Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“And Karolina, you’ll be with Gert leading the Yellow Cabin,” Jonah said, gesturing towards Karolina and the girl with purple hair who stood on the opposite side of the small group of people. “Now that you all have your cabin assignments, you’re all set for the day. Remember to be back here at 9am tomorrow morning to get the camp ready for campers!” The man turned and walked away from the group of teenagers, and Karolina watched as he headed towards his office.

“Hey! You must be Karolina!” Karolina looked back in front of her and saw the purple haired girl standing before her. “I’m Gert,” the girl said, “And it looks like we’re going to be co-counselors!” She lifted up her hand for Karolina to shake.

Karolina smiled and shook her hand. “Yep, that’s me.”

“Do you want to go get some coffee or something?” Gert asked. “I’m just asking because we’re gonna be working together for the next few weeks, we should try to get to know each other.”

“That sounds good,” said Karolina. The two walked away from the group of teenagers, still quietly milling about.

As they walked to the parking lot, they passed the sign that read Atlas Summer Camp. This was where they would be working for the next four weeks: the traditional sleepaway summer camp where the rich parents of Brentwood sent their kids once school was out. Karolina had been roped in to working here because the director, Jonah, was a member of the church. He needed counselors, Karolina needed a job, and Karolina’s mother needed something that would sound inspiring in her next Vanity Fair interview. It was a win-win-win.

Once they arrived at the parking lot, Gert turned to Karolina. “Where would you like to go? I know Timely Coffee’s pretty good.” Before she even finished talking, Gert’s phone buzzed. She paused and looked down at it, then swore. “Shit! I’m really sorry to cut this short, but my parents are heading out and they need me at home to keep an eye on my sister.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” Karolina said. “I’m not a big coffee person anyways. Too much caffeine.”

Gert thought for a moment. “In that case, would you be interested in coming over with me? We can still just hang out and get to know each other, but this way I can make sure Molly doesn’t burn down our house or anything. You don’t have to, of course, it’s probably weird—”

“No, that sounds great,” Karolina said. Gert smiled at her.

“In that case, I’ll lead the way.”  The girls stepped into their respective cars and drove away from the lake and towards Gert’s house, with Karolina in her shiny little Fiat following behind Gert’s more-than-gently-used car.

“And this is my home!” Gert said, opening the door for Karolina and leading her inside. Karolina looked around in awe. It looked so homey, so lived in. Lopsided potted plants sat on old side tables that had scratches and crayon stains on them. Books that looked half-read were scattered on every available surface. And even though it was the beginning of summer, a row of holiday cards from family friends were pinned to a wire that hung between two windows. It made Karolina’s house, which never had more than one or two professionally-taken photographs on the walls, look like a hotel.

“Sorry it’s kind of messy,” said Gert as she saw Karolina take in their surroundings.

Karolina shook her head. “No, it’s really nice,” she said.

Gert began to lead Karolina to her room. As they walked through the kitchen, they passed a girl a few years younger than them sitting at the table reading a book. “This is my sister, Molly. Molly, this is Karolina. We’ll be in my room; don’t do anything stupid.”

“Hi, Molly,” Karolina said. The younger girl waved at her and Karolina followed Gert out of the room.

Gert’s room was very reminiscent of the rest of the house. Long, multicolored tapestries were hung on the walls. Old protest posters were leaning against each other in a corner. Small knickknacks were scattered about; a tiny clay animal, some CDs, an old Nintendo Gameboy. A pink, yellow, and blue flag that Karolina didn’t recognize was pinned above Gert’s bed. The room’s mismatched and cluttered feeling just worked in a way that Karolina couldn’t understand, and yet she was drawn to it. “I love your room,” Karolina said as she looked around.

“Thanks,” said Gert. She walked over to a glass tank against a side wall. “Wanna meet Old Lace?” she asked.

Karolina walked over. The tank was being lit by a small lamp and was filled with sand and some small rocks. Sitting on one such rocks was a small tan lizard. “What is that?” Karolina asked in awe.

“Her name is Old Lace,” Gert said, pride in her voice. “She’s my bearded dragon. And she’s friendly, see?” Gert opened the top of the enclosure and reached her hand in, and as she stroked the lizard’s back Karolina let out a small laugh.

“She’s really cute. Can I?” asked Karolina as she gestured to the animal. Gert nodded and Karolina reached over to touch it. Its back was rough and scaly, but the little lizard nodded its head in pleasure and Karolina let out a soft laugh.

Gert smiled. “She likes you.”

“And her name—that’s based on that old play, right?”

Gert nodded, clearly impressed. “Yeah, Arsenic and Old Lace. I’m surprised you’ve heard of it.”

Karolina kept stroking the lizard’s head. “My dad’s an actor, and he’s really into those old black and white films, so I watched a ton of them growing up. My mom refused to let me watch that one, because she said it was too dark, so my dad and I watched it in secret when she was out doing a church thing.”

Karolina pulled her hand out from the tank and continued to look around the room. She spied a ukulele hanging from a hook on the wall. “You play?” she asked Gert.

“A little. It helps me to destress,” Gert explained. “I have anxiety, and sometimes when it gets bad, I like to just take my ukulele and play for a little bit. It makes the rest of the world… I’m sorry, I’m oversharing,” Gert said, stopping herself.

Karolina put her hand on Gert’s shoulder. “No, it’s okay, I get it. I play guitar, so I know what it’s like.” Gert smiled at her and Karolina continued looking around the room.

“What’s that flag for?” Karolina asked as she pointed to the multicolored flag that hung above Gert’s bed.

Gert didn’t say anything for a few seconds and instead looked carefully at Karolina’s face. After a bit she said, “It’s the pansexuality pride flag. For me. Because I’m pan.”

Karolina squinted in confusion. “Wait… is that like, gay or something?”

“Why? Is that something you’re against?” Gert asked sharply.

She shook her head. “No, the Book of Gibborim says that all love is equal, and that’s what my mom always taught me. I really don’t know what that word means, though. Pan?”

Gert nodded, realizing that Karolina was being genuine. “Yeah, pan means all. It’s kind of like bisexuality, which I’m guessing you’ve heard of?” Karolina nodded and Gert continued. “Okay, so, for me, being pansexual means that I’m attracted to people of all genders, regardless of their gender. Does that make sense?”

“I think so,” Karolina said slowly.

“I can send you some literature on it if you want to learn more,” Gert said, before sighing and rolling her eyes. “Sorry. You probably don’t actually care, and were just being polite.”

“No, actually, I’d like to read more about it,” Karolina said. From the look on Gert’s face, that surprised her. Karolina hoped it was a surprise for the better.

Gert smiled. “Alright then. You’re not who I thought you were. You’re cool.”

Karolina grinned. “I think you’re cool, too!” she said.

After an hour or so of getting to know each other, Karolina exited Gert’s house and got into her Fiat, ready to head home for the day. She and Gert lived closer than she had realized, and she was able to get home in about ten minutes. She grabbed her backpack from the passenger seat of the car and walked through the door into her house. As she looked at the pristine white marble floors and the perfectly positioned white leather chairs of the sitting room she was reminded of the stark contrast between her house and Gert’s.

She heard voices coming from the backyard and so she walked through to see. As she approached the back door—sliding door open but screen closed to keep the bugs out—she saw her parents standing next to each other by the pool. They were too far away for her to make out what they were saying, but it was clear that they were upset with each other. Her father was standing with his arms crossed, looking defensive, while her mother was gesturing angrily. Karolina immediately knew she didn’t want to be involved in whatever they were squabbling over this week. She sighed and turned away and walked towards her room.

Karolina dropped her backpack on the floor and jumped backwards onto her bed. Her parents had been arguing more and more recently, and she was tired of dealing with it. Her mother, for someone who preached weekly about the dangers of keeping secrets and hiding things from others, refused to talk about what was going on. Her father was more open about that.

A knock on the door roused her from her thoughts. It was her father, wearing a plain white shirt and cotton pants, standing in the doorway. “Hey, Kare-bear,” he said warmly. “Any interest in going for a run in the canyons?”

“That sounds good,” Karolina said with a smile. Whenever she had the time to spare, she liked to go hiking or jogging with her father in the canyons beyond their house. The exercise helped clear her head and the majestic beauty of the natural canyons constantly brought her mood up.

Her father smiled back at her. “Alright, I’m going to go get changed, then. Meet in the foyer in 5?” Karolina nodded and he disappeared. Karolina quickly changed, shedding her Camp Atlas t-shirt in exchange for a sports bra and exercise shirt.

It was a good run. She and her father ran hard for about an hour. They didn’t talk, instead preferring to run together in silence as they took in the beauty of the canyons. She didn’t ask him about the fight she had seen earlier and he didn’t bring it up

Karolina showed up at Camp Atlas the next day ready to go. Today, Jonah told the group of young counselors, they would be focusing on preparing the camp for when all of the kids were to arrive. “We’ve got two days,” he said, before assigning them all to their jobs for the morning. “Karolina, Gert, and Nico—you three are on beach duty!” he said. He went through the list in his hand and continued to read off the other counselors’ tasks.

“Awesome! We’re together,” Gert said once Jonah had finished and left the counselors to their work.

“Do you know who Nico is? I don’t know the names of the boys yet,” Karolina asked.

“No, I was hoping you did. I just hope he’s not one of those guys,” Gert said. When Karolina looked at her in confusion, she gestured to a tall, muscular guy on the other side of the group. “You know, the Chase Stein type guys. All they care about is working out and hooking up with girls and making money. He’s not here because of his love for camping is what I’m saying.”

Karolina looked at Chase. He looked friendly enough, she thought. Before she could say anything, a girl with dark eyeshadow and black hair tied up in a ponytail approached her and Gert. “Hey, are you two Karolina and Gert?” she asked.

“Yes, we are. Why are you asking?” Gert said.

The girl tilted her head at them and smiled a crooked smile. “Uh, because I’m working with you?” she said.

“Wait, you’re Nico?” Gert asked in confusion.

The girl—Nico, Karolina corrected in her head—grinned. “Yup, that’s me! Let me guess, you were expecting a boy?”

“No, not at all,” Gert said, at the same time that Karolina said, “Yeah.” The two girls glared at each other.

“Well, now that that’s all cleared up, why don’t we go get to work?” Gert said. Without waiting for an answer, she turned and began to walk down the path to the lake.

“She’s not usually so… curt,” Karolina said, as she and Nico slowly began to walk.

Nico nodded. She asked, “So, do you guys know each other already?”

“Not really,” Karolina said. “We only met yesterday, but we spent some time together after Jonah said we could leave. She’s awkward but she’s good.”

“And what about you?” Nico asked.

Karolina frowned. “What do you mean, what about me?”

“Well if Gert’s awkward but good, how would you describe yourself?”

Karolina thought about that for a few seconds. “I don’t know how I would describe myself. At least, not in so few words.” They had arrived at the beach.

“That’s a shame. I’d love to get to know you,” said Nico. Karolina found herself blushing at that line, and she stumbled to find something to say in response.

“I, uh… you too?” she said awkwardly. Nico smiled at her and scrunched her nose, before turning on her foot and walking over to where Gert was looking over the checklist. Karolina blinked a few times before following after her.

Karolina looked out at the beach and the lake. It wasn’t anything too impressive—though Karolina knew she was biased, because she had grown up with the beautiful Malibu beaches—but it had a nice, open sandy beachfront and they were the only ones on this side of the lake.

There were a lot of items on the checklist for them to accomplish, but there were three of them, and they had the whole morning ahead of them. Gert meticulously went through the list, assigning each of them tasks and directing where to go. They raked the sand on the beach, they inspected all of the canoes and kayaks, and they organized all of the lifejackets.

“Uh, guys?” Gert said after a few hours of work, looking down at the checklist Jonah left for them. “Are either of you feeling particularly warm right now? Because one of us is going to have to get in the lake to set up the bobber line.”

“What are you talking about?” Karolina asked, walking over to Gert.

Gert pointed to the diagram that had been drawn out. “We need to mark off what area is safe for swimming. To do that someone has to get in the water with the rope thing and put it in the right place.” She looked closer at the paper. “Actually, scratch that. It’s so long; two of us are going to have to do it. I call staying on land!” she said quickly.

Karolina sighed. “Seriously, Gert?”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” said Nico from behind them. Karolina turned and immediately averted her eyes. Nico was taking off her shirt.

“What—what are you doing?” Karolina asked, shocked.

Nico laughed. “Well, I don’t want to get my shirt wet. Getting my shorts wet seems inevitable, but they’re old so I don’t really mind. And I’m wearing a sports bra, so it’s just the smart thing to do, I guess. Besides, it’s pretty hot out. A swim sounds nice.” Karolina looked back over at her. The girl had tossed her shirt onto one of the benches that rested at the back of the beach and was walking over to the supply shed. She was wearing a black sports bra and dark blue denim shorts and Karolina was surprised by how muscular her back and arms seemed to be.

Before Karolina could really process what happened, Nico had opened the shed and pulled out the long bobberline. “Ready yet, Blondie?”

“Sorry, my bad,” Karolina said. She followed Nico’s lead in taking off her t-shirt, revealing a blue bralette. “I’m ready.”

Nico had been right—the cool lake water felt nice in contrast with the hot summer air. “Head’s up,” Nico said as she tossed Karolina one end of the rope.

“There’s gonna be two cement blocks like 25 feet out there. There should be, like, carabiners on it or something that you can attach the rope to,” Gert shouted at them from the shore.

It wasn’t hard to find the blocks. Gert had been correct; they were about 25 feet out from the shore and 30 feet away from each other. The water was about waist deep and both girls managed to attach their ropes without getting too wet.

As they were walking back to shore, Nico splashed some water at Karolina, who jumped back in shock. “Hey! What was that for?” she exclaimed.

Nico started laughing. “Ah, I’m sorry,” she said. “You just seemed like you were getting too warm, so I thought I’d help.” She smiled, a teasing glint in her eyes.

“Oh, well in that case, you’re looking kind of warm, too!” Karolina said and splashed some water back at Nico. The shorter girl held up her arms to shield herself but the water still splashed onto her.

“Okay, I probably deserved that,” Nico said, wiping some of the water off of her face. With a playful smile on her face and some of her long, dark hair falling loosely out of her ponytail, Karolina was struck by how pretty Nico looked.

 “What are you guys doing out there?” Gert shouted from on shore, pulling Karolina away from her thoughts.

“We’re coming, don’t worry.” Nico said.

They reached the shore and walked back onto the beach. Karolina pulled her t-shirt back on.

Gert looked through her checklist. “I think we’re all finished with this,” she said, scanning up and down the list.

In the distance, a bell rang, indicating that it was time for lunch. “Perfect timing!” Gert said. The girls all put their shoes back on and grabbed their things before walking the path back to the center of camp.

As they walked into the dining hall, the boy Karolina remembered was named Chase stood up and waved them over. Nico waved back and they walked over to his table. “You know him?” Gert hissed under her breath.

“Yeah,” Nico said as they approached the table. Along with Chase there was another boy, who Karolina didn’t recognize. “Our parents are—”

“Friends,” Chase said, cutting Nico off. “Our parents are friends.” The two looked at each other intensely and seemed to have a conversation without words. But after a moment, Nico broke the intensity and sat down next to the boy. Gert and Karolina followed her after a hesitant moment.

“Any idea what’s for lunch?” Karolina asked to break the silence.

The boy that Karolina hadn’t recognized spoke up. “I heard a rumor that we’re getting pizza. I wouldn’t get your hopes up, though. They’re saving the good food for when the campers get here. I’m Alex, by the way,” he finished.

The girls briefly introduced themselves. After a minute or two of small talk, a bell rang indicated that food was ready. They all went up—Alex had been right, it was pizza, and Karolina excited grabbed two pieces of pineapple pizza.

As they walked back to their table, Karolina saw Gert giggle in response to something Chase said. Karolina looked at her, and made note of the way she was smiling as she looked at Chase. Then Alex asked her a question, and she changed her attention to him.

Once they had all finished up their meal, Jonah appeared and announced that it was time to get the bunks ready for the campers. “They haven’t been used in almost a year,” he warned. “And so they’ll need a lot of cleaning. Tomorrow, we’re going to be decorating the bunks, but for now we just need to get all the dust and dirt out. You’ll find cleaning supplies in the closets; come find me if you need anything.”

The counselors all started moving. Karolina began to stand up. She paused when Gert didn’t move—then she noticed that Gert’s eyes were trailing Chase as he walked towards the door, Alex at his side. “Come on,” she said, nudging Gert with her shoulder. “You can stare at him later, we’ve got cleaning to do,” she teased.

“Wha—no, I wasn’t staring,” Gert said defensively. Karolina grinned at her. “I wasn’t!” she protested.

Karolina ignored her, and began walking out of the dining hall. Gert scrambled out of her seat in order to follow her.

Jonah hadn’t been lying when he said that the bunks hadn’t been used in a year. That much was obvious. Karolina and Gert stood in the entrance to their bunk, mouths open in awe and disgust as they looked around the small cabin. Dirt had gotten in through the door and Karolina couldn’t see the floor in parts of the room because of all the dust that had accumulated. Spiderwebs clouded every window, and Karolina thought she could see a bird’s nest or a mouse nest or something in the far corner. This was going to be a lot of work.

The main room, where the campers would be staying, had four bunk beds lined against the walls. Through a door on one side of the cabin was the smaller room that Gert and Karolina would be sharing, and through the door on the other side was the bathroom that they would all be using.

“Well, I guess we should get started then!” Gert said.

They walked over to the closet. Karolina tugged to open it but wouldn’t move. “It’s jammed,” she said with a sigh.

“Let me try,” Gert said. She took Karolina’s place and tried pulling. “Yeah, it looks like this is stuck. What should we do?”

Karolina thought for a moment. “This place really needs to be cleaned. Should I just run over to our neighbor bunk and snag some stuff from them?”

Gert brushed some dust off of her shirt. “I guess so. I’ll keep trying to open it until you get back.”

Karolina turned away and walked out of the cabin. The closest cabin to theirs was the Blue Cabin, which was about a hundred feet away with a grassy field between them. She jogged over to the cabin and walked up the steps, and as she stood in the doorway she caught a glimpse of two figures sweeping. She knocked on the doorframe—the door was already open—and looked inside.

“Oh, hey Nico,” she said. “I didn’t realize this was your bunk.”

Nico looked up from her sweeping and smiled. “Hey, Karolina!” she said. The other girl, who had wavy brown hair and a pissed off expression, just glared. Nico looked over her shoulder at her co-counselor. “Eiffel, this is Karolina. Karolina, Eiffel.”

“Hi,” Karolina said in greeting. Eiffel ignored her and kept sweeping. Nico rolled her eyes and gave Karolina a knowing look, which made Karolina’s heart flutter.

“So what brings you around these parts?” Nico asked, sauntering over to Karolina. For a moment, Karolina forgot how to speak, and instead she just stared as Nico casually leaned back against one of the bunkbeds.

“Oh, uh, our supply closet won’t open, and we were wondering if we could borrow your, uh, brooms and stuff?” Karolina said.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Nico said with a smile. She turned to Eiffel, who was still sweeping the far side of the cabin. “Eiffel, what do you think? Should we allow Yellow Cabin to have some of our cleaning supplies?”

Eiffel, without looking up, said sharply, “I don’t fucking care. Just give her the brooms so she can leave.”

Nico shrugged. “Eiffel has spoken.” She went over to the closet—door wide open, Karolina noticed, unlike the one back in her cabin—and disappeared, returning a moment later with a broom and dustpan in one hand and a bucket with rags and cleaning spray in another. “This should keep you guys set for a while. Just bring it back when you’re done; seems like brooms are going to be a hot commodity soon,” she said with a smile.

Karolina smiled breathlessly as she reached out and accepted the proffered items. “I, uh, I will. Thank you,” she said, before awkwardly turning and leaving.

“Chase was just here,” Gert said immediately as Karolina re-entered their cabin.

“I think we should sweep and dust first, and then maybe mop if we have time,” Karolina said, ignoring Gert’s statement.

“Chase was here,” she repeated. “He was looking for you.”

Karolina raised her eyebrows. “Okay,” she said, handing Gert the bucket while she began to sweep. “Why?”

“He didn’t say,” Gert said. Karolina looked up and saw that Gert was looking at her intently. “I think he likes you.”

Oh. “I… I don’t think that’s true,” said Karolina. “There are plenty of reasons why he would stop by here. I mean, I went over to Nico’s cabin, but that doesn’t mean I like her. And don’t worry, I don’t like him or anything, so nothing’s gonna happen there.” Karolina paused for a moment and took in Gert’s thoughtful expression. “But, Gert, it’s okay if you like him.” Gert didn’t say anything. Karolina continued: “Are you going to go for it?” She asked.

“What do you mean?” Gert asked in confusion.

Karolina clarified. “I mean, are you going to ask him out?”

Gert laughed. Karolina raised an eyebrow. “Karolina, girls like me don’t ask out guys like him. Not if we don’t want to be humiliated at the very beginning of our summer job.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘girls like you’?” Karolina questioned.

Gert bit her lip. “Don’t make me explain that,” she said.

“No, I really don’t know,” said Karolina, confused.

“Girls who aren’t pretty like you.”

Karolina let out a laugh. “What? Gert, what are you talking about? You’re gorgeous!” Gert looked at her in disbelief. “I’m serious! Your purple hair, first of all, which is incredible, and your eyes are so brown and deep—”

“You’ve noticed my eye color?” Gert interrupted.

“And you have a really nice jawline!” Karolina finished. “You’re very pretty, Gert.”

Karolina saw Gert’s cheeks redden, and the girl looked away. Karolina let out a sigh. “Okay, you don’t have to ask him out if you don’t want to. But I’m going to talk you up to him. I’m going to get you guys together,” she said with a smile. Gert looked back over curiously. “Someone should come out of this summer with a relationship, right?”

