Summer Camp Bummer

Day One:
Leslie Daniels didn't hate his name, but it certainly wasn't helpful at school. It's a family name, he was named after his great grandfather, but there were always cracks about his name from some of the crueler kids, and with his long hair and thin body he had been mistaken for a girl a few times, though never on a scale of this nature. He preferred to go by Les. He's fifteen now, and heading for his last year of summer camp, since he ages out at the end of the summer. His parents dropped him off bright and early at the pickup location before they had to go to work and he dropped his bag with all the other boys' bags before he went up to one of the directors.

"Name?" the director, a woman, asked.

"Leslie Daniels." he said.

"Bus Two." she said, directing him to a bus. They were identical except for a number plastered in the side window that identified it as either Bus One or Bus Two.

He climbed onto the bus and went straight to the back, sitting near the window. He waited for some other campers to arrive, but as he was so early, no one was showing up for a while, so he elected to take a nap. Soon, he fell asleep and woke up to a setting that was not expecting to wake up in.

He groggily woke up and took stock of his surroundings, noticing that the bus didn't smell like sweat and cologne, it smelled more like... perfume? He brushed his hair out of his face and listened to the noises coming from around him. Pop music, chatter about clothes and boys and his eyes slowly widened.

"I'm on the wrong bus... but that lady...." he thought.

He was taken out of his thought by a tap on the shoulder. A girl, around his age, had moved from the seat across into his.

"Hi, I'm Kendra." she said, extending her hand, which was well manicured and dainty, compared to his.

"Leslie..." he squeaked. He had to get out of here.

"You must've been tired, you slept through almost the entire bus ride." she said.

He had to find a counselor and explain what happened. Leslie went to stand up, but the bus stopped.

"Okay girls, we're here. Welcome to camp!" a cheery woman exclaimed from the front.

Leslie sat back while everyone got off the bus. He got off last and approached the counselor.

"Excuse me." he said.

"What is it, sweetie?" she asked.

"Uh, this is a little awkward but... I'm at the wrong camp. I'm supposed to be at the boy's camp." he said.

"Name?" she asked.

"Leslie Daniels." he replied.

"Nope, we have you down here on our roster." she said.

"But I'm a boy."

"Well, you're not dressed very girly but I wouldn't go that far."

"No, you don't understand..."

But she ignored him and walked over to they were unloading the bags. That was his chance. If he showed them his bag, they'd have to believe him. He waited as bags were claimed until eventually, there were no bags left.

Leslie sighed in defeat and sulked.

"Of course, the bag probably made it to the right camp." he said.

"Okay, Leslie Daniels, you're in Cabin 8 with... Kendra, Annie and Nora." the counselor, whose name was Carla, said.

"Please listen to me. I'm not a girl. I don't belong here. I'll prove it!" Leslie shouted, getting ready to drop his pants to make his point.

Carla quickly grabbed his arm.

"Young lady! That is not appropriate! The roster said you had behavioral problems, but I didn't expect it to be this bad." she exclaimed. "Report to your cabin!"

Leslie debated talking back, but decided it was smarter to give up for the moment, and just listen to what she said. He had no cell phone, the camp had a strict no-technology rule, and he knew that she wasn't going to budge, that was clear enough from her refusal to see reason. Was he really that feminine looking that no one would notice?

Leslie resolved to see if he could use a phone later to call his parents and explain the problem. They'd surely get him out of this crazy place.

For the time being, Carla led him to Cabin 8, where he walked in and was introduced to not only Kendra, from the bus, but two other girls, Annie, a short, black haired girl and Nora, a tall redhead, who was a head taller than him.

"Leslie! I was hoping you'd be in our cabin!" Kendra exclaimed. "Where's your bag?"

"It... got lost." he said.

”Better not bring them into know about the mistake, it'll only make things more complicated when I try to convince the counselors.” he thought.

"Oh no!" Annie shouted.

"That's alright, we can lend you stuff until it gets here." Kendra said.

"Well, at least you'll have your cabin shirt." Nora said, pointing to the remaining bunk, which had a baby blue t-shirt sitting on top of it. One that he noticed the three girls were wearing as well, in contrast to his rock band t-shirt and jean shorts.

"Great..." he muttered.

"Come on, try it on!" Kendra said.

"Oh, I don't really want to, right now." he said, not wanting to take his shirt off in front of them for fear of exposing his lack of breasts.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of." Annie said as she grabbed his shirt from behind and pulled it up over his head.

“Stop that!” Leslie shouted as he tried to grab his shirt, but it was too late.

He immediately covered up his chest, expecting the girls to riot and go straight for Carla, but they just stood there.

"That's what you were afraid of? That you're flat-chested?" Nora asked.

"It's not a big deal, Leslie. Some people are just late bloomers, though you probably should have worn a bra." Kendra said.

"I..." Leslie started.

"It's alright, you can borrow one of mine." Annie said, walking to her bad, and pulling out a pink bra. She handed it to Leslie.

He looked over it for a minute, and sheepishly tried to put it on the best he could, managing to succeed after a few moments. He then put on the shirt, which proudly emblazoned the words "Cabin 8" across his chest.

“Could this day get any worse?”

"Campers!" came Carla's voice over the loudspeaker. "Report to the signpost for orientation!"

"Come on!" Kendra shouted as she grabbed Leslie's arm and dragged him out of the cabin.

A few minutes later, Leslie found himself sat in a circle, surrounded by the girls of the other cabins as Carla began to explain the rules of the camp.

"First and foremost, no technology. But of course you are allowed to call your parents for any reason if you need to. But you can't monopolize the phone, we only have the one." Carla started.

Leslie sat there as she explained everything, though he was hoping that he'd be gone before he'd have to heed any of those rules.

"We're going to have a lot of fun this year, girls. Lots of activities, and hopefully forging lifetime friendships." Carla finished. "You can go back to your cabins. Dinner is at 6 tonight, so make sure you don't miss it."

The campers began to disperse back to their cabins, but Leslie quickly ran up to Carla as she started walking away.

"Excuse me, I need to use the phone." he said.

"For what?" she asked.

"To call my parents... my bag went missing." Leslie replied, hoping she'd be more inclined to let him use it out of pity.

"Alright. It's in the main office." she pointed towards a large cabin-like building.

Leslie ran inside and asked the person inside to use the phone, who handed him the corded receiver. He dialed up his home number, and got an answering machine.

“Of course, they're still at work...” Leslie griped.

Then he tried cell phones, and no one picked up. Then, not even the few neighbors that he knew phone numbers for were answering.

“Was there a local outage or something?”

Eventually, another girl walked in to use the phone in the midst of his quest.

"Can I use it now?" she asked.

