Sitting on the bus to summer camp, Flapjack rested their head against the window, zoning out until they saw the battered wooden sign reading Camp Mayfly, they sat up a little straighter and smiled. The kids quieted down, and people looked up from whatever they were doing. This was their third year here, and they’d signed up to be a counselor-in-training–something they’d been looking forward to since they first came to camp. CITs always seemed so cool and mature (things Flapjack was very much not) and hopefully, they’d manage to become that awesome by the end of the summer.

The bus pulled to a stop, and counselors started calling names. They heard theirs and got up, and the counselor standing at the bus door sent them over to go stand by a counselor wearing a staff shirt. The counselor had light brown skin, dark red brains, and was wearing a wooden circle necklace with a painting of a dinosaur and her camp name: T-Rex. That was a big part of Girl Scout Camp that was hard to explain to other people-that counselors and CITs didn’t use their real names. They were definitely gonna have to get used to being called Flapajack, but hopefully it would give them an opportunity to make a new identity for themself and become a better person. Something like that.

Once she’d checked off on her clipboard that all of the CITs were present, T-Rex started leading the CITs to their unit. A couple people started chatting, but Flapjack didn’t care enough to pay attention. They’d get introduced soon enough, it was easier to wait until they actually knew who people were. 

T-Rex took them up the gravel road that led off to different campsites, taking them down the path that led to Pines and onto the bridge. They walked into the unit house, the little building in the center of the campsite. Four people were already there- the other counselors for their group. They seemed startled-one glanced up from their book, another was sewing a patch on her shorts. The counselor who was reading nudged the one sitting next to them, who was distracted staring out the window. Only one didn’t seem caught off guard-she grinned, gave T-Rex a hug and a look that suggested that she was a: late and b: that this wasn’t the first time it’d happened. T-Rex made a show of sheepishly looking away before hugging the other counselor back and laughing. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. We’re late.”

The other counselor turned to the CITs. She had warm, dark skin, glasses with pink frames, and this welcoming smile that made it hard not to feel comfortable around her. “Well, it doesn't matter, I’m happy to see you all!” She stepped back, gesturing for the CITs to sit. T-Rex followed her to the center of the room, and the other four counselors got up to stand with them. 

“You’ve clearly already met Rex. I’m Koala, it’s nice to meet you all!” Koala gestured to the other counselors, prompting them to speak up. 

Socks, the counselor with patched-up jean shorts, had a bit of an Australian accent and looked almost as young as the CITs-maybe eighteen or nineteen? Sharky, who'd been staring out the window, seemed simultaneously laid-back and slightly feral, and when they smiled, Flapjack kind of expected them to have spiky shark teeth. Zero looked like they were regretting their life choices, speaking in a tone that Flapjack hoped was closer to exhausted sarcasm than actual dislike for their job.

Rex and the other counselors looked to the CITs, and Flapjack was struck with the overwhelming embarrassment and awkwardness of being expected to share personal information to a bunch of strangers. The awkwardness was short-lived, as a girl with a bunch of friendship bracelets excitedly introduced herself as Dot, making everyone else more comfortable and willing to speak up, and Flapjack realized they were gonna have to actually pay attention. Lilypad had a bunch of hair accessories and a soft, melodic way of speaking. She’d spent the walk to Pines chatting with Sprite, who’d offered to carry her bags alongside her own stuff. Avocado lay sprawled out on the floor, complaining about how hot and tired she was. Artemis laughed, pointing out that Avocado had chosen to wear jeans and a long-sleeved shirt in June, earning a halfhearted attempt at indignation. Cricket barely glanced up from her journal the whole time, and Muffin stuttered through her introduction, having to repeat herself a few times because she was so quiet nobody could hear her. 

After an overview of the rules, the counselors took everyone back outside and started assigning tents. Flapjack carried (more like dragged, that stuff was heavy) their bags to tent 2 and dumped it on a bed, sitting down and wincing as the mattress springs screamed like they were being tortured. A moment later, Avocado’s bed screeched when she dramatically flung herself onto it. “It’s like this is some sort of prison! There have got to be better ways to make these beds.” 

Artemis laughed as she stacked several books on her bedside table. “It’s just part of the camp charm!”

