Gwen's Worst Nightmare (One Of Them At Least)...

Chapter 5: The Lake

David decided to let the campers have a field day at the lake. Some decided to put on their bathing suits and go swimming, while others stayed on land. Nikki, for example, was convinced that there was buried treasure and began to dig holes everywhere. "Be sure to bury those holes when you're done, Nikki!" David raised his voice so she could hear him, only to get a thumbs up from Nikki. Max decided to distance himself by sitting next to the peak Gwen had previously taken the kids to for rock climbing lessons. Only this time, Preston was giving other campers "tours" even though everyone was present at the time. Maybe he was just bored? Maybe it would boost his ego? Who could tell. 

Meanwhile, Gwen was giving herself a strict pep-talk in the bathroom. "Everything is fine. You are fine." She told herself as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. "Just tell David the truth. He won't judge you." But then she paused. "But...what if he does judge me?" She began to panic once again, backing against the closed door as she let her thoughts take over. "He's probably gonna think you're some sort of coward." She thought to herself. Tears forming in the corners of her eyes. What if he did think of her as a coward if he found out. The visit was only a mere 48 hours away at this point, it was all that was on her mind. She couldn't  think of anything else. She couldn't even focus at work. Gwen felt like her anxiety was worsening every time it came to mind. She pulled out her phone and began to text David. "I'm running late. You think you can hold the fort without me for like... 5-10 minutes?" She typed on her phone, sending it to David. He quickly replied with "Sure! Take all the time you need! :)" Gwen sat her phone down and slumped against the door. She felt like crying at this point, but nothing came out. She wanted to catch up with David right away seeing as she was already running late thanks to her failed pep talk, however, she didn't want David to see her like this. So she waited.

David was waiting patiently under a tree as he watched the kids playing by the lake. He occasionally had to tell a couple of them off, but that's to be expected. The only kid who wasn't told off though, was Max. He just sat by a rock and watched the sky. He turned his head to face David. "Where the fuck is Gwen?" He finally spoke. David set his phone down. "She just texted me saying she'd come by in a few minutes." David replied. "Is she running late or something?" Max questioned, David simply shrugged. The jaded child began to shudder. "Do you think it could be... Uh..." He tried to speak without feeling his stomach twist into a thousand knots. "Related to that one thing that happened to Nikki a while back?" David obviously knew what Max was referring to, but he didn't like poking his face into someone's business like that, so he told Max not to ask questions like that. "Hey, Max! Wanna check out some of the stuff I found in one of the holes I dug?" Nikki called from afar. "Uhhh yeah, sure." Max said before catching up with his friend. 

Gwen finally made it to the lake, hoping she could hide the obvious signs of her panic attack from earlier. "Hey David." Gwen said, sitting next to him. She expected David to greet her like he always did, but instead he responded with a simple "Hello, Gwen." Which sort of gave her whiplash. "And what happened to 'goooooooooooooooooood morning,' David?" Gwen asked, trying to be sarcastic. David looked and saw how tired Gwen looked. "Are you sure you wanna work today?" He asked. "Oh yeah, I'll be fine." Gwen replied. David looked closely and saw how glossy her eyes were, Gwen hoping he wouldn't notice. "You know....If there's something bothering you, I'm here to talk." David said, placing a comforting arm on Gwen's shoulder. Which sent a chill up her spine. "In fact...Max said he heard you in the bathroom last night." He said. Gwen felt her heart drop. Was she really THAT loud last night? "He couldn't quite make out what you were saying, though." David added. "Funny because I... Don't remember talking in the bathroom." Gwen said, lying through her teeth. "But if I did, I must have been sleepwalking!" She tried to come up with a good excuse so that way she wouldn't be completely lying, but it would still keep her secret air tight. The one thing she didn't think of was Max. He was the only other person who knew. But he seemed to abide by the "Snitches Get Stitches" rule, so that's probably why he didn't come to mind in that moment. 

"David. Space Kid is missing." Max shouted from afar, causing the counselor to stand up. "One of us should check to see if he washed up across the lake." Nurf suggested. David ordered the kids to search the entire area while he went to check the other side of the lake. The kids then scrambled, Gwen watching them while she wrote her latest fanfiction. She had been suffering from writer's block these past few days, so she was just writing down ideas at this point. But she stopped when she heard a voice from off in the distance. Was Max playing another one of his pranks again? Or maybe David dropped one of the boat ores in the middle of the lake? "Jesus fucking Christ...." she mumbled under her breath. The counselor decided to scan the beach. She began to walk along the sand before tripping over something. "I swear to God if this will actually make me have to go to-" She said, spitting out sand, but whatever it was she tripped over didn't look like a rock of sorts. Instead it looked more like a... Fish bowl? "SPACE KID!" She gasped, quickly digging around the bowl and fishing the kid out. "How did you? When? I-" She stuttered. "Oh, Nikki buried me by accident." Space Kid replied, Gwen turning her head to Nikki. "...Oopsie." Nikki said timidly, tapping her pointer fingers together. Gwen was out of patience at this point. Usually, she'd lose it at Max, seeing as the two never got along, but Nikki had really gotten under her skin. 

"God dammit, Nikki. Are you REALLY trying to make my life a living hell?!" She shouted from the other side in which she and Space Kid were at while Nikki was by the docks. "Well... No?" Nikki replied? Looking back at Neil, who was a few feet away from her, he shrugged at Gwen's words. But what nobody expected was for the raging counselor to come stomping towards the innocent 10 year old. "It seems like EVERY time I have to supervise you little twerps, you're always the one who causes shit like this to happen!" Gwen's voice was clearly raised, which she didn't even think to notice. "I didn't mean to, Gwen. I was just..." Nikki began to tear up. "I'd expect this from Max, sure. But YOU?!" Gwen stopped herself as her mind slowly got in touch with reality. What she saw was a traumatized kid while other campers stared blankly at her. "Wow...." Max whispered to himself. "Nikki. I-... I didn't mean to!" Gwen said, trying to get down to the child's level. Nikki ran away, hiding her face from everybody else. The counselor tried to tell the other kids that she didn't mean to snap, but they were all against hearing her out. ...Except for one. 

"I know you didn't mean it, Gwen." Max said, tapping at her leg. At least SOMEONE was on her side amongst all of this. "I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!" David greeted, noticing Space Kid was in good health. "I see you found Space Kid. Wait... Where's Nikki?" He asked, causing Gwen to walk away. "I'll fill you in on all the details." Max whispered.