Disclaimer: Not mine. Title comes from the song of the same name by The Head and the Heart. Any references to other songs also don't belong to me. Or do they? No, they don't.

A/N: This story got way out of hand. My bad. There are probably going to be three different sections and I plan on putting them up relatively quickly so you don't have to wait with baited breath to see what happens next. That was a joke by the way. This story was inspired/requested by thefutillitarian and encouraged by the entire Sasshole Convention, so you can blame them for this madness. Hope you all enjoy!

"The Sun is Up, the Sky is Blue. It's Beautiful and So Are You"

Chloe Beale can't stop crying. She's tried, she really has. But it's no use. She alternates between hiccupping and sniffling and trying to calm herself down, only to dissolve into tears all over again. This has been going on all morning and it's only getting worse. Her parents have given up on trying to console her. Her mother has her arm resting on Chloe's knee but her touch isn't bringing any comfort to her daughter. Chloe sniffs and rubs her eyes with the heel of her hand, her bottom lip quivering. She glances out the window and sees a weathered sign that simply reads Camp Twin Pines -1 Mile. This sets her crying all over again.

"Chloe, please, it's okay." Samantha Beale says with a slightly pleading tone to her voice. No parent likes hearing their child cry but now it's just getting a little annoying. And yeah, she feels like a horrible mother for thinking this, but Chloe's waterworks are not a recent development, so she feels like she's entitled to be a little frustrated by this point. "It's just summer camp. You're going to have fun."

"N-no I w-won't!" Chloe manages to choke out around her tears, shaking her head. "Please don't make me go!"

Her father, James, sighs and shakes his head. "Chloe, you've got to stop this." He tries to make his voice as stern as possible, but it's never been a secret that his youngest daughter has him wrapped around his finger. "You make us sound like horrible parents."

"You are!" Chloe shouts, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're sending me away because you hate me! You're getting rid of me!"

Samantha rolls her eyes, glad that her daughter can't see her. No one can throw a temper tantrum like her eight-year-old. She's glad that these types of moods are few and far between with Chloe. "We're sending you to summer camp. Summer camp is fun. You're going to have a great time. You'll get to play outside and make new friends and learn to swim and learn…all about nature."

Chloe starts crying again in earnest. "I'll drown!" She wails like earlier in the year she wasn't begging for swim lessons so that she could join the swim team. "You hate me!"

James and Samantha just exchange a look at Chloe's latest comment. Samantha rolls her eyes again for good measure.

There are dozens of other cars pulled up outside the entrance of Camp Twin Pines when the Beales finally reach the camp. It looks like barely organized chaos with all the children running all over the place, some reuniting with old friends or talking to the counselors or with their parents. A few kids are just running around hitting each other with sticks and weaving in and out of the parked cars and groups of people. Samantha feels bad for the older counselors who are trying to organize everyone and check the campers in.

Chloe refuses to get out of the car and continues crying when her father reaches across her lap to undo her seatbelt and pull her out of the car. Samantha feels her cheeks redden with embarrassment when Chloe falls to the ground outside of the car, crying like she's suffering some sort of physical pain. There are a few other kids clinging to their parents or making a scene, but that doesn't make Samantha feel any less embarrassed.

Samantha grabs Chloe's hands and yanks her to her feet. "Chloe, get control of yourself. It's just two months. It's a summer camp, not an internment camp. Stop crying right now."

But, of course, the phrase 'stop crying' just seems to make Chloe cry even harder. "I don't want to go!" She wails. "Don't make me go! I'll miss you too much!" She throws her arms around her mother's waist.

Samantha looks over at her husband and mentally swears. She knows that look on his face. It's the face James always gets when he's going to give Chloe what she wants. If James had his way, they'd be back in the car and heading back home in the next ten seconds. Not on her watch.

Samantha pulls Chloe off her and holds her at arm's length. "Chloe, you're going to be fine." She says firmly. "You're going to love camp. This is exactly what you need. It's for you own good."

But Chloe just keeps crying like her world is coming to an end around her.

Of course, Chloe has no way of knowing that at least one other new camper is receiving that very same piece of advice. Two cars down from where the Beales are currently struggling to calm down their overdramatic daughter, Aubrey Posen is hearing those same words come out of her father's mouth.

"This will be a chance for you to interact with children your own age." Marc Posen says as he gets Aubrey's suitcase out of the trunk. "Make some friends. Have normal interactions. It's for your own good."

