Camp Kikiwaka was a summer camp placed in the outskirts of Maine where a bunch of kids would either complain due the lack of cell service or would find comfort in one another through competitions. Most everyone at Camp Kikiwaka got along, that was mainly due to the counselors who pushed everyone together almost against their wills. That worked for almost everyone, almost.

You were extremely likable, people wanted you on their teams, in their campsites, at sleepovers, etc. You were a caring and sweet person who people got along with. This meant you were basically friends with everyone. That wasn’t true though, it wasn’t true because someone in the camp absolutely despised every single thing you did.

That person's name was Ravi Ross, someone who people enjoyed the company of. They thought he was intelligent, helpful, resourceful, and interesting as well as fun. He was also someone you decided to name ‘Try Hard Rich Boy’ because he tried way too hard for a camp where the main objective was to have fun. From the nickname alone, it’s clear the sentiment he shared for you was reciprocated.

Both of you understood the lack of bond the two of you had, and neither of you cared. Sure, you had the same friends, and you were friends with his siblings, but that didn’t matter. You tried to keep any sort of conversation short, and it lasted the majority of the time at camp.

You had to go to the Grizzly cabin one day to grab something from Xander for Zuri. The curly haired girl was currently busy on the docks and kindly bribed you to go instead, to which you agreed after much persuading. You took your time and knocked before letting yourself in due to a lack of response, Zuri said the item was in a bag with her name on it, it should’ve just been on one of the dressers. You knew Xander wouldn’t mind, so you shrugged and began your search.

As you looked you heard a bit of a heavy walk so you turned around and were met face to scales with Mrs. Kipling, one of your favorite campers of Camp Kikiwaka. You smiled gently and crouched down to her, gently using your finger to gently rub from her head to her mid-back. Mrs. Kipling let out a small hum of a hiss which you always took as enjoyment since she never did much other than scoot a bit closer to you. 

 You were so caught up with the seven foot long lizard that you didn’t notice one of the Grizzly cabin members walking in. 

The person scoffed and walked forward, “Can I help you?” They asked, the familiar accent filling your ears, causing your eye to lightly twitch in frustration.

You stood up and turned to look Ravi Ross in the eyes with a blank expression, “Nope.” You spoke simply, moving your head to the side and walking to the dresser on Xanders side, quickly snatching the bag and walking out the cabin, closing the door behind you.

Ravi rolled his eyes, not even looking back to where you walked away. He simply tilted his head down to Mrs. Kipling and frowned, “Traitor.” He spoke with a huff, walking towards the bathroom.

He never enjoyed the fact that his closest companion enjoyed your presence at all. He thought his best friend since his childhood would at least be on his side, but every day he is proven wrong.

Short exchanges, dirty looks, sighs of frustration, and that was it. That was your dynamic, which the two of you were fine with. Everyone else on the other hand, absolutely hated it.

All of your friends were sat in the middle of the cafeteria as you were helping a camper put up banners and Ravi was on the other side, clipboard in hand, giving other campers directions to follow.

Emma put her head down on the table, “I’m sick of this.” She groaned, lifting her head so her chin would sit on her forearms.

Xander nodded, rubbing circles into her back as he looked around the table. “There’s gotta be something we can do, right?” He asked, looking between the two sides of the cafeteria. “I mean, they’ve been so rude to each other since camp started.”

“I know!” Zuri interjected, “I’m tired of trying to get them to talk by sending them to do my chores.”

Everyone looked over at Zuri with confusion, Lou especially. “For once, I’m going to ignore that you just said that.” The brown haired girl said, turning to face Xander. “I don’t know how we would fix…” She paused, waving her hands in the two general directions, “that.”

Tiffany gently rocked herself, “I mean, if they were forced to be together, maybe that would help.” She suggested to which the table hummed in agreement.

“I know if Gladys told them to be partners on something, they wouldn't be able to argue it.” Jorge nodded to his own words, crossing his arms on the table, “That woman is scary.” He spoke lowly, staring down as if he was getting some sort of flashback to every horrifying thing their camp owner has ever done.

