Chapter Text
“A separate bag for swimsuits, really? How many do you need?!” Riley's mom demanded when she found it in the back of the car while unpacking the bags.
“Eight!” Riley answered promptly. “One for every day of the week in case I can't wash them often, plus an extra in case someone forgot.”
“You won't feel so good about swimming when you see a catfish the size of your head.” Her other mom (she used ‘Ma’ for simplicity), said.
“The size of my head…?” Riley shifted on her feet nervously.
“Yep! So you better give us an extra long goodbye in case we never see you again!”
Mom slapped Ma on the back of the head. “Stop scaring her. It was either this or the pool every day.”
Mom squinted at Riley. “Do you have a swimsuit on right now?! How do you even have this many?!”
“It's what I ask for every birthday and Christmas.” Riley explained.
“Do you ever do anything but swim..?” Ma asked.
“If your camp plan works, maybe soon.”
…
“We're here!” Bella's mom says as they approach the camp.
She looks up from her rulebook she was reading all the way there, just in case. “Does that sign say ‘sign'...with a backwards G?”
Her parents exchange looks, clearly wondering if they should've sent their kid here. But it's a bit late to go back now.
“Come on, get out of the car so we can get your stuff out!” Her dad directs, already opening his door.
Bella closes her rulebook and hops out of the car, but instead of helping her parents struggle with her overpacking problem, she stands beside them continuing to read.
“It says that we can have as many bags as we want, I told you.” She says to her parents who had been questioning her every move when she was packing.
“You sure you're going to need all of these clothes and extra things…?” Her mom double-checks.
With a groan, Bella puts her rulebook down and starts doing things on her own, clearly not wanting to be questioned further about why she packed 3 extra of everything.
…
Penny took her headphones off for the first time in hours as she surveyed the other kids that had pulled up.
Swimsuit under skirt and bows in hair…probably a little crazy or just wants to get in a pool.
And then there’s the girl with 400 bags jumping around like a maniac with a book.
“I wonder if crazy is contagious..” She wondered aloud.
“Don’t say that!” Her dad scolded.
“This place is either a death trap or a mental asylum. Bet they drown kids in the lake..”
“Don’t say that!”
“That one’s a serial killer.” she points to the blonde girl climbing out of her car.
“Don’t say that…” Dad says despairingly.
“See you in five weeks…or never again!” Penny called, marching away with bags in hands.
“DON’T SAY THAT!!!”
…
“You forgot your toothbrush?!”
“Sorry bro..” Iris shrugs.
Emmett swats away a bug. “Can I have the bug spray?”
“I forgot that too..”
“But you didn’t forget the hot glue gun, or thirty pounds of glitter, or beads, or twenty packs of Pixie Stix?”
“What do you want from me?! Oh, and before you answer, I probably forgot that too.” Iris jokes.
“We’re going to the camp store…”
…
“Is this it?” Sarah’s dad asked, skeptical, considering the horrible sign.
“Yes-Sarah, put down the book.” Her mom demanded.
Sarah sits up, glaring at her parents who had forced her to come here. “It’s about plants, it’s not just a book.” She corrects them.
“Whatever, put it down, and get out of the car. We’ll pick you up when camp's over.”
She rolls her eyes and moves to open her door, “Are you not going to help me with my stuff?”
“No, you need to learn independence.”
“Isn’t that the exact opposite of why I’m here…” Sarah mumbles, but gets out to get her stuff anyways.
“Don’t talk back.” Her dad added in.
…
“Oh yay, we’re here at torture- the camp.” Bailey says, completely deadpan.
“If you didn’t sit in a room all day away from natural light writing creepy poems and studying how to read palms, I wouldn’t have to send you here.” Patty, her less-than-legal guardian points out.
“I read too.”
“Yes, that makes it much better,” Patty says dryly.
“Joke’s on you, I packed about five hoodies and pairs of leggings, everything else is filled with books and flashlight batteries.”
“It was before I repacked it.”
“I swear if I see a single dress I will burn it.”
“Just…go easy on the other kids? Don’t alienate everyone by- by speaking Polish, or loudly predicting everyone’s death or something. Not everyone is as smart as you.”
