It had been a long time since Jimena had watched Kiran walk away out of sight. Longer still when Jimena finally decided that if she left it up to the counselors, she’d be standing there a while more.
All the better for it, she thought. Jimena didn’t feel like following a guide, listening to their chattering about the campgrounds and how much fun she’ll have if she only gives it a chance. She’d come to terms with the fact that she’d have to ease up if she hoped to last the ten weeks, but she wasn’t up to having it thrown in her face again. She wanted as much alone time as possible, since she expected there wouldn’t be much of that once camp activities kick off. Besides, she didn’t need a guide. She’d just spotted a nearby map board. In no time she’d already taken a picture and grabbed one of the foldable maps from the little shelf at the bottom of the board. After locating herself in the map, she found her destination, the Clubs cabin.
With a determined tug of her
baseball cap, “Okay,” Jimena followed the route she had devised.
Dani saw Jimena leave the group. Does this mean they had to find their own way to the cabins without being told to, or waiting to be given instructions? The shy sixteen year old shrugged, went to the map board, quickly found where they were, and where the King of Clubs cabin was. It was a straightforward route, and Dani’s love of fantasy novels had given her good map-reading skills. She soon realised that the route was taking her the same way as the girl who’d left earlier, so she followed behind. After a while she became very self- conscious of how stalker-y she looked, so thought about saying something to break the ice, but couldn’t think of anything to say.
It wasn’t long before Dani was spotted. In a moment of doubt, Jimena looked around her in an attempt to reestablish her location in the map. It was then she noticed the black-haired girl trailing behind her. Judging by the way the girl’s eyes went wide with panic when she stopped to face her, Jimena guessed she had been following her for a while. The deer-in-headlights look in the girl’s face was amusing, almost endearing to Jimena, who found a smile tugging at the edge of her mouth. She decided to give in, reminding herself of what happened the last time she decided to not be a total asshole. She’d met Kiran.
“Hey.” Her voice came out a little more strained than Jimena intended.
“Uh, hey!” Dani replied in a startled tone, her facial expression not really having changed from having been seen following her. ‘Guess it’s straight into the deep end,’ she thought to herself.
“You, uhm... you looking for something?”“I’m heading to the King of Clubs cabin. I figured you were heading to the Clubs cabins yourself...”“Yep. I'm King of Clubs, too,” Jimena was relieved to hear that. It was likely she'd have a roommate she could stand.
“I'm Jimena.”“I’m Dani,” the shy girl replied, starting to offer her hand, before hesitating and wondering if this was normal, but she’d already started to make the gesture, so she couldn’t change her mind now. She fully extended her hand for a handshake.
Jimena gladly took her hand.
“It's not far now,” she assured with a smile. She turned around slowly, so as to not turn her back on Dani, and continued down the path she'd designed.
Hell yeah, she thought to herself, amazed at how well the interaction shed just had went. Under her standards, of course, which weren't very high.
Dani followed behind, also smiling despite herself. That was fairly painless in her opinion. She’d talked to a stranger. It was a start. The first step to become the person she wanted to be. As she followed, she became very conscious of the silence that had emerged, all the more unbearable for them having actually broken the ice now. Dani would actually be perfectly content to walk in silence, but she felt she had to say something though no words would come to her head, so she followed on in silence once again.
