Lyle Scott Mocha, a chocolate brown skunkbunny boy, known to his friends as 'Scooter,' sat alone in the crowded mess hall. The noise of the breakfast crowd was in full swing and, despite the numerous amounts of campers clamoring for a meal, there seemed to be plenty to go around. Scooter, however, did not have a tray before him. He instead sat bent over, one arm across his stomach, the other holding his little white rabbit plush, Amanda. SLAM! A tray came crashing down rather loudly on the table next to Scooter, some breakfast food splattering across the table, carelessly, but not disastrously. "Ahhh!!!! The beds here are so awesome!" Tay said, throwing himself down into his seat and beginning to eat, "I had a dream about going to camp!" Scooter looked over at his friend chowing down on... whatever that was. "B-but, Tay, you are at camp." He said, Tay looking over at him, cheeks filled. The dingo boy swallowed the impossible amount of food in his mouth, flecks along his lips. He leaned in and almost whispered. "I knoooooow, hehehehe…" Tay hushed, slyly. He noticed Scooter had no tray before him. "Ain’cha gonna eat nothin’?" He said, rising his voice at the end maybe more than necessary. Scooter shuffled in his seat, hiding Amanda, considering himself maybe lucky that Tay hadn't even noticed. "I-in the morning, I can't eat l-lotsa things cus m-my tummy’s w-weak…" Scooter stuttered. Tay didn't even seem to be listening. "T-the only th-thing I can eat they didn’t h-have." "What's that?" "Fr-fruit..." Scooter said somberly. Tay ate some more, silence between the two boys. Tay found an apple on his tray and picked it up, grabbing the attention of the skunkboy. "Hmm, they put an apple on my tray." Tay said, holding the red delicious fruit. Scooter stared at it pleadingly. Tay looked over at his friend. "The only thing you can eat in the morning’s fruit, huh?" He said. "Y-yeah." Scooter said, maybe this stutter was caused by his involuntary swallow, his little mouth watering, staring at the apple. Tay turned back around, bringing the apple up to his maw. "Wow, that sucks." Tay said. "Taylor Ryan McIntosh!" A girl's voice shouted at him. Tay looked up to see his sister, Izzy, standing before him, angry. Becky was there, too, angry as well. "Whaddaya want, brat?!" The annoyed dingo boy shouted, apple untouched. "Give scooter the apple!" Izzy said, pointing. "Huh?" Tay said, looking at the apple, then back at his sister, disgusted. "No!" Before any of the cubs knew, Tay flew out of his seat and hit the back wall, the apple stuck floating where the dingo boy once was. The apple floated over to Scooter, landing gently in his paw. Almost by instinct by this point in their lives, the two remaining cubs looked over at their friend, Becky, who, as they expected, had her paw held out towards the scene. Becky had always used her special powers around her friends, most often with Tay whenever he was acting stupid or mean, which happened alot. But this power, to 'float' things around, was something none of them had seen her do before. Noticing she was being looked at, Becky withdrew her paw, smiling. Tay may have made a tiny 'ow...' noise in the distance. "Going away present from Melissa." The raccoon said.
After the apple situation, Becky, Jules and Miranda gathered at the tray line. There was a wide selection of yummy breakfast items, but one particular item was missing. "See, Miranda?" Becky said. "No pancakes." The monkey girl still didn't quite smile. Jules, seeing the lack of pancakes, became down and somber. "Yeah... I know..." she said, sad, slow tone. Becky whipped her head around at both girls. "In other words, Ilsa’s predictions were wrong." She said as she grabbed food items, prompting Miranda to as well. "Easy for you to say… " she said, slumped, carrying her empty tray to a table with the other girls. "You weren’t gonna get pancakes…" "Neither were you." Becky said. Miranda opened up a bit more, eating and seeming to feel better. No pancakes means no cancer, no deaths on sailboats, right? "Where’s Izzy?" Miranda asked, putting eggs into her mouth on a fork. Becky swallowed. "She went back to ask her brother something." She said, eating more.
Over at the boys, table, Scooter was finally eating something; he had gotten an apple by chance and, being the only thing he can eat in the morning, it was very delicious to him. "Hey, Scooter!" Izzy said, coming back to the table, smiling. "I-Izzy!" Scooter said, hiding Amanda b3low the table. Both cubs blushed a little. Izzy giggled. "Where’s Tay?" She said, moving hair out of her face. Scooter stammered. "U-um... he's-" "@$&#*!" Tay shouted, some random swear word that Izzy knew wasn't right. "Taylor! Watch your mouth!" "You watch yours! Makin’ me give up my apple…" Tay faked sadness, looking at Izzy with eyes that never really ever worked on her. "Tay! Scooter was hungry!" She said, pointing at the skunkbunny boy, "And he can only eat fruit in the morning!" "But, Izz-" Tay started, turning to look at Scooter, a sudden realization setting over him. "Oh..." he said, ears down.
