alan and maisie stood at the vending machines, watching as their snickers bar hit the glass and refused to fall.

"of course," maisie shook her head, looking over at the boy with disappointment, "if you had let me hit the buttons, this never would have happened."

alan rolled his eyes, staring at the machine, "well, excuse for me bein' a gentlemen."

without offering a response, maisie began to bang on the machine with the strength of a thousand men. the sounds echoed through the halls, causing alan to look around with concern. she was definitely disturbing the peace, and it was only a matter of time before someone came out.

"are you trying to break the glass?" he asked incredulously, reaching over and grabbing her wrists.

at that moment, gerry turned the corner. he was trying to see what all the ruckus was about, but instead came up to a much more interesting sight than he had first imagined.

"oh, what do we have here?" gerry asked, causing the pair to create a bigger distance between themselves.

maisie, not wanting it to seem like she was at all interested in the boy, began to insult him, "lady arms here won't help me get my snickers bar."

gerry looked between the pair suspiciously, knowing what it looked like when alan liked a girl. he liked to keep to himself, but he wouldn't voluntarily spend time with another person if he wasn't truly looking for anything. a small, amused smile appeared on gerry's face as he began to understand exactly what his friend was doing.

"i bought the damn thing," alan threw his arms up, "little miss difficult wants me to do all the work."

gerry scrunched his nose, seeing the boy's game all too well. he couldn't stand the outward flirting, mostly because sappy things were to be left completely in private. at least, that's how he felt about his own relationship.

"okay, just let me do it," gerry said pushing past the pair, "don't wanna intrude any longer, after all."

maisie gave gerry a wide eyed look, hoping that didn't mean what she thought it did. those words threatened to expose her in a way she wasn't ready for yet. she didn't like it one bit, especially if there was a chance of alan catching on. she couldn't stand the humiliation of rejection, especially cause he wasn't sure that he reciprocated her interest.

gerry managed to get the candy bar to fall down the machine, and even grabbed it out for the pair. it was about the nicest thing he had done since he got to the camp.

"here," he slapped it into alan's hand, before leaning in close and whispering, "have fun."

alan rolled his eyes, pushing the boy away from him. maybe he was flirting with maisie, but he didn't need everyone to know about it. gerry chuckled at the boy's childish reaction, but nevertheless left it alone. if alan was going to continue his shy nature, gerry found no need to correct it.

maisie watched the athlete walk away, before returning her attention back to the boy in front of her.

"thanks." she smiled, as he handed her the treat. truth be told, she had been thinking of getting a candy bar all day. she wasn't exactly hungry, but she had always had the sweet tooth of a five-year-old child. it was her kryptonite, really.

"no problem." the boy replied, taking a sip of the coke he had purchased moments earlier.

the girl ripped open the wrapper, snapping the bar in half and offering it to alan. she figured it was the right thing to do, seeing as he was the one who bought it.

he graciously accepted the half, offering her a sip of coke in return.

"wow, you're too kind." the girl spoke sarcastically, grabbing the bottle from his hands. their fingers brushed, a fact neither party tried to think about too much.

"hey, that's just the kinda guy i am." alan said cockily, indulging in his half of the candy bar.

maisie rolled her eyes, taking a swig of the coke before returning it.

their conversation lulled, both parties becoming extremely tired all of a sudden. it had been a long day, and even though maisie hadn't worked out nearly as hard as the boys did, she was still feeling just as drowsy.

"guess it's gettin' pretty late," alan spoke, not wanting to leave the girl, but not having another choice, "wanna head back upstairs?"

maisie stared at the boy, wanting to say no, but not having a real reason not to. she wanted to stay up with him all night. never mind practice or sleep, she just wanted to keep talking to him. however, at the risk of sounding insane, she decided not to.

"uh, sure." she replied, pressing her lips together to suppress a frown.

the pair walked upstairs in silence, simply stealing glances when they thought the other wasn't looking. when they reached maisie's door, they came to a stop.

"goodnight." maisie spoke softly, not sure what else could be said.

alan smiled, feeling somewhat awkward. he had desperately wanted to keep talking to her, but the night had come to a natural end.

"night, maisie." he replied, watching her disappear behind the door.

•

though the boys had been forced into getting to know each other, almost none of that had been translating onto the field. they were still playing like a bunch of strangers, which was something that kept maisie up as sheryl complained about it all night.

"they just don't trust each other," maisie commented from her bed, "bigotry or otherwise, something's just not clicking."

"well, they better find it and fast," sheryl griped, her arms crossed over her chest, "i think i'm startin' to get gray hairs."

maisie laughed, sitting up and looking at their alarm clock, "sorry, kid. ready to head out there?"

sheryl looked over at the clock, her heart dropping out of her chest. she hadn't realized that she had stayed up all night talking to the girl she shared a room with.

sheryl gave her an incredulous look, throwing her hands up in the air, "do i look ready?! i didn't know it was that late-"

"well, actually it's early." the teenager amused herself, getting out of bed to find an outfit to wear.

sheryl, in the meantime, was freaking out, "i've never stayed up all night before! i won't be in my right mind, maisie."

maisie scrunched her face in dismissal, "so? sheryl, it'll be fine. just, you know, don't tell your daddy."

maisie walked off to the bathroom to change and brush her teeth, as the girl continued to shame herself for staying awake too long. maisie was right, though. she couldn't tell her dad, because he would probably be pretty annoyed. he liked to keep her on schedule, and didn't need that to be ruined at sleep away camp.

when maisie left the room, she ran into a few guys who were also getting dressed. their actual gear was down in the locker room, but their random white shirts and shorts were left up to them to keep up with.

