Hey guys! I realized after I posted the first chapter that I didn't write an author's note *facepalm*. I hope y'all are liking the story thus far, and I love, love, LOVE reading y'all's comments! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and if you have any questions or comments on it, please feel free to send them my way! I've really enjoyed writing this story because it brings me back to my camp days when I was a little girl, and I made some of my best memories at camp. I hope this story also reminds you of your (hopefully) wonderful camp moments!
First- and Second-grade Session Schedule for Cabin Four
Sunday:
Three p.m.- Campers arrive and are taken to the cabin by JCs or counselors.
Four p.m.- Porch time to get to know each other.
Four-thirty p.m.- Go over rules at the Chapel.
Five p.m.- DH for dinner and games.
Six-thirty p.m.- Chapel time.
Seven-thirty p.m.- Highs, lows, and devos for porch time.
Nine p.m.- Lights out for campers. Counselors head to the chapel for the meeting.
Ten-thirty p.m.- Evening checks.
Monday:
Seven a.m.- Wake up and get ready for the day.
Seven-thirty a.m.- DH for breakfast and games.
Nine a.m.- Chapel time.
Ten a.m.- Solo devos.
Eleven a.m.- Devos for porch time.
Eleven-thirty p.m.- DH for lunch and games.
One p.m.- Feet On Bunk. JCs head to the chapel for the meeting.
Two p.m.- Freetime starts.
Four p.m.- Freetime ends.
Five p.m.- DH for dinner and KP.
Six-thirty p.m.- Chapel time.
Seven-thirty p.m.- Statuesnight game.
Nine p.m.- Highs, lows, and devos for porch time.
Ten p.m.- Lights out for campers. Counselors head to the chapel for the meeting.
Eleven-thirty p.m.- Evening checks.
Tuesday:
Seven a.m.- Wake up and get ready for the day.
Seven-thirty a.m.- DH for breakfast and games.
Nine a.m.- Chapel time.
Ten a.m.- Solo devos.
Eleven a.m.- Devos for porch time.
Eleven-thirty a.m.- DH for lunch and games.
One p.m.- Feet On Bunk. JCs head to the chapel for the meeting.
Two p.m.- Freetime starts.
Four p.m.- Freetime ends. Dance party at OC.
Five p.m.- DH for dinner and games.
Six-thirty p.m.- Chapel time.
Seven-thirty p.m.- Highs, lows, and devos for porch time.
Eight to eight-thirty p.m.- Kitchen raid.
Nine p.m.- Lights out for campers. Counselors head to the chapel for the meeting.
Ten-thirty p.m.- Evening checks.
Wednesday:
Seven a.m.- Wake up and get ready for the day.
Seven-thirty a.m.- DH for breakfast and games.
Nine a.m.- Chapel time.
Ten a.m.- Solo devos.
Eleven a.m.- Devos for porch time.
Eleven-thirty a.m.- DH for lunch and games.
One p.m.- Feet On Bunk. JCs head to the chapel for the meeting.
Two p.m.- Freetime starts.
Four p.m.- Freetime ends.
Five p.m.- DH for dinner and games.
Six-thirty p.m.- Chapel time.
Seven-thirty p.m.- Highs, lows, and devos for porch time.
Nine p.m.- Lights out for campers. Counselors head to the chapel for the meeting.
Ten-thirty p.m.- Evening checks.
Thursday:
Seven a.m.- Wake up and get ready for the day.
Seven-thirty a.m.- DH for breakfast and games.
Nine a.m.- Chapel time.
Ten a.m.- Solo devos.
Eleven a.m.- Devos for porch time.
Eleven-thirty a.m.- DH for lunch and games.
One p.m.- Feet On Bunk. JCs head to the chapel for the meeting.
Two p.m.- Freetime starts.
Four p.m.- Freetime ends. Dance party at OC.
Five p.m.- DH for dinner and games.
Six-thirty p.m.- Chapel time.
Seven-thirty p.m.- Bubble gum night game.
Nine p.m.- Highs, lows, and devos for porch time.
Nine-thirty p.m.- Water balloon fight at the paintball field.
Eleven-thirty p.m.- Lights out for campers. Counselors head to the chapel for the meeting.
One a.m.- Evening checks.
Friday:
Seven a.m.- Wake up and pack.
Eight a.m.- DH for brunch.
Nine a.m.- Chapel for camp cleanup assignments.
Eleven a.m.- Chapel time.
Twelve p.m.- DH for lunch. All staff KP.
One p.m.- Chapel for a movie.
Two p.m.- Camper send-off.
Freetime assignments for this session:
JCs stay with campers. Aaron is assigned to Snack Shack. Emily is assigned to activities at the DH. Your guys' day off from free time duty is Thursday.
