You guys are more quite than my class when our teacher asks a question and everyone's on mute lol.
(Please don't be silent readers🥺🥺)
.........
We reached the camp at 7.
The rest of the bus ride was a blur. All I did was talk to hailey and give momentarily glances to Jorden. For some reason, he looked devastated.
I wanted that to make me happy. But it didn't.
The moment we got down the bus, we had to be segregated by gender.
All the girls to the left, boys to the right.
It was twilight, but mostly dark. I wiped away the nonexistent sweat from my face when a hot breeze blew in my face.
"Good evening everyone. I'm kate arnal, head of the camp. I know everyone must be exhausted, sitting in a bus for 6 hours, but here, you must always look positive. And that's rule number one. Never look tired. Lazyness is for losers." I could hear numerous sighs and 'whatever's' in the background.
"That brings us to the second rule. No cell phones allowed inside the campus" a series of groans and curses erupted from the crowd of crazy teenagers.
"No phones? What will I do at night? Sleep?" Hails shouted from my side.
"No need to shout children. You're all almost adults now"
What the fuck?
"Isnt it against the law or some shit" a boy shouted.
The complaints of the students, now filled with rage, were blatently ignored.
After submitting our devices to the old man with no teeth, who looked like a possible pedophile, we were alotted our dorms.
yes, dorms.
Seemed like hailey was quite right. All our luxory ended as the camp began. In the huge fucking bus.
There was a rectangular building which looked like an old motel where thriller murder movies take place.
Kate seeing our frustated and equally confused reaction, reviewed "Y'all seem like its the first time you have seen dorms. Its okay, the first timers are the most intereting. This should be fun." This earned her a glare from most of the students.
I felt bad for her, facing the wrath of deranged teenagers can be mentally exhausting. I just gave her a smile, making it as sincere as I could.
"Coincidently, there are equal number of girls and boys. The girls dorm is through the left stairs and boys' from the right stairs. The first floor has the canteen and the sitting area. you may choose your own beds in the dorms. There should a copy of all the rules, an itinerary and a brochure on each bed."
No one stayed to hear another word; a series of quick 'byes' and 'fuck offs' were heard from boys and girls as they sauntered towards the respective stairs.
I gave a half hug to Alex and being the slow walker I am, we reached the dorm the last and were given the corner most bunker bed. Hailey on the bottom one, me on the top one. We both couldn't be more ecstatic as this would have always been our first choice.
After dragging and stuffing all the luggages inside the mini cupboard allotted to us, changing and washing my face, we settled with at the upper bed with 4 packets of lays which were buried inside safely in my luggage.
According to the itinerary, we had to assemble at the dinning hall at 8:15. Sharp.
So we had only 15 minutes to talk. Not like we've been with each other for the last 10 hours.
"I so want to take a bath right now" hailey whined stuffing a handful of chips.
She couldn't, because the line for the shower was bigger than her desire to do so.
I personally wasn't that eager to shower. I've always despised the activity.
Call me unhygienic, call me lazy.
"This is so not worth the hype dude. I risked my perfect 2 months record for this?"
She just kept chewing.
"It's not even been a day and I've already had the most awkward conversation and a weird ass argument with-"
"Your ex crushes" she finished my sentence.
"Yesh" I sighed.
"I don't think we should have eaten chips right before dinner. I won't have its taste in my mouth again"
..........
The dining room was, again, small. Probably one fourth of our cafeteria back home. The small tables were aligned, like in a restaurant. Not more than 4-5 people could fit in each.
Everyone was settled in 3 minutes. Surprisingly, everyone adhered to the timings. Honestly, we were just hungry.
Me, hailey, Alex and one of the three girls from Ohatier high sat in the corner most table.
She just came, introduced herself and sat herself down beside Alex.
Her purpose was quite obvious to the human eye.
Not so subtly, I looked at the table in the center. Jorden, Trey, Melissa and Angelica sat together. The same thing was happening there. Cool.
My attention was distracted by the smell of hot spaghetti kept in front of me by Hailey. My laziness won't let me get up and bring my own food.
My mother's side came out as I reached for my backpack and took out a sachet of chilli sauce. My monstrous mother is part Indian, which didn't stop her from embracing that part of her the most, except the 'marrying a white man' part.
The only place where her genes come out in me, is in the food. Normal food is too bland for my liking.
After an hour of eating, while the students exited one by one, I was done.
So this was my thing. I don't usually eat willingly, but when I do, I. Always. Overeat.
And I was a damn slow eater.
By this time, half the hall was vacated. My table gone. I could see few blurry figures here and there lingering over the tables. I was not in a position to move my eyes.
Why did I eat so much god?
I saw a little bit of tummy coming out from my crop top which forced me to sit up straight.
As I propped my eyes up, I saw Trey sitting across me. Great scott.
When the heck did he get here? Without a sound? Was he observing me all this time. I had no energy to think at this point.
"Hey Katherine. Uhhhh I Hope I didn't startle you"
You did bitch. I let him continue.
"I just uh" he scanned my scowling face as he leaned back
"wanted to check up on you. And this afternoon-" he sighed "are you okay?" He asked, stretching out the last word.
That's it. I was too exhausted to be kind.
"Stop overreacting Trey. It's been 7 years I think I can handle period cramps by now. I've been through the same thing for"
I reached for my phone, I was too dumb to do mental math, when I remembered they took them.
"I've just gotten used to it. And you don't know how grateful I am for what you did for me but I. Am. Fine." I said, enunciating each word.
"I'm glad. Just tell me if you need anything. I'll be out of your hair now"
"I didn't mean it that way Trey." Shit. Now I felt bad.
"Well honestly ," I hesitated but I didn't have a clear mind to think anymore "Why did you help me? You hate me anyway"
The food was slowly digesting, giving me more energy as curiosity and hope glistened in my eyes.
"I don't hate you Katherine. It's just after that day-" he gulped, "and with" uncertainty filled his eyes.
"I just don't want anything to do with you." He stood up and left.
My head was too heavy now. I laid it on the table. I'll just be like this for a minute and head to the dorm.
From the corner of my eyes, I could see the clock showing 10:00pm.
Moving my eyes so much made it weak. So I closed it shut.