Never stop dreaming

CHAPTER 15

A steady beat filled the practice room where Nate sat before his students as they copied his movements. He smiled as they stayed in beat and sync with him as they play. Finishing the set off with a bang, literally, Nate claps his hands. "I knew you could do it. All right, now it's, uh, getting a little late, so what do you say we all go enjoy some free time?"

He receives an overwhelming amount of cheers, causing Nate to jump off the seat, racing out of the room. Lizzie's class of campers decided to focus on getting the campers out of the burning heat. She supervised a group of campers jumping in the lake with a rope swing. The spot she chose was only visible by the lake, where Nate sat, holding a pair of binoculars up to his eyes. He shifted the dial in the middle, focusing the lens on the blonde beauty in her modest red swimsuit.

"Hey, man."

"Oh." Nate jumps, turning his head to see Barron and Sander staring at him with knowing smiles. They were sat in a motorized boat, both wearing their swimsuits.

"What are you doing?"

"Why does everybody keep doing that?"

Sander shrugs. "Sorry, we're just doing our part as activity directors."

Nate eyes them suspiciously as they two smirk. "And what's the activity today?"

"Wakeboarding."

The two laugh as sander revs the engine, the boat propelling away from Nate, as a camper zooms pass him, sending him into the water.

Dripping wet, Nate stumbles onto the beach, shaking out his messy and wet curls out of his face as Shane walks by him. "I'm still an idiot."

"I still agree." Shane sings smiling, causing Nate to turn around, holding his fist up, causing him to shrink back. "Dude, you can't keep hitting me."

Nate's eyes flicker behind his older brother's figure, before putting his arm back down to his side.

"Thank you." Mitchie suddenly jumps on his back causing Shane to tumble to the ground, groaning in pain. "Oh! Ow."

"Thanks, Mitchie." Nate calls over his shoulder, walking away.

Lizzie sat on a log that was placed beside the lake, using her towel to dry her hair, the last remaining campers climb out of the lake. She turns her head as the P.A system crackles to life.

"Now a word from your friendly neighborhood announcer." Sander's voice echoes throughout the camp. "Will the counselors scheduled for the bonfire please report to the mess hall."

Lizzie sighs before throwing on her cover up, holding her sandals in her hand as she marches to the hall.

Later that night, as the young campers sat around the fire, eating s'mores and listening to Brown play the guitar, the counselors sat on one of the cabin's steps, watching them. Lizzie set with her back resting on Nates's legs, his hands twisting a strand of her now dry hair, around his finger. They both ignore the looks they receive from their friends.

"It felt so great just standing up in front of that class today." Peggy smiles, oozing excitement. "I feel like there's nothing we can't do."

"Pleats." Ella mumbles. "Still can't do pleats."

Barron sighs from beside Lizzie, eyeing his friends red cheeks, as Nate starts to rub her shoulders. "Wish we had that attitude the other night at Camp Star."

"Yeah, I so wanted to show them up."

Caitlyn scoffs. "That hardly counted. They'd been planning that for weeks."

Lizzie rolls her eyes, causing Nate to nudge her head with his chin, her taking a deep breath. "Yeah, and now they're all walking around thinking they're better than us."

"So not true. You know, I'd really like to see them go up against us.

"Yeah."

"If we had time to get it together, no way they'd stand a chance." Barron mutters, eliciting murmurs of agreement from the group. "Like in Final Jam. There's just no way."

Mitchie suddenly sits up, drawing the attention to her. "Lot of big talk. Wanna see if it's true?"

Lizzie and Nate share a confused look.