Here's chapter one of my first multi-chapter story! This is loosely based on something I wish would have happened to me this summer when I went to camp. If you have any suggestions for how I can improve, I'll gladly take them! :-)
"I really have stuff to do this summer," complained Alexander. "I don't have time to go to summer camp for two weeks!"
"Why do you write like you're running out of time?" asked his father, amused. "You just finished that advanced literature summer course. Now it's time for you to live a little!"
"But I only have two weeks left of summer break, and now they're being wasted at camp!" Alexander complained. "I was going to write some more essays to practice what I had just learned. Now I'm going to be behind when school starts!"
"Alexander. You're three grades ahead in literature. You'll be fine."
Alexander rolled his eyes and chose not to respond. At least he had packed three notebooks and a bunch of pencils. He planned on just sitting in his cabin for two weeks writing essays.
The two of them reached the check-in table. A boy who looked to be about Alexander's age glanced up at them and smiled. Despite the foul mood Alexander was in, he found himself returning the smile. It was just something about him… maybe it was his deep green eyes… or his freckled face… or his long, tangled brown hair… that made Alexander think that maybe, just maybe, spending two weeks at camp wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Last name?" he asked, flipping through a packet of papers.
"Oh, um… H-Hamilton," he stammered. "Yeah. Hamilton. Uh…"
He cursed himself internally for making such a fool of himself immediately. Now this guy- probably a volunteer- would think he didn't know how to talk. At least he would never see him again. Unless…
"You're in village 2, cabin 3. Hey, your cabin is right next to mine!"
"Wait, you're going to camp too?" Shit. He had to live next to this cute boy for two weeks… wait, what was he thinking?
The boy laughed. The sound made Alexander blush deeply and he felt his knees go weak. Snap out of it, Alex...
"Going to camp?" the boy giggled. He pushed a strand of curly hair out of his eyes, making Alexander's stomach flip. "I'm a counselor. I've been at camp all summer! I'm just coming back here to check the new batch of campers onto the bus."
"How old are you?" blurted Alexander. "I'm sorry, that was probably too forward, you just look young to be a counselor, I mean… sorry, I just…" he trailed off, blushing beet red and shuffling his feet.
"I'm seventeen," responded the boy. "I'm the youngest counselor here, which is why they put me in the younger boys' cabin and not yours. How old are you?"
"Sixteen," he said, feeling oddly happy that they were so close in age. It doesn't matter, Alexander…
"Aw yeah, so you're in the older boys' cabin, along with…" there was a pause as the boy flipped through the packet. "Four other guys. Hercules Mulligan, Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr. And it looks like your cabin leader is George Washington."
"Oh. It's too bad you're not in my cabin- you seem cool," mumbled Alexander, staring at the ground.
"At least we're in the same village, though," the boy responded. "So we'll do all of our activities together. See, they split everyone at camp into four villages, and then each village into four cabins: Older boys, younger boys, older girls, and younger girls. But like I said, each village does pretty much everything together."
"That's… really great…" stammered Alexander. He was at a loss for words. The boy standing in front of him was too much. His hair, his eyes, his toothy grin…
"Ahem." Someone behind Alexander cleared his throat. He turned around to see another guy, loaded down with luggage. He had never seen someone take so much luggage to summer camp. He had one bulging backpack on each shoulder, a duffel bag in one hand, and in the other he was pulling a rolling suitcase, on which he had balanced two more duffel bags. He was wearing a ridiculously expensive-looking purple coat and stood with an annoying smirk on his face. "Are you going to stop flirting and step aside so I can check in? I'd like to load this luggage onto the bus. It's getting heavy."
Alexander blushed beet red again. "I'm not flirting!" he exclaimed, practically jumping out of the way. After a moment, he recovered enough to add, "And if you think that luggage is so heavy, why did you bring it all? You're going camping for two weeks, not moving out."
He smoothed his hair before replying, "I always come prepared."
I hope this dick isn't in my cabin, grumbled Alexander to himself. I hope he's not even in my village!
The cute boy grinned his toothy grin and asked for his last name.
