While all this was going on at the mansion and in the city, Jubilee had been having...quite an interesting time at camp.
When they arrived Friday morning, the car ride had felt kind of grueling. Some of the kids got carsick, and they had to pull over and rest for a bit.
Their counselor, who's name, Jubilee found out, was Nancy, was patient with them, but then she took a wrong turn on the route, and they had to backtrack.
Caleb was one of the ones who got carsick and seemed out of it.
Tony and Trinity were fine. They were going stir crazy though.
Jubilee was all right, of course. Driving with the X-men was way worse. She even tried to help Nancy find the right route. She'd had to navigate with Hank before.
Nancy said she was a dear.
Finally they arrived at camp and met up with the group who'd be sharing their cabin, once they'd gotten their wristbands. Everyone had to wear these the whole week so they knew who was at the camp. They split the kids up into blue, green, purple and yellow groups.
They'd be playing games to win prizes, the others told Jubilee.
The other group of kids had their male counselor with them. There had to be a male and female for each group. Actually, there had to be two for this many kids, so he had an assistant from his church. The boys got one cabin, and the girls got another...and they were NOT allowed anywhere near each other.
"Glad I don't have to see my sister for a whole weekend," Caleb said snarkily.
"I'm just as glad as you are," Nancy sassed him back. "You can bother Terry for a few days."
Terry was the male counselor, the older one.
They had to walk a mile, it felt like, to get to their cabin (it was really more like 1/8 of a mile).
There were three more girls with the other group, who introduced themselves as Candi, Tracey, and Leah. Tracey and Leah were not very talkative, but Candi was a regular chatterbox.
Jubilee was introduced as Jewels by all her friends, and it was on her registration too, so no one thought her name was odd.
Still, being around so many kids her own age felt weird.
After they got their things to the cabin, there was a flagpole welcoming ceremony around the fire pit, which would be used that evening.
"Come on, ladies, let's go," Nancy said, impatiently checking her watch. "We can finish unpacking later. We don't want to miss the ceremony."
They grabbed their water bottles and headed out.
"So what do they do at the ceremony?" Jubilee asked.
"They'll have some prayer and announcements," Trinity said. "And maybe some singing, and they'll tell us what games we'll be doing. I hope we play capture the flag."
"I bet it'll have a theme though," Brittney said. "Last year it was standing strong for our faith, so everything was about that. We built forts on rocks and sand."
"More like sandy dirt," Trinity said. "But whatever."
"What's the theme again?" Jubilee hadn't really paid attention to the brochure.
"Oh, it's...uh..." Brittney faltered.
Trinity pulled out hers. "'One For All: God's love is for everyone.' Hey, that's perfect."
"Cool," Brittney said. "Well, who knows what we'll do...? I want to ride the zipline during free time though, tomorrow."
"Zipline?" Jubilee said.
"Yeah, don't worry--it's only broken once," Candi said.
"She's kidding," Trinity said.
"Or we could go to the lake," Brittney said.
"I hope you all are planning to pay attention to our actual activities." Nancy looked back. "You know church camp isn't just about fun."
One of the other girls, Tracey, rolled her eyes behind Nancy's head.
"Whatever," she said when Nancy had walked out of range. "My parents make me come to this every year, but the only part I really like is the games--and all the cute boys, of course."
Candi giggled.
Jubilee was surprised to hear this. "You guys don't want to come to learn about God and stuff?"
They laughed at her.
"Geez, Jewels, you always such a perfect, little, good girl?" Tracey snorted. "I get enough of that at home. At least here I don't get drilled about it. It's fine to get away from it for a while."
"Once I'm old enough, I won't go to church at all," Leah agreed. "It's all right when you're a kid, but I'm over it."
Candi shrugged. "It gets dull sometimes..." She didn't seem totally comfortable with it.
Brittney and Trinity said nothing, and Jubilee thought they looked uncomfortable also.
"But why do you all go at all if you don't like it?" Jubilee said.
"Duh, 'cause we don't have a choice," Tracey said. "Why do you go? You actually like it?"
"I...I mean, it's interesting. It's kind of new to me," Jubilee said.
"Well, if it makes you happy," Candi dismissed it. "That's cool and all. It's just..."
"Not our thing," Leah finished. "But that's cool and all."
They started talking amongst themselves about school stuff.
