The smell of heavy-duty gasoline mixes with the butterflies in my stomach, and it makes me even sicker than I already was. As I relax on the vinyl bus seat, I glance out the dusty window at my mother. She was practically glued to the side of the bus, in tears- I wondered if she could feel the summer sun baking the metallic siding. My thighs immediately sear onto the plasticky seat; I'd need a spatula to scrape them off later.

Nouveau riche. That's what this felt like. This strange mixture of forced belonging and standing out like a black and blue thumb.

"Hey, earth to Nana." My friend, whose thighs were also melting onto the hot seats, cuts into my thoughts. The bus driver finally climbs into his shiny chrome bullet and cranks the AC- several kids in the back sigh in relief. My blonde friend tries to make eye contact again. "Are you ready? Did you pack everything?"

"Yeah, Emiko, I got it all." I let a smile worm its way across my face, just managing to fit underneath my huge dark circles.

"You look like hell." Emiko sips a juice box from her bag. It's the gross generic lemonade she seems to like. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Yeah, not really." I fidget with my skirt- a brand new tennis skirt my mom purchased for just this occasion. I can still hear her trying to make excited conversation outside the glass and steel. "I'm pretty nervous."

"Don't be. Summer camp is gonna be great. And it's the whole summer too... So it'll be like that gap year you wanted." She crushes the box, having already swallowed its entire contents.

"Except not at all." I snort. "I wanted to get a little apartment on the coast and write a book, not spend the entire summer at a 'Glamping' site."

"Look, this is good for us." Emiko leans back- she doesn't get far, due to her short nature. "You can write your book there. I'm sure they have wifi and electricity. Rich kids can't live without those."

I watch some of the noted rich kids file onto the bus- some of them I recognized from magazines and web articles. There was a well-known rosette that had just come aboard, chattering with a blonde. Both had been on the cover of Teen Rogue at one point or another.

Emiko grins up at them optimistically- a poor choice that reflected on their faces as they pointedly ignore her.

"Ehh... Give it time." I mumble as Emi huffs. "We /are/ kind of intruding."

"We belong here just as much as the rest of them!" She reaches into her backpack to snatch out a bag of potato chips and breaks them open violently. "Just cuz I don't have a cover on Teen Rogue doesn't mean my net worth is..."

Her voice trails out of my ears as I catch sight of a group of boys that shove their way on, laughing about something. One has a suspicious lump in the front of a coat he's got zipped to his chin- it's making him sweat bullets, but he wears it anyway. The two other boys shove him and laugh as he barks at them to stop, or he'll trip.

Emiko notices I've stopped listening, and follows my line of sight.

"Oh~ He's kinda cute~" She teases. I choke on air, my throat closing so suddenly that it cuts off my protest and I cough wildly.

"I-" I wheeze softly, snatching the crumpled juice box. "Am NOT interested!" I toss it weakly as I double back over in a mixture of nervous laughter and coughing. Emi dodges easily, and it bounces off a certain boy's leg: the one that had originally snatched my attention.

He wasn't exactly handsome, his eyes were pretty round and his brows took up a good third of his forehead. But I had seen him on several different martial arts websites, wearing medals upon medals upon medals. His name was foreign... Rock something.

But the offending juice cartridge doesn't even catch his attention. Instead, his eyes were locked on the rosette from before, as his hands fumbled around in his pockets dumbly.

"S-Sakura!" He calls, pushing past the two boys with a gleaming grin on his face. Emiko's eyes slide over to watch my reaction to the scene as it goes down:

"What, Lee?" The girl asks- she coats her tone in syrup, but even that doesn't disguise how sharp it is. Lee doesn't seem to notice, holding out a little bear in his palm. It's pink, like her hair, and has a single cherry blossom pattern seen on its belly.

"I found this! It reminded me of you, so I brought it!"

I haven't even known these people for 10 minutes and already the butterflies in my stomach have transformed into little pinpricks of envy. I can feel my lower lip twist just a little as I settle back into my seat- I don't want to watch any more. Emiko keeps her neck craned, observing the rest:

"Oh. How cute." Sakura plasters a sweet smile on her face, and takes it, putting it in her bag quickly. "Thank you."

