FicWad

Hell. That’s all this place is.

I watched my dad’s car drive off in a flurry of dust, and felt overly hopeless as my shoulders slumped. Four whole weeks at church camp. Wow.

Maybe, I should explain a little bit, but I’ll save that for when I’m alone and not surrounded by Christian kids hugging and exchanging bible verses. You see, that’s what they always do. I’ve been here before, when I was very young and influenced by my parents. Nothing has changed, not in the least. These dumbfucks are all the same and haven’t done anything except look more ‘godlike’ in the past six years.

I glanced towards the chapel, a huge building with a cafeteria attached to the side and a looming cross on the roof. The parking lot spread out around me, filled with vans and campers, and—

I felt my body being shoved to the side, despite the fact that there was tons of room around me. “What the fuck!” I yelped, glaring at the back of a boy covered in tattoos. He turned back, gave me a very pissed off look, and dragged his suitcase towards his dorm. A girl with short black hair ran up to him just then, and threw her arms around him. “Pete, baby! I missed you!” she cried, grinning. He set down his suitcase and kissed her forehead. “I missed you too, Pantera…” he mumbled into her hair. I rolled my eyes and started to walk to the chapel to check in and get my room number. How could an asshole like that get such an adoring girlfriend?

I walked into the chapel, and checked in. They put me in room 316, and gave me a wristband to get into the cafeteria. I went back outside, dragging my stuff behind me. Already annoyed with people, I hoped my room would be empty at the moment and I could catch a moment of peace.

Picking up my pace and dodging campers, I made my way to my dorm, and looked for 316. I silently counted the rooms in quads. There were four quads: A, B, C, and D. Each was connected to the large center room, and they were at each corner. There was about four or five rooms per quad, A and B shared a restroom and showers, as did C and D. Perfect order.

So I figured about twelve bunks per room, with four rooms per quad, four quads… that’s around two hundred campers in one dorm. One hundred and ninety-two, to be exact. Just my fucking luck, I would be stuck in a dorm with two hundred screaming girls. I wish the old camp killer we used to talk about around the campfire would just come and slaughter them all.

I finally arrived at 316, but sadly, there was only one bunk left, and it was a bottom. Where’s the fun in that? Plus all of my ‘roomies’ were occupying the space at that time, laughing and giggling. They seemed to ignore me at that moment, so I dropped my stuff next to the bunk and grabbed my purse, exiting back outside.

There were so many people wandering around, that I almost missed a strange sight walking about twenty feet ahead of me. Two teenage boys were emerging from the tree line, holding hands. And just like that, they exchanged a quick kiss. At camp, this would never happen. I figured they were just like me, though, and forced to come here. I watched for a bit longer as they talked and laughed, and realized I vaguely recognized one of them. I shook it off, instead of figuring it out. I was not here to make friends.

I retreated to the pool house, and sunk down against the wall. Maybe now would be a good time to explain why I got stuck at camp. You see, my parents thought I was a bit too rebellious, and even though I’m really not, they thought a month in the middle of nowhere would do me some good, plus I’d have good influence all around me. It just kind of made me mad, and they said “Penina, you’re going whether you like it or not. It’ll be good for you and you’ll end up loving it.” Somehow, I don’t see that happening. I just wanna get out of here…

“Penina? Is that you?”


I turned to look, seeing the two boys from a few minutes ago. I blinked, staring at the one who had spoken. “Who’s askin’?” I mumbled.

“Alex, of course!” he laughed. “Don’t you remember me? We were like best friends here last time you came.”

“Alex?” I breathed, trying to put the name and face together. I could vaguely remember a boy with short blond hair and big brown eyes, but… did he really look this good now? “I think so. You’re the one who got kicked out for putting dead snake in the guest speaker’s bed, right?”

Alex simply grinned and nodded. “That’s me. And this”, he said, turning to the boy next to him, “is my boyfriend Kellin.”

“Nice to meet you”, I said with a small smile. Okay, I have to say, I was a little surprised to find out Alex was gay. Or bi. Whatever he was, I didn’t expect it. He was a really strong Christian, and I couldn’t even fathom what would make him be that way. Not that I was against it, I thought it was cool. I was happy for him. But it just seemed so strange.

“You coming to opening service?” Kellin asked. He had a dreamy accent, that I would kill for. It was quite adorable.

“Do I have a choice?” I chuckled. No, I knew I didn’t. But he was just being polite.

Alex smirked and gave me a look. “We’ll see you then. You should find us so we can hang a bit, you know, get caught up.”

I just nodded, and the two walked off, still holding hands. I smiled a bit, and listened to the soft sounds of guitar that had filled the treetops. Whoever was playing as delightful, and it relaxed me a little more. Knowing Alex was here helped, and hopefully Kellin wasn’t too bad either. Okay, so maybe, just maybe… I could deal with this place for a while.