**Olivia’s POV**
So we met our counselor at the crafts cabin. He was HOT. I don’t think anyone else was interested in him. He had FLOOFY HAIR. Yes. I have a kind of… hair fetish…
Anyway, he told us his name was Marley and he’d be teaching us wilderness survival. We went out into the forest, which was gorgeous. I SAW A CHIPMUNK!!!!
So then he talked at us a lot, and told us lots of stuff about how we could use the stuff in our pockets to survive if we were stranded in the forest. It was pretty boring, and I decided he wasn’t really that hot after all.
Then he broke us up into groups and told us to build our own shelter. Now THAT was cool.
I got put with Gerard and Mikey. I kinda wanted to be in the same group as RayRay, but it was okay. Nat got put with Brendon and Spencer. She seemed okay, they’re cool.
Jasmine got put with Andy and Patrick. Jasmine just looked confused, and disappointed for some reason. Andy was hyper as always, and Patrick looked sad; he probably wanted to be in the same group as Eurydice.
Jacey got put with Frank and Joe. Oh, god, I thought. There’s a group made in heaven… or hell, more like.
Eurydice got put with Bob and Ryan. They’re cool. They’re nice. Whatever.
And Pete, Jon, and Ray got put in a group. There’s another great match… Pete looks mad that he didn’t get put with any girls. Tough luck, bubba.
Floofy Hair Man sent us off in different directions to make shelters. My group’s was… frankly… a disaster. It looked really cool, because Gerard and I found we both share the talent for art and design. But not structural engineering, obviously. It kind of… fell down… on top of Mikey…
Fortunately, we didn’t build it out of really heavy stuff, or else he would have been squashed. But he did kind of panic when it fell, so he kind of thrashed around a lot and kind of tore it to pieces. Still, at least he wasn’t hurt. Like Joe…
Joe dropped this really big heavy log… on his own head… it looked like it hurt a lot… he fell over and didn’t get up again. Jacey and Frank stood there and swore at him a lot and that didn’t do anything, so Floofy Hair Man carried Joe to this stream nearby and stuck his head in.
He woke up. And swore a lot. Even more than Frank and Jacey, which was pretty astonishing. His hair looked pretty funny all wet, though. He seemed okay, but their shelter was pretty messed up. So was Pete, Jon, and Ray’s. Nat and Spencer’s would have been good if Brendon hadn’t kept messing it up.
Andy, Patrick, and Jasmine’s was pretty good, if boring. It was a hole in the ground covered with grass.
Eurydice, Bob, and Ryan’s was… interesting. It was in a tree. Like a tree house. It looked really cool, up until the part where pieces started falling off. They fixed it, though, and it worked pretty well, even if it didn’t look as cool as it used to.


“So, survival was pretty cool, wasn’t it?” Gerard asked happily through a mouthful of quesadilla at lunch.
“Not if you got a concussion,” Joe muttered.
“Oh, shush, Joey. It wasn’t all that bad,” Pete said bracingly.
“Uh… he kind of got knocked unconscious! How much worse would you like it, Pete?” Patrick snapped, uncharacteristically grumpy.
“Whoa, whoa, okay, sorry,” Pete said defensively. “Calm yourself, doughboy.”
Patrick turned red at the obviously unwelcome nickname, and Eurydice looked ready to bite Pete’s big head off, but she couldn’t because announcements began.
“Okay, so Bunk Two boys and girls have rock climbing out at the wall. Follow your counselors, they know where to go. Bunk One girls and boys have the giant swing, you lucky kids. Follow your counselors.”
I didn’t listen any more, I was already running for the door. I actually reached it before Wendy and Robin, so I had to stand there and wait for them and everyone else to catch up.
Once they finally got to the door, I joined up with Nat and Jasmine, and we followed Wendy and Robin out into the woods to this big cleared area. There was one big tree in the center, with a long steel rope stretching from the top of it to another tree on the edge of the clearing. There was another steel rope hanging from the middle of that rope, but it was pulled up and attached to the big tree in the middle. There was a little harness seat on the end of the middle rope.
“Crap, we’re not getting in that thing, are we?” Jon gasped, staring at the tiny little seat.
“Yup, you are,” Robin grinned, doing something with sandbags and ropes at the bottom of the center tree so that the seat came swinging down to the ground.
“So here’s the deal, guys,” Wendy began. “We put one person in the seat. Then you guys get on that rope,” she pointed to yet another rope coiled on the ground at the base of the tree, “And pull them to the top. Then Robin releases those sandbags,” she pointed to the sandbags Robin was fussing with, “They unclip themselves,” she pointed to matching clips on the back of the harness and the tree, “And they get swinging!” She made wide motions with one arm to indicate flying through the air at an ungodly speed. “So who wants to go first?”
It looked fun, I had to admit, but I definitely didn’t want to go first.
“I will!” Andy cried, waving his hand wildly.
“Okay, brave guy,” Robin laughed. “Come here, so I can strap you in.” Andy strode briskly over to Robin, who put the harness seat on him. He walked him over to the bottom of the tree.
“Okay, guys, uncoil that rope and get a handhold,” Wendy ordered. We grabbed the rope and spread it out so each person could hold a bit with both hands.
“Ready, guys?” Robin called to us. We nodded. “Ready, Andy?” Andy nodded weakly, most of his courage gone and replaced with a faint green tinge on his face.
“Start walking forward!” Wendy ordered us, and we trudged forward, pulling the rope with us. In all the mess of ropes and pulleys on the tree, something moved, the middle rope was pulled up, and Andy went with it, his legs dangling.
“Keep going!” Robin yelled at us. We kept going forward. Andy kept going upward. Every once in a while, I could have sworn I heard him whimper.
“Stop!” Wendy yelled at us. We stopped going forward. Andy stopped going up. He was right at the top, at the base of the rope that stretched between the two trees.
“Okay, how’re ya doing, Andy?” Robin hollered up at him.
“Fine,” Andy called back, his voice rather weak.
“Good! Okay, I’m going to let you swing, buddy!” Robin told Andy, who turned an even sicklier green but nodded again. Robin nodded and, without another word, he did something to the sandbags, and Andy dropped forward a few inches with a little cry.
“Okay, calm down, Andy. I need you to unclip that clip behind you,” Robin yelled up at him. Andy didn’t move, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. “Andy! Unclip it!” Robin roared.
“Andy!” Patrick hollered from his place on the rope, his voice cracking high a little bit. “Andy, the sooner you unclip it, the sooner it’ll be over!” That did it. Andy’s eyes snapped open, and he reached back almost mechanically, unclipped the little metal latch, and fell.
Well, that’s what it looked like, anyway. He was still attached to the rope and everything, and still in the harness. But the end of the rope was free from the tree, and he was swinging free across the gap between the two trees, screaming bloody murder.
For a second, it looked like he was going to crash into the other tree, but the rope was just short enough that he swung back right before he hit. He went back a forth a couple more times, going slower and lower each time. Finally, he was suspended exactly in between the two trees, turning slowly.
Robin rushed up with a ladder, and Andy stood on the top while he helped him out of the harness. Once he was out, he climbed shakily back down the ladder and stood unsteadily at the bottom.
“So. Who wants to go next?” Robin asked. There was silence. Everyone was staring at Andy.
“That… was…” he mumbled. “Tha’ was… awesome…” He stumbled over and sank gently down onto a rock.
Everyone turned back to Robin. “Anyone want to go next?” he repeated cheerfully. There was another moment of silence, and then all hands shot into the air.