The Rockport Adventures

Disclaimer: Everything in this story is only in my little head. It all belongs to me unless otherwise stated. Any questions, comments, complainants, random statements ect… send to me at Acen369@yahoo.com
The Rockport Adventures I

The Adventure Begins.


September in Rockport, Maine is as it is in many places. The leaves start to turn their lovely autumn colors, and the children from five to eighteen return to the hallowed halls of their schools. For some the end of summer is a curse, these are the ones who spent their summers in wonderful palaces with family. For others, the escape from their homes is a blessing. And for the graduating class the year holds special truth for it is their last.
Jade Kalls, a tall brown haired senior who takes her friends too seriously and dislikes everything about herself, sits on a picnic table in the central courtyard of Rockport High watching the other students. She sighs softly as she looks out over the courtyard, looking at the new faces of the freshmen. She smiles faintly as she remembers her freshmen year four years ago. The feelings of being at a new school, the excitement and the small amount of fright as she wandered around the courtyard that seemed so large then, but seems not large enough now. Lost in her thoughts she doesn’t see Adam Towers, a tall, blond haired guy she had befriended the last year when he had moved to Rockport, walk up to the table.pennpenny for your thoughts” Adam says as he sits next to Jade. Jade looks over at Adam and smiles “Nothing, just thinking about my freshmen year. Hey did you see Max or Cam on you way in?” Adam shakes his head “Nope, but I did see Kayla.” Jade smiles as she sees Kayla Kasson, her short, best friend, with a quick temper, and fast smile, walk up to the table. “Hey!” Kayla says as she hugs Jade. “I missed you over the summer!” Kayla says and Jade smiles “I missed you too Kay” she says as Kayla sits. Adam turns around as the head Principle, Mr. McCall walks past. “Damn, not even half way into the school day and he looks pissed I wonder why?” Adam says turning around letting his flannel over shirt down, the way he likes to wear them, but the principles always seem to get onto him about. Jade smiles “I think I know why” She says and nods as she sees Mr. McCall stop…
“Cam Callhoon, why am I not surprised” Mitchell McCall says as he stops looking at the young man who, over the year has caused him so much trouble. Cam Callhoon, a tall brown haired young man, stands looking at the principle through his dark shades; his long brown cloth trench coat blows softly in the fall breeze “what ever are you talking about sir?” Cam says looking confused. “Sure Callhoon, like it wasn’t you in the white Toyota Corolla that almost hit two cars in the parking lot a few seconds ago.” Cam shakes his head “no sir, I don’t drive a Toyotas, there tooll yll you know, I can’t fit my ego into them.” McCall sighs “son, please don’t do this, it’s your senior year and I’m as glad as you are to see you go, but please, can we try to not make me get any more ulcers this year?” Cam nods and smiles “ Of course sir, I’ll try to make this year as simple as possible” McCall shakes his head “ I really doubt that, you know how much paper work I’ve had to do on you already this year? You know the rules Mr. Callhoon, loose the shades.” Cam nods and takes the shades off “of course Sir.” McCall sighs and walks away
Cam smiles, and then puts his shades back on, and waves to the table his friends are sitting at. “Hey guys,” He says as he walks up. “Cam!” Kayla says as she hugs her tall friend “what was all that with McCall all about?” Cam shakes his head “nothing, he was blaming me for something about a white Toyota in the parking lot.” Jade smiles and stands up “are you sure you didn’t do anything to make him mad?” “Me? Never, how could you say such a thing about me Jade?” Cam says as she walks over to him and Cam being almost a foot taller then her looks up at him “Because I know how much you love to torture pour Mr. McCall.” Cam looks down at her, his shades falling exposing his bright blue eyes, and she looks back up at him “It’s great to see you again Jade” He says as he hugs her.
“Hey, what’s going on” a voice says behind Cam and he turns, and sees one of his best friends Max Bryans standing behind him. “Hey Max” Cam says as he sits Kayla hugs Max “Hey Max, how was your summer?” Max smiles “Well I spent it working at my parent’s restaurant and…” he pulls a set of keys from his pocket “…I got me a car!” Cam looks at him and says, “Would that happen to be a white Toyota Corolla?” Max looks at him surprised “How did you know?” Cam smiles and shrugs “lucky guess.” Adam looks around at the five of them and smiles “well guys, it’s our last year here; I wonder what kind of mischief we’ll get into this year? Cam smiles and puts his arms around Jades’ and Kayla’s shoulders “who knows? But at least we’re all here…” Jade sighs softly as she thinks about the only person who didn’t return to the group, Mitchell Saunders, the man she planed to marry.
