The Affection Multiplier - Chapter 209: First day of camping. (Patreon)

The school hired three busses for this, much to your surprise. You’d think a school with so many resources would have busses already. When you asked Emma, she answered that the school doesn’t normally take students on trips, at least not often enough to merit having to keep busses and drivers.

When they gave everyone the news of the trip, they said that everyone should make groups of a minimum of three and maximum of six to share tents, cooking utensils and the like. As for you, though you’re technically in a group with Megan, Emily, Sophia and Katherine (big surprise there), you won’t be allowed to share a tent with them. And that’s something that Sophia thinks is pretty stupid, considering there will be girls in romantic relationships sharing tents anyway.

“It’s stupid for them to think that just because David has a penis he’s the only one who’ll try to have sex behind the teachers’ back.” She had said. “I know a lot of these girls and they could give us a run for our money when it comes to sex drive.”

“But we have the teachers on our side. We should be able to do something.” Megan pouted.

“Try not to ask anything of them.” You made sure to tell your schoolmates. “We shouldn’t make them choose between doing us a favor and doing their job properly.”

And that’s how the conversation between you five went.

So now, at 9:00 am on a Wednesday, you and your group are in one of the three busses, sitting at the far back while Julia and Anzu are at the front. Emma and Mia are in the other two busses. You’ve been traveling for about an hour and a half already, and the landscape is getting more and more rural. There’s less houses and many more hills.

Everyone’s wearing the red school track suits. Supposedly it’s to make it easier to identify every student and show they’re in school activities.

After 20 more minutes, the bus stops.

“Alright people, we’re off!” Julia says, eliciting the murmurs of every student.

“Wait… weren’t we going to a beach?” Katherine asks you.

Yeah, you were wondering about that, too. Right now, you’re in a dirt path off the main road that ends right in front of some hills.

…  

But there’s a path through them. It’s too rough for cars to pass, but…

…

Oh no.

“I can see some of you realizing what this is about.” Julia grins devilishly while Anzu looks at everyone with an apologetic smile besides her.

It’s only when all 80 students are off their busses that Julia explicitly says what’s going on.

“The place we’ll be camping on is on the other side of these hills. That means we’re walking there. I hope you’re ready for an hour of stretching your legs!”

There are several loud groans, gasps and complaints from the girls around. Yet you can’t help but turn to Emily and Megan and give them each a tight hug while whispering ‘thank you’ over and over again, making them laugh.

If it wasn’t for them, this would’ve meant your death. Now though, this should be a cakewalk.

“Kill me now. It’ll be easier for everyone.” Sophia groans, but her plea goes unheard.

With Julia leading the charge, Emma and Anzu near the middle and Mia going last, the group of 84 people starts making their wait through the hills. The path is easy enough to walk through, if only a little steep, but since everyone has to carry their own stuff it’s a little more difficult.

You’re having no troubles, thankfully. And as expected, Emily and Megan aren’t either. Katherine has surprising stamina, or maybe not considering she’s said she loves swimming. It’s Sophia who starts to worry you. She starts breathing hard only 20 minutes after starting.

“Give me your backpack.” You tell her.

“…Sorry.” She doesn’t really think it through. She’s too tired to let pride get in the way.

“It’s no issue.” You tell her and give her a quick peck on the cheek.

And so, hanging a backpack to each shoulder, you make your way through the hills with everyone else. Day after day of running, pull-ups and sit-ups is finally paying off. They won’t hear you admitting it, but it feels nice to show off a bit.

When you’re at a high enough point, you see the incredible view. To the left, the ocean and the beach. There are some very big rocks in the water, but there are enough clear spaces and the waves seem slow and small. To the right, the vast greenery of trees, and it’s at the edge of those woods that a few buildings can be seen. They’re small, but it seems to be an actual camping spot.

“Please tell me there will at least be a shower there.” Katherine pleads to the skies.

Since you’re closer to the end of the group, you try looking ahead to see if you can catch a glimpse of Julia, Emma and Anzu. You do see them, and it looks like they’re doing well. A look back tells you that Mia is also keeping up without issues.

After some more walking, you finally arrive at the camping site. Overall, the place is very rustic with the sea in front and the woods behind. Julia speaks to the owner and gets everything in order before she addresses the students again.

“As you can see, this place has the bare minimum of what we need.” She starts. “There’s only four showers here, so we’ll make a schedule by groups. If you miss your turn, too bad, you’ll have to wait until everyone’s over. There are toilets, too, for those of you who were worried about having to go to the bushes. The spots to set your tents are marked, so pick whichever you like. Just try not to fight over it. There’s enough space for everyone. The tables are all over there,” She points to a spot with several wooden picnic tables and small barbeque grills made of bricks. “Each group will do their cooking over there.”

Everyone starts to scatter, looking for the perfect place. There is SOME fighting amongst some groups over who gets the spot closest to the toilets. You and your girls, however, wait until most people are gone and you walk up to the teachers.

“So? Where am I relegated to?” You ask Julia.