Of course, there are no tears on Aubrey Posen's part. She just nods solemnly, accepting her father's words as truth. Yes, she is abnormal. Yes, she needs to learn how to interact in an acceptable way with her peer group so that maybe she won't be the outcast when she goes back to school in fall. Still, the idea of having to spend two months away at camp, being forced to be around children her own age….it's a conundrum in Aubrey's point of view.

But she's not going to argue with her father. If he feels like attending summer camp is a good idea, than that is what Aubrey will do. Marc leaves to find a counselor so he can check her in and Aubrey remains by the car, one hand on the handle of her suitcase, her eyes taking in the children around her. They're all roughhousing and running around and there is so much noise because everyone is desperately trying to be heard. Aubrey can already tell that she's not going to have anything in common with these kids. She's not loud, she doesn't know how to play pretend, she's not good at sports or silliness. She likes things nice, quiet and orderly. Everything here is the opposite of those things.

"Chloe!" Aubrey turns her head in the direction of the shout. Even the parents are loud here. "You need to pull yourself together!"

Aubrey stares at the redheaded girl, who is currently hanging limply from her mother's arms as she cries and cries. She's never seen such a public display of emotion before. It makes her a little embarrassed for this girl. Aubrey knows that her parents would never let her get away with doing something like that, no matter how upset she was.

The girl's mother finally just drops her back to the ground and shakes her head, walking away to register her daughter and ignoring her as she cries. Aubrey feels like that behavior is definitely more suited for something she would see out of her father. Seconds later, Marc walks back over to where Aubrey is standing and hands her a name tag. Someone has already taken the time to write Hello my name is: Aubrey Posen. I'm 8 and I'm in Cabin 3 across the white space. "They said you need to wear this." He informs her. "Your mother and I will be back to pick you up in two months. I expect to hear nothing but a positive report from your counselors."

Aubrey nods. "Yes, sir." She peels the nametag off and carefully smoothes it across her shirt. She feels stupid having to wear this tag but if it's part of the rules, then she'll do it. "Bye." She waves to her father as he gets back behind the driver's seat of his car. She figures that he's too busy paying attention to everything going on around them to wave back.

Now Aubrey doesn't know what to do. She feels awkward and out of place just standing here beside her suitcase but she doesn't want to join in with the other kids playing and she doesn't know anyone. She also doesn't know how to get to cabin three, otherwise she would just stay there until someone came looking for her.

Instead of trying to find it on her own (getting lost and taking up valuable time by requiring a rescue effort is not something her father would consider to be a 'positive report'), Aubrey turns her attention back to the crying girl. Her tears have tapered off a bit now that her father is kneeling down beside her, rubbing his hand down her back and saying what Aubrey assumes are comforting words. The little girl's suitcase is open at her feet and she's holding a raggedy looking dog to her chest. Aubrey can see her shoulders hitch every so often as she tries to get herself to calm down.

The girl's mother returns and gives her a nametag like the one that Aubrey is currently wearing. The girl starts crying again as her parents give her goodbye-hugs and kisses but she doesn't do anything outrageously dramatic like try and get in the car or stop them from going. For some reason, this is a relief to Aubrey. No one else is watching the exchange, but she's still glad that the girl doesn't further embarrass herself by doing something drastic.

The girl just stands their holding her dog, glancing around and looking just as uncertain and unsure as Aubrey feels. What Aubrey does next is most uncharacteristic. She doesn't have much interest in making friends or being emphatic to kids her own age or joining in with their games or making them like her. But she picks up her suitcase and walks over to the girl anyway, though she's not entirely sure of what she's going to say when she gets there.

When Aubrey walks over, the redheaded girl sniffs and gives her a curious look. Aubrey stares back at her, really wishing that she would say something first so that she wouldn't have to be the one to say something.

Because when Aubrey is forced to be the one to initiate the conversation, what comes out is, "Why are you crying?"

This question seems to throw the girl for a loop. "I…I'm going to miss my mom and dad." She sniffs and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. "Where's your mom?"

"At home." Aubrey answers simply, as though this is common sense. Her mother had work to do with a benefit that she is helping organize and it would have been selfish for Aubrey to expect her to stop what she was doing just so she could take her to camp. Aubrey already feels bad enough that her father had to put his plans on hold in order to drive her up here.

"Don't you miss them?" The girl questions, looking at Aubrey curiously. Aubrey thinks this question over before shaking her head. "You're brave. I miss them already." Her eyes get watery again.

Aubrey is not sure how she's going to handle things if this girl starts to cry all over again. It seems insensitive to just walk away and leave her in the middle of her breakdown but Aubrey doesn't know a better way to deal with someone's tears. Her parents discourage any sort of overly emotional reaction, especially when it comes to crying. They haven't exactly equipped her with the tools necessary to help someone in need of a little emotional support.

