Okay, so this might be a full story with chapters and all, but I'm not sure whether I'll finish it, depends on my mood (and on positive/negative reviews, of course!)
I hope you enjoy reading.

[Teenage dream – Katy Perry]
[Tik-Tok – Ke$ha]
[Friday Night – Katy Perry]

Summer Camp All Over Again

Chapter one: The Wonderful Invention Called Booze

Music was blowing from the car's too expensive speakers, wind buffeting through the opened windows. The sun was shining and the sky was a bright azure blue, with only small smears of white clouds on the horizon like puffs of whipped cream, the plains around the road seeming to stretch out endlessly and the heat vibrating the air.

"Aah! This, this is the life!" Vanille hung outside the window like a premature dog, arms stretched out into the passing by wind and her eyes closed with pure enjoyment, her hair blowing all over the place. "Snow! Snow! Can you go faster?" Her voice nearly got lost in the gust outside the car, was barely audible above the blustering engine. Snow roared with laughter and, to Serah's distress, put his foot down to the floor and let the car spurt away with screaming tires. Vanille screamed, laughing, and shouted inaudible sentences of happiness.

"No, Snow, no, this is way too fast!" Serah tried to sound frightened but couldn't help laughing at Vanille's bright face and giggled a little, what made all the effort she had put in really trying to make Snow slow down lost. He just beamed his wide boy smile and put a large hand on Serah's, winking at her.

"Don't worry babe, we're gonna be fine. You got me behind the steerin' wheel, remember?"

"That's exactly what makes me think we won't make it there alive," was Fang's casual remark from behind. She barely had room for herself with Vanille hanging all over her lap as she dangled dangerously far out of the car window, said girl's elbow nearly pinning her nose into the seat. Fang's voice had been indifferent, but her fingernails, digging into the car's leather seating, told otherwise.

"Hey now! You gotta have a little faith in me, okay?" Snow even glanced over his shoulder, giving Fang a thumbs up while winking at her, making her nearly rip the leather apart in a frantic try to – for god's sake – make him at least look at the road, only interrupted by Vanille's body blocking her way to the driver's seat.

"Snow." Lightning spoke her first word since they had left home, stopping Fang in her attempt to push Vanille out of her way. "Slow down or I swear you're going to regret you didn't when we arrive." She seemed to think about the last part. "…If we arrive."

Her voice froze the cheery atmosphere and Snow shuddered nearly unnoticeably in his seat, pulling his foot off the gas, making the car lose speed quickly. "Sorry sis," he said, "didn't know you'd be all that edgy today! Let's try and make it a happy holiday for everyone, okay? It's gonna be a nice week, I promise!" And he smiled his Prodent smile Lightning hated so much. She grinded her teeth together to keep a sharp retort inside and glared at the surroundings instead, afraid she might rip his stupid smiling head off his neck if she didn't.

"Hey!" Vanille had pulled her head back inside, her hair puffed up to gigantic proportions. "Why did we slow down? Hey? Snow?"

It had seemed like a nice idea at first. A holiday, just a week or two, perhaps even three if they could have each other around again for that amount of time. Oh yes, it had been a perfect idea – until Snow had decided to take the initiative and 'organize' the entire thing. Which included calling Lightning's work to arrange three weeks off without even letting her know anything about it, in a lame attempt on surprising her with the holiday.

He couldn't know Lightning had been so thrilled about the idea everyone would be gone for three weeks that she broke her phone when hearing that she was invited – oh she should feel so honored, especially when she heard he had done the same thing with Fang and Sazh and Hope.

Yes, it had started as a perfect idea. But it turned out to be a horrific nightmare.

Hope hadn't been able to tag along as he and his father had already booked a vacation to a far away, warm island, and Sazh had also been able to avoid the reunion, using his work as a – lame – excuse, saying he couldn't possibly cancel his flights even though he knew that everyone was well aware that his bosses adored him from what he had done for both Pulse as Cocoon. If anyone could arrange three weeks off – heck, he could leave for a year and still be employed – it would be him.

And now Lightning was sitting in this way too loud and posh car, on her way to the lovely little house in the mountains, packed in on the backseat feeling sweaty and dirty, having the foresight of sharing a shower with four others and having to cope with being the only single in the company of two couples. Oh yes, she really looked forward to the weeks to come.

"Hey, Light, cheer up a little will ya? The weather's nice, we'll be there within minutes, everything's going as planned, right, right?" Vanille beamed her I'm-a-happy-and-always-way-too-energetic-young-girl smile at Lightning, who gave her the coldest look she had in her repertoire in an attempt to make her shut up without having to talk. It didn't work. "Oh, we're gonna have so much fun! It's really a pity Sazh and Hope couldn't make it, though. Won't be the same without them. Hm." She pouted slightly. "Ah well, we just gotta make up for their absence ourselves right?"

Not expecting any answers, she leaned forwards and turned the music up even louder. Lightning groaned and closed her eyes. She already felt a headache throbbing in the back of her head.

She needed an aspirin.

Three hours later – three hours – they arrived at the house. The sun had sunk behind the mountains and the heat of the day had been replaced with the night's cold that bit the travelers' skin as they got out of the car, feeble on their feet after the long sit.

