This is a birthday present for MrsAgentCooper, also known as accidental-rambler on tumblr. It's an expansion of one of my minidrabbles in Love Anthology, and it got too long to be a one-shot, so it's three parts, the majority of it already done. Thank you to garglyswoof for beta work, and to fanfantasticworld on tumblr for the cover.

I hope you like it, Kate!

Caroline took a deep breath, inhaling the woodsy scent of the forest. She'd gone to Camp Whitmore every summer since she was seven, first as a camper, then as a junior counselor, and now as a counselor herself.

The orientation would last a week, and then after that the children would arrive and general pandemonium would ensue. There were four cabins for every age group, two for boys and two for girls. She and her best friend Bonnie would be in charge of the Dolphin Cabin, which would contain a dozen seven to eight-year-old girls.

The two of them had actually driven up together from the airport. They'd met on the first day of camp when they were seven and had been inseparable ever since. Though they lived a few states away from each other, they managed to Skype or have phone calls at least once a week, and they alternated flying over to the others' house for Spring Break every year once their parents had accepted that they wouldn't stop begging to see each other despite the distance.

Camp Whitmore really did make lifelong bonds.

"I'm so glad we're in the same cabin, Bon," Caroline said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"It's not like they could split us up. They know better."

Caroline nodded, remembering the summer when they were eleven and they'd been separated. Caroline had been in the Panda Cabin and had snuck away to join Bonnie in the Koala Cabin every night until they'd given up and switched her with another girl. "That's true."

They took a step forward as the line to register moved, the chattering of the crowd of young adults in bright orange 'Camp Whitmore' t-shirts filling the air.

"I'm just so excited," Caroline said, her fingers twisting in front of her. "Like, is it weird that I have a feeling this is going to be the best summer ever?"

"Not really. It's good to be optimistic," Bonnie said, nudging her forward as the person in the front of the line got their orientation packet and moved aside. The camp director slid the sign in sheet towards Caroline.

"Hey Ric," she said with a grin, bending down to sign in and get her copy of the staff handbook and the schedule for orientation. "How are you?"

"Good," Alaric said. "Glad to have you back."

"Thanks!" she said with a grin, her smile faltering when she spied a name that was all too familiar. "I lied. This is going to be the worst summer ever," she said grumpily over her shoulder to Bonnie, signing her signature in perfect cursive next to her printed name on the list and dating it before standing up again, huffing.

She'd hoped never to see Klaus Mikaelson again for as long as she lived.

He had also attended the camp from age seven to sixteen, but, to Caroline's relief, he'd stopped right before he was the age to be a junior counselor. She'd had three peaceful, Klaus-free years, but it appeared that they were now coming to an end.

She realized that Bonnie had been talking, and turned to face her friend, who was waiting patiently for Caroline to get out of the way so that she could sign in as well. "Hey, earth to Caroline? Why is this going to be the worst summer ever?"

"Klaus is here," she hissed. "Ugh, everyone protect your Bubble Yum."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, shoving Caroline aside lightly so that she could sign her name on the sheet. "You are the only person I know who could hold a grudge for twelve years because someone put gum in your hair."

"I had been growing my hair out for six months," Caroline said irritably, suppressing the urge to tell Bonnie the real reason she was angry.

She'd never told her best friend what had happened That Night, when Klaus had "stolen" some booze and the counselor on duty (read: his older sister Freya, which made it more bribing and less stealing) had turned a blind eye to the oldest campers having a bit of a party by the dying bonfire. Bonnie hadn't hated Klaus for as long as Caroline had, but while Caroline's dislike had stayed at a stagnant, moderate level, Bonnie's had increased every summer for various reasons.

Therefore, no matter how much Caroline kind of really wanted to talk about it, as far as Bonnie was concerned, nothing out of the ordinary happened at the bonfire.

Which, to be fair, was kind of true.

