“So remember, the essence of enabling others to act is communication and collaboration. No one wants to listen to a leader who doesn’t communicate clearly, and no one wants to follow someone who isn’t willing to put the work in.” Chuck said.

The soft sound of pencils on paper was the only other thing Natalie heard as she took notes. Her hand burned as the page finished being filled with her writing, and she leaned back in the chair, massaging the back of her hand as she looked up. Chuck caught her eye and smiled, small wrinkles forming around his eyes, partially hidden by his glasses. Natalie nodded back, before glancing around the room.

Hydra meeting hall was little more than a single room in the middle of the camp, furnished with a chalkboard and lecture podium, a few tables, and around thirty college-style desk and chair combos that were obviously donated to the camp after some heavy use elsewhere. The chairs were arranged in two arcs, all facing the front of the room, where the grey chalkboard was filled with notes and their lecturer, Chuck, stood next to it.

The assortment of campers in the room were haphazard and sporadic, about two-thirds of the desks were filled. Natalie didn’t recognize most of the campers in the room, other than the other girls of her cabin in Ursa Minor, who were clustered together in a few chairs on the other side of the room, chatting quietly amongst themselves. One of them, Victoria, happened to catch her eye, and Natalie quickly looked away.

“Everyone got all that? Good, now listen up, here’s your assignment for next week.” Chuck merely smiled as groans erupted around the room. “I know, I know, no one wants homework in the middle of summer. I can assure you that the other 4-week group suffered through it with little hassle, so I’m sure it won’t pose any trouble for you all. First off, this is a group project with your cabin.”

Immediately, Natalie's stomach roiled. She glanced back at the girls from her cabin across the room. None of them looked her way as they smiled and looked at each other. Natalie slumped down in her seat.

“This project is in three parts; First, you have to get to know each of the other members in your cabin. What they like, what they don’t like, their personalities, ect. Talk to each other, ask questions, get to know each other really well. The second part is individually, you have to come up with a few ways to motivate your cabin group to do a specific, theoretical task, based on what you’ve learned about them. Keep in mind that for this project you have no budget, so you can’t just say you’d bribe your cabin mates with a slushie or something” The campers laughed amongst themselves.

“Third, when we meet next week, I’ll be presenting you with a random, theoretical task, and each individual member must present their method of motivation to their cabin group, who will rate the effectiveness of their method. Afterwards, we’ll discuss which methods worked and which didn’t as a whole after the exercise. There may also be a prize involved for the group I feel did the best, as unlike you, I do have a budget to motivate you to do your best.” Chuck grinned as the class laughed again.

“Does anyone have any questions before I let you all go for the afternoon?” Chuck looked around the room. Natalie squirmed in her seat, but her arm stayed glued to the desk in front of her. Chuck gave her a long look before clapping his hands.

“All right then, if you do have any questions before next week, you can find me at mealtimes. Now go on, enjoy your free time, and I’ll see you at the campfire tonight!” Excited chattering broke out all around Natalie as everyone else got to their feet. Natalie looked back at the rest of the girls from her cabin. All five of them were clustered together as they grabbed their bags and began heading towards the exit.

Natalie glanced back at Chuck who gave her an encouraging smile and a not-so-subtle nod of the head towards the other girls. Natalie grabbed her own bag and got to her feet. They dragged like lead as she turned towards the group as they exited the room into the bright sunshine, stepping down the short staircase to the path below. Her stomach flip flopped as she came up behind the group. She opened her mouth once, but no words came out. Natalie paused, shook her head.

“So, uh…..Hey.” The other girls stopped and looked back at her, and under the sudden attention from the five girls, Natalie averted her eyes.

“Oh, hi. What’s up?” Emily asked.

“So I just thought….Well, we should...Make a plan?” Natalie squirmed, fumbling over her words.

“A plan?” Rebecca asked.

“What are you talking about?” Jessica scoffed. Emily shot her a look, and Jessica rolled her eyes.

“You know...for the project?” Natalie’s heart raced.

“Oh. That. Well, we’ve got all week, we can worry about that later. Right now, we’ve got a date with some sun, sand, and cute lifeguards!” Victoria stated, turning away from the group. Jessica giggled, following right beside her.

“Sorry, we planned for a beach day during free time today. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of time later to work on it. Later!” Diane continued, turning to follow the other two, jogging lightly to catch up. Emily and Rebecca also turned and headed off, all five of them chatting amongst themselves as they turned left down the path, heading towards the lake.

Natalie’s stomach sunk. Obviously they had planned this before they left the cabin for the day, otherwise they’d be heading back for their beach supplies. Natalie frowned, digging the toe of her sandal into the dirt as she watched them disappear down the path.

“God that sucked.” She sighed, turning around to head back to the cabin.

“So how could that have gone better?” Natalie jumped, looking back to the door of the meeting hall as Chuck walked through it, sitting down on the steps in front of her. She frowned, looking back at the ground.

“I don’t know. They obviously don’t care much about getting the project done.” She groused. Chuck laughed.

“Or, they’re focused on having a good time and aren’t thinking about how their actions may accidentally be hurting others.” Chuck replied, an easy smile on his face.

