Sunnyside Up with Red Ketchup

by Andrews, Ashley

  "I belong where I want to be." Her voice came out a little shakier than planned, but she’d said it quite confidently. The gasps from behind the boy were louder than the laughter had been and she poked her head around the side of the figure in front of her to stare at them.

  She noticed everyone looking at her, a look of complete shock on all of their faces. It was like the reaction of a mother finding paint all over her designer dress. Swallowing, she realized she’d probably made a mistake in talking back. In order to avoid any more dire incidents, she rushed into her room and slammed the door shut in the boy’s face. Gasps echoed outside again and she heard hurried, loud footsteps. The crowd had probably retreated down the stairs. A board outside her door creaked. He was obviously still there.

  "Did you not want me to introduce myself?" his calm, soothing voice rang through the door. She pressed her ear to the door, not knowing that on the other side, the boy was going exactly the same.

  She rested a hand on it. "Were you the person who covered my room in flour?" she asked him quietly.

  On the other side, the boy smiled and turned his head so his lips were near the door. He spoke in a whisper. "I didn't have to. You see, shrimp, I could care less about who stays where. But I’m afraid the other campers do."

  She didn't have to see him to know his lips were smirking. Cursing, she moved back from the door and kicked the wall beside it. Then she ran a hand through her short, cropped hair and pulled open the door.

  The boy stood in all his glory, his arms folded. But there was no smirk. His posture oozed superiority and a serious, cold expression had settled onto his face. He held a sheet of paper in his hand. He raised an eyebrow. "Red Hart?"

  She nodded and snatched the piece of paper out of his hand.

  He snorted and crossed his arms, looking away. His eyes moved back down to her, but his head stayed pointed in the other direction. "You look pale," he said matter-of-factly.

  She frowned at him. "So?" she replied quietly.

  The boy didn't seem to notice her comment—he just pouted his lips and sniffed. "You won't last a week," he said harshly, turning around.

  As he began to retreat, she started to close her door, looking down at her powdered clothes in annoyance. She stopped, then yanked open the door again. "Wait!" she called out.

  The boy stopped and looked over his shoulder, his arms still folded and back still to her. "Isn't it considered polite to share your own name once you know the other persons?" She wasn't quite sure where she'd read that. She awaited his response. For a moment, she thought the boy wouldn't answer.

  Then he rotated his shoulders to the left slightly, not quite looking her in the eyes. Instead, he studied the ground beneath her feet.

  "Zane," a corner of his lips turned up as his eyes rose and he studied her expression. He turned sideways to face her fully. "Zane Noble."

  * * * * *

  Well, she'd found him. And she'd also found a large bag of some mysterious substance under her bed, which had left one of the most disgusting smells that she'd ever experienced. The first day of camp activities didn't start for a couple days, as they usually allowed time for everyone to settle in and reconnect with friends.

  The word camp didn't really fit Sunnyside. The occupants of the dorm she was staying in wouldn't be classed as campers either. They were all rich, as far as she knew, and nearly all of them were dazzling in some way.

  This place was more like some kind of twisted drama class, a camp created for young adults to show off their talents. She swallowed. Before long she would have to show off her talent. One that she’d never shared with anyone.

  There were also the strange rules. Girls and boys could share dorms—obviously—but they each had their own side. The dorm was entirely symmetrical, so girls were opposite boys and vice versa. Even though she had been underground most of her life, she knew that this was strange.

  She shook her head, ignoring the questions that popped into her head. Instead, she focused on her room.

  She rocked back and forth on the gigantic Queen bed that her dorm room had and then flung herself back, smiling happily. The room had taken overnight to clean, but it had been completely worth it. Everything was two times the size of her furniture at Headquarters. What she missed was the technology. It was just weird because she had spent most of her life in a place that revolved around the latest high—tech computers and equipment.

  In fact, she was a know—it—all when it came to computers. Out of boredom, she’d learned how to hack into files and compare one contraption to another. She was a total geek.

  She reached behind her and grabbed a pillow, hugging it tightly to her chest. It had definitely been a good idea to take the mission. After a few minutes relaxing, she leapt out of bed. She wanted to go and see the world that she hadn't been in for over ten years. She wanted to see what was different. She bounded happily over to the door, checking her appearance before she left. She was dressed in baggy blue jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Perfect. She ruffled her cropped hair and opened the door.

  And bumped straight into a boy. His raised fist meant that he was obviously about to knock on her door. She took one step back, meeting blue eyes that were similar to her own.

  "Wow, blue too," the boy said to her.

  She opened her mouth to reply, but stuttered. Here was another beautiful creature. His eyes were slightly slanted at the edges too, giving him a sly, cheeky look. His mouth was thin and as he grinned at her, dimples showed. He looked like a teenage cupid. The boy’s head tilted to one side and a strange expression crossed his face. Then he reached out a hand and ruffled her hair, bending down so he was equal in height with her.

  "You're a cutie," he commented, narrowing his eyes in speculation. She nodded, speechless, and then nodded again.

  "E—excuse me," she murmured, pushing past him so she could flee down the hallway.

  He didn't appear to be giving chase.

