Fresh Start

Chapter 11
Activities and Escape Plans

The two boys finished their special treatment just in time for the afternoon activities they’d chosen earlier. As they joined the assembled Kea Cabin kids on the field by the playground no one really paid any attention to how dazed and awkward the two boys looked. They simply blended in to the back of the crowd.

Jessica and two young men were addressing them. “Okay, everyone who signed up for gymnastics and dance please go over to your left. I’ll be taking your group to the hall in a minute.”

A dozen kids, all girls, went over to the left.

“Okay nature hikers to the right with Don please,” she ordered, and a small group of boys and one girl detached and stood by a rugged looking thirtyish man.

“Okay, the rest of you will be playing soccer with Dale,” she explained, introducing a massive twenty-something with a sportsman’s build. “Now, before we go, is there anyone who wants to switch activities?”

As soon as she said the words Tejay knew he had to raise his hand. Earlier in the day he had been so certain he wanted to play soccer. He’d thought the other activities were wimpy and girly. But now soccer just seemed so… boring. It was just a dumb sport. But gymnastics and dance seemed ever so much more interesting. He kept picturing scenes of people leaping and balancing, spinning around and diving from bars. It was like the ultimate playground play. Why on earth had he thought that was girly earlier?

Jason watched Tejay raise his hand and he felt like he should do the same. Suddenly soccer had lost its appeal for him too. But something kept him from copying his mate. A voice in his head told him this was all wrong, dancing was for girls. He couldn’t go do that, even if he really wanted to.

“Yes Tejay,” Jessica called. “You want to switch?”

“Yeah,” he called. “I wanna do gymnastics.”

“Okay, go ahead,” Jessica told him, smiling wickedly.

“Okay, if there’s no one else, off you all go!” she declared, and Jason and Tejay were separated for the first time since arriving.

**

The girls and Tejay followed Jessica to a large building at the edge of the camp grounds. They padded up the wooden porch stairs and entered into what was a sizable gym all set up for gymnastics. Tejay was awed by the set-up. This did look like fun.

“Okay girls… oh, and Tejay, sorry. Please take go get changed into your outfits,” Jessica directed, pointing to the rack of leotards and tights near the wall.

Tejay followed the girls over and watched as they quickly got changed. About half of them were still in their teen mind-sets and they ducked behind a partition to change away from prying eyes. But the rest only thought they were little kids and they were happy to strip down right there in front of him and change. Tejay watched with some surprise, but didn’t really feel any sexual arousal. He felt mischievous, seeing girls boobies and all, but nothing more than a little naughty.

“C’mon slow poke!” one of the girls chided him.

Tejay broke out of his reverie and grabbed a leotard from the rack. A little voice in the back of his head reminded him he was a teenager and shouldn’t be getting naked in front of girls, so he hurried behind some large mats stacked nearby to change. As he took off his overly baggy clothes he looked more carefully at what he was putting on. Tights? That couldn’t be right for a boy could it? Something told him only sissies wore those. He shook the thought off, dismissing it as silly. Then he pulled the tights on.

They were brown tights and he found they were in fact, tight. They hugged his little legs snuggly, ending right at his ankles. They felt really nice in fact. They were warm and soft and didn’t hang off him like his regular clothes.

“Hey are you ready over there?” a girl’s voice called, sounding impatient.

“Yeah, sorry!” he called back, emerging to see the girls lined up and ready to go.

Tejay joined them in line and Jessica gave him a big grin. “Do you like your outfit dear?” she asked.

“Oh yes! It’s really comfy,” he admitted.

“Great,” she nodded.

Over the next hour Tejay had a great time tumbling and spinning with Jessica’s help. Of course there was nothing too advanced, they were just little kids after all. But Tejay liked it nonetheless. When it came time to dance that turned out to be even better. Why had he always dismissed it as girl stuff? Had he really? It was so hard to remember now. In any case it was wonderful skipping around the room and making up his own dance moves to all the cool music. All the girls seemed to think he was okay too. He was so glad he didn’t just to stupid old sports.

**

As soon as they arrived at the soccer pitch Jason regretted not putting up his hand to change. So much physical activity and the danger of getting hit and yelled at by other boys scared him. What if he was no good at soccer? A lot of them were bigger too and they could just run right over him! The coach was already blowing his whistle though and two boys were quickly chosen to lead the teams. They started picking kids but Jason just hid at the back, afraid to be rejected by the big boys. Finally when there was almost no one left the blonde boy on his right pointed at him and he rushed to join that team.

When the teams were set the grown-up blew his whistle to call the kids over to him. “Okay everyone I want a nice friendly game now. If I blow the whistle you stop, understand?”

“Yes sir,” they mumbled.