“Wyobraźcie sobie, jak inteligentny byłbym, gdybym wykorzystywał pozostałe dziewięćdziesiąt procent możliwości mojego mózgu.” Bailey replies.
“Nie chcę o tym myśleć.” Patty answers back with a grin.
“Goodbye, Bailey.”
Bailey scoops up her bags and begins to walk away.
“Będę za tobą tęsknić!”
…
“Alright get your stuff, girl.” Wren’s aunt said to her.
Her aunt had been trying to talk to her the entire ride— Play games, like eye spy, or stuff like that— but she had just sat, staring blank out the front window, not talking.
Her very much absent parents, requested she did something good for once in her life and be social, even though they didn’t care enough to keep her around them, so why would they care about what she does?
Wren rolls her eyes and gets out of the car, silently. Her aunt follows suit, and tries to help.
“I am more than capable.” Wren says, giving her a side-eye.
Her aunt just shrugs and helps anyway. “At least try to have fun, maybe make at least one friend, okay?”
“Whatever. I’m not going to, and my parents will just be more disappointed for whatever reason.”
“Well, Wren, you organized a group to graffiti your cafeteria…”
“They deserved it. It’s not my fault if I had a good cause. That's what you always say…” Wren says, condescendingly.
Her aunt sighs and closes the backseat door, handing Wren one of her bags. “Just…try. This once. For me?”
“Fine.”
…
Dahlia hops out of her car.
“I can’t believe you’re sending me here…”
“Honey, you’ve been getting into fights at school. I wasn’t sure what else to do,” her mom sighs.
“They all deserved it! It was…justice!”
“Justice and revenge-”
“-are not the same thing.” Dahlia finishes.
She grabs her bags and starts walking towards the cabins.
This place looks…fun. If anyone here tries me, they’re gonna pay. Just like back home. Maybe I’m the problem…
Someone bumps into her from behind with an ‘oops!’
“Watch it-! Whoa…”
Hot girl…this is an entirely different story.
The blonde girl with vitiligo skin who bumped into her brushes her hair out of her face. “I’m sorry! So so so so so so sorry! I’m really clumsy!! Plus I forgot to take my ADHD meds…" She laughs a little.
“It- it’s fine.”
“I’m Iris, by the way!”
“Dahlia.” She says, still a little dazed.
“Okay-bye-now!” Iris says, all in one breath, before running off.
Summer just got a lot more interesting.
…
Felicity yanks her bags from the mysterious cave that is the trunk of her dad’s car. Another bonks her on the head.
Stupid bag, stupid camp…
Felicity sighs, “remember your anger management techniques…”
Breathe in, breathe out.
Don’t get lost in the emotions, we can’t afford to lose the thread right now.
Felicity’s mom had named her that because she insisted that she’d been ‘born lucky,’ thinking that she’d save her parents' failing marriage.
Felicity always insisted that she’d been born angry.
Maybe if she’d really been a lucky charm, her mom would still be around.
Don’t worry about it, you’re going to have a nice summer.
She mumbles a quick goodbye to her dad and stomps off.
…
Angie didn’t arrive with family like everyone else.
Angie arrived in a taxi that the matron of the orphanage paid for.
The driver- an elderly woman- had tried to make conversation with her at the beginning, but had gradually fallen silent as Angie stared at her blankly, the matron’s last words to her ringing in her ears.
“This is your last chance, Angelina. Go to camp. Be normal. Prove you’re not a psychopath.”
Angie grabbed her threadbare bag- second hand, like her jeans and shirt.
Some people thrifted for nice second-hand things. Angie’s things weren't that sort of thing. Angie’s things were donated.
Angie slowly approached the camp entrance.
She knew what Matron would say about the sort of people she saw walking toward the camp.
“Look at those kids, Angelina. They were brought up properly! You were dragged. Not my fault your mother never did anything to teach you..”
No thinking about Mom, Angie reprimanded herself sharply.
She sighed and picked up her pace.
…
Emmy was dressed in a brand new outfit, which she was quite excited about. Her caretaker at the psychiatric hospital nearby had taken her out to go shopping, she'd need things for camp after all.
She had been sent there when she was pretty young, taken from her not so great household. She had to be traumatized, right? And they needed to fix her. As usual.
