12Summer Of Secrets
Prologue
It was a sweltering hot summer day for the residents of Toronto, the weatherman noting in the provincial newspaper that it would continue to rise and fluctuate into thirty Celsius or higher over the course of June and July. Luckily for the parents, they would soon return to their vans and SUVs with the air conditioning blasting, but unfortunately, for the kids, they would not be getting any kind of air conditioning at their future destination, which left them in a rather grouchy mood.
"Come on kiddies and board your buses!" At the source of the noise, many teenagers found a tall bald man holding a bright blue bullhorn. He appeared to be into his late fifties, wearing the white Camp Freedom staff shirt and a pair of bright green shorts that was dangerously entering the realm of neon-esque colours. Even though he appeared to be a casual and sociable person, standing there between buses number four and five with the beating sun shining down on his bald and sweaty head, he looked like the director of a teenage camp. Which was why no one was bothering to hang onto every single one of his words like they were clinging to a life raft in shark-infested seas. "We're already ten minutes late you know!" He added scarcely.
The eight buses that were lined up in a near-perfect row all honked simultaneously, alerting the parents and the teenagers.
"Ugh, D looks the same as usual." A tall blonde-haired boy chortled. "At least he didn't wear a wig."
"That's him? Really?" A girl asked incredulously. "He doesn't look so bad..." She sighed, taking a bright yellow hair elastic and used it to secure her long blonde hair. She hoisted her red backpack onto her shoulders and nearly buckled under the weight.
"Trust me, when he's popping in your cabin from time to time and raiding it for alcohol and cigs, it's annoying." The blonde-haired teenage boy whispered in her ear, away from the parents.
"Riley!" The girl gasped, taking in a huge breath. "Are you serious?" She asked curiously.
"Shh, yes Roxy. I am serious." Riley replied, taking a hand and raking it through his sandy-blonde hair. "Now, be a good little sister and don't get into trouble this summer."
"As if!" She scoffed loudly, attracting the attention of their parents.
"He's right honey," her mom cajoled. "We've already talked about this, I'm sure you don't need constant reminding from us." She added carefully, glancing to her ex-husband.
"Well, this is the last opportunity for you Roxanne. If you get kicked or sent home for any reason whatsoever again, it's military camp for you for the rest of your teenage years." The kids' father noted sternly.
"Dad, I told you-" Roxy started, but her father held up a hand in disapproval.
"Now is not the time nor is it the place to dredge up the past. What's happened has happened, and there's nothing you can do to change it. So please, can we get this over with? I have a meeting at three." He interrupted rather rudely.
"Gosh, someone's got a stick so far up their a-" Roxy and Riley's mother began, before they shouted in disapproval.
"Hey, you guys divorced because you can't learn to compromise," Riley interjected, pointing out the sole reason for the newfound happiness in their dysfunctional household was because of their recent annulment. "Then you two decided to stay in touch more closely than most divorced couples do, just for the sake of me and Roxy. So do you think you could zip your mouths shut for like, ten minutes, until we get on the bus?"
"Riley, chill." Roxy whispered in his ear. Thankfully, due to the frenzy of teenagers wanting to get away from their overly annoying parents, they boarded the buses with loud clattering noises as the carry-ons went into the storage compartments near the bottom of the travelling buses. Parents were still hauling what were clearly heavy duffle bags into the truck, some not happy about their child's overbearing ability to packing excessively and ignoring the suggested amounts that were recorded on the camping website.
Riley's smile grew wider with his tongue sticking out in annoyance towards his younger sibling and wagged it at her.
"You better be careful or I'll yank that tongue off and feed it to the wolves." Roxanne threatened.
Riley's smile suddenly disappeared faster than the first batch of potato chips that came fresh out of the grocery bag every Saturday morning in their home. "Jeez Roxy, that's scary."
"Hmm... I got bored in the car on the way here. What was I supposed to do? I had some fun thinking up of entertaining things." Roxy quipped. "Besides, that's nothing compared to the other schemes I've thought up of."
"Okay, erm... you guy should get on the bus now." Their father replied haltingly, subtly pushing them towards the second bus from the right.
"Bye mom and dad!" Roxanne quickly said, leaning in to kiss her parents on their cheeks. "I'll email you?"
"Sure." Their dad nodded, readjusting the Blue Jays baseball cap he was wearing. "Take care kids." He added, giving both Riley and Roxanne a hug and then heading off to his car. Their mom was still rooted to the ground and had a forlorn expression on her face. Her eyes, however, looked like they were on the verge of tearing.
