(AN: Whew boy, time for a new chapter! I'm quite psyched today, been doing better, and hey, we're halfway through the story! I'm surprised it's been that long tbh :O

Anyway, I thought that this story could use a small reference, so why don't we reference Sonic Boom? Yeah, there's a Boom ref hidden somewhere in this chapter (hint: it's really easy to find lol). And speaking of chapter, it seems new feelings start for Jet! (It's in the title of the Chapter after all...)

As for any last minute words, a little bit of trivia, but when I first wrote this chapter about a year ago, it was FAR shorter with less detail, so for this rewrite, I HEAVILY edited it and added more details.

But enough trivia from me, enjoy!)

It was now July.

The days only got hotter, but the fun at the camp didn't stop. Sure, even if Jet and the others did the same activities each day, there was always something new that happened.

And not to mention… Jet and Storm themselves. The two had gotten closer and closer since their first meeting on the first day of camp. They almost seemed inseparable now, or at least, according to many of the boys at Camp Silver Lake.

On this particular morning, the green avian wanted a slight bit of revenge for Duke's water prank last month, so he, Eryx, and Nezbitt woke up early, and surrounded the shark's bed.

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey," Jet sung.

The trio were hovered above the shark, who was sound asleep. They could hear Duke yawn as he shuffled in his bed and opened his eyes, staring at Jet in particular.

"Jet, there's no 'eggs and bakey' in here like you say. Unless you're feeding me in bed, which is kinda weird dude," Duke said, rubbing his eyes.

"Well there won't be eggs and bakey if you don't head your ass over to the mess hell. So I recommend waking up about now. After all, we've been waiting for you," said Eryx, leaning on the wall.

"Alright alright, geez. Since when were you three my mom now?" asked Duke as he got out of bed and stretched.

"Since about now because I say so," Jet answered.

"And since when was I involved in this?" questioned Nezbitt as he pointed to himself, eyes widening.

"Since I became friends with you, jackass. Now c'mon guys, let's get some grub…"

Duke climbed out of bed before grabbing some clothes. Just as he was about to pull off his shirt, he stared at his three friends.

"Uh, turn around! I don't need another guy looking at me change!"

The three obliged, and waited for Duke to change. Sure enough, he was ready less than a minute later, and the four walked to the mess hall and got their breakfast for the day (eggs, toast, and sausages).

Sitting at the table they usually sat at, the four Cabin C boys watched Storm enter the mess hall, grab his breakfast along with the other boys, and walked over to Jet's table. He sat next to the hawk as usual.

"Morning, Storm. Did you have a good night's sleep?" Jet asked.

"Yup, sure did," replied the albatross as he stretched his arms, the muscles on his arms flexing.

"So guys, don't wanna interrupt your daily "how did you sleep" tradition, but I should feel like I should inform you of something," Eryx said. "It's been a month since we've been here, so you know what that means?"

"We're… We're changing activities today…" Nezbitt realized.

"Then… we're doing…" Duke said with excitement.

"We're going kayaking!" Jet exclaimed. The hawk, shark, cat, and blue shelled armadillo had a small celebration of high fives and "yeahs!" as Storm observed the four.

"So uh, I'm kinda lost here. What's so important about kayaking?" The large grey avian asked.

"Oh man, since this is your first year, I'll explain," Jet said. "Ever since we've come to Camp Silver Lake, we've been waiting to kayak. You see, every month, we change activities like Nezbitt said. And the thing is; kayaking is only for the camp goers that are fourteen and older, so we've been doing some stupid thing where we have to build a small kart of out different supplies we find in the forest and some things the counselor's supply. Fun for your first time, but after the second the third? It gets old fast. Trust me when I say that we've been waiting for this day."

The hawk took a breather as he drank some of his milk.

"And now, it's finally come. Oh boy, it makes me so excited!" Nezbitt said, already becoming giddy.

"Hey, don't get your pants all coiled up, it's not time yet. You can go nuts once we get there, alright?" said Duke.

"Sorry sorry, I'm just pumped!"

"Well, if you guys are excited, I sure have a reason to be now!" Storm said.

After breakfast, the five boys went in front of the podium along with the coming crowd of the other boys in Camp Silver Lake.

