“OLIVER.” Like, honestly? If it wasn’t for her, everything would fall apart. Molly Tyler stood beside her bestie since forever, Summer Aspen, while she watched in agonizing frustration at her boyfriend attempting to order McDonald’s for her and him, “You haven’t even gotten to my order, who are you trying to feed? An entire fucking nation?” She glanced over to D’Angelo Joseph, another one of her main friends, who was at his own register ordering for him and his cutie patootie bae, Jace O’Brian. Far more efficient than her insufferable boyfriend. Even Alexander Snyder finished his god forsakenly long order for himself and Summer faster than OLIVER.

With his thumbs hooked in his pant’s pockets, Angel kept Molly’s bitching as background noise, like he usually did, and ordered a much needed breakfast, “Two bacon, egg, and cheese McGriddles. With Hashbrowns. Both. And an orange juice and a chocolate chip frappé with extra caramel drizzle… two cherries.”

“Anything else?” The short girl with ginger locks behind the register asked the tall, handsome jock with doe-eyes. She twirled one of her curls around her finger and batted her ocean blue eyes adoringly. His expression was stone-cold passive as he glanced over to his pup, not realizing the flirty signals of the girl in front of him.

“I could get more, if you’d like.” His lips curled upward, while he took one of his hands out of his pocket and brushed some of Jace’s hair out of his face, to get a better look at his lover’s eyes.

“If it wasn’t for me, you would have FORGOTTEN Jace. But thank god I’m always thinking about everyone.” Man, Molly was on a roll this morning.

Jace looked up from his Nintendo DS when he felt a knuckle softly brush his face. Funny how a five year relationship could still give you butterflies. For Jace, it did, and he hoped it always would. The apples of his cheeks rose as the boy grinned at his Angel. “Hmm?” Jace hummed questioningly before looking to the cashier, and then back at his boyfriend. “The usual is fine. Did you get my—”

“Frappé? Yes.” Angel cut Jace off, finishing his sentence. They’ve been dating for awhile, and Angel would be a failure of a boyfriend if he didn’t catch on to the patterns that belonged to his significant other.

“... two cherries?” Jace responded in a quiet challenge. Angel passed the boyfriend test, but did he get extra credit? Perfect timing, the frappé was the first to be made and was placed on the counter right when Jace challenged the skills of Angel. The mad boyfriend skills. Grabbing the drink, Angel brought it to his small boy and replied with a kiss on the cheek. Yes. There were cherries. Two, exactly.

The newly-dyed redhead stared down at the drink and grinned. Jace plucked one of the bright maraschinos out of the whipped cream and caramel mountain and popped it into his mouth. “You’re the bestest.” Jace complimented and gingerly took out the second cherry between his thumb and pointer finger. He offered it to Angel and made a ‘say ahhh’ face. This display of sickening affection caused the Micky D girl to throw up slightly in her mouth. So much for a hot jock on the market. And what made this sight even worse? He was equally as lovey dovey and couldn’t care less about the PDA. Leaning in, Angel locked his dark gaze with Jace’s gorgeous blue and licked the cherry into his mouth.

“How come I gotta do everythin’? Don’t rush me. Look, there are ninety-four different things I’d rather be doing right now, going to camp is LOW on the list. You know what?” Oliver looked over his shoulder at his girlfriend while talking briefly, before turning to face the cashier. “Hey, cancel that order. Molly, you got legs and a mouth, you come up here and order your own shit. I got Doritos in my backpack I’m good.” With that, Oliver stepped off to the side and stood next to Alex, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Ain’t no time to be a baby, they had to go to CAMP. For some godawful reason.

“Fuck. That. Shit.” Molly flipped her hair in annoyance, turned on her heel, and left the building, heading straight to the car. She’ll fucking starve. That’s what her boyfriend wanted anyways. What an asshole.

With a small mass of fries hanging out of his mouth, Alexander’s eyes trailed Molly as she left the building, before he glumly brought his gaze to Oliver. Can a motherfucker eat in peace without these two FIGHTING? They couldn’t even fuck their frustrations out during the goddamn car ride, fucking nine hours of this bullshit, goddammit. Alex chewed up the fries already in his mouth and grabbed another handful, waving them accusingly at Oliver. “Stop fucking with my day! I ain’t got time for your problems! I’m busy! With camp shit!” He said, before stuffing in more fries. “Now check this out dude, my dad taught me this back when we were kids and everyone was always causin’ problems: I’mma eat my food, while everybody else is bein’ fucky. So you go SIT IN THE CAR AND WAIT.” Alex threw a french fry at his best friend and Oliver grumbled, but ultimately left toward the car as well.

Jace looked away from his beloved bear to see Molly and Oliver doing… what Molly and Oliver always ended up doing. He blinked slowly at the scene and sipped at his tasty frozen beverage. If life was going to suck at camp, at least he had sweet, sweet caffeine to save him this morning. “I’m hungry.” Jace said somewhat grumpily and eyeballed the counter until his breakfast order was ready. “Why are you eating lunch? Breakfast is the best meal.” he said to Alex, who had both his girlfriend’s, and his own, hands shovelling fries into his mouth.

Alexander chewed up the mix of chicken nuggets and fries, swallowed it down, and then decided to address Jace’s question. “I got breakfast in one of these bags. Everything is the best meal, my friend. I like to eat, is that a crime? I got sandwiches, I got hash browns, I got fries, I got nuggets, I got McFlurries. I’m a stoner, my man. This is what we do.”

“I guess…” Jace said, shaking his head at the absolutely ludicrous amount of food that Alex was consuming. How did he still look… not three hundred pounds? Shrugging, Jace leaned into his boyfriend’s side and nommed on his own hash brown.

In contrast to her boyfriend, Summer simply got a snack wrap. and only ate half of it. She’d give the rest to Molly if she does end up complaining and wanting something to eat later on. If not that, she also had protein bars in her purse. With a loving smile, Summer softly gazed at Jace and ate one of her boyfriend’s fries, “It runs in his family… you remember that time when Jenny invited us to that buffet, right? The one with JJ. I think it was for Memorial Day last year. Yeah. At least he doesn’t eat THAT much.”

Checking the time on her phone, she started leading the rest of the group back to the Alex’s car. They didn’t want to be late. “I have to watch my figure… and even if I didn’t have to, I don’t think I would be able to eat a lot. Perks of dating me, you will surely have some of my food to eat too.” Before she could say anything more, Summer’s gaze became dull at the sight of her best friend and her boyfriend’s best friend making out in the backseat. Typical. Fucking Molly and Ollie.

A few more hours to go, and then they’ll be at Aces High… where there was space. A lot of space.

With the window rolled down, Summer’s long, strands of golden platinum blew with the cool breeze of the early morning. She caught sight of the sun rays gleaming in the clear lake water, which they were driving beside, on a dirt road. On the other side of the lake was Camp Aces High and, in order to get to it, they had to go around the lake and across the stone bridge. Her gaze scanned the small looking people on the other side, trying to catch sight of her brother, Rhett. Being a counselor, he’s been here for about a week now, preparing for today. Unfortunately, all the counselors could not be seen, because they were behind the yellow bus, wearing plain shirts with their respective suits imprinted on them. “It’s really beautiful.”

“My dude, where’s Ash? She got the envelopes.” Rhett adjusted his fitted cap, standing beside his partner for this shindig, Ffiona. The director was never late to anything. Something was off. Someone was dead. This would not be money if she didn’t make it in the next five minutes.

“Oh! Right… I’m on it!” FiFi chirped and nodded her head rapidly. She was buzzing with energy, as per usual, and had a couple of extra tablespoons of HYPE, because the kids were arriving. Where was Ash? Where was she? Ffiona flitted off to check the bathrooms, maybe she was having a post-breakfast emergency. Wouldn’t that be just awful?

There is only one person that could hold up Aisling Hawthorne from making an ‘on-time’ appearance. Exiting the rec deck, having made sure the jukebox was in working condition, the director heavily sighed as she read the long list of concerns, wants, and demands that her aunt, Bianca Helmsley, spewed out moments ago on one of the few landlines on the campgrounds. Most in regards to Oliver, and making sure that everything was absolutely perfect for him, all the while constantly saying she will send people and money if Ash wants an immediate fix to the camp. Just say the word, and she’ll make it happen. That woman could go on, and on, and on.

After folding up the paper and placing it in her back pocket, Aisling furrowed her eyebrows and glanced at her wrist watch. Great. Swinging the black jansport backpack that was hanging on her shoulder in front of her, Ash unzipped it and looked at the stack of envelopes that were wrapped in a rubber band and separated by suit.

“There you are!” Ffiona announced as she abruptly turned a corner on her heel. She wore her ample ginger waves in a loose braid that was resting on her right shoulder. Atop her head was an adorable olive green fishing hat. FiFi looked every part the excited camp counselor, from head to toe. “The campers are here!~” Fi squeaked as she rushed to Ash and hooked her elbow into the crook of the slightly older woman’s arm, pulling her towards the parked bus.

Ten weeks of comfy summer vacation with a lake and a pretty view (and weed — to enhance said view) and some rocks to climb and free food and his friends, and Ty still thought this might turn out to be the longest, most depressing ten weeks of his life. There was only one reason for that, and that reason took physical form in Melody Josephine Fletcher. Now, while normally a wonderful girl that brought a brightness and smiles to their lives like few others did, there was only one word to describe Melody’s current temperament: Depressed.

She was going to be separated from her boyfriend, her love, her life, for almost the whole ten weeks; they’d drawn separate cabins! Now, Ty was pretty much okay with whatever, so he’d willingly taken this burden, switching with Troy and giving up his snuggly spot with Jude in return for keeping Mels happy, but he would survive. Ty loved life! He was alive and happy, and surely the sorrow-filled cloud surrounding the King’s Queen wouldn’t put a damper on that.

Plus, Ty could cheer her up, yo. “Yo, Mels, how ya feelin’? Ya want some chocolate? I got chocolate.” Ty said, handing her a chunk of homemade milk chocolate.

With the biggest fucking smile she could put on, she was an actress after all, Melody kept her eyes on the kids trailing out of the bus. Everything about her looked like perfection. If only they knew… “I’m merry! Absolutely delighted. So, so excited for camp to begin. Why? Do I not look excited? Oh come on, I know I look excited. Just look at all these kids! This summer is going to be phenomenal.” She brought her gaze to her friend, her smile never breaking, “I’ll pass on the chocolate.” Chocolate was NOT going to make her feel better.

