Holiday Camp Romance

Chapter 3

The alcohol was getting cracked out; the majority consisting of beers with the odd bottle of dodgy looking, half-drunken vodka that I decided to stay far away from. I turned my nose up at both options and Jenny seemed to have noticed.

"Lottie!" She whispered.

I whipped my head around, surprised at being directly addressed.

"You a cider drinking kinda gal?" she had a knowing smirk on her face.

"You know I am." I laughed along with her and she directed me to the kitchen area. She opened a fridge and pulled out the plastic boxes at the bottom where fruit and vegetables were meant to go, I sported a questioning glance at her but she pulled the boxes open, revealing a collection of fruity cider.

"This girl has mad hiding skills" I high fived her.

We both took a bottle and headed back to the room where people had now pushed sofas together instead of the hard, plastic chairs. It was a more relaxed vibe now with ambient music playing in the background.

I took a seat on one of the larger sofas, and Jenny joined me on the right, I tucked my legs under myself and got comfortable. It was clear everybody was chatting shit at this point. I began listening and trying to join in on the guy's conversation.

"Luke...best conspiracy theory?" Tommy pointed his bottle of beer at him and they clinked bottles.

"Ooo that's a good one!" Alex boomed, clearly already having had one too many.

"Gotta be Mandela effect hasn't it, lads?" Luke leaned forward eyeing the other guys for confirmation.

"An interesting choice, my friend." Tommy mused.

"What's the Mandela effect?" I heard myself say it before I realize my mouth opened. Wow, I really hadn't drunk in a while...

Luke grew a grin on his face and rubbed his hands together, ready to tell the story.

"Fuck sake, not this again" Tommy rolled his eyes, clearly having heard this after every initiation meeting.

"Well, young Lottie." Luke got up from his seat and fell onto the sofa I was on. "The Mandela effect is a conspiracy theory that says a large number of people all have similar alternate memories about past events. Like, some people remember Nelson Mandela dying in prison, but he didn't. So, like, so a lotta people remember the same situation even though it didn't actually happen. It's like there's a parallel or alternate universe going on that is kinda connected with ours. Freaky stuff." During his speech, Luke's arm rested behind the back of my sofa cushion as he turned to speak to me.

"Yeah, freaky stuff." I agreed, not knowing how else to respond.

"Don't have nightmares, kiddo." He ruffled my hair then turned back to talk to Tommy.

Friend zoned much?

"l'll try," I muttered to myself.

I sat back in silence, with everyone else continuing their conversations whilst I sipped on another cider.

"Lottie!" My head spun around as I heard someone call my voice, it was Jason.

He ran a hand through his styled, blonde hair then sat down next to me.

"Hey" His stylish outfit and good looks felt kind of intimidating, like he'd be one of the popular kids in school.

"You know what section you're on yet?" He took a sip of whatever substance was in his cup, definitely the dodgy looking vodka mixed with something questionable.