Speech and Debate Pt. 13

I nodded and felt my face draining of all blood.

"Easy there, girl," Ian interjected. "He was just asking is all."

Katy's easy smile returned almost instantly and she flounced happily past me with a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"It's all good, boys," she chirped happily. "You guys certainly lucked out, huh? The boys on the left girls on the right thing doesn't really apply to you at this point does it? You're lucky. Gonna be a dry weekend for the rest of us, so to speak. If any of those bitches over there were worth the effort, I'd be tempted to switch teams for the weekend myself."

"I'm afraid it doesn't quite work like that," Daniel informed her.

She shrugged.

"Look at me?"

She did a little turn for us, arms wide out to her sides.

"You really think if I tried, I couldn't convince at least one of them over there to climb mount Katy?"

Paul and Gordon looked like they were going to explode, their eyes wide, jaws slack. I'll never understand the straight male obsession with the idea of lesbian interaction. Ian shook his head and smiled down at Katy like a proud older brother to his little sister.

"I'm sure you can get whatever you set your mind to," I offered, hoping the ego boost would go some distance towards making up for my first outburst.

She smiled at me and patted my cheek sweetly, if a little harder than she may have absolutely NEEDED to.

"Aren't you just the sweetest," she drawled with her best bedroom eyes. I could see how that look could be effective. Gender be damned. "We're going hiking in an hour, apparently. See you boys soon!"

She flitted away through the woods like some kind of fairy; a fairy with an impressive expense account.

"I kinda feel bad for the rest of the Upper School. That one is going to be a handful next year," Ian remarked, inclining his chin towards Katy's retreating back.

"Anything will be an improvement on Amy," Paul added.

"Amen to that," Gordon slurred, sounding a little more awake. I wished that my own liquid wake up aid would start to take effect. I still felt half asleep, despite the fresh air and change of scenery.

"Where is she, by the way?" Daniel asked. "I didn't see her in the parking lot when we left."

Our group looked up from setting up our little area and searched the campground for any sign of our former social Queen.

We found her far on the opposite side of the camp, as much distance as possible between our oasis and hers while still remaining actually inside the designated area. Her blonde hair glistened like gold in the morning sunlight, pulled into a high ponytail.

She was trying to set up her tent on her own. People streamed passed her, going about their business and setting up their own areas, completely ignoring the struggling and alone Amy.

She looked flustered. I doubted she had ever had to do something like this on her own. She had always had a cadre of compatriots around her at all times for as long as I'd known her. She was isolated now. I know I shouldn't have cared, but my heart went out to her. I know what it was like to be invisible and walk through life like a ghost amongst the living.

"Should we go and help her?" I asked quietly. "Look at her. She's trying to use rocks to hold down the corners of her tent! Even I know more than that. She's gonna LITERALLY die or get eaten by a bear if someone doesn't help her, she's basically an INFANT!"

Ian placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently, halting my rising rant.

"You really are a great guy aren't you?" he said respectfully. "She treated you like garbage and you still worry about her. I don't think I would if I were you."

Daniel's arm slid around my waist and he pulled me close to him. He pulled me down to him and kissed me lightly on my cheek.

"You are a great guy. But I don't think she's ready for that just yet. She'll be okay. See, Mrs. Swope is already there helping her out."

The middle aged parent chaperone had taken notice of Amy's struggle and was attempting to help her. Her daughter, however, refused to look directly at Amy and instead stood in a small group of three other girls who whispered behind their hands as they relished Amy's continued downfall.

"Come on, baby. Let's get ready for the hike okay?" Daniel cajoled demurely, leading me gently towards our tent.

The new tent chemical smell was lessened from our airing out but by no means was it gone. Daniel lead me inside and zipped up the front flap. We were alone for the first time since arriving. Well, as alone as one can be when a millimeter thick sheet of polyester was all that separated us from the outside world.

Daniel wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my body close to his, pressing our hips together and tilting his head up to kiss me, long and passionately.

"Mmmm. I've been wanting to do that for hours now," he whispered.

"You can do it again if you want. I won't mind."

He kissed me again.

