Enter the Valley

The day of the challenge, in an RV in the middle of nowhere…

Despite Daniel Bishop’s wishes to drive his son and the team straight to Drygully, the parents convened and thought that it would be quicker and less taxing on everyone if they flew to Denver, and then took a car to Drygully. Robert Ravers then sent the group on his jet, and upon landing, a black, sleek RV rented by Arthur Smith was waiting for them.

None of the parents opposed their respective son or daughter going on that trip, as the general consensus was that it would prove to be a wonderful, useful experience for all of them. Reassuring words from Daniel, and others who were on his team, such as Vanessa Austen and Mason Jackson, and then from other past competitors, like Mary Moreau and Jennifer White, were enough to ease any potential concern. The notable exception being, of course, Waldon Cole, who tried to stop his daughter from going, but Vanessa angrily warning her ex-husband to not alienate his daughter more than he already did for all her life shut up the man.

“Sounds really peaceful,” Gavin said, enjoying the peace and quiet of the wilderness, occasionally broken by the rare vehicles that passed by theirs on the road. If he couldn’t be with his phone, Gavin always appreciated quiet places, away from the bustling cities and towns.

“Yeah,” Zack nodded. The young man was sitting next to him on a couch, a pensive look on his face.

“This is a weird change,” Gavin stated with a small smile. When Zack turned to him, he nodded at his best friend. “I’m cool and you’re nervous for once.”

Zack let out a chuckle, rubbing his forehead in a nervous gesture. “I’m glad for that, buddy,” he said. “Means you’re improving.”

Oh, I don’t know about that, Gavin though, his gaze wandering across the aisle to where Madison, Ashley, and Heather were sitting on both sides of a dining table, more specifically to the stunning cheer captain, whose deep cleavage was left on display by the black tank top she wore, like a delicious feast. She caught his eyes and smirked seductively, which made the bespectacled boy quickly avert his gaze, his body flushing all over as a jolt went all the way to his virgin dick.

Heather’s gesture made the other two girls turn toward the boys as well, a frown appearing on Madison’s face as she saw the apprehensive look on Zack’s. “You’re okay, Zack?” She worriedly asked, it was unusual for the dark-haired boy to get so serious like that nowadays.

He gave her a quick grin in response. “Yeah, I’m kinda fine, don’t worry.”

“Kinda?” Ashley inquired, pressing further.

Zachary took a deep breath and sighed. “It’s just… now that we’re getting closer, it’s making me nervous. I’ve fantasized about this challenge for so long, but now that a team I’ve formed is so close to actually participating in the Young Sleuths Challenge, I’m terrified things will start going south or even that they will say everything was a mistake and send us home,” he sighed again and sank into the fluffy seat.

Heather scoffed and rose to her feet, crossing over to where the boys were seated, ignoring Gavin’s gaze on her bouncing tits. She stopped in front of Zack and snapped her fingers, causing him to turn to her in surprise before she smiled sweetly at him for a second and then slapped his face, not with real ****, but enough to make him snap out of that funk. “Pull it together, dammit," she ordered her cousin. "You're in this shit for real! You got chosen 'cause they think you can do this, dummy. So quit it with this self-pitying crap and start acting like the guy these crazy motherfuckers picked! You're a Ravers too, remember that."

Ashley and Madison just observed the tirade with mild surprise, having been on the receiving end of Heather’s tough love during cheer practice in the past. Gavin, though, felt his dick could tear his pants any second now, as Heather looked even hotter to him after that pep-talk, a fact he didn't think to be possible.

Zack stared at his cousin in shock, holding his cheek that was faintly stinging. "A Bishop and a Ravers, yes," he mumbled, a smile growing on his lips as part of his confidence returned. "Thanks, Heather. For knocking some sense into me."

She smirked in response. "Anytime, dear cousin."

Madison smiled from across the aisle. "Maybe you should go rest in the back for a bit," she suggested. "Relaxing will get your thoughts in order, you'll see."

