Breakfast was as noisy as dinner had been the night before. The kids were all in good spirits, and anxious to see what the new day would bring. While they munched on scrambled eggs, toast and sausages they discussed what they wanted to do that day – and everyone kept an eye on Gary Hines, who was eating his own breakfast at the staff table. They knew he was going to be the one to announce what was coming, and they were eager to get started.

Eventually, the wait ended. Gary pushed his chair back and stood up, and before he even reached his customary spot, the room was more or less quiet, with all the kids watching him.

"Good morning, Campers," Gary said cheerfully. "How did you sleep?"

There were a lot of comments, and he probably didn't hear any of them since they were all shouted at him at the same time. He was used to this, though, and simply smiled, waiting for them to stop talking again before he started.

"We're going to change things up a little today, due to some bad weather coming our way," he told the kids – and the counselors. "We had scheduled a little camp out in the ball field for tomorrow night and the next night – one night for the boys and one night for the girls."

There were excited murmurings at this announcement, since it was the first many of them had heard about it, and again Gary waited for things to die down a little before trying to speak.

"Instead, since we know there's a storm on the way – although we're not sure how much of it we're going to get – we're going to schedule the campout for this evening…"

He trailed off as the kids once more started talking, and now the kids of Australia were practically wriggling in excitement. And they weren't the only ones. All of the kids were excited at the prospect of sleeping outside – even though they weren't really going to be sleeping under the stars, Shawn told Ian and River over the noise. They'd be in tents. Which was fine with Ian, who didn't like camping out any more than he liked camp.

Gary continued once the kids and counselors stopped chatting again.

"I've posted your cabin activities on the board outside the main entrance. Since we're going to be doing the campout tonight, we've canceled campfire…" There were groans of disappointment at this announcement, but Ian couldn't feel anything but relief. "And we'll reschedule them for later this week – rain or shine."

Bah.

Gary smiled when the kids cheered that announcement, and waved his hands for silence.

"So, as soon as you're done eating, one of the counselors from each cabin can go check the schedule for your morning activities."

"Ian?"

River and Shawn both looked at him expectantly, and he scowled, but stood up.

"Fine."

They both grinned, and Ian had to shove his hands in his pockets to keep from flipping them both off. Of course, River was still fairly sore from the day before so Ian wasn't surprised he didn't want to walk anywhere he didn't have to. The Californian had a beauty of a bruise on his forehead, and when he'd come out of the bathroom that morning after a long shower, Ian had seen several more bruises on his chest and arms. He knew how it felt; he was just as bruised and aching – moreso, really – and the only thing that had helped him was the run that morning.

He wasn't the only counselor heading for the door while the others finished breakfast.

"Hey, Ian?"

He turned at the sound of his name, and saw Hank coming up behind him.

"Yeah?"

"How did you know all the names of the kids yesterday?"

"Lucky guesses."

Ian turned back for the door, but the other counselors had heard the question, and they, too, were curious.

"Come on, Ian," Sierra said. "Danin said you have a really good memory, but no one could have learned all the kids' names already. You haven't even talked to any of them…"

He shrugged, but walked away, unwilling to get into the discussion, but wishing that Gina's friend Danin would just keep her mouth shut. He didn't want everyone discussing him.

"What a jerk…" he heard Hank say to the others. He didn't care about that, either. He'd been called a lot worse, after all. And if they thought he was a jerk, maybe they'd stop pestering him. He only had a few more days of this shit to get through, and then he'd be home free.

Ignoring the insult – although he heard a couple of the other counselors actually sticking up for him and telling Hank to be quiet – Ian went outside and looked at the paper that had the new schedule on it.

Waterfront. Australia had been scheduled for a nature walk that morning according to the other schedule, but Ian suspected that Gary correctly assumed that the Australian counselors – River and Ian anyways – wouldn't really be up for taking any long hikes that day. He decided it was nice of the guy. Even River, with all his aches and pains, would want to play in the water.

Ian would rather do the water than any nature walk.

He moved away from the posted note so the other counselors could look at their schedules as well, and headed back inside.

"Well?" River asked when he rejoined them, sitting down at the table and scowling because his plate had been cleared. He wouldn't have minded having some more breakfast. The kids were watching him eagerly, though, and Ian decided their little heads were going pop off if they didn't find out what they were going to be doing – and soon.

"We have a half hour to clean the cabin and then we're supposed to be down at the waterfront."

There was excited cheering at this. The kids had been hoping for a chance to do water stuff – although some of them had played in the water during free time the day before.

Ian noticed that Sammy wasn't cheering with the others, however, but decided he just didn't like the thought of cabin clean up – since that basically meant cleaning up the mess of clothes and junk scattered around his bed and the spare bed that he was using to hold all his stuff.

"What's wrong with you?" River asked under the noise of the excited conversations the boys were now having.

Ian shook his head.

"Nothing."

"You look pretty grumpy – even for you."

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." He stood up, deciding that since he couldn't have any more breakfast there was no sense in sitting around the cafeteria. "I'm going up to the cabin."