Trekking down another path, that would soon connect with the trail that Jimena and Dani were on, the ditzy counselor known as Kylie scrolled in her phone without service looking through her gallery. Grumbling to herself, she dramatically sighed,
“This place is a dead zone. It’s a sad time for my instagram. I’m going to take all the pictures and write down the hashtags I think of. ‘Livin’ in the sunshine. Camping with friends. #California #Naturetones.’” Glancing up from her phone, she continued to act like a phenomenal tour guide, even if she got distracted far too much than the average human,
“To your left leads you to Hiker’s Peak, which you can go the path that is scenic and less work, or be a total badass and rock climb. My baby taught me how to rock climb.” Turning her head toward her companion, Kylie gave a gleaming smile, obviously full of love when she talked about her fiance. This action helped her catch sight of two campers walking down a separate path, but heading in the same direction as them. Unlike the other counselors, Kylie was not wearing her Heart shirt (yet… she forgot), so from the distance she looked like just another camper. Calling out, with her pleasantly smooth, yet loud valley girl voice, Kylie waved at the two strangers with the hand that held her phone,
“Helloooooo there! ARE YOU LOST?!” Picking up her pace, she beckoned Alex, her newfound friend (regardless if it was mutual or not), to follow.
The shout scared the bejeezus out of Jimena, who nearly jumped into the air. She spun her head to see the girl waving and running towards Dani and her.
“Nope!” she called out and held out her map,
“No, we're good.” Dani, however, winced when she heard the shouting, and retreated into herself, making her body a little smaller. On one hand, she felt like she should make more of an effort, on the other hand, she didn’t know if she could right now. Baby steps. She’d already made progress today. The shy girl muttered something inaudible in reply to Kylie.
In a matter of seconds, Kylie met with the other girls where the paths converged. With a carefree disposition, the model-esque, redheaded counselor tapped her pointer finger on her chin in thought,
“You know what’s better than a map? A tour guide! Hi, I’m Kylie. I was just showing Alex here where she would be staying. She’s a Clubs girl!” The morning sky was brilliantly blue and through the wood, the cascading light peered down, into and out of the leaves. The counselor’s left hand, whose pointer finger was still tapping on her chin, was adorned with a
pink sapphire diamond ring (heart shaped) that gleamed when the white shaft touched it, ever so gently.
“Where you headin’? I can totally help you. I have all the time in the world!” No truer words were ever spoken, especially for someone like Kylie, who spent most of her time back in LA playing video games, keeping the house in top shape for when Troy came home, making dinner, and socializing with her girls. He was the bread maker, she was his constant. His never wavering, always there, beloved woman that preferred putting her efforts in her loved ones and helping him at his gym occasionally, than getting a job that would make her hate herself. Her life was good. It wasn’t for everyone, but it was for her. She was happy.
“The Clubs Cabin,” Jimena said, pointing her thumb behind her, where her path had been.
“But, seriously, we’re fine. We don’t need help.” She began to turn, and as she did so she looked at Dani and quickly nodded her head to the direction where she knew the cabin was at. With her eyes, she tried to beg her,
Please follow me. Dani nodded back in agreement. Hopefully they could just sneak away.
Green eyes rolled upward while brown tendrils fell toward the ground as a certain pretty girl lifted her head in the direction of the sky and let out a hostile, low groan from the back of her throat.
"Oh my god, what the fuck?!"From where Kylie had just left, Alex let out her exasperation loud enough for the other three girls to hear the irritation before storming her way over. This was absolutely ridiculous. All she was trying to do was get out of the hot sun and to her cabin so she could drop off these heavy bags digging into her shoulders and the box that was straining her arms. But, no. She just
had to be paired with someone who would
not take the hint that she wasn't interested in making conversation and wouldn't shut. up.
To make things even worse, she felt the need to pick up two lost campers and continue piling on the inconveniences. How hard was it to simply walk to a goddamn cabin? Plus, wasn't the counselor supposed to be assisting
her and not every person they so happened to encounter? She probably would have had a better chance of getting to her cabin quicker blindly roaming the woods and stopping to fight off a bear than following Kylie at this point. Alex should have just stalked off and found a map or someone else to help her but there was a hair out of place and falling in her face and she didn't have any free hands to fix it and she was
pissed.
Blowing the loose strands out of her face, the annoyed brunette stopped just short of where the others had gathered.
"No, you don't," Alex corrected Kylie's comment on how available she was. Despite having caught the sour-looking girl's responses, the mean girl continued on as if the other two campers weren't present.
