Chapter Text
Kevin awoke to the sound of the alarm on his phone, and the bright morning sun hitting his eyes, thanks to the fact he forgot to close the blinds.
His alarm was a Radiohead song, Creep. It was one of his personal favorites, actually. It reminded him of his edgy high school phase. And it was his favorite to sing and play on his uke.
“Good mooooorning laaaaadies!~” Penelope sing-songed over the PA system with a cheery tone. She must be sober.
As Penelope started off morning announcements, Kevin sat up and cracked his aching back. You'd imagine in a fancy camp with as many funds as it had, they'd have comfortable mattresses, but Kevin always woke up with a stiff back.
Kevin started working as a “garden father” about a week after he met the scouts due to popular demand, and also because Penelope needed someone to help around when she started drinking again.
He didn't mind the day job, it gave him extra money in his pocket and something to do before he went out dealing at night.
He lazily kicked off his flannel pajama bottoms as he reached for his jeans, button up, and hoodie that he lazily tossed. While he agreed to work, he specifically asked not to wear the shorts that came in his uniform. But, he did wear his sash, mainly because the girls wanted him to show off his hard-earned badges.
With a quick hand brush through his shaggy hair, Kevin left the counselor's cabin with a yawn.
The scouts were all lazily stepping out of their cabins, too. They all slugged out of their cabins, clearly tired. He heard a lot of them partying in their rooms the night before, lots of music and laughter, even a scary movie that had them screaming.
It was the weekend, thankfully, so they wouldn't be tired through their activities today.
He quickly realized that some came out with their luggage, and all of them were dressed out of uniform. Confused, Kevin looked around for the nearest scout to ask what was going on.
“Hey, Tabs,” he called out. “What's going on?”
“First of all, it's Tabii, with two I's” the blonde corrected, “And it's the last day of camp, remember?” She shrugged for emphasis.
“Oh, right”
Today was the last day of camp, so it was only a half day. By lunchtime, all the girl's would be picked up by their parents and he wouldn't see them until the next summer.
Stepping into the mess hall, Tabii quickly ran towards Sasha and Erin, who were both waiting in line to grab breakfast from the buffet.
The hall wasn't as crowded as usual, seeing as half the girls were packing up so they could head home as soon as possible.
“Alright, ladies. Put your luggage against the right wall, and please try to keep it all together. And don't forget to check your cabins to see if you missed anything.” Penelope said loudly in her 'I'm in charge and possibly hungover' tone.
From what she's told him, last days of camp were always stressful, both on her and the girls. It's either girls crying because summer is over, and they don't want to go back home and back to school, some would cry over the fact it was their last summer, and others didn't want to leave their friends behind.
Whatever was going to go down, Kevin was prepared for hugs and goodbyes. He'd never admit, but he was really going to miss them all. This has probably been his favorite (and busiest) summer yet sale wise, and they've all grown on him like little sisters.
Kevin leaned against a wall and checked his phone while waiting for all the girls to get first dibs at breakfast, he'd come back and scrap whatever was left for breakfast later. Either that or he drives into town to grab a sausage biscuit sandwich and a coffee and call it a day.
His feed was pretty quiet, his sister sent him a cute picture of his 3-year-old niece “helping” make breakfast, he smiled seeing her little cheeky grin as she cracked eggs into the batter, shells and all.
As soon as the line lets up, he grabs a few strips of bacon and some (now, cold) scrambled eggs. The Tabii and Erin call him over to their table, and he heads over with a smile plastered on his face for his favorite girls.
“Good morning, girls,” Kevin greeted as he sat in between Tabii and Erin. The two each gave him a side hug before going back to their breakfast.
“Y'know, it feels weird seeing you three out of uniform,” Kevin pointed out.
Tabii wore a peach-colored checkered sundress. It looked handmade with love, unassumingly from her mother. She has mentioned how her family owns a farm out south, complete with pastures and horses. She still had her eye patch, but over the summer she had decorated it.
Erin wore a track team shirt, it was fairly large on her skinny frame and was tucked into a pair of black athletic shorts. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, revealing her mix-matched irises.
