Planning Your Future

We'll Go Camping (Part 7)

July 7, 1992

Veronica's POV

I'm a little sad that tomorrow is the last day of camp, but I'm also relieved. It's a lot of work watching over these girls. This might be a sign not to have kids. All the kids are sad. All the counselors are trying to hide their happiness. Brooke and Chloe are on a bench, then when Hannah walks by, they stop her. They say something to her that causes her to smile and sit with them. "Aw. Look at them, including her." Alyssa comes up behind me. "Yeah I'm proud of them. They can be a bit much, but they're very nice girls." I say.

"So you're going to be pretty busy when you get back home." Alyssa states. "Yeah. I have to go to my own fitting, her fitting, plan a bachelorette party, and then there's all the decorating." It's very stressful but also really fun. "Yeah. That's a lot." She laughs. "But I'm helping JD plan something really special for his mom that night." I don't want to spoil it because I'm sure he doesn't want to tell anyone just yet.

JD is sitting on the ground, talking to Michael. "Are you going to sing for them tonight? I think they're expecting it." Alyssa asks. "I don't really have new songs. Well, I have one but I wrote it about you. And it's pretty obvious." They would immediately know it was about her. Then I remember a song that I wrote a couple months ago. "Hey JD!" I yell. He looks up, confused. I walk towards my cabin, waving for him to follow. I remember that I had put my song folder in my bag. "What?" He follows me. I search through the folder, pulling out the song I was thinking of. "So this is written for piano but do you think you would be able to play it for guitar?" I don't know if that's possible but I could ask. "It isn't easy but I can. Is this for tonight?" I nod, "I know they're going to demand I play something but this is the only one I wrote that I can play in front of them."

After dinner, while everyone is playing games with their campers, JD is playing the song away from everyone else. He smiles while reading the lyrics. "Who is that song about?" Alyssa rests her arm on my shoulder. "You. It's just not obvious." I answer.

When we gather around the campfire, Chloe stands up. "As it's the last night, Miss Veronica has to sing for us tonight. She put it off but we think she should finally do it." She declares. "Okay." I shrug. "So this song is called Ours." JD grabs the guitar and starts to play. The entire song, I look at Alyssa. When I get to the end of the song, I go up a key.
"And don't you worry your pretty, little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
But they can't take what's ours
They can't take what's ours
The stakes are high, the water's rough
But this love is ours"

JD strums the final note and everyone claps. "Who's that song about?" Brooke asks. "That information is for me to know, and you to leave alone." I pat her on the back. "Fine." She sighs. "That was really good." Hannah says. "Thank you, Hannah."

I bring the girls to the cabin. "Can we get an encore?" Chloe sits up in her bed. "How about we all just go to sleep?" Annabeth suggests, the snark evident in her voice. "I agree." I turn the lights out.

The counselors sit on Ryan's porch. "Look what I got from the supply closet." Natalie shows off a bottle of liquor. "Are you trying to get us drunk?" Luke raises an eyebrow. "No. I just thought this would be a great way to end the last night of camp." She takes a drink and passes it to Ryan. "So any plans for the rest of the summer?" Luke asks. "We're in a wedding." JD points to him and I. "Who's getting married?" Ryan drinks from the bottle. "My mom." He leans back in his chair. "Nice. Hopefully your stepfather is nicer than mine." Luke sighs. "Yeah he's a super nice guy." Hank is a very good man. He's definitely a huge step up from Mike "Big Bud" Dean.

The bottle makes it's way to me. "Should these two be drinking? Aren't you underaged?" Alyssa says. "Oh please. I've been drunk many times and nothing has happened." Even before the age of eighteen. "I don't know if I'd be proud of that." She laughs. "I'm not proud of it. I'm just saying I'll be fine." I put the bottle to my mouth and take a swig. I pass it to JD. "JD has also gotten very drunk." JD rolls his eyes and drinks.

