NIGHTMARE AT CAMP FORRESTWOOD
CHAPTER 1
Adjusting to a new school wasn't easy. I hated attending Madison High. I missed my friends. The friends I had for so many years growing up in Oak Bay, IL. I still talked to them on the phone and by email, but it wasn't the same. My roots were there. Everybody there was nice, unlike here in Shacklesville. It's a totally different story altogether. I never had to start over in a new environment, so I didn't know how to get people to like me. This was the most uncomfortable I'd ever been in my life.
Mom moved us to Shacklesville after Dad died. She wanted to downsize and start over. Getting over his death was painful enough without having to be reminded of him day in and day out in our home. I didn’t want to move, but I was thinking about her happiness. I knew we had to make a change when she laid in bed all day, crying and missing work. She was spiraling down and we had to do something.
I had been at Madison High for over a month and my only friend was Erin Butler. We bonded by riding the school bus together. We were the same age and knew where each other lived. We sat together everyday as she told me stories about students at Madison while I filled her in on my former life in Oak Bay. She was poor, and normally she looked as if she just rolled out of bed with hair that needed combing and she donned the same clothes everyday, complete with a holey denim jacket. Her single dad was raising her and her brother, which brought us closer.
"Did you understand this Spanish assignment?" I asked her on the bus one morning.
With her arms folded, looking out the window, she shook her head. "Nope. didn't even look at it."
She appeared preoccupied. "What's wrong?" I asked her.
She shrugged. "This is a miserable school. Who cares if I do the work or not? I want outta here, away from the torture."
"You could quit," I said, even though I didn't mean for her to. I just wanted to get her response to the subject of giving up.
She looked at me. "Holly, Dad won't let me. Believe me, I'd be outta here so fast, you wouldn't know what hit you."
This brought me down. I felt that she should at least stay for me. If it wasn't for her, I'd have no friends. Nobody to talk to. What would happen to me then? We had one more year and we were finished. I didn't want to graduate from this school feeling miserable as she did.
"Just gonna give up during your senior year?"
"Oh come on, Holly! You know I won't graduate!"
I had to admit, she could be right. There were days when she wouldn't attend school. I often asked her why, but she would just tell me she didn't want to go. I often wondered how her dad felt about that. I hadn't gotten the nerve up to ask her.
"Do you want to?" I asked her. "There are ways you can get your diploma after graduation is over."
She shook her head. "I could just get a job somewhere after this shit is over."
Not if you don't have an education, I thought. I didn't say it out loud because her eyes were bloodshot and I was afraid she was going to break down. This made me think of my mom and how she was after Dad's accident. We sat in silence, listening to the whispers of other students. The morning bus ride was usually quiet. Most people at this school were so secretive, not letting anyone in their lives except their best friends. They all had inner circles, which was a drastic change from Oak Bay High. Everybody communicated there. Nobody was too good or too bad to talk to.
"Well, the camping trip is coming up," I said, changing the subject. "Mom wants me to go, but I don't know if I want to."
"Oh, that gay trip the senior class takes every year? I'm not going anyway."
This remark stung. I was hoping she would go with me so I had someone to hang out with. I was going to have to beg her to go. I wasn't crazy about the trip, but Mom was going to push me into it.
"Are you going?" she asked.
I shrugged. "I am afraid to if you don't. Mom will make me so I don't wanna hang around a campsite by myself. I'd look like a loser."
"Trust me, everyone already thinks you are a loser because you hang out with me."
I hated when she was like this. Her negative attitude brought me down. "Well, will you go for me?" I asked.
"I dunno. We'll see," she said.
How could she be so selfish? I thought. It's only for a weekend.
"You just wanna go because of Matt Ifft," she said.
"Shhhhh!" I lightly slapped her shoulder. "That's not entirely true."
"Yes it is." She laughed, showing her tartar stained teeth. As unattractive as her smile was, I was happy to see it.
I laughed too and we started talking more about Matt and the trip. Matt Ifft was the first thing I noticed at Madison High. I was going to my locker and Tricia Reed, the school's most popular girl pushed me. I dropped my books and Matt helped pick them up. He was gorgeous, with dark hair and dark brown eyes. He always wore black denim and carried books. Not school books, but actual novels. He was a reader, which I found unusual in a high school boy.
