AN: Hello! So this fanfiction might be a little different than some of the other ones you may have read. It's an AU set at overnight camp (Jude and Connor are thirteen and going into eighth grade), but it's specifically set at a camp that is HEAVILY based on the camp I attend. It's definitely a place Jude would attend if he were a real person. Everything that could be a camp reference will most likely be a camp reference: names, song lyrics used as epigraphs, events, scenarios, anything. So if you have any questions as to what the heck is going on (which will be likely), PLEASE pm me or send me a message on tumblr (fostersfitz) with questions. My camp prides itself on being original and unique, so there are a lot of programs and customs that are unique to the camp. Also (not that it matters all that much), in this AU, Jude and Callie get adopted together *cries for a million years*
Quick note about the title: I wanted the title to be a camp reference, so it is named after one of the boy's cabins at my camp. I also just found it kind of fitting, idk why.
(also I'm super embarrassed about the fact that I named the camp after Pawnee from parks and rec bc I'm trash and I couldn't think of anything else)
Though through the years
We all have made
Our separate choices,
We've ended here where we belong
Jude wandered the virtually abandoned lands, realizing just how different Camp Pawnee looked when it wasn't inhabited by campers and counselors. He strolled past many of the camp's facilities, which were all creaky, yet sturdier than the seemed. The brick red hue they were all painted was the only thing uniform about the buildings and cabins of different shapes and sizes, for each had their own quirky, hand painted sign, and some of the main buildings, such as the rec hall and pottery studio, were decorated with mosaic landscapes of hills and forests, resembling the terrain of Camp Pawnee. Camp was truly beautiful, from the art and sculptures on and around the buildings, to the non-human made wonders, such as the way the lake reflected the surrounding trees and the daisies growing on Tipi hill. Yet camp wasn't…/alive/. The most beautiful part about camp were the people; the way that when camp was in session, it became this living, breathing, cohesive organism. Even though Jude was standing on the very soil of Camp Pawnee, being at camp felt like a memory, with nobody there and everything inactive.
Intersession, the short stretch of time between first session in June and July and second session in July and August, was unsettling to him. It bothered him to have to say his goodbyes to everyone at Pinegrove on the last night of camp, and then to say hello to an almost entirely new batch of campers less than a week later. Since Stef and Lena were co-directors of the camp along with another couple, Bill and Eleanor, Jude and the rest of the Adams-Foster family had to remain at camp during intersession, along with many of the counselors.
Jude absentmindedly strolled in the direction of the llama pen and sank down onto the wooden bench just in front of its fence. As he rocked, his sneakers kicking up dirt, he thought about how lonely and deserted camp had become. Sure, his entire family, the people who he loved most, were there, and he didn't grow especially close to anyone during first session, but the emptiness was unbearable. Camp hardly existed without the campers and staff. Their liveliness, creativity, friendliness, and humor, shaped Camp Pawnee into what it was.
"Jude!"
The boy heard a voice call his name, and he whipped his head around.
He noticed that to his left and just beyond the willow tree, Eleanor was standing in her garden, waving at him.
"Jude, do you want to help me pick some tomatoes?" She asked.
Jude perked up.
"Sure!" He exclaimed and bounded to the small garden.
"I was thinking I would make a salad tomorrow for dinner when the session campers arrive." Eleanor explained.
They began to work wordlessly, with the chirping of the birds and the rustling of the trees in the wind filling the silence
"It kind of feels like the summer's over, I keep forgetting it's only just begun," Eleanor mused out of the blue, voicing Jude's thoughts.
"So you never really get used to the transition, huh?" He observed.
"It feels strange, but after a while, it's a wonderful kind of strange," replied a beaming Eleanor.
Jude continued to help Eleanor around the garden, the late afternoon sun beating down on their backs.
"So, are you excited to second session, Jude?" Eleanor questioned, trying to lift up Jude's obviously dulled spirits.
Jude nodded.
"I think you'll like it better than first," Eleanor continued, "It's more relaxed and there are less people."
Jude grinned, "Tomorrow!" He reminded, his tone of voice bursting with anticipation.
Jude was beginning to feel less lonely, due to the warm company of Eleanor.
If Camp Pawnee was the family it claimed to be, Jude couldn't figure out if Eleanor would be the cool aunt or the doting grandmother. He decided that she was a perfect mixture of both.
As dull as intersession was for Jude, he really enjoyed camp and he was beyond excited for second session to start up. He remembered when camp was first mentioned in the Adams-Foster home, not long after Callie and Jude had been adopted.
"Jude, Callie?" Stef had called from the kitchen, "Mama and I want to talk to you for a second. Don't worry, it's nothing bad."