“I mean, I get that, but they totally just brushed me off like I was nothing. Is it too much to ask for a little cooperation? We did just get done talking about it in your lecture after all.”

“True, but their priorities obviously aren’t in the same place as yours. Even just from the past few days, I can tell you’re they type to get their work done before having fun. There aren’t many kids your age who would rather do their classwork during a sunny afternoon before going to the beach.”

“Well some kids aren’t thinking about the future and what might happen if they don’t do well. Not everyone can just goof off and expect everything to go well.”

Chuck patted the step next to him, and after a moment, Natalie stepped closer, turning and dropping onto it.

“When I was your age, I was a lot like you. Driven, focused, eyes always looking towards the next thing. It was, as you say, necessary. I came from a broken home, my parents were divorced young, and money didn’t come easy. I was determined to make sure that what little we had wasn’t wasted, and that I’d become the best version of myself to help them.”

Natalie looked up at him as he stared up into the trees. The lines on his face seemed deeper in the light of day than inside the lecture hall.

“It took me a long time to get to a place where I finally felt comfortable where I was in life, and was able to take a look around instead of just straight ahead. Stopped to smell the roses, as they say.” Chuck sighed, and looked back at her. “I missed a lot along the way, things I could have noticed and appreciated more had I just taken the time every once in a while to relax.”

“That’s all very nice, Chuck, but I really don’t see how not doing what I’m supposed to will help.” Natalie replied.

“It’s about balance, Natalie. I’m not telling you to stop working hard for your goals, whatever they might be. I’m suggesting that, every once in a while, you take the time to stop, and to appreciate how far you’ve already come. You have an amazing opportunity for these next few weeks to try out so many different activities, maybe you’ll find something that you can enjoy doing for you instead of just doing what you’re supposed to.”

Natalie squirmed in place, Chuck’s piercing gaze focused on her. After a brief moment, he relaxed, and looked back up at the trees.

“Take some time to enjoy yourself, Natalie. Time waits for no one, and it’s up to us to get the most out of every opportunity while we’re still here.” Chuck hoisted himself to his feet, holding out a hand to help her up off the steps. Natalie took it, and his strong, leathery palm pulled her upward for a brief moment.

“I’ll try, Chuck.” Natalie replied. Chuck smiled.

“Do your best, and if you need any help, you know where to find me. I never miss a meal.” A goofy grin crossed his face, and Natalie couldn’t help but smile back. She waved, heading back towards the cabin as Chuck turned to go back inside the lecture hall.

Natalie’s feet carried her down the winding dirt path between the Hydra and Circinus buildings, north towards the Ursa Minor cabin site. The sunshine spotted through the canopy above her, shifting and sparkling as the light breeze rustled through the thick leaves.

Running footsteps behind her made her turn, and two girls behind her, laughing to themselves as they went, sprinted past into the Aquarius cabin site. The forest around her was soon quiet once more, save for the sound of leaves in the wind and bird calls. Natalie’s pace slowed as she turned back to continue towards her own cabin site.

It wasn’t as though she wasn’t thankful for Chuck’s advice, far from it. He had shown more proactive interest in her than most of the adults in her life. And it seemed to her that it wasn’t just for her, the few other times around camp she had seen him, there was always another camper or two talking with him. Of course, it would make sense that one of the lecturers on the aspects of leadership would be more active in a camp dedicated to teaching junior and high school kids various leadership skills.

Still, as much as she appreciated his attention, Natalie couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. He hadn’t been the first to tell her how important it was to take a breather and relax every once in a while, and she was sure he wasn’t going to be the last. It wasn’t her fault that no one else her age seemed to take preparing for the future seriously. How was she supposed to communicate and collaborate with people her age if they weren’t even on the same wavelength? No matter how she tried, she just couldn’t seem to find any common ground with the other soon-to-be sophomores.

The wind kicked up slightly as she entered the clearing to the Ursa Minor cabin site, and Natalie had to brush a few strands of her black hair out of her face. Fishing the key out of her backpack, she opened the door into the cabin.

The space inside was rather spartan, with three bunk beds along the north and west walls. Three dressers lined the wall opposite, framing a door into the bathroom which was little more than a sink and toilet. Luckily, Ursa Minor was close by to one of the shower facilities, and shared with the other two smaller cabin sites. Natalie shivered, thinking about how crowded the other shower building must get by being closer to the two larger cabin sites.

Despite being in the space only a few days, Natalie was surprised just how messy it had already become. Natalie had previously thought she let her room get messy every once in a while, but it was nothing to this scale. She gingerly picked her way over several piles of clothes and opened trunks to the back corner, pushing Emily’s trunk out of the way before dragging her own out from underneath their shared bunk bed. Opening her backpack, Natalie looked inside for a second, her hand hesitating form removing the notebooks. After a moment, she sighed, instead reaching into the trunk and pulling out her cell phone.

It took a few moments to turn on, but once it did, it displayed the same, infuriating lack of reception since she had arrived. There were only two places on campus that got any cell reception: the flagpole at the main field, or the lookout tower behind the chapel. Still, it was only just past 2pm, there was plenty of time to get to either place to make her call.

