David Frost hated Mondays, they were a violation of his sleeping rights. But today would be one of the most exciting Mondays of his life as it was the day of the junior school camp. So instead of sleeping in, David woke up extra early to arrive at school in time.
As he stepped into the year nine area, groups of junior students happily walked to the front of the school, where three buses were parked. They were not his regular buses that escorted him to school and back home every day. These buses were a lot bigger in size and he assumed that these vehicles were their ticket to camp.
He decided to follow the crowd and searched around for any sign of Jackson. The refreshing morning breeze danced peacefully around him. The sky was also surprisingly clear, with the sun adding warmth and joy to everyone around him. To his left, two tall boys were walking towards one of the buses as they talked loudly about their favourite sport. To his right, a group of five younger girls were giggling cheerfully as they skipped their way to the front. It really did seem that everyone was looking forward to the camp.
The school bell rang, and teachers began ushering students into the buses. David noticed that his sister and her two friends were entering the bus in the middle, but when he tried to follow them, a teacher stopped him and told him that year nine students were to go to the bus at the front. Looks like it's one bus per year level. He wondered if there were any juniors who were not attending camp. Would they have to continue on with school projects and assignments?
David found Jackson sitting in the very back of the bus, but as he was one of the last students to step inside, he was forced to take one of the few remaining seats in the front rows. It was either the seat next to the huge, intimidating guy that seemed to have a permanent death stare plastered across his face or the seat next to a girl who was staring out the window. Not wanting to get his teeth knocked out during the trip, he sat next to the girl.
After placing his school bag at his feet, he strapped himself in and waited patiently. The camp was going to be for three days and two nights, but he did not pack much. He only brought along the necessities such as clothing and his toothbrush, as everything else would be provided at camp. He looked down at his faded blue jeans and wondered if his clothing choice would be suitable for the first day of camp. He was also wearing a white t-shirt with a nice black jacket, but he was beginning to think that shorts instead of jeans and an old shirt would be better for any camp activities that might become messy. However, he was still new to the school and wanted to give people a good first impression.
Their bus began to start moving, followed by a sudden uproar of excited chatter across the vehicle. David glanced at the girl sitting beside him, who was still gazing out the window. She had long black hair that flowed past her shoulders. He felt relieved at her similar clothing choice. She was wearing black skinny jeans and a white singlet that exposed her athletic light brown arms. His eyes traced her slim and shapely body figure before he quickly forced himself to look away. He felt bad for staring at a girl who did not even seem to notice his presence.
As if on cue, the girl turned to face him. Her pretty dark brown eyes quickly looked him up and down and he instantly felt conscious of what he was wearing and whether his hair was okay. She noticed his uneasiness and smiled. "Hey, you're David right?" she asked.
Judging from her face, he could tell that she was Asian, but she did not have a strong accent. "Yeah, how did you know?
"I've heard about you from some of your classmates in 9B. So, are you really from Canada?"
David was confused with her question. Stoneville High was a culturally diverse school, but perhaps Canadians coming to Australia was not so common. "Yeah." He paused and thought about what he could ask her to keep the conversation going. It was going to be a long trip, and even though he enjoyed quiet trips at times, this was a good opportunity to get to know a girl from his year level. An attractive girl too. "So what's your name? And where are you from?"
"My name is Estella Tsuki, but my classmates in 9A call me Ella. I was born and raised here, but my mother is from Japan and my father is from China. So I guess I'm half Japanese and half Chinese."
David nodded and returned her smile. "That's cool. So Estella, can you speak Japanese or Chinese?"
The volume of noisy chatter increased from the back of the bus, making it more difficult to hear. "Call me Ella," she said with a wink. "And I can only speak Japanese. My father never taught me how to speak Mandarin Chinese, and we usually just speak English at home."
As the bus continued to drive along the busy road, David and Estella continued to make small talk. David had learned that Estella was talented in both sport and academics but she made no mention of her friends. Does she even have any friends? Surely she does. About an hour later, the bus travelled through a small idle town that was surrounded by barren plains and farmland. The vehicle slowed down as it came towards what seemed to be the town's local park and parked at the side of the road.
"This does not look like a campsite. Do you know what's happening?" Estella asked.
Students all around them exchanged confused glances and some began shouting questions at the teachers. The bus driver pressed a button and the door opened. Before anyone else could make another remark, one of the teachers stood up and glanced calmly at them.