Alright, fine, he’ll eat the damn chocolate.

Ty ate the damn chocolate.

Then his hand fished around in his pockets some more, before withdrawing a carefully Saran Wrapped brownie, which he then offered her. “Now I was savin’ this for when all the kids get kinda frustratin’, but you know what? You need it more than I do. I think I might be bleeding from the edge of your sarcasm.”

“... Ty, did you really bring… those kind of brownies?” Remy glanced over from his position, watching the exchange. Would Ash even be okay with that?

“Damn fuckin’ skippy I did, yo.”

“And she doesn’t need to know.” Jar said quietly to Remy, having a good idea of where his head went. Surely his boyfriend’s uncanny ‘this is wrong’ spidey senses were tingling right about now. Kush was going to make this summer camp thing a livable experience, no way was he risking that getting taken away because of Rem’s moral urges.

Just in time - but really a little bit late - Ffiona dragged the she being mentioned on scene. With Ash there, they could finally learn the names of the campers that were assigned to their cabins. YAY! Ffiona balled her fists at her sides and hopped back over to Rhett’s, trying, and failing, to contain her energy. “I wonder what they’ll be like? I bet they’re going to be awesome!” she mused aloud to Rhett and awaited the opening of the envelopes with bated breath.

Of course, there was no time to waste since there were kids waiting with their bags to be escorted to their cabin and learn all things ‘camp’. Official orientation wasn’t until tomorrow, today was simply getting settled and comfortable, while getting to know your counselors. If any of the kids wanted certain things to be answered, which most would be answered tomorrow, their counselors knew everything and should be able to provide the children with the information they need. Should because… Ash wasn’t completely sure if letting all her cousin’s friends help her run the camp was a good decision… she didn’t often make bad decisions, and she hoped this was not one of them, but who knows? She’d figure everything out along the way. “Welcome, welcome! As much as I’d love to do a meet and greet right now, you all need to know where you’ll be staying for the next ten weeks! My name is Aisling Hawthorne and I’m the director of Aces High. You can find me, along with nurse, Ivy, in the main office, unless I’m doing my rounds or attending an event. Everything that Aces High has to offer will be shown to you during your tour with your counselors.”

She paused for a second and grabbed the first stack of envelopes. Her expression was warm and welcoming, even if she stood rather intimidating, “When I call out your name, please come up and take this envelope right here. Inside will have a suit. So either a hearts, spades, diamonds, or clubs. To my left are the counselors. The counselors that match your suit will be your leaders for your time here. Even the ones that aren’t assigned to your cabin, which you’ll find out soon enough. Consider your suit kind of like your team or family. This is not saying you won’t interact with anyone else, this is simply saying that when we do have bigger events, you’ll be paired with campers that, by lady luck, have been assigned to your suit as well. Once you know your suit, join your counselors, and they will lead you to your cabins. Feel free to ask them any questions, but do know they do have an introduction planned for when you all reach your triad. Alright? Alright! Let’s begin.”

From there, Ash did exactly what she said and started calling out names, while allowing her counselors to do whatever they saw fit to make their campers feel at home.

OOC:
The cabins in each suit are extremely close to one another, even if there may be two Mains in a cabin (there are most likely NPCs too, mind you), they can easily interact with anyone else in their suit. Their team. Also, please note that the campers will rarely be in their cabin, unless they’re sleeping or hiding away with someone. For the most part, we hope that everyone takes advantage of the campgrounds to explore their horizons and create an awesome story.

King of Hearts: Kennedy, Summer
Queen of Hearts: Josephine, Eleanor, Kaitlyn
Jack of Hearts: Connor, Fiorella, Alexander

King of Spades: Ella, Kiran
Queen of Spades: Margaery, Noah, Solana
Jack of Spades: Angel, Molly Kable, Madison

King of Diamonds: Oliver, Kable Molly
Queen of Diamonds: Peter, Ruby, Jenna
Jack of Diamonds: Trent, Jace

King of Clubs: Daniela, Alexandria, Jimena
Queen of Clubs: Adam, Eva
Jack of Clubs: Casper, Silo

Having endured the longest plane ride of his sixteen years of life so far, Silas Owens eagerly stared out of the window of Delta Flight #438. The airline stewardess had just announced that all passengers should fasten their seatbelts, as they would begin their descent in three minutes time. Silo’s buckle was already fastened in preparation for landing, so he was able to enjoy the scenery as the aircraft lowered through the clouds, while everyone else got seated and buckled up. The morning sun was smiling upon the earth that passed below, like one long checkerboard of various shades of green and yellow.

The plane’s landing was safe and uneventful, but young Silas was still quite ecstatic to finally be on the ground. He stretched out his cramped up limbs whilst waiting for his single - yet enormous - suitcase to roll around at the baggage claim. SMF was lively, as Silas had expected any Californian city airport would be. The boy spent some time people-watching, a beloved hobby of his, and almost missed his luggage when he got distracted by it.

With his bag in hand, or wheeling behind him, rather, Silas set off to find the pickup location. Silo fished around in his jeans pocket and pulled out a crumpled up print out that said to exit the Sacramento airport, and head to the bus stop located near parking lot “C”. A clearly labeled bus would be waiting to pick up the out-of-state arrivals - as well as any other campers that were dropped off - at the airport, and then to transport them to the camp site.

The aforementioned bus was found in the form of a bright yellow school bus with “ACES HIGH” painted in bold, black, block letters along the side. He idly wondered if the bus was an old model from a high school, and if the director had simply named the whole camp that out of convenience. The name, and it’s origins, hardly mattered however, because this was bound to be a dope-ass camp regardless of it’s name.

Confidently striding over to the large vehicle, Silo hopped up the steps and gave the bus driver “Joe,” his name, when he was prompted to do so. Joe checked a list, nodded, and then proceeded to highlight a row across the page. “All set, kiddo. Take a seat wherever ya like. We got a few more boarding here, and we’ll be making a couple other stops along the way, for pickups. Should be up in the mountains in a few hours time, so get comfy.”

Silas nodded at the driver. “Thanks, man,” he said before heading down the narrow aisle, looking for a place to set his luggage and find a seat for himself.

---

Madison was bored, to say the very least. Since she had lived closer to the camp than most people, and the bus had pretty much swung by her house and picked her up straight from there. There were no goodbyes, her parents were gone at work by the time the bus had arrived. Upon boarding, she had moved toward the back, because it was where she felt like she would be the most comfortable. She wanted no part in the ruckus that would soon happen up front. She just wanted these last few hours to herself before she’d have to spend her summer with a bunch of people that she most likely didn’t know.

She didn’t even want to go, but after much convincing (a.k.a. bribing and negotiations), she agreed to spend her summer at this camp. Madi was fine with the social group she had now, despite how eccentric they might’ve been. Sure, they might’ve spent a majority of their time indoors and studying, but they were better than nothing.

Madison rested her head on the seat, trying to fall asleep so that she could pass the time. Or at least try to pass it. After about ten minutes of failing to do so, she gave up and decided to stare out the window, but not before putting her earphones in and putting on an old favorite. The slow rocking of the bus as it traversed through the roads of Northern California, combined with the easygoing vibes from the song, made the trip a little more enjoyable, until they stopped at an airport a couple hours later.

The camp was just a few hours away from where she lived. Why were they at an airport, out of all the places in the better half of California? Then they stopped in a parking lot, labeled “C”. Madison closed her eyes once again as another blast from the past came on. She could feel the bus’ doors open, and then footsteps inching closer and closer to her.

Silas hefted his suitcase into the back of the bus, alongside all of the other bags, which were forming a sizable mountain by this point. Next up was decided on a seat. There weren’t any left that were one hundred percent vacant, but Silo didn’t mind, he was a social dude! He selected a spot next to a rather unenthused, yet gorgeous looking, girl. She had pale porcelain skin and wide eyes, which lended to her having a very doll-like appearance. She was of… Korean descent, if Silo had to hazard a guess.

“Sup? Whatchu listenin’ to here?” he greeted with a cheerful smile as he sat down beside her. She had headphones in and seemed to be jamming out to something good. Silo loved music, he was usually always listening to a song himself, even if the the rhythm was only in his mind.

Madison opened her eyes as she felt the presence of an individual. Goosebumps prickled on her skin when the air shifted about her. She opened her eyes and saw a very attractive - presumably African American - male standing right in front of her. She scooted a bit to allow him to sit down. She had a slight smirk on her face as the two exchanged formalities. He was pretty cute, to say the very least.

“I was just jamming out to some AFI, but the song just ended.” Madison removed an earphone and offered it to the boy who had just sat down next to her. “You wanna listen along? I’m Madison, by the way.” The song had changed to something else, not as emo as AFI, but definitely enjoyable.

“Hells yeah, thanks,” he said, gladly taking the earbud offered to him. “Pleased to meet ya, I’m Silas Owens. Everyone just mushes it together into Silo, though, I like that.” The infectious beats of Flashing Lights thumped in through the headphones, and Silas moved his shoulders in time with it.

“~I'm more of the, trips to Florida
Order the h'orderves, views of the water~”

Silas shamelessly sang and grooved along with Kanye. His singing voice was decent - a result of years of singing in the church choir - but his dancing was what was really on point, especially for being seated on a bus. Dance was Silas’ passion, and the reason he loved music as much as he did. “I actually am from Florida” Silo remarked with a light chuckle at the coincidence. “What aboutchu?”

As Silas sang a little bit to the Kanye West hit, she was honestly, as the kids used to put it, shook as she heard how beautiful of a voice he had. She felt goosebumps yet again, and a funny feeling in her chest, as she heard that amazing voice. She remained silent, watching him sway and get into the song. This Silas guy was a lively fellow, for sure.

“I’m from this area. Just drive two hours to the south and you’ll find yourself on my turf.”

“Oooh, nice!” Silas said with an intrigued lilt in his tone. “I ain’t been landed for more than a half hour, and I already met myself a Cali girl with good music taste. This fittin’ to be a good summer, indeed.”

---

The teens spent the majority of the hours long bus ride making small talk and sharing songs from each other’s playlists. By the end of the drive, the pair were laughing and getting along well enough that people might confuse them for old friends, rather than the new acquaintances that they were. The bus rolled to a slow stop after crossing an adorable stone bridge. Joe announced that this was the end of the road, and the whole swarm of campers gathered their bags and funneled out of the vehicle in a graceless rush.