Jude and Callie had emerged cautiously from their bedrooms, both displaying confused looks, with their brows furrowed and the corners of their mouths slightly tilting downward. They walked down the stairs.
"Callie, Jude," Lena addressed her children with a smile on her face. "Your mom and I are figuring out summer plans and are filling out some forms to enroll your siblings in overnight camp. Mom and I are actually the co-directors of an overnight camp in Maine. They have a little bit of everything, but it's notably arts-centric. We were wondering if you would want to join us?"
"You two would be staying in appropriate cabins like the other campers," Stef piped up, "and we'd be going for the whole summer."
"We don't want you to feel pressured to come, and we don't want the fact that mom and I are staff to be a factor in your decision. We could look into other camps for you if you want, or you could stay with friends or family."
"Although, if we're being completely honest, sending you to Camp Pawnee with us would be the easiest option, but we'll do whatever makes you happy, as long as it's within reason," Stef added, using a stern tone of voice but smiling and placing a kiss on the foreheads of her children as she spoke.
"Mariana and Brandon are both going to be junior counselors this summer. Jesus is actually going to a sports camp, since Camp Pawnee isn't competitive enough for him nor does it offer nearly enough sports for Jesus's liking. Callie, it would be too late for you to apply to be a counselor in training, but there's an apprentice program we think you might like," Lena said.
"We're so sorry if we're bombarding you with all of this information, loves, but here," Stef said, sliding a thick envelope with the camp Pawnee logo printed on it across the table to Jude and Callie. "Here's the camp brochure and DVD if you want more information, and we'd be happy for you to talk with us or ask us any questions."
Jude and Callie nodded.
"Aside from the fact that we're the directors," Lena added, "we think that you would both really enjoy it there. Especially you, Jude. Camp Pawnee would be a perfect fit for you."
And it was. Camp was just like a scaled-up version of home. The campers and staff were diverse, supportive, open-minded, and creative. Camp had a very light, laid back, informal feel to it as well, and everyone shared the same witty sense of humor. Although Jude seamlessly assimilated into the camp lifestyle, he had not made any concrete friendships with anyone in his bunk or in his classes. Jude felt friendly with his cabin as a whole and he never felt left out of any group activities. He could even hang out and laugh with a contingent of his cabin mates during independent, unstructured time. However, if Jude were to be asked who his friends were, he would not be able to come up with any individual names. This didn't bother Jude, though. He was used to being on his own, he had his family, and the nature of camp made it so solid friendships were not required in order to have fun.
After Jude and Eleanor had finished, Jude walked from the garden across the pebbly road and cut the front yard to arrive at Stef and Lena's house. Jude swung open the creaky door. Unlike most of the other camp housing, Stef and Lena lived in an actual house, located right at the front of camp and attatched to a large recreational building known as the barn. He noticed Mariana lying on the worn, shabby couch, reading a book but looking bored out of her mind.
"Mariana?" He piped up.
Mariana took her eyes off her book and swung her legs around so she was sitting on the couch.
"What's up, Judicorn?"
"Can we do something? I'm kind of bored."
"You and me both. What do you have in mind?"
Jude shrugged his shoulders.
"Do you by any chance have internet?" Jude asked, raising his eyebrows in hopefulness, even though he knew the answer.
Mariana shook her head resentfully.
"No, moms took away any remotely electronic device because they knew I could hack it. Which is totally stupid if you ask me, because other counselors in training get their phones and ipods and stuff to play music and stuff, but I can't even have my e-reader."
Just then, Stef absentmindedly strolled into the living room.
"Oh, Perfect! Hey loves, Callie and I were going to start a game of BS and we were wondering if you would join us."
Jude nodded and Mariana lept up from the couch, and they followed Stef into another recreational room.
Sitting criss-cross on the floor, Stef, Callie, Mariana, and Jude played three rounds of BS. Stef won the first game, but her tendency to call everyone out on lying, even when they weren't, cost her the next two. Callie naturally had a winning poker face, whereas Mariana, on the other hand, was a terrible liar. In the last game, she used this to her advantage by tricking her opponents into thinking she was lying when she wasn't.
By the end, the four family members, although sick of the game by now, sat doubled over and in a fit of giggles, no longer bored and unamused.
Stef checked her watch.
"It looks like it's time for dinner," she observed, and they walked over to the dining hall.
Dinner that night was uneventful. The Adams-Fosters ate outside, at one of the many picnic tables on the dining hall's wraparound porch. Nobody spoke, although the space was filled by the chirping of the bugs in the tall grass, the swaying of the trees in the wind, and the scraping and clinking of the silverware against the plates.
Dinner was quiet, but it was far from silent.
Jude stared off at the surrounding picnic tables, hoping that maybe, if he looked at them for long enough, they would fill up with people. The way they were supposed to be.
