Welcome to Camp Hope

🦬 Evan's POV 🦬

I cleared my throat. All the kids’s heads turned to me. I gave them one of my brightest smiles. I’m so nervous in all honesty. 

“Good evening. Welcome to Camp Hope. I want all of you to work together to overcome your challenges. How about we start with introductions?” I said.

I don’t want to assume everyone’s gender here. The one with the neon blue hair made a sound of excitement. The long-haired kid only rolled their eyes. 

“How I want you to introduce yourself is, first stand up, then say your name, age, one of your hobbies, an interesting fact about yourself, pronouns, and the reason why you're here.” I informed.

“My name is Evan Sander. I am 26 years old. I’m a police officer. I work with animals sometimes. My pronouns are he/him. I’m going to be your Counselor Slash Correction Officer.” I said as an example.

I pointed to the one with dirty blonde hair. I gave them a smile of encouragement. I could tell they were a little bit nervous.

“My name is Flynn Hughes. I’m 17 years old. I’m an artist/daredevil stunt artist. My inspiration is Eddie Kidd, he is a stunt performer. My pronouns are he/her. I’m here because I graffitied the blank wall on the library.” Flynn said.

I allowed him to sit down. I looked around then pointed to the one with neon hair. They hopped up with an excited smile on their face. I had to suppress a small chuckle. 

“Hi! I’m Kerry Hill. I am 18 years old. I do pottery whenever I can. I made a charity event to help raise money for the children’s hospital. Pronouns are she/her. I’m here for beating in a teacher’s head for making fun of my brother with hearing problems.” Kerry said.

I winced slightly at the reason for their arrest. She only sat back down. I looked around the room for the next kid. I pointed to the one with dark red hair. He rolled his eyes but stood up.

“I’m Karson James. I’m 18 years old. I am a street fighter. An interesting thing about me is that I never lose a fight. Pronouns are he/him. I’m in this dump for street fighting.” Karson said.

I watched as he sat back down. I think he will be one of the ones I’ll have trouble with. I then pointed at the small kid with long amber hair. They refused at first but eventually stood up. 

“Urgh, Name is Vallen Martin. I’m 16 years old. I pickpocket. Pronouns are he/him. I am a biological male. And there is nothing else you need to know besides that.” Vallen said. 

I smiled at them. I gave them a big welcome. I walked over to Flynn in the middle of the room. 

“So how we are going to do this is like this. You three boys will share a cabin. Kelly will share with Emily. Emily is our community service officer.” I said. 

Vallen rolled his eyes again. I didn’t go into that. I studied the room. Geez, I feel very prosecuted. 

“We have schedules already laid out for us. There are other campers in this camp but we’ll rarely run into them. Except group 13, we’ll be partnered up on some activities. We share this lunch room with them.” I informed them.

“First we will wake up at 7:30 am. I expect you all to be here at 8:25 am. We'll have breakfast. Then we will do our community service, which is planting trees. I’ll let you freshen up before lunch. After that, you guys will go to your study cabin. A teacher from Harvard University has volunteered to teach you all.” I said. 

Karson and Vallen both groaned out of disgust. I only gave a small chuckle in reply to that. They both glanced at each other then glared at me. It didn’t bother me that much. So I went on about the schedule.

“After class, you’ll be required to go to therapy. Kelly will go on Wednesdays and Fridays. Flynn will go on Tuesdays, because he’s here for a non-violent reason. Karson will go on Saturdays and Thursdays. And Vallen will only go on Mondays, since he’s here on non-violent charges. Sundays will be group therapy.” I told them.

“I’ll allow you to rest in your cabins for a bit before we have a little afternoon run before dinner. And finally we will do a group bonding activity of some sort.” I finally finished.

Vallen crossed his arms while Karson protested. I only went over to the uniforms. The girl’s summer/spring uniform has a skirt and the boy’s has shorts. Each uniform had an animal badge on the shirt on the left side of the chest. I looked through them. 

“Line up to get your uniforms.” I announced.

They came up behind me. Kelly was first in line. I handed her the uniform with a rabbit on its badge. She squealed out excitedly. She moved aside for the next kid. 

Flynn was the next one in the line. He got a uniform with a chipmunk on his badge. He thanked me then moved away. 

Karson was next. I gave him the uniform with an otter on its badge. Vallen reluctantly walked over to me. 

I gave him the uniform with a cat on his badge. He glared at the uniform like it offended him greatly.

I then lead them to their cabins, where they will reside for a year. Emily met Kelly at the door. I think that they hit it off well. I showed the remaining boys to their cabin. 

“Now boys, I understand that you guys are hormonal teens, but please do not fight,” I pleaded. 

Karson only grunted softly in response. Vallen shoved past me to call dibs on the beds. Vallen climbed up to the top bunk. Karson took the bottom bunk. While Flynn took to the bed on the wall across from the bunk beds.

“If they don’t bother me or get in my space, we shouldn’t have any trouble.” Karson said. 

I could only sigh and walk away. I went into my cabin, who I share with my senior officer Connor. He is the officer of group 13. I’m the officer of group 14. We’ll be combining our group every now and then.

“How was meeting with your first group of kids?” Connor asked. 

I shook my head with a sigh of stress.