[Elsie Crane]

Location: A Summer Cottage • Date: Summer

Covering the dish she had pulled from the oven with the lid, she waved her wand at it and it moved into the dining room and landed on the oval table that already housed four other dishes. She grabbed the plates and cutlery she had pulled out and followed the macaroni and cheese and began to set out four places.

Elsie had been here for two weeks, the only vacation she took during the whole year. Nina never joined her, but once during those two weeks she hosted three campers from the neighboring camp that was only a thirty minute walk down the beach. Today was that day.

Her guests were due to arrive in ten minutes, so Elsie poured herself a finger of bourbon and took a seat on the back deck, cracking open the book she had abandoned in favor of preparing lunch.

[Viggo Olhouser]

A few steps behind his two friends, Viggo was trying to muster the courage to bring up something that had been on his mind since that morning. He opened his mouth to speak but coughed instead. Why was he so intimidated by his two best friends? He picked up a stick and threw it in the forest.

He shook his head and ran a few steps to catch up with the two young women. "So, the guys were talking about you two this morning."

[Isla Fields]

On edge for some reason Isla couldn't identify, she walked silently beside Vera, trying her hardest to tune out the crunching sound of the sand beneath her feet, and instead focused on her breathing. She had woken up at the crack of dawn and then once she was dressed, she headed out for a walk. She must had walked for an hour until another one of the counselors woke and began to prepare for the day. She was sitting in the hall, hands wrapped around a dangerously hot coffee when Vera finally joined her, looking tired but rejuvenated from a nights rest.

Vera had fallen asleep not long after Isla had laid down next to her, and after listening to her friends steadying breathing for a small amount of time, she had moved back to her own bed where she had tossed and turned for most of the night before falling into a fitful sleep. She had never been a very good sleeper, but it had only gotten worse as she got older. She refused to take any sleeping potions however, not wanting to fall into the trap of relying on something she couldn't produce herself.

After breakfast, they had spent the day with Viggo participating in various activities with the younger campers until it began to rain and they had all taken cover indoors. Viggo, Vera and Isla had taken refuge in the hall and played a few games of cards until it was time to leave to Elsie's for dinner. It had stopped raining by that point, and while the ground was still a little wet, the sun was out and blazing.

She barely remembered that Viggo was with them until he spoke, causing her to look at him with a raised brow, "Oh?"

[Vera Hadley]

Not quite as carefree or as excited as she had once been for their annual dinner with Elsie Crane Vera was working hard to convince herself that Jane would be fine on campus on her own for the evening. It seemed no matter how close the blonde kept her sister, there would always be a part of her that would worry.

Interested by the subject broached by her friend the blonde allowed her worries to dissipate slightly. "Are they still rating us?" She asked trying to sound as aggravated as possible despite her clear interest in finding out how she had been rated.

[Viggo Olhouser]

"They are but," Viggo shook his head, he did not intend on elaborating. Being Isla and Vera's best friend and navigating his relationship with the other male campers tended to be quite tumultuous. While Viggo loved to partake in the other boys' mindless chatter he often struggled with things his fellow campers said about his two best friends. Hearing them talk about how hot Vera was, made him cringe and hearing them talk about Isla and how strange they found her made him clench his fists.

He brushed off Vera's question and continued. "They heard from Jeniffer, who by the way is not pretty," Viggo had once tried to defend his friends' apparently extremely annoying cabin mate by saying she was pretty and they had never let him live it down. "That you two were..." Uncomfortable, Viggo tugged at the collar of his t-shirt. "That you were lesbians."

[Isla Fields]

Crinkling her nose in disgust at the idea that the boys of Camp Wandsworth were still discussing her, let alone rating how attractive she was, Isla stared at the sand beneath her with a hard expression. She was still staring at the ground when Viggo spoke again, and her neck actually protested when she snapped her head around to stare at him.

"What?" She yelped just as she tripped over a rock protruding from the beach below. Isla stumbled for a moment but managed to right herself. Her cheeks were pink, but not from nearly falling on her face.

[Viggo Olhouser]

"Yes, apparently you share bunks." Viggo shrugged. "But I know they are wrong." And Viggo had been quick to say as much. Yet the boys had started accusing him of wanting to keep his lesbian friends all to himself and that if when he had snapped. "I tried to tell them they were wrong, but they kept on going so I told them I was your boyfriend." He mumbled that last word and looked at the ground.

[Vera Hadley]

Vera tried to grab Isla's arm, but only managed to do so when the other blonde had already righted herself.

Boiling at the thought of Jeniffer yapping falsehoods about them, not to mention that the rumor was a bit too close to a truth Isla was likely, not willing to share the blonde felt rather defensive. "Why would you say that? What are we supposed to do now? Pretend we are together?"

[Isla Fields]

No longer walking, Isla stared at Viggo with an unreadable expression, unsure how she felt in that moment. There was a reason why she kept too herself, and rumors like these were of them. Though this rumor hit a little bit too close to home and it wasn't as simple as turning the other cheek this time, not when people were calling her something she had suspected for a little while now.

She rubbed her chest as she listened to Vera and Viggo talking, Vera's outrage incredibly obvious.

[Viggo Olhouser]

Viggo fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt. "Not you." He kicked a pebble and felt his cheek grow as red as the sunburn on his back.

[Vera Hadley]

Vera knew that Isla rubbed her chest to soothe herself, she had seen her sister use similar mechanisms. Vera took a step back to give Isla a bit of space. Her head snapped from Isla to Viggo. "You can be so-" the insult she had been about to spit at him caught in her throat. Perhaps this was not that stupid.

She turned towards Isla. "Isla?" Vera spoke gently. "It's going to be fine. You are always with Viggo anyways and I am sure it will squash those lies in no time."

[Isla Fields]

Viggo and her? That was what her friend had done to resolve the situation instead of just ignoring them like Isla would have preferred? In her opinion, Viggo had just made things worse. People would have expectations now, expectations she was not at all willing to live up to. She flattened her hand against her chest more, her gentle ministrations becoming more firm with every stroke.

"Let's-let's just go." She told the two, ashamed of the stuttering she was doing, and needing to just go. Elsie would make her feel better. She always did.

[Vera Hadley]

"Let's go," Vera allowed but waited for Isla to take a few steps before she rammed her elbow into Viggo's stomach.

[Viggo Olhouser]

"Hmpf," the boy choked. As he had been fixating Isla's shoes, he had not seen his friend's assault coming. Used to being told about his mistakes by the blonde Viggo almost accepted Vera hit without protest, except this time he truly felt like he did not deserve this. "No, Vera! You should have heard what they were saying." He whispered through gritted teeth. "It was that or hexing them and I'm sure that second option would have made you even angrier as I would have been suspended from camp."

[Vera Hadley]

"Tell her you will fix it!" Vera ordered.