The smell of burning wood and smoke filled my nostrils. I could hear music playing in the distance and people talking and laughing loudly over it. I followed closely behind Lisa and Kara since they were the only ones I kind of knew and tried my best to not look as out of place as I felt.

“You want a drink?” Lisa asked, looking at Kara and me. We nodded and she disappeared to find the coolers. While she was busy doing that, Kara led me over to the fire pit where a roaring mass of orange and yellow was blazing. We sat down and waited for Lisa to come back.

“So where are you from?” Kara turned to me.

“From around here,” I answered vaguely. “My parents are good friends with the camp director. That’s kind of the reason I got this job.”

She nodded. “That’s cool. I live in Maryland; so does Lisa.”

“Maryland?" I made a face like I'd tasted something sour. "What are you doing all the way out here?”

“What can we say? We love it here,” she simply shrugged and I accepted it. There was something about this place. It was disconnected from the rest of the world; like when you walked through the gates, you entered into a separate universe. It was a good place to come to if you were in need of an escape.

“Jamie!” I heard my name being called. Shocked, considering I barely knew anybody, I turned around and saw Lisa standing next to someone with fire-engine-red hair, waving me over ecstatically. Kara and I got up and walked over, meandering through a small crowd of already stumbling-drunk counselors. “This is Christina, our other roommate,” Lisa introduced.

“Hi,” I smiled in a friendly manner.

“Nice to meet you Jimmy!” she giggled, swaying slightly. She’d clearly been here longer than the rest of us.

“Jamie,” I corrected her politely.

“Right, right,” she nodded. “I look ferrd to sleepin’ with you,” she added and took another sip from her red solo cup. Then she said something about top secret planswith The Captain and was on her way. And I thought I was bad with first impressions.

“Well I guess it won’t be too hard to predict who’ll be the first in the lake tonight…” Kara chortled into the drink Lisa had just handed her. I was about to ask who this “Captain” was when suddenly a burly figure with a mop of brown hair on his head swooped in, wrapping his arms around Kara’s small waist.

“Jesus Ri!” she exclaimed, nearly dropping her cup. “You know that scares the crap out of me!”

He laughed and kissed her temple. “I know.”

Kara rolled her eyes, trying to conceal the growing smile on her face. She gestured to me and said, “This is Jamie. She’s our newbie.”

“Hi, I’m Rian,” the boy smiled, flashing his dazzling white teeth.

“What’s this I hear about a newbie?” a voice boomed from behind and we all turned towards the source. Two boys were walking up to us. One looked pretty muscular and had short blonde hair that was gelled up into some variation of a Mohawk. The one who’d spoken was considerably less built, very tall and lanky, with black and blonde skunk hair that seemed to stick out in random places.

“That would be me,” I raised my hand. “I prefer to go by Jamie though.”

He caught me off guard by launching into a bone crushing embrace. “I’m Jack!”

“Hi Jack,” I exhaled, feeling like my lungs had been deflated. “Is your mission tonight to break me in two?” his hold immediately loosened and he pulled away with an apologetic look on his face. I offered my hand to him as a truce. “Okay, let’s try this again. Hi, I’m Jamie and you’re Jack. Nice to meet ya!”

He took my hand and laughed, turning to Rian. “I like her. Can we keep her?” he said, making me blush. I couldn’t help but giggle as the thought of Jack picking me up and taking me back to his cabin as though I was a lost puppy he’d just found crossed my mind.

“Looks like Barakat’s got a thing for the new girl,” another unfamiliar voice came from behind. I turned around and saw Christina approaching with some boy I didn’t know. He had long choppy brown hair with hints of blonde highlights that swept across his forehead and a defiant smirk plastered to his face. This must be The Captain, I thought. “Don’t let him scare you off, he’s harmless,” he assured me.

“Uh-huh, and should I be worried about you…?” I replied, not sure how I felt about the way he was eyeing me.

“Alex,” he finished for me. “And you tell me.”

“Hmm, you don’t seem like too much of a threat,” I shrugged my shoulders and Rian and Jack snickered at their friend. I noticed the blonde one that had walked up with Jack standing beside the two, an amused grin on his face. He hadn’t said a word to me yet and I was intrigued by his silence. He was probably just shy, but he also gave off an air of mystery. Kara seemed to notice my sudden interest in the boy and pulled me aside.

“That’s Zack,” she clarified. I nodded and looked back at Zack. He noticed me looking this time so I offered a small wave. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards slightly and he almost looked embarrassed. He timidly waved back.

***
Later, after the fire had been quenched and the lake had had its share of naked teens, Kara, Lisa, and I managed to get Christina back to our cabin. I still barely knew the girl and yet I was finding myself in a bathroom stall with her, holding back her hair as she proceeded to vomit. I wasn’t annoyed by it though. It was already past three in the morning and I was sure Kara and Lisa would have wanted a few hours of sleep before they woke up for our campers’ arrival. Sleep didn’t matter so much for me. My mom wouldn’t have been pleased with me not taking my pills again, but I could manage another night without rest.

Since the nightmares had started up again, I actually preferred it.