My heart leapt in my chest. I hugged his body closer to me, trying to pull him into me as much as possible. I was seriously contemplating skipping this hike and spending the time with Daniel in our little sanctuary. Maybe if we were really quiet they would forget about us and leave us behind.

"TEN MINUTES!" Coach B bellowed from outside. "At the fire pit in ten minutes folks! Chaperones keep an eye on your charges! TEN MINUTES!"

So much for skipping the hike.

"We should get dressed babe," Daniel said, his fingers coming to the hem of my shirt. I instantly missed the feel of his arms around my waist, but only for a moment. He gently lifted the shirt over my head and dropped it to the floor. His placed his hands palm down on my chest and leaned in to kiss me again.

His kiss moved to the side of my neck, flowing slowly downward, across my bare collar bone. My head fell back and my eyes closed, letting the dappled green tinted sunlight dance behind my lids. He kissed down my chest, my abs, kneeling before me. His fingers slipped beneath my waistband and he lowered my pants and boxer briefs to the floor; I stepped out of them easily.

His kisses went lower, down my pelvis, brushing gently on the pale smooth skin of my hips and upper thighs. My fingers tangled into his black locks and I bit my lower lip to keep from sighing.

My cock started to swell and thicken, exposed now to the open mountain air. Daniel's soft lips came ever closer to my manhood, kissing at my trimmed pubes and the base of my cock.

"Fuck," I sighed, unable to stop it.

Daniel kissed my hardening cock and looked up at me, his big brown eyes glimmering in the green- tinted sunlight like some kind of magical fire.

He opened his lips ever so slightly and lowered his mouth to lightly flick the tip of his tongue over the head of my cock, taking the small drop of crystal liquid onto his tongue, making sure I watched as that piece of me joined with him.

He rose gracefully from his crouch and kissed me softly, one hand on my cheek and the other finding its home on my exposed ass cheek. I ground myself into him and felt my passions rising.

"I bought something I think you will like. For me to wear, I mean," he whispered into me, breaking our kiss. "You want to see it?"

It took me a while to respond. I had to shake the hazy fog that always formed when Daniel and I touched, like a bubble that took shape around us and shut out the entire world and made everything else in existence seem far away and unimportant. Even time flowed differently in that bubble. What seemed like two seconds in the bubble could be hours in the real world. I was getting better at managing that. But he was just so damned...perfect.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, before his question finally sank in, "yes.

Sure. What did you get."

Daniel smiled mischievously, kissed me quickly and bent to his backpack. When he stood he held a rather small square of khaki fabric that I assumed were supposed to be shorts.

"I went to the Boy Scout store and bought a pair of their little short shorts. I had to search for them forever; I think they've moved to the longer pairs of the green ones now, but I finally found these. I thought you might like them?"

He let the question hang in the air for bit, an uncharacteristic hint of insecurity in his voice.

"Put them on," I said, my voice cracking and showing far too much excitement than I'd meant to.

Daniel's shirt seemed to fly from his torso like magic. His shorts followed quickly and he stood in his jock strap, preparing to step into the little khaki shorts.

"Stop!" I commanded.

Daniel looked up at me, frozen with one leg raised.

"What?"

"Just let me look at you for a minute," I said, finding it hard to catch my breath. I'd seen him naked hundreds of times before, but sometimes a change of scenery can make all the difference. He seemed to ooze a new kind of masculine energy that I hadn't felt before. The nearness of nature and our removal from civilization made him seem somehow more primal than I had ever noticed. It was a highly pleasing realization.

Daniel stood straight and tightened his muscles for me, making his pecs bounce a bit. His eyes blazed with a wicked light that let me know we could start something right then and there that would leave us both breathless and exhausted for hours.

If we didn't have to meet our classmates in less than five minutes.

"You like what you see, huh?" he teased me, doing a little turn to show me the curve of his spectacular ass, cupped and lifted by the thick white elastic of his jock.

I nodded.

"Well, my dirty minded love, you are just going to have to wait."

"Do I have to?" I whined petulantly.

Daniel snorted a small laugh and leaned over to kiss me quickly.

"I promise I will make the wait worth your while, baby. Okay?"

"Fine," I conceded. "If I must. But I won't be happy about it."