Sasha wore a floral sundress with a cropped denim jacket over it. It looked very warm, but Sasha's always seemed to be more concerned with her looks than the other two.
The one thing they all had in common, was their sashes over their chests, a collection of friendship bracelets they all made over the summer, and their matching scrunchies that tied their hair up.
They made him a few bracelets, too. A lot of different colors that came from different scouts,
“So,” Kevin said around a bite of bacon, “What's the gossip for today? Any shit go down in your cabins last night? Because it sounded wild”
“O. M. G,” Tabii started, her free eye lighting up with opportunity. “Okay, so Alexis brought a scary movie, right? But that bitch fucking knows Maddie is terrified of horror movies, so-”
As Tabii went on, Kevin sat back and scanned over the room, Erin was adding her own touches to the story, the other girls were all at their table, Penelope was going out the back door to smoke, and Sasha… Was quiet.
She had her chin in her hand, her eyes were droopy and had bags under them, telling him that she didn't sleep well last night. She merely swished her cereal around in her Styrofoam bowl. It was an unfamiliar sight to him.
“Hey, kiddo, what's buggin' ya?” Kevin asked Sasha, his brows furrowed in concern over the redhead.
Sasha's own brows furrowed, she looks down on the floor beside her and only grumbled.
Erin sighed, “She hates the end of camp. Her parents are always late,” she explained.
“I… Oh...” Kevin let out, looking down in sympathy. “I'm sorry, kiddo. That really sucks.”
Sasha sighed, pushing her half-eaten breakfast away, “It's fine, I'm used to it.”
Erin and Tabii looked away awkwardly, concerned expressions hidden away from their obviously not okay friend.
When he actually thought about it, Sasha never really liked to talk about her life outside of camp. She'd either change the subject when it came up, or she left the conversation entirely. Putting it in perspective though, it felt upsetting, to say the least.
He knew the other girls had their own issues, they've both come to him about them. Erin's been insecure about her eyes and hair, and Tabii has cried countless times over her patch making her look “ugly.”
He almost felt bad he never suspected something was up with Sasha.
“Well, if you ever need to talk, I'm around,” he stated, she nodded and went back to her breakfast. Kevin smiled.
An hour later, they were onto their assigned tasks for the day.
Various cabins were assigned a job, one cabin would check all the cabins for any lost items to take to the mess hall, another had to sweep up the mess hall and put away the tables and chairs, another had to help pack up all the activity gear and put away the outdoor tents (That was mainly left for the older scouts and counselors to do, though), and the last had to sweep around the campgrounds to pick up trash.
Kevin and the older scouts were busy taking down an awning they had up for various activities, Erin, being the tallest, got to help a lot with that.
“So, if you don't mind me asking, do you know anything about Sasha's parents other than the fact they're always late? Cause she never seems to talk about them, like, at all,” Kevin asked as he unscrewed some hinges (which probably wasn't even what he was supposed to do, but he's too lazy to read instructions anyway)
“Um...” Erin's quiet at first, she looks down before looking at him again. “Well, she did mention that they yell at her sometimes...” It was obvious Erin wasn't positive about telling him this or trusting him with this.
“Oh...” Kevin said under his breath. His brows knit together in concern over her again. He dropped a screw in the bucket Erin was holding for him
“And her parents are also super strict,” she added, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “They have a lot of expectations for her, too”
As soon as he finished unhinging and unscrewing various parts, the awning folded in on itself.
“That… really sucks,” Kevin replied as he stared down at the half-assed folded awning.
Erin stepped back before Kevin hopped off the ladder. She put the bucket of screws to the side as she helped him fold and put away the awning.
“Oh, and-” as Erin continued to talk about Sasha's parents, it hit him how seriously they sucked. He could really understand her attitude during breakfast this morning, now.
Together, they zipped up the awning in its case and carried it to the storage. It wasn't too heavy, mainly just bulky.
They walked past the other cabins, Tabii's cabin was cleaning up litter, and Sasha was inside sweeping. She had the same sad expression painted on her face from this morning, Kevin frowned.
“Are you sad about today?” Kevin asked Tabii as he held a garbage bag open for her to toss some litter she found into.