Soon enough, everyone was seated in front of the podium as the Scoutmaster walked up to it, holding a clipboard.

"Alright boys, listen up! It's been a month since we've started the summer here at Camp Silver Lake, so I'm sure you've adjusted well to the camp and your activities," He said.

Jet shrugged. While he did continue catching more fishes and learned how to use different kind of tools such as nets and even a cage, all of his catches didn't compare to the king salmon he caught on the first day of fishing. All he cared about was kayaking.

"Well, since a month has passed, you are now going to be given new activities for this month. These two will somewhat combine two letter cabins together however."

The lion leader looked at his clipboard, then at the crowd of boys.

"If you are under the age of thirteen, you all will be doing go-kart making together."

Many of the newer children in Cabin A cheered as most of the kids in Cabin B and C (at least, the ones in Cabin C who were under 14) sighed, knowing it wasn't their time to kayak yet.

"And anyone over fourteen will kayak."

A large amount of "all rights!" were heard from the various boys, including Jet, Storm, Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx.

"Follow your camp counselors, and they'll guide you to the way. Now… begone!"

"Cabin C and D!" Mido and the counselor for Cabin D yelled as the boys began to get up. Jet, Storm, Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx followed the camp counselors as they made their way towards the left exit of the camp.

After passing the girls camp and going past the normal lake, Jet and Storm were in awe at the sight in front of them.

"A river that goes down… waterfalls everywhere…" Storm said.

"It's just like a dream isn't it?" Jet said.

"This… this is what I've been waiting for years… now, we finally get to see these sights, kayak to new places…" Duke said.

"Don't get too excited now, we're not on the kayak boats yet," Mido said.

"I've never seen a place like this…" Eryx mused.

"Alright kiddywinks, settle down," The camp counselor of Cabin D said. "Now, kayaking is one of our most fun activities here at Camp Silver Lake. However, it does have its risks. So for your safety, Mido and I are going to demonstrate the safety procedures you're going to take while you kayak. After all, we know that you guys wanna have fun."

"However, first thing first," said Mido. "We have a total of one hundred kids here correct? Well, since we only have fifty kayaking boats, you will all need to share with someone. Preferably, one person from Cabin C and D together. Line up everyone; we'll be calling out your partners."

Jet and Storm looked at each other and grinned, hoping that they'd be paired up together.

However Jet and Storm were not partners. Instead, the hawk was paired up with a large blue dragon named Paulie, and the albatross was paired up with Capricorn.

Mido got into the boat. "Now, because there's two to a boat, you'll need to work together to row the boat. First, like you'd do with a car, buckle your belt like so."

The camp counselor did the action he described.

"Next, you'll both control one paddle. Now, please for the Great One's sake, DON'T row it as fast as you can. I've seen THAT mistake done by so many people. Instead, you need to row it nice and gently so you have a good speed. And, since I'm sure you wish to see the heights you see near you..." Mido then pointed at the tall waterfalls and rock structures. "You'd also want to slow down to see those properly. Trust me, I've been here for years and they STILL manage to impress me."

The Cabin D counselor continued on. "There's one more thing though: no horseplay while on the boat. One mistake could easily drown someone, as the water here is quite shallow. Do you ALL of you understand?"

"Yes, we understand," All the boys said.

"Alright, then it's time. Follow me and we'll get you and your partner your kayak."

The boys followed Mido and the Cabin D counselor as Storm walked up to Jet.

"This is gonna be exciting! I've never been kayaking…" The grey avian said.

"I haven't either, but now that day has come, baby!" exclaimed the hawk. Storm chuckled.

"Y'know, I kinda thought you were calling ME baby. Err, not that I have a problem with that of course."

As Storm walked off, hand behind his head, Jet's mind stopped.

What did Storm mean by he had no problem with that? After all, most, if not all of the boys here would call the statement 'gay' (as many kids in his school said nowadays), but… Storm didn't react negatively.

"H-Ha… yeah… Don't worry, you're good. Heh heh…"

As Jet walked to his boat, he bit his lip.

After getting their boat and strapping in their seatbelts, Jet and Paulie's boat was finally sent into the water. Jet looked around in admiration of the sights surrounding him.

"Wow…. this is amazing!" he said, mouth wide open.

Storm, Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx paddled their boat's over to the green avain's boat.

