One, two, three.

Sherry closed her eyes, slowly, until the glow of the gas lamps that lined the dirt paths faded from orange to brown to black. She breathed and listened to the soft shifting of the ground beneath her, the insects chirping, the trees rustling. The sun was almost done setting and the sky was on its way to black, though that didn't mean much when the sun set at 9:30. It was barely past ten, and she felt a little bad for leaving her co-counselor in the lurch, but sacrifices had to be made. Their cabin was full of seven-year-olds that had fallen asleep an hour ago. Moira could stay up on her GameBoy(or whatever it was) for a little longer.

This year, Sherry was going to have a social life. A promise with a close friend. This year, they weren't going to be losers. Sherry grinned, reached into her bag. She pulled a small, compact flashlight out of one of the pockets and shone the beam straight forwards, around a few trees and right into a small window set in the middle of a wooden wall. From inside, she heard movement. A screen door creaked. Sherry quickly shut the flashlight off. She locked her arms around her knees, pulled them to her chest, and waited.

She didn't have to wait for long. Someone blundered through the woods, hissing and cursing and swatting at bugs. Sherry had covered herself in a heavy layer of bug spray (she smelled like bleach) but it appeared that Jake had not been so careful. She lifted the flashlight balanced by her foot and clicked it on again, shining it up into Jake's face. He put his hand over it, shook his head and groaned. In the faint glow that escaped between his fingers, she saw him pull a face, and she laughed. He laughed back, sticking his tongue out and pulling her to her feet with his free hand.

"Watch where you point that. You'll blind me." He clicked the light off, shoved it into his pocket.

"I really doubt it would make much of a difference in your day-to-day life, considering your chronic lack of foresight. Put this on before you become one big insect bite." Sherry chided, reaching into her backpack and throwing him a small can of bug spray.

"Thanks, Mom." He pulled another face but caught it, steadied himself, and managed to spray it into both his eyes and his mouth at once. When he was done coughing, she patted him gently on the back.

"You're useless. Let's go." She had to press her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. Jake coughed, but made no move to resist when she grabbed his wrist and started to haul him deeper into the forest. There, a red arrow in chalk on a broad tree trunk. They forged forward until they could hear voices, laughter, music. The stark silhouette of the diving tower cut the moon in half as it swayed gently in the water. Just over the crest of a hill they could hear someone shout, the spring of a diving board, and a splash, followed by cheers. Sherry smiled, put her shoe on the rock ledge in front of her, and started to hop over it. She was stopped by a hand on her forearm, pulling her back. Jake stood with his arms crossed, peering over the hill. There was something about his eyes, the way they darted back and forth, the way his eyebrows curled like he was asking a question, but all he did was chew his lip and lean against a tree and try to look like he didn't care. Sherry stopped still, tilted her head, stared him down.

"You alright?" She asked, stepping over to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. He laughed, nodded, avoided her eyes.

"Remember what we promised a couple months ago?" He said after a moment.

"We're gonna make friends this year? Stop being social hermits?" Sherry chirped, glancing back over her shoulder. They quieted for a moment and listened to another diver.

"You, uh... You promised we'd be friends for, uh, yanno-" He paused, sucked in a breath. "The foreseeable future?" Sherry grinned, peeled one of his hands from his chest, and took it between hers.

"BFFs?" She grinned, nudging Jake with her knee. He rolled his eyes, scoffing.

"I'm gonna throw up."

"Besties?" She tilted her head, holding his hand to her cheek and batting her eyelashes.

"Forget I said anything." Jake huffed. Sherry leaned up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him down until he stopped pretending not to like it and hugged her back.

"I promise we'll be friends for, like, forever." She smiled, and she could feel him smile back, his nose on her neck.

"Good." He sighed. They pulled apart, and she grabbed his hand.

"Boost me over this rock." She chirped, and he complied with barely a whine.

As they rounded the last corner and picked their way down the grassy hillside, the music started to grow. It wasn't pumped from speakers, just a quiet guitar and a few scattered voices. Another scream, a splash, a chorus of shouts in response. Jessica from Cabin 8-A pushed her hair out of her eyes and glanced up. Sherry smiled, and she winked back, pulling herself out of the water and wrapping herself in a towel. Sherry peered around her as she re-joined the group of people huddled around the base of the diving tower. Jake cursed under his breath.

"What?" Sherry whispered.

"My co-counselor's here. The prick."

Piers definitely was there, tucked between Josh and one of the columns that supported the structure.

"Who's left watching your cabin?"

"Steve, hopefully. If that jerk shows up, we're toast."

Sherry nodded, tried not to look suspicious as she sized up the crowd. Pretty much everyone from the younger cabins, and a few from the older. Piers, Josh, Jessica, and Ashley were the only names Sherry knew. In the center of the group, perched on the wooden steps of the tower, was the girl with the guitar. She was sort of tall, angular, with dark eyes and hair pulled back to frame her face. There was something appealing about the frayed rope bracelets on her wrists, her cutoff t-shirt, her immaculate hiking boots. Something about her expression, her full lips, her defined eyebrows, that made people (or, at least present company) gather around her. She didn't look up as Sherry and Jake made their way over, said something to Ashley, and adjusted her capo. They launched into a quiet sailing song, something heard around the camp all the time.

