camp triple pine//lawrusso

9. caught you

For Paris, with love :-)

Hopefully it is not too obvious that the only thing I know about capture the flag is what I read in Percy Jackson.

This time, it was Bobby that was reciting the rules, at the edge of the woods where all the campers and counselors had gathered.

"The rules are simple," he started. "Two teams, two flags. Each team will hide their flag within their territory, and the other team has to infiltrate and, well, capture the flag. If you get tagged, though, you have to sit out. So, speed is key. Any questions?"

"A comment," Jessica added with a raised hand, coming up to the front when Bobby nodded in reply. "You only need to tag a person, don't purposely injure them." She gave a pointed look in Johnny's direction.

"What?" Johnny replied. "Accidents happen--Jess, quit looking at me like that--alright, I'll go easy on gimpy over here, if that'll make you happy." He shrugged half-heartedly in Daniel's direction.

Jessica merely raised an eyebrow at what Daniel thought was a derogatory term, but she nodded. "It would, thank you."

"Jess, you can't keep Mother Henning me--" Daniel started, before turning to Johnny with flushed cheeks. "And you can't keep underestimating me. Out there, with how fast I am, and how dark it is, you won't even see me until you've already lost--"

"Would you two knock it off?" Jessica snapped in a whisper. "At least keep your battle monologues to a minimum in front of the kids?"

"Kick his ass, counselor Daniel!" one of Johnny's (apparently disloyal) campers, Eli, chimed in right then. Johnny turned and glared at him, but nothing came of it.

"Language, Eli," Jessica reprimanded, though there was no real power behind it, only exasperation. "Alright, campers! The teams are as follows: Mr. Daniel's, Mr. Tommy's, Ms. Ali's, and Ms. Susan's campers over here. You will be the blue team, and Ms. Ali has the blue flag to hide." Jessica pointed to her right, and the forty or so campers began to group there. "Mr. Bobby's, Mr. Johnny's, and my campers, over here." She pointed to her left. "We will be the red team, and I have the flag to hide. Well, we aren't hiding the flag so much...it does have to be visible, but it can be hard to obtain. Refer to your counselors for ideas on where to hide it. I'm starting a timer," Jessica pressed some buttons on her wristwatch. "In five minutes, the games will begin. Hide your flags!"

With that, Ali pulled Daniel into the huddle with their campers, whispering about a great towering tree that was easy to climb, so they could put the flag far out of reach. They all started to head into the woods, Daniel sparing Johnny one last look over his shoulder. Daniel wasn't sure if he should have been surprised or not when he locked eyes with him, Johnny already watching him curiously. Daniel sneered at him, as if silently telling him off for looking at him, even if Daniel was the one that glanced his way. Johnny sneered back and flipped him the bird.

Apparently, Susan was the best climber out of their group, so she took the flag to the top, where it hung proudly. There was a glow stick taped to the flag, and each of the players had glow sticks they were required to wear so they could be seen. Daniel admired their work for a moment, trying to keep his mind off of the anxiety coiling in his stomach. Johnny wasn't really going to hurt him, Daniel was sure, though he had a feeling Johnny would be more focused on catching him than any flag in these woods.

"Three, two, one, begin!" Jessica's voice rang out from a distance, and the kids scattered. The newcomers, like Miguel, seemed disorganized and simply decided to stay and play defense. One of Ali's girls, Tory, immediately dashed into danger, as agile and deadly as a mountain lion despite her small form.