"Look, they obviously don't want our help so let's just leave them and get to the cabin. Who cares if they get lost?"Under normal circumstances, Jimena would’ve at the very least curled her lip at the girl who just walked up. But whoever she was, her outburst drew the would-be-guide’s attention. Jimena seized her chance, continuing her way to the cabin at a brisk pace, though not without first locking eyes with Dani, silently pleading once more for her company. Dani followed behind, but first tried to catch the new girl’s eye. Maybe she’d follow them too. They currently shared the same misgivings about a tour guide who’d show them to the Cabin they already knew how to get to, but slower and with forced conversation. Noticing the meeker of the two additions attempt to make eye contact with her, Alex hostily narrowed her own gaze at her in a nonverbal challenge. Naturally, Dani looked away and the older snorted in reluctant satisfaction, keeping her stare on the less confident girl for another moment to observe and set the general tone of their interactions.
This didn’t make sense to Kylie at all… every single one of them were heading in the same direction. Why couldn’t they all… go together? Even if they knew where they were going, Kylie assumed company on the walk would have been more worth the excursion. Shrugging at the situation, the counselor followed behind the other two girls, though they were picking up distance fast, but not fast enough to where she couldn’t see them.
“I mean, I care if they get lost because that’s another headache for Ash and another headache for Ash means headaches all around! But, they don’t look directionally challenged so I’m sure they’ll be fine. Plus, once they are in the area, my baby will know.” Meanwhile, in the King’s Cabin, in the room designated as her’s and Troy’s bedroom for the next ten weeks, Jude glanced down at her wristwatch and with her soft-spoken voice, she yawned (still sleepy),
“Jayce and Rem should be here soon. Assuming these kids we’re responsible for... were patient enough to wait and aren’t already roaming the grounds.” Jude could honestly believe that there were plenty of unaccompanied campers right now. They were teenagers. Teens who thought they had everything under control until they didn’t.
Troy had allowed himself to
believe. To believe that
maybe, just maybe he’d get a cabin full of people who were open to guidance to being the best person that they could be — or at least people that needed it, like he had years and years ago. The fact of the matter, though, was simple: he was more likely to get a cabin full of jack offs and assholes, and have to force himself to not knock their teeth down their throat. An act that would take a
lot of self-control, even for the well-disciplined man.
Hey, at least he was sharing a room with Jude, right? There were far worse possibilities to be counseling with; number one the list of ‘shittiest options’ was certainly Melody. Troy had originally been slated to stay with her, but Ty (glorious, glorious Ty) had been willing to switch with him, and now he had Jude. Troy was currently though, mostly ignoring her.
Heavy bags deserved their namesake. Troy had brought the punching bag just in case he got
really mad, which was almost inevitable. Now he was hanging it from a chain that he’d attached to the rafters. Lifting up the 120 lb bag up above his head, Troy hooked the loop on the steel hook that was dangling from in front of him, before he turned his attention to Jude.
“They probably aren’t. You sure you’re fine with this thing dangling in the middle of the room? I can probably find a tree to hang it from.”“No, it’s fine! It’s like falling asleep in your gym. I really don’t mind.” Standing up from her bed, Jude made her way to their shared closet, where she had a thin full body mirror hanging and wigs galore… she probably took up most of the closet. Ever since she transitioned, her mom and aunts have been spoiling her with whatever she wanted. Today, she wanted to have
brown hair (it was fun playing around with different looks). Troy picked out her outfit for today, which really was just her black hat, her Clubs shirt, her light pink collar with a cute bow on it, her light pink skort (skirt and shorts), nylon black knee highs, and her white converse to match with the white tee. Giving herself one final look, with far more confidence than she ever had in highschool, Jude patted her brown waves down, cascading it over her shoulder, and listened to the sounds around her.