Lee turns pink, the giddiness lighting his face up like a billboard. He was so easy to read, it was almost sad.

"So how about that dat-"

"Hey, Sakura, check out this boudoir shoot my agent had me do!" The blonde shoves her phone in Sakura's face, and the pinkette, all too eager for the distraction, takes it, returning to her chatter.

Lee's face crumbles, and he opens his mouth to try and get her attention once more, but then thinks better of it and heaves a long, quiet sigh. He returns to his friends, and the lumpy boy pats Lee's back gently.

"... Wow." Emiko mouths, before sitting back against the plastic seat. "That was a TRAIN wreck."

I gasp quietly and swat her arm, shushing her. "That is so damn rude!"

"Hey, you should get him off the rebound~ He must be pretty lonely now that sugar queen shot him down~" she teases, pinching my side. I go bright red- was it THAT obvious I was into him?

The bus suddenly lurches forward. It was time to leave, and I could hear my mom wailing things like 'Make sure you take pictures!' and 'Call me when you get the chance!' She would be calling me frantically tomorrow, I could already tell.

"Look, Emi, he's cute, but let him be sad!" I mumble, trying to keep my voice down. Her eyes shine as she jabs my side with a finger. She liked to think she was psychic about these things... And admittedly, she was usually right.

"You admit it!" She purrs, a dumb smile cracking her face right in half. "Aww, that's so cute~"

My face goes bright red, and I sigh harshly enough that it fogs the window. "God, are we in middle school?"

Quietly, I turn to glance over at him— he was just behind us, head slumped against the back of our seat. He's so close I can smell his cologne. It coats my tongue and makes my throat go dry with nerves. Emiko notices me freeze in my seat and decides to take things into her hands. Before I can stop her, she turns onto her knees and rolls her chin along the top of the seat.

"Hey! I'm Emiko!" He looks up at her in a little surprise, but then a blinding smile flashes across his face, and he sits up. Goddamn, his shoulders are broad…

"My name is Rock Lee! You can call me Lee… and you may hear Naruto call me 'Bushy Brow.'" A little flush of embarrassment at his nickname brushes his cheeks, and my heart nearly stops. Woah, down girl. I swivel my head to face the window, my cheeks flushing so full of blood my cheeks go stiff. This doesn't go unnoticed.

"Is your friend carsick?" He asks, concern evident in his voice. I cringe internally. He thinks I'm carsick….

"Nah, I think she's lovesi—" I subtly pinch Emiko's exposed thigh, making sure my nails bite into her skin. "AH! L-l-l-loving the c-car ride a lot! She just wants to—oww! Enjoy the scenery!"

I scoff. She was such a bad liar— there was barely anything to see other than bill boards and city scraping by as we headed up toward the mountains.

"Oh, yes! I also enjoy the scenery!" He seems to buy it, and Emiko stifles a laugh. I'm bright red and silent; biting my lip so hard I can feel it start to bruise. It wasn't that boys made me nervous at all… which is why I was nervous. I'm nervous /because/ I'm nervous. Why was I so jittery? What was this boy doing to me, and how could I stop it?

Frustration at myself and at this boy weaves questions around my brain like cobwebs, and I let myself stop thinking as we whizz through the countryside. The bus's air conditioner was finally cooling us off, and I can feel my skin prick with goose bumps as Emiko shares her backpack full of snacks with me. She yammers on about how she deserved to be at this camp as much as anyone in this bus, despite being 'new to the money'. It was kind of obvious she was trying to convince herself rather than me, so I let her keep talking. The boy with the lumpy jacket reveals that he snuck in a puppy he was training when it throws up on his lap.

This bus ride was supposed to be 3 hours long, but it clips by in what seems like a few minutes. We leave the city in seconds, fly through the multicolored farmland and into the deeper forest within the blink of an eye. I can't deal with my chest clamping down on itself as this Lee boy talked with his friends— I glean from conversation that the dog boy was Kiba, and the blonde boy was Naruto.

As we pull up into the campsite, my heart is just finally starting to relax. The bus is starting to get rowdy— the AC was doing nothing to stifle the smell of boys, junk food and expensive perfume. Emiko starts packing up wrappers and ripped up packaging, and we all shuffle together off the bus in a big, teenage herd. We stop in front of two men, who look at us all.

