It had all started two weeks ago, back in the suburbs of Palm Beach, Florida. The clique of troublemakers from King’s Academy called The Misfits had decided to celebrate the end of another academic year with a little get-together the night school let out. They’d ordered some pizza, fooled around the jacuzzi and raided the liquor cabinet, eventually getting brave and tipsy and deciding to play a few rounds of Truth Or Dare. With each round passed the dares got bigger and bolder… Until their host Sonny Drake was caught mid-dare throwing eggs at a cop car near the Crown Heights’ Police Station. Because there was video evidence of the event and it was his third strike, Sonny was referred to juvenile court, where he entered a plea agreement to spend three weeks in juvie and four more weeks of community service… Not to mention how his parents had vowed he’d be grounded for the rest of the summer, too.
Just like that, Marisol’s dreams of a fun-filled vacation were gone. Kavan and Kavi’s parents had pretty much banned them from hanging out with the remaining Misfits, and Archer was dead-set in his suggestion that maybe the best thing he and Mari could do was get away from Palms for a few weeks. After much deliberation and talking to their parents, the best friend duo had been signed up to attend Camp Red Arrow for part of the summer. They had arrived at their Colorado haven a few hours previously, and Marisol had been able to take dibs on the bottom bunk closest to the girls’ cabin door (fast and easy escape route) before she and Archer met again at the rec room the introduction speech that had left her outraged to hell.
"This is bullshit!” Marisol cried out as soon as she walked through the doors of the rec room, kicking at a small rock nearby. When the counselor had said in his speech that they’d be stuck there for at least three months, the young woman had choked on a piece of gum she’d been chewing. In her numerous conversations with her parents about Camp Red Arrow had the words “three months” ever been mentioned. A few weeks? Yes. But
months. Mari wouldn’t have agreed to that in a million years.
“Three months?! Are they fucking stupid, or what? We start classes mid-August, and there is no way in hell my parents did ship us here for three months! Maaaaybe one and a half-- and that’s pushing it. And even if it is that long, I don't know if I'll make it without a drop of saltwater in my body! Like, fuck! Who in their right mind would spend their summer in the fucking mountains instead of the beach?! Fucking hermits: that's who. And are we hermits? Fuck no!" Marisol’s words came fast, agitated, rising and falling in pitch: the clear sign that her anxiety was kicking in.
Archer had been uncharacteristically quiet during the whole speech in the rec room. With every point that the counselor had spouted the wavy haired boy had become more and more annoyed. He had actually thought that Marisol had made some research on where they were spending their summer.
“Well…” he began, copying his friend in kicking at the gravel on the ground.
“Did you really not check anything when your dad sent you here?” the young man asked as he tried to hide the annoyance in his voice.
Mari glared at her best friend.
“No. He gave me the rundown and I trusted his judgement. Guess I should have done my research, huh?” she grumbled, kicking a larger pebble against a nearby tree before rummaging in her pocket for another piece of gum.
“This is some bullshit though…. I really have to sleep in a cabin with kids I don’t know? In bunk beds?!” he lamented, digging in his pockets for his cigarettes while his small friend popped the peppermint-flavored gum pieces into her mouth and began to chew. He shakily lit one of them, took a long drag and exhaled a cloud of nicotine-scented smoke, staring towards the other campers heading to the cabins.
“You think we can pull of sleeping outside?” he asked, chuckling sarcastically.
The pint-sized girl joined in, shaking her head while an amused smile still lingered on her face.
“Oh, I’m sure we can. These people don’t seem to give a flying fuck about what we do or not. And even if they did care-- so what? They’ll send us back home to our mansions and beaches? Boo-fucking-hoo,” Mari replied in the same sarcastic tone as Archer,
pouting and making a mocking crying motion with her hands.
“I guess you’re right…” Archer sighed as they continued on the path that led to the cabins.
“We should probably make the best of this, huh?” he said making a face as he took in the scenery.
“It’s just so… different,” he muttered, hiking his duffle bag up onto his shoulder.
“Then again… that is what I wanted...” Archer said quietly, eyeing his friend from the corner of his eye. He still hadn’t told his best friend about
the incident yet. There really wasn’t a good time to say
‘Hey, I tried to kill myself 2 weeks ago’, was there?
“Different is being generous… Fucking weird is more like it,” she shot back, looking around at the nearby lake and sea of trees stretching in front of them. The brunette soon felt a pang in her chest: she was already missing the white sands, crystalline waters and ocean blues from her Florida home.
The boy just shrugged as they continued on towards what apparently was the Boys cabin. The door stood open, allowing Archer to peer in before going inside. He quickly turned back to Marisol, giving her a skeptical grimace.
“Weird is the right word for sure...” he said, slowly making his way inside while the green-eyed girl remained perched on the doorway.
“Sup’, dudes?” he said to the room as a whole quickly claiming the bottom bunk in the farthest corner of the cabin.
“I’m Archer and the little girl with a permanent frown plastered on her face is Marisol.” he said jerking his head to Mari still in the doorway.`
The short brunette could only smirk and shake her head at Archer. He was always the best person to introduce her to people they didn’t know.
“Fuck you,” she whispered in the tall boy’s ear, playfully elbowing him in the ribs before turning her piercing gaze to her friend’s roommates for the summer.
Marisol’s green eyes scanned each of the boys’ faces, her brain immediately jumping into her favorite pastimes: judging people by first impressions only. She quickly recognized the boy closest to her as the overly-enthusiastic one from back the rec room. The one at the far end of the room standing opposite from Archer immediately rubbed her the wrong way, giving her vibes of that one insufferable snitch character Randall from the cartoon Recess. The other one was cute, and reminded Mari of that one actor who played Spiderman in the latest movie adaptation. And then there was the tallest
and probably most attractive one of all; whose dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and wide grin made him look like a spitting image of Archer’s cousin Max Wallenberg back in Florida. But it wasn’t his looks what caught the brunette’s attention… It was the contents of the ziplock bag and glass bong in his large hands.
“Oh my God! Is that- ?!” Mari cried out, stomping into the room and staring at the items in the look alike Max’s hands as if she’d finally found the solution to all her life problems.
“Holy shit, dude: I LOVE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW! You’re my fucking hero!”Archer looked up from digging in his bag when he was offered over the bong.
“Oh. Nah, man. Thanks. Maybe later,” he smiled sheepishly at the larger guy.
“But as you can see my friend here really needs a hit.” he said, standing up and hiding the pill bottle he had gotten from his bag inside his pocket.
“I’ll be right back, I need to try and contact my mom and let her know we’re alive.” Archer lied.
“Can you call my dad too while you’re at it? Tell him the plane didn’t fucking crash or blow up and we’re not charred pieces of flesh and bone being devoured by sharks in the middle of the open ocean,” she teased, letting out a loud cackle of laughter at her morbid remark.
He rolled his eyes
“Sure. I mean, if i can get service out here in the first place...” he said, shaking his phone at Mari and walking in the direction of the door.
“Try not to scar them too much physically or mentally while I’m out, k?” he whispered to his best friend as he passed her on his way out.
“No promises!” Mari called out after him with a mischievous smile, watching Archer venture out into the wilderness without her.
