Camp Jameson (35 page)

“No more,” I gasped, trying to
find my breath as the machine suddenly slammed to a halt underneath me.

The cheers were so loud it was
deafening. I blinked, trying to reign in my focus. The crowd stood in awe as my
eyes flashed toward the large LED monitor displaying level 9.7. It was a new
record.

The celebratory alarm was
ringing as fireworks’ exploded overhead declaring an end to this day’s events
and the crowd was chanting my name. I felt myself sliding to the side then
Colt’s arms around me as he lifted me off. I couldn’t stand. I fell to my knees
once again. I was spent.

Sara wrapped another towel
around me and held my upper body upright as I shook in her arms. Avery knelt to
the ground and held up a shot of Jameson whiskey. I smiled and downed it. Then
he followed it with a beer.

A scouring bright blue Caitlyn
was standing nearby with her arms crossed. She really did look good in blue. We
were tied, two events each.

I chuckled. Her blonde hair was
glistening in the light. She was just standing there glaring at Avery and me.
God,
she looked like a pissed off Smurfette.

The partiers fell out of their
seats and spread across the whole lawn. Then the PA whistled on and Travis
announced me as the winner.

The crowd filed out of the
stadium and I just sat there on the ground next to Sara and Colt, trying to
catch my breath. I watched Avery as he walked back to the judges table pointing
and giving out orders like a general as they began to tear down from this event
and set up for tomorrow’s Jello wrestling.

Avery glanced over at me and
even from the distance his eyes were blazing and for the first time since the
night of the masquerade he was truly smiling at me. My mind kept repeating…
do
this for me. For us.

DAY FORTY-ONE:

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

CAMP OLYMPICS DAY 3

JELLO WRESTLING

S
aturday
morning came and I couldn’t move. Most of the camp stayed up until 5am partying
and carrying on. I came home around 2am, but Sara said that people were having
drunken sex all over the lawn and in the bleachers and by the campfires. I
guess it was a good party.

It was almost noon by the time I
climbed out of bed, feeling the soreness that Sybian monster released on me
last night. I stiffly made my way to the shower, hoping the hot water would
soothe my achy muscles. I still had one more event today with Tara, Amber, and
Caitlyn. We were the four remaining girls with the most points. I had no room
for error. Jello wrestling was the last event and I couldn’t let Caitlyn win
this.

I finally shut off the hot water
and stepped out of the shower. I toweled off and put on my red bathing suit. I
waited for Sara to finish primping and we made our way to the Main Lodge for
lunch. I was glad that I stopped drinking when I did last night. I had been too
sore to stay out as late as most. And by the sluggish movements of Sara and
everyone else, they looked very haggard and hungover. Sara was in the middle of
telling me about the massive orgy that broke out on the back lawn after I left
when Caitlyn shouldered me.

“Hey thanks there, sweetpea!” I
said.
Geez, would her childishness ever end?

I grimaced and rubbed my
shoulder, then kept walking.
She was so not worth my time.
But still
,
I snickered at her blue skin and knowing how Sara and I had everything to
do with that made me feel better.

We ate lunch then headed toward
the beach by the lake. I wanted to get there early and try to get my head in
the game.

As soon as we arrived, Sara left
me to go get us a couple Hurricanes at the bar. Three large pools of Jello came
into view. They were again sunken into the center of boxing rings with the one
in the center being the largest. The bleachers had been moved over on either
side of the tournament area. Flags lined the rear of the beach area flowing
briskly in the strong breeze today.

Caitlyn was already there in her
canary yellow bikini with her golden hair flowing over her shoulders. The lake
water reflected a bright bluish hue that didn’t quite match Caitlyn’s but yet
they didn’t clash either. Sometimes when you paint a room you might have two
different shades of a color, like royal blue walls and country blue kitchen
cabinets, and it just doesn’t fit right. That wasn’t the case between Caitlyn
and the water. The blue hues were complimentary.

I looked to the tally boards to
see Caitlyn and I tied for first. Tara was in second place and Amber was in
third. Because of the lottery round, they had every bit a chance to win this as
much as I did.

We stepped to the podium where
Pierce drew the names of who would compete against each other first. Caitlyn
and Amber’s names were drawn first. Tara and I would go second.

Tara and I stepped over to the
edge of the crowd that was growing more and more by the minute and I felt a
warm hand on the small of my back. I knew his touch. It was electric. There was
no mistaking it. I tilted my head up to look at him and Avery smiled his
panty-melting smile.

“How are you feeling?” he asked
as he handed me the Hurricane Sara was supposed to bring me. 
“Sore. But
okay,” I said as I took a really huge sip.

