So before we begin, just be aware this has gone through very little editing. If y'all hate it tell me and I'll take it down, but just try it....
Also, if you see a mistake, grammar wise or context wise, tell me and I'll change it! I'm going on a whim here with posting this, so let's see if three days of writing will pay off. Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC (Marley) AND DO NOT JUDGE ME FOR SHIPPING HER WITH A CANON CHARACTER!! I ALREADY HAVE MY SISTER FOR THAT. ((So I guess if you're gonna judge, DONT FLIPPIN READ THIS)) I ship sincerely three too, so this is more of an AU thing. Connor is alive and Camp Campbell is part of this, but more like an official camp (bigger). Sorry I'll stop talking, please enjoy!!

Anyone Up For A Life Story?

I guess you could say I had a childhood. Was it a good one? Hell no....but it had its moments. Like one time, when I was maybe five, my mom took me and my brothers to a lake for a little vacation. I don't remember what the lake was called or where it even was, but it was probably the last time I thought of my family with a smile. My dad was on a business trip so that made the vacation even better. It was just me, mom, Cooper and Richie. I don't wanna get too much into it, but let's just say my dad had, no has, some problems in self-control...in terms of alcohol and other things. My mom on the other hand, she wasn't an angel for sure, but she loved her children. She was just a very 'timid' person. Never tried to join a fight or argue or get involved with any mom gossip and drama, but most importantly (or most unfortunately I should say), she never stood up for us when dad got really out of control. I loved her, but sometimes I just wish she'd think for a minute how much scarring this caused for her children. She didn't even have to stand up for us in front of dad, in the likely event that he would hit her too, she could've just called the cops. Gotten us therapy. Moved the fuck out! She had her own car, nothing was really stopping her from just taking us, moving to a new house, winning custody and living a relaxing, happy life without my dad. We would've made so many more happy memories. Many more than just one week at some lake near our house. My brothers had been handed the better side of my dad, when he was sober most often and was still an actual father. Once I was born, he started stressing on every little thing like finances and his job and being able to give his kids a good life. He became increasingly more worried over the course of about a year and found that alcohol had been the only treatment that let him relax for once. So he started drinking....a lot. He wasn't ever sober anymore, he didn't drive me anywhere or take me to places other than the liquor store if he needed help carrying what he was buying, he didn't bother paying attention to me at all really unless he needed me to do chores or just to have someone to yell at. He wasn't a dad anymore. The worst part was that since he did earn a lot of money, he was under the impression I was spoiled and unappreciative. He once told me I wasn't allowed to be unhappy because I had money and was given all that I could ever want. I came home everyday and he gave me my daily chores, I did my homework and then I stayed in my bed crying or in the bathroom bleeding out from my wrists and legs. I knew I could've had anything would ever want, but I just wanted to have a dad who supported me. Cared for me. One who held me and told me everything was going to be alright was I came home crying from being pushed into a locker that day or getting my books stolen from me and put randomly throughout the (giant) library again. Instead, I got a dad who stayed on the couch ordering me to do chores and agreed with kids at school when they called me a weirdo or a freak. The worst hit came when I was in eighth grade, I was in a fight with my best friend and she told my dad that I was bisexual because she knew that would hurt more than any insult she could throw at me herself. My friend and I never made up after the fight and my dad did things I never want to relive in my life. He almost disowned me when he found out and was about to murder me when he saw my wrists. The last thing I heard from him was, "You can stay until you're 18 so don't say I never did anything for you," as he slammed my door shut and never talked to me again other than to say 'Your chores are on the kitchen counter. Get to work.
