Chapter Text
Why was Linda so persuasive sometimes?
A couple of months ago, Linda forced Iris to sign up to be a camp counselor for a sleep away camp for kids. Linda volunteers every single summer and every single summer she comes back on an absolute high. She loves being around kids and being in the outdoors, so camp is basically heaven on earth for her.
Iris was hesitant at first, a whole week trapped in the middle of the woods with crazy screaming kids sounded terrifying, but Linda convinced her to go. At the end of the summer, the two best friends are going to be split up to go to their separate colleges and they needed to spend as much quality time together as possible. So Iris signed up. She knew that anything with Linda was always fun, so she went for it.
Iris was actually going to be gone for one week and three days. The counselors had to show up to the camp before the kids did so that they could set up everything and get to know one another. Iris was most excited to see people that were her own age though. She loved making new friends and Linda always talked so highly about all of them.
Iris was finishing packing up her duffle bag when her dad came in, leaning against her door. “Hey baby girl. You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She said zipping up her bag.
“It’s nice that you get to have one last hurrah before you go off to college.”
“Yeah, but don’t have too much fun without me.” She warned jokingly.
“Of course not.” He joked back. “But be safe out there.”
“You know I will.” She said. She looked down at her phone and saw the message that Linda was outside. She grabbed her bag and gave her dad a huge hug and a kiss. “Well I got to go. Tell mom and Wally that I’ll miss them and I’ll call them as soon as I can.”
“Ok baby, love you.”
“Love you too.” She dashed out of her house and plopped down into the passenger seat of Linda’s car.
“Hey girl. You ready for a summer of fun?” Linda shouted.
“I guess.” Iris laughed.
“This is going to be the best summer of your life and by the end of camp you’re going to be thanking me for bringing you…..hell, by the end of tomorrow you will be thanking me.”
“Whatever.” Iris said.
They arrived at the parking lot of the Central City High School and saw that they were the only counselors there. The only other person there was a really handsome man standing in front of a huge yellow school bus. He looked like a rugged lumberjack that deserved to be on the cover of some vogue magazine.
They were grabbing some of Linda’s things from her trunk when Iris whispered, biting on her bottom lip “Who is that?”
“That’s Jerry, he owns the camp. Very hot, but very gay.” Linda laughed.
“Darn.” Iris moped, but laughed all the same.
“His husband Lucas runs it with him. He should be at the camp site right now.”
“Is he insanely hot too?”
“Of course.” Linda laughed.
The two made their way over to the bus and Jerry greeted Linda with a hug. “Hey girlie girl, long time no see. How’s life treating you?” Jerry said.
“Good now that High School is finally over.” Linda laughed.
“I hear that.” He looked over at Iris and went in for a hug. Usually Iris would jump if some stranger gave her a random hug, but there was something about Jerry that made him very comforting and warm. “Sorry I’m big on hugs.” He said pulling away. “You must be Iris. We are very excited to have you here at Camp Mountain Peak this summer.”
“Well I’m glad to be here.” Iris said excitedly.
“So is there any new counselors coming or just the same crew?” Linda asked.
“Same crew minus one.” Jerry said.
“Really? Who?”
“Jessica. She moved to Canada last month.” Jerry said in a sad voice.
“That sucks.” Linda pouted.
“I thought you were friends with her? You didn’t know?” Iris asked.
“The thing about counselors is that we are super duper close friends during the summer at camp, but once we leave we don’t keep in touch at all. Then we go back to camp and it’s like time hasn’t changed one bit.” Linda said.
“Well the rest of the gang should be here any minute so you guys can get settled in the bus and get the good seats.” Jerry said.
The two went inside of the bus and got the seats in the back of the bus. They each got their own seat so that they could stretch out their legs and Linda sat in the seat in front of Iris. Soon enough, more counselors started arriving and Linda introduced her to all of them.
