Summer of Love

Hey everyone! Steph here, and Today I wanted to share a new fanfic with you. I know I don't share my own writing here a lot, but I was really proud of this piece. See the end of the chapter for notes. The banner was made on Canva.

Title: Summer of Love

Fandom:Anastasia

Word Count- 2,138

Chapter one

Summer camp was a part of the American experience as a child. Once you got too old to be a camper, the next step in your direction would be to be a counselor. This summer, Anya and her sisters would be camp counselors, all working with different age groups. Olga had a group of ten-year-olds, Tatiana had eight-year-olds, Maria had twelve-year-olds, and Anastasia had another group of ten-year-olds. To be honest, she was both excited and nervous, because ten was a tough age. Anya was trying to remember herself at ten, she was never a rebel, but she was one that spoke her mind and that was something that got her in trouble a lot. Why? Well, to her, it seemed like people didn’t like it when she spoke her mind; it was not something that a lady should do in their opinion. Anastasia didn’t consider herself a lady, but they treated her like one because of who her parents were, and so they expected her to act like one.

Where was the fun in life if all she could do was curtsy, work on manners, and as others told her, keep herself in mind as much as she could? Anya was not cut out for the life of a lady, her family knew this, and even more Anya herself knew this. So why was she doing this whole charade of of being a lady? Well, she was only sixteen, so for two more years she would have to be under her parent's roof. She needed to keep it in line, or as in line as she could so that she could survive the next two years, then she could do whatever she wanted when she was at University. Camp was a Romanov tradition, this was another reason she needed to work at the camp, she wanted to please her father, and stay on his good side as long as she could.

“Hey! Are you almost ready to go?” Maria, who was eighteen had waltzed into her room, pulling Anya out of her daze.

“Maria please a little more warning next time, maybe?” She glared at her sister, they knew the two of them as the little pair to their family, because the two of them were so close in age.

“Sorry. I know you keep telling me that, and that I keep forgetting. Anyway, I’m supposed to tell you that Papa says for you to only take a few bags for the summer. Actually; his direct quote was Maria, please go make sure your sister doesn’t bring everything she owns for your summer camp jobs this summer.”

Anastasia rolled her eyes, it was like her father didn’t trust her or something. “Oh, yes, I understand. I am limiting myself to two bags, minus the bag I will use during the day. I think Papa will be happy to see me taking so little. “Anya was proud of herself, her original plan would be a bag just for shoes, hats, and other accessories, but she could fit those into the bags she had already planned on bringing.

“Two bags?! I mean are you sure you’re okay? I was expecting to hear you saw that you would bring three or four bags.” Maria was not kidding, she had really set the over under with Tatiana and Olga at three or more, and now she would need to give each of them $5 because that was the deal.

“Yes, I actually cut it down see?” Anya made a big hand gesture around the room, only to prove her point how many bags she would bring with her. “I am fine, I just wanted Papa to be happy with me, I know that he only wanted me to bring a few bags, and so I decided that I needed to limit myself.” This was a big move for Anya, and she was sure that her sister would see it this way as well, but she was not sure if her sister would see it that way.

“I can see that. I am proud of you for cutting down what you will bring with you, it makes sense you would try to please Papa like this. I’m proud of you that you could cut your bags down.” Maria was being sincere with her sister right now, she really was happy that her sister would stay on her father’s good side for the foreseeable future.

“I am as well. How many bags are you bringing Maria?” She asked her older sister inquisitively. They also knew Maria to bring a lot of extra things that she might not necessarily need this summer.

“I am also bringing two not counting my day bag. I don’t think that Papa meant for us to count our day bags in the total number of bags we are bringing. Do you?” She looked at her sister wondering what she would say to this.

“Huh. I would have thought you would at least be bringing three with you not counting the day bag.” Anya looked at her sister before responding. “Oh, no I don’t think he meant our day bags as well, if he did, would he not have said when he stated how he wanted us to keep it a low amount with the number of bags? What does Papa consider a low amount any way?” Anya seemed to be ranting a bit, so she paused and waited to hear what her sister would say.

“Olga and Tatiana told me the same thing when I told them a little while ago!” Maria thought about what her sister was saying, and honestly she didn’t know what a low amount meant in their papa’s eyes either, but she was sure that she and her sister were in the right ballpark here. “As far as what Papa means by a low amount, I could honestly not even begin to tell you what a low amount could mean. I am just going to assume that you and I are in the right ballpark here unless we hear otherwise.” Maria thought for a moment, it could be disastrous if the two of them were taking too many bags to camp this summer.

“God, I hope he means two not counting a day bag.” Anya muttered, but as usual with her, she said it a little too loudly and now she could feel the shame. She wished that she could take back what she had said. If her father heard her she would never see the light of day. She had been called out for muttering before, and yet she would just not stop no matter how many times her family would call her out about it.