"Jefferson," he announced proudly. Wait, Jefferson? That name sounds familiar… oh no…
"Looks like you'll be in village 2, cabin 3!" he declared. "Same as Hamilton over here," he said, gesturing to Alexander, who rolled his eyes and faced Jefferson.
"Great. Two weeks in the same cabin as you," he said.
Jefferson laughed. "Don't think I'm happy about it either!" he said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll need some help getting my luggage on the bus." He dropped one of his backpacks and a duffel bag. "Thanks!"
As he dragged the remainder of his luggage to the bus, Alexander yelled after him, "There's no way I'm getting that for you!"
"Oh don't worry, I'll get it," said the boy, standing up and coming around to where Alexander stood. He felt his heart skip a beat. The boy continued. "I'll get your suitcase too, Hamilton. Thanks for only bringing one bag- I mean, six suitcases? Ridiculous! I keep telling George Washington that we need to set a limit." With that he picked up Jefferson's pristine luggage and Alexander's battered brown suitcase and began carrying them to the bus.
Alexander watched him go, the muscles in his arms straining as he walked, leaning slightly to one side due to the weight of Jefferson's duffel bag. Unfortunately, his fantasies were interrupted by his father, who he had honestly forgotten about until now.
"Looks like your time at camp won't be so bad after all! You've already made two new friends! Now are you happy I signed you up?"
"Yes…" Alexander admitted begrudgingly. But only because the counselor next door is literally the most beautiful person I've ever laid eyes on…
"Well, I'm going to take off now, Alex. Have fun!"
Alexander waved goodbye to his dad as the boy returned. He grinned at Alex again and said, "Almost everyone has checked in already and are on the bus… do you want to wait there?"
"No, I'm fine here," replied Alexander quickly. "I'll keep you company- um, I mean, unless you want me to go! In which case I'll go-"
"You're fine here. Just wondering where you'd be more comfortable. Would you like to sit down in this extra chair, then?" asked the boy, gesturing to an empty chair right next to him.
Alexander shakily walked around to the chair and sat down. His heart rate sped up and his face turned red. He was right next to the cute boy… he could reach out and touch him…
Alexander snapped back to reality. The boy was asking him something that ended with "… so I don't have to keep calling you 'Hamilton,' you know?"
"Huh? Sorry, could you repeat that?"
The boy laughed. "I said, it would be nice to know your first name so I don't have to keep calling you 'Hamilton.'"
"Oh! Right. Yeah."
"Yeah… so what is it?"
"Right! Um, uh, hang on, can't remember… oh yeah! Alexander."
"Cool. Nice to meet you, Alexander. I'm John Laurens."
John Laurens. So that's what this amazing boy's name is. John Laurens.
Alexander realized that John was checking someone else in. "Village 1, cabin 4," he announced to the girl, who nodded and wheeled her suitcase toward the bus.
John turned to Alexander. "Um, I think I checked everyone in…" he flipped quickly through his packet. "Yeah, we've got everyone. You ready to go?"
Alexander nodded excitedly. He couldn't believe that just this morning he had been trying to convince his father to withdraw him from camp.
"Okay," said John, smiling. "I just need to grab my bag. Someone else will take care of all this crap," he said, gesturing to the table and check-in stuff.
He grabbed a white backpack with a turtle on it. Alexander stared at it in awe. "You like… turtles?"
"Kind of obsessed with them," John confessed. "I drew the one on my backpack myself."
"Woah. You're like, kind of amazing," breathed Alexander before mentally kicking himself.
Fortunately, John didn't seem to notice or care. "I try to be," was his only comment as they neared the bus. They climbed the steps into the hot, muggy bus. Alexander took a seat up front and was delighted when John slid into the seat next to him. His heart sped up again and he took deep breaths to calm down.
"Be right back," muttered John to Alexander. "I've got to do a head count." He stood up in the aisle. "Okay guys, listen up! I'm John Laurens, the counselor with you on this bus ride. If you need anything, I'll be right up front. Now, guys, if you need to go to the bathroom, go now. And use that little portable toilet out there. This ride is going to take two hours." Three campers ran for the toilets. Alexander sighed, elated that he was going to be spending two hours next to John Laurens.
