Eek, got my days mixed up again. Wowza, it's pretty much gone to the point where you have to expect the chapter to be a day late. My bad on that part.
I only managed to get about 2,400 words out of 4,000, so either I'll post another 1,600+ word chapter in the middle of this week, or I'll post a 2,600+ word chapter next Sunday.
Hope you enjoy this (hopefully) more interesting chapter! Look forward to the next one.
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Your eyes flutter open. You go to check the time. It's 5:24 AM, way before the sun's first appearance peaking in the break of dawn. You decide to get up early so you don't potentially end up being late. As you sluggishly shift the soft blanket off of your body, you feel rivers of cold air dancing on the hairs of your body.
You glance out the window; as you suspected, it's pitch black outside. Grabbing the article of clothing you selected the previous night, you drag yourself to the bathroom where you begin the steps of your half-an-hour daily getting-ready routine, which, predictably, takes you 20 minutes to complete.
You look at yourself in the mirror and nod before heading towards the living room to double-check your pack. You unzip the big container and unload everything one by one. Matchboxes, check. Sleeping bag, got it. S'mores ingredients and hotdogs, you know it. Bug spray, yep. You continue to unload everything, then stuff it back in when you're finished.
Two weeks have passed since the first day of Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning. Everything has been frequently consistent, so repetitive that it's beginning to bore you a bit. Nothing exciting has occurred so far. Nothing exciting until today. You hoist the bag over your shoulder(or strap it on like a backpack) and grab your phone. You read over the email again.
***
Dearest BBiEaL staff,
As a sign of gratitude for your outstanding efforts in making this summer school year great, I decided to push the annual camping trip a few weeks early! That's right, we're going camping throughout this whole week, so I suggest you bring the essentials. I only have enough sleeping bags for the four kids we have, and for myself.
Thank you all for your hard work! I look forward to seeing you.
It is mandatory to bring the following;
-Match/lighter
-Sleeping bag
-S'mores, hotdogs, etc.
-Bug spray
Other than that, you may bring whatever you'd like. See you soon!
Sincerely,
Principal(Prince) of the Things
***
You grin at the note and proceed to exit your home, making your way to your car. Upon entering, your stomach makes some unruly noises. Seems like you forgot about breakfast! You shrug it off and decide to get something to compensate for your slowly growing appetite on your way to school.
You're on the road. You look around for the nearest drive-thru you could drive through. Inevitably, you see a huge red square with two yellow arches inside it resembling an M. You chuckle to yourself. Definitely not your first pick, but it'll have to work for today. You turn into the line of cars and wait. 12 minutes pass and you back out of the numbered parking area you were sent to after receiving your order.
You didn't bother to check the bags before driving away from the area, as the time was around 6:00 AM, and your anxiety was starting to bubble up inside you about the camping trip. Bad idea. After stopping at a stoplight near a split road, and deciding to dig into your order, you groan in frustration as you realize that the employees have forgotten a portion of your food.
Dang you, Ronald!
Making things worse, you remind yourself that you'll be late if you drive back to complain, so you reluctantly let your anger about the lost food item subside. The employees always find a way to mess up your orders anyway. The lights turn green, and you try to find a spot to place your food. Upon finding it, you hear a honk behind you. You huff as you put your breakfast down, quickly wipe off both your hands, and put them on the steering wheel.
Some more time passes, maybe about 10 minutes or so, and you reach the familiar, unrealistically green land that surrounds the school. The more you approach the building, the more you check out a big, yellow school bus. It has green text written on the sides. 'Baldi's bus'. Under that, another red message reveals the name Joe. It seems the original side of the bus was made to say "Joe's bus".
They could have covered the name with paint, but alas, they probably likely agreed that this is a bus for kids, and said children couldn't care less about the exterior of it. You probably would have done different, but, you know, you gotta do what you got to do. Besides, there *are* four kids at this school, so what difference could it make?
