The canoe lesson went somewhat well. Gabe paired Seung Hyun and Hong Ki with me. The canoe we were in ended up tipping over twice. Once when Hong Ki reached for a paddle that sunk in the water, then again when a bee flew past Seung Hyun, he spazzed out and stood up. Down we went. We got changed into dry clothes and we went toward the back of the camp to the set of pavilions. Gabe points to the only pavilion that is cleared of tables and has stacks of lumber about 10 feet high on three sides. 

A man covered in wood staining and oil he is sitting in a lawn chair leaned against the lumber. I am assuming that he is going to be helping us with our go karts, his name on his name tag read: Joe. Gabe makes us sit on the ground. 

"Okay campers. Today is the first day of building our team project. This guy right here is Joe he's going to take a few minutes to speak to you guys about safety when handling wood and tools."

Gabe sits beside Seung Hyun as Joe stands in front of us.

"Hi Guys I'm Joe and I'll be teaching you what you need to know about building."

He goes over safety tips like: wear gloves when using sharp tools, wear goggles and a mask when sanding wood, wear a hard hat at all times, don't cut anything toward your direction, etc. He then goes over how to use a hand saw, nails, hammer, screwdriver, drill, and how to use a leveler. 

Instead of taking quote "a few minutes" he  took a full hour. By the time he was done yapping our legs fell asleep and our bottoms were sore. To be completely honest I was ready to take duct tape and wrap it around his mouth. 

I swear he probably would keep going if Gabe didn't say that it was lunch time. Cheers went all around when he said that there was Phyllis's famous Chicken Parmesan, garlic bread, and garden salad. Even though I haven't had her "famous" meals but I'm sure it's outrageous by the hint of everyone's cheers.

We walk down to the cafeteria sitting at our table. While we wait I happened to notice that team Purple is giving us looks and laughing.

"Hey Sprinkles." One would chime in.

"Come over and make my day colorful."

...Yes it was as stupid as it sounds... I chose to ignore them and go on with my day. Phyllis came out with the serving cart and put the food platters on the table. 

"Enjoy campers!" 

Once all tables were served we dug in to our food. I now know why everyone cheered so loudly, her cooking is outrageous. She cooks even better than my mom! (Sorry Mom). Just as lunch is ending I see her handling stacks of plates. She gives me a look like I just informed her that someone died. We clean off our table and Gabe stands.

"Campers! We're going for quiet time!"

Gabe... quiet means quiet not squawk at the top of your lungs... I started to follow but stopped when I remembered what I said to this poor woman the other day. I do feel awful. She's elderly and she doesn't deserve that kind of crap from a delinquent like me. Making nice... right. 

"Ji Yong! Are you coming bud?"

I nod then quickly run up to Gabe.

"I want to ask Phyllis a question real quick. I'll be there in a minute."

He hesitated at first then shook his head.

"Okay I'll tell Janie you're behind so she can have a staff member you to the cabin when you're finished. Come on campers."

He leaves the others follow. I go back in the now empty cafeteria. I peek through the double doors and see Phyllis washing dishes. I roll up my sleeves and start to wash the plates. She gives me a sad look.

"I thought I told you that I no longer need help...?"

I shrug rinsing off a sauce coated dish. 

"I would rather wash a ton of dishes with you than to sit in my bed for a whole hour doing nothing but contemplate my life choices."

She didn't smile, she didn't frown either. She only gave me a sound of "Hm" as she continued to wash dishes like I wasn't even there. After a couple more dishes I let out a deep sigh.

"Phyllis, I am really sorry for what I said the other day. It was very wrong of me to insult you like that and bring up your son that I had no business to bring up. I hope you can forgive me."

She stopped for a minute and turned to the right to look at me. 

"You're absolutely right Sprink- I mean young one. It was very wrong of you to be that disrespectful. Half of me wants to accept your apology, yet, the other half wants to kick you out of my kitchen. I am however going with the half that wants to boot you out."

I look down at my shoes. I try to make nice and I'm being kicked out. I take off the gloves draping them above the sink to dry.

"I understand Phyllis. Thanks for hearing me out."

I turned to leave. My hand touches the double door when I heard her clear .

"One more thing before you go youngster can you look at something for me?"

A bit confused I came back to her. She points to the bottom of a giant metal pasta pot. 

"Can you see if I missed any spots? The health department is getting on my case about missing any spots I want to make sure this is clean as a whistle."