Raising her eyebrows, Gert said, “Not that I’m ungrateful for the relationship support—which, thank you, by the way, even if it’s out of nowhere—but what about you? Who do you like?”

Karolina answered right away, without pausing to think. “Well, we’ve only met two guys so far, and Chase is all yours, and Alex isn’t really my type, so, nobody, I guess.”

Gert glanced up at Karolina with an expression that Karolina couldn’t place before looking back down at her dusting.

“What?” Karolina asked.

“If you say so,” Gert said.

The next day went by in a blur. The counselors showed up with their stuff for the week. Karolina lugged a large duffel bag and a backpack full of her things all the way up the hill and to her cabin and dropped it off. She didn’t bother unpacking yet as she knew there was a lot to be done that morning.

She and Chase had been assigned to name-tag duty. They were sent to the Arts and Crafts room with sheets of colored paper and multiple pairs of scissors and a box of markers. Most of their morning was spent cutting out nametags for each of the eight campers in the eight cabins. They made small talk as they cut out various shapes, asking each other questions about the school year and what their lives were like. Karolina did her best to mention Gert where she could.

The afternoon saw Karolina and Gert finalizing the cabin’s decorations and deciding on some last-minute details. They reviewed the list of the girls in their cabin, trying to have it memorized for when they all arrived the next day. Karolina was excited about it—she had always loved working with kids when she had been volunteering at the Church of Gibborim, and she was ready to meet the eight girls that would be under her care.

After dinner, she finally had the chance to unpack. She and Gert unpacked their things together, putting clothes into dresser drawers and pinning up photographs that they had brought. Gert pulled her ukulele out of her bag and placed it on the top of her dresser.

“Oh, you brought your uke!” Karolina said.

The other girl nodded. “Yeah, it’s small enough that it’s easy to transport, and it’s also a good way to keep the kids entertained. I worked at a camp last summer and almost half of the girls came with their own ukuleles. Whenever they were getting rambunctious I would bring mine out and tell them that it was time for a jam session and they would all calm down so we could sing, like, One Direction songs and all that. It’s fun.”

Karolina thought for a moment. “Maybe I should bring my guitar in,” she said.

“You totally should!” Gert said. “There’s gonna be a talent show at some point, and it would be awesome if you played something!”

Karolina smiled. “Okay. I think I will, then. I’ll bring it in for next week.”

As Gert and Karolina were preparing for bed, they heard a knock from their window. Karolina walked over to it and pulled it open, revealing Nico’s face.

“Hey!” the girl said. “A bunch of us are heading out to the fire pit. You know, counselor bonding, before the kids come tomorrow. You guys interested?”

Karolina and Gert look at each other before grinning. “Definitely,” Gert said.

They grabbed jackets and throw on their shoes before they exited the cabin. Nico was waiting for them outside and the three walked down the path.

After a minute or two of walking through the trees, they approached the fire pit. A decent sized fire was blazing in the center, with logs placed as benches surrounding it. Chase and Alex were already seated, poking at the fire with sticks, and they waved as the girls approached.

“So we were thinking,” Chase said as the girls sat down. “You guys interested in some truth or dare? A little get-to-know-each-other game, you know?”

“I’m down,” Gert said immediately, smiling widely. Nico and Karolina both nodded in agreement.

“Alright, Chase, since you suggested it, you go first,” said Alex. “Truth or dare?”

Chase grinned. “Let’s go. Truth.”

“Do you believe in true love?” Gert blurted out. Karolina shot her a look. She was going to have to teach that girl how to be subtle, she realized.

The boy leaned back for a moment, thinking. “Not really,” he said, “I used to think it was real. I thought my parents were each other’s true loves. But, uh, then I realized… well, I realized a few things, and one of them was that love isn’t as perfect as we’re supposed to think. And maybe one day, I’ll find someone who changes my mind. I’m not against the idea, I guess, but I’ve never seen it. So I don’t know if it exists.”

“That was deep,” Alex teased.

“It was a good answer, though,” Karolina said, smiling. Chase smiled back at her. “I mean, it’s clear that you thought it through. You didn’t just say some bullshit that you thought we’d like.”

“Next person!” Gert said.

Chase turned and looked at Alex, who was sitting next to them. “Dude, your turn. Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Alex said immediately. “I’m not ready to spill my heart to you guys. No offense or anything,” he said.

“I dare you to do pushups until your next turn,” Nico said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Alex mock gasped at her. “Really, Nico? You know those are my weakness,” he said.

Chase laughed at him. “That’s what you get for dodging getting deep.” Alex glared at him, but rolled off the log into the space next to it. He pushed up his sleeves and leaned forward, beginning his pushups.

Eyes turned to Karolina. “Your turn,” Nico said.

“Uh, dare,” Karolina said, before anybody could even ask.

“You guys are such cowards,” Nico said teasingly. Karolina smiled and felt her cheeks burn, and she was glad that nobody would be able to see the color in the low light. “I dare you to try to jump over the fire,” Nico said.

“What?” Karolina said, shocked. Even though it wasn’t a roaring bonfire, it was still fairly big.

Nico shrugged. “If you don’t want to, you can always choose truth.”

Alex looked up from his pushups. “You’ve got this, Karolina!”

The blonde sighed and stood up. “What are you doing?” Gert asked.

“I’m gonna jump,” Karolina said. She took a few steps back from the fire and took one deep breath. She was nervous, of course, but she didn’t want to back down and choose truth. Not only did she not want to be seen as a coward, but also because she wasn’t ready to spill her heart to these people. It wasn’t that she was hiding anything. It was just that sometimes it was easier to risk being burnt by a bonfire than it was to open up about things. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Then she ran towards the flames, jumping at the last minute. She soared above the fire but she still felt the heat beneath her.

She landed on the far side of the fire, unbalanced. Karolina had cleared the fire easily but hadn’t prepared herself for the landing. The loose gravel on the ground didn’t help her balance. She tried to steady herself but failed and fell forward, landing on top of Nico.

She heard Gert say “Woah,” from behind her, and one of the guys whistled. Her hands were on either one of Nico’s shoulders and her legs had crashed against Nico’s. Their faces were only inches away. Karolina froze, trying to catch her breath. If her cheeks had been pink earlier, they were definitely close to red now. Nico smirked up at her.

Karolina regained her balance and stood up, brushing the dirt off of her legs. “Sorry about that,” she said sheepishly.

“Nice jump,” was all Nico said, and Karolina walked back to her seat on the far side of the fire.

“Gert, looks like you’re up!” Chase said. “Truth or dare?”

Gert looked from Karolina to the fire, then over to Nico. “Yeah, I’m not messing with any dares. Truth,” she said.

“If you were stuck on a deserted island with one of us, who would you choose?” Alex asked from his position on the ground.

She didn’t hesitate before saying her answer. “Chase,” she said. The boy looked up in surprise. “I mean, he’s probably the most physically fit. I’ve got the brains to survive, but he’s got enough muscle to build us a shelter and to hunt food. It’s the most logical,” she answered.

Karolina knew better than that, but she wasn’t about to call her friend out for it. The others accepted her answer.

Gert turned to the only person who hadn’t gone yet. “Nico! Truth or dare?” she asked.

“Dare,” Nico answered immediately.

Gert tilted her head. “I thought you said people who choose dares are cowards,” she said.

“I said what I said,” Nico said dismissively. Gert nodded.

“Anyone have anything?” Chase asked, looking around the group. When nobody said anything, he spoke again. “I’ll dare, then. Going off of that last question—who out of us is the most attractive?”

“That’s a truth, not a dare,” Karolina said quickly.

He glanced at her then looked back at Nico. “In that case,” he said, “I dare you to kiss whichever one of us you think is the most attractive.”

“Ooh,” said Alex, who had paused his pushups. Nobody called him for it, though, as all eyes were locked on Nico as she slowly stood up. She stood still for a minute, perhaps contemplating her next move. The girl then walked around the fire, ignoring both Chase and Alex. She stopped right in front of Karolina and Karolina’s heart began to race.

Nico knelt down in front of Karolina and placed a hand on the side of Karolina’s face. Some part in the back of Karolina’s mind noted that it wasn’t that different from earlier, when she had landed on top of Nico. The rest of her mind was freaking out. Was this really about to happen? The rest of the kids had gotten so quiet that Karolina suspected they could probably hear how intensely her heart was beating.

Then Nico leaned in and pressed their lips together and Karolina’s mind went blank.

Karolina felt her eyes flutter shut as Nico’s lips captured hers. Her lips were soft as they pressed gently against Karolina’s. She could make out the taste of some fruity chapstick but she didn’t have enough brainpower at that moment to determine what it really was. One of Karolina’s hands reached up and tangled itself in Nico’s hair and Karolina thought she could hear Nico murmur in response.

The shorter girl smiled and gave a quick bite to Karolina’s lower lip before pulling back. Karolina opened her eyes slowly and saw Nico, still kneeling in front of her, smiling playfully at her. For some reason, it reminded Karolina of the smile she had seen on Nico’s face the day before, after Nico had splashed her while down at the beach.

“Holy shit,” Karolina heard Chase say from across the fire. She couldn’t move her eyes from Nico’s face. “That was hot,” he said. Nico smirked and stood up, and Karolina saw Alex give Chase a shove. “Shut up,” the boy said.

Nico turned and walked away from Karolina back over to her spot in the circle.

“Chase, your turn again!” said Gert, and the game continued.

Holy shit, Karolina thought to herself. She was frozen in place and suddenly stopped caring about the rest up at the game. She shot a glance over at Nico, who saw her looking and smiled cheekily at her. Karolina looked away. Holy shit.

Chapter Text

The morning after Nico kissed Karolina was very busy. “Today is the day! The campers are coming!” Jonah reminded them all at breakfast. Karolina sat at a table in the dining hall with Gert, Chase, Alex, and, of course, Nico. Karolina had intentionally sat as far away from the brunette as she possibly could. She couldn’t work up the courage to look Nico in the eye.

Okay, so maybe Karolina had laid in bed for hours the night before thinking about the way Nico had kissed her. The feeling of Nico’s lips on hers, as Nico’s firm hands held Karolina’s head still. Nico bit her lip! She freaking bit it! The smirk on Nico’s face as she had pulled away; so playful and adorable and it really made Karolina want to just kiss her again—not that she was into Nico or something. It was just, it’s been a while since Karolina’s kissed somebody; especially a kiss like that. It didn’t mean that she liked Nico like that. It was just how her body was reacting to being kissed. 

It’s not like that had been her first kiss or anything. Karolina had kissed before. Back in freshman year, she dated a boy for a week or two—his name was Sammy McGregor and he had kissed her behind the science building before they got caught by the hall monitor and had to go back to class. It hadn’t even been the first time she’d kissed a girl—no, she’d been to too many sleepovers back in middle school where she and her church friends had practiced kissing each other. Nervous giggles and quick pecks on the lips had been the extent of it all, but it had happened, and she hadn’t freaked out. But for whatever reason, this kiss with Nico was stuck on the forefront of her mind. So she resolved to ignore it and to ignore Nico altogether.

The counselors ate quickly—they were all anticipating the arrival of the campers—and once finished, went back to their cabins to finish preparations.

 “You’ve got all the nametags ready?” Gert asked once she and Karolina were in their bunk.

“Yep. They’re all lined up on the table,” Karolina answered. Gert nodded. Karolina could tell that her co-counselor was nervous about the campers coming, but she wasn’t sure what she could do to help.

“And we’ve cleaned everything that needs to be cleaned?”

Karolina nodded. “The main room has been swept and de-cobwebbed, and we’ve scrubbed the bathroom and everything in it at least three times,” she said.

“We had to be sure,” Gert said. Karolina smiled at her and walked over to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“It’s going to be great,” she said to her friend. “The girls are gonna show up in a few hours and they’ll be so excited for camp to start. We have nothing to worry about.”

Gert smiled up at Karolina and leaned into her touch. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “Thank you for helping me stay calm with all of this. I’m ready for the kids to come, I really am, it’s just…” she faded out.

“Hey, you don’t have to explain. I understand,” said Karolina. “But do you want to go over the plan for the morning one last time?”

Gert nodded. “Yeah, that, uh, that sounds good.”

Just like Karolina had said—the campers were excited to show up at camp. Karolina had been assigned to check-in duty, and was standing at the entrance to the camp with a clipboard of names and cabin-assignments, and she was doing her best to point the eager kids and their parents in the right direction. “Darian? You’re in the Green Cabin; go down that path and to the right,” she told a boy who was sporting a wide grin on his face and a backpack on his back that was practically bigger than he was. He went off running towards his cabin—“Be careful not to trip on the path!” Karolina called after him—and his parents, carrying even more bags and looking pretty tired, followed behind him.

A short girl with red curly hair popped in front of Karolina. “My name’s Mackenzie and I wanna go swimming!” she said animatedly.

“Well, Mackenzie, you’re in luck, because we have a really great beach that’s just perfect for swimming!” Karolina told the girl. “And, actually,” she said, flipping to the second page of her list, “It looks like you’ll be in my cabin! Just go up the hill and to the left; and it’s the bright yellow cabin. Your other counselor, Miss Gert, will be up there and she can help you get settled in.”

“Okay!” The girl said excitedly. Karolina smiled as she ran past her and up towards the cabins.

After directing a few more campers towards their cabins, there was a lull. Karolina let out a breath. Even though her job was simple, she was already starting to feel exhausted. This wasn’t going to be like when she volunteered for a few hours at Gibborim’s day camps. She was going to be here for the next four weeks, even overnight, and only getting to take a real break on the weekends when everybody goes home for two days. This was going to be a lot more of a commitment.

“How’s it feel being the Camp Atlas Welcoming Committee?” came a familiar voice from behind her. Karolina turned and saw Nico, smiling as she walked down the hill towards her.

“It’s fine,” she said dismissively. “Someone’s gotta do it.”

Nico looked at her inquisitively, as if expecting her to continue, but she didn’t. “Okay,” Nico said slowly. “Well, are you at least enjoying meeting the campers?”

Karolina nodded, not looking at Nico. “It’s fun.”

The brunette sighed. “Listen, Karolina, are you acting weird because I kissed you?

Karolina shook her head immediately. “No!” she said loudly, then again, more calmly. “No, that wasn’t— that didn’t make anything weird.”

“Okay, because it was just a dare, you know. I had to kiss someone,” Nico said. She took a step forward so she was standing next to Karolina, shoulder to shoulder, as they looked down at the parking lot in front of them.

“It didn’t mean anything,” Karolina said. She wasn’t sure how much of that statement was a question.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nico turn to her and open her mouth, as if beginning to say something. However, before Nico could speak, a new car pulled into the driveway and a little girl with a big purple backpack jumped out. “Why would it?” Nico said coolly. Karolina felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. She ignored it and focused on the girl who was walking up the hill towards them, holding hands with her mother who was smiling down at her.

“Hi there!” Karolina said, plastering on a smile. “I’m Miss Karolina. What’s your name?”

The girl looked down and mumbled something that Karolina couldn’t hear. Her mom looked from her to the two counselors. “This is Georgia,” she said kindly. “Georgia, why don’t you say hello to these nice ladies?”

Georgia looked up hesitantly. “Hi,” she said, her voice still small and quiet.

Nico crouched down to be eye level with her. “Hey, Georgia. I’m Miss Nico,” she said, and she offered her hand out for Georgia to shake. A small smile grew on Georgia’s face as she let go of her mother’s hand and shook Nico’s. “You’re going to be in the Blue Cabin, with me. Why don’t I take you there now?” she said.

Georgia’s mother beamed. “Oh, that would be wonderful. Could you take her there now, and I’ll follow with the rest of her things?”

“Sounds great,” Nico said with a smile. “I was finished here anyways,” she continued, glancing once more at Karolina before leading Georgia up the hill.

Alone again, Karolina looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. Her respite did not last for long, as Chase came bounding down the hill towards her.

“Hey, Karolina, how’s sign-in going?” he asked with a charming smile.

“Uh, it’s good,” she said. “It’s fun to meet the kids.” He kept smiling at her but didn’t say anything. “So, uh, what brings you down here?” she prompted.

He shrugged. “Nothing much, just wanted to check in. See how things were going.”

“Well, like I said, things are going well,” she told him.

“Nice! So, I was just wondering if—” he began.

“Actually, Chase,” Karolina said, cutting him off. “Do you think you could, uh, go check in on Gert for me? Make sure she’s got things under control and isn’t overwhelmed?”

He scrunched his face, but then nodded. “Oh, uh, sure,” he said. “I can do that.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks. That would be great.” He jogged away just as the next car arrives.

By noon, all the campers had arrived, and the cabins were bursting with the chaotic sounds of boys and girls unpacking and introducing themselves.

“No, girls, only one of you can sleep in the top bunk. Someone will have to sleep in the bottom bunk,” Karolina said to the two campers sitting together on the top of the bunkbed.

“But the top bunk is the better bunk,” one of them said with a whine.

Karolina glanced quickly at the nametag pinned to the girl’s shirt. “Actually, Autumn, I would say that the bottom bunk is better,” Karolina said. “Look, you can pin up a towel or a blanket to the side, and it’s like you’re in your own little fairy cave here.” The girl climbed down from the top bunk. Karolina picked up one of her blankets and held it in front of the bed, showing her what she could do.

“Wait, I like this better,” Autumn said, and she grabbed her backpack from the top bunk and started to unpack.

“No, I want the bottom bunk!” said the girl who was sitting on the top bunk. From her nametag Karolina knew her name was Jillian. “Can’t we both have the bottom one?”

Karolina sighed. This was proving to be more chaotic than she expected. She left Autumn and Jillian to work out who was getting what bunk and she walked over to the doorway of the cabin, where Gert was observing the room.

“They’re going to be a handful,” Karolina said.

Gert nodded. “And that’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. But they’re a bunch of eleven-year-olds, so it’s pretty much what I expected.” Gert cleared her throat. “Also, uh, Chase stopped by earlier.”

Karolina raised an eyebrow. “Really?” she asked.

“Yeah, and he was looking for me this time,” Gert said. “He said that he just wanted to check in, make sure I wasn’t in over my head or anything, but like, I was fine? Like I had everything under control, but he still stayed. And not in like, the annoying I-don’t-think-you-can-handle-this kind of way, but like, he wanted to be there with me. Like he wanted to be there with me.” Gert’s  cheeks were reddening and she let out a small laugh.

“That’s really great, Gert,” Karolina said. “So, can I take this as confirmation that you do like him?”

Gert’s cheeks darkened even more. “I guess so?” she said. “I mean, I still don’t think he likes me, but I guess maybe I do like him.”

“He would be crazy not to like you,” Karolina said, and Gert smiled at her.

Before either one could say anything, one of their campers ran up to them. “Miss Karolina, Miss Gert?” the girl said, “I can’t find my toothbrush.”

Karolina and Gert glanced at each other. “You wanna handle this?” Karolina asked her co-counselor.

Gert grinned. “I’m on it.”

“Hey, do you want to go for a walk?” Gert asked.

Karolina looked up from where she was sitting on her bed and glanced over at the clock on the wall. “I mean, it’s already eleven...” she said hesitantly.

“It’ll be good for us,” Gert said. “We won’t be long, but it’s been such a long day, and I think we could both use a little peace and quiet.”

Karolina considered that for a few seconds. Gert was right—the excitement from the campers all arriving had been great, but she was feeling overwhelmed, and her mind was running wild. Maybe a walk would clear her head. “Okay,” she said. “That sounds like a good idea.” Gert smiled at her. Both girls grabbed sweatshirts—even though it was summer the nights were still cold—and quietly slipped out of the cabin, doing their best not to disturb the sleeping campers.

Once outside, they stood next to each other in silence. Karolina took a deep breath of the refreshing summer air. After a minute or two of stillness, Gert grabbed her arm and began walking. She led Karolina through the clearing and to one of the trails. They walked together in silence, passing the basketball courts and soccer fields. As Gert turned down a random trail, Karolina realized that they didn’t have a determined path in mind. They were not heading anywhere; instead, they were walking for the experience of it.

After maybe half an hour of walking, they arrived back at their cabin. “Thank you,” Karolina said in a hushed voice. Gert smiled at her and wrapped her arms around Karolina in a quick hug.

“Of course,” Gert said, and the girls went inside and got ready to sleep.

The first few days of camp flew by quickly. Gert and Karolina spent a good amount of time with the eight girls in their cabin, helping them get settled in and playing get-to-know each other games. The girls were getting along pretty nicely, and for that, Karolina was grateful.

 “Miss Karolina?” came a timid voice from behind her, interrupting her thoughts. Karolina turned around and smiled when she saw Mia, one of the girls from her cabin. It was just after dinner and the campers and counselors were milling about in the center of camp. Some campers had raced over to the tetherball courts and were playing, while some had brought books and notebooks down and were reading and drawing in a circle. A couple others were playing with a frisbee on the far side of the center of camp. Karolina was sitting on one of the benches, watching over everything.

“Hey, Mia, what’s up?” she asked. When the girl, who was looking quite nervous, didn’t say anything, Karolina gestured to the bench where she was sitting. “Why don’t you come sit down with me and we can talk.”

Mia nodded and sat down next to her.

“What’s on your mind?” Karolina asked.

Mia looked away, avoiding Karolina’s gaze. “It’s just, I’m having a fun at camp, and I have friends and everything, but I miss home. I miss my mom and dad.”

Karolina nodded in understanding. “Of course. Is this the first time you’ve gone to sleepaway camp?” she asked. Mia nodded. “That makes total sense, then. Everybody gets homesick from time to time, especially when they’ve never been away from home for this long.”

“It doesn’t make sense, though!” Mia said. “I like it here! I like going hiking and swimming and doing arts and crafts with everyone! But for some reason I still wish I was home.”

