"This is not fun," Jason whined to nobody in particular, "These bags are heavy, and it's hot. I don't remember camp being this brutal."

"That's because..we're not at camp yet," Nate replied, breathing heavily as he carried a suitcase identical to the one in Jason's hands. "Besides, it's not my fault that the bags are heavy. You see, Shane here packed all of his hair products."

Nate's comment caused Shane to scoff. "Remember last summer, when you just abandoned me here? I was stuck with no hair products—and you know how much I love my styling gel."

"I think you like your styling gel a little too much." Jason muttered, he lifted the bag and wondered about how many bottles of hair products Shane had actually packed.

The three band members groaned as they climbed up the two stairs, dragging their suitcases across the porch and into their cozy, wood-paneled cabin. Shane immediately let go of the handles of his luggage, went to check his hair in the bathroom mirror, and then sprinted off to go "catch up with friends."

"In other words, he's going to find Mitchie," Nate said with a smirk. He was a little amused, but a little annoyed as well. "Let's unpack so that we won't have to later," he suggested.

"Wait..." Jason said, still thinking about Shane's comment. "Mitchie is only one person, but he said he was going to catch up with his "friends."The word "friends" is plural. I'm confused."

Little did he know, Nate wasn't even listening. He was dumping all of their possessions into neat piles on one of the three beds. "With your help, this should be all organized and unpacked in no time...Of course, we would be finished in a snap if Shane helped, but he's just a lazy...Jason?"

Jason had left as well, Nate turned around just as the door smacked shut. He was stuck with unpacking while the other two were off having fun. Oddly, Nate didn't mind that much. It was just old times. This was what it was like at camp four years ago; Shane was off flirting, Jason was off making friends, and Nate was doing all of the boring stuff.

...

Jason ran excitedly to the outdoor stage. He remembered exactly where it was, and just as he thought, everyone in camp was already there, luggage in tow, socializing. It seemed as if Nate was the only one who unpacked before catching up with others.

Scanning the crowd, he saw Shane and Mitchie sitting at the side of the stage. It didn't take long for him to realize that there wasn't really anybody that he knew. He tried to see if he could recognize any of the people from when he went to camp there four years ago.

Someone tapped Jason on the back, he quickly turned, hoping it was an old friend; it wasn't.

"Hi." A group of girls said simultaneously. "Can you sign this for us?"

"Sure," he replied amiably. He reached for the pen, and carefully signed his name, trying not to seem disappointed.

Just as he turned back around, someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Ella.

"Hi." She gushed. When Jason turned around, her eyes widened. "Uhm, hi!" She said, shocked to a camper that looked identical to her favorite member of Connect Three standing right in front of her, grinning. "I just saw you from the back, and, well, I just came by to say that I love your hair! I kind of wanted to ask what kind of hair product you used." Little did she know, it really was Jason standing in front of her.

Jason reached up to touch his hair, he looked back at her, studying her long dark hair, her full smile, and her searching eyes. "I'm not sure what it's called. I just take hair products from my friend."

"Oh. Well I think it looks wonderful! I'm looking for new hair products to try because I think that my hair is a little damaged—"

"I-think-you're-pretty—I mean, your hair, it looks pretty."

"Thanks!" she bubbled, "You're so nice! I like nice people.." She stopped herself. "What is wrong with you, Ella?" She thought, "I bet that he thinks you're an idiot."

"I like nice people too," Jason replied, completely understanding what she meant.

He glanced down and saw the two duffel bags that she was carrying. They were purple, and covered in sequins. By her feet, there were four more pieces of purple-sequined luggage. He raised one eyebrow, "Wow," he thought, "She has more stuff than Shane." He didn't think negatively of it, though. He was simply amazed. "Let me help with your bags."

"I know that you probably think I have a lot of stuff," she said sheepishly. She gratefully handed over the two bags in her hands, and picked up another two by her feet. "My parents travel the world, and they buy me a lot of presents."

"It's like you read my mind," he replied happily.

"Oh my god," she said, "maybe I can read minds? Like, sometimes?"

Jason nodded, "Yeah, me too! But my friend, he thinks that I'm just being childish." He was talking about Nate.

"My friends think so too." Ella agreed. She was impressed by how much the two had in common. She laughed, "Okay, luckily for both of us; my cabin's right there!" She pointed to a cabin not to far away.

Jason squinted, "Which one?"

"Come on, let's walk together," she suggested, "Just let me ask Peggy to watch the rest of my things for a minute." Ella quickly rushed off, looking back to make sure her new friend was still there.

"Peggy, Peggy, Peggy!" She called out.

"Hmm?" Peggy answered, her face brightened when she saw her best friend Ella waving in a hyped up manner.

"Can you watch my bags? I have so much to tell you later." Ella turned and ran back to Jason before Peggy even had the chance to reply.

...

"So, I'll see you tonight, then? There's supposed to be a jam or something, right?" Jason inquired. He placed her bags gently on the floor.

"Yeah," Ella replied, staring at his eyes. She was giddy, and could hardly wait for the hours to pass and the jam to start. "I don't really know what the jam is called though, there are..like..too many of them," she explained.

"I think so too," Jason said. In the back of his mind, he was wondering whether or not to ask for her phone number. He knew that he would hate himself if he didn't ask. He knew that there would be dozens of times where he would just want to call her up and talk to her. He knew that he wanted to hear her voice again. He was also pretty sure that he was beginning to like her; a lot. His thoughts were interrupted by Ella.

"Even though we just met," she started, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen, "here's my phone number." She scribbled it down, with her hands shaking. "Call me, please?" She asked and then reassured, "we can talk about anything."

Jason took the paper in his hands and admired her neat handwriting. She ripped another sheet of paper. "Here, write down your number." She smiled, "I already gave you mine. It's only fair that I have your's too."

He eagerly wrote down the number and handed her the paper.

The two of them said their goodbyes, and Jason began walking back to his own cabin. He continued to stare at the piece of paper as he strolled, not paying any attention to anything but the characters written in blue. Ella had written her name next to her number in cursive.

"Ella," he read aloud, thinking that her name was as terrific as her personality. "Oh man," he grunted as he entered his cabin, "I forgot to tell her what my name is."