It took me long enough, I know, but I now present to you the Welcome to Camp Hell rewrite. I hope you enjoy it!

My Summer at Camp Hell

Summer camp. Really?

I sat in the back seat of the car, alternating between staring out the window and glowering at the pamphlet in my hands. Welcome to Camp Hellson! it declared in cheery blue letters. Scowling, I held my thumb over the last three letters, changing the message to Welcome to Camp Hell. That was more like it.

"Mom, I'm going to be 17 in four months," I told her again. The last time I'd been to summer camp, I didn't even know what puberty was. Now my voice was almost done changing. What made her think I belonged in a summer camp?

"I know, dear," she said brightly. "According to the pamphlet, this session is for boys and girls from 14 to 16. Aren't you lucky?"

"Lucky?" I echoed. "No, I'm not lucky! I—"

"Oh, shut up. It's not like you have anything else to do this summer."

My mom stifled a laugh. "Claire!" she scolded. "That wasn't nice."

My 18-year-old sister, Claire, was in the driver's seat. I shut my mouth—she had a point. After the divorce, Mom wanted to move back closer to where she grew up, Brownsville. And so we came with her to Oakland, maybe 15 miles from Brownsville. Claire didn't care. Claire had already graduated and was going to be taking a year off from the school thing before heading to college. I was going into the tenth grade, though. I was going to start my freshman year in a new high school hundreds of miles away from anyone I knew. This bit.

"I know you don't want to go to camp, dear," Mom said, trying to look at me in the mirror on passenger side sun visor. "But try to make some friends. They might just be in class with you this fall."

I sighed and stared at the window. Fat chance. Who cared, anyway? It was just some stupid camp...

If the drive from the new house was any indication, Camp Hell was out in the middle of nowhere. Forget cities, this place was like fifteen miles away from any civilization. The last thing I'd seen had been a run-down looking mom-and-pop gas station at the edge of a town that looked like it had maybe five people living in it. What the hell was I getting into?

Claire drove under a big wooden archway with the words Camp Hellson carved at the top. I let my head fall against the window with an audible thunk. I was going to be here for a whole month.

I stared out the window at the trees going by. Between the trunks, I thought I caught the occasional glimpse of a building, but I couldn't be sure. All too soon, the trees receded somewhat, and the car was pulling to a stop along with a few others.

"Here we are, dear!" Mom called brightly, turning back to look at me with a smile. "Try to cheer up. You're going to have fun. I promise!"

No I wouldn't. I climbed out of the car anyway, though. It wasn't bad enough that we'd moved away from all of my friends, but now I was going to spend a month off in the woods. No phones, no air conditioning, no computers, no TV, no games. Just "good, wholesome fun", as my mom kept putting it. What did I care about braiding lanyards, or whatever you did at this place? But it didn't matter what I said. We were here, Mom had paid the money, and that's all there was to it.

"Hey, get your stuff!" Clare ordered after she'd opened the trunk.

"Not going to help?" I asked sarcastically, reaching in to get my duffle.

"Travis, I'm going to go get you signed in, okay?" That was Mom.

"Okay, I'll be right there." I waited until she'd started to walk off before groaning loudly.

"Come on. It's not going to be that bad." Clare sounded surprisingly caring. "Make some friends. Have fun."

"Yeah, I'll try." I shifted from one foot to another, hesitating. "Thanks, Clare."

"Don't mention it," she replied, grabbing my sleeping bag out of the trunk and shoving it in my arms. "Hurry up. You're being left behind."

I turned to look at Mom as she got farther away, heading toward a main building. "Man..." I sighed, starting off after her. Clare followed.

Mom waited for us by the doors, smiling broadly. "Oh, it's just like I remembered it," she said once we got close enough. "You're going to love it, Travis. I promise."

"Uh-huh..."

She pulled the door open and gestured inside. "Go ahead," she told me. I shuffled forward, balancing the large duffle and sleeping bag, and Clare reached forward to hold the door open as Mom followed me in.