She gives you an apologetic smile as she points to the spot furthest from everyone, right behind a huge fucking rock. Not only is it practically isolated, but it’s also roughly 30 meters away from the toilets.

“It’s what I had to promise the headmistress to allow you to come with us.” She tells you.

“I hope you aren’t scared of ghosts.” Emma giggles.

“…” You only give her an unamused look.

“Then let’s set our tent over there.” Emily says, pointing to the spot closest to yours, even if it’s still easily 20 meters at the least. There are other girls setting their tents close by, so obviously you sneaking into their tent is out of the question.

…

But maybe your tent being so far is actually a good thing.

With that in mind, you go off to set the tent Julia lent you while the girls go set theirs and the adults go check everyone’s progress.

Oh. And the best part? After a little exploring, you all found a clear, wide road through the woods that leads directly to this camping spot. The busses could’ve easily made it here, but Julia made everyone go through the hills anyway.

________________________________________________________________

It seems that one of the conditions to get permission for half a school to camp in this beach was that you’d have to do a little community service. That means the first activity of the day is cleaning the beach.

“What fun…” Emily mutters, completely unmotivated.

After that, though, it’s time to get lunch ready. You get together with your group, get a fire going in the grill and start preparing everything to make a stew. Well, it’s you, Megan and Sophia doing most of the work. Katherine and Emily have no idea how to cook, so they’ll be in charge of doing the dishes.

“Why stew?” Katherine asks, curious.

“We don’t need to be so precise with the heat.” You tell her. “Since we’re cooking on a grill, we can’t manage the heat as we could on a stove. Besides, it’s easy. We’re very unlikely to screw it up and starve ourselves.”

You, Sophia and Megan peel the vegetables, dice and season the meat and get it all in a pot before filling it with water. The smell coming from it is pretty nice.

“It’s making me hungry already.” Emily says, staring at the pot as if that would make it boil faster.

“Should we boil some water as well?” Katherine suggests. “We can keep it in the thermos and drink tea later.”

“Good idea. Let’s do that.” Megan nods.

20 minutes later, the stew is ready. You fill everyone’s bowls, sit around the assigned table and start digging in.

“Oh my God!” Katherine squeals after she takes a spoonful. “This is good!”

“Everything tastes better when you’re dead tired.” You nod as you take a bite of a piece of meat.

“Don’t be modest.” Megan says, grinning as she eats. “You’ve been getting better at cooking every day.”

“I didn’t do that much, though.” You admit. “Sophia seasoned the meat, and that’s the hardest thing to do for the stew. Everything else is just throwing things in and hope for the best.”

“Yeah, it’s not like this is a hard dish, so don’t give me that much credit.” Sophia sighs. “Still, I feel like I’m finally learning.” She allows herself a smile. “Cooking with you and…” She coughs to stop herself. “…The others has really helped me.”

Yeah. It’s usually you, Mia and Sophia doing the cooking when you get together for lunch at your place. Mia has taught you a lot. You may soon be able to move up to more difficult dishes.

But while you’re talking and enjoying your meal, you spot in the corner of your eye a worrying scene. You see Olivia, Lilian and Jessica gathered around their grill, grimacing and scratching their heads. Jessica especially looks devastated.

The girls around you follow your eyes. After they confirm what you see they turn to you.

“Did they have a problem with their food?” Megan asks.

“…” You narrow your eyes and turn to the girls. Yet before you can get a word out, you see Emily shrug and nod towards Olivia’s group.

“Go.” She says after swallowing a small piece of potato. “We have enough leftovers, right?”

“Are you sure?” You ask, addressing everyone.

“Yeah.” Katherine doesn’t say much else, but she nods and gives you a small, honest smile.

You smile apologetically to them before you stand up and go to Olivia’s group.

“Is there something wrong?” You ask as you walk up to them.

The three of them turn to you hastily. They have complicated expressions on their faces, but after a couple of seconds, Olivia answers.

“We were making rice, but…” She says as he eyes turn to their pot. “It didn’t cook well.”

“It’s my fault.” Jessica grimaces. “I was making it.”

“But it’s not like Olivia and I know how to cook at all.” Lilian sighs.

“Can I take a look?” You offer, and the three girls make way.

You open the pot and see the problem. There’s not enough water and the rice burned and stuck to the bottom of the pot. There’s no way to save this.

“Uh…” You swallow nervously. “…Did you put enough water in it?”

“Obviously we didn’t.” Olivia glares at you, making you flinch.

You sigh and scratch the back of your head. “…We have some leftover stew, if you want it.”

The eyes of Lilian and Jessica shine like the brightest stars. They then turn to Olivia with silent yet pleading looks intense enough to make her step back.

They must be incredibly hungry.

Olivia grunts, but she turns to you while having troubles meeting your eyes. “…If it isn’t any trouble…” She says, muttering lowly.

You smile. “Like I said, it’s leftovers. We have more than enough. You can eat with us, if you want.”

Olivia’s eyes widen for a second and she turns to her friends, both of whom simply nod fervently.

“F-Fine. We’ll eat with you.” You try your best not to let Olivia’s blushing cheeks get you. She looks very cute, though.

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