I just quickly responded, "Yes, sir," and got to work immediately, holding back my tears and trying not to show any weakness. Once a was a freshman, my dad started slamming job applications and internships on my desk without saying a word, expecting me to sign up for one. All the jobs he wanted me to do required experience however so I got a job as a camp counselor instead. I didn't even tell my dad where I was going at that point, not like he would've cared anyway. I just left in the mornings, came back at about 4:00 and started my daily chores again. Surprisingly, that was actually the best point in my life. I got to spend almost all day outside the house away from my dad, so yea, life had never been better for me! Not to mention, the other counselors at the camp were so nice to me. Gwen was a little rough around the edges, but still nice in her own way. David was a little sickeningly sweet at first, but his over-enthusiastic attitude towards literally everything is kind of adorable. Then there were the campers....I definitely liked some more than others, but they were all pretty great. The greatest of all of course was Michael! He was only two years younger than me and he was pretty chill. Plus, he got slushies from Seven Eleven a lot and I had planned on working there soon too! His taste in music was great, he had a refreshing acceptance for who he was and wore glasses, just like me! The only issue was that he was probably taken because he talked about this boy named Jeremy a lot, so I assumed that was his boyfriend. The camp all together wasn't that big and the possibilities for actives were virtually endless, but the kids were decent enough. Most of the time. I mean, it was ages like six to seventeen and Michael was the only seventeen year old, so we thought of him more as a glorified babysitter for the campers, an unofficial counselor. I wish I could've met Jeremy or any of the other friends he talked about and hang out with them, but I didn't really think it was my place to invite myself over. At the end of week two however, Michael said Jeremy and four other friends of his were coming to the camp. I think they were described as his player two, the arsonist, the kinky one, tree boi and the emo one....they seem like a nice group already. So I waited (rather impatiently) for the weekend to pass so I could meet the new kids and finally escape the house again.

New Kids

Monday couldn't have come sooner. I even went out of the house extra early (at 5:30) to get to camp and grab a cup of coffee before work so I could have an energy boost for the day since it was a big day for me. Michael's friends had to like me so I could have an excuse to get out of this hell hole of a life with my alcoholic guardian and cowardly mother. Maybe if I got really close to one of them, I could even move in! Oh that would've been the best day of my life! But I was getting ahead of myself....I shouldn't have had that much hope in an escape. It was unlikely. I walked out of the mess hall and out on the road to wait for the bus to arrive with the new kids. David was already there of course, but I told him I could handle them today so he wouldn't get hit by the bus again. I attempted to take a seat on the log benches in front of the entrance to camp, but the log was soaking and the deteriorating wood was getting all over my hands and shorts. I stood up slowly and stretched, wiping some of the wood chips from my now drenched shorts.
"Ugh, I'll change then I guess. Fuckin' rain." I groaned to myself. Just as I made that remark, the bus arrived earlier than expected.
"God dammit, now I have no time to change." I mumbled to myself again, looking at the wet log stain currently on my shorts. I groaned and walked over to the bus and waved for the quartermaster to stop. He didn't however and hit me! Like seriously, he hits everyone with that bus! I skidded on the dirt floor and landed flat on my back with a few scratches here and there. I was fine though. One kid ran out of the bus immediately and rushed over to me.
"Oh my gosh, a-are you o-okay, mmiss?" He stuttered, shaking my shoulders. I just groaned in response, weakly holding up an "okay" sign with my hand. I opened my eyes slowly, hesitating when the light shone directly into them at first. A dirty blonde boy with a striped blue polo was hovering over me with an extremely concern look on his face. I assured him I was going to live, probably, and tried to get up. I winced and fell back onto my knee on my first attempt, but somehow had the strength to get up the second time. I walked over to the rest of the kids standing by the bus and greeted them. "Welcome to Camp Campbell, an absolute hell hole that is somehow one hundred times better than my actual home." I half smiled. I wasn't really concerned with a filter at this point because if Michael's friends are anything like him, they won't care. They all didn't really say anything for a moment, just kind of stared at me.
"Jesus Christ Marley, you look like ass. What the hell happened to you?" I heard Michael say from behind me as he walked out of the camp.
"Quartermaster hit me with a fucking bus!" I shouted, clearly annoyed.