“Ready to kick some ass for me?”
he whispered in my ear. I could feel his hot breath below my ear and my body
shivered involuntarily. My eyes lit up and suddenly I had the urge to tackle
him right then and there. I didn’t care who was watching. Avery stepped away,
reluctantly letting go of my waist, and headed back to the judges table. I
hadn’t taken my eyes off him when I heard Tara speak.

“You’ve really got it bad for
him, don’t you?”

“Yea,” I gushed. I stiffened
when I realized I said that a loud. I started to panic.

“After the way he was fawning
over you yesterday before the final Sybian round, I would think its safe to say
that he’s crazy about you, too,” she smiled. I studied her swanlike face. Her
hair was groomed and perfectly colored. It was cut in wavy layers with wispy
strands covering her accentuated features. She now wore contacts and had on a
perfect amount of makeup. She glowed like an angel.
Tara was kind. I wished
that there could be more genuine people like her in the world.

I smiled softly back at her and
then looked over at Avery. I could feel Tara’s eyes on me but all I could think
about was that after this competition, Avery and I needed to talk.

My attention was drawn back to
the match when Pierce blew the whistle. Caitlyn and Amber stepped into the pool
of lime green Jello and began wrestling.

Caitlyn was a blue ball of blind
fury. She was determined to win that trip. Amber looked like she was trying to
defend herself but Caitlyn was too quick and too fast. She attacked her like a
hyena attacking its lunch. I snickered to myself.
Caitlyn laughed like a
hyena, too.

After one very hotly contested
match, Travis announced Caitlyn as the winner. She simply destroyed Amber.
Just
fucking peachy.

The women stepped out of the
pool and Colt and Pierce lined up to hose them off. Tara and I stepped over to
the edge of our pool of cherry Jello.

Most of the camp had arrived by
now. The beer lines over at the two tiki bars were humming. The crowd spread
wide across the beachside as Pierce blew his whistle and Tara and I stepped
into the gushy crimson Jello. It squished between my toes as I steadied myself.
I sidestepped Tara as she lunged for me. She moved toward me again and I
stepped away but Tara gripped my wrist and pulled me down so my ear was close
to her mouth. She mumbled something too quick for me to be sure I heard her
correctly.

“Come again?” I said, pulling
away to lock my arms with her as we tossed each other about. She leaned into my
ear again.

“I want you to kick Caitlyn’s
ass for me,” she reiterated. I stared at her, trying to understand what it was
that she was saying. Then Tara did the most absurd and yet noble thing; she
grabbed hold of her calf and cried out… “Cramp!”

Then she toppled over and faked
slipping in the Jello. She reached up and pulled me down on top of her, and as
I fell she held me in place pinning her.

“Why are you doing this?” I
asked.

“You deserve to have your happy
ending, too,” she winked.

I was stunned. Tara just let me
win and as I looked down at her I whispered, “I will kick her ass all the way
back to Nantucket.”

I fought back the tears that
were threatening to spill from my eyes and looked up at Avery. He stood off to
the side with his arms crossed over his chest watching the whole thing. He
grinned and I found myself smiling in return. My eyes looked at Tara.
One
opponent down, one crazy bitch to go.

I wiped my face with the towel
Pierce handed me and stepped up to the pool’s edge. Pierce chuckled.

“Aria, there’s a thirty minute
break then we’ll meet back here.”

The crowd cheered as the two
bartenders brought out several trays of shots and handed them out. Catcalls
filled the air while Colt hosed off Tara and I.

People were still teasing
Caitlyn and calling her Smurfette as they walked by. Sara took the towel from
me and helped to dry me off. Before I knew what was happening Sara was kissing
me on the lips. The guys whistled and whooped and I fed into the hype and
deepened the kiss. The crowd went nuts. I pulled away, giggling. Sara licked my
lips and looked at me like she couldn’t wait to have more.

“That’s my girl,” Colt said,
wrapping his arms around Sara and kissing her deeply.

“See what you’re missing,
Avery,” Sara purred.

I looked up to those green
emerald eyes gazing down at me and felt my heart clench in my throat. Ignoring
Sara’s comment, he stepped up to me and quirked his eyebrow.

“She let you win, didn’t she?”
he said. I nodded. “Why?” he asked.

“I’m looking right at him,” I
said honestly.

Avery’s eyes went wide for a
moment then he looked like he was at a loss for words.

“Wow,” he finally said
ineloquently.

“Oh, that and she wants me to
kick Caitlyn’s ass,” I laughed, trying to lighten the conversation. He
chuckled.

Thirty minutes later, Pierce
called me over to start the final round and butterflies danced in my belly. I
giggled at myself for my inward silly butterfly monologue.

Caitlyn and I both climbed into
the center ring with the blue Jello that matched Caitlyn.

