Chapter six
"I'm hungry." Keira dropped the magazine she was reading on her bed. The girls had lounged around their cabin in the north section of Silver Lake camp. Turns out, Anika only awoke around noon and they had spent a great amount of time talking.
"Well, we did miss lunch." Mel grumbled lowering her gaze to her own grumbling stomach.
"And archery." Keira smiled contently.
"They let kids like us near pointy, harmful objects like arrows?" Anika asked with a raised brow.
"Nah, these ones are rubber tipped and the targets aren't all that hard." Mel said after giving Anika one of her famous smirks.
"Yes, but even rubber can leave killer welts." Keira winked at their new roommate.
"I take it you know this from experience?" Anika watched the tall blond shift her long legs over the side of her cot.
Keira widened her eyes innocently. "Maybe I just missed the flimsy target."
Mel scoffed. "It's not humanly possible to aim for one thing, and shoot a complete one hundred eighty degrees in the opposite direction."
"Fine then, maybe my target was never the flimsy thing in the first place." Keira shrugged.
"Glad I'm on your good sides." Anika pretended to wipe her brow in relief, earning laughs from the girls.
"If you only knew." Keira mumbled with a suspicious smile on her face and stood from her cot. Feeling restless, Anika got up from her cot as well and watched as Mel stood too.
"You hungry?" the short red head asked, not looking over her shoulder as she walked to the door.
"Starving." Anika replied and placed a hand over her gurgling stomach.
Just as the girl's opened their flap door, a familiar stern face stopped the three of them in their tracks.
"What's up Sargent?" Anika asked from behind Mel, watching the ticking vein in Larry's forehead become more noticeable.
"Have you been eves dropping again? I knew you liked me and weren't just staring before." she continued her teasing.
"Follow me." he ground out with a fixed glare on Anika's amused face.
"Ooh, someone's grouchy. It's okay though, that's what happens when my people miss me." Anika chuckled and turned to her new friends as Larry stormed off.
"Sargent?" Keira raised a golden brow in question as she stared down a few inches at Anika, a similar rebellious spark igniting the emerald orbs of her eyes just like Anika's grey ones.
"I don't think I've seen Larry boy so tense." Mel mused with a half smirk.
"I'm in love with him. Who wouldn't go for that macho military hair cut?" Anika joked as she hopped off their little square wooden step that led up to the cabin's foundation.
"And that gravely bark." Mel chuckled.
"Don't forget his... nah, got nothin'. He isn't that great after all. Only the meat heads try to talk to him." Keira let out a soft laugh as the girls caught up to Larry.
"So is this place really big or what?" Anika asked, craning her head around to count the number of cabins on the dirt pathway they were walking on.
"Pretty much. We're in the north wing, which is a girl's section along with the west wing. The boys take the east and south wings. Altogether there are around two hundred cabins in each wing. Most of them are full vacancy with three people in a cabin." Keira said.
"So where is everybody then?"
"At their second activity. Which by the way, whatever's on your schedule isn't limited to your house or which wing your cabin is in. Meaning, you'll be with kids from the north, east and west wings before and after lunch. During lunch break though, we dine with the boys from the east wing." Keira rattled off and cocked her head to the side a bit. "Hey Lare-bear? Are we going to G's office?" The only form of reply was a deep grunt.
"Cool, then we can look over your schedule." Keira turned her head to the side to give Anika a smile.
"The only thing that sucks is not having games together. Keira and I have field games together. You know, like archery, soccer, kickball and all that stuff." Mel spoke. "But not the arts and fishing."
"The arts?" Anika's curiosity piqued as her hand itched to get on a spray can.
"Nice to know you're up on your feet Anika." Anika jumped which caused the other two girls to snicker. Having been so interested in what Keira and Mel were saying, Anika hadn't noticed that they had walked into one of the offices centered in the middle of the Silver Lake's land plot.
"I hope these ladies aren't making you doubt your agreement to come to Silver Lake. Welcome, by the way." the look a-like Genevieve eyed Keira and Mel with a playful look. Although she had the same pale blond hair and light green eyes among other similar features, this lady's voice wasn't quite as high or energized as Genevieve's; it was more calming and soothing than chirping.
"Aw, that cut deep G." Mel feigned a wounded look.
"Yeah, we'd never do anything too drastic to anyone new." Keira placed a hand over her heart.