First there was Scott. He was into all things sports and he had muscle for days, but honestly he seemed a little intense at times. Jessie was the next one to arrive. She had short flowy brown hair that came down to her shoulders with the same color eyes and she spoke the most beautiful Spanish. Apparently she got a full time scholarship for swimming at her college. Next was Caitlin. She had gorgeous light brown hair and she had a really contagious smile. She is super earthy, loves everything about nature, and is super big on being vegan and recycling. Cisco was next. He was the youngest out of all of the group. He was going to be a senior this year and he was short enough that he could pass as one of the kids. He is an intense gamer so his phone is basically glued to his hand at all times. After Cisco, Julian came. He had a thick British accent and he was so tall that his head almost hit the ceiling when he stood up. He seemed sort of snobby, but Linda said that once you get to know him he has a sweet heart. So far everyone seemed really nice. They all welcomed Iris is super quickly and treated her like family.
They were all mingling and catching up on the past year when Iris nudged Linda. “Hey, why are we waiting so long.”
“Barry is still not here.” Scott chimed in.
“Are we surprised though?” Jesse said laughing.
“He’s always late to the bus.” Julian said.
“He’s late to everything.” Linda said, causing the whole bus to die laughing.
“Who is Barry?” Iris asked.
“He is the final counselor in our little group. We all love him to death, but he tends to be late a lot and he is the biggest nerd we know.” Caitlin said, drifting her head to look out the window. “Speaking of the devil.”
Iris looked over and saw a tall slim guy running across the parking lot, trying to keep his duffle bag from falling off his shoulder. As soon as he got on the bus, every one applauded him and he held out his hands so they could stop. “I’m here, I’m here.” He said with a smile.
“Barry Allen, are those muscles I see.” Jesse called out, moving her sunglasses to the top of her head. “Muy bien papi. Muy bien.”
“Well I’ve been working out a lot this year so yeah.” He said shyly, sitting down in his seat.
Sooner or later everyone drifted into having their own conversations again and Iris now got a chance to really look at Barry. He actually looked pretty cute, like in a nerdy sort of way. He had gorgeous green eyes and tiny little moles all over his body and suddenly she couldn’t breathe for a second. She didn’t know what it was about him, but she was very intrigued by his presence.
She didn’t even realize she was staring until Barry looked back at her. Her body froze and she couldn’t look away. He had her captured and she didn’t know why. He gave a small smirk, but there moment was interrupted by Jerry slamming on his horn.
“Ok party people. Let’s get this old show on the road!” he yelled.
The whole bus roared in excitement and pumped their fists like they were about at some sort of rock concert. It was all just a good atmosphere to be in and Iris hated that Linda was right. She was actually going to love it here.
After an hour ride, the teens finally arrived at the camp site. The camp was bigger than what Iris expected. When they first came in there was a sign that said “Camp Mountain Peak” with a 3D replica of a huge mountain beside it. Once you were in the camp there was a huge pavilion with rows of benches in them, a huge lake that shined under the sun, a huge ropes course for the kids, a fire pit, a few more buildings, and beautiful cabins on both sides of the path. It was actually pretty fancy for a kids camp.
The bus came to a stop in front of all the cabins and all the teens rushed out to stretch their legs and breathe in the fresh air again.
“Alright people, you know the drill. Boys cabins on the left, girls on the right. Everyone get settled then meet me in the pavilion in twenty minutes.” He clapped his hands together and was on his way. The girls and the boys went their separate ways and Iris followed Linda to their cabin.
“So obviously the counselor cabins are bigger than the kid ones.” She said walking through the screen door. “We have our own bathroom and bigger beds.” She said plopping down on the bed closest to the door.
“We also have outlets so you can charge your phone and I brought a fan.” Jesse said.
“Thank goodness.” Iris said in relief. The humidity was probably going to kill her before all of the mosquitoes would. She took a look around the room and it was actually really nice. It was a wide open space filled with six beds and the beds were spread out nicely so they didn’t have to feel like they were being squished.