“It’s a death match, Kittens.
The gloves come off. Rules are simple. No choking, scratching, or knees to the
stomach. Everything else is fair game.”

I glanced across the pool at
Caitlyn’s narrowed glare. Pierce blew the whistle and I swear I heard Caitlyn
growl. Caitlyn leaned in and tried to uppercut me openhanded. I dodged it,
smacking her hand to the side, then I felt my feet slip. I stumbled to regain
my footing.

Caitlyn lunged forward, grabbed
me around the waist and reached up and pulled my bikini top off exposing my
breasts. The crowd cheered wildly.
Now I see why Jello wrestling is such a
big deal, the guys just want to see tits.
So I thought I’d give them some
more. I reigned in my surprise and then tackled her, ripping off her top.
There
if they want tits let them eat fake.

I squinted through the slime to
see Caitlyn’s blue bulbous fake globes exposed. I regretted my decision
instantly. I struggled to stay on top of her. She wriggled like a fire horse.
Where
did she get her energy?

She struggled out of my grasp
like an oiled pig at the farmer’s market. We went around each other like
steamrollers coating ourselves in the blue Jello and choking on it in the
process.

Caitlyn squirmed out from under me
and jumped onto my back. Before I had anytime to respond she was pushing my
face into the Jello.
I swear this bitch was trying to kill me and she kept
screaming obscenities the whole time
.

I shoved my head back and
head-butted her. She paused for a moment looking dizzy, and I rolled out from
underneath her. The crowd hissed and I looked to see she was clenching her
nose. Blood dripped from her blue nose.

The crowd then cheered for me.
That seemed to only fuel Caitlyn’s rage. She kicked my feet out from under me
with a leg swipe as her manicured fingers dug into my thigh.

Damn, that hurt!

“Kick her ass, Aria,” Tara
called out. Sara and Colt joined in. I pinned Caitlyn for a second then looked
to see Sara not far from the ring jumping up and down cheering for me. Colt was
next to her holding up his beer and cheering me on.

Caitlyn took advantage of my
distraction and pushed me over onto my back. I kicked back and Caitlyn grabbed
her stomach in a protective maneuver. I was spitting out Jello trying to catch
my breath. My heart was pounding. Caitlyn rose to her feet, still clutching her
side. I took a moment to breathe.

I found Avery in the crowd and
he mouthed ‘do it for me’. I somehow pushed myself to a standing position and
without hesitation I slid down and kicked her feet out from under her and then
hopped on her and straddled her. I leaned all my weight into her then gasped
when she pulled my ponytail backwards, causing my head to look upward. I rolled
sideways off her and climbed to my knees and fell back down as Caitlyn dragged
me backwards into a chokehold. I was kicking my feet as she was closing off my
airway, so I reared my elbow up then back into her gut, causing her to quickly
release me as she lost her wind. I glanced at Pierce.
Wasn’t that one of the
rules, no choking.

He frowned and I could see he
wasn’t going to call it. She got away with that one I guess because it wasn’t
technically choking.

I pummeled her, forcing her to
the bottom of the pool, and grabbed her arm and leg, pressing my weight into
her. She screamed from the pain I was causing. She dug her nails into my side
and I let go instinctively. We both backed up and rose to our feet. Caitlyn
stepped forward and landed a square blow right into my belly. Then I returned
the favor with an uppercut.

We stood facing each other
trading blows like prizefighters. The crowd cheered uncontrollably, she’d slug
me, then I would return the blow, then again her fist into my belly, and my
fist into her face, again and yet again we reigned blows down on each other
until she finally lunged at me and dragged me down into the slime.

I rebounded quickly as Caitlyn
and I backed up and circled each other like jaguars waiting for the other to
show weakness. I squinted through the Jello to see her evil smirk. Then she
charged me and at the same time I charged her, but at the last second I slid
just like I was sliding into third base back in softball. I took her feet out
from under her as she fell over me into the Jello. But before she could react I
made it back up and grabbed onto those canary yellow bikini bottoms of hers and
atomic wedgied the fuck out of her. I pulled up with all my might. It took
every last bit of strength I had, but I hoisted her into the air, driving those
panties up, and deep into her crack of nastiness.
Desperate times call for
desperate measures.

Then I rolled over on my back,
using my feet to brace into her sides, and using my momentum, I pushed her up
and over me, out of the pool, and into the hot sand. Pierce blew the whistle.

“Caitlyn’s out of bounds. Aria
wins it,” he called out.

A slow grin moved over my face
as I watched her face fall as Pierce’s words sank in. Her mouth fell open and
she narrowed her eyes at me. I finally sucked in a deep breath and rose to my
feet.