Inside, there were two long rows of tables on either side of the large room. Mom nudged me toward the side where other boys were gathered. At the table, several people, who I'm assuming were counselors, were sitting holding rosters of campers. I automatically headed toward the "T-W" sign and stood behind another boy whose name was apparently Kyle Webber. After he was finished, he left and I stepped forward.

"Name?" the counselor sitting there asked with a smile, sounding way too happy already.

"Um, Travis Winters," I answered, not smiling back at him. That didn't faze him, though, and he started to flip through his roster. Finally, he found what he was looking for.

"Here we go," he said, drawing a line through my name. Then he turned and started digging through a cardboard box sitting beside him on the floor. "Okay, you're going to be in the Green Dog cabin," he told me as he pulled a couple of bright green shirts out of the box and handed them to me. I carefully took them with my one semi-free hand, then draped them over my other arm. "And here's your camp map," he continued, handing me something that looked a lot like the pamphlet I'd had in the car. "Welcome to Camp Hellson," he said. I thought of the blue letters on the pamphlet.

"Yeah, thanks." What else was I supposed to say? I turned around and walked back over to Mom and Clare. Mom looked excited, Clare looked both bored and amused. She usually did.

"So? What cabin are you in?" Mom asked eagerly, glancing down at the green shirts over my arm.

"Uh...Green Dog," I told her, shifting the things in my arms. My shoulder was starting to hurt from the weight of the duffel bag.

She clapped and smiled. "Oh, good! I was a Purple Swan."

I didn't really know what to say to her, but luckily Clare came to the rescue. "Hey, you should probably go on to your cabin," she said, opening the door and waiting for us to head back outside.

Mom's expression brightened even more, if that was possible. "Ooh, yeah! Do you want any help finding it?"

"Uh...no. I think I can handle it," I told her. It couldn't be that hard, right? Sure, I hadn't looked at the map yet, but that didn't matter.

Mom looked a little sad. "Okay, if you're sure." She stared at me for a moment before smiling again and hugging me suddenly. She'd surprised me, and I almost dropped my sleeping bag.

"Mom! Cut it out!"

She squeezed me a little harder before pulling back. "I'm going to miss you, kiddo." She reached up and ruffled my hair, something I couldn't remember her doing since I was ten years old. "Have fun, okay?" She was really getting worked up over this. I hadn't expected that...

"I will, Mom. Don't worry."

I think Mom would have stood there, watching with that happy-sad look on her face for another hour if Clare hadn't started to gently pull her toward the car.

"Travis is a big boy, Mom. He'll be okay," she said.

"I know, I know!" Mom insisted, trying to cheer herself up. She sighed, letting it all out before smiling genuinely. "Okay. Okay. Go on. Go have fun. Make friends!"

Clare pulled on Mom's arm again. "We're going now," she told her. "Bye, Travis."

I grinned, grateful. Mom could really drag out goodbyes. "Bye, Clare. Bye, Mom."

"Bye, sweetheart!" Mom called, waving as Clare led her away. "I love you!"

Then, finally, they were gone. Time to start looking for my stupid cabin.

I didn't wear a watch, so I didn't know for sure, but it felt like I'd been walking for half an hour already. I kept starting down one path, deciding it was the wrong one, then back tracking to the main building. The map wasn't any help. The heat was miserable, and I was getting really tired of carrying all of this crap. As I started down yet another path, all I could think of was sitting down and getting a drink of water. I know the look on my face had to be broadcasting my frustration, but it's not like I cared. I didn't even see any other people down this path... Probably the wrong one. Again.

Just when I was ready to give up and turn around again, I saw another boy coming down the path toward me. The urge to ask for directions was strong, but the embarrassment that would come from admitting that I couldn't read a stupid map wasn't appealing either. He made that decision for me, though.

"Hey," he called out to me as he got closer. "You need help finding your cabin?"

I hesitated before finally responding, reluctantly, "Yeah, I think so."

He seemed to take this easily enough. "Okay, I can do that," he told me. "What cabin are you in?"