Xanders eyes brightened up and he stood up suddenly, “I have an idea.” He told everyone before rushing off, leaving the group at the table with no explanation.

Before the end of the day, Xander was walking into the cafeteria with the menacing woman herself. She looked…bored to say the least. 

“Campers!” She yelled out, causing the attention to be drawn to her immediately, which she genuinely enjoyed. She sighed before scratching at her leg that was shown under her cargo shorts, “We’re having a camp activity in a few days, something of the sorts of an ‘adventure quest’.” She told the campers surrounding her, air quotes around ‘adventure quest’. Gladys rolled her neck a bit before continuing, “I need two campers to go out to one of our set up camps about half an hour from here to gatherer the supplies from this list.” She explained, paper list in hand  

No one raised their hands so Xander coughed a bit, before whispering into Gladys’s ear.

The woman rolled her eyes and pointed to you, “You, and…” She trailed off, looking around before her sharp gaze set on Ravi, “you.” She spoke, pushing the list into Ravis chest before walking off, not letting either of you argue with the decision. “And you need to leave today! Supplies will be provided by your counselors!” She yelled out her final demand before her footsteps got quieter by the second.

The cafeteria was silent as they watched you and Ravi Ross glare at each other. Everyone was highly concerned whether either of you would return from this trip since neither of you are very team friendly with one another.

Not another word was passed between anyone as you and Ravi walked out, in silence, to your own cabins. Xander and Lou looked at each other, a bit of worry in their glance but they hoped it would work. You two were responsible enough to at least take care of one another if the time came, right?...Right?

Lou sent you on your way with a backpack full of camping gear just in case it took longer to get to the camping site. It was pretty late in the day so she wanted to be safe rather than sorry. She sent you off with ‘Be safe’, ‘Don’t kill each other’, ‘If you see the cases of sodas we hid there, bring back a few cans.”

When you finally walked out of your cabin, away from Lou’s smothering, you found Ravi getting the exact same treatment from Xander, an equally heavy bag on his back. The sight was honestly kind of funny, Xanders hands gripping Ravis shoulders as he gave him a stern ‘talking to’.

After the warnings ended, Ravi turned to go to your cabin, but noticed you were already ready, grin on your face. 

“What’s so funny?”

Your smile dropped, “Let’s just go.” You spoke, turning to the trail path, Ravi following with no complaints as he wanted to get this over with as quick as possible. The two of you passed by your friends and other campers waving you off and wishing you well, telling you both to be careful, which you both would try to.

Once you got to the path, you were met with a fork in the road almost immediately. Ravi suggested right, near the deeper portion of the forest where you’d be able to find more signs for where the campsite was. You suggested left where you guys were closer to the shore of the lake.

Both of you knew that either direction would lead to the camp site since it was just ahead, it wasn’t in the middle of the forest, but it wasn’t on the beach. 

After a bit of debating, you decided to choose Ravis way. His way was helpful as you saw the arrow signs directing you both to the site. You guys were making good time, the sun hadn’t set and you guys were almost there, you were almost hopeful.

Almost. And that almost was crushed the moment Ravi stopped walking.

You nearly ran into his back before stepping to the side, “Why’d you sto-” Your sentence was interrupted when you saw the large sign practically screaming at them ‘WAY BLOCKED, UNSAFE TRAIL’

Both of you groaned, and looked around for another way.

Ravi huffed, “If we go back without even getting to the camp in the first place, Gladys will have our heads.”

“You don’t think I know that?” You snarled, rolling your eyes. “Let’s just try to find a way around.” You spoke, stepping around to find a different trail that went the same direction, but was longer than the original one.

Walking, walking, and more walking with extremely heavy bags and short patience, wasn’t fun. 

“Why did we have to go this way specifically?” Ravi asked, knowing there were two other paths that could have potentially been better than this one.

“Because it’s easier.” you answered quickly, stepping forward, looking around more, using the lasting sunlight to get as far as you could.

“No, it’s no-”

You quickly turned around to face him, “Im sorry.” You spoke suddenly.

