Chapter Text
You absolutely dreaded watching your parents drive away, waving and smiling as they get the whole summer to themselves at home. You had gotten a bike for Christmas and now you couldn’t even spend your summer riding it with your friends back home. You sighed and kicked a rock out of frustration.
“Well (Y/N) we better show you around before lunch starts, you got here much later than everyone else so lets make this quick!” The perky camp counselor commented, leading you further into the camp. Finally giving into the fact that youre stuck here, you drag your suitcase behind you, the wheels struggling to glide over gravel.
Your counselor had quickly introduced herself as Cassie, she named off any counselor within sight while handing you a Camp Crystal Lake t-shirt that was way too big. You didn’t really care though so you just nodded and followed her into one of the cabins. Surprisingly the cabin was mostly empty besides a strange looking boy and an older woman.
“Uh, hey Ms Voorhees, this camper got here way too late and there’s no more room in any of the other cabins, is it alright if (Y/N) stays here until we figure something out.” Cassie sounded nervous when asking, and Ms. Voorhees didn’t look too comfortable with the idea either but nodded. “I’m sure Jason and I won’t mind if it’s temporary.”
You heard Cassie sigh in relief, and directed you to the opposite side of the cabin, farthest away from Jason and his mother. “I’ll let you set up your stuff here, we have arts n crafts in 10 minutes, so meet everyone out front by then.” Cassie gave you a quick smile and almost ran out of the cabin, leaving you with the two odd strangers.
You glanced over to see that Jason was clinging to his mother, but he would glance over to you every few seconds. His mother was caressing his head attempting to comfort the strange looking boy. “Jason, my dear, I have to get back to the kitchen to make lunch, I’ll walk you to arts n crafts first.” Pamela gave you a quick, wary glance, not sure if she could trust you alone with her son. She’s not stupid, she knows the children here bully Jason, that’s why she always tries her best to not leave him alone with someone if possible.
You don’t pay them much attention as they walk out of the cabin together. You didn’t see the point in unpacking if you’re just gonna get moved to a different cabin later. plopping onto the old stiff mattress, not having high hopes for making friends with anyone here, you just want it to be over and go home. Ripping you away from your thoughts you hear a cow bell ringing and a muffled “arts n crafts time!” from outside. Sighing you quickly change into the t-shirt Cassie had given you earlier and slowly walk outside.
The amount of kids at the camp wasn’t overwhelming but definitely more than you had expected, maybe you’ll actually make a friend, you hoped. Groups of kids already sitting together, you stand off to the side, too shy to introduce yourself to anyone. Skimming the small crowd of kids already picking their seats at the picnic tables. Your eyes spot Jason sitting alone at the farthest table, his head was lowered and he was keeping his gaze away from the other kids.
Your heart twisted in sympathy, but you still weren’t sure if you wanted to sit with him. Choosing a picnic table where two girls who looked your age were sitting. You were met with two pairs of glares as you sat down on the hard wooden seat. Ignoring their side eye stares, you turn your attention towards the camp counselors handing out supplies and explaining macaroni art to the crowd.
After a few minutes you finish your pointless macaroni art and glance over to see Jason, alone at his table, flooding a pile of uncooked noodles with Elmer’s glue. It was far more amusing than you had expected, it was a chaotic mess. You’re not sure how long you were staring at Jason and his project, but the ringing of a cowbell brought you back to reality.
“Lunchtime everyone! Leave your macaroni art here to dry and meet in the mess hall.” Everyone started getting up from their seats and lining up at the main mess hall doors. You seen Jason slipping away and enter a side door of the mess hall building. Assuming from earlier that his mother was the camp chef and he probably ate food with her in the kitchen, part of you wished you could do the same.
The day continued with a short nature walk in the surrounding woods, a few games to introduce ourselves to each other, and dinner in the mess hall. You still haven’t heard anything about changing cabins, so you sneak back to your shared cabin after dinner. The last thing you wanted to do was sit around a campfire singing songs, so you thought there’d be no harm in hiding out in your cabin until bedtime.
