After hoisting her hiking gear on her back, and pulling her luggage from the trunk, Mercedes excitedly shuffled to the main office to check her bunking status. The cool breeze from the air conditioner greeted her as the office door closed behind her, and she immediately felt at home. It was empty, but everything looked clean and organized. The board on the immediate right of the door illustrated a table with the cabins listed on them. But before she could eagerly approach the board, Mercedes was distracted by the familiar decoration around the room. All throughout the modernized cabin were pictures of campers, camp activities, and special moments between the counselors. The pictures dated all the way back to 1985 when the camp director, Sherrie Sheppard, was a camper. A grin spread across Mercedes' face as her eyes rested on a picture, right above the fireplace on the far wall of the cabin. She was only 10 at the time, and very shy. But her hair was in a high ponytail with multicolored streaks running through it. Her arm was thrown around the shoulder of a shorter Asian girl with a black pageboy cut, and a peace sign up with her free hand. They were both caught, mid-laugh, as the picture was taken.

It was hard to believe that she and Tina had been friends for so long. Mercedes sighed happily and ran her fingers through her hair, letting it fall, lazily, to her shoulders. Behind her, the door opened, catching her off guard and causing her to spin on her heels.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," a curly haired boy smiled warmly and raised both hands up in reassurance. It was the boy that caught her belting out Paramore in the car just a few short minutes before. Hopefully, he wouldn't bring that up. It was embarrassing enough, and she didn't feel like reliving it.

"It's fine," Mercedes grinned, "I was just taking in everything. I missed it, ya know?"

The boy took a few long strides until he was standing almost shoulder to shoulder with her. He, too, took in all that the room had to offer. It was like every single camp experience was recorded in film, and perched on those four walls.

"I never thought that I'd see the inside of this building," the boy sighed. Mercedes glanced over at him, curiously, and he explained, "I've been a camper here for a long time. This is my first year being a counselor. I'd never been in here, because people normally come in here when they're misbehaving. I never really misbehaved."

He smiled and shrugged innocently.

"Oh! Well, welcome to the staff," Mercedes raised her left hand out towards the younger boy, "I'm Mercedes Jones. I've been a counselor for 2 years now. Well-I mean- this is my second year."

The boy took her hand in a firm grip and shook it, "I'm Blaine Anderson. Nice to meet you, Mercedes."

After releasing hands, they both admired the room for a few moments more, before Blaine decided to break the silence.

"So where do you reckon everyone is?"

"Sherrie always takes the van to pick up the other counselors from the airports and bus terminals. Not all of them drive, like us, so she goes to get them."

He nodded in understanding, "I guess this means we get first dibs on the living arrangements."

Mercedes eyes lit up in realization and she clapped her hands together, "Oh shit! I just realized that."

She'd never been able to pick her own living arrangements the year before This was partially due to the fact that when she came here with her mother, she was the last one to arrive. She was assigned to the Robin Egg cabin, but she didn't regret it at all. It was the best cabin that they could've put her in. Therefore, as Blaine and Mercedes began write their names down under their desired cabin, Mercedes picked the light blue marker, and wrote her name under the light blue egg symbol. Blaine stared at the chart in confusion. He bit down on his bottom lip in deep thought. It was possibly the most adorable expression Mercedes had seen on a boy, but she kept her opinions to herself.

"Is there an issue?" She asked.

He blinked once, and then squinted, "I don't know what these symbols mean."

"Oh. Okay well it's kinda hard to understand at first, but you'll get it eventually. And trust me, these symbols pop up everywhere," she motioned to the 5 egg drawings at the very top of the chart, "the light blue egg stands for the Robins. Those are the girls that range from about 9-12 years old. The light green egg stands for the Hummingbirds. Those are the girls that are between 13 and 16. The dark brown egg stands for the eagles, which are the 9-12 year old boys, and the dark gray egg stands for the boys between the ages of 13 and 16. Those are the Hawks."

Although she was finished with her explanation, Blaine still stared at the board with squinted eyes.

"What's that black egg?" He pointed to the egg on the far right of the chart, and Mercedes frowned.

"That's just the group of the kids that misbehave a lot. Normally, Sherrie has someone hired, personally, to handle them. Sometimes, the parents just dump their kids here. They don't even give them any home training or anything," she shook her head and pursed her lips, "I learned that my 3rd year here when I accidentally walked into the bad kids' cabin. Never doing that again. If I were you, I'd avoid it."

Blaine nodded, his hazel eyes transfixed on the chart. After momentary consideration, he signed his name under the Eagle egg, and dropped the brown marker back in the scarlet bucket sitting under the board, proudly.

"I feel so grown up." He grinned.