Avocado snorted. “Camp charm? Next you’re gonna say the smell of latrines and the mosquitoes are part of the ‘camp charm.’”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Artemis said lightheartedly. She was taller than Flapjack, and had a bright smile that contrasted against her dark brown skin and lit up her entire face, which was quite pretty. Her T-shirt was the same light blue as the bands on her braces and the scrunchie holding her braids in a ponytail and had dinosaurs on it. Flapjack instantly decided they liked her. 

Rex came by their tent, telling them to go to dinner. Avocado stood up and stretched, like she’d just woken up from a week-long sleep. “Aw, we were just settling in!”

Rex called back, “You’ll have time to do that later!” 

Sighing dramatically (Flapjack was realizing that Avocado did everything dramatically), Avocado grabbed her backpack. “I guess we have to listen to her. C’mon, guys.”

She led them out of the tent, muttering under her breath about how she wanted to take a nap instead or something like that. The other four CITs were waiting for them on the bridge, clearly having taken much less time to get ready. Dot was talking animatedly with Sprite and Lilypad, while Muffin stood off to the side, fidgeting with the ends of her hair.

After getting to the dining hall, the CITs sat down, Avocado still grumbling. Flapjack was pretty sure that she was actually gonna be fun to spend the summer with. They needed somebody to match their love of complaining in exquisite detail, after all. 

They got through dinner quickly, Dot still chattering excitedly. For the sake of their sanity, Flapjack was very glad they wouldn’t have to share a tent with her. Towards the end of dinner, Rex got up and clapped her hands to get their attention, holding a bunch of papers. It took several minutes for Dot to notice and stop talking, but the second she started paying attention, Rex got to handing out a paper and a folder to each of them. Flapjack looked down at their paper. It was the schedule for the week, which they slipped into one of the pockets of their folder and stood, lining up to go back to Pines. Rex continued explaining something about how they’d get lessons throughout the summer and would receive more papers, but Flapjack only fully caught the last part of her speech. ”Alright, we’re going to head to opening campfire now.”

The CITs walked over to the outdoor amphitheatre, all sitting on one of the benches. Zero was working on building a fire alongside a counselor Flapjack didn’t recognize-a young woman with fluffy black hair, pale skin, and round glasses. Zero seemed kind of uncomfortable around her-even more awkward than usual. Flapjack spent a moment trying to figure out who she was when Sharky slid onto the bench next to them and helpfully announced, “Oh, they’re making Zero and Candy work together again? I’m sure Zero’s real happy about that.” 

Once the fire had gotten started, Candy stepped forward and called out, “HELLO, CAMP MAYFLY! WELCOME TO THE FIRST OPENING CAMPFIRE OF THE SUMMER! To everyone who hasn’t done this before, your counselors are gonna come down and sing you all songs, maybe do a skit or two, and then you guys will go to bed! I’m gonna turn this over to our wonderful members of leadership, now. Magpie, Onyx, Pasta?”

Camp director Magpie, and co-directors Onyx and Pasta, took Candy’s place in front of the fire. Magpie began talking. “Well, Candy already said pretty much everything I was going to say, so let’s have our first group get up here! Explorers!” The counselors assigned to the Explorers-the youngest group-got up, and Candy joined them. They sang some basic camp song, which Flapjack didn’t pay attention to, instead absentmindedly scratching the mosquito bites they’d already gotten. 

After a bunch of other groups, the CIT’s counselors went up, and Flapjack actually started paying attention-mostly because their counselors all looked stupid up there. Rex stood stiffly, avoiding eye contact with leadership. Koala looked as peaceful and happy as usual. Socks smiled awkwardly, rocking back and forth on her feet. Sharky grinned wider than usual, excitedly waving to the whole amphitheater. Zero had begrudgingly gotten up from their spot next to the fire and was standing behind Sharky, clearly trying to hide.

Rex was about to start singing when Sharky practically leapt over to her, elbowed her in the ribs, and stage-whispered, “We have to introduce ourselves!” Oh yeah. The introduction thing. That was the one part of opening campfire Flapjack enjoyed-all the counselors had to come up with a silly little phrase they used to introduce themselves that everyone else would have to repeat back, and a lot of them were extremely stupid. 

Rex facepalmed, let out a long-suffering sigh, and, facing her captive audience once, forced out a “Rawr. I’m Rex..” 

Flapjack snickered and, along with everyone else, responded with a far more enthusiastic “Rawr, Rex!” Sharky, of course, actually roared like a dinosaur, with which Rex was thoroughly unimpressed.