You snuck in quietly, not sure if your other two cabinmates were inside. Surprisingly only Jason was there, he sat on his bed admiring his macaroni mountain sculpture he made earlier. When he spotted you walking in his face flushed pink and he quickly turned his body to avoid eye contact with you, shaking slightly. You felt your heart droop, you were not a bully by any means and had no intention of being one towards him. “Uh hi, my name’s (Y/N).” You introduce yourself to the boy, he gives you a quick glance and looks away again. “I, uh, really like your art project.” He still doesn’t look at you, or say anything, you feel a little awkward just standing there. You’ve never heard him talk so you aren’t even sure if he can.
Before you can say another word, the cabin door creaks open and Ms. Voorhees shuffles in with a large pile of cookbooks in her arms. She gives you a quick, suspicious look and walks over to her son. You glance over as the strange looking boy twists around and gives his mother the biggest, cutest, crooked toothy smile. Showing her his macaroni mountain, she sets the books on his bed and finds a tack to proudly pin her son’s art to the cabin wall. She gave him a long hug and sat with him on his bed. “Would you like to help me pick out breakfast, for tomorrow?” Jason nodded profusely, he loved helping his mother as much as he could.
Not wanting to bother them, you pretend to shuffle through your suitcase contemplating unpacking just to waste time. You didn’t bring any toys or books so there isn’t much you could do besides that. You don’t stray too far into your thoughts, you’re half interested in what breakfast Ms Voorhees is gonna make tomorrow so you try to listen in on the pair across the room. You glance at them every few minutes and a few times you catch Jason peering at you from behind his mother.
He probably doesn’t have many friends, or any at all, and your brain starts daydreaming wildly of little Jason being all alone, making your heart hurt. You figuratively try to put yourself in his shoes and all you wanna do is give him a hug. You pitied the poor boy, and made a mental note to yourself to try to befriend him in the future. Before you could continue imagining a friendship with Jason, Counselor Cassie walks in to reprimand you for not sticking with the group by the campfire and not telling anyone where you went.
Promising not to do it again she lets you stay in the cabin for the rest of the night. A little embarrassed that Jason and his mom witnessed you getting in trouble. Feeling your face heat up you quickly jump into your bed and get beneath the covers, squeezing your eyes shut hoping to fall asleep as quickly as possible.
You groggily wake up to another obnoxious cow bell, still in your t-shirt and jeans from yesterday. Thankfully Jason and his mother were already gone to make breakfast, you slowly change into new clothes and head out to the mess hall.
After breakfast the counselors gathered up all the campers announcing that today will be a scavenger hunt and to get into groups of 2 or 3. A majority of the kids had already picked their groups, and there were still plenty of other kids for you to pair up with. But you assume Jason will probably be the last to find a partner, giving you your chance to befriend him. Pretty quickly spotting him standing a little behind the crowd, you slowly approach him.
“hey, uh, Jason do you wanna be my partner?” He jumps a little and gives you a strange look like his emotions were a mix of surprised, happy, and suspicious. He averts his gaze to to ground and nods, taking a step back from you. Trying to not make him any more uneasy you look down at the scavenger hunt list of clues, you were never very good at riddles but you try your best to decipher each clue. “I think this one has to do with birds…..or a birdhouse? I don’t know where that’d be though.” Jason’s face lit up, he knew exactly where that was since this wasn’t his first year at the camp.
The mute boy gently grabbed your wrist and excitedly pointing to a clearing behind the cabins. “Oh it’s there?” He nods quickly and you let him drag you to the clearing, his hand never letting go of your wrist, but always keeping a gentle grip. And sure enough there was the bird house, you could see a little folded paper in the small circle doorway but you’re too short to reach. Luckily Jason was just a bit taller than you and snatched it proudly setting it into your hands. You read the clue out loud to him, and Jason perks up again thinking he knows where the next clue would be. You can't help but to smile at his excitement, it's the first time you seen him look happy when he wasn't around his mother. Lost in your thoughts you let the strange looking boy drag you around looking for each clue.
