Fandom I K N O W A P L A C E \\ Camp Camp Roleplay // 1x1

[TarantulaHawk]

She glanced around to look for the other counselor, noticing that he was currently helping Harrison sew something. It was the little things that David did to help the other campers that made her interested and just who he was, even though it wasn’t really a stretch for her to think that he was probably one of the nicest people she had ever met. He was always willing to help somebody had to step up to the bat when no one else wanted to. It was a miracle to find somebody like that. And she was glad to know him, that was for sure.

“Abby?” Nerris’ voice caught her attention quickly, “If a city is crowded, where would I put some sort of trade location?”

“Well, a lot of fantasy landscapes tend to have a market in the center of whatever place is being described,” she said after a moment of deliberation, “but I suppose it depends on what your people live off of.”

“Well, they are industrial elves....” Nerris narrowed her eyes at the map and then gasped, “I’ve got it! I need to acquire a red pen!”

As she got up, she walked behind Dolph to grab a pen from one of the many containers of supplies, and Abby wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but once she saw Dolph’s fury, she sprung into action as quick as she can.

“Whoa, whoa!” Abby barely missed having the blue paint splattered on her shirt as she made her way over to them, “Come on you two, accidents happen-“

And then all the other kids seemed to start yelling at each other. Nikki was growling at Neil, who was furious that she ruined his clay beaker set, Ered was easily sassing Harrison with a mischievous grin and the magic kid was doing his best to clean off his cape, and the rest of the kids were just being awful.

She was already panicking as she went from kid to kid, trying to stop the arguments as quick as she possibly could, but to no avail. They were just too loud. She looked around, her eyes slowly misting over with stressed out tears that she hadn’t come to form since she was a kid like them. After a moment, as the yelling began to reach the breaking point, so did she. Her fists tightened so roughly that her knuckles were turning a slight white that was even paler than her normal skin tone.

“Alright, enough!” Abby’s voice was so loud that time that her voice cracked sharply, which hurt her throat and her ears. “What is it with you guys? I know you don’t like each other, but accidents happen and going straight into blaming someone for them isn’t going to help you fix what happened!”

After a second, as the kids quieted down - some shocked and some amazed and amused - Abby sighed a little and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying her hardest to compose herself enough to speak again. After the silence began to ebb away with murmurs and mumbles about her, she spoke again.

“I want you all to swap projects. Right now.” Abby said, “Ered with Harrison, Dolph with Nerris, whoever with whoever you were fighting with. What you’re going to do with the rest of your art time is you’re going to do your best to fix whatever got messed up with whoever’s project. Got it?”

 

[Pilot-66]

Lurking behind the treeline, Max watched Abby crumple under the chaos with a satisfied grin. She looked lost among the screaming and he was almost proud of how easily all this was falling into place.

Then, almost without warning, Abby exploded.

Max braced himself behind the tree, brow pulling taught as watched the kids in the field go quiet and look up at her. Was this it? Max glanced over to where Neil was frozen next to Niki. The curly haired boy looked a lot less sure of himself now than he had back in the kitchen while calling him a liar. Max smirked to himself, but…as the seconds dragged on in uncomfortable silence, he turned his sights back on Abby; vaguely aware that his grip on the sling-shot had tensed.

When she finally spoke again…Max let out a huffing breath that he hadn’t even been aware of holding. Really?! That was it? She was just going to punish them with some team building bullshit?! Jesus, she was like a smaller, creepier, David! He hadn’t exactly wanted her to go ballistic and start killing people right then and there, but…he’d kind of hoped for something more definitive than a tense silence and a lecture. Oh well. He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. He slunk back further into the trees and moved around the outside of the field to get a new vantage point.

David was also on the move. He hurried anxiously away from drama camp’s stage back towards the activities field, following the sound of yelling. Preston was hot on his heels and raging at the interruption of his work. The redhead didn’t respond as he strode up in time to see Dolph whipping around and looking up at Abby in dismay.

“But Abby! I do not vant her help!” He looked away from the woman to glare caustically at Nerris, “She’s done ENOUGH damage!”

“Woha, woha!” David held his hands out to stop Nerris from snapping back.

The redhead glanced around at the other campers, surprised to see how furious they all looked. When he’d stepped away to help Preston just a couple of minutes ago they’d all seemed perfectly content. His attention flit to Abby, concerned to see her looking so on edge. He’d been close enough to still see everyone in the field, but he still had no idea what had changed so quickly. He opened his mouth to try and ask Abby what happened, but before he could, Harrison yelped loudly from the table.

“Ow! HEY!” Harrison leaned up on the table to glare at Ered, one gloved hand pulled back with the threat of magic, “Quit hitting me!”

Ered snorted at the magician’s ridiculous bluff, her arms crossed confidently over her chest, “That’s so uncool, little magic dude. I didn’t even touch you. Don’t be so lame.”

Harrison growled and looked ready to leap across the table at the girl, but David quickly reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, urging the boy back into his seat. “Hey, easy! What in the gosh darn heck has gotten into you guys today?” He asked, though there was only confusion and concern in his tone as he frowned and looked over them all. He was used to them acting out by now, but…first the breakfast food fight and now this? It was a bit much. Even for this bunch. “Can’t we all just calm down and talk about, uh, whatever all this is…?”

“She just hit me in the back of the head!” Harrison argued, pointing an accusing finger across the table at Ered.

“How would I have hit you in the back of the head if I’m sitting in front of you?” Erend deflected.

Max cursed under his breath, not quite ready to throw the towel in on this yet. He knew he could still push Abby. Thinking quickly, Max scooted around the outside edge of the field and loaded another pebble into his sling shot. He paused when he had positioned himself behind Abby then took aim and fired a shot at her, both to irk her nerves a little more and make the adults look over here while he hauled ass in the opposite direction.

Not even waiting to see if his shot landed, Max turned and started to sneak towards the opposite end of the field, but something grabbed him and yanked him back. Max twisted around to see that the hood of his hoodie had gotten snared in the branch of a bush, keeping him right where he’d prompted the counselors to investigate. Cursing furiously, he reached up and tried to wrench himself free before anyone came looking.

 

[TarantulaHawk]

Abby was beyond glad when David showed up again, his presence making her feel a little more comfortable as she fell apart a tiny bit more. She was stressed. One thing she noticed about working with children was that she was much more on edge then she was if she was just working in a restaurant as a waitress or something like that. She really did love all of the kids, but they were acting awful that day and she wanted to know why. And it seemed that David wanted to know too.