"My name is Aubrey." The tow-headed child blurts out in an effort to avoid any sort of unnecessary breakdown on the other girl's part. She holds out her hand primly, waiting with the tiniest bit of impatience for her introduction to be reciprocated.

Sniffing, the redheaded girl just looks at her hand. "I'm Chloe." She doesn't shake her hand, wiping at her eyes instead. She looks at the nametag on Aubrey's shirt and then glances down at the one she's holding in her hand. "I'm in Cabin Three too!" She holds up the nametag as though Aubrey needs some kind of proof. "I think this means that we're going to be friends."

Aubrey isn't sure about that. She's never had a friend before, so she's not exactly sure how someone becomes friends in the first place. But maybe it does just come down to being assigned to the same cabin as a lonely and anxious redheaded girl.

Each cabin is assigned a counselor, who is then instructed to herd his or her charges to their respective bunks before regrouping with the rest of the campers for the annual "Welcome to Camp Twin Pines" ceremony. The counselor assigned to Cabin Three is a sharp-faced teenager named Alice who doesn't seem particularly friendly or welcoming to the six girls that she's been put in charge of. She doesn't lead them in any camp songs or try to get to know the girls as they walk across the grounds to their cabin and there's a definite lack of enthusiasm among her group. Chloe sticks close to Aubrey, holding her stuffed dog under one arm as she drags her suitcase along behind her with the other. Maybe this isn't going to be so bad after all. She's already made a friend (she thinks), so maybe this camp thing is going to turn out okay after all.

For the rest of the day, Chloe is too busy to think about her parents or to miss home. After the opening ceremonies, they're shuffled around to all different kinds of activities, like volleyball and lanyard making and a nature scavenger hunt. Chloe insists that Aubrey be her partner during the scavenger hunt and is impressed when Aubrey seems to know so much about the local flora and fauna that they're supposed to be searching for.

After dinner the whole camp sits around the biggest campfire that Chloe has ever seen and the kids who have been there before lead the rest of the group in singing campfire songs or telling stories. The stories, thankfully, are not scary; Chloe isn't sure that she could deal with thinking about scary stories while she's trying to sleep in the middle of the woods in an unfamiliar place.

But, in spite of the fact that the stories weren't scary and despite Alice's bored there's nothing to be scared of, nighttime noises are normal, I'm right here if you need me speech right before lights out, Chloe still finds herself unable to fall asleep. She's on the bottom bunk with Aubrey right above her and she has her stuffed dog clutched tightly to her chest and can hear the sounds of the other girls around her starting to drift off to sleep but none of that makes Chloe feel any better. Because she can also hear sounds coming from outside. Those nighttime sounds that Alice was talking about don't sound all that normal. There are birds and rustling and the wind hissing against the sides of the cabin and other sounds that Chloe can't identify and that sound completely terrifying. Like some bear or monster or werewolf is seconds away from charging through the cabin door and eating all of them.

This is nothing like being at home. She misses her mom coming into her room and tucking her in and she misses her dad telling her a bedtime story and she misses her cat, Winchester, sleeping at the bottom of her bed. She even misses being teased by her older sister. Chloe's eyes start to fill with tears all over again and she pulls the blankets up to her chin, feeling alone and scared and she doesn't like camp so much anymore.

Chloe starts crying and within seconds, Alice clicks on the lamp beside her bed and some of the other girls groan and roll over. Alice sits up, looking annoyed as she glances around the cabin. "Who's crying? What's the matter?"

Under the mistaken idea that Alice will be her surrogate mother for the next two months, Chloe sits up and gives the older woman an entreating look. "I want to go home." She says softly.

However, Alice is more interested in getting the cabin quiet so she can go back to sleep than actually offering Chloe any sort of comfort. "You can't go home right now. Everything will be fine. You'll feel better in the morning, okay? Just go to sleep." Her tone is laced with exasperation. "Okay?"

Chloe sniffs and presses her face against her stuffed dog. "I can't sleep. I miss my mom. I want to call her."

Alice rolls her eyes. "You're fine. Just lay there until you fall asleep. Tomorrow you'll forget all about this and you'll be fine." Clearly, Alice is from the tough love school of thought.

As she listens to Alice snapping at Chloe, Aubrey can't help but think that Alice and her father would get along really well. She's heard statements a lot like that one come from her father whenever Aubrey came to him with a nightmare or nighttime fears. Aubrey sits up in her bed as she listens to Chloe sniffing and whimpering below her. The noises sound even more pitiful when Alice turns off the lights and instructs the other girls to go back to sleep.