"Now, I'm going to do a quick roll call and then explain the bus rules to you guys. Hercules Mulligan?"
"Here!"
"Maria Lewis?"
"Here!"
"Angelica Schuyler?"
Alexander leaned back and closed his eyes, letting John's voice flow all around him like music. He had the most wonderful voice Alexander had ever heard…
"And that concludes our bus rules. Please don't get up if you need me, just call my name. Enjoy the ride!"
Alexander opened his eyes and sat up straight before John saw him. He watched with interest as John checked the bathrooms to make sure nobody was still using them, slammed the door to the bus, had a quick conversation with the bus driver, and eased himself back in his seat next to Alexander. The bus started to move. It went pretty slowly and the pace was steady and relaxing. John yawned and turned to Alexander.
"Yo, do you mind if I take a nap right now? I'm pooped. Being a counselor all summer does that to you."
"Go for it," said Alexander, trying to hide his disappointment. He had been hoping to talk to John the whole way there, but he couldn't exactly tell him he couldn't nap.
John opened his turtle backpack and began digging around for something.
"Damnit, I forgot my car pillow. Guess I won't be napping after all."
"You can use my shoulder as a pillow, if you want," offered Alexander hesitantly. Then he realized what he had just said. "I'm so sorry, that sounded really creepy since we barely know each other and all that, I just thought, maybe if you were really tired…"
John smiled at him. "Normally I would decline, but I'm too tired to function right now, so I'm going to take you up on the offer." He put his head on Alexander's shoulder. "Just wake me up if someone calls me…"
About ten seconds later, he was out.
Alexander couldn't think. He couldn't form a single coherent thought. His face was bright red and burning up, his heart was beating way too fast, and his stomach was doing somersaults and flips. John Laurens was asleep on his shoulder. He stared at John's beautiful face. His lips were slightly parted and his eyes were closed gently. Alexander could count each and every single freckle on his face. He touched John's cheek slowly so he didn't wake up. He didn't, and Alexander ran his finger all around John's face before realizing what he was doing.
He considered writing an essay, but he still couldn't form a coherent thought, much less write a full essay. So he spent the full two hours watching John sleep, face cherry red and heart beating triple.
Maybe I won't be spending as much time writing essays as I thought…
…
Several hours earlier...
John struggled to open his eyes as he heard the all too familiar sound of his alarm clock going off. He groaned, rolled over, and turned the clock off before sitting up in his bed and stretching his arms. He groaned again before climbing out of bed and searching under his bed for something to wear that smelled okay. He knew he should have done his laundry during the time he'd signed up for the washing machine, but he hadn't really wanted to gather his laundry and walk all the way to the staff laundry room, so he'd ended up wasting his time slot.
He found a rumpled t-shirt that didn't smell too bad and the pair of jeans he'd worn the day before. These will do, he decided, hurriedly getting dressed. He always tried to wake up about fifteen minutes before he had to wake up his campers so he'd be dressed and awake and ready to stop any near-death situations when the young boys in his cabin were getting ready for the day.
John checked his turtle watch and saw that he had five minutes left, so he ran to the bathroom and brushed his teeth quickly. Then he stuck his head under the faucet for a second, running his hands through his curly, brown hair, trying to get the dust from yesterday's hike out without having to take the time to actually shower.
Another glance at his watch told him it was time to wake up the campers, so he quickly patted his hair dry with his towel, pulled his hair into a messy bun, exited the bathroom, and flicked on the light.
"Good morning guys! Everyone up! You have thirty minutes to get ready!" he announced. "If you're done packing, let me know so I can get your luggage onto the bus."
He was immediately met with groans and complaints. Most of the young campers tiredly climbed out of bed and began staggering to the bathroom, but he was met with resistance by some. "Nathanial! William! Up!" he called, trying not to make it sound like he was losing his patience.
Nobody was budging, so John walked right up to them and whipped their blankets off. That got them moving. William flipped John off before climbing out of bed.