“Hey, easy! What in the gosh darn heck has gotten into you guys today?”

But his questions seemed completely ignored as the kids begin to bicker again, feeling rather irritated with each other. But when Abby really watched what was going on, doing her best to try and ignore her anxiety which was ebbing at literally every part of her being, she noticed that something was off. The kids weren’t actually heading each other by any means, something else was going on.

She let out a little yelp as something hard hit the side of her head, stinging the skin. She reached up and felt a tiny spot of blood - nothing awful and it would stop bleeding probably right away. But something was going on for sure.

Abby looked over in the direction that the object had flown at her and noticed something blue struggling behind a tree. That told her immediately what it was and she was very irritated. So without hesitation, she made her way over to the tree and was quick to find Max. He seemed stuck and that was why she crossed her arms and watched him struggle.

“Really Max?” Her voice wasn’t actually angry at all, it was just sort of defeated. “Why are you acting like this?”

She made no reach to untangle him from the branch, watching him struggle as she asked her question. It wasn’t dark or awful at all by any means, she just knew that he was trapped and she didn’t want to have to grab a child forcefully.

 

[Pilot-66]

Max grumbled under his breath as he twisted and turned on the end of the branch, both dumbfounded and furious at how he’d managed to become so tangled. He turned his head when he heard Abby’s footsteps approaching and let out an arid sigh. Damn it! He’d been so close. He eased his struggle a bit so that he could glare up at the woman when she finally reached him.

He expected her to yell at him like she had before–or maybe try and rope him into the group exercise she’d tried to get the others in on–but she did neither. He felt his eyebrows lift slightly at how quiet her voice was, but he forced a scowl back on his face a millisecond later as he shrugged up at her cooly. “Dunno.” He answered, finally wrenching himself free of the branch then glancing past her to see David approaching. The boy looked back up to her with a knowing glint in his eyes, “Maybe because you let me…?”

“Maaaax…” David put his hands on his hips when he saw the crude slingshot in Max’s hand and realized what was going on. “This isn’t Abby’s–or anyone else’s–fault. You did this. And, for the record, I’m very disappointed in you.” The redhead scolded, though he couldn’t muster much authority into his voice. He knew he should have checked on the boy sooner.

“Really?” Max challenged as the rest of the campers gathered around behind the counselors to see what was going on, “Because last I checked, she can’t go five fucking minutes without freaking out and needing you to come bail her out…we’ve all done pretty much whatever we want from day one.”

The truth was that there hadn’t been a single Camp Campbell counselor who could do their job right, but…that was beside the point. He was only looking to throw Abby under the bus in front of her boss and press on some of those cracks he’d seen in her self-confidence from day one—just to get a rise out of her. If she snapped here right in front of David, maybe that’d be proof enough for everyone.

“Max!” David snapped his head up, able to summon a little more force to his voice this time, but even to his ear, he knew he mostly just sounded surprised. He was used to Max’s abrasive nature by now and he’d known—and sort of warned—that Max was going to be trouble around anyone new, but…that was a bit more cutting than Max’s usual hazings or cries for attention. What had gotten into him? What was wrong?

Shaking his head, David turned to look at the blonde woman sympathetically, “Abby, I’m so sorry for this sort of attitude…” He turned back and managed to give Max a stern look, “It’s absolutely uncalled for.” The lanky counselor let the words hang for a moment as he looked down at the boy, hoping more than anything that Max would see that the right thing to was apologize, but the dark-haired boy just stared defiantly back up at Abby…almost like he was waiting or watching for something.

 

[TarantulaHawk]

“David, it’s...” she took in a deep breath and sighed a little bit, rubbing her elbow and looking away from the scene, “it’s alright. Max is right. I’m sort of... Well, okay, I’m constantly anxious and you do lose a lot of time working with the kids because I panic easy and need your help.”

She was starting to think she wasn’t good for the job. Some of the kids pretended to like her and then sort of just turned on her whenever they felt it was convenient, which was something she had noticed more lately than before. She hadn’t even been working there very long. She looked back at Max and noticed just how annoyed he was with the entire situation, and how annoyed he was with her just being there. That kind of hurt a little bit, but she did expect it for Max. He was just the kind of kid and she had been like that once.

“Maybe this job isn’t exactly the best pick for me.” She continued after a moment of thinking, “That’s Okay, though. I... I think I’ll eventually be a lot better at it, I just need some time to get adjusted. This all super new to me.”

And then she looked at Max with a little smile that seemed genuine and even the slightest bit uncomfortable. “You don’t have to like me. I don’t even like me. But all I ask is that you try to not.... attack me for not being the best. That’s all.”

 

[Pilot-66]

David frowned a little as he watched Abby withdraw and agree with Max’s hostility. “Abby…” His shoulders sank under the weight of his camping vest. Sure, she might have been learning, but he didn’t agree with the weight of the criticism she and Max were putting on her preformance—espically not after how natural she’d looked just minutes ago when she’d been helping the campers with their projects. The redhead turned to towards her, opening his mouth to try and say something, but he caught himself holding his tongue and giving Abby the room to speak for herself when she finally looked up again.

To his relief–and his admiration–it didn’t sound like she’d counted herself out just yet. Nor had she given up. David felt a small quiet smile reach his lips as he listened to her speak. Slowly, he pulled his eyes fall away from her to look back down to Max when she addressed the boy more directly.

Max held his ground under the scrutiny of the whole camp. He met Abby’s frail smile with narrowed eyes, not buying her act for a second. After all, Daniel had gotten past David by mimicking him and his mannerisms. Abby trying to take an understanding tone with him now was probably just her doing the same thing only…a lot better. Max glowered harder up at the blonde woman, challenging her discomfort with an air of menacing confidence as he shoved his hands into his hoody pocket and lifted his chin up to her, “Then why don’t you just–”

“Okay, Max.” David finally had to interrupt, anxiously reaching out to put a hand on Max’s shoulder and gently guide him back towards the other kids before he could spit his vitriol, “Let’s just let you cool off for a second…” He hated to the cut the boy off. He wanted nothing more than to sit down and figure out what was going on and talk things out so everyone could get along, but…well, maybe they all needed some space first.

Trying his best to reign in this whole mess, David straightened his back and glanced around at the paints and colorful papers that littered the activities field. “I know!” The redhead bounced back, a smile brightening his features again as glanced around the kids, “Why don’t we work together and clean up a bit? I bet we’ll all feel a LOT better when there’s less of a mess everywhere and then we can see about getting those projects finished. What do you say~?”

