I was napping up on the roof of the Screaming Gopher's cabin. It was where I had chosen to sleep. That way, it leaves the other girls to fight over who gets what bunk. And I guess I was in a pretty deep sleep, cause I was dreaming. I don't remember what I was dreaming of. The only thing I remember was the adrenaline rushing through my veins as fire raged around me. But I was jolted awake by an ear-shattering scream from inside the cabin. After that dream, I was suspecting the worst, and so slid myself through one of the windows, my hand already on the pocket knife I made sure to carry with me everywhere.
My face fell when I discovered just why Lindsay had disturbed my nap. A roach. She screeched like that for a BUG! Here's what these people shall learn in our time together. I'm a bitch when I wake up. Doesn't matter if it's morning, afternoon, deep sleep, or dozing. I am not fun then, especially when it's for a stupid reason. So I hope you'll forgive me for snapping at her. "
A COCKROACH! YOU WOKE ME UP FOR AN INSECT!" I admit I could have handled that much better, especially when I saw her eyes mist over. Damn you, conscious! I was about to just go back out the window, but Duncan came in with an axe, and BAM! Bye bye roach!
For a few seconds, all was quiet. I gazed in silent wonder, first at the cut-in-half roach, then the axe that still rested where it had split the roach in half, to the visage of Duncan grinning maniacally. "Well," Gwen stated, also grinning a bit, "That's one way to kill a roach."
Then the world ended in the form of me laughing my ass off. My sudden laughter caused a few strange looks and a few people to scoot away from me. I calmed down, wiping away an imaginary tear. I turned what was probably a very scary smile on Duncan. "Wonderful axe technique, Juvie brat."
His uni-brow twitched in annoyance. It was kind of a funny sight, because it jarred his entire face a bit. "Don't," he growled out, "call me that."
I blinked, feigning confused innocence. This ploy never failed to piss someone off. "What, Juvie brat?" I asked in a childish voice. At his stiff nod, my grin widened. "But it fits your personality so well!" His grip on the axe handle tightened, and I felt my grin widening.
Gwen sidled up to my side, eying the blade of the weapon still wedged deep into the floor board. "You know," she said with a dull tone, "It may not be the best idea to antagonize the hardened criminal with a lethal weapon."
I tore my eyes away from the axe Duncan now had in the air to grin at Gwen. "On hindsight, you may be right. But it's just so much fun pissing off the wrong people!" A sudden slam made both me and Gwen jump and swing back to look at where Duncan was supposed to be. But instead of Juvie Brat being there, we were met with air, because Duncan had just left the cabin. Even from inside the cabin, we could hear his enraged snarl. My grin stretched into a smirk. "I'm going to have fun here." I murmured to myself, looking out the window to see Sadie and Katie cowering away from a passing juvenile delinquent. "I'm going to have fun indeed."
At Mess Hall
"LISTEN UP!" Yelled the head cook of the camp. He was an intimidating figure, with his towering height and drill sergeant voice. He's going to be my third mode of entertainment, behind Lindsay and Juvie brat. "I serve it three times a day, and you WILL eat it three times a day! Grab your tray, get your food, and sit your butts down NOW!" That earned an evil smirk to anyone that could see it. I took slow deliberate baby steps toward the counter, purposefully letting all of the other campers scurry past me. I was the last to get my food, and I was still only half-way to the counter. "NOW GIRL!" That got my butt moving. He splattered the slop, if it could even be called that, onto my tray.
I took a seat between Gwen and Leshawna, neither one even touching what was on the plates in front of them. Gwen took her fork and slowly poked the slop. "Okay, I hate to be predictable and complain on the first day," she said to no one in particular, "but I think mine just moved." I gave her an incredulous look before taking my knife and stabbing her food. It f'ing SCREAMED at me. Both Gwen and I jumped and backed away from it a little.
At that point, Chris walked into the room, smiling that familiar smile. You know, the one where you know something that will make someone want to punch you if you don't spill it. "Campers, welcome to the main lodge." He announced.