"She's good."

"Huh?" "Oh, yeah. I guess." Jake didn't remove his eyes from his co-counselor, narrowing them until they weren't much more than slits. Piers had always been friendly to her, so Sherry didn't see why he disliked the guy so much, but knew better than to intervene. Jake could play his little games, whatever. Sherry pushed up next to Jessica, across the circle from Ashley, who greeted her with a warm smile as she approached. Sherry leaned back against the cool rock of the hill and gently nodded her head to the music. But, wait.

Twang.

The guitar stopped, strings rattling against the fretboard. Ashley's quiet voice carried on without it. The girl playing the music had dropped her pick, and Sherry watched it skitter across the rock and settle in between her own feet. The girl made no move to retrieve it for a few seconds, just froze with her fingers on the strings. She was looking in Sherry's direction, but when their eyes met the girl blanched and snapped her head away, remembering herself and feeling around on her knees for the pick. Sherry leaned over and pressed it into her hand. She glanced up, blinked, smiled big. And that was that. Ashley pulled her back and they launched into a few verses of what appeared to be a cabin song from a few years back, the tune of some outdated Taylor Swift song with butchered lyrics.

And then Jake was involving her in another round of petty nonsense, and she pushed the Guitar Girl issue to the back of her mind.

"Fuck is his deal?" He spat.

"Whose?" Sherry finished doing up Jessica’s necklace and patted her on the shoulder. Jessica smiled.

"He thinks he's hot shit. Pisses me off." Jake gritted his teeth and brooded, tucked into a corner in the rock. When Sherry asked him, he jerked his chin in his co-counselor’s direction. Sherry rolled her eyes.

"Who cares? If you want to be friends, just talk to him." She chirped.

"I don't." Jake snapped back.

"Okay." Sherry said flatly, accepting a towel from Ashley and sliding her shoes off her feet.

"I'm serious! He's stuck up, rude, always fighting me on everything-" Jake growled, holding his towel around his head, like a little grandmother. Sherry giggled behind her hand, but Jake barely seemed to notice.

"I said okay." They descended the diving tower together, almost slipping on the slick wood.

"For two people who hate each other, you sure talk about each other an awful lot." Sherry sighed in resignation, peering over the edge of the tower at the object of Jake’s ire. Piers was stoking the newly made fire, but his eyes were firmly fixed to the sky, looking up past Sherry at...

Jake stood on the diving board, looking for his goggles at his feet. When Piers caught Sherry looking, he coughed and quickly turned his head back to his conversation with the guy next to him. Sherry raised an eyebrow.

"He... What? What did he say about me?" Jake pressed, abandoning his goggle search and standing up straight.

"Dunno." Sherry smiled to herself, putting a hand on Jake’s shoulder.

"Come on, Sherry!" He complained.

“Just go.” She laughed, pushing her hand forward and launching Jake off the board. Piers glanced up again, watching Jake’s ungainly arc towards the water. The group mustered their customary cheer when Jake resurfaced, spitting up lake water and nearly steaming out the ears. Piers laughed, loud and clear, and Jake ducked his head, swimming over to the ladder. Sherry caught a smile as he climbed the ladder, but it was gone in a second. Instead, he started to climb the stairs again, hollering up at her,

“Oh, you’re gonna fucking get it!” He grinned, stomping towards Sherry. She laughed, stuck her tongue out, and launched herself off the board right before he could reach her. Serves him right.


By half past midnight, the fire had died and everyone had started to filter out, leaving behind those that had lost the customary rock-paper-scissors, who had to clean up. Jake left Sherry with a hug and a yawn, trailing behind Jessica.

It was just Sherry and somebody else, lurking by the fire pit. She turned to get a better look, and her heart skipped, just a little bit. Guitar Girl climbed the short hill to stand next to her, carrying an armful of firewood and smiling over at her. She smiled back, fidgeting with the strap of her bag, until she remembered herself and started to gather up the bits of trash and kick away the evidence of the campfire.

They cleaned up in silence for a few minutes, both of them feeling too awkward to say anything. Sherry combed her brain. Should she know this girl? She’d clearly been counseloring here for a couple years, but Sherry couldn’t remember her. Maybe a transfer? She bit her lip and tied the trash bag she was holding into a neat knot. Before it could consult her brain, her mouth was moving. Guitar Girl glanced up when she spoke, training her dark eyes on Sherry, pulling her hair back.

"Hi. Sherry. Don't think we've met. I'm from 7-A." Sherry gave her best friendly smile.

"Oh." She cleared her throat. "Helena Harper. 10-A." And she smiled back. Sherry’s stomach did a few flip-flops. Emboldened, she pressed on.

"Your playing was great." Helena grinned, flattered.

"Thanks! That's nice of you." She laughed, stowing the last of the firewood away.

10-A was across the camp from 7-A, over the stream. Sherry cursed under her breath as they left the tower beach, hopping over the rock wall and preparing to go their separate ways. She resigned herself to it, slinging her bag over her shoulder and turning away from Helena.

But wait.

A moment later, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Oh, it was really soft-

Sherry turned around, a question in her gaze.

"Well, I'll see you around?" Helena tilted her head and smiled. Flip-flops again.

"Yeah!" Sherry blinked and smiled back.

She nearly skipped back to her cabin.