Hiya all! Xanthippe here…again….^ ^ Ahem…anyways. We are so HAPPY with all the reviews we got for just one chapter!! YAY!! We're glad that you guys love our writing soo much! Trust us…we're enjoying writing this ficcy immensely!!

NEways…for the person who asked what was wrong with Canada? As in you sounded as if you were insulted….ummm..well…Kerrie and I enjoy making fun of ourselves! Lol If you didn't catch the hidden information I just gave out…WE ARE FROM CANADA. Ok? So we love this country…we just like to joke about it every now and then.

NEways…onto the story

Disclaimer: We don't own anything but our own characters ^.~

.::::Chapter 02::::.

            Jade yelped slightly as she tripped while climbing out of the van after they stopped in front of the main lodge.

A strong hand grabbed her arm quickly and righted her before letting go again. Jade turned thankful eyes on whoever it was and paused for a slight second as her eyes locked with dark auburn eyes.

"Thanks." She smiled warmly. "What is your name anyway?"

The boy with the two shades of blue hair shrugged at her thanks before replying. "Kai."

"My name is Jade."

Kai nodded slightly before someone jumped onto his back.

"Carrie me to my domain." Liika commanded, gesturing with her hand towards the main lodge.

Jade chuckled and shook her head as Kai rolled his eyes and dumped Liika off his back.

"Hey! That was mean!" She whined before jumping up and standing next to him before turning her attention onto Jade.

"So what's your name?" Liika asked her as she eyed her up.

"Jade."

Liika nodded, resting her hand on Kai's shoulder and leaning slightly. "You're good friends with Charity, huh?"

"Yeah. She's my best friend."

"I thought I was your best friend?" Enrique whined from behind her before wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder.

Jade rolled her eyes. "And this is my other best friend."

Liika chuckled and looked up at Kai who stood a whole head taller than herself.

"Did she force you to come like this one forced me too?" Kai asked.

"No, but I was forced to come. Enrique actually WANTED to come." Oliver stated with the shake of his head as he appeared next to Jade and Enrique.

"Alright people! Come on! We're on a time frame here! Collect your luggage and move it!" The big guy from the van yelled from the lodge.

"I guess that would be us." Kai sighed.

Mariah St.Claire sat next to her long time boyfriend Rei Kon in the main lodge of the camp waiting in sheer boredom for the rest of the new recruits to arrive. This was her second year at being a camp councilor and she honestly couldn't wait for all the kids to arrive. She thought about last year and all the fun she had, especially when she got to spend the entire summer with Rei without her parents nagging her about him. He was perfect in her eyes and no one was going to tell her otherwise.

"Hey." Rei whispered in her ear. "Where have you gone?"

Mariah snapped back to reality and smiled up at him. "Just thinking about last summer."

Rei smiled and a thoughtful look crossed his face. "That was a great summer wasn't it?"

"Mmmhmm." She replied, entwining her fingers with his own and kissing his lips softly.

Her attention was grabbed by the sound of people coming into the large one floor log building.

"All right everyone. Listen up. We're running a bit behind schedule so I'm going to do this as quickly as I can." A big guy in a white t-shirt said as he stood at the front of the little room they were in.

Everyone took a seat and quieted down to pay attention.

"Now, you all received a letter back from us stating your positions this summer. We have 2 lifeguards, 2 field managers, an archery manager, an arts and crafts manager and 16 councilors.

"Oh by the way, my name is David and I will be the boss. You come to me when you have problems with anything like that. Now, I'm going to call out names. I want you to answer with 'present' so I can see who we are missing. There is still a van that hasn't arrived."

Mariah leaned against Rei and sighed while she absently listened for her name to be called but also memorizing the names of all the others. There were still six people missing she noted. There were 22 young people for staff that were hired.

"Mariah St.Claire." David called.

"Present." She replied.

Soon all the names were called and David finished checking off the people who were present.

"Ok. It looks like the people we are missing is Michael Parker, Bryan Ackart, Amy Monroe, Alexis Davidson, Lara Smith and Thomas McCloud.  I really don't want to repeat myself with these instructions so we will wait until the last van gets here."  David sighed, turning his back on the group of older teens.