Along with Troy’s breathing, she could hear walking from outside… but there wasn’t enough chatter for it to be Jayce and Remy, who were in charge of bringing the lot of them to the base. With a swift turn on her heel, she glided toward the window and peeped through the cute blue lace
curtain she had Troy hang up for her (she was short), since the windows were kind of big and people could easily see inside of the cabins,
“We have company.”Dani arrived at the door to the King of Clubs cabin, and knocked, before stepping back. She didn’t know what to say, and part of her hoped that Jimena could do the talking, or the other two had caught up by now, but deep down she knew that this was her first test; to address one of the counselors herself, without her parents, siblings or friends to share (completely take over) the burden of social interaction. She had to do this herself. It shouldn’t even be a big deal; just talking to someone and explaining things to them. But Dani was getting stage fright as she stood there waiting for the door to be opened. Jimena watched her carefully, the way her shoulders tensed. She felt almost pity for her, but mostly she found it endearing.
Behind the door, Jude ran her fingers through her hair one last time, mentally preparing herself to make a good first impression. If she were in high school, known for being her youthful (like by a lot) looks, that made heterosexual jocks and bullies question their sexual preference (because at the time she was a he) and her high excellence, especially in subjects like science and math (NERD), she wouldn’t have the courage to do this. Be a counselor. Talk to strangers and try to be a role model for them. It felt like only yesterday when she raced down the halls, just to avoid talking to anyone and lock herself in the robotics lab with people like Kelsey, who also wasn’t the most sociable of teenagers. Jude came a long way. A lot of soul searching and building her self esteem up. Believe it or not, it was all thanks to the friends she made - thanks to Connor that faithful day he asked her to tutor Ender. Her first, and only, boyfriend to this day.
Standing at 5’2”, having grown a few more inches over the years (leaving poor Isabel in the dust - rip shorty), Jude reached for the knob and opened it slowly, making sure she didn’t hit anyone on the other side. Her attention was rewarded with a dark haired beauty. Jude, by far, was the least intimidating counselor that walked Aces High. Kelsey, Remy, and… probably Aaron followed next. Or Ty, but his accent (and well, words) definitely made people think he was an ass. He was the most loving, once you got past the whole ‘first impression’ stage.
The rest though? They were either intimidating by their scary attractive looks, their scary personalities (Melody would cut a bitch if they took her Connor away from her, Belle got shit done and took care of her’s, even Shy and Lu had questionable… quirks), or you were… Troy. Who was PROBABLY the scariest out of them all, though he’s softened now that he was a grown man (to a degree). He’s still not someone you want to fuck with and he LOOKS like someone you wouldn’t want to fuck with, but he was better… trust.
Ain’t that funny how that worked out? The scariest and the most considerate. Together as head counselors for the Clubs’ team. Those assigned to the King of their suit, led the charge of the entire suit, even if it was a collaborative and team effort. Having leaders was really Ash’s way of giving tasks and important information to specific individuals, while it was their job to distribute it accordingly.
Luckily for Dani, only Jude was in view. Poking her head out, Jude softly smiled at her,
“Hi.” Okay, Jude was not
brilliant with words, but she’d ease in it, slowly but surely. This wasn’t a business pitch or whatever. She wasn’t in a lecture giving a presentation. This was
camp. Opening the door and gracefully gesturing for the young girl to enter, Jude warmly encouraged,
“Make yourself, um, home. Yeah, you were assigned to the King of Clubs, right?””Hi,” was Dani’s timid response, as well as nodding in affirmative answer to her question. She was indeed assigned to King of Clubs. At least, as first impressions go, she had received a good one, and had given an...accurate one, to sum it up in the most positive way.
“Yeah, hi,” Jimena smiled, taking a step forward, a tight grip on her bag.
“I'm Jimena-” When she saw the second person who was waiting for them in the cabin, she froze.