The kids. You smile to yourself as you imagine the thrilled looks on their faces after hearing about this camping trip. This thought alone convinces you to hurry as much as possible. You speedily get out of the car and usher yourself to the huge yellow doors of BBiEaL. Without hesitation, you swing the mighty entrance open.
Right away, you spot Baldi, Prince, and Mrs. Pomp, who were each surrounded by their fair share of luggage, conversing in the middle of the room. They each notice your entry; you can tell by the quick turn of their heads in your direction. "Uhm," you slightly adjust your own bag, "good morning to you all!" You watch their eyes glow up one by one with your presence.
"Oh, [Y/N]!" Baldi greets you. Prince follows up his statement, "glad you could make it on time." You scoff jokingly at your boss' statement. Mrs. Pomp stomps excitedly and cheers, "just on time! We were about to load these packages onto the bus!" You hum in response, "mmhm, just my luck." They all chuckle at your not-so-very hyper reaction.
When the laughing subsides, you scoop up the biggest pack they had lying on the floor; a multi-layered brown backpack strung together with pockets. A disgruntled noise leaves your mouth as you heave the bag up. "Alright then," you turn away from the small group of staff to face the front doors, "let's get moving."
Everyone picks up their own stash of stuff on the ground — Mrs. Pomp lifts up the lighter bags with her teeth — and follow you to the bus. You all take turns walking into the bus and setting stuff down inside the back area of the vehicle. This continues until all the luggage is stored. You drag your hand across your forehead to wipe the sweat off it.
You lean against the bus and look at Prince. You then ask him why there were so many containers to throw into the heap. He lifts his arms in a stretching motion, then responds to your query. "The kids sent their camping supplies over the weekend." You look at him with a shocked reaction, "jeez, those kids sure did bring a lot of things." He nods knowingly at your statement and beckons Mrs. Pomp over to him.
"Mrs. Pomp and I need to go over how to put on some of the specially-fitted camping outfits I got for her. We'll be just a second!" They head off into the school, leaving you still leaning on the side of the bus, and Baldi standing 5 feet away from you. You close your eyes and your mind drifts off. You start to overthink about the field trip, debating about whether you would be a good chaperone and/or leader for the students during the event or not. Your face begins to scrunch up with mixed emotions streaming through you.
Baldi notices your slightly distressed expression and clears his throat. "[N/N]," he calls for your attention. You flinch at the sound of his voice and glance over to him. He motions you over. You do as he says, a curious expression spreading on your face. You arrive two feet closer than a moment ago, making you both 3 feet apart from each other. "Are you alright?" Baldi suddenly asks you. You feel yourself frown a bit at the question.
"I'm alright, just a little nervous," you answer, truthfully. He gives you a sympathetic look, calming you down a bit. "Do you not think the kids are bored of this stuff?" Baldi shakes his head and smiles. "The kids loved the outdoor field trips these last years. I'm sure they will love it even more with you here to accompany them!" A giggle escapes your lips at his eager tone. You look up at him. "Thanks for being so positive." Baldi grins. "Of course, [Y/N]! I'm glad to help."
You stare into each other's eyes for what feels like forever. You can feel your neck starting to cramp up from craning it back for too long. Your head falls back down, making you eye-level with his chest. You laugh, "sorry, you're just too tall. I can't look at you for long." Baldi smiles down at you and crouches down to match your height. "Much better," you state, smirking, earning some more laughter from Baldi.
You take in his laugh. It was so peculiar. It sounded as if he was pinching his nose; maybe the shape of it affected how he spoke. You didn't mind though, dare you say it was a little c— "Hey, we're back!" Prince juts into your thoughts and you and Baldi look in his direction. Prince was using one hand to wave while the other hand occupied three straw hats. Three rectangular brown backpacks with black straps— huge, might you add— were strung onto him. One on his back, one on his front, and one on the hand with the hats. You cringe thinking about how heavy that might be. He makes it look easy carrying this stuff.
