Outside the dining hall, Dot rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. She’d been chatting with Lilypad the whole way there-typical for her, she was very much a morning person. But now, she realized that in all her talking she had drowned out anything the counselors were trying to tell her. Sheepishly, she asked, “What’d Rex say we’re doing again?”

Lilypad giggled, “She told us like ten minutes ago!” 

Dot threw her hands up in defeat. “You can’t expect me to remember things!” She laughed. “Seriously, what are we doing?”

Zero walked by, opening the door to the dining hall. “Lawn initiatives this morning, another lesson after lunch. And the pool as usual.” 

“Thanks!” She followed them in and sat down, “What do you think we’ll have for breakfast today?” 

Lilypad and Sprite, who’d been walking next to her, both shrugged. Socks sat down at their table, her hair held back by a purple headband with white polka dots. “You’re certainly in a good mood!” 

“What? Can you blame me? I’m just excited!” 

“I’m glad to hear it! I’m excited too, for uh…” Socks paused and leaned a bit closer, looking embarrassed. “...what are we doing again?” 

Lilypad burst out laughing. “Dot forgot too!”

Sprite feigned frustration, but quickly smiled. “We’re doing lawn initiatives, have a lesson, and we’re going to the pool.”

Socks grinned sheepishly. “Thanks!”

Taking a sip of water, Sprite asked, “Does anyone know what the lesson is actually about?” 

Zero leaned over from their table. “How to properly interact with campers.” 

“Thanks, Zero!” Dot grinned.

They mumbled something like “you’re welcome” and returned to halfheartedly eating a pancake. 

 “Hey, where’s Sha-” Socks was cut off by the door to the dining hall banging against a bench. 

Illuminated theatrically by the sun was Sharky, who, once the whole dining hall had turned to look at them, did several dramatic poses before sauntering over to sit next to Zero. As soon as Zero saw them, they put their head in their hands, looking like they were trying to disappear. 

Sharky refused to let that happen. “GOOD MORNING, ZERO!” they shouted, loud even for Dot’s standards.

Probably trying to keep up some air of professionality, Zero lifted their head and responded with a “Good morning, Sharky.”

It sounded so forced and almost pained that Dot had to step in. “What’re you in such a good mood about, Sharky?” 

They turned around. “I get to help out some kids on the challenge course!” While that’d be totally fine from any other counselor, from Sharky it had a concerningly devious undertone. Inwardly, Dot was a bit upset at herself for jumping to that conclusion-surely Sharky wouldn’t hurt kids, and it was pretty terrible that that was her first thought. 

“Yeah? What’re you doing with them on the challenge course?” Dot tried her best to not let her concern show in her voice. 

Sharky shrugged. “Not sure yet, but we’ll figure that out. Definitely gonna be making ‘em do the rope swing, though!” Okay, maybe Dot was right to be suspicious. There was absolutely something mischievous about the way they talked about that rope swing. 

Rex snorted, then coughed awkwardly. “Sharky really likes watching kids get splashed by the mud under the rope swing.”

Unable to contain herself, Dot burst out into hysterical laughter, the kind of laugh that left her struggling to breathe, her stomach hurting-and surprisingly, once she’d recovered, she felt more relaxed than she’d been all week. “I’m sorry-oh my God that was ridiculous-but you talked about the rope swing so diabolically that I thought-” her last words jumbled together as she slipped back into laughing “-the rope swing was evil” 

For a moment, the dining hall was almost entirely silent, save for Dot’s laughter (maybe she’d said that last bit a little too loud). Sharky broke the silence with, “An evil rope swing? What the everloving f-darn I can’t say that it’s camp-freaking heck?”

Dot’s eyes were blurry with tears from how hard she’d been laughing, but she could make out the shape of Sharky leaning dramatically over to Rex, and heard them stage-whisper “Rex, I think the kid’s lost it!”

Sprite looked to be barely holding back laughter. “I think we all need to know: why did you think the rope swing was evil?”

The dining hall went silent again. It was like everyone was waiting for her response, and Dot couldn’t deny them the pleasure of hearing The Great Saga of the Evil Rope Swing.

“It all started when…well…” She should’ve thought this through. “Sharky sounded like a cartoon villain talking about the rope swing? And my first thought was that they made kids do a rope swing over…lava? Yeah.”

Sharky snorted. “You thought I was evil? That’s-” they made this funny thinking face, “-pretty epic. I am a cartoon villain. Just gimme a sidekick and a stupid costume.”

Snickering, Sprite asked, “Wouldn’t Zero be your sidekick?”

Zero and Sharky looked between each other before Sharky responded with, “Nah, they’re too competent for that.”

