Camp Direction

Chapter 14

“I’m a horrible actor, and you know it,” Zayn grumbled, his eyebrows arched as he watched Penny rummage through his clothing.

“You’re also sexy and I know it, but I’m not complaining, am I?” Penny replied, not taking her eyes off the luggage for a second. Zayn, however, stared at her for a moment before bursting into laughter. He sat on the bottom bunk of his own, until Penny suddenly stood up, a loud, “AHA!” escaping her lips.

“What’d you find?” Zayn asked, standing up and walking over to her. She had laid out a black pair of skinnies and a black jumper that had the word “SMART” stitched across the front in capital letters. Zayn scrunched up his nose. “Black? No one will see me! Campfire’s in the evening, darling, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Oh, I know,” Penny said, turning to face him. She pressed a kiss to his lips and said, “Now, get dressed and meet me at the mess hall, yeah?”

Zayn stuck out his outer lip, crossing his arms as he was disappointed.

“Hey,” Penny said, walking back over to him, “Put that lip back inside,” she said, using her finger to push on his bottom lip, and then poked his nose, “And smile. It’s the last campfire for the kids this week, make it worth it for them.”

“Okay, fine,” Zayn said, giving her a sheepish smile before she left the cabin. He eyed the set of clothes and couldn’t help but wonder what the girls had in store for him that evening for a skit.

Back in Niall’s cabin, however, something completely different was happening. He was dressed in what Tori had laid out for him, which was a black shirt that had “NYPD” in white, capital letters across his chest, along with a pair of grey sweatpants and high tops.

“Hold still!” she exclaimed, catching his chin with her hands. Niall squirmed under her grip. “I’m going to mess up the face paint if you keep moving, Nialler.”

“Tell me again why you’re making me look like a panda?” Niall asked, stealing a glance in the mirror that was nailed to the wall of the cabin, seeing his face white and black circles around his eyes. Tori had topped it off with a black nose and even had little ears for Niall to put on.

“You’re a panda policeman, silly,” Tori replied, sponging the last bit onto his cheeks. She threw her hands up in victory and exclaimed, “FINISHED!”

“I still don’t get it. Can’t be one or the other? Why a panda policeman?”

“You’ll get it later, Ni. Now I’m going to get ready, I’ll meet you back here in a few, okay?”

“Okay,” he muttered. “Can’t I get a kiss goodbye?”

“It’ll smudge your make up,” Tori giggled.

“I’ve never been told that before,” Niall said, scrunching up his eyebrows, which were also painted black. Tori laughed, leaving the cabin. “I wonder how Louis is doing…”

“This is utterly ridiculous,” Louis muttered, toying with the little tail and ears that Jenny had had him put on. “I’m obviously more of a dog, not a mouse.”

“Liam’s the puppy, Lou,” Jenny answered, sponging the black paint onto his nose. She dug into her bag for a moment and emerged with a pair of fake teeth that would be long enough to show over Louis’ bottom lip. He backed away.

“Oh, no,” he said, backing away with his hands out in front of him. “Not the teeth.”

“Oh, come on, Louis! You need to act the part!”

“I’m horrible at acting,” Louis replied sassily, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes at Jenny. She rolled her eyes back. “Okay, fine. You win. I’ll put on the teeth!”

“Yay!” Jenny exclaimed, stepping closer to him. “Open your mouth.”

Louis did as asked, and Jenny pushed the fake teeth onto his real ones. He began acting like a mouse, pretending to bite a piece of invisible cheese in his hands. Jenny laughed, and he stepped closer.

“Too bad you can’t kiss me with those teeth on,” Jenny muttered.

“Off go the teeth.”

In Harry’s cabin, Tori had arrived with Niall, who sat on one of the bunks impatiently. Katie stood next to Harry, who was sitting on one of the chairs. Tori, being the painter she was, had also promised to do Harry’s face paint. She drew the eyes, the nose, the mouth, and added a few specks of what appeared to be a mane around his face.

“You look like a cute kitty,” Katie laughed. Harry growled at her, and she laughed harder.

“I’m supposed to be a manly lion, the king of the jungle,” Harry argued.

“Well, you’re sure as hell not going to be my king,” Niall muttered from his place on the bunk.

“Shut it, panda bear,” Harry replied, as Tori finished off his face paint.

“Okay, I’ve got to take a picture of all of you before we go to the mess hall,” Tori said, shaking her head with a smile. “Who’s got Liam?”

“Celine should be getting him ready,” Katie replied, checking her watch. “Speaking of which, let’s head off to his cabin.”

In Liam’s cabin, Celine was struggling to paint a small spot around his eye to make him look like a dog. She had already painted a tongue sticking out from his bottom lip and a nose, but he wouldn’t let her finish the eye.

“But it’s going to get in my eye!” he whined, pouting.

“No it’s not! Now hold still!” Celine replied, trying to grab hold of his chin. It had gone so far she was sitting on Liam’s lap to hold him still, her legs hanging off the back.

“No! My vision will weaken!”

“Stop moving, or I’ll make sure there will be no more Jammie Dodgers for the rest of the time you’re here,” Celine said, and Liam suddenly shut up and froze.

“You’re a cruel monkey,” Liam said, taking note of her own face paint. Celine smirked, finishing off the makeup on his eye. As soon as she lifted the sponge from his face, the door to the cabin opened, revealing four boys dressed as animals, along with their girlfriends, who were also in costume.

“This is an odd sight to see,” Harry said, walking over to the young couple in the chair and crossing his arms. He took note of Celine sitting on Liam. “And I thought you were the innocent one.”

“Shut up, Harry,” Celine replied, but Liam could see the redness in her cheeks as she stood up once more, shaking out her numb legs. “Everyone ready?”

“Yup. Now let’s take a picture,” Tori said, pulling out her phone.

“I thought no phones were allowed?” Niall asked, as she set the camera’s timer and placed it on one of the bunks, as everyone got into position.

“Rules are meant to be broken.”

A/N: I know, I know, it's a bad ending, but next chapter will be more eventful. On another note, I have some bad news. Not next week, but the week after that, I'm going to have to take my final exams. I won't be on as much, so I may not update :( I'm sorry, but my grades haven't exactly been... Wonderful as time has passed, so I have to focus on schoolwork. I'll try my best to throw in some updates here and there, but I don't know if it'll work out. Sorry :(