NOAH
I smile, as I take quick side glances at Abby, sleeping soundly in the passenger seat. She fell asleep a while ago so I had to drive slowly which made us arrive later than we should have.
I'm cautious as I drive into camp grounds, not even my headlights are on. I don't wanna attract anyone or anything. That weird counselor said something about bears, right?. He might have been joking but I take it 50/50.
I turn off the ignition once I've parked the car then get down. I walk over to the other side to get Abby. She looks so peaceful, all curled up in her seat.. I tilt my head to get a better view.
It would be such evil to disturb her peace right now. I sigh, stepping out before shutting the door close. I make my way to my cabin, I notice all the lights in every cabin is turned off but I could still hear low murmurings from them.
As I get into my cabin, everyone rustles about, trying to get back into their covers. I shake my head. I'm honestly ashamed at the people I call a team.
"It's me", I say, grabbing a pillow and blanket from my bed. They all stop pretending and someone flashes their phone light at me.
"Oh it's captain",
"I need a pillow and a blanket", I say.
"I've got two blankets", someone announces.
"Hey, Martins sleeps without pillows", Tyrese says and I sigh cause I can't even see Martins or Tyrese who just spoke.
"This camp is full of shit", I mutter, pulling out my phone to turn on the flashlight, "Where's Martins?", I ask as the light engulfs the whole room. That's better.
"Asleep", Curtis, whose bed's next to Martins, says after checking.
"Get me his pillow then and the blanket I asked for", I say, sounding impatient.
The someone who had an extra blanket passes it to Curtis and he comes to me with both things I asked for.
"Appreciate", I say then get out of there. I get to the car, heading to the trunk, I put the blankets and pillows in it. I can't afford to wake Abby up so I'll make a bed for her right here.
I doubt she'd even wanna be around those girls after the whole thing that transpired. She's always by herself but yet they wanna hurt her.. literally makes no sense.
I place the first blanket properly then the pillows. I'm about to go get Abby when I hear something. I stop in my tracks, looking around.. there's no movement or sound.
Just as I'm about to move again, a hand comes from behind grabbing my shoulder. I quickly turn, striking without a second thought.
"Fuck",
I notice the person to be camp counselor Trevor as he backs away holding onto his nose I just punched.
"Shit", I curse as someone gasps from a car, parked a few steps away. I look up to see a girl, standing behind it, she hides when she sees me. I look back at Trevor.
He finally stands straight, wiping his bloody nose, "Why the hell are you here?", he asks and I look over at the car again.
"Could ask you the same thing", I say, a little too confident.
He follows the trail of my eyes then looks back at me, cursing under his breath. He knows he's just as busted as me.
"I'm guessing you're on duty?", I ask and he nods, wiping his bloodstained hands on his pants. I frown in disgust.
"Yeah",
"Great, so you did the bed check?",
"Where is this going to?",
"Glad you like cutting to the chase, I just need you to sign in two names
He scoffs, "Look here-",
I quickly cut him off, "Unless you want three names mentioned at the assembly tomorrow..",
I make a head gesture at the girl, who's still hiding behind the car, and he sighs.
"Fine", he says and I give him a tight smile.
"Great, Abby Flenory and Noah Kushner".
ABBY
My eyelids twitch as I turn in.. my eyes shoot open but it closes back as I shield my eyes from the sun. Where am I? and why is there sunlight in my room.. oh wait I'm in camp.. but I don't remember the cabin having a sunroof.
"Rise and shine princess", I turn to see Noah, staring down at me with a small smile.
I look around and I finally notice my surroundings.
"I slept here? In a car trunk?", I ask, rubbing the back of my neck. Now that I think of it, my body's kind of sore.
"We actually", he says and I pause.
"When did we even arrive last night?", I ask just as another thought gets into my head.
"Oh my God, what time is it?", I ask, searching around for my phone.
The loud sound of the bell, ringing makes me sigh. I guess that answers my question.