"But Grace is already using the bed, remember?" Ashley said, an eyebrow raising. The Smith girl had gone to lie down a little more than an hour ago, claiming that all the bumping motions of the RV were making her nauseous. The blonde cheerleader tried to make faces at her captain to dissuade her from the idea, but she didn’t catch it.

"Great idea, Maddie!" Heather grinned at her fellow cheerleader and then turned back to Zack, pointing a finger at him. "You, up! The bed is big enough for two, go lie down."

"But…," Zack was about to use the Grace excuse too, but a stern look from his cousin shut him up. "Okay, alright, I'm going," he sighed. "But if she gets mad, I'll tell her it was your idea."

Heather fought the urge to snicker, if Grace woke up, then it would have been a funny prank on the infuriating blonde. Zachary stood up and glanced at the driver hired by the Smiths, the guy acted like a robot without any reactions or emotions as the teenagers laughed and bickered. Shrugging, he crossed over the big RV toward the bedroom in the back. Gavin watched his best friend in awe, someone who risked Grace's wrath like that definitely had his respect.

Zack passed by the kitchen area and the bathroom door to reach the bedroom, which was also closed. Carefully opening it to make sure Grace was decent, he found her lying asleep on the large bed, which was indeed, big enough for two, especially considering that she was occupying a spot near the edge.

Damn, he thought, unwittingly appreciating the view of her round bubble ass straining the jeans as she curled on the bed, a pair of black socks on her feet. A smile wormed its way on his face as he moved his gaze higher. She looked incredibly cute with her eyes closed, softly snoring as a few strands of golden hair fell over her cheeks and nose. “She’s really beautiful,” Zack whispered, fighting against the urge to push those stray hairs off her face.

“Well, I hope you don’t **** me to **** if you wake up before me,” Zack told the sleeping girl and then took off his shoes to climb on the bed, careful to put some distance between him and Grace.

A couple of hours later, Zachary was abruptly woken up by a fist hitting him in the chest, forcing him to instantly open his eyes with a wince, and then move to a sitting position.

“What the frack are you doing in my bed, Bishop?!” Grace hissed, wide-eyed as she sat back on her half of the bed in a defensive posture. “You didn’t d-do… anything, did you?” She asked, looking around for anything that could be amiss in the bedroom.

“Ooouch…,” Zack tried to rub the pain away from his chest. “Do what, Grace?”

Ther blonde had a scared look on her face as she seemed to inspect herself and then his own appearance. Somehow, the idea of waking up in bed with Bishop had her heart racing a little bit, but she didn’t realize it yet. Satisfied that she was still dressed, and only then, a sigh of relief escaped her lips. “Okay, clothes are where they should be,” she mumbled and then narrowed her eyes at him again. “The hell?!”

Zack massaged his chest a bit more and looked at her. “I was just a bit nervous, okay? The girls suggested for me to lie down and relax for a bit,” he explained. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask if it was okay, but you were sleeping too and I didn’t wanna wake you.”

“Oh,” Grace looked down at the bed and sighed again. “Okay, then I… apologize if I overreacted, but don’t do it again,” she lifted her chin to face him again with an irritated look. “I think I don’t need to tell you how weird it feels to wake up with someone else in your bed.”

Zack gave her a teasing grin in return. “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll be sure to ask if I can join you in bed next time.”

Grace gasped and a light blush covered her cheeks as the image he depicted flashed across her mind, until she couldn’t take it anymore and instinctively reached forward to punch his arm. “Will you get serious?” She demanded, a frown creasing her forehead. “Frack!”

“I’m sorry!” Zack laughed, rubbing away at his arm. He decided not to provoke her again for the time being, or she would probably bruise him at some point with those punches. It made him happy to realize their friendship had evolved to the point of being able to tease her, though, even if only a little. If he tried that at the beginning of the year, she would certainly have punched him in the eye or kicked him in the nuts. It was the first time that they were chatting just the two of them.