"Don't listen to them," Trinity said to Jubilee. "They just don't get it."
"I knew some kids at the orphanage who used to go to church with their foster families," Jubilee said. "They talked just like that. I guess kids our age don't think this is cool."
"My mom says they're just rebelling," Brittney said.
"You never want to do that?" Jubilee said.
"I guess my parents have dumb rules," Brittney said. "But that's got nothing to do with church. My dad says we can do what we want when we're 18...but I think I already know. I mean, God is real, right? I like going to church anyway."
"So you never...you know, wonder if it's not real?" Jubilee said.
"You're so serious." Brittney giggled
Trinity, always the more sober minded of the two of them, shrugged. "I think everyone wonders that, Jewels. I mean, even my parents and pastors say they do. But...I mean, do you just outgrow something if it's true? You gotta decide for yourself and not just cause some other kids think it's dumb. I think God's for everybody."
"You're so deep," Brittney giggled.
"Well, at least I think about it," Trinity said. "Come on, we've been doing some dangerous stuff. If we're not gonna be serious about it, why are we doing it?"
"No, you're right, I guess," Brittney said quickly. "Just feels weird to be so serious all the time, like an old lady. Camp is supposed to be fun. We're talking like it's a school field trip. Loosen up a little."
"Yeah, that's a good idea." Jubilee brightened. "We shouldn't let those girls get us down. We got s'mores to make, right?"
"Well, that's not till this evening..." Trinity said.
"I swear, Trin, you're like a mini counselor," Brittney said. "It's just a joke."
Trinity, Jubilee already knew, was the type of girl who doesn't really get a joke very easily. She must have had stricter parents.
Jubilee didn't really get that, being the foster kid that she was, but she guessed if it worked for Trinity, it was fine. She never complained about any of the rules.
Brittney was much more relaxed and sometimes silly, but she was friendly.
If it were just them, Jubilee would have felt fine about the sharing the cabin thing, but the three new girls worried her. She thought they might be mean to her after how they'd reacted to what she'd asked earlier.
But maybe they'd forget about it.
[As someone who once got picked on at a Christian drama group for acting like a Christian...this makes me uncomfortable, and I'm the one writing it.]
* * *
The orientation was fine. Catchy music...a little campy, but that was the point, after all.
Jubilee learned some new songs, but was surprised to realize Shine had sung some of the very ones they used while housecleaning.
[All old songs I used to have on cassette tape.... Now most kids wouldn't even know what that is. And I'm not that old, guys--I'm under 25.]
The camp director, Mrs. Barnes, told everyone the theme, again, and announced they would be having activities tomorrow morning, after their camp circle service, to compete to win a prize. Which wasn't specified.
"Probably something lame like a free Bible," Jubilee heard one of the boys behind them snicker.
One shot Brittney with a rubber band, and she turned to make a face at him.
"Does anyone but us want to be here?" Jubilee asked Trinity.
"Don't worry about it," Trinity said. "Just pay attention." She was writing the instructions for the competition down meticulously.
[That was me in high school.]
One of the boys jostled Trinity's elbow, making her scribble.
He pretended to have done it on accident, but she gave him a frosty glare.
"Kids." Nancy finally looked over, and they stopped--for the time being.
After this there was dinner served in the dining hall, which was a plain, rectangular building.
Nancy said when she'd been to camp they'd just had a tent; the building was a new structure. "You kids are lucky. One year it rained all the first day. We could have canoed back to our cabin."
The boys in their group ate with them, but they were too busy joking around and playing with their food to really talk, and the girls ignored them.
"Are you girls excited for the competition?" Terry asked them nicely.
"Meh." Brittney shrugged. "I like the end of the day ceremony more, with the marshmellows and stuff, but it's cool to win a prize."
"Hey, everyone's a winner, right?" Terry said.
They looked at him oddly.
"I don't think that's how the camp does things," Nancy said.
"It was just a joke...something my nephew's preschool is teaching..." Terry said. "Drives my brother in law crazy. I feel like all we do when we get together now is complain about how crazy the school system is."
[And this was in the 80s. Imagine how they'd feel now.]
"What's wrong with everyone winning?" Brittney said. "That sounds fun."
"But it's...not really...possible," Terry said, like he wasn't sure how to explain it.
One of the boys threw some of their food right then, and he had to break it up.