The lady rolled her green eyes at their theatrics. "That's not how last week's incident turned out."
"Oh, right." Keira shrugged as she remembered what happened.
"What about last week?" Anika looked between Mel and Keira.
"Tell ya' later." Mel waved her hand dismissively. "So G, can we see her schedule?"
The lady gave a quiet chuckle before turning to Anika and introducing herself with a warm smile. "I'm Gelsey. I know you've already met my sister Genevieve."Â Anika's mouth formed a little 'o' and the two other girls started laughing again.
"Together we run Silver Lake. Am I correct that Melissa and Keira have filled you in with how things work around here?" Anika nodded her head.
"Thank you girls." Gelsey smiled at the other two. "So these are the offices. If you have a problem or just need to talk then I'll be here for most of the day." She explained a few more bits of information while fishing around her office before standing straight with a paper in her hands.
"Alright, here you go. This is your weekly schedule. You know, rise at eight, breakfast at nine, first activity, oh and you have first lunch with Keira and Melissa, then the second activity. Supper is served at six and then later there's a bonfire tonight at eight thirty."
"Do we have to like, talk about why we think we're here?" Anika asked wearily.
"Not unless you want to. In my experience with running this camp, I find that kids like to settle in first before they share. I try not to pressure them into telling. But like I said, if you ever want to talk, my office is open. And if I'm not here, then I always encourage talking with your peers."
"Not gonna' lie, Mel isn't the best therapist. She's kinda crazy." Keira laughed as she dodged the said red head's fist that aimed to hit her shoulder.
"Well, I'm not a speak my feelings kinda girl, so I guess there's no problem there." Anika said, ignoring Gelsey's softening look. The whole year that she spent with Greg, not once had she told them about her mother while she was alive. Even this past week, she couldn't bring herself to talk about what happened with anyone. The only thing that they really knew about her was that she didn't always have a place to stay and she was 'one hell of an artist' according to Nick. With a soft sigh, Anika shook her head to clear her thoughts about her friends.
"Well, if you want I can give you three a pass to walk about the grounds. You girls could show Anika where everything is." Gelsey offered them a purple laminated square piece of paper.
"Thanks G." Keira took the pass and turned to walk out.
"Where are you two supposed to be anyway?"
"Archery." Mel grinned.
"Alright, I'll let them know that you're helping me out. Just stay out of trouble, kay?"
"Of course Gelsey." Keira gave one last in innocent smile before turning on her heel and followed Mel out of the office.
"So, about that food." Keira shoved her hand in her pockets. "Want to go to the cafeteria first?"
"Sure. That's back where we came so we'll be in the north end and we'll go from there." Mel agreed.
"For the most part, the camp is one gigantic circle with the Lake in between the south and west houses. After you get through the cabins among the trees, behind east and our wing are the fields and courts. The two base ball fields are also used for kickball." Keira ticked off the sports and Mel joined in as well.
"Two soccer fields, also used for field hockey."
"A tennis and basket ball court."
"The archery range."
"Then there are the trail entrances after the fields."
"And the docks on the water edge. Most kids go there for their lunch break so fishing is nearly impossible. You just end up sitting there the whole time." Mel shrugged a shoulder. "It's still alright if you have a few people to talk to."
"And you'll meet a whole bunch of people at supper and then the bon fire." Keira smiled. "You'll meet Skinner."
"Skinner?" Anika parroted. Mel and Keira shared a mischievous grin.
"A friend of ours." Keira shrugged. "Oh, and don't mind all the staring. Once we walk into the cafeteria everyone's going to be nosey."
"You're the new girl. They'll either ask what you're in for or stare at you and try to figure it out themselves. Some even make bets."
Bets? Anika thought not knowing whether to be freaked out or amused.
"But don't worry. Mel here will scare them away. She has that effect on people. Poor girl, if it wasn't for me and Skin she wouldn't have any friends." Keira faked a frown and gave Mel's head a pat.
"Ready?" Mel ignored her friend's snickers after she punched Keira in the arm and swatted her hand away. Anika looked at the huge building the trio now stood in front of. A dull roar of noise came through the closed green door. She could see the faces of laughing kids through the cafeteria's large rectangular windows. Some had already noticed them standing at the door and were leaning over to say something to their friends who also turned around and watched them with curious expressions as they saw Anika.
"Open 'em up." with the command, Keira grabbed the handle to one of the doors and pulled it open.