Mariah let her eyes roam over the group she would be spending the next two and a half months with.  They were certainly an interesting mix, and it was clear that some of them knew each other before the camp.  A group of four sat on one of the love seats on the other room from her.  The two girls sitting on the cushions, while the two guys sat on the arms.  The four of them were chatting like they had known each other their whole lives.  They probably have.  Mariah thought with a small smile.

Next to the group were two boys, one short with navy hair, the other tall with blood red hair, they were leaned against the wall, talking in low tones.  Beside them, on another love seat –they were in a small room that had been dubbed 'the staff lounge'- was a mousy girl with bright orange hair and glasses that hid bright violet eyes.  She looked extremely uncomfortable.  The boy that sat beside her was turned the other way, trying in vain to strike up a conversation with a very tall purple haired teen that looked at least twenty one who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

Directly next to Mariah's small group –which consisted of the four that had been at the camp the year before- was another small group, sitting on the rooms only couch.  A small blue-haired girl with French braided pigtails sat in the middle.  She obviously had just put her headphones on and was now bobbing her head up and down and her lips moving silently to music that was blaring so loud that Mariah herself could hear the lyrics of Eminem's "Go To Sleep".  The boys that sat on either side of her seemed unaffected and merely sat quietly, listening to the music blaring from the small speakers on the girl's head.

"That's a good song." 

Mariah looked over to the medium height young man with long black hair and dark eyes that was standing between her and the couch.  Smiling she shook her head.  "You would like Eminem Lee."

The dark haired boy shrugged, eyes glancing at the girl.  "What can I say?  She has good taste in music."

"Just don't tell her that."  The red head next to the girl muttered.

Max, who was sitting on the opposite side of Mariah leaned forward so he could see the other boy.  "Why not?"  He asked curiously.

"Because she'll never shut up.  She's enamored with Eminem.  I doubt she even listens to him because she likes the music."  The blue haired boy closest to them replied for the red head.

The four –Lee, Mariah, Rei and Max- laughed.  Then with out a word the girl, whose arms were lying comfortably along the back of the couch, smacked the two boys in the back of the head easily.

"I can hear you morons."  She stated, opening her eyes and scooting to the edge of the cushions, pulling the headphones off her head.  Turning to the group of four, she smiled –a half smile, half smirk- and waved.  "Yo, I'm Liika, you are?"

Mariah smiled back, waving also.  "I'm Mariah!"  She said.

Rei leaned over Mariah's shoulder raising his hand in greeting.  "I'm Rei."

Max stood and bounced over to the couch, sticking out his hand to the blue haired girl.  "Max!"

The girl looked stunned for a moment then smiled a real smile at the boy's enthusiasm, taking his hand and shaking it.  "Liika!"

"I'm Lee by the way."  Lee said, nodding at her.

The boys next to Liika stayed silent, one watching with annoyed eyes, the other indifferent eyes.  Liika sighed, rolling her eyes.  "These two bundles of happiness are Kai," she motioned to the boy on her right that sat closest to them, "and Johnny."

"Nice to meet you!"  Mariah said, smiling at the boys.

"A pleasure."  Johnny stated, looking more and more irritated.

Kai stayed silent but nodded in acknowledgement.  Mariah giggled, trying to smother it with her hand.  "They don't want to be here eh?"  She whispered to Liika.

Liika winked.  "Nope," She replied, "but I refused to come alone.  It was my parents idea."  She made a face.

The group laughed.  "Ah well, camp is fun!  The kids are a blast to be around, most of them anyway.  There's always a few that cause trouble."  Mariah said sighing a bit and shaking her head.  "But we do get an hour a day to ourselves, as well as every second Sunday off.  And we have this cabin."  She swept her hand, motioning to the room.

It wasn't overly big, but it wasn't horribly small either.  The floors and walls were made of smooth cedar paneling.  There were three love seats and a couch that lined the south wall.  The north wall contained two vending machines –one for soda the other for candy and chips- and in the corner that joined the north wall with the wall opposite from the door was a small stereo system.

"They treat their staff here pretty good."