The floridian boy casually followed Madison to the exit. Now that they were out in the open, Silas got a much better look at the group of kids that he would be spending the next ten weeks with. There were some really chill looking people among them, lots of cuties too, this was going to be fun!

Ash, the camp director, was handing out envelopes containing cabin assignments to each of the campers. Silo thanked her when she handed him his own, ever the polite young man that his mama raised him to be. “Wonder if we’ll be in the same cabin,” he mused to Madi as he tore into his packet. “Clubs… you?” Silas announced and peeked over at the contents of her envelope.

The bus ride was a lot more fun than Madison had previously anticipated. Hanging out with Silas had been a blast, and finding out more about his tastes in music and his background was also very, very delightful.

Looking outside, she could see that there were quite the bit of people that would be joining them. At least there would be company. Madison had received an envelope right after Silas. She opened it - or at least attempted to. She tried to open it the traditional way, but then the efforts proved futile, so she stuck her finger in the gap, dragging it along the top so that it would finally open. She peeked inside, knowing Silas was also looking.

“Jack of Spades!” Madison announced, before realizing that it wasn’t clubs, “Aww. We’re not in the same cabin.”

“Dang! Oh well,” Silas replied and then smirked. “Guess that might make us future competitors, Madz.”

“Nena, pay attention,” Tití Mili snapped her fingers as if to bring Jimena out of a trance. The two sat on one of couches by the airport check-in, waiting for Eloisa and Steve to sort out the luggage. Jimena couldn’t help but be annoyed. “I am,” she said as she stood up, slinging her duffle bag over her shoulders. “I’ll call you when the plane lands and when I get to the camp. Got it.”

Tití Mili gave her approval with one sharp nod, “Exactly,” and handed her her backpack. She hugged Jimena tight, grabbed her face and pressed her cheek to hers, making the sound of a kiss in the air. Jimena wasn’t embarrassed in the least. In fact, she was excited to do the same with her mother. Jimena tried to pull away from her aunt’s grasp, but found she was pulled in closer by her. “I’m sorry,” Tití Mili said, “It’s just... you’ve never been so far away from home and for so long. Besides,” she whispered,“who knows what those rich kids are gonna be up to. If anything happens, anything, you let me know. Okay?”

“Yes, Tití.” Jimena finally pulled away from her aunt. As she turned away to make her way towards her mother, her aunt called out, “Behave yourself!” The melodic tone of her voice barely masked the clear threat behind her statement. Though she wasn’t an imposing woman, with her short stature, big cheeks and wide smile, Tití Mili could be terrifying when defied. Not that Jimena ever really saw that side of her. She mostly stayed on her good side. It was her cousins who truly ever suffered Tití’s wrath.

By the time Jimena got to her mother, she had already taken care of the extra luggage. They walked towards each other with extended arms. “Ay, beba,” Eloisa said as she wrapped her arms tight around her daughter, “I’m gonna miss you so much.” In English, Jimena noticed. So he feels comfortable. Steve - not ‘Dad’; never ‘Dad’ - watched as Jimena and Eloisa kissed each other on the cheek. When Jimena turned to Steve, he had a grin on that suggested he expected the same kind of goodbye. He got a half-hearted hug instead. He didn’t seem to mind, though.

“Remember to call me,” Eloisa reminded as she fussed over her daughter, playing with her hair and straightening her collar. Jimena nodded, prompting a smile to form on her mother’s face, warm brown eyes full of love. They were tired eyes. The circles under them only ever seemed to grow. This is for her. Jimena had to constantly remind herself of that if she hoped to make it through the ten weeks. If she hoped to even make it past the TSA check. That’s what she had convinced herself in the weeks leading up to this day. But now that the day was finally here, when she was actually about to leave her mother and her family to spend two months and a half in a camp far away from home and full of strangers, Jimena found her resolution to be far weaker than she thought it was.

“All right!” Steve said, clapping his hands together, "You have your ticket?" "Yes." "Your passport?" "Yes," her answer came through gritted teeth. ”Great!” Steve slung his arm around her shoulder and led her towards the TSA check.

“It'll be awesome, you'll see!” Steve pressed his arm around her reassuringly. “Just you and other kids your age, and no one to boss you around. You can do whatever you want. Doesn’t that sound fun?” Jimena rolled her eyes. She had never been the rebellious type, nor the type to be into stuff that authority figures would disapprove of. Not that her father would know.

Steve stopped and spun her so that she faced him. “Oh, one more thing,” he pulled out his wallet from his pants pocket and from it, a credit card. He handed it to her. It read Jimena Deyo-Negrón. Both surnames. That’s also how he put in her name in as when he signed her up for the camp. All her life, Jimena was just Negrón, her mother’s last name. Her father was as absent from her name as he was from her life. Now he’s invading both. She looked up at him from the credit card with her usual scowl. In response he smiled back. Not his usual sleazy grin, but a genuine smile. It was almost loving. Jimena snatched the card from his hands and quickly turned away. "Thanks," she muttered as she walked away with one last wave at her mother.

---

---

Kiran loved the atmosphere of airports. The excitement was almost palpable here. Everyone was going somewhere different. Families sat chattering about their plans for their vacation, businessmen checked over their official papers and presentations, and Kiran sat there trying not to bounce her leg as hard as she was. For the fifth time that minute, she flipped her phone over to check its battery. Only 3%. Not enough to run on and certainly not enough to last her the next flight. Last night the anxious girl had stayed up late, unable to sleep. But when she finally passed out, she forgot to plug in her phone. Now she sat there in the Denver airport with nothing to do. Kiran tried to take deep breaths and calm herself, but her imagination kept producing ideas of the exciting things to come. Her eyes scanned the airport, perhaps she could put her imagination to a different use. Let’s see, there’s a group of college students who look like they’re going somewhere fun! Ooo, maybe there’s drama within the group and this trip will be the one that settles who gets the girl. She paused for a moment. Nah, too cliche. Surely there was something better…

Kiran’s dark brown eyes moved away from the students and soon caught something far more interesting. A girl her age by herself! It seemed as though she was reading. Maybe a book? The girl wasn’t too far away, maybe if Kiran knew the book she could go over and talk? She could only stand sitting around for so long (Hehe, get it? Stand, sitting? No? Ok). Good books are always fun to talk about, even terrible books are fun to talk about. She craned her neck over to see the what she was reading. The words on the piece of paper caused a shock to go through the Indian girl’s heart. She nearly fell over. Did it really say ‘Aces High’? Could this girl possibly be going to the same camp as her? What were the odds! All the excitement Kiran had been trying to repress came through as she stood up and bounded over to this mystery girl. As she got closer her features became more clear. Her downcast eyes had an empty feel to them, and her facial features showed that she wasn’t entirely of European descent, but Kiran had never been good at guessing people’s ethnicity. She also had what most would call a ‘resting bitch face’. However, this didn’t stop the bright ball of anticipation. In an instant, Kiran plopped down and had made herself at home next to this new girl.

“Oh my gosh! Are you going to Aces High too?” She pointed at the pamphlet eagerly, looking at the girl with glittering eyes.

If the girl’s eyes were open any wider, they might have rolled right out of her skull. “Uh, yeah,” she said.

“So am I! Oh my gosh, that’s so cool. What are the odds that I meet someone going to the same place as me. That’s so cool!” Kiran gushed, finally having an outlet for her energy.

“That’s kinda weird, yeah.” The girl’s look showed she expected the interaction to be over. She was surprised to see Kiran not willing to allow that.

“So what’s your name? I’m Kiran Khanna, I’m from Georgia. This is my only stop before I fly to California. It’s kinda stupid that I even had to stop.”

“What do you mean?”

“With all the international flights and increasing technology in the field of flight, one would think that there would be at least one flight that went across the country.” She rolled her eyes, and threw her hands up.

The corner of the girl’s lips twitched into a smile. She seemed amused. “I guess, yeah,” she said. “Haven’t really thought about it that way. I’m Jimena. I live here, so,” Jimena finished the sentence with a shrug, “No connecting flights for me.”

“Jimena?” Kiran tried to repeat her name, but it didn’t sound quite as fluid on her tongue. “What does it mean? I’ve never met anyone with that name before.”

Jimena frowned like she was remembering something. “It means ‘listener’, I think. I don’t know, I thought it was a pretty generic Hispanic name but now that you mention it,” she smiled, “haven’t really heard it on anyone else. I haven’t heard ‘Kiran’, either. Are you from Georgia, originally?”

“I was born in India. I didn’t really live there long though. I pretty much grew up in America, so I’m more used to American culture. Though I do visit my family every once in awhile, plus my parents like to keep some Indian culture in the house. Like the food.” She grinned, thinking of all the delicious food she was leaving behind. It would probably be terrible school grade food from here on out.

“Same here,” Jimena nodded in agreement. “Well, I wasn’t born in-- No, my mom’s Puerto Rican and she moved here to Denver,” Jimena held her finger up and moved it across her chest as she explained this. “Then she met my dad and, y’know. I don’t actually travel to Puerto Rico much. I went this summer with my dad, but that’s about it.”

Kiran was a bit confused at Jimena’s hand gesture, was it some other cultural thing? Nonetheless, she turned her confusion into sympathy. “Aww, that sucks. My family over in India is the only reason I’m going to Aces High.”

“Really?”

“Yea, one of my uncles gave this trip to me as a graduation gift before I go off to college. He has a lot of money at his disposal.”

Jimena scoffed. “Well, my dad made me go to Aces High. He has a lot of money, too,” she elongated the last syllable.

“He ‘made you’?” Kiran asked, making air quotes with her hands.

“Yeah,” Jimena tilted her head to one side. “He’s been butting into my life recently and I guess this is his latest gesture,” she said, holding out the Aces High brochure in her hand.

“Oh, okay. Well, I think it’ll be fun as long as you keep a positive attitude about it! I mean it’s not as if your dad’s coming with to have some father-daughter bonding time. Besides you’re stuck there for 10 weeks, might as well make it good.”

Jimena chuckled, “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll be honest, I’m kinda excited about seeing what a rich kids’ summer camp is like.”

Kiran bit her lower lip, kind of glancing away. “Yea, maybe the experience might be nice, but the actual rich kids themselves might be kinda annoying. I just-” She stopped herself before she continued on her rant that this girl probably had no desire to listen to.

Jimena blinked. She was obviously surprised by Kiran’s statement. Then a grin creeped into her face, and her brown eyes seemed to gleam with approval. She began to nod. “Naw, I… I get you.”

