Evergreen Mountain

Two | Cabin 20

The winding, seemingly never-ending roads to the campsite were not kind to Leo. He spent almost the entire ride groaning about feeling sick, meaning I also spent most of the ride groaning about Leo feeling sick. If I could escape this bus without being vomited on, I'd consider that a win.

To distract myself from Leo's moaning, I looked out the window, watching the scenery pass by as we drove down the road. The terrain began to rise, smaller mountains suddenly giving way to larger ones after we rounded a corner in the road. I heard Leo shift, his groaning momentarily paused.

"Whoa." Leo murmured, leaning over his arm rest to look out the window.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"We're 10 minutes out! Wake up your friends and get your things together." Mrs. Clem announced. Leo groaned, putting his head in his hands.

"Need help?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, just put the stuff in the bag." he said, waving his hand towards his headphones and an open chip bag.

"Dude, why would you try eating if you're on the verge of throwing up every three seconds." I asked, shoving his things into the backpack as we turned onto a dirt road. I dropped his bag in his lap as we parked behind the other bus, lurching forward as the brakes squealed.

"Welcome to Evergreen Mountain! Everyone stay seated for a moment. Chaperones will be gathering outside to get lists and cabin numbers organized. You'll report to me for your cabin number. Sit tight." she said, smiling at us before exiting the bus with a clipboard in her hand.

"I really hope Sam wasn't lying." Leo grumbled, referring to his older brother. The cabin assignments are supposed to be random, but he had figured out a way to cheat the system by coordinating answers to the trip questionnaire that almost always led to that group being in a cabin together. Leo begged Sam for weeks to tell him the secret, which he did after Leo promised to do his chores for the entire summer.

"Me too. I'm not sure if anyone else will make sure your drunk ass gets back every night if we aren't." I teased, gesturing to our friends as Leo roll his eyes.

"Come on everyone!" Mrs. Clem called from outside. The bus immediately exploded with noise, everyone excitedly chatting as they stood up and gathered their things. We shuffled down the bus aisle to exit the bus, getting into the line leading to Mrs. Clem and the cabin assignments. Leo, Will, Liam and I joked around while we slowly moved forward, a small knot of anxiety gnawing at me.

"Hi, boys. Go ahead to your cabin and drop off your things. We have an all camper dinner tonight that will start in an hour, so make sure you're back here by then. Got it?" we all nodded as she handed us slips of paper with our last name and a number.

"15?" Liam asked, making Leo grinned.

"Same cabin, dude! Sweet!" he exclaimed, high giving Liam.

"I'm in 15 too. What about you Andy?" Will asked.

"20." I groaned, crumpling up the paper and shoving it into my pocket.

"Damn." Leo groaned. "That stupid liar." he mumbled under his breath. He whipped his phone out of his pocket and began furiously typing what I can only imagine is a very angry text to his brother.

We grabbed our bags from the bus before beginning to the trek to the cabins. We followed a series of wooden signs in the shape of arrows with cabin numbers carved into them. The number of cabins on the signs dwindled, leaving only a handful left by the time we reached 15.

"Look like you're in the farthest one." Will stated, pointing at the last sign with only one number on it: 20.

"Fuck." I groaned, letting out an exasperated breath.