Chapter Text
After much anticipation, the day had finally come-
Jude was going to Camp Blue Lake.
Although he was anxious about not knowing anyone, he was excited to start something with a clean slate.
This time, he decided, he wasn’t going to tell anyone about his past.
He had learned the hard way from his first day as a freshman at Anchor Beach, that word spread fast; he told one person that he didn’t live with his birth parents and was instead adopted by his two moms, Stef and Lena, and by the end of the day rumor was that he killed both of his parents and was forced to be taken in by two lesbian drug addicts.
(Of course, when people found out that Lena was one of his foster parents, the latter part of the rumor was proven false.)
“According to what they emailed us, if we take a right -oh wait, no, left- check in should be half a mile down on our right,” Stef directed.
“So, Jude, are you excited?” Stef asked, looking at Jude through the rear view mirror.
“Mhm, yeah.” Jude smiled at his mom.
“Ah! Our boy’s growing up so fast!” Lena faked a tear wipe.
"How will we be able to survive without you for a week!”
“I think you’ll manage with two other kids in the house, Momma.”
“Oh, speaking of, Mariana texted me to tell you to write her a long letter about camp; she explicitly said not to forget to mention any cute boys you might…”
“Momma…” Jude warned.
“Looks like we’re here!” Lena interrupted. “Wow, isn’t this beautiful?”
Sure enough, Camp Blue Lake definitely lived up to it’s name.
There was a beautiful glistening lake with a dock that stretched out to the middle.
Scattered around it, on either sides of what Jude assumed was the dining hall from the sign that said “Don’t forget to wash your hands!”, were wooden cabins.
Jude could see campers trudging luggage through the cabins’ screen doors.
“Ready to go check in, Love?” Stef questioned. Jude nodded quickly.
“Name?”
“Jude Adams Foster,” Jude replied.
“Okay, you are in cabin ‘B’ with Harry, Tom, Eddie, and Connor.” The man looked up at Jude and smiled.
“Looks like I’ll be your counselor. Nice to meet you, Jude. I’m Ben.”
After a quick handshake and mutual thank yous, Stef and Lena were helping Jude walk his luggage over to his Cabin.
“Okay, I can take it from here,” Jude said.
“Are you sure? We can help bring the stuff in if you’d like-”
“No, it’s okay, I’ll be fine.”
“Well,” Stef said with a sigh, “I guess this is goodbye, then.”
Lena and Stef pulled Jude into a group hug.
“Don’t forget to write us! And tell us if anything is wrong, okay? We love you and are so proud of you!”
“I love you, too” Jude hugged his moms individually and ended up having to push them towards the car after they engulfed him in, yet, another group hug.
“Don’t forget to wear sunscreen!” Lena hollered back at him.
After staring at his cabin door for a few seconds, Jude pushed it open and dragged his bags in behind him.
He was immediately greeted by a huge pile of confetti, causing Jude to drop his luggage
“Oh shit, I’m sorry- I- shit, excuse my language.
Oh my god! I mean, I- I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.”
The voice was coming from a dark, brunette boy sitting on the top of a bunk next to the doorway.
He was looking down at Jude with a look of pure shock on his face that, soon after, turned into an embarrassed smile.
Jude immediately felt sympathy for him.
“It’s fine! I mean, it wasn’t what I was expecting, but it’s fine,” Jude encouraged.
The boy clumsily scurried down from the bunk and started picking up Jude’s luggage from the floor.
“Here, let me help you,” he urged. “I’m Eddie, by the way.”
“Jude. And wow you are massive tall,” Jude exclaimed.
He was just now noticing his height.
Eddie smiled in response.
They put his stuff down at the bottom bunk of Eddie’s bed, then started putting the sheets on.
“Again, sorry about earlier. I was waiting for Tom, Connor, and Harry to come in. By the way, Harry’s a complete jackass, so watch out for that- can you pull that side a bit more? Thanks. Anyway, I completely forgot someone else was going to be in our cabin… Not that I didn’t want there to be another person in our cabin, I just forgot that- I- I’m sorry, I’m rambling.”
Eddie gave an awkward chuckle and looked down, his face flushed.
“Stop apologizing, you’re fine. Where is everyone else in the cabin anyway?”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure that they went down by the dock to talk to some girls. I still had some unpacking to do, so I stayed. Do you know anyone else here?”
Eddie looked at jude from across the bed.
“No. This is my first year.”
“Well, you’re welcome to hang out with us, if you want… Okay, I think we’re done. Wanna head down to the dock?”
Eddie pointed backwards at the door with his thumb.
“Yeah, sure.”
Eddie started his way out, and Jude followed close behind.
He looked towards the lake and noticed that many people seemed to be gravitating around there.
As he got closer, he could make out three boys looking at them, one waving.
Eddie returned the gesture with a hoot.
“Wanna run the rest of the way?” Eddie questioned, excitement in his voice.
“Um yeah, sure.”
Eddie didn’t wait a second before sprinting towards the other boys.
Jude matched his pace, and tried to hide his shortness of breath when they arrived.
“Hey guys. This is Jude, he’s in our cabin. Jude, this is Tom, Harry, and my boy Connie.”
In response, Connor punched Eddie in the shoulder, receiving an “Ouch, Man” from Eddie.
“My name is Connor,” he corrected. “Nice to meet you, Jude,” he said, flashing a smile.
“So, talk to any hot girls?”
Now, at this moment, Jude probably should have pretended to look interested in their conversation, what with first impressions and all, but he seemed to be drawn to Connor.
Jude couldn’t stop looking at him- the way his lips curled when he smiled, his hazel eyes that glistened with excitement… plus, his biceps were pretty nice too.
“…your view, Jude?” Jude was woken up from his trance.
“Wait, what?”
“I said, are you enjoying your view, Jude?” Harry questioned with a snicker.
He could hear Connor cough to his right.
Jude looked at Connor then back at Harry.
“What? No, I was looking at that girl behind him,” Jude lied.
“Um, yeah, she is pretty hot,” Connor added, rubbing the back of his neck
“Yeah, Dude, leave him alone,” Tom said.
Harry gave a shrug and went back to talking about how stupid some new rule was.
This time, Jude made sure to pay attention to what they were saying.
However, whenever Jude and Connor would accidentally make eye contact, he was almost positive Connor’s eyes would shift to his lips.