* * *
"Okay class, the trip is coming up," Mr. Patterson announced in science class. He was the organizer of the trip every year. "You all know we are going to a different location this year. I hope you know the purpose of this trip." He stopped talking and looked around the room. "Tony, do you know?" he asked Tony Bronson, the class clown.
"Oh, yeah, so we can learn how to rub two sticks together and make a fire. That rubbing sticks technique is good for teaching us to masturbate, by the way."
The whole class erupted in laughter.
"Okay Tony, out!" Mr. Patterson said, his face beet red. "To the office!"
"What?" Tony said with disappointment. "It was just a joke!"
Mr. Patterson just pointed to the door as Tony reluctantly exited the class.
"Matt, do you know?"
My heart skipped a beat. I was so afraid he was going to call on me, but now I got to hear Matt talk. This was exciting!
"You want us to learn how to live without technology, which would be fine with me."
"Really?" Mr. Patterson asked.
Matt nodded. "I'm not much of an emailer."
The class laughed again.
"Well, you are absolutely correct. No cell phones, computers, or any other futuristic gadget known to man that permits you to communicate with the outside world. We will have landlines if you want to call home. Kids nowadays are relying too much on technology. What would happen if you had to live without it? Would you survive?"
The class sat in silence. We all knew this was the purpose of the trip, but Mr. Patterson made us think. At least he did me, anyway.
"I sent out notices two weeks ago to your parents. I have gotten quite a few back, reserving your spot so let's keep them coming. We leave Friday at two o'clock."
When class was over, I wanted to ask Matt if he was going, but I couldn't get up the nerve. I figured he was, with the way he talked about it to everyone.
"So, are you going?" I asked Erin at lunch. "We get out of our last class since we leave early."
"I guess I will," she said reluctantly. "I don't want to, but if you are going, I will."
I felt so much better as I took a drink of my soda. We sat at a picnic table outside since it was more private. I looked over and saw Tricia Reed standing against a tree, talking to her boyfriend, Phil.
"They will be ridiculing me all over the place," she said.
"Why?"
"Holly, they will point out that I only show up to school for something like this."
"So, come to school more often from now on and prove them wrong." This was advice my mother always gave me. If someone thought you couldn't do something, try harder.
She shrugged, picking at her sandwich. "I guess. Sometimes it's just hard to get outta bed, ya know?"
I nodded. I wasn't a morning person, but I knew I had to get up anyway.
"So, girls," Tricia Reed said, walking by and speaking in her fake voice. "You all going on the trip?" She gave her wavy blonde hair a flip off her shoulder.
"I dunno," said Erin.
"Well, maybe I will see you there, then."
"Yeah," Erin answered. "Thought maybe camping was a little too, how should I say it, roughing it for you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, what about not having your cell phone? You can't live without that, can you?"
"We shall see! Ta ta girls!" she said, walking away, swaying her hips.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"She is always doing that. She hasn't done it in a while, but she always talks like that to find out information. She just wanted to know if we were going so she can plan some scheme on how to make our trip unbearable."
"How?" I asked, worrying. "She's not gonna stalk us or anything, is she?"
"Who knows. I'm not worried about it."
"Well now, you have to go with me!"
"Hey, don't panic! I said I was going."
I had heard Erin say she would come to school or go somewhere with me before, but then backed out. I went and got my hair cut in a pixie style a week before and was hoping she would join me to get something done with hers, but she bailed at the last minute.
On the bus ride home, Tony sat behind us. "I can't wait for this trip," he told his friend, Joe Williamson.
"Yeah, me too! Gonna get me some!"
Tony laughed so loud, I wondered if he was talking loud on purpose so we would hear every word. He didn’t ride the bus everyday so this wasn’t the norm. "From who?"
"Tricia," Joe said. "She will go crazy without her texting and shit, she will do anything to get her mind off of it."
"No, Tricia is mine!"
"You can have her friend, Christine."
"No freakin way!" Tony said. "That fat ass?"
Erin turned real quick to look at them.
"What's that look for, BO Girl?" Joe said.
Oh no, I thought. I was waiting for them to start kicking the seat or yelling out more obscenities, getting the whole school bus going.
"Don't worry about it," Tony told him. "I wanna hear about your plan with Tricia."
"Ignore it," I whispered to Erin.
She nodded. "I'm used to it."
I could tell she wasn't used to it as she hung her head whenever someone insulted her. I was wondering if she was going to crack one of these days and let some dark side come out.