“Seriously,” Grace shook her head, wondering how boys could get silly like that on the drop of a hat. “Anyways, moving on, I was thinking before I fell asleep, doesn’t it tick you off that Ms. Moreau and your father didn’t tell us anything about what the challenges could actually be?” She inquired, moving to a cross-legged position. “Did your old babysitter cough up better info?”

“Nope,” Zack replied, sliding into the same position in front of her and scratching the back of his head. “Well, I couldn’t get to her, actually. She’s a cop, whenever I tried to call or text her, she was out and couldn’t text back.”

“Frack…,” Grace whispered, resting her chin on her left hand. “I wish I knew what we’re up against. I tried to research Wicket Valley, but only the summer camp and a few abandoned buildings came up. There’s not even pictures.”

“Yeah, I hit the same dead end in my search. Maybe it’s not that well known or something,” Zack theorized, lightly scratching his chin. “I can think of a few different things they can make us do, though.”

“Like what?” Grace bit her plump bottom lip, briefly distracting Zack before he swallowed hard.

“Uhn…, things like hiking, tracking, swimming, fishing, hidden clues on those abandoned buildings, scavenger hunts, maybe,” he guessed. “I think they can’t do stuff like missing persons or who’s the killer, unless they hire some actors or something.”

She groaned, throwing her head back for a moment. “Ugh…, more than half of those are fracking physical activities.”

He chuckled at her aversion to exercising herself. ”I only do some yoga,” it’s what she told him some time ago. “Sorry, I guess I didn’t think it through in the middle of all the excitement.”

“Don’t worry,” she sighed, and then gave him a rueful smile. “I figure it can be a way for me to win against myself or something. But I definitely won’t complain if I can just be in charge of clues, got it?”

He grinned at her and patted his heart. “Got it, and I’ll promise right here and now that I’ll let you do that if I can.”

A genuine smile grew on the blonde’s face that he found nothing short of stunning, but before he could dwell on it further, the door opened and Ashley stuck her head into the room, getting seemingly relieved when she saw they were just sitting on the bed. She couldn’t work on getting Zack together with Madison if he got together with a different girl. She would be happy for him, though, if he was also happy, the blonde cheerleader pondered.

“Hey, you guys should come back now,” she jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. “We’re almost in Drygully.”

Zack and Grace nodded and hopped off the bed to put back their shoes. Making their way to the front of the RV, the others were huddled together around the driver as they passed through a small village near the entrance of Wicket Valley.

“So, this is Drygully,” Heather commented. “Charming place. Quaint, even.”

“We’re approaching the valley, Ms. Smith,” the driver informed. A tall, stocky man in his late thirties, he didn’t talk much during the entire trip, sticking to his job.

“Thank you, Mr. Klutz,” Grace said, rolling her eyes as she fought the urge to add an ”I can see that”.

Tall mountains rose on each side of the road, some thin fog hovering in the air and creating an almost eerie environment to overactive minds.

“Kinda looks like a ravine,” Madison pointed out.

“Looks like an horror movie, you mean,” a spooked Ashley complained, unconsciously huddling closer to Zack.

Even though only Ashley was scared, the others were beginning to feel uneasy as well. They couldn’t see right in front of them as the fog never seemed to dissipate. Only faint bird noises could be heard besides the RV’s engine, adding to the sense of creepiness bothering the six teenagers.

“No, I’m pretty sure it looks like a portal to another realm,” Gavin ominously said.

“Dude,” Zack playfully elbowed him, and even Grace had to chuckle.

All of a sudden, though, the RV finally broke through the fog and the group found itself in a beautiful green valley, bathed by the sunlight. A clear, shining lake could be seen in the distance behind some trees. The six were awed by the contrast with the shadowy ravine.

“It’s gorgeous!” Madison blurted out, enraptured by everything her hazel eyes could see.

