Camp was winding down, with only two weeks left on the calendar. After the previous Wednesday, Kayden had offered to help Morgan with her plan to cover for Darien and Serena. She had been excited at the offer and formally welcomed him to what she called "Operation White Hare." Amused, he had asked if she'd meant "White Rabbit" or had she gotten it confused with the March Hare, but he was quickly met with a scowl and she went off on a rant about how she'd read both "Alice in Wonderland" and "In the Mirror," thank you very much, and how she wasn't as dumb as she apparently looked.

That still meant she'd mixed them together, but he had decided to keep the peace and not bring it up.

During one of their missions playing lookout, they had sat down to discuss future missions. Morgan had suggested going to a Friday campfire as cover again, since blending into a big group was easier, and Kayden offered to host a co-ed game night the following day. They had found that if they packed the weekends with things for the couple to do, they were easier to manage during the week.

It was Saturday now, and Kayden returned from breakfast and the showers to find that the rest of his cabin was still asleep, which to their credit, was common on Saturdays, but it was 9:45 and judging by the state of the cabin, it would take them most of the day to clean.

Because it was dirty.

Not because he wanted to impress anyone.

Kayden could hear Zack's taunts already.

Prepared to face the whining and accusations, Kayden banged on bedroom doors and pulled back curtains, effectively waking the cabin from their precious slumber.

"What's your deal?" Jayden mumbled, brushing past Kayden several minutes later, on a mission to make himself a bowl of cereal.

"It's not appropriate to sleep the day away. Especially when there are things that need to be done."

Jayden stared blankly at Kayden. "Such as…?"

Kayden gestured around him as if what he had implied had been obvious. Did Jayden not see the mess? Was he the only one with eyes?

"Still not following," Jayden replied, grabbing a spoon and closing the drawer.

Zack appeared from the hallway, blanket draped over his head and body, only his face and fingers, that were clutching the edges of the blanket together, visible. "He wants us to clean," he muttered as he walked to the couch, and rolled over the side, sinking down into the cushions. "Girls are coming over."

Kayden glared at the talking mound of blankets. "People are coming over," he corrected. "And I won't have them arrive with the cabin in this state. So, after you rejoin the living, I expect you to get to work."

Jayden pouted and shoved another spoonful of sugary cereal in his face.

"And," Kayden continued, "I need both of you to chip in to help pay for the supplies for tonight."

"What?" Zack yelped, emerging from his blanket fortress to glare. "I didn't even invite these people over. The injustice!"

-.-.-.-.-.-

In the girls' cabin, the day's focus was elsewhere.

"So," Morgan began, as the others all sat down and turned their attention to her. "Party up at Jayden's later for anyone that wants to come, but more importantly, I need volunteers to help put together the camp dance. Sere's already agreed to help, but who else can I count on?"

Serena squealed and clapped excitedly in her seat, bouncing up and down. "It's going to be so fun!"

Amy looked to Maddie apprehensively. Morgan thought she was trying to gauge what the taller girl was thinking. Maddie appeared pensive.

"Do I have to," Rae asked scathingly a moment later. Rae was not really into the camp dances. She had once told Morgan she thought they were a dumb waste of time.

Morgan turned her full attention to Rae and shrugged. "You don't have to help, but you do have to come, and there will be no complaining about the theme or decor if you don't help out, Pyro."

Rae tilted her head, weighing her options for a moment before answering. "I guess someone has to stop you from throwing a pink glitter-themed atrocity."

"You're not using glitter, are you?" Maddie quickly questioned. "I don't want to spend three days cleaning up!"

"May-be," Morgan teased.

Maddie gave Amy a comically serious look. "We have to stop her."

Amy chuckled. "I suppose I have some time I could spare to assist."

"Oh, shucks," Molly added. "I can't be the only one not in! I'll help, too!"

Morgan pumped her fist into the air in victory. "Yes!"

"So, what's the actual theme?" Rae questioned after a moment. "And don't say glitter."

Morgan smiled smugly. "Red."

-.-.-.-.-.-

Later that evening, the six giggling girls trekked up the path and piled into the air-conditioned cabin belonging to their senior counselor counterparts. They were greeted with the delightful smell of pizza, an array of colorful crunchy snacks, soda cans galore, and upbeat music blaring from one of the bedrooms. All of which Jayden proudly pointed out to them as they entered. After hellos, both awkward and familiar were exchanged, everyone settled in. Jayden, Darien, Serena and Maddie each grabbed a controller to game with. Nate, Zack, Amy, Molly and Rae sat down at the old round wood table to choose which card game to play: UNO, Phase 10 or something with a traditional deck of cards, leaving Morgan and Kayden hanging out by the snacks.

