SAYURI

Blobs of green and blue fused together as I tiredly stared outside the bus window, my head resting against the glass. I could faintly make out trees and such as we seemed to be racing towards camp. The drive here had given me lots of time to reflect, and I was definitely reflecting on my choices as I could hear all the voices and laughter around me. It was hard to focus on anything really, and that left me in this miserable state.

The money I’d make from spending the summer here didn’t seem all that worth it as I looked around the bus, taking note of all the people who filled the seats. We all went to the same school, so it was easy to recognize everybody. But that meant I could recognize who was going to be a problem and who wasn’t-- and boy did I see some problems just waiting to make themselves known.

“Hey--! Sayuri!” A voice from behind me called, causing me to turn awkwardly in my seat as I tried to see who it was. I was greeted with a pair of dark green eyes as the girl smiled at me, running a hand through her wavy black hair.

“Yeah…?” 

“Can you ask AJ to shut up?” My jaw dropped when I realized she was dead serious, “I’m trying to fucking sleep and if he keeps shrieking like that I’m gonna kill myself.”

“Uh…” I stared at her with my brows pushed together, “Okay.”

“Thank youu!” She beamed before turning back to the girl next to her, leaving me to awkwardly lean forward and tap on the man’s shoulder. Both him and the girl he was seated with turned to look at me as he raised an eyebrow.

“Can I help you…?”

“Uh… Can you keep it down?” I cleared my throat awkwardly, “Mhal’s trying to sleep…”

“Yeah, AJ.” The girl next to him chortled, “Keep it down.”

“Shut up Heilun.” He sighed, shooting her a glance before turning back to me. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me.” I shrugged, leaning back. I could hear Heilun giggling as AJ was quietly telling her off despite the fact she very obviously didn’t care. My eyes wandered over to the window again, it was pretty dark outside and I was already getting tired. This ride had been going on for what felt like forever, so I could only hope we’d arrive at the camp soon. We still had a few days before the younger campers would arrive, so we’ll probably just be getting things ready and doing safety checks.

I heard a loud yawn from next to me as I glanced over to see Leon waking up from his nap, slowly pulling his head off of Drury’s shoulder as he glanced around the bus. His eyes met mine as he scooted over and waved.

“Hey.” He said with a smile, “Are we almost there?”

“I don’t know.” I answered honestly, trying not to seem too cold to him. We weren’t really close friends but we also weren’t strangers. He had been there for me in the past, and I could appreciate that. “I think soon.”

“Ah.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I’m hungry.”

The boy in the seat behind him spoke up almost instantly, “I have a granola bar in my backpack.” When we both turned to look at him he almost seemed surprised by the attention, sheepishly reaching into his bag as he tried to fish it out. “H-Here.”

“Thank you!” Leon beamed at him, leaning forward to gently take the bar from the man’s slender hand. He was about to turn back before pausing, taking a better look at the smaller man’s face. “You’re… Haneul, right?”

“Yeah…” He replied slowly, “That’s me.”

“I remember you.” The taller of the two didn’t drop his smile, “You helped Dru with his homework before.”

“Did I?” Haneul awkwardly scratched at his cheek, “I guess so…”

“I don’t think he ever said thank you, but I know it helped him out a lot!” 

“That’s nice…! I’m… glad to help.”

“Maybe you can help me sometime.” Leon let out an awkward laugh, “I’m sort of failing… I have a packet to do before summer ends or else I won’t get my diploma.”

“Are you serious?” I chimed in, eyeing him. “Why’d you even come?”

“I wanna go to camp!” He turned to me, “I’ve always wanted to go.”

“You care more about camp than graduating?” Rheia made her presence known as she peeked over, staring at him while chewing rather aggressively on the gum in her mouth.

“No!” The tall man defended himself, “I can do both! It’s not a big deal.”

“It might be overwhelming…” I tried to approach it differently, “If you need help you can ask.”

“I did ask.” He looked over at Haneul, “Right?”

“Y-Yeah…” The slender man nodded, “I’ll help. I don’t mind.”

“You’re totally gonna fail.” Rheia laughed, “Good luck.”

Leon’s honey brown eyes looked over at her as he frowned, he didn’t say anything else as he turned to sit properly in his seat in a huff. Honestly this is one of the first times I’d seen him get even slightly upset, so I was in a bit of awe as I tried not to stare.  I thought about saying something, but when I noticed Drury slowly sitting up as he smacked his lips together I quickly decided to just leave it there. That was definitely not worth the hassle when I could just ask him later.

“Why’s everybody being so loud?” Drury’s voice was husky as he rubbed his green eye with one hand, groaning as he glanced around the bus. “Are we there?”

“No--” Leon went to reply, but stopped when the bus came to a sudden stop. Nobody had to say anything else as we all realized one thing -- we were there.

The trip had officially begun.