"Hold on, I'm still using it!" Leslie replied.

"You've been using it for twenty minutes, it's my turn!" she said.

The woman inside the main office turned from her work to Leslie and the girl.

"Young lady, you have been monopolizing it. Let her use it." she said. "You can try again tomorrow."

Leslie wanted to snap back once again, but he also didn't want to get in trouble, because that would make it less likely that he'd be able to convince anyone of his identity, if they thought he was just a badly behaved girl.

"...Fine." he said, handing the receiver to the girl.

Leslie dejectedly walked back outside. As he did, a group of girls rushed past him and he was knocked bottom first into a dirty puddle. He stood up, and groaned, realizing that his shorts were ruined. He rushed back to Cabin 8 to try to wash them in the bathroom sink, along with his underwear, which the puddle had soaked through to. Rushing in, he brushed past the girls of Cabin 8 who soon knocked on the door.

"Leslie?" it was Annie.

"I'm busy!" he shouted.

"We saw your shorts... Kendra has a pair you can borrow. And I have a pair of underwear if you need." Annie said.

Leslie realized that even if he washed them and got the mud out, he'd have to wait for them to dry, and he reluctantly walked to the door.

"I'll take both." he sighed.

Leslie wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door, getting a pair of pink panties, to match the bra, and a pair of denim short shorts to replace his shorts from Annie, who passed them to him.

He changed into them and emerged from the bathroom, his sneakers and socks being the only vestige of male clothing he had left.

Leslie had never been a very hairy person, so with the girl's shorts, and the natural lack of hair on his legs and face, he really did look like just another girl at the camp. He grimaced as he lay on his bunk, realizing that this was turning out to be a long day.

A few hours later, Kendra, Nora and Annie announced that they were heading to dinner. His stomach rumbled and Leslie realized that he hadn't eaten all day, and reluctantly joined them. He went to the mess hall, which, for a summer camp was surprisingly nice. He got his food and sat at a table, populated with a few other cabins of girls and quietly started eating.

"What are you looking forward to the most, Kendra?" Nora asked.

"Swimming, mostly. It's so great to just go out into the lake and swim, it's always been my favorite part of camp." Kendra replied. "What about you?"

"Nature hikes and bird watching." Nora said. "Annie?"

"Ugh, I hate all this outdoorsy stuff. I'll stick to just the arts and crafts stuff. My mom always likes it when I make her picture frames anyway." Annie said.

"What about you, Leslie?" Kendra asked.

"Oh, uh... I don't know, a little of everything I guess." Leslie muttered as he kept eating, eager to remain outside of the conversation.

"You are totally going on a hike with me." Nora said. "You'll love it."

"I guess we'll see..." he weakly smiled and continued eating.

Carla walked in and got everyone's attention.

"Alright, campers! The activity schedule has been posted, you'll get to see what we're doing every day for the next month, plus any extra activities like the camp musical." Carla said.

"Musical? Ugh." Leslie thought to himself.

He was determined to get of there before they even held auditions. The rest of dinner goes about the same way and the other girls of Cabin 8 went back to the cabin. Leslie approached Carla again, hoping to explain the situation better than he did earlier.

"Carla?" he asked.

"Yes, Leslie?" she replied, looking up from her clipboard.

"Uh, I know I said this before, but there's been some sort of mix up. I'm not a girl, I'm a boy. Have been since I was born. If you could just call the boy's camp, they're probably looking for me." he innocently smiled. "I don't want to cause trouble but, I just don't belong here."

"Leslie, you have to stop with this. I know you don't want to be here, but I'd say make the best of it, because you're here until camp ends." Carla said.

"No, you really don't get it. This is a mix-up, there must be two Leslie Daniels or something, but I'm not a girl. For all we know, she's at the boy's camp in my place!" Leslie exclaimed.

"I'm not going to say it again, get used to being here, and no amount of trying to convince me that you're a boy is going to work." Carla sternly said.

"This woman really is dense, isn't she?" Leslie thought to himself.

He'd probably be better off trying to convince his cabin-mates, but he doesn't want to open that can of worms, since they might not be as forgiving as he wishes they'd be. What if they didn't take too kindly to having spent the day with a boy who didn't belong?

Leslie went back to the cabin, and found the girls gathered around, talking.

"Hey, Leslie! Come on, join us, we're talking about our favorite bands," Annie said.

"Maybe later." Leslie said, climbing into his bunk.

"Oh, and I have a spare pair of PJ's you can borrow." Nora said. "I left it in your part of the dresser."

"Thanks." he sighed.

He laid down under the covers until the other girls fell asleep. He quietly got out of bed and walked over to the dresser. Leslie opened it and pulled out a pink nightgown.

"Ugh." he grimaced. "This just keeps getting worse."

He stripped down to just the panties and changed into the nightgown. He climbed back into bed and tried to fall asleep. However, Leslie just couldn't get comfortable in the nightgown, since the material was very different than he had worn before.

He decided to go into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He hated to admit it, but he looked like a girl. He slowly left the bathroom, and climbed back into bed, eventually falling asleep.

Day Two

It takes a while to fall asleep and Leslie awakes to the bustle of the three girls getting dressed and ready for breakfast. He sat up and Annie excitedly pulled something towards his bed.

"Leslie! Your bag showed up this morning!" Annie exclaimed.

"My bag?" Leslie asked, excited for a moment, before Annie plopped a suitcase on his bed, a large pink suitcase, one that was decidedly, not his own.

“Must be the other Leslie's.” he thought, before saying aloud: "Oh... this isn't mine."

"Of course it is!" Kendra said. "It's got your name on it!"

Leslie looked at the luggage tag, and naturally, it did say Leslie Daniels on it. No sense arguing with her about it.

"I think she was just looking forward to borrowing one of your skirts." Nora remarked.

Leslie sighed and opened the bag, prepared for the worst, and it was. It was the girliest set of clothes, cosmetics and accessories that he had ever seen. Blouses, skirts, shorts, a few dresses, bras and panties, sandals, hair products, makeup and jewelry.

"Must feel great to have your stuff back, huh?" Annie asked.

"Yeah... great." Leslie sighed.

"Anyway, we're heading to breakfast, better get dressed if you wanna catch up!" Kendra said as they left the cabin.

Leslie looked in the bag and found that the real Leslie must also be flat chested, since her bras had some padding in them, likely to make up for it. He groaned and put on a fresh bra and panties, the bra not strictly necessary, but he didn't want a repeat of yesterday.

He pulled his hair back with a hair tie and found another pair of shorts, though this time they were pink, and used the same "Cabin 8" shirt. He slid on his own socks and shoes, his last vestige of masculinity and looked in the mirror.