Natalie tucked the phone into her shorts pocket, taking another look at the notebooks inside her backpack before leaving them in place, and shoved her trunk back under the bunk bed.

Natalie strode down the path with purpose this time, her hand wrapped around the phone in her pocket. She took a right down the path by the volleyball court, detouring down to the main field without passing near the beach. The campers in the volleyball, basketball and tennis courts were laughing and shouting at each other as they slung their various sized sports balls across the differing terrains. Natalie powered by, turning down the path and crossing in front of the Craft Shop, where the muffled thumps, bangs and crashes were only let loose by the open windows on the second floor.

She didn’t bother slowing her pace as she entered the main field. As expected, several other campers were clustered loosely around the flagpole, each trying to outdo each other by volume in order to be close enough to the flagpole for their reception to work. Natalie’s feet carried her across the field, down another path that skirted the lake before coming alongside the amphitheater. A group of boys were clustered around the firepit, laying down firewood under the supervision of one of the wilderness survival staff. Natalie passed behind the stage platform and the black, polished stone monolith on the other side.

The voices of the campers receded behind her as she passed by the stone chapel, out on to the slim point of land that poked into the lake like a finger, and the small, round stone structure affectionately named the “lookout tower.” Not that it was much of a tower, just a tall cylinder of stones with no roof and a few small porthole windows facing the lake. Still, it was quiet except for the muffled waves hitting the shoreline around her, the stone structure sheltering her from the breeze off the lake. Natalie pulled out her phone. Two bars, and the second was flickering slowly, sporadically. Not great, but it would have to do. Natalie flicked through the short list of contacts, pressed one and held the phone up to her ear. There was an uncomfortable few seconds where Natalie waited before the phone began to ring, and then another few before a voice came through.

“Hey honey! How’s your day going?” Natalie’s shoulders dropped, shrugging the backpack off of her shoulders.

“Sucky. The other girls in my cabin still want nothing to do with me.” Natalie huffed, dropping onto the bench.

“Did they say so to your face, or are you putting words in their mouths?”

“They made plans to go to the beach after sessions without telling me, after not telling me about their plans to go the archery range yesterday, and kayaking the day before. I think that pretty much says it all, mom.” The sounds of the kitchen in the background flared for a second, and Natalie pressed the phone harder into her ear.

“Have you asked to join them any of those times, or did you just let them think you weren’t interested by going off by yourself?”

“Mom, they’re all friends from outside of camp, I can’t just walk up and ask to follow along like some kind of leech. I’m sure they’d just laugh in my face anyways, and then I’d have to live in the same cabin with them for the rest of the summer with that hanging over my head.”

“Seems like you have a lot hanging over your head already. You still haven’t told me how the rest of camp is going. Complaining about these girls has been the first thing out of your mouth the past three days.” Natalie sighed, sprawling out onto the bench.

“The rest of camp is all right, I guess. The leadership classes are good, and the staff is all nice enough. I just…” Natalie stared up into the sky, the sounds of the kitchen filtering through the phone speaker..

“You just what, honey?”

“I just miss being there with you. At least at the restaurant I knew what I was doing, here whenever there isn’t anything scheduled I just feel...adrift, I guess.”

“But there’s so much to do there! Have you even tried any of the program activities yet, or have you just been moping these past couple of days?” Natalie screwed up her face.

“I’m not ‘just moping,’ Mom, I just can’t connect with any of these kids-”

“Can’t, or won’t, honey?”

Natalie hitched, closing her eyes as they began to sting. “I just can’t seem to find the right words. Every time I try it just comes out like mush.”

“So did the first time you made pasta, right? How did you fix that?”

“...I tried again, and again, until I got it right.” Natalie sniffled, her heart heavy in her chest. “It’s not the same though.”

“I know it’s hard, honey. But it’s up to you whether or not the rest of the summer is gonna be more of this, or if it’s going to be better. You’re the only one who can change that.”

Natalie sniffled again, letting the sounds of the kitchen fill her head. For a moment, even as filtered as the sound was out of the phone speaker, she could imagine herself there, helping out at the restaurant, the sounds of the hungry guests out front chattering away as they danced around each other in the kitchen, dicing and chopping and cooking, plating up the food-

“Honey, are you still there?” Natalie started, broken out of her thoughts. She wiped at her eyes, steadying her breath.

“Yeah mom, think I just lost reception for a second.”

“Sorry honey, but I need to get going. Dinner prep won’t wait, and I need both hands for the rest. Keep your chin up, yeah? Make the most out of this scholarship.”

“Yeah mom, I will. Talk to you soon.”

“Do your best. I know you’ll make us proud. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Natalie hung up, dropping the phone onto her chest. She scrubbed at her eyes again, staring up into the sky once more. Slowly, she sat back up, turned the phone off and stuck it back in her pocket.

The waves against the shoreline seemed louder now, drowning out the sounds of the kitchen from her mind.

Natalie pulled one of her notebooks from her backpack, and got to work one one of her other assignments.