So here's the deal - this is my Camp NaNoWriMo story, but as motivation I'm going to keep posting updates on here. Quite proud to get chapter 1 up on day 1 (okay so it's just gone midnight but who's counting). It'd be great if you could read and review. I'll be going back to Earthly Wonders next month.

The summer holidays weren't the happy time for Clara they were for everyone else. The idea of not teaching for the next 6 weeks did not cheer her up in any way. The last day of term had been spent listening to everyone else talking about their exotic holidays and various plans with the kids. The difference was that they were going home to partners, children, families – she was going home to silence. Sure her Dad was still around but he seemed to be kept constantly busied by Linda these days and her Gran had long since passed. It was times like this that she missed the Doctor, missed her travels, but it didn't take her long to remember why she stopped. Her daydream was stopped by a heard of year 10s screaming goodbye to her, clearly very happy to not have to see their English teacher for 6 weeks. She managed some sort of response, which was quickly added to by Courtney announcing she wouldn't miss her. Clara had to laugh, Courtney was hardly the pupil she was going to miss the most either.

"You going home Miss Oswald?" The familiar sound of Adrian came from the door, "I'm sure you have things to do."

"Mmm packing to finish off, nothing overly exciting," she smiled as he came in. Adrian was definitely her closest friend at the school, not that she didn't get on with any of the other staff, he just knew her the best. He'd known everything she'd gone through, and was there for the most part. He appreciated her lack of love for the holidays more than most.

"Ah your summer camp. You're mad you know that? I'm not sure there's any other teacher in the country that would break up from term and immediately head off to spend the week with a different bunch of teenagers. Still, enjoy yourself, I want pictures of you hanging from a zip wire," he grinned and grabbed the pile of textbooks off her desk to put away.

"I'm sure you do. I'll call you when I'm back and I'll fill you in on all the excitement if you wish, I'm sure I'll need a drink by that point," she put the final bits away and grabbed her bag.

"Sounds like a plan to me. I know I've been making rather a joke of all this, but really – enjoy, I'm glad you've found something to do, take your mind off things a little," he smiled and Clara nodded. "Come on you, get out of here and don't you dare get all emotional on me now." Adrian grinned and pulled her in for a quick hug. "See you soon."

Clara walked out to her car, looking back at the school. She'd be back soon enough, but it was always very different being in without the kids. None the less, she was quite looking forward to the next week. Summer camp would be something different that was for sure, but she was determined it would be good.

He'd much rather have been travelling to Spain or Greece, but instead he was heading to somewhere just west of Bournemouth for a summer camp full of more teenagers. It was not his idea of a great holiday, but he'd owed Frankie a favour and it seemed this was it. She was running the camp and was a leader short – that's where he came in. Unfortunately for him, he'd booked his holiday a few weeks later; therefore no excuse was to be had.

"You know if you put a smile on you might actually enjoy this," Frankie told him as they drove down. She'd been there a couple of days now but had come back to collect a few bits and pick him up to save a car. "I thought you enjoyed your job anyway?"

"I do, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a break once in a while," he moaned, looking out the window.

"Well you've got another 5 weeks after this, just try eh? It's such a good week; the activities are definitely your sort of thing," she told him.

"Mmm well I suppose they do sound good..." he looked around at her and grinned, "of course I'm looking forward to it idiot, maybe it's not my idea of fun normally but I'm sure it will be great."

Frankie was an old mate from the army and they'd kept in touch ever since. She lived pretty close anyway, but she worked elsewhere. Danny had started working at the school in the previous September and was loving every minute, but he hadn't really told anyone much about his past and was grateful to have someone who understood. Despite the faces he'd been pulling, he was actually vaguely looking forward to the week ahead. Action packed with a group of teenagers actually did intrigue him just a little; it was his specialty after all.

