Young Writers Society

Bliss Lotin

I pressed my face aganist the cold glass of the bus window. This bus was amazing! I wonder who had drawn it? A guy plopped beside me. I look up, shocked. Remembering what my mom had said about making friends I slowly greeted him.
" My name is Bliss. You are?"
" Elliot..."
"Wahtcha here for?"
" Artist."
" Really? Me too!!!!"
" Cool. " his eyes stayed dark.
Well. So much for that effort. I press my face aganist the glass again. The camp came into view slowly. The bus pulled into a stop.
" See you around," Elliot said.
I muster a smile.
" Cool. Bye. See you in art."
He smiles. For real. I then realized I didn't know where I was going.
" Uh... Elliot."
" Yeah," he turns to me.
" Hello line?," some dude behind him said. Elliot sits down next to me.
" Do you know your way around... here?"
He sighed. That wasn't a good sign.
" Well....," he said.

* YOUR CHOICE NOW MOO!*

Kammy~

I squeezed pass the couple who were holding up the line, and jumped off the bus. "Oh, wow!" I said to Braise, "Isn't it amazing!?" He shrugged as he stepped off the bus. I took in everything. The lake, the brightly painted buildings, the trails, the horses! Oh, and was that a library? Braise would be happy about that. I turned around the tell my brother, but he had disappeared, like he always did. It was so hard to keep tabs on that boy! Turning in a around, I finally spotted him behind the bus pulling out our luggage.

I saw a couple kids walk off the bus and I walked up to them, smiling. "Heya! Doesn't this place look great?" They nodded, but looked confused.

"Have any idea where we're suppose to be?" the boy asked.

This was my second year at camp, so I nodded and said, "sure, come on, I'll show you."

*********************************************************************************************************

Braison~

Just before my sister walked away, I caught her eye. She stopped and said to me in sign-langauge, I'm going with these kids, see you later. I signed back, yeah whatever, and turned back to the buss to pull out Kammy's stuff. Dude this bag was heavy, what did she pack in it? I tensed all of my muscles and heaved. Finally the bag gave-way, but when it did, the momentum made me swing it around, right into the face of a girl. Instantly I dropped the bag in surprise, but it smashed down on her toe. "Oh my gosh! I'm such a clutz, I'm so sorry." I bent over to help the girl.

>can be anyone<

Elliot

He paused in the effort to make a quick escape, turning his back to look at Bliss with a sigh of hesitation. "Well," he began with reluctance, rubbing his arm with his free hand. "It's actually my first... time, here. So I don't really know my way around."

"When what do we do?" He pitied her lost expression for a moment, contemplating whether to ask her along with him or to make a quick excuse and scram at the first opportunity. He felt vunerable here, away from his adoptive parents, as pink and as exposed as a hermit crab without his protective shell. It was oddly childlike, and he ended up beating the feeling into a shallow corner of his stomach, swallowing it for the time being. He imagined Bliss must feel the same, so came to the decision to ask her to go with him.

"I guess you could... come along with me." He shrugged offhandly as if it were a mere suggestion that he had spent no thought over whatsoever. Her eyes brightened and she seized him by the wrist, tugging him along behind her.

"Great," she chirped, guiding him through the throng like a reluctant mule being tugged by the mouth. "I suppose we should look for our cabins or something-" Just as she stepped towards a bystander to perhaps ask for direction, she crossed the path of a boy similar to his age, who seemed to be rapidly gesticulating towards someone he couldn't see, before Bliss smacked into him and tumbled to the floor.

Immediately he stooped down to help her up, but was beaten by the boy, who helped her to her feet. Elliot's hands dropped limply by his sides again. Elliot hitched his rucksack over his shoulder, feeling the sickly closeness of the crown swelling and churning around him. He wanted to get away from it all and find a quiet corner so as he could read or paint, but he felt a sort of duty to help Bliss find her way to the cabins now that he had agreed to acompany her.