“Yeah, I'm gonna miss the girls,” Tabii admitted with a frown, tossing a hand-full of bottles into the bag.
“Don't you girls have each other's numbers or something? I can only imagine you three texting each other nonstop,” Kevin chuckled lightly to himself at the thought of each of them glued to their phones.
“Well, I have Erin's number, and she has mine, but Sasha's parents won't let us text her. But we talk year-round on Instagram” Tabii shrugged with her reply.
“Really? Well, at least you three can talk to each other. I'm glad you girls have that kinda bond” He admitted as Tabii lead him to another piece of litter on the ground.
Kevin's stomach was starting to twist at the thought of Sasha's home life at this point.
So far, he hasn't heard anything about them being violent, but he's not sure if he should hold his breath or not, and that was starting to scare him.
Hours later, everyone had gathered in the mess hall. The girls all sat with their luggage on the floor, lined up and organized by cabin so their parents could easily pick them up.
“Alright, ladies, we got everything packed?” Penelope asked, her megaphone squealed and some of the girls covered their ears.
With a quick check over their belongings, all the girls nodded and replied to confirm they were packed and ready to go.
“Alriiight!” Penelope nodded and smiled, she looked relieved things were going on track. “When your parents arrive, I'm going to call out your name. While you wait, we have bracelet making supplies set out”
Everything seemed under control for the most part. As suspected, a few girls were upset to be leaving, and lots of hugs went out to Kevin and Penelope as girls slowly started leaving.
About an hour in, Tabii's parents came in. They were a friendly couple, they even brought their dog, which got Tabii excited because she hadn't seen him in literal months. Never had Kevin seen so many children excited over a puppy at once.
“I'M GOING TO MISS YOU GIRLS SO MUCH!” Tabii cried out as her short arms wrapped around her two friends.
Erin and Sasha both exchanged their goodbyes for a good minute, never letting go of each other in the process. They were all sobbing and hugging, it was almost too emotional to even watch.
The three shared a muffled conversation consisting of “I'll text you girls as soon as I can,” and “I can't believe you have to leave now”
Before Tabii completely pulled away, she whispered something in Sasha's ear, she looked mildly upset, but Sasha nodded. Sasha wiped her eye carefully (as not to smear her mascara) as Tabii skipped off to her parents.
An hour and a half after that, Erin's mom came in. She was sweet, she brought cookies from home, apparently, they were Erin's favorite.
Erin held Sasha like it was their last chance to see each other. It was a long, extended hug. Sasha and Erin just rocked together.
Earlier that summer, Erin came out to Kevin as a lesbian. She had a crush on Sasha, but she was afraid to tell her. With that in mind, it only made the scene sadder to watch. Part of him felt like she knows, too.
“Please text me the second you get home. And… If they do anything, text me ASAP. I… I'll come get you” Erin shakily whispered into Sasha's strawberry blonde locks. It was soft and sweet, but concerning.
It was hardly audible, but Sasha sounded like she was crying into Erin's shoulder. The fact that Erin was patting her back and gently shushing her only supported Kevin's theory.
By 2 PM, every scout had been picked up except for Sasha. She was sitting against the wall, head hiding behind her knees. Kevin and Penelope looked at each other with a concerned expression.
“Should we call her parents?” Kevin asked in a whisper, unsure if he'd want Sasha to hear or not.
“I called them all week reminding to try and remind them to pick her up, they all went to voicemail, though,” Penelope answered, flicking her nails together anxiously.
Today, she couldn't get drunk or high, she had to be presentable for the parents. Unfortunately, she was always anxious and on edge when she was sober during stressful situations like these. These he learned over the summer when working with her.
“I could try calling them again, but they're probably not going to answer,” she crossed her arms and nodded in disappointment at the floor.
“Are you talking about my parents?” Sasha asked from across the room. Crap, she heard them.
“We… Yeah, sweetie, we are…” Penelope admitted. She let out a sigh of defeat as if this has happened before.
“Penny, has… Has this happened before?” Kevin asked. Sasha's pink eyes were starting to burn into his soul due to the strength of her glare, it was mildly unsettling.
“Um, well-”
“They're not coming. I'm pretty sure they're finally done with me” Sasha said, an angry undertone rising in her voice.
