The auditorium was filled with an array of kids, teenagers, and young adults. If one wasn't aware that this was a therapy summer group, they would have confused this auditorium for one at a high school, where students were coming for an assembly or to talk about their class fundraising. Though, none of these kids knew each other, which caused for them to sit around in scattered positions, no where near each other. This made the auditorium appear fuller than if everyone were to sit consecutively next to each other in just the rows. The few children that attended this camp had however began to busy themselves by talking and playing with each other by climbing over seats, and annoying the older kids around them.
After ensuring that Olivia had found her seat, Jeremy made his way up onto the stage and made his way to the seat next to a fellow counselor, whose name was Hannah. Hannah was quite the opposite of Jeremy; a social butterfly. She always had her nose where it didn't belong, especially when it came to gossip. It oddly annoyed him, as she'd quite frequently try to keep Jeremy in the social loop. Though it mostly made sense to him as to why she was a counselor, she loved learning about what was going on in people's lives and tried to fix anything anywhere. Just as he sat down, however, Hannah leaned over to him, nudging his arm to get his attention. "Did you hear about Kelly?" She whispered, keeping her eyes on him, being careful to not look out at the multiple kids.
Kelly Silvia was another counselor at the camp, one of the five female counselors, aside from Hannah. There was something special about Kelly that really whipped kids into shape,whether it was how she had them have group sessions once a week or how she was just so friendly. It wasn't the kind of friendly that could easily be walked over, no. Kelly was strict and didn't allow anyone to walk over her. If they tried to, she would reprimand them, though that would happen on rare occasion. She wasn't one to believe in strictly individual counseling, and she felt that the kids felt more relief confessing their problems to their peers, rather than to just some counselor that their parents put in charge of them over the summer. That was her philosophy, anyway.
"No, I haven't heard about Kelly. Why?"
"Well," Hannah spoke, her voice lowering as if she didn't want the camp attendees to hear her. "She recently got into a car accident and got severely injured. She's on bed rest until further notice."
"What about her patients?"
Hannah sighed now. "That's why I brought this up to you. It seems that because you're too antisocial with us counselors, you didn't get the memo about the kids. Kelly's summer was packed full - she had ten patients like the rest of us, excluding you. The committee has decided to send five of them your way, seeing as you've only got five to begin with. Myself and four others will be taking the remaining five children.
Unbelievable. Hannah had waited until this exact second to tell him that he was getting five new patients. He didn't know their names, their problems, anything about them. Besides, he'd have to make up their rooms, also. "I'll need their records," Jeremy huffed out, to which Hannah nodded. She didn't say anything, but she understood him. Jeremy turned forward and faced the seats now littered with helpless children and young adults. Silently, he scoffed. It was a tad unprofessional for another counselor to be calling him antisocial. There was no reason he'd need to be social with the other counselors; he only needed to be social with his patients.
A few moments later, the headmaster walked up onto the stage. To this, Jeremy looked up, moments after hearing her heels hit the solid surface. She glanced back at the row of counselors behind her, gave them a quick smile, then diverted her attention to the microphone. She didn't pay attention to looking at the masses of troubled kids sitting in the chairs before her eyes. Shortly after arriving up on thee stage, her painted red lips peeled apart.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls," she started, sounding as if she were just about to unveil and introduce a brand new carnival game or show. "My name is Mrs. Waters, and I am the headmaster. I am here now to welcome you all to Camp Turn-Around. This is our ninth year in operation, and myself and the faculty are all equally excited to become close to each and every one of you. Take a look to your left and right. Those people you see are your brothers and sisters for these next six weeks; we're all a family here, and we all share the responsibility to help each other through these tough times. Now, before I introduce the counselors, which I know you're all excited for, I must say the number one rule enforced here: Any shape or form of violence, harassment, self harm, or sexual abuse will not be tolerated here at camp. If any of this is seen, not only will it be reported to your counselor, but also to the dean of discipline. Now, your counselors.
Quite a while passed while all of the counselors got introduced before Jeremy's turn finally came. After hearing his name, he stood up and gave the audience a quick, short, flashy smile and a wave before sitting back down ad taking the microphone from Hannah. "That's me," he responded with a slight chuckle, trying to appear friendly and 'social' to the children.
"Well, tell us about you," Headmaster Waters spoke, her voice teeming with annoyance and an urge to finish orientation already.
"My name is Jeremy Michaels. I am twenty-six years old. I was born in Vancouver and lived there until I was six, then we moved out to Seattle where I lived the rest of my childhood. I enjoy movies, hiking, being with my friends." To this, Jeremy paused and shot a glance at Hannah, who seemed to not be paying attention. "I only drink water. I'm such a fan of hockey, it's crazy!" He laughed, then ceased talking remembering at the last second that 'crazy' could be a trigger word to some of the patients. There's been an episode only the year before where a counselor had said a trigger word up on stage during orientation and one of the attendees had a nervous breakdown. Thankfully, no one was having a nervous breakdown that he could see.
"Thank you, Mr. Michaels." Mrs. Waters coughed. She was thankful orientation was over. Now all that was left was to call each attendee up to the stage where they'd be standing next to their counselor before commencing the days plans. "Will my counselor Jeremy Michaels please stand."
"If I call your name, please stand and walk up the front staircase and stand beside Mr. Michaels; he'll be your counselor for the next six weeks." She cleared her throat. "Jackson Hunter." A young, blond haired boy rose from his seat and walked towards the stairs. "Olivia Peerce." The girl from earlier rose and slowly made her way to the stairs. "Natalie Goodchild." A young girl with thick, curly red hair got up and frittered to the stairs. "Micah Emerson." A boy with skater styled hair rose and walked up onto the stage. "Madelyne Finch." A young teen latina girl rose. "Isaac Hewman." An older boy with blue hair rose. "Rin Kaituyama." A blonde haired boy dressed in designer clothing rose. "Becky Huberst." A borderline obese girl rose. "Ivy Desottelle." A very thin ginger girl rose. "And finally, Emmett Crune." A boy with shaggy black hair and dark circles under his eyes rose.
When the last boy walked up on the stage, Jeremy shook each of their hands, except for Olivia, who refused to stick out her hand for him. The last five names that they'd called out had been Kelly's, and a few of them looked quite troubled.
