Chapter 1

If you’ve never been to camp on opening day, let me explain something. 

It smells like pine needles, sunscreen, and poor decisions.

Also fear. But like, the fun kind.

I’m dragging my duffel bag down the gravel path toward staff housing, already sweating through the back of my t-shirt, when someone behind me says, “If you die before staff training even starts, they don’t give refunds.”

I turn around.

She’s leaning against a post like she’s been standing there long enough to judge everyone who walks past.

Short dark curls shoved under a backwards cap. Clipboard tucked under one arm like it’s part of her body. Sunglasses pushed up, but not fully off, like she wants you to know she’s watching you but not how much.

I squint. “Cool. Good to know. I’ll try to die somewhere more convenient.”

She huffs a laugh. Not warm. Not cold either. Just… amused.

“Cabin?” she asks.

“Senior girls. Pine,” I say, shifting my bag higher on my shoulder. “You?”

She raises an eyebrow like I just said something mildly stupid.

“Section head.”

Oh. Oh. Right. So this is one of those staff.

I nod slowly, like that means anything. “Sick. Love authority figures. Big fan.”

She looks at me for a second longer than necessary. She’s deciding something.

“Yeah,” they say finally. “You seem like it.”And then they push off the post and walk past me.

No introduction. No name. Just that.

I watch her go, a little thrown off, and then mutter, “Okay, mysterious. Relax.”

“Who are you talking to?”

I turn again and immediately get tackled into a hug.

“Annabelle—oh my god—hi—” I laugh, dropping my bag as she nearly takes me out. “You’re still aggressive, I see.”

“Only with people I love,” she says, pulling back and grinning at me. “Which is unfortunately you.”

“Devastating.” I respond.

Emily and Caitlyn come up behind her, way more chill but smiling.

“First year staff,” Emily says, like she’s announcing it to an audience. “We made it.”

“Barely,” Caitlyn adds. “I almost failed my final exam and just stayed here as a camper forever.”

“That would’ve been weird,” I say.

“Worth it,” she shrugs.

We fall into step together, dragging our bags toward the cabins, already slipping into the rhythm we had as campers. It’s weirdly easy. Like no time passed at all, except now we’re the ones in charge.

Which feels… fake.

“Did you guys meet any of the returning staff yet?” Annabelle asks.

“Just one,” I say.

“Oh yeah?” Emily perks up. “Hot?”

I hesitate.”…annoying.”

That’s not the right word.

But I’m not about to unpack whatever that was on a gravel path in 30-degree heat.

“What’s her name?” Caitlyn asks.

I blink.”…didn’t ask.”

All three of them stop walking.

“You didn’t ask?” Annabelle repeats.

“She didn’t offer,” I defend.

“That’s worse,” Emily says.

“Yeah,” Caitlyn nods. “That’s like… intentional mystery. Red flag. Or hot. One of the two.”

“Probably both,” Annabelle adds.

I roll my eyes, but I can still picture her—leaning against that post, looking at me like she’d already decided I was trouble.

Which is—Rude.And also—Whatever.

I pick my bag back up. “She’s the section head.”

That gets their attention.

“Oh,” Emily says. “So you’re going to be in trouble immediately.”

“I’m never in trouble,” I say.

Annabelle snorts. “Kennedy.”

“Okay, I’m rarely in serious trouble.”

“Define serious.”

“No paperwork.”

They all laugh, and it settles something in my chest. This feels right. Being back here. Being this version of myself again.

By the time we reach Pine, the sun’s lower, the lake’s glinting through the trees, and staff are everywhere—hauling bins, yelling across paths, hugging people they haven’t seen in months.

It’s loud, alive, and exactly how I remember it.

I drop my bag onto one of the bunks and flop down next to it. “Okay. I’m not moving for at least ten minutes.”

“You don’t get ten minutes,” a voice calls from the doorway. “You get five.”

I sit up. Of course. Its her.

Clipboard. Cap. That same unreadable expression.

She glances around the cabin, assessing everything in about two seconds flat.

“Welcome to Pine,” she say’s. “I’m Quinn. If anything goes wrong on girls’ side, it’s my problem—which means it becomes your problem.”

Annabelle leans over and whispers, “Hot.”

I elbow her.

Quinn continues like she didn’t hear, but I swear her mouth twitches.

“Dinner’s in twenty. Staff meeting after. Be on time.”

She starts to turn, then pauses.

She looks at me. Specifically me.

“You,” she say’s. “Try not to die before then.”

And then she leaves.There’s a beat of silence.

Caitlyn exhales slowly. “Oh, you’re so screwed.”

“I didn’t do anything,” I say.

Emily grins. “Exactly.”

Annabelle drops onto the bunk across from me. She’s my co-counsellor. “She clocked you instantly.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“It means,” she says, pointing at me, “you’re her problem now.”

Caitlyn and Emily leave to get settled into their cabin next to us.

I fall back onto my bunk, staring up at the wooden ceiling, heart doing something just slightly off-beat.

“Cool,” I mutter.

Which would be fine. Except for one small issue.

I have a feeling—A really annoying, inconvenient feeling—

That this is not the last time Quinn’s going to look at me like that.