camp karlnap

o n e

I pulled into the parking lot and rushed out of my car, the kids were already unloading from the bus. I ran to my marked spot and pulled out my piece of paper that had all the kids names on it that I had this year.

After a new counselor called for their group everyone looked at me.

"Millie, Adriana, Georgia, Olive, Ciel, and Rae." I called out, looking at the kids lined up next to the bus. All six of them came over to me and I smiled. "Hey everyone, how was the bus ride?" I studied everyone's faces quickly.

A series of goods came out from the girls. "Bad." Said one girl after everyone else. Olive, her name tag read. "I miss my mom."

"Don't be a baby." Ciel said, elbowing her arm.

"It's okay, you'll see your mom in three days and we'll have fun, okay?"

Georgia has been going to the camp every year for three years (since she was four). She grabbed my hand and beamed up at me. "Hi!" She said happily.

"Hey Geo." I wrapped my arm around her and ruffled her hair. "Does anyone need help carrying anything?"

Olive held her large backpack out toward me. "This, please."

I took it and slung it over my shoulder. Adriana and Millie both handed me stuffed animals, one was a frog and one was a knight stuffed animal. "What cabin are we in?"

"We're in cabin C."

"Do we have like a mascot?" Millie asked.

"Kind of, we're the lilacs, that's our cabins flower. Every cabin has a different flower but no one really calls them by the name anymore because their too hard to remember."

"I don't know what a lilac is." Rae stated, stopping her loud conversation with Ciel.

I found the lock out of my pocket and unlocked the cabin door, letting the girls in. Georgia hung by my side and I stepped inside with her, closing the screen door. "How are you?" I asked, crouching down so I was eye level with her.

"Does anyone want candy?" I heard Olive ask. Georgia ran past the little kitchen and couch, pushing open the curtain that led to the bedroom.

"No candy, Olive. I'm sorry."

Everyone looked at me.

"But it will make me feel better." She pouted.

I sighed quietly. "What candy do you have?"

"M&M's."

I fished a small piece of paper out of my back pocket. "Are there peanuts in them?" Two people were allergic to peanuts, Rae and Millie.

"Nope!"

"You can each have three M&M's, only three, and then the candy gets thrown away."

"Thrown away?" Olive shrieked. "Why?"

"You don't want rats in here, do you?"

She took two packs of M&M's out of a plastic bag filled with candy and then handed the bag to me. "Throw it away, I don't want rats."

"Three." I reminded her. "I'll be right back, start unpacking."

I threw the bag into the recycling and felt an arm on my waist, turning me around. "Hey." Nick greeted, flashing me his perfect smile and then leaning forward and connecting our lips.

Nick, the sweet boy I'd met at camp when I was fourteen. Every summer we came back, when we both turned seventeen we were old enough to become councilors, we got together when we were both sixteen.