POV - Lily
Lily finally arrived at the campsite, after about an hour of walking. Honestly, she thought, I get that you want the camp to be “away from society” as the head counselor called it, but if you didn’t have a car it really did take some effort to get here. She walked through the gate, looking around to see if she saw anyone, the camp director or maybe one of the counselors.
When she knocked on the door of what looked like the main building, the door immediately opened, revealing someone who seemed to be around her age. They gave her a bright smile, immediately sticking their hand out to shake hers. Lily noticed a pronouns pin, on which he/him stood, pinned to their shirt.
‘You must be Lily. I’m James Potter, head counselor and son of the camp director. It’s really nice to meet you, welcome to Camp Marauders!’ he greeted, opening the door for her with a welcoming gesture.
‘Yep, that’s me,’ Lily said shyly, ‘Nice to meet you too.’
She stepped inside hesitantly, taking in her surroundings. This seemed to be the dining hall, cause there were a lot of picnic tables, and some kind of counter where you could probably get food. Outside she also saw a pavilion, where she suspected most of the meals would take place, since the weather promised to be good the next few weeks.
James led her to a table where an older woman sat, who have her a smile that was remarkably similar to James’, and who was probably his mother, or at least some sort of family. She gave Lily a warm and familiar feeling, like this woman could make everyone feel home with just one word. This turned out to be the truth, because when she started talking Lily immediately felt welcome.
‘Hello Lily, I’m Euphemia Potter, but you can call me Effie. I’m the camp director. I see you already met my son, James. He’ll let you know what you’re duties are and what exactly you’ll need to do the next month, since I won’t be here most of the time. I just wanted to meet you and make sure I’ve made the right choice hiring you, but it seems to me like you’ll do just fine.’
Lily blushed at that, nodding and quickly assuring Effie: ‘I’ll do my best to do everything exactly as I’m told.’
‘That’s lovely, dear. But don’t forget to have fun too. We wouldn’t want you hating it here either, would we?’ Effie turned to James, who grinned and nodded.
‘Of course. You’ll notice the kids enjoy everything more when their counselor does so too. But don’t worry, ma,’ he said, ‘I’ll make sure she enjoys herself.’ He winked at Lily, who scoffed and rolled with her eyes.
Effie chuckled. ‘I like her already,’ she stated, standing up and giving her son a little smack on the arm. ‘I’ll leave you in the hands of this rascal now,’ she smiled,’ he’ll explain you how everything works. But don’t hesitate to scold him when he’s being annoying or flirty. It’s honestly in his nature. Got it from his dad.’
Lily noticed her smile turned brighter, thinking of James’ father, and her heart warmed. ‘I’ll make sure to do that,’ she replied.
‘I’ll leave you two to it now. Bye Lily! Bye honey!’ Effie waved, walking out of the building.
Lily gave her a little wave back, and turned to James, who was already staring at her with a big grin. ‘I’ll let you meet the other counselors in a bit. First I’m gonna give you a little tour though. You’re a bit late, so it might be a little rushed.’
She gave him an apologizing smile. ‘Sorry, it took me a bit long to get here. I walked in the wrong direction for like fifteen minutes,’ she explained.
‘You walked here?,’ James said, his eyes widening. ‘You should’ve told me; I could’ve picked you up! Don’t you have a car?’
‘No, I don’t,’ Lily simply answered.
‘And no one could drive you? Your parents? Or any of your friends?’
Lily just shook her head, not ready to elaborate on that question.
‘Next time, tell me,’ James said softly, giving her a reassuring smile. ‘I’ll gladly drive you.’
She gave him a hesitant smile back. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured, glad he wasn’t asking more questions.
An awkward silence followed, and Lily searched for something to say. ‘So, who chose the name? Camp Marauders?’
‘Uhm, yeah, that’d be me. To be fair, it was my parents fault for letting me choose a name at fourteen,’ he chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. ‘It’s kind of an inside joke between me and my best friends. I’ll tell you the story later, if you want.’
He turned to the door, gesturing Lily to follow him. ‘I’m sure you saw most things already when you arrived, or read about it in the information packet I send you, but just to make sure I’m gonna explain everything again.’