“Oh, I already like that lake!” Heather remarked, thinking about the lake back home.

Zack caught a sight to the right of the road and couldn’t resist nudging Ashley on her shoulder. “Oh, look, there’s your horror movie,” he pointed out, laughing.

Ashley shrieked at the old graveyard in the distance, and then hit a laughing Zack in the arm, a cute, irritated look on her face. “Hey!”

Grace looked at him with a half amused, half surprised expression. “When did you get so insufferable?”

He turned to her, marveling at her emerald-green eyes and how the light coming from outside the vehicle made them look even more gorgeous. “Well,” he shrugged. ‘Maybe I’ve always been like this.”

Before Grace could respond, the entire group screamed as the driver slammed his foot on the brakes, almost making his passengers lose their balance. “What the hell?!” Ashley and Heather suddenly blurted.

“And you guys were saying this isn’t another realm,” Gavin mumbled.

“What’s going on?” Zack asked, trying to take a peek at the road from behind his friends. “Who’s that standing in the middle of the road?”

“Uhn…, Zack?” Gavin was the one who replied, his body almost petrified as he stared at the road.

“Who is it?” Zack inquired again, finally making his way to the front of the vehicle, only for his jaw to figuratively hit the floor once he saw who it was. There, in the middle of the road, was one of the three persons he considered a mentor figure, and a good friend as well. “What the…,” Zack could only mumble as the brown-haired 20-year-old grinned and gestured for him to come out of the RV.

Stunned by the development, Zack complied and hopped off the RV into the paved road, walking over to the older boy, who had his always kind green-eyes fixed on him. “Bet you weren’t expecting that, right?” He queried, smile growing even wider.

“What are you doing here, Peter?” It was the only thing Zack could blurt out, as shocked as he felt. One of his older sister’s best friends, Peter Zander was supposed to be going from Green Hills back to Azure Rocks for Spring Break, not travel all the way to Wicket Valley. “Are you here to compete too?”

Peter laughed, pulling his young protégé for a short, manly hug. “No, Zack,” he clarified. “I was hired by the Shrouded Veil to work as staff in this contest. They hired college students from all over the country.”

Zack grinned, the initial shock having passed. “That’s so cool, you can get to be a part of the challenge, just like you wanted,” he said. “I know I said this through video calls, but thanks again for sending my application, Peter.”

The older boy patted the younger one on the back. “It was nothing, Tay and I knew you’d do great,” he said. “I gotta say it was fun to hide it from you guys that I’d be here. Even your parents knew about it.”

Zack started shaking his head, softly laughing. “I can’t believe it,” he muttered, realizing how good he had been kept in the dark about everything.

At the moment, the other teens descended from the RV and a blonde blur called Ashley barreled into Peter. “Petey!” She screamed as the laughing guy hugged her. Being one of the best friends of her own older sister, she also had a big soft spot for the well-mannered boy.

“Hi there, Sparky!” Peter fondly greeted, using his old nickname for her, due to her golden hair that always shone brightly in the sun. Having known her since they were kids, he became even more protective of the younger girl around the time he dated her sister in high school. Having her petite, tight body all pressed up against him reminded Peter she wasn’t a little girl anymore, even if he was just two years older than her. He gently let her down at that moment. “I loved to hear Zack got you on his team.”

Ashley giggled. “Yeah, he’s crazy that way, but what can we do?”

“Hey!” Zack pretended to be mad as the two of them had a good laugh at his expense.

Gavin and a smirking Heather also greeted Peter in their own way, a handshake for the former and a tight hug for the latter, her big tits capable of making even the composed Zander boy flush. After that, Peter cleared his throat, willing his dick not to harden, and made his way to the front of the group.

“Alright, we should move on with the program, guys,” he said and then turned to the driver. “Mr. Klutz, you can follow this road until you drive by the beach and see a campground. That’s where you can park the RV,” he instructed. “But first, we’re gonna get you guys’ stuff out of it and continue to Camp Wee Wicket on foot.”

