Offline/Go to a dumb scavenger hunt
The oh-so-important activity that you couldn't miss is naturally lame, as expected. The kids are supposed to do a scavenger hunt and dad couldn't do you a solid and let you miss out for once, seemingly because he helped plan it. Great. You're not allowed to spend any time alone on this trip.
Worse yet, because you're the last to join you get stuck with some little girl named Gemma. You're embarrassed she's even considered your cousin, still in diapers at the age of 5. Her older step-brother Wade who is actually related to you is paired off with your cousin Nicole. It doesn't look like Nicole is thrilled to be stuck with him either, but you don't notice that until the game has already started, or else you might have thought to try switching.
This thing wasn't planned ahead of time so there aren't personal checklists printed of or bingo cards or any way of keeping track of what you've found like a typical scavenger hunt. There's one list jotted down at a picnic table and the expectation is that each pair of kids will just pile up the things they find nearby. Great plan dad.
Even though this "game" is haphazardly structured at best, there's a legitimate sense of competitiveness in the air. You might only be playing for bragging rights but, since you're the oldest kid playing, coming in any place but first isn't an option in your mind.
There's a mad dash in various directions as soon as the hunt starts. A lot of kids work down from the top of the list, but you focus on some of the easier items first. Water bottle, flashlight, hot dog skewer... They aren't listed like that though. Most clues are vague like "Holds water" or "Roasts marshmallows" and as you run back up to the list for the third time (leaving Gemma behind babbling to herself) you find your sis there with Asha talking through some of the clues. When she spots you, her eyes light up.
"Justice! Can you lend us something?"
"No way! Find your own stuff. I wanna win this."
"No, no! This one says "something borrowed", so we need something from someone else."
"Okay, well... only if you give me something back, cuz I'll need to borrow something too."
Em squees, flapping her hands excitedly. "Can you give him something Ash?"
"If we go to my cabin."
Other kids come racing in at that moment throwing sticks and rocks at small but growing piles. That makes your sister anxious and she shakes her head frantically.
"No, no time!"
Emma's panic is half serious and half playful, but she fully peels off her top and hands it over to you before beckoning for you to give them something in return. You're a little slow to respond because your sibling has unexpectedly reduced herself to wearing just her shorts.
After so much moping about not looking at her earlier, you convince yourself to glance over the immaculate pale complexion of her flat chest and each of her slightly raised pale pink nipples... but then you roll your eyes at her, feigning disdain at her impudence. You also reciprocate, following her lead by handing over your shirt in kind. She tosses your top on their pile and you toss her tank on yours.
"Thanks Justice!"
"Yeah, yeah..."
But Em isn't done. This exchange has inspired her. "Ash, gimme your shirt too!"
"But we already gave him yours."
"Yeah, but we need something that keeps us warm."
"Yeah, and I told you all my stuff is in that cabin over there."
"Asha! We have to hurry if we want to win!" Em emphasizes this by grabbing Asha's shoulders and shaking her excessively, making your cousin giggle.
"Okay! Okay!"
The half-Brazilian tween with a rich perma-tan hands over her top as well, and you stare like an idiot as two spry girls stand before you brazenly topless after having a bit of fun with the clues. That's enough to kill your focus completely, but it's certainly not your fault. Seeing two topless girls is a little distracting. And you know it shouldn't be a big deal. "They don't even have boobs," you tell yourself, not willing to admit that their slight, fair, featureless figures are still giving you a semi.
It occurs to you that Gemma ran off bored at some point, but you don't really care, not about her or the game anymore, not while Em and Asha are going to run around with their shirts off.
But it's not just them. Another girl takes notice that a bunch of her cousins have all gone topless to satisfy clues and proceeds to talk her younger sister out of her dress. You're not sure if either of them knows why, but the younger sister is happy to help, so indifferent to running around in just her panties that she tries to offer those as well, but her sister declines.
Thankfully some of the adults are amused when they notice that the kids (yourself included) are "interpreting" some of the clues in unintentional ways. But other people calling attention to it gives you more excuses to look at your cousins. And after some consideration you determine that your sister looks better with her shirt off than May does without her dress. Though you're not sure why your brain needed to decide on that...
By the end of the game you're stuck somewhere between chastising yourself for being so creepy, and happy that no one noticed you staring. Once everyone's piles are judged - with Wade and Nicole declared the winners - you all retrieve your clothing with the exception of the dress-less girl, May. She announces that her dress is too hot and leaves it behind on the ground, racing off with a gaggle of other kids into the bush in nothing but her yellow panties.
The kids don't get far because lunch is served soon after, the game little more than a ruse to round up all the children. You thought it was a little fun though, if only because girls were taking off their clothes... but fun is fun.
While eating together, Asha thanks you again for your helpful trade even though none of you won.
