"John...John!"

A soft voice and a gentle shaking of John's shoulder was what woke him up the next morning. However, John was not much of a morning person, so he groaned and rolled over.

The person who was trying to get him up laughed.

"It's me! Alex!"

John snapped his eyelids open and rolled back over, blushing.

"Sorry," he mumbled, embarrassed that he had just done that, especially to someone as cute as Alex.

"No worries! It's just-it's 9:00am right now, and we kinda need to get down to breakfast by 9:30am if we want to follow our schedule," Alex explained.

"Oh. Okay." John reluctantly sat up and rubbed his eyes, then hopped out of bed.

"Oh-and don't forget-on our first day of camp, we all wear our camp shirts," said Alex, changing into his own.

"Okay. Thanks." John changed into his green "Camp Revolutionary" shirt, the pulled on some jean shorts. He finished his morning routine by taming his hair enough to pull it into a ponytail. "Ready?"

"Yep!" said Alex, smiling.

"Wait-where's Herc and Laf?"

"They're...already there."

"Oh." John couldn't help but blush at that.

As they were walking down, Alex suddenly stopped and looked directly into John's eyes.

"I never realized just how many freckles you have!" he exclaimed, fascinated. "Wow-there must be millions of them!"

John laughed a little. "You can have them, if you want. I hate them."

"Aw, why?!" said Alex, still staring at his face. "They're cute!"

John turned red yet again, resembling a tomato. "Thanks," he said.

"So, after breakfast, we get to go on a hike with the rest of the Juniors PLUS Mr. Washington," explained Alex. Then he saw the look on John's face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...it's just...."

"Just what?"

"Let's just say I wasn't exactly the most liked person in South Carolina."

"Oh! You're worried about them not liking you? Don't! You're just about the most likable guy I know! After all, you tolerate me! That's pretty good!" Alex threw his arm on John's shoulder. "In fact, I'm claiming you as my best friend. Starting now!"

"Um...ok," said John, blushing. "You really don't have to do tha-"

"BUT I WANT TO!"

"Ok! Ok!"

The two boys laughed and continued to the hall for breakfast.

"Gonna say it-the food at this camp is AMAZING. Like, we won't have to hit up fast food all summer," Alex told John.

"Nice!"

Alex wasn't wrong. For breakfast, they had chocolate chip pancakes with bacon and toast. Everything was incredible.

"You ready for the hike?" Laf asked John.

"I guess so," he replied.

"You'll love it! The hike at the beginning of every year is so fun," Herc pitched in.

"If you say so," said John, grinning.

The boys headed down to where Mr. Washington had asked them to meet-on the outskirts of the lake. Along with them were Eliza, both of Maria's cabin mates, and the seven boys.

John cringed as soon as he saw the boys there. He really didn't want any more trouble.

Alex saw his startled expression right away.

"Hey," he whispered. "Don't worry about them. They can't cause any damage."

John, however, wasn't so sure.

"Here," said Alex, "I'll give you the basics of each of them. That's Thomas Jefferson. Total idiot. All you need is one good roast to take him out. That one talking to him is James Madison, but everyone calls him Jemmy. He's coughing almost 24/7 and as innocent and timid as a fly. Those three behind them are Charles Lee, Samuel Seabury, and George the Third, who likes to be called 'King George', but everyone just calls him K.G. instead. They're basically jerks. They do whatever Thomas tells them to do. That one is James Reynolds. He's Maria's boyfriend, and a total idiot. It's kind of coincidental that he and Maria have the same last name. Basically, he speaks in grunts, so he doesn't really bother anyone. And you already know Burr, so yeah! There you go!" Alex turned back to John, smiling.

John turned red under his freckles. "Thank you, Alex."

"Anytime, buddy."

Just as John began to get lost in Alex's eyes again, Mr. Washington walked up.

"Good morning, everyone!" he bellowed to the crowd of students.

"Good morning!" the class called back.

"Is everyone ready for the hike?"

"Yeah!"

"Let's get to it, then!"

The forest they hiked in was incredible. Every step they took, John spotted something new. About ten minutes in, Herc and Laf took him aside.

"Ok, Alex is going to start screaming in a few minutes," whispered Laf.

"What?" said John, confused.

"He does this every year. There's a little pond up ahead. He loves to see the fish in it," Herc said, rolling his eyes.

"Um...ok?"

"Just brace yourself," advised Laf.

"Got it," responded John.

As promised, when the group came upon the small pond, Alex let out a yelp of joy.

"FISHIES!!" he squealed, dashing over.

The rest of the Revolutionary Crew laughed and headed over with him.

"Oh, Alex also names them every year," added Herc.

"What're their names this time?" Laf asked him.

"This one is Herc, that one's Laf, this one's Alex, and this one's-"

"John?" cut in Herc.

"Nope!" Alex said, grinning. "Freckles!"

John blushed, and chuckled with the others.

"Gee, I wonder which one's me!" said John, with mock surprise.

The four cracked up again, then continued along on the hike. Along the way, they all saw miracles in nature-a family of rabbits, a blackberry bush, a huge bolder, and many other things.

"Wow," breathed John, as they were heading back. "This was AWESOME!"

"Yeah, it was!!" Alex agreed.

The rest of the day went fairly quickly. The Juniors visited the library later on, then had a game of dodgeball, which John and Laf watched from the side.

Traveling back to the cabins, John reflected the day. It had been pretty cool. Plus, he had plenty of new ideas of things to draw, and drawing was his favorite hobby.

The boys stayed up talking for a while that night. Alex wrote in a notebook and John drew in his journal while they talked. Eventually, at 1:15am, they decided to head to bed.

Just as John was dozing off, he heard his phone text tone go off. John checked to see how it was. It was Alex.

You have a good day? Alex asked.

Yeah, it was pretty cool, John replied.

Get some rest, Laurens, Alex texted back. Don't want my best friend to be sleep deprived ;)

Haha, John said. Goodnight Alex!

Goodnight, Freckles.

John's last thought before going to bed?

I love you, Alex.