Looking in the mirror, he looked the part of a girl camper.

"I hope wherever the other Leslie is, she's having as much fun as I'm not." Leslie sighed and walked out of the cabin and to the mess hall for breakfast.

He grabbed his food and sat down with Nora, Annie and Kendra, who were excitedly talking about the day's activities. They immediately tried to bring him into the conversation.

"Looks like the first craft activity is bracelets." Annie said. "Wanna join me, Leslie?"

"Maybe some other time." Leslie idly said.

"Oh come on, I know you were probably dumped here by your parents and you'd rather be somewhere else, but you've gotta get into the spirit! You've spent the entire first day moping!" Kendra exclaimed. "You're doing an activity with us today. It's up to you which one."

"I'm going bird-watching." Nora said. "Could always use a buddy!"

"Or you can come with me, they're putting together softball teams. If you don't wanna play, you can at least be one of the cheerleaders." Kendra said.

"Girls, listen I..." Leslie started.

"We're not taking no for an answer. Pick an activity." Kendra snapped.

"Why do you care so much about what I'm doing?" Leslie asked.

"Rule #2 of the camp: It is the duty of cabin-mates to ensure that every member of the cabin is involved with activities and enjoys themselves. And Rule #4 No Loners Allowed." Nora replied.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" Leslie asked.

Leslie really didn't want to do any of those dumb activities, but if Carla refuses to listen, no one at home will answer the phone, he has no choice. And to reinforce that feeling, the girls shook their heads negatively.

"Fine... Uh, I guess I'll do..."

Leslie didn't want to play softball and wanted less to be a cheerleader. And bracelets sounded boring, so he figured at least bird-watching might be interesting.

"I guess I'll do bird-watching." Leslie said.

"Awesome" Nora beamed. "It'll be so fun!"

Leslie finished off his breakfast and walked back to the cabin with his "new friends", and they all but forced him to be involved with their conversations.

"Say, I hope you don't me asking, but I found it a little weird. You have all that makeup and hair stuff in your bag, and you haven't used any of it yet... any particular reason why?" Annie asked.

"I just... haven't felt like doing it, that's all." he replied, nervous that she might be onto him.

"I think that was her way of asking to borrow something." Kendra giggled.

Nora and Annie joined in with the chuckling.

"You can borrow whatever you girls want." Leslie said, giggling nervously. "Least I can do for letting me borrow your stuff when I didn't have my bag."

"Thanks, Leslie!" Annie exclaimed, hugging him.

Once the group got back to the cabin, Nora quickly grabbed a hiking backpack and started to fill it with items, a few water bottles, a compass and a pair of nice binoculars. She noticed Leslie scrutinizing her packing.

"They give us binoculars, but they're never good enough for my liking, so I brought my own." Nora said.

"I see." he replied.

After she packed, the duo, Leslie and Nora, headed out to the center of camp, where Carla was pairing girls up for the hike. They walked up and when Carla asked for partners, Nora quickly grabbed Leslie's arm and raised it up.

"Very good, Leslie. Nice to see you're getting involved. The summer will only be bad if you let it be." Carla said, handing him a bird identification booklet.

He just smiled and nodded, determined to not deal with her again as they started out on the hike.

Against his better judgment, Leslie actually started to have fun, checking birds off the list, using Nora's binoculars, if he wasn't constantly being reminded that he were being forced to masquerade as a girl and no one would believe him when he told them he were a boy, it'd actually be an enjoyable experience.

A bird perched on a branch, and Leslie tried to get a good vantage point to look at it. He ended up stumbling and falling into a patch of leaves.

The other girls watched in horror as he tumbled. Nora quickly helped him up, and another girl identified what the leaves were, to Leslie's irritation. Poison ivy... His body started to itch, but Carla assured him it was psychosomatic... the rash usually doesn't start until a few hours to a day later. They finished up the hike and Leslie ended up in the nurse's office, where he was given a bottle of calamine lotion that smelled repulsive.

He returned to Cabin 8 and slumped down on his bed. Annie and Kendra were already inside and noticed him put the bottle down on a nightstand.

"Got some poison ivy on ya, huh?" Annie asked.

"Yeah." Leslie sighed.

"Does it itch yet?" Kendra asked.

"Not yet," he replied.

Kendra picked up the bottle, opened it and smelled it, making a disgusted face.

"Well, if it does, you can use this." Annie reached into a drawer and pulled out a pink bottle.

"What is it?" he asked, taking the bottle from her.

"Last year I fell into some poison oak and my parents sent that up with me this year cause the stuff they keep around here is nasty." Annie said. "This has like perfume and stuff in it, so it smells nice."

Leslie popped the lid and smelled it. It was much better smelling than the stuff he was given.

"Thanks." he said.

A few hours later, it started to itch like crazy, but the sweet, flowery smelling lotion soothed it almost immediately. He wasn't happy here, but he were glad that his bunk mates seemed to be nice girls.

But he had to make some headway into getting out of here. Leslie ruminated on what to do next.

I could try calling home again... or maybe if the nurse gave me a full physical and saw that I'm not a girl, she'd help send me home... “ Leslie thought to himself.

Ultimately, he decided to head to the phone, he had a sinking suspicion that the nurse wouldn't listen, and the phone was his best bet for instant gratification. Leslie went to the front office and asked to use the phone, which they allowed.

"But no hogging it today, Miss Daniels." the woman said.

"I won't." Leslie said. One call was hopefully all he'd need.

He dialed in his home number and waited as it rang, before it was picked up.

"Hello?" his mother answered.

"Thank god! He was saved!"

"Mom! It's me, Les!" he exclaimed.

"Les! Great to hear from you, how's camp?" she asked.

"I'm at the wrong camp! There was a mistake with the bus and I'm at a girl's camp! I need you to come get me!" he replied.

What he heard back was muffled and static-y. The phone call was breaking up.

”Is that even possible with landlines? Leslie wondered.

"Mom! Wait! I'm not at the boy's camp! I'm at the girl's camp and I need you to come get me! I'll send you a letter tomorrow!"

The phone cut off and went back to a dial tone before screeching in his ear about how he should dial the number again or hang up.

"Another bust..." he muttered.

Leslie heard the loudspeaker start to crackle outside.

"Attention campers! It's dinner time, so get your butts to the dining hall!" Carla exclaimed over the speaker.

Leslie's stomach started to rumble. All that activity today had left him with a healthy appetite. He pushed the feelings back, but he was actually sort of happy that he had a group to sit with as he walked towards the mess cabin.