Aubrey hesitates for a minute before quietly getting out of her bed and feeling her way down the ladder to the floor below. The bed creaks but Alice doesn't turn the light on again, so Aubrey figures that she's not attracting the attention of her cabin-mates.

Chloe looks over at Aubrey as she comes down the ladder and wordlessly pats the space on the mattress beside her. Aubrey hesitates and then sits down next to Chloe. They're small enough to fit comfortably on the bed and Chloe pulls the covers up around both of them so it's like they're in their own personal tent.

"What's wrong?" Aubrey questions softly so that Alice won't overhear them and just make things worse.

"I want to go home." Chloe's voice wobbles and a tear drops onto her cheek. "I want my dad. I wish I was in my bed. It's scary here."

Aubrey shakes her head. "It's not scary." She assures Chloe. "You're just not used to those noises outside. But there's nothing to be afraid of. Typically forest animals are more afraid of people than we are of them and they try to stay away from people. I'm sure everything in this camp is safe and secure and the lights that are on outside will deter animals from coming too close." Yeah, she might have watched a Discovery Channel show or two about Yellowstone National Park after her father told her that she was going to be attending a summer camp. And while Yellowstone isn't exactly Twin Pines Camp, she figures that a lot of the same ideas still apply in this situation.

Chloe looks at her with wide eyes. "How do you know so much stuff?" Aubrey shrugs. "So there are no bears outside?"

Aubrey shakes her head. "No, of course not." She assures Chloe.

Chloe purses her lips thoughtfully, considering the information that Aubrey has just given her. "What about werewolves?"

"Werewolves are not real." Aubrey points out in a dismissive tone. "It's silly to be afraid of things that aren't real." Something else that she learned from her father. There are plenty of real world things to be afraid of, so why does she need to waste her time inventing things?

Chloe nods. Of course she knows this. It's just harder to remember this information when it's dark outside and she's away from home. "Do you want…stay? Just in case? Like a sleepover?"

"Only babies are afraid to sleep alone." Aubrey tells her frankly.

Chloe feels her eyes prick with tears again and she struggles to keep from crying all over again. "Oh."

Instantly, Aubrey feels worse than she's ever felt in her entire life. She feels like the kids in her school that always tease her; she feels like her older brother who constantly tells her that she's never going to be good enough; she feels like her father when he said those words to her the first time she crept into his bedroom after a nightmare and wanted him to chase the monsters away from her memories. She's been under the mistaken idea that doing those things, that making someone else feel sad and alone made you feel better. Why else would those kids and Brad love teasing her so much? But Aubrey doesn't like this feeling at all.

"I can stay." Aubrey says softly and Chloe looks at her hopefully. "Just like a sleepover." Not that she's ever had a sleepover, but Chloe seems like she could be an authority on the subject.

Chloe offers her a shaky smile and nods. "Okay." She lays her stuffed dog in between them so that Aubrey will know that she can pet him if she starts to feel scared. Not that Aubrey seems like the type of person to get scared. But just in case.

Chloe starts to feel better, she even starts to feel tired…until the wind knocks a low hanging branch against the outside window and she feels like she's going to jump out of her skin. She feels like she's suddenly hyperaware of all the sounds going on outside again; every tiny creak or crack sounds like something or someone lurking just outside the door. Every noise could be the sound of some horrible monster looking for little redheaded girls to eat.

"Aubrey?" Chloe says softly, feeling relieved when the other girl's eyes open. "I still can't sleep. I'm still…" She can't bring herself to say the words because it feels too childish to admit that she's still afraid.

Aubrey isn't quite sure what to do in this situation. She tries to think back to the nights when she's been too afraid or stressed or anxious to sleep. She always hums quietly to herself until the darkness doesn't seem so dark and her fears don't seem quite so real.

"Do you like to sing?" Aubrey questions, feeling a sudden burst of inspiration. Chloe nods, a little smile playing on the corners of her lips. "Sometimes I like to sing to make myself feel better." She's never admitted this out loud to anyone before.

Chloe nods. "Okay."

It takes Aubrey a minute to realize that Chloe is expecting her to sing. Which wasn't exactly what Aubrey had been expecting when she passed on this little piece of advice to her new friend. She's never sang in front of anyone before; it seems like her private secret, a part of herself that no one else knows exists. Except for Chloe.