Iris claimed the bed next to Linda and Jesse and Caitlin took the ones across. All the girls put all of their clothes away while blasting some of Linda’s trap music and just goofing off.
When they were done, they all sat on Jesse’s bed to talk. “So Iris, “ Caitlin said with a grin. “Do you like any of our guys.”
“Oh my God.” Iris sighed with a smile. “We are starting this already.”
“Of course we are!” screeched Jesse. “Now spill.”
“Well who do you guys like.” Iris questioned the girls.
“I think I’m going to projectile vomit.” Linda said, pretending to hold back puke.
“Same here.” Caitlin and Jesse said in unison.
“What?” Iris laughed. “You don’t think they’re cute.”
“Gosh no.” Jesse said. “We’ve all been friends since we were campers. They’re like brothers to us.”
“Yeah, love them all to death, but I would NEVER date any of them.” Linda said.
“But you don’t know them like we do Iris. So who do you like.” Caitlin questioned again.
“Well…umm….” Iris said, face turning hot, “Barry is kinda hot.”
“I knew you would like him. He is so your type.” Linda screeched.
“Barry changed so much over the last year. I can totally see it.” Jesse chimed in.
“Well anyway, it’s just a crush, nothing serious. We barely even spoke on the ride up here.” Iris explained.
“Whatever. You’ll like him, I know it, he is the sweetest.” Linda said. She looked down at her phone and swore. “Crap it’s been thirty minutes. We’re ten minutes late.”
The girls bolted out of their cabin and dashed down the long path to get to the pavilion. By the time that they got there, all the other boy counselors, Jerry, and Lucas were waiting for them.
“Sorry…we’re late…we lost track….of time.” Caitlin tried to say, trying to talk and catch her breath at the same time.
“It’s alright ladies, I think your shortness of breath is punishment enough.” Lucas laughed. Like his husband Jerry, Lucas looked exactly like a hot lumberjack too. The only thing that made them different was his red hair and his leaner muscles.
The girls sat down across the table from the boys and Jerry and Lucas stood at the head.
“So we’re going to do camp assignments. These will be your station for the full two weeks that you are here.” Jerry said.
“I was thinking we could do what we did last year. Jesse and Cisco on swimming, Scott and Julian on recreational activities, Linda and Barry on arts and crafts, and Iris you can join Caitlin with the nature station.” Lucas said. “Is that good for everyone?”
Everyone was about to nod in agreement when Linda shot up her hand. “Yes Linda?” Lucas asked.
“Actually I was wondering if I could switch with Iris.” She said. Iris bumped her leg under the table, but Linda bumped her right back. Iris knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to get her and Barry together to talk more. Why did she ever tell her anything?
“I’ve always been better at the nature section and I can’t draw to save my life. But Iris is actually a really great artist and she will probably be more comfortable there.” Linda said with a smirk.
“Is that alright with you Iris?” Jerry asked.
“Umm.” Iris started. Linda pinched her thigh to make her say yes. “Yeah, I would love to. Art is sort of my passion so I can do it.”
“Great!” Jerry said. “ Today we are going to set up all of the bunks, food, toys, and other stuff for the kids. Tomorrow you will spend the day making up a lesson plan with your partners and then the day after that is your fun day.” Lucas said.
“Ok boys you have snack duty and please don’t eat all of the food, girls have bunk duty, I’ll get all of the canoes and lake stuff, and Lucas you can gather all of the other gadgets and toys for the kids.” Jerry announced.
“Ok. SPLIT.” Lucas yelled and everyone dashed to where they had to be.
Iris was annoyed that Linda made her be partners with Barry, but she was really grateful that she did all the same. Barry had sparked her interests when he first stepped onto the bus and physically, he was very hot. But now she is getting the chance to really get to know him. To find out what makes Barry, Barry. And something tells her that Barry is getting to be even better on the inside than he is on the outside.