Cabin 13 ~Book 1~

4

I stood up with Tara as our group leader- his name tag said Logan- motioned us forward. Jesse came from the farthest side of the room while the other guy- Mason- came from a few rows away from us.

Our group leader wore a bored and emotionless expression, showing just how much he really cared about being here. Once the four of us were close enough, he began to walk towards another building, which I assumed was the pool.

"You know, if I didn't know any better... I'd say that you're stalking me." A voice whispered into my ear, sneaking up behind me.

I turned and saw Jesse with that same annoying smirk glued on his face. I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him. "Yeah, that's definitely not it. The universe just hates me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so fate is bringing us together then? Well, maybe we should just give in and go along with what it wants." He suggested.

"You know, I would but I usually go against what others want. It's kind of my thing." I told him, turning my back to him and looking over at Tara. We'd just reached our destination.

"Okay you guys, those are the locker rooms for you to change. There's a bunch of bathing suits in a lot of different sizes for you to keep. Once you're ready, you guys will pretty much just be swimming today." Logan told us.

We dispersed to go change. I reluctantly followed Tara into the girls' locker room and saw a whole stack of bathing suits on a bench. They were just plain black, and they were only one pieces.

"Wow, they really have no tastes." I said, picking up one in my size.

"Probably is another failing attempt to keep us from hooking up with guys." Tara muttered, getting one and heading into a bathroom. I went into another one and slipped my shirt off.

"So, what do you think we'll be doing today? Marco Polo and playing with water guns?"

"God, I hope not. But hey, they really do treat us like we're in elementary school. I mean... I bet the group in arts and crafts are making wood houses and drawing castles with Crayola crayons."

We both emerged at the same time, and the suits looked even worse than when they were on the bench. There was a small symbol on the right side of hers that had the camp logo on it. Camp Pinewood was written in cursive words underneath.

"Nice, represent this crappy place." I said.



"So... what's with you and Pierce?" Tara asked me when we were standing in the icy cold water. It was a nice comparison to the constant burning sun outside.

"Nothing really. He's just some guy who feels the need to make some arrogant or stupid comment whenever he sees me." I said, shrugging.

She laughed. "He's not just 'some guy.' He's Jesse Pierce."

I looked over and saw that he was doing some laps in the other half of the pool. Even from here, I could see the tattoos on his arms. "He doesn't seem that special to me."

"Do you know why he was sent here?" She asked.

"No." But I was really curious to find out.

"Well, he did the usual, like you. Drugs, alcohol, driving his parents crazy with the mouthing off and such. But that wasn't the main reason. When he turned thirteen, he beat up some guy. Pretty badly actually. So the judge gave him two choices: He could either serve time in jail for a few years or come here to 'get help.' His mom made him come here." She said.

"How badly is 'pretty badly?'" I asked.

"Well how bad is it when the guy nearly dies?"

"How do you know all of this? Did he go around bragging about it when he got here?"

"Oh, no. He doesn't even really talk about it. But someone went in and took his files. It spread like wild fire of course."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I stayed silent and looked back over at him. He'd stopped with his laps and was resting by the wall.

Looking straight at me.

Our eyes met. My mind was screaming to look away, that he was some kind of violent freak. But I couldn't look away. I didn't want to.

Minutes went by and Logan finally noticed Jesse. He blew into his whistle, and Jesse looked over at him. I glanced down at the water and started to swim in laps, trying to clear my mind of what just happened.

But I found it impossible to do that. I kept hearing Tara's words in my head, and knew I should stay away from him. But I didn't want to do that either. In fact, I wanted to know more. Why did he do it? Was there even a reason? Or was he just some psychotic freak who had given into his anger?


Who really is Jesse Pierce?