Ray's Rainbow Camp

Chapter Two, Cabins And People And Being Alone,

Phoenix's POV

So apparently my parents sent me to this camp that they thought was going to turn me from a bisexual bum to a straight skater but actually, wants me to be myself. Yay. At least I don't have to follow the schedule they have for me, there is so much boring stuff on it. Like who even wants to make paper mache butterflies? I'm in Cabin thirteen with a bunch of other people I don't know. I take the bottom bunk closest to the back door, so I can sneak off into nature quicker than anyone else. We each have a bedside table with space to put our stuff, there are other girls in this cabin too, making too much noise, and being way too overdramatic. I throw my suitcases onto the bed and make sure I have my supplies in my purse. Today is the day I go scouting for a perfect spot in nature to relax, read, dance, listen to music, and have no one disturb me. This whole rainbow place owns all the land in a three-mile radius of where I stand, so I think I'll have a good chance finding a perfect spot to do my hobbies. Being alone is just my thing that I like to do, and no one will stop me. No one. I check my purse, book, check, journal and pencil, check, phone, check, so I am good to go! I walk out the back door onto the mini porch attached to the cabin. I then walk down the porch stairs and off into the wilderness. There is no path here, I make it myself. I walk into the forest of thick trees, vines, twigs, and the occasional wild animal. I take a deep breath, breathing in all the scents and feelings of the nature surrounding me. I start to trek in the forest, silently hoping I don't forget my way back. 

As I trek through the woods I see many glorious things. I see many hills and climb to the top of every single one of them, there are huge boulders too, which I also climb. It's almost been thirty minutes when I find the perfect spot for my hobbies. There are a small clearing and a tiny cave big enough for one person just laying there, untouched, right in front of me. I smile, I am about a quarter of a mile away from the cabins, no one will hear my music! I throw my bag in the cave, take out my phone from inside of it. I turn on Hear Me by Imagine Dragons and begin to dance. I act super dramatic, jamming out to my favorite song doing pirouettes and stag leaps in the forest. I dance with rhythm and contemporary feel, I dance with passion and fire. This song describes my life, every line feels like it was meant for me. I feel the beat of the song pulsating out of every orifice in my body. This is my song, and I will dance it forever.

After I was done dancing, reading, and writing in the woods, I decided to head back for dinner. As I did I felt at peace. This is the camp I wish I could spend my life at. I wish I could have the freedom to go into the woods and dance, read, or sing whenever I want too. It would be lovely and very calming to do that every day. That will never happen though, all because of my stupid parents. The second I get out of this camp they will make me go back to being the teen who is amazing at dance but hates that their parents make them do it for sport. They will make me go back to dancing at competitions to win them money. They take all the money I win and use it for there own personal greed. My mom loves buying herself the fanciest clothing she can find with the money and my dad uses my money to get himself high. The only thing they will buy for me with my own winnings is stuff for dance, select music, and food. Nothing ever for new writing materials for school or personal journaling. The only reason I have the journal now is that it's supposedly my "dance journal" where I write down steps and music stuff. It sucks, but that's just how my life is. My parents even took me out of school because it "wasn't important" in a dancing career.  I loathe my parents more then I loathe my perfect body. With my perfect body, all the boys in the world think I want to bang them when in reality I hate them. I sigh, life sucks in reality but not here at this camp.

The mess hall is awful. All the tables are full so I am forced to sit on the stoop outside. The food isn't half bad, but nothing like the food that would get as we were crossing the country dancing for competitions. We ate like royalty then, but I guess I'm not royalty here. Here, I'm just another kid. Here, no one has talked to me or asked to get my autograph. I smile to myself as I take a bite of my chicken nugget. I could spend the next three weeks like how I spent them today, by myself, alone, and glorious. Other girls, boys, non-binary folk, and any other gender come out to sit on the stoop outside because of restricted seating. They all seem to know each other, they laugh at each other and talk. All except for one girl, who is alone as I am. She frowning down at her food, not really eating it, but attempting too. At least I think she's a girl, there's a lot of people here without a gender or all of the genders, it's pretty confusing. She has long brown hair that glows in the light of the sunset, her shoulders hunched, looking incredibly sad. I decide to befriend her, seeing that she has no friends of her own. Also, she's really cute, and definitely could be my next crush. I usually try to avoid people, but she just looked so pathetic not to try to be friends with her. I move myself to sit next to her, and of course, take my food with me. She looks up at me with a sad smile.

"Hi," She says weakly.

"Hello, my name is Phoenix, what's yours?" I ask.

"Sirena," She replies.

"That's a beautiful name," I comment and look at the sunset, "Are you from Pennsylvania? Or are you just visiting for this camp?"

"Yeah I'm from PA," She says meekly and picks at her food.

"Can I ask why you look so dismal?" I ask, turning my whole body to face her.

"Everyone at this camp has already seemed to make cliques and friend groups, I'm all alone," She says and continues to merely pick at her food.

I put my arm around her and laugh, "How about this? You just made a new friend, I'm a loner too!"

Where did I get so much confidence?

Luke's POV

I skipped dinner, I wasn't hungry anyway, I had a big lunch. I decided to go and walk around the woods with a flashlight, explore a little bit, but then I heard a sound. It sounds as if someone is playing guitar and singing with it too. I listen, definitely a male voice, alto, and probably good looking. Just because I am kind of depressed or whatever about my parents doesn't mean I can't check out the guys here at rainbow camp. I should probably also find my sister and see what she has been up too. Instead, I followed the sound of music and ended up in the front of cabin five. A guy was sitting on the front porch of cabin five, playing guitar, singing, while people were crowded around him. Almost every gender there was crowded around him to watch him sing. His voice was like a male angel and he was singing one of my favorite songs.

"All, we, are, is an isle of flightless birds, we find our worth in giving birth n' stuff," He raps, "We're landing our homes against winding roads and we think the going is tough, we pick songs to sing to remind us of things no one cares about, and honestly, we're probably, more suicidal than ever now,"

I walk towards the crowd of people, I want to see this person's face. I want to see the person who can rap like this. I push my way through the crowd of people blocking me from him, getting some nasty looks in the process. Once I get to the front, I finally see him. Loose dirty blonde hair, amazing chin, handsome eyes, I instantly fall for him. 

"If you decide to live by, what you think wrong and whats right, believe me you'll begin you where sleeping, will creep into your bed and you'll cry, but if we wake up every morning and decide what we believe, we can take apart our very heart and the life will set us free,"

He winks at me and I blush. He continues the song, all the way up to the end, strumming his guitar the whole time, smiling at me. As he sings, he sings to me. For what reason, I have no idea. Is this some weird mating ritual? Does he like me? Oh, my gods, I have a crush on him. He finishes the song and everyone claps for him, but none louder than me. He stands up, adjusts the strap of his guitar on his back, and then takes a paper out of his pocket and hands it to me. 

He smirks, "Text me,"

My blush deepens in color while I mumble, "Okay,"

The crowd then envelops him and I run away. I felt like I was suffocating with happiness and joy, but also with social anxiety. I run back to my cabin and look at the paper with excitement rushing through my veins. I looked at the neat handwriting only to find it to say don't get mad it's just a prank bro. JUST A PRANK?! A PRANK? YOU THINK TOYING WITH MY FEELINGS IS PRANKING?!?! UGH! I sit on my bed, put my hands on my face, and begin to cry. A guy walks into the cabin and notices me crying. He looks concerned, but I don't care. I won't let anyone toy with my emotions anymore.