"pulitzer, are you sick?" petey asked, looking at her with concern.

petey had been walking with julius, blue, and rev, all of whom stopped to see if maisie was okay. they had to be out on the field in fifteen minutes, but figured they could spare a few if their friend really was sick.

maisie knit her brows, wondering how he had drawn that conclusion, "sick? why would i be-"

"look at ya!" he exclaimed, grabbing her by the shoulders and inspecting her face, "your face is all pale, and you've got these deep, deep circles under your eyes-"

as realization set in to what petey was talking about, maisie could feel herself getting incredibly annoyed. the sickness he was referring to was her face before makeup.

"oh, my god!" maisie huffed angrily, pushing the boy off of her, "are you kidding me, petey?"

"what?" he questioned, genuinely not understanding the girl's annoyance.

"unbelievable," she threw her hands up, giving the boy a small shove, "i'm not wearing makeup, asshole. i'm not sick. do you have rocks in your head?"

the boys around them started to laugh, suddenly finding the situation hilarious. the other guys in the group would have strode by with just a greeting, but petey simply had to stop and put his foot in his mouth.

"damn, petey," blue laughed, slapping the boy on the back, "you really stepped in it, huh?"

petey looked at the girl with wide eyes, a wave of guilt rushing through him, "oh, maisie, i'm so sorry-"

"go!" maisie exclaimed, shooing the boy off. she wasn't actually that upset, mostly finding it funny like the other guys around her. however, she wanted to give petey the hardest time possible for the simple mistake, "and don't ever speak to me again!"

julius laughed, pulling petey away as he made his very loud protests. anybody whose alarm hadn't woken them up yet, would have definitely been awake once they heard petey's natural siren sound.

the girl shook her head, hiding it in her hands as she fell into a fit of laughter. part of her felt insecure about going on without makeup now, but the situation was just too funny not to laugh about.

•

after their second practice, everyone got a two hour break to get to know each other. sheryl went to go take a nap, having almost fallen asleep right on the field. maisie left her alone in the room, trying to give her the best opportunity possible to get some shut eye.

she had just gotten off the phone with her parents, who had wanted to know how everything was going. she gave them some minor details, but said nothing of the injury she sustained or the boy who had recently become one of her main interests. she just found it easier to leave her parents in the dark, mostly because of their innate helicopter ways.

as she walked by the guys' room, she couldn't help but overhear some terrible music. the door was wide open, so she peeked in. once she saw alan dancing, she couldn't help the laugh that erupted from her throat.

both boys turned their heads at the same moment, surprised to see her standing there.

"maisie!" alan exclaimed, hoping someone would be on his side, "this is great, isn't it?"

after blue had called this interaction a 'cruel and unusual punishment', he was looking for a win.

maisie gave him an open mouthed smile, speechless for the first time since she had gotten to gettysburg college. she had been so mean to him the last few interactions, she decided to show him that she had a sweet side too.

"uh," she started, swallowing the insult that tried to come out, "it's so... you. you know, it's just very, uh, you."

alan smiled, only seeing the words as a compliment. meanwhile, maisie chastised herself, wondering if that was the pinnacle of her niceness. if it was, then maybe she wasn't really a kind natured person after all.

"well, thank you. see, blue? someone gets it." he replied, before going back to dancing to his favorite song.

blue and maisie shared a look of disbelief, as maisie walked over and sat on alan's bed.

"ready for your third practice today?" the girl asked aimlessly, mostly trying to make conversation.

alan groaned, flipping down onto the bed next to her, "forgot about that. gonna need to save my energy."

maisie chuckled, looking down at the boy who was now lying next to her. blue quickly took the opportunity to shut off the music that had threatened to make his ears bleed. he was glad she started that conversation, so alan wouldn't really care that his tunes had been turned off.

"he's killin' us, man," blue shook his head, letting out a sigh, "why's he working us so hard?"

alan and maisie shrugged, not having a real answer for the boy. if maisie was being completely honest, she didn't understand boone at all. there was likely a method to his madness and she respected that, but it didn't mean that she saw where he was coming from.

"probably wants y'all to sweat the bigotry out." the girl answered, causing the boys to laugh.

"well, it's workin'," blue commented, letting out a sigh, "i'd get along with a cactus, if it meant going back to one practice a day."

alan sat up, giving the boy a strange look, "yeah, but... i'm better than a cactus, right?"

blue and maisie shared a look, both deciding to mess with the boy. the look basically entailed that they had talked about it before and strongly disagreed with alan's words, despite the fact that that wasn't true at all.

"yeah," blue finally commented, doing his best to sound unconvincing, "no, yeah, that's what we're all sayin', so-"

"you guys are so mean," alan shook his head, standing up to exit the room, " and now i feel unwelcome in my own room. thanks a lot."

maisie began laughing as alan stormed off, knowing he'd be back within the next three minutes. the girl laid on his bed, biding her time. after all, it's not like she had anywhere else to be.