Daniel stepped into his little shorts and lifted them to his hips, fastening the bronze buttons. My jaw dropped. They hugged his legs tightly, straining over his thick thighs, coming down just to the middle of them. His ass looked like he was trying to shoplift two cantaloupes out of a grocery store in the back of his pants.

"I'll take that as a good sign."

"Yeah. Yeah, good sign," I breathily mummbled.

Daniel tossed a pair of cargo shorts in my direction and a white tank top for each of us. He chose a pair of black bikini briefs for me to wear underneath. It took some doing to stuff my hard cock into the paltry cotton fabric, but soon enough my shaft was pressed along my hip to the best of my ability.

Daniel kissed me and patted my ass playfully.

"Ready babe?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

Ian was right outside our door when he unzipped the flap. He had a grin on his face that went from ear to ear and he was obviously struggling not to laugh.

"First, those shorts are amazing, dude," he said to Daniel, who promptly punched him in the gut. "And second, your tent casts some very interesting shadows. Like the worlds most erotic gay shadow puppet show. Where did you hide that monster cock of yours David?"

He barked a laugh and doubled over in a fit of giggles. For my part, I blushed bright scarlet.

"Get your mind out of the gutter and come on. Everyone is already at the fire pit," Daniel admonished.

Coach B was quite the outdoorsman, it seemed, and he had picked a trail for our first hike that would lead to what he said were some of the most spectacular views this area of the Blueridge had to offer.

The trail was not very wide, only allowed us to walk side by side in groups of two at the most, sometimes narrowing in sections so that I had to walk behind Daniel with Ian behind me. I didn't mind in the slightest. Those shorts he'd bought left very little to the imagination.

In fact, I had to fight my erection for the first hour of our hike.

Our little group hung to the very back of the long line of our classmates. We chatted amiably about everything from the upcoming graduation to my Valedictorian speech and our plans for the summer.

Around midday we reached an open space where the entire group rested on the fallen logs and ate the brown bag lunches that Coach B had prepared. Wooden trail signs pointed to the various directions we could go: Outlook Point, Blue Water Falls, Church Creek Mill Trail.

I sat beside Daniel and ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich happily, my thigh pressed into his. Ian joked about and showed off by dead lifting some boulders from the ground in an unnecessary display of his superior strength. As if the fact that his arms were bigger around than my chest wasn't enough to hammer that point home already.

It was after one of these displays that Ian noticed me staring in the direction of one of our classmates.

He sat alone on a log and hunched in on himself a bit. He stared about nervously, eyes darting back and forth as if expecting someone or something to come for him at any moment.

God, but I remembered that look. I hated that I remembered it so vividly. I'd lived with that look as my near permanent state of being for years until just a few months ago. His brain was going full force right now, expecting something to happen to him, something most likely bad.

I knew him, of course. We were a small class, we all knew everyone.

Justin was like me: on academic scholarship, very bright, intelligent and a loner. He was tall, about 6 feet, and somehow seemed to be both etherial and sturdy at the same time. With a head of strawberry blonde curls that hung nearly to his eyes in perfect ringlets, he looked like something from a fairy fantasy painting, as if he should have a pair of dragonfly wings sprouting between his shoulder blades. His skin was pale and dusted with freckles but not overly so; his eyes were wide and open and so brightly green as to be almost off putting. Even his black rimmed glasses did nothing to obscure the intense emerald hue.

"Justin!" Ian called across the semi open space.

Justin looked up, his bright green eyes going wide as dinner plates and his already pale skin draining even more.

Ian patted the open space on the log between us.

"Come join us, buddy."

I watched the shock play across Justin's features, weighing the pros and cons of taking Ian up on his offer. Ian patted the log again.

"Come on, dude. We won't bite."

Justin rose on obviously shaky legs and crossed the space to stand before us. He sank to the log between me and Ian. Every ligament in his legs was tensed and his spine was straight as an arrow.

"Hi," he said quietly in a pleasantly deep baritone voice.

"Hey," Daniel said from my other side. "You having a good hike so far?"

Justin's eyes were still wide, but to his credit, he nodded and answered that he was, yes.

"You wanna hike with us?" Ian asked abruptly and with a great deal of gusto.