They walked outside, and James pointed out the cabins. ‘So, we have four cabins. There’s the red cabin, of which I’m counselor. Then, you have the blue, yellow and green cabins.’ Lily noticed you could distinguish the cabins by their colored doors and windows, but other than that, the cabins were similar. She also noticed the basic primary color pattern, and grinned.
He smiled at her grinning face. ‘Basic, I know. You’re the counselor of the green cabin. If everything goes according to plan, you’re gonna meet the other counselors when they arrive, which normally should be in about half an hour,’ he said looking at his watch.
‘Now, before we go on, would you like a pronouns pin?’ he said, and suddenly stuck out a box full of pins, which seemed to come out of nowhere. Lily was about to say no thank you, but saw in his gaze this was something he was really insistent on, so she gave him a smile. ‘Sure, thank you!’ She searched the box for a she/her-pin, coming across a lot of other ones before she found one.
She saw James sighing while she pinned it on her shirt. ‘Honestly, what’s up with all these cis counselors?’ he said, rolling his eyes.
Lily raised her eyebrow. ‘Aren’t you literally cis too?’
‘Yes, it’s so boring!’ James exclaimed, like it was obvious what he meant.
Grinning, she shrugged her shoulders. ‘Sure,’ she agreed, giving him a strange look.
He turned serious again, looking her in the eyes. ‘By the way, we’re really strict here on pronouns and that sort of stuff. No homophobia and transphobia here, alright?’
He must’ve noticed her gaze turned funny, because he opened his mouth again, frowning. But she beat him to it: ‘No, of course not.’
He furred his eyebrows. ‘Are you sure? You don’t seem sure.’
‘No, I’m sure. Actually,’ Lily confirmed, hesitating slightly but finally deciding that this was a safe space, ‘I’m queer myself.’
She saw James’ frown turn into a big smile, immediately feeling better with her decision. ‘Oh, that’s great!’ he said, seeming excited, ‘Thank you for telling me that, you must’ve been really stressed. Don’t worry about it, I’m pansexual myself. Are you more comfortable with a certain label when people talk with you about it? Or would you rather not have me addressing it at all?’
In her head, Lily thanked him for being so normal about it. She had been kind of scared for his reaction, even though he literally said he wasn’t homophobic. ‘I’m okay with a lot of labels, really. I mostly see it as sapphic, but I call myself gay all the time, so I honestly don’t mind either. And I don’t really mind you addressing it in front of other people… I think?’ she hesitated, not really knowing if she wanted the whole camp to know she was queer.
‘Just don’t say I’m straight,’ she joked, her confidence growing. What she didn’t say was that other people didn’t talk about it with her. That he was the first one she told who still talked with her.
‘Okay, thank you for telling me! I just won’t bring it up with other people, to be sure. But I’ll make sure to never call you straight,’ he said, winking. She huffed and rolled her eyes again, suppressing a smile.
They walked up to the green cabin, and when they reached the door James stopped for a moment, getting a keyring with about ten keys on it from his pocket. He searched for a specific one, taking it off the ring. ‘Here’s your key. It works on the doors of all the cabins, and ideally you shouldn’t have to use it at all this month, but you never know.’
He opened the door with another key, probably his own, and led her inside. ‘So, sixteen kids fit in each cabin, and that’s normally also the amount of kids you’ll be the counselor of, since the camp is usually fully booked.’
Lily sighed at the thought of that many kids under her care. To be honest with herself she had to admit she didn’t know if she was ready to be responsible for all these little humans. Humans that would probably love doing dangerous things and making her worry. But because she really needed the money, she had decided she would have to try. Now she wasn’t sure if that had been a good idea.
‘You have your own designated area, right here,’ James continued, opening another door inside the cabin that led to a tiny room, just big enough for a bed and a tiny cupboard. ‘You have one toilet at the end of the cabin, through that door there, but you can find more in the shared bathrooms in the other building outside. That’s about it!’ he exclaimed, turning back to her. ‘Do you have any other questions?’
Lily shook her head. ‘Everything’s clear.’
‘Okay. Make sure to study your schedule again before the kids arrive, so you know what to do the rest of the day. The other counselors should be arriving soon, ready to meet them?’ He didn’t wait for her answer, leaving the cabin and walking in the direction of the main building again. She quickly followed him, sighing. This promised to be a long month.