"I love you both. Have a great summer." Their mom sniffled, hugging both of them at the same time, squeezing tightly unbeknownst to their complaints. "Roxy, be a good girl this summer for us, won't you?" She added hesitantly.
Roxy nodded. Riley shot her a skeptical look and snorted quietly. She hushed him with her fingers pressed over his mouth rather hard. The two teens waved goodbye to their mother and boarded the bus together. Roxy sat down by herself and Riley went to join with his friends near the back of the bus.
She pulled out her iPod and scrolled to Playlists. She selected 'Long Vehicle Trips' and leaned back into the armrest to relax as the first song of the customized playlist began playing.
"Excuse me?" A loudly but apprehensive voice asked, trying to be heard over Roxanne's headphones. Roxy turned around and took the headphones off and paused the iPod out of habit. She glanced at the teenage girl standing before her – with her long choppy black hair streaked with fuchsia, and her front bangs covering almost over one of her eyes completely, coloured in a deep purple. She was wearing a top Roxy thought looked cute and a pair of pants that she most definitely thought was bought from an indie-goth store. A silver stud glinted in the sunlight on her nose, and several miscellaneous earrings sat in both of her ears, each one of them its own unique individual with no matching pair on the other side.
"Yeah?" Roxy replied politely. Roxanne assumed to herself that the girl would think straight off that she was some sort of jock, considering that she was wearing a pair of white track shorts with a red tank top and a navy blue tracksuit sweater tied around her waist.
"I was wondering if it would be cool if I could sit next to you, considering that almost every seat is full?" The girl asked.
"Sure." Roxy smiled, letting the girl take the aisle seat since she was already sitting in the window seat. "I'm Roxy."
"I'm Evans. Your name is really cool." The black-haired yet colourfully streaked girl replied.
"It's actually Roxanne, but it sounds really old-fashioned so I just shorten it to Roxy. Yours is quite eccentric too." Roxy quipped, her finger holding the iPod play button down to shut it off. She hated wasting its precious battery life.
"It's actually Evangeline," Evans quoted Roxy. "But, like you, I shortened it to Evans after people kept spelling and pronouncing it incorrectly." She added, laughing softly.
The two swapped family stories for the rest of the bus ride, and it wasn't until Roxanne mentioned that she had an older brother here that Evans started getting interested.
"He's a complete dork back at home, but I doubt he acts like that at camp." Roxy muttered, noting her brother's unpopular side. "But he's completely clueless around girls and that's what I'm looking forward to seeing at camp the most especially."
"Oh really?" Evans chuckled. She flipped her black hair aside and turned to face Roxy. "What's his name? I bet I've seen him around last year."
"Riley Hayden?" Roxy answered, glancing out the window and noting the change in scenery. It was all concrete roads and asymmetrical brick fences, with the occasional tree climbing over the fence every couple of miles now and then. The bus was riding in the middle lane, between two large trucks that rumbled every five seconds.
Evans burst out laughing, her black hair spilling all over her shoulders. "Riley? Are you kidding me, him a dork?" She asked incredulously. "He's one of the biggest players I've met. But he isn't as much of a tool as Ace is though."
"What?" Roxy breathed out, speechless at this sudden revelation that her brother might've lied to her. As if that didn't make any matters worse, the fact that there were more players who were bigger tools at her camp wasn't surprising but still intimidated her. Egoistical tools were a factor in the big expulsion she got from the last two camps she tried last year.
"Well, I guess you'll find out sooner or later. But that's really funny, him being a dork. I wouldn't know which one was the real Riley, but the Riley I know always has a girl draped over him at all the dances he goes to." Evans added, making Roxy's stomach plummet.
Roxanne lurched forward out of her seat and glanced behind her. She could make out her brother all the way in the back, sitting with two other guys his age and laughing raucously with them.
"Excuse me for a second please," Roxanne replied politely, squishing her legs between the seats in front and Evans' legs, trying to get out and into the aisle. She slowly walked forward, using a hand on the seats as she moved to keep her balance on the moving bus, until she reached the back. "Riley, can I talk to you?" She smiled mischievously as she asked him.
"No." Riley drawled much to his displeasure as he looked up and saw his sister. "Leave me alone, go away." He added, his voice sounding unwelcome. He lowered his head back down and started rummaging through his black backpack for something, his blond hair hanging over his eyes.