Karolina smiled softly. “Just because you think things should be one way doesn’t mean it’s always true. Even if you think you shouldn’t be homesick because you have friends here and you like being here doesn’t mean that your homesickness isn’t real and that it’s not affecting you. Does that make sense?”

Mia thought for a moment. “I guess so,” she said cautiously.

“But that doesn’t make it any easier, does it?” Karolina said. “For me, the best way to cure homesickness is to distract myself. How about you and I go over and join the game of frisbee? How does that sound?”

“That sounds fun,” Mia said. Karolina stood up from the bench and reached for Mia’s hand, and the two walked over to the frisbee players.

Thursday night, after the girls were asleep, Karolina and Gert were going for another walk. They were taking the trail that wrapped part of the way along the lake. The moon was full and clear summer sky meant that the moon was reflected on the surface of the water.

“It’s so beautiful,” Karolina said, looking out at the lake.

Gert nodded as they walked along. “And peaceful, too. The campers don’t know what they’re missing.”

After fifteen minutes of walking, Karolina froze. In the distance, between the trees, was a flickering orange light.

“What’s wrong?” Gert said in confusion as Karolina stopped walking.

Karolina pointed to the light. “Is that the bonfire?” she asked.

Gert squinted and looked at the light. “Shit,” she said. “I think so. Who do you think is out there?”

“Some of the campers?” Karolina suggested.

“They’re like, twelve, do they even know how to light a fire?” Gert said.

Karolina shrugged. “I really fucking hope not. We should go check it right?”

“Yeah, we should. Got to make sure they don’t burn down the whole camp.”

The two girls walked quickly through the trees and the light grew bigger and bigger as they approached it. It was definitely a fire, Karolina realized as they drew nearer. It only took a minute or two to get to the campfire, and the moment Karolina stepped into the clearing, she froze.

“Oh shit,” Gert said.

It wasn’t a few campers sneaking out of their cabins like Karolina and Gert had suspected. It was Alex, sitting on one of the logs next to the fire, with Nico on his lap. They were kissing.

The two pulled apart as Gert spoke and looked up at the girls in surprise. Nico’s eyes locked onto Karolina’s and Karolina felt her heart begin to race. Nico slid off of Alex’s lap and onto the log so that she was sitting next to him. Karolina’s gaze flickered back and forth between the two of them and she could feel her jaw drop in surprise.

“What are you guys doing out here?” she demanded. “It’s after lights out! You’re supposed to be in your cabins!”

“So are you,” Alex said. Karolina looked at him. While Nico was looking extremely guilty and sheepish, he was sitting there looking pissed at Karolina and Gert for interrupting.

Karolina blinked a few times. “But… you’re breaking more rules than us! You have a fire!”

“We were gonna put it out,” Nico said. Karolina’s gaze went back to her and Nico looked down.

Gert looked between the three of them. “Uh, Karolina, how about we just leave? Let these two put out their fire and go back?” Karolina didn’t say anything, but she nodded. Gert tugged on her arm and she turned and followed the purple-haired girl away from the clearing.

Once they were out of hearing range, Gert turned to Karolina. “Hey, dude, are you okay?” she asked. “You seem kind of shaken.”

Karolina nodded. “No, yeah, I’m fine.”

“I’m serious, it’s okay if something’s up, we can talk about.”

“I’m fine,” Karolina said, more harshly than she intended. Gert raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything.

They walked the rest of the way back to the cabin in silence. As Karolina was getting ready to go to sleep, she heard a rustling sound from outside. She walked over to her window and looked outside and she saw Nico’s silhouette walking back to her cabin. Karolina felt her heartbeat speed up as her eyes followed Nico as the girl walked across the clearing and up the steps to her cabin. She heard the faint sound of a door opening and closing as Nico disappeared from view, but Karolina stood in place for another minute. Her mind was racing. Why was she so upset about seeing Alex kissing Nico? Nico was free to kiss whoever she wanted. Did this mean that Nico was dating Alex now? It didn’t matter to Karolina. She hoped they were happy together, whatever they were.

“Dude, just go to sleep,” said Gert. Karolina turned around to see Gert sitting on her bed, looking caringly at Karolina. “I know you’re probably thinking a million things right now, but it’s late. Whatever mess you’re in isn’t gonna get any worse tonight, so just, get some sleep.”

Karolina smiled softly. “Thank you, Gert,” she said. She was grateful for Gert, who was proving to be much more considerate and understanding than Karolina could have hoped for. She spared one last look out the window before walking away and over to her bed.

The next day was the start of the Color Wars. This event, happening every Friday for the entire session of camp, was supposedly a way for the campers to bond with the rest of their cabin, let out some of their competiveness, and to have some fun playing a game. For Karolina, however, it meant coaching her twelve-year-olds in a tense game of kickball. Karolina and Gert’s Yellow Cabin were facing off with Nico and Eiffel’s Blue Cabin. The score was 4-3 Blue Cabin, and Karolina was not going to have her team lose.

“Come on, Mackenzie, you’ve got this!” Karolina shouted from the sidelines. “Just kick the ball as hard as you can! You can do it! Show the Blue Team who’s boss!”

From the other side of the field, Nico shouted to her team, equally as loud. “Alright girls, let’s go now! We’re in the lead; don’t let them pull ahead!”

Karolina scoffed at her. Gert shot her a look. All of the campers were on the field and distracted, and so nobody heard her scoffing, but Gert looked disappointed regardless. “What?” Karolina asked.

“I think you’re being petty towards Nico,” Gert said.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Karolina said dismissively.

Gert rolled her eyes. “Come on, don’t be stupid.” Out on the field, Mackenzie kicked the ball and started running around the bases. “Let’s hustle, Mackenzie, how far can you go?” Gert cheered. When Karolina still didn’t respond, she continued. “Well, you’ve been weird with Nico since she kissed you during truth or dare. And for reasons that we don’t have to analyze yet, you’ve been even weirder since we saw her and Alex kissing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Karolina said.

“You ignore her whenever you’re in the same room. You scoff when she cheers for her team, even though you’re literally doing the exact same thing,” Gert said exasperatedly. “And for no reason at all.”

Karolina let out a sigh in frustration. “No, there is a reason! She breaks the rules! Yeah, you and I were out after curfew too, but they were hooking up! And they had a fire going, which is a safety hazard! And she’s annoying! She can be so cocky and arrogant, and she acts like she thinks she’s better than me—”

“She doesn’t do that and you know it,” Gert interjected.

“And she’s so infuriating, with her little smirk!”

Gert shot her another look. “And every time you see her it’s another reminder that you actually really liked kissing her and that you might not be as straight as you thought. Come on Karolina, I thought you were better than that. You’re acting like an eight-year-old boy with a crush,” She shook her head. “Whatever. I don’t want to get caught up in all of that, okay?” Karolina didn’t say anything, and Gert walked away, heading towards the campers as they waited for their turn to play.

“No, I’m not,” Karolina said quietly to herself. She ran a hand through her hair and closed her eyes for a moment. Gert was wrong—she didn’t like Nico, not like that. She was just—well, she was just frustrated at Nico. That didn’t mean she had a crush or something. She was straight. She would know if she wasn’t. She was seventeen—she would have figured it out already, like Gert had with her pansexuality. So this wasn’t a crush, no matter what Gert thought.

Though, Gert may have been right about her being petty. She had been pretty dismissive of Nico this past week. Maybe she could try to give Nico a chance?

Just then, Nico walked over from her side of the field. Karolina didn’t say anything as the brunette approached, and chose to keep her gaze on the campers in the field. “Hey,” Nico said.

Part of Karolina wanted to ignore Nico or just dismiss her, but she remembered what Gert had just said about being petty. She glanced over at Nico. “Hey,” she said back.

“I, uh, I just wanted to say that I saw you with Mia yesterday. When she was feeling homesick. I thought you did a good job handling that and distracting her; and I wanted to commend you for that.”

Karolina smiled despite herself and bit her lip. “Thank you,” she said with a small laugh. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t always know how to help, but I know what helps me when I’m missing home, so I just told her that.”

Nico nodded. “It was impressive. You have a talent for working with these kids.”

“I worked at my church’s after school program for a while, so I guess I have some experience,” Karolina explained.

“Well, it shows,” Nico said with a smile. Karolina felt a blush rise to her cheeks. Nico continued: “Actually, I was wondering. Do you think you could not tell anyone that you saw me and Alex? I don’t want to get in trouble with Jonah for that.”

Karolina felt her heart sink. That was the real reason that Nico had come over. “Yeah. Of course. I won’t tell.”

“Thanks,” Nico said. “And could you ask Gert not to say anything either?”

She nodded. “Yup. Got it.”

“Thanks again,” Nico said. She reached out a hand and squeezed Karolina’s arm. Karolina smiled awkwardly and Nico began to walk away, leaving Karolina by herself on the side of the field.

That afternoon, Karolina found herself sitting in the camp’s motorboat with Chase. Technically, they were supervising the campers as they learned how to sail, but Alex and Eiffel were keeping the kids busy by explaining how to properly put on life jackets, and so Karolina and Chase had a few minutes before they actually had to be paying attention.

“It’s such a beautiful day,” Karolina said, leaning over the side of the boat and dipping her hand into the lake. “The sun is warm but the water is cool. It’s so summer-y. I love it.”

Chase smiled at her. “It’s pretty impressive,” he said as he looked around at the lake and the surrounding trees. “When I was younger, before everything went to shit, my parents used to take me up to Lake Tahoe in the summer. We would rent out a cabin by the water and bring paddleboards, and just have these long, relaxing days out there. It’s what I think of when I think about summer, and this really reminds me of it. It was such a better; simpler time, you know?”

Karolina looks at him questioningly. “What do you mean, ‘before everything went to shit’?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Before I realized that life isn’t as perfect as my parents wanted me to believe. They’re getting a divorce, my parents. So nobody’s really reliving those fond memories. That’s one of the reasons I wanted this job, because it would mean that I wouldn’t have to be around them and all the yelling.” He bit his lip and looked down.

“Chase, that’s awful,” Karolina said. “I had no idea. I’m sorry that you have to deal with that.”

“I mean, it’s been a long time coming. And it’s better than them pretending that everything’s okay, right?”

Karolina thought about the fight she had seen between her parents, and how neither of them had brought it up later. “I guess so,” she said.

Chase stood up from where his seat and walked back over to the steering wheel. “As much as I’m enjoying talking about my parents’ failed relationship, how would you like to take this thing for a spin? There’s so much wasted potential with just sitting here with it; why don’t we see how fast it can go?”

She laughed and sat up so her hand was no longer in the water. “Why not?” she said. They weren’t needed right now, so why not have a little bit of fun? Chase grinned at her and started the engine. It took a few moments for the boat to start, but soon they were bouncing on the waves. Karolina’s blonde hair flew out behind her as she pushed it out of her eyes. Chase spun the boat in a tight circle and sped up, driving in the opposite direction. Karolina felt the wind pushing against her and, with a laugh, she stood up. She kept one hand stabilizing herself against the railing of the boat but she allowed her other arm to rise up. Standing there at the front of the bat, with the wind battering against her face and with the boat zooming over the water, it almost felt like she was flying.

The moment was over to quickly as Chase slowed the boat back down. “Don’t want to waste too much gas,” he said. He slowed the boat to a stop and turned the engine back off before walking to the front of the boat and lying back on one of the seats. Karolina grinned and sat next to him.

“Thank you for that. It was fun,” she said. He nodded at her; smiling warmly. Karolina looked back to the shore, where the campers were having a blast just splashing each other with their paddles. “Look at them,” she said. “They’re all so happy. Life is easy when you’re just twelve. You have your friends, and that’s all that matters. Nobody is pressuring you to get a job, or apply to college, or find someone to date. You’re just… existing.”

“We can be happy, too,” Chase said. He reached for her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. God, Karolina was glad that she had friends like Chase and Gert. People who could make her smile when everything else was bringing her down. And just as she was thinking about how grateful she was to have Chase as a friend, he put his hand on her neck, leaned in, and kissed her.

Oh shit, she thought to herself.

It wasn’t a bad kiss, she knew that. Karolina just didn’t really… care. His lips were firmly against hers, and thankfully he wasn’t trying to push things any further. He pulled away after a few long seconds and smiled at her.

“Wow,” he said. “I’ve been meaning to do that for a while.”

“Oh,” Karolina said. “I… hadn’t realized.” Chase pulled her into a hug and she hugged him back. She was saved from having to say something about the kiss when their radio beeped and Alex’s voice rang through.

“Hey guys, we’ve finished the safety lesson, are you guys ready for the kids to start sailing?”

Karolina slipped out of Chase’s arms and grabbed the radio. “We’re ready,” she said. “Send them out!”

Karolina had no idea what was going on.

She knew that she was supposed to be excited about this. Chase was a great guy. He was funny, he was sweet, and Karolina could admit that he was cute. He was perfectly good ‘boyfriend material’, or whatever that meant. So why wasn’t Karolina excited about this?

Well, there was one very obvious reason. What the hell am I going to say to Gert? She thought to herself. She had known from the beginning that Gert was into Chase. She had been trying to set the two of them up together! But Chase liked Karolina, not Gert. So wasn’t she supposed to like him back?

Luckily for Karolina, she didn’t have to talk to Gert about it immediately. Since it was Friday, and everyone was going home for the weekend, she would have a few days to think about what she was going to do.

At the end of the day, Karolina saw her campers off. Gert didn’t know about Karolina and Chase apparently, because Gert was casually joking around and having a good time with Karolina as they waited for the campers to leave. Eventually, all of the girls had gone home with their parents.

“Hey, I’m sorry for snapping at you yesterday during kickball,” Gert said. “I know you’re probably trying to work a lot of things out, and I shouldn’t have gotten impatient with you.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, it’s okay,” Karolina said. “Thank you for calling me out on my bullshit. I tend to just be petty instead of actually confronting my problems. I think I get it from my mom.” Gert laughed softly and Karolina smiled.

“Alright, I’ll see you on Monday!” Gert said with a wave as she walked towards her car.

“Monday,” Karolina agreed. She unlocked her car and got into the driver’s seat, and let out a groan as she leaned her head against the wheel. What the hell was she going to do?

Chapter Text

Hey im gonna make some lesson plans for activities this week do u want to come over and join me? -chase

Karolina stared at the message on her phone. She was thrown. First of all, she had no idea how Chase even had her number. Second, while she actually did want to make some lesson plans (it turns out leading an impromptu ceramics class without a sort of plan was a lot more difficult than she thought), she didn’t want Chase to think she was coming over because she liked him. Or that she wanted to kiss him again. She was still pretty thrown from the fact that he had kissed her the day before. But shit, she really needed to make those lesson plans.

She let out a sigh and started texting him.

Yea, that sounds good, I’ll head over now. What’s your address?

He responded with an address within seconds. Another great sign. Karolina shook her head and switched over to the phone app and pulled up a different contact.

“Hey, Gert, wanna do something with me?”

 “Thanks for inviting me,” Gert said, about twenty minutes later as she opened up the passenger side door and slid into Karolina’s car. “I mean, I know we’re, like, doing work, but it feels nice to be included. You know, like, as friends.” She buckled her seatbelt and they started driving.

Karolina felt some guilt at hearing that. She enjoyed Gert’s company, she truly did, but part of her knew she was just looking for a buffer between her and Chase.

Gert must have noticed Karolina’s lack of response. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to like, presume that we were friends or something. Coworkers is fine too.”

“It’s not that, Gert,” Karolina. Gert shot her a glance. “We’re friends, that’s why I called you. But there is something.”

“What’s up?” Gert asked.

Karolina took a breath. “Well, um, yesterday when we were helping with the sailing class, Chase kind of kissed me.”

The car was silent, but Karolina felt as if she could hear Gert’s mind whirling. “Well, not kind of. He did kiss me.”

“Did you kiss him back?” Gert asked slowly.

“Not really. No, I didn’t. We didn’t talk about it afterward. We just went home.”

“So you invited me on what was probably supposed to be a date between you and Chase? Does he even know I’m coming?” Karolina didn’t say anything. “Smooth moves, Dean.”

“I didn’t want to be alone with him,” she said, training to explain. “I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.” She heard Gert scoff, so she continued. “I didn’t want to tell you, but then I didn’t want to not tell you.”

The car was quiet for a moment. Gert sighed. “Okay, well, I’m glad you did tell me. Thanks for not lying about that. Still, it sucks that he kissed you.”

Karolina let out a small laugh. “Yeah, tell me about it,” she said, which made Gert chuckle.

Twenty minutes later, Karolina and Gert pulled up in front of a large, modern-looking house with white walls and big windows. There was a gate blocking off the driveway, so Karolina parked on the opposite side of the street.

“That’s a big house,” Gert said. Even Karolina, whose own house was also rather large, could only nod in response.

They walked up the driveway to the large front door and Karolina tentatively reached out and rang the doorbell. Almost immediately, the door opened up. When Karolina saw who was standing there, her jaw dropped.

“What are you doing here, Nico?” she asked.

The brunette raised an eyebrow at her. “This is my house. If anyone gets to be asking that question, it’s me. Why are you two here?” She was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun and she was wearing a long black t shirt with pajama shorts. Somehow, even though she had probably just gotten out of bed, Nico still managed to look incredibly pretty, and Karolina found that she was unable to form an actual sentence.

“Um, plans? With Chase?” she said. A look of understanding came on Nico’s face and she bit her lip. At that moment, Chase appeared from behind her, looking slightly overwhelmed and out of breath.

Karolina found herself looking back and forth between Nico and Chase, trying to figure out what was happening.

“Hey, hi, sorry, I didn’t think anyone would get to the door before me,” Chase said. His eyes focused on Gert, who was standing behind Karolina. “Gert? What are you doing here?”

“I brought her along for lesson planning,” Karolina said. She could only think of one reason why Chase would be at Nico’s house this early in the morning, and the thought made her feel sick. “Are you two…” she said slowly, gesturing between the pair.

Nico’s eyes widened in horror. “Us? Oh god, no,” she said, at the same time that Chase shook his head vehemently. “No, no, no.”

“We’re siblings,” Chase said. “Step siblings.”

“Like, future step siblings, but yeah,” Nico said. “My dad—”

“Her dad and my mom are getting married,” Chase finished.

Honestly, Karolina hadn’t expected that. “Oh,” was all she said.

The four of them stood still. Karolina looked at Nico, who was looking at the ground. She glanced back at Gert, who was standing with her arms crossed and looking tired. “Can we like, go inside now?” Gert said.

“I’m leaving,” Nico said curtly as she stepped around Chase, back into the depths of the house and out of Karolina’s line of sight.

Chase waited for a moment after she left before turning around to Karolina and Gert. “Why don’t you guys come on in,” he said. “Sorry, not ‘you guys’. Why don’t you both come in,” he corrected as Gert started to protest.

Chase led the trio into the house. It was even more exquisite on the inside. Everything was clean and white. All the countertops seemed to be white marble, all the couches and chairs white leather. They made their way into the dining room, where various sheets of colored paper were sprawled out on the glass table. In one corner of the room sat a self-playing grand piano that was playing a quiet melody, and against the wall was an electronic fireplace. Chase gestured to the pieces of paper on the table. “I figured we could, like, use each color as a different class, and write up some ideas for how we can lead them,” Chase said.

Gert nodded. “That makes sense. And we can make notes of when each group goes to each class so that way we don’t repeat a lesson. Let’s get started.”

They sat down and fell into an easy rhythm. While they were mostly working in silence, every once in a while one of them would speak up with an idea or question and the other two would help brainstorm. Karolina pulled out her phone to look at her teaching schedule for the week. This week, she would be down at the waterfront a lot, alternating between lifeguarding and leading sailing classes. She would also be helping lead a hike on Monday and a nature walk on Thursday, so she made a mental note to look for some good hiking trails.

After about half an hour, Karolina stood up. “I’m going to go get some water; I’ll be right back,” she said when Chase glanced up. She walked away from the table where they were working and over to the kitchen.

Nico was standing at one of the counters, eating from a bowl of cereal. She had changed out of the pajamas she had on earlier and was now wearing black jeans and what looked like a leather jacket. She had more makeup on than usual. Karolina realized that this was the first time she had seen Nico in her real clothes. Nico looked really nice, Karolina noted. Not that she didn’t look nice in the Camp Atlas t-shirts—Karolina actually thought she looked really pretty in those shirts—but seeing Nico in this outfit felt more authentic. Karolina realized she had been standing there for almost thirty seconds without saying anything. “Hey, sorry for, like, startling you earlier. I wasn’t expecting to see you at the door, and I’m sorry if we like, blocked you out of the dining room. You’re welcome to join us, if you want. I mean, I don’t know if you need to do any lesson prep, but like—” Karolina bit her lip. “And, now I’m rambling. Sorry,” she said.

Nico let out a small laugh. “It’s okay, I was just surprised to see you guys there. Normally, Chase doesn’t invite people over to this house without telling me. Especially, you know, when it’s people we both know.”

“I had no idea that you two are like, brother and sister.”

Nico sighed. She set down her bowl on the counter and pushed herself up so she was sitting on the tile. Then she grabbed the bowl again and continued eating. “I mean, we’re not. Our parents are getting married soon, and sometimes we live in the same house, but, like, I have a sibling already. I have an older sister, Amy.”

“Oh, I’ve never heard you mention her.”

“Things with her are kind of tense most of the time,” Nico said. Karolina waited for her to continue but she didn’t.

“I’m sorry about that,” Karolina said hesitantly.

Nico shook her head. “It’s fine. It’s just, my dad had been cheating on my mom with Chase’s mom for a few years. Amy knew about it but didn’t tell anyone. And she was off to college by the time our parents actually got divorced, so she avoided all the drama. So my mom is gone and Amy’s across the country and now Chase is supposed to be my brother, and my dad wanted us to bond by working together this summer, and it’s all just a lot.” Nico looked over at Karolina and let out a small laugh. “And now I’m the one rambling. And oversharing. Sorry. You can go back to hanging out with Chase now.”

