Threats (Sequel to 'Feelings')

[2] The New Kid

Flashback
9 years ago

Andy's P.O.V.
Slightly nervous I walked into the domain of the Lotus Adventure summercamp. I had done these before, I was a boy scout, but this was the first time it was outside of the country. In Germany. I knew how to speak French, but I didn't know a word in German, luckily the attendants spoke English. At least so I was told. I looked at the enormous building in front of me. My parents didn't lie when they said it was huge. Grey stone stairs leading up to a great room with a marble floor and white columns. And that was only the ground floor. There were 5 floors of halls each with a showerroom, a bathroom and several bedrooms. But there certainly weren't that many people to fill up all of the rooms right? I walked towards the registration office wich was in the first hall of the building. The office itself was a small room with only a desk with a computer on it, and a closet full of files. Behind the desk sat a small old man. "Welcome to Lotuscamp. Is this your first time staying here?" the old man crackled with a smile. "Yes it is" I politely answered. "In that case you haven't got a file in the system yet, unless your parents emailed it to us ofcourse. Name?" he grunted. "Andrew Fowler" I replied. The man typed something on the computer and then nodded. "Yup, you're good. You can go now, here's the key to your room" he said handing me a key and a card with the room number on it. I thanked the old man and left the registration office. I went back outside to pick up my suitcase that I had left outside when I bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry. I'm a little clumsy" she said. It was a girl I guess the same age as me. Her amber blonde hair was pulled up in a messy bun. Small freckles covered her nose and upper cheeks, highlighting her emerald green eyes. She wore a simple jegging and a plain red shirt. She was pretty in a simple effortless way. "Sorry, I'm kinda clumsy sometimes" she chuckled. "I haven't seen you here before. Are you new? The name is Amanda by the way" she continued, reaching out her hand. "My name is Andrew, nice to meet you" I said shaking her hand. She let out a small laugh. "Andrew? So formal. Sounds ljke you're either a royal or a hogwarts student. You need a nickname, something more... Casual. How about... Andy?" she proposed. "That sounds ridiculous" I snorted. "Too bad, I'm calling you Andy from now on" she replied giving me an angelic smile. "So, your first time here right?" she asked. I nodded. "How many times have you come here?" I asked her. "Every summer one week for the past 3 years" she swiftly responded. I wanted to say something but was interupted by a little girl running to us. She looked about ten years old and hazelbrown curly hair that reached her stomach. "Amanda! Hey!" she yelled. Amanda let out a subtile sigh. "Shay I can't play with you right now, were's Charlotte?" I asked the little girl who was apparently called Shay. "She left without me. Again" Shay rolled her eyes. "But you're probably saying in the same room as last year, have you checked there" Amanda proposed. "I forgot what floor it is" Shay sighed and looked at the ground defeatedly. "Allright then, I'll bring you. I'm heading there anyway" she told Shay. Shay smiled gratefully. Amanda picked up her suitcase and walked inside the building followed by Shay. I awkwardly followed them since I had nowhere to go anyway. Trough the big hall, up some stairs into a long white hallway. Amanda knocked on one of the doors. It was opened by a girl of my age. Her red curly hair was tied up in a ponytail and she gave me an uninterested look. Then she turned to Amanda. "I see you retrieved the little monster" she said with a smile. Shay gave the girl a short hug before entering. "Charlotte, it's so nice to see you" Amanda embraced the red haired girl. "Likewise. Who's the new guy?" she asked frowning slightly. "Oh, this is Andrew, but I'm calling him Andy.-she gave me a sanctimonious smile- It's his first stay here" Amanda chirped excitedly. Charlotte looked at me blankly. "Hi" was all she said. I replied with a "Hi" and just stood there feeling a little awkward. "What are you still standing here, are you expecting a medal for bringing my little sister back or something?" she snorted rudely. "Right, sorry" I apologised. I looked on the card and headed to the boys hall for my room.

That evening I was quite suprised by the food. "Would you like some soup? " an attendant kindly asked. "What kind of soup?" I asked him. "Tomato and onion" he replied opening the pot to show me. The attendant didn't lie about the onions. Half onions drifted over the surface of the soup. They weren't even chopped or diced. They were simply cut in half. "Eh... No thank you" I mumbled and moved on. The food sure was different than what I was used to. I tried my best not to be picky, but I ended up with just some rice and cooked broccoli on my plate. I shuffled around looking for a place to sit. Then I spotted Amanda sitting next to Charlotte, waving at me and signalling me to sit with them. I smiled gratefully. "Hi" I said as I sat down. "Hey, sorry I was rude to you this afternoon. It's just my personality so if you wanna be friends with me you better get used to it" Charlotte immediatly said, not even bothered to look at me. I didn't reply. "Is that all you're going to eat" Amanda chuckled pointing at my plate. I flushed red. "I'm not used to the food here" I stammered. "Yeah it's all vegan food, you'll adjust soon enough. It's really good you know" she informed putting a piece of... something in her mouth. "Why do they call it a camp if we're staying in a building" I asked. "Well, usually we stay in tents on the hill over there" Amanda pointed at a hill across the building. "But some years such as this one the grass is too swampy or too dry to set our tents, so we stay in the building" she went on. "Oh remember that creep?" Charlotte interrupted. "Yup, good thing he's not here" Amanda whimpered. "Creep?" I asked. "So there was this creepy homeless guy in a lime green tent just behind the campsite last year. He'd only leave his tent to steal food when we werennt looking or steal empty glass bottles from the containers for some reason" Charlotte informed me. "And sometimes he'd just be sitting outside his tent staring at us" Amanda added. "That sounds creepy indeed" I agreed. "Hey Amanda? Exploring tonight?" Charlotte asked Amanda without paying attention to me. "What's exploring?" I asked feeling extremely amateuristic. Charlotte gave me a sly look. "Meet us at the bathrooms, ground floor, 9PM"

Author's note
Hello there people! This is the first flashback. There will be a few more after this one. The onion soup is real, I actually had it! 😝 Charlotte doesn't really seem to like Andy that much does she? And yayyy Amanda! For some reason I really like Amanda😂
Till next time!

-Manon