"Wow," Snow wiped off some sweat. "That was a ride! 's Been a long time!"

Fang spat on the ground. She had been sick five times because of the edgy mountain roads and looked pale in the fading light. "Dear God, I need a drink." And without waiting for the others, she wobbled off towards the house, Vanille darting off after her, calling her name and sounding worried. Serah smiled at the two, Lightning just scowled as she always did as she already realized she would be the one unpacking. Snow had been driving, he was tired of taking wrong turns and getting hopelessly lost, and Serah, well, Serah was just too frail to carry all the baggage.

"Hey, sis, you take care of the stuff?"

He didn't even wait for her to reply but instead put up a hand to thank her and followed Vanille and Fang to the house. Serah lingered by the car, giving Lightning an apologetic look before being dragged along by Snow, leaving her sister alone with the car. After all, what more was Lightning than more baggage?

"I'm not your sister," she hissed at his disappearing figure before turning to the car. One day, one day she would make him pay. One day. Sweet revenge.

Thinking Snow's trunks were his head, she kicked them around towards the house's entrance, carrying her own and Serah's stuff and dragging Fang and Vanille's behind her over the gravel. The ground was still warm from the sun but her breath already shaped up into lingering clouds of white smoke. It would soon get really cold.

They had left the door open for her – how very nice – and she towed the luggage inside, dropping everything to the floor without minding the large BREAKABLE sticker on Snow's. She couldn't help but hope that, whatever it was inside that could break, had broken. Fuming on the inside, she heard sounds of conversation coming from somewhere in the house.

The hallway she stood in was small and the ceiling too low for her liking. Also everything was plated with wood, something Lightning detested above all else, and – this was even worse – the lights had red lampshades, bathing the room in a reddish, so called cozy illumination. Good god. How was she going to survive this?

Furthermore there was a large oaken stairway at the end of the hall, disappearing from sight to the next floor, and three doors. Two to her left and one to her right, all three of them of a dark sort of wood. She picked the right one and opened it, finding an empty toilet with green tiles and walls in a shade that must have once been emerald but now looked more like moss, with dark and light patches spread all over the plaster. She snorted and closed the door again.

The left door of the other two lead to a large kitchen, with windows all around, giving a stunning view on the surroundings. She had to admit that the setting sun and the pine trees overwhelmed her for a brief moment. At least the nature around here was beautiful. And the kitchen was huge… A six pit stove, dishwasher, a thousand of cupboards and – this lightened up Lightning's mood – a bar filled with liquor. Deciding to follow Fang's example, she picked a bottle of some golden drink and scanned the cupboards for a shot glass.

After ten minutes of searching, she gave up and took a glass way larger than it should be, filling it halfway with the drink that smelled of a lot of alcohol. Meanwhile, the sounds of conversation had risen to a volume where she could nearly make up what they were saying and she concluded that the living room must be the room adjoining the kitchen.

The drink in one hand, she used the other to open the door to the living room, finding all others sitting around the fireplace, a fire actually already burning inside. They looked up as she entered.

"Sis! That was quick!" Snow smiled at her. Lightning had to force the corners of her lips to tug upwards in a failed attempt to smile back – it looked more like a grimace, and Snow's smile died a quick death. "Oh, okay, sorry, I ain't your brother, I understand." He actually looked a little forlorn and that cheered Lightning up a little.

"Ow, don't be that harsh on yourself, Snow," Vanille said. And then, turning to Lightning: "Thanks for carrying our stuff inside, Light. You shouldn't have done it, but I appreciate it."

"Welcome," Lightning muttered while sitting down next to Serah on a large – also red, ugh – sofa. She hadn't expected a thank-you, especially not coming from Vanille. It was nice to get one, anyway.

"So," Fang started. "We arrived. And what's next? Pardon me, but I'm totally done for. I'd like to see to my appointment with my bed." She yawned.

"Hm. I agree with Fang," Serah said solemnly. "I am pretty tired myself, as well. I think everyone is." She looked around the group, her cheeks flushing with all the eyes fixed on her. "Um, well, we'll see to the other things tomorrow then?"

There was no argument. Everyone wanted to go to bed. Suddenly the room was filled with bodies getting up from their sofas and trying to get upstairs. Lightning and Fang remained behind, and both sighed at the same time, seeing the other three making attempts to get them all through the door at once. They failed.

"Yeah well, we'll be seein' that a lot," Fang said, answering the unspoken irritation with their friends' dumbness. "…Snow thinkin' he knows what he's doin'. Serah tryin' to fix everything. Vanille… Vanille just popping around like she always does." Snow shouted something inaudible after they heard a loud thud. "Ah well, we'll get used to it." Fang got up from the loveseat and looked at Lightning, who was having trouble keeping her eyes open. "Y'know, ya should get to bed, too."

Lightning put her – empty – glass down. "I don't need you to tell me that."

Fang glared at her. "No need to be all smartass with me, Farron."

Lightning just huffed and left the room, walking straight past Snow, Vanille and Serah who were arguing about something lying in between the three of them. She didn't pay any attention to the furniture on the second floor, just walked around until she found a room she liked – it had view on the lake next to the house – then locked herself in and fell on the bed fully dressed, sleeping nearly immediately after that.

Thank the Lord for the invention of booze.