* * *
Sleeping in a strange place was weird, after living at the mansion for so long, but Jubilee wasn't one to be picky.
She'd have gotten along just fine if their new cabin mates hadn't stayed up most of the night talking and eating candy and chips that they'd bought.
Trinity had earplugs... Clearly, she knew this would happen, but she'd only brought one pair.
Brittney tried to cover her head with a pillow.
Giving up on that, she joined the conversation.
Jubilee might have, but she didn't think Tracey and Leah liked her very much. They glanced at her a little coldly when they came in.
Or maybe it was her imagination.
Finally they must have piped down at about 3 am, and the girls fell asleep for about 4 hours before Nancy woke them up to get ready for breakfast and then the morning assembly.
But, as they were teenagers, the cold air and the juice at breakfast were enough to wake them up, while the counselors looked like they needed about a quart of coffee each.
[If you've never been to camp...this is too real to be funny.]
After that there was the assembly.
Jubilee took a chance to call the house, using her communicator, while she was by the bathrooms--which were not that clean. Jean answered and let her know that everyone was fine and Morph was finally back and they'd be okay.
"That's great!" Jubilee said. "Is he good? I mean...uh..."
"He'll be all right," Jean said. "Now that he's here. Today we're going to visit the Morlocks again... Well, I'm not, but they are."
"I'm gonna miss it?" Jubilee said.
"They said they might go tomorrow also. They have a lot of stuff," Jean said. "So you can go then, if you're not too tired."
"I might be," Jubilee said. "These girls kept us up all night."
"Do you like camp?" Jean asked. "I mean...everyone being nice to you?"
"Oh, yeah," Jubilee said. "It's cool."
"Jewels," Nancy called, "are you done yet? We have to get to the field."
"I gotta go," Jubilee said. "I don't want to get caught on my cellphone. It's against the rules."
"I can't imagine those kids could even afford cell phones, so even more reason not to get caught with our devices," Jean said. "Just be careful. Don't let your power go out of control."
"I've got it, Jean," Jubilee said, irritated.
But after she went back, she wondered. What if she did go out of control while playing the game?
Nervous, she asked Nancy if she could sit it out.
"Why? Do you feel sick?" Nancy asked.
"Oh...uh...well..." Jubilee said.
Brittney heard.
"I think Jewels might be surfing the red wave, Miss Nancy," she said.
Nancy nodded. "Okay. If you need some medicine for that, we can go to the nurse's office. I'm not supposed to just give you medicine, so...unless you brought some."
"I'll be fine. I'll just watch," Jubilee said, then, "Whew, I can't believe that worked."
"Oh, that's an age old excuse," Brittney said. "Get you out of swimming too... But why don't you want to play?"
"I...uh..." Jubilee said.
"None of your business, Brittney," Trinity said, with a meaningful look.
"Oh...right," Brittney said.
"Wait, you covered for me without knowing why?" Jubilee said.
"Well, duh, that's what friends do, right?" Brittney said.
"I don't know if we should have lied..." Trinity said.
"Hey, Trin, I think this is kind of a special case," Brittney said. "Now come on, we're gonna be late to the start of the game."
Jubilee went to sit down with some girls who probably were actually surfing the red wave, based on how they looked like they were in pain.
Still, it sucked to have to sit it out. Jubilee sighed. Always couldn't do something because of her mutation...but then, at least she was here. She couldn't have imagined doing that a year ago.
She started to feel more optimistic about it.
Later after lunch they had a relay race, and she did participate in that. Her power wasn't like to go out of control with something like that... She claimed to feel better. No one questioned it.
Things were going pretty well.
Until....
Brittney was talking to some of the other girls while they were in line for the snack shack, and she told them about their church burning down.
This gave them street cred with some of the kids, who'd already heard the boys bragging about it, and had a ton of questions...
But once Brittney mentioned the whole thing was over mutants, a few of the kids gave her weird looks.
"What?" Caleb, who was with them at the time, along with Tony, said.
"My dad says mutants have demons," said one girl. "Like...that's why they can do weird, magic stuff."
"Uh...that doesn't make any sense," Caleb said. "Mutants aren't magic. They're mutants."
"How do you know?" said another kid.
Jubilee began to feel nervous.
"I've met some," Caleb said.
"EW!" a bunch of girls said.
"Gross, man," said the boys.
Jubilee looked at her toes.
