Chapter Text
💚King👑🍉
Im so sorry Katie, Im still sick 💔
and this time i migth be out the rest of ths summr :((
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
aw man i wondr if quacks will even be able togit a replacmnt in such shrt notice 😓
this SUCks💔
I know 💔💔💔 Im gonna miss you guys so much :(
but youll miss me more 👀right???
Ofc Katie💚🩷🥰
Keep me updated!!
ofc bestie!! love ya 💖💖
go rest!!
❤️🩹❤️🩹
Katie glanced at her phone screen once more before setting it down beside her on the bench. She sighs. ‘How am I gonna survive this summer without Mikeeee’. Resting her hands behind her and leaning back, she watches the children run around. When Mike had texted her, Katie had been on the way to the soccer field, ready to play against him. Instead of playing an exhilarating game of soccer with her best friend in the whole wide world, she’s now sitting on a bench watching her and Mike’s campers play an agonizingly slow game of “kick ball”.
She can feel the bench vibrate from her phone. Probably a group message. She picks it up and flips to the message, which, unsurprisingly, is from Quackity. Something about a new winter camp. Katie doesn’t know. She doesn’t really care anyway. All she cares about is Mike, his replacement, if lunch will be meatloaf again —
“OWWW” “GET OFF OF ME” “LEADER B-”
Katie looks up from her phone to see the children standing in a circle around something. She stands up and jogs over, finally being able to see what — or rather who — is in the middle. In the middle of the group is a larger boy standing over a much much smaller boy. She sighs and makes her way between the two. “Alright, alright, that’s enough. Do you want me to go get Don and tell him to grab the dodgeballs?” The larger boy backs up and shakes his head. Thank goodness a majority of the kids are afraid of Don. His dodgeballs hit hard.
Katie looks down at the little boy, smiling softly. “Are you okay, buddy?” she asks as he looks up at her with tears in his eyes.
He’s easily the smallest kid here. Even though he’s the son of the camp director none of the kids really care. And even the director doesn’t care, so the kids can practically do whatever they want! But Katie has taken it upon herself to look after him. At this point the little boy has taken a liking to Katie (not surprising), and clings to her leg almost 24/7. It’s gotten to the point where he asks to sleep in her bed whenever he gets a nightmare, which happens often. And yes, Katie was very professional the first time he asked. And sure, Katie might have let him in when she heard him sniffle not even two seconds after he asked, but can you blame her? He’s honestly the sweetest and most adorable kid at this camp. The other campers don’t need to know that Katie slips him a little extra dessert after Meatloaf Mondays. And Taco Tuesdays… and Waffle Wednesdays.
The little boy raises his arms and reaches for Katie. She smiles more and picks him up, looking at the other kids. “Okay campers, I’ll be taking Nacho here to the nurse’s station. Go inside the sports emporium and play with Don’s group,” she says as she points towards the big grey building to their left. She watches the group go and pulls out her phone.
🩰Big D🩰
snding my group to ya
nacho got beat up agai so im takin him to get bandaged
if ur playin dodge aim 4 the big one in greean
She puts her phone back in her pocket and hoists Nacho higher onto her torso and he hugs her tighter. As she makes her way over to the medic cabin, Katie’s thoughts wander to her possible new counselor buddy. Would they be cool? Would Katie get along with them? Maybe they would end up becoming friends! She couldn’t wait to see who Quackity chose. She bet he had to sort through a bunch of applicants, so she probably wouldn’t hear from him until later in the week.
As Katie tries, and fails, to put Nacho down, a shrill voice calls out.
“Katieeeeeee!”
Katie and Nacho both look over. Directly in front of the nurse’s cabin are the offices for the camp’s leadership staff. And walking down the steps in none other than Quackity, one of the two leadership directors.
“Hey, Quackity!”
“What up, Dejo!! What are you up to, my friend?” Quackity asks, now at the bottom of the steps and walking closer to Katie. He looks at Nacho’s scraped knees. “Aww, what happened, little guy?”
Nacho shyly shrinks into Katie’s arms and hides his face in her neck. “Ah, him and another kid got into a bit of a tussle during soccer, and I was just on my way to drop him at the nurse’s station. But, uh,” Katie gestures at Nacho, “I’m having a problem with detaching him.”