Zack and Heather snickered at the name, while Grace panicked. “We’re gonna have to walk all the way there with our bags?!”

“Oh, it’s not too far, Grace, you’ll see,” Peter tried to reassure the usually sedentary girl.

Peter was right, the trail they used from the road to the camp wasn’t terribly long, but it was to Grace Smith. “You said the camp wasn’t far,” she told the older boy through gritted teeth as she carried her bag and a backpack.

Zack chuckled as he saw that Peter seemed almost afraid of the petite blonde, as it was the norm for anyone that didn’t know her very well. “Oh, you’ll see, Grace,” the green-eyed guy nervously tried to explain. “It wasn’t to me.”

“Stop picking on him, dammit,” Heather called the Smith girl out. Peter was the son of her father’s best friend, and a very good guy, so she didn’t enjoy seeing him getting chewed at. “It’s not his fault you can’t seem to lift your butt from that computer chair!”

Grace turned to Heather with an absolutely murderous look on her face, and the brunette didn’t even flinch as she stared back. “Better than not lifting my butt off a fracking dick!”

Heather smirked venomously. “Debatable.”

Zack, fearing for the girls’ well-being and the integrity of his team, was quick to step between the two girls. “Alright, girls, there’s no need for that,” he said. “Peter wasn’t even offended, right, Pete?”

“Oh, yeah, totally not offended,” the older guy confirmed, nodding approvingly at Zack as he noticed how the two girls immediately backed off at his intervention.

“Sorry, Pete,” a slightly embarrassed Heather said, walking faster to join Ashley and Madison. The latter trying to recall if she ever got that angry about something other than her meddling fool of a father.

While the others continued to walk in the direction of the group of buildings that made up Camp Wee Wicket, Zachary noticed Grace had stayed rooted to her spot, a serious, faraway look on her face. Growing concerned, he tentatively approached the blonde. “Hey, Grace. Are you okay?”

“Yeah…, I dunno, maybe,” she mumbled in response and then looked up, his icy-blue eyes locking on her emerald-green ones.

His gaze wandered down to her plump, kissable lips, and Zack wondered if he should go for it. It was an enormous decision, after all, but he could definitely feel an attraction to the feisty, sometimes annoying, Smith girl. The only thing that seemed to stop his descent was the notion that a very similar pair of eyes had gotten in the way of so much he could have enjoyed in his high school years. Hmm…, what’s going on in her head?

“Uhn…, thanks for asking,” she said, and he could see a very small smile on her face as she continued walking, trying to catch up with the rest of the group.

Letting out a chuckle and shaking his head, Zack did the same, and pretty soon, all six teens were with Peter, entering Camp Wee Wicket. There was an assortment of buildings under the shade of large trees, mostly cabins of two different sizes, but they could see a few bigger ones, which Zack surmised to be offices and maybe recreation halls. It was capped off by a stunning view of the lake.

“That’s Shimmer Lake,” Peter informed them. “Gorgeous, isn’t it?”

“I mean, it looks great, but it’s not Silver Lake,” Heather commented with a chuckle. Grace was miffed that she agreed with the cheer captain in something.

“Fair enough,” Peter laughed good-naturedly. “Well, the tour comes after I show you your cabin, so if you guys can follow me.”

The older boy led them to one of the smaller cabins, where he stopped in front of the door and grinned at the teens before opening it. "We call this the Cabin of Surprises," he said, slowly pushing the door open. "Weird things are known to happen here."

"What kind of weird are we talking about?" Madison inquired, but he just shrugged and threw one last look at Zack and Ashley.

Ashley bit her bottom lip in apprehension, but Zack squeezed her shoulder and she slightly calmed down, giving him a grateful smile. Peter then flipped on the switch to illuminate the cabin, showing his young charges that it was a simple, small summer camp cabin. It had only one room, with one bunk bed on the right corner, two on the left side, and a single bed each on the far corners, accommodating ten campers. There was a round table in the middle with six chairs around it, and three wardrobes, along with a desk and few shelves, lined the walls.