"Isn't this amazing, guys?"

"Yup, can't believe I'm actually doing this!" The cat exclaimed.

"Neither can I!" The blue shelled armadillo responded.

They all saw Mido and Cabin D's counselor in a boat as they rowed in front of everyone else.

"Alright, boys! We'll be doing some simple paddling around before we head off into the inner cliffs. All you'll need to do is follow us," Mido said.

"Follow you? Why?" asked a cougar in Cabin C.

"Well, you don't know your damn way around here, now do you? Anyway, let's move!"

Jet paddled slowly as he heard Duke complain.

"C'mon… slow? I wanna head to the inner cliffs!" The shark muttered.

"Patience is key, Duke," Jet replied.

He found it rather amusing that he was telling someone to have patience. The hawk was known as someone who had little patience, a trait he inherited from his father.

"Patience shmatience, still is too slow for me…"

"Say kid, you really hang around him?" Paulie asked. Jet nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

"I dunno, he seems like a… a jerk off to me."

"A jerk off?!"

"Huh? Dunno what that is?"

"I... NO, I DON'T."

Now Jet was confused. What was THIS guy on?

"Hm, doesn't seem like you know either way... Eh, you'll learn sooner or later. Though I'd give you some advice, if you're hiding some sort of secret or something, it's probably best him of all people doesn't find out."

"W-What? What are you talking about? What secret?"

The hawk only got more confused. What on Mobius was this person talking about? Whatever the case to the hawk, he was more cuckoo then he thought.

"Trust me; he might not wanna be your friend if he finds out."

"Again, what secret are you talking about? I can't know unless you tell me!" Jet responded, becoming more aggravated as he kept talking to Paulie.

The dragon sighed. "Never mind kid, it's just some future advice. Besides, I'm kinda just practicing for a fortune telling thing, and it was just a lucky guess. Though, you're not hiding anything… are you?"

Jet slightly jumped back.

He reminded himself of the strange dreams he had been having that had Storm involved and how lately, he's been feeling warm whenever he's around the albatross. But Jet knew he wouldn't come clean with the truth.

"No… I'm not."

"Oh, well… forget I said anything…"

"What a weirdo…" Jet thought to himself as he turned his attention behind him, noticing they were coming close to the cliffs. He had been distracted by the dragon's so-called 'fortune telling' that he didn't even notice they were coming close.

However, before Jet had time to view the breathtaking sight, he began to think over the situation with Paulie.

"Tch, who's this guy think he is? I'm not hiding anything… but… what if he is right? Maybe… maybe he IS right… I shouldn't tell Duke about this, maybe not Nezbitt or ever Eryx as well. I'm sure they'd all react badly. I just need to keep this to myself, and that'll be that," Jet thought to himself.

Hoping to wash away his nervousness, Jet began to look at the various sights around him. The water from the waterfalls fell as they hit the downstream river, making a roaring sound.

"Now this is what I like to see!" Duke yelled due to the noise of the waterfalls.

"Hey Jet? Liking this so far?" Storm called out to Jet. The hawk turned to face the grey avian.

"Oh yeah, totally!"

The albatross grinned as he rowed further, passing by Jet. As they started moving upstream, Mido suddenly blew a whistle.

"Attention everyone! As a fair warning, as we start going more upstream, the current will start to go faster, so be sure your seatbelts are in place, and row gently like usual. Rowing faster like I've been seeing some of you doing here is very, very dangerous," The Cabin C counselor warned.

Seconds after making the announcement, the currents began picking up as the boats began travelling faster. Jet and Paulie continued to row at their normal speed as they saw Duke and Nezbitt's boat speeding along.

"WOO-HOO!" they both yelled as the currents picked up. Jet smirked at the two's silliness as suddenly, the boat violently stopped. Jet and Paulie shifted hard in place as they began to feel their shoes getting wet.

"Huh? What's going on?" asked Jet.

'Beats me…" responded Paulie. They looked down and saw a chunk of rock poking out from the bottom of the boat.

"U-Uh… Mido! We have a stuck boat!" someone yelled. Mido and the Cabin D counselor looked up and saw Jet and Paulie's boat.

"Shit…" Mido muttered under his breath. "Don't worry you two, we'll get help!" He yelled. Jet undid his seatbelt.

