Chapter Text
Julie gave her a soft look, reaching over and placing a delicate hand on her daughter’s back, “Please just look out for them, ok?”
Vivian continued to stare at her phone, unbothered to look up, “I can handle him mom.”
A crunching noise got louder and louder. Until the sight of shoes appeared behind the phone’s background. Vivian looked up to meet blue eyes belonging to a woman, “Hey, you’re a new face. What’s your name?”
Julie stepped forward, lightly pushing Vivian up, “Her name is Vivian Black. She is here with her brother, Walter.” She looked the shorter girl up and down, noticing the light blue color of her shirt and the lanyard that hung down her neck, “I assume you are a counselor here?”
The girl chuckled, “Yes I am. Anyways, I just came up to tell you that check in just opened up. If you want, I could check you in now.” Julie nodded, “Alright, come on up to the desk.”
As she approached the plastic table, a sunny girl greeted her, “Emma! Get over here, I already checked in two.” They clapped their hands together, in position to arm wrestle, “Bet you I can check in more than you.” She snickered, leaning with an elbow on the table, with the arm with too many bandages than what had to be good for her, pointing at the girl in question.
Emma scoffed, folding her arms over themself, “As if, Gwen. There isn’t any point in accepting since we both know I’m gonna win.”
“Suure, not that you are… scared or anything rigghhht?” She held certain words, looking slightly downwards with her eyes challenging.
“Oh you’re on.” Emma looked back at Vivian, “Come on up, I got a challenge to win here.” She sat down and began to scan the document in front of her, “Vivian Black… Here you are. You are in cabin 13. Here is your packet and uniform shirt.”
A hand was held out with her palm up for the ‘happy’ camper, who looked at the girl’s hand and back up to her face before lightly slapping the hand.
They both looked at each other for a moment. The counselor just stared before chuckling, “Sorry, I meant to ask for your phone.”
Heat rushed into Vivian’s face as she quickly shoved her phone into the other girl’s hand before quickly walking away. Emma’s eyes trailed after the camper, a hint of amusement evident in her eyes.
A violent check off the paper rose above to the air, “That’s ten for me!” Gwen exclaimed.
A look of disappointment and confusion painted itself on the brown haired girl, “No way you little liar.”
“Fine, fine. It was five though.”
“Gwen, I don’t think shoving packets in people’s hands and sending them on their merry way counts??”
“Excuses, excuses.”
A girl walked up to Vivian, “Hey, my name is Jessie. Jessie Anderson.” She offered a hand to the black haired girl, “What’s your name?”
“I-”
A blond man with his hair slicked back walked up to the middle of the scene. He wore a fancy white dress shirt and black dress pants, obviously not suited for camping nor the wilderness. His pale skin seemed too perfect, unworked. He wasn’t particularly tall and his glasses shined the light from the sun off.
“Okay everyone gather around!” Mr. Hank’s voice spread around the area, “Vivian Black, Abby Thompson, Lauren Peterson, Olive Jackson, Jessie Anderson, Kendra Marshall, Mike Hanley, Walter Black, and Brian Green, you’re in cabins thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, and a counselor will be assigned to your activities as a group, known as the Beavers.”
Brian quietly shouted, “Beavers? Dude that fucking stinks.”
“Come on, give the beaver props for being the second biggest rodent.”
Vivian mumbled, “Second to capybaras though.”
Jessie put her hand back out, “As I was saying, my name is Jessie. What’s yours?”
Vivian took the hand slowly while leaving her other hand in the pocket of her jacket, “Vivian.”
“Nice to meet you Vivian. So, what cabin are you in?”
“Cabin thirteen.”
“Aw nuts, I’m in cabin twelve. But I think that you are sharing a cabin with Lauren Peterson and Abby Thompson.” She turned around and pointed to a blond girl with a ponytail who was next to a black braided girl, “That one right there. Though I should warn you, that cabin does have a decent amount of damage.”
A smirk appeared on Vivian’s face, her arms crossed once more, “Damage? What’s the story behind that?”
An expression that could not be described by anything other than a grimace appeared, “Well it isn’t exactly my place to tell…” Suddenly, the leaves on the ground were gorgeous and much more interesting to Jessie than the conversation that they were having. Very carefully, as if breathing or stepping too loud would cause the entire camp to explode, Jessie walked away, rejoining with people with the names ‘Marshall’ and ‘Jackson’ on their tags.
The same brown haired girl with blue lining on the tip of her hair walked up, not entirely enthusiastic nor present, “Ok people, I will be your counselor this summer. You can call me Emma. Now, let’s head on over to your cabins.” She pointed to an area with many logs, “Meet back here in an hour or I will drag your asses out of your cabins.”
Vivan speed walked over to her cabin, not particularly fast (in her head) but before she realized it, the others were five feet from where they started. Opening the door, the sight of a bunk bed and one single greeted her.
The obvious choice to her was the single bed.
Before Vivian was able to throw her bag on top of the single, Lauren quickly shoved her way through and jumped on the bed, groaning and stretching with her arms above her head.
Well, I guess I can go fuck myself then.
Lauren turned back towards Vivian, “Sorry, I just really wanted the single.” She looked at Vivian’s hand, as if debating, “My name is La-”
The dark haired girl interjected, smiling as nicely as she could muster at the moment, “Lauren Peterson, I know. Don’t sweat it, you can have the single.”
“You know me?”
“Jessie told me about you. Or really, just told me that I would be sharing a cabin with you for the summer.”
