t was a horrible idea.

Full stop.

By the time I'm sitting on the lunch table, I'm trying my hardest not to fall asleep. You know those moments when you're too tired that you don't feel like eating or doing anything because you're missing too much sleep and all you want to do is jump back in bed, put up a 'don't disturb' sign and snooze your butt off? That's how I'm feeling right now and apparently the girls are having the same feeling right now.

Sophie is slowly shoving pasta in her mouth, resting her head on her palm and falling asleep with her head hanging low before she snaps back up awake and continues eating. That cycle has been going on since we took a seat on the table. Abby has already finished eating and she's currently snoring her bum off with her face pressed against the table. Lottie has her head down on the table with her new black headphones on. I think Zoey is the only one who's used to this because she's casually eating her food and humming along to the tune of My Love, My Life by ABBA.

The whole morning went good and we had breakfast before we went canoeing in the river. It was pretty fun until Abby managed to make the canoe capsize and I almost had a panic attack in the water, wheezing and coughing. The girls started freaking out and Luke had to jump in the water to get me before I drown (again). I've never seen him look so worried and anxious before and I had to spend sixteen minutes telling him that I'm fine. Then Abby agreed on never becoming a ship captain and we all started laughing. It sucks how much a disorder can ruin a fun activity.

A loud snore emits from Abby and Sophie turns to her, her half-closed eyes staring at her.

"She snores like a damn pig," Sophie grumbles, pushing a black curl that fell from her frizzy ponytail out of her face.

"You haven't heard her when she's really exhausted," Zoey says.

"Is she not really exhausted right now?" She asks, her eyebrows raising up a bit.

"No. She's just tired," she shrugs.

"True words," I yawn, not even bothering to cover my mouth.

"Hello, people!" Zach chirps, taking a seat on the table along with Luke and Alex and when he sees no one responding to him, he frowns. "Tough crowd."

"Hi, Zach," Zoey greets him. "I'm representing all of them right now because everyone can barely see straight."

"I noticed." His eyes scan over us.

"You okay, Cherries?" Luke asks me and slips my hand in mine, then he intertwines our fingers together.

"I just wanna sleep," I respond in a small voice, resting my head on his shoulder.

"When did you sleep yesterday?" He questions, his thumb stroking the back of my hand.

"Six in the morning," I mumble.

"Damn, what were you guys doing?" Alex asks.

"Dancing," Zoey answers.

"Eating," I join in.

"Getting high on soda," Sophie adds, blinking a couple of times behind her circular glasses and Zoey and I give her one of those 'what' looks.

"What? You know it's true by the way we were giggling," she says and we both shrug because it's true, we were giggling so much and it was at the stupidest things.

"Wild," Zach comments.

"In everything," Sophie grins.

"Oh, my God," I cover my face with my hand as I hear the guys laugh.

Zoey, Sophie, Zach and Alex start a conversation on their own, talking about something related to British and American sitcoms.

"What are you doing later?" Luke asks me and I turn my head to him, resting my chin on his shoulder.

"I have no idea," I reply. "I want to take a nap, but I made a mistake of drinking coffee and now I'm probably gonna stay up until twelve thirty before I pass out, so I don't know what to do."

"What do you feel like doing?" He questions. "Beside napping," he adds and I laugh lightly.

"Cuddling," I answer. "And star-gazing, but mostly cuddling. Usually, my pillow and Snuggles help with that, but now I have you," I grin, wrapping my arms around him.

He chuckles and leans down to kiss my cheek. "We'll cuddle then, if that's what you want. We can also do other things in be-"

"Lucas Carter, I dare you to finish that sentence. I dare you," I narrow my eyes at him.

"I meant, sleeping, Cherries. Sleeping," he smirks at me.

"Of course, you did," I deadpan.

"Do you have an idea of something else?" He raises an eyebrow.

"I never said that," I scoff.

"But you wanted to." He leans in.

"But I didn't." I lean in as well.

"But you wanted to."

"But I di-"

"Pretty sure you did, Lyn," Sophie butts in with a grin.