Aubrey opens her mouth to refuse to sing, to tell Chloe that if she wants this little trick to work she has to sing to herself. But instead, Aubrey finds herself singing softly, barely loud enough to be heard but the words hang between them anyway, trapped under the blankets on Chloe's bed, like the fabric is still protecting her secret. She sings the first song the comes to mind, one of the songs that Brad listens to when he thinks that no one else is around. Brad's only act of rebellion in his fourteen years of life has been to listen to old music that their parents consider "tasteless" and nothing more than noise. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Styx, Journey. Bands that most people would consider classics but the Posens just consider racket. Aubrey's only act of rebellion in her eight years of life is to listen to this music through her brother's closed bedroom door and mouth the words along silently to herself as the CD spins. Singing the words out loud for the first time makes Aubrey feel happy in a way that just listening never could.

"The wind is low, the birds will sing that you are part of everything. Dear Prudence, won't you open up your eyes?" Aubrey sings softly and Chloe is finally able to fall asleep.

From that moment on, it becomes rare to see Chloe without Aubrey or Aubrey without Chloe. Aubrey has never had a friend before, let alone a best friend, but thinks that it's certainly nice. She feels woefully unprepared to navigate the intricacies of friendship but Chloe is quick to teach her all the things that she needs to know, like the importance of having a secret handshake and code words so that no one else can understand them. She also teaches Aubrey a series of complicated rhythmic clapping games and the songs that go along with them and Aubrey is quick to pick them up and they start to invent their own. Chloe quickly adjusts to life away from home now that she has Aubrey and Aubrey quickly stops resenting her father for sending her to camp because she's not normal now that she has Chloe. The other campers quickly group themselves off into cliques and pairings as well but those groups are constantly rearranging themselves and someone is always mad at someone else for various idiotic reasons. But Chloe and Aubrey remain as thick as thieves as the weeks slowly pass by.

One of the selling points of the camp is the large lake on the property, which is always abuzz with activity, especially as the summer days get hotter and more sweltering. Swimming and canoeing are always popular activities and even though Aubrey isn't a huge fan of any type of water activity, she always lets Chloe drag her to the lake. Chloe has been perfecting her swimming abilities over the past few weeks and she's taken to being in the water like a duck. It's not that Aubrey can't swim, it's just that she doesn't want to. Especially not in some dirty and disgusting lake. There's no telling what lives in that water or what sort of bacteria and diseases are found there. She prefers to stay on the dock and offer Chloe advice and encouragement from dry land.

In spite of the encouragement from the counselors and the teasing of some of the other campers, Aubrey has yet to put so much as a toe into the water. The teasing she can handle, as it is nothing new. The counselors are just as easy to ignore because Aubrey feels like her father wouldn't consider her refusal to get into the water as misbehaving or not acting normal, especially if he knew how gross the water surely is. So Aubrey just sits on the dock and keeps Chloe's towel from getting wet or snatched up by another kid and Chloe swims around and it works out pretty well for both of them.

Unfortunately, there are several the older kids who seem to find it personally offensive that Aubrey has decided not to swim this summer. Aubrey doesn't feel too special because she's seen this same group of boys torment a variety of campers for a variety of different reasons and Aubrey has more important things to do than pay attention to them. So when Andrew Doyle and his gaggle of fellow ten-year-olds come sauntering up one afternoon, Aubrey continues what she's doing. Which is, namely, ignoring them.

"Only babies are afraid of swimming." Andrew taunts, nudging Aubrey with his foot. "I guess you're a baby." He laughs and his friends join in.

Aubrey rolls her eyes. She's been hoping that over the past few weeks that he would have been able to come up with some new material but so far that hasn't happened.

"I'm not afraid of swimming." Aubrey informs him frankly. "I'm afraid of all the diseases that are typically found in lake water."

Chloe swims over to the edge of the dock when she sees Andrew and his friends forming a semi-circle around Aubrey. These guys are definitely the only thing she can't stand about Camp Twin Pines. She's going to recommend to the counselors that they're not allowed to come back next year.

"Go away." Chloe says, splashing Andrew and his friends with water. "No one wants you here." She puts her elbows up on the edge of the dock and starts pulling herself out of the water.

Andrew looks down at his wet shorts and shirt and glares at Chloe. "No one wants you here. Everyone knows gingers have no souls." He pushes Chloe back into the water right as she starts to climb out onto the dock.

Aubrey jumps to her feet, balling her hands into fists and glaring at Andrew. "You're nothing but a bully. You better apologize to her right now!" She demands, crossing her arms over her chest.

Andrew laughs and shakes her head. "I'm not apologizing to her. She's a freak. You're both freaks." His friends start laughing as well at this most recent witticism.

