Of Radiant Summer Skys

Chapter 3

The mess hall appeared to be a mix between a school cafeteria and an outdoor picnic area. Wooden picnic tables sat in neat lines starting just a few feet from the doorway. The serving line was at the far end of the room and a handful of students were waiting in line as a counselor served them. On the wall to his right, Jaxx saw a mural of a rainbow with the words 'Happy Campers' scrawled above it in yellow cursive. On the opposite wall was a mural of a nature scene.

Jaxx got his food from the serving window and sat at a bench near the rainbow mural as kids began to pour in from outside. Glad he had gotten through before the line got too long he began to eat his food. Taking a bite out of his PB&J, Jaxx tried thinking about things he could do, but he was drawing a blank. This would have been easier if I had paid attention during the tour. Stupid white haired kid.

Jaxx decided to give the kid a nickname, after all, it felt wrong to refer to them by their hair color. He pondered this for a bit before deciding on Snowy. This led him to think about the other campers he had run into so far. He only knew Charli's name, and he certainly wasn't going to ask the dark haired boy for his, so he decided he needed a nickname as well. He needs a name that really matches his character. Fortunately, or unfortunately as far as his nerves were concerned, unlike Snowy this boy had held a conversation with him. How about Striker, or maybe Fang.

Just as Jaxx had decided on Striker, two kids sat down at the table with him. The blonde from his tour group, and the lavender haired kid, who appeared to be stuck to her like glue. The blonde gave him a look that said they hadn't sat there by pure coincidence. They wanted something from him, and after his encounter with Striker, Jaxx wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know what it was.

"Hey," The blonde said, a glint of something in her eye.

"Hey," Jaxx replied.

"You might remember me from the tour earlier. My name's Alex," she gestured to the purple haired kid beside her, "this is Light, he's my brother"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jaxx"

Alex leaned in close to Jaxx with a big grin on her face as she spoke, "So, why'd that kid drag you behind the mess hall earlier?"

Light looked over, clearly interested, a small 'What?' escaping his lips.

"Oh, you saw that did you?" Jaxx asked.

"Nothing escapes me," she said with a shrug, "and you didn't answer my question. Why'd that kid drag you behind the building"

"No real reason."

"Aw, c'mon no one drags someone that aggressively for 'no real reason', I mean that kid looked like he wanted to tear you to shreds."

Jaxx sighed, "Look I did something that upset Striker and he wanted an apology. Are you happy now?"

"Striker? Is that his name?"

"I don't know his name. Striker's just what I'm calling him until I figure it out."

Alex fell silent for a while and Jaxx thought she was done prying into his business. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't quite satisfied.

"So what about the white haired kid?" she asked.

"White haired kid?" Light echoed from beside her.

"What about 'em?" Jaxx asked.

"Haven't you given them a nickname too?" Alex asked.

"Yeah I have. It's Snowy. Why?"

"I saw you staring at them during the tour."

"You did?"

"Mhm, like I said nothing escapes me, and you weren't exactly being subtle about it. I don't think you took your eyes off of them that whole time."

Jaxx was sure he'd die of embarrassment. Was I really being that obvious?

"I wasn't staring at them the whole time," Jaxx said, desperately trying to save his pride.

"Oh yeah? How do you get from here to the bathrooms?" Alex asked, a smirk on her face.

"Ok, so I was staring at them the whole time. What about it?"

"You like them don't you?"

Jaxx nearly choked on his apple juice.

"W-what? What gave you that idea?!"

"I mean you were staring at them the entire tour," Light spoke up.

"And you gave them a nickname too," Alex chimed in.

"So what? That doesn't mean anything," Jaxx said.

"Yes it does, you wouldn't give them a nickname if you didn't like them at least a little bit."

"I gave Striker a nickname, and I don't like him at all," Jaxx pointed out.

"Yeah but you talked to Striker. Have you talked to Snowy yet?" She just wouldn't let this go, would she?

"Well, no. And that's exactly why I don't l don't like them like that! I don't even know them!"

"Then explain the staring."

"Well if you must know, I was staring at their hair. I've never seen hair that color before."

Alex didn't seem convinced, but before she could continue to interrogate him, a camp counselor began to speak through a megaphone.

"Welcome campers!" The counselor exclaimed, "We hope you're all enjoying your time here at Camp Radiance. We just need to go over a few things with you all before we can get to the fun stuff!"

She explained the rules (hands to yourself, don't go past the red markers, use the buddy system), punishments (dish duty, being confined to your cabin), and how the general schedule was (wake up at 8:00, lunch at 1:00, lights out at 11:00). All activities were optional except for meals and campfire activities. The arts and crafts room was open from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

"And now a counselor will come around to collect all of your cell phones!"

A chorus of groans and boos rose from the gathered students.

"There isn't any signal out here anyway, there's no point in taking them," Alex whispered.

Jaxx nodded in agreement as he handed his phone to the brown haired counselor.

After they had collected everyone's phones, they assigned everyone to a cabin, gave everyone a map of the campgrounds and sent everyone away to settle in. Jaxx was assigned to the Fox Den, which was located to the left of the mess hall. After what felt like ages of walking he finally arrived at his cabin. Like every cabin, the Fox Den had a front porch and a lantern near the door. Jaxx stepped inside of the cabin, expecting it to be empty. It was for the most part, but looking over he saw Striker setting his bag on one of the bunk beds and Snowy sitting on the bunk directly above him, their legs swinging as they read a comic book.

Jaxx found himself looking at Snowy again, who looked up from their book. His red eyes met their grayish blue ones and they waved at him. He awkwardly waved back before quickly climbing onto the closest top bunk, dumping his bag onto it, jumping down, and rushing out of the cabin. Today was just not his day.

The nicknames make me cringe... but its okay, they're only temporary. Fun fact: one of the things I wrote in this chapter, directly contradicts something I wrote back in chapter 1 so I had to go back and edit chapter 1. That's what I get for not writing an outline first I guess. Speaking of outlines, I have 2 other story ideas that I'm currently writing outlines for. Don't worry they won't affect the schedule for this one (I'm still a few chapters ahead).