"At least it wasn't poor David again." I chuckled. He had taken two hits already from the other two times we had gotten new campers. It seemed to be a pattern that when a new kid came, someone got hit with a bus. Great rep for our camp. Michael laughed at my mention of David's "accidents" and agreed that he'd had enough.
"Are you seriously okay?" Another one of the kids questioned. I nodded in response.
"Yea I'll live I guess. But uh, which one are you?" I asked him and immediately regretted my word choice.
"I mean...MICHA! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND TELL ME WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE!" I yelled over to him because he was still waiting by the entrance. He ran over to the people standing in front of me and yelled their names at lightning speed. My mind wasn't normally able to handle info being thrown at me that fast, but the being hit by the bus thing definitely wasn't helping the process. 
"Woah. Slow down. Please." I said at a slow pace myself. Michael nodded, took a deep breath and went down the line again. He pointed to the shortest of them all first, a ginger with one dark red streak down the middle part of his hair. His name was Rich (the arsonist). Next was a kid with a dark gray sweatshirt on and longer light brown hair. His name was Connor (the emo one). Next to Connor, clinging to his arm like a little child was the boy who originally came over to me. His name was Evan (tree boi). Then there was a shorter boy with glasses and a smirk on his face. That one was Jared (the kinky one, understandably). Lastly, there was Michael's "player two," Jeremy. I had heard loads about him already. Michael even blushed a bit when he said "his" player two to introduce Jeremy.
"So this is Jeremy..." I smirked, walking over to stare him down. He let out a confused acknowledgment.
"Michael talks about you all the time! So what, are you two dating?" I asked him straight-forwardly. He blushed, like a lot, and tried any way possible to say no.
"Of course we're not! I mean, he's my best friend, we would never! So no, we're definitely not dating. Like why would we? I love Michael and all but like, we're not dating. So, yea...no. We're um not.." Jeremy ranted. He clearly liked Michael. And Michael clearly liked Jeremy judging by the way he talked about him. I just needed to find a way to set the two of them up somehow because this ship was gonna sail by the end of the summer!
"Well okay then. That wasn't weird at all!" I said, trying to fill the air. A few more moments of silence had passed.
"Alrighty, so I think I have to show you around or something then you can get settled in a bit. I want to get a chance to know you guys since you're friends with one of my favorite people! Btw, warning, avoid David today and act like you've been here for a while because he gets way too enthusiastic about new campers...and probably everything relating to Camp Campbell..." I explained while walking back to the camp. Evan raised his hand after I finished and I hesitantly call on him like a teacher would. It was weird to do that since he was around my age...even older than Michael I think. Evan had raised his hand because he needed to find a bathroom. So I kind of just pointed to a general area where they were in hopes that he would find one there. The others asked if I even knew where I had just sent Evan and I honestly answered, 'no.' I showed them all the mess hall, explained it's purpose and then even took them to the counselor cabin because they were the unofficial CITs. They were allowed to watch over and order the kids around when David, Gwen or I weren't there and they got to hang in the AIR CONDITIONED counselor cabin with us. I brought them back to the mess hall for the morning activities. Evan caught up with the group and walked in with Michael, Jeremy, Connor and Rich not far behind. Jared said he'd wait for me to go to the bathroom quickly and come back. That was nice I guess. I honestly couldn't tell if he was trying to be a gentleman for that sake of being just that or because he was just some needy, lonely teen. Either way, it was new to me...but it wasn't a bad new either.