Sunday:
Emily POV
Today the campers are arriving. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about their arrival.
Aaron has been a real gem this weekend. He keeps reassuring me that I'm going to do an amazing job and that the campers are going to love me, but I'm not so sure.
I've always been good with kids, but I've never been in a position like this before. What if something goes wrong and I don't know how to fix it? My mind keeps filling up with worst-case scenarios that won't go away, and each one is worse than the last.
Aaron throws an arm around my shoulders, snapping me out of my haze. "Stop overthinking everything."
We start walking to the DH from the cabin to meet the first round of campers, his arm still around my shoulders.
"I'm trying. It's just-"
"-Hard?"
"Yeah. How'd you know I was going to say that?"
He gives me a smile filled with an emotion I can't quite place, something that I can only explain as 'soft'. "You have been replying with that same line every time I try to get you to stop overthinking everything."
"Pretty much explains the situation, so why should I change a perfectly good line?"
"Touché."
"Alrighty! Everyone, we're all going to go around and say our name, age, grade, and favorite color!" JJ gushes, clapping her hands excitedly.
JJ points to a girl wearing electric blue shorts, a hot pink shirt, and gray tennis shoes.
The girl gives a shy wave. "Hi. I'm Gemma. I'm seven and a half and I'm a first-grader. I love pink."
We continue to go around the circle, and JJ and I meet our three other first-graders whose names are Samantha, Natalie, and Elizabeth. Our second graders' names are Riley, Bella, Grace, and Sarah.
Spence's and Aaron's first graders' names are James, Jacob, Samuel, and Adam. His second graders' names are Ben, Josh, David, and Levi.
Spence is the one to speak this time. "Now that we've met each other, it's time to go to to chapel!"
Tuesday:
Emily POV
"So how are we going to go about this?" I ask. "Do we want to split up and go separately or work as a team?"
Aaron and I are currently discussing our plan for tonight's kitchen raid on the porch while our campers enjoy their FOB time and our JCs are at their meeting.
"I think the best course of action with this bunch is to go in all at once. The kitchen raids for these first two sessions will be extremely easy because they're our youngest sets, but after that, each session gets more difficult than the last."
"That's fine with me. Just tell Spence when he gets back, and I'll tell Jayje."
He smiles, showing off his endearing dimples. "Sounds good!"
Aaron signals to me from where he's crouched under the table to my right with Levi, James, Gemma, and Bella. JJ, David, Jacob, Elizabeth, and Sarah are crouched under the table to my left. Spence, Ben, Samuel, Grace, and Natalie are crouched under the table to the left of JJ's, which also happens to be the table closest to the kitchen; the rest of the campers are crouched under a table with me. Each table holds twenty people, so we all have a fair amount of space as we crouch beneath them.
'Guards' are currently patrolling between the ten long tables that are lined up five on one wall and five on the other wall with nerf guns. I highly doubt they're loaded, though.
When the guard patrolling between the tables Aaron and I are hiding under crosses to the other side of the room, Aaron and his campers scurry over to join me and my campers.
"I thought you said this was supposed to be easy," I hiss at him as quietly as I can.
He presses as close as he can to me. "These are the only guards we're going to have tonight. It'll be ten times more difficult in the later sessions, but I'll explain that when we're not searching for goodies," he whispers. Because of our close proximity, I can feel his breath tickling my face, sending shivers down my spine.
Each time the guards cross the room to the other side, we make our way to the next table. We do this until we're all cramped under Spence's table.
If I'm not wrong, I'm pretty sure every single one of the guards has seen us at this point, but they just smile every time they spot one of us and pretend they haven't seen anything out of the usual.
There are two guards standing at the entrance to the kitchen, and they haven't moved since we got in. If I'm not mistaken, one of them looks to be our amazing activities director, PG.
"What's the plan?" JJ asks quietly.
"Rush the guards and hope that one of us gets off with the treats?" Spence suggests.
"I'm good with that."
"That should work."
"I'm in."
We quickly spread the word to our campers, and then we all focus on Aaron for the count down.
Silently, he holds up three of his fingers and counts down. When he puts his final finger down, we all scramble out from under the table and rush towards the kitchen.
Somehow, Aaron and I end up running side by side as we rush into the kitchen while half of our campers are ahead of us and the rest are behind us, with a few being held up by the guards who are laughing mirthfully.
I grab a bag of what I assume is chocolate chip cookies, and Aaron grabs a bag of what looks like s'mores bars.
"I'll meet you back at the cabin!" He yells, shepherding the campers that were ahead of us out of the kitchen exit.
"You can't just ditch us like that!" I yell back, but he only winks at me before he follows after the campers.
"Come on, Em! Let's get out of here with our loot!" JJ hollers, making her way with the campers to the exit in the hallway we just came through to get to the kitchen. I follow after them. We then run all the way back to the cabin.