As the first bell of the day rings the group goes their separate ways to class, Cam moves off thinking, “How can I tell them? Would they understand?” Cam walks into his class and sighs, pulling out a notebook and opens it, a schematic lies on the graph paper and he starts to work on it as his new teacher starts talking. Max walks with Kayla to her class and then heads to his class, happy that his school days end at two in the afternoon. Jade sits in her first class, thinking about her friends, and most of all thinking about Mitchell, but her thoughts soon tail to Cam, thinking that something was different about him when he had showed up, and his strange conversation with McCall. Adam sits in his art class, working on a project, thinking about his summer, working and saving up to buy a car, thinking “Max is lucky to have a car.” As the bells ring through the day the friends travel to classes meeting and separating at there different classes, Jade smiles as Cam walks with her to class, thinking how good a friend Cam is as they get to the door. “What class do you have now?” she asks him. He smiles and shakes his head “ I don’t have a class, I can leave now” Jade smiles “your lucky, well… why don’t you join me in choir I’m sure Mrs. Richards won’t mind having you help her out.” Cam smiles, looking at his friend and shrugs “sure, why not?” The two walk into the class and Cam walks over to Mrs. Richards and she nods “Of course Cam, you know I love having you in class.” Cam smiles and sits in an open desk and looks around at the class as Mrs. Richards starts to talk.


As the bell rings, Cam and Jade walk down the hall and Jade looks as him “How are you getting home?” Cam arches his eyebrow “My truck… the same way I got here.” Jade smiles “I didn’t know you had a truck” “well you never asked did you” Cam says and smiles as he opens the main door of the building and sees Max walking into the parking lot. “Hey Max!” he calls and Max stops and looks around and smiles when he sees Cam “Hey man, you get out at two as well?” Cam nods and Jade smiles “I get out with you guys too” Max smiles and walks with them between the two friends. “Well guys, it looks like this year is going to turn out a lot like last year… except now it’s our last year” Cam says as the walk across the parking lot “Yeah” Jade says then looks around “uhh where did you guys park?” Cam nods to an old red pickup truck sitting in the lot “That’s my truck, ‘fifty three Dodge” Max looks at the truck then at Cam “No way man, there’s no damn way that’s your truck!” Cam nods and holds up his keys “Bet you twenty it is.” Max nods “sure that’s an easy twenty.” Cam smiles as the three walk over to the truck and he puts a key in the lock, turning the key and unlocking the door “Now… about my money?” Max smiles and shakes his head “You damn basted, how did you get the cash for this?” Cam looks at him and shrugs “I told you guys I was doing a little freelance work over the summer.” Jade looks at the truck then back at Cam “freelance what?” Cam shrugs again “just stuff…some computer stuff…you know…” Jade looks at Max then back at Cam “Are you ok Cam?” Cam shakes his head “no, I’m not feeling well suddenly… I better head home…” Cam opens the door and Max and Jade wave as he drives off
“I wonder what that was about” Jade says as they watch Cam drive off. “He doesn’t want you to know” Adam says as he walks up to the two. “Know what?” Max says looking at Adam “He had some… problems over the summer with his family.” Jade follows Max as he walks over to his Corolla “What kind of problems?” “The kind that got him disowned from the family” Max and Jade suddenly stop “What!” they say in unison. “Yeah, he got disowned and emancipated, that is what Mr. McCall stopped him about earlier.” Jade looks at the others two and says, “Why didn’t he tell us?” Adam shrugs “I guess he didn’t want you guys to worry, but he’s doing fine actually, I’ve been out to his place over the summer, to help him with some stuff. Jade looks at Adam “where is he staying? With a friend?” Adam shakes his head slowly “No… he lives alone, in his own house…” Jade and Max look at each other stunned then Max smiles “Sounds like Party time.”
“Real smooth” Cam says to himself as he turns on his CD player he had put into his truck after he bought it, skipping through the songs on his Eagles CD until “Hotel California” starts up. He runs a hand though his hair and sighs looking at the papers Mr. McCall had handed him at lunch “why didn’t I tell them? I told Adam so why not them?” He feels his cell phone vibrate a second before “Fat Bottom Girls” by Queen, Jade’s special ring, starts playing. He thinks about letting it ring but he hits the volume control on the radio and answers the phone “City morgue, you stab them, we slab them” his usual greeting. Jade smiles a little as she hears it and says “Hey Cam, I’m just calling to see if you wanted to go out for dinner later tonight? Adam and Max are here and…” Cam cuts her off suddenly “if Adam is there then you both know so… why not just come over to my place tonight, I’ll try and cook us something good” Jade nods “where do you live then?” Cam turns off the highway and smiles a little “I live out in Oakhurst, the number is 276, and you’ll see my truck in the drive.” Jade nods and looks at the other two “Ok we’ll be their say sevenish? Max and Adam nod and Cam says “sure, plenty of time, see you then” He hangs up his phone then sighs “well, now let’s see… what can you cook for four people tonight…” he sings along with the CD as he pulls into the drive of a large white, two story house and he looks up at the house “And how am I going too explain how I got this house?”