"Uh...Green Dog," I told him, glancing down at the shirts still draped over my arm.

"Oh, that's cool. That's pretty close to my cabin. I'm in Blue Horse," he informed me, gesturing at the white silhouette of a galloping horse on his blue shirt. He turned and started back in the direction he'd come from. "Just follow me. You need help carrying any of that?"

"No, I'm good," I told him. It was bad enough that I had to get directions. I could carry my own stuff, even if my arms were starting to ache.

"Okay. Let's get going, then. Don't want to be late for the cookout." Then he started walking, a little faster than I'd expected.

"Cookout?" I asked curiously. I hadn't heard anything about a cookout. Hearing about it now, I was already starving.

"Yeah," he replied. "The welcome cookout. They always hold one on the first night down by the lake. It's pretty great."

"So you've been to Camp Hell...son before?" I'd almost called the place "Camp Hell," but caught myself. I didn't want to insult my guide accidentally. If he'd noticed the slip, he didn't mention it.

"Yeah. I've been coming every summer since I was like ten. I'm really going to miss it after this year." He looked over at me and smiled, a little bitterly. "This your first time here?" he asked, changing the subject. We came to a fork in the path, and he headed to the left. I followed.

"Yeah. I just moved down here this summer," I told him. This seemed to interest him.

"Oh, really? Where did you move from?" he asked.

I don't know why the question surprised me. I would've asked the same thing if someone had told me they'd moved recently. "Maryland," I told him.

"Oh, nice. I'm from...here." He laughed a little and shrugged. "Why did you move? Mind me asking?"

I didn't want to get too detailed, so I told him the truth, just leaving out a few parts. "My mom grew up around here. She just decided she missed it."

He snorted a little. "Missed it? This place? I can't wait to get out after I graduate."

I was kind of surprised by how blunt he was. I couldn't exactly blame him, though. I'd just moved here and I already wanted to get out.

"Anyway..." He sounded a little guilty. "There's your cabin."

I looked where he was pointing and saw what could really only be described as a cabin. It was rustic with the "log cabin" look and screens over the windows and door. I noted, disappointedly, that I didn't see an air conditioning unit. It didn't look very different from the other cabins nearby, but in front of mine there was a green flag with the white silhouette of what looked like a German Shepherd on it. Green Dog, then.

"Hey, thanks," I said. I could already imagine flopping down on a bed.

"No problem," he said brightly. "I'm Kieran, by the way," he added, holding a hand out. It was a challenge, but I managed to grab it and shake it.

"Travis." It was then that I finally lost control of all the stuff I'd been carrying and shifting around for the past half hour or so, and my sleeping bag escaped from my grasp and fell. Kieran leaned and caught it quickly, then stood and held it out to me. I was embarrassed, but he was grinning.

"You been carrying it for a while, huh?" he asked.

I reached out to take it from him, fingers accidentally brushing over his knuckles. I nodded in response to his question. "Yeah..."

He cleared his throat slightly and let his hands drop to his sides once I'd taken my sleeping bag back from him. "Well, it's getting late. Better go stow your stuff and get changed," he said, stepping back. "See you at the cookout!" He added with a grin and a small wave. Then he turned and headed back the way we'd come at a quicker pace than we'd taken. Were we really that late for this cookout thing? Maybe I should've asked someone for help sooner...

When I got inside my cabin, it was fairly empty. There were a couple of other guys in there, but it looked like everyone else had already dropped their stuff on a bed and had left.

"Oh, hey," one of them said. "We were wondering whose bed that was." I looked in the direction where he'd gestured and saw what seemed to be the only unclaimed bed. So that one was mine, then... Not even a top bunk. That sucked. I headed over to drop my stuff on it, anyway. Once I'd dropped the duffle, I gave in to the urge to rub my shoulder. How long had I been carrying that thing, anyway?

When I turned around, I noticed that the other two guys were changing into their green shirts. Guess I'd better follow suit... "So when is this cookout thing?" I asked as I pulled my shirt off over my head. I used it to mop the sweat off of my chest and back before reaching for one of my green shirts.

