"Today campers will be your first day of activities/classes. We had you fill out those forms of interest before you came so that you could express to us what you were interested in finding out more about so we could properly match you by interest and age. Sally and Bob are passing out your schedules at the front table here. The locations and times are marked. We realize that this is summer and it is supposed to be fun, but we're also here to help you develop certain skills to become a better, more rounded person," Kathy says to the crowd in the auditorium. There are 204 campers, junior counselors, and counselors seated throughout. "Counselors, please go to your locations. Your campers will be there to join you shortly," she says, dismissing the counselors who all get up to scurry off in their own directions.

After they are all gone, Kathy smiles at the campers. "Now, in an orderly fashion, please approach the front tables. A-M will go to Sally and N-Z will go to Bob, according to last name. Also, if you have any problems at all and don't feel comfortable talking to your counselor, please remember we are here for you as well. Have a great day everyone."

"So May, how are things with you and Tyler?" Allison asks, helping May distribute little notebooks on each table for each camper for their first session.

"Things are well. It's kind of weird because Seth is like his best buddy here and Kassandra is mine. It seems like it is all going okay though."

"That's good," Allison replies.

"So what about you? Any love interests?"

"No, I try not to develop them."

"Why?" May asks, raising an eyebrow. "Afraid of getting hurt?"

"Well seeing how much pain Kassandra was in, that is admittedly part of it, but mostly it has to do with the fact that I am arranged to marry someone already."

"Really?"

"Yes. I was arranged when I was twelve to an eighteen year old guy. We talk once in a while but are supposed to be marrying in two years," Allison says, looking off in the distance. "It's quite hard to accept that fact."

"That's amazing. I admire your strength in being able to do it."

"It's not really the strength. I know I would be a disappointment to my family if I didn't follow through but I also realize that it is for the best. I mean, it may not be a marriage of love but it is a marriage that was created with the best of intentions. Our parents spent a lot of time together discussing the situation and the characteristics of each of us. They found it to be a compatible match. Who am I to question their wisdom?"

"Still, that is admirable," May says. "Not many girls I know would willingly do it. I give you much credit for it."

"Thank you. Besides, it saves me from all this dating drama."

May laughs. "This is true. Did you bring in some of your works?"

"Yes, but you have to promise not to laugh at me."

"Why would I laugh? I'm sure it will be great."

Before Allison could hand it over, fifteen campers begin to fill the room. "I guess this can wait. Ready for this?"

May takes in a deep breath. "Now or never!" She puts on a smile and looks on as the campers take their seats, moving over to the table on the front where her materials were. "Good morning campers and welcome to your first poetry class of the summer!"

"Hey Joey! What's up with that spaced out look you have going on there?" Vince asks, snapping Joey out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" Joey responds.

"Exactly. What's with you lately? Ever since you found out about Kassandra being back on the market you have not been your usual self. Or is this the self that you really are and I just don't know it?"

"Vince, can you make any sense?"

The two watch as a group of preteen boys kick around soccer balls on the field, keeping an eye on the bigger ones to ensure none were bullying the others.

"I am making sense. I am just remarking that you don't seem like your usual self."

"I've got a lot on my mind."

Vince laughs. "Yeah, like some dark brown hair chick, about 5'2"ish?"

"Perhaps. I am just worried about her okay?"

"Whoa! Mr. Player is actually worried about a girl?"

Joey rolls his eyes. "You know I am. No matter how much I tortured her, I would always try my best to look out for her. I guess I still feel that way now."

"Joey, have you realized she's not that little girl anymore?"

"Trust me, I have. I just can't seem to stop wanting to save her from the world, you know?"

"I can understand that. I have to admit, Seth is a lot more devious than I thought. To be honest, I think he had us all fooled."

"Which angers me even more. Of all the people she had to pick for a summer fling, it had to be the one guy that was complete scum."

"Well, look at it this way. At least she found out before it was too late, right?"

