Chapter 3. I know exactly which direction I want to take this story in, so, nobody worry about that. This story is already charted in my mind, ending included; just in case anyone thinks this is one of those things where someone starts writing with no real direction and eventually can't think of anything else and lets it die. Camp Camp, and it's characters, do not belong to me; I am simply a fan of Rooster Teeth's work.


(Back when Harrison first ran out of the mess hall)

Harrison was running in a complete panic. His mind was running just as fast as his legs, and it was focused on one thing. Getting as far away as humanly possible.

Harrison could not believe he just did that. He was completely mortified, ashamed, and disappointed with himself. His entire time at this camp was spent training himself and honing his powers to prevent magical outburts; trying to turn it into something positive, and he was still prone to using his powers for immature and churlish reasons.

Nerris was right; he did suck.

He had been trying to reel himself in ever since the Max incident. Harrison was a kid, sure, and didn't really think about consequences, or responsibility; but once it became painfully obvious that Max was terrified of him for what he had done, Harrison had felt a horribly deep pit of remorse in his stomach at the thought of it. At the thought of his magic hurting another person... again. What made it even worse was that Max was simply an unfortunate bystander; Harrison hadn't even meant to hit him. It just went to show how uncontrollable his powers were, and that terrified him.

Sure, he didn't really like Nerris, but he didn't want to hurt her. In every fight with her, he'd just curl into himself; because the possibility of any ounce of rage causing him to do something that could never be taken back, no matter how much he wished it... it made him sick.

It made him disgusted with himself.

Harrison wanted to be away; he wanted to be someplace calming, where he could think, and be safe, and not hurt anyone.

And all of a sudden, with a second filled with a peculiar feeling of weightlessness, he was in the middle of the forest.

Harrison panicked for a second, not knowing where he was. Momentary relief flooded him when he spotted the card he had used to mark his favorite quiet spot, before being replaced with yet another realization that once again his powers had gone awry.

He just couldn't take it anymore; the constant anxiety that he was never going to be able to control himself, that he was going to hurt people.

That he would always be a dangerous freak.

Harrison just slumped against a tree, and sat there, head in his now tear stained gloves, wallowing in self-hatred, and guilt.

His mind silently went back to what Nerris had said. About his parents not liking him. He didn't know why that one stung so bad, because he knew it wasn't true.

Surely his parents loved him. Why else would they send him here to help him control his magic? They had to care about him; had to want him to succeed.

Sure, maybe they acted a little apprehensive around him at times, but why wouldn't they? He was dangerous. They still loved him though, that's why they always checked up to see if he had gotten any better at controlling his powers. Why they always asked if he was any closer to... making things reappear.

But... every time that he thought about it, there was still an inkling of doubt in his mind. He had to believe though; because if his own parents didn't love him then who would?

Harrison wasn't sure how long he sat there; time seems to fly when you are crying. All of a sudden, he jumped when he heard a familiar voice gently asking him if he was okay.

Harrison's head quickly looked to the side where he saw David standing there, peeking around the tree at him with a worried look on his face.

Quickly wiping the tears from his eyes, Harrison quickly went to explaining himself.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Well, I meant to, but I didn't mean for it to go that far! I was just angry and I-"

David was quick to stop Harrison with a hand on his shoulder.

"Harrison, it's ok. I'm not mad. I have a pretty good idea of what happened, and all I want is to help you two to get along."

One thought immediately permeated Harrison's brain.

"Nerris doesn't want to be friends with me; she's made that clear on multiple occasions. I don't want to be friends with her either." Harrison had an upset look on his face, and a voice to match, which turned indignant when he said the last part; almost as if he was responding to the assertion like it was made by someone else.

That was a bit of a lie. He did want to be friends with Nerris, but every time he tried she shot him down with insults. He didn't see any way it could happen. If she was gonna be dismissive about the idea, then so would he.

"Look, I know you two don't get along, but you two can't go on like this. I'm gonna sit you two down, and we're going to talk about how this will work. And gosh darnit, if I can't get you two to be friends with each other, I'll eat my hat!"

Harrison looked down for a moment. He thought about all of the things Nerris had said to him that further proved she despised him. Ugly, stupid, lame, sucky; every one of them made him believe more and more that she didn't want to be friends with him. Who would want to be friends with someone who had all of those qualities?

David noticed Harrison had a downcast look on his face.

"Awww Harrison, I'm sure Nerris would be delighted to be friends with you! She probably just doesn't know how to express it properly. One you two start tallking, I'm sure the rest will fall into place."

Something about David's overwhelming optimism and supportiveness would probably be reassuring to most people, but to Harrison, who had spent the better part of a summer realizing and internalizing that David was positive about everything, no matter how hopeless or misguided, it was no comfort.

Harrison did not, however, have the heart to shut David down like it was nothing. He also highly doubted he had much of a choice in the matter.

Harrison no longer felt like talking, so he simply got up on his feet and faced towards David with his head down.

David, taking this as a sign that Harrison was willing to give it a try, turned and started walking back, checking every so often to make sure Harrison was following. He really didn't want to have to find him again.

On the walk back, Harrison kept thinking about one thing. How on Earth could Nerris ever want to be his friend?


(Back at camp, in the mess hall with Gwen and Nerris)

Gwen had finally managed to pry the smoldering remains of cardboard that Nerris called ears off. The glue inside had luckily protected the tips of Nerris' actual ears. The glue was also, luckily, not horribly strong(probably so that Nerris could take them off to go to sleep).

