Children of the church

Jenna Kacy was passed out cold in the corner of the room, a bottle clenched in her arms, Megan crony and patty McAlister were sleeping naked, still atop of one another, dirk rowdy had three girls passed out on his chest one who looked to have just finished him off before dropping still between his legs. looking around at the aftermath of the party brought a smile to my lips it was the last day of church camp and we decided to end it with a bang, archer moon provided the booze, the lake provided the venue and we all contributed to the fun.

across the lake at the docs I saw archer with his back turned to the lot of us just watching the water move, I slipped on the shirt he left on the floor last night to cover me up and made my way to him. I reached my arms around him and slid them down my fingers burning a path across his solid form, slowly until they reached his waistband I slipped my thumbs in and spread my hands until they were on his hips.

'last night was fun.' i said against his back he hummed in response there was a bit of rustling behind us indicating the party goers were waking up, it was probably around noon. 'we should do this every year.' I sighed looking around these past three months were torcher with nothing to do and a priest shoving bible verses down our throats. this is just what we needed to keep it together.

'we need rules if we want to keep this up.' he said still not looking back at me.

'okay name them.' i said ready to take down a mental list.

'1. what happens at church camp stays at church camp, we don't take this home that means no phones nothing digital,' that made sense if the parents knew what we were doing they were sure to blow a gasket, '2. you're allowed to invite one person every year, but once you're in theirs no backing out.' he continued before finishing  ' last but not least, have the time of your fucking lives.' 

after he finished we stayed quiet for a moment more, 'those are great rules, ill send out a mass text.' he spun me around to his front and swayed with me, his hands on my hips guiding me. 'same time next year red?' he asked looking me in the eye.

I smiled up at him ' you got it, Moon.' I looked around my heart hurt and ached a little knowing what was happening next. 'you ready to end this.' i asked my face instantly morphing into one of sadness. he looked around and sighed. bending down he cupped my face into his hands and looked at me before crashing his lips onto mine for a moment I was stunned until I finally caught up to was happening and instantly I responded my little delay made the fight for dominance a nonexisting one.

'see you next summer lover.' he said not waiting for a response before walking away. my lips still tingled after his touch, it physically hurt knowing that this was over that the fun and wild girl I have become has to go back into hiding until the next camp. my phone that weighed down the shirt a little began to buzz with notifications from the kids around the area, now was a good a time as any to make the mass announcement. I sent the mass text instructing everyone from camp to meet at the hall it was time they knew the rules. the path to hall seemed brighter today, I wanted to absorb it all I didn't want to forget anything, my bare feet on the fine dirt felt good the grounds were basically an island with one dirt path leading into it, far from land no one could come on without alerting everyone here but we could make as much noise we wanted and no one would be able to hear us, not even the priest who brought us here. I snickered under my breath thinking about how father Frankie was probably still passed out in his cabin.

when I got to the cabin that was also dubbed the hall everyone was already inside, archer was outside waiting for me, when I was close enough he stretched out his arm for me to take, his hand swallowed mine in a warm cacoon making me smile, ill miss this, but I knew better to try to keep this up at home. we walked through the mass of people who were either still nursing hangovers, some were still accompanied by their partner or partners from the night before.

Mandy Liston and conner fey occupied the corner continuing from the night before, Noland kay and a girl everyone called fisher, no one really knew her first name, were snuggled up together, which is surprising, to say the least Noland was a germaphobe who wouldn't even sit on a chair without putting a plastic cover on it or touch anyone without them having put on sanitizer first. to see him cuddled up with Fisher on the floor made me smile. I guess this camp was changing people.

' time to set some rules,' archer started, he looked around the room at everyone and began to smile ' who had fun?' he asked to which got a wave of answers from across the hall all good, my lips stretched into a wide smile, 'who wants to do this next year?' he asked and again cheers from the entire hall. Archer gave me a weird look that I couldn't quite decipher until he nudged me forward, he wanted me to speak.

'okay, okay calm down.' everyone started to quiet down ' i want this to last, do you?' I asked before I began to look around the hall everyone was either nodding their heads or hollering in agreement. 'we need rules, and I'm not talking about stupid rules like no booze, I mean rules that will protect us from ever having another boring summer.' I looked at archer to finish explaining knowing how much people respected him. he raised his eyebrows before turning back to the crowd of people to address them, I went to stand behind him so I wouldn't be in the way, I only made it a few steps before archer caught hold of my hand and pulled me forward again.

' before camp me and Rae here will volunteer for the church and start setting up,' he started I looked up at him jaw slacked, I never signed up for that, ' we will adjust the price to come to account for all the booze and party supplies, we will have a ton of events that the parents don't know about, themed parties'

'like the wild west.' some boy in the back shouted gaining chuckles and hoots from all around the hall.

' yah wild west night I like it.' Archer said chuckling ' when we get to camp me and Rae will take all,' he emphasized 'electronic devices' people groaned but archer cut them off firmly ' you won't need them, the only thing their good for is getting caught, who here has gotten in trouble because of a stupid picture your parents found on your phone' he finished knowing everyone here has at least once. heck, the only reason Kayce flint was here was that her mom saw a picture of Kayce kissing Mallery bellow, who was also here, they were snuggled up together in the center of the floor sharing flirty looks. this effectively cut off all complaining.

'I thought so, next this is a judgment-free zone, it's a safe place and what happens here stays here I won't tolerate any kind of bullying or shaming here, its 20 fucking 15 if we can't grow the fuck up and accept people the way they are then we are no better than the people who hurt others that aren't like them.' he got absolutely no backlash from that one, in fact I'm sure most of the couples held onto each other a little tighter.

' everyone is allowed to bring one and only one guest per year, you either tell me or Rae and we will visit their house and get them enrolled in camp, but know this once you're in camp theirs no backing out its a commitment, your signing up for summers of fun friendship and bonds that are basically family.' that rule made sense, I feel a lot closer to a ton of people here already. 

' so far is everyone good with the rules?' Archer asked looking around to the students who we have spent the last 3 months with. 'good then there is one more you all should know about,' he continued after no one spoke up, ' you all better have the time of your fucking lives' he shouted gaining cheers from the kids all around the hall.

Dirk stood on a chair gaining everyone's attention and began to yell 'all hail king archer of camp.' we all started to laugh and follow after him shouting all hail the king. Archer began to laugh as well before lunging towards me and seating me on his shoulder effectively making me taller than everyone even Dirk who was still on the chair.

' and long live the queen' he shouted lifting me up a little higher. this made everyone in the hall even more frantic yelling long live queen Rae.

Archer began to put me down and i looped my arms around his neck ' so now I'm your queen?' i asked looking up at him ' you've always been my queen' he said taking my breath away effectively shutting me up and turning me to a pile of mush.

the loud shriek of a bull horn ruined the moment as well as making the hall so quiet you can hear a pin drop. father Frankie stood at the door of the hall bull horn still in the air looking around with wild eyes. Archer let go of me and smiled at the old priest, 'father Frankie,' he started charm oozing from his lips ' we just finished the most inspirational prayer, can i get an amen everyone.' he asked looking around, everyone started laughing and chanting amen. the father looked around his scowl turned to a smile.

'what good god loving children.' he said nodding his head at us, 'you taught us everything we know father' Archer said smiling. 'well kiddos get your things together it's almost time to go' he said and almost instantly everyone went to their cabins and got ready to leave. the only people left in the hall were the good father archer and me.

' see you next year moon' i said before turning my back to him and leaving the hall just like he did to me at the docs. next year couldn't come soon enough.