This story is about Ian and his summer camp for teenage boys.
Ian had run his camp for several years. It gave working parents a chance to send their boys off to a safe place, for one week, in the middle of the summer. Here the boys would play games, learn to tie knots and also learn some discipline.
The camp was for boys aged 13 - 16 where the elder boys got to take on bigger and more important tasks, so they would learn to take responsibility. Every night two of the 16 year olds had to stay up late and plan the net days activities with Ian.
Chuck and Kyle were at their first camp. They had known each other since they were 8, and had been descent friends since then. Chuck was a tall lanky kid and loved skiing in his spare time. Kyle on the other hand was a compact, but not fat, kid who loved football.
Chuck was the popular kid. Everyone loved Chuck. The girls, the teachers and also the parents thought he was the nicest boy they had ever met.
Kyle was more the typical sport junkie. He didn't care much about his looks, and the girls looked at him as a nasty boy. He wasn't particularly smart and the teachers hated him.
Time had come for Chuck and Kyle to do the night planning. Nobody wanted to do the planning. It meant they had to sit with that old creep Ian in his cabin, while the rest of the camp did wherever they wanted.
Chuck and Kyle left the others at 6 pm and went up towards Ian's cabin.
Kyle had his hair everywhere, wore a football jersey, some baggy shorts and his favorite pair of adidas sneakers.
Chuck was more of a fashionista and had styled his hair really nice. He wore a Ralph Lauren polo sweater, and some skinny blue jeans tucked into some white converse chuck taylor all star high tops.
"What do you think we're gonna do up there?" Kyle asked.
"Probably plan something. As the name is night planning." Chuck responded sarcastically.
Chuck had always been the smarter one of the two, while Kyle were the strong one.
Kyle knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Ian commanded from the inside.
The boys went in and started to untie their sneakers.
"No need to take the shoes off in here." Ian said, this time sounding much warmer.
The boys put their sneakers back on, Chuck taking his time getting his jeans tucked nicely into his converse sneakers.
Kyle just stood there waiting.
Then the boys wet in the main room were they found Ian sitting in his couch reading a newspaper.
When Ian first saw the boys he smirked. You could really tell he liked the sight of the two fit boys, with each with their own personality.
"Well, introduce yourselves." Ian said.
"I'm Chuck and this is Kyle, sir. " Chuck said before Kyle got to open his mouth.
"We're both from Denver."
Kyle looked down angry. This was typical of Chuck, always stealing his thunder.
"Do you boys know why you're here?" Ian asked.
"I think we're here to plan tomorrows activities and maybe some more, sir?" Chuck said polite.
"Well there is of course more. You also have to clean the main cabin and its toilets. And the help the staff prepare breakfast."
Chuck and Kyle looked at each other. Both telling the other, with the eyes, that he would not be the one cleaning the toilets.
"I do although have an offer for you. The same I give almost everyone else that comes here. Very few take it, but since you two know each other this would probably be fun for you."
"Ok?" Kyle said hopingly. Teenage boys hate cleaning. Chuck also looked hopeful.
"I always propose a test of strength match between the planners. It is basically a wrestling match where the winner gets 100 bucks, and the loser stays here planning and cleaning for two."
"That's nice!" Kyle immediately responded knowing he was the stronger of the two.
"I don't think this is worth it." Chuck added. "Think how much faster we will do this together. That is easily worth a lot of money."
Kyle got uncertain.
"Are you saying this because you're afraid, boy?" Ian asked teasingly. "This is a once in a lifetime offer. One of you will get 100 bucks to spend on candy and video games, while only one of you has to do the work the both of you would have had to do anyways."
Chuck heard the logic in Ian's words. He didn't want to do this. He knew Kyle was stronger, and didn't want to take the chance being humiliated by his friend he had always had and edge on intelligence wise. He was the dominant one.
"This is no use. Kyle is a big goon, while my muscles are made for cardio fitness. He would probably win this anyways." Chuck admitted.
You could see Kyle's self-esteem rising as his chin shifted up.
"We are stupid if we don't do this. I don't have anymore of a wrestling background than you have." Kyle said convincingly.
Chuck was thinking. He might get the upper hand. He knew he would probably last longer than Kyle.
"Ok. Let's do it. What are the rules?" Chuck said and took a big breath.
"Perfect. Here is a 100 bucks." Ian started while taking two 50-dollar bills out of his pocket and put them on the table.
"The rules are simple. No kicking or punching. The first to tie the other up and get him to submit is the winner." He put forth two coils of rope.
...TO BE CONTINUED...