Middle-schoolers and highs-choolers are about the cruelest kids in the world, up until age 16 or 17, usually. But a 15-year-old isn't one to really look at it with any philosophy.
"They aren't gross..." Caleb was getting nervous too.
Tony looked ready to crawl into a hole and hide.
"Come on," Trinity said. "It's not any different than people with disabilities. They're just different from us. They aren't magic."
"That's dumb," some of the kids said. "It's way different."
"It's creepy," said another.
Brittney tried to wave Nancy over, but she wasn't looking; she was checking her schedule.
"You some kind of mutant lover, then?" one kid said to Caleb, menacingly.
"I...uh..." Caleb said.
"Maybe he's a mutant," said another kid. "Maybe he's got magic."
"I'm not a mutant!" Caleb said loudly.
"Jewels..." Brittney hissed, "what do we do?"
"What do you mean?" Jubilee squeaked.
"Haven't you dealt with this before?" Brittney hissed again.
"Quiet! What if someone hears you?!" Jubilee said. "I...I'm sure the counselors will break this up."
One of the counselors from the other cabins did notice and came over.
"Kids, what's going on!"
"Gideon! there's a mutant here!" the kids yelled. "With magic powers! He was talking about it. They're sneaking around the camp!"
"What if they want to eat us?!" said another.
"Kids, I don't think mutants eat people," Gideon said. "I'm sure he was just joking around, right?" He glanced at Caleb.
"I...but...I didn't say I..." Caleb sputtered.
"Caleb isn't a mutant!" Tony said. "The only mutant in our group was a girl!"
As soon as he said it, he knew it was a mistake.
Everyone looked at him.
Jubilee wanted to kill Tony.
"That's not funny," Gideon said. "I don't think this camp allows mutants anyway. Stop scaring the other kids."
"It's...it's not like mutants are evil..." Trinity said.
"I bet it's her!" said one of the boys.
"Yeah, she's acting weird anyway," said another.
"No, I'm not," Trinity said. "I'm normal--I mean, I'm a regular human..."
Jubilee wanted to run...but knew that would only give herself away.
"Tony was kidding," Brittney lied. "We're all humans."
"Uh...yeah," Tony said quickly. "I just meant...uh...you know, girls are gross...like mutants."
"Maybe you kids should get back to you cabin," Gideon said. "You shouldn't begin that trouble around here during free-time."
Nancy finally had seen what was going on. "Yes, come on, girls. Caleb, Tony, you too. I'll walk you back to Terry."
They all filed away, glad to escape.
Jubilee felt horrible after that.
She went back to the cabin, grabbed her communicator, and ran out to the back, where she sat on a log and cried.
She didn't get any response from the house though. It was at a time when Jean had stepped out, and Xavier was not in the tech room right then, and the others were busy prepping for the Morlock visit.
Finally, Nancy and Trinity found her out there.
"Jewels, we've been worried," Nancy said. "Are you all right?"
Jubilee didn't look all right.
"Is it what they were saying?" Trinity asked.
Jubilee sniffed.
"Ah...I see," Nancy said. "I didn't hear most of it, but the other girls were just telling me what happened. I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention, Jewels."
Jubilee shrugged.
Nancy tilted her head.
"Jewels...I'm thinking you might actually be a mutant also...is that right?"
Jubilee looked up and shot Trinity a look.
"I never said anything," Trinity mouthed, looking startled.
"Caleb told me you suspected Jewels was a mutant," Nancy said. "I didn't want to ask, but now that it's come out in such an ugly way with those little bullies...perhaps you would feel better if we talked about it?"
Jubilee sniffed.
"My name isn't actually Jewels," she said. "My...uh...code name is Jubilee. I don't really go by my old name anymore."
"I don't understand," Nancy said.
"A lot of them have code names," Trinity said.
"They aren't really code names," Jubilee said. "They're...our mutant names. To show we're different. Kind of put the past behind us, I guess."
"Jubilee is a nice name," Nancy said. "Like the year of Jubilee, the 50th year in the Bible...when all the slaves would be set free and they'd celebrate the land."
"Really?" Jubilee had no idea.
"Yes...I wish we had that in America." Nancy smiled. "A year where we could have a national party."
"I didn't think anyone would be that bad," Trinity said slowly. "I mean, like, the kids in wheelchairs, and other stuff, no one is mean to them."
