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Chapter 9 - Storytime with Max!

The brunette narrowed his eyes after hearing Nikki talk about skipping the activity of finding a new mascot. But there was a twist, Max actually agreed to skip, since when did he skip activities?

He thought for a moment and knew it was because of Nikki, but why would he listen to her? It's not like he had anywhere else to go. And plus, out of all the friends he could've made in this camp, it had to be Nikki.

Neil had always did his best to get Nikki's attention and be her friend, so she could join his group. But Nikki never seemed to look interested, or even care.
Neil became furious, but got interrupted by Nerris tapping him on his shoulder, "What?" He snapped, turning over to the dark skinned illusionist, "They're getting away!" Nerris exclaimed, pointing towards Nikki, who was currently motioning Max to follow her into the woods, "After them!" Neil yelled, trailing behind Nikki and Max as his fellow comrades ran behind him.

Meanwhile, the completely oblivious Gwen thought aloud, "I feel like I'm missing someone..."

***

As the group of three followed the duo, they finally arrived at the so called secret place. Nikki and Max ran towards the small apple tree, climbing up the ladder on the trunk.

Neil's eyes widened, and motioned his gang to follow him quietly, "You see what I'm seeing?" Questioned the brunette, brushing off the leaves from his clothes. Caused by the bushes he had been in, "I see a small apple tree in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by tall pine trees. What else am I missing?"

Nerris answered sarcastically, amused by Neil's irritated groan, and the sound of Preston snickering behind her, "That's the main reason why you have glasses, bitch" Neil growled, pushing Nerris, "Look closer." He then pointed at the small, light blue treehouse, "Oh yeah, what's that all that about?" Preston leaned closer to look, "Let's go find out." Neil ordered, walking towards the apple tree, his friends followed.

Meanwhile, Max and Nikki were playing a board game they found on the shelf called, 'monopoly'. Currently, Max was winning due to his experiences of playing with Jasper, "Dammit! Why the fuck do I always land on your places?!" Yelled the magenta eyed female, earning a small chuckle from the boy across her, "What can I say? I'm having a lucky day." He snickered, Nikki rolled her eyes and smiled, "Sooo, your dead friend Jasper, right? How'd you meet him? I wanna know more about him." She questioned, starting up a topic. The young boy thought for a moment, he put down his dice and looked up at Nikki, who was looking back at him with a curious expression, whilst also smiling,

"Well..."

***

The sound of splashing could be heard from the lake, all of the campers were rowing the boats for rowing camp.
Screaming could also be heard from the lake as some campers got splashed by others.

Basically, they were all having fun with their friends, a smile on all of the campers faces, including Max. Max was an isolated young boy at camp, he was almost invisible to everybody, but if he was noticed, it never ended well.

But right now, the young boy didn't care about who played with him or not, because he always had his companion, his teddy bear. Tattered and stained, in any condition possible, Max would always bring it around with him.

Moments ago, Gwen had paired all of the campers up in groups of two, but had Max left out since Neil and his gang took up a whole canoe. The little boy, however, was not bothered at all as he took off with his teddy bear gripped tightly.