“No, it’s okay,” Karolina said. “I mean, I can go back if you want. But, thanks for telling me about all that. It sounds like a lot.”

Nico smiled softly. “Well, thanks for listening, I guess. It all feels really isolating, and like there’s nobody I can talk to about it. So it’s nice to talk to somebody who’s more removed from the whole thing.”

Karolina smiled back. “You don’t need to feel alone with all of this. I’m here if you ever want to talk about this.”

Nico slid herself off of the counter. She walked over to the sink and rinsed out her bowl. “We can be friends, you know,” Nico said. She kept looking away from Karolina. “I mean, I know things are kind of weird between us. I’m sorry for putting you in a weird position with me and Alex. But we still have three weeks of working together, and I think it’s preferable to all of us if we’re at least on good terms, you know?”

“Yeah, that, that makes sense,” Karolina said slowly. Nico turned around and looked at her. She had a look on her face that Karolina couldn’t totally understand.

“And it’s not just that I want work to not be awkward, for the record,” Nico said. “I think you’re cool. I want to be your friend because I think you’re a cool person.”

Karolina felt herself start to blush and she looked away. “I think you’re cool, too, Nico.” She looked back over and saw Nico smiling at her.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page.” Nico’s eyes flickered down as she leaned forward and looked at Karolina and gave her a once-over. “You look cute today, by the way,” she said.

For some reason Karolina felt almost embarrassed. She crossed her arms over herself. She was wearing a typical summer outfit—a loose white crop top with denim shorts. “You look cute, too,” she said. She hated how nervous her voice sounded.

“Are you wearing it for Chase?”

“What?” Karolina asked, startled.

Nico shrugged. She started playing with the bracelet tied around her wrist. “He invited you here,” she said, as if that explained it.

“I mean, yeah, he invited me. But I wasn’t trying to be cute for him. I really—I don’t care what he thinks,” Karolina said.

Nico snorted. “Good to know,” she said. “Sorry for assuming you were doing something for a guy. Not very woman-power of me.”

Karolina smiled. “I don’t usually do things for guys,” Karolina said, trying to give a sort of explanation. She awkwardly raised a hand to the back of her neck.

“No? Me neither.” Karolina glanced up to see Nico looking at her with an intensity to her gaze Karolina couldn’t place. “Well, good talk then,” Nico said. She started walking out of the kitchen and gently nudged Karolina with her shoulder. “I’ll see you on Monday?”

Karolina nodded. “Monday!” she said, with more enthusiasm than she really intended. Nico let out a laugh and walked away. Karolina let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Nico had thought… she had thought that Karolina came here for Chase. Had Chase told her about the kiss? Karolina couldn’t be sure. But that didn’t matter. She shook her head, clearing it, before heading back to the dining room. She and Nico could be friends. That sounded… good? If it meant spending more time around Nico, then yes, it was good, Karolina decided.

As she made her way back to the dining area, she started to hear Gert’s voice. “Honestly, the issues of inequality in the prison systems are quite possibly the biggest problem with the modern American court of justice.” Karolina stood in the entryway to the room for a moment. Gert had stopped writing and was gesturing vibrantly with her hands. Chase was sitting across from her, his head tilted and his smile wide as he watched her talk. Gert paused once she saw Karolina.

“Weren’t you going to the kitchen to get some water?” Gert asked inquisitively. “What took you so long?”

Karolina blushed as she realized she had completely forgotten why she had gone into the kitchen. “Um,” she started to say, but before she could try to explain, Gert shook.

“Nevermind,” she said. She gestured to where Karolina had been sitting. “Sit back down, will you? We should get back to work.”

The rest of the weekend went by too quickly. Karolina went for a run in the canyons on Sunday to try to clear her head. She knew she still had to talk to Chase, but she didn’t know what she was going to say. And Nico… Karolina kept thinking about the conversation the two of them had in the kitchen. Nico had felt comfortable enough to open up to her, and it had felt wonderful. Karolina couldn’t wait to become better friends with her.

Monday morning came around and Karolina found herself pulling into the counselor parking lot just before 7:30, yawning and wishing once again that she was a coffee person who could reap the benefits of caffeine. She parked her Fiat and reached over to the passenger seat to grab her guitar. She stepped out of the car and carefully put the guitar on her back, its brightly colored strap holding it in place like a backpack. She started to walk up towards the center of camp when she heard another car pulling in. She looked up to see a shiny gray car pull in next to her, and after a moment, Nico and Chase both opened their doors and stepped out. Chase waved when he saw her and Nico gave her a small smile.

“Hey,” Karolina said breathlessly as she smiled back at Nico.

“Long time, no see, Karolina!” Chase said. He jogged over to her and wrapped her up in a hug.

She pulled away from him. Chase gave her a questioning look. “Sorry, I have to be careful, you know, with my guitar,” she said, gesturing vaguely to the instrument at her back. He nodded.

Nico walked up to them and they all began walking towards camp. “I didn’t know you played,” she said, looking at the guitar.

“My dad taught me when I was little,” Karolina explained. “Our cabin loves when Gert plays her ukulele, and we thought it would be fun to add another instrument. You know, mix things up.”

“Are you going to play in the talent show?” Nico asked.

Karolina shrugged. “Probably not. I don’t want to take the time away from the campers, and besides, I haven’t, like, actually performed in years.”

“That’s a shame,” Nico said. Karolina glanced over at her. “I was hoping to hear you play.”

Karolina laughed nervously and ran a hand through her hair. “I mean, maybe?” she said. “I haven’t decided on anything. I might do something with Gert?”

“That would be cool,” Nico said. Karolina looked over at her and grinned. Maybe she would play in the talent show. Since Nico thought it was cool. Not that Nico had an influence over Karolina’s decisions. But maybe it wasn’t the worst idea.

Monday was hiking day. Shortly after breakfast, Karolina, Gert, and Chase, and their van with almost twenty campers, drove away from camp and towards a nearby hiking trail.

“Does anyone remember what types of trees we might see?” Gert asked the campers as they piled out of the bus.

“Pine trees!” called out one of the boys.

Gert nodded. “Yes! There’s a few different pine species in this area. Anyone else?”

“Birch trees?” someone asked tentatively.

“No, we don’t typically see those this far south. Good guess though! I’m thinking today we should keep an eye out for junipers, oaks, and if we’re lucky, maybe even a bristlecone pine!” Gert said. Karolina was impressed with the amount of enthusiasm Gert was showing. She really didn’t know if Gert genuinely cared that much about the local foliage, but the energy she was putting in to get the campers engaged was infectious.

The counselors and campers gathered around the picnic benches at the base of the trailhead as they finished putting on their shoes and tying bandanas around their heads. Karolina looked around the group. “Everybody have their water bottles?” she asked. “We have extras in the van if anyone forgot, just let me know.” One girl nervously raised her hand. Karolina recognized her as one of the campers from Nico and Eiffel’s cabin. “Don’t worry, Georgia, I’ll go grab you one,” she said. She walked back to the van and started rummaging around in the boxes in the back. It took a few seconds to find the extra water bottles, but soon enough she found one and she went back to the group.

As she approached, she saw Gert and Chase sitting to the side. Gert was putting her hair into braids and talking about trees again. “What’s really cool about the bristlecone pines is that they’re some of the oldest living plants on the planet,” she was saying. “There was one that was discovered back in the 60s that was almost five thousand years old.”

“Are they common around here?” Chase asked. He was sitting next to her, mindlessly playing with his sunglasses as he watched Gert braid her hair.

Gert shrugged. “I haven’t seen any, but this is the right type of mountain for them. If we get up to the treeline, maybe we can spot one.”

“Do you need any help with your hair?” he asked. “I don’t know much about braiding but that looks really complicated.”

“It’s just a Dutch braid; it’s easier than it looks,” she said. “But could you grab my scrunchies from my bag?” Chase nodded and grabbed the hair ties. Karolina watched with a smile as he slowly wrapped the scrunchies around the ends of Gert’s braids, face contorted in concentration.

 Gert laughed as Chase helped her finish her hair. She stood up as Karolina got to them. Chase raised his hand and Gert grabbed on to it, pulling him to his feet. “All set?” Gert asked Karolina.

Karolina handed the water bottle to Georgia and nodded. “I think so,” she said.

“Let’s go hike!” Chase said loudly. He let out a cheer and started walking up the path, glancing behind him to make sure people were following.

“I think he really likes you,” Karolina said quietly to Gert a few minutes later as they made their way up the mountain.

“What? I really don’t think so. He kissed you, remember?” Gert said. She looked around to make sure none of the campers were near enough to hear. “And keep your voice down!”

Karolina shook her head. “We kissed once and that was it. We haven’t even talked since then. I don’t think he actually likes me, I think he was just looking for someone to kiss.”

Gert scoffed. “Well that makes me feel so much better, Karolina,” she said.

“No, I’m just saying, I was just nearby and available. But I don’t think he likes me. But he seems really interested in you and everything you’re saying, so I think he likes you,” Karolina tried to explain.

Gert nodded and bit her lip in concentration. Karolina knew there must be so many thoughts rushing through her friend’s head, and she wished there was more she could do.

“Hey, you know, it’s been so beautiful these past few days, we should make the most of it. Want to ask Jonah if we can take our cabin out after Taps, and, I don’t know, stargaze or something? They’ve been so good lately,” Karolina suggested.

“Yeah, that would be fun. Do some cabin group bonding,” Gert said. “Also, you should probably tell Chase you’re not actually interested in him,” Gert said. Karolina groaned.

“Yeah, okay, I will,” Karolina said. “I’ll talk to him.”

It took until dinner the next day before Karolina found time to talk to Chase. She had been avoiding it for long enough—Karolina knew she had to find Chase and clear things up with him. The campers were distracted, playing games of tetherball or sitting and chatting as they waited for evening activities to start, so it was the perfect time to get away for a bit and talk. “Chase! Hey!” Karolina jogged up to him as they exited the dining hall. He finished the conversation he was having with some campers and turned to Karolina. “Can we talk for a second?” she asked.

“Yeah, of course,” he nodded, and the two walked to a secluded bench over by a patch of trees. “What’s up?” he asked as they sat down.

Karolina bit her lip. “Um, well,” she started. “Remember when you kissed me?” she said.

He let out a short laugh. “Oh, that doesn’t sound good. Okay, continue.”

Karolina glanced at him then looked away. She started fiddling with the watch around her wrist. “I just, I don’t think we should do it again,” she said

“Because we’re at work, or because it was me who kissed you and not somebody else?” he asked. Karolina didn’t say anything. Chase let out a sigh. “Cool,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” Karolina started to say. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings or anything—”

“No, hey, it’s really fine,” Chase said, cutting her off. “I mean, it sucks that you don’t like me back, but there’s nothing either of us can do about it. And I’d rather you tell me this now instead of letting it get farther,” he said. “It’s really okay.”

They sat there quietly. Karolina was relieved that he had taken it well. As well as these things can go. She liked Chase—not in the way he wanted, but she thought he was nice—and she didn’t want him to be upset.

She looked over at him and saw him looking into the distance. As she turned to follow his gaze, she saw Gert sitting with some of the girls in their cabin, helping them with their friendship bracelets. Karolina knew Chase was going to be okay.

The beautiful summer day faded into a beautifully warm evening. Jonah had agreed to let Gert and Karolina stay up a bit later with their campers, and the two had decided to go to the campfire with them.

“Alrighty, girls, follow me!” Gert said. She took up the front of the group and started the walk towards the fire pit. Karolina fell to the back, making sure that nobody straggled too far behind. After some pleading from the girls, Karolina had been convinced to bring her guitar with her to the campfire, so the instrument was strapped securely to her back. The walk to fire pit was uneventful—though getting their girls to go anywhere was like herding cats—and soon they were all sitting in a circle around the fire.

“Alright! Do we want to sing some campfire songs?” Gert asked.

“Yes!!!” the campers cheered.

“What should we sing first? Any suggestions?” Karolina asked.

Mackenzie’s hand shot up. “Home on the range!” she said. “Can we sing Home on the range?”

Gert nodded. “That’s a good one to start with. Miss Karolina, do you know the chords for that song?”

“Yeah, I can figure something out,” she said. She played a few chords and looked up. “Ready?” she prompted, and the girls all started singing.

They sang a couple songs that the girls all knew. This Land is Your Land and the Kookabura song and a few others. After about twenty minutes, they began to finish up.

“Miss Gert and Miss Karolina, will you sing a song for us?” asked Lily.

“Oh, not right now, Lily, but maybe another time,” Karolina said gently.

Lily frowned, but then perked up as another idea popped into her head. “Will you sing at the talent show?”

Gert and Karolina glanced at each other. Karolina shrugged. “Maybe,” Gert said. “Would that be something you all would want?”

“Yes!!!” chorused the girls.

Karolina laughed. “Looks like we’ve got some fans.”

“We’ll consider it,” Gert told the girls. “But for now, I think it’s time to get to bed.”

After getting the girls to bed, Karolina went back to her shared room with Gert. The main light was off, but both Gert and Karolina had their flashlights turned on and sitting on their shared dresser. The purple haired girl was on her bed, sprawled on her back like a starfish, with her eyes closed. “I’m exhausted,” she said as Karolina closed the door behind her.

“It’s not even 10 yet,” Karolina laughed as she checked her watch.

“Those girls are exhausting. I love them, but they’re exhausting,” Gert said dramatically. Karolina nodded in agreement. She walked over to her dresser and grabbed her pajamas and started changing. “Hey, do you really think Chase likes me?” Karolina heard Gert ask.

Karolina tugged her counselor shirt off and unclasped her bra, sliding the straps off her shoulders. She pulled on a soft t-shirt as she answered. “Yeah, I do think so. I don’t know if he knows it yet, but I think he likes you.”

“You know a lot about that, don’t you?” Gert asked, with a teasing tint to her voice.

Karolina held her breath for a moment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said quietly.

Gert scoffed. “Cut the shit. I mean about liking someone but not knowing it. You kissed the boy I like. The least you can do is be honest to yourself—and to me—about who you really like.” The room was silent for a few moments. Gert continued, her voice softer. “Karolina, if there’s anybody who’s not going to judge you for what you say, it’s me. Whatever you’re feeling, it’s okay.”

Karolina nodded. She started playing with the ends of her hair. “I think I like Nico,” she said quietly.

Gert sat up so quickly that it made Karolina almost jump. “You do?” she said with enthusiasm.

“What happened to being exhausted?” Karolina questioned, rolling her eyes at her friend.

“This is more important than that,” Gert said dismissively. “You like her?”

Karolina pushed the hair out of her face. “Yes? I don’t know what this all means, though. I’m not…” Karolina said quickly before fading out.

“Not what? Gay? Because it kind of sounds like you are,” said Gert.

Karolina ignored her. “I’ve never liked a girl before. I like boys!” she exclaimed.

“And you can like both, that’s allowed. And it’s totally possible that you never actually liked boys as much as you thought you did.”

Karolina turned to look at Gert. “Wait, what?” she asked.

Gert smiled, and patted to the space next to her on her bed. “Okay, we’re talking about this,” she said. Karolina sat down and Gert continued. “Well, first of all, you could be bi, or maybe pan, like me,” she said. “But, to be honest, I kind of get the vibe that that’s not the case. Have you ever felt the way you feel about Nico with anyone else? Even a boy?”

“I just really like being around Nico,” Karolina said. “When I look at her, I can’t really think. I just can’t form coherent thoughts around her. She makes me nervous. Like, not in a bad way. She’s just really cool and I want to be friends with her and spend time with her, but how do I know if that’s a crush or if I just want to be friends?”

“How did you feel when she kissed you?” Gert asked in response.

Karolina brought her hand up to her lips, remembering how it felt when Nico had kissed her by the fire. “I, uh, I felt really good,” she said. She could feel her cheeks turning red, and she was grateful that it was too dark in the room for Gert to see.

“Woah, there, keep it PG!” Gert said. “You felt good?” she pressed.

Karolina nodded. “I don’t remember ever feeling as good as I did then,” she said quietly.

Gert nodded sagely and placed a comforting arm around Karolina’s shoulders. “Karolina, hon, I think you might be a lesbian,” Gert said. Karolina let out a long sigh and leaned forward, putting her head in her hands. “It’s not a bad thing!” Gert continued.

“I know it’s not,” Karolina mumbled. “I just don’t know what to do now.”

“Okay, well, do you think Nico likes you back?” Gert questioned.

Karolina bit her lip. “I really don’t know,” she said. “Like, sometimes I think so? Like I think she’s flirting with me sometimes, but we saw her kissing Alex? So maybe she likes him.”

“You kissed Chase and you don’t like him,” Gert pointed out.

“I just don’t know, Gert. I’ve never done this before. I don’t even know if she’s gay. And even if she is, I wouldn’t know what to do or how to tell her or anything,” Karolina said. She started to yawn, and she did her best to stifle it.

“We’ve had a lot of realizations for one night. Maybe we sleep on this and we can talk about it again later if you want?” Gert suggested. Karolina nodded silently. She started to stand up, but Gert pulled her in for a quick hug. “I know it can be scary,” Gert whispered. “But everything you’re feeling? Those are good things.”

Karolina nodded again and let herself sink into the hug. “Thank you,” she murmured.

Gert pulled away and smiled. “Of course.”

They both grabbed their flashlights and turned them off, covering the room in darkness. Karolina pulled back the covers and slipped into bed, grateful for the day to come to a close.

“For what it’s worth,” Gert said after a few minutes, cutting through the silence just before Karolina had faded into sleep. “I’ve seen how she looks at you. I don’t think it’s possible that she’s not into you.”

Karolina woke up the next morning as the wake-up bell rang. She rolled out of bed and yawned. “God, is it morning already?” Gert groaned from the other side of the room.

“Come up, let’s get ready,” Karolina said, smiling at her friend as Gert rubbed the sleep from her eyes. They both washed their faces and brushed their teeth, throwing on the counselor uniform of a Camp Atlas t-shirt and khaki shorts, before heading into the main room of the cabin to make sure all their campers were getting ready for the day.

Eventually, the second bell rang, signaling that it was time for everyone to head down to the dining hall for breakfast. “Let’s go, everyone!” Gert called out.

Karolina held the door open for the girls as they sleepily made their way out. She smiled as Mia let out a big yawn.

As she followed the girls, she caught sight of Nico standing in front of her cabin, staring up at the sky in frustration. There were large, billowy clouds overhead, gleaming in a pinkish-orange. “What’s up?” Karolina asked, walking over to her. She felt her heart speed up as Nico looked at her and smiled. “It’s a pretty sunrise.”

Nico shook her head, smile fading. “It’s a bad sign.”

Karolina laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“Red sky at night, sailors’ delight. Red sky at morning, sailors’ take warning,” Nico said matter-of-factly. When Karolina raised her eyebrow in confusion, Nico continued. “It’s a saying, to help predict the weather. If the sky is red in the morning, it’s a sign that there will probably be a storm later. And since we’re working at an outdoor summer camp,” Nico gestured to the clearing and the trees surrounding them. “It’s a bad sign.”

Karolina stood for a moment and just looked at Nico. She looked so calm and powerful as she stood there, arms crossed and looking at the clouds. She looked so beautiful. “Are you sure?” Karolina asked. “I checked the weather app before I left for the week, and it said it was supposed to be sunny this week.”

Nico smirked at her. “You tell me. But I’m going to take my umbrella out with me today, because I’m not going to risk it.” Karolina thought about the talk she had had with Gert the night before. About how nobody—not Chase, not any of the other boys who had flirted with her in the past—made her feel the way Nico did. Even the simplest conversations, like now, talking about the weather, made her feel butterflies. Nico shrugged. “We should get going, though. Don’t want to be late for breakfast. You can tell me I’m right later.”

Karolina scoffed. “Yeah, right. Nico, do you really think the color of the sky will tell you if it’s going to rain?”

Nico shrugged. “We’ll just have to see,” she said.

Nico had been right. As much as it pained Karolina to admit it, she was right. Karolina stood inside the boathouse looking out at the rain that was pouring down onto the beach. They had been in the middle of a busy morning at the waterfront—campers learning how to canoe and how to row while others practiced diving—when a crash of thunder sent all of them into the shelter of the boathouse. Now, Eiffel had taken over entertaining the kids, leading a large game of Simon Says with help from Brandon and Lucas, two of the other boys counselors that Karolina didn’t know very well. Nico and Alex were sitting at the far side of the boathouse, practicing sailing knots with the kids who didn’t want to play. Karolina was on storm duty—watching the skies and listening to see if things were going to get worse.

Karolina heard movement from behind her turned around to see Nico approaching with a smirk on her face. She had her hair tied up in two buns and was still wearing her swimsuit but was wearing a blue camp t-shirt on top. “Do I get to say I told you so?”

Karolina pushed a strand of hair out of her face and smiled. “Yeah, I guess so.” she said, sighing dramatically.

 The smirk on Nico’s face shifted into a teasing smile. The girl leaned forward and whispered into Karolina’s ear. “I told you so.” Karolina felt shivers run up her back. She laughed nervously.

“You really did, huh,” Karolina said. “Sorry for doubting your, uh, knowledge of weather lore.” She started backing away from Nico, just to give herself some space. Nico looked so cute with hair up like that, and her legs—wow. Had Karolina ever appreciated how long Nico’s legs were? Karolina jumped slightly as her back hit the wall.

Nico looked at her in confusion. “You good there?”

“Sorry, yeah,” Karolina said, shaking her head to clear it. “Worried about the rain. You know.” She gestured vaguely to the water pouring down outside.

Nico raised an eyebrow. “Sure,” she said.

“You know! Like what you were saying this morning. I just want to make sure we’re able to keep the kids entertained.”