Once there, we all sit down, huffing and puffing with exhaustion with a little bit of laughter mixed in.
"We did it! We raided the kitchen!" Grace cheers.
Aaron, JJ, Spencer, and I pass out the cookies to the campers.
Wednesday:
Aaron POV
"You didn't tap-tap!" James shrieks, pointing a finger at my drink I just set down.
I groan and let my head fall back. I lift my head back up to look at my camper across the table from me.
"Alright, James. What's my dare?"
I can tell he's having trouble coming up with a dare.
A moment later, much to my dismay, Timmy leans back in his chair from his table and whispers something in James's ear.
James makes a face and says, "Why would I dare him to do that?"
Why do I have a feeling that this is not going to end well for me?
Timmy looks me straight in the eye and smirks. "Just tell him to do it."
James shrugs. "Aaron, I dare you to propose to Emily with your dinner roll."
I choke on the bite of my mac&cheese I have just taken. I throw a glare at Timmy, but he has already turned back to his table's conversation.
Emily is sitting on the other side of the table from me.
I throw a look of help to Spence, but he just shrugs.
"You have to do it, Aaron. It's the rule."
"I will get you back for this, Spencer Reid," I mutter.
Swallowing thickly at the prospect of what I'm about to do, I grab my roll and walk over to Emily. My footsteps are slow and labored.
She doesn't notice me at first because she and JJ are laughing at something their campers have just said. Her laughter is the best sound in the world.
I stop at the edge of the table where she's sitting and tap her on the shoulder. She turns to me with a brilliant smile, but her eyes flicker with curiosity as to why I'm over here.
With all the bravery I can muster, I get down on one knee and present the bread roll to her.
The look on her face makes this whole embarrassment worth it. Out of pure reflex, I grab her hand and hold it tightly.
Emily POV
I pull my hand away from his. Bringing my hands to cover my mouth in shock, I inhale sharply. I know it's just a dinner roll, and I know it's probably just a dare, but seeing him kneel before me as though he's proposing stirs emotions in me I cannot place.
"Aaron," I breathe out. "What are you doing?"
By now, everyone in the DH has stopped their conversations and turned to look at us, but I couldn't care less. The only thing I can see is Aaron kneeling in front of me.
I can tell he's nervous, and it almost makes this moment real. Almost.
"What does it look like I'm doing, Em? I'm proposing to you with a bread roll." A shy smile spreads across his face.
I let out a nervous giggle because I don't know how else to react. The man I have a giant crush on is proposing to me. Granted, it is with a bread roll, but same difference. Right? He wouldn't be this nervous if he didn't feel something towards me.
Ergh! Why am I so conflicted about this? It's just a stupid dare!
"And how am I supposed to respond?" My voice sounds so distant, even to me.
I see something akin to disappointment flash through his eyes, but it's gone as quickly as it came. "Anything that allows me to get off my knees," he jokes, but the smile he throws me doesn't quite meet his eyes.
"I accept your fake proposal, Aaron," I whisper, not trusting my voice not to convey all of the emotions I have come to feel for this man.
As he gets up, he hands me his roll, which I promptly take a bite out of to keep myself from releasing a scream.
Even after he's sat down at his seat I can feel his eyes on me.
I try to engage JJ in conversation, but after a few minutes, his gaze on me becomes too much, and I get up under the excuse that I'm using the bathroom. In reality, though, I'm heading to the office to hide from Aaron for as long as I can.
When I reach the office, I'm pleasantly surprised to see Pene, Dave, and Erin sitting at their desks and eating their lunches.
Pene throws me a bright smile. "Hey, Em. To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"I was wondering if I could hide out in here until chapel time?"
"Of course. Is there anything you want to talk about?" Dave asks, and something in his voice reminds me of how a father would protect his daughter.
"Aaron proposed to me."
"He what?!" The three of them exclaim.
"With a bread roll," I quickly amend.
I sit down on top of Pene's desk as I wait for their replies. From the looks on their faces, they're going to have a lot to say about this current situation I have found myself in.
"Em… you do remember that dating between staff members is strictly prohibited, right?" Erin questions.
I wrap my arms protectively around myself. "Yes. Besides, he doesn't like me like that. It was just a stupid dare."
"But you like him like that?" Dave carefully asks.
I look down at my hands as I answer. "Yes. Very much so."
Pene grabs my hand with a vice-like grip, and when I look up at her, she has the biggest grin stretching across her face. "You like Aaron?! I knew it!" She lets out a squeal of excitement.
I pout at her exclamation. "You knew it? How? I thought I hid it well."
"Gumdrop, I know everything. Don't underestimate my standing in the camp's gossip mill."