“Wow, I feel so honored. I’ve never been told I was ‘too competent’ before.” Sarcasm dripped off of Zero’s every word.

Everyone finished their breakfast a bit quieter, though not without Sharky muttering about their new supervillain alter ego. After breakfast, Dot followed the other CITs out to the field outside the dining hall, where Rex and Koala waited for them holding a bin of toys. Rex clapped her hands, which seemed to be her way of getting people’s attention. “Alright, CITs! We’re going to start with a couple icebreakers”–she reached into the bin and pulled out a beach ball–”I’m gonna have y’all tell me why you picked your camp name. Then, throw the ball to someone else. I’ll start. T. rexes are my favorite dinosaur,”–oh yeah, Dot had completely forgotten that Rex’s name was short for T-Rex–”Avocado!” 

Avocado looked startled. “I-just thought it was funny.” She threw it to Socks. 

They went around the circle like that for a while. Cricket ended up with the ball last, and in her typical monotone, said, “It’s the name of a magazine I like. Also because I’m good at making awkward silences where you would hypothetically hear a cricket chirping.” She was about to throw the ball back to Rex when Flapjack elbowed her.

“You forgot Zero.” 

“I did?” She shrugged and threw it to Zero. 

They looked around awkwardly. “It’s…because of a character I like? From a movie?” 

That was the least convincing explanation Dot had ever heard.

 Sharky dramatically threw their arm around Zero. “That was the first reason, but everyone in their CIT group said it was actually because nobody noticed them. Guess it’s still accurate, huh?” 

“Yeah. That too.” Zero stepped away from Sharky, their shoulders tense.

After a few more games, it was already lunch-time seemed to go by oddly fast at camp. After lunch and changing into their swimsuits at Pines, the CITs walked down to the pool. Dot sat on the edge, dipping her feet into the freezing cold water. Avocado floated by on an inflatable donut toy. Flapjack splashed her. “What are you doing? Actually swim!”

Avocado looked at them judgementally over her sunglasses. “It’s cold!”

“You’ll warm up if you get in!” Avocado opened her mouth to protest when Flapjack unceremoniously flipped her into the water. 

Avocado’s curly hair was flattened, stuck to her face. She stammered, “You’re too freaking strong.” Flapjack grinned obnoxiously, continuing to splash her.

After a few minutes of that, Rex walked up to the side of the pool. “That’s enough. We’re supposed to set good examples.” 

Dot wanted to protest, but at the same time, she got Rex’s point. Whenever the CITs were around, younger campers gravitated to them, and while it was flattering, it was also nerve-wracking. Not that she didn’t like attention-quite the opposite, she was a performer to her core. But being on stage was one thing; having people look up to you for how they should behave was very different. She tried not to let it stop her from having fun, though.

After getting out of the pool and showering, the CITs returned to the Pines unit house. Dot sat beside Muffin, who was squeezing the water out of her long, dark hair. Muffin sat with her feet tucked under her, looking almost catlike. 

Dot nudged her shoulder. “Hey, can I braid your hair?”

Muffin froze, blushing. “Ah-sure, yes.”

As Dot combed her fingers through Muffin’s hair, she smiled. While she couldn’t figure out why Muffin was so shy and quiet, she was quite endearing. Dot decided she was going to befriend her.

Koala stepped to the center of the room and clapped her hands, an attempt at imitating Rex’s method of getting their attention. It was unsuccessful, so Dot hopped to her feet and clapped louder, and that time, everyone looked up. Koala smiled. “Thanks, Dot.”

Dot grinned and sat back down, returning to braiding Muffin’s hair. “No problem!” 

Clearly trying to scrape together what little confidence she had, Koala kept talking. “So, talking to campers. As you know, we’re supposed to be good role models for them. You all have done great with that so far, and we don’t expect you to be perfect. You aren’t counselors-you’re really still kids yourselves-so it’s okay to mess up. Just-be careful to keep your conversations camp appropriate, and while you’re more than welcome to have fun, if there are younger campers around, please try not to be disruptive. You know how kids are, they’ll pick up anything they see, and they don’t know what’s okay as well as you guys do.” Dot got the feeling she was not-so-subtly referring to what happened at breakfast.

Zero stood up from the bench they were sitting on-Dot hadn’t even noticed they were there. “Before you think ‘it doesn’t matter, the kids don’t pay that much attention to us’-they absolutely do. Campers love CITs. They look up to you guys and think you’re really cool.” It was the most deadpan compliment Dot had ever heard. “They watch everything you do”

Flapjack snickered. “That sounded so threatening.”