Dinner went by without incident, and Leslie was happy that the girls didn't seem to take any objection to his eating habits, so he was able to indulge himself. At least camp food is universal. Most of the conversation revolved around the events of the day, and so he was reminded of the poison ivy incident a few times whenever a girl from the hike passed by to check on him, asking about the rash and itching.

Thankfully, the lotion he got from Kendra was working wonders, and he didn't see any sign of a rash showing up as of yet.

Once dinner was over, he headed back to the cabin. With a few hours before lights out, the girls started their nightly rituals. Nora was reading a book, Annie was putting on a face mask and Kendra was inspecting her toenails. Leslie noticed her staring at him as he unpacked "his" suitcase, putting everything away in the drawers.

"Am I blocking you?" Leslie asked as he moved out of the way of the dresser.

"Oh no, I was just wondering if I could borrow that nail polish." Kendra pointed at a bottle of bright pink polish that he had left sitting on the dresser as he went through all the clothes. "It's such a pretty shade."

"Yeah, of course. I told you it was all up for grabs." Leslie said as he handed her the bottle.

Kendra grabbed his hand before he could pull it away, and inspected it.

"Been a while since your last manicure, huh?" Kendra asked.

"I've been busy." he weakly smiled, hoping that this wasn't the end of his charade.

"Sit down." Kendra pulled Leslie over to her bed.

"I should finish unpacking." he tried to pull away, but Kendra kept pulling.

Eventually, he gave up and sat down, cross-legged, on Kendra's bunk.

"Tsk, tsk." Kendra giggled. "Though I guess bird-watching will get your fingernails dirty."

Kendra pulled out a nail file and started to work on his nails as she started to make small-talk, mostly inquiring about Leslie's life outside of camp.

Apart from a few embellishments, he tried his best not to lie, given that it would be hard to keep a story straight if he told different lies to everyone.

Once Kendra finished rounding his nails, she started to paint them with the pink polish.

The worst part that Leslie had to face was admitting to Kendra that he'd never kissed anyone. Boy, girl, he hadn't yet been so fortunate, and blushed furiously when he admitted it to Kendra.

"Oh, don't be ashamed. There's nothing wrong with saving yourself for the right guy. Or girl." Kendra said. "Or if you don't want to do it at all, but based on that blush, I think you do."

"I guess." Leslie giggled.

He'd never admit it to anyone, but getting his nails painted was actually relaxing, and talking with Kendra took his mind off his predicament. So much so, that he didn't resist as harshly when she offered to do his toes as well.

Eventually, Annie and Nora joined in on the conversations, and they were giggling like schoolgirls, and Leslie was giggling along with them. This experience stunk, but that didn't mean that he couldn't find enjoyment in small things. Once his nails were dry, it was lights out and for the first time since he got there, Leslie slept soundly.

Day Three:

Like the previous day, Leslie awoke to his bunkmates doing their morning rituals and preparing for the day. He yawned and scratched his face, remembering that he had let Kendra paint his nails before bed.

“Well, I could remove that once you got out of here, so it wasn't a big deal.”

Leslie hopped out of bed and grabbed “his” clothes, quickly getting in and out of the bathroom, changing out of the over-sized t-shirt and shorts, and into a fresh pair of denim shorts from the other Leslie's bag, along with a fresh bra and pair of panties. He pulled your Cabin 8 shirt back on and brushed his teeth, exiting the bathroom with barely enough time for Annie to quickly rush past him.

"What activity are you going to do today?" Kendra asked. "We're still doing softball if you're interested."

"And I think there's another hike today." Nora said.

"I think I'll pass on any more hikes." Leslie said.

"Probably smart." Nora said.

Leslie started looking for a pair of socks, but all the socks (the other Leslie's socks) that he had put into the drawers the night before had vanished. And they weren't with the other girls' stuff either. Come to think of it, Leslie couldn't find his sneakers anywhere either. The only footwear sitting out were a pair of sandals with a slight heel that he recognized from the other Leslie's bag. Not his sneakers, not even a pair of other Leslie's sneakers in sight.

Leslie started to furiously look around when he heard chuckling from the other side of the room.

He found that Kendra was having trouble suppressing laughter.

"Kendra? Would you happen to know where my socks and sneakers went?" he asked.

"Me? Oh I..." Kendra burst out laughing. "Okay, okay, it was me. I just didn't want my handiwork to go to waste underneath your sneakers."

Kendra pointed to Leslie's polished toes.

"Oh... I guess that's okay." he said, pulling on the sandals. After all, he wasn't intending on doing anything overly physical anyway. Plus it was an ultimately harmless prank, not like the stuff he'd had done to him over at the other camp in previous years.

As Leslie and the girls started to head out for breakfast, he suddenly remembered his intended plan. The letter to his mom!

"Uh, would any of you happen to have paper and a pen?" Leslie asked.

"What for? A love letter to your crush?" Annie asked in a sing-song voice.

"No, a letter to my mom." he replied. "Phones haven't been reliable lately."

"I've got something you can use. Even have a few envelopes too." Nora started to dig through her bag, handing him a sheet of pink paper, an envelope and a pen.

"Thanks. I'll catch up with you in a bit."

"Got it." Nora said as the three departed for the mess hall.

Leslie got work writing furiously, explaining his predicament and all the salient details. He begged your mother to come rescue him and sealed the envelope up, writing his address on the front. He'd bring it to the main office later, but even then, he'd have to wait a few days for it to be delivered, so his main concern a the moment was food, and he quickly ran over to the mess hall for breakfast.

After a hearty breakfast, Leslie joined the girls of Cabin 8 for the walk back to the cabin.

"So, given any thought to what you're gonna do today?" Annie asked.

"I don't think I'm up for physical activity, especially since I don't have any sneakers today." Leslie jokingly glared at Kendra, who giggled in response. "So I think I'll do crafts."

"Yay! I was hoping you'd say that!" Annie squeezed him in another hug and kept her arm around him as they walked back to the cabin, with her telling him all the fun stuff you'd be doing.

Kendra and Nora just rolled their eyes as they followed along back to the cabin.

Back at the cabin, Nora and Kendra gathered up their things for their activities, while Annie went digging in her bag for something.

"I forgot to give these to you yesterday, but I made them during crafts." Annie handed something to each girl, and then to Leslie.

A bracelet made out of thread and beads. Looking closer, he realized that the beads spelled out his name. And the others spelled out the other girls' names. As much as Leslie wanted to get out, his heart couldn't help but be warmed by Annie's gift.

"Friendship bracelets!" Annie exclaimed. "That way, we'll be friends forever!"

Kendra and Nora thanked Annie and put their bracelets on. In order to not raise suspicion, and for no other reason, Leslie also put your his on. Leslie's was made of various pinks, and matched his nails quite nicely. That is, if he had cared about such things.

