Chapter Text
Summer camp.
There were no two words that Hope hated more.
The preppy camp that Hope's parents had been sending her to since she was seven was only 13 hours away from her home in New Orleans, but it seemed to last forever. Hope used to enjoy the car ride, singing along to the radio with her parents, stopping at rest stops, classic road trip stuff.
After her parents died, Hope wasn't so fond of the car ride anymore.
Her Aunt Freya drives her, humming along to a song on the radio while Hope stares longingly out of the window.
In the ten years Hope had been going to the Salvatore Summer Camp, she hadn't made any friends that mattered enough to her to keep in touch with throughout the rest of the year. She got close with the Saltzman twins the summer after her parents died, but it faded after Lizzie started talking shit. Hope still doesn't know why.
At least she only has one summer left after this one.
"We're thirty minutes out," Freya says, pulling onto a road that seems to go on forever. The camp was in the middle of nowhere and there was nothing around for miles.
"I know this isn't your ideal summer, Hope," Freya speaks up. "Just try to have fun, 'kay hon?"
"Or," Hope begins. "We can turn around and go home!"
"So you can spend the rest of your summer in your room? Definitely not." Freya pauses and Hope lets out a sigh. "This camp was really important to your father."
"Guilting me into wanting to go! Nice," Hope answered, faking a cheerful tone.
Freya was right. The summer camp had been built by a close friend of her dad's who happens to be the Saltzman twins' mom. After he heard about the camp being built, he jumped at the opportunity to help. Handed over a fat check to help with construction. Hope's always felt kind of guilty about hating camp. Her mother sent her there thinking it would be a safe, fun place for Hope to make friends.
"I'll behave," Hope says finally, propping her feet on top of the dashboard which Freya quickly shoves off.
"That's the spirit!" Freya exclaims, and the two go over a particularly rough patch of road.
The smooth, asphalt road is gone and replaced by rocks, forcing Freya to slow down. Hope knows that means the camp should be coming up soon. She leans her head on her hand and takes a deep breath, taking in her last moments of freedom.
Hope's eyes shoot open when a symphony of whistles, screams, and horns welcome them to the camp. The owners of the camp, Alaric and Caroline, along with the staff stand at the entrance, blowing into whistles and going crazy whenever anyone enters the camp. Hope thinks that that must get old.
She glares at her aunt, who smiles brightly.
Freya pulls over to the shoulder of the uneven road and is greeted by Alaric, who holds a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other.
"Freya! It's so good to see you," he exclaims. Hope always detests how cheerful he always is. No way someone can be that happy all the time.
"Ready for a great summer, Hope?" he asks. Hope gives him a pained smile and stares out of the other side of the window.
Freya gets Hope all set and checked in and Hope is forced to hop out of the car, unloading her bags from the trunk of Freya's car. Alaric hands her a t-shirt and a lanyard with her cabin name on it.
"You'll be staying in the Bennett cabin this year," Alaric says bubbly, pointing towards a cabin in the distance. Hope raises her eyebrows and fakes an excited smile.
A few minutes later, Freya's wrapped Hope up in a tight hug, and Hope has to admit, it's hard to leave her family every summer. She'll be here for a month without her phone or any way to talk to her aunts and uncles. Not having that connection has always been hard for her ever since she lost her parents.
"Your counselors will meet with you this evening to go over some things but for now, you can take you things to your cabin and get settled in," Alaric says once Frey's gone. "I'll see you tonight!"
Hope wonders how many fake smiles she'll have to force out over the course of this month.
She grabs her bags and heads to her cabin which is positioned at the outside of the campgrounds. The older kids always get the more secluded cabins, while the younger kids stay in the center, close to the kitchen and counselor's quarters.
Hope manages to get her bags up the stairs to her cabin and says a quick prayer that she'll have at least one bunkmate she'll get along with.
Word got around fast once Hope's parents died. All of the kids her age wither pitied her to the point where it got annoying, or avoided her, not wanting to deal with the tension that came with her trauma.
Hope swings the door open and hears the voices in her room before she sees the girls she's rooming with.
She immediately makes eye contact with the first girl. Hope recognizes her curly brown hair and brown eyes. The girl's smile drops when she sees Hope walk through the door.
"Of course Dad put her in our room," another voice asks. Hope shoots her eyes towards the direction of the voice and sees the brunette girl's blonde counterpart. Hope breathes in a deep breath to steady herself before walking into the room quietly and setting her things on her bed.
She'll be spending the month rooming with the Saltzman twins.