The Plant Whisperer

Chapter Two

The bus ride was long and Jackson spent most of it on his phone, listening to music or watching social media. Once they arrived, everyone hopped off of the bus and got all of their bags out from underneath it and were met with a cheerful young woman bouncing over to them.

"Hello campers!" She boomed, "welcome to Northwood Pine summer camp! My name is Raina and I'm one of your camp leaders. I'm sure your parents debriefed you a bit, but in case they didn't we'll have a meeting to explain rules and such later. For now, go get settled in at your cabins! You'll each have 5 different roommates besides yourself and there's multiple bunk beds just waiting for you!"

Jackson was surprised. *Five roommates?* He was under the impression that he'd only have one. *'I guess the camp is over crowded this year.*

"Here I have a list of campers paired with what cabins you'll be in! Once your cabin gets called, go towards that big map over there and find it. Don't get lost! Alright, Girls Cabin one will include Andrea Gellhorn, Anna Welsh, Natalia Smith, Violet Dumas, Aria Dranger, and Hannah Panora. Cabin two will include..." Raina went on to list all ten of the girl cabins before moving on to the boys ones. "Boys Cabin three will include Jackson Kurruda, Hunter Grey, Karl Smith, Ace Granger, Eric Foreman, and Braxton Jagger."

Jackson followed the group of people to the map where he found cabin three. It was near the edge of the woods next to a creek. The cabins didn't seem to be organized according to their numbers because cabin three was near the edge of camp and seemed like a long walk away from the counselors cabin and the dining cabin. He began the trek and was joined by the five others he assumed he would most likely be rooming with.

The six walked in silence until they arrived. Everyone piled into the cabin before a kid with strawberry blond hair, freckles, and a thin frame started speaking.

"Well, I guess it's us six for the summer." He started. "Might as well get to know each other. I'm Ace and my parents sent me here because the authorities caught me running from the police at a party and my punishment was this camp. Guess they thought some distance from my friends would be good for me." He shrugged. "What can you do. Anyways, how did you guys end up here."

The next kid, who was pretty short but very muscly and had short dark hair, introduced himself as well. "I'm Braxton and I was sent here because my parents didn't have time to take care of me the entire summer. They work often and don't trust me enough to stay home. It's my third summer here."

"My name is hunter." A kid with brown swooped hair and blue eyes mumbled. "I'm here because my sister wanted to go and my parents didn't want to send her alone."

"I'm Eric, and I'm here because I wanted to get out more and my dad found me the summer camp." Said a kid with jet black hair and dark brown eyes.

"You mean you came here on your own?" Ace replied, "Why? If you wanted to get out more couldn't you just go for walks or something?"

"I just don't hold myself accountable very well." Eric answered, "I would've been lazy all summer had I not came here."

"Huh, alright, your turn." Ace pointed to a boy with light brown hair, who was wearing a purple hoodie.

"Oh, Uhh, my name is Karl, I'm here on my own free will. I just came to escape my mother. I wanted a breath of fresh air." He replied shyly. Nobody asked why he needed to escape is mother, they just nodded and accepted his answer as if it made complete sense. Jackson couldn't understand why, he himself was curious and wanted to know if the truth, if there was a different truth, was something deeper. However, Jackson followed their lead and stayed silent, hoping they would forget about his existence and he wouldn't have to introduce himself. That didn't work, though, and Ace turned to him.

"Alright, now you."

"Oh. My mom forced me to come." Jackson didn't add on and just stood there awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

Ace raised an eyebrow. "And why did she force you to come exactly?" Now Jackson was really confused. They hadn't asked Karl to expand on his reasoning. Why was Jackson's any different?

"No reason I guess, just wanted me to get out of the house I assume." Jackson replied slowly. He didn't want to explain the real reason he was sent here. He feared that it would make the others view him as a freak. The last thing he wanted was to have to live with five other boys who wanted to avoid him for the whole summer.

"Eh, what can you do." Ace threw himself onto his bed which he made whilst everyone was introducing themselves. "Parents suck." He pulled a lighter out of his pocket. "I managed to smuggle this in, though. I just need a cigarette to go with it."

"You smoke?" Eric asked, with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"I came here because I got caught partying, remember? You shouldn't be so surprised. Don't worry, I won't smoke inside the cabin if you guys have an issue with it." Jackson stared, wide eyed at the boy in front of him. Smoke? Is that not bad for you? Should I say something about it, like my mom taught me? No. I won't say anything. Mom's not here, and nobody else has commented on it, so I guess it doesn't matter.

Just as Jackson finished making his bed, he heard the faint sound of a loudspeaker outside. "Calling all camp members to a camp meeting!" The Boys all glanced at one another and stood up. Here comes the hard part, Jackson thought to himself.

Hey guys! Sorry I didn't meet my own deadline, I got busy with life and completely forgot about the story until today (oopsie). That's why the chapter's pretty short, but it's okay because I don't have any readers right now anyways. The next one will hopefully be longer than these past two have been. Also, if now or any time in the future you see a word like *this*, it's meant to be in italics, or bold, or some other font thing. I actually write my stories in Werdsmith, and when I copy them they get messed up so I have to go through and rewrite the italics in here, so please forgive me if I miss one on accident. Have a good rest of your day/night!

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