"See you later!" Kendra said as she and Nora left the cabin to head to their activities.

"Let's go, Leslie!" Annie grabbed his arm and nearly dragged him all the way to the crafts area.

Today's activity was tie-dye, which Leslie thought was pretty cool. He was all set to start when Annie offered him a pair of rubber gloves, to protect his nails, which he sheepishly accepted.

The act of tie-dyeing wasn't all that hard, and Leslie found himself getting dragged into conversations with all the girls there regarding colors and the cuteness of each design. Everything was going well, and he was biding his time until a poorly timed turn caused him to collide with another girl and fall backwards onto the table that had everyone's dyed shirts and several open bottles of dye laying on it.

In an instant, he was covered in wet, sticky dye from the neck down, mostly on his arms and legs, which were the most exposed.

"Leslie!" Annie shouted as she rushed to help him up.

As she helped, several other girls tried to salvage the projects while asking if he (or to them, she) was okay.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just... crud!" he shook your arms and blue dye dripped off of your elbow.

Carla rushed over, and inspected the scene, and turned her attention to Leslie.

"You're okay? No scrapes or anything?" Carla looked him over.

"No, just humiliation..." Leslie muttered.

"Don't worry about it, Leslie. It's not the first time anyone's done that just go rinse off in the shower cabin." Carla pointed towards an area that he had been intending to avoid during his stay.

Unfortunately, he didn't have much of a choice given that if he didn't act fast, he'd be stained for weeks, and that would be much harder to get rid of than nail polish.

Leslie quickly rushed to the showers, with Annie promising to grab him a change of clothes from Cabin 8 as he sprinted.

Getting to the showers, Leslie noticed that his sandals had fortunately survived, and he rinsed the clothes out in the sink before walking into the showers and stripping out of his underwear. Leslie glanced around to make sure no girl was hanging around, as he didn't want scare another camper if they figured out his real gender. No sense in causing trouble before he got out after all.

He hung the bra and panties, also un-dyed, right outside the shower, and without thinking, started to wash himself with soap he had found lying there, probably left by another camper. Knowing how helpful and friendly everyone was, he didn't think they'd mind.

As he rinsed off the dye, and the assorted dirt from the last few days, Leslie found himself feeling serene and relaxed. He just had to wait a few more days and his mom would clear this whole mess up. Just a few days...

Unfortunately, Leslie was so lost in thought that he didn't hear Annie calling his name as she walked into the cabin. Nor did he realize until she pulled the shower curtain open and looked inside.

"Leslie! I brought you a new shirt and!" Annie stopped in her tracks as he turned around, quickly covering up his crotch, but it was too late.

"I..." he started.

Leslie's mind started racing. What was gonna happen now? She'd tell Carla, definitely, then the other girls. Could he be arrested for this? He hadn't really thought through this far when he had debated going to the nurse for a physical. He didn't ask to be here, but he didn't think that anyone would buy that. And he didn't know why, but what worried him the most wasn't legal ramifications, but the fact that now, Kendra, Nora and Annie were going to hate him. Why did they have to be so nice? And why did Leslie care?

Annie dropped the clothes and stepped back. Leslie quickly dried off with a towel, wrapped it around his waist, grabbed another towel to wrap over his shoulders and ran through the camp, blowing past several confused girls as they watched a fellow camper sprint directly to Cabin 8.

Leslie quickly rushed into the bathroom in the cabin and locked the door. He sank down to the floor and started sobbing. He weren't usually this emotional, but given the last few days, this was a culmination of all his frustration and anger and fear coming out all at once. As he let his emotions out, there was a quiet knock at the door.

"Leslie?" the voice asked.

"Go away!" he shouted through your tears.

"Leslie, it's me," the voice started. "It's Annie."

"Leave me alone!" he sobbed.

"Rule #4... No loners." he heard Annie sit down on the other side of the door. "I brought your clothes."

Leslie sniffled and unlocked the door. Annie opened it a crack and passed through a bundle. Inside the bundle was another Cabin 8 shirt, that she'd likely gotten from Carla while he was showering, and a skirt, along with the underwear. He shut the door again and locked it while he changed back into dry clothes.

Leslie didn't see much reason to keep up the charade with the bra, but he put it on anyway, along with the panties, skirt and t-shirt. He took a deep breath and opened the door, he'd have to face Annie eventually, and he didn't want this to happen with Kendra and Nora around.

Annie immediately embraced him in a hug. Leslie wasn't sure how to respond, he assumed that she'd much rather attack him for the deception.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that, it was just a bit of a shock." Annie said.

"I..." Leslie started to speak.

"In hindsight it makes so much sense, why you don't wear makeup, why you've been hesitant to be girly, you're still new at it." Annie continued.

“She thinks that I'm transgender? That's... probably better for her, rather than find out that I got sent here by mistake and have been forced to pretend to be a girl.

"You're not mad?" Leslie sniffled again.

"Mad? Of course not! We're friends!" Annie exclaimed, which made him feel really good.

"Are you gonna tell?" he asked.

"Tell who? Carla? No, if she doesn't already know, I won't spill. Kendra and Nora? If it's all right, I'd like to tell them, that way we can all help you in case something like this happens again." Annie replied.

"You can tell them. But don't tell anyone else." he requested.

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." Annie mimed locking her lips with a key. "Pinky promise."

Annie held out her pinky, and Leslie put his up to it and linked them together.

"Come on, let's go finish tie-dyeing." Annie said, handing Leslie “his” sandals.

He smiled and quickly put the sandals back on, walking with Annie back to the crafts area.

When Kendra and Nora returned to the cabin after their activities, Annie sat them down and explained the situation, and naturally, they were nothing but supportive, apologizing for what they now perceived as insensitivity regarding his lack of femininity. He wasn't offended, of course, because he was just a boy trapped in this feminine web, and desperate to escape it, but it at least provided some cover and might help him in the event that something... unbecoming happened.

Dinner was uneventful, but fun, since he had started to pick up on how to converse with the girls, even subconsciously picking up on their speech patterns and using his hands more when he talked.

"You're definitely playing softball tomorrow." Kendra told you as he walked back to the cabin after dinner.

"We'll see." he said.

"It's only fair, you've done Annie's and Nora's activities. Tomorrow's my day to hang with you." Kendra said.

"If you say so." Leslie giggled. Involuntarily, but it did feel nice to be wanted.

At the boy's camp, that Leslie had spent every summer since he was 8, he made a few friends, but nothing substantial, and rosters rotated out year after year, so Leslie very rarely had any lifelong friends. Meanwhile, Leslie could tell from just watching, that lifelong bonds were being forged here at the girl's camp. It was a different experience to be sure, and one that wasn't as bad as the first day had made it out to be. Sure, he wasn't happy to be here, and he didn't like dressing as a girl, but at least he was clothed and fed, better than being in a harsh environment with no one around who cared about you.