The brunette nodded, accepting Karolina’s answer. “They’re only going to be entertained by Eiffel’s game of Simon Says for so long,” Nico said.

Karolina laughed. “She’s surprisingly good at it, though. The campers seem to love it.”

“She’s just good at giving orders,” Nico said dismissively. “She does it all the time. You should try living with her.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Karolina said. Talking to Nico like this felt good. It felt so natural—just bouncing back and forth off of each other. She looked back over at the game of Simon Says. Only three or four campers were left; the others had all gotten out and were sitting on the side and watching and were starting to look bored. “We’re going to have to figure out something soon, though, looks like the game is ending.”

Nico was quiet for a moment. She glanced outside at the rain. “How long has it been since the last thunder, Kar?”

Karolina’s heart warmed at hearing the nickname. “Uh, just about twenty-five minutes, why? I don’t think we can let them back in the water.”

“I know,” Nico said. “But we’re all still wearing our swimsuits. What are we afraid of? Getting hit by some raindrops?” Nico called to some of the campers who were currently sitting out. “Josh, Nicole, Mackenzie—why don’t you come over here?”

“Coming, Miss Nico!” one of them said as they scampered over. Karolina looked at Nico in awe. She was so good with the kids, and she was right—why were they afraid of some rain?

As a few campers started gathering around, Nico started talking. “Anyone want to come play outside for a while? It’s getting boring in here!”

“What—but it’s raining!” one of them said.

Karolina stepped in. “That’s a good idea, Miss Nico! It’s still warm outside—why are we letting the rain stop us from being outside?”

One of the campers—Josh, Karolina recalled—nodded. “Yeah, I don’t want to play Simon Says anymore! Can we play rain tag?”

Nico tilted her head. “I’m not sure I know how to play rain tag. What are the rules?” she asked.

Josh shrugged. “It’s like normal tag but we play in the rain,” he said.

Nico laughed. “Alright, that sounds good. Who’s in?”

“I am!” Karolina said right away.

Another camper—Nicole—looked pensive for a moment before nodding. “If Miss Nico and Miss Karolina are playing, I want to, too!” she said. Her friend, Mackenzie, nodded, and of the other nearby campers started looking interested.

“Awesome! Anyone who wants to play is welcome to!” Nico said with enthusiasm. “Miss Karolina’s it!”

“What?” Karolina said. Nico grinned at her. “Okay, yeah, I’ll be it,” she consented.

Nico pulled her t-shirt up over her head, revealing the navy blue one piece she had on underneath. Karolina glanced over at her for a moment before blushing and looking away. She kicked off the shorts she had on over her swimsuit. “Ready?” Nico asked. Karolina nodded.

Nico grabbed Karolina’s hand and pulled her out of the boathouse. She let out a small yelp as the cold rain started splashing on her skin. Two campers ran out after them, following their lead. Karolina pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail to try to prevent it from getting in her face.

She looked around as five or six other campers joined them on the beach. “Are we ready?” she asked. The campers started running away, and Karolina took that as her cue to start.

It was harder than she thought, being ‘it’. Karolina had thought that she would have to go easy on the campers, but they were surprisingly agile, and the steady pouring of rain only made it harder. After skidding on the sand a few times trying to chase some campers down, she finally tagged someone. “Mackenzie’s it!” she shouted.

Mackenzie darted off, running after a group of campers who had tentatively stepped out of the boathouse. Karolina leaned forward and rested her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. She turned to see Nico jogging over to her. “Good work there, counselor,” Nico said, smiling.

“They’re fast,” Karolina said. “I’m surprised I could actually tag one of them.”

Nico laughed. “You did great,” she said. She crossed her arms in front of her and shivered, looking up at the rain. “You know, it’s actually kind of cold out here when you’re not running around.”

“I can warm you up,” Karolina said before she thought the better of it. “I was running around, so I’m warm,” she explained awkwardly. Nico raised an eyebrow at her before nodding and walking over. Karolina wrapped her arms around Nico as Nico leaned against her, Nico’s back to her front.

“Okay, yeah, you are warm. Thank you,” Nico said.

Karolina smiled as she rubbed her hands up and down Nico’s arms to warm her. She looked at the campers all running around together. Mackenzie had tagged Josh, who had insisted that they switch to freeze tag, and the kids who were tagged were trying to make the craziest poses as they waited to get back in. “This was a good idea, by the way. Getting the kids to play outside.”

“Oh, thanks, I just want them to have some fun,” she said. “You know, I didn’t even want to work here this summer, but it’s really growing on me. I didn’t know how much I liked kids until now.”

Karolina nodded. “Yeah, I get that. My mom really wanted me to work here because she’s friends with Jonah and because it’ll make our family seem kind and generous, so I was hesitant about it, too. But the kids are great.” She smiled as she saw two of the campers standing with their mouths open, trying to catch raindrops on their tongue as if it were snowing. “Look how happy they all are. Things are so much more simple when you’re so young.”

Nico shrugged, and leaned her head against Karolina. “Growing up isn’t all that bad,” she said. “This is pretty nice. Being here with you, watching them.”

Karolina felt like she was glowing because of how warm hearing that made her feel. “This is nice, you’re right,” she said. “This is good.”

They stood there together, Nico right in front of Karolina, her head resting against Karolina’s chest. Karolina felt as if she could stay there, just in that moment, for the rest of her life.

The next morning at the end of breakfast, Alex and Brandon stood up to make an announcement to the camp. “Ladies and gentlemen, the talent show is tonight!” Alex said. Everyone let out a cheer.

Brandon continued. “The deadline to sign up with a talent is lunch. If you still want to sign up, come find me or Mr. Alex and we’ll put you on the list.”

“Give it a chance!” Alex said. “Show Camp Atlas what you’ve got!”

Karolina turned to Gert. The two were up near the kitchen, helping campers wash their plates. “Do you still want to do a song together?” she asked.

Gert scoffed. “Yeah, no way, sorry. I can sing and play my uke around the cabin, but actually going and playing on stage is a bit more than my anxiety can handle.” She looked at Karolina. “You should still do something, though.”

“What? No, I don’t want to do something alone. If we did it together, that would be one thing. I don’t want to take the time away from the kids, you know,” Karolina said.

“Don’t worry about that,” Gert told her. “Jonah was telling me and Alex earlier that it’s actually nice when some of the counselors do things for the talent show, because it makes it less intimidating for the kids.” She nudged Karolina with her arm. “And besides, it would be a great way to get Nico’s attention.”

Karolina shook her head, “No, I couldn’t do that,” she said. Then she turned to look at Gert. “Do you really think that would get her attention?” she asked, lowering her voice.

Gert laughed. “Yes, I think it would. Now go tell Alex you want to sign up!”

“Okay,” Karolina said, feeling a bit flustered. She started walking towards him but froze and spun back to face Gert. “Shit, what song am I going to sing?” she asked. Gert started laughing even harder.

“You’ll figure it out!” Gert called to her. “Just go sign up!”

Later that morning, Karolina was surprised to find that she had an hour for herself. The rain from the day before had led to muddy forest trails with many fallen branches in the way, so she and Brandon had cancelled the nature walk they had planned to lead. The campers who had originally signed up for it had been added to the group taking a field trip to a nearby science museum, and Karolina found herself sitting outside her cabin, looking up at the sky.

“What are you doing?” Karolina looked up to see Nico approaching her with a smile on her face.

“Nothing, really. I don’t have any activities to lead until after lunch, so I’m just sitting here,” Karolina told her.

Nico’s smile grew. “Well, in that case, can I show you something?”

“Of course,” Karolina said immediately. She pushed herself up off the ground and smiled bashfully at Nico.

“Follow me,” Nico said, nodding towards a path that lead into the woods.

After a few turns, Karolina realized that it was a path that she wasn’t familiar with. The camp property always surprised her with how big it actually was. “Where are we going?” Karolina asked.

“Just trust me!”

Just as Karolina had suspected, the ground was muddy and there were fallen branches lying everywhere. She was very aware of her sneakers getting covered in mud but she followed Nico nonetheless.

Karolina’s foot got caught on a branch and she felt herself fall forward. “Shit!” she exclaimed, and she put her hands out to brace herself. Instead, she felt Nico’s arms catching her.

“You good there?” Nico asked. She had turned around and was at an awkward angle, her hands on Karolina’s upper arms. Karolina nodded, doing her best to catch her breath. Nico helped her get to her feet. “You keep falling on me,” she said teasingly once Karolina was back up.

“What?” Karolina asked in confusion.

“The first night. When we played truth or dare with the other counselors. You jumped the fire and fell on me,” Nico explained.

“And then you kissed me,” Karolina said, then froze. “I—I mean,” she started to say.

Nico cut her off with a laugh. “No, you’re right, then I kissed you.” Karolina smiled softly. Nico gestured with her head to the path, and they started walking again. “And hey, I’m sorry about that. I know you said it was fine, but it did feel like that made things weird.”

“No, I mean it—it really is fine. I was just,” Karolina bit her lip and trailed off. “Did you really think I was the hottest person there?” Karolina asked after a pause.

“Definitely,” Nico said without hesitation. “You’re really hot, Karolina.”

Karolina coughed awkwardly, her face burning. “Uh, wow, thank you,” she said. “You’re hot, too.”

Nico laughed. “I wasn’t telling you that just to get a compliment back, but thank you,” she said. “You did this when you were at my house over the weekend. I said you looked cute and you immediately said it back.”

“Oh,” Karolina said. She hadn’t realized that she had been doing that. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Karolina, it’s okay. I just want you to know that I’m not expecting anything from you,” Nico said, more serious than before. She turned to face Karolina and smiled softly. Karolina smiled back at her.

Karolina could see the glimmer of the lake through the branches of the trees. “Here we are!” Nico said as they got closer. Nico grabbed Karolina’s hand and pulled her along. They stopped at the water’s edge. Karolina looked around. Unlike at the camp’s waterfront, there was no beach here—the forest continued until a rocky ledge separated the trees from the lake. The trees all had long and low branches that reached out over the water. One tree in particular had a long branch, about ten feet above the ground, that extended from the trunk of the tree at almost a right angle.

“Come on!” Nico said. She jogged over to the tree and started climbing. Karolina’s mouth opened in shock as the smaller girl scampered up the tree. She pushed herself up through the smaller branches and swung her legs up around the long branch. Karolina stared up at her in awe. “Don’t just stand there,” Nico called down to her. “Join me!”

Though she wasn’t as adept at climbing as Nico had been, Karolina was able to make her way up the tree. Nico had moved over to create space for Karolina, but there still wasn’t much room for the two of them on the branch. “It’s not going to fall, is it?” Karolina asked hesitantly. Nico shook her head and Karolina carefully climbed onto the branch. Her arm brushed against Nico’s.

“It’s safe up here. Would I take you somewhere unsafe?”

“I’ve only known you for two weeks. I have no idea what you would do to me,” Karolina said dramatically.

Nico laughed. “It’s good to know you have so much faith in me. But don’t worry; we’re on the branch together. If you fall, I fall, and I have enough self-preservation instincts to not want to do that.”

Karolina scoffed and softly bumped her arm against Nico’s. “If you say so, Nico,” she said. “If you say so.”

From their position halfway up the tree, Karolina was able to appreciate the view of the lake in an entirely new way. She was so used to seeing the lake full of campers splashing about and making noise. And while that was beautiful in itself, this was something different. She took in the vast stillness of the lake. The houses on the far side of the water, so small in their distance that Karolina could just pick out the colors. And the mountains. Karolina had always loved the mountains, but the way they stood here, their dark browns and golds contrasting the blue of the sky and the lake, made them more beautiful than ever.

“Everything’s so peaceful up here,” she said softly.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nico nod. “I like to come out here when things are getting to be too much. It really makes me appreciate how lucky I am, you know?”

Karolina smiled. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, leaning against each other and taking in the view of the world.

“For what it’s worth, I would have chosen you, too.” Karolina said quietly.

“What?”

Karolina bit her lip. “If I had been given the dare you had. To kiss who I thought was the most attractive. I would have chosen you.” Nico didn’t say anything. Was that too much? Was Karolina pushing too far?

Then Nico knocked their shoulders together. “You flatter me, Kar,” she said teasingly. “Thank you, though. For telling me.” Karolina looked at Nico nervously. Even though she hadn’t outright said it, it still felt like she had just revealed something big to Nico. But Nico wasn’t saying anything to make it seem like she understood.

In the distance, the bell rang, and Karolina was pulled back into reality.

“Lunch time,” Nico said. “I guess we have to get going.” Her voice sounded almost wistful.

“I think I might need some help getting off this branch,” Karolina said, looking down. It looked even more daunting than going up.

Nico laughed. “I’ll guide you down. I won’t leave you here,” she said, and slowly the two made their way back to the rest of camp. 

That night, the entirety of camp gathered together in the main hall for the talent show. Karolina sat in the back with Gert and some of the other counselors, her guitar resting by her side. The room was buzzing with excitement as the campers and counselors were warming up or practicing one last time before they performed. Karolina fiddled with the watch around her wrist and bit her lip, trying to distract herself from her nerves.

“Don’t be nervous! You’re going to do great!” Gert said.

“I’m not trying to be nervous, I just am!” Karolina protested. “And besides, you’re the one who decided not to do this with me because you were too nervous!”

Gert laughed. “You’ve got a point there,” she said. “Nonetheless, I’ve heard you sing, it’s going to be amazing!”

Karolina took a deep breath. “I hope you’re right.” She scanned the crowd. Nico was in the middle of the room, sitting with Eiffel and some of their campers.

The room quieted as the talent show began. Alex started it off, reciting about a hundred digits of pi before bowing and introducing the next person. Karolina did her best to calm her nerves and focus on the various acts. Darian, one of the campers from Chase’s cabin, showed the camp how he could juggle. Two of Karolina’s campers, Jillian and Autumn—who had fought over who got which bunk bed less than two weeks ago—performed their own choreographed dance to a song Karolina didn’t recognize. 

As a girl named Sarah started playing a simple melody on some water glasses, Karolina felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Alex crouched next to her. “You’re up next,” he whispered.

Karolina took a deep breath and stood up, following Alex as he led her towards the stage. “You’ve got this!” Karolina heard Gert whisper as she walked away.

She stood in the wings backstage as Sarah continued performing. Then, the music stopped, and the camp started cheering, and Karolina knew it was her turn.

Karolina walked onto stage. “Hey, guys,” she said as she sat down on the chair center stage and pulled the guitar into her lap. “Some of my cabin has been asking me to perform something tonight, and they’ve been bugging me enough that I decided I had to.” From the back of the hall she heard some cheering and she recognized the voices of her campers.

“Yeah Miss Karolina!” Karolina’s heart skipped a beat as she heard Nico’s voice rising up from the audience.

“I’m hoping a few of you will recognize the song,” she said. She started played the first few notes. It had been a while since she’d really performed in front of anyone, but she knew what she was doing.

Slowly, she made her way into the song. “Picture yourself in a boat on a river,” she sang. Suddenly, everything faded away. She closed her eyes and let herself dive into the music. “With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.”

As she sang, she looked out into the audience. She saw Gert, a look of pride on her face. She saw her campers, who were grinning up at her with joy. And then she saw Nico.

Nico, who was looking at her with pure awe. Their eyes locked, and Karolina watched as Nico began to smile. It made Karolina feel so grounded. Like she could do anything, take any risk, and she would be safe. Because Nico was there, looking at her like that.

Karolina had forgotten how much she loved to perform. When she had been younger, her mother had signed her up for the church’s choir, and she had sung with them for many years. Up on stage, as the camp swayed along to her music, she felt so at peace.

As she held out the last note of the song, she closed her eyes again. Suddenly, the room erupted in applause. Karolina opened her eyes and grinned. Once again, her gaze drifted over to Nico. Her fellow counselor was clapping along with everyone else, and when she saw Karolina looking at her, she winked. In that moment, with Nico smiling at her from across the hall, Karolina felt like she could fly.

Karolina thanked everyone and grabbed her guitar and slipped offstage. Once she was out of sight from the audience, she let out a breath. Her heart was still racing.

As the performer after her started, she stepped outside to walk back to her old seat without being disrupted. She went back in from the back door, set her guitar down in the corner, and went back to sit next to Gert.

Her friend hugged her the moment she sat down. “That was incredible!” Gert whispered to her. “You crushed it!”

Karolina smiled and leaned into the hug. “Thank you! It—it actually was a lot of fun,” she said.

“I knew you would be great,” Gert said proudly as they settled back in to watch the last of the performances.

After a few more performances, ranging from Chase’s poor attempt at baton twirling to another innovative dance routine, Jonah got up on stage. “Let’s give another round of applause to all our brave campers and counselors who shared their talents with us tonight!” he said, and the camp cheered. He waited for the roar to die down before continuing. “And since this is the last evening we share before the weekend, I want to wish you all a good few days until we meet again on Monday. Goodnight, everyone! It’s time for bed, so follow your counselors up the hill!”

Everyone stood up and began to move around, saying goodnight to their friends and grabbing anything they had with them.

 “Hey, can I talk to you for a few minutes?” Karolina heard Nico’s voice behind her and she turned to face the brunette. Nico was standing a few paces away, biting her lip and fidgeting with something in her hands.

“I’ll see you up the hill!” Karolina called to Gert as her fellow counselor began to make her way back to the cabin, then she turned back to Nico. “Yeah, what’s up?” Karolina asked.

Nico waited a moment for more people to clear out before continuing. “You did great up there,” she said.

Karolina’s heartbeat sped up at the compliment and her chest felt warm. “Really?” Karolina asked breathlessly. 

“Don’t act like you don’t know it,” Nico teased. “I had no idea you had such a beautiful voice. I can’t say I’m surprised, though. You pretty much always amaze me.”

Karolina beamed down at her. God, Nico made her so happy. Nico glanced around quickly. There were still a few campers and counselors lingering in the hall—Chase was helping the girl from earlier put away her musical water glasses, and Eiffel was talking to some of the campers over by one of the doors. “Actually, will you follow me?” Nico asked sheepishly.

“Of course!” Karolina said loudly, internally cursing herself for being so unable to curb her enthusiasm. Nico grinned at her and grabbed Karolina’s hand, pulling her towards the stage.

“Where are you going?” Eiffel asked from the other side of the hall.

“Just making sure everything is put away correctly backstage. I’ll be up at the cabin in a minute, don’t worry!” Nico said. Eiffel nodded dismissively and turned away.

Nico tugged Karolina behind the back curtain and into the backstage area. “What are we doing back here—are we putting things away?” Karolina asked, confused.

Nico shook her head. “No, I was lying,” she said bluntly. “I just wanted to get away from everyone else for a second.” Karolina nodded. Nico was looking at her intently and Karolina found she could no longer form a cohesive thought.

“Okay,” Karolina said breathlessly.

Nico reached up and played with a strand of Karolina’s hair that was hanging in front of her face. Karolina had to suppress the urge to lean into Nico’s touch.

It felt like time was frozen. Everything melted away, and for a moment, Karolina would have sworn that she and Nico were the only two people in the entire world. All of the sudden, Nico took a deep breath. She moved her hand away from Karolina’s hair and onto Karolina’s shoulder. Nico raised herself onto her toes and leaned in, pressing her lips softly against Karolina’s and kissing her. It was soft, their lips barely touching, and Nico backed up an inch.

“Is this okay?” Nico asked.

It took Karolina a beat to process what was asked. Nico started to pull away and a glint of something—maybe fear, maybe regret—flashed over her eyes. “It’s okay!” Karolina rushed out. “It’s really okay. It’s more than okay,” she said. She let out a shaky breath and connected their lips into another kiss. It was stronger than their previous kiss; more assured. She felt one of Nico’s arms wrap around her lower back, pulling the two of them closer. Karolina’s hands went to the sides of Nico’s face. One hand wove its way into Nico’s hair and the other rested delicately on her cheek.

“Woah,” Karolina said. She felt as if fireworks were going off in her chest. She had no idea that she could feel this way.

“Sorry,” Nico said. “I’ve just wanted to do that for a really long time.”

“What?” Karolina asked. “But I thought, you and Alex…” she trailed off.

Nico snorted. “What, you thought that because he and I kissed once, we were exclusive or something? No, I don’t like him that way. I just didn’t think I had a chance with you, ’cause I thought you were straight.” She paused. “You’re not straight, right?”

Karolina shook her head. “Definitely not,” she said, laughing breathlessly. Nico’s arm was still around Karolina’s back, and Karolina realized she had never felt as safe as she did in that moment.

“Good,” Nico said. Suddenly, all the lights in the room turned off. “I think that’s our queue to get back to our cabins, huh?” she said.

Karolina nodded. “Yeah, probably.” Neither of them moved.

“We can talk about this, if you want,” Nico said. “Not tonight, obviously, but maybe tomorrow or when we get back on Monday. If this is okay with you?” Her eyes flickered back and forth between Karolina’s, soft concern on her gaze. God, Nico was probably the most considerate person Karolina had ever met.

“That sounds good, yeah,” Karolina said. Nico grinned and leaned forward to quickly kiss Karolina’s cheek. Karolina couldn’t stop smiling. “Okay, we really should go now,” she said.

 They walked back into the main section of the hall. It was completely empty. “Someone must have turned the lights off once everyone left,” Nico explained. Karolina walked over to her guitar and grabbed it, slinging it over her back. They walked up the hill together, the backs of their hands just barely brushing against the other’s. As they arrived at their cabins, they smiled at each other.

“Goodnight,” Karolina said. Nico pulled her into a hug, and Karolina hummed as she held Nico close to her once again.

After a moment, Nico stepped back. “I’ll see you in the morning?” she asked. Karolina nodded. “Goodnight,” Nico said. Walking away from Nico after kissing her was one of the hardest things Karolina had done in a while, but she turned and walked to her cabin. Her heart felt like it was soaring.

