This is the tale of how Nikki comes to Camp Campbell.

"Jesus Christ."

Max slammed his head into the desk as Neil and Tabii looked over with concern.

"Are you okay, Max?" Neil asked.

"It's the goddamn campers. Not only are we having issues with the ones we already have, but someone just sent their kid our way."

"Why don't we hire another counselor?" Tabii suggested.

"Because we don't have the fucking money to do that."

"Not necessarily," Neil piped up. "I found a box of emergency funds in the Quartermaster's store behind a box of grenades. We could use that to hire another counselor."

"Good idea."

"Could we get another girl in here, then?" Tabii asked. "We only have three female campers and I'm sure another female counselor would help balance it out."

"Maybe," Max sighed. "We'll have to see who applies. Neil, start with Camp Campbell alumni—the people who were here with us."

"What about me?" Tabii asked.

"I need you to help me with wrangling the brats while Neil finds us a new counselor."

"Oh, fine." Tabii headed out with Max while Neil started looking through the camp files. He found a few people—former counselors and campers alike—but none of them wanted to come back. His eyes landed on the last name on the page other than his—Nicolette Morrison.

Nikki…

He picked up the phone and dialed the number he knew—one that wasn't listed.

"Hello?" she said upon picking up.

"Nikki! It's Neil!"

"Oh, hey, Neil! Why are you calling me with an unlisted number? Are you in trouble? Do you need money?"

"What—no! Nikki, I'm working at Camp Campbell."

"That explains it. But still, why are you calling me?"

"So, we've been having some trouble with the campers. This batch is a lot more trouble than we were—which is saying a lot, considering what absolute shits you, me, and Max were."

"I'd say it was more me and Max than you. We were the ones causing trouble while you tried to keep us from going overboard."

"God… Nikki, I'm trying to ask if you'll come up to Camp Campbell and be a counselor for the rest of the summer!"

"Oh… sure!"

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. It'll be fun to be up at Camp Campbell again. Especially if I'm partially in charge!"

"Great! When can you get here?"

"Tomorrow good?"

"Tomorrow is perfect! See you then!"

"See you!"

Neil hung up the phone. He felt giddy that he'd managed to find a counselor without placing an ad in the paper. Who knows what kind of possible cult leader that could've come to try and take over the camp? He headed outside, where he was about to tell Max and Tabii the good news when suddenly, there was an explosion.

"FUCK!" he heard Max yell. He could see the head counselor running towards the pier in a panic, where the Wood Scouts were docking. There was a smoking crater in the ground nearby, meaning the Wood Scouts were attacking.

"Go forward, men!" their leader, a kid with a face full of bad acne, declared.

"Shit," Neil muttered.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" Max snapped at Pikeman.

"We're recruiting new members," Pikeman replied. "Master Snake asked us to."

"Me and that back-stabbing candy-lover are gonna have a few words. Get the fuck out of here!"

"You'll have to make us, Music Man." Max growled and took out his pocketknife. "Okay! Okay! We're leaving!"

Pikeman spotted the campers, who were watching from behind Tabii. His gaze landed on a very specific brown-haired girl, who was looking nervous at the possible invasion.

"But, Maxwell, we will return for your campers… and succeed."

The boat went back across the lake and Max put his pocketknife away.

"Who was that?" David asked Max.

"They were the Wood Scouts. First attack of the summer."

"First attack?"

"They'll be back. They want you guys to become like them—militaristic assholes who think they're above everybody."

"And who's Snake?"

"He's their group leader. Think of him as their head counselor."

"All right, then."

In all the confusion, Neil forgot to tell Max he'd hired their old friend.

The next day, Max was in the camp office, taking care of a few things that had piled up while listening to rap through his headphones. Tabii was making lunch in the mess hall. Neil wasn't even at the camp—rather, he'd headed down to the town of Sleepy Peak to pick up some groceries. As a result, the only adult watching over the kids was the Quartermaster, who everybody knew was doing his own thing. So, yeah, the kids were unsupervised. Each of the counselors assumed the other counselors were keeping an eye on things.

"Hey, Davey!" Jaspar called.

"What is it, Jaspar?" David asked.

"Do you wanna do something today?"

"Like what?" Gwen inquired.

"Like row over to Spooky Island and explore!"

"But Max said we're not supposed to go over there," Nerris spoke up. "He'd probably kill us if we tried."

"Nobody ever got anywhere by following the rules," Jaspar informed them. "Besides, it's not like there's anybody out here to stop us, like they hired a new counselor and forgot to tell us!"

A car pulled up—a black Jeep that none of them recognized. A pretty woman with long, aqua-colored hair tied in a high ponytail got out. She was wearing a yellow T-shirt (Camp Campbell standard issue) and a pair of bright red shorts. Her eyes looked over the campers in front of her, who were all staring at this stranger in their midst.

"Jeez, the standards have really gone down over the years," she commented.

"Who the hell is she?" Preston demanded to know.

"She's really pretty," Harrison murmured, causing Nerris to glare at the woman.

"Velcome to Camp Campbell!" Dolph greeted her, holding out his hand. She accepted the handshake. "I am Dolph!"

"Well, Dolph, I'm Nikki. Is there an adult around here I could talk to?"

