Chapter 3 Three More Months

“How can they take our phones for a whole summer?” I hear a high-pitched voice ask.

I open one eyelid, noting a group of four girls standing near the entrance of the cabin. I pull my headphones out of my ears, shutting off the mp3 player. My movement grabbed one of the girls' attention, making her jump back into another one.

“What the hell!” The one she pushed into yells and pushes her off.

“Sorry, she just scared me.” She gestures to me.

They all turn to look at me quickly with wide eyes.

When did you get here?” The one with a high-pitched voice and jet black hair steps forward, looking at me apprehensively. 

I stand up from the bed, readjusting my shirt. “Uh, I’ve been here the whole time. I was just listening to music while I waited for people to show up.” I gesture to the bed.

They look me over, making me shift my weight uncomfortably under their judgmental stares. The first girl who got scared by me smiles, which eases the tension in the room.

“I’m Beth. What’s your name?” She steps closer to me. She looks to be my age, with her honey-brown hair tied back into a high ponytail.

“My name is Anna.”

“This is our little friend group, that is Kiersten,” She points to the girl with jet black hair.

“That’s Lexie,” She points to the girl with fiery red hair who pushed her.

“And that is Peyton,” She points to the last girl, who looks at me with a smile.

I wave at them.

Kiersten and Lexie seem a bit mean for my liking, but I won’t judge the book by the cover. At least Beth is nice so far.

“Are you new to town?” Lexie asks as she and Kiersten pick the bunk beside mine.

“Yeah, I actually just got to town a few days ago, so I don’t really know much about it.”

“You cool if I bunk with you?” Beth asks, dropping her bags on the chest.

“Yeah, go right ahead.”

I glance over at Peyton, who unpacks her bags on the other side of the room on a bunk closest to the door. I thought they were all friends.

Kiersten seems to notice my look. “Peyton is my boyfriend's twin sister.”

Like that’s supposed to make it better, she’s going to be bunking with a random girl while they have enough people. I feel bad for so instead of just standing in the way while the other three girls unpack, I walk over to her. If I’ve learned anything from being the new kid at school over a dozen times, it's that I always appreciate the one person who shows me kindness on my first day.

“How can I help?” I ask her standing by the chest.

She pauses, putting her shorts into the dresser, looking over her bags. She grabs out a toiletry bag, “Do you know where the bathroom is?” She looks at me through her wispy bangs.

“I don’t think we have a bathroom in the cabin.”

This makes the chatter between the other three stop. The room is pin-drop quiet when Lexie asks, all too calmly, “This place doens’t have a bathroom?”

I turn to look at her, shaking my head, “No, there’s no other room here, it’s just this big room.”

Kiersten makes a sound of frustration. “First, they take our phones, now they take our basic human rights?” She spits out angrily, shoving her clothes into the drawer next to her bed.

“Don’t be dramatic. There are bathrooms you’ll just have to walk to them.” Beth rolls her eyes at Kiersten's whining.

“This is ridiculous I-” Lexie is cut off by three more girls walking in.

They look a little younger than us, but I remember Mother telling me that this camp was open to ages 14-18. They look around wide-eyed at everything. Yup, they’re definitely young.

“Hi!!” The first one greets us.

They all have bleached blonde hair, with matching money pieces dyed blue.

“I’m Cleo.”

“I’m Morgan.”

“I’m Erica.”

They all say one after another. A smile cracks onto my face at this. They really look like something out of a teen sitcom.

“I’m Anna.”

“How old are you guys?” Lexie asks.

“We’re 14, Erica’s 15.” Cleo points at her and Morgan.

Kiersten sighs loudly, thumping onto the stiff mattress. “This just gets even worse. Now we have children to babysit.”

The girls look a little taken aback by her statement, but they take it in stride, ignoring her. Erica comes up to Peyton and me while Morgan and Cleo go to the bed next to us.

“What’s your name?” I step out of her way while she opens the chest.

“Peyton. Are you okay if I take the bottom bunk?” Erica nods, dropping her bags into the chest and shutting it.

“I would fight you for the top bunk, so that’s perfect.” I leave those two to bond, going back to my bed, where Beth is finishing organizing her stuff in the chest.

“Do you mind if we share the top of the dresser?” She asks, walking over to the almost empty dresser top.

“Yeah, I can take that side.” I point to where my MP3 player and a water bottle sit.

I sit on my bottom bunk watching the room. Lexie is sitting next to Kiersten, who lies dramatically half on, half off the bed. She whispers something to her that I can’t quite hear.

Cleo and Morgan are excitedly looking through the windows, the dresser, the chest, and the desks. Erica sits on the chest talking to Peyton while she continues unpacking.

Beth puts her toiletry bag on the dresser.

“Have most people arrived?” I ask her, glancing through the windows. I see more bodies moving about than I did when I first arrived.

“Yeah, I think almost everyone should be here by now. Hopefully we have dinner soon, I’m hungry.”

I chuckle at her reaching over to my bag at the end of my bed. “Here.” I toss a single-serving-sized bag of chips at her.

She catches them before giving me a bright smile. “You are about to become my new best friend, Anna.”

Laughter fills the room as she raves about how good the chips are. Meeting the roommates went better than I expected—only three more months of this.