Chapter Text
Trees sped past as you stared out the window. A wave of nausea rippled throughout your body, the stench of cheap perfume and axe body spray mixed with b.o. struggling to escape the tiny windows of the bus.
You leaned closer to your right, your eyes flickering shut. You still couldn’t tell if you were bored, or upset. Sure, your parents sent you away to some summer camp, effectively throwing your entire vacation. But, at least they couldn’t bother you now. Instead, you’d have to deal with your peers, which was arguably worse. But your parents knew that. They planned for that. They told you that it would be for the best. For years, they said you should be doing more. Sneaking out, taking risks, making friends. The stuff they were both doing at your age. If you wasted your teen years you’d regret it for the rest of your life, they told you. But how were you supposed to magically revive your social life when everyone already had their own cliques? How were you supposed to make new friends and fit in when everyone was years ahead of you socially? You couldn’t. And after years of making little attempts to do so, you were here. On a crummy rented bus, to a sleepaway camp in the middle of nowhere, to waste yet another summer.
Your head bumped against the glass, keeping you conscious as sleep lulled you into its embrace–trying not to drop your bag from your lap. After what felt like hours, you couldn’t help but give in, finally allowing yourself to doze off.
A sudden stop forced your eyes open as you blinked slowly. You sat up, realizing you were leaning on the guy to your right. You rubbed your eyes softly, unsure if you had bothered him, or if he even noticed, as he seemed to be deep in some dumb conversation with a few of his friends.
God it’s loud. Was it gonna be like this all summer? You should’ve taken the awkward ride and let your parents drive you instead of being so stubborn.
For the first time, you actually wanted to be at the campgrounds, even if it was so you didn’t have to put up with them. The worst part was that you forgot to charge your phone last night, so it died twenty minutes into the ride. Thankfully, that wouldn’t matter for too long, since once you got there it was sure they’d take it.
You couldn’t help but take another glance at the guy next to you, his hair bordered between a light brown and dirty blonde. He was turned towards friends—who he probably met here, years ago—loudly cracking jokes. He only had a drawstring bag on him, the rest possibly somehow already there. Maybe his parents mailed his trunk ahead of time? You were pretty sure that’s what your parents did. Looking around made you realize you had no clue how prepared you should’ve been. Some people held bags stuffed to the brim, while others only carried a drawstring or duffle bag. You tried to follow the camps packing lists and recommendations along with a few posts online, but you had virtually no clue what would be enough.
You shook the thought off, ignoring your sudden anxiety as the bus pulled into the campgrounds. You stood up, sliding your backpack onto your shoulders and slinging your other bag over your side.
You followed the boy off the bus, noticing the variety of people now at camp. Kids hugging their parents goodbye from drop off, pre-teens meeting up with their friends again for the first time since last year, a group of teenagers likely your age hanging out at a picnic table playing cards.
You stood in line, still following the boy from earlier who remained deep in conversation.
It took a few minutes of waiting to reach the sign in desk, giving them your name. The unenthusiastic counselor clicked at their pen, checking you off a list and pointing you away, “Your counselor is Ciara, cabin’s that way.”
You walked through the mix of parents, kids, and counselors on the walk to your cabin. Passing others, you tried to ground yourself, going through techniques you’ve been told over the years, hoping they’d somehow work now even if they hadn’t in the past. Five things you could smell—bug spray, lake water, axe body spray, gasoline, and somehow the heat? Yeah, there’s absolutely no way you were making it through an entire summer.
Especially when you couldn’t find your cabin? Seriously, were there not signs? You looked around, realizing you were just circling around, too focused on ‘grounding’ to actually pay attention to… the ground.
“Oh shit!”
As you were thinking about how you weren’t paying attention (while still not doing it) a girl your age bumped into you from behind, trying to pass you but running into your shoulder. You looked at her, freezing up, forgetting you could even speak.
She, however, seemed to have no problem doing so. “My bad! It gets so packed on the first day. That wasn’t even either of our faults. There’s too many people here to even function—Oh! But if you think this is bad, you’re so not ready for visiting weekend. Assuming you haven’t been here before, sorry. I don’t know, you just didn’t look familiar and I kind of assumed, but now I’m not so sure. What age group are you in?”
“Oh. Uhm, I’m a senior. I haven’t been here before, though,” You told her.
Without leaving a second to think, she responded, “Wait me too! That’s so crazy. I couldn’t imagine coming the last year. For most of us at least, I guess some people are gonna come back as counselors, but like you know. That’s cool though! We don’t usually get newer people at this age, so that’s fun. Do you have family who come here?”
You shook your head, “No, it was kind of weird actually. This is my first time being here in person, I only knew about it from their website.”
“That’s kind of cool too though, like so many new people! I already know everyone, which I think can get boring. I guess except for you though, right?” She stopped for a moment, only to continue before you could agree, “Wait! Did your parents go here too? Is that why they sent you here? Because so did I! Oh my god, how old are they? Imagine if they went here together!”
You worried shutting her down would be a bad idea, but lying here would be digging yourself into an early grave. After an awkward second of silence you shook your head, saying, “No, uh, they didn’t go here. They just thought this would be good for me… I think.”
The girl nodded, muttering some agreement before remembering to introduce herself, “Anyways, I’m Chloe. Sorry I’m a mess today, the bus ride over always messes with my head.”
“Yeah, me too. Kind of like, uh, first day jitters, right?” You awkwardly laughed, trying your hardest with the interaction.
She nodded, letting out a loud, “Exactly! Oh my god you totally get it. Like, it reminds me of school. I wake up so early to get ready and look good for my first day, then you get there after this long ass ride, then suddenly you’re all frazzled and wanna go home. It always goes away after the first day for me though, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
You smiled, not sure what to say. A weird sense of pride filled you, as you wondered if you two would be friends. You felt like you were nailing this conversation, so you couldn’t see why not. You would be fine. Just like she said.
Chloe spoke again, snapping you back into reality once more. “I can’t believe you didn’t come on some sort of tour, even online. I feel like it would be so annoying to navigate camp if I was new, especially our cabin. It’s the farthest from the flagpole, up on the hill. It’s annoying to walk back to, but what’s really fun is that it’s co-ed, because it’s such a small age group! Rooms are obviously separate, but it’s cool that everyone is still together.”
You nodded along, surprised you hadn’t read that anywhere, or been able to find any proper maps. You began to follow Chloe to the cabin, listening to her explain more and more about the camp.
“You know, we could probably bunk together this year if you want. I’m sure my friend wouldn’t mind, and I can only imagine how nervous you are.”
You smiled at Chloe, thankful for her new found status as your guardian angel. “That would be… really helpful. Uh, thanks. A lot.”
She grabbed your side, pulling you into a tiny hug before almost falling, the weight of her monster of a backpack throwing her off. “Aw, of course! You were gonna have to bunk with someone anyways, though.” She laughed a bit, the offer meaning little to her, but everything to you.