Luke and I turn our heads to see the guys looking at us, even Colette who's now wide awake. "Um, you didn't listen to all of this, did you?" I ask nervously.

"We did," Zoey nods.

"Have fun," Alex says with a smirk.

"Don't forget to wrap it before you tap it," Zach winks and I turn my head to bury my face in Luke's shoulder embarrassingly.

"Did you just quote How I Met Your Mother?" Colette questions.

"It's a good show," he shrugs. "And Tracy is kind of hot." Colette just sighs at him.

After everyone is done with eating, Sophie wakes Abby up, then we head to our cabins and at seven in the evening, people are already sitting around the fire, making s'mores and playing games like 'Never Have I Ever' and 'Would You Rather...?'.

"Never have I ever," One of Jennie's friends starts. "Had a one night stand in a club."

Ten people raise their hands as if they had and everyone starts commenting and laughing about their memories.

"Never have I ever," A random guy says and smirks. "Had a threesome."

"Ew, Christian. What?" The girl sitting next to him grimaces.

'Christian' shrugs. "It happens."

Three people raise their hands and the gossiping starts again.

"Hey," Jennie greets, taking a seat on my other side since Luke is occupying my left side with his arm around my waist, drawing circles with his finger on the skin under my shirt.

"Hey, Jen," I greet her back.

"I see Luke and you are together now." She looks down at the hand under my shirt with a teasing grin.

"Yeah," I smile shyly.

"I'm glad," she smiles. "I thought it would be good to fix things up before I move."

"You're moving?" My eyes widen in shock.

"Yup. Dad got a promotion in Seoul and we're moving on Sunday," she replies.

"Wow. Congratulations," I give her a smile.

"Thank you," she responds gratefully. "He's passing down the company to your dad now."

Well, my father has less than a month to live.

"Yeah," I clear my throat and I feel a small, comforting squeeze on my hip. I look down at Luke's hand and smile before I look back up at Jennie.

"Luke told me something about you living in Washington?" I begin.

"Uh yeah. I should probably tell you about this," she lets out a humorless chuckle.

"Do you want us to be in a more private place?" I ask softly.

"Please," she nods her head.

We both stand up and Luke gives me a confused look, tugging on my hand with his.

"I'll be back in a few," I tell him and bend down to press a kiss on his lips.

"Okay," he murmurs against my lips, giving me a kiss back before he lets my hand go.

Jennie and I walk to a quieter place and she takes a deep breath before she turns to me. I don't know what I was expecting Jennie to tell me. I thought it would be just a small family problem or the death of her mother, but it's way more complicated than that and it shocks me. Everything that she went through is just overwhelming and the fact that she doesn't even shed a tear shocks me even more.

"I'm so sorry, Jennie," I tell her sorrowfully. "This has must have been very hard on you."

"It has," she agrees. "But I'm fine now and my dad's having a better life and so is my brother. That's all I want."

"You're a strong person. Anyone who has to go through all of this is a strong person and I'm proud of you because of that," I smile at her and she smiles back, her eyes getting a bit glossy.

I wrap my arms around her in a hug and she hugs me back tightly. I know she needs that hug. She needs it more than anything right now and I would give her one everyday just so she could feel better.

We pull away from each other and Jennie lets out a small sniff, wiping her eyes. "Crying sucks," she laughs under her tears.

"Yup," I laugh along. "But it helps a lot sometimes."

"Yeah," she agrees. "Thank you."

"No, thank you. For everything." I squeeze her hand in sympathy.

"We'll stay in touch when I'm in Korea right?" Jennie asks.

"Of course, we will," I reply.

A phone buzz comes from my pocket and I get it out, turning it on to see a new message from Luke. Actually, there are five new messages from Luke. When did he even send those?

It hasn't even been twenty minutes.

He's a psychic.

"I'm guessing Luke is texting you," Jennie says.

I look up at her and smile sheepishly. "Yeah."

"I thought so. He hasn't stopped looking your way," she tells me. "Text him back."