"Hey," John snapped. "We don't do that at camp."
William's only response was a grunt as he headed toward the bathroom. John rolled his eyes. At least everyone's going home today, he thought to himself. Well, and then we get a whole new batch of kids.
After everyone went home, most of the counselors would have a four-hour break. But not John. He had to ride home with the kids on the bus, check them out, check the new kids onto the bus, then ride back to camp with them. John had to admit that it was fair that he did it- he was the only one that hadn't been on bus duty yet- but he was still extremely grumpy about it. The last place he wanted to spend his break was on a bus full of rowdy, noisy campers, not to mention he was exhausted from being a counselor in general and really could have used those four hours to sleep.
His campers began walking up to him with their luggage, and John loaded it onto the wagon outside his cabin. After checking to make sure everyone's bags were in the wagon, John began wheeling it to the bus, hollering at George Washington to keep an eye on his campers.
After breakfast, John lined his campers up single-file to walk them to the bus. They walked obediently on and took seats in various locations around the bus. Other counselors arrived with their campers in tow, letting John check them off and watching them climb onto the bus before running off, excited for their break.
After John checked the last camper off, he climbed onto the bus and began his safety speech. He had been required to memorize it at the beginning of the summer. After his speech, he took roll, then explained the bus rules. "… and, number five, no throwing things out the windows. That concludes our bus rules. Please don't get up if you need me, just call my name. Enjoy the ride!"
Rolling his eyes, he climbed into a vacant seat near the front. He dug around for his sketchbook and tried to draw, but he was too tired to focus. Eventually, he leaned up against the window and tried to sleep. He had just drifted off when he heard someone call his name. He sighed heavily and went to help the person who had called.
Two hours later, John was more than ready to get rid of this bus full of kids. They had been on his nerves, especially for the last hour or so, singing every camp song they knew at the top of his lungs. He climbed off the bus and sat down at the check-out table someone had prepared for him. Immediately, parents started lining up and he began the monotonous task of asking for last names and crossing kids off the list. Nevertheless, he kept a wide grin on his face, a talent that came naturally to him.
As soon as the last of the kids were off the bus, a bunch of new kids arrived to get on. And so continued the task of acquiring last names and checking kids off the list, only it now included an additional step of informing each kid what village and cabin they were in.
"Last name?"
"Schuyler."
"Cabin 1, village 2. Go load your stuff onto the bus. Next?"
After thirty minutes of this, John was pissed off about pretty much everything. Even the font of his packet was starting to annoy him. He groaned internally as another camper walked up with his dad. He plastered a smile on his face, hoping it looked convincing enough.
"Last name?"
"Oh, um… H-Hamilton. Yeah. Hamilton. Uh…"
John quickly thumbed through his packet. Hamilton… ah, here we go.
"You're in village 2, cabin 3," he read off the paper. Than he realized something. "Hey, your cabin is right next to mine!"
"Wait, you're going to camp too?" Hamilton's face was bright pink and he rocked back and forth on his toes, looking nervous. John thought he looked kind of adorable.
He had deep chocolate brown eyes and long, straight hair, which was tied back in a ponytail. He had a stubble growing on his face and was fidgeting with a pen. Okay, he was really adorable.
He laughed a little and pushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, explaining, "I'm a counselor. I've been at camp all summer! I'm just coming back here to check the new batch of campers onto the bus."
"How old are you?" asked Hamilton. "I'm sorry, that was probably too forward, you just look young to be a counselor, I mean… sorry, I just…" he turned ever redder and glanced at his feet. John tried to ignore how cute he looked and answered his question.
"I'm seventeen. I'm the youngest counselor here, which is why they put me in the younger boys' cabin and not yours." It was true. The manager of the whole camp, who was nicknamed King George, had assigned John specifically to a younger boy's cabin. The older boy's cabins, King George had explained, had kids as old as sixteen in them, and John might have a hard time controlling them since he was only a year older than that. In the younger boy's cabin, the oldest John had seen was fourteen.
