“You are such a liar!”

I scowled playfully at Vanessa as we made our way down the food line, trays gripped tightly in our hands.  You know the stereotypically terrible food that students were usually served at school?  Well, this was what this was.  Food wasn’t nearly as terrible at my school as it was here, but I finally understood why characters in novels always hated the food in their schools.

Because it was complete shit.

“No,” Vanessa drawled as a cafeteria lady slapped a pile of I-didn’t-even-know-what onto her tray.  “You’re obviously going to love it.  Isn’t this food gorgeous?”

I rolled my eyes, accepting the pile of mystery food on my tray.  Maybe when I felt more comfortable here I’d talk back to the cafeteria ladies for making such crappy food.  But, for now, I wanted to just eat my supper with Vanessa and Ty.  Will would probably be there, but I’d never talked to him, so he didn’t count.

“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on,” I replied sarcastically as we moved down the line.  The rest of the food wasn’t much better.  I couldn’t help but wonder how the camp managed to get such great cabins but such crappy food.  Honestly, I’d rather have a step down on the cabins in order to get some decent meals.  I mean, this was a little ridiculous.

Vanessa snorted at me as we made our way toward a table.  The cafeteria was set up like a regular cafeteria.  I didn’t expect any different, really.  Groups of people sat at tables, chatting as they ate their food.  You’d never be able to tell that this was a place where the screwed up got sent.  Well, except for the fact that everyone here was people that I didn’t associate myself with at school. 

“Babe!” Ty called out, waving as Vanessa and reached the table.  He grinned, pulling out a seat for her.  His eyes flick to me and his grin turned into a snicker.  “Oh hey there, Jessica.”

“Hey yourself,” I drawled, plopping into the seat next to Vanessa’s and dropping my tray carelessly onto the table.  Vanessa settled beside me and winked.  I winked back.

“I see you’ve been introduced to the wonderful food of Camp Sunshine Brooks,” Ty mused, gesturing to my tray.  He himself had his own tray of “food,” and he was eating it contently.  How long did it take to actually like the food here?  Or to at least stop staring at it in disgust.  “Come on, Jess.  Take a bite.”

I glanced at Vanessa and then my eyes slid back to Ty.  “I’m not a big fan of eating cow shit,” I said coolly, plucking my fork up from the side of the tray and poking the main course.  It was a brown pile—probably meat.  Probably. 

“Come on, Jess,” Ty repeated again, wriggling his eyebrows.  “Eat the shit.  I dare you.”

“Well, since you dared me.”  I snorted, rolling my eyes.  I couldn’t believe he was still calling me Jessica.  I thought he would have forgotten about that by now. 

I sighed deeply, plucking some of the mysterious meat from the tray, bringing it toward my mouth.  I had to get used to it sooner or later, so why not now?  I mean, I had peanut butter back in my suitcase that I could use to get rid of the taste anyway.  But I needed to eat something.  I was starving.

I grimaced as I plopped the meat into my mouth, swallowing quickly as the gooey contents touched my tongue.  “Dammit!” I shrieked as I swallowed, trying my best not to gag.  “That’s gross.”

“Then why are you eating it?”

I looked up, freezing when I saw Will standing in front of me, a scowl on his face.  He snorted meanly at me before sitting down next to me, his elbows reaching for the table and his chin leaning on his fisted hands.  He stared at me intently, as though waiting for me to say something.  Which made sense seeing how he’d asked me a question.  “Uh,” I muttered, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.  “Because you have to eat in order to survive?” I asked, proud that some attitude came out in the tone of my voice.  Arabelle would have at least been partially proud.

“That’s not food,” Will replied, his voice like ice while his eyes were like fire.  “That’s a pile of shit made to look like food.  People have died eating that you know.”

“So I’m guessing you’re not going to eat it then.”  I brought a hand through my hair.  Though we were only talking about the cafeteria’s food, I could feel the tenseness in the air, as though he was testing me more on whether I’d eat what was served here or not.  It was like he was testing to see if I was even worthy talking to or not.  I wondered if I was passing.  And I wondered if I cared if I passed or not.

Will cocked an eyebrow, and something sparked in his eye.  What it was, I didn’t quite know.  But I wasn’t going to ask him.

“Will, leave Arabelle alone,” Vanessa reprimanded with a roll of the eyes. 

“I thought her name was Jessica,” Will drew out slowly, glancing from me to Ty.  “Ty, what the hell?”

“Oh, right.”  Ty grinned, bringing a hand through his hair.  “I told you what I decided to call her.  My bad, man.”

Will snorted, letting his hands fall out on the table.  They fell a mere inch or two away from my tray.  I looked at them for a moment before turning away, my eyes latching onto the wall across from me.  Ty told Will my name was Jessica?  And even more importantly—I’d come up in their conversation?  Why would I come up in their conversation at all?