"What are you doing kid?!" The dragon asked. "Didn't you hear what they said?!"

"Moving the boat out of the way!" Jet responded. He got up and put his hands on the side of the boat, attempting to push it out.

However, as he did, he shifted the boat too hard. Paulie yelped as the green avian squawked loudly as he fell out from the boat. Despite his attempts to stop his fall, Jet's voice was drowned out as he hit the water. Everyone looked up and began to yell, starting a commotion.

"Guys! Jet just fell out!" Capricorn yelled. Duke undid his belt immediately.

"Don't worry Jet! I got ya-"

Before Duke could get up, they saw someone else getting into the water. Eryx noticed the reflection in the water. A large… grey… albatross…

"STORM?! We gotta follow them!" The blue shelled armadillo yelled.

Jet attempted to swim up to the surface many times, gasping for air.

However, due to the raging current, he was unable to. He attempted to hold his breath in as he began swimming as fast as he could, moving his arms and legs as swiftly as he could do. The hawk finally got to the surface as he took a long and deep breath, until being sucked back into the water.

He tried to swim back up, but as the current started getting faster and faster and the water got deeper, the green avian was unlucky. As he fell deeper into the water, Jet released a set of bubbles from his mouth as he became motionless and his eyes closed.

Just before it seemed like the end for Jet, a pair of long, strong arms grabbed the unconscious Jet and went back up to the surface. Storm took a deep breath as he looked at his stationary friend.

"Don't worry pal, I got you…" he said.

As the current moved faster and faster to wherever they were heading, Storm placed his hand on Jet's cheek, which was still slightly warm. He looked Jet and saw that… even though he was unconscious… he looked quite cute.

The albatross shook his head. He knew his top priority was to get Jet breathing again, not to be thinking about how 'cute' his unconscious friend looked.

Storm continued to cradle Jet in his arms as the current continued to take them downstream.

Back with the boys from Cabin C and D, they began to row as quickly as possible to try and catch up with Jet and Storm.

"Oh Chaos… please tell me Jet's gonna be alright…" Eryx said anxiously.

"Hey kid, don't get a panic attack now. We're gonna get your friend back," Eryx's partner, a purple monkey said.

"C'mon guys! Let's go faster for Jet!" Duke yelled at Nezbitt and Eryx as the shark began paddling fast and hard. The two friends began to do the same as their partners screamed from how fast they were travelling.

Storm's eyes widened as they finally reached the end and fell into the lake of Camp Silver Lake, not too far from the girl's camp.

"Huh… who knew the waterfall connected to the lake," The albatross said to himself.

While the large grey avian knew it was a better idea to go to the girl's camp since it was closer, he knew that that his and Jet's presence would be much uninvited, especially with Wave there. Looking at the girl's camp one more time and shaking his head, he put on a face of confidence. Storm began to paddle towards the shore of the boy's camp, still holding Jet in his arms.

However, even though Storm could say he was a very strong person, the excess water on Jet's clothes made him heavier, which in turn, caused his arms to ache.

Storm took off Jet's shirt in an attempt to make him lighter as it somewhat worked. He put the shirt over his shoulder as he continued to swim.

"Hey, Wave, the toilet's broken again. Could you get some water from the lake first before you can repair it?" One of the girls in Cabin D said.

"Ugh, again?" The swallow replied. "Fine fine…"

As Wave grabbed the bucket in the corner, she grumbled. "This is the third time this month… Just because I'M the mechanic girl in this camp doesn't mean I have to fix every damn thing here…"

The purple swallow left her Cabin and made her way to the lake, passing by many girls. As she sat by the lake, collecting water, she noticed two figures in the distance.

She brought down the glasses on her head as she saw who they were; Jet and Storm.

Upon seeing the two male avians, she rolled her eyes. "What the heck are they doing here…" She thought to herself.

It was only then she noticed that Storm held Jet in his arms, who was… shirtless. The swallow eyed the two.

"Huh…" Wave said to herself. There… had to be something up with them. Something… no one else knew… But what it was, Wave didn't know.

As she was done collecting water, she looked back, and… smiled.

The boys of Cabin's C and D finally reached the lake. Mido took out his binoculars and saw the pair of birds swimming closer to shore.

"There they are! Boys, follow them!"