"Welcome, boys!" Becky said as Scooter and Tay sat down at the table the girls had. "Since we’re friends, I thought we should all sit together." Tay looked over at Jules, who had her head down on the table. She had an empty tray pushed from her. "What’s wrong with Jules?" Tay asked, resuming his meal. "One of our bunkmates claims to be able to read people’s futures and told Jules she was gonna get pancakes today." Becky explained. Jules stirred some, looking depressed. Lifted her head some, chin on the table top. "It’s not just that… I love pancakes… Even if I was full, I'd still eat a whole ton…" the down kangaroo said slowly. "It’ll be okay, Jules!" Izzy said, trying to cheer her friend up. "I guess…" "Jules, you can’t just not eat because you’re not getting any pancakes." Becky said sternly. Jules sat unmoved for a moment before finally laying her head down again, facing the other way. "If I can't have pancakes then maybe I should just die... like you... but not on a sailboat…" she said. Becky lowered her eyebrows. "I’m not going to die on a sailboat." The raccoon said, remembering the earlier scene again. Tay, who had barely been paying attention, spoke up, holding food on a fork. "Who’s dying on a sailboat?" The dingo boy asked. "No one, Tay." Becky responded. Tay ate the food, chewed it a while, his eyes wandering over to Miranda, a girl he hadn't met before, and pointed the fork at her. "She looks like she’d die from something." He said, nonchalantly. Miranda was super unnerved, looking even more nervous than before they saw no pancakes were available. Becky’s eyebrows lowered again, attempting to shrug off the dumb situation. "Anyway, this is our new friend, and bunkmate, Miranda!" Becky said, smiling again. Miranda coyly waved at the boys. "Hi!" She said gently in her light southern accent. Scooter sat up, smiling. "This is Lyle, but we call him Scooter!" Izzy said, introducing her old friend to her hopeful new friend. "N-nice to meet you!" Scooter said, blushing. "And this is Izzy’s twin brother, Taylor, but we call him Tay!" Becky said, almost weary to even introduce the dingo troublemaker. Sure enough, not long after the introduction was underway, Tay was too busy looking at the monkey girl weirdly to say his part. "Ermm… can I ask a question?" He said, lowering his head, squinting at Miranda like he was investigating something weird before him. Miranda didn't know how to handle this boy. "U-uhm, okay…" she said, blushing. Izzy grabbed Tay by his ear, pulling him towards her. "i swear, tay, if you say ANYTHING about her weight or anything that would make her feel bad, i'll make sure becky gives you the worst!" the dingo girl whispered in a threatening manner. "of course i won’t!" Tay whispered back. The two twins righted themselves. "Do you climb trees?" Tay asked, invoking several attempts at kicking his legs by his angry sister. "Taylor!" she said, annoyed. She breathed deeply. 'Today is gonna be awesome. No, Tay, I'm not letting you ruin it.' she thought, changing the subject. "So, who have you met so far?" The now smiling dingo girl asked. "Eh, this otter kid… probably a wuss." Tay said. "Our bunk has th-three empty beds. C-counselor says we’ll get two new bunkmates m-maybe tomorrow!' Scooter said. "Hey! We get a new one today!" Becky exclaimed. "I just hope they are all nice and we can all be friends!" Izzy said, dreaming. Tay scoffed. "Who wants to be nice?" He said. Izzy shot him a look. "By the way, has anyone seen Rex?" She asked. "Not since yesterday." Tay said, returning to the last of his meal. Izzy turned to the kangaroo. "Jules?" "We broke up." Jules said flatly. Those in the know looked at each other in mild surprise. "Whoa… when?" Becky asked. Jules turned to her, big, weird fake smile on her face, eyes squinted closed. "March or so duh." She said in one tone, no pauses. "Wow, I hadn’t noticed." Becky said. An adult form walked into Becky's peripheral, stopping just short of the table. It was a counselor; Counselor Ren. He looked confused, looking around all the kids finally looking at the table Becky and her friends sat at. "Say, uh..." he started, rendering the campers confused and maybe a bit scared. Becky was still unsure of this character. "...you kids want these pancakes?" He said, presenting a cart full of pancakes. All four girls gasped: Izzy in shock, Jules in excitement, Miranda in fear, Becky in confusion. "What the heck?!" Becky cried, standing up sharply, looking between the pancakes and Ren in anger and disbelief. Ren looked over at the threatening raccoon girl, paws up in flimsy defense. "We, er, I forgot to serve them. But they're, fresh i assure you!" He