Summer Camp Chapter One

by AllynDupe

The Destiny Islands Summer Camp program is for pre-teens, and organized by teenage councellers. It seems like a fun place to be for all the eager campers, regardless of how fast they will learn how the fun can be ruined by endless, comical drama.

Chapter One

"Get off the bus! Watch your step!"

Child upon child, or, technically, pre-teen began piling off the bus in a swarm. Every boy and girl attending the Destiny Islands Summer Camp Programwere excited to get out fo that stuffy, crowded vehicle, and even more so to get started on interesting summer activities planned ahead. Sleeping in cabins with a couple of assigned roommates, eating junkfood all night long and trying to stay up waypast the curfew regardless of what the high-school councellers said, were the plans drifting around in the minds of some of the junior high students. Others, simply wanted to be in the outdoors, go swimming, hiking, play soccer, you name it. Some even wanted to meet people, make friends, or were even forced by their parents. Regardless of the situation, they were there. All twenty five of them, not counting the Councellers who volunteered from Highschools. There were a few adults serving as Councellers and guidence to the youth, however, only about three. This summer camp also encouraged High School students to become involved, leaving most of the organization and jobs to do, to them.

Sephiroth, one of the oldest volunteering students at seventeen, strolled over to a pickup truck that had been following the bus to the camp. Xigbar, another volunteering boy at seventeen, got out of the drivers seat with a stretch. Followed by a swarm of pre-teens, Sephiroth climbed into the back of the parked, dirty, red truck, and started unloading the bags belonging to the junior-highschoolers. He tossed them out the back of the truck almost carelessly, leaving them to sort out who-owned-what. There was no way in hellhe was getting tangled in a group of torso high "children". The final bag, a pink one covered in colorful flowers, was tossed from the truck to the ground, and he sighed. There were only two real reasons as to why Sephiroth came here:
1) He didn't want to spend his entire summer bored out of his skull and wasting his life doing nothing.
2) His fourteen year old brother, Setzer, who was attending the camp, begged him and whined non-stop, until he agreed.

Xaldin, Xigbar's cousin and another counceller, approached the scene, carrying Xigbar's and his own bag. "I'll put these in the counceller cabin..Want me to bring yours, Seph?"

Sephiroth looked down upon the boy with the scraggly dreads and dark purple eyes. "No, Mines already in there." He stated simply, jumping easily down from his perch in the back of the truck. "Who's handling the cabin assignments?" He questioned, looking over at Xigbar without much interest, simply hoping that wasn't his job.

"Lexaeus, I think.." Xigbar replied, glancing around, looking for the guy he had mentioned. "I don't see 'im around, though.."

"Outta my way, now! Move it!"

Suddenly there was a voice, and sixteen year old Larxene pushed through the two boys, carrying three suitcases, and they assumed they all belonged to her. Sephiroth rolled his eyes as she shoved past him, not wanting to be here more and more by the instant. Xigbar smirked as she continued on her way to their cabin. Just as he had figured, Larxene had to be tough and even a little bossy to be the only girl volunteer.

Then Lexaeus strolled up, carrying his suitcase up on his shoulder with ease. He started on his way over to the counceller cabin, whistling a little tune neither Xigbar or Sephiroth could pick out.

"Hey, Lex!"

"..Hm?" He turned around, and smiled at Xigbar. "Yeah?" He replied, wondering what Xigbar needed from him.

"Oh, you're assigning the brats to their cabins..Alright?" He glanced the swarm of kids still getting their bags, the area all around looking like a giant mosh, and shuddered. Then he looked back to the still smiling Lexaeus. He could tell immidiatly why he volunteered for this job. It was obvious from the look on his face, even after being assigned the most pain-in-the-balls job to do. "Sure, sounds fine to me." Then he turned, and continuing to whistle, went on his way.

Then the final counceller, Squall, or in his preference, Leon, approached Sephiroth and Xigbar. "Pleasetell me I don't have to do anything annoying." His voice was a bitter, almost angry monotone, very similar to that of Sephiroth. It was obvious that he too, would much rather not be here.