  She only stopped running when she exited the building, ignoring all of the evil glances she’d received from people as she ran by. Pausing to catch her breath, she looked around when she was safely inside the tunnel of trees. So, her first outing hadn't gone too well. Maybe it would be better to just stay inside after all.

  She looked back at the dorm and shuddered. Perhaps it would be best to kill some time before returning. She ventured into the woods, not caring where it led her.

  After smiling and looking around at the trees that blew in the wind, she noticed that the tunnel finally ended just a few feet in front of her. She increased her pace and approached a hill, noticing the top of a wooden cabin. A huge wooden cabin.

  A wooden sign (was everything wooden?) held white lettering which said Royal Nature. Frowning, she assumed it was where the not—so—rich side of the camp stayed. She took one step forward, her smile slowly widening.

  Royal Nature seemed a whole lot more alluring to her. It was all nature and wildlife. Wasn't that how camps were supposed to be?

  "Hey, kid!" A shout alerted her to a group of teens at the base of the slope. There were only three of them and she recognized one to be the boy who had shown her around yesterday. What was his name? Richard? Russell?

  "It's Rupert! I showed you to Hell Haven." He winked at her.

  She laughed nervously at the nickname he had given her dorm. Taking a few steps toward him, she gave him a quick smile and lifted a hand in greeting.

  "Hello." He grinned at her and stepped aside so she got a good view of his friends. They were twins and they both seemed to be clad in black clothing and had long hair. Except one was a boy with blue hair and the other, a girl with purple.

  Strange.

  "Kid, this is Tim and Kellie. Tim and Kellie, this is..." Rupert trailed off. He scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "I just realized I don't know your name."

  She snapped out of her daydreaming, moving forward and holding a hand out. "I’m Red." She nodded at the twins while they shook her hand.

&n
bsp; Blue nudged Purple in the ribs and whispered something into her ear. Purple nodded and they both returned to staring at her.

  She and Rupert stared quizzically back.

  "You're very pale,” they said together.

  She opened her mouth to reply when Rupert stood in front of her to block her view of the two.

  "Just ignore them." He waved a hand at her and then turned around to glare at his friends.

  She looked at him and then peeked over his shoulder to look at the twins. They mouthed, sorry. She was suddenly pulled forward. Rupert had grasped her wrist and started to talk animatedly to her about it being a great time for a picnic. She tried to act enthusiastic and followed them, one part of her worried that Rupert kept dragging her around. Another part was glad that she'd made some friends... sort of.

  * * * * *

  She collapsed onto her bed in exhaustion. Rupert had dragged her around the entire camp, insisting on giving her the full tour. He'd been coming to the camp since he was five—he was definitely a veteran. Most of the camp was beautiful, with forests to go hiking in and amazing views from the hills. The one thing she was very uneasy about was the lake.

  She was water—phobic. She didn't know why. She guessed it was just one of those things. Maybe she’d been born with the phobia and because she was never around water, hadn’t realized it.

  Apparently, there were certain water activities that were done in groups at camp. Those activities were considered exercise and a way to broaden your talent choices. Swimming. Like for the Olympics or something. Well, she was dreading those activities. In fact, she had half a mind to just desert the mission, solely for that reason.

  Luckily, when she returned to the dorm just as the sun was setting, it was half empty or the kids were busy. She hurried up the stairs and collapsed on her bed.

  It was obviously an exaggeration on Rupert's and Dexter's part about the whole bullying thing. She had remained untouched so far. She’d only had some powder dumped in her room. That wasn’t so bad.

  * * * * *

  Zane Noble's mind was running, leaping, jumping. It was packed full of plans, pranks and ways to get rid of the silly girl who had dared to move into the top floor of the dorm. Top floor, mind you! It was well—known that only Zane and his friends could occupy that hallowed hall. And only special female friends could take the rooms opposite. Well there weren’t any special girl friends in those rooms right now. Red had moved in, uninvited. But she wasn’t wanted. Was the girl stupid?

  Zane felt all the eyes on him as he stormed through the building, hurrying up the steps. He would find out about the girl. Maybe she was royalty? She didn’t look it, but that was the only way she could have believed that she would be accepted.

  He knocked lightly on the door at first. He may have been accused of being hot—headed, but he had manners. When there was no answer, he hammered harder. Well, he had manners, but not patience.

  Her eyes flew open when a tap at the door echoed through the room. She sat up, looking at it as though it were a ghost. To be honest, she’d have preferred a ghost to whoever was standing on the other side of the door. She didn’t want company right now. She was exhausted.

  They knocked again, this time a little louder. She slowly got off of the bed, making sure to keep her eyes on the door the entire time.

  Whoever was out there started to hammer on the door, so she hurried forward.

  Zane was almost ready to resort to all—out force when the door finally opened. The girl's captivating blue eyes stared up at him, looking like a cat caught in the headlights. He expected the kid to get frightened, or even yell at him for just barging in.

  Blue eyes clashed with gray.

  "Hello, Red." Zane Noble stormed into the room before she could stop him.

