely focused on her crush: Neil. She also felt a sense of competition in not just cookie sales, but who was paying the most attention to Neil. That's when she spotted Nikki handing Neil a water bottle from the cooler. this made the young scout's blood boil with jealousy. So she turned to Sasha. "So how are we gonna drive those wannabes off our turf?" Erin asked. "Well, its obvious that Cameron set them up to sell off those candy bars." Sasha schemed. "So unless they have any of that special Mexican Cane Sugar, I'd say we're still in business ladies." She tapped her fingers together, whilst glaring at their neighboring rivals. "Ohhhh Sasha! I think I know how we can throw Campbell's Candies off the map!" Tabii mused, trying to hide the fact that she was simping HARD for Neil in that moment. "Spill, Tabii." Sasha commanded, oblivious to how far her friend had fallen. "It's a little thing called: Process of Elimination..." Tabii grinned wickedly. "And I know just who to eliminate first." 

"How much money have we made so far, Max?" David asked. "$5..." Max replied, "And someone telling us how our prices were bullshit." The counselor frowned at the results, he was determined to sell those bars for the prices Cameron told him to sell them for. "Max, if we're gonna get that money we owe Campbell, we need to REALLY push our product!" David explained. "And how are we gonna do that, Camp Man?" Max responded, already feeling annoyed at David's determination. This made David freeze. He had next to no skills as a salesman, but had the energy of one. But an idea popped into his head. "I'll be right back, campers!" He said before excusing himself once again. Leaving the two troops alone. The Flower Scouts already discussed their big plan and Tabii already knew who she wanted eliminated first...

"Nikki, knock it off." Max groaned, slamming his head on the table as Nikki tried to wave two candy bars in the air as she came up with a chant for people to hopefully take interest in their product. The chant practically gave Max a massive headache, resulting in him holding his half full water bottle to his forehead. Tabii snuck over while no one else was looking, "Those are some nice dance moves you've got there, Nikki." She falsely complimented. "Thanks, Tabii." Nikki replied, cutting off her chant. "But you know what would make your routine even BETTER?" Tabbi asked. Nikki stopped her routine and glanced at the rival scout. "What?" Nikki responded eagerly, seeing she wanted to make a few sales. "Take one of the candy bars, melt it a little bit, and rub it all over your face!" Tabii explained. "But wouldn't that be a waste of product?" Nikki questioned. "Nikki, by not doing this, it would be a waste of potential!" Tabii replied. "Just...Don't cover your entire face, just around the mouth." The scout walked off and Nikki thought hard on the advice she had been given.

"Did you just tell Nikki to do blackface?!" Erin whisper shouted. "No, Erin. I told her to rub the chocolate on her mouth." Tabii rolled her eye "Tabii. Usually I don't like letting other people take the lead, but what do we do after this?" Sasha asked. "If Nikki falls for it, we'll take a bunch of pictures and it'll cause the best social flash mob ever!" Tabii schemed. "But what if Nikki doesn't actually do it?" Erin said. Before Tabii could even respond, Sasha quickly noticed Nikki smearing melted chocolate around her mouth. "Oh my God, she's actually do it!" Sasha whispered, holding back laughter. "Wait REALLY?!" Tabii squealed, leaning in close to Sasha while Erin watched from the sidelines. Nikki continued her routine, thinking the advice from Tabii would actually work. ...And it did. But it also caused a LOT of laughs from people passing by, and at first, she didn't seem to mind it. But the adventurous camper started to feel the either amused or grossed out looks get under her skin. Usually, Nikki didn't care about how people thought, but this was advice from a FLOWER SCOUT, a troop that she wasn't on good terms with, but has since come to a mutual relationship with. She knew they were all about beauty, so her mind just assumed the advice Tabii gave her was true!

Time passed and their first sales day was a success. David was eagerly counting all of the money they made in the drivers seat while the kids hauled the empty boxes into the trunk of the car. "You did great today, campers! I'm really proud of you!" David smiled as the campers approached the car. One by one, each kid climbed into the back until Nikki was the last to walk up. "Nikki, what happened to your face?" David asked concerned. "I don't know, but it feels really itchy." Nikki said, scratching at her cheek, which was red and irritated. "we'll have you checked out as soon as we get back to camp." David said. "Does this mean I get to sit up front with you?" Nikki asked. "Nice try." David chuckled, Nikki lowered her head and got in the back seat anyway. 

The car ride was peaceful, aside from the occasional banter between David and Max. But Nikki felt awful. She felt ashamed, her face was burning up from the melted chocolate she had on her face for hours, and the talk between the other campers in the group made her feel like they were talking badly about her. One question that was on everybody's minds was... Where was Gwen?