Adjusting to a new school wasn't easy. I hated attending Madison High. I missed my friends. The friends I had for so many years growing up in Oak Bay, IL. I still talked to them on the phone and by email, but it wasn't the same. My roots were there. Everybody there was nice, unlike here in Shacklesville. It's a totally different story altogether. I never had to start over in a new environment, so I didn't know how to get people to like me. This was the most uncomfortable I'd ever been in my life.
Mom moved us to Shacklesville after Dad died. She wanted to downsize and start over. Getting over his death was painful enough without having to be reminded of him day in and day out in our home. I didn’t want to move, but I was thinking about her happiness. I knew we had to make a change when she laid in bed all day, crying and missing work. She was spiraling down and we had to do something.
I had been at Madison High for over a month and my only friend was Erin Butler. We bonded by riding the school bus together. We were the same age and knew where each other lived. We sat together everyday as she told me stories about students at Madison while I filled her in on my former life in Oak Bay. She was poor, and normally she looked as if she just rolled out of bed with hair that needed combing and she donned the same clothes everyday, complete with a holey denim jacket. Her single dad was raising her and her brother, which brought us closer.
"Did you understand this Spanish assignment?" I asked her on the bus one morning.
With her arms folded, looking out the window, she shook her head. "Nope. didn't even look at it."
She appeared preoccupied. "What's wrong?" I asked her.
She shrugged. "This is a miserable school. Who cares if I do the work or not? I want outta here, away from the torture."
"You could quit," I said, even though I didn't mean for her to. I just wanted to get her response to the subject of giving up.
She looked at me. "Holly, Dad won't let me. Believe me, I'd be outta here so fast, you wouldn't know what hit you."
This brought me down. I felt that she should at least stay for me. If it wasn't for her, I'd have no friends. Nobody to talk to. What would happen to me then? We had one more year and we were finished. I didn't want to graduate from this school feeling miserable as she did.
"Just gonna give up during your senior year?"
"Oh come on, Holly! You know I won't graduate!"
I had to admit, she could be right. There were days when she wouldn't attend school. I often asked her why, but she would just tell me she didn't want to go. I often wondered how her dad felt about that. I hadn't gotten the nerve up to ask her.
"Do you want to?" I asked her. "There are ways you can get your diploma after graduation is over."
She shook her head. "I could just get a job somewhere after this shit is over."
Not if you don't have an education, I thought. I didn't say it out loud because her eyes were bloodshot and I was afraid she was going to break down. This made me think of my mom and how she was after Dad's accident. We sat in silence, listening to the whispers of other students. The morning bus ride was usually quiet. Most people at this school were so secretive, not letting anyone in their lives except their best friends. They all had inner circles, which was a drastic change from Oak Bay High. Everybody communicated there. Nobody was too good or too bad to talk to.
"Well, the camping trip is coming up," I said, changing the subject. "Mom wants me to go, but I don't know if I want to."
"Oh, that gay trip the senior class takes every year? I'm not going anyway."
This remark stung. I was hoping she would go with me so I had someone to hang out with. I was going to have to beg her to go. I wasn't crazy about the trip, but Mom was going to push me into it.
"Are you going?" she asked.
I shrugged. "I am afraid to if you don't. Mom will make me so I don't wanna hang around a campsite by myself. I'd look like a loser."
"Trust me, everyone already thinks you are a loser because you hang out with me."
I hated when she was like this. Her negative attitude brought me down. "Well, will you go for me?" I asked.
"I dunno. We'll see," she said.
How could she be so selfish? I thought. It's only for a weekend.
"You just wanna go because of Matt Ifft," she said.
"Shhhhh!" I lightly slapped her shoulder. "That's not entirely true."
"Yes it is." She laughed, showing her tartar stained teeth. As unattractive as her smile was, I was happy to see it.
I laughed too and we started talking more about Matt and the trip. Matt Ifft was the first thing I noticed at Madison High. I was going to my locker and Tricia Reed, the school's most popular girl pushed me. I dropped my books and Matt helped pick them up. He was gorgeous, with dark hair and dark brown eyes. He always wore black denim and carried books. Not school books, but actual novels. He was a reader, which I found unusual in a high school boy.