  She poked her head outside the door and noticed that nearly everyone from the dorm had gathered outside her room. Including Cupid, the boy she had bumped into previously. He stood out considerably more than the others, not only because of his appearance, but because he was standing in the open doorway opposite from hers. Oh, goody, they were neighbors.

  She left the door open in order to allow her a quick escape. She’d just have to make it through the mob. She sighed. Okay, she also kept it open because she didn't want to be in the same room as Mr. Noble. Alone. Swallowing, she remembered she was supposed to be making friends with this angry person. She took a deep breath.

  "Can I help you?" she chirruped happily, smiling as brightly as she could manage. Her eyes even crinkled up in the hope that it would add to the friendliness factor. When she relaxed the smile, the wide—eyed expression on the boy’s face surprised her. What had she done?

  He coughed and as fast as the expression had come, it disappeared. "Before I decide to kick you out, I want to know who your family is." He leaned towards her with his arms folded.

  With a pout on her face, she stepped back, bumping into the wall behind her. She pressed herself flat.

  "Well? What are they in?"

  She moved her left foot slightly and caught the edge of the door with it, closing it slowly. She ignored the groans of protest from all the eavesdroppers outside. The bright smile that she had attempted to approach him with, fell into nothing but a slight turn of the lips. "You could say they're in the clouds," she said bluntly. She kept her eyes fixed on his.

  Confusion flashed through Zane’s eyes for a second. "So they run airports?"

  She almost snorted at the response. Well, telling him that her parents were dead could blow her cover, right? She smiled nervously and continued to watch him warily as his upper body still leaned in her direction. "Yeah... you could say that."

  Zane straightened and lifted his eyes to ceiling, as if he were pretending that she was no longer there. He moved his eyes down to look at her, keeping his head still. "Would I know the company they run?"

  Crap. She opened her mouth and it was a while before anything came out. "I—I guess. I wouldn't know. I haven't seen them since I was ten.” Well, that was more or less the truth, it wasn’t really a lie. Her conscience was still clear.

  Zane turned away. He thought about her glowing smile and the bright, can I help you?—which certainly messed him up inside. He thought about what she’d said about her parent. He made sure to keep his gaze away from the girl, just in case she happened to smile again and infuriate him further. She’d said they were in the airport business. That told him the girl was just another one of those kids with too much money and no idea what to spend it on. Those kinds of people were the first to go, she didn’t belong here.

  But then she’d said she hadn't seen her parents since she was ten. What did that mean? So the girl was actually poor? Perhaps she had a rich relative? Whatever the case, it didn't make sense to him.

  He could deal with big—headed millionaires, poor—to—rich—in—a—week kind of people and egotistical jerks who thought they deserved the top floor. But a seemingly innocent girl with missing parents and some mysterious, sad emotion behind shocking blue eyes? Well, he was stumped.

  Zane wasn't one to sympathize with others, but when he turned to look at the girl's expression, the glowing smile was back on her face. He gritted his teeth. Did the kid have to be so happy? Just seeing all the positive emotion on her face was beginning to piss him off.

  It was silent for a moment. Red kept her smile on her face and then slowly peeled herself away from the wall, guessing that it was safe to relax a bit.

  Zane had turned his back to her again, so she couldn’t see his expression.

  He turned around for the smallest of seconds, glaring at her before he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  She stared at the door, perplexed. He'd just... left? She just didn’t understand him.

  * * * * *

  Zane stormed out of the room, ignoring the confused glances he got from the crowd waiting at the bottom of the staircase, their hopeful faces looking up at him. He stopped at the doorway of his room and turned t
o glare at them all. They retreated quickly.

  He opened the door, went through, and slammed it behind him, sitting on the first armchair he got to.

  The shrimp had to go. She just had to.

  Chapter 3: Blue

  The rest of the week flew by. It was kind of boring, really. There was no pranks, no attempts at kidnapping or murder, nothing.

  It seemed she had been accepted into Hell Haven. She grinned. The name Rupert had given her dorm stuck. She was one step closer to befriending Zane Noble. Well, about half—a—step anyway.

  When she walked through the halls, people turned their heads away from her, as though they were frightened. Frightened of what, she had no idea. But that reaction was a whole lot better than having them stare at her like she was a piece of dirt. She opened the door to the outside and inhaled the fresh night air. It was so refreshing—it was hard to believe she had been missing out on this for almost nine years.

  "You all ready to go, Red?"

  She looked to her right in surprise and saw Rupert sitting on the wall to the dorm, chewing on a lollypop. He threw it away and strolled to her side, backhanding her arm lightly to get her attention.

  "First camp meeting, huh? You'll like it. Lots of partying." He winked. He talked for several minutes about how the first official evening of camp was always celebrated by having a party and setting fire to a Sunnyside Summer Camp mascot doll that was made out of hay. The purpose of the bonfire was to show camp spirit.

  Or something like that. Red listened with half an ear as he started on about something else. This time giving her some kind of warning, some strict instructions, and a question, but she was too busy daydreaming to pay attention to what he was talking about.

  She had slept so peacefully the night before and had a dream that had involved her parents wishing her luck. It had felt so real.

  As they slowly approached the location for the official camp bonfire, she slowed, a frown spreading over her face.