Quietly, she opened the door and stepped inside the cabin. The girls were finishing getting ready for bed and so Karolina bid them goodnight and went to her and Gert’s section of the cabin. She smiled as she saw that Gert was already passed out in her bed.

“Goodnight, Gert,” she said softly, before getting ready to sleep.

Friday was another busy day for Karolina, and other than some shared smiles at breakfast and lunch, Karolina didn’t have time to talk to Nico. Karolina knew she couldn’t talk about what happened but she still walked around with an extra skip in her step. Soon it was the early afternoon, and Karolina and Gert were in the motorboat, lifeguarding for the same sailing class that Karolina and Chase had guarded for the week prior. “I kissed Nico,” Karolina said as she drove the boat out into the lake.

She heard Gert gasp from the seat beside her. “Holy shit, are you serious?” she said.

Karolina laughed. “Yeah, I am. It was wonderful.”

“When did this happen? Why am I just hearing this now?” Gert started prying.

“Last night, after the talent show. And I was going to tell you last night when I got back to the cabin but you were already asleep.”

Gert sighed. “Damn, my inability to stay awake at night.” Karolina laughed. “I gotta say, I’m really impressed, Kar. You just figured out that you were gay, like three days ago. And you’re already out kissing the girl? Not bad,” Gert said.

“Okay, well, she kissed me, but it still counts because I kissed her back,” Karolina told her.

Gert laughed. “Okay, that still counts, but since you weren’t the one who made the move, I’m a bit less impressed.”

“I can take that,” said Karolina, her smile wide. “How have you and Chase been?”

Gert let out a hum. “He asked for my number yesterday after we led that ceramics class together. So, it’s good, I think.”

Karolina grinned at her friend. She sped the motorboat up and made a wide u-turn, reveling in the feeling of the wind in her hair. Gert let out a cheer next to her. “I’m so happy for you, Gert!” Karolina said as she slowed down.

They talked for the rest of the activity period. It was the last class before camp ended for the week, so once they docked the boat they went up to the center of camp to help check out the kids.

Nico was there, as were the other counselors. She was talking to a parent when Gert and Karolina made their way into the clearing, but she smiled her eyes briefly met Karolina’s. Karolina blushed and smiled back at her. Karolina went over to the counselor office to grab a clipboard and was quickly pulled in by a group of parents and their kids. Her mind kept slipping back to Nico and their kiss.

Once all the campers had been picked up by their parents for the weekend, the counselors all walked down to the parking lot. Nico sped up to walk next to Karolina as they made their way down the hill.

“Hey,” Nico said.

Karolina looked over at her and smiled. “Hey back,” she said.

“I just wanted to say hi before the weekend. I’m pretty busy this weekend—my dad wants me and Chase to go with them to look at wedding venues—but we’ll talk on Monday, right?” Nico said. They had arrived at the parking lot and the other counselors were all saying goodbye as they got in their cars for the weekend.

Karolina nodded. “Monday. Yes. That sounds good.”

Nico grinned and spun around, walking to her car. Karolina watched as she went, and as Nico opened the door to the driver’s seat, she turned back to Karolina and shot her a wink. Karolina felt her heart skip a beat.

Unlike the previous weekend, Saturday and Sunday seemed to stretch for ages. Karolina didn’t have Nico’s number and she didn’t want to ask for it through Chase and seem clingy, and she wasn’t about to just show up at Nico’s house. Well, not knowingly; unlike last week.

So instead, she wasted time as she waited for Monday to arrive. Karolina went for another run in the canyons, and when her mother asked if she wanted to join her parents at church, she actually agreed. The sermon was nothing new, just talking about focusing on your inner light and shining onto the world. The whole time, Karolina found herself thinking of Nico. Of how she felt when Nico smiled at her like they were the only two people in the world, of what Nico might be doing right now, of what she might say to Nico when they met again after the weekend.

Monday morning finally came around, and Karolina found herself waking up half an hour earlier than she needed to just out of excitement. She made herself a nice tofu scramble for breakfast and made herself eat it, even though all she wanted was to skip the meal and just drive to camp. Because camp meant Nico. And Nico meant… Well, Karolina wasn’t really what Nico meant, or what Nico was to her. But she was really excited to figure that out. After glancing at her watch every minute for at least twenty minutes, it was finally time for Karolina to head to camp.

 As she got into her car, she saw an email notification from Jonah. MANDATORY ALL STAFF MEETING IN OFFICE BEFORE CAMPERS ARRIVE read the subject line. She tapped the email open and saw that there was no message other than that. Karolina let out a small laugh and put her phone away and began to drive. She stopped off at Gert’s house to pick her co-counselor up—both girls wanting to minimize their carbon footprint—and the two drove the rest of the way to camp.

They parked the car in the lot and made the walk up to the staff meeting. “So, yeah, we texted pretty much all of yesterday,” Gert was saying. “He was asking me questions about my life and what books I recommend and my family—it was really sweet. I think Chase might like me, Karolina!”

Karolina beamed at Gert. “I’m really glad! It would be really great for you two to get together.”

“What about you and your person?” Gert asked, nudging Karolina with her arm.

Karolina’s smile grew. “I don’t really know what’s going on with us right now, but I have a good feeling about it,” she said. They had finished walking and had arrived at the counselor office.

“I’m glad for you, too,” Gert said. She held the door open and the two walked through. She scanned the group of counselors, trying to find Nico. But the brunette wasn’t there. And neither was Chase, for that matter. Gert tugged at her arm and they went to sit in some chairs at the other side of the room. Almost all the other counselors were there.

Jonah entered from the back room and pulled up a chair. “How was your weekend?” he started asking the counselors who were around him. Karolina didn’t pay attention.

She heard the sound of the door opening and whipped her head around. There was Chase, but Nico was nowhere in sight. He had a grim look on his face.

“Where’s Nico?” she whispered as Chase sat down next to her.

His eyebrows furrowed. “Didn’t you hear?” he whispered back. Karolina shook her head, confused. “What do you think this meeting is about?” he hissed. “Nico got fired.”

“What?” Karolina asked. Chase nodded. Before she could ask any more questions, Jonah started talking.

“As I’m sure some of you have heard by now, Miss Minoru will not be joining us for the rest of the summer,” Jonah said. “We are looking into getting a new counselor to replace her, but for the time being, please be aware that you’ll have to pull a bit more weight to keep things running smoothly. I trust that this will not be a problem.”

“What are you talking about?” Karolina blurted out. Gert shot her a look, probably trying to get her to lower her voice, but Karolina ignored her. “Why isn’t Nico here?”

Jonah turned to look at her. He sighed. “Sadly, Miss Minoru was found to be engaging in inappropriate behavior, the nature of which I am not at liberty to discuss with you all. If any of you have questions, you can come speak to me in private. Other than that, you’re dismissed.” He stood up and walked away, and most of the other counselors began to leave as well.

Karolina spun in her head and grabbed Chase by the arm before he could stand up. “What happened to her?” she asked.

Gert pulled her chair over to join them. Chase smiled at her for a moment before talking. “It’s really fucked up. Apparently, someone saw her kissing another counselor.” Karolina froze.

“What? That’s bullshit,” Gert said. “So many of the counselors have been hooking up. Eiffel and Brandon were practically going at it in the dark room last week, and I had the misfortune of walking in hoping to develop some photos. Why is it a problem if Nico does it?”

Chase continued. “That’s what’s fucked up about it. She didn’t get fired because she was caught kissing another counselor. She got fired because the counselor she was kissing was a girl.”

Gert’s head immediately whipped around to look at Karolina, who still hadn’t moved. “Oh,” Gert said. Chase nodded forlornly.

“I have no idea who it was that she was kissing. And it was a counselor who reported it to Jonah, but I don’t know who that was either. It’s all so fucked up, don’t you think?” Chase said.

Gert nodded. “It’s so fucked up, yeah,” she said.

Karolina could barely process what was happening. What had she done?

Chapter Text

Nico had been fired.

Nico was gone, no longer working at Camp Atlas.

Nico had been fired because Karolina had kissed her.

Karolina couldn’t wrap her head around this. The other counselors made their ways out of the office, heading to the cabins to get ready for the arrival of the campers. Gert shot Karolina a pitying look before she’d stepped out to follow Chase. “I’ll make sure the cabin is ready for the kids. You take a few minutes,” the other girl instructed. Karolina nodded mutely. 

She walked out of the office and to the grassy center of camp. The kids would be arriving in thirty minutes. That didn’t give her a lot of time. But she didn’t know what to do. She had to— she wasn’t sure what she had to do. But something . She couldn’t let this happen to Nico. It wasn’t fair. For a lot of reasons, actually. Jonah had to know that half of the counselors were hooking up with one another. They were teenagers. It wasn’t fair for Jonah to single Nico out. 

And it wasn’t fair because Karolina had been involved, too. Nico had kissed her first, sure, but Karolina had only furthered it, knowing full well that it was against camp policy. Whoever reported this to Jonah had clearly seen the two of them kissing. So why wasn’t Karolina getting in trouble as well?

She spotted Jonah, walking up the steps to the administrative building. She rushed across the center of camp until she was closer to the director. “Jonah, wait–” Karolina called out. Jonah paused on the porch and turned, a gleaming smile on his face as he took her in.

“Miss Karolina, how are you doing this fine morning?” he asked. “Anything I can do for you?”

Karolina stared at him, baffled. How was she doing? Was that a joke? “Listen, can we talk about what happened with Nico?” she asked.

He frowned. “Ah. Unfortunately, I can’t discuss that with anyone who isn’t Nico herself,” he said. His tone made it sound like this was the most unfortunate thing in the world. Karolina didn’t believe him for a second. He glanced down at his watch. “And I’ve got to be off. There’s a call I need to catch. Give your mother my best, dear!” he said, before turning and quickly stepping into his office.

“Wait!” Karolina cried out, but it was too late. She huffed out a breath and looked around, wondering what the hell she was going to do. 

The morning went by painfully slowly. The kids arrived, as chaotic as usual, with renewed energy from being home all weekend. The schedule had been shuffled around to adjust for one less counselor, and Karolina had been put on kickball with Alex in the lower field.

“Where’s Miss Nico?” one of the campers asked her. There were about twenty campers total, with more sprinkling in as their parents dropped them off. A handful were getting warmed up with the kickball, while others did stretches and cartwheels in the field. “She’s the one who normally plays with us.”

Karolina’s voice caught in her throat. She looked around at the kids, who peered back at her with big eyes and tried to think of what to say. She certainly couldn’t tell them the truth, and she wasn’t sure what sort of white lie she should tell to help them understand. Luckily, she didn’t have to. 

“Miss Nico has another obligation, so she won’t be at camp this week. But we have all her notes about what you’ve been practicing and who’s on what team, so we should still be able to have some fun!” Alex said, walking over to the group. Karolina shot him a grateful look. He glanced over at her, face coolly neutral. “Why don’t we get warmed up!” he said, turning back towards the kids.

As the kids split into their teams and began to play, Alex kept studying her from across the field. There was something contemplative in his gaze that she didn’t understand. She wanted to talk to him. He had seemed like the person Nico had been closest with at camp. Karolina wasn’t sure if they were friends outside of camp, too, or if he had any insight into what happened with Nico or how she was feeling. But right now, Karolina figured he was her best bet. 

Once the activity period was over and the campers began heading to their next classes, Karolina jogged over to him. “What do you know?” she asked right away.

He knew what she was talking about. “Not much,” he admitted. He began walking towards the center of camp, and she matched his steps. “But she called me Saturday night. Said that she was having dealing with some disciplinary stuff with Jonah, and that she might not be back right away this week. I didn’t realize that she, well, might not be coming back at all.” Karolina nodded, feeling defeated. It was more than she knew, but it still wasn’t much, and it definitely wasn’t good. He peered over at her and continued. “What do you know?”

She slowed her step. “I—” she started. She took a deep breath. “I didn’t know any of this was happening,” she admitted.

Alex pushed the bridge of his glasses higher up on his nose. “It has something to do with you, doesn’t it?”

She hesitated. She could use a few people on her team. And while she didn’t know Alex very well, she knew he was smart, and that he cared about Nico. And right now, that was all that she needed.

“I kissed her,” Karolina said. “Somebody—I don’t know who—must have seen. I just— I don’t know why they would turn Nico in and not me!”

Alex didn’t say anything. They kept walking, heading up the trail. It was already starting to get warm. Being in the foothills meant the temperature didn’t get as oppressively hot as it often did back in the city, but the rising sun was still evaporating any remaining morning dew, and she could feel herself starting to sweat. She felt nervous, telling someone that she’d kissed Nico. She still wasn’t really telling people that she liked girls at all, let alone that she liked Nico. She trusted Alex, but still. It was all so new.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Alex said eventually.

It’d been a few minutes since Karolina had said anything, so she glanced over at him. “What?” she asked.

“The reason Nico got in trouble but you didn’t. Karolina, this camp, even if not officially, is a Gibborim camp. And with your mom being who she is, there’s no way you’d get fired from here. If I had to guess, I’d say Jonah knows exactly who it was that Nico was kissing, but he didn’t want that information to get to the Gibb trustees.”

“That’s… but that’s…” Karolina stammered. “That’s not fair!”

“No, it’s not,” Alex agreed. “And it’s fucked up.” Then he stopped walking. His pause caught Karolina’s attention, and she shifted in place so she was looking at him. His expression had turned serious. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know,” Karolina said, caught off guard.

He let out a breath. “Well. Maybe you should figure that out.”

A few hours later, as the lunch period ended and the kids went up to their cabins for Rest Hour, Karolina caught up to Gert and Chase, who were meandering towards the break room. “Hey, I need to talk to you guys,” she said, her voice low. 

Gert and Chase exchanged a look. “Okay…” Gert said. Karolina turned and started walking, checking over her shoulder to make sure they were following her. She led them to a secluded room in the Arts Building. She pushed aside a few black curtains and pulled them in behind her.

“Where are we?” Chase asked, looking around.

“The dark room,” Karolina told him. Even in the dim red light, she could see Gert roll her eyes. “This is where the Photography Elective kids develop their photos.”

“The dark room? What the hell, Karolina?” Gert said.

“I needed somewhere private!” Karolina defended.

Gert sighed. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“I need your help,” she told them. “Nico got fired because she got caught kissing another counselor,” she said. Neither of them reacted. “Me,” she added.

“You’re gay?” Chase asked after a moment.

“I’m still figuring things out, but I think so, yes,” Karolina said.

“Oh. Well, sorry I kissed you,” he said. 

“It’s fine. You didn’t know,” Karolina said.

“But you probably shouldn’t go around kissing people without their consent,” Gert added.

Chase looked over at her. “Good to know,” he said after a beat. Then he turned to face Karolina again. “Why didn’t you get in trouble?” he asked.

“I mean,” Gert said. When Karolina and Chase looked over at her, she shrugged. “Karolina’s a pretty white girl. It’s not completely surprising that she’s able to get off scotch-free.”

Karolina sighed. “And Jonah’s a member of my mom’s church. I don’t think he wanted to stir the pot by having me get in trouble.”

Chase shook his head. “Regardless of why it happened like it did, Nico was really upset last night. She wouldn’t tell me what happened, just that she wouldn’t be coming in today,” Chase said.

“I don’t want her to think that I told Jonah, or that I tried to get in trouble,” Karolina said. “I want to– I want to make this right.”

“What do you have in mind?” Gert asked. “Wanna call up the ACLU?”

Karolina tilted her head. “Would that work?”

“I mean, probably,” Gert said. “Gibborim Church Camp Fires Counselor For Being Gay. It would certainly get people’s attention.”

“But Jonah’s got a lot of power. He was really big in the tech business a couple years ago; made a bunch of money,” Chase said. “He worked with my dad for a while. So he’s probably got his own fancy lawyers to back him up.”

Karolina pushed her hair out of her face. “What should we do? Should we try to get the newspaper involved? Try to start an Instagram campaign?” Karolina asked. 

Gert rested her hand on Karolina’s arm. “Karolina, I love you, but we’re not having any more of this conversation in the dark room. I feel insane. And it’s really hot down here,” she said.

“Fine. Let’s go. But I still need your help,” Karolina told her, before pushing through the curtains and leading the way back outside. As she exited the dark room, she blinked rapidly a few times as her eyes adjusted to the light. And then she blinked another few times as she locked eyes with someone who might as well have been Karolina’s mirror.

“Have you had a twin this whole time?” Gert hissed by her side.

“I have no idea who this is,” Karolina told her, eyes locked on the woman in front of her.

The woman, the same height as Karolina and with long blonde hair the exact same length, stood about twenty feet away from them. She had on a Camp Atlas t-shirt, and she waved at the trio. “Hi, I’m Julie,” she said.

“What are you doing here?” Karolina asked, maybe a little harsher than she intended. Gert whacked her on the arm. 

“I’m the new counselor,” Julie said, unfazed. “Do you guys know where the Blue Cabin is?”

Karolina felt something burn in her chest. “That’s Nico’s cabin,” she said.

“Oh!” Julie smiled. “Is she my roommate? I was told I’m filling in for someone.”

“You’re taking someone’s place,” Karolina said, crossing her arms. Julie’s eyes widened in alarm.

“Woah, let’s all take a breath!” Gert said, taking a step forward. “Hi, Julie. I’m Gert. That’s Chase, our resident guy friend. And this is Karolina. I swear she’s normally a lot nicer, you just caught her at a bad moment. You said you’re in the Blue Cabin? I can show you where that is.”

Julie exhaled, looking relieved. “Thanks,” she said. She glanced over warily at Karolina. “Sorry. I just got here, I’ll try not to step on anyone’s toes.”

“You can really just ignore her right now,” Gert told her. Then she turned to face Karolina, and lowered her voice so Julie couldn’t hear her. “Look. What you’re trying to do with Nico? It’s sweet. Baby’s first activism and all that. But maybe– see what she wants. If this gets big– and I don’t doubt your Instagram Influencer ability to make this get big– then it’s her dirty laundry getting aired. And she really might not want that.”

Karolina deflated. She didn’t know what she was doing. She just– this was all wrong. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. “Sorry,” she said. 

Gert patted her on the shoulder. “Go take a walk, sport,” she said. Then she walked over to Julie, linked arms with her, and began leading her up the hill. “So the thing you should know about these kids,” she said to Julie, “is that they’re annoying as hell.”

Chase turned towards Karolina as Gert and Julie walked away. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you act like this before.”

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” she admitted. “I kissed my crush for the first time, but I don’t have any time to dwell on the fact that I might be gay because I feel like I’m about to be at the heart of a lawsuit or something.”

He nodded, like this was something he dealt with all the time. “Let’s go take that walk,” he suggested. “We still have thirty minutes of Rest Hour.”

She exhaled, the tension in her shoulders dissipating. “Okay,” she agreed.

The rest of the day passed in a haze. Karolina led her classes, doing a passable job at teaching tennis and Arts & Crafts. If the kids noticed that her heart wasn’t in it, they didn’t say anything. Maybe they were too busy trying to find the right crayons. She led swim class, but had to be corrected by a ten year old when she started doing the complete wrong stroke. She let the kids at her dinner table lead the conversation, only butting in when someone tried to take two servings of dessert. And then, after dinner while she was supervising the kids’ free play, she heard Chase’s voice.

“Miss Karolina!” he called from across the field. Karolina turned as he jogged up to her. There was a look to his eyes that she couldn’t place. “She’s gonna be here tomorrow,” he said.

Karolina felt her heart squeeze in her chest. “Nico? She’s going to be here?” she asked. She suddenly felt more energized than she’d been all day.

He nodded. “Yeah. She just texted me. She’ll be swinging by at lunch to pack up the rest of her things. She won’t be here for long, only while everyone’s at the dining hall, but if you want to talk to her…”

“I can see her,” she said, breathless. 

Chase nodded. He grimaced slightly. “I mean, I don’t know if she’ll really want to talk to you. Her texts– she’s upset, and I tried telling her it wasn’t you, but... Yeah. She’ll be here.”

Her heart fell, but she didn’t let it dissuade her. “Thanks, Chase,” she said, mind already racing. Of course Nico would assume the worst, what with Karolina not getting in any trouble. But this was her chance to clear things up with Nico. She could explain what happened. She could ask Nico what Nico wanted her to do. She could– maybe she could even kiss Nico again. 

In the chaos of the lunch room, it was easy enough for Karolina to slip away. She waited until Jonah finished his announcements and the campers lined up for the buffet before slipping out the side door and heading up the hill towards the cabins. As she approached the Blue Cabin, heart pounding in her chest, she could hear movement coming from within. She opened the front door, slipping inside. Like her and Gert’s cabin, the main room was full of the colorful comforters and pillows of the campers living there. Posters of pop stars and actors taken from teen magazines were tapped to the walls, along with handmade drawings and other artwork that the kids had made.

Karolina realized that the only time she had been in Nico’s cabin was back on that very first day when she had come over to get cleaning supplies. It felt like a lifetime ago. 

She walked between the bunk beds over to the counselor’s room. The door was closed, but Karolina could hear some shuffling behind it. She knocked tentatively. “Nico?” she called out. 

The shuffling stopped. “What do you want?” Nico’s voice came from the other side of the door. 

“I just wanted to see if you were okay. Chase said you were getting your stuff,” Karolina said. “It’s Karolina,” she added, after a beat.

“I know.”

Karolina blinked, a little shocked by the curtness of Nico’s answer. “Are you okay?” she tried.

“I’m fine,” Nico said. 

Karolina doubted that. “Can I come in?”

She was met with silence. She wondered if Nico was just going to ignore her. She wondered if she should leave. But no, she couldn’t, not when Nico was finally so close.

And then, with a squeak, the door opened. Just barely, but it had moved. An invitation for Karolina to go the rest of the way.

And so she stepped inside.  Nico was standing in the center of the room, her hands on her hips and a duffel bag sitting open on the bed next to her. The look on her face was so defensive that it almost made Karolina step back in shock.