"Leslie?" Nora broke you out of your thoughts. "Whatcha thinking about?"

"Probably her crush." Annie giggled.

"Was not!" Leslie retorted. "I was thinking about... how much fun I've been having here."

He blushed, he didn't want to have admitted that to himself, let alone out loud.

"Aww, that's sweet." Kendra hugged him quickly, before she hopped onto her bed.

The nightly rituals started once again, and Annie talked him into a facial, despite his objections. Skin-care is a gender neutral activity anyway, right? After washing it off, because of the excitement of the day, he again drifted off into sleep easily.

Interlude: Dream

Leslie suddenly found himself back on the bus... except this one was full of boys! This was the right bus! Had the last few days just been a really bad dream? Leslie looked down at his clothes, they were the clothes that he had arrived with! And his fingernails were dirty and bare, just as they had been before Kendra painted them! Finally!

The bus quickly arrived at camp, and he was assigned to a cabin, the correct cabin, and he excitedly started to unpack his bag alongside his three cabin-mates. Leslie could finally put that unpleasant girly stuff behind him. Though he felt a small pang of sadness that Kendra, Nora and Annie weren't real. They were good friends.

As he opened your bag, his heart sank. Inside weren't his clothes... it was the other Leslie's, the clothes from the girl's camp.

"See, I thought Leslie was a girl's name." one of his cabin-mates chuckled.

"Are you sure you didn't get on the wrong bus?" another one laughed. "Wait 'til we tell the whole camp!"

Leslie started furiously blushing and tried to explain, but no voice came out of his mouth. He wanted to explain that it wasn't his bag, that it was a mistake! He was on the verge of tears when:

"Hey! Stop laughing!" Kendra suddenly appeared in the cabin and put her arm around him. "You okay, Les?"

Seeing Kendra made him feel a lot better, and while he still couldn't speak, he was able to confidently stand up.

Leslie nodded and smiled, hugging Kendra and suddenly:

Leslie woke up in a cold sweat! He started panting as he readjusted to your surroundings, this was Cabin 8, and he was again dressed in an oversized t-shirt and girl's shorts. He had never escaped... what the hell was that dream supposed to mean?

Day Four:

After the dream, he fell back into a more peaceful sleep until he was awoken by the girls. Annie and Nora had gotten an early start and left for breakfast right after he woke up. As he got dressed, Leslie glanced at his toes and tapped Kendra on the shoulder.

"I can't really play softball in sandals, so..." he started.

"Oh right!" Kendra giggled and went over to her suitcase, pulling out a plastic bag containing all of "Leslie's" socks, (in actuality they were the other Leslie's) and a pair of pink trainers.

"What about my other shoes?" Leslie asked.

"What other shoes?" Kendra replied.

"The ones I showed up with, and the socks they came with." he said.

"Oh... those were dirty and I didn't want them in my bag so..." Kendra glanced around the room, before rushing out of the cabin, walking back in sheepishly about a second later.

"Where are they?" he demanded.

"I left them at the bottom of the laundry hamper." Kendra admitted. "And it's laundry day. They won't just toss them in, but you probably won't get them back for a few days. I'm really sorry."

Leslie wanted to explode at her, stealing your last vestiges of your masculinity, and then losing them, but... he knew she didn't mean it maliciously. It's not like anyone here was deliberately trying to trap him in a feminine web... it just sort of worked out that way because there were only girls here.

"It's okay." he said. "Just don't do it again or I'll have to go hiking barefoot."

Kendra smiled and Leslie followed her to the mess hall.

After another uneventful breakfast, he followed Kendra out to the softball field.

"Okay," Carla said as she checked her clipboard. "Today's team Captains are... Kendra and Lauren."

Leslie got a sudden sinking feeling that he knew why Kendra had been so insistent that he join her today. The teams were chosen, and Kendra picked Leslie immediately. He was a bit nervous, he was never the most athletic boy, and could barely play baseball, but he was more worried about the prospect of being a cheerleader.

"Well, looks like we've got a few more girls than we've had in the past few days on both sides. Too many to field at the same time, so you can all go up to bat, but when you're fielding, a few of you will have to sit out." Carla said. "Or cheer on the sidelines. I think we've got some pom poms in the storage shed, I'll go check."

"Okay, as Captain, I get to pick who fields." Kendra said as she addressed the team. "Leslie..."

Kendra pointed at Leslie and opened her mouth. Honestly, either outcome made him nervous.

"You're gonna play outfield." Kendra assigned, eliciting some cheers from some of the other girls, likely the ones who got stuck playing outfield the previous days.

One of the other girls passed Leslie a beat-up glove, which he slipped onto his hand. He was rather fortunate today, given that he had found a pair of capris in Leslie's bag, so he didn't have to worry about a skirt or short shorts. Leslie quickly pulled a hair tie from his pocket and pulled his hair back into a low ponytail, as Kendra assigned the other positions and he jogged to the outfield.

The one good thing about non-competitive sports, is that no one is really trying that hard, and so most of Leslie's responsibilities involved standing around, watching the in-field, or running after a grounder that got lobbed his way very rarely. Nothing major. That is, until the other team's captain, Lauren, got to bat in the fourth inning. As Leslie would find out later, she played competitively at home, and took the game seriously, so when Kendra pitched a fastball, Lauren popped it into the outfield, and straight towards Leslie.

"Catch it, Leslie!" Kendra shouted as Lauren headed for first base.

Leslie rushed underneath it, and tried to track its movements as it descended, but instead of landing in his glove like it was supposed to, it bounced out and smashed into his face, knocking him to the ground, and causing both teams to immediately rush the outfield.

"Oh my god!" someone shouted.

"Is she okay?" another girl screamed.

Leslie was fine, but his face was throbbing with pain. He held his hand over his eye and pulled it off, at least there wasn't any blood.

Carla immediately broke up the circle around Leslie.

"Give her some room!" Carla shouted, before she grabbed his other hand and pulled him up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, it just hurts." Leslie said.

"Looks like it does." Carla said. "You're very accident prone these last few days."

"Bad luck, I guess." he said, before muttering under your breath. "In more ways than one."

"Kendra, take her to get some ice." Carla said.

"Got it. Steph, take my spot." Kendra grabbed Leslie and started walking him back towards the nurse's office.

"Second time in a week. I don't usually see campers this much in the first week." the nurse joked as she checked Leslie's eye. "But nothing life threatening. You'll have a nasty shiner for a little while though."