"Not going to join in on the fun, Kay?" Morgan teased, already knowing the answer. Kayden wasn't really known for playing games, and she didn't suspect that had changed just because he wasn't being an insufferable jerk recently.

"Maybe later. I want to see what they choose, first. I don't want to get stuck playing poker with Nate and Zack. And you shouldn't either, now that I think about it."

Morgan grinned and looked over to the dimly lit table where they were still fussing over what game to play. "I'd be more worried about Rae, to be honest."

Kayden quirked a brow.

"Amy is pretty sharp, too. I bet she could count cards if she tried."

"Interesting. I kind of want to see them mop the floor with those two, now. They would not suspect it at all."

Morgan smirked. "Maybe we can set that up later. While I have you here, though, I need something." Kayden shot her a quizzical look. "Don't get too excited," she teased. "I just want to know if you can spare some help setting up for the dance next week. Maddie is the only one of us that isn't too short to hang things. I need your tallness."

"Your Tallness?"

Did - did Kayden just make a joke? "No! I meant like, your height. You know what I meant!" she exclaimed while playfully slapping his arm.

Kayden grinned. "Whatever you need."

Morgan was impressed. Joking around, being amicable, wanting to see his competitive friends get ambushed by some girls at cards. Was Kayden being fun? Having fun? Someone ought to record this day, she thought.

"One of us should probably get into the living room to run interference between the love birds," he added.

Ah, there it was. Business as usual. Kayden had been more casual lately, but that layer of seriousness remained. "I did most of the work last night, if you remember correctly. So, you get them tonight."

Kayden smirked.

"I will sit with you guys, though," she offered. "Just no supervising."

He nodded. "Fair."

The two grabbed some items from the counter and joined the group in the living room area. When Morgan sat her soda can down on the coffee table, she heard Zack's voice yell out "It's called a COASTER, you heathen!" from the card table. She looked to Kayden for an answer at the strange outburst, but he shrugged and handed her a coaster in lieu of a verbal response.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Summer always seemed to go by so fast, and as much as Morgan tried to slow it down, the last few weeks of camp just slipped through her fingers. There was a certain excited buzz that always enveloped the camp this last quarter. The younger kids were eager to go home to their parents, the older ones ready to see friends they had missed over the summer, and the teens were all in a fuss about the end-of-camp dance.

Preparing and planning for the dance served as a great distraction for Morgan. She was not ready to return home. Her mother had given up sending college applications and literature recently, but Morgan knew the scolding she was heading home to would be one for the books.

And things here?

Things were complicated. Not necessarily in a bad way, but just strange, really. Morgan was ready to stop playing babysitter for Serena and Darien. She'd done a great job helping keep their secret - well, mostly, Kayden had found out. Recently, Aaron had tried to start some rumor about her, and Morgan was so over his sneers and bad attitude. If she never saw him again, she could die happy. The creep.

But then there was Kayden.

The stupid lug-head was being nice. He couldn't have decided to be nice sooner? And it being her last summer here? The timing just felt - unfortunate? He wasn't as bad as she'd made him out to be, and there were so many wasted summers being enemies. They'd been friends once - before she'd ruined it.

"Mo-mo!"

Serena's voice broke Morgan away from her annoying thoughts. "Yes?"

Serena bounded over to the table where Morgan was sorting all the decorations. "Question. What if we don't have enough of the right color balloons?"

"Balloons?" Morgan questioned. What had she approved that involved balloons?

"For the arch," Serena offered.

Morgan exhaled, but thanked Serena in her mind for this much needed distraction. "Let's go sort this out."

-.-.-.-.-.-

The days and evenings passed in a blur, and before she realized it, the big day had arrived. Tomorrow, the campers would pack up and leave by the end of the day. Summer was over, basically. Tonight, though, she'd throw them a spectacular end-of-summer bash to celebrate all they'd accomplished and learned this season.

While the campers enjoyed their final dinner, Morgan did a quick once-over of the converted hall, making sure that the DJ, Zack, had everything he needed, before rushing off to get herself ready. It may not have turned out exactly as she'd planned - it was admittedly a little less red than she'd wanted - but she and the girls did a pretty good job on a shoe-string budget, and she was proud of their effort.