I shrug and take a look. To me the pot seems clean. 

"It looks fine Phyllis."

"Take a closer look. Look harder."

I look around it looking hard. This pan really is clean. It's cleaner than clean.

"It's fine."

I put the pan down only to have my face met by a stream of water. I yelped wiping the water off, I see Phyllis holding the handheld sink spray laughing at me. I laugh back for falling for her trick. I did deserve that after all.

"I forgive you Sprinkles."

We finished the dishes within a thirty minute time frame. She thanks me for helping her before calling Janie to have someone walk me back to the cabin. Of course my bladder had to call the shots and  tell me it was time to pee. It has to be from sticking my hands in and out of warm water that is causing me to have to pee so suddenly. I decided to run across the way to use that restroom. Lucky me there was no line today. 

I relieve myself in the urinal and zip up my jeans. I go to the sink to wash my hands when I heard a crack of thunder that was so loud I jumped. I hear a whiny whimper then a bunch of laughing. 

How do I know where that sound...? I go outside and look up. The sky is super grey nearly black. The wind is picking up. Damn aren't we getting a doozy. 

I hear the same bunch of laughter. I start following where they were coming from. I look over at one of the pavilions. I see two kids from Team Purple standing in the corner. They look like they were kicking something in the corner. 

"Awww you poor baby you're so scared of thunder. Boo Hoo!"

"Oh my God this loser is crying! You are such a wimp! Go home and cry to your mommy!"

They continue to laugh and resort to kicking and punches. I heard the distinct yelp coming from the kicking corner. I run quickly to the pavilion. My suspicions were correct. The kid that is such a wimp is Seung Hyun. I roughly tap their shoulders. They turn around and laugh harder. 

"Oh look it's Sprinkles he came to the rescue! Go back to the cafeteria and make everything colorful and delicious."

 On the outside I hold a neutral expression on the inside I am beyond man. No one is to bully Seung Hyun. EXCEPT ME. They have no right in any way to pick on him. I cross my arms and laugh with them that threw them off guard. No one calls me Sprinkles either. 

"Okay before you two become my punching bags, I want to know the reasoning for picking on him."

They shove me back making me fall. I recognize one of them as the camper that made Hong Ki pee himself. I stand back up. 

"Oh you're going to beat us up Sprinkles? I want to see you try. This dorky wimpy loser is afraid of a little noise that's why we're picking on him. He's such a loser."

I shake my head holding up my hand to them. 

"Yeah no. You are not allowed to do that. The only one that can do that is me. So you need to find someone who is dumb as you two are and pick on them. I think that'll be a perfect match to a fly or a snail. Go find one." 

They yell at me telling me to shut up and try to pick on Seung Hyun again when he yelps from the thunder. 

Without saying a word I whistle a verse to my ongoing song and walk in a circle going around the both of them a couple times.  It got their attention. They watch me like a hawk. I want them to expect me to do something. I see the rain coming down hard the hill that is under the pavilion almost instantly became a giant mudslide. I smirk.

"What are you up to loser?"

I smile. 

"Oh nothing. Just waiting."

I stand in front of the entrance constantly looking at the ground. I'm waiting for the perfect moment. Two minutes passed, the hill became a giant thick muddy water slide complete with earthworms and rocks. Just as I figured these guys were very impatient they really want to beat me up. Very similar to a bull at a rodeo they yelled in anger and ran full speed at me. I quickly moved at the right second, they could not stop in time they ran out of the pavilion sliding down the hill at full speed and stopping in a six inch puddle of rain water, mud, and grass. They were coated in mud. 

"Who's the loser now?"

I clap my hands very happy with what had happened. I watch them run in the rain getting completely soaked and covering their ears from the thunder. They are literally screaming like a bunch of school girls. When they were out of sight I kneel next to Seung Hyun.

"Hey are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

He nods and shows me a small bruise on his hip. I pout helping him up to his feet.

"You got a small bruise there. You're okay."

The thunder clapped loudly making him instantly cover his ear and whimper with fear. I know that feeling I used to be afraid of thunder when I was a kid I guess he never outgrew it. 

"I know it's stupid... but I'm really scared. I want my mom... Ahhh!"

He covers his ears again actually bursting in tears. He began to tremble. I wrap my sweat shirt around his shoulders. 