He nodded and looked at the four girls there. “Okay girls it’s pretty muddy out there so if you want some shoes and socks they’re up here.”

Jason watched a couple of the girls come up and slip on tall red soccer socks and black Umbro sneakers. None of the boys were asked and of course none of them wanted shoes or socks. After all Kiwi boys were tough, they always did sport in bare feet and on top of that they all had suggestions running through their minds telling them they wanted dirty little kid feet.

With a whistle blow the game started. Jason found himself positioned as a defender, not trusted to be a forward. He hated it from the start. The field was all muddy and slippery. With every step he felt icky goo spread up between his toes. He didn’t even want to look at it. He tried to ignore it, after all none of the other boys minded it. They were running around so fast their feet and legs were filthy in moments, right up to their knees.

One of the opposing forwards was finally headed towards him with the ball. He manoeuvred right and left, trying to guess which way the bigger boy would go. With every step he got muddier, yuck. The ball was out too far from the forward, he’d kicked it too hard. Jason moved forward and kicked it to the side, not really aiming, just wanting it away from the forward bearing down on him.

“Yow!” he cried, feeling pain shoot from his battered toe to his leg. Kicking the ball really hurt! He didn’t want to do that again. How were the other boys doing it? They must be tougher than him, he decided.

They were coming back now and the ball was loose again and headed for him.

“You got it!” one of his team-mates cried.

But Jason let it roll past, not wanting to hurt his toe again. His team-mates cried out in anger and a forward roared past and kicked it hard for the goal. He made it, one-nil.

“What was that?” one of the other boy’s yelled at him.

“It hurts my foot,” Jason admitted, feeling like he might cry.

“Ugh! What a girl!” the other boy yelled at him.

Jason hung his head, but then he felt a big hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see the coach. “It’s okay little dude, go get yourself some shoes and socks,” he told him.

Jason nodded and hurried over to the side lines. There he found several more pairs of shoes and socks. He grabbed a towel and wiped as much mud and dirt of his feet and legs as was possible. Then he grabbed the socks and pulled them on. They were long and red and felt nice and snug. He pulled them all the way up under his shorts, laughing at how they almost looked like tights that way. He pulled on the sneakers next and stood back up.

Jason hurried onto the field and it was sooo much better this way. He didn’t slip as much, he wasn’t dirty and the ball didn’t hurt him to kick. So what if he looked like one of the girls with these tight-like socks on? They were comfy and they helped. He still didn’t enjoy the game much, but at least he was dry and clean.

**

Matt followed their new counsellor, glad the long day of playing on the playground and around it was over. He’d spent most of the time hidden out with a couple other boys who were still mentally there, trying to block out the cries and laughter of their simple-minded cohorts, stupid girls doing their hair into pig-tails and playing hopscotch, boys playing king of the hill and wrestling on the grass.

Now they were on their way away from the playground and Matt would have the chance to talk with James about an escape plan. Of course they couldn’t completely escape the idiocy surrounding them. The newly hyper and boisterous Robby was trailing along right behind he and James having a childish argument with Tyler, a short and tubby boy who looked about twelve now and had bright red puffy cheeks like a chipmunk.

“I can to!” Robby was insisting loudly.

“Nuh-uh! That’s impossible,” Tyler was equally adamant.

“No it isn’t! I done it before,” Robby answered back.

“You’s lyin’.”

“Am not!”

Finally Matt could take no more. “What is it you’re claiming you can do Robby?” he asked.

Robby seemed surprised by the outburst but he quickly asserted, “I can fit ten whole Moro bars in my mouth at the same time!”

Matt shook his head with disgust. “Why would you even want to be able to do that?” he asked.

Robby clearly didn’t understand what Matt meant so he declared, “I really can!”

Before Matt could smack him across the face the group came to a sudden halt at the entrance to a trail leading into thick bush.

“Okay guys, this is the trail. Now while we’re out in the bush, you all have to do what I say. No questions asked, you understand?” their guide, Don, asked in voice that suggested it could be a matter of life or death.

Robby, Tyler and his cohorts all nodded seriously, excited and nervous like it was actually dangerous in the bush. Of course Matt and James knew there was nothing deadly or even mildly dangerous out there. This was New Zealand, where there were no snakes, no deadly spiders, no predators to hurt anyone.

“Okay, now there’s one more thing. If I yell out ‘camouflage’ you all have to scatter off the trail into the bush while I cover my eyes for thirty seconds. You have to hide and blend into the forest. If I can see you, you lose. Got it?”

More nods, this time playful and eager. James looked over at Matt and winked again, a wordless understanding passing between them.

Don seemed satisfied and stooped to retie the knot on one of his heavy-duty hiking boots. Matt looked down at them and then up at the rough and uneven trail.