Jade looks at Max’s car and laughs “I think we better take my car… yours looks like it’s about to die any second.” Max gives her a fake smile “ha ha, it’s not that bad. It gets me where I need to go, and when I get the cash I’m going to paint it and do some minor repairs and then I’ll be pimping.” Jade smiles and shakes he head “It’ll take more then a few minor repairs for this car… I think you’re going to need a priest… or an undertaker”. Max smiles and flashes her the bird as he slips into his car. “I’ll give you a ride Adam,” he says as he starts the car “And we’ll see you at seven I guess?” he says looking up at Jade. She nods and heads off to her midnight blue, ’69 Dodge charger. She waves to Max and Adam as they drive past then slips into her car, thinking about Cam, her best friend, the guy who had always been their for her. But why wouldn’t he let her or any of his friends help him? Why does he have to be so damn stubborn, he knows he could tell anything he needs too to her… so why didn’t he? She sighs and turns the key, her Charger revving to life and she pulls out of the parking lot, looking at the dash clock, seeing it’s only two twenty five she heads down the main drag to visit Mitchell.
Jade drives down the main drag of Rockport, Van Halen’s “Panama” playing on the radio as she turns onto a smaller road and sees the small sign next to the road “Rockport City Cemetery.” She drives up the small road, remembering the last time she had come to this place. The stormy day when Mitchell had been laid to rest after the fatal accident, the only thing she could really remember about the service was Cam holding her as she cried. She shakes her head a little and parks, buttoning up her heavy denim jacket as she slips out of her Charger, a strong autumn breeze blowing past her. Walking up the hill next to where she parked she stops halfway up and looks at the headstone “Here lays Mitchell Dale Shamus, beloved son, brother and friend.” She stands with her hands in her pockets, her left index finger, rubbing over the ring on her ring finger; the ring Mitchell had given her when he had proposed to her. A tear falls down her cheek as she remembers him asking her to marry him at The Olive Garden when they had been out on a date, and the next day, telling all her friends. She smiles a little as she remembers Kayla’s reaction, her ever-happy friend seemed like she would literally explode with happiness. It seemed all of her friends we’re happy with the news, all except for Cam, he had smiled and hugged her, but she felt that something was wrong with him. She looks up from the grave, her mind still on Cam. “What am I doing here, standing in the rain, trying to drown myself in my sorrows, but Cam needs me, he needs all his friends…” She looks at the grave again, and sighs softly “I miss you Mitchell… but… its time to move on… no one can live in the past…” She kneels, digging into the grave a little and slips the ring off her finger, looking at it she kisses it softly and places it into the small hole then covers it again. She stands and turns, heading back to her Charger and she drives off, thinking about what she needs to do to get ready for dinner with her friends.
In an abandoned warehouse in downtown Rockport a group of men stand around a single propane lantern. The men look around at each other, when another man walks into the warehouse, the man carries a large duffle bag full of something that he drops onto the floor as he stops next to the table, and he looks at the men. “Good evening gentlemen, I have called you all here tonight for one reason, I want us to take over Rockport High school.” One man laughs “What! You want us to take over a school! I think you’ve finally lost it Darius. Darius looks over at the man then pulls a silenced 9mm pistol from inside his jacket and shoots the man. The remaining eight men look at Darius and he simply puts the gun back into his shoulder holster. “Anyone else have a problem with taking a school?” The men shake their heads then the youngest man steps forward “If you don’t mind me asking Sir, why are we going to take the school?” Darius looks at the man “Because, young mister Miles, there are close to four hundred children at that school, this is a small town, but one where men with a lot or power and more importantly cash have moved recently, almost half the students at that school are worth a quarter of a million each, that adds up to close to I’d say fifty six or seven million dollars, maybe a little more if we play our cards right.” The men stand looking at Darius then Carl Miles turns around looking at the other men “That is almost…six hundred and twenty five thousand each…” The men look from Miles to Darius and then Darius picks up his bag “Anyone else want to go? Now is your chance.” The men look at each other then one by one then step forward until only Miles is left then he turns and looks at Darius “So… what’s the plan?”