"Got it." he held the ice pack to his eye as Kendra walked him back to Cabin 8.

Leslie sighed as he stared into the mirror, with the help of that calamine lotion from Kendra, the poison oak wasn't bothering him anymore, and the dye washed off, but this... this was worse.

"This is gonna suck, staring at this for a week." Leslie sighed.

"Maybe you don't have to." Kendra started digging through the other Leslie's suitcase, before finding something. "Ah ha!"

Kendra pulled out a makeup bag and smiled at him.

"Oh, I don't think that's necessary." Leslie said.

"Come on, take a seat." Kendra insisted.

Leslie sat down opposite Kendra on his bunk as she started to brush some makeup onto his face. He didn't really understand what she was doing, but she seemed to have it down to a science.

"And I'll have to use this on the rest of your face to even it out..." Kendra worked as if she was a classical artist working on her masterpiece. "And then your eye will need a little... And your lips..."

Leslie wasn't sure what he was going to end up looking like, until Kendra pulled out a mirror and turned it towards him.

There was still a bit of swelling from the softball, but the bruising was all but gone. Kendra really was a miracle worker. Though he noticed that she made a few embellishments that weren't strictly necessary.

"Kendra? Did I really need eyeliner and lip gloss?" Leslie asked as he scrutinized his face.

"For the black eye, no, but I think it makes you look cute." Kendra giggled.

Leslie felt a little embarrassed, boys weren't supposed to wear makeup, but then again, boys weren't supposed to have polished nails or go to a girl's summer camp either! And he can't say that it didn't feel really nice when Annie and Nora got back from their activities and complimented his new look, promising to give him makeup tips.

The rest of the day was uneventful, which he was glad for, after the previous day's excitement and the excitement of the morning. Leslie didn't realize he was such a klutz! Or maybe being forced to do this masquerade was throwing him off balance and he was inviting these instances of misfortune. Whatever the reason, he was hoping the softball to the face was the last misfortune he'd face. Maybe when he got home he could tell people that he won a fight! That would certainly help him regain all the masculinity that's been seeping out of him since he got here.

Day Five:

The next morning Leslie woke up because he had been pelted with an article of clothing. He opened his eyes and sat up, finding a pink bikini had been thrown onto his bed.

"What's going on?" Leslie asked.

"Today's swim day!" Annie chirped excitedly as she laid out her bathing suit onto her bed.

"Swim day?" he asked.

"Once a week, instead of the normal activities, we all go swimming in the lake, over by the docks. Swimming used to be an activity, but I think they had a lack of lifeguards, and figured it was easier to let us all do it at once." Nora explained.

"That's great, but I'm not really a swimmer." Leslie said, both attempting to get out of wearing the bikini, but also a truth. Swimming was an activity that he loathed, especially when he'd go swimming at the boy's camp and the older boys would hold his head under as a joke.

Leslie dressed in the same sort of outfit he'd worn in previous days, retaining the capris from yesterday, and went with the girls to breakfast. All of them had their suits on underneath their outfits, intending to get right in after eating. But of course, they escorted Leslie back to the cabin and insisted that he change first.

"Did I pack a different suit?" Leslie asked out loud as you dug through the suitcase, hoping to find shorts or one of those suits with the skirt or something of the like.

"What's wrong with that? I think you'll look great in it!" Kendra beamed.

"It's just that... I have that thing... you know? Down there..." he pointed down.

"That's not a problem, just tuck." Annie said, almost off-handedly.

"Tuck?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've seen it on TV, you just sorta, hide all that stuff down there." Annie said.

What kind of TV do these girls watch? Leslie had never heard of such a thing, but if he knew anything about these girls, it was that they were stubborn, and would wait until he changed. Leslie did what Annie said to do, and it seemed to work, not revealing any undue information.

After changing into the bikini, he slipped back into the sandals from the previous day, and followed the girls down to the docks where all the other campers were already having fun in the lake. Kendra, Nora, and Annie wasted no time jumping in while Leslie stood at the edge of the dock, kicking his sandals off and placing them to the side.

"Come on in! The water's fine!" Kendra shouted.

"I don't know..." he muttered, wrapping his arms around himself, still self-conscious in the bikini.

Being so focused on not jumping in, Leslie didn't realize that Nora had snuck out of the lake and climbed back onto the dock, until he felt someone behind him and turned, only to be immediately shoved off the docks and into the water.

"Woah!" he exclaimed as he plunged into the water.

Leslie immediately returned to the surface and spit a mouthful of water out. He wanted to be mad, but Kendra, Nora and Annie were laughing and splashing each other, and it was infectious. He smiled and joined in with the activities.

Turns out swimming was actually fun when he wasn't being tormented and dunked against his will! There were some races that Leslie took part in, he didn't win, but it was fun to try, and then there was a giant lake-set game of Marco Polo with the entire camp which was abject chaos, but the fun kind of chaos.

Leslie's self conscious feelings vanished as he actually enjoyed the day more than he had ever enjoyed swimming at camp in his life before.

But that wasn't the only activity for the day, as not only was it "Swim Day" but it was also "Bonfire Night" and after dinner, the entire camp gathered around a bonfire roasting marshmallows.

Carla remarked to herself how proud she was that the girl who spent so long trying to get out of the camp had finally come out of her shell and was enjoying herself.

Maybe this camp wasn't so bad. Leslie looked to his left and saw Kendra grabbing another marshmallow out of a bag, offering one to him, which he accepted. Looking to his right, he saw Annie and Nora giggling to each other as they talked. But he just had to bide his time until he could get out... right?

One Week Later:

One week later, Leslie slowly opened his eyes as he heard the bustle of his cabin-mates getting ready. He stretched and got ready to greet the day. His routine had gotten a bit faster, since he didn't have to brush his hair thanks to the help of one of the other campers, a girl named Izzy from Cabin 3, who had braided Leslie's hair during movie night into twin fishtail braids.

As the movie played, Leslie looked around for the popcorn bowl, which had last been in Nora's hands. Nora didn't have it, but she was preoccupied with another camper who was working her hands through Nora's hair.

"Hey, Leslie, Izzy's gonna braid my hair, want her to do you when she's done?" Nora asked.

"I don't think so." he replied. "I don't think my hair is suited for braids."

"No way! Your hair is so cute!" Izzy exclaimed. "And braids are even cuter!"

Looking at the faces of the two girls, he couldn't help but be swayed to accept the offer. After all, braids can be removed, right?

Remembering movie night made Leslie smile, since the braiding had been mostly convenient and he didn't have to worry about hair ties anymore. And he didn't get nearly as much forest junk stuck in his hair during hikes or bird-watching, which he had gotten better at since the last time.