One of the Bass, the blond party dude Geoff, asked in a tentative voice, "Yo, my man, can we order some pizza?" Chef didn't take well to this suggestion, as was made obvious by the butcher knife that was sent flying toward Geoff's head. The blond ducked just in time, and came back up with his hands in the air. "Chill, chill. Brown slop is cool too, right guys?" People on both teams nodded vigorously, not wanting to be Chef's next target. I just went back to poking it.
Chris went on like one of the campers wasn't just almost decapitated by his employee. "Campers, first challenge is in ONE hour!" With that announcement, he left us to our...
food.
Once the, I'm beginning to think, psychotic host was out of hearing range, one of the Bass turned to DJ. "What do you think they'll make us do?" She asked nervously. She was even ringing her hands.
DJ's answer echoed my thought exactly. "It's the first challenge. How hard can it be?"
In one hour exactly, we both got our answers by being on the top of a VERY big cliff. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the water, not even to look at Chris when he started to explain the challenge. "Your first challenge, campers, is to jump off this thousand foot cliff!"
All was silent for a few minutes as we all looked over the edge. No one said anything as we turned back to stare at Chris as one, only to see his perfect smile. Two words escaped my mouth, words that, I'm pretty sure, echoed everyone's sentiments exactly. "Oh, shit." These two, simple words earned agreeing nods from quite a few people, while some glared disapprovingly at my language.
One of them, of course, being Courtney. "Could you
not curse here?" She asked rhetorically, rolling her eyes at my childishness.
I raised an eyebrow at her. I knew it was a rhetorical question, but I felt the need to be a bitch. "Oh, I'm
sorry." I said sarcastically, emphasizing the fake apology. "Did you want to jump off the thousand-foot cliff?" I took her silence as a no. "Yeah, that's what I thought." I turned my body to look at Chris. "Yo, McClain!" Chris blinked at the use of his last name. What? I use last names when I'm irritated. "There's a small issue with me jumping." At this, everyone turned to me. "I didn't bring a bathing suit."
Chris's grin didn't change. "Not my problem!"
Behind me, somewhere in the Killer Bass team, I heard Duncan whisper loudly, "Skinny dip!" Which was met with snickers by most of the guys.
A violent blush tried to overtake my features, but I beat it down with a large mental stick. I refuse to let him get the last word in! With that in mind, I turned a sickly sweet smile directly on the teen punk. "Only if you jump with me, Juvie Brat." The only response I got from him was a growl. With that, I flashed a victorious smirk to the camera and turned back to Chris.
"Okay!" He started. "Today's challenge is threefold! Your first task is to jump off this one-thousand-foot-high cliff into the lake!" We got that part already, dunderhead!
Bridgette, the surfing Bass, seemed pretty confident though. "Piece of cake." She said in a confident tone. This, coupled with the fact that I could feel Katie shaking in fear next to me, told me we were in some pretty deep trouble.
Chris went on like she hadn't spoken. I notice he seems to be good at that. "If you look down, you will see two target areas. The wider area represents the part of the lake that we have stocked with psychotic," at this point, he paused to chuckle before continuing. "Man-eating sharks." ...Say what now! But before I could freak out on everyone there, the host went on. "Inside that area is a safe zone. That's your target area which, we're pretty sure, is shark free."
"Excuse me?" Said LeShawna, who was next to me. Her tone was all attitude, no fear. Wow, I like her already!
For the third time that day, Chris spoke without acknowledging he was interrupted. "For each member of your team that jumps, and actually survives," I yelped out-loud here, "there will be a crate of supplies waiting below. Inside each crate are supplies that you'll need for the second part of the challenge-building a hot tub. The team with the best one gets to have a wicked hot tub party tonight. The losers will be sending someone home. Let's see... Killer Bass! You're up first!"
The rest of my team moved back since we didn't have to jump yet. I stayed with the Bass, giving DJ a twisted grin. "Good luck, DJ!" I said, adding a little cackle at the end before pretty much dancing to the rest of my team. I sub-consciously took a spot next to Trent, accidentally getting between him and Gwen. "How many of them do you think are doing to jump?" I asked both of them, the twisted grin still on my face. "I know DJ won't, he's been scared of heights since..." I hesitated, wondering if I should spill about that one incident involving horse radish and a spoon. "Well, since we were little." I finished up, looking back at the people jumping. It looked like they were still debating who would jump first.