"There's a few, but we don't know where they are," David admitted.

"That's not good. How many of you are there?"

Before anybody could answer, there was an explosion from down by the pier. Fires were breaking out in the bushes. Nikki rushed to the hose and ran towards the flames. David ran over and turned on the water as the newcomer doused the bushes in liquid. There was only smoking, scorched branches where the fire had been.

"That was cool!" Space Kid gushed as Nikki wound the hose back up.

"It was basic fire-fighting skills," she stated.

"Could you teach me?"

"Well…"

Suddenly, she was surrounded by campers, all clamoring for her attention.

Inside the office, Max heard the explosion, but ignored it, figuring Neil or Tabii would take care of it. Then came the yelling and arguing. It lasted for a few minutes before he ripped off his headphones in annoyance and stomped outside, papers crumpled in his hand as he slammed the door open.

"What the fuck is going on out here?!" he yelled. His gaze landed on the campers surrounding a beautiful woman with aqua-colored hair. He blinked a couple times in confusion, then stared.

"Oh, there's an adult!" David piped up, breaking Max out of his trance.

"All right, you little shits," he growled. "Go to your activities. Lunch is in thirty minutes."

The campers dispersed and the woman got to her feet. Now that he had a good look at her, she looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Thanks," she sighed, dusting herself off. She looked directly at him. "Have we… met?"

"I don't think so. I think I'd remember you if we had."

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember meeting you, too. But… I'm just here about the counselor thing."

"Oh. I should've figured. Come on. Let's get you set up." She followed him towards the office. "I'm head counselor, by the way. My name's Max." She then stopped dead in her tracks. "Something wrong?"

"Holy shit," she whispered.

"What's up?"

"Max, it's me! Nikki!"

Max felt his heart leap into his throat.

"Wow! Hey, Nik!" was what he said on the outside. On the inside, however…

Holy shit, Nikki. I know I haven't seen you in twelve years, but you got fucking hot. Wanna blow this place and go get drinks at The Only Bar before we desecrate the Camp-Mobile's backseat?

Yep, no way he could say that.

"I can't believe you're head counselor," she told him as they headed into the office.

"Neither can I."

"I mean, you'd think Neil would've mentioned it when he called yesterday—" She was cut off by Max slamming a drawer shut.

"Neil hired you?"

"Yep!"

"That bastard. You'd think he would've told me."

"You didn't know?"

"Yesterday we dealt with a Wood Scout invasion. Guess he forgot in all the confusion."

"Where is Neil, anyway?"

"He should've been keeping an eye on the kids." Max handed her the form. "Fill this out."

"Well, nobody was out there and none of the campers knew where an adult was."

"I'm going to kill both of them."

"Both of who?"

"Neil and Tabii. They should be watching the kids! Dammit!" He banged his fist on the table.

"I'll fill this out so you can watch the kids."

"Thanks, Nik."

"You're welcome."

Max headed outside.

"Hey, Max!" Neil greeted the head counselor.

"Neil, can we have a talk?" The kids were inside and the groceries had been put away.

"Sure." They went into the counselors' cabin, far away from everyone else. Nikki and Tabii were watching the campers, so nobody could overhear. Neil hadn't even seen her yet.

"Neil, why didn't you tell me that you hired fucking Nikki as a counselor?!"

"Oh, shit. I forgot."

"Yeah. You also forgot that she was coming today and that your fucking job is to keep the campers out of trouble!"

"What happened while I was at the store?"

"Explosion, plus the campers nearly suffocated Nikki."

"But that's normal. Except the Nikki part."

"Jesus Christ." Max sat down on his bed. "How'd you even get ahold of her?"

"Well, remember how my dad and her mom kind of hit it off at Parents' Day that first year?"

"I thought it was because your dad's a big-shot philosophy professor and her mom's a gold-digging whore."

"That was it at first, but then they started dating. They got married after our last summer at Camp Campbell. I had Nikki's number because she's my stepsister." Max let out a sigh of relief.

"I thought you were going to say she's your girlfriend or something."

"Hell no! I lived with her until college!" He smirked at Max. "Your old crush on her came back?"

"I didn't have a crush on her! We've been over this!"

"If anybody cried at camp other than her, you'd tell them to suck it up. When she started crying, you'd try to make her feel better as quickly as possible. Especially when it was your fault. Need I remind you of the day she got her first period?"

"Shut the fuck up! I was an asshole that day and she wasn't even dying!"

"You love Nikki. Don't keep denying it."

"Okay, fine. I'm attracted to her. She's hot now."

"Hey, that's my sister you're talking about."

"Make up your damn mind, Neil. Do you want me to like her or not?!"

"I'm torn, because I did threaten a couple of her ex-boyfriends in high school, but I know you've liked her since we were kids. Don't hurt her or I'll get Nurf to beat the shit out of you."

"That's fair." Max shrugged.

"Good luck hiding your attraction to her this time. It's a lot more obvious now that we're older." Max grabbed his pillow and put it on his lap self-consciously.

Things were about to change at Camp Campbell.

And done!

Next time: Daniel joins Camp Campbell and the counselors try to fight back.

So long and thanks for all the fish!