Journey to Happiness: A Bunk'd Story

Chapter Three

Evie's Notes: I hope you all are having a wonderful week 🥰! Thank you so much your support of this story, it truly means the world to me 💜! I hope that you all enjoy the this new update 🌺.

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Wednesday morning saw the girls checking out of their hotel and returning to Kikiwaka officially for the next fourteen weeks. It did not take Francesca long to unpack her belongings and make herself comfortable in her new space. She had already set up Maria's stuff in Bunny Cabin as well. Fran had been bummed to find out that there was no cell signal this far into the woods, but Hazel, Gladys' niece had given her the wifi password in her welcome packet, her phone would only work on approved cell phone Sundays or if she went into town. Having placed her clothes in the wardrobe and unpacked her toiletries, Fran decided to grab her hydro flask, her copy of Carmilla and make herself comfortable on her brand new porch swing as she watched Maria play out on the great lawn.

It wasn't long before her reading was interrupted by a bright and cheerful voice calling out to her. "Yoohoo! Good afternoon, Sugar. You must be the new Fox Cabin counselor"

Closing her novel, Fran realized that the speaker was a pretty brunette dressed in a cute green jacket, black tank, blue jean shorts, and a pair of hiking boots. "Hi! Yes, I am the new Fox counselor, Francesca Holloway and that's my little sister Maria".

"Well it is a pleasure to meet you Francesca and Maria, I'm Mary Lou Hockhauser the head counselor of Woodchuck cabin" grinned the girl.

"It's nice to meet you!"

"Mind if I join you?" asked the girl, motioning to the open rocking chair on Fran's porch. "Of course!" grinned Fran . "Are you excited for this summer?"

"Oh you betcha! I love teaching back home, but it's a nice break to come back and spend my summer here... plus the extra money certainly helps!" chuckled Lou.

"You teach?"

"Uh huh, I teach 7th grade at my local school back home in Kansas".

"That's so cool, I teach third grade in Texas" grinned Fran, already feeling a close connection forming with the girl sitting across from her.

"That sounds fun"

"Yeah, but I totally get where you are coming from when you say you enjoy the break".

"Don't get me wrong, being a counselor here certainly has its challenges but I love being able to hang out with the kids over the summer and make a difference. I've been coming to this camp since I was seven, so when I qualified to be a counselor I jumped at the chance and have been working here Fran ever since" shared Lou.

"Wow! Since you were seven? That's crazy, super cool, but crazy" laughed Fran .

"Yeah, but I love this place".

"Well I am looking forward to getting to know it" grinned Fran .

"There are actually several counselors who started out as campers and are now counselors. After the insurance made Gladys change who her counselors were though our staff received a bit of a shake up".

"A shake up?"

"Yeah, Gladys used to employ high schoolers, but the insurance company didn't love having high schoolers as the main figures responsible for the kids. But luckily my crop of friends and I made the cut!"

"That's great! So the other counselors have been here for a while as well?"

"Yeah most of them. The cabins have one or two adult counselors and sometimes a counselor in training who has less responsibility. My friend Emma has been a C.I.T. the last couple years because she doesn't want the additional responsibility even though her little brother has been promoted to counselor this year".

"Well I'm excited to meet everyone" grinned Fran.

The two girls chatted for a bit longer before it was time for Lou to head back to her cabin.

*Journey to Happiness - Journey to Happiness*

Maria was so excited to be at camp! Francesca had brought her with her when they went shopping for supplies. Miss Gladys had given Francesca the camp credit card so that they could set up Francesca's office and her cabin. They had picked up quite a few new things for Maria as well. She had already moved her new stuff into the bunny cabin and was now lying on the fuzzy pink carpet in Francesca's loft office. Francesca was working in the stock room and closet below sorting the newly bought supplies into their painfully labeled and color coordinated bins.

Maria was so happy to be able to come to Camp Kikiwaka. She had called Alyssa and told her all about the camp. Apparently, this was an all summer camp, which was so much better than the one Alyssa was going to!

The counselors were scheduled to arrive after lunch that day, so far only one had moved in. Her name was Mary Lou and she was the head of the Woodchuck cabin. She was loud and very funny. Maria liked her a lot. She was most looking forward to meeting her cabin's counselor. Mary Lou, or "just Lou kiddo", had said she didn't know who her counselor would be since the old bunny cabin counselor, Gracie, had quit last summer.

"Maria!" Francesca called from the bottom the spiral stairs "it's time for lunch. Come on down and eat". Jumping up from her spot on the carpet Maria took the stairs two at a time down into the kitchen and dining room area. "Wash your hands and then come to the table" Francesca instructed from her spot in front of the fridge as she poured them water. Eating her sandwich Maria listened as Francesca gave the instructions for that afternoon. "I have training starting at three so you will need to stay either here or in the Fox cabin. Miss Lou is going to pick me up so that we can walk over together. She is going to drop Chuck off here, so you have someone to play with." Chuck was Lou's wolf pup who was so cute! Maria was so excited to be able to play with him. Francesca went back to her work in the other room after lunch. Maria went outside to sit on the front porch and wait until Chuck came to play with her. Looking out at the Great Lawn Maria saw Miss Gladys walking quickly. "Hi Miss Gladys" she called.

"Maria, just the kid I was looking for! Do you want to help me with something? You can't tell your sister though."

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Evie's Notes 2: Thank you all so much for reading 💕! I hope you enjoyed this update, let me know your favorite part of in the comments! I hope to see you all next week 💗!

I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far in the comments or my Tumblr @Find-y0ur-j0y! - Xo Evie 💖