"I'm so sorry," Bliss said again, gathering her dropped things off the floor. The boy didn't seem bothered at all, smiling in that 'nice-guy' kind of way that seemed to drive girls crazy. Elliot hovered behind the two as they broke into conversation, barely listening and not involved in the chat at all. As the crowd began to thin he relaxed much more as a cool breeze was able to reach his face, raking its cold fingers through the coppery strands of his hair. He was almost rapt in the beauty of the camp's surroundings, soaking in every detail and imagining it as the soft strokes of watercolour across clean canvas, before the two broke into his thoughts.

"Who's this?"

(That would be Braison. Hope this is ok )

Caris held in a scream, residing herself to yelling obscenities within her head. The car was stifling, almost suffocating her as the walls pressed on her mind. Of course, she wasn’t claustrophobic, far from it as that would be too easy for her. It was the tension of being in one place for so long. They were going too fast for her to really see the scenery so she couldn’t rely on that to kill her every arising boredom.

Writer’s block was nearly killing her--pencil poised above the page ready for inspiration to strike. Growling, she knew she shouldn’t wait and forced herself to write, stringing words together to form sentences. In the back of her mind, she hoped what she wrote didn’t sound forced as it sometimes did.

“Hon?” Caris broke out of her writing and looked at her mother in the front seat. She’d switched to the back seat after the first hour, preferring to stretch when there was no sign of police other cars. Her mother, an interior designer, had left the highway around the same time. Both of them hated the sameness of highways. Her mother with her A.D.D and Caris with her strange attention span that sometimes reminded people of her mother and others of her uncle.

“Yeah, mum,” she said, trying to hold on to what she’d been about to write.

“We’re here.”

“Oh! Finally!”

“If you’d talked at all, it might have gone faster,” her mother chided, smiling. Caris shook her head. No one would think she was her mother’s child; Irish blood coursing through her veins. She looked more like her father, born in Japan and raised in Indiana.

Looking out the window, she grinned. It wasn’t perfect and that excited her. She hastily wrote the sentence then stuffed it in her messenger bag with more of her more prominent stories and her poetry journal. Throwing it over her shoulder, she nearly threw herself out of the car. She grabbed her suitcase and tried not to catch her outfit on the car’s hitch.

Caris wore a white and purple dress, cut off near mid-thigh with strings hanging down with the sleeves of a t-shirt. Her jeans were tattered on the right knee. She wore dirty Airwalks, nearly torn in more places than not. The hair, tightly tied in a twist braid, thumped on the back of her neck.

Her mother walked around the car and Caris nearly tackled the poor woman. They stood for a few moments.

“Love you, mum!”

“Why do you insist on calling me ‘mum’?”

“Eh, it’s interesting.” She kissed her mother on the cheek and started off, waving without looking back. It took a moment but her mother did go off. Caris felt a weight drop from her chest. There was not mistake that she loved her parents but they were her parents and she loved when she was free of their stifling parent attitude.

A brightly colored bus caught her attention and she moved towards it. Everything was incredibly colorful, almost annoyingly so. It was a great place--a lot of scope for imagination. She knew some would find it horrible but she didn’t even if it hurt her eyes.

She was watched people scatter to and fro, quickly finding a less crowded area. Trying to calm her racing mind, she sat on a very colorful bench and started watching people. They were thinning out, trying to find cabins but Caris never minded being late; wishing for it many times. It was nearly killing her, being early as her mother loved to. The only upside was not being yelled at and being able to actually see her surroundings for what they were.

Complete strangers interacted with each other like old acquaintances trying to find things in common. Most did; it was what this place was for. Creative minds finding each other and teaching one another.

Caris started humming a tune, finding a clean notebook in her messenger bag. Words flowed easily here, the movement adding inspiration. While her subconscious spewed words, she tasted the air and felt the wind try to pick up her heavy hair. Fly-aways tickled her neck, making it itch.

Instead of scratching her neck, she giggled. The giggles stopped her writing and she lost her inspiration. Sighing, she resigned herself to closing the notebook and looking around. Though adults yelled for the kids to ready themselves, she ignored them for the moment and took in this area. The smallest details flooded her mind. The scent of the air, the touch of the wood beneath her fingers, the endless chatter that made little sense combined into one chaotic symphony. People twitched their fingers, trying to hide runaway nerves and smile at jokes they didn’t find funny.