Kiran was glad for the conversation buddy. Someone to pass the time with until their flight arrived. As time went on Jimena seemed to open up to her, which made the sociable girl really happy. Plus she’d have a friend before this whole camp even started. This would be an exciting summer.

---

---

Kiran and Jimena chatted the entire time in the terminal and the entire bus ride to camp. If their seats hadn’t been so far away - Jimena sat in first class, while Kiran sat in the economy seats - they probably would have chatted the entire flight. Instead, Jimena thought about how ridiculous it was that Steve had bought her a first class seat. About how close she was to actually getting to camp. About Kiran, and how lucky she was that an extrovert had taken a liking to her, specially one who was an actually good person. Maybe Kiran was right. It probably won’t be that bad if Jimena kept a positive attitude.

Positive attitude. Jimena snorted. That’d be a first.

Before she knew it, the plane had landed, the bus had arrived at Camp, and she and Kiran were sorted into different suits.

“Dammit!”

“What? What cabin did you get put into?” Kiran leaned over to look at Jimena’s paper.

“Clubs,” Jimena groaned.

“Aww, sad. I really wanted to be in the same cabin. Or at least the same suit. Maybe you’ll meet some other people?” It was a weak suggestion, but it was the most positive she could give.

“Ugh, now I have to socialize,” Jimena said. Kiran simply smiled. Jimena begrudgingly did so, too.

The Kat Von D Shade and Light palette snapped closed with a decided click. Eva gave her face one final inspection in the mirror. Her pale complexion was enhanced by a light contouring of her cheeks and jawline, and an intense smoky eye. She had a long car drive ahead of her, so she didn’t pay as much attention to what her hair looked like, it was simply tied in a messy bun atop her head.

Heading to her bedroom now - which was a cave-like dwelling of blacks and reds, with band posters, records, concert photos, and ticket stubs coating every square inch of wall space - Eva pawed through her suitcase. Going through her mental checklist of all of the summer camp necessities, she ran off to add sunscreen and bug spray to the toiletries section of her bag. Most camps, in her experience, had an ample supply such things, but it was always good to bring your own personal stash.

After decided that both her person, and her belongings, were ready for the trip, Eva headed downstairs. As the drive was between 6 and 7 hours long, and she planned to arrive at Aces High in the late morning, it was currently earlier than the ass-crack of dawn. As dark out as it was, Eva’s mother Annette was still awake when Eva arrived in the kitchen with her packed bags.

“Oh, you’re up! And you have coffee… bless you, mom. Bless you!” Eva said, surprised, and stared lustfully and the brewing pot of liquid gold.

“Of course I am, I wouldn’t miss my baby leaving me for ten weeks BEFORE she goes on to leave me for four years.” Annette’s lips pursed with legitimate sadness at the realization of what she had just said. Her middle daughter was almost ready to leave the nest, and she was overwhelmed with both pride and sorrow at the same time. “Oh… I’m getting old.” Her lip quivered.

“Age is just a number. Look at you...” Eva said encouragingly and rubbed her mother’s shoulder before pouring a cup of joe into her Alice In Wonderland travel mug. “Any of my friends would say it, ‘toppest notch milf in all of Reno’. They’re not wrong, you’re hot shit, ma.”

Annette shook her head and laughed. “Stop that!” she chided without any emotional reinforcement to her words. Now that she is seventeen, nearly eighteen, Annette and Peter have pretty much abandoned all hope on censoring the words that come out of their Eva’s mouth. She is a free spirit, and she has and will always do and say as she pleases. “Are you all packed?”

“Yeah, I went through my list a few minutes ago. The last on it was ‘acquire coffee’ so…” Eva gestured with the mug and grinned. “Check! Looks like I’m ready to get on the road.”

Eva’s mother fetched some cut up fruit from the fridge that she had set aside for Eva and walked her out to her car. The whip was a sleek black and white MINI Cooper Roadster Convertible that Eva got for her seventeenth birthday and sometimes referred to as Dom (because it reminds her of a domino). Eva packed her bags into the trunk and shut it tight before giving her mom a big hug. “Thanks for the breakfast, mama,” she said with a squeeze.

“Now you drive safe today, make good decisions, and remember that those Californian drivers--”

“Are assholes. Yes, I know, mom. I’ll be fine.” Eva assured her mother before kissing her on the cheek. “I’ll text you at each rest stop, and when I get there safely. Promise. Love you~”

At that, Eva was in her car and on the road. The drive was mostly highways, taking US-395 N to CA-44 W, with some smaller jaunts in between. It wasn’t long before the sun was up and Eva could drive with the top down and her sunglasses on.


The earlier half of Eva’s playlist started with slow, smooth jams. She got into the music and bobbed her head to rhythm of the Sixx: A.M. song. Driving with her only right hand on the steering wheel Eva stuck her left hand into the open air, cutting waves into the wind like a dolphin jumping in and out of the sea. This was living free and easy, the kind of thing summer was meant to be, and Sublime wrote songs about.

When she was about 1 hour away, according to the GPS, the fruit calories wore off, and Eva grew hungry. Seeing the sign for a Dunkin’ Donuts, Eva turned at the next exit for a special treat. The girl had an insatiable sweet tooth, and an intense desire for more coffee. She ordered a dozen donuts for herself and to share with her fellow campers, and a travel refill coffee using her own mug. Save the trees!


After snapping a selfie with her delicious pink, sprinkled donut and posting it to her Snapchat, Eva was back in her car. The last leg of her journey was filled with fast-paced, energetic, passionate punk rock songs. Eva whipped her head around to the beat of one of Rise Against’s anthemic tracks. This action only served to make her messy bun of blonde locks even more wind-wrecked. At least her makeup was still on point.

Nearly six and a half hours of driving had passed, but Eva finally arrived at Aces High campgrounds. Buzzed up with caffeine and the energy of her killer road trip playlist, Evangeline Claire hopped out of her MINI and threw the driver's side door shut. She danced her way to the trunk of the vehicle while still singing the chorus of Halestorm’s “Freak Like Me”, which was cut off upon her arrival.

“They can’t hold you down, you were born to rise!” Eva sang, pulling her luggage out of the trunk and fist pumping emphatically to her rendition of the song. She closed up the trunk, box of donuts in one hand and the handle of her suitcase in the other, and turned to get a good hard look at Aces High. Smiling wide, she rolled up to the group of campers and counselors and introduced herself.

“Hey, I’m Eva. I brought donuts for the peeps in my cabin, or anyone who wants to be friends. There is only eleven, so peacefully sort that out, I’m not liable for any violence caused.” Eva laughed and pushed her sunglasses up to the top of her head. She was wearing cut up black jean shorts and a crop top that displayed her belly button piercing. The outfit was very soft-femme-meets-punk, but cool enough to wear in the summer heat, despite all the black.

She received an envelope stating that she was sorted into the Queen of Clubs cabin. Eva headed in the direction of the Clubs triad to set up her own personal area, bond with her roomies, and properly offer up the sweet treats she brought. Though, looking at the number of campers, she clearly did not bring enough for everyone!

While his older twin brother by fifteen minutes drove his Chevy Tahoe, Trent Kable, who would die if he ever did get his license, had his earbuds in and eyes closed, listening to Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley, avoiding listening to whatever godforsaken heart attack music his brother was blasting. He bobbed his head to the tune and shaked his hands to the King of Rock’s groove. He had to get his pre-jitters out, so listening to good, ol’ classics would help him prepare to go to camp and make friends, for his mama’s sake. He hadn’t paid much attention to how much time had passed from when they started in Las Vegas, to their destination, somewhere in Southern California. They had to take a few stops because Trent got antsy… long car rides was A LOT for him to deal with.

As if he was the only person in the car, and not really caring if he was disturbing his brother’s peace because Trent-boy had a short attention span and wouldn’t have remembered to be peaceful anyways, he started singing along with his music that only he could hear.

“Number forty-seven said to number three
‘You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see’
sure would be delighted with your company
Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me~"

His iPod was on his lap and the boy didn’t think about anything besides Presley’s words. Any more thinking would make him NERVOUS. Hey, at least he looked hella’ dapper with his male colorful print design blouse, black jeans, and white bowtie. Dressed to impress like his sister taught him. Always got to impress someone and the first step was: make your body look good. Yepp. He was ready for camp and to make the ladies and men swoon with his smooth talk and killer looks. Can’t touch this! Trent was a ROCKSTAR.

That motherfucker.

That fucking prick.

Singing? Seriously? Who raised this kid? Were they autistic? What the fuck was he singing for? Evan Kable — who would only accept being called Kable — shot his brother a glare as he started to sing, hoping that would be enough to shut him the fuck up. When that failed, Kable did the only sensible thing. Punching on the touch screen of his SUV’s stereo, once he located his song, his finger turned the dial again and again until the car nearly shook on the road… then he turned it a few more clicks.

Sing now, bitch. Kable was certain that his brother wouldn’t even be able to hear his iPod’s music over the car stereo now. Kable was willing to drive in silence and brood, but Trent wanted to start shit. Well, that’s fine, Trent may like starting shit; Kable wasn’t a big fan of starting it… but he’d sure as fuck end it.

Aggressively, Trent pulled out his earbuds and leaned back in his chair. The fuck? Why is this so loud? Trying to overpower the music with his voice, which was hella’ hard, mind you, Trent gave his brother a dirty look, “YOU TRYING TO POP MY EAR DRUMS OR SUMTHIN?” Man, he’d have to dig into his backpack and find his earplugs. This was some straight up bull. If mama knew Kable was blasting music obnoxiously, she would have a conniption. This could KILL Trent. He would surely have a panic attack. Have no fear, he would do something that would help him focus on something else. The dorky kid rummaged through his bag in frustration. “WHY YOU GOTTA’ BE SO RUDE?”

Kable looked away from the road and directly in Trent’s eyes, wordlessly raising a hand off of the the wheel and giving his brother the finger. “GO HARD.” With that being said, Kable turned his attention back to the road and pressed the button to shut the stereo off in one fluid motion. “Don’t you ever sing within earshot of me ever again or I swear to god I’ll drive us into oncoming traffic. I got nothin’ to lose and even less to gain. Thanks for dragging me to bumfuck, California, asshole.”

“Hey! It isn’t my fault. I would’ve been happy staying at home with Sir Lancelot, but mum kept dropping these flyers under my door and then I thought, hey, maybe this could be a good experience for me. Think of this as a summer… a summer for love!” Taking out his drawing pad and his funky mustache pencil, he turned it over to the back page, which had a list. Do not sing or Kable will kill you.