“You’re…sorry?” Ravi asked, clearly confused from his expression and tone of voice.

You nodded, “Yes, I’m sorry that you're such a control freak that you can't have anyone but yourself have their way.” You told him with a tilt of your head, a glare forming on your face.

Ravi gave you a sarcastic laugh before pushing past you, continuing to walk. “If you only have insults to spit out, just be quiet.” He told you without turning around.

You simply rolled your eyes before following him.

It was getting dark, dark enough to the point you guys couldn’t see where you were going and you felt like you were going in circles.

Ravi hit his forehead slightly, “You’re the reason that we’re lost, you don’t even know where this trail leads!” He suddenly groaned out, turning towards you, you thought. You couldn't tell, it was pitch black. 

“We’re in the woods, I think we have bigger problems than ‘who got us lost’.” You started, pulling your bag off your back to pull the tent. “Which is you by the way.”

“How is this my fault?” Ravi asked, doing the same as you, pulling out flashlights so neither of you would mess something up with the excuse of it being nightfall.

“You took over walking in the front, you lead us deeper into the woods.”

“And you didn’t want to speak up?”

You turned and faced him, puffing out your chest and holding up your finger, “If you have nothing but insults to say, just be quiet.” You repeated his words before rolling your eyes and turning back to putting up your tent. 

Ravi simply scoffed and went to get firewood, deciding not to talk to you because he felt as if his head was being constantly twisted past its limit when speaking to you.

Over time, he got the fire started, and pulled out some food to cook for you to choose from. You found a pretty good stone slab to set one of your prepared towels onto so you weren’t just placing food on the forest rocks. You also pulled a few snacks out of your bag, tossing a few to Ravi without a word. He turned to you with furrowed brows, confused by your sudden act but you were turned towards the fire, already beginning to fix up the food you guys had brought along.

You both sat in a tense but a more comfortable silence than either of you were used to.

Ravi broke the silence, looking up at you for a moment before looking back down to the snacks he just opened as he waited for you to be done with cooking. “I still think we could’ve taken another path.”

“And I’m still sure the path I chose is less deadly and still faster even though we’re camping out.” You answered, the light glistening in your eyes. 

There was no response to that, so you left it at that…until you heard rustling.

You looked back and noticed only one tent was set up, yours. Ravi seemed to be having trouble with his and you couldn’t even find it in you to laugh, because it really was late. 

“Do you need help?”

“No.”

“It’s been half an hour-”

“I don’t need your help, okay?”

You blinked at him before taking the food off the fire so you wouldn’t burn it. You stood up, brushing yourself off, “You are so incredibly stubborn, to the point that it’s ridiculous.” You stated, walking to him and helping him put in the rods, ignoring his protests. “You hate asking for help, even when you really need it.” You continued on, snapping at him to move to the other side to which he reluctantly followed. “You think you need to do everything yourself, fix everything yourself, for what?” You asked him, finishing the seemingly simple set up of his tent.

Ravi shook his head, choosing to ignore you, sitting on the side of the campfire. 

“It’s as if you think no one sees how hard you’re working, trust me everyone sees it.” You grumbled, crossing your arms as you walked to the other side of the camp fire, “It’s infuriating how hard you try with something you really don’t need to put that much effort in.”

“What about you? Huh?” Ravi interrupted, tilting his head, stepping closer to you. “You just blank on people.”

“Blank on-?”

“When you believe you failed at something, it’s like you go dark in your head .” Ravi explained, expression hardened. “What’s up with that?” He asked, raising a brow. “You do so well in everything and when you don’t get the results you want, you shut down.” 

You blinked at him and looked him up and down, “Why do you watch me so hard to notice that I get into my head?”

“Why do you observe me to the point you notice how hard I work?”

There was silence from the two of you, just a stare from across a dancing fire. A stare of two campers who believed they were comfortable in each other's hate, that they didn’t notice how much they really knew each other more than anyone.

Ravi seemed to be the person who spoke up more, which was surprising, but at the same time it wasn’t. 