The gathered crowd of campers groaned and grumbled at the idea of cleaning, but most everyone wandered back towards where they’d been working since it didn’t look like they’d get to watch anyone get in trouble.

Max skulked his way back across the field towards where Niki and Neil were standing. “Damn it! I almost had her, I know it.” Max finally let some of his frustration break through when he was sure he was far enough away from the adults to speak without being heard. He stopped in front of his friends, surprised–and a little annoyed–to see Neil glaring down at him with his fists on his hips. “…What?” Max pressed with an edge in his voice.

“You used us!” Neil snapped, throwing his hands out to his side.

Max blinked then scoffed, “I thought you didn’t believe me anyways?”

“I didn’t and I STILL don’t! But we also never agreed to be your fucking guinea pigs!” Neil sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t say he trusted Abby fully (or even thought he could count on her for filling the basic role of an adult), but…he still didn’t think she was a threat and it infuriated him to know that Max only saw him and Niki as cogs in the machine when he got his head up his ass like this. He’d overlooked it once or twice before, but enough was enough. “Look, Max, whatever issues it is you’re trying to work out here…do it by yourself. Because right now, you’re just being a dick. Even to your friends…”

Neil drew his hands back up so that they hung in their normal awkward place in front of his chest. He glared down at Max for a few more seconds before sighing, “Come on, Niki…” He coaxed as he turned and walked away back towards where the two of them had been working before Max had worked them into a pointless fight, “let’s go fix that bow and arrow you were trying to make. I’ll replace the stick I broke with a more ergonomic one.”

Max stood there for a few seconds, watching them go before huffing dismissal at them and stalking off in his own direction.

 

[TarantulaHawk]

Even though Abby really wanted to know what Max had to say, David’s intervention was kind of nice. He was doing his best to ease the situation and to let everybody calm down, which is what she needed to do and she knew Max needed to do that as well. Everything was a bit of a mess emotionally and she really didn’t want to put that on the other kids because she was freaking out. She took in a deep breath and then exhale that she followed the kids back up to the picnic tables.

After a second, she looked at David out of the corner of her eye and then away again. She felt sort of awful. She put him in the multiple situations already that day That weren’t fair and surprisingly self-centered, even though she didn’t mean it like that. She was just a mess and never really had the chance to healthfully process her emotions from awful things in the past, so they just came out in random clumps of anger and upset. She’d have to talk to David about it later, not about her problems, but at least to give him an apology for how difficult everything had gone that day. And maybe he’d agree that it wasn’t a good idea for her to do with the kids alone yet.

“Then why don’t you just–” Max’s unfinished sentence echoed in her mind, but this time, actually ended and with the voice of someone that was unfortunately familiar; “Leave me? That’s right. You can’t. You’re too pathetic to even try and pack your bags.”

”How am I supposed to fix this?” Dolph groaned, seeming distraught as he looked at the blue streak through his drawing - and the sound of the question made her pay more attention physically to the world around her.

But not mentally by any means.

“You’re too pathetic.”

 

[Pilot-66]

It took a while for everyone to get settled back into their art projects. Despite them now knowing Max was the culprit behind their riled emotions, David found that most of the kids still seemed to cling to their budding rivalries, a few even picking at wounds from old arguments just to have ammunition to chuck at one another.

The red-head tried his best to get them back into the spirit of things, but it was…a challenge. Especially with Nurf.

“Everything was coming along just fine and then he shoved this stupid metal thing into my carving and RUINED it.” Nurf huffed, swinging a hand out to point accusingly at Space Kid who was dutifully guarding his cardboard rocket ship. “So, I stabbed his dumb box.”

David leaned back, nervously dodging the pocket knife that Nurf was swinging around. “C’mon guys, I’m sure this was all an accident. There’s no reason to be upset with each other and nothing’s ruined! It’s just, uh…” The lanky counselor glanced to the side for a second then grinned and snapped upright with enthusiasm when he thought of a positive spin to put on things, “You’re just collaborating!”

“…Colla-what?” Space Kid blinked up at him.

“Collaborating!” David repeated the word with a grin, “It means you’re working with someone to make something-–and who better share a creation with than your fellow campers?”

“Maybe I just wanted this ONE thing for myself, David! Did you ever think about that?” Nurf countered, taking such a formal tone that it gave David pause. The boy huffed a sigh, picking his wood carving and carrying it away from David and Space Kid.

Grimacing a little, David glanced down to Space Kid only to find that the helmet-wearing boy had already checked out of the conversation and was now talking to ‘mission-control’ as he repaired the holes on the side of the cardboard with tape.

David spent the next half hour or so wandering the field in an attempt to settle the kids. Eventually, he even found Max sitting by the treeline and he had settled down to try and talk to the boy now that he’d had some time to himself, but…it…went poorly. To say the least. Max hardly said three words before shutting him out completely and walking away. The redhead watched him go with a small sigh to himself. He just…couldn’t figure out what he was missing here.

David slowly pushed himself back onto his feet and brushed grass off his shorts then glanced around. By now, everyone had finally settled back into their art projects and a busy, albeit tense, silence had fallen over the field. He searched the crowd for his co-counselor and–hoping he’d have better luck with her–slowly strode over until he stood beside her a short distance from where the kids were working.

“Hey, Abby!” He greeted, watching the kids in the distance for a moment longer to ensure everything was in order before he rubbed the side of his neck and glanced down at his boots, “I’m really sorry again for the way Max yelled at you. He isn’t normally like—well, he isn’t normally this bad…It’s…complicated.” He sighed, knowing he shouldn’t be trying to excuse the behavior, complicated home life or no. Especially not now when he’d come to check on her. He lifted his head again and glanced over to her slowly, brows knit together in concern, “Are you…okay?”

 

[TarantulaHawk]

And David wasn’t the only one who is trying to fix the little arguments here and there from the disaster that have become art camp that day. Nerris was almost in tears of anger at how Dolph poked fun at her love for nerdy things and Nerris came only a few inches away from actually decking him - luckily, Abby was able to catch that all (barely).

“He’s just so stupid!” Nerris ranted, crumpling up her map and throwing it as hard as she could at Dolph.

“Hey!” He snapped, turning around quickly, “Don’t call ze artistic genius of this camp stupid!”

“C’mon guys,” Abby said, but her voice seemed to lack any and all authority to it, “it’s not a big deal. Just start over with your painting and Nerris, I’ll help you remake your map, okay?”

Nerris sighed and got up from the picnic table, looking irritable and upset as she went to fetch some paper and pens and whatever else she needed. Dolph grumbled to himself and took the painting off the easel, tossing it aside and then going to search for a blank one.

