Chapter 3
Bullies in the Bunkhouse
Sarah Beth immediately pushed her way into the cabin, pointed at Maria and yelled, “EXCUSE ME! I call top bunk, and you get the bottom.” She swung her bag onto the top bunk and smirked even though her bag fell off the bed. She thought, who cares? as she looked at her belongings on the floor. Sarah Beth was never a good kid; she was always in trouble. Her mother constantly yelled at her even when she was sober and all the abuse from her home had hardened her.
“Hi ya Bunkie,” she said as she shoved Maria on to the bed underneath hers.
“Hey you, I don’t feel like picking up my bag. Pick it up, and put it up on my bed,” she ordered.
“Uh, okay,” Maria replied.
“What’s your name?” Sarah Beth grunted.
“My name is Maria,” she replied as she lifted the load.
“Does it look like I care?” Sarah Beth said as she quickly snatched the bag out of Maria’s hand and slung it on the bunk.
Distracted as she looked outside, Sarah Beth heard her name, so she gave Maria a break.
“Hey Sarah Beth!” yelled Charlie as he walked towards her.
“What?” she said as she put her hands on her hips. Oh no it’s the boy who was crying for his mother. That’s the last thing I want to deal with, she thought.
“I just wanted to say hi,” said Charlie shyly, as he moved his foot in the sand like a dork. Next, she spotted Eugene as he started to enter the boy’s side of the bunkhouse. She smiled and pulled his suspenders back and then let them go with joy. She enjoyed seeing others suffer as a pain reliever for all the suffering that she endured throughout her life. Eugene looked perplexed, but continued to walk inside the boy’s bunkhouse.
Sarah Beth said bye to the boys, as she looked inside the girl’s bunkhouse and saw Jorgina doing some sort of weird dance. Before unpacking, she pulled out her mirror and reapplied her black eyeliner. “Hurry up, Jorgina, would you come on?” she muttered.
“Would you chill, Sarah Beth? I have to find someone to unpack and arrange my stuff,” said Jorgina.
“All she wants to do is have fun,” said Sarah Beth. Angry, she peered around and saw Maria. “Yeah you, quiet spook, did you get my bunk ready? Tell Jorgina to come on and make up her bunk too. Hurry it up!”
Instinctively Maria lowered her head and pulled her hood over her hair and gray-blue eyes. Because of her shy, quiet personality it was easy for someone like Sarah Beth to take advantage of her. She, like Charlie, just wanted to go home, but Maria didn’t dare cry. She hoped this camp would be a safe place away from her older two brothers who always bullied her.
C.J. looked at Sarah Beth and said, “Why don’t’ you lighten up and lay off the bullying?” She seemed like the only one in the group not afraid to stand up to her. Sarah Beth, a bit taken back, only snarled at her. Meanwhile, Luna was still working on getting all her stuff in the cabin.
On the boy’s side, Charlie immediately started digging in his backpack looking for paper while Eugene was measuring his bed to see if his bed was long enough for the bed spread to fit. After he felt everything was properly aligned to perfection, he put the cover and pillow on top and stepped back to admire his expertly-made bunk.
Cody came in and jumped onto the bed and destroyed all of Eugene’s hard work. Then he threw his things on top of it, and ran out the door. Turning back around, he ordered, “Eugene, make up my bed because we are going to be bunk mates.” Eugene had to smile. He felt awkwardly happy. He had already made a friend even if Cody was bossy.
Seeing Charlie sitting on his unmade bed Eugene asked, “Aren’t you going to make up your bed?”
“No, I’m going to write my mom first,” replied Charlie.
“Can’t that wait? Miss Cindi wants us outside as soon as we get our beds ready.”
“No, this is more important,” he responded. Then he began to write:
Dear Mom,
Can you please come get me? This place is scary and I don’t like it here. Why did you send me here? There are some pretty tough people here. Please hurry and pick me up.”
Your scared son,
Charlie
Jacob stared at the two boys and wished he was anywhere except Camp Clearwater. No jocks here, he thought.
Steely-eyed, Jacob left and murmured, “It’s all cool; everything’s cool here with me,” but in reality he wanted to hit something and would have if he hadn’t seen Cody charging toward him.
Cody dodged Jacob, approached Sarah Beth, and said, “Hey Sarah Beth, are you tired?”
“No!”
“Well you should be because you’ve been racing through my mind all day. So babe whatcha say; want to go out?”
“No loser, what I want to do is to go white water rafting.” She turned to Cindi. “I’m ready to go now! Can we go already?” Sarah Beth demanded. Rejected but not defeated, Cody turned and walked away.