“You might want to eat more of that,” said Vanessa, pointing her fork at me.  “If you take food, they expect you to eat it.  Otherwise you’ll get punished.”

I cocked an eyebrow.  No wonder why Will would rather starve.  That was ridiculous.  “Seriously?  That’s stupid.”

“Precisely,” Will muttered, tossing a cool smile at me.  The fire had died down in his eyes a bit, so maybe I’d passed his test.  But I wasn’t counting on it.

I was about to reply, but all of a sudden the same ear-splitting whistle that sounded for the start of the first meeting sounded again.  I groaned, scowling at the ceiling.  What the hell?  We were eating here.

“Oh shit,” I barely heard Vanessa mutter.  She looked at me and I could see the dread in her eyes.  “Oh shit.”

“What is it?” I demanded.  “What’s going on?”

“Surprise drill.”

I felt my stomach drop.  I didn’t know what she meant by that, but I didn’t like the sound of it either.  Would you like the sound of it if it came after, “Oh shit”?  No, I don’t think so.

Vanessa grabbed me by the wrist and tugged me out of the cafeteria.  We followed the other campers out, all trudging to the front of the cafeteria hall.  Will and Ty were close behind us, equally as sullen expressions on their faces.  I guess this was as good a time as any to wonder if I was going to die.  Because, obviously, there was a good chance that I was.  I mean, the people who’d gone here for three years straight were dreading this and they loved the cafeteria food.

I was so screwed.

“What the hell is going on?” I demanded again despite the fact that Vanessa already told me.  Everyone was lining up in front of the playground-like set up.  Now it didn’t seem like a playground at all.  It felt like a place of doom.  And we were being sent there.

“We have to go through that,” Vanessa mumbled, pointing to the playground area.  I could see a rock wall, and what looked like a huge obstacle course.  Why I’d seen it as a playground and not for a freaking obstacle course, I would never know.  But now it was looming, no longer playful or friendly.

I was probably going to die.

“For those of you who have been here in years past, you know what to do,” the head called, his voice loud, booming.  I could almost feel his words vibrating in my chest.  “Get through the obstacle course within five minutes.”

I stared blankly at the obstacle course in front of me.  Five minutes?  Five minutes?  They expected us to be able to go through this and climb the rock wall in five freaking minutes?  I couldn’t even climb a rock wall, let alone do it while timed.

“Vanessa,” I whispered.  “How fast can you do this in?”

Vanessa caught my expression and smiled empathetically.  “I can do it in five minutes flat.  You’ll be able to soon.”

I really doubted that.

“What happens if you don’t make it in five minutes?” I asked.

My question went unanswered because suddenly a whistle was being blown and we were all running toward the obstacle course.  Vanessa disappeared from view almost immediately, as did Will and Ty.  I felt dread curl inside me, and suddenly I just wanted to cry.  I couldn’t do this.  I couldn’t do this.

I couldn’t do this.

I pelted up the slide, cursing when I slid and fell back down.  I grimaced in pain.  Ouch much?  That was totally going to bruise.

“Loser,” someone snickered.  I glanced up, scowling when I saw a girl smirking at me.  I would have taken time to notice anything besides her brunette locks of hair, but suddenly she was gone, moving forward in the obstacle course.

I stood up and sighed before hurrying up the slide and hopping off the edge, completely ditching the ladder they’d given us for support.  There was no time.  No fricken time. 

Instead of concentrating on the fact that I had to jump over a ridiculous amount of blown up roadblocks, I tried my best to get a sort of beat going, like a soundtrack playing in my head as I hopped over each one.  At first it worked, but after the fifth one, I found myself tripping and falling into a mud puddle.

Well, shit.

I would have just run through the blown up roadblocks seeing how they were inflated, but I knew that that would only get me in trouble and I didn’t feel like getting in trouble right now.  I didn’t even care if it was screwing up what Arabelle wanted me to do.  It wasn’t like nobody else was doing this.

I grabbed onto the rope of my next obstacle: a wooden wall.  I struggled to climb up it, silently cursing Arabelle and myself for getting me into this mess.  Why had I agreed to this?  Yeah, I loved her and all but was this really worth it?  Seriously?  She should be the one learning the lesson, not me.

“Shit!” I hissed as I lost my grip on the rope and tumbled to the ground.  I groaned in pain as someone stepped on me and grabbed the rope for themselves, not even checking to see if I was okay as they climbed up.  Well, thank you.  I really appreciate your concern.

I cursed under my breath again and stood up, grabbing onto the rope again.  How much time did we have left?  I wanted this to be over, and I wanted it to be over now.  After this there was still more obstacle course before I got to the rock wall.  How could Vanessa do this in five minutes?  How?

I climbed up the wall, sweating by the time I reached the top and used the ladder to get down.  I would have jumped like last time, but this wall was significantly higher than the inflated slide.