But luckily, everything was fairly quiet after that. Abby found herself sort of drifting away mentally, doing her best to just keep her eyes on the kids. Her mind wasn’t in the best of places, as her ex’s words sort of echoed in the back of her mind, reminding her of just the kind of person she was. She wandered away from the campers a little bit, wanting nothing more than solitude for the time being.

But when David went over to her, the silence sort of fizzled out and the resolve she was slowly doing her best to push back up started crumbling again. As he apologized for Max’s behavior, her hands came together a bit and she fidgeted with her fingers, picking at the skin and at her own nails.

“Are you... okay?”

Abby was silent for a moment before looking at David, smiling in a way that was very much forced, but also sort of.... depressed? Upset? “Max didn’t say anything that wasn’t true, and it‘s something I’ve heard a few times before, just said.... differently.”

“You’re a mess,” Daniel’s voice hissed, scoffing as if he had witnessed something disgusting to him, “You can’t stand up for yourself, even when your life is on the line. You’re not even worth my time, are you?”

“So, uh,” her voice cracked softly when she spoke again, her amber eyes looking away from David and the campers entirely, “I just.... I’m sorry, I need a minute alone.”

She couldn’t do it. She walked past him, and away from the kids. Her eyes were burning and her face was even hotter from the embarrassment of breaking down like a little child. She went into the counselors cabin and shut the door behind her, and that was when she sort of broke down. She staggered into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, tears rolling freely down her face. She turned on the sink and made sure that the water was running loud enough that she could cry in peace. She sat on the lid of the toilet and sobbed, her frame shaking slightly as she cried. No matter how many times she wiped at her eyes and face, the tears just didn’t stop.

“Oh, stop crying. You’re acting like I hit you.”

 

[Pilot-66]

“Max didn’t say anything that wasn’t true, and it‘s something I’ve heard a few times before, just said.... differently.”

David lifted his head a bit to look more directly at Abby, the miserable look on her face catching him off guard and forcing his words back down his throat to settle like a leaden weight in his chest. Max had made other counselors cry before, but this was…diffrent. Worse. There weren’t any tears on Abby’s cheeks but he’d have been an idiot not to recognize the threat of them behind the glaze in her eyes.

“Ab–” He started to try and speak again, but before he could even begin to think of the right thing to say, she’d already started to take a few steps away. For a heartbeat he wanted to follow her, to try and help somehow, but just as he’d done when Max walked away, David forced himself to stay put as he watched her go.



He spent the next hour and a half working with the kids, trying to keep them distracted from their anger with various camp activities. Most of the time, he kept them just busy enough to keep them out of any real trouble, but not always…

He finally got a chance to breathe when lunch rolled around. It hurt a little to see, but most of the campers had spread themselves out evenly across the long wooden tables, sitting with kids they weren’t fighting with or sitting alone. He sighed stood beside the serving window. At least they weren’t likely to start picking fights with one another again, but he hoped this cloud hanging over them all would pass soon. He dared a glance over at Max again, but the glare the boy shot at him as he stabbed a bit of food on his plate told him to stay away. David just tried to content himself with the fact that at least Max was eating.

The redhead turned his head, glancing at the counselor's cabin through the window. He’d heard nothing from inside but the hiss of the water pipes when they passed by the building earlier, but the memory of Abby’s anguished expression still made him worry…

The lanky counselor let his eyes fall to the floorboard for a moment before he leaned away from the serving window and brushed past the doors into the kitchen, “Hey, Quartermaster?”

“Hm?” The old man didn’t look up from the dishes he was cleaning.

“Do you mind keeping an eye on the kids for just a few minutes? I’ve got something I need to do.”

The old man’s hook hand scrapped against one of the plates and even after years of hearing it, the sound still made David wince, but to his relief, the other man agreed with a grunt.

“Thanks.” David did his best to give the QM a smile then turned back into the kitchen and fetched a clean plate from the cupboard. He cut up an orange and placed the slices on the plate, then got a cold bottle of water out of the fridge. After the way Abby had left and having seen how peckish she could be when upset, he knew better than to think the woman was going to have much of an appetite, but…maybe he could coax her to try a snack while checking in on her. Something was better than nothing, and he’d never seen her with a plate of her own at breakfast.

Leaving the mess hall through the back door, David carried the items over to the counselor’s cabin and paused outside the door. After a short breath, he reached out and gently tapped his knuckles against the wood, “Abby?” He ventured, “Can I come in…?”

 

[TarantulaHawk]

It took her far too long to stop crying. It was nearing noon by the time she found the confidence to leave the bathroom. She had done her best to clear any evidence of the tears - wiping a washcloth across her skin and holding a cold one to the underside of her eyes to reduce the swelling. It worked a little, bit she still wasn’t exactly satisfied with how she looked. She wasn’t satisfied with a lot of things, actually.

Like how she had run away from David like that, leaving him probably hurt and confused, how she had let the words of a little kid hurt her like that, and even the fact that Max’s words had triggered things so deep in her emotionally that she couldn’t even think about herself without thinking about all the things Daniel had said to her when they were together.

Abby sighed, sitting on her bed and crossing her legs. Daniel was unfortunately right about a lot of things he used to say about her, she believed. He told her all kinds of things that lined up with her personality - pathetic, annoying, weak, and so on. She reached up and pushed at her eyes lightly, forcing herself to feel the pain so she’d stop wanting to cry again. She was an actual mess and she felt awful for being the way she was. She wasn’t worth it, was she? Especially if she was just going to break down and run away to go and hide as she cried. What was she even good for?

Nothing, that was what. Abby bit her lower lip, unconsciously ripping little bits of skin off of it. Her amber eyes were surrounded by puffy skin and the area around her fingernails were ripped up from her biting the skin off of it, as well as her having barely any nail left on every finger. She swallowed, nothing going down and nothing coming up either - she had thrown up what she had eaten earlier anyway, the measly granola bar and cup of coffee.

“Disgusting. Get off the floor and don’t come near me until you’ve gotten rid of the smell of the vomit in your mouth.”

She coughed a bit, tears starting to try and leave her eyes. She shook her head and wiped them away again, desperately trying to get herself together. She cleared her throat a bit and then took her ponytail out, playing with her hair - a tactic she had used since she was young to distract herself. She braided it and unbraided it, put it in a bun and then took it down. Once she felt significantly calmer, she put her hair back into a ponytail. And it seemed to be good timing as well.

“Abby... Can I come in?”