"No." Roxy countered, mimicking her brother's tone. "Since when did you become a player?" She asked softly, careful not to let the whole bus hear them. Riley glanced up and stared at her intensively.
He opened his mouth to begin speaking in what could've been a threat or a lie, but the guy sitting next to him smiled and began speaking. "Riley! You didn't tell me you knew this... beautiful woman." The dark-haired boy replied in a dashing tone, his green eyes drinking in Roxy. Riley frowned at his friend's predicable behavior and grunted.
"Guys, meet... my little sister Roxy." Riley added in a dreadful tone. "She's in our unit. First time at camp and so far, already making my life more miserable."
"I'm not little!" Roxy defended herself in front of the row of handsomely egoistical guys. "Just by one minute, that's it. So, who are you?" She added, looking to the dark-haired boy.
"I'm Zac." The dark-haired boy replied. Now that Roxy was standing close to these boys, she could tell the distinctive differences between the two guys. Zac, as he called himself, was slightly shorter than the other boy, and appeared to be more mature. His hair was slightly raised in the middle, creating some sort of a faux-mini-Mohawk 'do, giving some rebellious attitude to his overall appearance. But then again, Roxy didn't judge based on appearances, now that Evans had proved her wrong.
"I'm Ace." The light-haired boy sitting on Riley's other side spoke up. "Also known as Horace. But I'd prefer it if you called me Ace, beautiful." He spoke clearly, winking at her.
"Um, thanks?" Roxy chuckled quietly.
"And Sis, they live in the same cabin as me, to answer your burning question." Riley spoke mockingly. "Feel free to drop by."
"It's a palace." Ace chuckled, elbowing Riley in the arm. "But it gets lonely sometimes."
"Not with his female visitors," Zac coughed. "There are some days where we have to kick the poor girl out at three in the morning because we have to get some sleep. All that moaning and groaning is nice to hear, but we'd rather be hearing than deaf..."
Roxy blushed at this open display of sexual innuendos. 'Ok, that's just really nasty.' She thought to herself, as the image of the Karma Sutra floated into her head. She shook her head and tried to regain her composure. "Lovely." She muttered under her breath. "Well, Riley, I look forward to seeing the real you this summer." And with those last words, Roxy headed back down the aisle to her seat next to Evans.
"Dude, your sister is hot." Ace noted quietly, eying Roxy from the back. Riley turned towards him and shook his head in disapproval.
"Ignore him. Wait until we get there and he'll be picking up another poor girl at dinner." Zac scoffed, putting on earphones.
"Dude," Riley began, waiting for Ace to turn and face him. "She's my sister." He added protectively.
"So?" Ace shrugged, putting on his earphones too. Riley took the silent cue and put his earphones on as well, while the other two boys began listening to their iPods.
One and a half hour later, the buses slowed down and the scenery was suddenly startling. Nothing but fields of grass, with the occasional barn in the far background and a dirt road stretching endlessly on for miles could be seen. The kids clamored until a very large and prominent sign came into view: 'Welcome to Camp Freedom' with the words "MAIN ENTRANCE" written beneath it in bright red paint. Next to the sign was a smaller one stuck on a picket driven into the ground with a dark black background on it. Written in starkly white letters were the words: "Trespassers are prohibited. Visitors please go to office." Someone had jokingly drawn with white paint in what appeared to be a very sloppy skull with crossbones to only allude to the empty threat on the sign.
"Lookie, we're here." Zac sighed happily, taking his earphones out of his ear. "You guys stoked?"
"Sure, the bikini-clad women has been a number-one feature of Camp F'ing Freedom I've been looking forward to." Ace snickered. "That and their fine legs."
"We going to do that fraternity-thing again?" Riley asked quietly, making sure that his voice was only heard among the three of them.
"Shh." Zac added quickly. "I brought what you asked for Ace. But you're not going to make... I mean, I've heard of something with those two ingredients, but it's not that, is it?" He spoke softly, eyebrows scrunched up in worry.
"Trust me dudes," Ace murmured, wrapping his arms around both of his friends' shoulders. "We're in for a fun night tonight!" He added enthusiastically. The two boys groaned in agony.
"It's a good thing I packed a container of Pepto-Bismol and a small box of Tum-Tums as well. We're in for one hell of a night." Zac muttered disappointedly. "You owe me thirty bucks by the way." He added optimistically.