Gwen shrugged, also looking at the team. "Not all of them, that's for sure." She replied dully. "Who would be crazy enough to do this stunt?" As one, we all looked over at Izzy, who was bouncing wildly with the Bass for her turn to jump. "Okay, I take that back."
I gave a small laugh at that. "I wish she was on our team." I said with a pout, watching Bridgette volunteer to jump first. When I looked at Trent, his eyebrow was raised in question. I could read the one-worded question working through his mind. 'Huh?' So I answered the silent wonder. "You really think this is the last crazy stunt he's going to make us do?" Both of them sighed at my point, and shook their heads simultaneously. "How many of us are going to jump?" I asked the entire team, watching the next person, Tyler, jump.
At first, there was a silence as each person contemplated their answer. When no one spoke by the time Geoff jumped, I sighed. "I can't do it."
This got a scathing look from Heather and LeShawna. "What you talkin' 'bout, girl?" LeShawna said sharply, her black eyes narrowed. "I didn't take you as the type to be scared so easily, not after the way you talked to that Punk over there!" She motioned with her head toward the Killer Bass. I didn't have to look to know she meant Duncan.
I didn't look at LeShawna as Eva jumped next. "Scared of the man-eating sharks? No." This little bit earned surprised looks. "My lumps are in my shirt, not my pants. So the girls are safe." This got a few chuckles from my teammates. "Of the thousand-foot-high cliff dive? Only slightly. I'm not afraid of heights." LeShawna nodded at this, like she agreed with me. "Of drowning cause I can't swim?" I shuddered, closing my eyes when Duncan jumped after Eva. "Highly. I've previously had three near-drowning experiences, and so I hope you'll forgive that I'm terribly traumatized against going completely underwater."
Some of my team nodded sympathetically when DJ hesitated at the edge. Others just scoffed (mainly Heather), but said nothing as we watched my cousin. "Uh-uh." He said, shaking his hands as if to ward off the steep fall. I failed to supress an evil grin. "No way man, I'm not jumping." At this, I held out a hand behind me to Gwen for a secret low-five. I called it, didn't I?
Chris walked forward a pace or two, his hands held behind his back. "Scared of heights?" He asked with a would-be sympathetic tone, but for the grin on his would-be handsome face. My eyes narrowed at the host. What was he up to?
DJ nodded, obviously not sensing anything was wrong. Not surprising, since he doesn't seem to posses that strange sixth sense most of my direct family had. It was useful in both parent's line of work to be able to sense intentions. "Yeah, ever since I was a little kid."
I raised a hand, a guilty smile on my face. "More than probably my fault."
Chris smirked at me, and that feeling that he was up to something increased before he turned back to DJ. "Hey, it's okay. Unfortunately," his smirk widened, "that makes you a chicken. That means you have to wear this chicken hat." He put a dastardly ugly chicken hat on DJ's head. I held snickers behind my hand as DJ sulked a bit. Chris pointed to...AN ESCALATOR! How did none of us notice that when we climbed this damned mountain! Ooh, I'm going to kill Chris before all this is over, I just know it...
I felt so bad for him that I turned to Trent, a hopeful smile on my face. "Mind helping me with familial problems?" I asked, nodding my head toward the dejected DJ. The musician nodded and followed me to my cousin. "Just so you know," I said to DJ's back, "I feel kind of bad that you're going down the easy way." I glared at the escalater before grinning at DJ apologetically. "It's my fault you fear half the things you fear."
DJ looked over his shoulder, scrutinizing me with narrowed eyes as he measured the truth of my words. My grin softened him up a bit, and his tensed shoulders relaxed. "Yeah, you're right." I blinked at him, surprise clear in my expression. I didn't think he would agree that fact... "It is your fault I'm afraid of half the things I'm afraid of!"
I laughed at his accusing tone, border-line cackling. I made a shooing motion with my hand, my ever-existing grin stretched across my face. "Now get, ya big chicken. Your team is waiting to berate you with harsh, unmentionable words." I walked back to my team, my laughter echoing out behind me.