David. She sighed softly and blinked, clear in her throat as she sat up. After a moment of silence, she spoke,

“Of course. It’s not just my cabin.” Her joke fell a little flat with how shaky and gravelly her voice was at the minute.

 

[Pilot-66]

David tilted his head at the meek voice that answered him through the door. He thought he could pick up on the attempt at humor somewhere in the tremble of her voice, but he wasn’t sure. Still– not seeing how some light joking could hurt in this situation–David gave a short chuckle from behind the door. “Oh, I’m checking more for me than you.” He assured, shuffling the items in his hands so that he could reach for the doorknob.

He pushed his way inside then turned to shut the door behind him as he carried on with his story, hoping that it would help relieve any pressure his visit might have unintentionally brought with it like last time he’d tried to check on her, “I walked in on Gwen doing some kind of facial mud mask thing one night, aaaand she still hasn’t exactly let me live down screaming and waking the whole camp, but…it was really late! And dark!”

The redhead turned to look at Abby and let a sheepish half-grin spread across his face before he walked over to join her on her side of the cabin. He studied her for a second, relieved to see that she didn’t look quite as distressed as she had when she’d left the field, but he could tell that past hour and a half hadn’t been easy on her. She seemed pale and her hair was slicked back as if she’d recently combed through it, but a few stray blonde strands and light bags under her eyes made her look exhausted. The same sense of familiarity and concern that’d pulled him back to Sleepy Peak that night he’d first met her clawed at the inside of his chest again, but the lanky counselor kept the easy smile on his face. Abby had probably had enough negativity today to last her for quite some time. The last thing he wanted to do was add to that.

Realizing he’d just been standing there for a second, David snapped to attention and set the plate he was carrying down on the nightstand next to her. “I, uh, knew you probably weren’t all that hungry, but…the kids are eating lunch now and I thought you might want something light? Or at least some water.” He explained, leaving the plate and the bottle of water next to her.

He took a step back and smiled down at her again, “Or if you want something else, then by golly, I can run and get it,” He offered, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder as he added with colorful enthusiasm, “The old mess hall’s just a hop, skip, and a job away~”

 

[TarantulaHawk]

She had to smile a little bit at his story. She appreciated David’s guesture, trying to make her feel good. She was really happy to have somebody like him around because he always seemed to manage to be optimistic when no one else could. It was nice to know somebody like that. He always made the brightest comments out of the dark is situations and it made her feel a little less alone. A miracle, really.

He offered food, which she had been too distant to even notice he was holding. The orange slices and cold water looked tempting. “Thanks. And no, this will be just fine.”

Honestly, she was pretty hungry. But that was because she had thrown up literally everything that she had eaten, which wasn’t even that much in the beginning anyway. She carefully took a little slice of orange and put it into her mouth. It was a taste that she was familiar with and it made her feel a little better. Her smile actually stayed on her face, despite her eyes proving that she was still pretty upset because they were puffy.

“I’ll finish eating and then go back out to help you,” she said after swallowing her orange slice, “I’m sorry for running off like that. I left you alone to deal with the kids and that wasn’t fair.”

She always worried about her actions when she was upset, and unfortunate habit that had been ingrained in her mind since she was very young. She thought that being upset or angry wasn’t a good thing, but she understood it when other people were that way. She had been told always to make sure that other people were okay before herself. It wasn’t right, but that was the way she had come to understand things.

 

[Pilot-66]

David gave a quiet nod when Abby turned down his offer to fetch anything else. He didn’t want to push her on the idea, but he was glad to see her eating a little bit. He shuffled over towards the window and glanced out at mess hall in the distance, simultaneously checking on the kids and trying to give Abby a little space as she nibbled on the first of the orange slices.

He blinked when Abby spoke up. Green eyes turned from the window to her as he listened. He was a little surprised that she was the first one to bring up the day’s events, but…glad too. He’d hoped to have a chance to talk to her and if she was more comfortable now, then that was probably a good sign.

David never lost his smile but he couldn’t keep his shoulders from sagging a little at the struggle in her voice when she apologized of all things. “Hey, It’s okay.” He answered almost instantly, turning away from the window and walking back over towards her. He tugged one of the wooden chairs out from under the table in the center of the room and pulled it up towards the end of her bed. He settled down onto it, sitting backward in it so he could rest an arm over the chair’s backing as he faced her.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Remember your first day? We said that if one of us ever needs a break we’d just let the other know so they could take over for a while?” He pointed out gently, then let his grin spread a little further, “We did just that—teamwork! I can’t think of a single thing to be sorry for when working together~”

He leaned forward, letting himself prop more of his weight over the back of the chair as he continued, “And…somebody told me that it’s okay for us not to be okay.” The lanky redhead gave her a quiet grin before glancing over to the mess hall where he’d left an angry max to brood over his meal, then lowered his gaze to the floorboards for a moment. “I’m thinking we should all probably start listening to her a little more.” He mused a bit guilty, though his voice never lost its warmth. Lifting his attention back to her, he gave a quiet single chuckle before adding. “She seems pretty smart.”

 

[TarantulaHawk]

She watched him tug one of the chairs over to her bed in silence. She hated that she felt awfully guilty for everything that it happened. Innoway, it was her fault. But not everything was her fault. Some of it had to do with the way that the kids were just behaving that day and how they were sort of susceptible to other peoples emotions. But it doesn’t stop her from feeling like it was only her fault.

But then David started referring to what she had said in the beginning. She supposed that was what they did to an extent, and that helped a little bit. It made her feel like they were just doing something that was normal and she didn’t have to worry about it that much.

At his comment about not being okay, she rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop the smile that made its way onto her face, and the little embarrassed flush to her cheeks. “Alright, Alright,” she said softly, “I need to start following my own advice, I know. It’s easier to say than do, though.”

She knew that she did need to start listening just to what she said herself because some of the advice could be pretty useful. But she turned a blind ear to herself most of the time out of an old, awful habit. Abby knew it wasn’t good, but it was going to take a while to change.

 

[Pilot-66]

David brightened a little as he watched a faint smile ghost across Abby’s lips. Even if she was rolling her eyes at the same time, it was still somewhat of an improvement. He felt his own grin broaden and couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at the embarrassment coloring her cheeks as she tried to shoo him away from the point with a quick ‘alright, alright’.

He reeled himself back in to listen to her as she pointed out how much easier it was to say something than it was to do something. “I know,” He relented, though the grin never left his face as he looked up to her, “But…I think you’re just as worthy of hearing it as anyone else.”

