It was one of those rare slow afternoons at Camp Campbell. Nikki was sprawled on the grass plucking blades to braid into some chaotic “nature crown,” Neil was jotting notes in his science journal, and Max… well, Max looked unusually restless.

He kept glancing toward the treeline, arms crossed, tapping his foot like a metronome set to “angry.” Neil finally sighed, lowering his notebook.

“Okay,” he said, “you’re vibrating like a broken microwave. What’s wrong with you?”

Nikki rolled onto her stomach, kicking her legs behind her. “Yeah! Did David finally break you? Did Harrison turn you into a frog? Did you eat a weird mushroom? Oh! Did you—”

Max snapped, “No! Just—shut up a second!” His face flushed red almost instantly, and he groaned, dragging both hands down his face. “Ugh. I can’t believe I’m saying this.”

Neil and Nikki leaned in like predators sensing weakness.

Max took a breath — the kind that looked like it physically hurt — and muttered, “I… like someone. Okay?”

Neil blinked. Nikki gasped. But neither looked shocked. Instead, they exchanged a look, eyebrows raised.

“That’s it?” Neil said. “Max, you’re a kid, not a robot.”

“Yeah!” Nikki chimed. “People get crushes! That’s normal! …Even for you!”

Max clenched his jaw. “…That’s not the part you’re supposed to freak out about.”

Both of them paused.

Neil slowly set his notebook aside. “Okay… then who is it?”

Max muttered your name under his breath.

Silence. Then—

Both of them shot upright.

“THEM?!” Nikki practically shrieked, eyes bugging out.

Neil pointed in the direction you’d wandered off earlier, mouth hanging open. “Wait—YOU like them? The human brick wall? The quiet one? The calm one?!”

“They’re not a brick wall!” Max snapped, face burning. “They’re just—shut up! You don’t get it!”

Nikki flopped back dramatically. “Oh my gosh! Max likes the stoic mysterious one! Max has a crush on the unreadable one!”

Neil shook his head, stunned. “Of all people… You fell for them.”

Meanwhile, not far away, you were sitting under the shade of a tree, expression unreadable as always — completely unaware that Max had just dropped the emotional equivalent of a nuclear bomb in the middle of camp.

Max groaned into his hands again. “Why are you two like this…?”

He didn’t notice Neil leaning toward Nikki, whispering: “I give it two days before they find out. Max is terrible at subtlety.”

Max absolutely did notice, though. “SHUT UP!”