Cam stands in his yard looking at his watch; seeing it is only six thirty he decides he has enough time to fire another clip. He looks at the firing range he had made himself, the range it self ranges almost four hundred yards, ending in a large wall of wood that is almost three feet thick, which is backed by concrete almost seven inches thick. Cam slides another clip into his polished cobalt 50. Desert Eagle and aims at the end of the range at the target, a quick succession of gunshots rings out and the paper target flutters then settles back, Cam walks out to the target and looks at the holes made by the slugs passing, he nods satisfied at the grouping of the holes in the “heart point” of the target. He pulls the target down and lays the paper down then ejects the empty clip from the gun and places both the empty clip and the gun back into the gun’s case. As he caries the case into the house, he sighs softly, still not sure how he is going to tell his friends about what his summer job consisted of. Placing the case into his gun locker then spinning the combination lock then heads to the kitchen and turns on the oven when he hears a knock on the front door and he heads to open it. As he gets to the door he hears the sound of glass breaking and he opens the door fast, looking around. Cam stands in shock as a female, about five seven, with long red hair brings a wooden baseball bat down on the windshield of his truck. Cam sighs as he watches Terra, his ex-girlfriend swinging the bat, smashing glass and causing big dents in the side of his truck. Cam heads out across the yard to his truck and Terra turns around and looks at him “How could you leave me like that you basted!” Cam says nothing only stands next to the truck and looks at Terra. “Why!” she screams at Cam and she swings the bat again. Cam feels the bat connect with his side and feels something inside give way to the force. As Cam grabs his side Terra drops the bat and runs to her car and takes off, almost clipping the front bumper of Jade’s car as she does.
As Terra drives off Jade parks and runs up to her friend “What just happened Cam?” Cam lets go of his side and stands up, looking at her “Nothing, just an old… friend.” Jade looks at his truck then down at the baseball bat “An old girlfriend?” Cam smiles and stands up, feeling the flair of pain rip through his side but does not let it show on his face. Jade looks at Cam then to his side he was holding “Are you ok?” Cam nods and smiles “Yeah I’m fine.” Jade looks up at him then softly runs a finger along his side, counting softly “You have three broken ribs Cam…” Cam shrugs and gives her a little smile “I’ve felt worse” Jade looks up at him determined “Inside now, we need to get you bandaged up” Cam sighs “Jade… I’m fine.” He looks down at her and sees her staring up at him, her eyes seeming to look into his soul and he sighs, “Damn you… fine… we’ll fix my ribs…” Jade smiles and helps him into the house” Cam unbuttons his shirt as Jade goes to get the first aid kit in the bathroom. He runs his finger along his side and looks up at Jade returns with the kit. She looks at Cam without his shirt, looking at his muscles and shakes her head a little and hands him the first aid kit. Cam opens it and picks up the bandages, starting to wrap them around himself very tight. Jade watches him, looking at the expression of pain on his face as he wraps his ribs. As he finishes wrapping his chest Cam hears the door open and sees Adam, Max and Kayla and he smiles “Hey guys dinner is almost ready” Cam smiles even more as he sees the looks of surprise on his friends faces as they look around.
Later that night as his friends sit at the table talking, cam washes the dishes, listening to them talk he smiles. Jade walks into the kitchen and looks at Cam, watching him clean before stepping up behind him “You know, you should let me do those… your hurt…” Cam turns the water off and turns around and looks at his friend “It’s just a few broken ribs… its fine.” Jade rolls her eyes “Just a few broken ribs? Cam your hurt and you know it…” Cam stops her by placing a finger over her lips “Jade… I know you’re worried about me, but I’ve felt a lot of pain in my life, this is nothing.” Jade looks worried at Cam as he turns his back to her again and continues cleaning. She rests her head against his back and sighs softly; wrapping her arms around him careful of his ribs she hugs him and closes her eyes. Cam once again turns off the water and turns, hugging his friend. The two stand together, locked in the embrace when the sound of music starts in the living room and Cam smiles “I think we should get back to the others. She smiles and nods and starts off as Cam turns and stats the dishwasher, he follows Jade into the room and leans against the wall, watching his friends dancing to the music. Kayla and Adam dance together as Max dances along, laughing the whole time and Jade walks over to Cam “Want to dance?” Cam smiles but shakes his head “Can’t remember, my ribs?” Jade smiles as the song changes to a slower beat and she grabs his hand “Don’t pull that cap, you can slow dance.” Cam laughs a little as she pulls him into the room and they dance next to Kayla and Adam.