Ace opened his mouth to probably protest against giving up even more money, the bus lurched to the sides dangerously as it veered hard left and rattled viciously over the potholes. The bus driver seemed to pay no mind to the exclaims made by the kids as he drove over more uneven roads and turned hard left again, entering the camp.
Roxanne took in the sights of the camp. She saw cabins sitting upon the greenest grass she'd ever seen, littered everywhere. A hockey rink flashed by in the corner of her eyesight, and a tall initiative-team ropes platform was erected on the left field, with four of the largest and tallest pillars she'd ever seen surrounding it. It looked like a fun ropes course to try, if you were brave enough to climb that high.
"Oh no..." Evans groaned in annoyance, glancing out the window to Roxy's right. There was a building that looked like an outdoor patio deck, except it was much larger and grander. There were ropes marking a box with a path to go inside the marked area. Outside the marked area and scattered were some young adults looking to be 20 or less than 30 years old. Standing on top of the deck was the camp owner, except a green hat with the camp name blazoned on it was covering his bald head, and a microphone was clutched tightly in his hand.
"Welcome, welcome!" His loud voice boomed, leaking inside the buses in which the kids could hear his grating voice. The doors opened and everyone took their backpacks and toolboxes with them, pouring out of the buses. The storage doors on the sides of the buses were opened roughly and things were passed out; guitar cases, hockey sticks and pillows emptied out of the storage area quickly.
"Gather round here, and welcome to the first afternoon of camp!" The camp owner announced, gesturing all the kids coming off the bus into the marked area. Most of them sat down, chattering and mingling with each other. Some stood off to the sides, trying to act mysterious or trying to attract more attention to themselves. "Welcome to Camp Freedom, where we guarantee no parents and no nagging, but within reasonable rules and safety restrictions!" The owner boasted loudly.
"Here comes his second wind," Riley muttered into Roxanne's ear, who looked at him with a deathly glare. "He looks really pumped up this summer."
"My name is Dean Sloanett, but please, don't call me that stuffy name. I'd prefer D, or Dean, or just D-man, whichever you want." He chuckled, his voice the only sound being heard in the area. The kids either snickered or muffled their annoyance and continued on pretending to listen to him. Unbeknownst to Dean, his words were falling on deaf ears. "Anyways, I'll be calling up units at a time. You should remember your units from the letters we mailed to you previously, so when you hear your unit being called, please join yourself to the appropriate unit head and introduce yourself. Dinner's at six in the evening, sharp. See you there!"
"What unit are we in again?" Roxanne whispered to her brother as Dean called out "preteeners" loudly into the microphone.
"Seniors, it's not that hard to remember." Riley replied darkly, his voice barely heard over the chattering. Several minutes later, the only kids that were left including Roxanne and her older brother by one minute were in their age group.
Dean chuckled and cleared his throat. "Well, you're the last unit left; Seniors. But please be wary, I've chosen a well-experienced unit head to tackle on the most difficult and toughest unit. Please give a warm round of applause to... Joseph Glowinsky!"
Riley groaned, but what was more alarming was the volume of groaning that came from the other kids sitting on the grass. Roxy followed their gazes and looked over her shoulder to see a man in his near thirties, wearing silver-framed sport sunglasses with blue lens. He had a white tank top on, blue gym shorts with the hairiest legs both Roxy and Riley had ever seen, his feet in Birkenstocks and a cowboy hat that was perched on top his head. "Hello!" Was his cheerful response to the sudden attention.
Everyone got up, some boys lagging behind slower than usual with the heavy carry load of guitar cases and hockey bags.
"Your cabins are up that hill," Joseph announced bluntly, pointing to two cabins that looked so tiny in the distance. "Yes, you live that far. No, you're not allowed to bunk with girls and vice versa. Horace & Amber, you decide which gender gets which cabin. Meeting at the firepit outside the cabins in half an hour. Don't be late." He added loudly, nodding and then promptly walked out of sight.
The "senior" unit walked together in a large cluster down the dirt road to their cabins. When they arrived, the cluster split into a group of boys and a group of girls. But no one dared to move to a cabin yet.
"Why aren't we moving?" Roxy asked nervously, her voice wavering in the air.
"Oh, you're new." Evans chuckled, moving closer to where Roxy was standing. "Excuse me!" She shouted loudly to a girl next to her, bumping the toolbox into the poor girl's arm.
