Virgin Camp

Ryan’s POV

“You have got to be kidding me,” Natalie muttered under her breath. I stifled a laugh as I watched her roll her eyes and trudge off towards her Slayer, who’d I’d already forgotten the name of. We’d all known the camp would involve practical lessons, but I guess no one expected them to happen so soon.

I made my way over to my own Slayer, Damon, avoiding eye contact for once in my life. I’d never felt embarrassed before, but I couldn’t stop thinking about that forced kiss between Damon and I in front of everybody. I think I was also a little anxious as to how he had felt about it. Maybe I doubted my skill – which was completely ridiculous, of course. Wasn’t it? I shook my head in an attempt to clear it of my thoughts, and looked up at Damon in time to see him looking right back at me.

When our eyes met, he smirked, before shifting his attention to all the other girls he had been assigned to. The floating computer screens made their way around all the separate groups in the prac rooms, instructing all the campers on the first kissing technique we were expected to try on our respective Slayers.

The group one girls got to go first, of course. Some of the others waiting to lock lips with Damon seemed pissed about it, but I couldn’t have cared less. In fact, I kind of enjoyed watching the pretty girls struggle whilst sloppily mashing their lips with Damon’s. The whole affair gave me some sort of sick satisfaction – like the only decent kiss Damon would be getting would be from me.

But then Jennifer happened.

Jennifer was one of the group one girls, totally gorgeous (obviously), and not at all pleasant. She was actually one of the girls I’d pegged as non-virgin and suspected were just at the camp for the thrill of it.

I watched as she approached Damon slowly, in her short pleated skirt and tight tank top that left little to the imagination. I curled my lip in annoyance when she grabbed a fistful of Damon’s shirt and pulled him towards her, before expertly kissing him like she was the instructor.

I suddenly realised that I was a little bit pissed about it, thank you very much. I told myself that it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she was kissing Damon, because let’s face it – that would be insane. No, I was angry because she was beating me at my own game. No one could just waltz in and be better than me. I considered punching her in the left tit and thereby end the inappropriately long kiss the two were sharing, but then I remembered what Natalie had said about lying low.

Even though I so badly wanted to clock Jennifer one in the left tit, I knew Nat was right. I was a few tit-punches away from getting kicked out, and even though that had been my original plan, things had changed. I didn’t want to skip out on the opportunity to completely destroy the camp. It wouldn’t be fair.

Instead, I stared at Jennifer and Damon and imagined I was the voice over for a documentary. I smiled to myself as I thought of what I would say.

The Jennifer Fitzgerald is a predictable species. It’s plumage suggests its slutty nature, which is apparent in their mating rituals.

I snorted in laughter at my own inner-monologue, which in turn startled Jennifer and Damon apart. Jennifer threw me a dirty look and I grinned at her, the face of innocence. I looked back at Damon, who was shaking his head and frowning, consulting his list to see who was next. He gave us tips as he went, picking up on other’s mistakes to assist the rest of us.

This was incredibly embarrassing for an unfortunate-looking member of group three, whose salivary gland condition almost drowned Damon. After the ordeal was over, he politely stated that closed-mouth kisses were best to start off with, and not to jump the gun when we were so inexperienced. He also told us a bit about French kissing and different tongue techniques, handing out information sheets that we were supposed to study religiously before trying anything.

I tossed mine aside and watched with amusement as every other girl who was in Damon’s class fixed their eyes pointedly on their information sheets. I looked over at Jennifer with a bored glance, surprised to see that even she was reading the information Damon had given us. When I shifted my glance back towards the front, Damon was looking at me.

“Already finished reading, Lorraine?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at me expectantly. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“I don’t need to read it,” I said. I heard Jennifer scoff and scowled at her over my shoulder. Another girl muttered “typical” under her breath and gave me a dirty look.

“Because you know everything already, right?” Damon said, smirking.

“No, actually,” I replied.

“Oh, really?” Damon said. “Please, enlighten us. I’m sure we’re all dying to know the real reason why my reading material is of no use to you.” His voice was thick with sarcasm and I frowned at him. Was he sassing me? Really? Most of the other girls in my class sniggered and broke out into whispers as I raised my eyebrows at Damon. I would not be sassed by Damon and I would not let him leave me speechless.

“I have no intention of ever engaging in French kissing with you, so your ‘reading material’ is redundant,” I said.

