The next morning Amelia woke up super early, finishing the last traces of what she needed to finish the artwork, relieved to not be waking up for a grueling day at school for a change. Leaving a note for her mother, she headed out, stuffing out her cosmetics and additional clothes before heading out, finding herself on the bus taking them to the middle of the Tri-State Area. Inside, she found a bunch of familiar faces and some new ones which gave her various degrees of excitement.

"So how about we all introduce ourselves," Gem asked. "Name, what we're getting out of this."

She went first. "Amelia Lopez, just something to add on my resume and get some leadership experience."

"Jack," whispering, earning her a high as Gem yelled at him to speak up. "Daniels. Improve communication skills."

"Delic Kruger brah," clearly on something. "This summer let's get wast-"

"Wild from our crazy experiences with the kids, right Delic?" Gem's voice was super strict.

"Um, yeah, right, totally."

Amelia sensed something was up but raised a finger. "Aren't the kids supposed to be with us."

"No dipshit." Seeing Devin's face completely unnerved her. "Like this bus can fit all of them."

"Relax," Gem said. "Why are you here anyway?"

"Grades were low, said the only way to pass was with credits from summer activities and summer work. I'll get that taken care of," giving a wink at Amelia, who sunk back down.

"You're not the only one," which got the young Latina to lean her head back towards the sound of Priscila's voice. "What, surprised to see me?"

Amelia nodded.

"Yeah, someone spilled the beans to my parents so they stuck me here so I can't do anything. Ugh, they're the worst!"

"I don't see the problem," said Bustle Trenton. "How about we have some fun when we get there," all flirty and bothersome to the socialite.

"I'd rather play by myself."

"I'd watch." There were immediate groans from most of the women, as every guy but Jack had their eyes on her.

"Amelia right?" A violet-haired rocker began playing air guitar. "Love the hair. I'm just here to give those crazy kids one hell of a show. Janice Lavender, yo, help me out with my wig later?"

"Sure," giving her a thumbs up.

It didn't take them more than a few hours to get to the campsite, Camp Crimson Lake. Like anyone with a bit of sanity, Amelia questioned why a blue lake would be named crimson, or why they would go there in the first place. Beatrice was the one of the most reckless people in the world, and if she was scared, so should she. She stumbled onto a tree and into the arms of a guy with strong arms and a firm grasp, turning around to find herself in Jack's presence.

"Sorry, lost my train of thought."

Jack let go, immediately apologizing. As he was about to leave and join the others into setting up, she grabbed his hand.

"Can we just talk for a bit?"

He turned back. "I'm not good with people," loud enough for her to hear him.

"It's okay, me neither. Um," playing with her hair. "Thanks for helping me...twice. It means a lot," smiling.

"Yeah, no prob. I just hate how he treats us. We're just trying to learn, not be his punching bags."

"That can't hit back. I'd pay attention more, but sometimes I feel I'm just not good enough for school," looking down.

He lifted her chin up so their eyes could meet. "You have a passion. I like your art, it's pretty. Like, you-your style."
Amelia's cheeks went red. "You mean that?"

He nodded, pulling his hand away. "I'm pretty unmemorable outside my stature. Not sure what I want to do, yet, so...it's coolyougotthatfiguredout," rapidly so fast.

Gem contacted all of them to meet the adult staff counselor members as she was about to respond. He headed out first, but Amelia followed to give him a quick message.

"Let's help each other out here...with communicating. If you wanna talk about that thing, I won't listen. I'm sure there's bad rumors about me out there too."

"I'll think about it."

That was a good start.

Gem introduced everyone to the older staff. "Here's our head chef, Heather Mills."

"Feather Mills you girly nitwick. I've got years in this business. Eat up, or I'll put you phone obsessed freaks on the menu." Feather was about as small as an infantilized woman in a romantic coupling of a woman below five-four and a rich CEO. She shouted expletives as she walked to each of them with her a knife in her hand, threatening to add their privates to the menu if they did anything stupid to the kids.

"Try that shit and we'll slice you up and feast on your flesh," Gem rebutted, leading to a rather intense camaraderie of laughter between the two of them that left everyone else uncomfortable."

"Ignore her, she's always like this," said a shaggy haired, well groomed male working on the technological equipment.

"Shut up, Jammy."

"Jimmy," exasperated. "Jimmy Sheldon. If you need any help with tech, let me know," setting up his laptop, while Janice rushed over to help set up her music set.

A woman in nurse attire, who Gem introduced as Angela Peterson, offered to assist them with any health concerns, including supporting the kids. "Just please be careful, I've heard some awful rumors about the environment here."

Delic, Devin, and Bustle's needles grew a few inches from her figure. "Yes ma'am," they all spoke in unison. Amelia had a feeling their intentions weren't pure in the slightest.

Another bus rolled into the camp and the door, revealing itself to be an old man.

"You fools staying here will lead to your demise!"

"Shut it, Psycho Steve! You'll scare the kids."

"They won't have to worry about the kids when you're all dead! Come along kiddies."

All of them ran out and Amelia was super eager to meet them when they stampeded all of them and one of them tripped over and smashed into her chest, almost knocking her dead and her bag flew on the ground. One kid opened it while the other counselors attempted to maintain order. The kid saw something inside it and freaked out, rolling it back into her bag.

"Monster!"

All the kids targeted their attention to Amelia and backed away, mimicking the child and giving her the nickname Pink Fiend.

"This day could not get any worse."

Little did she know what was to come.