Avocado grinned. “Yeah, the campers are watching you. What next, are we gonna find them standing above our beds at night?” 

“Maybe not like that.”  Zero made a little noise that might’ve been a laugh. “But the campers are obsessed with CITs. I’ve heard from other counselors that it’s even hard to get their attention when we’re around.”

The room was silent. Dot couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d watch CITs as a camper, and now she was one of the people she’d looked up. She was the furthest thing from mature-easily distracted and chatty, getting too caught up in talking to pay attention. She wouldn’t have looked up to herself. Some of the other CITs, sure, but not herself. 

Sprite was the first to speak up. “Wow. That’s pretty cool, actually.”

“I know, right! I don’t know about you all, but as a camper, I thought CITs were the coolest, but I never put it together that they’d see us the same way!” Dot’s words kind of exploded out of her, how they often did whenever she got nervous. She felt her face heat up, glad her dark skin hid her blushing. 

Zero nodded. “I felt the same way as a CIT. It puts things into perspective.” They sat back down, and Koala continued with the lesson for another half hour. 

At the end, Koala put the paper she’d been reading off of away in her folder, which was pink with koala stickers, very on brand. “Thank you all for listening. You have free time until dinner!”

Dot walked back to tent 1 next to Muffin, who kept running her fingers over her new braid. Muffin glanced up, startled. “Hi! Thank you, this is actually really pretty.”

Holding the tent flap open for Muffin, Dot smiled back at her. “No problem! Your hair is really nice.” 

Muffin sat on her cot, playing with the ears of the stuffed bunny that sat on her pillow. Her corner of the tent was the neatest and looked color-coded, all her stuff in shades of purple and blue. It made Dot a bit ashamed of her own area-her clothes spilled out of her suitcase, sleeping bag falling off of her bed. 

Well, it was certainly hers.

Really, everyone’s section of the tent showed their personalities. Lilypad had an organizer over the bars that held up her bug net, holding her many accessories, and her bed was covered in stuffed animals. Sprite’s was more organized than either Dot’s or Lilypad’s, but not the picture-perfect neatness of Muffin’s-a lot of it was because her stuff was very beat-up looking, clearly having survived years of camp.

Dot made a mental note to bring stuffed animals for her bed next week. It looked sad and lonely without them. 

Laying on the floor, Dot looked up at Muffin. “I feel like I haven’t gotten to know you that well. What do you do for fun?” 

“I guess I like to bake? And-I like reading. I’m not very interesting.”

Dot propped her face on her hands. “No, that sounds cool! I can’t bake to save my life-I’m banned from the kitchen now because I set stuff on fire-but I like eating. I’m very good at it. If you ever have too many cookies…”

Covering her face with the stuffed bunny’s ear, Muffin giggled. She had a nice laugh. “A very serious problem, too many cookies. I don’t know what to do with them!” 

“Well, I’m here to solve that problem! Your cookie devouring knight in shining armor has arrived!” 

Muffin giggled more, the lower half of her face still hidden. 

“Does your bunny have a name?” Dot felt kind of awkward asking that-like she was talking to a kid.

“His name is Hopscotch. I’ve had him since I was a kid.”

“He looks really good if you’ve had him for so long. You’re what, sixteen?” Muffin nodded. “Got some magic secret? All my old stuffed animals are falling apart.” 

“Oh,” She laughed, more audibly. “My parents replaced him a couple times. He’s definitely not the original Hopscotch.”

Dot nodded. “Tthat makes sense.”

Muffin and Dot continued talking for a while. Dot had been in the middle of describing the latest show she’d done with her theatre when Rex called the CITs to the bridge for dinner. During dinner, Muffin returned to her earlier shyness-a bit disappointing, but there was still plenty of time left in the summer to work on that.

The CITs headed back to Pines, chatting as always. Dot had spent dinner talking with Sprite about the many sports Sprite did-information she could put together considering how much sports-related stuff she had.

Dot climbed into her cot, only partially under her unzipped sleeping bag-it was still too hot to cover herself fully, though she was sure she’d regret it when she inevitably woke up freezing cold. “G’night, everyone!”

Lilypad was already asleep, snuggled up with several of her stuffed animals. The heat didn’t seem to bother her-she was practically burritoed in a pale blue blanket with clouds on it, and her pajamas-which were decorated with constellations, matching her earlier outfit-had long sleeves and pants. 

Sprite called out a “good night”, zipping up her hoodie. 

Muffin, curled up in a ball holding Hopscotch, whispered “Good night”-or at least Dot assumed she did, admittedly, she couldn’t really hear her. 

Under her breath, Dot whispered a second “good night” and fell asleep.