"So, we're going to talk later?" I say to Jennie, slipping my phone in my pocket.

"Definitely," she affirms.

"Bye, Jen," I smile at her, backing away.

"Bye, Anna." She waves.

I turn around and see Luke looking down at his phone. I go around the tree so he can't see me and I walk up from behind him, then I wrap my arms around his neck from behind.

"Hi," I say, tilting my head to look at him.

"Hey," he smiles, the kind of smile that would light up his whole face.

I notice that his Instagram page is opened on his phone and there's a photo of a place that looks like Italy or France. I honestly can't tell the difference between the two.

"Where's that?" I point at the photo.

He looks down at his phone. "Rome, Italy."

"Is that where you were born?" I question.

"Yeah, how did you know?" He frowns.

"Your accent," I answer. "And I remember from Year Four. It's really beautiful." I gesture to the photo.

"It is. You still wanna go there one day?"

"You remembered," I mutter.

"Why wouldn't I?" He turns his head to me.

"Because it was years ago and it wasn't important."

"Do you still wanna go there?" I nod in response.

"Then it's important and it doesn't matter if it was years or months ago. If it's something that you want, it's important," Luke replies and I smile at him, then I kiss his cheek.

"You're not only Italian, are you?" I question. "You're half something else."

"Canadian. French-Canadian," he tells me.

"And you're just lucky enough that we had French this year," I joke, going around the log to take a seat beside him.

Luke grabs my arm and pulls me in his lap. "Whoa," I squeak in surprise, balancing myself before I fall back and place my hands on his shoulder.

"I guess I am." He wraps his arms around me and leans in, but I lean back and stand up.

"Aren't we going to go cuddle like I said?" I ask, smiling innocently.

"I didn't know that you were a tease, Falls," he smirks at me.

"I'm a lot of things that you don't know of." I pat his cheek.

He raises his eyebrows at me in surprise, then he stands up and takes a step forward to me. I just keep standing in my place with my arms crossed and a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, tease. Let's go cuddle." He throws an arm over my shoulder and I connect my hand with his, giving him a grin.

| | | |

"Your favourite child is home!" I yell, walking inside the house after Cameron.

"They already know that I'm their favourite, Lyn. You don't need to tell them," Cameron says as I close the door behind me.

"Your favourite child who's a girl is home!" I correct myself and he gives me a dry look.

"My babies!" Mum beams, throwing her arms up as she comes from upstairs then she squeezes us in a hug.

"I missed you so much," she gushes.

"We missed you too, mum," I reply and pull away from her.

"Anything interesting happened in camp?"

I have a boyfriend...who's also known as your enemy's son.

I almost drowned.

Jennie's father is passing down the company to dad because they'll be in Korea.

"Nope," I smile.

"What about you, Cam?" She turns to my brother.

"You know that my life's boring, mum," he tells her and walks upstairs. I'm expecting mum to yell at him or anything, but she let him go. It's probably only because he's tired. Usually, mum would start yelling at the guys if they leave while she's talking. I can never do that though.

"You people need to socialize. It's what we used to do when we were your age," mum suggests.

"Nobody socializes nowadays, mum. Everyone is too caught up with social media," I reply.

"Internet," she mumbles, sighing. "You should get some rest, then I'll wake you up when dinner's ready."

"You're planning something," I assume, squinting at her suspiciously.

"I have a zumba lesson and I don't want you kids ruining my dancing."

"And that's my cue to go." I head upstairs, dragging my suitcase behind me as I hear my mum laugh.

I walk inside my room and find Molly on my bed. "Molly!" I drop my bag to catch her as she runs to me and licks my face repeatedly.

"Okay, okay I missed you too," I laugh and put her back on the floor, then I close the door behind me and jump in bed.

I missed you so much as well.

It doesn't last five minutes until I'm out cold and my mum wakes me up to have dinner then I quickly head back to bed. Some time in middle of the night I wake up to change into my PJs and brush my teeth, then I jump back in bed to doze off once again.