"I guess you're right," Joey admits.

Vince looks over at his friend and pats him on the shoulder. "Come on man. We've got seven wonderful weeks left here. Don't spoil it all by worrying to death over her. She'll be fine and I bet you money that she'll recover better than you two twins give her credit for. I'm just wondering what this dance at the end of the week is going to bring."

"The dance. I totally forgot about it. You going to take Maya?"

"Take Maya? Man, what do you think I am? Whipped by her? No way. That girl is a piranha. You know that. I pity the man that doesn't recognize her type and take the precautions to save himself."

Joey laughs. "Vince, you are a piece of work."

"Thanks man. I just look out for myself, you know? You should too!"

"I do, trust me. Not many people actually know who I really am. Most think they do, when they can figure out which twin I am, but seldom few do."

"Sounds to me like you just challenged me. I guess I'll have the whole summer to figure that mystery out, huh?"

Joey nods his head. "That you do."

"Well, I think today went well," Jason says, locking up the boats in the shed. He turns his head and looks at Kassandra. "What do you think Kassie?"

"I think it went pretty well. I can tell the kids don't like the lifejackets though," she responds. "I had such a hard time not laughing at them while they were making their pouting faces. The younger group is just so adorable."

Jason laughs. "I would have to agree. Now think; we have two groups of the older kids tomorrow. That should be more of a challenge."

"Aren't the older campers always the challenge? So we had three groups today. The seven to nine year olds, thirteen to fourteen year olds, and the ten to twelve year olds. I definitely have to think so far that the seven to nine year olds are going to by my favorite. I couldn't stop smiling around them."

"Well, I guess we know who will get you out of bed then!"

Kassandra rolls her eyes. "Do you really think the fifteen to sixteen and the seventeen to eighteen groups are going to be too much?"

"I don't think they will be too much. Just definitely not as adorable as your little campers. I think they were just as taken with you as you were with them by the way. I could see it in their faces."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he answers with a laugh. "You know, when your eyes light up like that with happiness, you look pretty adorable yourself."

Kassie sticks out her tongue at him, causing Jason to laugh more. "You never stop teasing me do you?"

"I actually meant it but you can take it however you want," he says, starting to walk towards the camp. "What do you think of having the earlier classes? I think I like it."

"I do too. It gives me time to get things going while they are still fresh and so are we. Besides, evenings being free besides camp activities are nice and that free time in the afternoon before dinner is going to be useful for me to rest."

"Always the morning person," Jason says with a chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?"

Jason shakes his head. "Do you remember that time when Joey and I were thirteen? We tried sneaking into your cabin really early in the morning…"

"No need to go on," she replies with a scrunched up face at the memory. "I remember all too well. Thank God for my early rising habits."

"Come on, it wasn't that bad."

"It would have been if I had been asleep!" she accuses.

"Shh! Jason, you're going to wake the girls up!" Joey scolds his brother. "Man, can you walk at all quietly?"

"Sorry," Jason replies. "I don't have the experience sneaking into girls' cabins in the middle of the night like you."

Joey ignores the remark and continues to tiptoe around the cabin, peaking into the windows. It is dark inside and he cannot see anything. "Great! I think they are all asleep!"

"Remind me why I came out here with you to do this?"

"For revenge! They did quite a number on us boys out on the field today."

Jason rolls his eyes. "Joey, they beat us in a stupid game. I think I'm here to make sure you don't get out of hand."

"No, you're here because you want to see those girls in their sleeping state and to have some fun. Besides, it's not like it's just you and me. The other guys are coming after they get the shaving cream from the storage area."

"I don't know about this. We could get in some serious heat."

"Please! Jason, it'll be fine, I promise. There's the guys! Help me crack open this window."

The twins work silently on inching up the window as quietly as possible. They had picked the one that was farthest from the beds in efforts to avoid waking up the girls. By the time the window was fully opened, all of the guys from their cabin are present, helping each other climb into the cabin. It was a known fact that the counselor always locked the cabin door at curfew.