Aubrey huffs out a breath and she uncrosses her arms, holding up her fists like it's taking everything in her power to not hit Andrew in the chest. Which, of course, it is. This only makes Andrew and his friends laugh harder and Aubrey does the first thing that comes to her mind: she shoves him as hard as she can. Andrew's eyes go wide as he looses his balance, his arms pin wheeling comically as he tries to regain his balance. Unfortunately it's too late and as he starts to fall backward he grabs onto Aubrey and they both go into the water.

When she surfaces, Aubrey spits out a mouthful of water and she's pretty sure that she's never felt more disgusting in her entire life. Andrew surfaces just inches away from her, a murderous expression on his face. "You pushed me in!"

"You deserved it." Aubrey says haughtily and splashes him once more for good measure before she starts swimming back to the dock.

Chloe helps her onto the dock, a grin spreading across her face. "That was awesome. He's such a jerk." She takes her towel and puts it around Aubrey's shoulders. "Sorry he made you fall in too."

Aubrey grimaces and wipes her face with the towel. Chloe notices that her face is unusually pale and her eyes are wide with worry. "I swallowed some of the water. Am I going to be okay?" She frets.

Chloe grins and nods. This is quite the role reversal. "Of course. I accidently drink the water all the time. You'll be fine." She assures her friend. Aubrey doesn't look all that convinced but she nods anyway, pulling the towel tighter around her shoulders. "Let's go get some ice cream." Chloe suggests, taking Aubrey's hand and leading her away from the lake.

Aubrey's unplanned dip in the lake doesn't change her opinions on swimming but it does keep Andrew and his friends from bothering them anymore, which is a win in Chloe's book.

And then, all of the sudden, it's all over. Two months have passed in what feels like the blink of an eye. Chloe can no longer remember the desperation she felt as her parents were driving her to camp; she no longer remembers begging her parents not to leave her behind. It no longer feels like two months is a lifetime; now she wishes that she could stay. Because leaving camp means leaving Aubrey and that thought makes Chloe want to cry and throw a temper tantrum much like the one that she barely remembers throwing two months before.

On the last night of camp, there's a big closing ceremony and a bonfire to rival the one from the first night. Everyone seems to be suffering from the same melancholy that Aubrey and Chloe are feeling and Aubrey is pretty sure that she's never seen so much hugging before in her life. At the bonfire, all the counselors talk about their campers and the memories they made and what they're always going to remember about this summer and some of the campers also share their favorite memories and they sing camp songs and tell jokes but the joviality does little to hide the underlying feelings of sadness.

But there's also s'mores, which manages to perk Chloe up a little bit. She loves s'mores and she really wants to know why these treats have been kept from them until now. It just doesn't seem fair.

Aubrey doesn't look like she's entirely down with the idea of finding a stick in the woods and sticking a marshmallow on it and then eating said marshmallow. "That's part of making s'mores." Chloe assures her friend as she picks up their sticks. "That's what you're supposed to do." Sometimes she and her dad make s'mores in the backyard over the charcoal grill and he's told her the same thing.

Even though Aubrey doesn't look entirely convinced, she takes the stick that Chloe hands her and puts her marshmallow on the end. She watches the other kids to gauge the best way to toast her marshmallow; she doesn't want to end up with a charred and disgustingly burnt marshmallow on the very first s'more that she's ever had in her life.

But Chloe doesn't seem to care so much about technique. She just thrusts her stick into the flames and impatiently waits for it to get melty enough for her to shove between her chocolate and graham crackers.

"It's going to burn if you're not careful." Aubrey remarks.

Chloe shakes her head. "No, it'll be fine." She assures Aubrey. "I do this all the time." Of course, her dad is usually there to help her but she's seen him do it enough times.

Aubrey shrugs and just goes back to turning her marshmallow so that all sides are equally toasted and the outside is evenly burned. Not ten seconds later, Chloe's marshmallow starts melting and oozing off the end of the stick, falling to the ground amidst the firewood and embers. Chloe purses her lips and stares at her charring marshmallow. The counselors had warned them about letting their marshmallows burn or get ruined because there was only enough for each camper to have one s'more and now she doesn't get hers because it's melted and maybe it's the disappointment she feels at this being the last day of camp and the sadness she feels about having to leave Aubrey but she really wants to cry right now.

"That's okay Chlo." Aubrey says quickly, taking her own marshmallow out of the fire and squishing it between the cookies and chocolate. "Look, you can have mine." She tries to hand the s'more to Chloe.