"How old are you?" he asked Hamilton, trying to make conversation.
"Sixteen," he replied.
"Aw yeah, so you're in the older boys' cabin, along with…" John flipped through the packet. "Four other guys. Hercules Mulligan, Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr. And it looks like your cabin leader is George Washington."
"Oh. It's too bad you're not in my cabin- you seem cool," mumbled Hamilton. The compliment caused a wide smile to appear on John's face, and it wasn't a forced one either.
"At least we're in the same village, though," John quickly added. "So we'll do all of our activities together. See, they split everyone at camp into four villages, and then each village into four cabins: Older boys, younger boys, older girls, and younger girls. But like I said, each village does pretty much everything together." Shit, did that even make sense? I don't want Hamilton thinking I'm a wacko… wait, what the hell, John?! Since when do you care about what campers think?
"That's… really great…" stammered Hamilton. John felt a blush rising on his own cheeks and prayed nobody would see it. Thankfully, someone else had lined up behind Hamilton. He looked rather impatient and cleared his throat. Hamilton turned around to observe this newcomer, as did John. He was taken aback by this newcomer's appearance. He had… John stopped to count… six bags. And if that wasn't enough, he was wearing the most ridiculous looking purple coat John had ever seen. It looked like something straight out of the 1700's.
"Are you going to stop flirting and step aside so I can check in? I'd like to load this luggage onto the bus. It's getting heavy," announced the newcomer with an arrogant smirk.
John panicked at the comment. Does it look like we're flirting? Cause we're not! Well, maybe a little… okay, maybe I'd like to… he's really cute… no he's not! I'm a counselor and he's a camper! But we're so close in age… it can't be that bad… John, what are you thinking?
He snapped back to reality, put another fake smile on his face, and asked, "Last name?"
"Jefferson!"
John flipped through his packet, trying to ignore Hamilton, who had moved out of line and was now standing closer to John.
"Looks like you'll be in village 2, cabin 3!" he said in an upbeat tone. Wait, isn't that where Hamilton is sleeping? "Same as Hamilton over here," he found himself saying, gesturing to the adorable boy who stood next to the table.
"Great. Two weeks in the same cabin as you," said Hamilton, rolling his eyes at Jefferson.
"Don't think I'm happy about it either!" responded Jefferson. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll need some help getting my luggage on the bus." He dropped some of his luggage on the ground and shouted a thanks before lugging the rest of his baggage to the bus.
Hamilton looked furious, yelling, "There's no way I'm getting that for you!"
John smiled- another real one- and said, "Oh don't worry, I'll get it." He stood up and grabbed Jefferson's luggage. Damn, this is heavy, he thought to himself. "I'll get your suitcase too, Hamilton," he continued, wanting to do something nice for this intriguing boy. "Thanks for only bringing one bag- I mean, six suitcases? Ridiculous! I keep telling George Washington that we need to set a limit." He rolled his eyes, grabbing Hamilton's suitcase, and struggled to get everything to the bus.
What's wrong with me? John thought as he neared the bus. Sure, he'd had crushes before, but never on a camper. Ugh, this is bad, he thought. I'm going to have to talk to Herc and Laf. Hercules and Lafayette were his best friends- also staying in Hamilton's cabin. They were only going to camp because John was a counselor there. He opened the luggage compartment and stuffed everything in, then slammed it shut and started walking back.
When he reached the table again, Hamilton was saying goodbye to someone- his dad, probably. He smiled again and asked, "Almost everyone has checked in already and are on the bus… do you want to wait there?"
"No, I'm fine here," said Hamilton. "I'll keep you company- um, I mean, unless you want me to go! In which case I'll go-"
"You're fine here. Just wondering where you'd be more comfortable. Would you like to sit down in this extra chair, then?" asked John, pulling out an empty plastic chair next to him.
Hamilton walked around and took a seat. John tried to ignore the fact that his stomach was doing somersaults. I just had too much breakfast this morning. It's not the fact that his amazing guy is sitting right next to me, and he willingly stayed to keep me company… wait, I should find out his first name.