"Settle down, please. We're not lost and the campsite is still about an hour from here. We have just decided to take a fifteen-minute break in this park. You can have a snack and stretch your legs but no one is to go past those trees," the teacher explained. Her index finger pointed towards a row of tall trees at the end of the park.
Immediately, the teenagers began to scramble to their feet, seize their bags and shove their way out of the cramped bus. It ended up causing a jam at the exit, followed by frustrated groans. The bus driver chuckled at this but the teacher was giving some of the impolite students a death stare.
David was one of the first ones to leave the crowded vehicle and reach the fresh outdoors. As the year eight and seven students were leaving their buses from the left, he searched for his sister and found her amongst the crowd chatting excitedly with two friends.
"Who are you looking for?" a curious voice asked from behind.
He jumped from surprise. He had not heard anyone creep up behind him. He turned around and saw his bus companion. The gentle but firm breezes were blowing her long hair to the side and she struggled to keep it from blocking her face. Rays of light reflected off her tanned skin and he found himself staring at her again.
"Oh, I was just looking out for my sister, Stacey. She's in year eight."
"That's nice of you." Estella nodded encouragingly. "I wish I had siblings sometimes." She stood there with a hand holding her arm, giving David the impression that she was in no rush to go anywhere.
His eyes swept across the field. The juniors were spread out across the field, eating and chatting away as they sat on the soft grass. Jackson had disappeared again and was nowhere in sight. Then again, it was hard to make out the faces of most of the people that were far away from him. He took a few steps away from the bus and sat on the ground, reaching into his bag to pull out an apple. Estella sat opposite him and made eye contact.
"Um, is it okay if I sit with you? I don't really have anyone else to sit with." A sad expression washed over her face.
David tilted his head to the side. "Of course you can. But why is that? Are your friends back at school?"
"No, I just..." Her eyes dropped to the ground.
Was she a loner? "It's okay. I don't really have anyone else to sit with either." David took a bite from his apple and offered her a smile.
Estella cheered up and pulled out a banana from her own bag. A few times, David noticed a nearby gathering of six familiar girls from his year level glaring at their direction. They did not look very happy but he continued to observe them and realised that they were not staring crossly at him, but at Estella. It was not a look of envy, but of hatred and disgust. Was something going on between Estella and those girls?
He looked back at Estella and saw that her gaze was concentrated on the cloudless sky. She was completely unaware of her adoring fans. Soon, the teachers and bus drivers ordered them back into their designated buses before continuing their journey to the campsite. David and Estella sat nearer towards the back of the bus, but they exchanged few words for the remainder of the trip.
❄ ❄ ❄
Even at 11:30 am, the sun was still shining brightly. They had arrived at Camp Saffron and David wondered why the founders had decided to name their camp after a spice, but he was not going to complain. Camp Saffron was situated away from civilisation and in the middle of a huge forest.
The junior students and teachers gathered at the centre of the campsite, where there was a large campfire and an even larger building, which David guessed was the mess hall. Three more adults in bright yellow t-shirts joined them and marched towards the front. Two of them were male, but they all had a symbol that represented saffron on their t-shirts with the words 'Camp Saffron Staff.'
The teachers silenced the noisy students and the tallest person of the three staff members took a step forward towards the crowd. He was bald and muscular but had a friendly smile on his face. "Welcome to Camp Saffron students! I am Gary, the founder of our beloved camp. This is Sally and Eric, and they will be helping with the camp activities. We'll be showing you to your cabins and we wish you a wonderful and fun time at camp!"
Dozens of students cheered loudly and some of them even whistled. Show-offs. In an orderly fashion, the staff each led a year level of students to their cabins and around the area as a tour. The year nine students were to follow Eric, who seemed to be in his early twenties. Even though it was Gary who had given them all a warm welcome, Eric seemed to emit out a friendlier aura. He was not bossy like most adults, and from the way he communicated with them, David could tell that he enjoyed working with teenagers.
"The campfire and mess hall represent the centre of our camp, but I'll now show you our flying fox and giant swing activities," Eric informed.
"What's in that direction? It seems to lead deeper into the darker part of the forest," Estella asked with curiosity.