After allowing Nerris to rinse her head, Gwen went and found a towel to let her dry off with. With that, Gwen and Nerris sat in the a bit of an anxious silence.

Nerris had managed to calm down a decent bit after the incident. She was still peeved, but it was much more manageable; she might actually be able to not kill Harrison the next time she sees him. Which was good, because apparently David was going to bring Harrison here to talk with her. Great; she had quite a few choice words to say to him.

While mulling over exactly what depreciating words she wanted to say, Preston walked in. Nerris noticed he had a bit of a sullen look on his face. Preston had always been Nerris' best friend at this camp, because he enjoyed playing in her campaigns so much, so she immediately was worried about what could be making him upset at the time.

"What's wrong, Preston?"

Preston didn't respond right away, he just looked away and rubbed his arm. Preston didn't like having to put Nerris through this, but he thought it was necessary.

"I'm sorry, Nerris, but we can't be friends anymore."

Nerris' stomach dropped to the floor, she felt her breath leave her body, her face turned pale, and the only word for how she felt was, 'devastated'.

She immediately went into panic mode, she could NOT lose the only real friend she had made at this camp.

"Why?! What's wrong?! What happened?! Please! You're my best friend, I can't stand this place without you!"

Preston felt bad at the desperation in her voice, but he needed to get this out without caving; he needed to sell this.

"I just can't handle you constantly arguing with Harrison. You two are both my best friends, but the way you constantly insult him just... makes this impossible."

Nerris felt like a blood vessel burst in her brain. For the second time today Harrison was the problem. She should have been angry beyond reason, but instead she was still focused on the current problem.

"Please! Is there anything I can do?! I don't want to lose you as a friend."

"Not unless you can become friends with Harrison, but it's clear that is impossible."

Nerris was sweating now. She REALLY didn't want to be friends with Harrison, but at the same time, she REALLY REALLY didn't want to lose Preston as a friend. She bit her cheek and thought about the pros and cons of each option, which essentially boiled down to one would be annoying, and the other would be completely unbearable.

"Please, Preston. I'll try to be friends with Harrison, I promise!"

Preston appeared to be thinking for a few seconds. Suddenly a big grin broke on his face.

"Alright, Nerris. I believe you. Please give Harrison an honest chance, I think you'll like him if you actually let yourself try to be friends with him."

Nerris sincerely doubted that, but she had a plan. If this worked out, then she could have the best of both worlds. Not having to deal with Harrison, and still being able to hang out with Preston.

Preston turned and walked away, leaving Nerris to formulate her plan. Luckily, her glasses gave her a boost to Intelligence.


(With Preston, outside)

Once Preston was a reasonable distance away from the mess hall, he allowed himself to break character.

"Woooo! Such passion! Such drama! Truly worthy of a Tony!"

Preston was very nervous that his ploy wouldn't work out; that Nerris would be indignant enough to outright refuse and he'd have to come up with another plan. He couldn't bare to lose either of his friends, so, logically, he'd have to make them become friends. However, all of his previous attempts had failed, simply because of their, or, more specifically, Nerris' unwillingness to actually try. So, he came up with a great plan. MAKE Nerris try.

Sure, Preston wasn't the best at strong-arming people, but he thinks this worked out pretty well.

"What are you shouting about, theatre nerd?"

Preston looked to the side to see Nurf standing by a tree carving shapes into it.

"Umm, nothing, carry on."

Preston could not allow his bluffing to be revealed to Nerris. If it was, she'd stop trying, and they'd have to continue on in this horrible cycle. With that, he walked back towards his stage, to write some more lines in his most recent play.

(Back in the mess hall)


Gwen, who had been standing excitedly the side for the entire exchange, reminiscing that this was a lot like those trashy TV dramas that she watched, finally decided to speak once again.

"Do you actually plan to try and become friends with Harrison?"

"Of course," Nerris said, "what do you think I plan to do?"

"I dunno; pretend to try and be friends with him just enough to convince Preston to continue being friends with you, and after that point simply ignore Harrison for the remainder of your time here at camp as to avoid getting into another argument with him, simultaneously getting to keep Preston as a friend, and not be actual friends with Harrison?"

Nerris stood there in complete and utter shock for about twelve seconds. She'd never figure out how Gwen was able to do that.

"...No."

Gwen wasn't buying it, but she also wasn't going to say anything. Not yet at least. She kind of wanted to watch how this turned out. It was like her own little trashy TV show.

"Well, let's hope David can convince Harrison to give this a try as well." Gwen said in her usual weary tone.

As if on cue, David walked in with Harrison right behind him, looking down, and basically looking as if he really didn't like being there.

The two pairs kind of just stood awkwardly for a moment, neither really knowing how to start. David was the first to eventually break the silence.

"Alright you two, it's time we figured out what to do about all of these silly little spats."


Well, I actually feel pretty proud of that. Got it to over 2000 words too. I can not and will not promise that chapter length will remain consistent. I basically write until I feel it's a good stopping point.

Next chapter might be shorter, since I'm not sure if I want to get one thing out the way and then give it a break before it progresses, or if I want to get through the thing, and then progress a little before I stop. I guess we'll see. Next chapter, Nerris and Harrison sit down and talk.

Anything feel off? Any characters OOC? Any complaints? Anything feel rushed?

Please read and review.