From behind Jude came the form of the ever intimidating Troy Blake. While he wasn’t the tallest of the counselors, Troy had a certain way that he carried himself that let people know that he was the real deal. Whatever it meant when you thought of ‘the real deal,’ it didn’t matter anymore because… you’re lookin’ at the real deal. And… the real deal wasn’t very interested in the two campers in front of them, instead stepping around them and toward Kylie. What? She had a ring on her finger. They didn’t.
“TROYYYYYYY!!! JUDEYYYYY!!!” Yepp, that’s how you knew Kylie caught up with the other two as fast as they left them. Leaving Alex’s side, because
technically they were here, the nice form that was Kylie darted down the open area, no longer paying attention to anyone else but her love.
“I missedddddd youu!” With plenty of momentum, she jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around her fiance’s waist lovingly, possessively. Leaning into his ear, she nipped at it and whispered, to where no one else could hear,
“Daddy.” YEAH, she liked calling him DADDY. They were together for awhile. It was their thing. Jude rolled her eyes at PDA she was use to - especially since Kylie was her childhood best friend and Jude was stuck with her… all her life.
Jimena immediately looked away. She didn't seem like she was going to say anything more for a while. Alex, on the other hand, did little to no effort in hiding her disgust at the display the two counselors were putting on. Groaning in revulsion, the camper continued onward toward her cabin, finally able to detach herself from the pest she had to put up with the whole trip over. She simply needed to drop her bags off, hide her box, and find where Casper was staying. Having took in the surrounding area, the girl figured it was most likely one of the two rooms next to hers. There was no way she was going to request assistance again. She was better off relying on herself; what else was new? Honestly, it was a basic plan.
Still, two cows were preventing her from entering the cabin by blocking the entrance just standing about. Fed up with all the idiots she had to interact with in the half an hour since she had arrived at camp, Alex set her box down and hitched both straps on her shoulders closer to her body. Pressing her now free arms toward her middle as well, she squeezed in between Dani and Jimena. Spreading out her forearms, she shoved her roommates aside, punctuating the action with a curt,
"Move."Retrieving the box into her hands once more, Alex rolled her eyes and headed toward one of the bunks. Dani took this as a cue to come in and set up shop. She chose the bunk in the far corner, and avoided Troy and Kylie like the plague. She didn’t mind public shows of affection. They made her incredibly uncomfortable, but she didn’t begrudge the couple themselves any happiness. It’s not dissimilar to ignoring the people in high streets with the clipboards who just want ‘a moment of your time’. I understand that you have a job to do and good luck to you, but stay the hell away from me. To her surprise, Jimena took the bunk nearest hers. She did so quietly, acknowledging Dani with a slight smile. Then she turned away, placed her suitcase beside the bunk and started rummaging through her bag. Jimena wasn’t really looking for anything. But it made her look busy while she waited for the next thing to happen. She did look up once, though just to shoot daggers at Alex with her eyes and muttering,
“Bitch.”Luckily for Jimena, and quite frankly the entire cabin, the aforementioned bitch hadn't picked up on the comment, having been too busy taking in the room. Allowing her two roommates to take the pair of beds clustered together didn’t bother Alex in the least. On the other side of the cabin there was a lone bunk that the high maintenance teenager dropped her possessions on before storing her parcel underneath. After rummaging around in one of her bags, the vain girl took out a compact mirror to fix any physical imperfections she found. Fortunately her makeup had stayed in order and she merely had to straighten some flyaway hairs. However, that still didn’t prevent her from continuously staring at her reflection for just a bit longer than necessary.
Once satisfied with her appearance, Alex checked to make sure she had her phone (sure there might not have been signal but it was a constant presence and she needed something to take selfies with) and another rectangular shaped item in her possession before turning to head out of the cabin without a second glance at anyone else. They had wasted enough of her time, and she needed to meet somebody.
Luckily for Alex, the only counselor who would have stopped her was very, very busy with the task at hand… which was sucking Kylie’s face off with his own face. Did Troy care if anyone heard what she’d whispered in his ear? Of course not, Troy didn’t give a fuck. He had his hands all over her and he was in his own world, which had nothing to do with Aces High.