"Ouch, bitch." The girl muttered, sending Evans a glare worthy of the devil himself. Evans smiled politely and resumed walking towards Roxy.
"Anyways, there's always a fight over who gets to pick the cabin first. Since Amber and Ace are kind of the unofficial representatives around here, they do a little battle-off. Winner gets first pick." Evans explained. "Knowing them, they've probably already decided in their heads that V4 is the best one. V3 is alright, but the showers are leaky and the main room is a little bit smaller." Evans added, quietly speaking to Roxy.
Suddenly, all the whispers and chattering slowed down to a dead silence. Someone coughed as a red-haired girl from the group of girls stepped forward towards the group of boys. Her long auburn-fire red hair glowered in the afternoon light and as the wind picked up, swirled around behind her. The boy who Roxy recognized as Ace from the bus ride earlier that day stepped forward and nodded to the girl.
"Amber, I trust we're not doing rock-paper-scissors again after you claimed it was flawed last summer?" Ace spoke calmly, shooting her a skeptical glance.
"You're very much right Horace," Amber's cool voice replied. "Instead, I thought we would do something more fun-" Her tone shifted from serious to a dark playfulness.
"Wait, wait." Ace interrupted. "It's too early for extremes, you know? Plus Joseph will bring his ass around here soon enough."
"Fine. Then I don't really have anything that's below extremes." Amber shrugged nonchalantly. "You got any ideas?"
"Other than a decathlon tournament?" Ace shrugged as well. "No."
"I have an idea," Roxy suddenly said, startling Evans. Everyone turned to her and waited with bated breath to hear what she would say. "I'll pick a number from one to twenty. You just pick one and whoever's closest without going over wins. Like The Price Is Right."
"Fine. Amber, you cool with that?" Ace nodded, turning to Amber.
"Ok." Amber smiled briefly and squinted her eyes at Roxy. "Do you have your number?"
"Let me think..." Roxy started. 'I should do a really obvious one, like zero or twenty. But I said one, so that's cheating. Twenty's too easy because you can't go over it. So... 13 seems good. Unlucky, but tricky.' Roxy thought to herself. "Okay. Now, I'll tell someone... Evans! So that I'm not cheating."
Evans came over to Roxy and Roxy whispered in the lowest tone, "thirteen" and looked to the two leaders. "Ready whenever you are." Evans nodded.
"Twelve." Amber noted carefully.
"Seven." Ace replied.
"Amber wins. The number was thirteen." Roxy announced, followed by cheering from the girls.
"Let's go inside girls!" Amber laughed, brimming with triumphant happiness. "Good try." She muttered as she passed by Horace.
He turned around to counter her half-empty thanks, but she was gone before he could get a word in. "That bitch." He muttered under his breath, flashing a weak smile to the guys as he walked towards V3.
"Why do the cabin numbers have V's next to them?" Roxy asked Evans as they made their way towards V4.
"It's a village. Or something like that. The numbers were getting too close to the 50's so the camp wanted to separate it for the Seniors, make it more official and stuff." Evans shrugged nonchalantly as she climbed up the stairs and stepped over the threshold as the door opened.
"Oh... my... god!" A girl squealed behind Roxy as they all squished into the cabin. "It's fucking huge!"
That didn't even do the cabin justice. It was a "palace" like Ace said, and truly fitting for royalty, or at least the oldest unit at camp. There were only windows at the front of the cabin, covered with forest-green fabric that passed off as a cheap intimidation of a curtain and was brimming with a school year of dust. There were five wooden bunk beds on each side of the room, all laid next to the walls and leaving a huge space in the middle of the room. The floors were a dark wood stain, the varnish barely there anymore.
Roxy looked up at the ceiling and saw four large beams intersecting with each other from each wall, supporting what appeared to be a high roof. Roxy wanted to continue looking further down into the cabin, but Amber cleared her throat rather loudly.
"So girls, we have a very strict policy about bottom bunks and first pickers. Being here many summers, I know what it's like to want a bottom bunk, or to get the best bunk in the cabin, but we need to settle this in a fair manner. I don't want to have another disaster like last summer's, so please, listen very carefully." Amber spoke calmly. "If you want a top bunk, go claim it now."
Only nine girls moved. Out of 19 girls, it was an improvement over last year, but it drastically changed the situation for Amber. She coolly thought it out and decided a plan B.