Talent Shows Are Hell

No one had really paid much attention to me, let alone a complete stranger, so I decided to give him a chance. Turned out we were like the same person! Sure I related to Micha in many aspects, but I connected with Jared personally. I had found out at the end of the week that he didn't come from such a great family either. Unlucky for him, he was an only child. He had to suffer through some of the same experiences I did, but Jared had to do it alone. I learned a lot about him on Wednesday. The talent show day. A lot of things went down on that day really and the one event that changed everything was all on me. See David wanted to give the kids a break from working so hard at camp so he set up a camper talent show! It sounded fun in retrospect, but I mean hey, communism sounds great when you write it out. Luckily I had brought my ukulele. I usually liked teaching myself daughter, dodie and eagles songs on it and then playing them at the park near our house. Anything to get out of that damn house. So Michael and I decided it would be a good idea to do a duet since we'd been here for a while, not to exclude any of his friends of course. I didn't know many duets on my uke, but my favorite was certainly the awkward duet. ((copyrights to dodie clark and jon cozart)) It was a cute song and all, but I did tell Michael it was a lowkey love song. He said he was okay with it so I hesitantly agreed. The problem was that I did still kind of like him and now that I know that Jeremy isn't dating him officially I'm not sure how to feel at all. I didn't want to split them up, what if they were soulmates or something! To know I ruined Michael's chance with Jeremy would crush both of us, so I'm still not sure how to feel. That duet wouldn't help with my situation either, but we carried on and did it anyways. The night of the "performance" came and we did the song perfectly! Micha has the voice of an angel in general, but I didn't sound too bad for once which was good and my ukulele playing was on point. It was all going swell until I had to ruin it. Per usual of me. Once we finished our song, I may or may not have kissed Michael...on the lips...for like 3 seconds.
I pulled away and whispered, "Shit. What'd did I do." Then I grabbed my ukulele and ran to the counselor cabin, afraid of what my actions would lead to next. I sat in the corner hugging knees loosely for about 20 minutes before anyone came into the cabin with me. They didn't speak and I couldn't see who it was since I had my sweatshirt pulled over my face in "sweater town." This went on for another ten minutes before I broke the silence.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Who do you think?" The person answered me. I would've thought it was Michael, but the voice wasn't his. I thought for a minute. Who would've cared enough to come after me, but not enough to miss the rest of the show to help me? Huh, sounds like something I would do....wait. It must've been my other half.
"Jared?" I asked quietly, not sure if I was right.
"Really? I would've thought you'd guess Michael....but yea it's me," He said.
I sighed and sunk back into my corner. I asked him to tell me straight, what kind of chaos did I cause. Surprisingly, I had only missed Jeremy confessing to Michael that he liked him and then getting together. That was why he didn't come immediately. So I didn't cause a disaster after all, I kind of helped push Jere in the right direction actually. That was relieving.
"So do you like Michael? I mean, that's a stupid question but-" I cut him off with a small 'I don't know.'
"What do you mean, you don't know?" He questioned me. I just shrugged. I seriously didn't know if I did, I just thought he was just like me and that he was cool and funny and everything else you could possibly think of in a significant other. But I also couldn't really imagine dating him I guess. I had to give some answer however, so I thought of the main reason I started to like him.
"I guess, he noticed me when no one else would, that's why....but now he's not the only one." I respond, looking up for the first time at Jared since he walked in. I smiled and he returned it. There was a mutual understanding of internal hurt that I noticed in that smile, making me think he went through some of what I did. Or do.
"You're just like me, aren't you?" I said, semi rhetorically. He made a confused grunt.
"Y-you're broken. Broken and invisible and insecure and afraid that no one will love you if your own family doesn't. I go through that every fucking day so I think I would be able to see it in other people's eyes." I explained further. I could tell Jared was about to take that as an insult and make some sarcastic remark to push me away, so I stopped him. I got up from my corner and walked over to him, getting very serious.
"Wanna be broken together?" I said, holding out my hand out for him to grab. He did and smiled again.
"Eh, why not," he responded in a joking manner. I could hear the serious undertone however and so I took my hand away to wrap him in a hug instead. He tensed at the contact and tried to escape it.
"I'm not a hug person."
"Shush and don't fight it. We both need one." I say in a mock scolding voice
"And, uh, thanks for coming after me. It means a lot." I said, pulling away from the hug. He laughed it off slightly and just said something like 'someone had to do it!'
He took the compliment though I hope, it was important he knew that it really did mean a lot.
I was being noticed finally and all I could think was, "I could get used to this."