My sleeping schedule probably wants to choke me.

Surprisingly, the next morning I wake up earlier than usual, so I decide to make breakfast for everyone since it's a Saturday and I'm feeling extra giddy. I make some scrambled eggs–actually, lots of scrambled eggs because that's what we live on–and pancakes. Mum isn't a strong believer of eating ham or pork, so we use beef bacon, not regular bacon.

I sit down to eat and soon mum walks inside the kitchen and she gives me a look of surprise. "What are you doing up so early on a Saturday?"

"I just woke up early and I made breakfast," I grin.

"Okay. What is it you want?" Mum questions, taking a seat on one of the chairs by the ceramic kitchen island and piling food on one of the stacked plates I put out.

"Nothing, I swear," I tell her, hopping off of the chair and putting my empty plate in the sink.

"You seem extra happy," she points out, digging in her food.

"Can't I be happy?" I fill up a mug with coffee and add two sugars, then I place it beside her plate.

"Honey, you're always smiling. You just seem really really happy today," she answers, putting her fork down and taking a sip from her coffee. I just shrug in response and give her a smile.

"Something happened at camp," she realizes.

"Maybe," I bite my lip to stop myself from breaking down and gushing about Luke.

She stares at me with her calculating gaze, then her eyes widen. "You and Luke are together?"

"How did you even know that?" I exclaim.

"You are?" She asks in disbelief.

"Yeah?"

"Wow," she blinks in surprise.

"Are you upset?" I question, tilting my head.

"No, sweetie," she shakes her head. "I'm just surprised you took my advice. Most times, you kids don't even care about what I say."

"Mum, I literally do everything that you tell me to do."

"Well," she pauses. "I was talking about your brothers then,"

"But you're dating Luke. Wow," she takes a sip from her coffee. "Does he make you happy?"

"He does. A lot," I smile.

"Then I'm happy for you," she smiles at me. "Besides you need someone better than that sorry excuse of a boyfriend you used to call. What was his name again? Sid?"

"Seth, mum," I correct her. "And he's way out of the picture."

"Good," she nods.

Dad walks in the kitchen with a suit on and his briefcase in his hand. I almost run to hug him, but I know that he isn't that type of dad anymore.

"Good morning, Annalyn. Good morning, Anne," he says formally.

That's how bad his work is affecting him.

"Morning, dad," I greet him.

"Morning, honey," Mum gives him a smile.

"Has anything happened?" He notices our happy expressions. He actually pays attention. Shocker.

"Anna has a boyfriend," my mother blurts out.

Dang it, mum.

"Is that so?" Dad raises an eyebrow.

"Um, yeah."

"Who's the boy?" He asks, connecting his hands together and resting them on the kitchen island.

"Luke Carter," I answer nervously.

"The boy next door? The one who was in Juvie before?" He questions.

Here comes the judgy Latino dad.

"Um...well, that was just an accident; I'm sure," I reply.

"That boy is trouble," he claims.

"Honey, last time I checked your daughter isn't exactly an angel herself," Mum says and I resist the urge to give her a dry look.

"But," she adds. "He's a very good boy and I'm sure he's good enough for Anna."

"You know the boy, don't you?" He says to mum and I raise an eyebrow.

"Sebastian," she warns.

"Alright then," dad says. "You can invite the boy over for dinner with his family."

"I'll tell him," I nod.

"I'm going to work." He starts to exit the room.

"You're not going to eat, honey? Anna made breakfast," Mum tells him.

"No, thank you. I'll see you later." Then he leaves the room and seconds later, I hear the front door closing.

I turn to mum and stare at her. "I know. I know," she says. "Just remember that he's taking care of you, sweetie."

"Yeah," I try to hide the sarcasm in my voice.

"So, you made breakfast because you're in a good mood? And here I thought that you finally remembered how old I'm getting," she teases.

"You're already old, mum," I joke.

"The wooden spatula is in the drawer. I'll use it," she warns me.

"I'm kidding!" I hold my hands up in defense.

That's what having an Asian mum is like.

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