Clearing her throat, Jude debated her next course of actions. She knew Troy and Kylie would be at that for… a long time if no one intervened. That being said, one of their campers was on a warpath to get the fuck out of this cabin and head somewhere.
“Um…” before Alex could get anywhere, Jude stopped her in her tracks. Tiny, little Jude blocking the doorway. She wasn’t going to take too much of her time. Alex lightly started as one of the counselors (she couldn’t remember what their name was or cared to), quite literally, stood in her way to the door. What the hell exactly was everyone’s problem? Weren’t summer camps usually supposed to promote going outside? Essentially fed up to the point she was about to forcefully shove the smaller brunette to the side and leave no matter what the consequences for physically assaulting a counselor was, wild green eyes stared down at the other with a threatening rage. Honestly, Jude was probably the least annoying person Alex had to deal with and it was unfair for the camper to take out her irritation with
everyone else on her but the girl was at her boiling point.
So instead, Jude quickly handed the intimidating brunette a name tag with emergency numbers and central places to go to on the back of it, having remembered the picture of this girl’s face when Ash handed her a manila folder with all the Club campers information in it. Having her anger curbed for a moment through the distraction of an object being thrust in her direction, Alex looked down at the name tag with furrowed brows and a scowl as she listened to Jude.
“We’re all going to the Pit at 8PM, I hope you’ll meet us there, and please check in with any Club counselor throughout the day so we know you’re okay. The mess hall will be open all day. Sorry your morning isn’t going as well as you would like it to... My name is Jude and if you ever need help, I’ll gladly offer a hand. For anything.” After she felt satisfied with the information she gave the girl, she stepped out the way so the woman could continue to explore the campgrounds.
Goddamn it; she was nice. Usually Alex wouldn’t have cared for what the counselors had informed her on for orientation but this was a little different. The counselor, who she now knew by Jude, had addressed how she was feeling and upset she was. Generally the girl didn’t need any support of the emotional variety from anyone besides one specific person (and even then it was rare for her to burden them with her momentary insecurities) but the gesture didn’t go unappreciated despite it making little difference to the younger girl. Was it wrong that at one point Alex would have merely retorted with a sharp, sarcastic comment, effectively throwing someone’s kindness back in their face? Instead, she merely rolled her eyes at herself as if to remind herself to play nice with others (although she didn’t really think of how it looked to the other person) and took the name tag. Despite mild resistance, thin lips opened to give a small thanks before Alex was gone.
Jude did catch sight of the gesture and simply kept her smile on. If there was one thing Jude would like to think she has gotten a good handle on, it was taking care of stubborn people, who took a lot of their frustrations out on the world. One being her boyfriend, Ender, and the other… well, he was sucking a hot redhead’s face right now. Hurriedly, Jude went to the two people that she considered her best friends, aside from Kelsey, Belle, and Ty, all counselors here, as well as Jericho, who was too busy to attend camp, and grabbed the edges of their shirts, timidly tugging at it,
“Troy… Kylie… I can assure you there will be more chances to love each other and um, Kylie, you have somewhere to be.” Kylie, however, was far too distracted to respond.
Troy finally pulled away from Kylie, reluctantly. Looking over at Jude, he stared down at the much smaller woman, shaking his head.
“Jude. Don’t interrupt, dammit. This is like, the one thing I have that makes me happy, don’t stop it.” He said sternly, before turning his attention back to Kylie, who was giving her Jude puppy dog eyes and pouting. She didn’t want to leaveeeeee.
“I understand, but we also have responsibilities.” Jude gently smiled at Kylie, who was sending internal messages through her stare,
“I’m sure Belle will keep you busy, Ky, and as for you, Troy.” Jude paused, letting her words settle in the air.