Liika shrugged.  "Cool.  Still doesn't mean I wanna be here!"  She laughed, winking at Mariah, who laughed also.

Just then the door flung open and in walked six teenagers.  The leader was a pretty albino girl with frosty blue eyes and a spring in her step.  Just behind her were two people, a lavender haired girl with violet eyes and a boy about 5'9 with chestnut hair and bright blue eyes.  Following them was an extremely tall boy with unruly maroon hair and long, spiky bangs, his eyes a mix between light blue and aqua green.  Beside him strode a smiling girl with shoulder length strawberry blond hair and emerald eyes.  Bringing up the rear was a scowling paled haired and eyed young man that looked older than he probably was.  His shoulders were incredibly wide, giving him a built look.  He dwarfed all of the other guys in the room for his sheer size –he wasn't short either.

David looked up from the clipboard he was reading from and motioned for the new arrivals to take seats with the rest of the group.  They did, the albino, the dark haired boy and the lavender haired girl all sat on the floor in front of the orange haired girl and talkative boy.  The tall maroon haired boy came over to stand beside Lee, the strawberry blond sitting on the floor in front of Mariah.  The pale haired boy stalked across the room over to the red head and short kid nodding a greeting to them both.

David cleared his throat to gain the groups attention, raising his eyes to look them all over.  "Alright, now that the last of you have arrived lets begin the briefing.  I'll try to make it short and to the point so that you can get unpacking and unwind before the little monsters show up tomorrow."  He smiled his first smile as he said that, chuckling a little bit. 

"Now, for those of you that were here last year there has been some changes to the system, however, I will outline those after I outline the rules."  He spoke, looking down at his clipboard.  "First of all, I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you that there will be no smoking, drinking or consumption of illegal products while you working here, its pretty much basic.  Standard rules apply, you all read the agreement before you signed it I trust.  Secondly, you cannot, for any reason, leave your cabin group unattended.  Either you or your partner must be with them at all times, except for the hour of free time you have during the camp group activity after dinner.  You must sit with you cabin during meals, and lead them through their activities.  This is especially important for those with the younger age groups.

"That brings me to the changes from last year.  As the four of you that were here last year know every cabin is divided in half by a sliding wall.  Now unlike last year where cabins were decided by age and sex, this year every cabin will have ten girls and ten boys.  The kids are still young enough –with exception of the thirteen year olds whom I suggest those of you who have them watch carefully- to not really care about it.  Girls will sleep on one half, boys on the other.  Every cabin must have a male and a female councilor that means that this year your partner will be of the opposite sex.  I trust you can all deal with this like mature young adults.  You will share the smaller room in each cabin, made for councilors."

After he said this eyebrows shot up and murmurs spread through the room.  The girl's were surprised and glanced at the boys apprehensively.  Sharing a room with a guy…?  That is except Liika, who shrugged indifferently.  She hung out with all guys, had spent the night at their houses and was completely ignorant as to what went on between males and females when they were 'together' and alone.  Her 'boys' had done a good job of sheltering her.

 "The rest of the rules can be found in the papers that were mailed back to you upon acceptance.  Now I'll tell you your pairings, the age group and cabin number you will be assigned to so you can be on your way.  The pairings are as follows:

Mariah St. Claire and Bryan Ackhart, 13 year olds, Cabin 1.

Liika Tomoda and Ian Crichton, 10 year olds, Cabin 2.

Charity Marron and Tala Valkov, 12 year olds, Cabin 3.

Jade Tomei and Kai Hiwatari, 9 year olds, Cabin 4.

Emily Davenport and Tyson Granger, 8 year olds, Cabin 5.

Amy Monroe and Johnny MacGregor, 11 year olds, Cabin 6.

Alexis Davidson and Thomas McCloud, 8 year olds, Cabin 7.

Lara Smith and Enrique Horatio, 12 year olds, Cabin 8.

Every new shift of kids will name the cabins so know the cabins by name as well as number.  The rest of you have your jobs.  Oliver Blain and Robert Jagen are this year's lifeguards, Michael Parker and Lee Robinson are the field managers, Rei Kon is in charge of archery and Max Tate is crafts manager.  They stay in this cabin in the room upstairs.  Good luck to you all, and lets have a good summer hm?  Dismissed."  With that said, David turned on his heel and walked out of the cabin.