“Yeah, I was gonna have a summer all about ‘love’ until Mom stabbed me in the back and used the knife to pop out the vertebrae. I have never been less excited for anything in my life.” He grumbled, glancing quickly down at the navigator. “We’ll be there in like twelve minutes apparently. Then we stay there. For ten. Fucking. Weeks. Ten weeks of my time. Stolen from me and repurposed so I can make sure no one hurts Mom’s precious little sunflower. So here I am. When I could be at Sonya’s place, with her coworkers doing things you don’t even know are physically possible. So thanks a ton.”

“Sonya’s friends… are a bit much.” Trent squinted his face at the thought of how intimidatingly sexual they all wore. Most weren’t even classy. Why didn’t his sister wear much clothes? HE DID NOT UNDERSTAND. “I think you’ll have a swell time, dear brother.”

“Bullshit. I think I’ll drown myself in the lake. Whatever man.” Kable shrugged his shoulders and rolled down the windows, letting the warm Californian wind into the vehicle as he turned down the road toward the camp, and in the distant horizon, he could see hell itself. “This is where they send you, to die. Under the Geneva convention, internment and death camps are a war crime. Just saying.”

His twin was not making this trip easy for him. Trent went silent after that comment. He didn’t want to think about death at camp… his mum wanted him to make friends. Bringing the sun visor down so he could look into the mirror to give himself one look check. His bow tie was crooked…

Straightening his tie, Trent locked eyes with himself and internally thought, You got this, chap. Be cool and everything will go swimmingly.

The Kable brothers arrived right on the dot and within seconds the Tahoe was parked in the dirt parking lot, designated for those that drove - like them. It wasn’t hard to notice the bus or the crowd beyond that. The geekier of the two was the first to exit and grab his duffel bag, backpack, and bag of miscellaneous goodies, “I hope I brought enough…” Leading the charge, but not straying too far from Kable, who honestly made him feel secure in this unknown place, Trent’s gaze went wide as the people inched closer with every step he took. He should turn back. They should go back. Oh god, he was going to die. Wasn’t he? THEY MUST GO BACK.

Yeah, piss off. LIke Kable was going to drive that far, for that long and just willingly let Trent turn them around. No, you brought this hell upon them, you dug our graves, dear brother. Now you lay on it. Without a word, Kable put a hand on Trenton’s neck and pushed him forward slightly. He didn’t need to speak; actions, like always, spoke much louder than plain words.

Stiffening at his brother’s touch, the socially awkward boy obediently trekked forward. When they joined the crowd, he frantically looked from side to side at all the people. So many people. There was this intimidatingly attractive woman calling out names and handing out envelopes. His mind however was flooded with the new faces around him and the chitter chatter. Tightly closing his fists together out of nervousness, he internally tried to build his confidence up to handle all… this.

Be cool, Trent.

As soon as their names were called, Kable stepped forward to receive the envelopes and held his brother’s out to him. Ripping open the envelope, Kable pulled out a King of Diamonds, and a piece of paper that declared him as a member of the cabin. Looking over at his brother, he furrowed his brow, “what’d you get?” He demanded, wanting to make sure that he and Trent were not in the same cabin, or even the same area.

_{“Jack...Diamonds.”} Trent whispered, knowing very well his twin would not appreciate that response. Eh-hem.

Meanwhile at another section of the newcomers, Oliver stared glumly at his card — which did not match his girlfriend’s. “Bummer, I got da King o’ Diamonds. I don’t wanna be separate from you, that will make this trip suck.” Oliver complained in Molly’s direction, stuffing the card into his pocket. He didn’t bother looking at the Meet the Counselors section… what was the point when you already knew everyone?! Hopefully, he got someone good, though.

“OLIVER.” Molly was appalled by the results of her rooming assignment. WASN’T ASH HIS COUSIN? Did he not think to request putting them TOGETHER? Un-fucking-believable. “Spades? Do I look like a SPADES? Spades probably just has a bunch of EMOS and metalheads.”

Angel narrowed his eyes at Molly and gestured at his card that read the same exact thing that her’s said: Jack of Spades. “Do I look like a emo? OR a metalhead? And frankly, I don’t see a problem if that suit is filled with kids interested in those types of music.”

“Angel, you do wear a shit ton of black.” Molly crossed her arms and stared at the taller boy in a superior manner, “Plus, aren’t you even a little sad you won’t be in Diamonds with your puppy?”

“Please don’t call him that.”

“I agree with Molly, based solely on appearances, I could peg you as an emo,” Oliver said honestly, not even just agreeing with his girlfriend to agree. He was oddly pleased when Angel asked Molly not to call Jace a ‘puppy.’ That nickname made no sense and only made him think of that stupid Snapchat filter. “ANYWAY —”

“Just throwing in my two cents real quick, definitely an emo looking dude.” Alex added quickly, before grinning as Oliver shook his head and started speaking again.

“Scott and Logan told me to play the cards I get dealt, so I’m playing the cards I was dealt! It won’t be that bad, Mols.”

“Are you INSANE? STUPID? This is TEN weeks of us being on totally different areas of the camp. Look at this map.” Molly was one of the few, very few, campers that requested getting a map (she got her’s from Belle). “OLIVER.” She hissed in annoyance. “If you did your research or even prepared just a little bit, you would know how BAD our situation is.” Aggressively, she pointed at where she would be staying and then trailed her finger down the map to where he was staying. “At least Summer and Alex are the same freakin’ suit. This looks like a goddamn hike.”

“Because it is.” Summer chimed in. 25 minutes by foot, but if she wasn’t mistaken there were golf carts… though, not many. They could potentially snag one. Luckily, Alexander the Great had a plan to render golf-cart grand theft auto unnecessary — for now.

“Mols, go get that dude’s card. Look, he’s also a King of Diamonds, and he looks pretty pissed about it.” Alex said, pointing over at a tall looking fellow who had recently flicked his card in Ash’s direction and looked ready to stomp off and leave into the wilderness. “Dude throwin’ cards like Gambit. I can do that. Maybe. Probably. My brother can do that, I can’t, but he can. He gonna teach me. Then I can do that.”

“Brilliant, Alexander. Thank you for your glorious ideas. At least SOMEONE has them.” She swiftly turned her head toward her boyfriend and gave him a sassy glare, “Oliver.” And with that, the darling brunette flipped her hair and marched off, loudly demanding, “Angel. You too.”

Oh.

The ‘emo-looking’ jock shrugged at the princess’ request and followed behind her, pulling his boyfriend with him. Angel wasn’t going to let him go just yet.

“‘Cuse me. Hi--”

“This is Kable, I’m Trent! We’re brothers. Well his name isn’t actually Kable, that’s our surname, but I suppose that doesn’t really matter, because he prefers being called… Kable.” Trent noticed attractive campers approach them and went off rambling.

“Uh-huh, yeah. Okay. Thanks.” With dull eyes, Molly blinked at the geeky boy and then looked back at her target.

Kable spoke before she could even get a word off, “the fuck you want, bitch? I look I’m in the mood to talk to someone right now? Do I?” He did not.

Internally, Molly was extremely triggered and if she didn’t WANT what he had, a.k.a his rooming assignment, she would have bitched him out right then and there. Giving him her calm, regal smile, Molly lifted her assignment up, which was in between her pointer and middle finger, “I want your rooming assignment.” Straight to the fucking point. “I see you’re in Diamonds, I want to be in Diamonds. This is my friend, Angelo, he’s in Spades, as am I. If we trade, he would be your roommate. Along with this hot Asian chick that I so happened to remember getting this here cabin.” She waved the card slightly. “Let’s trade or forever be angry at the entire world and set this camp on fire.”

”What? Why do you want to switch? And why would this dude being in there make it any more appealing to me, anyway?” Kable folded his arms over his chest. Why would he just change his room like that? Maybe fucking with Trent all summer would be fun. Hot Asian chick? That intrigued him, though.

Angel could feel Molly’s response coming, but he learned that when it came to a girl like her, you had to talk before she did or you’d be given the worst headache of your lifetime, “Probably because I don’t really give a fuck about… anything, besides this guy.” He gestured toward Jace and continued, “Her man will be in that exact cabin. And you’d be doing me a solid by getting her out of there.”

Trent looked over Jace’s shoulder and noticed they were in the same cabin, “Sweet! Looks like we’re roomies.”

“It’s not just because Oliver is there!” Molly protested.

”Oh. Whatever, man, take it.” Kable said, shrugging finally. He didn’t want to be with Trent anyway, so whatever. If it meant giving his card away to some crazy chick… then that’s what it meant. Plus, she wouldn’t be his problem anyway.

“Now time to tell Oliver I did all the work for him.” Molly rolled her eyes, after snatching the card off the ground, this guy was a fucking asshole, and pranced off to her boyfriend. Angel gave a sigh of relief. How Oliver did it…. he had no idea.

There was one thing that Jace was actually looking forward to about going to Aces High. One thing. It would be an entire summer free from his hateful, exhausting, overbearing father. It was weird how a guy that was always so wrapped up in his “work” could suddenly become the all-seeing dad. Homophobia seemed to give him superpowers when it came to bursting into his son’s room unannounced, and monitoring all of the time that Jace spent with Angel ‘under my roof’. Seriously, it had been five years, and there was no end in sight for this torment, until now. Jace had an entire summer to do as he pleased, when he pleased with his beloved, and it would be utter bliss.

Except that it wouldn’t be.

What was the point of even coming? How did Jace have connections to almost all of the camp counselors (including his cousins!), only to get placed in the cabin completely opposite his boyfriend? Rigged! Hacks! This wasn’t fair. Although not even close to being as vocal, Jace was equally displeased with his placement as Molly was with hers. Instead of being clever and trading away his assignment card like his friend had, he turned his venting inward.

Jace wore a silent pout on his lips while his companions talked about… whatever it was that they were talking about. When his frustration threatened to bubble out from its careful containment, Jace shoved his fist into his pocket and grabbed his phone. Someone was going to pay for this. Who, you ask? One curly-haired, nosey, controlling, obnoxious sister, that’s who!

To: Cassie
I hate you.
???
did you get there?
Yes. It’s awful.
why?
we’re separated. >:|
So?
make some friends!
I HAVE friends, Cass.
make new ones, this is good for you!
u are going to need to socialize at Coleman.
I’m going to nerd school
what don’t you get about that?
it will be a whole school full of ppl like me
I don’t need this!
stop being a drama queen
don’t call me a queen
don’t be one then
...
u will be fine, Chip
member what happened last time I got u to break out of ur comfort zone?