“Anastasia, you’re aware that Papa can hear right now correct?” She looked to her sister, the muttering had happened again, it was as if her sister would never learn to just stop, or at least think before she spoke.

“Maria, yes I am well aware that he most likely heard that.” She had made a mistake, and she would do anything in her power to correct what she had done.

“Anya, do you realize that your voice carries when you’re not angry, and even more when you are?” Their older sister Tatiana had entered the room and looked it the ground in surprise to not find four or five bags sitting there.

“Hello Tatiana, also yes, I do realize that. Do you think he heard what I said?” Anastasia looked to both of her sisters for some response. Any moment now, she could be called into her father’s office where she would apologize profusely for being out of line here. God, right now all that she wanted to do was to take back the words she had said. She was fully prepared to bag for her father’s forgiveness.

“I am almost sure he would have heard you. If he was in the house, you lucked out because he is putting Olga’s bags in the car.” Tatiana smiled at her sister, she was sure that one day it would finally click for Anastasia, she just hoped that day would come sooner rather than later. “I was told to come in here and tell you two that we would leave soon. I have a feeling Mama thought you had lost track of the time.”

“Right! I’ll get my bags and then we can head down. Tatiana did you notice that I will only bring two bags and my day bag?” Anastasia beamed, she would never let a day pass when she would not think back on this moment and celebrate the victory. She had won in a way, and she was sure her father would see it this way as well.

“I did! I am very proud of you for keeping your bags to such a small amount like this. I am sure that Papa will be proud of you Anya!” Her sister exclaimed as she followed her younger sister out of her room and down the stairs.

“I think Papa will be proud of the both of us!” Maria said grabbing her bags and following behind her sisters.

Once they were outside of the house, Olga, the oldest Romanov sister, had noticed how little her younger sisters had in their hands. “Hi! Are you three ready?” She looked inquisitively at her sisters.

Their father had popped his head out from the trunk as the girls arrived. “Please don’t tell me your mother is going to come out with two more bags for each of you.” His tone said he meant business and that he would not back down from this.

“Oh Papa, you know us too well. No, she’s not this is it this is all we’re taking.” Anastasia took her bags over to her father, as he was the one organizing the bags.

“I am proud of all of all of you for sticking to my limit of bag you could bring.” Honestly, he was impressed and thought he would have to take a bag away from at least two of the girls. “Okay, everyone into the car it’s time to go!” He said as he made his way towards the driver's seat.

****

“Dmitry, my boy, have you thought about the fact that you could just stay here for the summer? You know, instead of going to a smelly camp this summer?” Vlad was loading his last bag onto the bus Dmitry would take to the camp.

“Oh Vlad, but I want to make money. You won’t pay me to be here. So, going to the camp was he only option I could see. I could never work at a deli or something.” Dmitry sighed. He would much rather spend his summer here too, it would be better here than at a summer camp where he would be a counselor for ten-year-olds. Ten-year-olds, he was cringing already, and he wasn’t even there yet. This would be a long summer he could feel it.

“Why can’t you work at the Deli?! You like Deli sandwiches!” Vlad looked at his friend, in some ways, Dmitry was more of a son to him than a friend. “I remember when I was ten. I don’t even want to think about some the things that I did.” Vlad had a bit of a troubled past, much like Dimitry himself, they related to that together.

“I don’t want to! I don’t want to spend my summer learning a skill. I could just be in nature, swimming, fishing, boating, archery, you know the kinds of activities that camp is for.” In the back of his mind, he also wanted to meet a pretty girl, and have the kind of summer romance that you see in the romantic comedies, or the kind that you read about in books, but he would not tell Vlad this.

“I hear you, but I will miss you this summer. Have fun! Send the camp director Lily my regards and a hello.” Vlad and Lily were in the past but he still really had feelings for her. The two of them were the affair that should not have happened, and yet he was so happy the two of them had a romance.

“I’ll miss you as well friend! You dated the camp director didn’t you?! Are you kidding me?! God! Fine! I will tell her that you say hello.” Before Vlad even responded, Dmitry got on the bus and moments later the bus pulled away. This would be a good Summer, at least he hoped this would be a good summer he really needed it to be. Sans finding a girl that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, okay so maybe he wanted that as well, but fun was what he really wanted out of this summer.

Notes:

Hello! This is a story that I will be working on for Camp National Novel Writing Month! I hope to put out an update a week. I had such a great time with this chapter, and I hope you enjoy! This work will be ten chapters long, as I don't want to be writing this story forever. The inspiration for this work came from a Discord server I'm a part of, and I just sort of ran with it. /  Here is my Ao3 page: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18361094/chapters/43474766