Once in, Joey and Jason make their way towards the bunks, quietly dropping their bags to the floor, looking around in amazement as all eight girls remained asleep in their beds. "This is too easy," Joey remarks to the guys who are all gathered around their bags of goodies. "Where should we start?"

"The ceiling," one of the guys suggests.

They all nod their heads and get to work throwing the rolls of toilet paper up and over the rafters. Some of the guys even dare to wrap toilet paper around the beds, and over the girls. Joey looks around with a proud smile as his cabin gets most of the cabin covered in toilet paper. "Next phase," he whispers, pulling out the shaving cream.

"Joey, maybe this is going too far," Jason cautions, putting his hand on Joey's wrist to stop him from spraying it. "They'll wake up for sure."

Joey pauses. "Well should we just put the bugs on their beds then?"

"Bugs?"

He nods and pulls out a few jars of slugs, ants, and spiders. "Yeah. These."

Jason rolls his eyes. "You have to be kidding me."

"No man, I'm serious. These girls are going to regret humiliating us today."

"Trust me, we already do," a feminine voice says, interrupting their conversation.

All eight male heads turn to where Kassandra is sitting up, clutching her blanket to her chest. Joey steps forward and learns it was a mistake. Seeing one of the twins advance towards her, Kassandra lets out a high scream, waking up the rest of the girls and bringing in the counselor.

"What is going on…" the counselor begins then stops, seeing the eight boys frozen in the middle of the room."Boys, I suggest you start explaining now what you are doing in my cabin."

One look at the counselor and the eight guys ran out of the room, half jumping through the window, half running through the once locked door. Jason and Joey kept running away towards their cabin until they were safely inside. After all the guys regained their breath, Jason slugs Joey in the arm.

"Ow!" Joey yells. "What was that for?"

"Your stupid idea!" Jason replies. "Now we're in trouble for sure!"

"Naw, that chick won't do anything. I'll use my charms on her."

Jason groans. "Now I know we're even more screwed. Joey, that's not the answer."

"How do you know?" he asks with a wink. "I have a way with women you know."

"Fine, have it your way."

"You bet I will," Joey says with a smile. "Don't worry brother. Things will be fine."

"Man, did you guys ever get in trouble after that!" Kassandra replies with a laugh. "I remember how angry she was. Went right after you guys left to Kathy and the rest of the staff."

Jason lets out a groan. "You really don't have to remind me of that. We were under cabin arrest for a week, not to mention cleaning duty."

"Well that's what you get for messing with the girls," she replies with a smile. "Did you learn your lesson?"

"Of course. I can't say the same for Joey though. I still laugh when I think about his hurt pride when your counselor didn't fall into his seduction plan. It was quite funny."

"Yup. Too bad for him she was a lesbian."

Jason raises his eyebrows. "She was?"

"Duh. That's why she was able to resist him. Do you know of any other females here at camp that have?"

"This is true. Do you want to walk to the lake with me? I thought it would be nice to relax, maybe take a swim."

"That actually sounds good. I've been itching to swim. Can we drop by the theater?"

"Why?" Jason asks, surprised by her request.

"I wanted to surprise Seth and see how his classes are going. Do you mind?"

'Well, it's better than letting her be with him alone,' he thinks. "Sure. Let's go."

The two walk through the woods and past the nurse's station to reach the auditorium. Jason quietly opens the door for Kassandra and lets her walk in, following her, only to run right into her body. 'What in the world?'

"Kassandra?" he asks, noticing how pale she had gotten all of a sudden. "Kassie?" When she does not answer him, he looks to where she is staring and curses under his breath. "Come on, he's not worth it."

Jason wraps an arm around her shoulders, swearing again as he feels her start to shudder. He tries to turn her around but she won't move. She does not try to escape from his arm either, though. He sighs and looks over at the stage, where her attention was fixed.