said, nervous. "I'm not worried about how FRESH they are!" Becky yelled, trying to rationalize the implication that Ilsa got the first one right. She heard shuddered breaths next to her that seemed to indicate an oncoming sob. Miranda. "I'm... I'm... ahh... I'm gon-na... daheeee?!" The little monkey girl stuttered in frightening gasps, trying in vain to breath normally. "No, you're not, Miranda." Becky said, consoling the panicking chubby girl. "Yes, I am! Yes, I am! I'm gonna get..." Miranda's tears were beginning. Becky threw a paw around her friend, holding her. "No, Miranda, you're not going to die!" "C'mon, kid, they're not that bad. Plus, you don't HAVE to eat them." Ren said, apparently nervous and confused that he caused a camper girl to cry and panic so hard. Becky gave him a terrible look, almost threatening. "Ooo, icy..." Ren said, walking off. "It's okay, Miranda!" Becky said to the crying bundle in her arms. "I'm gonna get cancer and die! That's what Ilsa said!" Miranda said in gasps. Becky could feel tears beginning in her own eyes, her throat choking up. "No, no, it’s just a coincidence." She said. This seemed to do little to reassure the fragile monkey girl who kept rubbing her paws, shoulders up, arms tight into her sides, eyes wide as Ilsa’s. “Naaa-haa-hooo!” Miranda gasped, “I don't wanna die like uncle and grampaaa-haa!!!” she cried, tears flowing. Becky consoled her, angry and frustrated. Her thoughts turned to who started this: Ilsa. “Making her face her own mortality...” Becky said to herself, under her breath, “This is ridiculous... Ilsa, you… you…” She didn’t know why a stranger would have said such a thing to someone! “Hey, could you shut up the fat girl?” a boy behind the group said aloud. Enragement increasing to a near max, Becky turned around to the boy, a raccoon, with the burning eyes of the harbinger of destruction. “Haha, she’s fat n’ so that’s where all that noise comes from! Haha!” the boy laughed. Becky felt her rage reach a singularity. must not destroy, must not destroy… Jules, having returned to her regular self upon feeding herself with endless pancakes, had a full mouth of syrupy goodness and took a drink of milk, washing it down so she could offer the raccoon boy just three words: “You’re done, son.” A scream was heard, though maybe deafening, as the raccoon boy suddenly flew backwards, sending him flying backwards into another table and into a few other campers’ food on the other side of the mess hall. “Hey! What’s the deal?!” Becky could hear, eyes still teary, looking at her destruction, the raccoon boy being nearly accosted by two bunny boys he had crashed into. She turned to console Miranda, who apparently hadn’t even noticed what happened, as did most in the mess hall, oddly enough. One voice Becky could hear was of someone who seemed to have noticed. “Bradley! What do you think you’re doing?!” Couns. Lillie yelled at the confused raccoon boy.
“Let’s do something to get your mind off what Ilsa said, okay?” Becky said in a newly fashioned smile, arms around Miranda’s shoulders. She could still hear the background conversation, if you could even call it that.
“N-nothing! I was just… someone pushed me!” Bradley pleaded. “I saw it all, Bradley! You tripped on purpose and spilled food all over these fellow campers! “ Lillie scolded. “Apologize to Billy and James right now!”
“What do ya mean?” Miranda finally said, shaking no more, wiping tears from her eyes. Becky smiled at her. “I was gonna check out that early craft class. Wanna come?” the raccoon girl said excitedly. Becky always tried to make people feel better, though walked a fine line, careful to not cross over into ‘talking to like a baby.’
“But, counselor! I swear that girl pushed-“ “That’s it! Director’s office now!” “But, Counselor!” “Now, Bradley!” Lillie finally yelled. The background conversation ended as far as Becky could tell. She sighed; maybe she’d have to deal with ‘Bradley’ again sometime. Ugh.
“Sure.” Miranda said, loosening up a bit. Becky hugged her. “Great!” she said, standing up. Miranda stood up slowly as well. “We’ll see you girls back at the bunk in a bit, ‘kay?” The two walked away. Izzy and Scooter waved. Jules was finishing her huge helping of pancakes. Tay didn’t care. “Bye!” Izzy said. “B-bye!” Scooter said. Jules finished her pancakes and downed her milk, slamming the carton down. “Ahhh…” She sighed loudly with a big smile on her face, eyes closed in satisfaction. “That was sweet…” She said, in a way that almost threatened the need to burp, slightly interrupting the line. Her tone suggested the word ‘sweet’ to suggest ‘cool.’ She might as well have almost burped out ‘That was awesome…’