"No bathroom?" Heather frowned.

"Yeah, about that," Peter said, almost embarrassed. "You'll have to share the two outside with everyone else. Bathroom and showers."

Heather looked like she was about to complain, but she held her tongue. "Well, I did agree to come."

"We're all kinda sleeping together, then?" Gavin changed the subject, his gaze fixed on the beds and bunk beds.

“Yesss…,” another female voice ominously hissed from another part of the cabin, spooking Ashley and Madison, before it reverted to a tone most people in the room knew very well. “But you can’t do what I obviously would, or the Hardaways will have our asses.”

“Gross, Han!” Another raspy female voice chided near the first one, and this tone was much more identifiable.

Zack and Ashley immediately looked at each other, wide-eyed and shocked, and then they turned to Peter, who was grinning like a fool at their reactions. “They’re here too?!”

The older boy just shrugged with that same stupid grin on his face. “Surprise?”

It was the cue for two 20-year-old girls to come out from underneath the two single beds, grinning widely at their younger siblings. The first one, a voluptuous blonde with crystal-blue eyes, had been Zack’s crush from the moment he understood he could like girls. The second one, a tall, statuesque brunette with icy-blue eyes identical to his, one of the people he loved the most in the entire world. The fact that they had just been squeezed under two beds was completely forgotten by everyone, such was the shock of actually seeing the two older girls there.

“Tay!”

“Han!”

Zack and Ashley dropped their stuff and excitedly ran to hug their older sisters. “Hey, there,” Taylor Bishop hugged her little brother back. “Like the surprise?”

“Loved it!” He responded. “It’ll be so much more fun to have you all here!”

Ashley laughed like a kid as she and Hannah Woodsen released each other. “I can’t believe you gave up Spring Break for this!”

Hannah snorted. “Well, I couldn’t let those two come alone and hog all the fun,” she nodded at her two best friends. “Besides, I can have as many Spring Breaks as I want.”

Peter chuckled. “I’m not sure that’s how it works, Han.”

“Shush, Pete, don’t ruin the joke,” Hannah winked at her ex-boyfriend before she pulled her best friend’s little brother for an embrace as well. “C’mere, Zacky!”

Zack felt the air leaving his lungs as Hannah’s large breasts pressed against his chest, but this time, he didn’t waste the opportunity to hug her back and feel those tits squashing even tighter on his body. “Great to see you here too, Hannah,” he told her, and she briefly raised an eyebrow at how differently he was carrying himself before a naughty smirk crossed over beautiful features.

When Taylor insisted on hugging Gavin, who she had always seen as some kind of surrogate younger brother, the reserved boy was floored, as he always nurtured a crush on his old friend’s sister. Next, she approached Heather and the cousins shared a quick, smiling hug. Like Zack, she hadn’t had a relationship with the heiress before that year, and unlike her brother, she didn’t have a lot of chances of strengthening that new bond, seeing as she lived in Green Hills for college.

Hannah also decided to hug the same two people. Gavin, because she used to tease the geeky guy as well when she came to visit Taylor and he was with Zack. He couldn’t help the reaction in his pants that had been ignited by Taylor moments before. Heather was a no-brainer as one of her little sister’s best friends, and there wasn’t a guy in the room that didn’t feel stimulated by the two busty girls coming together in a tight embrace.

Grace watched the scene, recalling her older siblings back home, Pietra and Julian, with whom she usually had a frosty relationship in recent years. Madison wanted to cry at the fact she couldn’t be friends with her twin brother. Not as long as he ate their father’s bullshit, that is.

“Alright,” Taylor clasped her hands and spoke once all the greetings had been exchanged, already taking charge of the situation. “I trust Peter already told you guys about the tour, right?”