But Chloe just shakes her head. "No, that's okay. It's yours." She tosses her stick in the fire and digs the toe of her shoe into the dirt.

Aubrey looks at her s'more, which does look pretty delicious if you ask her, and then back at Chloe. Her curiosity over trying the traditional campfire snack is not as strong as the desire she feels to make Chloe smile.

"I don't want it." She assures Chloe, trying to hand it over again. "It's too messy."

Chloe gives her a doubtful look. "Really?" Aubrey nods and Chloe smiles and takes the snack from Aubrey. "Thanks." She looks so happy as she takes a bite that Aubrey doesn't even feel like she's missing out.

They sit quietly for a few minutes, half-listening to the stories and the songs going on around them, half lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Chloe looks over at Aubrey and smiles. "You're the best friend I've ever had." She tells her frankly, a smile on her face.

Aubrey isn't quite sure how to describe the way that she feels. It's unusual, like a warm pressure building in her chest and expanding until she feels like she won't be able to contain it. She smiles but that still doesn't seem like enough. "You're my best friend too." She tells Chloe. "I've never…I've never had a friend before." She admits, ashamed of this fact.

Chloe just smiles. "That's okay. Now you do."

"I don't want to go home tomorrow." Aubrey tells Chloe. "I'm going to miss you."

"I don't want to go either." Chloe assures Aubrey and that need to cry is suddenly back. "But we can write to each other." She brightens a little bit at that idea. "We'll write to each other all the time and maybe my mom will drive me to your house and we can have a sleepover. And then next year we can come back to camp."

Aubrey smiles and nods, even though she already thinks that writing is not the same as seeing Chloe and she doubts that her parents will let Chloe come over to her house for a sleepover or agree to drive her to Chloe's, which is several hours from where she lives.

"Okay. That's what we'll do." Aubrey agrees and Chloe smiles wider and maybe it won't be so bad after all.

The following morning, Chloe and Aubrey carefully write down their home addresses and Aubrey folds up the paper with Chloe's address and slips it into her back pocket so that it doesn't get lost. Chloe's parents arrive before Aubrey's and when it comes time for Chloe to actually get into the car and leave, she starts crying and clings onto Aubrey like letting go is absolutely unthinkable. Samantha Beale is not amused that she's having to pick up her daughter the same way that she dropped her off, though she's not at all surprised that Chloe is reluctant to leave her new friend. Chloe always forms attachments quickly and deeply and this is clearly no exception.

But Chloe's tears are not as hysterical and loud as they were on the way to camp. She just sits in the backseat and cries quietly to herself and holds her stuffed dog to her chest and doesn't say much when her parents try to cajole her out of her mood.

"See, I told you that you were going to have fun at camp and make friends." Samantha says with a smile as she pats Chloe sympathetically on the shoulder. "Does this mean that you want to go back next year?"

Chloe nods vehemently. "Yes, I have to go back next year." She informs her mother. "Aubrey is going to be there too. We're going to write each other every day."

Samantha smiles and nods and she's glad that Chloe has at least stopped crying for the time being. And she really hopes that Chloe and this girl do manage to keep in touch because she's not ready to have to explain to her daughter that sometimes friends lose touch and friendships fall apart. She just wants Chloe to be happy. Is that really too much to ask?

Aubrey and her father don't talk much during the drive back to the Posen household. But Aubrey doesn't really expect them to because her father often has important things on his mind and cannot be bothered with frivolous conversation.

As they turn into their neighborhood, Marc glances at his daughter in the rearview mirror. "Did you enjoy yourself?" He questions.

Aubrey smiles and nods. "Yes sir, very much." She assures him. "I would like to go back next year. I made a friend and she's going to go back next year."

Marc smiles a little bit and nods. "Well, I'm sure that we can work that out."

Aubrey takes her suitcase up to her bedroom but instead of unpacking immediately like her parents would want her to do, she sits down at her desk and takes out a sheet of notebook paper. Dear Chloe, she writes in her nicest handwriting, my dad said that I can come back to camp next year.

In the months that follow, Aubrey and Chloe exchange letters with a regularity that impresses Samantha. She's never seen her child express this much dedication to something that wasn't singing or dancing and it makes her smile whenever she sees Chloe sitting at the dining room table dutifully writing another letter to Aubrey.

When it finally becomes time to return to Camp Twin Pines, Chloe can barely contain her energy. It's impossible for her to sit still during the drive and as soon as they pull onto the camp grounds, she presses her face against the window and eagerly scans the gathering crowd of people for the only person that she really cares about seeing.