"In like...ten minutes or something," one of them answered. I was pretty sure he was the one who'd spoken before, but I was putting on my shirt and couldn't see, so I wasn't positive.

"Damn, really?" I asked, smoothing my hair down once I'd gotten my shirt on.

"Yeah," one guy confirmed. This wasn't the one who spoke first.

"So let's go," the other said, then made for the door. I couldn't think of anything I'd need to grab, so I followed.

We had jogged pretty much all the way to the lake, so my new shirt was already as sweat-drenched as my last one. I hoped we weren't expected to wear these same shirts the entire time we were at camp, because that would get really disgusting really quickly.

Crowded around the water's edge was a sea of rainbow-colored shirts. Most of the colors were sticking together, but I could see a few small multi-colored groups, including Kieran and a girl whose burgundy-colored hair clashed with her bright orange shirt. The two guys from my cabin, Chris and Eric, immediately headed to the crowd of green shirts, but I hung back to talk to Kieran.

"Hey," I said as I walked up to him.

He and the girl both turned to look at me, and he grinned when he recognized me. "Oh, hey. Travis, right? You made it, that's great."

"Yeah," I replied. "Thanks again, by the way."

"Nah, it's no problem," he assured me.

"So, who's this, Kier?" the girl asked, latching onto Kieran's arm. "You going to introduce me?" She seemed kind of hyper, but not bad.

"Yeah, yeah." Kieran laughed a little bit. "Travis, this is Rez. Rez, Travis."

"Nice to meet you," I said automatically, sticking my hand out for a handshake.

"You're cute," she replied with a grin, taking my hand and shaking it vigorously.

I blushed at the compliment. "Uh, thanks." From their body language, I guessed she was Kieran's girlfriend, but he didn't seem bothered by the way she was looking at me right now. She finally let go of my hand, and I stuck it awkwardly in my pocket.

"I haven't seen you here before," she continued, still hanging on Kieran. He didn't seem to mind, though. Definitely his girlfriend. "Is this your first year here?"

"Yeah," I told her, resting back on my heels. "I just moved down here this summer."

She wrinkled her nose cutely and stuck her tongue out. "You should move back," she told me. At this, Kieran was shocked. I was a little insulted, too.

"Rez!" he shouted, pulling away from her and staring incredulously.

"What!?" she shouted back. She grinned and rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean it like that. Just wherever he moved from is probably better than here."

"You've got a point..." Kieran admitted slowly. He glanced over at me an grinned uneasily.

"You'll have to excuse her. She doesn't have a filter between her brain and her mouth."

Rez swatted his shoulder playfully. "As if there's anything wrong with that!" They were obviously close...

Kieran had his mouth open to say something else, but he was cut off when some people, I'm guessing they were counselors, started calling for everyone to join their cabins.

"Green Dogs over here!" "Blue Horses!" "Purple Swans, this way!" "Orange Rabbits!"

"Well, that's us," Kieran said with an apologetic smile. He stuck his hand out. "So we'll see you later?"

I grinned back at him and took the offered hand, shaking it. "Yeah, definitely." I could have been imagining it, but it felt like he gave my hand a slight squeeze before letting go.

"Later, Travis!" He gave me a little wave as Rez started dragging him off. I waved back, then turned away, heading toward the group of green shirts.

We were kept in our cabin groups for the rest of the night. It wasn't that bad; it meant I got a chance to get to know the guys I'd be living with for the next couple of weeks a little better. I just didn't get a chance to say anything else to my friends.

Friends? Did I already think of them that way? Mom would definitely be proud of me.

Most of the guys in the cabin seemed to already know each other. They'd been to camp together before or went to school with one another, so I couldn't help but feel a little left out while they all laughed and cut up with each other. I learned their names, at least.