“It’s a bit late for that,” Jennifer said. “Slut.”

“Excuse you,” I snapped. “You were the one acting like a fucking prostitute.”

“At least I actually know what I’m doing,” she replied coolly.

“Tell me, what’s your hourly?” I shot back at her. She scowled at me before turning away, probably to lick her wounds. It had been a messy exchange and not my best verbal battle by far. I just couldn’t believe she’d actually had the nerve to call me a slut, especially in a place like Virgin Camp. How could anyone even be a slut there?

Damon’s class ended there and everyone shuffled out in their own little groups. It seemed most everybody had taken the liberty of actually making friends. Just as I was passing by Damon, he grabbed my wrist, pulling me back and shutting the door.

“Just a minute, Ryan,” he said. “We need to talk.”

“You didn’t call me Lorraine.”

“Don’t you prefer being called by your last name?”

“Yes, but you’ve never done anything I preferred. Actually, you tend to do the opposite.”

“I do have a talent of getting under your skin, don’t I?” he said with a laugh.

“Was that a badly directed pun?” I asked. He shook his head and released his grip on me, leaning on the desk behind him and looking up at me. He was smiling and looked relaxed as usual, but something wasn’t quite right.

“Is everything okay? Am I in trouble again?” I asked.

He smiled. “I just wanted to tell you to lay off Jennifer. Verbal abuse isn’t tolerated around here.”

“Don’t act like one of the Whities, or some kind of university professor. You’re just a horny teenager like most of the other kids here. You’re a slayer, Damon.”

“Is that your insulting way of telling me not to tell you what to do?” he asked.

“I guess.”

“If you keep lashing out at people like you did with Jennifer today - ”

“I’ll be evicted, right?” I said, cutting him off.

He shook his head. “Ryan - ”

“Don’t even try to tell me she’s a virgin. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! Tell me, does the camp let the occasional tramp in just to keep you satisfied?”

“Ryan! You’ve crossed a line.”

“I’m good at that.”

“Just get out.”

“Why? I’m starting to enjoy our little encounters,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m serious.”

“Fine,” I said, rolling my eyes and slipping out the door. I looked over my shoulder to see him running a hand through his hair, obviously frustrated. I’d touched some sort of nerve – I just wasn’t sure which one. I’d found a way to really get to him, which would work to my advantage.

Jennifer was a touchy subject with him, which really didn’t make any sense. Why would he care about some random camper? Did he know her before the camp? Was she an ex-girlfriend, or a current one, enrolling in the camp to get down and dirty with Damon? That made sense. Damon was a member of the camp staff and I was sure he could have talked Pat into letting Jennifer into the camp. They needed as many Slayers as they could get – numbers were already sparse.

Damon had pissed me off on numerous occasions and had a way of making me feel inadequate. It was my turn. Revenge wasn’t exactly part of mine and Natalie’s plans, but I’d include it in my own agenda - a little side dish for the main course. Jennifer was leverage for Damon and he was an insider – the key to the implosion of Virgin Camp.

I couldn’t wait to tell Natalie everything.

• • •

At dinner, Natalie and I sat at our own table to discuss our destructive plans for the camp. I was an Engineering major at college and she was some kind of technological wizard, so we had all the skills between us required to put a real kink in the way things worked at Virgin Camp.

“I could put a virus in the computer systems,” Natalie said. “I can even shut them all down by using my cell phone during class.”

“That would be hilarious. Can you imagine how the Whities would scramble if that happened?” I laughed.

“There’s a small problem with that plan,” Natalie said.

“I know. No cell phones allowed. You can still do the virus thing, though.”

“The computers here are pretty advanced, plus I don’t know what kind of protection they have. The virus I create might be found and destroyed before it even has a chance to affect the system,” Natalie said.

“Well, fuck,” I replied. Natalie sighed and shook her head.

“So what now?” she asked me.

“We get our cell phones back,” I said with a grin.

“How?”

“So many questions, young one,” I said, patting her on the head. She swatted my hand away and rolled her eyes, before setting her elbows on the table and resting her head in her hands.

“Seriously, Ryan. All our cell phones are probably locked away somewhere. Even if we did find where they’re kept, we’d probably need a key to get to them,” Natalie said.

“Relax, I’ve thought of that.” I assured her.

“Oh, you have a key now?” Natalie said sarcastically, raising her eyebrows at me expectantly.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Jennifer Fitzgerald.”