"Trinity!" Jubilee finally snapped. "Being a mutant is not like being disabled. I really wish you'd stop saying that!"
Trinity looked shocked. "I...I didn't mean it... I just meant that being different one way or the other--"
"Well, it's really insulting to be compared to that," Jubilee said. "I think you're just ignorant of what it's like to be me! You guys feel good for letting me be here, but you still think that I'm not normal, right? Like you said."
Nancy stared at her.
Trinity looked ready to cry. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings..."
"That's kind of the problem," Jubilee said. "You don't even think twice about it."
"Jubilee," Nancy said, "getting angry at Trinity will not help you feel better. Perhaps she has not said things just the way you wanted, but she has sincerely been trying to help. Do not take out your anger on her, please. I won't have you girls fight amongst yourselves."
Jubilee frowned.
"But I do understand," Nancy said, more softly, "that it is difficult when people do not understand. My father was Jewish when he came to America as a boy. People used to make fun of him and my grandparents...but sometimes, he said, people just didn't understand any of what he went through, and they would make light of it, and that hurt just as bad. He always told us to never judge what someone else is going through as small just because you haven't experienced it...but that's hard to do, you know, when it's something we know nothing about. Isn't that right, Trinity?"
Trinity wiped her eyes. "I didn't think I was saying anything bad, honest, Miss Nancy."
"I'm sure you didn't," Nancy said. "Jubilee, you must be patient with us. Mutants hardly ever come to our church, and most would not tell us even if they were mutants. I have never even met one before. But I can't blame you. My father still doesn't tell people he's Jewish right away. Why don't you just tell us, right now, what you don't like it when we say? Would that help?"
Jubilee looked up.
She was still young enough not to find it totally humiliating to speak of these things.
"Well...I don't like it when people say mutants aren't normal," she said. "It makes it sound like we're freaks. I guess maybe we kind of are, but it's not like we chose to be this way. And...I hate it when people act like it's a disease."
"It was very rude of them," Nancy said. "But try not to judge them too harshly. They are still kids, some are even younger than you are, and they have been taught one thing. Not every church teaches that we should look on mutants as people. Some are still superstitious about them. People make up all kinds of hurtful explanations for what they do not understand. Those kids may learn better with time and be ahead of what they thought... I know, it does not make it less painful for you now." She sat down next to Jubilee. "But in time, it might be easier if you think of it as something that might not always be this way."
Jubilee bit her lip. "I...don't know... I get angry when people say that...and scared... People have tried to kill me for being a mutant."
"I am sorry," Nancy sad.
"Really?" Trinity was shocked. "Just for that?"
"Oh, yeah...a bunch," Jubilee said. "Me and my friends."
"I wish I could disbelieve you," Nancy said. "But I can't. I've seen people bullied for less. There's going to be some bad apples in every bunch... Do you want to go home? I can ask the director if we can have some time off."
Jubilee had wanted to go home...but now she wasn't sure. "I mean...we only have till tomorrow... But what if they figure out it's me?"
"They couldn't prove it," Nancy said. "The staff won't care about some kids picking on each other over this, except that they'll want them to stop."
"But there could be some mutant haters here," Jubilee said.
"I...suppose there might be," Nancy admitted. "We will have to be careful... It's a shame that you have to hide it at all, but I wouldn't want you to be in danger... What do you feel is best?"
"I...I don't want everyone to know," Jubilee said. "But I guess if they don't, I could stay."
"And, Trinity," Nancy said, "perhaps we should be more cautious with our words from now on."
"I wish you'd just told me before, Jubilee," Trinity said, a bit reproachfully. "I didn't know you didn't like it."
"It's just that you act like it's no big deal, like having a hair color or a wheelchair," Jubilee said. "But being a mutant is way worse than that."
"I don't know about that, Jubilee," Nancy said. "It's worse in a way because of the danger, but people have been in danger over hair color and over handicaps many times. My people fled Europe over The Holocaust, but the Nazis liked only blonde hair, and they didn't like handicapped people either. Trinity may have not said it the way you liked, but she was not wholly wrong. I believe your point, Trinity, was that people hate each other over very stupid things, mutation being one of them."
"Yeah, that was what I meant," Trinity agreed. "I...guess I said it wrong. Honestly, Jewels...I don't care if you're a mutant. I was just trying to explain that I thought everyone has stuff that other people don't like, and it doesn't matter to the rest of us."