* * *
"Okay class, the trip is coming up," Mr. Patterson announced in science class. He was the organizer of the trip every year. "You all know we are going to a different location this year. I hope you know the purpose of this trip." He stopped talking and looked around the room. "Tony, do you know?" he asked Tony Bronson, the class clown.
"Oh, yeah, so we can learn how to rub two sticks together and make a fire. That rubbing sticks technique is good for teaching us to masturbate, by the way."
The whole class erupted in laughter.
"Okay Tony, out!" Mr. Patterson said, his face beet red. "To the office!"
"What?" Tony said with disappointment. "It was just a joke!"
Mr. Patterson just pointed to the door as Tony reluctantly exited the class.
"Matt, do you know?"
My heart skipped a beat. I was so afraid he was going to call on me, but now I got to hear Matt talk. This was exciting!
"You want us to learn how to live without technology, which would be fine with me."
"Really?" Mr. Patterson asked.
Matt nodded. "I'm not much of an emailer."
The class laughed again.
"Well, you are absolutely correct. No cell phones, computers, or any other futuristic gadget known to man that permits you to communicate with the outside world. We will have landlines if you want to call home. Kids nowadays are relying too much on technology. What would happen if you had to live without it? Would you survive?"
The class sat in silence. We all knew this was the purpose of the trip, but Mr. Patterson made us think. At least he did me, anyway.
"I sent out notices two weeks ago to your parents. I have gotten quite a few back, reserving your spot so let's keep them coming. We leave Friday at two o'clock."
When class was over, I wanted to ask Matt if he was going, but I couldn't get up the nerve. I figured he was, with the way he talked about it to everyone.
"So, are you going?" I asked Erin at lunch. "We get out of our last class since we leave early."
"I guess I will," she said reluctantly. "I don't want to, but if you are going, I will."
I felt so much better as I took a drink of my soda. We sat at a picnic table outside since it was more private. I looked over and saw Tricia Reed standing against a tree, talking to her boyfriend, Phil.
"They will be ridiculing me all over the place," she said.
"Why?"
"Holly, they will point out that I only show up to school for something like this."
"So, come to school more often from now on and prove them wrong." This was advice my mother always gave me. If someone thought you couldn't do something, try harder.
She shrugged, picking at her sandwich. "I guess. Sometimes it's just hard to get outta bed, ya know?"
I nodded. I wasn't a morning person, but I knew I had to get up anyway.
"So, girls," Tricia Reed said, walking by and speaking in her fake voice. "You all going on the trip?" She gave her wavy blonde hair a flip off her shoulder.
"I dunno," said Erin.
"Well, maybe I will see you there, then."
"Yeah," Erin answered. "Thought maybe camping was a little too, how should I say it, roughing it for you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, what about not having your cell phone? You can't live without that, can you?"
"We shall see! Ta ta girls!" she said, walking away, swaying her hips.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"She is always doing that. She hasn't done it in a while, but she always talks like that to find out information. She just wanted to know if we were going so she can plan some scheme on how to make our trip unbearable."
"How?" I asked, worrying. "She's not gonna stalk us or anything, is she?"
"Who knows. I'm not worried about it."
"Well now, you have to go with me!"
"Hey, don't panic! I said I was going."
I had heard Erin say she would come to school or go somewhere with me before, but then backed out. I went and got my hair cut in a pixie style a week before and was hoping she would join me to get something done with hers, but she bailed at the last minute.
On the bus ride home, Tony sat behind us. "I can't wait for this trip," he told his friend, Joe Williamson.
"Yeah, me too! Gonna get me some!"
Tony laughed so loud, I wondered if he was talking loud on purpose so we would hear every word. He didn’t ride the bus everyday so this wasn’t the norm. "From who?"
"Tricia," Joe said. "She will go crazy without her texting and shit, she will do anything to get her mind off of it."
"No, Tricia is mine!"
"You can have her friend, Christine."
"No freakin way!" Tony said. "That fat ass?"
Erin turned real quick to look at them.
"What's that look for, BO Girl?" Joe said.
Oh no, I thought. I was waiting for them to start kicking the seat or yelling out more obscenities, getting the whole school bus going.
"Don't worry about it," Tony told him. "I wanna hear about your plan with Tricia."
"Ignore it," I whispered to Erin.
She nodded. "I'm used to it."
I could tell she wasn't used to it as she hung her head whenever someone insulted her. I was wondering if she was going to crack one of these days and let some dark side come out.