More work!

Alan wasn't sure exactly when things between him and Cindi became a contest. But it was fun. They both would grab as many headboards as they could then rush to the next cabin. The other guys regulated themselves to just retrieving spring sets and stacking them up. Between the 3 of them, they could usually finish a cabin in one trip, maybe 2.

Alan stacked the wooden headboards up against his legs on either side. Then with one motion and a loud grunt, hefted them up with both arms. Cindi was grabbing as many as she could. She couldn't match Alan's power, but she could tell he was slowing down. Endurance was going to win, and she knew how to properly breathe. She inhaled and exhaled at a steady rate. The burning in her arms was gone and she was focused on getting to the destination and back. Her long distance track and marathon training was working wonders for her now.

She watched as he sped-walked down the gravel path to the girls cabins. He faltered at one point, she thought he slipped on something and was going to fall. But he righted himself and made it to the cabin, taking the time to stack the wooden load against the cabin wall. She was there minutes after, setting her burden down as well. Alan was panting heavily. Cindi was breathing hard as well, but Alan sounded terrible. "You ok?"

"Y..Yeah..Huuh...Huuh. J-just...taking...a...minute."

She patted him on the back. "Be careful. And if you need to puke, do it away from the door? OK? Tah!" she said, breaking out into a light run back to the storage area. She just knew Alan was watching her in despair. She passed her brother Bobby and his gang going up the incline to her destination. He looked miserable, carrying several springs. And she couldn't resist flashing him a broad grin as she passed.

*****************************

Bobby saw his sister grin at him as she jogged past. Well, at least she's having fun, he thought, sweat pouring out of him. It stung his eyes as he trudged down the path, carrying three of the spring sets. His side had a stitch, it was hot, and this was NOT what he wanted to be doing. But no way in hell was he going to quit, and let her get some sort of satisfaction of him quitting. Not that he could think of what that might be, but STILL...

One good thing, at least I have new friends, he thought again. Arnold, or "Joker" as he and Steve had begun to call him, had a talent for timing. When things started to suck, he would make some sort of crack and have them all laughing. Steve was nice too. It took them forever to get him to put down his camera though. It was like it was attached. After convincing him it would get damaged if he banged it on something while doing heavy labor, Steve looked...a little lost. Arnold noticed it as well and got the guy talking. And it helped. Steve relaxed and advised he was from Oklahoma City, or "OKC" as he liked to call it. Wants to be a professional photojournalist, and figured the area would help him get some perspective for nature shots. Not a lot of landscape in OKC that he appreciated.

He blinked and his eyes began to burn again. Cursing, he stopped to wipe the sweat off his face, really only succeeding in making it worse. Joker came up beside him and handed him a red and white rag. "Handkerchief?"

"Ding ding! 10 points!"

Bobby eyed it. "Clean?"

"Yes sir!"

Grateful, Bobbie wiped the sweat from his brow, cooling him down.

"I mean, you don't wash a handkerchief after blowing your nose in it just 2 or 3 times, right?"

Bobby threw it at him. "You nasty!" he said, laughing right in along with Joker.

"See!? That would have been a great reaction shot! Up there with that other guy's!" Steve said, coming up next to them.

"Ok ok Shutterbug! Give it a rest!" Bobby said.

Joker came up in front, hand stroking a nonexistent beard. "Not bad. Nickname?"

"Ehhh...Too long. I'll work on it."

They picked up and proceeded to the cabin area, passing Alan who was doing a slow trot up the hill. Everything was stacking up well. He saw the red-head, that Chris-guy and the shorty going into the woods to the boys area to clean. The blond and the punk-rocker were outside, gathering up their supplies. The blue-haired girl was bent over, messing with something. Bobby couldn't help but notice, but her ass was fine. A little curve and heft to it, but not so much she looked fat. Damn! he thought. I could hit that all night. He wasn't really aware he was staring, until he saw Toni say something to the girl, and she stood up. Turning to look at him, she winked. He smiled back.

**************************

"What's that about?" Toni said, turning back to her items.

"Nothing. He's cute. And he thinks I have a nice ass." Stacy said, a hint of pride in her voice.

Toni rolled her eyes. "Oh Lord. Like people need to be staking claims the first day we are here."

"Hey, it feels good to be appreciated!"

Toni didn't say anything. Stacy knew the blond was still irritated with herself from her display this morning. She decided to change subjects quickly. "Did you notice it looked like Ahiri had been crying?"

"No! Really?"

"She looked a little puffy and red around the eyes."

Stacy looked down the path the other group just took. "Huh. Do you think Chris did something?"

"Not sure. Don't think so, as I don't think she would let him any closer than 10 feet."

"Hmm. I'll keep an eye on him, just in case. You never know, it could be allergies." she said, hefting up a bucket and a couple of mops. "You don't think it's going to be like high school again. Everyone falling into little cliques, until it turns into 'Us vs Them?'"

Stacy laughed as they entered the wooded path. "I'm pretty sure humans just work like that. It's "High School" for the rest of your life. Just the clique names change."

Toni sighed as they walked down the narrow, heavily shaded dirt path. "Ugh. I always hated that part. I was hoping that once you graduated, on the diploma you got a note that said 'Be nice to different people.' or something. I got so tired of people being jerks because they saw someone as an enemy."

"You're really not that naive, are you?"

"No. I knew it. I just don't like it. " They trudged on for a moment, in silence. Toni spoke up again. "That was the hardest part."

"What was?"

"I was Student Body President my senior year. You know you don't have any real 'power' as everything is approved by staff. But you did get to manage a few things. I got in the middle of this 3-way battle between the Football team, The Soccer team, and Band. One of the fields was ruined by floods this year. All 3 groups needed to practice. The Principal thought it would be 'fun' if I worked out a schedule. Absolutely no one wanted to compromise. "

"How did it turn out?"

"I'm not sure. I graduated." she said. Stacy laughed.

She was cut short as a horrible screeched filled the air. It was followed by the oddest message ever sent.

"Godda....Ucking thing. I....Motherfu....I DON'T HAVE A SPEAKER ON!...." There was silence, then what sounded like the hiss and a pop of a speaker being turned on and off rapidly. Followed by more feedback. "FUCKIN.....GUYS! IF.....THIS, LUNCH!"

There was some general laughter in the camp as the girls set down their stuff by a cabin. Everyone began to go uphill back to the central building.