Quackity tries to look at Nacho’s face. “Come on, little guy. You gotta let go so the nurse can look at your boo-boos. Can you do that for me?” Quackity coos. Nacho shakes his head slightly. “Well, what if I told you that the nurse will give you a lollipop if you let go of Katie and let him bandage you?” the promise of sweets seems to encourage Nacho to release his grip on Katie. Nacho slides out of Katie’s arms and runs into the nurse’s office, ready for his candy. Quackity grins.
“Man, I wish I could convince him like that. I honestly would have just brought him in there and did the bandages myself,” says Katie, dusting off her pink shirt. She looks over at Quackity, who’s already grinning at her. “Well, actually Katie, I wanted to talk to you about something,” he says, “Come, step into my office.” He turns around to head towards his office, expecting Katie to follow, which she does. “Uhh, what is it now, boss? Oh! Is this about Mike? Yeah, he said he’ll probably be out for the rest of the summer,” Katie sits down in the chair across from Quackity, “Did you sort through all the applicants that fast? Honestly, I thought it’d take you FOREVER to go through, like, ten applicants-”
“There was only one.”
Katie pauses. “One? Like, as in one folder of applicants?”
Quackity tilts his head. “No, just one applicant.”
Katie just looks at him, confused. “But I thought this summer camp was popular. Shouldn’t there be applicants pouring in and calling your phone like crazy?”
Quackity starts clicking his mouse and typing something on his computer. “Well, you see…” Katie drums her fingers on the desk. “When I posted an ad for a position as your, uh, temporary co-counselor, I got absolutely zero replies.” Katie stops drumming and sits up straighter. “What?”
Quackity continues, “Yeah, I think people are intimidated by you. I actually tried putting ‘dishwasher’ instead of ‘co-counselor’ and I got more than fifteen replies…”
Katie’s shoulders drop.
“But! But but but,” Quackity turns the computer around, “ one of my friends from college was recently fired from his job, so I offered him this position and he accepted!” Katie looked at the applicant’s profile. There was no profile picture, but his resume was astounding. However, most of it was over science and biology. “How is he with kids?” Katie asks, scanning his profile some more. “Oh, he’s terrible with kids,” Quackity starts, and Katie looks at him in disbelief. “So then why on earth would you even ask him about a summer camp counselor job and then hire him for said counselor job?!” Quackity chuckles, “Oh Katie. I make sure to always do my research on applicants thoroughly, and just because he’s my friend does not mean he’s exempt from my background check. And besides,” he turns his computer back around, “the director already approved of him, so get ready to meet your new co-counselor tomorrow morning! Now go on, I have some more work to do.” Quackity all but shoos Katie out of his office.
Stumbling out, Katie curses under her breath. Of course Quackity would just pick the first person who said yes and call it a day! But more importantly, why would the camp director agree to it? She knew Quackity was close with the director, but was Director Cucurucho really so lenient with whoever Quackity picked out?
Whatever, Katie grumbles and waits outside for Nacho. When he finally does come out, his head is low and his knees are covered in beige bandaids. Katie crouches down at him, noticing his sad face. “What’s wrong, buddy?” Nacho looks up at Katie and opens his empty hands. Katie pouts and holds her hands out to Nacho, “Ohh, I’m sorry, buddy. You didn’t get a lollipop?” Nacho reaches for her and whimpers softly, shaking his head. Katie pats him on the back. “It’s okay, honeybunches. Let’s go play some dodgeball and then after dinner I’ll get you some cake. I think they’re serving strawberry shortcake today…” As Katie rambles on and on about what they’re eating for dinner, Nacho rubs his tears and snot onto Katie’s shoulder, smiling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Katie tucks Nacho into bed next to her, she finds herself thinking of the new guy. I wonder if we can be friends… Nacho’s yawns make Katie feel happy, knowing he feels safe enough to trust Katie and snuggle up next to her. She brushes away Nacho’s curly white hair from his eyes and kisses his head. She loves this little boy so much. She just hopes her new counselor buddy will love him just as much as she does.