Welcome to camp CHAOS

Man, this really blows.

"Man, this really blows."

Stanley felt his eye twitch at Richie's comment, glancing up at him in the rearview mirror of his mother's ford Taurus. His spindly fingers gripped his thighs so tightly his knuckles turned white, but he bit his tongue. He had done his best to endure all of the unrelenting insults, his stomach in knots and ill-bred replies burning his throat. Richie was right, and he knew it. He couldn't believe his mom had signed all 5 of them up without even suggesting it to him first, and he felt incredibly guilty given his mother had single-handedly destroyed everybody's summer with just the tip of a pen.

Ella, who sat to the left of him, squeezed his thigh lightly. He exhaled sharply at the touch. Ella has been worried the entire trip to Camp but had given small, supportive gestures throughout the journey between all of the rudeness the spilled from her mouth. Stanley was extremely grateful that Ella, of all of them, wasn't thoroughly pissed.

Ella isn't the nicest of girls; she is snobby and self-absorbed, but she liked Stanely, which was surprising since Stanely was more practical and quiet. Ella wasn't all bad, though. She likes to give advice, which often sounds typically thoughtless and superficial but turns out to be occasionally correct.

Admittedly, she most likely didn't have an issue being anywhere as long as she wasn't at home. Her parents arguing had only gotten worse the past few weeks, and she had been spending an increasing amount of time at Stanley's house. The pretty brunette leaned on Stanley's shoulder, flipping Richie off without turning around. Richie scoffed from behind Ella, which pissed her off. "Oh, come on, even you have to admit that this is the worst possible place to spend the summer," The short-haired redhead says, which causes the boy with the glasses to lean forward, placing his hands on Ella's seat to look up at the couple. 

Ella glanced over at Stan, and he could almost feel her rolling her eyes. "I could think of a lot of worse ways." Her voice was so incredibly sad, so withdrawn; it tugged at the knot inside his stomach. Seeing Ella miserable felt like a massive cosmic imbalance. Stanley wasn't very good at comforting her; words had never been his strong point in any situation. That's why he stayed silent even then, kissing the top of Ella's head lightly.

"I couldn't!" Ella suddenly snaps back a few seconds later, her bell-like voice filling the car. "A dirty lake, bedbugs, shared bathrooms? It's just gross." The brunette huffed, crossing her arms and looking exasperatedly out of the window.

Beverly knew that Stanley already felt terrible about the situation. She didn't think he should be at fault; ALL of their parents had agreed to send them to the camp for the summer. The idea that all their parents had communicated long enough to decide on it was a feat of its own. She glared at the back of Ella's head; she did not believe that Ella was helping the situation at all with all of her complaints, but she bit her tongue, knowing Ella would win any argument with Stanley there. The redhead heaved a deep breath as Mrs.Uris pulled up a small hill and into a large dirt lot.

As soon as the kids get all of their luggage out of the car, Mrs.Uris drives away, slightly disturbed at the conversation she had listened to. 

This camp wasn't very fancy. It was downright nasty, and the first to notice was Ella, but she felt she had to keep quiet with the red-haired girl glaring at her on the side, "holy shit, this place looks like a crack den." the boy with the glasses chuckled at his own remark while Stanley gave a displeased look at what stood before him.

Richie couldn't have been more right, the wood in the cabins was rotting, and there were old chunks of glass in the gravel. The kids went silent before Richie suddenly pushed them with his luggage accepting the place to be his home for the next two months. The others followed shortly after.