When Clara arrived early the next morning she was greeted by a friendly looking face who she could only assume was Frankie.
"Hi there, Clara right?" The woman came over, "I'm Frankie – we spoke on the phone a bit. I'd like to say I'm not some weird stalker but I've spent the last week staring at photos of everyone to try and learn names, so I suppose I am a little odd."

"We've all been there. Nice to meet you in person, this place looks fantastic by the way," Clara looked around at the cabins and the vast site around.

"Yeah it's not half bad here, love it. Anyway, let me show you where we're staying…" she directed her to a building and they went inside. "Made sense for us to be in here, there're individual rooms for us all. You're in 19, upstairs and left."

"Thanks, I'm sure I can find it you've probably got better things to do for now," she grinned, "please let me know if I can do anything to help at any point, that is basically what I'm here for anyway."

"No no you get settled, none of the kids are arriving until later you've got time. We'll brief at lunch – 1pm by the way, there's a map in your room." Clara nodded, thanking her again before heading upstairs. She reached down in to her bag to find her phone, stopping just short of her room to look properly as she could hear it start to ring.

"Hey!" Clara reacted automatically as someone bumped in to her and caused her to drop her bag. "Look where you're going for goodness sake!" She looked up at the man in front of her who didn't move. "Alright, I'll pick it up then, geez…" Clara crouched down and picked up her bag and the few bits that had fallen out. "Do you speak or not?"

"Yes, sorry, I'm still half asleep. Can I help you carry anything?" He asked, but Clara just rolled her eyes, "what?"

"My room is right there, I think I can manage tah. I suggest you get some more sleep, not sure you're going to do a great job looking after kids if you're that tired," she informed him, moving forward towards her door.

"Well I'm not convinced you're going to do a great job being in that mood either, so I wish them luck and I guess I'll see you later," he went to walk off down the corridor.

"Let's hope not," she murmured in reply and opened the door as he continued walking away. The room itself was actually lovely, it had a double bed and a sweet little desk by the window which had a beautiful view, calming her immediately. She dropped her stuff on the bed and moved around the edge of the desk to climb on to the windowsill and sit, looking out. Thankfully she had actually found her phone and dropped Adrian a quick text to let him know she was still alive.

Made it, only met the one obnoxious man so far – unfortunately not a teenager! None the less, beautiful view to look out at for a little while before lunch. Hope you're having a good day x.

The reply came almost instantly and she had to laugh.

I'm sure you can take him, you might be small but I wouldn't like to make you angry – I've seen the results! Don't let him get you down, have a great time x.

She sat there for around half an hour, just looking out at the vast fields, houses and in the distance the coastline that she could see. This was definitely her idea of heaven, but she couldn't stay there forever. Clara got up, unpacked her case and then head down for lunch.

After lunch ended, Frankie started to sort them out. There were 10 groups, 2 leaders and 8 children to each group. The ages ranged from 14-17 and many of them had been before according to her stats. Eventually she started calling out names – one male and one female for each.

"Clara Oswald, group 6 with Danny Pink." Clara started to move towards to the table she'd pointed at, and quickly realised who was following. She groaned internally, deciding it was probably wise not to show her displeasure to the wider staff members. Danny, as she now knew he was called, sat down while she leant against the edge, facing away from him. Frankie finished organising the groups and then turned around to face where they were now all stood.
"Right, you're going to be spending most of the next week with each other so I'd suggest you get to know each other. You have a list on your table of those in your group and each group will be in a cabin. They'll start arriving in about an hour and it'd be good if before then you could check out where they'll be staying and then try and meet them as they arrive. I'd appreciate as much help as possible to get everyone in and settled by 4 so we can head out orienteering by half 4. It's a bit tight, but just gives us more time later on. I'll leave you all to sort that out, I have other things to do," she smiled and jumped off the chair she'd been stood on and jogged off.