"Wait, could you tell me your first name? You know, so I don't have to keep calling you 'Hamilton?'"
"Huh? Sorry, could you repeat that?" Hamilton asked, jumping slightly as if waking up from a daydream.
"I said, it would be nice to know your first name so I don't have to keep calling you 'Hamilton.'"
"Oh! Right. Yeah."
"Yeah… so what is it?"
"Right! Um, uh, hang on, can't remember… oh yeah! Alexander." Oh my God, he can't get any cuter…
"Cool. Nice to meet you, Alexander. I'm John Laurens," he said, trying to keep it cool.
Alexander… what a nice name… remember John. He's just a friend.
Finally, the last girl on his list came over to check in. He checked her off and she wheeled her suitcase toward the bus.
John flipped through his packet to confirm that they had everyone. "Um, I think I checked everyone in…" he said to Alexander. "Yeah, we've got everyone. You ready to go?"
Alexander nodded, jumping up.
"Okay, I just need to grab my bag. Someone else will take care of all this crap," said John, stuffing his packet into a folder and his pencil into his backpack.
"You like… turtles?" asked Alexander, staring at John's hand-painted backpack
"Kind of obsessed with them," John confessed, blushing. "I drew the one on my backpack myself." Wait, now he'll think you're full of yourself. Way to go, John.
"Woah. You're like, kind of amazing," said Alexander quietly.
John's heart melted and he didn't trust himself not to squeal. "I try to be," was all he could get out. They reached the bus and climbed on. Alexander took a seat up front. After a moment of hesitation, John sat next to Alexander. I hope he doesn't mind…
John realized still had stuff to do. "Be right back," John whispered to Alexander. "I've got to do a head count." He stood up in the aisle and began his safety speech without really thinking about it. "Okay guys, listen up! I'm John Laurens, the counselor with you on this bus ride…"
"…and that concludes our bus rules. Please don't get up if you need me, just call my name. Enjoy the ride!"
John then left the bus again to check the bathrooms. He pounded on each door, checking if any campers were still in there. Then he climbed back onto the bus, closing the door firmly behind him. His final task was to turn to the bus driver and tell him that they could go, review a few things, and sit down.
John had been looking forward to an intelligent conversation with Alexander, but all of a sudden his lack of sleep caught up to him and he felt absolutely pooped. He didn't trust himself to carry a conversation that made sense.
"Yo, do you mind if I take a nap right now? I'm pooped. Being a counselor all summer does that to you."
"Go for it," said Alexander.
John quickly looked in his backpack for his pop-up car pillow since he didn't exactly have anything to lean on in the aisle seat. Unfortunately, he realized quickly that it was in his cabin.
"Damn, I forgot my car pillow. Guess I won't be napping after all." John sighed, thinking of the torturous two hours that would soon follow, that would consist of him trying to make conversation and ultimately spewing a bunch of nonsense that would scare Alexander away forever.
"You can use my shoulder as a pillow, if you want," said Alexander quietly. "I'm so sorry, that sounded really creepy since we barely know each other and all that, I just thought, maybe if you were really tired…"
Wait, what? Alexander is okay with my using his shoulder as a pillow? John's heart sped up at the idea. Okay, normally I wouldn't do it, but I can't keep my eyes open…
"Normally I would decline, but I'm too tired to function right now, so I'm going to take you up on the offer. Just wake me up if someone calls me…" he mumbled, slowly placing his head on Alexander's shoulder. It's not like I'll be sleeping for long, someone's ought to call me over soon. Like Herc and Laf, as a joke.
For now, though, he enjoyed the feeling of his head resting on the shoulder of the most amazing boy he'd ever met. There was a huge swarm of butterflies in his stomach and he couldn't really think straight with Alexander so near, so he just closed his eyes.
Screw the "just being friends" thing. I have such an enormous crush on this boy… whether I'm a counselor or not.
This is gonna be either the greatest or the worst two weeks ever.
I know the thing about Alexander's father at the beginning of the story was historically inaccurate, but there wasn't really any other way I could make the story work. Just pretend it's his foster dad or something.