The boys began to paddle their way towards shore as Storm was almost close to his goal. He slightly shook Jet.

"Don't worry Jet, we're almost there. C'mon, you can do it," The albatross assured.

Hearing no response, it only fueled Storm's determination to reach shore. He grit his teeth just as the boys began to catch up.

Soon enough, Storm finally reached shore. He got out of the water quickly and placed Jet on the ground.

"Storm! Is he alright?!" Duke yelled as the boats now reached shore.

"I don't know! Lemme just get him back on his feet OK?!" Storm responded.

He placed his hands on Jet's chest and remembering the CPR classes he took as a preteen, began to pump on the hawk's white feathery chest. However, despite a few minutes of pumping his chest, Storm still couldn't get Jet breathing. He still has a pulse, so Storm knew he had to go with drastic measures.

The albatross took a deep breath and placed his beak on Jet's own beak and blew into his mouth.

The other kids of Cabin's C and D watched as they saw Jet's chest rising. The green avian coughed up water as Storm took his mouth off of Jet's. Mido and the Cabin D counselor brought Jet up from the ground and pat his back, getting all the water out from his body.

"Yo, Jet, are you feeling alright?" Duke asked.

"Y-Yeah… I guess so…" Jet replied.

"Man, we're glad to see you're OK," Eryx said, taking a quick sigh. "I'm glad Storm was able to help you."

"Storm?" Jet thought. "So… he was the one who put his mouth on mine's…"

"Well, it was nothin'… anything to help out a friend," The large grey albatross said. He hugged Jet tightly as soon as Mido and the Cabin D counselor were done. "I'm… so glad to see you're okay…"

"Thanks pal. I owe you one a lot. And… I'm glad to see you've helped me…" Jet replied

"Yeah… I… I liked it…" The hawk thought.

Due to the incident, Mido questioned whether or not to continue doing kayaking and to report what happened to the Scoutmaster.

However, due to the budging and convincing that everyone had, the camp counselor knew he had to continue with kayaking, only this time in a much safer area. He knew he HAD to tell the Scoutmaster, but knew that if he cancelled kayaking, all the teens would have his head.

Though, instead of having his mind on kayaking like everyone else, Jet thought back to when Storm supposedly gave him CPR. He couldn't see it happening, but he felt it. Just thinking about it gave Jet a strange warm and fuzzy feeling.

"Is… is this the secret Paulie predicted?" The hawk thought.

He tried to avoid the thought of Storm, until a horrid thought came into his mind.

"Oh… oh god… what if… what if I… have a crush on him?"

Now Jet began to panic. He knew most of the kids here often made jokes towards homosexuality, so if they found out that someone who was now beginning to have quite a reputation had a crush on his male friend would mean the end for not just his reputation, but his life. Not to mention, how would his friends at home, Storm, or… his own father feel?

The green avian took deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down.

"OK… OK Jet… it's fine… don't worry… you're just friends… Storm wouldn't see you like that, so you don't need to panic…"

"Hey, Jet! You… you feeling OK?" A gruff voice called out. Jet's eyes widened as he looked to the side and saw Storm in his boat.

"Oh… no don't worry, I'm fine." Jet replied.

"Are you sure? You look scared…"

"I-I'm fine… I'm sure of it."

Storm nodded as he rowed off. Jet sighed.

It was sundown when Jet and the other boys returned back to camp. However, the hawk was silent the entire time. Even sitting at his table at dinnertime didn't warrant any words from him.

"Jet, you sure you OK?" Duke asked as he noticed Jet not talking.

"I'm fine…"

"You sure? I think that whole "almost drowning" thing might have screwed you up a bit. Whatever the case may be, I hope you feel better," Nezbitt said.

"Yeah same, I don't want to see my friend getting ill," said Storm. "Maybe you could use some sleep…"

Jet felt a blush on his face as he nodded, hiding himself in his arms..

An hour later, it was finally bed time. The lights in Cabin C were out as everyone was fast asleep…

Everyone except Jet, who was looking at the night sky from out the screen window.

"Please… oh please tell me I'll be able to find a solution to my problem… Please tell me I don't have a genuine crush… Please tell me I'll be alright in the end…" He thought as the moon illuminated his face.

Jet's wish to the stars was the last thoughts he had before falling asleep.