Murder in the woods

Chapter 2

We're in our cabins now after arriving about half an hour ago. Lara is placing her belongings in a perfectly organised pattern: her clothes hung up in order of which day they will be worn, her make up in the order that it will be applied and her books in alphabetical order. Only Lara would bring books to read on a school trip!

I glance guiltily at my part of the room which is already hopelessly messy. My clothes are erupting out of the suitcase and onto the floor, my medicines dumped onto the bedside table and everything else is shoved into a set of drawers. Chloe's stuff is unpacked in a similar way to mine. What's the point in making it all neat and tidy if we're just going to leave again in a week? Lara clearly disagrees with this mindset- she looks up at that moment, sees our mess and gasps in horror. "But why? That's just- ugh." She shudders, resisting the strong urge to tidy up after us and Lara-fy the room as Chloe and I call it. "It's not that bad, a little mess never hurt anyone." Chloe argues.
"Whatever, it'll have to do, I guess." she sighs.

A few minutes later, there's a knock at our door, it's the boys. "You guys ready for lunch? Afterwards we get to do some activities!"
"Yeah, give us a sec to lock up, we'll meet you down there."
"See ya!" they call, heading off towards the Dining Hall.

We lock up, then hurry after them, hungry after a long journey. For lunch, we get cheesy jacket potatoes with a side of baked beans and ice cream for dessert. Once we've got our meals, the boys wave us over to the table they've saved.

"Hey! How do you like it here, so far?" I ask, cutting open my jacket potato and spreading butter over it.
"We haven't exactly done anything yet,but I guess it's nice. We'll find out later after the activities."
"Hmm, but do you like your room?" Lara asks.
"Umm, sure. It's nice, but we won't really spend much time there, too busy exploring the great outdoors." Brad gestures wildly as he says "great outdoors", elbowing Chloe and spilling her orange juice all down her dress.
"Brad! This was new! It cost me a ton, and now it looks like I wet myself!"
"Oh god, I'm sorry. Paper towels! I'll get some paper towels!" He darts off, on a mission to make things up to Chloe.
"Don't worry, Chlo, it should come out in the wash."
"It better! Or he's buying me a new one."
"Yeah, don't worry about it, he'll get you a new one if that's stained." Jonny reassures her.

Just then, Brad comes back with a jug of water and a thick wad of napkins. Dabbing the napkins carefully in water, he passes them to Chloe who wipes desperately at the orange mark on her dress. It fades slightly, but doesn't go completely. "My parents will be so annoyed! This dress cost sixty pounds and they paid towards it!"
"Look, I'll get you another, ok? Don't worry about it, I can tell them that it was my fault. Anyway, your Mum isn't home at the moment is she? I thought she took off again."
"Brad! You could be a bit more sensitive, you know she hates when her Mum does this! And it's so not the point, she'll probably be back before us. Right, Sky?" Lara looks at me, waiting for me to agree and comfort Chloe.
"Yeah, it'll be fine, she'll be back before you know it. I'm sure she won't be as long as last time."

Chloe doesn't answer, she just smiles a tight-lipped smile at us and cuts her jacket potato up into little bite size pieces and chews her food slowly.

Last time Chloe's Mum vanished, it was spring and she left without a word, just like she always did. A few weeks later, she sent Chloe and her Dad a postcard from California where she had gone on holiday, telling them that she would be back in a few more weeks. Chloe was furious, and who could blame her? Her Dad worked full time shifts at the hospital and she was left alone fending for herself most of the time. It had been that way since she was only seven years old, and she seriously resented her Mum for leaving her abandoned like that with absolutely no warning. This time she's supposedly away with work, but I'm not sure if I should fall for her weak excuses again. It's not worth it. Chloe believes her this time though, so I don't say anything.

Before Chloe has much of a chance to sulk, a loud bell rings and a lady stands at the front of the room, calling for attention. "Hello, everyone! Look over here, please! I have some important information for you all!" Everyone's voices hush and our focus turns to the tiny lady with the booming voice. She tells us about our teams that we had been allocated and that we will all be given starter packs telling us our teams and timetables.

As she speaks, our teachers come round, giving us the packs with our names on. I'm in the Water Team with Jonny. Chloe is alone in the Earth Team, leaving Brad and Lara together in the Fire Team. I smile pityingly at Chloe who shrugs carelessly as if it doesn't bother her, but I know that she's disappointed.

"Naturally, each team will start with the activity which is most linked to their team name..." the lady continues, and I zone out until she gets to my team's activity for the afternoon. "And finally, the Water Team is going to be kayaking!" She finishes, "Thank you everyone, please find your team leaders at the appropriate buildings. You can't miss them!"

And she was right- the team captains went all out, I feel almost embarrassed for them. Jonny and I exchange amused looks at our dressed up captain. Our hut is painted a deep blue with light blue waves. A flag on the decking outside has TEAM WATER (aka the winners) written on in -surprise, surprise- blue! They clearly went all out, and that was just the buildings! Our captain had hair which was dip-dyed ombre from dark brown roots to light blue tips. She had matching blue eyeshadow and wore the standard uniform, but with a blue cape on top. They clearly take the teams seriously here!

"Hey guys? Are you team water?" The team captain spots us and waves us over. "Welcome to the winning team! What are your names?"
"I'm Skyla Robertson and he's Jonny Brakefield."
"Thank you!" she says, crossing off our names on her register, "There should be eight others, one of those from your school as well."

Sure enough, the rest of our team joins us after a couple of minutes. We have quite a good team, I think: Peter (he's in our school and very athletic), a short girl with a tight ponytail and a serious expression on her face that tells us she means business, some boys who look quite strong, a girl who seems really excited and can't stop grinning and a shy girl who is hiding behind her hair. We're told to introduce ourselves to somebody who isn't from our school. So I instinctively head to the smiley girl as she seems quite friendly. "Hey! I'm Cassia," she tells me, "What's your name?"
"Skyla, from Pinewood Academy."
"Nice, I'm from Northshore High. Which cabin are you staying in?"
"Oh, I'm in that one over there," I point in the direction of my lodge, "Cabin 12A. You?"
"What a coincidence! We're neighbours!"

We decide to take a kayak together, much to Jonny's disappointment. I feel kind of bad, but he seems to have made friends with a guy called Tom, so it could be worse.

I hop in the front and Cassie takes the back, dipping her paddles into the silky lake water. "Isn't it just gorgeous?" She asks, in awe of her surroundings.
"It's idyllic." I agree, paddling steadily towards the centre where our team leader, Sophie, is waiting for us. Racing up behind us, Jonny crashes into us and he and Tom burst into a fit of laughter as our kayak inverts and tips us into the water. "Hey! Not fair!" I laugh, spluttering and grabbing the paddles which were floating away. "You should have seen your face, classic!" He laughs and I smile at him, reassured that there are no hard feelings. Shaking her hair like a wet dog, Cassie rights the boat and hops smoothly back in. I struggle in after her, embarrassed at my lack of upper body strength. "Here, let me take the paddles," she offers, and I slowly clamber back in before we row over to Sophie.