Note to self: ask her about what happened with Aaron and Haley… and make sure she doesn't know any more of my secrets.
"I will keep that in mind, PG."
She turns her sharp gaze towards Erin and Dave, giving them puppy-dog eyes. "Can we pretty please let them go on one date to see if they are compatible?"
Erin heaves a sad sigh. "It's against the rules for a reason. Aaron's a big part of that reason, too, Penelope."
"Ah, fooey. They would have been so perfect together."
I love Penelope, I really do, but I already have my mother meddling in my love life, so I don't need another person involved in that.
I avoid him as best I can for the rest of the day because I don't want to cause myself any more embarrassment, but once we get to the counselor's meeting, it will become mission impossible.
I left the cabin early just so I wouldn't be subjected to walking with him. I don't know if I can face Him after what happened today at lunch. How he took my hand when he was down on one knee… snap out of it, Prentiss!
When I get to the chapel, I quickly make my way over to where Derek, Pene, Timmy, and Haley are conversing and join in with them. I figure that the best way to avoid Aaron is to be around Haley.
However, a few minutes later, I feel a light tap on my shoulder. I turn around and instantly regret it when I see Aaron standing before me. I try to turn back around, but he stops me by putting his hand on my shoulder. I look at the offending hand for a minute, and then he removes it and lets it fall to his side.
"Emily, can we talk after the meeting? Perhaps go on a walk like we've been doing?" His voice is a mix of desperation and hope.
I look down at my feet to avoid his probing eyes, and then I hug my torso to try to protect myself from heartbreak. "What's there to talk about, Aaron?" My voice is little more than a whisper.
He places gentle fingers on my chin and brings it up so that I'm looking him in the eyes. "I think we both know that there's a lot we need to discuss."
I nod but say nothing else.
After we finish the meeting, Aaron and I take our usual walk to the lake. However, something about tonight feels different- not just because of today's earlier proposal- as we make our way to sit on our usual spots on the dock. Once we're sitting down, he takes my hand in his once more. He then turns to face me.
"Emily, can I be blunt for a moment?"
I nod, unsure of what I should say. He gives my hand a tight squeeze. I look down at the water as I listen to what he has to say.
"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met, you have a sparkling wit that I love, and I really, really like you, Emily."
My breath catches in my throat at his declaration. "You what?" I whisper. I look up from the water and into his eyes and see complete sincerity in them.
He nods and then takes my chin in between his fingers once more. He starts to lean his head down so that our lips are brushing, but before he connects them, he checks my eyes for any hesitation. I lean up and connect our lips.
Aaron and I walk back to the cabin hand-in-hand, and I grin like a school girl all the way back. We stop on the porch, and he leans down to give me a chaste kiss on the lips before we make our separate ways into the cabin sides. Leaning against the closed cabin door, I let out a quiet, gleeful giggle.
JJ, the only one in the cabin still awake, grabs my arm and pulls me into the bathroom. She shuts the door behind us so we won't wake up the children. My grin is still plastered across my face, and I know she sees it.
"Alright, spill. Tell me why you're so happy right now."
My smile grows impossibly larger. "Aaron and I are dating," I say in a faraway voice.
She eyes me suspiciously. "That's against the rules, Emily."
Her words snap me out of my daze. "I know," I whisper, looking down at the ground.
She huffs out a sigh. "I'll keep your secret, but don't let your heart get broken. Okay?"
"Thank you, Jayje." I pull her into a tight hug. "What happened between him and Haley, anyways?"
She shakes her head again. "I don't really know. The only people who would are Pene, Haley, and Aaron. Talk to one of them if you want to know." With that, she exits the bathroom and goes to lay down on her bed.
Leaving the bathroom door open, I turn off the light and sit down on my bed. I have to stay awake until Aaron or Dave comes for evening checks. I let my mind wander with thoughts of Aaron as I wait.
Thursday:
Aaron POV
During free time today, all we did was fill up water balloons for tonight's impending staff-vs-campers fight.
"Alright, everyone. Once we finish highs, lows, and devos, we're going to make our way to the paintball field for the water balloon fight. We will split up, but don't worry, we will find you after everything is finished," JJ announces.
Gemma raises her hand. "Aren't you fighting with us?" Her voice sounds almost sad.
"No, sweetie. You'll be trying to hit us with the water balloons," Emily answers.
Somehow, during the fight, Emily and I end up hidden away in the same spot that we were in during the paintball fight last week. I'm leaning up against one of the plyboard walls with Emily lying with her head in my lap. I gently stroke her hair, and I swear she's almost purring in delight.
Pausing my hand in her hair, I ask, "Should we go back and join the fight?"
She pretends to think about it. Then, she leans up and connects our lips. "No. I like being here with you. And stroke my hair again. It feels nice."