Top Bunk

DAY 2

"Welcome, campers!" Lionel announces to the one hundred fifty campers gathered around the bonfire pit, hearty voice and big smile. "Or to some of you, welcome back!"

El shifts a bit, resisting the urge to scratch because there's like, a pre-pubescent boy two feet away from her.

"Camp Ashwood is happy to have all of you here," Lionel continues. "Both boys and girls alike, we hope you enjoy your time with us here. Now, to orient you with what usually happens here..."

Must not scratch. Must not scratch. Must not fucking scratch.

"The camp will be divided into two; girls and boys. You'll be competing with each other throughout summer. You'll all be scored according to your performance here and at the end of the month, we'll see who the winners are. Most of you are probably familiar with the team names but in case you don't know, the girls are the Ashes, the boys are the Woods."

The males in the camp snicker at this, and maybe El would too, if she doesn't want to claw at her crotch. (It's actually incredibly disgusting, in retrospect. Ashes. Woods. Think about it. And of course El's itchy crotch is gross, too.)

"There are ten cabins, which fifteen of you will stay in -" El's always thought that fifteen in a cabin thing is a stretch, but the cabins are pretty big so that cancels it out "- and there'll be a counselor assigned to each cabin, who'll accompany you throughout your activities, like kayaking, arts & crafts, hiking, dodgeball, archery, rock climbing, so on and so forth. We've already assigned you to your respective cabins and counselors. Oh! Speaking of the counselors, why don't we introduce them?"

The campers errupt in surprisingly enthusiastic applause. Among that, El can hear familiar names; mostly Grace and Finn and Isaac. On his way to the stage, Finn tugs on El's arm as if saying, yes you're coming now get up. El gets up.

One by one, the nine other counselors introduce themselves, saying shit about how much they're excited for this and how much they love kids and how they want to make friends and El just scoffs because they're all so eager and enthusiastic, and El is here because she doesn't want to drop out of college. El knows she won't be able to fake that enthusiasm, either.

"This is our newest counselor," Lionel gestures for El to come beside him, "Elizabeth Thropp!"

El waves at the campers, already feeling feint. "H-hi."

Grace snorts from behind her. This snaps some sense into El. She can do this. Extra credit.

"I'm Elizabeth...well, you should just call me El. Yeah," she glances desperately at Lionel, pleading for him to let her off the hook.

"Tell us a little bit about yourself, El," Lionel prods.

She tries not to roll her eyes. God, she hates crowds. "Well..." she thinks of something interesting to say but she can't because all these people are staring at her and she doesn't like it. "I uh - I think I have poison ivy in my crotch," she blurts out. El realizes what she just said. One kid laughs. And another. And another. Soon, everyone is laughing at her.

"That's funny, El," Lionel laughs along uncomfortably. He pushes El to Finn and tells him to bring her to the infirmary.

"I can get there myself," she insists.

"Don't be ridiculous," Finn murmurs, grabbing her forearm. "Let's go."

"Toodles," Grace smirks, patting El on the shoulder. She promptly wipes her hand on her shorts.

⌚ 9:12 AM

"I knew there was something suspicious about those plants you were sitting on a while ago," Finn murmurs. He's looking at the ceiling because, well, because El is in an oatmeal bath (submerged from the collarbone down, with the exception of her arms which are clutching the side of the oatmeal-filled basin) in the infirmary and her crotch is itching slightly less but it still is and she's thoroughly embarrassed.