This. Is. AWESOME (open)

[Brea White]

Brea loved camping. This might've surprised anyone who say the buttoned down younger girl, whose favorite activities included pranks and studying and watching Saturday cartoons. But in spite of her indoor preferences, Brea enjoyed spending time away from the "urban mass" as she'd heard it called. Things like spiders and flies and ants and mold didn't bother her. She quite enjoyed playing in the dirt. Swimming in green water was all part of the fun and she liked listening to crickets and the rustle of nature when the whole world went dark.

Being able to grow to seven feet tall admittedly helped her confidence in these matters--especially the creepy rustling--but that was all part of the fun! As a result of these things, Brea was thoroughly enjoying the retreat. It wasn't fun to be away from her family, but there were so many more people to prank here and things to do.

Like scaring the people swimming in the late. Brea had shrunk herself so she could hide behind a bush and peered out at them, watching whoever it was (she couldn't tell how many there were) splash around in the water. Hmmm... After a thoughtful moment, she made herself grow an extra foot, and then ran forward, aiming herself off the dock in order to jump in with the maximum amount of splash impact on the hapless swimmers.

"CANNONBALL!" she yelled, and then hit the water.

[Kevin Bailey]

Oh yes, this was quite perfect indeed! Kevin had no idea that Hammel would be this awesome. A student camping retreat? How awesome was that?! And here he was, thinking school was going to be hard and everything. When he had called to tell his parents and ask for permission to go, they hardly believed he was telling the truth. But here he was, on a bright and sunny day, with tones of other kids his age enjoying the weather and each others company.

He laughed as a girl cannonballed into the water. "Good one!" He balanced himself on the edge, before dipping a toe in the water cautiously. "Naw, I'm just kidding!" He said, before lifting himself off into the air and dove into the water. It was just the right temperature.

Coming out of the water, Kevin smiled at her with bright blue eyes. "Hi! Brea right? I think we have a class together," but he couldn't remember which one right now. "How are you liking the trip so far?"

[Brea White]

Brea surfaced just in time to hear the boy’s compliment, and her lips tugged into a grin in spite of herself. Even she, who thought boys were generally uncool, could appreciate a guy who liked cannonballs. After all, what was the fun in anyone who didn’t? Those people clearly didn’t have a sense of humor, and that was all there was to it.

So she was pleasantly surprised to find herself smiling back at the boy who surfaced, even as she raced to try and remember his name. There had to be—oh, yes. She hadn’t really spied on him yet, as he wasn’t really old enough to be cool to mess with and wasn’t young enough to be a potential partner in crime, but those eyes made her rethink that.

“I like it,” she said with a grin. “I got to put whipped cream on some of the older girl’s pillows. I think we have English together. Your name is Kevin.” It was a fact, not a question. Brea did her best to remember names. Always. “What about you? Are you liking it.”

[Kevin Bailey]

So far no one saw ill intention in Kevin, and hopefully no one ever would. He only wanted to make friends, and the more the merrier. He was young at heart, and certainly would get along better with the younger kids at Hammel. Not too young though, he was way past cooties.

"Where'd you get whipped cream from?" He asked, totally unconcerned with whether she had been allowed to treat another girl that way or not. "I love it, swimming is my favorite thing to do. And I love s'mores, and I just love being outside." He swam away from her and got out of the water, ready to do his own canon ball.

"Watch out, this is gonna be a big one!" He said, before doing his own canon into the water.

[Brea White]

“I asked for it from the kitchens,” Brea admitted. She was a firm believer in not stealing things that she could ask for instead, and as she had shrunk herself and made her look innocent and there had been no Dr. Neville or Dr. Campbell to tell anyone her real plans with the whipped cream. “I just told them I needed a snack. S’mores are pretty good too, but they’re not much of a challenge. I like cookies because they’re harder to make, you know?”

She quickly swam away as he cannonballed into the water, then laughed as he surfaced. “Aw, c’mon! You can do better than that. Don’t tell me no one taught you how to do it right.”

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin smacked himself in the face before soft laughter fell from his lips. "You asked, for course." He smiled, shaking his head. Sometimes he could be so silly, honestly. "You know how to make cookies?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. "Can you teach me?" He asked, excited at the possible prospect. His parents didn't let him near the stove for some reason. Something about how he had a short attention span or something like that.

Kevin shook his head, his hair rearranging itself. "I didn't do it right?" He asked, looking at her. "I didn't splash you at all?" He asked. He had totally done it right. He jumped high and tucked his legs underneath him. Maybe he was too small... He didn't like thinking that.

[Brea White]

Brea eyed him thoughtfully. Although she believed that men were from Mars and were only useful for manipulation and tormenting and, occasionally, for use in pranking, she liked Kevin. He was silly and enjoyed things and, yes, she liked his company. Surprising. Maybe she’d have to let her brother know so he didn’t think of her as hopeless after all. “Yeah,” she said, still cautious, “I can. They let us use the kitchens sometimes—wanna go there?”

“Nope,” Brea lied, pushing her wet hair away from her face and then grinning to show that she was joking. “I shrank myself, which helps a lot. I’ve got size manipulation. How about you?” She always liked to know what other kids powers were, and she thought this one might be quite a bit of fun.

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin wasn't out to get anyone, and he really wasn't interested in things that weren't childlike. He liked using his imagination and would rather get lost in a book than join in on strange parties with strange older teens who thought having fun was losing their senses. He couldn't help it, he didn't want to grow up and lose the possibilities everything had.

"The dorms don't have kitchens, so yeah, I guess that makes sense," he said, pursing his lips together and nodding his head. He wasn't trying to be a smart ass, and his tone of voice indicated so. "I didn't know you could use the kitchens..." Dang, he had so much to learn about Hammel.

Chuckling a bit, Kevin was smiling from ear to ear. "Aw no way! How big can you get?" He asked, totally enthused. "I can breathe under water and talk to fish," he said, blue eyes bright. "But hey if I didn't splash you, I'm gonna have to now." It was just a matter of fact, and with that, he pulled his hands back and watched carefully to make sure he got her this time.