Camp Campbell.
This was the first time that Lovetta had set foot on the grounds of the place where most of her family had come to be what it was today. Her grandparents had adopted her father, her father had met her mother, and her other grandparents had met. Max had said that the camp was less shitty than when he and Nikki had first gone there, which gave Lovetta hope that she would have a good summer. Besides that, David and Gwen were the legal owners of the camp and Max was one of the counselors. She'd be able to get away with more than most of the other kids.
Of course, her family brought her up to camp instead of her having to take the bus with everyone else. She hadn't even told Leo and James that she was going to camp in case they weren't going to the same one. Those fears were put to rest when the bus showed up and her two best friends got off it.
"James! Leo!" she squealed, running forward to hug them both.
"Lovetta!" Leo gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"My grandparents own the camp, silly! Mom and Daddy said I can go here for the summer!"
James looked over at where the counselors were waiting. Sure enough, there was Max, Gwen, David, Nikki, and Lizzie. Max, Lizzie, and Gwen were wearing the counselor's uniform, while Nikki wore her maternity clothes and David just appeared to be wearing an outdoorsman outfit.
"Your entire family is here?" he asked.
"Grandpa says Camp Campbell is a family business. Daddy, Grandma, and Aunt Lizzie are the counselors, while Mom's just here because Daddy didn't want to leave her by herself."
"Hey, Vet!" Max called. "Get over here so the other kids know where to go!"
"Okay!"
Before long, all of the campers were in front of their counselors. There were sixteen of them (which Gwen had tried to nope right out of before David grabbed her shirt and reminded her that there were five adults working this year) and there was a good mix of personalities just based off what the kids were wearing and how they held themselves.
"All right, kids!" David announced brightly. "Welcome to Camp Campbell, where there's endless possibilities—and no, that's not hyperbole! I'm David, the owner, and these are your counselors—Gwen, Max, and Lizzie. If none of us are available, feel free to direct your questions to Nikki. She knows this camp as well as we do."
"I know it better, David," Nikki laughed from where she was sitting. Max smirked at his pregnant girlfriend and turned back to the kids.
"I'll tell you shits this right now," he stated bluntly. One girl gasped at the language. "Yeah, I swear. We all do except David, so feel free to curse as much as you want. Anyway, we don't put up with bullshit around here. You do what we say when we say to do it, or risk the consequences. There aren't a lot of rules, but I'm going to say the few we have. No going into the woods by yourselves; you have to have a counselor with you. Our camp mascot, Muack the Second, is around here somewhere, but do not provoke her unless you want to lose a finger or a toe. No swimming in the lake without a counselor nearby and watching you. And last but not least, please do not stab the counselors. Any questions?"
One of the girls—who had brown hair and freckles—raised her hand.
"Yes, uh…?" Gwen stated, pointing at her.
"Kate. What do we do if Nikki goes into labor?"
"You run like hell to get one of us adults. Any other questions?"
Nobody raised their hands.
"All right, then!" Lizzie chirped, clapping her hands. "Let's get started with your cabin assignments! There are two cabins—one for the boys and one for the girls. You'll be assigned a bunkmate, who you will be sharing a bunk bed with. Other than that, you're all free to do what you want."
"Wait, seriously?" gasped a girl with orangish-pink hair.
"We'll have camp activities daily," David explained. "But in the afternoons, you kids will be doing whatever camp you signed up for. Meals will be served on a regular schedule and on Friday nights, we'll be having a campfire! But our top priority this summer is to make sure you have as much fun as possible."
The kids followed Lizzie and Gwen towards the cabins, while Max remained by the mess hall with Nikki. Lovetta was put with some Theater Camp girl named Coral (the one with the orangish-pink hair, Max guessed), and her two best friends were paired together. The rest of the afternoon was spent showing the kids around the camp, and since it was Friday, they ended with a campfire on the shore of the lake.
"…and then," continued the dark-red-haired boy, his tone rising, "she raised her long scissors and cut the girl's face from ear to ear, giving her a sickening, twisted grin. 'That will be the fate of all who answer as you did!' she cried with glee, shoving the girl to the ground. And it's been that way ever since."
The other kids were shaking with fear. Lovetta was clinging to Leo and James at the same time, her bunkmate sitting with a wide-eyed look of terror. The kid seemed satisfied that his story had successfully scared the shit out of his fellow campers, so he smirked before sitting back down.
"Anybody else?" Max asked, impressed at the fact that the kid had told an actually scary story. Nobody seemed willing to follow up. Most of them had fear in their eyes, except for a girl whose dark red hair matched the storyteller's. She was glaring daggers at the boy.
"Okay, kids," laughed Lizzie, shaking her head. "Time for bed."
Lovetta was helped to her feet by the boys on either side of her, which made Max narrow his eyes. Nikki gripped his arm, calming him down and reminding him that these two weren't going to do anything to their precious little girl while he was around. She knew his protectiveness was only due to the fact that Daniel had gotten close enough to kidnap their daughter, and that he hadn't been able to prevent his birth father from hurting her.
"Night, Mom! Night, Daddy!" Lovetta called once she was on her feet.
"Night, Lovetta!" they both called back.
"Your parents are here?" asked Coral, tilting her head at Lovetta as they walked towards the cabin.
"Yep." Lovetta nodded. "Nikki's my mom, Max is my dad."
"They can't be older than twenty-five."
"Twenty-seven, actually. Mom had me when she was seventeen."
"Wow… and you're just now getting a younger sibling?"
"It's complicated, but yeah. Do you have any brothers or sisters?'
"I have an older brother. I've lived with him since I was four. My mom and dad weren't great people, but I'm glad Mom left me with my brother instead of forcing me to live with her."
"You're luckier than my dad was. He didn't get away from his birth parents until he was ten. That's when David and Gwen adopted him."