The last text was enough for Jace to roll his eyes in real life. With an audible huff, he replied.

To: Cassie
srsly?
u only get one soulmate
I doubt anything life-changing will happen in mosquito land

A message popped up on the screen stating that his text failed to send. Jace furrowed his brow at the phone. What... why? Scanning the screen, he saw that there was a distinct lack of bars beside the battery gauge. Really? This place sucked. He couldn’t even yell at Cassandra properly. Heck, he could die out here, and no one would be able to phone the emergency services. Great!

If there was one sure fire way to pull Jace out of lala land every time, it was the luxuriously smooth voice of Angel. Deep and warm, like melted dark chocolate. It made Jace feel as liquidy as it sounded, like he could just become a puddle, right here and now. Adding to this feeling of adoration, Angel was actually referencing how Jace was the only thing that he cared about, to some stranger.

Despite the new faces before him, Jace felt perfectly comfortable, snuggling into the safety of his boyfriend’s muscular arm. He was, of course, still a very shy boy, so he did not introduce himself. Instead, he carefully and quietly watched the pair of males that were interacting with his friends, and his Angel.

“Sweet! Looks like we’re roomies.” The dorkier of the two said. Jace nearly startled. Was he talking to him? Oh, he wasn’t quite ready to talk yet. Surely his face didn’t look like the kind of person that was up for small talk, having not yet recovered from its frustrated pouting stance. Jace subconsciously looked over his shoulder, expecting to see another target for the stranger’s proclamation. No such luck.

“Oh… diamonds. Jack. Guess so…” Jace said meekly.

“This is a sign.” Trent waved the card in his hand, showcasing the Jack of Diamonds. Side stepping closer, it was apparent that this boy was socially awkward by nature, Trent’s smile curled into a grin, “Do you know what this is a sign for?”

To help his boyfriend out, Angel pulled his arm away and instead wrapped it around Jace’s body, to where his hand rested on the shoulder farthest away from him. Comfortably, he squeezed it and smiled, with that distant, mysterious smile of his, at the enthusiastic camper with the bowtie, “What’s it a sign for? This is Jace, by the way. You’ve already heard my name from Molly.”

“We are--” Dramatic pause from the youngest Kable boy. “Diamonds in the rough!” He tossed his paper high in the air and attempted to catch it, only to stumble around and swipe it off the floor. Offering his hand to his roomie, for a handshake, Trent coolly, but really not, proclaimed, “Be not afraid of greatness: Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them! William Shakespeare.” Angel couldn’t help but chuckle at this.

Jace stared at the bow-tied clad boy with wide, doe eyes. Perhaps he should have spent less time nagging Cassie via cell phone, and more time preparing himself mentally for interacting with a camp full of new people. Crowds were the worst. Thankfully, the combination of that god-awful pun, him fumbling his paper, and the quoting of Shakespeare was enough to loosen the tense knots in Jace’s shoulders. Okay, he was awkward. This was a good thing. “Oh, I don’t know about greatness, but I certainly was thrusted here.” Thrust? Thrusted? Neither sounded right in proper conversation, even if Shakespeare was considered one of the great classic writers. Innuendo had ruined any hope of saying a world like that without conjuring up a dirty mental imagine.

“So, I don’t think I heard your name. I’m Jace, or Chip, whatever you like, really.”

“I go by many names, my dear friend. Like Izual the great DRAGONSLAYER! Really, that’s me trying to be my D&D character. My mum calls me Benji, middle name’s Benjamin. I’d prefer if you call me Trent or anything you can think based off that. Like… T-Dog. T-Bone. HEYO, T-BONE! Wazahhhhhhh. Damn, that makes me feel like I’m from the late 50s.” Smoothly, the dork took out his glasses from his pant’s pocket and placed it on his face. Looking at Jace, he smugly nodded his head, thinking he was way cooler than he actually was.

In time, the words ‘thrusted’ finally registered in the hyperactive boy’s mind and suddenly, very suddenly, Trent was inches away from his roomie. Lifting his glasses up, so Jace could stare into his aquamarine eyes, Trent’s expression turned deadly serious, “What got you in the slammer? For me, my mum thinks I need friends, but she forgets I have Sir Lancelot. He’s my lizard.”

A chuckle actually met Jace’s lips, surprising even himself with how casually it came on. “Same, kinda. My sister convinced my parents that I needed to learn how to make friends before college. Even though I have friends, and I have an Angel. That’s all I need, but they don’t get that.” The ‘I have an Angel’ remark was rewarded with an eye roll from the darkly clad boyfriend, as he watched his lover stroll on off with his new found friend. He’d have to remember to tease Jace a little for not saying goodbye.

They were making their way towards the cabin now, to unpack their things. Jace didn’t even consciously realize that he had left Angel’s side in doing so. Instead, he was revisiting a previous statement that Trent had made.

“So… you play D&D? We should totally play, did you bring your books? We could probably make do without them. I DM all the time for Alex and Ollie, they’d prolly join us! Probably Angel too, if I made a cute enough face, and I’m pretty good at that. Or he’s weak. Little of both, I guess. What do you play? You said dragonslayer... so, probably something with a sword. Fighter? Paladin?” Jace was doing that thing that he did once he deemed a person safe. They had something in common, rather, somethings! Things that Jace could talk on and on about, so he would. Angel was still in earshot. Another thing added to the list. Jace didn’t say goodbye AND he called him WEAK.

“I would’ve packed a lot of things my mum deemed ‘unnecessary’ for camp. If we can find a computer, I have a flashdrive with pdfs. Do you play 5e? It’s preferable even if it has downsides like less character customization, but that’s no biggie. I think it’s more balanced than 3.5. Not better or worse, though. Just different.” Stuffing his hands in his pocket, with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder, he trailed beside his roomie, “Fighter, by the way, with a specialization in Eldritch Knight, but my lad definitely has a mind of a heroic champion. The best of the best! Even if he fumbles from time to time… and ‘accidentally’ wakes up in brothels. You know, the usual.” Turning his head to see the side of Jace’s face, Trent chuckled, “That being said, I’ll probably make a new character for your campaign. I like trying new things. Exploring my creativity, I guess.”

Suddenly, the awkward boy scrambled around in his pockets before he pulled out a voice recorder. Pressing the rec button, Trent talked into it softly, “Trent here, My first friend has a few things to say,.” He brought the recorder to Jace’s lips, no preparation whatsoever, and requested in a whisper, “Say your name and something clever.” One of Trent’s hobbies was collecting sound bits and putting it in his music, along with that, he also was doing this to show his mom that he COULD make friends.

“Uhh…” Jace startled and backed his face away from the recorder that was suddenly thrust at him. He wasn’t good at social things, especially social things that were on the spot. “Chip. Like the computer, not the snack… chocolate or potato. Though, I mean, all three are good?” The once-blond, now redheaded boy swallowed hard. He shook off the awkwardness and continued to conversate, but not into the recorder anymore. Satisfied with the response, Trent turned his recorder off and stuffed it back in his pocket, while keeping all his attention on Chip.

“You don’t have to find a computer, I brought one. It’s not my good rig, the beast isn’t very mobile. But, I brought a laptop… even though I’m not sure this place has electricity.” His lip twitched as he looked around the cabin that they were now standing in. Prison… a bleak, wooded prison. “Definitely no internet. These are dark times, there is no denying.” He quoted one of his favorite movies, as he was often known to do. Jace even added the dramatic flourish of Scrimgeour’s character to it, though the shy boy was no actor by any means.

Schlepping his backpack and duffle bag onto the bed, he sighed. Not feeling any great urge to unpack - he wasn’t even sure how much time he’d be spending in his own cabin - Jace sat cross-legged on the mattress to get to know his roomie for the summer. “What other things do you like?”

Not answering the boy’s question near immediately, Trent dropped his bag on the ground and surveyed their cabin, “The room is… far from dark.” Whoever was their counselor, or counselors, were definitely feminine… and really, really, REALLY liked Disney. He walked to one of the walls to a life size drawing of Hercules. Trent mimicked Herc’s muscle pose. “Someone went a tinsy-winsy bit… overboard.” There was absolute color everywhere.

Snapping his fingers to get back into focus, he charmingly (not so charmingly) ran both his hands through his hair, “I’m glad you asked. I’m a boy who gets easily bored and if I’m really bored… I must do something. I’ve brought dominos so I do hope we can epically cover this entire floor, here. I draw… but you don’t need to see any of that. I make music… but you don’t need to hear any of that. I collect cards. Pokemon cards. I also have every console you could ever imagine. An entire sanctuary dedicated to video games. I keep all my things pristine. I also know how to gamble, but that’s because I was born and raised in the city of… sin.” He cleared his throat. “Las Vegas, baby!”

Where were their counselors anyways? Were they not suppose to go on ahead?

Jace giggled at the ridiculous attempt at a Herculean pose. Trent was adorable, and if Jace weren’t so enamored with his one and only, he might have developed a crush. Dungeons and dragons, drawing, video games… can we be best friends? So maybe Jace jumped the gun on assuming that this would be the worst summer ever. “You draw? Me too! I do need to see that. What’s your preferred medium? Music too? I don’t have that particular creative gene, but I love electronic music. Your sanctuary sounds so cool! I have one too, I mean, it’s mostly called my room rather than a sanctuary.” He ran his fingers through his hair with a nervous, awkward laugh. “Kinda feels like one, though. Most of the time. I would say Vegas sounds awesome, but it doesn’t. Too many crowds for me. I’m from the other Las… Angeles. Also too many crowds, but I can shut myself away well enough, so it’s fine.”

Amidst Jace’s response, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Did his texts finally go through? No, they didn’t, but more from Cassie came through in his silence, as she probably thought he was upset and needed cheering up.

From: Cassie
Just go sneak off and fuck in the bushes
Be a wild teenager for once ;)

“I just give my mum the smolder and she lets me stay in the penthouse without putting up much of a fight. This would be one of few battles, I’ve lost.” Was it obvious that Trent was a mommy’s boy? Before Trent could say anything more though, he heard a lively voice from out the cabin.

“I can’t believe they went on ahead without us! I was calling out the boys’ names and they kept GOING. Luckily, this boy named Angel confirmed that they were indeed our campers.” An actual Disneyland princess, though she wasn’t in her usual get up because she was spending the summer at Aces High, Calli Snow pranced down the path, with absolute giddiness. She intentionally made her casual look resemble that of Belle from Beauty of the Beast.