Justin's full mouth hung open a bit and he seemed at a loss for words.

"It's alright," I assured him with a gentle pat on his knee.

"Ian's great. I know what you are thinking right now, and you don't need to worry about it. You aren't going to be thrown off the side of the cliff or anything. Promise."

Justin smiled at me, still a little nervous. He had a beautiful smile, perfectly straight teeth. I vaguely recalled that there had been a few years when poor Justin had been a victim of that most dreaded social malady: braces, complete with head gear. It looked like it had paid off.

"Totally," Ian said, throwing a huge arm around Justin's shoulder, "you can be my hiking buddy, okay? Those two are glued at the hip, obviously," he indicated me and Daniel, "and Paul and Gordon may as well be siamese twins."

"Asshole," Paul and Gordon said in tandem, proving Ian's point and making us all laugh.

Even Justin, who relaxed visibly.

"Sure. I mean, if you don't mind?"

"I insist," Ian responded.

When our lunches were finished and our group was cleaned up and ready to return to the trail, Gordon pulled us to the side excitedly.

"I just asked Coach B if we could go on a side trail, ya know, explore a little," he informed us. "He just rolled his eyes and turned his back. You know what that means. What he doesn't see he can't stop! Come on! Let's go to the Falls!"

It didn't take our now expanded group long to decide that The Falls would be a much more interesting hike than remaining with the rest of the class. We busied ourselves with absolutely nothing while the rest of the class and the chaperones started up the trail to the lookout.

Coach B even called the chaperone in charge of leading up the rear of the line up to talk to him at the head of the group, giving us ample opportunity to slip away.

I would have to remember to thank the man for his tacit understanding. Who would have thought that I'd come to admire an athletics coach so highly?

Gordon led the way down the trail that lead to the falls. It sloped sharply downwards, much steeper and more difficult than the easy stroll the rest of our classmates were taking.

Paul followed behind him with me and Daniel in the middle and Ian at the end, making sure that Justin didn't fall behind or feel left out.

At several points we had to jump from boulder to boulder, using each other to pull us from one place to another. It was fun to watch Justin fly like a rag doll over the small ravines and crash into Ian's muscled torso with a yelp. Ian smiled broadly each time, steadied our new companion and then continued on. Justin seemed to be in a state of perpetual blush, which only served to make him even more otherworldly.

The sound of moving water soon became clear. At first it was like a fly in the distance, only dimly registered, but with every step we took it grew louder and louder until it dominated the soundscape.

We rounded one giant boulder and suddenly there it was. The trail simply ceased at the stone lined bank of the river. One moment we were in the forrest and the next, at the river bank. It flowed quickly over large stones jutting from the surface, making small whirlpools and little white caps here and there.

Off to the left was the object of the trail: the falls. They were about 40 feet tall, maybe more; and they were stunning. The water flowed over the rim of the higher bluff and crashed into the wide pool below, a placid swimming hole about 50 feet across.

"That's more like it!" Ian exclaimed as he pushed past me and the rest of the crew, driving to the head of the line.

As he barreled past us he tore his t shirt over his head, kicking off his shoes and socks. In a flash, his fingers undid the button on his shorts and he pushed them to the ground. There he stood in all of his naked glory, back to the group, muscles rippling, caressed by the midday sun and the spray. He spread his arms wide and lifted his face to the sun to take it all in. Then promptly climbed to a massive boulder and dove head first into the dark swimming hole.

"HEY!" we all shouted as one, all except for Justin who stood staring dumbstruck where Ian's naked flesh had disappeared beneath the surface.

For a breathless moment, we all stared at where Ian had disappeared. My brain was going crazy! What if he had hit his head on an hidden rock? You don't just jump without looking! He was built like a brick shit house and a Greek God, but that didn't make him ACTUALLY immortal.

His smiling face broke the surface some 30 feet out in the center of the pool and he raised his arms above his head with a characteristic whoop of excitement!

"Oh man! That's awesome! It's deep and the water feels great, you guys. What are you waiting for?"

"You absolute jack ass! You could have been killed!" I scolded. Before I could stop myself, I found my wrist backed to my waist, hip cocked, and one finger wagged right toward where Ian's head and shouldered bobbed above the water.