Trent just stood where I left him, looking back and forth between me and DJ's massive retreating form. He shook his head quickly, his hair flopping a bit before setting back into place (Man, that's cool!), and jogged up to me. "And you needed me there for what reason, exactly?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow.
I grinned at him, letting Gwen take her spot at his side. Yeah, that's right, that's now Gwen's designated spot. "Just to make DJ think I made friendly with my teammates already. I'm not known by my family, or many others, for being friendly to people I hardly know."
He made no comment as we watched the home-schooled Ezekiel jump next, loosing an echoed 'WOO-HOO'! That was cut off by a dull thud. I instinctively went forward to check if something was wrong, but Trent and Gwen held me back. "He probably just hit something." He grunted against my struggles.
I glared at him, my response a dangerous hiss. "We're jumping off a freaking thousand-foot-high CLIFF!" I hissed through my teeth. "We hear a solid thud, solid, meaning something you can't go through! And you're telling me not to worry!"
He met my burning eyes with his own glare. "I'm not telling you to not worry." He said calmly. My struggles lessened. "I'm telling you not to do anything stupid, like jump after him. You've already said you can't swim, right?" My struggles turned almost non-existent. "Which means you'll just have to jump with someone else. And you can't do that if you go rushing off to check on the enemy team!" My thrashing stopped until he let go of me. I pulled and looked away, a scowl set on my face. Trent snorted at me before smiling at Gwen, for no apparent reason.
But both heads whipped up when a scream echoed over us all. I glared at Trent, silently daring him to stop me going to check out the problem. I jogged near the edge and looked down, only to squeak and wince. "Harold landed on his balls." I reported back to the team. "Idiot did a split in mid-air and landed that way." All the guys winced and shielded their man-marbles. "Just don't do the splits while jumping, and ya'll may still be able to have children when this is over. Depends on how much you piss me off during our stay here." I smirked evilly at all remaining guys. They shuddered a bit. I even think I saw Chris shudder and back away from me. Yay, go me, I made a grown man cry!
Courtney looked over the edge and I waited for her to jump. But she didn't. She only shook her head and walked back to Chris, blathering on about how it was so unsafe. I snorted at her, imagining several camp favorite pranks to pull on her. And possibly some originals, if she annoys me too much. Chris put a chicken hat on her head as well. Just...one jab at her wouldn't make me a bad person, would it? "Wow, Courtney!" I gasped, moving out of her way as she passed me. "That is a GREAT look on you!" Her response was to turn up her nose and walk away. Yeah, real smart. Continue to watch the sky while walking on a cliff, I hope you fall off!
...Okay, maybe that would make me a bad person. But she totally deserves it! She irks me so! "So," Chris said, "let's tally up the votes!" A weird look overtook his features. "Hold on, that's eight jumpers and two chickens...We're missing one!"
All heads swung toward the Squealer Twins, as I have dubbed them in my mind. They were, you guessed it, clinging to each other again. I recognized the stubborn look on both faces. It was the 'you try anything, and we will beat the brains out of you' look. "I'm not jumping without Katie!" Exclaimed Sadie. Dear gods, that's going to confuse the crap out of me...
"We have to be on the same team, Chris. Please!" Katie picked up her queue perfectly. Seriously, I think those two rehearse these things... "PLEASE!" They both pleaded. "Can we? Can we?" Two words. How can anybody get on my nerves SO MUCH with just two simple words?
Apparently I wasn't the only one getting annoyed, because Izzy said, "I'll switch places with her."
Chris gave one final glare before giving in. "Alright! Fine!" He said, aggravated. "You're both on the Killer Bass side!" He looked over at Izzy. "Izzy, you're on the Screaming Gopher Team." The wonder twins squealed, AGAIN. Izzy just shrugged with a grin before coming over to our team. Chris turned back to the two girls. "That means you're up girls!"
Sadie and Katie took a running start, holding hands. "We're coming, Killer Bass!" They shouted together before jumping. They let out high-pitched squeals while jumping and both landed in the safe zone.
Chris looked down the cliff. "Alright, nine jumpers and two chickens. Screaming Gophers," I stood a little straighter when he addressed us, "if you can beat that, we'll throw in a pull cart to put your crates on!"