Emmy didn't seem to ever mind, she in a way liked it there. It was her home after all. But getting out and meeting all these new kids would be fun too.
“Again, are you sure you had your medical kits we packed, Em?” Her caretaker asks, looking back at her through the front mirror.
“Yep! I have one for every possible emergency.” Emmy nods excitedly.
Her caretaker sighs, “Just…be careful. If anything goes wrong, we will come and get you. Okay?”
“Got it! Are we here?” Emmy asks as she looks out the window, seeing the scenery change.
“Yeah…I think. This is where they said…right?” Her caretaker seemed skeptical and worried, but they were always over protective of her. She didn't know why.
Her caretaker unlocks the childlock to let Emmy out. “I'll help you get your things.”
Emmy stands nearby and watches the other kids get out of their various cars, she notices the taxi driving away and makes a mental note of it. “Can I go now?”
“Yeah just…remember what I said.”
Be careful. Be cautious. Basically her daily affirmations, she thinks as she happily and innocently takes her bags and runs to the entrance.
…
“PAY ATTENTION TO ME.” Chloe demands, attempting to grab Blaine's phone out of his hands. He had spent pretty much the entire ride to the camp messaging his boyfriend, who also happened to be going.
“One second!” He says, trying to push his little sister away.
“You said that 30 minutes ago!!” She groans.
“Break it up, we're here. You two don't need to fight anymore.” Their mom says.
Chloe huffs and turns away, sitting back normally in her seat, muttering things under her breath.
“Why do I have to be here?” Blaine asks.
“We told you. Because your sister wanted to come and we didn't want her to be lonely.”
The siblings glare at each other.
“I'm not lonely…” Chloe mumbles.
…
Cassidy practically vibrates in their seat, adorned in all their favourite hairclips and bracelets, looking like a rainbow.
“Are you sure that's comfortable?” Their mom asks.
“Yep!! Are we there?”
“Yeah…just try to take a chill pill. You wouldn't want to scare off anybody….again.” Their mom says with a sigh as they pull up to the camp.
“Okay!! Did you pack my outfits?” Cassidy hurriedly gets out of the car.
“Yes….all of them.” Cassidy's mom gestures to a suitcase just barely closed and on the verge of bursting open.
“Yay!! I'm going to have some much fun! Look at all those people!!” They squeal, pointing at the other kids.
“Have fun but…not too much. Please. I don't want another call that you started a body painting business…”
“But I made money!”
“And you spent all of it in one day on stickers.”
“....Still!”
…
Sadie eagerly jumped out of the van…only for one of her too-large shirt sleeves to get caught in the door.
You hardly got anything to yourself with three siblings. She was wearing her eldest sister’s old skirt and brother’s old shirt.
“Bye!” She yelled over her shoulder and rushed towards the camp.
A brand new place to explore, new friends and enemies to make, and best of all no one was related to her. At least…she was pretty sure. She had a large family, after all.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sadie spotted a cute girl with bows in her hair.
Well, she thought happily, this’ll be a good summer as long as she isn’t a cousin.
…
Cameron got to camp in a police car.
Not because he was a juvenile delinquent, but because his mom worked for the police station.
He pulled out his phone and gave his boyfriend, Blaine, a text. I’m here.
“Cam,” his mom said in an exasperated sort of voice, “don’t spend all summer with your boyfriend. I want you to make friends.”
“I have friends at home!”
“New friends.”
Cameron rolled his eyes.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you unpack?”
“Are you sure you want to help me unpack my collection of guitar picks?”
“You brought those?!”
“Always.”
“You and your band…”
“I’m a solo act…for now!”
…
Didi hummed to herself as she double-checked her bag of camping supplies.
“You are aware that this camp has…supplies? Right?? And food and air conditioning??” Her dad asked.
“I’m aware!” Didi answered happily.
“I know you’re excited for camp but I think you’ve missed the point. This is supposed to be fun!” Her other dad reminded her.
“Death-defying experiences are fun!”
“You will not be defying death this summer..”
“Shows what you know! Everything could cause death!” Yelled a girl as she walked past.
“See! That girl gets it!” Didi said.
She grabbed her bags and wandered away, leaving her dads looking faintly worried.