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Approximately 108 Hours Remaining↞

"Goooood morning campers! Time to rise and shine! I do pride myself on being time so dearly, and it is currently 8 AM on the dot on this beautiful, sunny... Sunday, August 7th! The final week at camp... wow. As I'm sure you're all aware, campers are set to go home on Wednesday, so enjoy your final days! As for the canteen today--"

"Will you hurry it up already?"

"Aw, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Don't tell me you're getting tired of me, Cal?"

Calvin rolled his eyes, covering up the camp PA microphone. "Don't be an ass!"

He then uncovered the mic. "Ha, ha. Whatever you say. Anyway, campers, Nurse Penny is heading out today, so... don't get injured. And be sure to say your goodbyes. Tell her that you'll see her next year. Or that you won't."

"Dude."

"What? Me, Samuel, and Benny graduated last spring. I don't think they're coming back next year. And I'm definitely not."

"They might...! Besides, these announcements are supposed to be for the campers. They should all be coming back, yeah?"

Calvin Hansen and Jackson Wilkson had been running the announcements all summer. Really, it was shocking that Mr. Addison allowed it to continue all that time since distractions like these were far from uncommon.

"Anyway!" Jackson said. Anyway. Again. "That's all for today! Breakfast in half an hour!"

Jackson flipped the switch, shutting down the PA. 

"You didn't tell them, like... anything about today." Calvin crossed his arms over his chest.

"...Right. Well, neither did you! And... besides, there's only like 5 days left. They all know the drill by now."

"But how will they know what's for breakfast? The horror! Now they'll have to walk to the canteen and find out for themselves! You know those 14 year olds have no attention spans!"

"Like you have an attention span any better."

"I'm choosing to ignore that. Come on, I'm sure the gang is already waiting for us."

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"Those two really couldn't take any longer with those announcements, could they?"

"Go easy on them! The radio station is all the way across camp."

"Yeah, not everyone helps out in the cafeteria, Benny!"

"Damn, okay, okay, I get it!"

The canteen was quiet. Round tables with benches were scattered about the room, each seating anywhere from six to nine depending on how much someone was willing to squeeze. The campers would be filing in any moment now, but Indigo always appreciated the small moments of peace because Benny always let her and Lucy come inside early. Getting first pick of the tables to always claim their favorite spots, first pick of the food--pancakes with fresh blueberries for once. Yum. And of course having a moment to themselves, too...

"Aw, Indy, you've got syrup on your face...!" Lucy chirped. Lucy wasted no time before swiping her thumb sweetly along Indigo's cheek, then sticking her thumb into her mouth.

"Ew." Benny stuck out his tongue, faking a gag. "Get a room, you guys."

Indigo stuck out her tongue in return, lacing their fingers through Lucy's. Lucy squeezed.

The doors flung open.

"Ooh!" Lucy pulled her hand away. "I've got to go welcome Kiara, I'll be back!"

Lucy abandoned her plastic tray of half-eaten pancakes (Indigo would throw them away for her later), and skipped, yes skipped, her way over to the front door.

Indigo sighed dreamily, leaning on her hand against the table.

"Sooooooo, Indy, are you gonna tell her that you love her yet?"

"What? No! No way! It hasn't even been two months..."

Benny furrowed his eyebrows. "I told my girlfriend that I loved her after less time and we're still together."

"Oh, of course... your girlfriend back home. Who totally exists, hm?"

"Wh--? She does! She's real! I have her letters to prove it and--Hey! Stop--Stop changing the subject...! Right now, we're talking about you and Lucy, okay? I think it's obvious that she really likes you... I think you should tell her before the summer is over. You two have already kissed, haven't you?"

"Uhhhh... no. No, we have not."

Benny rolled his eyes. "Maybe you two are hopeless."

"We are not!"

"Then do it."

"Fine, I... I will. Wednesday night. When all the campers are gone. You'll see!"

Benny drank down the rest of his chocolate milk. "Yes... Yes we will."

Indigo scoffed, shaking her head and ruffling her curly brown hair. "So... how's your brother, then?"

"Well... Samuel's good. I think... I think hanging out with Millie all summer has been really good for him. He doesn't usually like kids so much..." Something else caught Benny's attention, and both of his hands shot into the air and began waving frantically. "Hey! Over here!"