Morgan arrived back at the dance in a modest blue cocktail dress, just in time for the campers to start showing up. The lights were off when she returned. Zack had the music playing and a multi-colored party light going. The white Christmas lights they'd strung up criss-crossed the room and lit up the red streamers they'd managed to hang. Maddie's multi-colored balloon archway even seemed to fit in just fine with the right lighting.

Kayden had forced most of the counselors into being chaperones for the evening, so there was no lack of familiar faces in the growing crowd. Morgan walked past some awkwardly dressed pre-teens and found Amy and Maddie standing behind a row of round tables.

"It looks so good all together, Morgan," Amy complimented.

"The arch ties it together," Maddie joked sourly, arms crossed. She had been so mad about the way it turned out, but the girls insisted it was fine, and really it was.

"I love your Frankenstein arch! Who cares if we had to use seven different colored balloons?" Morgan said jokingly.

Maddie laughed. "It is something special, that's for sure."

"It's perfect. Thank you for making it."

After some quick hugs, Morgan departed to survey the room. It was a very typical dance, she had thought to herself. The boys were on one side, and the girls on the other. Morgan knew if she could get a few of them dancing, everyone would relax and join in. So, she began working on getting some girls to get out and dance first. They were pretty easy to lure onto their makeshift dance floor. Once the girls were dancing without her lead, she picked off the shy boys one by one, pairing them off with some girls before grabbing another victim. Before too long, she had most of the kids and teens up on their feet enjoying Zack's playlist.

Morgan was enjoying herself, too. She'd danced with Serena and Molly, gotten Maddie and Amy to do the Cha-Cha Slide with her, and had even gotten into a quick dance off with Jayden. She was taking a break to get a drink when a head of silver caught her eye, leaning up against the wall near the entrance.

Kayden had showed up.

With his clipboard.

Seriously? Morgan gulped down the rest of her punch and crept over to him. He hadn't noticed her, and she snatched the clipboard from his hands in one swift motion.

Shocked, rage-filled eyes immediately softened when they recognized the perpetrator was. "Morgan."

Morgan winked. Kayden tried to grab his papers back, but Morgan hid them behind her back, knowing he wouldn't want to look inappropriate reaching for her rear end. "I know it's mandatory attendance, but you could at least pretend to have fun tonight," she chided.

"Who said I wasn't?"

Morgan stared at his inscrutable face for a moment before setting his clipboard down on a nearby folding chair and grabbed his hand. "Come on," she ordered. Unsurprisingly, Kayden resisted more than the twelve-year old boys she'd bamboozled earlier.

"Morgan," he pleaded, pulling back against her grip. "I don't dance."

She countered by placing both hands around his wrist and tugging. "Sure you do. You just don't want to. Come dance with me. One dance. If it isn't fun, you can come back and hang out in the shadows like the gargoyle you are."

Kayden signed in defeat, giving in and allowing her to pull him forward. "One dance," he stated firmly.

As they made it to an empty spot, "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas came on, and Morgan caught Kayden shoot a death glare across the room at Zack, before turning back to her, stiff as a board.

Whatcha gonna do with all that junk

All that junk inside your trunk

Morgan almost died at the uncomfortable look that flashed across Kayden's face, but she resisted laughing, and instead tried to get him to move his body in some sort of rhythm, which proved to be quite the task. He stood there, feet firmly planted on the floor, barely moving his hips at all.

'Cause of my humps my hump my hump my hump

My hump my hump my hump my lovely lady hump

Kayden's face twisted, and he looked anywhere but Morgan's direction, his discomfort building. She tried to get him to move his arms, but he flinched at her touch and she gave up. Really, him being out here was victory enough for her.

So don't pull on my hand boy

You ain't my man boy

I'm just tryna dance boy

Morgan wasn't sure how much more Kayden would take, but she was thoroughly enjoying the amount of embarrassment he was suffering right now. Serena and Darien were dancing nearby, and she watched Kayden's eyes nearly roll out of his head when he saw how closely they were dancing. "So inappropriate," he'd mumbled.

Whatcha gonna do with all that breast

All that breast inside that shirt

I'm a make make make make you work

Make you work work make you work

"That's enough!" Kayden announced, and stalked over to the DJ booth to scold Zack. Morgan giggled and jumped in with Serena to finish out the song.