"Okay, so here's how bottom bunk claiming will work. You'll go to the bunk you want and if there is more than one person vying for the same bottom bunk, I'll come around and do a draw. Depending on how many empty bottom bunks are left, we may or may not do a draw with numbers to determine preference order." Amber explained. "So, please go to the bunk you would prefer having now." She added.
All the girls scrambled and much to Amber's pleasure, there were only two groups of girls that wanted the same bottom bunk. She sighed and approached the first group. She wrote their names on a scrap piece of paper she pulled out from her pocket and a pen she borrowed from one of the girls, folded them and dropped them into a small egg-shaped container that could be opened and closed by pulling or pushing the two separate lids together. She shook it vigorously and closed her eyes. She drew out a name and announced the winner of that particular bottom bunk.
The second girl was obviously disappointed, but amber told her to follow her. The second group, however, Amber found herself face to face with the new girl, Roxy. She put both Roxy and the second girl's names on separate papers and dropped them into the egg-shaped container and shook it once again. She pulled out the paper and announced that Roxy won the draw and the bottom bunk. The second girl in the second group was even more disappointed and made no effort to hide her displeasure from Roxy. Amber turned around to face the two girls who lost the draw and smiled at them.
"Well, since it's only two of you, this should be easy. The available bottom bunks are, obviously, either the one near the door or the one near the big light in the bathroom. Both may look like unappealing spots, but I'll let you in on a little secret – the bed behind the door is perfect for privacy and gives you more time to hide boys in emergencies. The one by the light, well, it's good if you like to stay up late and write or read. You save batteries on your flashlights." Amber explained further, trying to make these two spots sound more special.
The two girls looked at each other and murmured together. Amber obviously didn't have to be a peer mediator for this kind of thing, but she was surprised at how easy this process was becoming for her this summer. The two girls split and each respectfully took up the available bottom bunks, leaving Amber proud of her plan B. She went over to the bottom bunk her friend claimed for her and dumped her backpack on it. She sat down on the bed with a very satisfied sigh.
Victoria, one of the girls near Amber's bottom bunk bed, ripped out a bag of nut-free cashews and began eating nosily. Amber scrunched up her nose at this, but didn't pay any mind. Instead, she pulled out a very thick 1000-page notebook and started reading some of her notes to prepare for tonight.
Meanwhile, over at V3, the boys were completely the opposite of the girls'. Instead of peacefully settling the issue, there were yells and shouts as fights broke out.
"Hey! I'm taking this bottom bunk, screw off!" Riley shouted to one of the guys, pushing his bag off and sitting on the exposed plain mattress. The other guy, who was a short redhead, fumed silently as his face turned bright red, rivaling his hair color.
"Guys, I'll give you a cig if you can shut up and find a bed peacefully." Ace announced loudly enough for everyone to hear, but not too loud that people outside could hear. He was standing up and leaning against the frame of the wooden bunk bed, waiting for the guys to move. The guys scrambled and jumped to find a bed and tossed their bags over onto the mattress to claim it. Within five minutes, the noise level in the cabin had gone down dramatically.
"Thanks." Ace coughed, smiling. He tossed a pack of Marlboros onto the floor as the rest of the guys pounced on it and took one apiece. He turned around and walked further into the back, where the area split off into two rooms; one bathroom and one storeroom where rows of cubbies lined the walls for clothes to be stacked on. In a corner was a worn-down ratty couch that looked somewhat comfortable. Ace glanced at the window and took a step towards it. His eyes squinted as he saw across trees to the girls' bathroom window. Amber was checking herself in front of the wall-length mirror and flipped her straight auburn hair back over her shoulder.
"Damn that bitch." He muttered under his breath as he walked away. "This summer, she better stay away from me." He added, walking into the front room, feeling a bit more optimistic about the night that was soon to come.
A/N: New story! If you're new to my style of writing, I'll be posting author's notes/comments/important story-related stuff here. I'm really proud and excited for this one; even my word count on this chapter (over 5000) is remarkable, considering I haven't written that long, since my one-shots. That's saying something.
This is mainly a camp story. But it'll feel like a high school story, because it's got all the usual high school elements in it. Just to clarify, this is a teen camp, so you won't be finding any younger kids, except on one or two special days.
I also appreciate comments, reviews, suggestions, criticism, anything. Please just let me know how I'm doing. I look forward to writing this story and I hope you'll stick around to read all of it! Thanks!
- Brooke :3