Calvin and Jackson appeared, sliding into line to get their breakfast. They both waved back, and then Jackson proceeded to put Calvin into a headlock.

"We sit in the same place every day, Benny, you really don't need to show them where we are every time."

"I won't be held responsible if they get lost! They're... they're easily distractible, okay?"

"You got me there."

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Lucy held open the door to the canteen, waiting for Kiara's arrival. Kiara was very on time, so Lucy always expected her to be near the front of the line. What she was not expecting, though, was for Millie and Samuel to be right behind her.

Yeah, Millie and Samuel had barely separated all summer, but Lucy wasn't sure she'd seen either of them speak to Kiara one-on-one. Well, Kiara and Millie would be cute friends, Lucy thought. And Samuel could certainly...be there, too.

Lucy released her grip on the door as Kiara stepped through, letting the other campers open it for themselves. 

"Hey, Kiara! How are you this morning?" Lucy started to walk alongside Kiara, Millie, and Samuel. 

"Then, I told her that it's 'whom,' not 'who--' Hm?" Kiara turned her head around from her conversation and looked at Lucy. "Oh! Good morning, Lucy, I'm good..."

"That's nice to hear. I see you've made some new friends?"

"Yeah... Millie is nice to me. And Samuel's nice, too."

Millie's mouth spread into a wide smile, and Samuel held up both of his hands for a hand five, to which both Millie and Kiara obliged in return.

"Are you going to be joining us for breakfast, then, Lucy?" Kiara asked.

"Well... I already ate, but I'd be happy to sit and chat with you guys for a while!"

"You sure your posse isn't going to mind?" Samuel's eyes narrowed somewhat.

"Posse? I don't know if I would use that word, Samuel... My friends won't mind at all. Geez, Millie, you better keep him in check."

Lucy followed Kiara and her new friends through the breakfast line, and then they found a table together.

The conversation was small talk, mostly. Far from Lucy's strong suit, but she felt she managed. She knew everyone in the group the best (except maybe Samuel and Millie), so she was quick to spark a new conversation when one fizzled out She asked Millie about her experience with arts and crafts, Kiara about the book she was currently reading, and Samuel about what song he was learning to play on his guitar. That kept things from getting awkward until--

"Hey, I... I really hate to ask this, but... are you gonna eat that apple? You haven't touched it."

Samuel tilted his head, "I thought you said you already ate?"

Lucy blanched. "Uh--Yeah, I-I did but I just--Ugh, gosh, never mind. Forget I said anything."

It was at that moment that Samuel thought he might've fucked something up. "Hey, no, wait, I'm sorry, you can have it. I don't know why I said that."

"No, it's--it's fine." 

"Are you sure...? I'm... I'm not gonna eat it so you should probably just take it."

"...I think I'm just gonna go. See you guys around." Lucy was quick to stand up out of her seat and disappear into the crowd of campers in the cafeteria.

It was at that moment that Samuel knew he fucked something up.

"Fuck."

Samuel glanced at the two young girls seated around him, staring at him with their wide, impressionable eyes.

"Uh. I mean... Darn."

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In the janitor's closet located in the back of the kitchen, there was a hatch placed upon the ceiling, similar to one that might lead into an attic in a home. The janitor's closet was kept locked up tight. Mr. Addison was the only one with the key, tucked safely away within his office with absolutely no access to grumpy teenage summer camp counselors--unless there was some sort of mess to be cleaned, which there hardly was. Additionally, there was also a heavy padlock on the hatch. This extra protection was there to prevent any stupid teens from getting to the roof of the canteen where they could fall off and get injured, no exceptions. A safety precaution. Or a lawsuit prevention tactic.

However, there was little that could stop a teenage boy 3 days into summer camp with at least a dozen bobby pins and enough weed to give him a felony charge if he ever got caught with it.

(What? He'd had to pack in bulk for the whole summer.)

Cass and Michael preferred to stake their claim on the roof. Rather than fight for seats in the messy, noisy, smelly, whatever-y canteen, climbing up to the roof was a choice that neither of them had to think very hard about. Even if it meant skipping breakfast.

The roof was flat, and had a short ledge around the edge that was just tall enough that if someone laid down, they couldn't be seen from the ground.

It was the perfect place to hide out. Provided no one ever saw the smoke, of course. No one ever had in the entire time that they'd been hanging out, so they never considered it an issue.