He'd spent the entire summer being weirdly nice to her, though he still treated everyone else like shit, and at first she thought it was some kind of trap before she realized he liked her. She resisted, but he grew on her. She wanted him.

It turned out that her summer hadn't been destined to include drunken confessions or sweet last-night 'I'll see you next summer' fuck-farewells the way there were in movies. She was nothing if not stubborn and grudge-holding, and when he cornered her at the bonfire to ask her out (they lived near enough to each other that it would only be a mild inconvenience to have a date) she'd said no. Bonnie hated him, and Caroline was supposed to hate him, and she knew that she couldn't let herself give in, not unless she had a really good reason.

She'd expected him to fight for her or something, to give her a decidedly un-Klaus-like vulnerable stare and say he wanted her. Instead she saw a flash of what might have been hurt (but just as easily could have been confusion) before he'd shrugged and walked away, as though he hadn't cared about her at all, and proceeded to make out with Aurora DeMartel.

She'd told herself that she was clearly just a conquest, a challenge. That he'd wanted an easy lay before they left for home. She was an unmemorable opportunity, and as soon as she turned him down, he was on his way. He didn't care.

Completely. Normal.

God, she hoped he'd grown up to be hideous or something. It was a slim chance, to be fair. Even as a sixteen-year-old with a few spots and poofy-ish hair, she could accept that he was attractive, but given a couple years for his limbs to even out and his voice to deepen... Well, he had the potential to be legitimately hot, and she wasn't sure she could handle it.

She hated him, okay? Really. Pure unadulterated hatred.

He was the worst.

Seriously.

"Caroline, you didn't even have to cut your hair. They got it out with peanut butter and you were fine," Bonnie said, pulling Caroline out of her thoughts. "There are so many legitimate reasons to hate him. Is the gum incident still really the one you're clinging to?"

"Yeah, of course! I mean, I got the gum out, but it was just the first in a long list of offenses. He's such an ass."

"He only did that because he got a reaction out of you, and I don't think you can judge someone by their behavior as a seven-year-old," Bonnie said. "Let's give him the benefit of the doubt."

"You hate him, too! And anyway, he was just as bad every year after that until we were blessed with him leaving."

"I'm just trying to be optimistic. Like, no offense, Care, but you weren't exactly a picnic as a kid either."

"You liked me," she said defensively, and Bonnie smiled.

"Yeah, because we were best friends within five minutes of being on a bus together, so you never told me my backpack was a 'tacky plastic Lisa Frank knockoff' because I broke your art project."

"Aurora totally deserved it," Caroline said mutinously.

"Look, you were nice to most people, but if people got you mad…"

"Yeah, I know, I'm a grudge-holding bitch," Caroline said with a twitch of her lips. "But Klaus was never nice to me. He totally deserves us hating him, okay?"

"Well, I disagree, but I suppose that it's nice to know I made such an impression," a familiar accented voice, if a bit deeper and huskier now, said from behind her.

Caroline whirled around, ready to tell Klaus that he wasn't allowed to speak to her unless he absolutely had to (that accent could be a problem), but stopped short when she saw him. The accent was the least of her worries.

Dimples. Short, decidedly non-poofy blonde hair with a light curl. Stubble. Blue eyes. A shirt that clung to him like a second skin.

A twisted smug smirk when he noticed that she was checking him out.

Damn it.

She shook herself, swallowing. "I'll be professional if you are," she said, knowing that she shouldn't try to manage too many words before she processed. Clearly karma couldn't do her any favors, because not only was Klaus ridiculously hot, but he also seemed to be undressing her with his eyes in much the same way that she'd done to him.

"Well, from the way you were staring at me I'd say that'll be more of a challenge for you, love," he said with a smug, dimpled grin.

She gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the fact that he was clearly just trying to push her buttons. "How to be professional: Rule number one, don't call me 'love'. My name's Caroline," she said, trying to sound calm despite the rage already boiling inside of her.