Jason and you had managed to get lost a few times, especially when he showed you some of his favorite spots to look around. He had remembered where the counselors had hidden clues in previous years, hoping it would be the same this year. You had somehow managed to trip and fall into a shallow creek that led into the lake. A small frog jumping on your head had Jason giggling like crazy, his laugh had made the embarrassing moment worth it though you thought. It felt special to see Jason becoming more and more comfortable with you over time and you definitely didn't want it to end anytime soon.
Unluckily the two of you didn’t have much luck finding a majority of the clues and the winners we’re announced about an hour later. You feel bummed but you can see the total disappointment in Jason’s face, “It’s alright Jason, we did our best.” You reassure him with a pat on his back. He beams back at you with a similar crooked smile he had given his mother yesterday, and that made you feel good. You hoped this was the start to a long lasting friendship.
Since the scavenger hunt ended sooner than the counselors anticipated, we were given some free time before lunch. You can see Jason fidget, his smile gone, you weren’t his partner anymore so there was no reason for you to stay near him. He sat at the nearest picknic table with a sad look in his eye that hurt your heart again. “Do you mind if I stay with you until lunch? You’re my first and only friend here.” His gaze ripping from the table to your face, he had a mixture of emotions on his face again. Friends? He couldn’t believe you just called him your friend, he felt like he wanted to cry.
“wow gross, that kid I’d sitting with the freak!” You can hear the mumbles of kids around you, you had completely forgotten they were even there. They continued to gossip about the two of you and you could see Jason lower his head in shame. That made your blood boil, how dare they say that, how cruel can they be??? Youve dealt with your fair share of bullies in the past but you weren't going to take much more of this, before you even realize it you’re standing up pointing to the group of kids laughing at you. “That’s not funny, you’re not funny, Jasons my friend…and you can….you can…just..” you can hear them giggling and mocking you again, just making you feel even worse. “YOU CAN JUST FUCK OFF!!!” you scream at them as loud as you can, your hands reach for the gravel rocks on the ground and chuck a few as hard as you can toward the crowd of kids. Most of them miss but you managed to hit a girl in the head, her screams immediately alerting the counselor a few feet away. You can see the tears in Jason's eyes as the counselor dragged you away.
Lying on your bed, glaring at the ceiling, you had gotten reprimanded for hurting that girl and had to stay in the cabin for the rest of the day besides lunch and dinner. The echos of kids laughing at you as you were dragged away by a counselor, you were still fuming as it replayed in your head. You’re sure that you had embarrassed Jason and probably only made things worse. Why couldn’t anyone just BE NICE??
It was so boring being stuck in the cabin all day with nothing to do. You had glanced over at the Voorhees side of the cabin, it seems like theyre here every summer with how personalized the cabin was. Years of Jason's artwork hung on the walls, photos of him and his mother here and there. There was even a baby photo of Jason hung near Ms Voorhees bed, you couldn't help but smile. Jason was definitely an odd looking baby, but he still looked cute in his own way. You really hoped you weren't his first friend here, he didn't deserve to be picked on.
Out of nowhere you hear a woman’s shrill scream coming from outside, maybe someone got hurt? you thought. You can still hear her screaming from inside the cabin and something in your gut twists. Her screams sound like pure terror in your ears, you know you can’t leave the cabin but you just gotta know what is going on outside. Slowly opening the door and peering outside you can see several camp counselors run toward the lake, and a group of kids running from it. Youre not even sure why you started running towards the lake but your legs wouldn’t stop until you were at the top of the hill looking over the greenish blue water. Your heart drops and shatters. You can see Ms Voorhees in the shallow ends of the lake, holding her sons body. You can tell from her distress that something horrible happened, but how? What is going on? What happened to Jason? Your mind was racing with too many thoughts. Was he alive? Is he.....is he dead?
Before you could even comprehend what was fully happening a counselor was forcefully pulling you back towards the group of other campers. It felt like everything was in slow motion, no one said anything to you or would even look you in the eye. You can feel the meal you had earlier coming back up.
That was the last time your parents ever sent you to summer camp. This was a year you would never forget for the rest of your life. But it wouldn't be your last time seeing the strange looking boy again.
To be continued..