"To be honest, I don't really know what you're supposed to do." Xigbar laughed wholeheartedly, still surprised that he got in here with his lack of responsibility.

Leon smirked, looking a little happier than Xigbar had expected. "Thats fine." Then he walked off, dragging his suitcase lazily behind him as if he had not a care in the world.

Xaldin re-appeared on the scene, followed by Larxene. All the said councellers had planned to meet outside again once all their things were safely put away in their fancy cabin. All four teens stood there, doing and saying nothing, until one of the kids with spiked off blonde hair and an annoying whine to his voice ran over and pulled on Sephiroth's sleeve. Ist mistake: Going to him for anything.

"Hey!! Seifer took my damn bag and he won't give it back." He complained, crossing his arms defiantly. He looked awfully angry and irritated, and that gave the cousin's Xigbar and Xaldin the same thought: Whoever this Seifer kid is, he must be a real kick in the jewels.2nd mistake: Complaining about something.

"Go tell someone who cares." Sephiroth growled, averting his vision from the boy still scowling at his side.

"C'mon, show me which douche Seifer is." The boy laughed as he lead Larxene away, to point out which one of the twenty five students Seifer was. Another thought passed through the minds of Xigbar and Xaldin: Sephiroth however, already knew Seifer. Seifer was Setzer's best friend. Sephiroth turned his vision to the councellers cabin. He was rather impatient waiting for the other counceller's to arrive.

.im kid is, he's gonna want to be dead once shes done with hSeiferWhoever this

Leon came back then, arms crossed over his chest and looking rather bored. He stood around with the rest of the silent teenagers, waiting to get started.

Larxene came back looking pleased with herself, and nobody even bothered to ask what she said, or did, to Seifer. She stood with her weight shifted to one leg, looking impatient herself.

It wasn't long until Lexaeus returned from the cabin, still whistling that unidentified tune. In his hand he carried a checklist with all the kids names on it, and their cabin roomates and numbers. He arrived next to the other teenagers. "So, are we ready to get this started?"

There was a nodd from Xigbar, a thumbs up from Xaldin and everyone else remained silent. Then they all headed together, towards the crowd of pre-teens sitting on the grass, an adult pacing back and forth in front of them, obviously giving them some sort of lecture.

Lexaeus walked casually over, checklist still in hand, and tapped her shoulder lightly. When she focused her attention on him and not the crowd in front of her, Lexaeus smiled sweetly. "We'll take it from here."

When the teacher departed, Lexaeus stood in front of the crowded, lazy looking pre-teens in the grass. Some looked bored, some generally happy, and some..even a little nervous. Lexaeus grinned. "Hi." He began. "I'm Lexaeus, and I'm one of the councellers here. The others are over there." Then he pointed to the other five councellers who stood on the sidelines, in a single-file line. He spoke their names in order as to how they were standing. "Sephiroth, Leon, Xaldin, Larxene, and Xigbar. Remember to ask any of us if you have any issues." He watched the kids closely, taking note of their expressions. He hoped he was making them feel comfortable. "Now I'm going to ask you all to stand up and get your things, bacause I'm going to assign you to your cabins and tell you who will be bunking with who."

All the students got up, picking up their bags or suitcases and waiting for Lexaeus to begin taking attendance and such.

"Okay." He cleared his throat and examined the list. "Aerith?"

"Here!" She replied, raising her hand a little just so that he would know who she was.

Lexaeus nodded and shifted his eyes back to the list. "Axel?"

"Yup." He stated simply, not raising his hand or giving any indication that he existed, except for his voice.

"Cloud?"

"Yeah."

"Setzer?"

"Yeah, duh."

"Marluxia..?"

"I'm here."

"Xemnas?"

"Whatever."

"Zexion?"

"Yeah."

"Tifa?"

"Present!"

"Yuffie?"

"That's me!"

"Saix?"

"Uh-huh."

"Seifer?"

"Obviously."

"Pence?"

"I'm here!"

"Hayner?"

"Yeah!"

"Riku?"

"Which one?" A girl with a generally cheerful expression on her face stepped forward. She pointed to a boy with shoulder-length silver hair. "Me?..Or him?" He looked from her back to Lexaeus. He seemed unaware that he shared his name with someone else, until now.

