Top Bunk

DAY 12

⌚ 6:00 AM ON THE DOT

Less awakened (did she even sleep in the first place?) to the horn she's growing to hate more and more everyday, and more to Grace's groans, El's eyes flutter open. (Think the fluttering of a fly's wings.)

These crusty eyes find the strawberry blonde on the floor, writhing and clutching her head like it's a softball.

On a good day (then again El has that whole "if your day starts before seven in the morning it isn't going to be a good one" mentality going on), El would probably help Grace up, if she asks enough times. But El is still on her period and her parents still aren't married anymore. So it isn't a good day and she doesn't help Grace up.

She watches Grace get up on her own and rub her eyes, glances at El (faced away from her), and proceeds to take off her nightgown on her way to the bathroom. El's eyes snap closed right away. In the darkness, Grace pops up, her eyes as crusty with tears as El.

⌚ 10:28 AM

"It's one night," El says, exasperated. "It'll be over before you know it."

"Exactly!" Tiffany wails. "One night out in the wilderness! What would happen to my hair?"

"Really, I'd be more worried about a bear eating my face," Anna says.

"The bugs are even worse at night!" Sophie says.

"Are we sleeping...in a tent?" Brittany squeaks.

"God forbid." El rolls her eyes.

Really, at least once every twenty four hours Cabin A would go on a tangent of complaints about anything including but not limited to their activity, boys, girls, nature, climate, dirt, grime, et cetera. On a "good" day, Cabin A would ignore El's (sometimes fond) irritation at this and keep complaining until El tells them to "shut the fu - hell - heck up!" in the coolest, sassiest, most swaggy (that's still a thing, right? Swag?) way possible. But (yes she's still on this, shut up) today is not a good day so they shut the fu - hell - heck up without El having to tell them to.

Bianca's eyes are the most concerned but least scared. "So... El, what are we doing today?"

El sighs, rubbing her temples. "Before all of you so kindly interrupted me," Cabin A glance sheepishly at each other, "I told you we're camping out tomorrow. So today I'm going to help you get ready for that. Since obviously, a number of you aren't. Got that?"

They nod.

It really sucks that El's being such a dictator but - wait, okay, there's another wave of pain passing over her abdomen. After three years of having her period pretty much monthly (yes, she got her period at sixteen and yes, it's still isn't the most consistent), El's gathered that her cramps come in what she's grown to call "waves of pain" for the obvious reason that they come in waves, a period of time in which her entire body really fucking hurts for at least twenty minutes and then suddenly it's gone...oh wait, a half hour later, here it is again. Sounds fun, right?

Anyway. El hates having to be a dictator but hormones. And parents. Actually, no, she isn't even getting into that.

She tries but fails to give Cabin A a smile. "Right...how about we learn how to pitch our tents?"

Bianca, bless her, nods enthusiastically and gets on right away with getting the least battered-up tent kit in the pile Lionel's given them. Instantly, Laura partners up with her and they've already laid out the different parts of the tent before the rest of the girls even move.

El admits she's a bit rusty (because come on, it's been years since she's last pitched a tent) but it turns out she's still able to let the tent stand. Soon, El is in full counselor mode, pacing around the girls, holding up the poles while they attach them to their respective tents, telling them that popping up a dome tent is certainly not hard; they're lucky they don't have to pitch ridge tents and yes, those are the stereotypical tent-shaped tents every cartoon's camping special has, and sweating a whole bunch. She ignores the growing intensity of the pain in her core.