Biting the inside of her bottom lip, she tried not to laugh out loud at the strange display. Trying to make friends in the first two minutes seemed a little off to her; people weren’t that simple. Summing a person’s personality up in that short of a time was pretty much impossible.

Closing her notebook slowly, she gathered herself, taking it from the world around her where she’d placed her attention, and prepared to do what she was told.


(Anyone can go up to her now. Sorry it took so long.)

Slade Ludwig:

I stared at the guy as he dropped his bag onto the bed. Looks like I've found my cabin. Before I could open my mouth to tell him my name, a bell burst through the serenity making my skin crawl. I spun around on the balls of my feet and dazed outside as everyone stood stock still, staring up at a megaphone make the obnoxious sound.

"Sorry about that folks!" a hearty voice exploded through the tube. "Breakfast will be ready in approxiametly five minutes. If you'd all like to make your way towards the cafetieria, that'd be much appreciated." I felt my stomach rumble, yep I was ready for some good 'ol slop.

I made my way towards the stairs and stopped. Turning, I stared at my room mate. "You coming?"

He nodded, standing up. I hurried down the stairs and practically sprinted towards the cafeteria, my room mate following after me. Looking around the camp I spotted a girl staring around herself, a look of distate covering her expression. Slowing to a stroll, I flicked my hair. Alright, work your stuff. My room mate crashed into me, not realising I had stopped.

"Don't wait up for me," I hissed, quickly walking away before he could say anything.

Stopping in front of the girl, I bowed low. "Are you lost, my beautiful flower?" I asked.

She stared at me as if I had grown two heads. Did I come on to strong? Coughing into the palm of my hand, I offered my arm and she just stared at it. Casually letting it fall by my side, I felt a flush rising up my neck.

"What is your name? It has to be something as pretty as your face?"

Again, she looked at me. My roomate came up behind me and laughed. "Smooth," he whispered before jerking his head in the direction of the cafeteria cabin. "We're goin' in there to eat, you wanna join us?"

The girl suddenly nodded refusing to meet my eyes. I crossed my arms and stared at my roommate, hammering my foot on the ground. "My name is Louis and this is..." he motioned to me.

"Slade," I filled in.

"Oh-oh-oh, my name is Caris."

Louis S.:

I watch the little demonstration, trying hard not to laugh, and finally step in to save him from, well, humiliation. I'll humiliate him later, but no need for the girl to, as well.

"Nice to meet you, Caris," I say. "Cool name. Matches Slade's. Mine's rather normal. Unless you count that I sound like a bass player or some KISS dude with a surname like Savidge." I shrug. "So, what'cha writin'?"

I wasn't sure why I was talking to her. But I was pretty sure my Aunt's constant repeat of "I'm sure you'll make friends" probably had something to do with it. Five hours of brain-washing when you were half-asleep, I suppose.
Come to think of it, 'Seph probably put something funny in my drink before I left. He was rotten like that. Bugger.

Caris

It was strange when the boy came up to her, his hair refusing to stay in one place, that her insecurities came crashing back. As he walked towards her, she almost started laughing because of his obvious confidence. Then it smothered her in a palpable wave. All she knew about him was this confidence and how he would react to her was still up in the air. It didn’t help when he bowed.

She wondered why he was complimenting her. Her mother usualy gave out fake compliments when she wanted to sell something to a client, but Caris doubted he wanted to sell something to her. Why is he calling me a flower? Do I smell strange, or look like I whither in cold weather, she thought. By this time, her thoughts about this person had gone out of control with useless questions she barely kept unasked. She didn’t even notice the offered arm until it fell back to his side.

Oh dear, I’m probably looking like quite the idiot. Caris found herself in memories of times that people had tried similar things to her. She tried to find one that was similar to this one but she couldn’t find one. Lost in thought, she only caught the end of his sentence.

"--as your face?"

Crap. What did he say?