The redhead fell quiet for a moment and let his gaze fall down to the edge of the chair backing that he was still letting himself prop up on. Her words on the field echoed in his mind— particularly the fact Max was only an echo of things she’d heard before. He quietly hoped she meant that she was just used to emotionally unstable ten-year-olds saying things they didn’t mean or understand, but since she said she’d never worked with kids before, he knew that was probably wasn’t the case…

He took a deep breath, combing through all the things he’d practiced saying in his head to try and help soothe whatever demons Max had dredged to the surface, “Abby…” He spoke up slowly, his voice gentle.

But before he could get another word out, someone kicked open the cabin door.

David jumped in his chair and cut himself off in a slightly less than dignified yelp. He turned to look over at the door and blinked, letting himself relax (a little) when he saw the Quarter Master standing in the doorway. “Quartermaster?” David sat up in his chair, “What are you doing here?”

“Duct tape.” The old man muttered, strolling past them without sparing them so much as a glance as he made his way into the laundry room and started rifling through the supply boxes above the washer and dryer.

“Um, why…?” David arched a brow.

The Quartermaster didn’t respond until after he’d found what he was looking for. He stepped back out of the laundry room with a roll of duct tape hanging off of his hook and headed for the door before ominously answering, “Kids. Stop ‘em from squirming around and keep ‘em in their seats.”

David’s shoulders rose as he gave a short nervous whine and gripped the back of the chair he was sitting in. He flashed a look back over at Abby, grinning again albeit the expression was a little lopsided as he tried to decide who he should be more concerned for; the kids or the old man. “I should probably…stop that.” He said apologetically as he got to his feet and pushed the chair back into place under the table before hurrying over towards the door to catch up the quartermaster as he vanished outside.

The lanky redhead slowed when he reached the doorway though, feeling a little bad for rushing out and not getting to say half the things he’d wanted to. Deciding last second that he should try to leave with something, David spun around, walking backwards out of the door as he shot her grin and pointed back at her enthusiastically, “By the way: You’re doing great. Just join us again whenever you’re ready…and I believe in you~!” He half threw the last comment over his shoulder as he turned to hurry after the quartermaster before he could reach the campers.

 

[TarantulaHawk]

For some reason, that made her feel really good. To think that she was worthy of hearing something that would make her feel better was kind of something that a normal person would expect, but she very rarely received any sort of positive affirmation. But it was wonderful to actually hear it from somebody else.

She looked to him as he said her name, Though her curiosity at what he was going to say sort of went away as soon as the door was flung open. She jumped a bit herself, looking a little shocked that she saw the quartermaster come in, looking for... duct tape? And when he mentioned why he wanted duct tape in the first place, she found herself a little worried. The quartermaster was just kidding, right?

“Yeah, that’s... that’s a good idea.” She nodded, frowning a little bit in concern.

She watched David as he went to the door. Something inside of her kind of wished that he would stay for a little bit longer, but it seems like the kids were sort of in danger and that was something that he couldn’t ignore, and she know that for a fact. But the comment that he left her with that is he rushed out of the cabin was.... uplifting.

“I believe in you!~”

As he left, she sat there in silence for a minute. But then she decided that she couldn’t just sit there idly. She quickly finished eating the orange slices and downed about half of the bottle of water before getting up. She quickly made a pitstop in the bathroom to make sure that she looked okay before heading out of the cabin. She marched over to the mess hall and put her hand on the door to open it, but stopped. Could she really do it?

After a moment of hesitation, she shoved the door open. She didn’t have a choice. Not after what David had told her.

 

[Pilot-66]

Despite the courage it had taken Abby to walk through the mess hall doors, few of the campers seemed to notice. Most only turned their heads to see who had arrived, then promptly went back to their meals. A few carried on their conversations and some merely went back to watching with amusement as David tried to coax the duct tape away from the Quartermaster.

And that’s how life carried on for the next couple of days.

Most of the kids still clung to the grudges that’d formed during art camp. They bickered and fought over nothing most of the time, making for some long work days for the counselors. David kept to his routine of early mornings and late nights, missing as few activities as he could. As before, he’d done his best to try and keep everyone optimistic and content and he made it a point to check on both Abby and Max whenever he could.

The days were long—not even David could deny that—but thankfully, by the time the sun was beginning to set two days after the ordeal at art camp; the campers were finally starting to settle down as their tempers and feuds fizzled out. The camp was still chaotic, as it was always prone to being, but David was just happy that everyone finally seemed to be back to their normal selves.

Well, everyone but Max.

The boy had only withdrawn more over the past couple of days. More than once, he’d tried to attack Abby again and his mood only seemed to worsen after each encounter, as if the arguments never quite ended how he wanted them to. Every time David tried to interfere and understand, it only seemed to ruffle Max’s feathers even worse.

Now, as the redhead was trying to corral everyone into the mess hall for dinner, the remaining tension set heavy in his mind, though he did his best not to show it.

“Alrighty, everyone~” David chirped as he stood by the mess hall’s serving window while the kids formed a line with their trays, “We had a big fun-filled day today, so be sure to eat up. Especially those veggies!”

“Gross! Who wants vegetables?” Niki wrinkled her nose.

“Everyone should! They’re delicious and you want to grow up big and strong, right?” David grinned down at the green haired girl, then blinked when noticed Max wasn’t in his usual spot behind her and Neil. He lifted his head and glanced around the mess hall, apprehension crawling up his spine like a chill when he didn’t see the boy anywhere.“Wait…” he let his arms fall to his side before looking back down at the kids, “Where’s Max?”

Neil let out a huffing breath. “Probably off brooding somewhere.” He answered flatly, tossing a hand dismissively out in front of himself before crossing his arms and looking off, “Who cares?”

Niki grimaced beside him and glanced down, scuffing the floor with her sneaker. “Maybe he’s just got a thorn stuck in his foot or something? Lots of animals get real angry and territorial when that happens.” She ventured, sounding weary at being stuck in the middle of the boys’ argument for so long.

“Huh! More like stuck up his ass…” Neil muttered.

David frowned as he glanced between the two kids then lifted his head again to peak through the mess halls windows, hoping to see Max lingering somewhere nearby, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Brows knitting together with worry, he moved across the mess hall towards his co-counselor, “Hey, Abby? Uh, have you…seen Max lately?”

-

Meanwhile, Max stood by the lake’s edge, his hands shoved deep into his pockets as he watched waves lap against the shoreline, trying to soak up some of the peace of being away from the others. He glanced down at his feet, his expression set to an unreadable mask as he kicked a stone into the water.