"Just trees and nothing interesting. I'll now show you the archery range—"
One of the boys suddenly interrupted. "If there's nothing interesting beyond that forest, why is it blocked off with 'keep out' signs?" he challenged.
Eric scratched his head and sighed. "Okay, I'll let you teenagers in on a little secret. Beyond those shadowy trees and warning signs that Gary put up is an old, abandoned house. It's definitely not a haunted house or anything... in case any of you were thinking that." A few people from the crowd chuckled. "However, if any of you are caught going past those signs, you'll have to answer to Sally. And trust me, she's scarier than any ghost you'll ever encounter."
No one bothered to argue with him or ask any more questions and continued to follow behind him quietly. David could only guess at what was going on at the back of everyone's minds. And that was why the abandoned house was blocked off. After the tour was over, they headed towards their cabins to unpack. There were six huge cabins made out of pinewood. Three for boys and three for girls. The two sets of male and female cabins were lined up on opposite sides along the mess hall, which seemed to form an imperfect circle around the huge campfire in the middle.
He and several others stood in front of their specified pinewood cabin. The word 'Cinna' was carved directly above the doorway. Ignoring the peculiar name, they entered the building and gasped at how much bigger it seemed inside. It had two bathrooms, eight bunk beds and a lot of room as well as a table that sat six people at the end. Fortunately for them, it had plenty of windows as well. "Where do the camp staff and teachers sleep?" he asked Jackson, who had been allocated the same cabin as him.
"Probably in that large building behind the mess hall. I saw Eric head there after he left us at our cabin." Jackson tossed his bag next to one of the bunk beds. "You can have the top bunk. I'm too lazy to climb up and down ladders."
David did not argue with Jackson as he did prefer the upper bed. He began unpacking his bag before taking a glance at the bathroom. They had half an hour to unpack and relax before their first camp activity started and so, he decided to take a quick shower before it was time to leave.
He soon found out that rock climbing was their first activity for the boy and girl Cinna cabins. David still had no clue what his cabin name meant, but he had figured that each year level was placed in one of the three cabin names, which indicated not only where they would sleep, but also their groups or 'teams', as Eric had so enthusiastically put. Not that he minded at all, considering he was placed with his age group and friends including Estella and Jackson. He had heard from other people that the other two teams were called 'Orega' and 'Papri'.
The activity took place inside a tall building located on the outskirts of the campsite. There were multiple artificial walls with coloured rocks jutting out to climb and they were roughly thirty meters in height. So far, only two students had been able to climb to the top before becoming exhausted. When it was David's turn, he strapped on a climbing harness and got ready to ascend the wall in front of him.
"Good luck, Dave. If you fall, I'll try my best to catch you," Jackson said with a wink.
David raised an eyebrow at Jackson and approached the wall. He began his journey to the sky... or rather, the ceiling. He placed his hand on one of the smaller rocks that stuck out and applied pressure on his arm to push his way upwards. It was tiring work, and when he was a third of the way to the top, beads of sweat began to travel down his forehead and his legs were starting to tire from all the strenuous climbing.
I can't give up now. He kept going even though his muscles were starting to ache. As he continued to climb higher, the smaller rocks were beginning to appear less often, giving him fewer choices for a foothold. When he was about two thirds to the top, he felt that he could not go any further. His lungs screamed for air and his muscles were aching all over. His sweaty palms were also starting to lose its grip and he wanted to give up.
He gasped for air and decided that he should descend down the wall. He did not think he would make it to the top, but before he could do anything, he heard voices from below.
"Keep going David, you can do this!" a familiar female voice screamed from the ground.
"You're nearly there mate, keep at it!" someone with an Australian accent encouraged with a shout.
Immediately after, a chant started and began to increase in volume. "David! David! David!" the crowd of year nine students below cheered in a sing-song tone.
Surprised and invigorated by the sudden amount of support from his friends and fellow schoolmates, a new energy surged into his body. David immediately got back to work and pushed himself upwards meter by meter. Slowly but surely, he made progress as the crowd below continued to chant. His eyes gleamed with determination and even though his muscles were starting to cramp, he forced himself to go past his limits.
When he had finally reached the top and touched the ceiling with a shaking hand, the audience cheered and applauded from below. David felt like he was going to faint from exhaustion, but he smiled at his friends below nonetheless. After taking a small break to rest, a dreadful thought hit him. Wait, I still have to get down now. Crap.