28 Days || Jensoo

Chapter 4

Despite Jisoo's reassurance, they spent the rest of the journey in silence. It felt vaguely uncomfortable and Jennie desperately searched her mind for something to say. Something to break the sudden unease and get them back to the getting-to-know-each-other that had been going so well. Every time she thought of something to say, she'd get as far as opening her mouth, then try it out in her mind, decide it sounded lame in the extreme, and close her mouth again. She must have looked like a goldfish. Jisoo had moved her hand, and Jennie contemplated never washing her arm again.

Wow, Kim, five hours in her presence and you've elevated her to goddess status. Or rock idol. You are a class-A idiot.

Jisoo was silent too, and that worried Jennie more. Krystal may have been talking shit, but it was probably the first that Jisoo had heard about Jennie's proclivities. Maybe she did feel uncomfortable sitting next to her now. Hell, enough other girls had avoided her like the plague when news had gotten round at school. Well, the ones that hadn't cornered her at various parties to explore exactly what it meant. Jennie may have lost any popularity she once had at school, but her sex life had sure taken off. Jennie smiled to herself at the thought.

"Am I allowed to know what you're grinning about?" the purple haired intruded on Jennie's revelry, and Jennie jumped a little.

"Nothing terribly interesting," she hastily covered up. "Honest"

The purple haired grinned back. "I'd offer a penny for your thoughts, but they look like they're worth more than that."

Jennie grinned back, feeling like a grinning idiot, and was about to continue the conversation when the bus ground to a halt again. They had reached their destination.

Jennie looked around, along with the rest of the bus, in some dismay. Their destination was a large camping ground at the base of a set of wooded hills. It was three in the afternoon, and the late sunlight was streaming across a large, open, grassy area. To one side, a large log building stood, windows open, and a radio blaring bad pop music from somewhere deep inside. Across the open expanse, two smaller buildings, looking very much like amenities blocks, stood side-by-side. Other than that, there was nothing. Jennie and Jisoo stood, a little to one side, as the buses slowly unloaded.

Kai found them, and asked the obvious question, "What the hell are we doing here?"

"Dying," said Jennie, flatly. Jisoo elbowed her in the ribs.

"I'm guessing we're about to be told," the purple haired indicated to the teachers, rounding everyone up to sit on the grass. They did as they were told, sitting to the side at the back. Mr Dalton, Phys Ed teacher extraordinaire, in a pair of shorts that were really too short for comfort - his and everyone else's - stood at the front with a clipboard and whistle. Jennie rolled her eyes.

"You're going to need glasses if you keep doing that," Jisoo warned, laughter in her eyes and voice.

"Wake me up when they've decided how to torture us best," said Jennie, putting on her sunglasses and flopping backwards on the grass. Kai poked her in the side but she just hit him on the knee and ignored him.

The teacher cleared his throated and boomed, voice echoing across the small crowd, "Okay, aren't we all glad to be here?" He was greeted with a chorus of unenthusiastic moans. "Right, so, this is where we're starting. We'll be spending most of the four weeks at Camp Hindmarsh, which is about a five-day walk from here." This made Jennie sit up, suddenly interested in a cold, 'Oh, hell no!' kind of way. "This afternoon you will pick a buddy, and they will be your buddy for the rest of the camp. You'll grab a tent from the pile over there -" he indicated to a growing heap of canvas bags that two men were unloading from the last bus, "and pitch it here. Starting tomorrow, we're walking, kids. Food is on us, but you'll have to carry your tent and clothes and anything else you need. If you over-packed, well, repack today, because the buses will take your belongings on to Hindmarsh. Now, we'll give everyone five minutes to find a buddy." He made to finish, but then thought better of it. "Girls with girls, boys with boys, no exceptions," he added. After all, they were teenagers.