"C'mon I'll help you down", Noah says, reaching for my hand. He helps me get down the trunk and we make our way to the assembly. Are these even necessary? Like why wake us up so early? It's a study camp not some life appreciating wilderness awareness camp.. okay if that's a thing, that is.
The rest of the students pour out of their cabins and I realize who I'm walking in with hand in hand. I snatch my hand away from Noah's and he's about to speak against it but I'm saved by Hernandez.
"Hey Ginger, been looking all over for you", he says as he approaches us, wearing a huge beige sweater and shorts. I notice ink seeping out, probably a tattoo drawing of some kind of object or animal. It seems far different from a writing.
"I-", I start but not so surprisingly Noah let's himself into the conversation, cutting me off.
"Stop acting like you care, if you did, you'd know where she was yesterday", Noah venomously spits out in anger so I jab him in the stomach. When he doesn't flinch, I mentally scold myself in shame.
Hernandez looks at me, "What's he saying?",
I open my mouth but end up stuttering and I'm glad when Mrs Hart clears her throat and grabs everyone's attention, including my conversants.
"Decorum please", She says and the noise around starts to disperse.
"Good morning students, I hope you all are taking this study camp seriously because at the end of every week there will be an assessment to see how far you've gone in this learning process",
I bite the bottom of my lip hard, with fingers crossed hoping for the bed check book to somehow get lost this morning. It'll be so awkward if I were to get called out with Noah. The embarrassing stares and murmurings would surely make me feel nauseous and I might end up throwing up.. yeah double embarrassment.
"Now before I go any further, I have some names of those who defied the rules that were given..", she trails as Trevor, who has a band aid over his nose, passes a book to her. Wonder what happened to him.
I turn to Noah and I'm shocked to see him so relaxed. I slap his arm in panic, "Why are so chill?", I harshly whisper to him.
"Why are you so unchill?", he asks and I groan. That's not even a word.
"For the love of God, it has to be both genders", she says, mostly to herself. My heart does what it does best when there's an issue, palpitate.
"Cody Simmons and Wendy Logan.. report to the counselors cabin immediately after the assembly",
The whole assembly starts to murmur again and I look at Noah. "Wha.. but.. how did they not call our names?",
"After hearing a complaint from one of you.. although it may be lights out we'll keep the corridor lights on and extend lights out till 12pm",
People hoot to that while I try to get answers from Noah, who's totally unfazed with his arms crossed over his bulky chest. Oh the urge to touch- I mean slap them.
I turn back to Noah, "What did you do?",
"I handled it, like I always do", he says and I sigh.
"Let's hope it's not shady"
"C'mon princess, when has something I handled ever come back to bite us in the ass?",
I pause to think and actually there's nothing Noah's taken care of that blew up in our faces. He always handled it well.
He looks at me then smirks, "Yeah nothing",
The assembly closes off with Mr Warren giving a small speech about intentionality on our studies and I'm sure only 2% of students had their ears open.
Noah gets pulled away by his teammates, leaving just Hernandez and I.
"So what happened yesterday, you okay?",
"Yeah I'm okay, totally fine", I say, giving out a small smile to prove it.
"Okay well, I've been meaning to tell you something about..",
"Oh there's Callie", I point out, unintentionally cutting him off. I wave her over and she walks up to us.
"Hi guys", she somewhat shyly says.
"So um, what did you want to tell me?", I ask Hernandez and he looks between Callie and I.
"I uh.. just wanted to say.. you look great in.. shorts, yeah", he nods and I slowly give out a single nod.
"Ohkay.. so how's it going?", I ask just to let whatever awkwardness that was born die quickly.
"I'm okay so far",
"Yeah I'm good too",
I notice their subtle eye glances at each other. Are they finally hitting the couple lane?. Maybe I should give them room.
"Um well, would you look at the time, I've got early morning duties to do", I say but then wonder why.
"Duties?", Hernandez asks and I nod to affirm my earlier nonsensical sentence.
"Yes.. like brush my teeth and.. you know, duty stuff", I say, shrugging and he gives me a look. "Bye", I hurriedly bid farewell, heading to my cabin.