My muscles locked into place. I knew I couldn't do this. Fear made many people do uncharacteristic things, and chickening out was very uncharacteristic of me. "Nice." Trent said, smiling. "So, who's going first?" He questioned us all.
At first, no one answered. Then Heather spoke up. "I'm sorry, I'm not doing this." She certainly didn't SOUND sorry.
Beth, obviously, has never met Heather's type. "Why?" She asked confusedly. She put her fingers to her lips, like she was actually thinking of reasons why no one would want to jump a THOUSAND. FOOT. HIGH. CLIFF.
Heather scoffed, also thinking it was pretty obvious. "Hello? National television? I'll get my hair wet." ...Okay, that was TOTALLY not the reason I was thinking about. She should be more worried about HER surviving than her HAIR.
Gwen gave her a look of incredulity. "You're kidding, right?" She asked.
And honestly, I agreed with her. What kind of IDIOT is more worried about her HAIR getting wet? Oh, no, wait, apparently, there were two idiots there, because right after Gwen finished her question of Heather's sanity, Lindsay said, "If she's not doing it, I'm not doing it!" Then she and Heather exchanged confident grins that made me want to SEVERELY hurt the both of them.
And thankfully, at least LeShawna was sane. "Oh, you're doing it." I inched away from the threatening leer on her face.
Dang, that girl could be freaking scary when she wanted to be!
But Heather didn't seem to be intimidated. "Says who?" She challenged, glaring down at LeShawna. And I do mean, glaring down. Heather was actually tall for a girl of her age. It depresses me that I'm so short. As soon as she said this, I backed away from the duo, sure there was going to be a cat fight.
I accidentally backed into Izzy, who grinned an insane grin at me. "Hey, Izzy heard what Flare said before about being afraid." She whispered in third person. I raised an eyebrow at her, silently urging her to go on. And she did, still speaking in third person with that maniacal grin on her face. "She's willing to jump with you, if you want her to?" A flicker of uncertainty entered her eyes, and that made my decision.
I returned her maniacal grin before throwing my arm over her shoulders. A spectacular feet, considering my diminutive size. "Izzy, Flare will be happy to have you with her." I replied, answering her third person with my own. I suddenly glared at her, my eyes narrowing in suspicion. "But she will kill you later, if you deliberately aim outside the safe zone just for the sharks." Izzy laughed a bit at that before we both turned back to the argument at hand, just in time to here Heather say, "Make me!" I gasped and stepped forward. "No, don't say-" But, alas, LeShawna already had Heather up in the air and over the edge. "-that." I finished lamely with a sigh. Trent was met with my tortured puppy-dog look. "I tried!" I whined to him, pouting.
Trent chuckled and patted my head lightly. I didn't miss the glare Gwen sent my way, so I smiled brightly at her causing the Goth to turn away and jump after Lindsay. Cody immediately followed after his 'Dark Queen', as I heard him call her over breakfast. Seriously, the dude needs a life... I looked over the edge and was pleasantly
SHOVED off the cliff by Izzy, who jumped with me. She cackled madly the entire way down, going spread-eagle. I clutched at her, my shrill scream going many octaves higher than Lindsay's did that morning. Unfortunately, we got separated in the air. She landed in the safe zone, I was swimming with the fishes.
'OH FUCK!' I thought, just as the water closed around me.
The darkness in the water was thicker than I first thought it would be. I could only see a few feet in front of me. But it was enough to see the dark shape coming at me from above, and closing in. A sinking feeling settled in my stomach, mainly because I was sinking. I was speaking the truth when I said I didn't know how to swim. The figure came closer, and I got into a fighting position. I preferred drowning to being eaten alive by some damned marine mammal! But I relaxed my stance when I was able to make out Justin's distinct figures. We smiled at each other, the water not making for any talk. Justin's arms wrapped around my waist, and he brought the both of us up to air.
I gasped deeply as soon as I was able to, choking for a bit. I shivered a bit, using the cold water and air as an excuse to cuddle closer to the hot guy that saved my life just now. Justin didn't seem to mind, as his arm held me tighter. A mental squeal sounded in my mind, and I grinned goofily before remembering our situation. A shark fin was coming toward us, announcing as subtly as one of Owen's farts after an all-you-can-eat-bean-burrito-night that WE WERE GONNA DIE! I glanced up at Justin before mentally shrugging.
