Leeanna had survived her first night at camp with all her limbs in tact. The only thing that had woken her up during the night was the homesick kids that were crying. Leeanna hadn't been the least bit homesick; the only thing about home she missed was her sister. Speaking of, she hadn't gotten the chance to talk to her yesterday and had no clue how she was coping.
A trumpet blares through the camp's PA system.
"Wake up lazy-bones," someone says from the bunk beneath her, Angie, of course.
"I'm awake already," Leeanna replies.
"Then get out of bed, we have to be on time for breakfast," Angie urges. Leeanna looks at her, but says nothing as she climbs down from the top bunk. Angie puts her camp shirt and sporty shorts on.
Leeanna discerns that that is what they are supposed to wear, so she slides on her camp shirt and a pair of shorts. She then hangs her name tag around her neck.
"Why do you have your name tag on?" Angie asks. Leeanna looks up at her (she is a few inches taller than Leeanna).
"The counselor told me and my sister to wear it until people know our names," Leeanna answers.
Angie laughs. "Well they say that, but they don't expect you to wear it. All the sprouts are told to do that."
"Sprouts?" Leeanna questions.
"New campers," Angie elaborates. Leeanna makes an "o" shape with her mouth and nods. "Now come on, we don't wanna be late for breakfast."
Leeanna slips on her sneakers and hurries out the door, though she is fairly certain that Colton will save her and Angie seats.
It was surprising that the counselors didn't make them go together. But, she assumed they were making sure everyone got there okay.
Like Leeanna had predicted, Colton had saved she and Angie seats in front of him and Ted.
"Morning," Angie greets, taking the seat in front of Ted. Leeanna sits down next to Angie, ending up in front of Colton.
"Hi," Colton replies.
"Good morning Sunshine campers!" Someone says through a blow horn. It's the camp director, Mrs. Londike.
"Morning, Director Londike," the campers chorused back.
"Today, we're going to jump right into the camps normal activities. Your counselors will direct you to your activities, and most importantly, have fun!" Mrs. Londike says. The campers applaud and then the breakfast is served: pancakes and bacon.
Angie picks at her food with her fork, pushing the bacon as far away from the pancakes as possible without getting them on the table.
"You don't like bacon?" Leeanna asks.
"I'm a vegetarian, so I don't eat meat." Angie replies. Leeanna nods understandingly. Normally, she would read people's minds, but it felt like intruding, since she really wanted to get to know Angie, without having to go inside her head.
"You actually choose not to eat meat?" Colton asks incredulously.
"Yeah." Angie answers. "Ted, you don't seem to be eating an awful lot." Leeanna notices how she changed the subject.
"I'm a slow eater," Ted says defensively. He carefully takes a precise piece off of his pancake with his fork and knife and brings it to his mouth. He chews it thoroughly before taking another piece.
"You must not make a big mess when you eat," Colton comments. Ted shrugs in reply.
"Alright listen up, intellectual cabin," a counselor was standing in between to the two long tables that separated the G1 and B1 kids from the G2 and B2 kids. "Today we're going to start at the outdoor theater. As soon as everybody finishes, we'll go together."
"Ugh, this happens every year on the second day," Angie complains.
"What?" Colton asks.
"T.E.T. practice," Angie replies. "The Talent Exhibition Tournament. The camp gets divided into 8 teams and they face off in a bunch of different competitions."
"Oh," Colton says. They finish their breakfast thinking about what exactly this T.E.T practice would entail.
The counselor ushers all of the intellectual cabin kids outside, then they walk along a winding dirt path passing by numerous activities buildings to the get to a wooden platform with tons of wooden benches in front.
"Take a seat, everybody," The counselors say as they walk to the stage. Leeanna sits on one of the benches nearer to the middle. Angie and Colton promptly sandwich her between them.
"Alright, I don't like explaining things... So, let's start, shall we, teams go to separate sides of the stage while we decide what to start with. You guys can decide who will do each section, or something," one of the boys counselors said.
"For a counselor of the intellectual cabin, he doesn't seem very intellectual to me," Colton comments. Leeanna smiles and nods in agreement.
"Come on guys," One of the eleven year olds from the B1 cabin says and starts walking to one side of the stage. Leeanna realized that the teams were B1 and G1 versus B2 and G2. That didn't seem very fair.
"Well, time to get beaten again," Angie sighs, standing up. Leeanna looks over to the older kids. They seem to be laughing about something, and as she looks at the sullen faces of the younger kids it's clear that the older kids are laughing at them.
On the stage, a girl from the older kids makes her way over.
"Hey guys, welcome all you sprouts, I just want say, good luck. Oh, who am I kidding, you guys are going to lose. I'm Murie, by the way." She smiles. The others glare, without saying anything.
"Who says we're going to lose?" Leeanna says, instead. The other kids send her looks, and they think she's crazy. Not that she intentionally read their mind, but sometimes when she's in a crowd other people's thoughts just come in. Even though the others aren't saying anything, she still heard a noisy clamor inside her head.
Murie walks over to Leeanna and leans forward, so they were face to face.
"Aww, you're such a cutie," she pinches Leeanna's nose and shakes her head from side to side. She lets go and smiles. "You must be a sprout; the older kids always win. So, I wouldn't get your hopes up."
"Nothing always happens, life doesn't work that way," Leeanna counters. Murie stands up and laughs.
"We'll see about that," she turns and walks back to her friends. Leeanna watches her.
'One of the little kids thinks they actually have a chance,' Murie thinks, as she tells her friends, judging by their laughter.
"Leeanna," Leeanna looks to see who called her, Angie. "I hope you realize that we can't actually win."
"Who says?" Leeanna replies.
"Um, well, everybody, kind of," a boy, the one that everyone seemed to listen to said. "The best we can do is lose with pride. They're smarter than us and quicker."
Leeanna looks at Colton.
They kind of have lost every year, every time they did this, Colton thinks.
This year is going to be different, Leeanna thinks.
"Do you guys try to win?" Leeanna asks. They don't say anything but the looks on the faces say all. "Just this once, try, if we don't win, then you don't have to try again."
"Fine, but watch what happens, I'm telling you, the last time we tried we lost really badly," Angie says. She turns to everyone else. "It couldn't hurt."
"All you need to do is think about how the older kids are arrogant jerks," Colton adds.
"They are really arrogant," one kid says.
"And jerks," Another adds. "Let's do this!"
A few of the kids high five and glare in the direction of the other team. Leeanna looks specifically at Murie.
The counselors start heading up to the stage.
"Alright guys, let's hurry this up so we can get to the fun stuff," A counselor says and the contest began.
YOU ARE READING
Link Six (completed)
Science-FictionEmma and Leeanna have been too scared to leave their house for years, isolating themselves from everyone. Rhea and Colton live as normal kids, hiding their true selves from everyone except their mom and each other. Gerald and Howie live on opposite...