Sasha was running a hand through a loose lock of hair, from the distance, it was noticeable her chin was quivering. Kevin's never seen this girl look so sad in his life. It was unnerving.
“Oh, don't say that! I-I'm sure they'll be here soon, just give them a bitta time, kiddo” Kevin tried to cheer her up, she wasn't having it.
The expression that had laid across her face made his stomach twist. Her eyes were glossy and refused to look up at him and Penelope, as if she'd breakdown if she were to.
She stood up from her spot, “No, they're not!” She cried out, Kevin and Penelope just looked at each other in defeat.
“They're not coming because they fucking hate me!” Her hands balled into fists as she clung onto the hem of her dress. “They just sent me in this year to fucking ditch me! I fucking know they did!”
“Sweetheart...” Penelope stepped towards Sasha, holding out her arms to comfort her. At this point, hugs were a hit or miss, because Sasha was breaking down.
It took her a second to think about it, but she came into the hug. She wrapped her arms around Penelope's neck and held on tightly for dear life.
While Penelope is typically this high strung, take action woman, she did develop a soft spot for each of the girls over time, just like Kevin had. She didn't let it show very often though, mainly to keep up her image, at least, Kevin figured.
Truth be told, Penelope knows how tough Sasha's life is at home, camp is the only place she feels remotely safe anymore, and Penny didn't want to take that away from her.
“Sasha,” Kevin joined in on the hug hesitantly, “Can you please tell us what's going on at home? This sounds important,” he asked softly.
If something were happening, they'd have to get the cops involved. Hell, her parents were hours late to pick up their kid and left faulty contact information for her, they'd be involved no matter what. He at least wanted some information.
“I…” Sasha looked down at her converse, “It's nothing, everything's fine,” She insisted, but her voice was croaking in protest.
“Sasha, please. You can tell us anything, we won't do anything if you really don't want us to, but this sounds serious” Kevin insisted, he let his tone relax in an attempt to keep her calm.
He held her hands as Penny rubbed her back, both were words of advice from her to calm down an upset child if they allowed contact.
Sasha went quiet again, as if she were thinking so many things over in her head.
“Sweetheart, it's okay,” Penelope reassured. Sasha nodded and croaked out an “Okay”
With a deep breath, she sat back down, and Kevin and Penelope did the same.
“My parents are very busy people, my mom is my sister's manager, she's, like, a part-time model. And my dad is a CEO of this fucking company out in Austin. They both have these super high expectations for me because my sister is a fucking perfect princess, and I'm just a fucking little shit that can't get her motherfucking shit together because she's fucking-”
“Whoa, whoa. Alright, calm down, Sash,” Kevin requested. “Take a deep breath and try to slow down”
Sasha sniffled and nodded, wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye. She looked down at her hand and realized she ended up smudging her makeup, which caused her lip to quiver and her voice to squeak.
“Oh, don't worry, hun. I got a makeup wipe, we can fix it,” Priss suggested as she grabbed her tote from the wall.
As Penny left the scene for a moment, it hit Kevin how quiet the mess hall truly was. You could hear the birds chirping outside, wind hitting the building, the flag flapping in the wind, Penelope's heels clicking against the floor, and Sasha holding everything she could back.
Penelope returned with a makeup wipe and her tube of mascara. Sasha thanked her and cleaned up the smeared makeup.
“They just… Want me to be perfect all the time, at one point, they cut off meals so I'd have this “perfect body,” and they're never interested in what I want to do… I just… Feel unimportant in my own family” She confessed with a shaking sigh, she held onto herself as her toes tapped the floor.
“Oh, Sasha, I'm so sorry to hear that. You know, my folks wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer. I haven't talked to them in years because…” Kevin didn't answer, he couldn't bring himself to.
His father had hurt him multiple times as a teenager for not getting his shit together and dropping out of high school. He turned to drugs and drinking as an escape, and that lead him to where he was up until summer.
There were days where he felt like he's reached his lowest point, deadbeat, selling drugs, hiding from the authorities.
But he was stepping out of that. At least, a little bit. Now he had something to associate himself with other than a washed up jackass.