'Oh well, at least I die happy!' I thought before sighing resignedly.
But Justin didn't seem worried too much. He gave the sharks a gorgeous smile that made the two sharks, and me, completely melt. The sharks actually ended up giving us a ride to shore. That's not normal shark behavior! Immediately, people from both teams surrounded us. The girls were making sure Justin was okay (As well as sending me jealous looks) while DJ held me in a protective hold, glaring dangerously over at Justin. I punched him in the chest before smiling over at Justin. "Thanks for saving me, dude!" I told him gratefully. And hey, I was grateful! He didn't have to save me! He could have let me drown, or let me be eaten by sharks! Justin returned the smile, and all the girls swooned.
Beth didn't jump. She shouted an apology down at us, but I don't think my teammates responded too kindly. LeShawna and Cody started making chicken sounds and Lindsay said something about Beth being lame. The chicken noises silenced when I glared over at LeShawna and Cody and I looked back up at Beth, who was looking a bit dejected. "It's okay, Beth!" I called up to her, hoping to cheer her up. "Don't worry, the only reason I'm down here is because
SOMEONE," I glared over at Izzy, "pushed me off!" I thought I saw Beth smile before I turned my attention to the jumping Trent. He landed safely in the circle, and Gwen pulled him up into the boat. I looked away from them and back up at Owen.
Chris started talking, but I ignored him. Something was eating away at me, and I couldn't ignore it. "We have to hide." I announced firmly, walking away from the water.
A snort followed my words. "And why is that, Miss screech-at-the-top-of-my-lungs?" drawled my favorite Juvie brat. I glared at him, daring him to go on. And you know what he did? He smirked. The damn gremlin
smirked at me. "Don't tell me you're scared of Owen?"
I raised an eyebrow at him, shrugging helplessly. "You've seen Owen, right?" His teal eyes narrowed and he nodded slowly, waiting for my explanation. "How big of a wave to you think he'll cause?" Duncan didn't answer, but he did turn almost as pale as Gwen.
He turned to the gathered teams, uttering one word. "Hide." Before he dashed off. I smirked before walking away. Sauntering, actually. Maybe the war I was planning between me and Juvie brat wouldn't be needed after all. But none of us got very far before we were suddenly swept up in the rush of Owen's freaking
tsunami. Dear gods, what does this boy eat to make him so
large? When I finished shaking of sudden fear and opened my eyes, I was clinging to something warm, naked, and breathing. I looked up into the teal eyes of the damned Juvie brat and leapt away almost instantly. Duncan chuckled. It sounded rather evil to my ears. He leaned forward, dangerously close. "Have fun, Kyran?"
Any embarrassment I may have been feeling was burned up in the swell of rage that was caused by my name. Of it's own accord, my right fist shot out, catching him straight in the eye. His loud cursing caused the cheering of my teammates to stop momentarily, drawing attention to us. But I continued with my onslaught, aiming a kick at his gut. But Trent and DJ pulled me away from Duncan, leaving him to cradle his left eye in pain. DJ let me go to tend to him teammate and Trent spun me around and shoved me away. "Confessional Cam. Now." He growled. Seems LeShawna isn't the only person that can be scary.
I trudged away, growling and stuffing my hands into my soaked jeans. Stupid Juvie Brat. Stupid mother with her stupid naming me Kyran. I hate that name, it doesn't fit me at all. I slammed the door of the Confesional Cam behind me and turned it on, ready to start ranting. And rant I did. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS HIS PROBLEM!" I yelled at the camera as if it actually had the camera. "I was ready to let the whole thing go if he just stayed the hell away from me. I was ready to be friends if DJ wanted us to get along. But NO! THAT LITTLE DUMBASS JUST PHBT, THREW THAT CHANCE OUT TO SEA!" I snarled, punching the wall with the side of my fist. My heavy breathing was the only sound in the small space for a moment before I took a deep breath and glared at the camera right in the eyes- ...er...lens. In a very Bugs-Bunny voice, I said in a deadly tone, "Of course you realize, this means war."
AND WAR THERE SHALL BE!