 

[TarantulaHawk]

As the days had passed, Abby had gotten a little bit better and a little less anxious. It seemed that the episode with Max had kind of made her think differently, but she was also still the same girl she had been before - smiling lightly and doing her best to make sure everything was going at least decently okay.

But she couldn’t deny that the awful thoughts in the back of her mind we’re still buzzing loud enough for her to pay attention. There were a lot of memories that were coming to surface that she wanted to forget. So she focused on the kids more than herself, something she found usually helped a little bit.

At the current moment, she stood by David as the kids got their dinner for the evening, watching as they sort of interacted a bit more than they had been. The fiasco at art camp really had messed things up and it made her feel sort of bad to see some of the kids still sitting away from other kids.

David’s comment caught her attention and she looked around. Where was Max? That usually wasn’t a good sign. The last time that Max had gone missing, it was during art camp when he had assaulted everyone with pebbles and caused everything to fall apart, including herself. She looked at David after a minute and shook her head.

“No, I haven’t,” she said with a bit of a frown, “I’ll go look for him.”

Abby sort of believed that it was her task, seeing as Max and her hadn’t got along at all since she first set foot in the camp. She knew he had some unspoken issues and she tried her best to ignore the fact that he hated her guts for some reason. Honestly though, she couldn’t blame him. She hated herself just as much.

She crossed the mess hall quite easily and walked out of the double doors, looking around for any sign of the irritable kid. She had no idea how she was going to approach him when she found him, considering that he would probably verbally attack her again. But that seemed to be kind of normal and one would think that she would be used to it by that point. As she continued to wander around, it didn’t take her that long to find him. He was at the lake’s edge, seemingly distracted by nothing at all. She carefully approached him, but left a decent gap between them physically.

“H-Hey, Max?” She did her best to keep her smile and tilted her head a bit as she looked at him, “Are you gonna come get some food? Dinner doesn’t look too bad tonight.”

Usually the food looks sort of questionable, and she hated to say that because she knew the Quartermaster worked really hard to give the kids food, but a lot of the time she didn’t eat what he served - she used some of her check to keep a tiny stash of snacks in the cabin for herself and David.

 

[Pilot-66]

David let out a quiet sigh, his frown deepening when Abby confirmed that she hadn’t seen Max for a while either. He spared a glance past her down the trail leading to the camper’s tents, thinking he might catch a glimpse of the boy there, but of course it was too far to see from here. He’d almost readied himself to head out in search of Max, but Abby surprised him by beating him to it. Green eyes flickered from the window back down to her, “I–” He hesitated, a little worried about how harsh Max might be with absolutely no on there to filter him around Abby, but…maybe…a moment to talk alone was just what the two needed to sort out their differences?

The redhead let himself ease and nodded, “Okay,” he forced his concerns aside for now and flashed her an encouraging smile. “Just let him know he’ll have a plate waiting on him whenever he’s ready.” He said gently before turning back to the other kids.

–

Max knew someone was behind him when he heard the pebble on the shoreline shift under foot, but he only glanced over his shoulder at Abby when she said his name. He felt his stomach churn a little bit at the hauntingly familiar way her head tilted when she smiled and spoke to him; he swore he could almost hear her joints cracking like Daniel’s had when he did the same thing. Max turned away from her again, keeping his motions smooth and slow, not daring to let his discomfort show on his face as he looked back out over the the lake.

“Are you gonna come get some food? Dinner doesn’t look too bad tonight.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that? Tonight the night you finally decided to poison everyone?” Max bit out the words frigidly before taking a deep breath and turning around to face her. He didn’t bother to move his hands out of his pockets as stood his ground in front of the woman. His accusations were way more direct this time, but…after days of trying to get Abby to slip and reveal herself through her own actions, he was out of patience.

His eyes burned with fatigue and a dull ache thrummed in his temple as he squinted against the glare of the setting sun to glower at her. In truth, he’d have loved to eat. Even if it was the Quartermaster’s shitty potatoes. He’d barely been touching his food for the past couple of days out of fear of finding something sinister in his meals. After all, Daniel had been pretty forward in his methods, but Abby he expected to be a little more conniving. She’d been way too patient with his onslaughts to not have something waiting up her sleeve. He’d managed to grab a few morsels over the past few days by stealing sealed snacks out of the mess hall’s pantry or from other camper’s stashes, but he still felt exhausted standing in front of her now. He just hoped his defiance was more apparent than the bags under his eyes.

“So, what’d you go for?” He pressed smugly, hoping the fact that he hadn’t mysteriously dropped dead yet was pissing her off. “The milk cartons? The desserts? I’m guessing kool-aid’s a little too on the nose for you?”

 

[TarantulaHawk]

"Huh?"

She was instantly taken aback at the way that Max addressed her, so angry and cold. What had she done to warrant such hatred? She knew that Max didn't like her and that was fine because she knew not everyone would enjoy her being around - especially since she had proven herself to be more of an anxious wreck than others really deserved to deal with. Even she admitted that.

Abby looked at Max for a moment. He looked so.... he looked familiar, as if she was looking into some sort of age-regression mirror. His eyes were a little darkened underneath and it seemed like he didn't feel well. But she couldn't see much else past his apparent irritation and determination to get her to.... Do something or say something. She wasn't sure what Max wanted from her.

"W-Why would I poison someone?" She was almost shocked at that accusation, her eyes widening. "I'd never hurt anyone like that, especially not kids. I-I know you hate me, Max, but thinking I would.... do that sort of thing is a bit of a stretch, a-and not only that, but messed up."

Her expression was that only of hurt and confusion. She wasn't going to hurt him. She wasn't going to hurt anyone! And she was actually finding herself beyond upset at the fact that he thought she would. She didn't have any bone in her body that told her to murder a bunch of innocent, or semi-innocent, people.

"Why do you dislike me so much?" She asked softly, looking at him. "I don't want to hurt you or your friends. I'm just here to work and help David out. Why does that make you think I'd do something like that?"

 

[Pilot-66]

Max’s glare darkened under his furrowed brow as he listened to Abby stammer in confusion. His hands balled to fists inside his hoodie pocket as he watched her face twist and go through various stages of shock and pain. Irritation prickled in his blood. Really?! She was still going for this stupid innocent act? There was no way she honestly thought he was buying into that? He lowered his gaze from her and skimmed the treeline behind her, idly wondering if she expected someone else to be out there that she had to preform for, but the blonde’s words cut through his focus like a knife—

“…thinking I would.... do that sort of thing is a bit of a stretch, a-and not only that, but messed up.”