Mercedes giggled and dropped her light blue marker in the bucket, "Welcome to the club."

Sam

When the bright yellow Volkswagen pulled up in front of the airport entrance, with suns painted in the windows and children's handprints everywhere, it took every bit of strength within him to not turn around and head back towards the gates. This was his first time away at camp, and the cheery looking van just gave him the creeps. He immediately thought of every scary movie he'd ever seen about sleep-away camp, and shuddered. Clutching his book bag on his shoulder, and his large briefcase in his left hand, Sam slowly strode towards the van. His senses were on edge, not sure of what he'd find once he entered the vehicle.

If I see Madame Alexander dolls, Sam thought to himself, I'm dropping everything and running like hell.

Approaching the vehicle, Sam caught a glimpse of some of the people inside. There was a boy with short brown hair and very pale skin, talking animatedly to an Asian girl with her black hair pulled into a messy bun. Apparently, the boy said something hilarious, because she covered her mouth and tossed her head back. Sam found himself knocking on the window, disturbing the picturesque scene commencing within the van, as the door pushed forward and slid open

"New guy?" The boy with the pale skin asked.

Sam nodded, accordingly, and the boy slid to the far side of the seat, giving Sam room to climb in. In the drivers seat was a tall woman with curly red hair and really red cheeks. When she turned to look at him, he realized that she had violet colored eyes. He had to blink twice to make sure he was seeing correctly. Violet eyes? That was new. Freckles were sprinkled over her nose and cheeks, and her face, as a whole looked kind.

"Ready to go now, New guy?" She asked. Her voice sounded very melodic and cheery, and his nerves relaxed a bit as he nodded. When he turned behind him, he saw that he was the last person to be picked up, as the van was filled. Aside from the pale boy and the Asian girl, there was an Asian boy in the far right corner, bobbing his head to the music coming through his headphones. To the far left was a boy with Glasses, staring out of the window, clearly lost in a daydream. Between the two was a blonde girl reading a book. He found himself staring at her harder than he'd intended. Her lips were a deep red color, and her legs looked amazing in the flowery skirt she wore. He managed to tear his eyes away from her as the car came to life. The airport drifted out of view, and eventually disappeared with the distance. Once he was sitting comfortably with his book bag at his feet, and his briefcase in his lap, he was attacked with questions.

"So new guy, where ya from?"

"How old are you?"

"You ever been to this camp before?"

"Is that your natural hair color? I doubt it."

So many questions were being thrown his way, that he wasn't sure who was asking what. When the questions cooled down, he found that everyone in the van, save the driver, was staring at him curiously. He cleared his throat nervously.

"Um-I-um…I'm Sam Evans. I'm f-from Kentucky. Um- I'm eighteen. I've never-um-never been to this camp before. I-I've never really been to any sleep away camp before. So, I guess this is my first time in general," he paused to take a short breath, and soldiered on, "I like comic books, and astronomy-um- I-I like drawing sometimes. I-I'm pretty good at cooking, I guess."

He stopped there, not really knowing what else to say. They all stared at him for a beat longer, and then immediately lost interest. Harsh. He let out a breath that he was unaware of holding, and directed his attention to the trees on the side of the highway passing in front of his vision. The night before, Sam had been too full of nervous energy to sleep, so the drowsiness hit him full force in the van. His eyelids grew heavy, and before he knew it, he was out cold.

Mercedes

Mercedes watched from the window of the Robin cabin as the familiar bright yellow van pulled up into the campgrounds. In a single heartbeat, she was out the door and running towards her two best friends Kurt and Tina. They hopped out of both sides of the van and stretched their legs from the long trip.

"My loves! It's been far too long, my loves!" Mercedes hollered as she ran, without slowing down, right into Tina, almost knocking the girl onto the ground.

"Oh my god," Tina gasped, trying to regain her balance, "you're here early."

Mercedes' arms were locked tight around Tina's middle, and the dark haired girl hugged her back.

"Oh how I've missed you so, my beautiful wife!" Mercedes laughed, happily.

"Do you still have the ring?" Tina asked.

"In my drawer, of course!"

Kurt lugged his large Dior carrier, shortening the distance between himself and the two girls.

"Sure, just ignore me. It's not like I'm your friend, too, or anything." He rolled his bright blue eyes dramatically, and Mercedes squealed in delight.

"Kurty-boo! I missed you too!" She pulled away from Tina and threw her arms around the skinny brunet boy.

He chuckled and returned the hug with equal enthusiasm, "I missed you too, Queen Mercy."