Lexaeus scanned the list, noticing the two Riku's. One being Riku, and the other, Rikku. "...Which one has two K's?"

"Meee!!" She hopped up and down a moment.

"Okay, well, that's him." Lexaeus checked off both Riku and Rikku, now knowing they were both obviously present. Then he continued with attendence.

"Olette?"

"Yeah, I'm here!"

"Roxas?"

"Present."

"Demyx?"

"Here!!"

"Kairi?"

"Yup!"

"Naminé?"

"I'm here."

"Sora?"

"Yeah!!"

"Paine.....?"

"...Yeah."

"Yuna?"

"That's me, over here!"

"Luxord?"

"Here."

"And...Vexen?"

"Yeah, over here."

Lexaeus looked up from the sheet and to all of the pre-teens. At least now he could match a name to a face, even a little. "Now, your cabin numbers and roomates."

All the kids suddenly turned attentive, this being the most important part of camp. Because simply, if you didn't like your cabin roomates and they didn't like you, it was safe to say you wouldn't survive.

"We're putting the girls in cabins together, and the boys together as well." Lexaeus explained, and he decided there was a little something sexually wrong with the boy's of the camp, when none of them groaned at this news. "There will be two female cabins, each with five."

"But..Wait,.." The girl he was pretty sure was Yuffie walked over to him a little. Her face was a mixture of skeptical and confused as the next sentance left her mouth. "But, hey...Theres only nine girls.."

Lexaeus frowned. Could Xaldin, the one who made this list, possibly make such a careless mistake? His eyes ran down the list again."Well, it says here.." He began, focusing his eyes on the pre-teens again. "It says that the females attending this camp, are...Aerith, Yuffie, Tifa, Paine, Rikku, Yuna, Naminé , Kairi, Olette, and...Marluxia."

"Ugh!! That's totally insulting! I'm a BOY." Lexaeus could pick out a kid in the crowd, his face as red as a tomatoe. He had light pink hair, and was clad in a short skirt and blouse. Now he was positive there was something wrong with this crowd.

He heard Xaldin clear his throat. "...Oops." He said just barely a whisper. Xigbar looked away trying to hide a comical grin.

Things only started to escalate to worse, when he heard a laughter. A loud, amused crow of immaturity and nonsense, from a boy he couldn't quite remember the name of. They became even worse, when he saw the boy's eyes well up and his hands cover his mouth. And then worse again, when he ran off, dropping his bag carelessly to the ground as he sped off to god knows where.

What a bad start.Lexaeus shot a tiny glare at Xaldin, and Xaldin shrugged, wide -eyed. Xigbar was still doing a poor job of hiding his amusement.

Not looking at the now silent crowd for a couple of seconds, Lexaeus covered his eyes with one hand and shook his head. When he found he was ready to speak to them again, he said before returning to eye contact. "Do one of you want to, err..See if he's okay?"

Another bag was dropped to the ground, as a boy lugging a way-too-big for him guitar of some-sort, took off in the direction that Marluxia had ran minutes before.

Lexaeus was happy to see he had at least one friend. Otherwise, he would've felt terrible.

"I'll start with the girl's cabin assignments. We won't do the boy's until they return." Lexaeus cleared his throat, trying to avoid awkward silence and feelings between himself and the campers. "Okay, now there will be two cabins, one of five and the other, four, for girls...As I had begun to say before all this nonsense started, occupying cabin one will be...Aerith, Rikku, Paine and Kairi." He noticed that the Aerith girl didn't look as happy as she could, and niether did Yuna..However, Rikku looked overjoyed enough, and Paine, well..In his opinion she never really looked too happy. Nothing was really to be told of Kairi's expression, except that she was mad with the choice of her cabin mates. However, Lexaeus wasn't going to let his heart and his care for people run away with him, as it usually did. "And in cabin two, is obviously Tifa, Yuffie, Yuna, Naminé, and Olette." They seemed content enough..he supposed. Naminé looked more nervous than she had before, and Tifa a little annoyed. However, Yuna and Yuffie looked okay..maybe they knew eachother. Olette looked fine. She struck him as the type to have mostly guy friends, anyway.

