______________________________________

After her meeting with the counselor, Estrella was sent to a cabin on her own. There were a few beds, but no one was occupying them. She figured they were sending her there because of her attitude towards the counselor, but Estrella didn't care. As she sat there, she thought over what happened.

She felt betrayed. Her mother, the woman who was supposed to love her unconditionally, trust her, and keep her safe, sent her to a wilderness camp because she thought something was "wrong" with her daughter.

All because she couldn't take one second to hear her out on what's been happening to her. The split second she took to try and trust her mother again, the woman took advantage of it. If she did ever get out of this place, she knew she'd never speak to her again.

Estrella looks up as the door opens. There were a few footsteps before a girl walked in. The door shut behind her and Estrella gasped as she sat up, "Kie?"

Kiara turns and lets out a sigh of relief as Estrella got up and pulled her into a hug, "Oh my god, Estrella."

"Are you okay?" Estrella asks pulling away

"I mean, I guess." Kie says looking around, "What is this place?"

"I don't know." Estrella says as she sits on the bunk, "I've been in here for like thirty minutes."

Kie sits beside her with a huff, "I can't believe they actually sent me here."

"Yeah." Estrella mumbles, "If I had a nickel for every time I've gotten kidnapped with you."

Kie chuckles as she shakes her head. Estrella smiles at her before looking away. Kie lays her head on Estrella's shoulder. Estrella sighs before laying her head on top of Kie's.

______________________________________

After a little while of convincing Mike that what JJ was saying was true, they were able to fix the tire and make their way to Kitty Hawk. As they pull up, JJ sighs as the security sitting at the gate, "Ah, shit."

"Hold it right there, please." The man says walking over

"How are y'all doing?"

"Can I help you?"

"Hey there, uh, sir. I... Camp counselor Laura, I'm her... I'm her brother." He then points to Charlotte who smiles, "Our little sister here. I was gonna drop off one of these packages back here for her, if that's okay. It's real quick. I promise, just in and out. That all right?"

"Yeah. Go ahead." The man says taking a step back

"Thank you so much. All right. Y'all have a good day." JJ says before pulling into the camp

A few minutes later, JJ pulls into a parking spot. Both of them hop out and walk over to where a man is standing. They both look up at him.

"Hi there, sir, uh, I'm looking for... I'm looking for the office." JJ says

"Yeah?"

"Uh, is there a main lodge or something? Like a main lodge?" JJ asks and the points ahead, "Right down there? Appreciate it."

"Right down there."

The two walk off in the direction of where the man pointed and soon come up on a main office. As they walk in, a woman looks up at them from her desk.

"How's it going, ma'am? Um..." JJ stammers

"Uh... Can I help you, guys?"

Charlotte steps up, "I have a message for one of your campers here. Um... Uh, her name is Kiara, uh, Carrera. She's my girlfriend. She's here, right?"

"Unfortunately, we're not allowed to do that." The woman says, "You're not even supposed to be here on campus."

"Okay. It's... it's just that it's a very important..." Charlotte says looking down at the chairs, "May we sit?"

"Uh..." The woman holds her hand out and the two sit

"A very important matter, ma'am." JJ says

"Oh, I'm sure it is, sweetie, but we have a policy. No contact from the outside world for the first six weeks."

"Right. Ma'am." Charlotte noticing the picture of her cat on the desk, "It's actually a family matter, and, uh... her parents didn't want to be the ones to tell her. So, look, I know you got a policy and all, but there's just been something that happened recently that..."

JJ brows furrow as Charlotte becomes choked up, "You know what? I'm getting a little emotional. So I think we should go. I'm sorry. We shouldn't even be here, like you said, so I'll leave you alone."

JJ follows Charlotte as she stands. The girl turns back to the desk, "But before I leave, could you just let her know, um... just that, uh... Marley didn't make it?"

"Who's Marley?"

"Marley's her best friend." Charlotte says, "A Siamese mix, and, um, yeah, it was really sudden. And, you know, uh... the mailman was coming at 40 miles per hour so..." Charlotte sniffles, "He's in a better place now. But, um, could you just let her know for me? I'd really appreciate that."

The woman nods softly as Charlotte smiles. As the two head for the door, Charlotte turns, "Thank you, ma'am. You have a great one."

As soon as the door closes, Charlotte sighs and wipes under her eyes. JJ's eyes widen, "Where the hell did that come from?"

"I had to make something up." Charlotte says

"What about the girlfriend thing?" JJ smirks

"Shut up." She whispers

The two round the building and hide behind it as the woman comes out with another worker at her side. The two workers head toward one of the buildings on the other side.

•••

"Kiara? Sweetie? Can you come out here?" The girls hear. Estrella frowns as Kie gets up and walks outside, "I'm sorry, sweetie, but at Kitty Hawk, we feel you have the strength to hear all the news, including bad news."

"What happened?" Kie says

"Well, your girlfriend was here a minute ago."

"Wait, what?" Kie says as Estrella listened, she became more confused

"A young woman, blond. She asked me to tell you that Marley, well, he passed away."

"Like Bob Marley? 'Cause..."

"No. Your Siamese mix, Marley." The woman says

"Siamese?" Estrella mutters to herself. A few seconds later, she hears cries.

"Oh." Kie cries

"Aw."

"No. No." Kie sobs shaking her head, "When?"

"We got the news just after you arrived. We thought you should know."

"Yeah." Kie nods

"Oh, come here."

"Okay." Kie says

Estrella runs her hands through her hair as she tried to piece the story together. Kie didn't have a cat.

"It's okay, it's okay."

"Yeah." Kie sniffles, "You know, I actually gonna need a little more time to process."

"Take all the time you need." The woman says. Seconds later, Kie walks back in and the door shuts behind her.

"What the hell happened?" Estrella asks

Kie smiles as she sits beside her, "Charlotte's here."

Estrella's eyes widen, "What?"

"My cat, Marley, died" Kie says making quotations

Estrella chuckles as Kie's smile widens, "You think she's here by herself?"

"I don't think so." Kie says, "There's no way she just got in here. I never told her about the camp."

"I told JJ." Estrella says with wide eyes, "It's JJ."

Kie nods to her as Estrella smiles and shakes her head looking down.

______________________________________