"I...I mean, I knew that," Jubilee admitted. "I got mad at you just now, but I knew you meant it well before. I just think it was just easier to get angry at you guys than to think about the others."
"That's a very mature thought," Nancy said. "I think you girls are tougher than you think you are. You're both thoughtful young ladies, in your own ways, and you don't need to worry about what those other rude, little brats said about you." She stood back up. "But stay away from them. We only have till tomorrow. It shouldn't be a problem, and if we have to move at the campfire, we can. Next time just call me over. I don't want that to happen again... We must pray, also, that those kids will realize they did something wrong and ask forgiveness, because God still loves them, and that's our theme. We should be living by it."
"How can God love people like that?" Jubilee said.
"No one's sins are really better or worse, Jubilee," Nancy said sagely. "We're all bad, aren't we?"
"What...is sin?" Jubilee asked.
"Sin is when you do things wrong," Trinity supplied. "And it's something we all do."
"Right," Nancy said. "All of us sin. God has to forgive us all... I suppose picking on people is a very bad sin, and especially over a foolish reason. But our anger at them is also bad if it turns into bitterness and resentment. Being angry enough to stop something unfair is a good thing, but if you're so angry you want that person to suffer and keep suffering, you need to check your own heart. What if God treated us all like that? None of us would be alive. So...just try to think of it that way. It'll spoil your whole trip if you stay angry at people like that."
She walked back to the cabin.
"Nancy is cool," Trinity said. "I like her better than our counselor last year. She was really strict..."
"Aren't your parents strict?" Jubilee said. "I thought you liked strict."
"Oh...it's okay to have a lot of rules." Trinity shrugged. "But sometimes I like not having them. My parents mean well, but I feel like it's unfair sometimes too...but I don't like to whine about it. They don't like that, and I guess it's pretty annoying... I guess it's nothing like what you go through though."
"Even I don't always like being held back because of my age," Jubilee sniffed, "I mean...when I want to go on missions and stuff."
"But, Jewels, I really think it's so cool how you get to do so much important stuff," Trinity said. "I'm jealous, honestly. Even if people hate you, you...matter? I think I'm just a weird, sheltered girl who people think doesn't know anything about the real world...at least that's what my relatives say who aren't religious...and no one cares what I think. You get to use those powers and help heroes... Son't you think, in a way, that's lucky? Even though the other stuff isn't so lucky."
"I...guess I didn't think of it like that," Jubilee said. "Why would you envy me for that? You'd not want to risk your life, would you?"
"I don't know. I think I would," Trinity said. "If it would be for a good reason." [Foreshadowing?]
"You don't want people to think you're a mutant though." Jubilee remembered earlier again.
"No..." Trinity was honest. "I guess not...but it'd be a lie... I guess...I mean, I wouldn't want people to think I'm not American either... It's just that what you are is what you are. And you're used to it, even if we don't like it... I don't know, is that a bad thing to say too?"
"No...that actually made sense," Jubilee said. "Sorry if I was a pill about it. You've always been really nice to me."
"I have?" Trinity said. "I thought I was just being friendly... Oh...that's just not how people are, huh?"
"Nope," Jubilee said.
"I'm sorry," Trinity said. "And...uh...if I say anything else to hurt your feelings, just let me know right away, okay? I guess I am sheltered, maybe." She laughed nervously.
"Maybe that's better than being like them," Jubilee shuddered.
"Maybe," Trinity agreed.
They went back to the cabin.
[An important thing to note about this is that it finally clears things up with Trinity. I'm sure some people found her attitude towards Jubilee offensive in earlier chapters and thought she was insensitive.
But she is just a teenager, and it's the 80s--two very big reasons she simply would not know any better or any other way to relate to Jubilee. I was insensitive as a teen also.
But her intention behind it was what mattered. I could have written her to be more savvy, but I actually find it really weird when authors write teens to act like adults, when they would never have that kind of experience or maturity, and it comes off as the adults just putting their own opinions into the mouths of kids too young to have them.
Kids can be awkward, but they are also sincere, and I try to write them that way and remember what it was like when I was in high school and middle school. It wasn't like deep stuff was even talked about that often.
This story is not showing the perfect responses to problems that are this complex. It's supposed to show how humans do respond, and how we can improve but also not expect each other to be perfect and to understand all the time.]