Another boy walked up and she nearly sighed but held it in. He asked her if she wanted to head to the cafeteria. Realizing how hungry she was, Caris nodded, breaking eye contact with the boy. She’d finally found out his name, and decided that she liked it. Both of their names are nice...I should use them sometime.

Realizing that they still had no idea what my name was, stuttered, caught off guard. "Oh-oh-oh, my name is Caris." she stood, adjusting the strap of my messenger bag. Her key necklace had grown cold and it chilled her for a moment until it adjusted it’s temperature.

She grabbed the handle to her suitcase and wondered where to put it. Deciding that she could wait to find a cabin, she started to roll it behind her. Caris ended up between Louis and Slade, trying to figure out what to say.

Louis figured it out for her. His question prompted her to look at her closed notebook. The last words of the random story echoed through her head. What would describe it, she wondered.

“Everything and nothing, all at once.” She decided that it was a good summery of everything she’d written. Babbles that meant something to a few, and less than dirt to others.

She started walking, falling between the two boys. A smell wafted on the breeze, churning her stomach.

“I hope the food here actually tastes like food. I’ve heard that it’s one of two ways for camps. Either it’s the best thing campers have tasted or it forever ruined their sense of taste,” Caris said, completely serious.

Louis S.:

I nodded, glancing down at the shorter girl. "Sounds like what I paint sometimes... 'Seph just says they look like crime scenes, though..." I shook my head sadly. "No taste."
I blinked at the comment and sniffed the air, glancing over at the community cabin thing-y. "Eh, can't be worse than when my Dad tries to cook..." I chuckled. "No I'm sounding like I insult everyone. Sorry. I kinda pick at people I know..."

I shrugged and just walked ahead a bit, hopping up the stairs to the cabin when I got there, onto the porch.

Since I wanna post and Dragonet hasn't posted for Braison yet I'll just go ahead! Hope this is ok!

~ Bliss Lotin~

Thank goodness Elliot had agreed to help me. I guess he knew no better than I did but two heads was always better than one. I guided him through the crowds of people and he reluctantly followed.Hope I wasn't forcing him to help me.
" I suppose we should look for our cabins or something..."
Omph. I ran into a guy passing across the path. I tumbled to the ground.Such a clutz. How stupid was I?
The guy leaned down to help me up.
"Look I'm so sorry...," I said.
" It's fine," he said, smiling at me. He had a nice smile.," My fault."
I hoist myself up.
" I'm Braison," he said," Singer, guitar player."
" Bliss. Artist," we fall into a steady walk, Elliot falling behind.
We fall into a conversation about camp and art and music.Don't figure you guys wanna here all that...
" Who's that?," Braison asks, nodding to Elliot.
Elliot looks up, shocked.Artist world. we'd woken him up from Artist world.
" That's elliot. I asked him to help me find my cabin. Knowing me, I'd probaly get lost."
Braison smiles, but there's something in his eyes I can't place.
" You are?," Elliot says in a fit of bravery.

Moo? Dragonet?

Braison~

"I'm Braison," I said evenly. "Or you can call me Braise." I shrugged and looked down. It was then that I noticed that I was still carrying my sister's pink, doodled-on suitcase. My cheeks reddened and I looked around, "Any idea where the girl cabins are?"

Bliss shrugged, "I'm sure we can find them."

******************************************************************************************************************************************

Kammy~

I was eating my second doughnut when I finally saw Braison enter the mess hall. He went over to the line, buttered a roll and sat down in a corner to eat it. His eyes rolled over the tables and crowds, searching for me. Finally he spotted me and I signed to him Where were you? Then, to tease him, I added Did you get lost?

He smirked No, I was busy putting your stuff away.

Oh. I was about to thank him, but a voice stopped me. "What are you doing?" I turned to see my new friends, Cole and Minjonet staring at me funny.

I pointed to Braison, "My brother, Braise. We sorta talk to each other in sign-language when we're to far to hear each other." I glanced at him again and saw that he had his guitar out and his note book in front of him. He would play a few notes and then stop and right something on the paper. I sighed, he was such a loner. He was always quiet and practical, so unlike me. No one would be able to tell that we were related.