"So your family runs the camp… we can get away with so much stuff."
"Hey, I don't want to send my mom into labor early!"
"Kidding… mostly. I want to prank your grandpa. He seems gullible enough."
"He is. We play jokes on him all the time."
Coral grinned and Lovetta knew she had just made a new friend—a female friend, at that. Most girls avoided her at all costs because she was a tomboy. She was happy to have a friend she could talk to about things she couldn't discuss with James and Leo.
They reached the cabins and got into their beds. A few minutes later, they could hear the door open. Lovetta knew it was just her dad doing some checks to ensure the campers were safe. It was something he did at home, too, to make sure she was still in bed and not hiding downstairs to try and pull an all-nighter or something like that.
She pulled her teddy bear closer and snuggled under the blankets. The cabin felt like home, despite the fact that it wasn't even close to her house. She'd brought this up to her family and her mom had simply said that nature was in her blood. Max stated that Lovetta took more after her mother than him.
She knew Camp Campbell was the place for her.
After a month at the camp, Lovetta had gotten used to the new daily schedule. She'd spend the morning doing an activity with her family (and the other campers, of course) and the afternoon either doing her Nature Camp activities or messing around with James, Leo, and/or Coral. Her dad approved of the fact that she had made a new friend who wasn't a guy, but Coral drove him crazy with her constant ramblings of Shakespeare quotes and humming of showtunes. Lovetta found it funny that her dad had an issue with Coral's little habits, but she didn't find it funny when Tristan (the dark-red-haired boy who'd scared them all that first night) made fun of Coral for being clingy. Coral had confessed that she had abandonment issues, which Lovetta had accepted as a part of her new friend. It was just a part of life.
Speaking of life and camp, one morning, Lovetta was greeted by an annual event being held by Camp Campbell.
The Camporee.
"So, what exactly is this thing?" Tristan asked Max.
"This is a competition between all three camps on Lake Lilac," he stated. "Us, the Flower Scouts, and the Wood Scouts. Nikki's sitting out because it's always stressful, but you have the rest of us cheering you on."
As if on cue, a van pulled up, pink and decorated with other girly designs. The Flower Scouts got out, a batch that looked a significant improvement over the ones who'd been campers when Max was younger. Not as bitchy, if you asked him. Then their Garden Mother got out of the driver's seat. He recognized her immediately.
Sasha Harris.
"Hey, Sasha," he greeted her nervously. She caught sight of him and strutted over before slapping him across the face.
"Nice to see you, dick-bag!" she snapped. "Does Nikki know you're here?"
"Yeah, she does," he replied, holding his cheek. "She's inside, actually. And we're fine."
"Hmph. I'm still pissed that you dumped her through a note."
"Daddy, why did Sasha slap you?" Lovetta asked.
"She's mad at me for hurting your mom all those years ago," Max told his daughter.
"Can we get on with this?" requested a man who was obviously an older Pikeman. "My scouts are ready to make fools out of your campers."
"Some things never change, eh, Pikeman?" Max laughed. "Good to see you."
"And good to see you taking responsibility for Nicolette." The three camp leaders nodded at each other and the Camporee began.
The Flower Scouts section of the Camporee was certainly easy for Lovetta, who had a gift of grace that had skipped over her mother. Not to mention her outdoors skills which came in handy during the Wood Scout section. Still, it was a close race, and the final activity for Camp Campbell popped up, from Ruby (Art Camp).
Her challenge?
Draw as realistic a portrait as possible in five minutes.
Quartermaster fired the gun and it was off to the races. Ruby started with a rough sketch, followed by outlining. Her opponents did the same, and when the five minutes was up, their scores were tallied.
Camp Campbell had won by ten points.
In the middle of their celebration, Max's phone buzzed. He took it out of his pocket and checked it. Fear flooded his eyes and he felt like he couldn't breathe.
It's time.
Just those two words from Nikki.
Immediately, he ran for the counselor's cabin. He entered to find his girlfriend on the floor, panting heavily as she gripped her belly.
"Nik! Fuck. Come on. You gotta get up so we can get to the hospital."
She gripped his arm as he helped her to her feet and they exited the cabin. The campers, of course, were freaking out. Especially Lovetta. He escorted Nikki to the car and got in, David, Gwen, and Lizzie trying to calm the campers down. Max's heart was pounding as he turned the key in the ignition of the Camp-Mobile.
It wouldn't start.
And now he was having a goddamn heart attack.
It's not like this is her first kid! Why are you freaking out?!
It's been ten and a half years since she gave birth! And I wasn't here last time!
How about you calm down? Gwen and David were here; they can help her.
Shit, that's right.
"Max, what's wrong?" Nikki asked.
"The fucking car won't start."
"Call an ambul—" She yelped as more pain shot through her belly.
"We're going to have to do this here! The hospital's too far away!"
"We really didn't think this through, did we?"
Max helped her into the infirmary, Gwen and David not far behind. Lizzie was left alone with the kids, who she made sure were calmed down after one of their counselors essentially had a breakdown in front of them. Nikki had a shorter labor this time, which was weird given the fact that her labor with Lovetta had only taken three hours.
On July 17 at 5:32 PM, Oliver was born, the first baby born at Camp Campbell.
Not exactly something Max wanted for his kid, but whatever. An ambulance showed up a couple hours later to take Nikki and Oliver to the hospital to make sure there weren't any complications, after Lovetta had met her brother, of course.
Short chapter today. I just didn't have much to say, but the next chapter will be a time-skip to Lovetta in seventh grade. Why? Because I said so.
My story, my rules.
Also, we're ten chapters in and nothing really noteworthy happens again until she's in seventh grade, so... yeah.
So long and thanks for all the fish!