“Not everyone has even gotten inside; much less put their things away. We need to find out a little something about everyone before we start any activities,” said Cindi.
Sarah Beth sighed and grumbled, “This is so stupid.” She turned to see Luna coming up the path. “You need to hurry up girl and help me with mine and Jorgina’s stuff,” Sarah Beth barked to an already tired Luna.
Cody went down to meet Luna and put his arm around her waist as she struggled with her bag. Instead of offering to help her carry the heavy bag, he smoothed his hair and watched her struggle as he chatted all the way to the bunkhouse.
When Luna dropped her oversized bags down, Cindi asked. “What do you have in there?”
“Just the essentials: two flashlights, a sleeping bag, 34 feet of climbing rope, a hat, gloves, water bottle, hiking boots, a first aid kit, chap stick, clothes for cold weather, and some other stuff. I like being prepared.”
“Hurry up, Looney.” Sarah Beth laughed at the new nickname she had just created for Luna. “We want to do something fun. You’re slowing everyone down.”
Hoping in vain that Cody would help her, Luna struggled to get both of her oversized bags inside the bunkhouse. No one offered her any help, so she started unpacking in silence with her back to the door, so she wouldn’t have to endure Sarah Beth’s scorn.
Eugene and Charlie walked out of the boy’s side. Thankfully, Charlie had quit crying and Eugene was carrying on a conversation with his calculator. “Well we’re here. Look buddy, there‘s Wheeler Peak. It’s 1316 feet above sea level and the highest point in New Mexico.”
Sarah Beth looked at Eugene and said, “I thought I had problems but the nerd is seriously messed up.” This made Charlie tear up again.
“Why are you crying?” she asked.
Not knowing what to say, he said the first thing he could think of, “I don’t know. I think you’re pretty.” For the first time, Sarah Beth didn’t know what to say. She sat there speechless, and smiled her first smile in a long time.
Meanwhile, Jorgina was talking to C.J. as she threw her things on the bunk under hers. She was a master manipulator. She would engage people in conversation, bait them, and then go in for the kill.
Speaking to Maria, Luna, and C.J., she asked, “What do you think about that Eugene dude and his suspenders?” She started laughing. “Boy, this is going to be a good time. I feel like my parents actually gave me reward. They are so clueless. They thought they were sending me to an exclusive rich kids’ camp. Boy, would they be surprised. They were on the edge of their seats thinking that they were just one step closer to straightening me out; they made a wrong move, then BAM! They’re back to their senses. This place is a joke. I don’t think it will help any of us.” C.J. and Luna laughed nervously, while Maria worked emptying Sarah Beth’s and Jorgina’s suitcases and made up their beds.
Jorgina had a captive audience, and she liked attention. So she continued talking, as Maria kept working. Luna pitched in and helped Maria too not realizing what she was doing as Jorgina gave orders where to put all her
things. She captured everyone’s attention by talking about one of her old boyfriends as everyone else worked and listened.
“You can put my Gucci bag over there Luna, if you don’t mind,” said Jorgina. “You know you remind me a lot of myself. I can tell you’re in love with Cody. It’s plain to see but listen to me. You better watch out because he will break your heart. Believe me, I’m telling you.”
“Oh, I believe you. He already has. There must be something wrong with me because I keep coming back for more,” said Luna.
“Let me tell you about my experience while you girls finish putting my sheets on my bed. You know they’re very expensive sheets…the kind Oprah advertised on her show before she quit doing it? Anyway, back to my story. There was a boy like Cody named Zax that I used to like. We dated about a year ago. He was the biggest player of all times. Every girl that crossed his path bowed down to him. They would do anything to get his attention. He was such a player. I don’t know what I ever saw in him,” she shook her head and then continued. “He always used stupid pick up lines like Cody. He was so conceited and should have realized he wasn’t as hot as he thought! Whatever! Yuck! I’m going to hate looking at Cody because he reminds me too much of Zax! Luna, I’m telling you right now, you need to dump him. He already came on to Sarah Beth and me, and we told him to go away.”
Sarah Beth entered the bunkhouse, overheard her talking, and said, “Yeah Jorgina, Cody is pretty nasty. I can see that. Let’s leave and go to the pond. How does a swim sound? Don’t bring any nerds with you,” she laughed. “Really aren’t you done in there?”
C.J. looked at Jorgina and said, “Maybe you and your friends don’t like nerds, but I don’t like bullies, so why don’t you lay off people? I’m going to be here for three weeks, and it was hard for me to get my money together, so I’m not going to let you push people around.”
“What got her panties in a wad?” Jorgina laughed.
They left without saying a word, but Cindi saw them trying to sneak away and told them not to leave.
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