Mrs. Pomp stood with her camping outfit on. It consisted of the same desaturated yellow, pointed straw hat and a small brown, rectangular shoulder bag identical to the backpack, but with shoulder straps. Her face is bright with happiness as she and Prince walk over to you. "That looks great on you!" You compliment her, earning a small pink flush on her face. "Thank you, [Y/N]! I'm certain you'll look amazing in your outfit as well."
You beam at each other and Prince nudges your side softly. You glance at the man whose posture looks straining, and your gaze clouds in worry as you scramble to pick up some of what he's holding. "[Y/N]," he sighs, "here's your camping outfit, err, getup." He holds out his hand of straw hats and you pick the one to your right. He then hands you one of those huge bags, which, as you expected, was dastardly heavy.
You grunt as you throw it over your shoulders and onto your back. "Gosh," you mutter, "imagine having three of these on at once." After the bag's all adjusted, you tip on the hat. You feel like a kid again as you look around, excited about what's to come. You see everyone else tweaking their bags and hats to fit them comfortably.
You giddily think about the trip getting started, then you take your phone out of your pocket and check the time. 7:21 AM. This means that the kids should be rolling in very soo—"Wha..huh??" You can't help but wonder the amount of times you will be interrupted today. The low-pitched, feminine voice that struck through your thoughts belongs to Playtime who, again, is a girl with black, frizzy hair, a red shirt, blue pants, and brown shoes. You can't forget about her unusually squiggly eyes.
Her mouth is agape with bewilderment at the sight of the bus. "I thought we did this trip at the five-week mark..?" Playtime looked at Prince, who snickered at her response. "Yeah, but I decided to push the date back a bit." This made the kid smile with glee and delight. It was pretty adorable.
The other kids slowly roll in one by one, until all four of them arrive. They all share the same look of interest and excitement— even the Bully looks happier, and that's saying something. "Okay," Prince begins, "kids. You all remember this camping trip, right?" This earns simultaneous nods from each of them. "Great. I'll let Baldi go over the basics again, so you can get a refresher on what this is for." You watched him tip his head in your direction, notifying you to listen. You lean a bit closer to the sound of his voice.
"Alright!" Baldi cheerfully walks over in front of the kids. "This field trip, as you know, will last a week." He starts pacing back and forth like he's a Marine Sergeant giving his troops orders. "Each day, there's a new camp activity, ranging from art to races to skits." He pauses for a moment, putting his index finger on the bottom of his lip in a thinking position.
He completely stops and puts his hand down, keeping a straight posture while he continues to speak. "We will try to keep the fire going throughout, no matter what, so we can stay warm. You all know how quickly the fire dies around those parts." He dips his upper body down to match the kids' height and gives them a serious look. He then speaks in a very low mutter, making sure only the kids hear him. "You will all happily go and gather sticks while I stand by the fire. If the fire ends up going out, it won't be very happy for you."
Prince nervously shifts between Baldi and the kids, separating them, just in case. "A..anyway, we should be going on the bus, yeah?" Prince flashes the students a reassuring look. "Come on, then. Don't worry, Sweep's driving, as always." Prince leads the kids to the entrance of the bus while you stand there dumbfounded.
'Sweep? THAT sweep??' You rush over to follow everyone and, sure enough, there he was. The green broomstick. On the driving seat. You gulp and bite your lip nervously. 'If he says that this broom is always driving, then it should be fine, right??' You plop down next to Baldi on the first row's right seat(from the back of the bus' point of view). Baldi notices your stressed body language and breathing, so he silently puts a hand on your shoulder, beginning to rub it to try to calm you down.
You notice this and grant him a grateful look. His expression relaxes a bit seeing you better, and you both stare at each other again. You shake yourself out of getting lost in his vast black eyes and try to start some small talk. "So," you speak, "what's uh... what's your opinion on cheddar cheese?"
Thank you for reading the Chapter 8 | Let's Go Camping! I hope you're ready for the future events that are in store in New Horizons. See y'all next Sunday ~ ★