The Summer Camp

Chapter Six

The coffee really was disgusting but very much needed.

Skyler's campers had kept him up all night, even with the noise-canceling headphones. He had 15–17-year-olds. They were full of testosterone and hormones. They were either talking about the girls around the camp or whatever knew video games that had just come out. He'd warned them that if they were caught with a girl that wasn't their mate there would be punishments. He didn't think they really listened to that.

The only good that came with the age group was that they tended to do activities together. Which meant he would see Serena.

He could see her now, sitting with a couple of her bunkmates. She wasn't really talking to anyone. He noticed she wasn't very sociable. She had kept to herself last. He remembered seeing her out on the lawn. He saw her well before she saw him.

It pleased him that he could see her jealousy. She felt this bond as much as he did.

It felt almost impossible to be so close to her and not be with her. Every instinct in his body was screaming at him to go to her, to whisk her off her feet and carry her far, far away from everyone else. Perhaps it was a poet's dream, but he wanted to run away with her and love her till death be brought upon them.

"So, you're allowed to stare at them, but we can't?" One of the campers said from behind him.

Skyler rolled his eyes. "That's Counselor Noah's little sister. He asked me to look out for her when he couldn't. Don't make assumptions."

The lie rolled off his tongue easily, but the camper didn't seem to buy it. "If it helps you sleep at night."

He really hated teenagers.

Skyler felt that he would feel just as accomplished in life if he didn't have kids, maybe even more so, than if he had kids. There was always a problem with children, it seemed until they were out of the house. And even then, there was always something.

"Sit down and eat your breakfast," he barked back.

He put his hand on the back of the camper's neck and led him back to the table, making sure he sat down. Skyler took his own seat, back in front of his breakfast food. He made a sour face as he took another sip of his coffee.

"You know if you need any help in the girl department, we've got a few tricks that can help you," the kid winked.

Another camper decided to share his opinion, "Oh yeah, we've got tons. They're great at making the ladies swoon."

Skyler bit his cheek. He really hated teenagers.

"If another one of you says anything else about this matter, you will be scrubbing the toilets until the end of camp. And I've seen what some of y'all do to those toilets. Trust me when I say, you don't want to be on cleaning duty."

The boys grumbled to themselves, rolling their eyes with their teenage attitude. It was times like these that Skyler questioned why he was a camp counselor. But the money was worth it, and so is seeing and hanging with his friends for part of the summer. He probably never would've met his mate either, had it not been for camp.

The kids weren't always so bad. The 12-14 age group was normally the worst, with all their hormones starting to surface. But the rest of them weren't so bad. This youngest age group was excellent with oversharing, which could always get a laugh out of us. The teenage boys, at least, could be entertaining with their stupidity. It made Skyler cringe sometimes to remember he used to be like them.

Still though, working with children made having his own unappealing, at least for a long while, when he finally had the patience to put up with it. And if his mate wanted them as well. One step at a time though. His mate wouldn't even look at him.

It was strange, against nature. Most mates could barely keep their hands to themselves in the first few months of meeting. How she was able to resist him was a mystery. He wouldn't give up on her. He never would.

Skyler began to think of ways to warm her up. The best thing would be to separate her from the rest of the camp, get them alone together, get her to talk. And if she wouldn't talk, he certainly would. The problem was getting her alone. Camp activities worked as a team. You stayed with your cabin for most of the day. There was rarely any rest time. Not until Sunday at least. Sundays were the camp's rest day. No activities. Campers had free reign to do as they pleased within reason and a counselor had to be in view at all times.

He couldn't wait until Sunday though. It was too far away. He needed to act soon before she could slip from his fingertips. He would not lose her.

"You're still staring," his camper whispered.

Skyler shot him a look that shut him up.

"Hurry up. Our day starts in about ten minutes. Our first activity is the obstacle course. I got some prizes for the top three winners. The loser gets put on cleaning duty."

There was a collective groan from the table, but he just rolled his eyes. They would enjoy the obstacle course whether or not they wanted to admit it. Their inflated egos would kick in soon and their competitiveness would come out.

This activity was good at figuring out the competitive campers and the more submissive campers. Along with the ones that just didn't want to be there.

Skyler caught Serena's gaze one last time, his eyes promising her he wasn't giving up, then he and his campers got up to start the day's activities.

***

A/N

I know it's been a couple of weeks so I'm sorry this is kinda short. I've just burned out a lot because of school and life honestly. I'm gonna do my best to update more often but I make no promises. Life is just kinda in the grey right now.