"Welcome to Camp Gakure!" One booms. "My name is Iruka! This is Kakashi! We're your Site Leaders, and we run the camp!" He smiles widely; it's a practiced smile that's excited, but well worn. The man next to him was wearing a surgical mask, and his eyes were lazily cast on a book in his hands. He addresses us without looking up.

"You lucky lot are a part of our Konoha division. We have another division called Suna across the lake. You might see them around, but please don't go over there." He drawls. "You'll be divided into cabins Ka, Fu, Rai, Do, and Sui. Head over to the main cabin to find your camper card, card lanyard, handbook and cabin assignment. There's not too many of you this summer so we're not using Sui Cabin, thank god..."

They drone on a bit more about the rules, and how much fun everyone was going to have. We're all a little antsy to just get to our cabins. Our bags were being towed from the bus by college kids all wearing the same bland uniform. Some were grumbling about the busy work, but what did they expect? These were the richest kids in the area, and they were probably being paid bank to counsel here…

I glance around the group, making sure my eyes skim over Lee as I take everyone in. A big guy with red hair, a skinny guy with droopy eyes and a man bun, a very straight laced looking fella with long hair in a tight ponytail, a lanky guy in sunglasses, a really handsome guy with shaggy black hair, Naruto, Kiba, a pretty girl with brown hair in mouse ear buns, a timid girl with raven hair and pale blue eyes, the blonde and rosette, and someone with really short, mousy brown hair and glasses. I can't really tell if it's a guy or a girl... I'm curious, but not stupid enough to straight out ask.

As the group breaks to head for the office, I notice Naruto staring right at them. Oh no, he wasn't...

He trots toward the person, and taps their shoulder. "Hey, are you a guy or a chick?"

Some nearby people stop to be nosy- I guess they had been wondering too. I find myself just as curious as they were, so I shouldn't be calling the kettle black, but it would be useful information, I reassure myself. The person stares at him blankly, and then continues walking.

"H-hey! Wait up! You don't wanna tell me?" Naruto chases after them a little, before the handsome guy grabs his shoulder.

"Leave her alone." He murmurs.

My cheeks go red from secondhand embarrassment, and I scurry past them, Emiko in tow.

"How did he know she's a girl? Is she a girl?" Emiko looks up at me, and I shrug.

"I don't really care." I lie.

We exit the early summer heat into stale air that smells like copiers and fresh staples mixed with old coffee. The office is bland compared to the vivid greenery outside; the walls are a dull pale blue and the desks are chipped and scratched on the fake wooden surfaces. Two guys sit behind the desks, labeled 'Girls' and 'Boys.' I notice the figure from before in the 'girls' line- looks like handsome-dude was right.

"Last name?" The guy behind the desk asks as she approaches. He's got dark skin and scars from stitches all over- his green eyes are intense and a little scary.

"Hanashi." Her voice is flat and unfazed by the brute behind the desk. "First name Kei."

He flicks easily through the box of folders in front of him, pulling one out and handing it to her briskly. "Next."

Meanwhile, the guy at the other desk is nowhere near as organized, his slicked back silver hair falling in his face as he combed once, twice, three times through the filing box before looking back up at Naruto.

"...What was your name again?"

"NARUTO! NARUTO UZUMAKI!"

Emiko steps up to the table and opens her mouth to speak, but is cut off. "Last name?" This guy seemed to like his system.

"T-Tokoto." She stammers, thrown off by his brusqueness. He skims through the file, before pulling one out and jutting it at her. She takes it quickly, and moves to the side so I can step up.

"Last name?"

"Kanzaki."

He pauses- the name caught his attention. Shit.

"As in Tanaka Kanzaki?"

"That's... That's my dad." I try and keep it quiet. He eyes me silently for a moment- it kind of feels like he's looking past my clothes, past my skin, directly into my DNA to make sure I wasn't lying. Finally his gaze rips away and drops down into his box of files, and plucks out my folder.

"Welcome to camp." He says quietly, before looking past my shoulder. "Next."

I quickly skirt from the room, keeping my eyes on the ground. I can hear the ruckus in the office fade as I make my escape-

"You said it was Maka Uzi?"

"UZU! MAKI!"