Eric and Chris, the two guys I'd met before, were best friends. Eric was tall and built like a football player. His blonde hair, considerably darker than mine, was kind of long for a guy, and he had it pulled into a ponytail. It looked kind of goofy, but I couldn't blame him. It was hot out here, and most of us were drenched in sweat. Long hair could only make it worse. Chris was a little guy, a little shorter than I was. He had a dark tan and short, curly black hair. He had a kind of annoying laugh, but I wasn't going to say anything.

The other guys, or at least the ones whose names I could remember, were Jared, Allen, David, Shawn, Brandon, and Andy. The counselor, a college student, was John, seemed cool enough. He made lots of video game references when he talked, and I didn't always get them, but that was all right. I don't think anyone else did, either.

"Look, I know the rules say no phones or anything like that," he was telling us between bites of his hamburger, "but I'm not going to say anything if you use them in the cabin. Just don't use them outside, all right? If you get caught, I get in trouble."

Lucky for me, my mom was taking the whole thing very seriously and hadn't let me even bring my phone. So I wouldn't have to worry about that.

"But yeah, I've got your schedules back in the cabin. You've got some free time, so it's not like all your time is planned out. If you've got questions, just ask me or one of the other counselors." He held up his arm, drawing attention to his arm band. "We've all got these highlighter-green arm bands on. And we've got name tags, too, so you should be able to pick us out pretty easily."

While John kept giving his introduction spiel, I let my mind wander and looked over at the other groups. Near us, I could see red, yellow, and black shirts. On the other side of the black shirts was the group of blue shirts. I knew Kieran was there, but it was getting darker and I couldn't really pick him out from the crowd. I could see another group of guys with light-colored shirts on the other side of Kieran's group before the groups of girls started. It was too dark to really tell the colors apart well. Two of them looked light blue and two looked pink. I could see the purple group and the group I guessed was orange, where Kieran's hyper girlfriend was. I was already kind of looking forward to hanging out with them again.

Not much later, John was telling us it was time to head back to the cabin. After tossing our napkins and soda cans in the few trash cans that had been set up, we all followed him back to the cabin. I mostly kept quiet until one of the guys got my attention.

"Hey," he said, tapping my shoulder. "What's your name again?"

I glanced at him trying to remember who he was. I think it was Jared? "I'm Travis," I answered. Yeah, I was pretty sure it was Jared.

"Okay, cool. I'm Brandon," he told me. So much for that. "So are you new around here?"

"Uh, yeah. I just moved down here this summer." I was starting to lose track how many times I'd told someone this so far.

"Nice," he said. "Well, I hope you like it here."

I smiled a little. I think that was the first time I'd gotten that response. "Thanks. Me, too."

Once we were back in the cabin, John passed out our schedules and gave us a brief rundown of how things would work in the morning.

"Wake up is pretty early. We'll meet at the flagpole at 8:00 for a flag raising, then we've got breakfast until 9:00. I'll wake everyone up by 7:30, but you can get up earlier if you want time to shower."

7:30? Why were we on a school schedule in the summer?

"I'm not gonna tell you guys to go to sleep, but you're not gonna want to stay up much later." He glanced at his watch. "Well, that's my room right there." He jerked his thumb toward a door. "Uh...I'd tell you to come get me if you need me, but..." He laughed a little. "Don't wake me up unless one of you is dying or something, okay?"

After John went into his room, most of the guys headed to their beds to change clothes. Someone pulled out a deck of cards, and an impromptu poker game started.

"Travis!" It was Brandon. "Wanna play?"

I seriously considered it for a minute, but I finally decided against it. "Not this time," I told him. I still wasn't used to the time change, and I had gotten pretty tired.

"All right," he said, shrugging. "Maybe next time then."

The guys were kind of loud, but it didn't matter. Once I'd crawled into my sleeping bag and closed my eyes, I was out for the rest of the night.

Okay! So what did everyone think? It took way longer to get this up that I wanted, but I wanted it to be nice and long rather than short and crappy.

I'd got lots of things planned for later in the story (and also for the rewrite!), I just have to get to them first. The story's changed so much in my head since first writing it. I'm pretty excited about it, and I hope you'll stick with me for it.