She was so mad, both at herself for still wanting him, and at him for knowing it.

"It's all right, love. I'm not all that interested in being professional either," he said, his eyes pointedly roaming up and down her body.

"I—Excuse me?"

Klaus ignored her indignation, turning to scrawl his signature in annoyingly pretty calligraphy. He gave her another smirk and a wink as he stood, capping the pen and letting it fall to the plastic table with a clack. "Feel free to look at me all you want, love."

"Seriously?" she spluttered, but he just stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking past her and snagging the packet for his cabin from a rather amused-looking Alaric.

Oh, it was on.

XXX

Bonnie and Caroline had been peacefully making glitter-embossed dolphin nametags for their campers when Alaric had come by to say that they had CPR training followed by team-building activities by the pool at two o'clock. Caroline had assumed that meant playing games with other people, including Klaus, that were most likely physical... while soaking wet and half-clothed.

She was torn between 'sign her up' and 'this is a disaster', but she also knew it was her best chance to implement her plan.

After Klaus had left her fuming by the sign-in sheet, she'd decided that she'd just make him as uncomfortable as possible. He wanted to be unprofessional? She'd taunt him within an inch of his control and then shut him the fuck down.

"I hate him," Caroline muttered to Bonnie as she waited for her turn to prove that she could do CPR. Klaus had finished his test a half hour before, and he and some of the other male counselors were playing basketball at the court nearby while they waited for the rest of the counselors to be done with CPR training. She watched as his muscles rippled under his white shirt, the sweat from exertion making it stick to him, and as though he felt her eyes on him, he turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow and grinning.

She flushed, looking away, but snuck a glance back at him after a few seconds to see if he was still watching her. He wasn't, but only because she'd caught him mid-movement of pulling his shirt off. She involuntarily licked her lips as his skin was revealed. A bird tattoo that she was sure he hadn't had three years ago was inked into his skin, and she turned back to look at Bonnie, who was watching her with a raised eyebrow, her gaze darting between her and Klaus.

"Everything okay there, Care?"

"Yeah. I was just...thinking about how horrible he was."

Bonnie snorted inelegantly. "You were thinking about jumping his bones."

"I was not."

"Sure, Care," Bonnie said. "It's fine. You can admit it."

"He's a terrible person," Caroline said.

"I know," Bonnie said sympathetically. "That doesn't make him any less hot, though. Just...you know... don't actually have sex with him."

"I would never have sex with him," Caroline said defensively as she took a step forward in line when the next person passed the test. "I hate him."

"I know," Bonnie said. "Hate sex is a thing."

"Bonnie!"

"What?" Bonnie asked, rolling her eyes. "God, Care, you're so defensive."

"Just the idea of it grosses me out," Caroline said, wrinkling her nose, and Bonnie's eyes narrowed, clearly about to say something before the instructor called Caroline's name.

Caroline sighed, walking to the training dummy and dropping to her knees to begin chest compressions, counting them under her breath. She could feel someone's eyes on her and glanced up as she bent to breathe into the training dummy's mouth, seeing Klaus staring at her with his lips slightly parted before he caught the ball Marcel had thrown and turned to make a perfect shot into the basket, as though he had been paying attention the whole time.

Her chest compressions after he turned away might have been a bit too hard, but if Meredith (the nurse) had noticed, she didn't say anything. Once she'd passed, Meredith told her she could hang around by the pool until lunch, and she walked away, her mind racing.

He was clearly still into her, but she wasn't sure whether it was purely physical or if he actually had any interest beyond that. Either way, he was obviously baiting her. He was making her feel like a hormonal teenager, a phase she had been very glad to be done with. She huffed, kicking off her flip-flops and sinking down by the edge of the pool, putting her feet in the water and wriggling her toes. She needed her control back, needed to feel like she was the one driving this...thing between them.

She peeked up at Klaus through her eyelashes to see him stretch, his muscles rippling in the sun.