"Well, that leaves us with this list then…" Danny spoke, picking it up. Clara sighed, knowing she had no choice but to turn around and sit down opposite him. "Oh Toby and Ben Higham, they're in my maths class – didn't know they were coming." Clara raised an eyebrow, "they're twins, can be troublemakers but generally alright."

"That's not what I was questioning. You're a maths teacher?" She asked, struggling to believe this man could control a class of children.

"Why is that such a problem? Are you a maths teacher?" He responded, putting the list back down.

"English, if you must know," Clara told him and picked up the paper.

"Well that explains a lot then," he smirked and she was quick to give him a look before returning to read the names. "English teachers are the ones that always insist on correcting your grammar and quoting Shakespeare. Always seem to act like they're higher than everyone else for no particular reason and… what now?" he said as she slammed the paper down on the table.

"Oh I have no idea what could possibly be wrong. This week just gets better and better, and it's only just begun. I'm going to find the cabin, you coming?" Clara stood up, letting him pick up the list and walking off, leaving everyone else still on the getting to know you stage but she was already done with that.

She'd already memorised the map while sat on the windowsill earlier so it didn't take long to find their group's place to stay. She walked inside, looking around the large room with 4 bunk beds inside and two bathrooms – one male and one female.
"I'd suggest we put girls one end and boys the other for ease. Oh, and girls that end away from the door – just trust me on that one. Are you going to talk again or…?" she turns to see him still stood at the entrance.

"I thought it potentially safer not to, I'll just nod instead," he told her. "Should we go and meet them then? Time is getting on." They actually had plenty of time, but the awkwardness and tension of this whole situation was becoming more than either of them wanted to handle.

"How about you meet them in the car park and I'll wait here?" He was happy to agree and soon disappeared, leaving Clara in the cabin. Once he was gone she was actually able to admire the actual beauty of the room. It was totally made of wood, giving it a real feel of being out in nature. She was actually a little jealous that they got to spend the week sleeping in here, it really was lovely. Clara stood at the end, looking out of the window for a while, only interrupted by a somewhat familiar voice entering.

"Miss Oswald?!" She spun around to see the face of Courtney Wood's facing her. "Didn't know you were helping here, how cool! Hey, does this mean I get to call you Clara because that's hilarious." Peace had ended, that was for sure.

"I suppose it does Courtney, I'm sure you'll get over it. Who's this with you?" Clara asked, putting on her special face she saved just for her 'favourite' pupil.

"This is Karlie, we met last year here," she turned to the other girl, "this is my English teacher, it's gonna be a right laugh this," Karlie seemed to grin a little at this but did look up.

"Lovely, well if you two head over there and fight over top and bottom bunk, sort yourselves out and get unpacked we don't have long before we head out for our first activity." She told them, letting them by and going closer to the door to wait for the others.

They arrived slowly over the next hour – Alice, Amy, Pierce, Jonah and finally the twins that Danny had mentioned. He followed behind now they were all here, helping to chivvy them along and get sorted.

"Miss, sorry, Clara, do you and Danny not like each other?" Courtney Woods, always the observant child, sometimes she wished she'd put the same effort in to her work.

"What on earth would make you say that?" she asked, glancing to Danny and crossing her arms.

"Aha! She's doing the defensive thing, they definitely don't get on!" Courtney turned back to Karlie and Alice, giggling away together. Clara looked at Danny again and gestured for them to go outside.

"Do you need to make it so obvious?!" Danny asked her once they were out of earshot.

"Me?! You're the one who started all this," Clara replied, "look, we have to work together for the next week and we've got absolutely no hope of controlling 8 children if they think we're not working together."

"I never wanted to start anything, I happened to bump in to you earlier it's you that's started all this bitterness!" Danny told her angrily, "but yes, we do at least need to pretend to get on for the next week. After that we most likely won't cross paths again. Might I suggest we agree to disagree and focus on the rabble in there?" He held a hand out which she reluctantly shook.

"Deal. We'd better get them over to start, let's see how this goes…"