degrassi the next gen: The Life Of Jacqueline Taylor

summer snippets pt1

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You can't go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending
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Some of these are written in Jack's point of view cause if it flows better than that's what I'll be doing

TW:mention of mental health problems, eating disorders

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June 23rd 2002

"Rise and shine healing beings, today is the day you go home to use those new skills" the cheery voice of Counselor Vanessa spreads with the light

Her bright attitude does nothing for the cabin that is as dull as the many mental health lessons of the summer

That's right. After Ashley's little escapade with drugs, Kate went into a mental safety frenzy and sent me here for four weeks. It could be worse, Ashley won't be going back till a week before school

I don't have nearly enough time to unpack that seeing as how I am about to be late to the mess hall

I throw on the bland uniform before rushing through the lush grass in my flats. I march up the steps and into the noisy and atrocious smelling Cabin

I grab a plate with reluctance as the camp owner scans me with a glare that makes me shiver. This place frowns upon anything that could be a gateway so skipping meals is a no go, no matter how burnt anything is

I wait till I am seated across a semifamiliar face to trade parts of the food away. I begin to eat once my plate looks at least semi edible

All the kids appear on edge as the many counselors beet around the bush before finally assigning us busses and bus times

I smile at the information that I will be the first bus out, and my smile doesn't leave as I rush to pack my forgotten bags

Panic doesn't begin to set in till I get out of my final shower at the place, my hearing aids are gone.

I can't hear. I can't hear, and I can't think. My clothes are gone too, along with my bags. I am naked, I can't hear, and now I'm pissed

My mind pictures the exact culprits as I walk briskly out of the cabin full of laughing faces. My wet feet stick to moss, dirt, and even some sticks that leave me bleeding as I continue my way to the head counselor in nothing but a small lilac towel

I look at the authoritative man who looks at me worried, I speak before he can ask anything. "My clothes and hearing aids were taken"

He stares at my signing with confusion, my slurred speech helping no one in the equation. He tries to say something but his facial hair creates a barrier between my eyes and his lips

I sign for him to repeat his words slower and he throws his hands up in a way that makes me flinch back

He looks at me with confusion before his face reddens and I hear a very faint noise, he's yelling at me, I can finally read his lips but it's all because of the familiar phrase he pummels into me verbally

"What's wrong with you?"

It's something my father would ask when he was able to strike me for all my faults, it's something the girls in gym class state before pushing me away, it's something I ask myself when I push others away, and it's the reason why I've been 13 for months and still can't open a present from a 'healed man'