He felt important when he helped out at camp, as if he were more than just a dealer in the alley. He felt useful. He felt needed.
It was nearly inspiring, actually. Something you could write a book about. Hell, you should write a book abou-
“Because what?”
Sasha's voice brought him back to reality.
Kevin hadn't realized he was lost in thought.
“Oh, um, nothing. Sorry, I forgot what I was gonna say”, he lied with a shrug and a hazy chuckle.
Hours past, and by 1 AM, Kevin and Penelope had the cops at camp to deal with the situation.
“So, they knowingly left outdated phone numbers on her papers, you said?” Sal asked, writing down any information Kevin had for him.
Kevin nodded, trying his best to keep his cool. Small town cops were easily more stressful to deal with if you're a dealer because they'll look for any sign of suspicion, as long as it means they get to do their jobs.
“We've tried calling them weeks in advance, and all day today, no answer. And the kid doesn't know their new numbers, either” he added. Sal nodded to himself as he wrote it down.
“And you also said they're also suspicious of possible neglect?” Sal asked, raising a brow.
“Yes, and abuse in general. From what she told me, they've cut off meals, too” His stomach twisted heinously at the thought of her starving at home.
“Oh, God. Thanks for telling us, we should probably ask her some questions, too” Sal scooted out of his seat and made his way to Sasha, who was wrapped in a blanket.
Kevin felt himself exhale a breath he unknowingly held in during the entire interview. He was praying he looked clean enough to not be suspicious, the last thing he needed was jail time.
The cops stuck around all night, which didn't help Kevin's paranoia. He was thankfully able to play it off as stress due to Sasha's situation, which they thankfully bought.
And around 3 AM, the cat dragged in the people of the hour. Sasha's parents.
They stormed in, looking exhausted and pissed off. They had an officer behind them with their baton in hand.
Sasha's mother quickly made her way to her, “Sasha, explain why we had the cops on the phone calling us about you?”
Sasha shrunk in her spot, wrapping her blanket around her tightly in fear. “I-I, um-”
“No- I want to know why they asked us about starving you?” She stated, her blue eyes glaring down at Sasha's wide pink ones.
“I-I'm sorry, they said it was okay t-to talk ab-bout I-i-it” Sasha stammered, her eyes started to well up with tears.
“Officers, I am so sorry about this. Kids always make up stories for attention, and she's truly no exception,” her mother laughed. Kevin's brows furrowed.
You'd have to be a complete dumbass to believe that, but Kevin remember why he hadn't gotten caught yet.
“Ohohoh, I see. God, kid. You had us up all night worrying about you,” an officer chuckled, reaching over to ruffle her messy hair. Sasha look horrified, her jaw dropping to the floor as her eyes went wide.
“B-but, I-I-” “Save it,” Sasha's mom whispered. Sasha nodded as she peered back down to the floor.
Within mere minutes, Sasha and her parents were walking out to their car. Sasha's dad peered into Kevin's eyes with a look that screamed “I'm watching you”
Kevin's hands clenched into fists, he brought one to his mouth and gnawed on it to hold back frustrated screams.
Part of him didn't want to look back, because he knew he wouldn't be able to hold his frustration in while in front of the cops, but he did. And he was met with Sasha's expression that pleaded for help.
He watched as they opened the door for her to get in, but she revolted by stepping back, and when he saw her mother grab her wrist and her father push her in, he wasn't quite so worried about keeping his cool anymore.
Sprinting out the mess hall, his fist clenched tightly and aimed right in between her father's eyes, glocking him in his nose, causing him to fall over.
“How FUCKING dare you!” He grunted as he held his bleeding nose. Kevin panted angrily with gritted teeth as he stared him down.
“Kevin, please, don't! You're gonna get hurt!” Sasha cried out. Her mother screamed for her to get in the car.
Penelope was shouting something, too, but his ears were ringing as her father launched himself onto him, so he couldn't register any of it.
He couldn't remember much of what happened other than the fact that her father didn't go down without a fight, and the pepper spray straight into his eyes.
None of it mattered, if it meant Sasha was out of their fucking hands, he'd be willing to do anything.