“You have me.” Kylie heavily sighed. There was no arguing that. They both had loved ones they were rooming with and most definitely could bare the distance. They could’ve been paired with anyone in particular but Belle demanded to be with Kylie and Troy refused to be with Melody, so in the end, it all worked out, and all her girlfriends told her this would make her more excited to be his bride. By the end of these ten weeks, she’ll be more in love with him than she already was and her wedding would be ten times better. Emotions would be flowing.
Alright, fine. Whatever. Jude had a point. Troy reluctantly sat Kylie down on her feet and gave the two girls a nod,
“okay, fine. But I’m mad at you and you will be getting an earful later,” with that, Troy turned around and ducked into the cabin, walking quickly to the counselor’s room before grabbing a small suitcase, which he handed to Kylie after returning.
“There’s a walkie-talkie set that’s just for us in there, some… juice for Belle and you, and one big ass package of Reese’s Fast Breaks. Don’t eat them all at once, because you only get these. Now, run along my love. Be free.”“Okay, Mr. Punisher. I wuv you.” And with that, Kylie kissed her baby one more time, poked Jude’s nose, and then pranced off with her treats! Belle will be so happy Troy got them ‘juice’. As she walked off, she grabbed the walkie talkie strapped to her hip that all the counselors had. This would most likely come out of everyone’s walkie-talkies, since Kylie wasn’t the brightest,
“BELLIEEEE! I’m comingggg! Do we have babes in our cabin? We probably do.” Jude rubbed her forehead as Kylie’s voice still resonated in the cabin, this time via walkie talkie. Temporarily, she silenced her walkie talkie and made her way to the other campers, offering them their name tags,
“Sorry about that, I’ll be better at monitoring her. Kylie isn’t all that bad, she’s actually one of the most lovable people you could ever know. She’s just… extremely expressive.” Jude beamed at Dani and Jimena,
“As I told Alex, the back of these tags have emergency information on it. Service isn’t the best here, so my suggestion is find the nearest counselor, regardless of their suit, or go to the main office, if the situation is dire, since we will be giving our campers plenty of free time to enjoy their summer. We’re a bit of an outlandish camp, since it’s fairly new, and we all believe you are old enough to not need a babysitter at all times. Ash wants you to make the most of your experience here, and hopefully in years to come, this will be a well established camp that many kids would beg their parents to attend. By the director’s door, there is a suggestion box where you can tell us your ideas to make this camp more yours than our’s. We want you to enjoy being here so whatever it takes, whether it’s building a small library for people that like to read or investing in, I don’t know, a bmx dirt track, we want this place to grow. For now, it’s at it’s bare bones and we’re focusing on you appreciating the little things. From the friends you make to watching the sunset by the lake. The little things.” Jude’s stormy gray eyes was not clouded by lies or ill intentions. Oddly enough, she looked at them like a mother would stare at one of her children. Pure love and genuinity. Repeating her name and Troy’s, she sent them off with one final piece of advice,
“I’m Jude, that’s Troy, and we’ll be your cabin counselors. Please, don’t hesitate to come to us if you need someone to talk to. It took me seventeen years to really open up to anyone, so I know how it can be, to be scared. Avoiding people like the plague. And I want you both to know.” Intentionally, Jude locked her eyes with Dani, having a feeling they were similar to a degree,
“This is a safe place and we will do our damndest to help you enjoy your time here.” Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad, maybe they wouldn’t all be twats and life would be easy and they’d have a nice summer and everything would be cool. Or, more likely, Troy would kill them all and himself in a triple murder suicide by the end of the summer.
Most likely.
“Yeah, class dismissed. Go have fun and play or whatever the fuck you’re looking at doing. There’s a lot of space, little supervision, and no real rules other than don’t kill each other and don’t get pregnant. Have fun. Jude, I have more juice in the cabin for us, but I need to… radio Ty about flowers.” He said waving at the two kids before he disappeared into the cabin walls.