The trio babbled excitedly about their school years, boyfriends (or lack thereof in Kurt and Mercedes' cases), and their bunking arrangements. They paused every so often to greet the other co-counselors, giving small hugs and smiles, or conversation. When she saw a pair of long legs come out of the car, and then a hint of blonde hair, Mercedes felt her face heat up. Before she could look away, she and Quinn locked eyes for a brief second. Quinn gave Mercedes a small smile and bit her bottom lip, before Mercedes found the strength to pull her eyes away from the girl. It was never easy, seeing an ex. Sure, she escaped one, but ran right into another at good old Camp Wykkie. Her thoughts were interrupted when Tina nudged her in the arm.

"What?" She asked, sounding more irritated than she'd intended.

"New guy," Kurt answered for her.

Mercedes glanced up once more to see a tall blonde guy standing awkwardly, with his hands in his pockets, by the van. He was slowly nodding as Sherrie pointed out different areas of the campground, nibbling on the corner of his abnormally large mouth.

"Okay you guys," Mercedes grabbed her two best friends by their t-shirts and dragged them, luggage and all, towards the Robin cabin stairs. She pushed them, playfully to a sitting position and clapped her hands together.

"Spill the details! Go!"

They both explained how the new guy came all the way to Upstate New York from Kentucky, and how he was a bit of a nerd.

"He kept stuttering a lot." Tina said.

"I bet he's sheltered," replied Kurt.

"That's my only guess," Mercedes shrugged.

"He's kinda cute though."

"Tina, you have a boyfriend." Mercedes countered

"I wonder if he's gay."

Tina giggled, "Doubt it, Kurt. You saw the way he was staring at Qui-"

She stopped herself, glancing up at her best friend for a brief moment as she swallowed hard. Shaking the fringe from her forehead , Mercedes forced a smile.

"She and I are just friends. I don't care who she dates."

Tina and Kurt exchanged doubtful glances, and then looked back up at their ringleader with the "judging you" look.

"I'm serious, you guys, I'm over her."

"Right," Tina nodded, holding back a smile.

Kurt nodded slowly, "That's why we saw you giving her puppy-dog eyes."

Before Mercedes could retaliate, Sherrie called her name from the main office. Mercedes sucked in some air, and let it out slowly in a hiss.

"This isn't over," Mercedes turned on her heels and marched towards the small cabin.

Sam

"Sam, I'd like to introduce you to Mercedes Jones, or M.J, or Queen Mercy." Sherrie motioned towards the short Black girl that stood before him. She rested her weight on her left foot and pulled her curly brown hair into a side bun behind her right ear. He couldn't help but stare at her hips in the pink cotton shorts she was wearing, or the way her thighs disappeared beneath them. His eyes skated over the curve of her waist under the white tank top she wore. It'd been way too long since he'd been around girls, considering he'd been put in an all boys school. Girls had caused him nothing but trouble in the past.

"Please, just call me Mercedes," the girl smiled, confidently, and raised a hand out to him. It took a moment for him to realize what she was trying to do, and he quickly wiped his sweaty hand on his jeans before giving her hand a firm grasp. He was shocked at how equally strong her grasp was. He put on his best confident face, not wanting to seem like the weaker person in the room.

"Sam. Pleasure to meet you."

Of course he'd choose the word "pleasure."

She smiled politely and released his hand, "Likewise."

Sherrie threw an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, "Mercedes is our expert when it comes to all thinks Wykkie-related. She was, after all, voted Miss Wykkie 4 years in a row."

Mercedes gave a cute little giggle and waved the compliment away, "Oh, stop it. I just love sharing the spirit."

The younger girl rested a hand on her hip as the older woman continued, "She'll be the one to give you a tour of the area. And if you have any questions, any at all, your best bet is to ask this young woman right here. I would help you, but it's been a very long time since I've been a new counselor, and I feel that Mercedes would best be able to help you out."

Mercedes smiled modestly, "You don't look a day over 20, Sher."

"Oh stop it, Mercy, you spoil me."

The two women giggled and he shoved his hands in his pockets, awkwardly. Sam already felt like an outsider, and it had only been 10 minutes since he'd gotten out of the van. He cleared his throat to make his presence known, and Sherrie started as if she just realized he was there.

"Oh right, so um," She gave Mercedes a quick hug, "you give Sam a quick tour, and then bring him back here so we can assign him a bunk."

Mercedes gave the older woman a thumbs up, and then turned to face Sam as she disappeared behind the front door.

"So, new guy, ready for your tour?" She smiled, welcomingly, and he felt my face heat up. Sam found himself staring at her lips and her chocolate-colored eyes as he nodded slowly.

"Good, c'mon!"

When he hesitated, she chuckled, "I promise I don't bite, come on!"

She gave him another small smile and turned to walk out of the front door.

God bless her cotton shorts.