Louis:

I sighed at the pair of slow pokes and just jogged into the mess hall, not caring where I was going. I was just hungry. I mean, the only person I knew that could eat more than me was 'Seph and he had some weird medical something.

I yawn and just walk past some guitar dude, looking to see where the food is.

Caris

Blinking, she watched Louis go ahead. Her left hand still grasping onto the wheeled suitcase and her right playing invisible piano notes on her messenger bag. Louis is rather impatient. I need to remember that. She walked in silence, wondering if it was comfortable or uncomfortable.

The building was full. Many had instruments or notebooks. A few showed off dance moves while they sat to the claps of their table mates. Only Caris seemed to still have her suitcase. It didn’t bother her; it was her fault she didn’t want to see her cabin just yet, or find it if that was the case.

The corners of her mouth twitched and she tugged on Slade’s shirt like a small child vying for attention. “Look over there.” Her voice was soft, as if being any louder would disrupt the scene before her. “Already two artists are fighting over something. Creative differences or do they just love drama?” She pointed for only a moment, not wanting the gesture to be seen by those she was referring to.

“You can already see those who dwell in the creative loneliness many force themselves into.” She was hardly talking to Slade anymore, lost in her own thoughts and narrating them to herself. “Some forced into a organized corner by OCD, look at the neatness of how they eat! Other are forcing their sloppiness on others.” Her hand twitched through the cloth of the shirt she still held, missing the familiar feel of a pencil.

“People are so strange. No matter how much I watch them, they confuse me.” Her face contorted, looking like a child staring at a plate full of their least favorite food, knowing she had to partake in it. “They’re wonderful but absolutely horrible.”

It took a moment for her to remember Slade, and she dropped her hand. Caris didn’t blush, not realizing how strange she was acting. “You too, Slade. Me too.” She fell into her characteristic silence, trying to lock every detail into place. Someone accidentally bumped into her, saying sorry. The event didn’t provoke a response, only a blank stare. Grumbling about trying to be polite, they went to a table.

Slade Ludwig:

Louis just left! SCORE! Now I had Caris all to myself. I could hear her speaking and I think I was replying but I didn't care, this was my chance. I looked around for any signs of Louis and sighed, sure he was my room mate and all but he was really beginning to cramp my style. He would understand, right?

I turned and stared a Caris, wondering if she was recieving my bewitching smile. She ignored my staring at the group of people shovelling food into their mouthes. Without hesitation, I grabbed her arm and spun her into a spare seat. Plucking a rose from a vase, I placed it in front of my heart.

"For you, my flower." My eyes sparkled and I saw myself in her horrified expression. Alright, that just proved it; I was coming onto strong. "I'll be back, sweet, with your food. For you..." I decided to stop talking when her expression worsened. Quickly dissapearing into line, I spotted Louis standing behind a guy. Definitely a guitarist, you could tell by his stature. It was written all over him. Us violin players were much more elegant!

Louis yawned again and turned to stare at me. His eyes lowered when he saw my expression and a cat-like smirk spread across his face. "You did it again, didn't you?" he asked. "You scared poor Caris!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I muttered grabbing at two black trays and dumping the best looking food I could find. The guitar player turned around when I snatched a jam roll out from under him. I shrugged my shoulders and pushed Louis along.

"Everything looks good, Slade, stop rushing me!" Louis snarked.

The guitar player chuckled and grabbed at a bottle of juice. "No joke, aye. Why are you gettin' two trays of food?"

"Lady friend," Louis said smirking again.

The guitar player nodded staring distantly behind me. Suddenly pointing above my head, Louis turned to look. "Is your lady friend the girl who you two just walked in with?" he asked.

"And if she is?" I said grabbing a handful of jelly looking things.

"I think she just left, dude. She's sitting with my sister." I snapped my head to see in fact Caris sitting next to a brown haired chick. She looked nervous though the brown haired girl seemed to be trying to make her feel at home. I opened my mouth to say something but Louis erupted into laughter.

Louis S.:

I finally managed to control my laughter as I snatched up a piece of chocolate pie-looking stuff and started walking towards an empty table. I glanced back at Slade once, still grinning.