"Yeah, no sweat. Honestly, once Em decided to go half naked I wanted you two to win. Just cuz, y'know... the commitment."
Asha giggles at that and eyes up her cousin salaciously, but your sister pretends to be genuinely puzzled.
"Naked? Don't be weird. You were half naked too."
"Yeah, but I'm not a girl."
"So? Girls can take off their shirts if they want to."
"You keep saying that a lot," notes Asha, bumping Em's shoulder with hers.
"That's because it's true." Emma gets a mischievous glint all of a sudden, pausing dramatically before adding, "Do you dare me to?"
Asha sniggers and glances around, then nods her head. That's all the encouragement Emma needs to justify peeling off her top, turning it inside out as she lifts her arms over her head. She places the stripped tank top demurely on her lap, tosses her hair behind her shoulders, then snarkily sticks out her tongue at you, all of which sends Asha giggling.
"See? Look! It's no big deal."
There's no way your sister is being sincere, not with Asha's reaction. Does she really not care about people seeing her naked? Does she like showing off or something? Or is she just playing off of her bestie's energy, willing to do anything to make Asha giggle? You're not sure if it matters because either way you're treated to an open view of your sister's young skinny torso and pert little nipples, Em practically expecting you both to stare at her.
The two of them run off a minute later, abandoning their lunch after some other cousins grab them and lead them off into the trees. Despite your chub reappearing, you're not so frustrated for once. Looking that time was totally excusable, because she was just being silly, right? And it's nice to look without creeping so hard. And sure, maybe you would rather be looking at a girl who isn't your sister, but beggars can't be choosers. Anywhere you look for the next week you're destined to lay your eyes upon family. That should be reason enough for you to stop looking altogether, which would be a wiser course of action, but your adolescent brain, steeping in hormones, makes that choice an impossibility.
With your mood lightened the afternoon goes by quickly, games of soccer and catch and other activities with balls making time fly by. Dinner is... fine. But the bonfire is indeed fire. Uncle Dave even lets you help light it, making you more invested in the party's successful outcome. You manage to really enjoy yourself then, getting into the festivities. You try to avoid your feral cousins and treat yourself like a grown-up, hanging out with your aunts and uncles who all manage to get impressively sloshed after the sun sets. There's a good chance you can even sneak some of that party juice for yourself...
But out of nowhere mom decides that Em shouldn't stay up so late and asks you to take her back to your cabin. Mom. MOM! Stop ruining everything!
Lots of squabbling ensues, first because Emma doesn't think it's fair for either of you to go to bed yet, but she gets way more upset when you insist you're coming back to camp after bringing her to bed. She predictably flips when she realizes you're going to leave her out in the woods alone, but you don't want her to ruin more of this vacation.
The crying and bickering that follows brings mom to second guess herself, if only because her kids are suddenly embarrassing her. She relents, but of course sides with Em. So long as Emma gets ready for bed, you can both come back to the party. Pfft. And mom says she doesn't have a favorite.
Em excitedly tries to lead the way but strays off the path shortly after entering the dark woods, even with you lighting the way from behind her. Part of you thought she was acting spoiled the way she wants to be chauffeured everywhere, but she might just have a bad sense of direction. Regardless, once at the cabin she happily bounds about, having fun locating her things. She has to follow your light like a cat as you pan around to find whatever junk she needs that's still strewn all over after last night.
"Aren't you gonna get ready too?" she asks as she lifts her top.
"Uhh... why?" Mom never said you had to get changed. Not that you'd listen if she had.
"Oh, IIII get it," Em says with a chuckle, dropping her shirt to the floor. You almost stop listening when you glance down your sister's figure, knowing she's about to say something stupid. "You can't get ready, can you?"
"Why not?"
"Because you don't wear PJs!" she says tauntingly. She then turns away and drops her shorts to mid-thigh, flashing her ass at you.
What a bitch, you think, staring. She's doing that on purpose, mooning you like that, bending over with her butt on open display - a display you accordingly turn into a full moon by lighting her up with your flashlight - but then she grabs her nightie from the floor and pulls it on while her bottoms are half off. It all seems out of order, Emma only finishing stepping out of her clothes once her nightie is covering her rear. Maybe it's a coincidence. You suppose it was innocent enough.
Awkwardly, you don't manage to get out a reply until her full moon disappears.
"I... I can wear whatever I want to when I'm in my own bed, thank you very much."
"Except you don't," she teases again, rummaging about in the dark. She's in the dark because you're now spitefully pointing your flashlight at the ceiling.
"Well good for me. My bunk, my rules. Aren't you done yet?"
Em stops, suddenly dripping with attitude, crossing her arms and facing you with one leg out to the side. "Um, no I'm not! I hafta finish getting changed, and then I have to brush my teeth, and then I brush my hair, and then-"
God, she's going to take forever now...