Lauren looked towards the wooden boards on the floor and rubbed her thumb back and forth on her other forearm, “Well, we should rest up before going back outside, right?”
“I guess.” Vivian turned around. Abby laid on the bottom bunk, a blanket over herself. Her bag was open and the bed was lined with decorations.
Climbing up to the top bunk, Vivian threw her bag on the bed, before laying down and using said backpack as a pillow. I want to go home.
Buildings towered over her, the evening sky just the right shades of pink, orange, and red. The smell of salty air overwhelmed her senses. Did her mom pick her up out of camp?
“Hey Vivian!” A distant voice shouted from behind. The voice was familiar, too familiar to be a coincidence.
Turning around, Vivian saw not her dear friend, but her counselor. The last sight she saw before her arm got pulled and took her head with it into the short rails.
“Get up. I’m not against dragging you out of this bed.” Vivian quickly got up and jumped down the ladder. “Let’s go join the others at the logs.” They both began to walk to the central area. The pebbles accommodating their path as they moved. Voices spun around, people ran after others. “Ok people, I have work to do. We need to go to the cafeteria. You all can mingle with each other later.”
Groans spread throughout the group but they listened nonetheless. One particular blonde scooted up to the counselor. Jabbering on about something as the counselor gave half-assed nods and responses.
Approaching the cafeteria, a fume of aroma took over her nose. A mix of spices; cinnamon, cumin, maybe a little bit of turmeric.
Emma led all of the campers up to the door before turning around and entering through a different door.
Vivian sat down at a table close to the kitchen when Walter had a new brilliant idea. As he slid his food tray much too close to herself, he began, “Hey Viv, my dear younger sister, how would you feel if I told you… We should steal our phones back?”
Vivian gave her brother a glance before pushing his tray further away, “My dear older brother. As much of a good idea as that sounds,” her voice dripping with sarcasm, “No.”
Walter scoffed, dramatically throwing his arms out, “And to think, you, my dear YOUNGER sister, dares to flat out reject me?” He tapped the edge of his tray, whilst watching other tables be full of life. Friends chattering, bonds forming, food truly was the best thing in life. “But I am serious, we can be able to talk with our friends.”
“What will we do when our phones are dead?”
“Puchki can just take them to her cabin and charge them. Cause she has her ‘special’ counselor privileges.” He put air quotes before turning to his food and gobbling it up.
A brown haired girl with a bright smile on her face was talking. Following behind her, a brown haired girl with blue ends appeared, her eyes half drooped and her shoulders slouched. Gwen dragged Emma by the wrist finger, pointing at the table where both Walter and Vivian resided. “Hey Di, Da, this is Emma, she is my counselor buddy here, the one that got me this job here.”
Vivian looked up, putting the previous conversation aside. The girl in front of her, the same as the one that checked her in, ate her food without paying Vivian any mind. “I’m Vivian, I believe I was the first person you checked in for your little contest. How did you fare in that sad competition anyways?”
Gwen jumped in, “I won that! It wasn’t even close.”
Emma dropped her fork, gawking, “You call five more people a landslide??”
“Absolutely.”
“Anyways, nice to formally meet you. Since I saw you this morning, this rascal keeps talking my ear off about you and Walter. She said you were the mean one and Walter was the pokemon obsessed one.”
At the mention of pokemon, Walter’s food covered face looked up, rapidly looking both ways before stopping to look at Emma, “Pokemon?”
Emma looked in the pocket of her jacket, “Yep, I was told to give you this too.” She pulled out a single pack that had a mega evolved Mewtwo Y on the wrapper and handed it to the boy.
He eagerly snatched the pack out of the counselors hand, yet careful enough to not damage or bend the cards in any way. His eyes sparkled as he held this new found treasure while looking at Emma, “I dibs you. You’re mine now. Mine.”
The girl in question pointed at herself, “Gay.”
“Dibs in a you’re-my-favorite-person-here way.”
Gwen jumped, her mouth wide and face painted with betrayal, “Wow, my dear brother, I am right here.”
“Well, you didn’t get me a treasure Puchki.”
Vivian looked at the three, “I swear I was told something about counselors not being allowed to fraternize with the campers.”
Gwen tilted her head at those words, “You don’t want to see me? My dear dear sister? Also,” She pulled out her phone, “Fraternization is described as ‘To associate on friendly terms with an enemy or opposing group, often in violation of discipline or orders.’”
Emma interrupted, “Well by that definition, we aren’t breaking any rules, we will stick to the other definition. To associate with each other in a sibling-like or congenial way.”
Walter held his opened pack and cards in the air, “I second that definition!”
Gwen raised her hand above her head, “I third that!”
Vivian squinted at the trio, “How do you even know that?”
Emma rebounded, “I am but a humble supplier of the words of the dictionary.”
Walter offered a fist, “To congeniality?”
Emma copied him, shooting back, “To congeniality.”
A certain blonde, noticing the excitement, said a couple of brief words to her friends before walking to the commotion. Lauren set up a bright smile and placed a hand on Emma’s shoulder before taking a seat between the two counselors. Leaving Gwen excluded and left with her siblings. Instead of acknowledging the girl, Emma found more interest in the food on her plate.
Lauren’s lip puffed out but she quickly plastered a smile over her pout, “So Emma, what are we doing for our activity tomorrow?”
Emma took a larger bite than normal, reducing her whole portion of mashed potatoes in half, “Dodgeball,” she said while chewing.