It was a well-known fact that the mess hall at Pine Hollow Camp was locked at precisely 10:00 PM. It was also a well-known fact that four certain campers had zero respect for the rules.

“Alright, gentlemen,” Leo whispered, crouched behind the supply shed. “Tonight, we make history.”

“Tonight, we get banned from camp,” Finn muttered. 

Jamie vibrated with excitement. “This is gonna be legendary.”

Noah sighed. “This is gonna be stupid.”

Leo ignored them both, pulling out a hastily drawn map on crumpled notebook paper. “I’ve done the calculations—”

Noah squinted at the paper. “That’s just a stick figure labeled ‘me’ and an arrow pointing to a
sandwich.”

“Exactly,” Leo said, dead serious. “Step one: get into the mess hall. Step two: acquire the
leftover pie. Step three: don’t get caught.”

Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why do we even need pie?”

Jamie gasped. “Why do we need oxygen?”

Finn looked at Noah. “He’s your responsibility.”

Noah exhaled. “No, he’s Leo’s responsibility.”

Leo grinned. “Incorrect. I take zero responsibility for any of you.”

“Okay, fine,” Finn relented. “How exactly are we breaking in?”

Leo wiggled his eyebrows. “We have two options.”

Jamie perked up. “Is one of them explosions?”

“What—no!” Noah said immediately.

​

Leo looked vaguely disappointed. “Option one: we pick the lock. But none of us actually know how to pick a lock—”

Jamie gasped. “Wait, what if I—”

“—and I don’t trust Jamie with learning,” Leo finished.

Jamie deflated.

“Option two,” Leo continued, “we use the ventilation system.”

Silence.

“Leo,” Noah said, voice dangerously calm, “you want us to climb through the vents?”

Leo nodded proudly.

“Like we’re in an action movie?”

Leo nodded again.

Finn turned to Jamie. “You still think he’s a genius?”

Jamie beamed. “Even more now!”

Noah exhaled through his nose. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

Leo grinned. “One hundred percent.”
 

Five minutes later, they stood beneath the metal grate leading into the mess hall vents.
 

“This is a terrible idea,” Finn muttered.
 

Leo boosted Jamie up first. “I think you mean a brilliant idea.”
 

Jamie wriggled inside. “This is so cool.”
 

Finn, now crouched under the vent, sighed. “This is how we die.”
 

Noah crossed his arms. “At least we’ll die over something important.”
 

Finn gave him a look.
 

Noah shrugged. “I like pie.”

 

Leo clapped his hands together. “Alright, troops. Let’s go steal some dessert.”
 

And with that, the chaos began.

 

—————————————

 

The moment Jamie started crawling through the vent, it became clear that none of them had thought this through.
 

“Ow—okay, metal is sharp,” Jamie hissed, shuffling forward on his elbows.
 

“Stop complaining and keep moving,” Leo whisper-yelled.
 

Behind him, Finn groaned. “I hate this. I hate all of this.”
 

“You’re just mad because you’re last in line,” Jamie shot back.
 

Finn scowled. “No, I’m mad because I don’t want to die in an air duct above the mess hall.”
 

“Shh,” Noah warned from between them. “If someone hears us, we’re done.”
 

Leo scoffed. “Who’s gonna be awake at this hour? The Ghost of Pine Hollow?”
 

“Don’t say that!” Jamie whisper-shrieked. “Now it’s real!”
 

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. “We are so getting caught.”

Cautiously, they shuffled forward. The vent groaned under their weight, making Finn whisper a quiet prayer. Finally, they reached a grate overlooking the mess hall kitchen.
 

Leo smirked. “Alright, Jamie. You’re the smallest. Drop down and unlock the door.”
 

Jamie blinked. “Oh. That’s the plan?”
 

Leo gave him finger guns. “Trust the process.”
 

Jamie, against every ounce of common sense, did. He unscrewed the grate, held his breath,
and dropped down onto the counter—only to immediately knock over a metal tray with a
deafening clang.
 

Everyone froze.

 

Jamie’s eyes went wide.
 

Noah whispered, “You idiot.”
 

Leo grinned. “Nice landing, though.”
 

Footsteps.
 

A flashlight beam swept across the mess hall.
 

“Who’s in here?”
 

Finn grabbed Leo’s arm. “We are so dead.”
 

Jamie, still standing in the middle of the kitchen, muttered, “yeah, okay, so...plan B?”

 

—————————————

​

Plan B, as it turned out, was run for their lives.
 

The second Jamie heard the approaching footsteps, he lunged for the door, fumbling with the lock. “Hurry, hurry, hurry—”
 

“Jamie!” Leo whisper-yelled from the vent. “The lock!”

“I know!” Jamie hissed, hands shaking as he twisted the knob.

The door finally gave way just as the flashlight beam neared the kitchen entrance. Jamie
yanked it open, and before he could even breathe, Noah, Finn, and Leo came crashing out of the air duct like a disaster in progress.

“Go!” Noah barked, grabbing Jamie’s arm as they bolted into the night.
 

Behind them, an angry voice shouted, “HEY! STOP!”
 

Not a chance.

They ran blindly through camp, dodging picnic tables and tree stumps, barely managing to keep from tripping over each other. Leo was laughing—actually laughing as if this wasn’t the worst plan in recorded history.

 

“You absolute lunatic,” Finn panted, “this is the worst—”
 

“Shhh!” Leo clamped a hand over Finn’s mouth. “Hide!”
 

They dove behind a row of canoes stacked against the shed, pressing themselves into the
shadows just as the counselor—probably Eric again, because that man had an uncanny ability to be everywhere—stomped into view.
 

“Whoever’s out here, I know you stole pie!”
 

Jamie held back a snort. “That is the dumbest sentence I’ve ever heard.”
 

Finn elbowed him. “Shut up.”
 

Eric scanned the area, but miraculously, he didn’t check behind the canoes. After a few
agonizing seconds, he sighed and muttered, “I hate kids,” before storming off.
 

Silence.
 

Then—
 

“We are criminal masterminds,” Leo whispered, absolutely delighted.
 

Noah rubbed his temples. “No, we’re morons.”
 

“But,” Jamie pointed out, holding up a triumphant hand, “we got the pie.”
 

Four sets of eyes locked onto the slightly squashed but completely intact pie in Jamie’s hands.

A beat of silence.

Leo clapped Jamie’s shoulder, eyes shining with pride. “I never doubted you for a second.”
 

“You doubted him the entire time,” Noah deadpanned.
 

“Semantics.”
 

Jamie, grinning, popped the tin open, revealing the perfect cherry filling inside. “Shall we?”
 

Finn groaned. “We did all this just to eat pie outside like animals?”
 

Leo patted his shoulder. “Exactly.”
 

Still, Finn didn’t protest when Jamie passed him a handful of crust.

 

For a while, the four of them just sat there, eating in silence, the adrenaline of their midnight
heist finally settling. The night air was cool, the stars spread out like tiny lanterns above them. It was reckless, ridiculous, probably going to get them in trouble in the morning—but in that moment, it didn’t matter.
 

Jamie leaned back with a satisfied sigh. “Best. Pie. Ever.”
 

Noah chuckled. “Hope it was worth it.”

Leo grinned, eyes full of mischief. “Worth every second.”

Finn, shaking his head, finally smiled. “We’re never doing this again.”

Leo shot him finger guns. “See you next mission.”

​

Fin