"Good luck with that, dude. That's why I don't bother." I nodded, trying my best to look sage. It didn't work, though, since I still felt like laughing.

...It must be true. 'Seph had put something in my drink. Probably wanted me to be more "friendly" or whatever, like what my Aunt was always yapping about...

((Louis...he doesn't understand what "happy" means. *shakes head sadly*))

Caris

I clutched onto the messenger bag, now laying on my lap. The girl, who’d seen me sitting alone, had grabbed my suitcase, forcing me to sit with her if I ever wanted to see my possessions again.

“I’m Kammy,” she’d said, her hand grabbing Caris’ arm gently. Though Caris usually, when not in situations such as this, had a soft smile gracing her lips, this girl seemed to be unable to stop from smiling at everything and everyone around her. For a split second, she imagined Kammy a child, seeing everything for the first time. Wit

“It’s traditional that you give your name after someone gives you theirs,” Kammy said with a playful smirk. Caris looked down at the design on her bag, tracing it with her eyes. She could have done so in the dark but it was a comfort to her, as was the key necklace that she now fingered.

“Caris...” Her voice was soft again, barely disturbing the air.

“You don’t have to be shy, Caris,” Kammy said, taking a bite of her food. She guestured to one of the girls sitting with them. “Minjonet could tell you. And Cole here is a riot.”

“Thanks, Kammy. I appreciate the confidence.”

“Any time, any time.” Both were grinning and Caris shook her head to clear it. Sitting with these people was interesting, but more confusing. Due to a childhood illness, Caris had started homeschooling around the time most went into kindergarten. Comfortable with her parents, and her mother didn’t want her to be corrupted, she never went to a proper school. Until today, she could have counted the number of kids she knew on her hand.

It allowed her writings to be untainted by social norms and stereotypes, giving it an almost childlike aspect with a nearly adult mentality.

“So what’cha here fore? You play music?”

Caris stayed silent, caught up in a sudden movement from a nearby table.

“Answering question is good too,” Cole put in, smiling.

“Oh...sorry. I do play music but I’m better at writing.” As if to prove her point, she pulled a tattered notebook, aptly named Impulse. It was the notebook she used when a random bout of inspiration hit her and she had no idea where to put it. There had been at least ten of these, named something else. The first had simply been Random. Impulse had to be her favorite so far, though.

“Hey, look who your brother is talking to. A new friend? Who is he?” Cole asked, pointing to Slade. Kammy seemed to brighten up as she watched her brother talk to him.

“Dunno--”

“He’s strange,” Caris finally said, blinking. “He keeps calling me a flower. Or candy, or did he say sweet...” Trying to find the exact word, annoyed by the lack of it, she trailed off to search her memories.

“Oh! So he’s flirting!” Kammy said, a strange look in her eye that Caris didn’t recognize.

“Is that what that is?”

Cole gave her a funny look and Caris momentarily looked at Minjonet. The girl quietly ate, making eye contact with few. I wonder why? AFter closer examination, she saw the brightly colored nails. Those are pretty...

“So what did you do?”

“Do?”

“When he was trying to woo you?”

“I can’t recall doing anything.”

Cole grinned, a mischievous spark in her eye. “We could torture him a bit. You play like a wall and keep him on his toes.”

“He’s coming,” the warning came from Minjonet and the girls quieted for a moment.

“By the way, Caris, why do you still have your suitcase?” Kammy asked, just as the boys came into earshot. At the mention of it, Caris looked at it for a moment before wondering how to answer. Her mother had told her that her observations were creepy, so it seemed wrong to tell them that. Instead, she stayed silent and Kammy sighed.

“Your food, my flower.” Caris blinked at the food, then her stomach took hold. She was about to reach for the tray when he set it down in front of her and sat down across from her. She picked up a fork and was about to start eating when she remembered her manners.

“Uh...thanks.” Giving a quick smile, she started to dig into her food. It was good, not like the horror stories she’d read about in books.


((I Hope I got the other characters right...if now, I welcome being chewed out.))