The Summer Reunion (unedited version)

4| Counsellor Cup

I was planning on updating this two days ago, but I had one of the worst mornings ever. To start off, I had to get up at seven for work. On the way there I spilt almost all of my iced coffee onto my brothers brand new sweater which I borrowed from him (I asked him while he was half asleep, but he still said yes so technically it's not stealing). Not only did I not have any iced coffee to drink anymore, but I got swarmed by like 5 bees that were attracted to the smell of the coffee. I then spent my break trying to scrub the sweater with dawn and (with just my luck) was asked to stay an extra hour for my shift. But happy ending: the stain came out and my brother just thought I put it in the wash because I wanted the sweater to be nice and clean when I returned it to him (extra brownie points for me).

Because of my morning from hell, I was tired and in a bad mood and all the writing I did felt boring and flat. But I've persevered! (and also slept a lot) and now I'm here.

So after allllllll of that, here's the newest chapter. I hope you enjoy :)

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If it's possible, Grayson had gotten even quieter since we got yelled at by Mr. Clearwater. Only the slightest, most miniscule part of me felt bad for him. Authority figures in general make him anxious, never mind getting yelled at by one. He's always been very reserved in public and around groups of people. I wonder what he did while I've been gone. He never went to any parties or places where we would see people we know unless I dragged him there myself.

Our steps synced together as we walked towards the lake and down to the dock. Once we had reached our destination, Mr. Clearwater pushed through the sea of counsellors, trying to make his way to the end of the dock. He was so short though, that his little head disappeared in the commotion and all anyone could hear was him pushing his way to the front. It was like a bunny going through long grass; I could only see other people moving out of his way. Grayson and I were watching all of this happen a couple feet back from the large group, which made it exponentially funnier.

"Excuse me!" Mr. Clearwater exclaimed, "Make way!".

After a few more seconds of him elbowing students out of his way, he finally made it to the end of the dock.

Poor guy, I felt like I should clap or something.

Mr. Clearwater took a big breath before he began, "Phew! Okay everyone, welcome to the Counsellor Cup! I hope you're now a little more familiar with your partner after our icebreaker. If you hadn't noticed already, there are canoes all along the shoreline here, and some tied up to the dock."

I actually hadn't already noticed. There seemed to be at least a dozen red canoes around us.

"Before we do anything, every person will grab a life jacket from the shack.", he gestured to the large white shed that sat next to the shoreline. "Then you will get into groups of 2-4, one of those people being your co-counsellor. Your group will each grab an oar and paddle out to that red flag in the distance". He pointed to a marker in the water that was about fifty feet from shore and had a tall red flag stuck to it. "Have any of you heard of Tippy-canoe?"

When none of us responded he continued, "The name is pretty self explanatory. You tip the canoe and then work as a group to get the water out and climb back in. After that,"

Oh my god, there's more?

"You will paddle to the small island to the left of the red flag, where one of your fellow counsellors will be waiting to give you your own red flag. You will then bring the flag back here to the dock, and then you're done. That's it."