After brushing his teeth, Leslie looked himself up and down in the mirror. What a difference a week can make! He managed to not have any more accidents, and his black eye had almost completely healed, but he still applied a bit of makeup at the behest of Kendra who insisted that he do it to keep his skin even. The lip gloss wasn't strictly necessary, but his lips had been getting chapped, and he didn't have any other type of chapstick.

Getting dressed, Leslie had finally gotten back his old sneakers, but found the pink ones to be far more comfortable, so his old sneakers had been left under the bunk, untouched since their return. He quickly pulled on a pair of shorts and his Cabin 8 t-shirt, examining his nails as he pulled the shirt over his head. They'd gotten a tad longer, so he might have to ask Kendra if she has clippers, though she'll probably want to do another manicure, which he wasn't entirely against.

"Hey, Leslie! Isn't this that letter you sent to your mom?" Nora asked as she looked under one of the bunks.

The letter! Leslie had completely forgotten about it because of the shower incident! He never sent it! And so he had been biding his time for nothing! How could he have been so stupid?

Leslie smacked his forehead and sighed.

"I left it here and must have forgotten to send it, then it got knocked under the bed."

"I'm sorry, that was probably me when I went to get your change of clothes on tie-dye day." Annie apologized.

"It's fine." he said. "It wasn't time sensitive."

Leslie had been having so much fun... but maybe that was the takeaway. This was fun. He was enjoying himself, enjoying being Leslie the girl and not Les the boy. Did he even still want to send the letter? This was going to take some deliberation.

"Why don't you go along to breakfast? I'll catch up." he said as he held the letter in his hands.

What should he do? Leslie knew he was a boy, and he'd never had any sort of predilection for dressing like a girl before, or liked girly things as a kid. He wasn't the most athletic, and preferred books to sports, but he was never unsure about his gender. Until now. Leslie hadn't ever been unhappy as a boy, or felt like he was in the wrong body, but the past week had shown that he was missing something, and he liked all the camaraderie and support that the girls gave each other that boys didn't for fear of being seen as "gay".

And the clothes were comfortable, which he didn't think at first, but after a week, he found himself not minding any of the more form-fitting items designed for a body he didn't have, even if he was unnecessarily wearing a bra for breasts that would never grow, despite how Kendra, Annie and Nora kept insisting they would once he started hormones.

Leslie had fallen so easily into the role, what if that was the role he was meant to fill? More importantly, what happened to the real Leslie? Surely, she'd want her things back at the end of the summer. And why hasn't she shown up? Was she at the boy's camp pretending to be him? He imagined that'd be a bit tougher, but who knows?

Leslie thought back to the breakfast conversation he had with his cabin-mates a few days earlier:

Leslie giggled as Nora finished telling a funny joke, and Annie held a napkin up to her nose.

"Stop! Milk is coming out of my nose!" Annie cried.

"We should meet up after camp ends. I don't want to lose touch." Kendra suggested.

"We're definitely exchanging numbers. A shame we can't use technology here. I'd want to friend you all before I forget to." Nora added.

That technology ban was one of the reasons he was stuck like this. He'd be able to easily prove his identity with his cell phone.

"Where do you live, Leslie?" Kendra asked.

"Southtown." he replied as he took a bite of food. Not a lie, and it was a big place, though he worried that she might look him up after and find the boy he intended to return to being after he escaped.

"That's only about an hour away from Weston, where I live, I can totes take a bus to visit! Or vice versa!" Annie exclaimed.

Leslie felt bad about leading them on, but what else could he do? Leslie wasn't sticking around, at least, the girl Leslie wasn't, but without his phone number, he'd never have to worry about seeing them ever again.

Leslie's face fell as he realized what that meant. He actually enjoyed their company, and wanted to remain friends, but he couldn't! Not as who he is.

"Something wrong?" Kendra asked, her face full of concern and worry.

"Nothing." Leslie smiled. "Just thinking."

Leslie had come to a decision. He knew exactly what he was going to do. He quickly marched out and headed for the main office. He had to call his mom.

As he walked towards the main office, he heard his name called from behind him. He turned around to see Kendra, Annie and Nora quickly trying to catch up to him. He stopped and waited for them to get close.

"Aren't you coming to breakfast?" Nora asked.

"They've got pancakes today!" Annie exclaimed.

He felt his stomach grumble, but this was a much more important matter.

"I'll be along, save me a plate. I've gotta call my mom." he said.

"You don't still want to go home, do you?" Kendra asked.

"How do you know about that?" he questioned. He'd never admitted to them that he wanted out at all.

"You spent the first few days frantically calling home, every girl does that their first time at a new camp." Kendra smiled. "But I'm glad you stayed."

"So am I." he grinned back.

This might be one of the toughest decisions, of his life, but Kendra just made it real easy.

Leslie quickly ran to the office and asked to use the phone. Carla was standing by and eyed him up and down as she deliberated on the request.

"Given that you've been a happy camper this past week, I'll allow it." Carla laughed and handed him the phone.

Leslie quickly dialed in his home number and he felt his heart race as the phone dialed and rang.

"Hello?" came his mother's voice on the other end.

"Mom?" he asked. "It's me, Leslie."

"Les! Great to hear from you! After we got disconnected, I got worried, but I figured you were just having so much fun that you forgot to call back." she replied.

"Yeah, about that. I've got a lot to tell you." he started. "First things first, I got on the wrong bus. But that's okay!"

It was a lot to take in, but Leslie thinks that she'll understand. Guess this summer wasn't such a bummer after all.

One Year Later:

Leslie Daniels didn't hate their name. It was a family name, they was named after their great grandfather. Leslie was a boy, though with their long hair and thin body, they had been mistaken for a girl a few times, but now there was no mistaking anything. Leslie is sixteen and heading for their first summer job, a counselor job at the camp that he had spent his last summer at. Leslie's parents dropped them off bright and early at the pickup location before they had to go to work and Leslie dropped their bag with all the other bags, before going up to one of the directors.

"Leslie! Great to see you back." Carla exclaimed.

"Great to be back." Leslie smiled.

Leslie was early, long before anyone else would show up. As they started to climb on the bus,

"Leslie!" Kendra exclaimed.

"Kendra!" Leslie quickly ran to hug her.

"Don't forget us!" Nora shouted as her and Annie dragged their bags towards the growing pile of bags.

"How could I?"

"You've come so far since last year." Kendra admired.

"I know." Leslie beamed.

"All right girls, ready for another year?" Carla asked as the campers started to arrive.

Leslie had been uncertain last year, but as she prepared for another summer with her best friends, she knew that she had made the right choice.

The End