The group sat in silence until Mariah stood, a bright smile on her face and said, "Well, let's get moving eh?  Which one of you is Bryan?" 

The burly young man stood from the wall he was leaning on and walked over to the pink haired girl, eyeing her indifferently.  "Me."

Mariah struggled not to grimace.  My he's a friendly one.  Sighing she motioned for the door.  "Shall we go?"  She said.  He replied with a shrug of his massive shoulders.  She sighed again, blew a kiss at Rei and then the two disappeared out the door.

"Ok, which on of you guys is Ian?"  Liika demanded standing, stretching her arms over her head.

"That would be me."  A mocking voice replied.

Liika turned her head to see the short boy with navy hair striding confidently towards her.  "Bloody hell!"  She groaned, tossing her hands up in the air.  "My summer just went from bad to hell.  Come on then midget boy."

Ian glared at her, snorting.  "Whatever half-pint."

"Grrr!"

"Hey hey!  I'm in the cabin next to yours, why don't we walk there together ne?  We can discuss how to de-man mouthy guys."  Charity from across the room spoke up, walking quickly across the room and linking her arm with Liika's.  "Two heads are always better than one!"  She winked.

Liika grinned.  "I like you already!  Where's your partner?"

"Right here, let's jet."  A new voice spoke.

The pale red head fell in step beside Ian, his hands shoved in his jeans' pockets, a grin tilting his lips.  He winked at the girls smoothly.  "I do hope I'm not included in that de-manning list." 

Jade was in the middle of unpacking her things when she glanced on the other side of the small room at Kai who was also unpacking.

Not only were they paired together to watch over kids but they had to share a room…a small one for that matter, for an entire summer! Nearly three months!

She took a breath and pushed down the nerves that were beginning to build up. The guy was hot after all. And sharing a small room with him for days on end was going to be a little rough. Especially if he was either a pervert or a complete jerk! But he seemed quite quiet so she had no idea what he was like. She guessed time would tell.

She finished unpacking finally and sat down on her new, but small single bed.

"So Kai…where are you from?"

Kai stopped his unpacking and glanced over at her as if seeing her for the first time. "Seattle."

Jade's eyes widened. "Really? So am I! What side do you live on?"

"East."

Jade nodded. "I live on the west side. Along with Enrique, Oliver and Charity."

Kai continued to unpack as if she never mentioned anything and Jade wanted to sigh. Apparently it was difficult just to get him to have a simple conversation with you.  This time she did sigh.  It was going to be a long summer.  But, rather than give up as most people would, Jade opted to try again in hopes she could break through the icy exterior.  However, just as she opened her mouth a muffled shriek sounded from outside their cabin.  Kai's head snapped up and he dropped what he was doing in a flash.

"Liika…!"  He growled before storming out of the room and cabin.

Jade's eyebrows shot up and she quickly followed.  What could have gone wrong so soon??

Liika grumbled and cursed colorfully under her breath as she shoved her clothes in one of the dressers provided.  She couldn't believe that she of all people got stuck with the mouthy midget!  God must hate her, she decided with a nod of her head.  Yup, she must have done something horribly wrong in her last life and was now being punished for it.  Of course she didn't believe in reincarnation, so it had to have been something she did while sleepwalking.  Yes, that was it.  Sleepwalking.

It just wasn't fair!  Two and a half months in hell was one thing, but two and a half months in hell with the devil was quite another!  She cursed her parents.  It was all their fault anyway.  Oh and that David guy!  He made the pairings, stupid David guy.

She sighed, shoving the last of her rumpled clothing into the bottom drawer.  Unlike most people Liika couldn't care less if her clothing was wrinkled, thus she never folded anything and just shoved.  It drove her parents mad.  Still muttering she lifted her head and looked around the small room that would house her for the next two and a half months.

