Women's Empowerment Camp

Chapter 6: Girl Talk

Nikki wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, she was being so hard on herself for so long and felt like nobody cared. Even David was so absent from sales due to stocking up on bottled water, and sometimes even snacks for himself, that he was totally unaware of what the Flower Scouts were up to. In fact, David sort of gained a bit of an ego out of these sales. 

Gwen looked in the tent and saw Nikki curled up in a fetal position on her cot. She didn't wanna startle her, so she approached quietly. Nikki began to grasp onto reality once again when she heard someone entering her tent, so she sat up slowly. "Hey, Nikki." Gwen said softly, knowing the other campers were asleep. Nikki made a weak smile and waved back at Gwen. "I just thought I'd come in to check on you. Are you alright?" Gwen asked in the same tone as before. Nikki looked down at her feet. "...I don't know..." She said quietly. "...David and I noticed you've been acting differently these last couple weeks. What's going on?" Gwen got on the ground so she could be at Nikki's level. "David doesn't care..." Nikki said, barely any emotion in her voice. "What do you mean he doesn't care, Nikki?" Gwen asked, the words practically gave her whiplash. "He doesn't listen..." Nikki felt tears forming in her eyes and she tried to wipe them away. Gwen could feel her heart ache seeing Nikki like this, she never expected the ever adventurous camper to suddenly feel so insecure. She was quickly to wrap her arms around the crying child while quite literally serving as Nikki's shoulder to cry on. 

"Oh Nikki..." Gwen sighed, holding onto Nikki. "Honey, what makes you think David doesn't care?" She asked, pulling the child away from her shoulder, while still holding her closely. Nikki was having trouble forming full on sentences, only be able to say a few letters. "It's ok. Take your time." Gwen reassured the camper that there was no rush, even if it risked her shirt being soaked with Nikki's tears. She didn't care. It was just some lousy shirt she was told to wear everyday. She continued to hold and console Niki until she managed to calm down. Gwen sighed once Nikki's sobs were reduced to mere whimpers, so she pulled the child away, while still having her hands on Nikki's shoulders. "Can you tell me what happened?" Nikki finally nodded in response. "Th-The Flower S-Scouts have been...P-Picking on me during sales." Nikki managed to stutter, trying to find her voice again. "Pick on you?" Gwen asked, trying to stop her blood from boiling. "What have they been doing to you, Nikki?" Nikki could feel fresh tears, so she quickly wiped them away with her arm. "W-Well... T-T-Tabii was the one who..M-Made me rub ch-chocolate all over my mouth. Sh-She told me it would l-lure people in." Nikki explained the best she could. "...Did it?" Gwen questioned. "Y-Y-Yeah." Nikki sniffled. "But th-they were either g-g-giving me w-weird looks or l-laughing at m-me." Gwen genuinely sympathized with Nikki, but part of her was getting more and more pissed off as Nikki began to tell her other things the scouts were doing to her like taking half eaten candy bars and planting them near her to make it look like she had eaten them or making generally mean comments, and making sure she could hear them.

"Y-Yesterday. When D-David was bringing back some water bottles, Tabbi sh-shoved me in front of him and...And." Nikki had trouble speaking again and it took a minute for her to stop feeling overwhelmed. "And what, sweetie?" Gwen asked, wiping away any fallen tears. "W-Water went fl-flying e-e-everywhere and b-blamed ME for it." Nikki felt a sense of relief while Gwen felt outraged. "Why didn't you tell David about all of this?" Gwen was getting angrier at David by the second, but she knew it wouldn't help the current situation with Nikki, so she tried to hold her fire. "Like I said, Gwen. He doesn't care!" Nikki exclaimed. "David is either buying water bottles for us and it takes him FOREVER to return. And when he does, he usually sits by the car!" The young girl started to feel a bit angry at David too. "That son of a bitch..." Gwen muttered to herself, making sure Nikki couldn't hear her. "I'm gonna talk with David when I get back to the cabin, ok?" She said, hoping it was ease Nikki's nerves. "And I'll make sure he's not in charge of supervising you guys on sale days ever again!" Nikki's eyes widened. "G-Gwen. Don't you think that's being a bit extreme?" She asked. "He didn't bother to hear your side of the story, Nikki. Why should I trust him?" Gwen replied. "Because tomorrow, Gwendolyn is gonna be watching you little shits. And she's gonna teach those basic bitches a lesson they won't forget." Gwen put on a game face, which cheered Nikki up a little bit. "I'm gonna go back out there and give David a piece of my mind!" Gwen got up off the dirt and dusted her legs off. "Yeah, kick his ass Gwen!" Nikki cheered, causing the counselor to almost laugh, but she bit her lip so she wouldn't wake the other campers. "You get some sleep, alright Nikki?" She said, trying to hide her laughter. Nikki obliged and tucked herself into her cot. Gwen was about to leave the tent before she heard Nikki call her name again. "Yes, kid?" She asked. "...Thank you." Nikki answered before yawning and turning the lantern off in her tent.

David was just changing into his pajamas when he heard loud footsteps on the porch. It couldn't possibly be Max at this hour... Could it? He opened the door and saw a raging Gwen standing at the other end. "Gooooooooooooooood evening Gwe-" David greeted before receiving the hardest slap across the face he had ever gotten. "Owwie." David whimpered, holding his cheek. "What the fuck, David!" Gwen shouted, not noticing the tone of her voice. "You are supposed to be SUPERVISING those brats, not sit by your car while they fail to sell Campbell's shitty product!" David felt oblivious as to what she was talking about. "What do you mean, Gwen? Of course I supervise the campers." David said. "Yeah, but did you notice Nikki was being relentlessly tormented by those Goddamn Flower Scouts?!" Gwen replied, her voice cracking a few times. "...I guess not." David said, feeling ashamed as he hung his head down. "Well there's your answer as to why Nikki hasn't been herself, dipshit. Those girls are making her feel insecure about everything. Her personality, her body, EVERYTHING!" Gwen practically ripped David a new one and she tried to hide the face that she enjoyed seeing him scared shitless. "Y-You're right, Gwen. I failed as a counselor and salesman in the making." David admitted. "Good, so from now on I will be supervising those twerps while selling those stupid candy bars while you manage the OTHER half of them back at camp. Got it?!" Gwen explained, David didn't have anything else ot say and just nodded.

"Good..." Gwen answered...