We decide to call it a night, mainly we do it to avoid continuing to drink. The next morning, all the kids are still tired. "You didn't even go to bed that late." I furrow my brow a little. Brooke and Chloe probably stayed up talking, making the other girls unable to fall asleep. "Well you can sleep on the way home. Now eat so we can start packing." I send them off to the line. I sit next to Alyssa. "I'm so ready to leave." I rest my head on her shoulder. "I think we all are. I can't tell you how hard it was to get my boys out of bed this morning." Luke groans.

The girls are packing while I sit on my bed, writing lyrics on a piece of paper. There's a knock behind me so I quickly tuck the paper into the folder. "Hey Nic!" Nichole's mom hugs her. "Alright. I'll see you next year." I tell her. They leave and then a man comes in. "Hey, come on Annabeth." The man gives her a side-hug. Annabeth looks at me, "I'm going to take your title from you next year, I hope you know that." She smirks. "Yeah you wish." I know I don't have any chance of winning without her. Maybe I'll get lucky and one of Natalie's girls will become Annabeth 2.0 next year. It's unlikely but a girl can dream.

Chloe's mom comes to pick up both Chloe and Brooke. "We'll miss you as a counselor, next year." Brooke frowns. I forgot they wouldn't be in my cabin next year for a second. Damn: Poor Alyssa. "I will too, girls." I hug them both.

Hope's parents come to pick her up. Her mom had dropped her off so I had met her. She was a nice woman. Her dad on the other hand seemed a little scary. I give him a nervous smile as he leave. I drop it as soon as he leaves. Damn he was a very stern man. He only smiled once and it was at his daughter.

Hannah's sister shows up later. "Come on Hannah. The camp director wants to speak to us." Lex gives her a quick hug. "Do you know what it's about?" She asks me. "He just wants to talk to you guys about personal things." I don't want to tell her in case it makes her nervous. I watch them walk towards George's office, hoping everything goes well.

I start packing my stuff up. As I'm loading my stuff into the car, I hear someone running up to me. I turn around and Lex throws her arms around me. "Thank you so much." She is starting to cry a little. "You're welcome. I'm happy to help you and Hannah." I let go of her. Hannah hugs me next. "So how did it go?" I ask. "He's putting us in contact with CPS. And he promised that I'd be able to visit Hannah. I'm trying to save enough money to get an apartment so I can get her back and have her live with me." She puts her hand on Hannah's head. "Well I hope that happens." I get down to Hannah's level. "Thank you, Miss Veronica." Hannah has tears in her eyes. "You are so welcome." I laugh. She gives me one last hug. "Come on, banana. We need to get going." They leave, Lex giving me one last look of gratitude.

"Wow. You're incredible." Alyssa comes up behind me. I wipe a tear that was about to fall. "Yeah. I'm so happy everything worked out. It doesn't always end up like this." In so many cases, people like Lex don't see people like Hannah again. It's a really sad truth. "If all these people weren't here, I'd kiss you right now." She says into my ear. "Just wait." I wink.

After we say goodbye to the others, we're left alone. George had to leave to run an errand and the staff were gone. Alyssa pushes me against the wall in her cabin. I kiss her. "I've been wanting to do this all weekend." She says against my lips as she unbuttons her button-up. "Believe me. I have too." I do the same with mine. I've never done this in a camp cabin but I suppose there's a first time for everything. I kiss down her neck. She wraps her arms around my neck as we fall down on the bed.

Afterwards, we're lying on the bed, now just making out. We stop when we hear a car door shut in the distance. "Shit. George is back." We get up and get dressed. The door opens so I pretend to be helping Alyssa pack. "Oh. You guys are still here?" He raises an eyebrow. "Yeah we got held up with something. We're about to go." I tell him.

We hurry up with packing. I kiss her goodbye once George returns to his office. "I'll see you when we're back in Sherwood." I watch her drive off before getting in my car and doing the same. Camp was a lot of fun but I'm ready to return to my life.

Well I hope you enjoyed! Did I use a Taylor Swift as one of Veronica's songs? Yes. Do I regret it? Nope. In my personal opinion: Ours sounds gay as hell. Don't @ me. Also if anyone knows what Hannah and her sister are from: you have my love. Bye!