Getting back to what she was originally doing, before she found it necessary to complain, she looked toward her gal pal and Troy Blake’s little sister, Kelsey, “They’re going to like this right? How does my french accent sound?” Taking a quick moment to do vocal exercises, buzzing her lips rapidly for a couple of seconds, the glasses girl soon after broke out in SONG, or well the prequel and then SONG, “Ma chere Mademoiselle, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight and now we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair as the dining room proudly presents…. your dinner!” With flare and obvious experience in theater, Calli serenaded her friend as if she were their campers, “Be our guest, be our guest…” That went on for a good while until they were inches away from the door. Kelsey, who did not speak at all, a definite contrast to her counselor counterpart, rewarded Calli with a thumbs up and a meek smile.

“Oh dear… I think we’ve found our counselor. Or, she found us.” Jace remarked, recognizing the voice as one of his sister’s friends… the Disney girl, he should have guessed that from Herc on the wall.

Resting his head against the window, Casper observed the various cloud formations beneath them come and go, illuminated by the rays of light from the rising sun. The cabin itself was dark, with a few lights across the floor guiding the way up-and-down the aisle. Journeying through the night from his home state of Ohio to make the Californian airport in time for the even longer bus trip to the camp itself, he was already beginning to feel the heavy strain of tired eyes.

Casper had never been able to sleep while travelling. The cramped nature of travel, the hum of engines, fellow travellers being obnoxiously loud. No, what he needed was a soft bed with two or three pillows, and relative quiet. Turning his attention from the never-ending sky to the dimly-lit screen within the back of the chair in front of him, he idly switched through the various menus. Music, films, and unfortunately for him a live tracking map of the plane which proudly announced there was 2 hours of the flight left. Groaning quietly in displeasure, he couldn’t help but think about the five hour bus trip that awaited him after he made it through this part of the journey. Not to mention all of the time spent in between each trip sorting out luggage and waiting around for apparently no good reason. It looked to be a fun day.

Managing to pass the time by watching one of the recently released romcoms available on the entertainment system in front of him (for all he hated planes, casper had to admit they had a surprisingly good selection of movies), hearing the voice of the pilot announce the plane was coming in to land filled Casper with a beautiful, albeit temporary, spurt of energy. Soon, he thought. All he had to do was get through the airport, and survive the bus journey. Then, not only would he be free to sleep, preferably for an entire day he felt like, but to be reunited with Alex. The pair had attended previous summer camps together, and in fact met at a summer camp, and so the process of attending camps during the summer holidays had become something of a welcome tradition between the two. Despite the fact Casper hated the activities that generally went along with such camps. Physical activity, no. Bugs, no. Rough beds, no. But to see Alex at a camp one last time? Well, that made it worth it. The next year Casper was headed for an east-coast university and would be beyond the age for attending these camps, and the two had vowed to make the last one an event to remember.

Being rudely taken away from his thoughts at the bump of the aircraft against the hard tarmac, Casper gathered his things together and reached for his backpack in the overhead luggage with a much-needed stretch. After the mass of people apparently fighting to get out of the plane first, he couldn’t blame them, had died down he ambled down the aisle. Giving a polite smile of thanks to the cabin crew seeing the passengers off, he continued on to make his way through the airport. It was surprisingly busy for being so early in the morning. But then again, were airports ever quiet?

Having waited to be at the back of the horde of passengers, Casper was faced with the consequence of lingering around at luggage collection, the seats having already been snatched up. Maybe they were right to get off of the plane after all. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for Casper to spot his bag of luggage. To this day, he was yet to see another bag of dark blue with white clouds, in a much similar fashion to the wallpaper of Andy’s room in Toy Story. Perhaps one day. Just seeing the bag brought back the memories of his struggle to pack it, the same struggle he has endured for several summers in a row. He’d never gotten much better at packing, although to his credit he no longer just resorted to bringing more than one bag. More than anything having more than one bag just made more of a hassle out of repacking at the end of the camp, when it always seemed as though either his bags had shrunk or the things he had brought with him had gotten bigger, because they would just not fit.

Collecting his luggage, Casper made a beeline for the nearest area he could find to purchase a cup of coffee. Then, armed with the finest caffeinated beverage the Californian airport had to offer, he headed for the airport’s exit. The camp had provided instruction for finding the bus, it was to be found in some parking bay or other. He couldn’t quite remember the exact bay, bar the letter ‘C’, but the instructions said it wouldn’t be hard to miss.

Finally escaping the maze that was Sacramento airport, or what seemed like a maze to his tired mind at any rate, the humid heat of the Californian morning hit him instantly. It did little to help his already drowsy state. Lugging his bag along behind him, with his suitcase straps slung over both shoulders, Casper took a sip of the already dwindling coffee and followed the large signs directing travellers to the parking bays. It didn’t take him long to spot the bright yellow bus, with the designation of ‘ACES HIGH’ sprawled in large print across the sides. Bingo. It didn’t look like the bus of luxury he was secretly hoping for, but it’d do. Making his way to the bus, which had its glass doors closed, Casper stood awkwardly outside for a moment in the hopes that his waves would catch the driver's attention. When it did not, he tapped on the glass and failed to hide the slight jump he got at the immediate hiss of the doors as they opened.

“Hi, I’m Casper. I think this- oh, it’s Casper Fawn, actually, sorry. If you need the full name…” trailing off momentarily, he continued on to ask, “Is the bus for the camp?”

Looking toward him blankly as the young boy made himself heard from the bottom of the steps at the doors of the bus, the driver looked down to a clipboard and checked off a name.

“This is the one. Go ahead and sling your luggage in the back, kid. Won’t be too long ‘till everybody’s here and head on up to the camp. Few hours or so.”

Returning a nod to the driver, Casper carefully lay his luggage down in the compartment of the bus. Judging from the space available, he was one of the first to arrive at the bus. Indeed, clambering his way up the two steps of the bus with his backpack now slung over his shoulder, there were plenty seats left. Opting to not force himself to be social while so tired, he took a seat at the back with nobody else around. He could make friends later, right now, he was just trying to survive the exhaustion. Relaxing in the surprisingly comfortable seat, Casper gave his eyes a rest after putting in his earphones and shoving on a shuffle of some music.

Others came shuffling in soon enough, as the driver had promised, but Casper kept his eyes down and thankfully managed to have the seat beside him remain empty. Though, thinking on it, he questioned whether or not this was actually a good thing. Well, he’d worry about it later at any rate, for now he had managed to escape having to be social which was certainly good for the short-term. He was far too tired for small-talk.

The journey itself seemed to pass relatively quickly as Casper listened to the music, and soon enough the bus had reached the campers home for the next few weeks. Aces High. By this point, Casper would have quite happily accepted warm and sharp chips of gravel as a bed if it meant he could actually lie down, and go to sleep. In fact - he’d accept being knocked out by an old ‘enemy’ from a previous summer camp if it would allow his body to rest. He could hope he didn’t look too much of a grump to the rest of the campers who were assembling outside of the bus, and undoubtedly looking around to get a view of their fellows for the summer.

Lining up to receive his envelope with his assignment, Casper managed to offer a polite smile and quiet thanks to the camp director before continuing on his way. Jack of Clubs. He couldn’t help but wonder where Alex had been assigned. Certainly, regardless of how desperately exhausted he was, the first order of business after settling into his room was scoping out the camp to see whereabouts she was hiding. He knew she was already here, for in typical Alex fashion she had decided not to endure a bus ride with strangers for several hours. He couldn’t say he blamed her, even if it would have provided a good opportunity to catch up at the very least.

Casper found building which housed his room after only a little searching, the camp was laid out well to its credit, and made his way down the corridor with luggage in tow. Gently nudging the already slightly ajar door open with his shoulder, Casper was greeted by who he could only assume was to be his roommate for the summer.

“Oh, hey.”

The zipper strained in protest as Silas tugged at tiny piece of metal. After just a smidge more force, the overstuffed suitcase popped open, nearly sending the zipper flying across the room. The amount of clothes that spilled out was astronomical. What was even more unfathomable, was that all of this clothing belonged to a male. A straight male, no less. And, of that fact, Silas had no shame. The charismatic young male took pride in looking fly, day in and day out.

A locker-like closet stood beside his chosen bunk. There was a deep, wide drawer along the bottom, and two tall doors above it that opened like a cabinet. Inside the closet were a few metal, slightly rusted, hangers resting on an equally tarnished rod. It wasn’t glamorous, and there definitely weren’t enough hangers for all of his clothes, but he could certainly hang those most prone to wrinkles up.

Silas was in the process of folding up a pair of jeans and placing it in the drawer when the cabin’s front door opened wider with a telltale squeak. In the doorway stood a shockingly small boy with sandy blond hair, who greeted him. Silas flashed a chiclet grin in response.

“Sup, roomie! I’m Silo.” The younger teen put down the denim and stepped around the bed to go shake the older one’s hand. Proper, just like his momma raised him to be.

Reaching out to meet the boy’s hand in a rather awkward manner, trying not to have his backpack slide off of his arm while edging into the room with his luggage behind him, Casper was at least happy to know the boy seemed friendly. Until now, he always seemed to draw the short straw when it came down to roommates each summer, being placed with those he knew he wasn’t going to get along with.

“Casper,” he replied, with a polite smile shortly following his introduction, “Nice to meet you.”

Chucking his backpack onto the only free bed after shaking the boy’s hand, Casper hauled his bag of luggage from the doorway, lifting it onto the bed. Before setting about unpacking his things, however, Casper instead turned his attention back to his new roommate. He was aware his introduction had been rather unintentionally terse, a result of his long journey without rest. Though, where he had avoided making small-talk until now, if there was one person it was worth pushing through his weariness for, it was the person he would be sharing a room with for the summer.

“So, uh, have you been to a summer camp before?”

“Kinda. I did a sleepover camp last summer for football. But… uh… the whole paying lots of money to stay in the mountains with the bears and very limited electricity thing is new. It was mom’s idea, so it’ll prolly be great. Just a lil… rural, ya know?” Silas went back to organizing his things, he could fold and talk at the same time. Multitaskin’ ain’t nothing but a thing. “What about you?”