"Now, you girls can run along to your cabin's now..Larxene will show you to them." He looked over at Larxene and she didn't seem to mind all that much. "C'mon." She siad simply, walking from the line of counceller's and walking in the general direction of the cabin's. The swarm of high-pitched talking voices and laughing followed her that way. Lexaeus crossed the girls cabin's out on the list, just so he's be positive he'd never make anymore stupid mistakes. Even if that last one wasn't his idiocy. He resisted the urge to walk over and threaten Xaldin.

"Now, when Marluxia,..and Demyx return I don't want any rude comments..Is that clear? Especially whoever it was that laughed earlier, that was incredibally inconsiderate." Lexaeus tried his best to cut Marluxia some slack..He also hoped every boy in his cabin was nice. Otherwise that could be very ugly.

"It's not our fault if he's a freak." An unidentified voice in the crowd spoke up. Setzer began to giggle, and that was a flaw because then it was easy to point out who had said that. This was because the boy was grinning along with his friend's laughter. How did he not realize it was Seifer?

Lexaeus sighed. "Just behave yourselves." He replied. He knew he couldn't promise concequences, because:

A) He wasn't even sure if he was allowed to punish the campers, he wasn't their parents.

And B) This was Summer Camp, not jail.

It didn't take too long until Demyx returned, luckily with Marluxia. They intermingled in the crowd of incredibally bored boys once again, and Lexaeus prayed Seifer would keep his trap shut.

"Okay, we have sixteen boys, so we're going to have four cabin's of four." The burly counceller decided the best way to guaruntee Seifer wouldn't get to have his input, was if he talked as much as possible with barely any little breaks in between. He knew this tactic might confuse or overwealm some of the campers, but it broke his heart to see Seifer making fun of poor Marluxia. "Okay, we'll start at cabin three, considering the girls are occupying one and two. In it, we have..." He scanned the list, the campers waiting in suspence. "Sora, Riku," He heard a faint yessss! from somewhere in the crowd. This pleased him, and told him that Xaldin's cabin arrangements weren't all bad. Maybe. Then he knew that assumption was wrong. "Seifer, and...Marluxia." Lexaeus saw the expression on Marluxia's face, (that was beginning to look a little better) drop. This must have been a gigantic disappointment. He felt so bad. Then he had a thought: Sora and Riku. They don't look like mean boys, maybe they'd protect him.With this hopeful thought comforting him, Lexaeus continued with the assignments. "Cabin four: Hayner, Pence, Vexen and Roxas." The two boys Hayner and Pence, highfived gleefully, obviously feeling lucky. Vexen didn't seem to show much expression, and he saw that Roxas looked disappointed. So did the boy Axel.

"Uhm, Cabin five is..Xemnas, Saix, Cloud and Zexion." None of them really had any particular reaction. Lexaeus thought that maybe none of them knew anyone.

"In cabin six we have Axel, Luxord, Demyx, and Setzer." Lexaeus looked up from the checklist and smiled. Xigbar will show you all to your cabin's." He looked at Xigbar with a glint of anger in his eyes. Xigbar wasn't used to seeing such a muscular, but usually nice teenager glare at him. Therefore he got the message. As if. He mumbled under his breath bitterly. "C'mon, let's get the hell out of here."

"Language!" Xaldin called after him, in a sort of mock-caution, as his cousin started to walk away with the boys. Xigbar simply stuck up his middle finger at Xaldin without looking back for an instant.

"That was a stupid mistake." Lexaeus scolded Xaldin right after all the campers and Xigbar were out of sight.

Xaldin shrugged. "Dude, listen...the guy's wearing a skirt. Sure, he's flat chested, but a lot of junior high girls are, I guess..Look, point is, any of us could've made that mistake."

"Besides, it was funny." Sephiroth gave his unwanted input, directly after, strolling away from the scene. Leon didn't really have much to say, as Xaldin and Lexaeus watched him walk to the counceller's cabin lazily. Lexaeus had a bad feeling this summer camp wasn't going to be the cliche fun it always was on TV and in movies...