'How could I be so stupid?' she wonders, staring at Seth and Maya in a passionate kiss. She watched as Seth slipped his hand down her back, cupping her behind with a squeeze. Kassandra shudders as Maya lets out a giggle.

"Mmm, Seth, you are so bad. I love it!" she exclaims. "I am so glad you are a free guy again."

Seth chuckles and whispers something into her ear, making her giggle again.

"Kassie, come on. Don't torture yourself like this. It's not worth it, honestly," Jason says, hoping to take her away from this horrible scene.

Suddenly, she tenses up and looks up to see that Seth and Maya had finally noticed they weren't alone in the theater anymore. "Kassandra!" Seth calls out, ripping himself out of Maya's embrace, jumping off the stage and heading towards them.

Hearing him call out her name snaps Kassandra out of her trance and she turns around on her own to head out of the theater, towards her cabin. Before Jason could follow, Seth was running past him after her. Jason is about to follow but decides to hang back to allow the two to talk it out. However, he walks quickly after the pair, vowing not to allow them out of his sight.

"Kassandra, stop! Please, stop!" Seth calls out, grabbing her arm, stopping her retreat.

"What do you want Seth?" she asks, not turning around.

"Look, that wasn't what it seemed. We were rehearsing a theater kiss we're going to teach the older kids in the next class today. Honestly."

"How stupid do you think I am? I know a real passionate kiss when I see one Seth."

"Honestly, I swear it was just a rehearsal. What type of guy do you think I am to move on that fast?"

All Kassandra could do was just stare at him. 'I don't exactly have solid proof. Just my gut feeling.'

"Okay, your silence scares me. Look, I'm not asking for you to forgive me or take me back right now. Just give me a second chance eventually, okay? I understand that you are really hurt and confused right now," he says, smiling into her brown eyes. He lifts his hand to her face to cup it.

Kassandra instinctively leans in and then jerks away, realizing where that same hand had been just moments before. "Seth, just give me time, okay?"

He nods his head and drops his hand. "That's reasonable. See you at dinner? I have another class that should be starting in five minutes."

She nods her head. Seth smiles and turns around, walking back to the theater, past Jason, who was leaning up against a tree. The two men do not say anything to each other but glare. Once Seth enters the theater again, Jason pushes off the tree and walks toward Kassandra.

"Are you okay?" he asks, seeing the tears in her eyes. "Of course you aren't, but please Kassie, don't waste any more tears on him. He isn't worth it."

"You know, had you tried to tell me that before that kiss, I would have told you that you were being too cautious because of Valerie. Now, I'm starting to see why you like being single so much. No one to cause you any pain or play games with you," she says, wiping away a tear that had begun to fall.

"Come here," he says, wrapping her in his embrace. "Don't let some creep ruin things for you. There is a reason why you are such a hopeless romantic. I'm sure there is some perfect guy waiting for you out there. You just have to look harder."

Kassandra sniffles as he strokes her hair. "Does that mean you're looking harder for Ms. Right?"

Jason chuckles. "No, that means that you shouldn't give up. I'm a different story."

"Right," she manages to get out, wiping away another tear. "Thanks for being there for me Jason. It means a lot."

"You're welcome. That's what 'big brothers' are for. Out of curiosity, did you tell Seth to take a hike?"

"No. I told him to give me time but don't worry. I don't buy his story of a theater rehearsal kiss for a moment. I really don't."

"Good. If you want, I'll go kick his butt for you."

Kassandra laughs. "There will be no need for that. We've got a great number of days ahead of us. I would hate for you to get into trouble and miss out on all the fun for the rest of the summer just because of me."

"Sure? You're worth it. No one messes with my Kassie. Well except Joey when I can't control him."

"This is true," she responds. "Come on, let's go. I definitely need a relaxing swim now."

"Whatever the lady wants," Jason says, letting her go and smiling at her. "The Wild Woods Lake, here we come!"

Next Day
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