Pale green eyes darted back to her, the irritation that’d been coursing through him ignited in his veins. Messed up? Messed up?! He was messed up?! The only thing that was messed up here was that he had to be in this situation at all! AGAIN! He’d never asked for any of this! But, oh, it was always his fault when it got put on his shoulders.

And then she had the balls to start taking that 'sweet-understanding-counselor' tone with him while she carried on playing dumb.

“Jesus Christ!” Max finally barked out. He ripped a hand free from his pocket and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, screwing his eyes shut tight as he tried to will away the pain in his head; but it only worsened as rage worked its way through him. “There’s no one else out here, Abby!” He finally pulled his hand away from his face to throw it out to the side to indicate how isolated they were before words ripped their way out of him before he even had time to process them, “It’s just us! And I already know you’re some kind of murdering cultist freak, just like Daniel was and—oh, big surprise here—you KNOW him!” The boy dropped his hand back down to his side, silently thankful that his heaving sides were hidden under the folds of his jacket.

“So…just drop the fucking act already…” Max finally finished after a few seconds, his voice colder and more authoritative than it should have been for someone his age. Even he could hear it and, despite how very tired it made him feel, it gave him some quiet sense of satisfaction too–especially after he’d lost it and rattled off for a moment.

 

[TarantulaHawk]

She was quiet as she listened to Max, trying to understand why he was being so mean at the moment. Why did he hate her so much? She hadn’t even done anything to him. But her mind quickly became hooked on one of his comments and she instinctively shook her head.

“The Daniel I knew wouldn’t kill children.” She said, but added after a moment, “I-I would hope not, anyway.”

She hadn’t seen him in quite a few years, so maybe he had become some enraged cultist child killer. But it didn’t add up - Daniel hadn’t been very religious and held his family’s own religion away from himself. He also had been more than willing to make her feel guilty for what happened to-

She stopped herself, knowing she didn’t need her mind in a place like that. But it was a point. He made her feel like she did something to her, like Abby was what caused the end of the relationship instead of the death of what was theirs. He had been manipulative, cunning and just plain awful.

She looked at Max, conflicted in what she said to him. She still didn’t believe that her Daniel had become a cultist and killed children, but somehow she could also see the image in her mind and it made her feel so sick to her stomach. She had always got an awful feeling when she really thought about him and their past together. Maybe that was a sick feeling that was trying to warn her - that sick feeling was there when her and Daniel had the only fight that had gotten them put in holding at a police station. God, she should have pressed charges-

Then her mind went back to a Max completely. “I-I... I try to defend everyone to make sure everyone has an equal chance to be proven innocent, but.... I-I don’t know for sure if that’s what Daniel started to do with his life. He up and left with no warning when I was twenty.”

She was twenty years old the last time she heard the voice or saw the eyes of her tormentor. When he had fully convinced himself that Abby did something she always swore she would never do to any person, child or infant. She would have lived on the streets sooner if she would have known it would have gotten her away from him.

 

[Pilot-66]

“The Daniel I knew wouldn’t kill children.”

Max’s expression darkened. He should have felt satisfied with that. She confirmed everything he’d suspected—she knew Daniel and even felt compelled to defend him, but all Max really felt was the simmer of rage boiling under his skin. Even in spite of the heat, however, he couldn’t suppress a shiver. He’d been right. Of course he’d been right…

He curled his lip into a sneer, ready to bite out a few choice words, but Abby voiced her uncertainty before he had the chance. Max stood there for a second, his mouth still open in preparation to spit his venom, but as he watched Abby’s eyes grow haunted, he closed his mouth and stood a little straighter. He searched the woman’s expression, memories of the way Daniel’s hand had cinched around her in all of the photos flashed in his mind (no matter how hard he tried to push them away).

But just as quickly as she’d given him reason to pause, she sent fury flying back through him when she spoke again and pulled some innocent-until-proven-guilty crap out of her ass to defend Daniel with. Max grit his teeth as he stared up at her, furious with himself for the half-second that he’d wasted thinking that she might have understood better than anyone just how haunting a pair of blue eyes could be…even just as a memory.

“I-I don’t know for sure if that’s what Daniel started to do with his life. He up and left with no warning when I was twenty.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” Max pulled his piercing gaze away from her long enough to roll his eyes then quickly glared back up at her, “you’re perfectly innocent and don’t know anything about it,” he spoke with arid sarcasm, “You just so HAPPENED to randomly show up in the exact same camp your psycho EX tried to slaughter a year ago with a photo album full of pictures of the guy.”

The dark haired boy shook his head, throwing his hands out to his side as his frustration with her bubbled over, “I’m not an idiot, Abby!” He barked forcefully—the effort of his rage making his vision blur for a second and his irritation with her only grew. She was making his headache so much worse with all this back and forth.

Refusing to let any discomfort show in his expression, Max just glared up at Abby and shoved his hands back into his pockets, letting them ball to fists as he stood his ground. “…So what are you really here for? Revenge or some stupid bullshit?”

 

[TarantulaHawk]

“What am I here for?”

That was a good question, what was she therefore? In the beginning, it had just been to get some checks and manage to try and get a place to live and things like that, but then she started realizing how much she enjoyed working with those kids even though they were sort of insane almost all the time. And then she realized that she was safe from the hell that could be her life on the streets and fell into a comfortable routine - something she never had before. There was so much about the camp that kept her there and going every day. She didn’t feel depressed as much, she didn’t feel as anxious as she used to (even though she had some anxiety attacks here and there).

“I’m here because I enjoy this job.” She said confidently after a moment, though her fists were clenche at her side as she stifled her irritation the best she could. “I’m here, even though you have an obvious hatred of me for things I never got envolved with, because I like this job. I’m here because I like to work with kids and have been given the opportunity to. And most importantly, I’m here to give David a break from you being such a little jerk to him when he’d probably and honestly die for you. And not just you, but every camper here.”

Her gaze was hard and irritable, but she didn’t want to fight with a kid. She hated to make herself out to be the bad guy and someone was already treating her that way when she hadn’t even done anything awful, to her knowledge. It wasn’t fair and she hated being put in a position where she was uncomfortable and talking about her past relationship with an abusive man with a kid was very uncomfortable.

“Max, I don’t want you to hate me,” she sighed, crossing her arms and looking down at him, “but I also can’t make everyone like me. I guess it’s your decision. I just want us to not have to fight about something you won’t believe me about. It’s ridiculous and it’s not my fault that you don’t believe me when I say that I don’t know what my ex boyfriend is up to in his life now.”