He looked away, tongue poking the inside of his cheek, “I don’t ask for help because my parents weren’t much help.” He spoke, sniffling ever so slightly as a distraction to his far off gaze.

“What do you mean?”

“Me and the majority of my siblings are adopted.” He told you, finally turning to look back at you, not expecting your eyes to already be on him. "Since my parents are famous, they have to be gone a lot, so we had nannies.” He began to explain, swallowing harshly, “Those nannies took care of us more than our parents did.”

You furrowed your brows, “So, them sending you to camp…?”

“It's like another nanny situation.” He answered, sighing a bit. “We had nannies as we grew up, and our last nanny was our longest nanny, she was great.” He told you with a small smile, “She was there for years, and honestly was the best person who deserved only great things.” He explained to you fondly to which you listened. “She left so our parents could stay for good, but clearly, that didn’t last that long.”

Your expression formed into something Ravi couldn’t explain, he couldn’t tell if you were sad for him, felt sympathy, but the feeling was comforting since he never really talked to his own siblings about this.

“What I’m trying to say is that there’s a freedom you have when you feel as if you’ve been abandoned.” He swallowed harshly as he tried to explain, “It just kind of sucked because I already felt as if I was abandoned as a child since there was a need for me to be adopted. Going through that twice isn't a good feeling.” Ravi told you, trying to laugh through it. “I don’t ask for help, because I didn’t really get help until our recent nanny, and now that she’s gone, I just don’t have that kind of easy connection to ask anymore.”

You hummed a bit, “I wasn’t necessarily saying you not asking for help is a terribly bad thing.” You told him slowly, tilting your head to the side as you looked away from him. “It’s admirable, you do things on your own, you’re intelligent, I know you’re capable of more than the average person.” You complimented him, to both of your surprise.

Ravi continued to listen, adjusting himself to be more comfortable.

“I was just saying that because it’s worrying.” You answered truthfully. “We keep our conversations short, I know, but I still see you working on millions of projects a day.” You explained, smoothing out your knitted brows, “I’m worried you’re going to drop and that’s when people are going to notice that you’re overworking yourself on things you shouldn’t be overworking yourself on.” You told him, puffing air out of your cheeks.

The boy across the fire nodded a bit at your words, “You weren’t telling me to stop trying so hard because you thought I was irritating, you were saying it because…”

“Camp is where you can relax for a minute, you don’t have to prove yourself in anything that much.” You completed his thought for him. “You are a try hard and it’s annoying, because it’s concerning.”  

“Well, since we’re sharing concerns, why do you shut down?” Ravi asked you, wondering if you’d answer or not.

You chuckled a bit before inhaling deeply, “If things don’t go perfectly for me, I feel as if it was better not trying at all.”

“Why?”

“Because everything I’ve ever done to this point was never good enough unless it was absolutely perfect.”

Ravi hummed a bit, nodding, “Was it because of family?”

You nodded with a bit of a scrunched nose, “It’s hard to let go of what your parents put onto you for your entire life, when they’re not around.” You answered honestly, waving at a few bugs around. “If I don’t get everything perfect, what use will I be to anyone?”

“You’re plenty of use.” Ravi interrupted your words, “You help everyone at camp, even the counselors, even Gladys.” He began to list off, scratching at his neck. “I notice that you get in your head, but now that you’re telling me this… you’re comparing yourself to a standard you’ll never reach.”

“Perfection is reachable, actually, if you try hard enough.”

“Not at camp kikiwaka where the boats are about to fall apart and the food barely looks edible.” He answered with a slightly straight face.

His blank tone and expression caused you to burst out into laughter and nod, “I guess you’re right.”

It was a sudden camp trip where suddenly the two of you felt like you could actually talk to each other. A night of camping where you both realize you had more in common than you actually thought.

A night where neither of you minded that you would be spending extra time with one another to get to the other campsite and back to kikiwaka.

You smiled at Ravi, the food now done as you exchanged stories about your friends and activities you’ve done over the summer. “You know, even though I’m sure we’re lost, I guess I’m glad it’s with you.”