I’d just made it to the bottom when the whistle sounded and the head screamed for us all to freeze.  I glanced to the side, my eyes widening when I saw a good number of campers—including Vanessa, Ty, and Will—at the other side of the rock wall, holding what looked like small flags in their hands.  We must have had to retrieve them before getting down, I realized.

I wanted a little white flag, ugh.

“Beverly is going to come around and ask for your name.  She will mark where you got, and that will be your goal to beat the next time we have a surprise drill,” the head explained.  “If you do not make it through the course by the end of the summer, then you will automatically have to come back.  Making it through this shows discipline, and that is what’s needed in order to pass this camp.”

I blinked.  We had to come back if we didn’t finish the damn obstacle course?  How stupid was that?  What if someone had asthma or something?  What if they physically couldn’t do it?  They were going to make them do it over and over again, torturing them when they just didn’t have the ability?

From the looks of it, yes, yes they were.

“Name?”

I reeled backward, almost falling into another mud puddle as a woman appeared in front of me, her lips tugged into what looked like a permanent frown.  She wasn’t exactly old, but she wasn’t young either.  Gray hair mixed in with the brunette frizz, and wrinkles were beginning to form.  She should retire—or just not work here.  That was my opinion.  “Arabelle Winters,” I said stiffly after I regained my composure.  I silently applauded myself for being able to pull off that tone.  She’d scared the shit out of me.

Beverly gave me a pointed look for how I spoke to her before sauntering off.  She seemed like the type of person who hated her job but was too lazy to quit. 

I stared after her.  By the end of the summer I had to make it through the other half of the course and up the rock wall.  And if I didn’t, Arabelle was going to have to come back.  I sure as hell wasn’t.  One summer was enough.  I was never doing this again.

But, still.  I had to finish the freaking obstacle course in five minutes.

Yeah, because that was possible.

❈

“I’m serious, Belle,” I mumbled, balancing my phone on the crook of my neck, taking out another spoonful of peanut butter and holding it up in front of me.  “I fell in the mud.  It was so hard to get out in the shower.”

I glanced around, nervous that someone was going to hear me.  I had to sneak out here, in the middle of the grounds, so that Vanessa wouldn’t hear my conversation. I was surprised that we were allowed to have our cell phones.  I wouldn’t doubt that they did checks to make sure that you weren’t texting anything dirty.  I wondered if getting your cell phone taken away was a punishment here.  I wouldn’t doubt it.

Arabelle laughed softly.  “Come on, honey, I’m sure you can pull it off.”

I scowled, taking a bite of my peanut butter before answering her.  “I don’t know.  This is a lot harder than we thought.  Did we really think this through?  And what are you going to do when your trip with Danny is over?”

“Falice, don’t overthink this,” Arabelle said comfortingly.  “From the sounds of it, you’re doing great.  You already have two friends, right?  And they’ll help you make it through.  Maybe they can help you make it through the course fast enough.”

“That’s not the point, Arabelle!” I exclaimed as softly as I could.  My eyes reached for the sky.  I wanted to go home, and I wanted to go home now.  “I’m Falice.  I can’t bring myself to be mean to the workers like we practiced with the ice cream girl.  I’m so afraid of being sent to the office—”

“Falice, honey, calm down.”  I closed my mouth shut, listening as she continued.  “I want you to know how grateful I am to you for doing this for me.  Seriously.  I will do anything you want me to do after this.  Anything.  And it’s okay if you can’t bring yourself to talk back right now—that’s fine.  Do what you feel is best for you.  You’re already there and no one knows who you are.  So they don’t know how you or I normally act anyway.”

I sighed shakily, taking another bite of my peanut butter.  Arabelle was right, of course.  No one knew me here, how I acted around people.  I could be well-behaved and passed off as someone who was just trying to survive the camp.  There was nothing wrong with that.  I suddenly felt much, much better.  “Okay,” I said softly.  “Thanks for the pep-talk, Belle.  I needed it.”

“I know you did, sweet cheeks.”  Arabelle laughed.  “I’m sorry, but I have to go!  Call me tomorrow?”

I nodded, forgetting for a moment that she wasn’t here with me.  “Yeah,” I said softly.  “Bye.”

I hung up the phone and pocketed it, stuffing the rest of the spoon in my mouth and swallowing contently.  I had a new sense of ease.  I didn’t have to talk back if I didn’t want to.  And I could fail if I wanted to.  I could do whatever the hell I wanted because I wasn’t me.

“Hey, Falice.”

On reflex, I turned around questioningly.  It was only when I spotted Will a few feet away that I froze and realized what his words meant.  He’d called me Falice.  He’d called me Falice.  “What did you just call me?” I demanded, forcing my expression into a scowl. 

“Don’t pretend with me,” Will drawled coolly, coming closer to me.  He smirked, shoving his hands in his pockets.  “I know who you are—Falice.”

I gulped.  Well, this most definitely wasn’t part of the plan.

Oops.