Michael enjoyed laying next to each other in complete silence most of all. Once, he'd described to Cass that he enjoyed being alone, or being with people who made him feel like he was still alone. Cass guessed that he fell into that second category...?

Until he didn't. By going out of his way to get Michael's attention. Cass propped themself up on their elbows, looking over at Michael. "So... you wanna make out?"

"Wh-What?" Michael shot upwards, eyes going wide. "What--What do you--?"

Cass interrupted him by bursting into laughter, collapsing flat onto the roof again. "God, Mickey, I'm only messing with you... Are you really that repulsed by me, hm?"

"Repulsed? N-No, I--"

"If I were you, I'd choose my next words carefully, maybe."

Michael finally picked up on the joke. "Oh, stop it. I'm not repulsed."

Cass batted his eyelashes innocently. "Good! Because, you know... we've pretty much been indirectly kissing all summer."

Michael felt his heart jump into his throat. He swallowed hard. "Have--Have we? I... don't seem to recall."

"Uh, yeah? Only every time we smoke, Mickey. And speaking of...!" Cass immediately reached into the lapels of the black denim jacket he was always wearing (even in the 95+ degree weather), scouring the pockets lining the inside. They dug their hand through pocket after pocket, a seemingly endless number of pockets, with quiet mumbles of "no," "not that one," "gotta be here somewhere," and the like.

"You really have way too much stuff, I think, Cass."

"No, no, everything in here is very important and I need to have all of it on me at all times, okay?" Cass pulled out a handful of receipts that had to have been from before he even came to camp, crumpling them up and dropping them into his lap. "Besides. If even I can't find it, how is any cop ever gonna find it? It's foolproof."

Michael wasn't entirely sure about that, but he certainly didn't mind watching the focused look on Cass' face while they looked. Concentrating enough to almost make Michael believe this was the most important task in the world...

"Aha! Got it!"

Cass pulled a plastic bag out of one of their many pockets, revealing just a single neatly-rolled joint inside.

"Damn. I really only have one left. Well... No one better to share it with than you, right?"

Michael opened his mouth to respond as Cass opened the bag to smoke, but--

"Hey! What are you two kids doing up there?"

Cass shoved the bag back into his pocket--never to be seen again, most likely--as the roof hatch swung open.

"Oh, Mr. Addison, we--we were just..." Cass fumbled over his words somewhat, a rare occurrence for them. "You know, it's just been kind of a... long summer, can--Uh. We're both really sorry for disrespecting you, but... can you really blame us for wanting to get away from the canteen for a while? Just one meal?"

"Yes, that's exactly it," Michael confirmed with no hesitation.

However, the face peeking out at them from the hatch was most definitely not Mr. Addison. A slightly younger boy (emphasis on the slightly) with pale skin and short brown hair flashed them a wide grin.

"Wow, that was very funny of you, Johnny," Cass rolled his eyes. "Thank you for giving me a heart attack, that was definitely what I wanted to experience at like 10 in the morning."

Johnny only laughed, scrambling up onto the roof and flopping himself down next to them. And right behind him followed yet another laughing scoundrel, this one another counselor, with faded dyed hair.

"And Tory, too, huh? Great. You two are like vultures."

"Cool vultures. You know you love us."

The four of them laid flat on the roof.

"So...?" Tory said suggestively, without asking any real question.

"No." Cass knew exactly what she meant anyway.

"Really?" Tory crossed her arms over her chest with a huff.

"Yes, really. I'd share if I had any--" Michael did not call out the blatant lie coming out of Cass' mouth, "--but I snuck out of my cabin 'cus I couldn't sleep and... fuck. There were some real weird noises coming from the woods so I hurried up here and I smoked the last of it to deal with the stress. Is that my fault?"

"Wait," Michael had not heard about this, and he knew that Cass pretty much always hid their lies among some truth. He didn't doubt that part of the story. "What--What kind of noises?"

"I... I dunno. Yelling and stuff? Didn't sound like anyone I know from here. "

Cass hesitated for a moment, furrowing their eyebrows.

"No, it--it wasn't really yelling, I guess. More like... growling?"

Approximately 106 Hours Remaining↞

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A/N: and here we go! hopefully everyone that has never read any of my work before find my writing style tolerable and not horrifically annoying or anything lol

i am excited but also very nervous to publish this so i hope everyone enjoys the first chapter :)

~ iMeowmeow654

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