“I’ve been really worried about you,” Karolina admitted when Nico didn’t say anything.

Nico crossed her arms. “Sure you were,” she said.

“I was!” Karolina protested.

“You know, you could have just told me you weren’t into me, instead of going behind my back and getting me fired,” Nico said.

Karolina’s eyes widened. “What?” she asked.

“Come on. You don’t need to play dumb. I know you were the one who told Jonah and got me in trouble. Sorry for thinking you might actually like me, and for expecting you to be decent enough to be honest with me.” The anger on her face shifted into something else; something much more vulnerable. “I wasn’t even out to my parents. They didn’t know I was bi. So that was a fun conversation to have, telling them I was fired and coming out to them at the same time.”

Karolina felt her heart begin to shatter. “Nico, I had no idea.”

Nico ignored her. She turned away from Karolina and shook her head, grabbing some of the clothes that were on her bed and shoving them into her bag.

Karolina continued. “You have to know it wasn’t me. I had no idea that you weren’t coming this week until Monday when Jonah told everyone. I thought—I thought this week we could talk about what happened, and maybe…”

“Maybe what?” Nico pressed.

“Maybe we could be something,” Karolina admitted. She tried to read the girl’s reaction, but Nico was adamantly looking away. She pushed on. “I really like you, Nico, in a way I haven’t liked anyone before. I thought that maybe we could hang out sometime. Out of camp. Just us.”

Nico turned. “So if it wasn’t you, who told Jonah?” she asked, her face still blank.

“I don’t know. I’m trying to figure that out. And I’ve been thinking about ways for you to get your job back. Like, if we get enough attention on this, he’ll have to give in,” Karolina said.

Nico shook her head. “No, I don’t want that,” she said.

Karolina frowned. “What? But Nico, what he did was illegal.”

“So? Like that’s stopped people before? I don’t want some huge trial going on around me. I don’t want to explain to my parents that this is in the news or something. I just want to be left alone. So– stay out of it, okay?”

“Nico–” Karolina tried.

“I think you should go,” Nico said, turning away. She continued to pack up her bag, meticulously folding her clothing before putting it away.

“Nico,” she said, desperate.

“Go,” came Nico’s response. Karolina stood still, watching as Nico’s body tensed. Karolina wanted to push. She wanted Nico to know she had support. But clearly, that’s not what Nico wanted. And after everything that had happened, who was Karolina to go against that?

She took a breath and walked away.

Stay out of it, okay?  

That night, as she lay in her bed, she replayed her conversation with Nico over and over. First, that Nico had thought Karolina had been the one to tell Jonah. It was obvious why Nico had come to that conclusion, seeing as Karolina hadn’t gotten in trouble, but it still stung. And that even after Karolina had told her the truth, Nico hadn’t wanted anything to do with Karolina. She didn’t want Karolina’s help, she didn’t want Karolina’s presence. She didn’t want Karolina at all. 

Karolina rolled onto her side, facing the empty room. Gert was out, probably with Chase or something. Karolina didn’t have it in her to be bitter about that. She was just glad that one of them was having some fun at this point.

I just want to be left alone, Nico had said.

Nico had seemed so sad and defeated. Karolina just wanted to help her. Wanted Nico to know that she wasn’t alone. But she didn’t know what to do anymore, not if Nico seemed so adamant about going at this alone. 

Karolina sighed. She hated this. Hated the way she missed Nico so fiercely that it made her chest ache. But what was there to do?

Then came a hesitant knock at the door, the one connecting their room to the bunk room. Karolina pushed herself off of her bed and opened the door slowly. One of her campers, Jillian, stood there, dressed in her polka-dot pajamas and clutching her stuffed rabbit to her chest.

“Hi, Jillian, is everything okay?” Karolina asked in a low voice. Immediately, her brain switched to counselor mode, and her mind ran through all the problems that could be affecting Jillian at this moment. She’d had a nightmare. There was a huge spider right next to her bed. The toilet had clogged. One of the other girls had gone missing, or maybe had stopped breathing.

Jillian hesitated, but then nodded. “Miss Karolina, can I talk to you about something?” she asked.

Well, at least nobody was dying. “Yeah, of course. Here, come take a seat,” she said, and held the door open so Jillian could come inside. 

They sat on the edge of Karolina’s bed. Jillian didn’t say anything, and instead just sat and inspected the stuffed animal on her lap. After a minute of silence, Karolina prompted, “Did something happen?” As much as she loved the campers, she knew that kids could be mean sometimes. And clearly something was going on to make Jillian, normally so vibrant and full of energy, so quiet and closed off.

“Nothing… happened,” Jillian said hesitantly. “Just–” she cut herself off, sighing. “Miss Karolina, do you ever feel like there’s something wrong with you?”

Something squeezed in Karolina’s stomach. “Sometimes, yeah. But that’s usually just my brain telling me something that’s not true,” she said. Then, carefully, “Jillian, do you feel like there’s something wrong with you?” 

Jillian fiddled with her stuffed animal, running her fingers along its fur. She nodded. Karolina watched as tears began to well in her eyes, and Jillian brushed them away with the back of her hand.

“Jillian, whatever it is, you can tell me,” Karolina told her.

“I think… I like girls, the way I’m supposed to like boys,” Jillian said in a whisper.

Oh.

“Oh, Jillian,” Karolina said. She scooched closer, wrapping her arm around Jillian’s shoulder. Jillian turned, crumpling into Karolina’s arms, and started crying. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay,” she said, gently running her hand along Jillian’s back as the girl cried. God, she’d never had someone come out to her like this before, let alone a frightened twelve year old in need of comfort. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say?

“Thank you for telling me that,” Karolina said softly. “It means a lot that you trusted me.”

“I just want to be normal,” Jillian cried. “I don’t want to be messed up.”

Karolina shook her head. “Jillian, there is nothing wrong with liking girls. It’s just as normal as liking boys.” 

Jillian sniffled, and pulled away, wiping her tears. “But it doesn’t feel like it’s normal. All the other girls, they keep talking about who they have crushes on. But if I tried to talk about my crush, they’d think I was a freak.”

“You’re not a freak,” Karolina said. “And if anyone says anything like that, you just let me know, and I’ll talk to them, okay?” Jillian nodded, her eyes trained on the floor. Karolina bit her lip, not at all sure how to go about this. If only Gert were here; surely she’d know what to say. But there was no Gert. It was only her. And she had to give it a shot. So Karolina continued: “There’s going to be people in this world who are mean to you because of this. But you have to know, no matter what they say, that there’s nothing wrong with loving who you love. It’s a beautiful thing, and it’s a good thing, and you should be able to feel proud about it.” Jillian straightened up a bit, and nodded again. Karolina reached over, brushing a strand of hair out of Jillian’s face.

“Is there someone you have a crush on?” Karolina asked softly.

A small smile appeared on Jillina’s face, tugging at her mouth. “There’s this girl, back at school. We’ve been writing letters this summer.”

Karolina smiled. “That’s really exciting! Can you tell me about her?”

“Her name is Anna, and we were in the same class last year,” she started, and Karolina stayed by her side and listened.

It’s so much larger than just Karolina and Nico, Karolina realized. It was bigger than them. Bigger than any one person. They’re not the only ones impacted by Jonah, and others just like him. These kids– they’re in a world telling them that being gay is wrong, that it’s not normal. How could Karolina stand by and let them believe that?

Nico had told her she didn’t want Karolina’s help. But it wasn’t just about Nico. And Karolina didn’t need to get, like, national news networks to do something about this. There were still things she could do.

It was a risk.

But she owed it to Nico. She owed it to the campers, who might be gay, or who might not be, but who would be impacted by this either way.

And she owed it to herself.

She finally found Jonah after lunch on Wednesday. “Can we talk now?” she asked, barging into his office.

He looked up from his computer. “Of course, Karolina. What’s on your mind?” he asked, face unreadable. He must know. He must.

“Why just Nico?” she demanded.

He raised an eyebrow. She continued.

“You fired Nico for inappropriate behavior but not me. You had to have known it was with me. But she got in trouble and I didn’t, and I can’t figure out why.”

He nodded slowly. He reached forward, shuffling some of the papers on his desk. “Why don’t you take a seat,” he said. It wasn’t a question. Karolina stepped forward, sitting in one of the old wooden chairs. He took his time, filing the papers away into his cabinet. Karolina sat, her leg bouncing impatiently. Eventually, he spoke, his voice the same unaffected tone it always way. “I’m not oblivious to the fact that every summer, some of my counselors get together. It’s par for the course when working with teenagers. But as long as they can keep it hidden, and not let it impact their jobs or the campers, I don’t need to get involved.”

“But what Nico and I were doing wasn’t affecting the campers! We weren’t doing anything more than anyone else!” she protested.

“But, Karolina, can you imagine what would have happened if any campers found out? If it was a boy and a girl, it wouldn’t be so shocking. But if they saw the two of you together…” Jonah trailed off.

Karolina scoffed. “It’s 2018, do you really think parents would care that much? We’re in LA!”

He tilted his head at her. “Karolina, I know you’re smart enough to put this together,” he said. She looked at him, not saying anything. He sighed and continued. “Nearly half of the campers this summer are from Gibborim families, courtesy of your mother’s help in promoting the camp. If they found out about you, it would get passed along to their parents. Congregation members. We both know how it would look for a prominent member of the church to be outed as gay. And with how hard your mother’s been working all year to get enrollment up, I wasn’t about to spoil that.”

She stared at him in disbelief. “So you would fire someone else for it, but because you owe my mom a favor I’m not in trouble?”

“Would you rather you did get in trouble?” he asked.

She paused, studying him closely. She’d looked up to him for so many years; saw him as a paragon, a kind man who led Gibborim youth programs and guided people towards light and encouraged everyone to be good. When had he gotten like this?  

“Yeah, I think I would,” she told him.

Jonah narrowed his eyes at her. “What are you saying, Karolina?”

“I think I quit,” she said. 

“Is that right?” 

Her heart was racing in her chest. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. But– yeah, she kind of could. “I’m quitting. If this is how you think this camp should be run, then I don’t think I’m a good fit here.”

He nodded decisively, then turned away. “If that’s what you really want, then you can pack your bags and leave. I tried to do you a favor, but it’s clear you’re not grateful.”

“Grateful? For what, you messed up sense of morals and blatant homophobia? I’m good,” she said. She pushed herself up out of the chair. He didn’t deign to look at her. She huffed out a breath and stalked out of his office, slamming the door shut behind her as she marched up the hill.

When she arrived at her cabin, most of the campers were napping. A few were quietly reading or working on friendship bracelets. Karolina swept past them quietly before entering her and Gert’s room. Gert was laying on her bed, reading a book. 

“Oh, hey! I didn’t think you’d be here during Rest Hour,” Gert said, setting her book down on her chest. Her voice was low, to keep from waking any napping campers.

“Yeah. Um, I talked to Jonah finally. About Nico,” Karolina said.

Gert shot up, turning towards Karolina. “What happened?” she demanded.

“I think I quit,” Karolina said. It all still felt unreal, like another Karolina had inhabited her body for that conversation.

“You quit!?” Gert repeated, far too loudly.

“Gert, it’s Rest Hour!” Karolina reminded her.

Gert waved a hand dismissively. “Karolina, what the hell? You quit? What happened?”

And suddenly, the weight of it all hit Karolina, and she felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. She squeezed them shut, and ran her hands through her hair. When she opened her eyes again, Gert’s expression had shifted. She moved her book to the side table and gestured for Karolina. “Come here,” she said, and Karolina obeyed, sitting next to Gert. Gert lifted her hand, and after hesitating for a moment, began rubbing up and down Karolina’s back. Karolina, for her part, began to sob.

“He knew about us. And he fired Nico and not me because of the church. Because he didn’t want my mom’s church to be impacted by some negative press about her daughter being a lesbian. So Nico was the only one who got in trouble, not me. But even though he didn’t fire me, I don’t think I can work here any more if that's what he believes.”

“That… makes a ton of sense,” Gert said.

Karolina glanced over at her. “Would you be mad at me? If I quit?” she asked.

Immediately, Gert shook her head. “No! No, not at all. Like, I’ll miss you and I know the kids will too. But I think you’re doing the right thing. I’m kind of tempted to quit, too. I could probably get Chase and Alex to do it with me in protest. We both know neither of them actually need a summer job. What Jonah’s doing is not okay.”

“No, I don’t want you to do that,” Karolina said, sighing. “That’s just going to hurt the kids. It’s just one more week. “

“I’m proud of you for quitting,” Gert said. “But I’m really sorry you’re in this position at all.”

Karolina smiled sadly. “Yeah, me too,” she said.

It didn’t take all that long to pack up. She threw all her clothes back into her duffel. She secured her guitar in its case. She carefully took down from her wall all the pieces of art her campers had made for her, storing them safely in her backpack. She looked around her side of the room, now completely empty. She turned to Gert, now seated on her own bed. 

“Will you tell the kids– I don’t want them to think…” she started, unsure of what she needed to say.

“I’ll handle it,” Gert promised. “I’ll make sure they know that you love them.”

Karolina nodded tightly. “And– keep an eye out for Jillian. Make sure she feels included.”

“I will,” Gert told her. She looked Karolina up and down, then stepped forward, pulling her into a hug. Karolina let herself sink into Gert’s arms. “Don’t be a stranger,” Gert said.

Karolina squeezed her eyes shut. “Right back at you.”

She pulled away, and smiled sadly, and then she walked out of the cabin.

She only got halfway down the hill before someone stopped her.

“Wait! Karolina!” called a voice. Karolina paused, resting her guitar case on the ground as she turned. To her surprise, it was Julie who appeared on the path, out of breath as she jogged to meet Karolina. 

“Julie?” Karolina asked, confused. She hadn’t really talked to the other girl at all the past few days. She wasn’t sure what Julie could want.

“I saw you walking… with your bags…” Julie said slowly, catching her breath. “Are you quitting?” she asked.

Karolina squeezed the strap of her backpack, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “Yeah. Jonah and I, we, uh, we had a disagreement. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“Is it about Nico?” Julie asked, completely catching Karolina off guard.

“What?” Karolina said, her voice sharp. 

“You’re quitting because of Nico, right? Because of why she got fired? That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Julie said.

Karolina looked at her closely. At her blonde hair that matched Karolina’s, at the blue counselor shirt that should have been Nico’s, at the way she was still breathing heavily, like she’d just sprinted across half the hill to catch up with Karolina. “What are you saying?” Karolina asked hesitantly. 

“It was Eiffel, who told Jonah about Nico being gay. I didn’t know if you knew that.”

Something in Karolina grew frigid cold. “I didn’t. How do you know?”

“She was bragging to me about it. She told me that she had gotten her last roommate kicked out, because she knew Nico was gay, and she didn’t want to share a room with a gay girl. That’s why she told Jonah. Imagine her surprise when she found out her new roommate is also queer,” Julie said with a wry smile.

Karolina gaped at her. “You’re queer?” she asked.

Julie frowned. “That’s the part you’re focusing on?” she questioned. “What, is it because I don’t look gay? God, I swear, the straight girls at this camp…”

“No, I’m gay, too,” Karolina blurted out. 

“Oh,” Julie said. She looked at Karolina curiously, flicking her eyes up and down. “So. You and Nico?”

“Oh, we weren’t,” Karolina stammered. “I mean–” Julie raised an eyebrow. Karolina felt her face heat up. Luckily, Julie saved her from further embarrassment and continued talking.

“It’s fine; honestly, it’s none of my business. But I assumed whatever thing you and Gert and Chase have all been bugging about is related to this. So I figured you should know.”

“Thank you,” Karolina said. “I guess I am quitting. Jonah, he. Well, he’s being homophobic.”

“It’s breaking the law,” Julie said. Karolina locked eyes with her. “What he’s doing. It’s discrimination. I mean, it might be hard to prove anything, but you should know.”

Karolina sighed. “Yeah. I’m trying to figure out what to do. I don’t think Nico wants to start some sort of legal battle. She’s got enough on her plate right now,” Karolina told her.

Julie nodded in understanding. “You have to do something. And let me know if I can help. If I had known the director here was homophobic, I wouldn’t have agreed. I’m only here because Victor told me you needed another counselor, and I owed him a favor.”

“Who?” Karolina asked.

“Victor? My friend. You know, one of the counselors for the Red Cabin,” Julie said. Karolina furrowed her eyebrows. Julie squinted at her. “Victor Mancha? He’s one of your coworkers?” At Karolina’s continued look of bewilderment, Julie laughed. “You’ve been working at the same camp for a month. Have you really only talked to, like, the four people in your immediate circle?”

Again, Karolina felt her face heat up. “I’ve been busy!”

“Clearly,” Julie said, raising her eyebrows. Then she smiled. “What you’re doing– it’s brave. Good luck, okay?” 

And despite herself, Karolina smiled back.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” Karolina called out as she unlocked her front door and stepped inside. Her voice echoed through the hallways. She kicked her shoes off and dropped her bags on the ground by the door. “Mom? Dad?”

“Karolina, is that you?” came her mother’s voice, followed by the clack of heels on tiled floor. Karolina held her breath as her mother entered the foyer, a confused frown on her face. “I thought you were working for the rest of the week.”

“Yeah, um, about that,” Karolina said. She took a breath. “I have to tell you something.”

They moved into the sitting room. Leslie sat primly on one of the armchairs, while Karolina sat on the couch, pulling a pillow onto her lap. “So, do you remember that friend I was telling you about from work? One of the other counselors?” Karolina asked. 

Leslie nodded. “The Minoru girl?”

“Yeah, Nico,” Karolina confirmed. Her fingers squeezed into the fabric of the pillow. Her knuckles were white. “She, uh, something happened to her at work. Something that I don’t think was… fair.” Karolina couldn’t look at her mother. Her face was heating up already.

“What happened to her?” Leslie asked, her voice steady and neutral.

Karolina took a breath. “She got fired. Jonah found out that she was, um, dating another counselor. Who is a girl. And Jonah got her fired.”

Even without looking, Karolina could sense her mother tense up. Karolina pressed on. “And yeah, okay, I know it’s against the rules to have that sort of relationship while at work. But the thing is, a ton of other counselors have been doing that. And they haven’t gotten in trouble. And I can’t help but think that this is only happening to Nico because she’s… gay.”

“Did Jonah say anything about that?” Leslie asked.

“About why she got fired?” At Leslie’s nod, Karolina continued. “Yeah. Not at first, but I pressed him about it today, and he told me. And he said. Um.” She kept her eyes locked on the coffee table in front of her, unsure of how to explain this next part. “He said that he didn’t want any of the Gibborim kids’ families finding out about that. Which was why he fired her. Which is like, illegal, but he did it anyway, and Nico doesn’t want to make this a whole thing, but I couldn’t just stay there after that happened, and so I quit.”

“You quit,” Leslie said. She could feel her mother’s eyes trained on her. “And what about the girl Nico was seeing? Did she get in trouble?” Leslie asked.

Karolina shrugged. Her mother didn’t say anything, just kept watching her. Karolina stared at the polished surface of the table, studying the way the chandelier overhead was reflected in the wood. “It was me,” she said. Her pulse was buzzing in her ears. “Jonah said he didn’t fire me because he didn’t want anyone in the church finding out that I was… you know, gay.”

“I see,” her mother said eventually. Karolina risked looking up, terrified of what she’d see on her mother’s face. But Leslie merely had a look of quiet contemplation; a slight frown on her lips and her eyebrows furrowed.

“You’re not… mad?” Karolina asked tentatively.

Leslie’s face shifted, and her eyes met Karolina’s immediately. “What? Oh, honey, why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know, I just wasn’t sure, because of all the stuff Jonah was saying,” Karolina said.

“Well, Jonah’s wrong. I don’t care who you love, just that you have happiness in your life. And he definitely shouldn’t be making decisions based on what he thinks Gibborim wants…” she said.

Karolina frowned, confused by the direction she was taking this. “What?” she asked.

“That’s not our policy on gay people. We’re in LA, for heaven’s sake. If we didn’t accept gay people, we wouldn’t be able to run our church. Vaughn is gay!” she exclaimed.

“Vaughn’s gay?”

Leslie waved her hand. “That’s not the point, darling. The point is, Gibborim is a modern and accepting church. And I won’t have Jonah going around and acting like it isn’t.”

“Mom, what are you saying?” Karolina asked, hesitant. 

Leslie stood up, and brushed off her skirt. “I’m going to get Jonah fired.” 

Chapter Text

It only took about four hours of being at home for Karolina to start feeling crazy.

Her mother had left their conversation and walked straight to her office. “I need to make some calls,” she’d said when Karolina had asked what she was doing, and then she’d closed the door. Which left Karolina, wandering around her empty house, simultaneously unable to stop thinking about what was happening at camp and straight up bored out of her mind.

She scrolled through her phone, looking at her text threads. She hadn’t really talked to any of her friends from school or church since the summer had started. She thought about the connections she’s made with people at camp. With Nico, of course, but with Gert, too; and even with Chase. She’s only known them for a few weeks, but somehow, she felt closer to them than the people at school she’s known for years, and the thought of explaining what she’d been through the past few weeks to her old friends just sounded exhausting.

And then she laid on the couch, spiralling. Gert had promised to make sure the campers knew that Karolina hadn’t wanted to go, but she still felt guilty for leaving them. Had she made the right decision? Should she have tried to, she doesn’t know, convince all the counselors to leave in protest? Nico hadn’t wanted her to do anything. But she couldn’t not do something. She just wasn’t sure if it was enough.

Some time after dinner that night, Leslie made an appearance. “Honey, did you know a boy at your camp named Alex?”

Karolina looked up at her. She and her dad were lounging in the living room. He was reading through some script he’d been sent, and she was trying her hardest to read at least one page of the book she had in front of her. “Um, yeah, he was one of the counselors I worked with. Why?”