Two could play this game.

Though they were required to wear one-piece bathing suits around the campers, bikinis were fine in the lake areas off-limits to the kids, so she'd brought one for days off. The cover-up she'd put on over the suit and a tiny pair of denim cut-offs was flimsy at best. She waited for Klaus to take another glance at her to shed her cover-up in one movement, deliberately arching her back and stretching. She fought down a grin at the way he drank her in with his eyes, the way his tongue darted across his lips, and she busied herself chatting with Bonnie, letting her long legs stretch out into the water.

She glanced at Klaus every now and then as she and Bonnie waited for everyone else to be finished with the tests, satisfied that he seemed to be constantly distracted from his basketball game. If Bonnie noticed, she didn't comment.

Once they were all gathered around the pool, Caroline barely paid attention to Alaric as he explained the first team-building game, and Bonnie had to hiss a summary of the instructions as Alaric directed the girls to one side and guys to the other.

It quickly became clear that it was some sort of water dodgeball, which was fine with her as it gave her time to jump up and down in the pool and throw a plastic ball at him with an unnecessary amount of force while he was distracted by her cleavage.

What the deal was with boys and breasts was still beyond her understanding, but it was an advantage and she'd take it.

Unfortunately, he'd either caught on to her plan or just thought in a similar direction, and she suddenly felt a bit flustered as he focused all of his attention on her. His wet curls were sticking to his forehead, his swim trunks sitting low on his hips, and her tongue ran over her lips as she imagined licking the beads of water clinging to his stubbled jaw.

His dimpled grin made heat stir in her belly and anger bloom in her chest, and she couldn't fucking believe that he'd managed to turn this into her staring at him lustfully as he undressed her with his eyes and a smug smile.

Fuck this bitch.

Like, who did he think he was?

She waited until he wasn't looking before pitching a dodgeball at his face, hitting him in the cheek. He whirled to look at her, his teeth gritted, and she gave him a wide-eyed innocent stare, her hand flying to her mouth.

"Oops. I am so sorry."

XXX

Caroline looked up from her book as identical screaming voices pierced the air from the other side of the pool. She sighed as she saw the two twin girls splashing at one of the boys and got up to intervene. It was the second day of camp and the Pierce twins were already creating havoc...

"Elena! Tatia!" Caroline called, speed-walking to the edge of the water and jumping in to force the girls apart. "No fighting in the pool," she scolded.

"We weren't fighting," twin number one protested.

"We were splashing," the other added.

"Okay, well look at Matt's face," Caroline said patiently, pointing at Matt who was clearly still shaken by the splash attack. "Would you like it if someone just came up and started splashing you when you told them to stop?"

Both twins shrugged.

"Why don't you say you're sorry," Caroline suggested, and the twins exchanged a look before muttering apologies. "Thank you. Go play on the other side of the pool, okay?"

She watched the twins swim off and turned to Matt, who was standing a bit awkwardly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said softly.

"Do you need me to get one of your cabin counselors?"

"No. I don't need help," he said, his jaw setting, and she suppressed an eyeroll.

"Okay. Pool time is over in about half an hour."

"Yeah," he muttered, and Caroline swam away, preparing to get out of the pool when she felt a small child jump on her back. She barely had time to shout out when another one joined in, giggling.

She felt her head submerge, bubbles flooding out of her nose, and she tried to fight off the children that she could hear screaming as they dunked her. She knew that they probably thought they were playing, but she could feel her lungs contracting as she struggled for air, trying desperately to resurface.

She tried her best to escape the mad giggling and grabbing hands, but she just...couldn't...

Thanks for reading! Please let me know if you have any feedback. Favorite parts? Favorite lines? Predictions?

Let's all just remember that Klaus learned CPR like the rest of them... Not that it's a spoiler or anything, but no panic is necessary :P

Reviews are the only way I know what you think, so please leave one! :D