"It's okay... Don't be afraid I'm here for you."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"I think it's better if I'm nicer. I'm sorry for every bad thing I said to you and for the childish pranks I pulled."

He gives me a nervous smile that quickly went away with the thunder roll.

"Kwon Ji Yong?"

I see Janie and Luna come up from the side of the hill that isn't slippery. They fold their umbrellas coming in under the pavilion roof. 

"You really need to quit running off like that you're worse than Mack."

I shrug smiling and holding onto Seung Hyun with one arm. Janie smiles at us.

"I saw what you did to those campers."

I roll my eyes letting out a long sigh. I let go of Seung Hyun and step forward.

"I know. I should have told you but he was getting hurt. I had to something. If you want to punish me-"

"I'm proud of you."

I stamper my words in the complete shock that she said that she was proud that I made a couple campers slide down a muddy hill. On PURPOSE mind you. I'm usually hit with the punishment card. 

"Wait WHAT?"

She nods.

"You heard that right. I said I'm proud of you. You did not use violence but you got them away from Seung Hyun not causing any harm. I did let their counselor know what happened and they will be punished. They got the scraping gum under the table duty for two weeks. The best part is that it looks like you're the best of friends now."

I scoff almost busting into a laugh, talk about letting the punishment fit the crime. They get to spend two weeks scraping chewed gum and only God knows what else from under the tables. Which reminds me on a completely unrelated note I need to buy the shop out of stock of all chewing gum. I'm definitely not planning anything devious.

Luna busts out into giggles. 

"The sight of them rolling downhill was pretty hysterical. It kinda reminds me of a joke: Where do smart hot dogs end up? Come on guess!"

We all shrug waiting for her to finish her joke.

"In honor roll!" (A/N: *insert drum and cymbal sound here*)

It's the corniest joke I ever heard but I admit it was funny with the rolling joke. One of the maintance men came up in a golf cart offering to give us a ride back to our cabins. Luna and Janie sit in the front while Seung Hyun and I sit in the back holding onto the back bars. Janie radios Gabe telling him that we are on our way. I look at Seung Hyun.

"Quick question? How on earth did you end up in the situation you were in?"

He shakes his head.

"I was going to the bathroom and I was heading back when it started thundering. I got scared and hid. The team Purple campers saw me hide and they decided to pick on me. Thank you again for helping me."

I nod and hold onto his arm when it started raining hard and thundering again. 

"Remember I'm here. It's like we're Thunder Buddies."

He smiles quite happy to hear it. I think I became friends with this dork. I don't mind being here for him when he needs me and I'm sure that one day he'd come to my rescue if I need it. He holds onto my arm.

"Thunder Buddies."

The cart stops in front of our cabin. We quickly get inside. Gabe waves.

"There's the rest of my squad. I got an Emergency weather alert. It's gonna rain all night so it looks like we're in here for the whole shebang. I got some games, music, and crafts in the closet along with emergency lights in case the power fails."

It was nearly 8pm when the power failed. Gabe immediately got out the emergency lights. It was close to bed time, Hong Ki decided that we play a game before bed. He grabs a lantern we sit in a circle. We await instructions from Hong Ki. Gabe watches us as he writes out the schedule.

"This has been a game that I enjoyed whenever I went to a sleepover. We think of a sentence and go around using the letters of the alphabet. I'll start: I'm going to Camp Oakwood I bring a... Archery Bow."

We went in the direction of left: Hong Ki, Seung Hyun, Me, Daesung, Youngbae, and Seungri.

Bean Bag 

Crossbow 

Dagger

Elephant

Fragrance Spray

Goat

Hitman Game

Ice

Jigsaw 

Knife

Lavender

Machete 

Ninja Star

Outside Chair

Popcorn

Quilt

Rocky Road

Smurf

Telephone

Umbrella

Vanilla Pudding

Wii

Xbox

Yearbook

Zebra

Gabe reverts his attention away of his schedule to look at us. He shakes his head.

"Remind me not to pack with you six, the camp will be chaotic."

We all giggle as we get into bed. Gabe shuts off the lights as he puts his clip board under his bed and lays down.

"Night guys."

"Night Gabe!"

I seem to always be the last to sleep. I blink waiting for my brain to decide that it's time to wind down and sleep. I guess kindness does make you a happier person. I feel a lot better than I did 48 hours ago. I smile to myself and close my eyes. I can only hope that what ever tomorrow brings will be better.