Jude felt the lonely sting in knowing that everything at camp was purposeless and useless when virtually nobody was there.
He sighed, realizing that tonight would be the last meal he ate as the only camper on camp grounds.
Jude knew what to expect for second session, yet he knew there would be surprises, which did make him feel a little anxious. But overall, he was thrilled, the excitement in the air almost palpable.
The next day: Arrival Day
The Adams-Fosters dispersed themselves in the front and back yards, waiting for the second session campers to arrive. Callie sat under the willow tree with Timmy, a sandy-haired counselor who was covered in tattoos. Callie was playing her guitar, and Timmy was strumming his ukulele, both of them singing:
She asked me, son, when I grow old,
Will you buy me a house of gold,
And when your father turns to stone,
Will you take care of me
Mariana sat on a picnic table, flipping through a magazine, and Jude and Brendan were in the back yard, in the middle of a heated tetherball match. A group of counselors began to flock to the teatherball court, forming a line and setting up a tournament.
The four of them all knew that they would have to move their luggage from Stef and Lena's house, where it stayed during intersession, to their new cabins, but an unspoken deal was made that they would put it off to the last minute.
'Guys," Lena had pressed, "Now would be a great time to transfer and unpack your luggage. It's going to get hectic really soon with everyone arriving, might as well do it when you have the entire camp to yourselves!"
Lena's explanation was logical, but naturally this did not persuade her children.
The front yard was covered with tarps on which to put luggage, and signs were taped up everywhere, which Lena, Stef, Bill, and Eleanor had set up the previous night.
All of a sudden, a black minivan rolled into camp.
Jude, Brendan, and some of the counselors ran from the back yard to the front yard entrance of the camp to greet the first camper.
The car rolled to a stop, and out stepped Beth Stevens, a small, blonde woman and her son, who, despite it being around 75 degrees, was wearing a flannel and jeans.
"Hi, Connor! Looks like you're the first one here!" Bill greeted as Connor stepped down from the car.
Connor's mother opened the trunk and, with a counselor's help, pulled all of Connor's luggage out of the trunk and on to one of the tarps.
Beth then introduced herself, and her son, to some of the individual counselors as well as Bill, Eleanor, Stef, and Lena.
"You run such a great program." She gushed, "I can't tell you how excited Connor was to come back this summer." Turning to her son, she suggested, "Okay, Con, will you show me to your cabin and we can unpack?"
Connor nodded. "My cabin is called Chateau Fiasco," He said, as he stretched out his arm and pointed left, "just beyond the soccer field."
Callie nudged Jude, elbowing him in the ribs.
"He's in your cabin," she whispered, "You should get your stuff and go unpack with him."
Before Jude had the chance to respond, Callie darted into the house. Jude ran after her, trying to catch up and process what had happened.
Just as Jude reached the front steps, Callie emerged, opening the sceen door, struggling to carry Jude's duffel bag.
Callie, followed by her younger brother, marched from the front yard across the unpaved road, and across the soccer field.
Beth, Connor, and another counselor helping carry Connor's luggage walked ahead of them, down into the wooded area where the older boys' cabins were situated.
They arrived at the cabin; the rust-colored door squeaked as Beth pushed it open, revealing a dimly-lit, dusty cabin.
The wooden bunk beds were pushed against the unfinished wooden walls, without much space between each bed. The counselor loft above lent itself to a low ceiling and wooden columns supporting it erected in the most awkward of places, interrupting the flow of the already-cramped cabin.
Sure, the dust between the floorboards and two shelves each of storage space weren't ideal, but it was nothing Jude and Connor weren't used to.
The counselor, Eric, who was helping to carry Connor's luggage began to climb the steep stairs to the loft, than turned around, announcing, "You boys can feel free to unpack all of your things now, since it's still so early. Go ahead and find your bed and shelves, they're all labeled with your names.
"Do you need me to help you unpack?" Beth asked her son.
Connor shook his head. "I think I'll be fine. Thanks, though."
Beth and Connor set down what they were carrying onto the cabin floor, and wrapped their arms around each other.
"Alright, Con, I guess I'm gonna go now, be sure to write, okay?" Beth said, kissing her son on the cheek.
"Bye mom," Connor replied, rolling his eyes yet grinning at his doting, smothering mother. "And I'll be sure to write. They kinda make you… with 'no mail no meal' on Tuesdays and all."
Connor struggled to break off the hug, as Beth was reluctant to let her son go.
"Okay, fine," she acquiesced, "I'll leave… I'm sure you don't want your mother embarrassing you. Bye, Con!"
With that, Beth walked out of the cabin, waving, and left.