The other counselors went through their own introductions, ending with Sharky, who started singing the Jaws theme for a solid thirty seconds before yelling “I’M SHARKY!”

 The rest of the camp, seeming quite confused, sang it back, ending with an awkward “...Hi, Sharky?” That stupid grin didn’t leave their face the whole time. 

Once all that spectacle had finished, the counselors finally got to singing their song, something about mustaches, and then leadership got back up there and told people to go back to their units. Boring, but that was just how opening campfire went. Closing campfire at the end of the week was far better-besides the fact that it ended in everyone crying, it was actually fun. 

After returning to Pines, Flapjack walked back to their tent with their tentmates. Sitting on their bed, they looked over at Cricket, who sat with her legs all twisted up like a pretzel, in a way that definitely didn’t seem comfortable. Now that Flapjack thought about it, the way that she was dressed also seemed uncomfortable. Despite it being the middle of June and quite hot outside, Cricket looked like a goth librarian-wearing a dark yellow cardigan with long sleeves that fell over her hands, a long black skirt, and knee socks with spiderwebs on them. Her nails were painted black, and she had several ear piercings. Her glasses were wire-framed and hexagonal, and her shoulder-length curly hair was mostly dark brown, bleached an orangey-yellow color at the bottom. She had light brown skin and a bunch of freckles. Flapjack rescinded their previous thoughts about her outfit choices being strange; Cricket looked really cool.

Flopping onto her bed with a loud sigh, Avocado lay back with her hands behind her head. Avocado’s outfit also looked distinctly uncomfortable. She’d been complaining about how hot she was earlier, but was wearing clothes that Flapjack would consider appropriate for, like, November. She wore a long-sleeved shirt, which had dark green and black stripes underneath a t-shirt from some band and baggy jeans with keychains clipped to the belt loops. Her dark brown curly hair was a bit longer than chin-length, falling into her face. She had tawny brown skin, a reddish birthmark on her face, and small eyes so dark they were almost black

Artemis sat on the floor of the tent, reading a book. There was a slightly awkward silence in the tent for a while before Cricket unceremoniously announced, “I’m going to bed.”

“What? It’s-” Avocado was interrupted by a death glare from Cricket, and promptly shut up.

Artemis shut her book and pulled her schedule back out. “So, does anyone else wonder what this lesson is going to be about tomorrow?” She kept her voice quiet, probably to avoid annoying Cricket. 

Flapjack shrugged, looking at their own schedule. “Yeah. I have absolutely no idea why they’re making us do that. I’m pretty sure most of us have been coming here for years, it’s not like we don’t know leadership. 

“You never know, some people can be real stupid when it comes to camp,” Avocado said.

“Yeah, like you.” Cricket chucked a pillow at Avocado’s head and wriggled further into her sleeping bag. Flapjack couldn’t help but snicker a little. 

Avocado chucked the pillow back and continued talking, not lowering her voice one bit. “I’m just saying, some kids have spent whole summers here and still couldn’t tell you who Magpie is. That’s the freaking director!” 

“I don’t know, man. I don’t know.” That was absolutely appalling to Flapjack. They were well aware of just how stupid people could be, but it still managed to shock them. Magpie seemed to be everywhere, always checking in on every group, talking to their counselors–was that what they were going to be getting a lesson on? How to…be in multiple places at once? Come to think of it, they didn’t really know what Magpie did all day. So maybe there was a point to getting a lesson on it.

A knock sounded on the tent flap. Rex’s voice called out, “Everybody decent?” Cricket woke up again and seemed about to complain, but noticed it was a counselor and begrudgingly sat up, rubbing her eyes.

Rex continued talking. “Alright, so your first training session is just going to be here in Pines. You don’t need anything special, just bring yourselves. Sleep well, me and the other counselors will be in tent 3 if you need anything. If not, I’ll see you in the morning!” As soon as she left, Cricket went back to sleep, and Artemis switched off her electric lantern and put her book away, laying down and closing her eyes. 

Flapjack sighed and lay back. There didn’t seem to be much point in continuing to try to talk to people-it’d probably just lead to Cricket yelling at them. They closed their eyes and shifted to their side, not even bothering to get into their sleeping back-it was too hot for that, anyway. Sleep came quickly, heavily, before they had any more time to think.