Similarly turning his attention to sorting out his own luggage as Silas spoke of his past experience, Casper tittered at the thought of paying substantial sums of money to get away from luxury. “I’ve been having rural summers for a few years now.” he said while unzipping his luggage, and laying out several items of clothing on the bed. “Never wanted to come the first time, seemed kinda’ weird to spend a summer away from everybody you know back home, but I ended up liking it. Even though I hate bugs, and lots of exercise, and pretty much everything that happens in summer camp.” Opening the closet beside his bed, Casper examined the challenge that lay before him. There was no way he was going to be able to hang up everything he wanted, which meant clothes were going to get creased, and fast. “...and I forgot how much I hated never having enough space for everything.” Offering a slight shrug toward Silo as he turned around to fetch his clothes from the bed and begin hanging some of them up, he continued, “It’s always good, though! Dunno what it is about summer camps, can’t explain exactly why they’re good, but they are.” An audible yawn escaped his lips as he retrieved the first item of clothing from the bed. “I can’t believe how tired I am. That bus trip took it outta’ me. Whereabouts have you come up from?”

Silas chuckled when Casper mentioned not having enough space. “Yo, I feel you there. These closets are dismal.” Satisfied with his progress so far, Silo plopped his rear down on the creaky mattress. Tucking his left leg under his right knee, he turned his attention to Casper as he continued chatting. “Aside from the bugs, your description of camp sounds right up my alley. I’m looking forward to it. Though, I’m pretty worn out myself, came from the opposite side of the country. Florida. Orlando city boy, born and raised. And you? I’m guessing someplace not so sunny.” That boy’s skin was extra white, and not enough freckles to assume coastal living.

“Oh, Florida! That’s cool. You’ve had an even longer journey than me then, hah. I’m from Ohio, not so sunny.”

Folding a pair of jeans neatly to place at the bottom of the locker, not having the space to hang them up, he turned to Silo to ask the first question that came to his mind not long after, “I’ve never actually been to Florida. But, like. You must live so close to Disneyland. Have you been? It’s honestly probably the place I want to go to the most right now. Maybe next summer when I don’t have camp to I’ll get there, actually!”

Disneyworld, of course that was what the boy thought of. Florida - Orlando in particular - was home to three brands of people: tourists, elderly, and the poor. Silas belonged to the third group, but that was neither here nor there, and Casper certainly didn’t need to know that. He had, in fact, finally made it to Disneyworld for his 14th birthday. Honestly, it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, or maybe Silo was just jaded by having lived so close to it for all his life. “It’s world, by the way. Disneyland is here in Cali. And y-” Silas was about to answer him more fully when the front door opened yet again.

In walked a male that Silas recognized as one of the counselors from outside. He was dressed head to toe in black, with the exception of the white shirt that bore a black clubs symbol underneath his… was he wearing a jacket? Yes, a leather jacket, right here in the Californian summer heat. Was he nuts? Silas had to admit, he was impressed by the counselor’s dedication to his style. It wasn’t a look that Silo would ever sport, but it was… a look.

“Hey, I’m Jar.” The older emo said in greeting, intentionally leaving the front door open behind him for Isabel. He knew both of the campers’ names that were in his cabin, but not yet their faces. Taking a stab at it, he guessed, “You must be Casper? … and, Silas?”

Once the boys nodded in agreement, Jareth spoke again. “Great, well, in a matter of seconds you’ll meet your other counselor, Izzy. She’ll probably do most of the talking, her and her sister are pretty good at that, not as much as Kylie, though. Dude, save your ears around that one by seeking alternate shelter.”

Soon enough, Isabel, one half of the Espinoza fraternal twins, came in with a clipboard in hand, wearing her camo print sweats she’s had for years, her white camp tee that was tugged to one side, pulled tight, and tied in a knot to showcase some of her flat, muscular stomach, and black combat boots. The heat was nothing to her, which is why she didn’t really ‘dress up’ like some of her girlfriends. This was fucking camp - she was going to be comfortable.

The latina, who adores ice skating but did not pursue it as a career, because she would rather live in a small suburban home in LA, making constant visits to rural Alaska, with the love of her life than spend every waking hour being a professional figure skater, was not a woman to be underestimated. She chose a life where she felt most at home, not a life where she had to put fourteen hours a week of ice time, two lessons a week with the choreographer, two lessons a week with the spin coach, two days of off-ice classes, three days of ballet, and any spare time left video analysing her jump positions…

Home was where her Wolfe was.

Not because she couldn’t take care of herself. Not because she needed him. Not because he ‘changed’ what she thought she’d do for the rest of her life, because if there was anyone who stuck to their guns, it was this 4’8” (her height might be the most prominent feature on her) young adult nicknamed ‘Izzy’. He made her happy and happiness was really all that mattered in life - so she would build a future with him, using all her other skills. Yeah, as much as Isabel loved ice skating and did it most of her life, she knew she was more than just an athlete. She was a strong, independent, confident, and intellectual woman. There was more going for her than her childhood hobby. If one absolutely needed to know what they were doing, currently, both Wolfe and Izzy were in the process of starting their own business. A dog orphanage.

“I do not talk a lot. I talk enough.” The tiny brunette immediately showed her colors of being a fiery counselor, not afraid to voice her opinion. Looking up from her clipboard, her dark void of eyes, unsympathetically scanning the campers’ faces, Izzy checked off their names on the list, but kept her attention on them, “Jayce and Remy-boy will be getting the rest of the lot.” she informed her roomie, and partner-in-crime, for the whole summer. Unfortunately, Isabel was a woman with a resting bitch face, so even if she generally did care about the kids she was responsible for, for ten weeks, she did not look like she would react well if they made messes she had to clean up.

Motivation speech time… Isabel contemplated her next words, but decided to throw the emo-boy the torch to start them off, “Before you can explore the campgrounds, since today is more of a day to relax and meet people, tomorrow being the ‘official’ first day of camp, my boy, Jareth here, has a few things to say.” With her elbow, she nudged the darkly clad counselor and gave a pleasant smile - obviously having full intention of putting the spotlight on him.

“I do?” Jareth looked over at the she-devil with any eyebrow cocked. He didn’t. And neither did she, if she had so quickly thrown him under the bus. Did he look like the kind of guy that was good with inspirational speeches and rules? Hell no, quite the opposite. Honestly, he only agreed to this whole 10 weeks in the wilds thing because Remy had gotten wrapped up in it… and Jareth wasn’t about to spend a summer celibate before he went on the first tour with his band in the fall. There was that, and love, oh the things we do for love…

“Right, well, uhhh.” Jar stammered, trying to recall any of the things that Ash had prepped them with the past two weeks, his mind completely drawing a blank. Oh well, time to improvise, Jar-style. “This is the Jack of Clubs cabin, welcome. It’s the dankest of all the cabins because one, black is the best color, and two, you have the raddest group of counselors. Seriously, Troy could kill a man with his bare hands, and that's both terrifying and awesome, and definitely the kind of person that you want on your team for competitive shit - which there will be, so I hope you’re good at sports, because I like to win. You look like you are,” Jar said, gesturing at Silas with his finger.

“You know it, man.”

“Great! What else is important… uhh.” He looked up with sudden recollection in his crystal blue eyes. “Ah! Breakfast is at 7:30AM sharp, so be up early enough to eat, or you won’t until lunch, which is at 11:30 everyday. Meal times are always scheduled, and the kitchen doesn’t stay open all day, so don’t starve yourself by sleeping in. And… if you get hurt, we got a nurse that stays in the same place as Ash. Main office. That being said, try not to die. No swimming alone or without a counselor around, because that’s one way to die and, like I just said, we don’t want that.”

Jareth looked over to Isabel now and smirked smugly. “That’s about all I got, you’re up, Partner”

Naturally, Isabel was prepared, even if she bought herself some time using Jareth, because she knew it would be hilarious. Knowing Jareth had fast reflexes, she tossed the clipboard for him to catch, then she approached the two campers. Just her and her tiny self. “He ain’t lying when he says we’re competitive. The only two that aren’t as… fit here, I suppose, are counselors, Jude and Remy. The rest of us, though? Yeah, we want to kick ass. Our biggest competition being the Hearts, because they have both Connor and Ender. Those two together, are a 12 man football team. The Sports Tourney and the Obstacle Course, watch, we’re going to rock it. Even if it means waking up 5 in the morning and going for a run.” Okay, she wasn’t really motivating them… Izzy was more showing her threatening competitive side.

Changing the subject, she smiled up at them, batting her eyes innocently, but really, this bitch gave off vicious vibes, “If you do anything stupid, don’t get it on our radar or worse, don’t let the director catch you. I honestly don’t care how you want to have fun, so long as you don’t fuck up our chances on winning the big competitions. Oh, and to emphasize Jareth’s point, don’t die. We can be friends, I’m nice when I want to be, but you’re also a liability. Work with us, and we’ll work with you. Get it? Got it? Good.”

Looking at the time, Isabel sighed, “Kay, do what you want. Report here at 8 PM so we can go to the Pit together. Mess Hall will be open all day today. Here.” She gave the two campers names tags, which also had emergency contact information behind them. It was just the main lines on the camp grounds, as well as the Clubs’ counselors cell numbers, even if service sucked and they’d have to find a good service area (chances were slim to none). “I forgot something at the main office, if you have anymore questions, Jareth can help you. Don’t stray too far away and check in throughout the day with any of the Club counselors, even better if you find me or Jareth. We have walkies since service here is god awful.” And with that, Izzy turned on her heel and exited the room. “Nice meeting you two.”

Once Isabel was out of sight and - more importantly - earshot, Jareth shrugged. “She’s something, right? Kinda prickly, but if you get either Julie or Wolfe on your side, she softens up a bit.” Jar ran a hand through his shaggy ebony locks, shaking his head to get the fringe out of his eyes. “So… do you actually have any questions?”

Casper wasn’t quite sure to make of what he had just listened to, spending most of the time in which they were speaking trying to figure out what it meant to be in the ‘dankest cabin’ instead of properly listening to what they had to say. He decided in the end it was probably a good thing. His attention was quickly drawn from unfamiliar vocabulary, however, when he heard talk of competitions. He’d had plenty of that already, or rather, he’d already spent most of his time during previous summer camps trying to avoid competition. 7:30am for breakfast, not good. Potentially being woken up at 5am to go on a run, not good. Having counselors determined to win a sports tourney and obstacle course, not good. No, this was not good at all.

Clearing his throat gently, and feeling a bit more confident now that the, in his mind, more aggressive counselor of the two had left, he asked, “...what if we don’t like competitions?” Pausing for a moment, he added on to his question, “..or getting up early in the morning..”