Morgan wasn't sure what Kayden had said to Zack, but the next song was some Fall Out Boy song, far more appropriate for a youth dance. Kayden had returned to escort her off the floor, but she stood still, hoping to get him to stay. "One more?"

"The deal was one dance."

"I wouldn't call what you did dancing," she said with a smirk. Kayden sighed, rolling his eyes, but she could see his stiff shoulders relax just a smidge. Knowing she'd won, she pulled him back toward her, and started bouncing along to the song. "Isn't this fun?" she called out over the music a minute later.

Kayden didn't answer, but he did seem amused by her enthusiasm, and stayed on the floor for another song or two.

It was about the midpoint of the evening when the songs made a sudden shift to slower tempos. Too shy, most of the kids exited the dance floor at the first sign of a slow dance. Morgan deflated when she noticed. "All that work," she muttered, looking around.

"What's wrong?" Kayden asked, returning to the table Morgan was at with a drink.

"They're all sitting down again," she lamented.

Kayden seemed to survey the room for a moment while Morgan pouted, sipping at her drink. After a few moments, he took the plastic red cup from her, and offered an upturned palm, inviting her to stand. "Shall we?"

Morgan gave him a skeptical look. He had a sincere look on his face and she suddenly found her pulse quickening. "Are you asking me to dance, Your Tallness?" Morgan deflected with humor, because this was all just fun, right? Her stupid body was betraying her. Calm down hormones!

"If you will have me."

Morgan felt her cheeks redden. They were friends, nothing more. He had made that all too clear all those years ago. She was way too young for him. Just a kid. He didn't think of her that way. And her stupid brain needed to remember that.

No matter how handsome his face was in this lighting.

Wait. What?

"Besides," he began as he led her out onto the thinning floor, "It's best to lead by example. If we dance, others will join."

"R-right," Morgan mumbled as she placed bother hands on Kayden's shoulders. This was exactly what she'd thought. Just a friendly dance to relax the nervous kids and get everyone back to having fun. She'd worked so hard. He didn't want things ruined. That's all.

"Not like that," Kayden muttered, gently removing one of her hands, and outstretching it, interlaced with his own fingers, out to the side. His other palm rested gingerly on her waist, and he pulled her in closer, before leading her around in small steps to the music.

Morgan wasn't sure this felt like just friends anymore. And a curious look Rae was shooting her made the feeling worse. What was going on?

It felt like ages, but a minute or so later, Kayden gently squeezed her waist, and she looked up. "Look. I think it's working."

Curious, Morgan looked away from his shirt button she'd been transfixed on. Her friends had been pulling people out to dance, and some kids were even mustering up the courage to invite others out. His plan had worked. "My hero," she teased. "You saved the dance."

"You worked too hard to let it fail. It's the least I could do."

"Thank you," Morgan responded after a moment, a bit deflated.

The song ended, and Morgan expected them to part, but Kayden's warm, gentle hands didn't leave her body.

It felt nice.

She tried to ignore that.

Morgan scanned the room again. There were more people dancing than sitting, and that made her happy. Even Rae, the dance hater, was dancing - with Jayden. She made a mental note to pester Rae about that later. Serena and Darien had split up and were dancing with younger campers. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Morgan looked back to her dance partner to find, surprisingly, that he was smiling down at her, ignoring their success of getting others dancing.

She smiled politely back up at him, and he just kept staring. Normally, she might call him a weirdo and leave, but there was a tenderness in his eyes, and Morgan felt herself leaning in closer to him, and she swore his face was nearing hers at the same time.

Morgan hadn't been this close to him since she had got into his face yelling a few weeks back.

He smelled good.

Their faces were impossibly close. Just when Morgan thought he might lean in to kiss her, Kayden suddenly straightened, clearing his throat and looking away.

"I - I should have Zack, um, go back to the upbeat songs. End the night on a good happy note."

He let go of her, and Morgan nodded at his suggestion, clearing her own throat and smoothing out imaginary wrinkles from her dress. "Yes. I think they, uh, definitely enjoyed the fast songs better."

He nodded. "I'll get on that."

Morgan bit her lip. "I'll, uh, go check on some stuff. There's stuff that I should be, uh, yeah. Okay."

They shared awkward glances before separating. Morgan quickly made her way off the floor, checking on the punch levels before deciding to check dark corners and closets for sneaky teenagers trying to fly under the radar. Anything, really, to keep her busy, and not think about Kayden. And how his lips might have felt against hers.