When Aubrey finally does arrive, Chloe throws her arms around her friend and holds her tightly that she worries she's going to choke the breath right out of her but she can't bring herself to let go. Aubrey smiles at her and returns her hug but there's something in her eyes that Chloe can't quite put her finger on but looks a little off. But slowly that look starts to vanish and Chloe doesn't bring it up and things go back to normal and it's like no time passed and they had never been separated.

This summer seems to pass by even quicker than the summer before and Aubrey slowly feels herself start to slip back into the unhappiness that plagued her in the weeks before coming to camp. On the afternoon before the closing night bonfire, Aubrey finds herself unable to keep her thoughts to herself anymore. "Chloe, I need to tell you something." She says, finding herself unable to look at her friend as they walk one of the nature trails near their cabin. "I'm not going to be able to come back to camp next year."

Chloe stops walking and looks at her friend. "What? Why?!"

Aubrey still can't bring herself to look at Chloe and see the disappointment in her eyes. "My dad is being transferred because of his job." She says. "We're moving to Pennsylvania."

"Pennsylvania!" Chloe says this like Aubrey just informed her that she moving to the moon. It might as well be the same thing. "You can't!"

Aubrey shrugs. "I have to." She mumbles. "It's for my dad's job. We have to go."

Chloe feels her bottom lip trembling and she looks away, trying to rapidly blink the tears out of her eyes. "It's okay." She says in a voice that sounds much more collected than she feels. "We'll still write to each other. And maybe I can come visit you."

Aubrey finally looks up. "Really?"

"Duh." Chloe nods, looking back at her friend. "We might not see each other at camp but we can still be friends." She assures Aubrey. "Best friends."

"Best friends." Aubrey repeats, savoring the sound of those words and the way they feel on her tongue. She hesitates for a minute and then throws her arms around Chloe, pulling her into a hug. "I wish I didn't have to go."

Chloe grabs onto her tightly. "I don't want you to go." It's a little harder to get rid of the tears in her eyes this time. "You have to promise to write."

"I will." Aubrey swears. "I'll send you my address as soon as I know it."

Chloe nods and tightens her grip on Aubrey. "Okay. It'll work out." Neither of them are too sure of that, however.

They don't bring up Aubrey's impending move again but it's hard to join in with the festivities of the closing ceremony camp fire. Neither one of them feel much like making s'mores and listening to campfire songs.

Chloe doesn't mention Aubrey's move to her parents when they pick her up from camp the following day. Samantha figures that the cause of her daughter's melancholy is having to leave her friend behind and doesn't bother to question her. She starts to get a little concerned when Chloe doesn't emerge from her funk in the days following her return home but Chloe doesn't seek her advice or council so Samantha doesn't pry.

Two weeks later when Samantha checks the mail and finds a letter from Aubrey with a Pennsylvania postmark, she's able to put the pieces together. Chloe perks up when her mother hands over the letter and disappears into her room to no doubt read the epistle and compose her response. She eventually brings the letter and her notebook back downstairs and sits at the kitchen table but the appearance of Chloe's older sister distracts her from her writing and she abandons the task for the time being.

The following afternoon, Samantha finds her daughter tearing through her room in a panic. She was walking by on her way to the laundry room when she saw clothes and stuffed animals flying through the air and now that she's standing in Chloe's doorway it looks like a tornado passed through her youngest daughter's room. "Chloe Beale! What are you doing!"

Chloe pauses in dumping out her desk drawer, looking over at her mother. "I can't find it! Have you seen Aubrey's letter?"

"Aubrey's letter?" Samantha's brow knits. "Didn't you have it downstairs?"

Chloe goes flying out of her room and races down the stairs and Samantha follows after her before she can make a mess of the kitchen as well. The kitchen table is clear and the letter is nowhere to be found. "Where did you last have it?" Samantha questions patiently, hoping to avoid the meltdown that she can sense is approaching.

"I guess right here." Chloe frets. "I have to find it Mom. It has her new address. I need to have it to write back to her!"

Samantha tries to pat her daughter on the shoulder but Chloe is off again, desperately searching the same places for the letter. "I'm sure it's around here somewhere."

The letter and, more importantly, the envelope never turns up. Samantha learns from her husband that he might have accidently tossed the envelope the previous night when he was cleaning up and it seems as though Aubrey's new Pennsylvania address is on its way to the city dump by now. Chloe frets over its loss for weeks and anxiously awaits another letter from Aubrey. She prays that her friend will send another letter even though she never got a reply to her first. But a letter never comes and Chloe eventually resigns herself to the fact that her link to Aubrey is gone forever.

tbc.