Jude wandered around the cabin, looking for his nametag. He found his bed at the back of the cabin, noticing that he had a bottom bunk. Callie followed him and set his duffel right beside his bed.
"Want any help?" She asked softly, motioning to the duffel.
Jude shook his head, which Callie took as her cue to leave.
"You're Connor… right?" Jude piped up, hesitantly.
The boy walked to the back of the cabin upon hearing his name.
"Yup… why?"
"I think you have the bunk on top of mine."
"Sweet… Hey, I would introduce myself, but you kinda already know my name," Connor said, cracking a smile.
Jude giggled.
"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Jude," Jude replied, offering a small smile.
"When did you get here?" Connor asked.
"Umm… about a month ago."
Connor frowned in confusion. Campers who stayed the whole summer were supposed to go home during intersession.
"So, you're—wait..," He said with squinted eyes and furrowed brows, trying to figure out Jude's situation.
"Stef and Lena are my moms. I got adopted this past spring."
"That's awesome. So this is your first year at camp, right?"
"Yeah, it is, how about you?"
"It's my fourth."
"Awesome."
With that, the conversation began to stall, so Jude and Connor both turned to their luggage.
Connor grabbed his sheets and climbed up to the top bunk, ready to make his bed. As he started to put the bottom sheet on the mattress, he noticed something that caused him to stop in his tracks.
"Jude?" He called nervously.
"Yeah?"
"Can we… switch beds?"
Jude narrowed his eyes, knowing that there had to be a reason behind Connor's desire to not be on the top bunk.
"Um… well there's kind of a spider web…"
Jude shrugged.
"Sure, I don't mind," He replied as Connor undid the little progress he made on making his bed and jumped down from the top bunk.
Jude then grabbed his sheets and began to pull them over his new mattress.
Jude topped everything off with an unzipped sleeping bag and a pillow, when he heard a bump.
"Ow!"
And a bang.
"Gah!- Hey, Jude?" Connor called.
"Can you help me? I keep bumping my head."
"That sucks, bottom bunks are the worst that way… And sure, I'll help you!" Jude replied.
Once Jude had finished helping Connor make his bed, he began unpacking, swiftly and wordlessly grabbing clothes from his duffel, folding them, and sticking them on one of his shelves. He then unpacked and organized his toiletries and shoes. He was in the middle of unpacking his backpack and setting up his bunk with books, Magic the Gathering cards, and his stationary, when he heard Connor call to him from below.
"Wow, how'd you unpack so fast?" He asked incredulously, grabbing a bunch of flannels and shoving them into his cubby.
Jude shrugged. "I don't know. Experience, I guess. And I didn't really have a lot of stuff to upack," He replied, his lowered brows and dry tone suggesting that he did not want to elaborate.
"Mm," was all Connor said, as he began folding his jeans. Jude peered down to watch Connor's progress. Bathing suits, extra sheets, towels, jackets, and shoes were all strewn on the floor around their area, the top shelf of Connor's cubby was overflowing with socks, T-shirts, and flannels, and his toiletries looked like they had been dropped from the sky—placed randomly, and some were lying on their side, looking like they were about to roll off the cubby.
"Do you have a watch? What time is it?" Connor asked hastily, as he shoved his towels into his cubby.
"It's 8:23"
"Okay, wow, so I have plenty of time."
"Not exactly… people are going to be arriving soon and they kinda want us out of the cabin…" Jude corrected, hesitantly.
Jude had nothing left to do in the cabin, so he felt awkward and out of place. He decided to leave, so he climbed down from his bunk, and approached the door. He began to push it open when—
"Wait!" Connor called hastily.
Jude turned around.
"What's up?"
"Can you wait for me?" Connor pleaded.
Jude nodded, and walked back to his and Connor's bunk. Connor was knelt down on the floor, and Jude stood over him, hands in his pockets, and rocking on his heels. Even though Connor had requested he stay, Jude's lack of purpose made him feel uncomfortable.
Jude breathed a sigh of relief as Connor put his last pair of shoes away, zipped his duffels shut, and shoved them into a corner for storage.
Jude and Connor wordlessly bounded out of the cabin, ready to re-join main camp and to greet all who would arrive.
As the pair trekked up the gravelly hill from the woods to the soccer field, and eventually across camp road, Jude smiled to himself. He could already tell that second session was going to be much different, better even, than first, for as the boy sat at a picnic table in the front yard, across from Connor, he felt as if he was finally going to make an actual friend.
Sorry this chapter was kind of slow and bland… arrival day at camp is quite unstructured and boring, so it's really hard to write. Hopefully things will begin to pick up within the next few chapters. This chapter definitely isn't my best piece of writing and I don't feel great about posting it, but I really wanted to just put something up. Thanks for reading!