It was, much like the 'staff lounge', paneled with dark cedar.  The floor was a bit more worn than that of the lounge but was still in good condition.  The two beds were situated across the room from each other –about five feet between- and their heads touched the wall opposite to the door.  Between the beds were was a window that let in a minimal amount of light as there was a large cedar tree blocking any kind of view as well as the sunlight.  Two dressers sat side by side underneath the window beside each of the beds, doubling as a bedside table.  On the top of the one beside Liika's bed –on the left side of the room- was a digital alarm clock, and on the top of Ian's dresser was a lamp.  Apparently they had to share both amenities.

The beds themselves were plain as plain could get, but after seeing the beds the campers got to sleep in, they were happy about their sleeping furniture.  Each bed contained one pillow, cased in a dark brown pillowcase.  The sheets matched the pillowcases; the quilt on top was a forest green color and far less ugly than the sheets that lay underneath it.  However, one couldn't be picky.  After all, Shelter Hill was one of the few camps that actually provided bedding for their councilors.

The last pieces of furniture were two, small, solid wood desks that were situated against the foot of the bed.  Both had a drawer and a small lamp, but other than that were bare.  They of course had matching chairs.

It doesn't look so bad, Liika thought, at least there's power.

"Heh, you still alive there half-pint?" 

Liika was jolted back to reality by the familiarly irritating voice as well as an accompanying tug on one of her pigtails.  Gritting her teeth, her eyebrow twitched as she struggled not to turn around and deck the midget boy.  Not so bad, ha.  That is until I turn around and see the moron behind me.

Growling she yanked her now empty bag off her bed roughly.  "Get bent jackass!"  She snapped.

As she yanked her bag off the bed it snapped quickly and sent a small blue book tumbling to the floor, where it skidded a few feet to rest at Ian's feet –all with out her noticing as she shoved the bag under the bed.  Intrigued the boy bent over and picked the book up and opened it to a random page, his eyes widening as he read the pages contents.

Ian grinned evilly.  A diary!  Score!  "Friday, April 4th, 2003.  Yo Journal. 

Can you believe it?  The guys excluded me again and refused to tell me where they were going!  Said little girls weren't allowed.  When will they realize that I'm not a little girl?!"  Ian snickered as he read it out loud.  It was priceless!

Liika froze as she heard the words escape the short boy's sneering lips.  Whirling around she jumped at him, screeching, "Give it back asshole!"

Laughing Ian jumped out of the way, causing Liika to land harmlessly on his bed.  "Awww… Is little half-pint being left behind by her big, bad boy friends??"  He taunted, flipping to another page and running out the door.

"GET BACK HERE!"

Ian sped out of the cabin quickly, Liika hot on his trail.  Both bounded down the stairs onto the wide path that connected the line of eight cabins to the rest of the camp.  Liika shrieked as he read another embarrassing moment, this time one from the night after grad.  "May 16, 2003.  Grr!  It's my grad and my stupid friends made me go home early!  This is on top of the fact that they wouldn't let a guy come near me all night –not that I wanted to dance with any of those losers anyway!"  Ian cackled at this.

"Bastard!"  She screamed.  "When I catch you, you're going to wish you were never born!"

Neither teen noticed, as they ran in circles, dodging trees and flying by the same cabins over and over again, that the three cabins around them, the one on their left and the two the their right's occupants had all heard Liika's screams and come running to see what was the matter and were now watching the chase with trace amusement.

"Oh oh!  This one's great!"  Ian said, his voice raising as he caught sight of the others standing on the steps of their cabins.  Clearing his throat he grinned, reading in a very loud voice that would carry to anyone in the vicinity.  "June 10th, 2003.  Journal.

We're on the plane to the stupid camp from hell now, stupid parents.  Anyway, one good point:  Kai looks pretty hot today, actually thinking about it, so does Johnny…."

Liika's eyes became the size of saucers and her face blossomed a bright red and she felt it heat up.  She couldn't believe he read that out loud!  Or at all!  He died.  Now.  "That's it you short little fuck, you die!  NOW!"  She screamed, diving at him with no thought to her own safety, let alone his.

_______________________________________

And that would be all folks! Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget the drill. R/R and NO FLAMES PLEASE. ^.~