“Um, Mr Don, do we need shoes for this?” he asked.

“Oh, no you’ll be fine,” he assured. “Besides you don’t want to miss all the squishy mud and stuff do you?”

Robby and Tyler were vigorously shaking their heads no, of course not.

“But how come you have shoes then, and hiking boots at that?” Matt questioned.

“Well I’m a grown-up buddy, so I have a lot of fancy equipment that little guys like you don’t need. Like I’ve got this compass so I know which way to go in case we lose the trail,” he explained, showing the boys the compass attached to his bag. “And this knife in case we need to cut something,” he added, pulling out a Swiss Army knife.

“Right,” Matt mumbled, finding the way everyone talked to him as though he were already a stupid little kid extremely annoying. If there was one thing he hated it was being condescended to.

“But don’t worry buddy, I’ll be blazing ahead in my trusty boots and if I come across anything dangerous for your little feet I’ll take us another way,” he assured.

“When I grow up, I’m gonna have big hikin’ boots and a knife too!” Robby informed everyone.

“I thought you liked going barefoot,” Matt pointed out.

“I said when I growed up, stupid!” Robby spat back.

Tyler giggled at his friend’s comeback, then decided to steal some attention for himself, sneaking behind James, putting his hands to his mouth and blowing to create a farting sound.

“Ewww! Jamie, that stinks!” Robby called out, pretending to fan away the smell while several kids broke into peals of laughter.

James didn’t even acknowledge their silly jokes, moving forward as Don led them up the trail. Matt stayed right behind him, noticing that they did seem to be getting younger as the day went on. His shorts were becoming increasingly baggy and his t-shirt too. James was looking younger as well. His stubble was down to peach fuzz, his face more pimpled than before. Matt had seen him tighten his drawstring on his shorts twice and they were still baggier. He guessed James’ current age at fifteen and his own at fourteen. He wondered how young they’d be by the time they made their escape.

The trail they were on took them through dense rainforest, hundreds of ferns all around them, the sunlight filtered through the dense canopy. Don led them forward, only slowing occasionally for Robby’s sore feet. He may have thought he was a tough little six year old but until that morning he’d been a reserved wimpy teen who always wore shoes.

Matt did feel kind of sorry for the kid, annoying as he now was. He tried to imagine what it would be like to go to sleep one night and wake up a completely different person. He wondered what it was like for Robby to wake up that morning with all his shyness completely gone, with the sudden certainty that he was only a little six year old. To go from a book worm to a boy who could barely read a sentence.

As they rounded a bend on the trail at the apex of a small hill Don came to a very sudden halt, looking as though he’d seen some danger ahead. Everyone froze as he put out his and to stop them. He looked around nervously and then said, “Okay, nobody panic but right now we all need to... camouflage!!!”

As the leader spun around and yelled the game word all the boys started to wildly scatter. James grabbed Matt’s hand and pulled him roughly off the trail and into thick ferns. They raced through the underbrush, not stopping for toes painfully stubbed on roots or pricked by thorns. Deep into the scrub James pulled Matt behind a large Totara tree and dropped to the ground, breathing hard.

“Is this it?” Matt gasped in a whisper. “Are we escaping?”

James shook his head. “No, no. We wouldn’t get very far lost out in this bush. I just needed to get you separate from all those others so we can plan this thing in peace. Those ‘special helpers’ could be programmed to tell the counsellors about any escape plans they overhear. Or they might tell just because their silly little kids.”

“Oh, okay. So what’s the plan?”

“Well first of all it’s just you, me and Brad,” James told him.

Matt nodded, remembering Brad was another older teen like themselves who kept his hair dyed and spiked and was obviously a bit of a rebel.

James went on, “So we’re going to make our break for it tonight. We wait till lights out the slip out of the cabins before they can drug us. We break into the main office and steal the keys to Belton’s own car. Then we drive to the nearest town and jack a new car there before they can track Belton’s.”

“Jack a new car? Do you know how to do that?” Matt asked, because he sure didn’t.

“No, but that’s why we have Brad. He’s a bit of a dodgy character I admit, but he has the skills we need.”

“So then what? I mean, won’t we still shrink down to little kids? We already had the shot.”

“We had one shot, there are multiple and they are cumulative. Without the next one we’ll stop regressing soon. We’d have to hide out of course and I honestly don’t know how long we can last, but hell, we’ve got nothing to lose.”

Matt nodded as they heard Don begin calling out for everyone to come back in.

“So are you in?” James asked.

Matt could see the plan had many risks, but then James was right, they had nothing to lose. “I’m in,” he agreed.

“Brilliant. Out of bed five minutes after lights out, as soon as Jessica leaves.”