“Well, his mother is Catherine Wilder.”

Karolina frowned. “Am I supposed to know who that is?” she asked after a moment.

Leslie sighed dramatically. “Yes. She’s one of the most prominent lawyers in LA. And she wants to get involved on our behalf.”

Karolina felt her face heat up. “But I told you– Nico doesn’t want to do any legal stuff.”

Leslie waved her hand dismissively. “Nonsense. We’re not going to go to trial; just lighting a bit of a fire. Nico’s name isn’t even mentioned in the court documents. Don’t even worry about it. Anyway, I need to track down whoever’s in charge of the California ACLU.”

None of this actually stopped Karolina from worrying.

Another day went by. 

She went for a run with her dad in the canyons. He asked her what she was thinking about. She couldn’t tell him.

She tried reading. She tried meditating. She even got out her guitar and tried playing some music. But nothing held her attention. 

She wondered what Nico was doing. She wondered if she should call her. She didn’t.

On Friday, she lay in her bed all morning, thinking about what the kids back at camp would be up to. Friday was always Color War day, where the different cabins competed against each other all morning. She wondered if Jonah had found another counselor to take her place, or if Gert was taking charge of the Yellow Cabin by herself. She missed those kids. She missed Gert. She even missed Chase, and Alex, and the other counselors. Mostly, though, she missed Nico.

She got up around noon and made herself some food. She went for another run. She stared at her phone, wondering if she should reach out to her friends from school. And then, right around three o’clock, her phone started to ring. She looked down at it, and to her surprise, it was Gert calling. But Gert was supposed to be at camp right now. How was she calling Karolina? Why was she calling Karolina?

Karolina stared down at her phone questioningly. Then, right before the call would get sent to voicemail, she grabbed it. “Gert? What’s going on, why are you calling me from camp?” she asked.

“You did it!” Gert cried out, and then started talking so fast that Karolina couldn’t understand her. 

“Wait, Gert, slow down,” Karolina instructed. “What are you talking about?”

“They just called all the counselors together for a meeting. Jonah’s gone. He’s already off camp property. There’s some new guy here named Frank who they said is in charge for right now.” Her voice was breathless; full of excitement. “Karolina, what did you do?”

“I’m sorry, did you say someone named Frank is there?” Karolina asked, needing to go back to that point.

“Yeah. Frank Dean. Tall guy, a little too friendly to be intimidating. Says he used to be on TV but I didn’t recognize any of the shows he mentioned.”

Karolina let out a sigh. “That’s my dad,” she said. 

Gert’s laugh filled the phone. “Are you serious?” Gert said, laughing. “What kind of reverse nepotism is this?”

“I don’t know, I need to talk to my mom!” Karolina said.

“You need to talk to Nico,” Gert countered. 

Karolian froze. She needed to talk to Nico. “What do I even say to her?” she wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, something like ‘Sorry you got fired for being gay and I didn’t, I quit out of solidarity and now my dad’s running the camp, do you want to go out with me sometime?’” Gert suggested.

Karolina tilted her head to the side. “That’s kind of good,” she said. “I should write that down.”

“You should not write that down,” Gert informed her. “Look, you go talk to your mom, get things cleared up. Chase and I are going to swing by and pick you up, then we’re going back to his place. You can tell Nico what happened, and sweep her off her feet or whatever. Got it?”

“Sure,” Karolina said, fairly certain this was all a dream. 

“Great. Be there in twenty,” Gert said, before ending the call.

Karolina stared down at her phone. She pinched her arm. Nope, she was awake. What the hell had happened in the past two days?

She took a deep breath to steady herself, then she crossed her house until she got to her mom’s study. The door was open and her mother was inside, focusing hard on something on her laptop.

“Mom?” Karolina called out. 

“Hmm? What is it, honey?” Leslie said, looking up from her computer. 

“Why did I just get a call from Gert telling me that Dad is the new director at Camp Atlas?” she asked, stepping into the room.

“Is that what that place is called? What a dull name,” Leslie said distractedly.

“Mom,” Karolina pressed.

Leslie sighed. She took off her glasses, and closed her laptop. “Well, honey, we decided it was time for there to be a change in leadership,” she said. “Jonah was doing things a certain way in order to get on the good side of the church. But that’s not the direction Gibborim is going. We want to show that we are progressive, inclusive, and hip with the kids. I cannot have people thinking that one of our major benefactors fired a girl for being gay, and that we’re okay with that! He’s been removed from the Gibborim advising board as well. Jonah had already been pushing some buttons recently. We’re cutting our losses with him and focusing on something new,” she concluded, and she smiled her perfect networking smile at Karolina. 

It was incredible. She hadn’t really believed it would be possible, but somehow, her mom had done it. But something still tugged at Karolina’s chest, like a child wanting attention. “So, was this about me at all, or was this only about the church’s PR?” Karolina asked.

“Oh, honey,” Leslie said, reaching up and grabbing Karolina’s hand. “Why can’t it be both?”

Karolina was saved from responding to that when the ring of the doorbell echoed through the house. “I’m going to head out,” she said. “My friends are here.”

Leslie nodded, sliding her glasses back onto her face. “Oh, Karolina, one last thing,” she said, and Karolina paused by the door.

“Yeah?” she asked, hopeful that maybe her mom would say something moderately supportive. 

“You’ll be back to work on Monday, right? What we don’t need right now is to have to find a completely new counselor to replace you on such short notice.”

Well. It was almost nice, knowing that some things never change. “I’ll come back,” she promised, before slipping out the door. 

The ride to Chase and Nico’s place only took fifteen minutes, but it felt like it took years. Gert was practically bouncing in the front seat of her old Subaru, radiating energy as she relayed what had happened. 

“So they called us in to the office after all the kids had left. And there was some tall blond guy there– I guess your dad. And they told us that there was going to be a change in leadership, and maybe some bigger changes, too; that might take a little longer. But all we needed to know was that Camp Atlas was recommitting to its inclusion policies, and that any counselor who had left so far this summer would be offered their spot back. And then Eiffel just walked out,” she finished.

“Eiffel’s gone?” Karolina asked, stunned.

Gert grinned. “Yeah. And good riddance, honestly. None of the campers even liked her.”

Finally, finally, they pulled up at Chase’s house. Gert pulled the car into the long driveway and put it in park. Then Chase turned back to look at Karolina. He’d been mostly quiet for the car ride, letting Gert take the lead. “She’s in her room,” he said. 

“Okay, um. You should probably text her and tell her I’m here,” Karolina said, as all her nerves hit her at once.

“No way,” Gert protested. “Go knock on her door. Show her yourself.”

“What if she still doesn’t want to talk to me?” Karolina asked. She’d been riding on adrenaline since Gert’s phone call, but now she was unsure. 

“Come on, man up, Karolina!” Gert said. Karolina looked at her, startled. Gert coughed. “I mean, woman up, whatever,” she said. “Just go talk to her.”

Chase led them through his house. It really was unnecessarily large. They went up one long staircase, down a hallway, and up another staircase before pausing on the landing. “That one, there,” Chase said, gesturing towards a door further along the hallway.

“Where are you guys going?” Karolina asked. 

“We’re gonna stay here and watch,” Gert said. She lowered herself down primly to sit on the stairs.

“Oh– okay,” she said. Then she stepped up to the door. Well, no time like the present. Karolina knocked on her door. 

“What is it?” Nico’s voice came through. She sounded tired.

“It’s me, Karolina,” she said. 

There was silence, then the sound of items getting shuffled around, then the door swung open. “What are you doing here?” Nico asked. She was wearing gray sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. Karolina found that her throat was suddenly very dry. 

“Hi,” she said dumbly. 

Nico looked at her in confusion. “Hi?” she repeated. “Karolina, what’s going on?”

Karolina cleared her throat. “Right, yeah. Jonah quit. Or maybe he got fired, I’m not really sure on the details of that,” she said, her words tumbling uncontrollably out of her mouth. “Because he fired you. I know you said you didn’t want me to do anything, but I realized, Nico– it’s not just about us. Those kids– they deserve to grow up in a world that embraces them, and doesn’t shun them for being who they are. I couldn’t let him get away with it. So my mom, and the rest of the church, they told him it wasn’t acceptable, so he’s gone now. The camp is getting new leadership, and they’re gonna change a lot of how it was being run. Oh, and I quit, too, before that all happened, but I guess I got my job back now that Jonah’s gone,” she said.

Nico looked at her in bafflement. “What?” she said.

Karolina blinked a few times. “What part of that are you asking about?” she asked.

“Um, all of it, I think,” Nico said. “You quit? And, Jonah got fired?”

Karolina nodded. “Yeah. I told my mom about what happened, and she kind of took charge. Turns out Alex’s mom is a hot-shot lawyer, which I totally didn’t know. But my mom made it clear to Jonah that the church would not be backing him up on this, and they removed him from all church leadership stuff, and threatened him with a court trial, and he totally backed out,” Karolina explained.

Nico let out a breath. Her eyes darted around as she processed what Karolina had said. “Why did you do all that?” Nico asked, disbelief in her voice.

Karolina puffed out her chest a bit. “Because it was the right thing to do,” she said. From around the corner, she heard Gert clear her throat decisively. Karolina’s face heated up. “But, um. Because it was for you.”

Nico’s eyes locked with hers again. Karolina had never noticed how rich of a brown they were. She wanted to dive into them.

“That’s kind of crazy,” Nico said. “A lot of that could have gone wrong.”

“I know,” Karolina said, suddenly breathless. 

“There’s still a lot that the camp has to work on. It’s not going to be easy.”

“I know,” Karolina repeated. 

“I’d really like to kiss you now, if that’s okay,” Nico said.

“Oh, thank God,” Karolina responded, and then closed the space between her and Nico, put her hands on either side of Nico’s face, and kissed her.

Kissing Nico was like sliding the last puzzle piece into place. It just felt– right. Nico’s hands fell to rest on her waist, on the fabric of her shirt, and Karolina could swear she could feel it burn against her skin. Nico tasted like strawberry chapstick, and her hair smelled like lemons, and Karolina’s hands wound their way through the strands, tugging her close. 

Then someone coughed awkwardly, and begrudgingly, Karolina pulled away.

“What the hell, Chase, what are you doing here?” Nico demanded, looking over Karolina’s shoulder. She turned and saw Chase and Gert looking not at all inconspicuous at the top of the stairwell.

“We wanted to be there when you found out about camp!” Chase explained. “Karolina knew we were here. I didn’t think you guys would start making out in the middle of the hallway!”

“I got distracted,” Karolina admitted. 

“So are you going to come back?” Gert said, ignoring any of the awkwardness of the conversation to veer them back into place.

“To Camp Atlas?” Nico asked. Gert nodded. Nico turned towards Karolina, a question in her eyes.

“Eiffel’s gone, so you have a new roommate. Julie. And she’s gay, too. She kind of looks like Karolina, but she’s a lot cooler,” Gert informed her.

“Hey!” Karolina interjected, but everyone ignored her.

“I’m not sure. It, like, really sucked to get fired from that place. And having to explain all of that to my parents. I don’t know if I want to go back there,” Nico admitted. “I know you, like, did all that to get me my job back. But maybe that’s not a space I want to be in anymore.”

 Karolina reached down and grabbed Nico’s hand, intertwining their fingers together. “I did it so you could have the option. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” she said. “But it’s only one more week, and the kids have been asking for you. We’d love to have you there,” Karolina said, her voice quiet. “I’d love to have you there.”

Something softened on Nico’s face; the hint of a smile tugging at her lips. It was breathtaking. Karolina wanted to kiss her again. She didn’t even care that her friends were right there.

“What do you say, Sis?” Chase asked, which earned him a glare from Nico that he ignored with ease. “You in?”

Two years later

“All rightie Abbie, you are all checked in! The junior counselors will get your bags for you, and you can head on up to the Yellow Cabin. Do you remember where that is?” Karolina asked, looking up from her clipboard.

Abbie, who had grown about five inches from the summer before, nodded vigorously as she bounced up and down on her feet. “I’m so excited! Are Taylor and Jamie here yet? Jamie wrote me and said he’d be bringing his friendship bracelet kit, and I really want to get started! I’ve been practicing my bracelet knots all winter!” she said, all in one breath.

Karolina laughed. “Woah! Slow down a minute!” Abbie beamed up at her. She was missing one of her front teeth. “Jamie hasn’t arrived yet, but Taylor got in about twenty minutes ago. She’s already up the hill and–” Before Karolina could finish her sentence, Abbie had already made a breakaway towards the cabin. 

“She’s been counting down the days until camp started again,” said Jen, Abbie’s mom, who stood in front of Karolina with an amused look on her face. 

Karolina grinned. “We have, too. And it’s good to see her again. She seems really happy.”

“She is,” Jen confirmed. Then she bit her lip, looking nervous. “And you’re sure it’s all okay? All her paperwork is up to date?”

Karolina nodded. “We went through all our forms and made sure they all have her listed under the right name, so there shouldn’t be any trouble. And we sent out emails to the parents of her friends like you asked for, so they’ve all been updated on the new name and pronouns.”

Jen let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I appreciate that. It’s been such a pain at her school, but–” she cut herself off, shaking her head. 

Karolina nodded sympathetically. “We’ll do what we can to take care of her. She’s one of ours, you know. And we’ll let you know if there’s any trouble, but with these kids, I doubt it.”

“It’s pretty great. What you’ve built here,” Jen said. “You should be proud.”

Karolina couldn’t help but smile at that. “I am,” she said.

Jen smiled back at her. “Well, seeing as my kid has already fully moved in, I’ll be off. Pick-up on Friday at three?”

“You got it!” Karolina told her, then waved as she left. She looked at her clipboard, scanning to see who they were still waiting for. The first day of camp was always chaotic, and that was especially true now that she was part of camp leadership. 

“Ready to trade?” came a familiar voice. Karolina grinned as Gert and Chase walked over to her, their hands swinging together in between them. “The counselor office is nice and air conditioned right now,” Gert said, “But I swear I was doing work and not just slacking off in there.”

Karolina passed her the clipboard. “I trust you. You’ve been going on and on about all the supplies we have to order.”

“That Arts & Crafts closet is not going to restock itself!” Chase said with an easy smile.

“We’ve got about half the kids here so far,” Karolina told them. “Most of the Yellow Cabin is here, except for Jamie, Marie, and Hunter. Then we’ve got six of the Blue Cabin kids, five Green Cabin, and only three so far for the Red Cabin.”

“I can handle the check-in clipboard,” Gert said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not my first rodeo. Not even my second.”

Chase saluted Karolina. “Got it, boss!” he said.

Gert reached over, whacking him on the arm. “Hey! She and I are both assistant directors, so I’m your boss, too.”

He grinned at her. “Am I allowed to call you bossy then?”

She shook her head. “Absolutely not. You know it’s a –”

“Sexist term meant to diminish women for taking on traditionally masculine traits in the workplace,” Chase finished for her. He smirked. “I listen.”

Gert let out a sigh; something very dreamy; very fifties movie love interest. “I love you,” she said. Karolina took this as her cue to leave.

“I’m going to walk away now,” Karolina told them, but she didn’t think they could hear her, because Chase had leaned down to kiss Gert on the lips. “No kissing when there’s kids around!” she reminded them, and then walked away.

She grabbed her bag from the nearby porch, making sure her radio was still tucked inside. Next to it was a collection of friendship bracelets she’d already received from the campers. She started walking up towards the cabins, passing the wooden sign post that Alex had helped install last summer– Camp Runaways: A Home for Queer and Questioning Youth.

Things had changed a bit since Jonah had been in charge.

It had been a lot of work, especially in the immediate year after Frank took over. He’d had a vision; inspired, he’d said, by the bravery of his beloved lesbian daughter– a summer camp for kids who felt different; who wanted to have fun and be themselves, and not be judged for their identities. He, Karolina, and Gert had spent hours researching other queer summer camps across the country, learning about gender neutral housing, inclusive policies, and the legal protections they would need.

She walked past the flagpole, proudly flying the rainbow flag. They had a handful of other flags that they rotated through, for all sorts of gender identities and sexualities, but more often than not they returned to the rainbow one. 

Frank had done an admirable job in turning the camp around. He got on great with the middle schoolers. Most of them thought he was a total dork, but he was so completely oblivious to any of their attempts to tease him that the kids had circled back around to liking him. 

Karolina and Gert had helped, advising Frank about the logistics of camp’s day-to-day life and helping him with the rebrand. And now that they were finally done with their first year of college, she and Gert had been officially appointed assistant directors. 

Up at the cabins, it seemed that move-in was going well. America, who had joined as a counselor the previous summer, was helping the kids in the Yellow Cabin unpack. Two of the new counselors, Teddy and Billy, were leading a game of frisbee in the central area. The two boys had gotten very close during pre-camp, and the flustered but smitten looks Teddy kept shooting Billy reminded Karolina a little of herself.

Billy jumped up, getting an impressive amount of air and snagging the frisbee before it flew out of reach. “Hi, Miss Karolina!” he called, and all the kids turned around to look at her.

“Hi, Miss Karolina!” they echoed. 

She smiled at all of them. “Hi, everyone. Hi, Mister Billy; Hi, Mister Teddy.” Then Billy spun in place, shooting off the frisbee from behind his back, and the kids’s attention returned to the game.

Karolina poked her head into the Yellow Cabin. Julie was leaning against the wall, watching with an amused smirk as the kids argued about who got to sleep in which bunk. Some things never changed, Karolina thought. Julie gave her a wave and Karolina kept going. As she stepped back outside, she saw Molly, Gert’s younger sister, pulling a wheelbarrow wagon laden with duffel bags up to the porch. “Awesome work, Molly!” Karolina told her.

It had been Gert’s idea to start a junior counselor program. This was the inaugural year, and Molly was one of the five junior counselors working for the summer. Xavin, a counselor who had joined a year before, had spent pre-camp training them all on the responsibilities of their job and how to be there for the kids. Their main job today was helping campers bring their luggage on the hill. Most of the junior counselors had complained about that, but Karolina had seen how many bags Molly could lift at once, and she knew they’d be fine. 

(All the same, they’d be getting a surprise pizza party later as a thank you for all the manual labor.)

“Thanks, Karolina!” Molly said, a bright grin on her face. She didn’t even seem to be sweating.

Then, content that all the inevitable chaos of summer camp was at least partially under control, Karolina went back down to the counselor office. As she stepped inside, she was met with a blast of cool air; a beautiful contrast to the sticky humidity of Los Angeles summers. 

“Hey, you,” came her favorite voice.

There was Nico, leaning against the assistant director desk at the other side of the room. She was wearing her uniform shirt, light purple with Camp Runaways written across the center. Karolina only ever got to see Nico in light colors when they were at camp, and she always cherished those moments. Not that she had any complaints about Nico’s everyday clothes— she looked good in black.

“I thought I might find you back here,” Karolina said.

“I was checking the mailboxes, I swear,” Nico said, smirking up at her. There was a handmade bracelet around her wrist, with the colorful jangly beads. It said K + N. Karolina had made it during an Arts & Crafts period the prior summer, and hesitantly presented it to Nico. Nico wore it every day, and had made a matching one for Karolina to wear.

Karolina approached her slowly, taking in the way Nico tilted her head and smiled softly up at her. Then she placed her hands on either side of Nico’s hips and leaned in, kissing her. She could feel Nico’s smile, and then Nico’s hands, softly reaching up to Karolina cheeks, holding her in place. As if Karolina would move. 

It never got old, kissing Nico.

It hadn’t taken long for them to fall back into place, after everything that had gone down a few summers ago. Nico had come back for that last week of camp. She’d replaced Eiffel and taken her spot back in the Blue Cabin with Julie. The kids, of course, had been ecstatic, and Karolina was pretty sure that it had been their enamored reaction that had really made Nico confident in her decision to return. Even though they’d kissed at Nico’s house, Nico had asked for a little bit of space as she processed everything. Karolina had kept her distance for those last few days, until, at the bonfire the night after all the kids had left, Nico had pulled her to the side and kissed her.

“I can’t believe you took on structural inequality for me,” Nico had murmured, still pinning Karolina up against a tree. 

“I’m just a big fan of anti-discrimination laws,” said Karolina, whose brain had stopped functioning around the time she’d felt Nico’s hips against her own.

“Shut up,” Nico had said, and then she’d kissed Karolina again.

“Get a room!” Gert had called out.

And so they had, and they’d been together ever since.

Now, in the wonderfully air conditioned counselor office, Karolina pulled away, planting one last kiss on Nico’s nose, which made the other girl scrunch up her face. Karolina wanted to kiss her for hours. Luckily, she knew neither of them were on duty that night, and she was already planning to sneak Nico off somewhere alone. “Time to go face those kids,” she murmured, her face still pressed against Nico’s shoulder.

She felt more than heard Nico’s sigh. “It’s kind of the worst part about being a counselor, isn’t it?” she grumbled.

This made Karolina laugh. She pulled away, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah? And what’s that in your bag there?” Nico’s cheeks, which had already been delightfully red, darkened. Karolina reached her arm over to Nico’s tote bag and pulled out the carefully folded paper she’d noticed earlier. It was a drawing of Nico, hand in hand with a camper. “Thank you Miss Niko for being my friend,” Karolina read aloud. “Aww, they almost got your name right!” 

Nico snatched the card out from her hands. “They used phonetics. It’s very impressive, actually, considering they’ve never seen my name written down.”

Karolina laughed. “You’re such a softie!” she accused.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nico said, refusing to meet her gaze.

“You do like these kids! You do like working here!” Karolina said. She never doubted it, but it was fun to tease Nico from time to time.

“I work here because the assistant director lets me feel her up,” Nico told her.

Karolina gasped. “I’m telling Chase.”

“Not Gert, you idiot,” Nico said. 

“Thank God,” Karolina said, and then Nico kissed her again.