Chapter 169 - Camp for the Youths

When Scarlet entered the auditorium, there were already hyperactive teens doing weird dances, claps and yelling at each other. Scarlet didn't know that she'd sign up for such a rowdy activity. What was so fun about such a noisy event? Scarlet couldn't understand what Jedd was thinking about when he claimed that he regretted not joining such a fun camp. Which part of the camp resembled fun?! Scarlet wanted to quickly run back to her apartment and hide in her room.

"Hi, there! Are you here for the Freshie Camp?" a friendly senior asked Scarlet who looked like she was about to cry.

Scarlet nodded and was ushered to a group of rowdy teenagers. There were at least twenty people in the group and Scarlet felt anxiety grip her when all twenty pairs of eyes turned towards her.    It was only the start but already, Scarlet felt like she didn't belong. The minimum age for most of these students was nineteen but Scarlet was only sixteen. The girls looked very mature and the boys looked way older than her. Scarlet felt like a child who didn't belong and was regretting her decision.

Back in Malaysia, nobody bothered Scarlet. She was a loner and always did things on her own. Even in group projects, nobody talked to her. When she was in the Special Class, the atmosphere was different. They didn't stare at Scarlet as if she was some kind of rare animal on display. Heck, even the annoying media didn't do that! 

"Hello, I'm the camp facilitator in charge of your group. My name is Patricia but feel free to call me Tricia. I'm a second-year studying aerospace engineering with the engineering school. We are simply warming up right now so feel free to join us for the cheers."

Scarlet accepted the camp guidebook and flipped through the ages. None of the cheers seemed familiar to her even though the lyrics were written down. The girl beside Scarlet saw her uneasiness and bent down to whisper.

"Are you ok?"

Scarlet was startled but nodded. The girl who expressed her concern was a brunet with a good sense of fashion. Scarlet was slightly hesitant to open up to anyone but she made an attempt. "I don't know any of these cheers."

The girl smiled. "Don't worry about it. Just clap along and shout when everyone else does it. We're currently warming up before the actual camp starts where teams will be given tasks and competitions will be hosted. Don't be so nervous and have fun. Nobody is going to eat you up. My name's Joanna and I will be studying dentistry when school officially starts. What about you?"

Scarlet trembled. "I… I'm Scarlet. Studying philosophy…"

"Philosophy? That's unique! Nice to meet you, Scarlet!" Joanna smiled and Scarlet returned a shy smile.

Thankfully for the writer, nobody spoke to her after that and the warm-up concluded after fifteen more minutes. They got seated and the camp coordinator stood on stage with a microphone in hand.

"Ahem! Testing! Alright, folks! Welcome to the freshie camp. It's a bridging camp meant to familiarise everyone with the campus grounds. As the university is quite huge, please always carry your student guidebooks so that you can refer to the maps. If any of you get lost on campus, don't worry. Simply ask around and the helpful seniors will point you in the right direction. That's all from me, I will let the camp facilitators brief you and your team about what's going to happen from now until lunch. It would also be wise to start exchanging phone numbers and adding everyone into a group chat because you will need to talk a lot over the next two days."

After the speech ended, Scarlet followed the group leader and the team outdoors. The weather in New York was lovely and Scarlet wondered how long it had been since she had taken time off from work to simply enjoy the simpler things in life. Joanna found Scarlet spacing out and decided to nudge the girl a little. The camp facilitator was explaining some rather important things for their next group activity and it would be bad to miss it.

Scarlet didn't know how ice-breaker games worked but she was terrified after hearing the rules. It was a silly game whereby everyone will be encouraged to remember each other's names in the group. There will be a round of introduction before the game and Scarlet was confident of her memory. However, Scarlet didn't know any subway station names. Claire had been driving her around New York for as long as she remembered. In addition, Scarlet was too busy working overseas and studying out of America. She paled at the thought and felt ill. The rules of the game required everyone to sit in a circle and call out each other's names. When a person's name is being called, the people at their sides will be allowed to hit them on their laps repeatedly until they give a subway station name that hasn't been mentioned by the others before. Scarlet looked at the people to her side. She didn't think that Joanna was going to be hitting her very hard but she was slightly terrified at the jock sitting to her left.

Everyone did their round of introduction stating the names, age, courses that they were majoring in and their hobbies. Scarlet wasn't the first to go so she had plenty of time to think. She wasn't a fan of lying but what could she say to not attract attention to herself?

It was finally the jock's turn to her left and Scarlet could feel her heart pounding.

"I'm Ryan, twenty-four and studying Sports Science. My hobbies are generally active and include anything from swimming to mountain climbing. Also, one small fact about me, I'm single and gay."

Scarlet blinked. She wasn't expecting such a bold announcement but the people in her group didn't look like they minded. Instead, there were some catcalls and even a bold guy who flirted with Ryan asking for his number.

It was finally Scarlet's turn and she got up shakily, fiddling with the edge of her hoodie. She wasn't afraid of the masses or cameras but why was attending school such a frightening thought for her? Scarlet hadn't felt this way for a long time. The feeling of insecurity that she felt previously was when she first entered the Wilde household as their adopted daughter. Back then, Scarlet kept everything bottled up and to herself. She still felt insecure but not as much ever since Mrs Wilde hosted the Sweet Sixteen Gala and declared to the world that there were two Wilde daughters.

"I-I'm Scarlet…" she squeaked and blushed when her voice came out higher than expected. There were coos from some of the older girls and Scarlet swallowed, looking down at her sneakers.

Patricia gave Scarlet an encouraging look and nobody rushed Scarlet while she took deep breaths trying to calm herself down. "I'm sixteen this year and will be studying Philosophy. M-my hobbies are wr-writing. Please take care of me."

There were looks of surprise when they heard her age. Everyone thought that Scarlet looked small and adorable but nobody expected that Scarlet would only be sixteen. Many people couldn't hold their curiosity back and started bombarding the girl with questions, frightening her more. Patricia saw that Scarlet was frozen stiff with fear and told the rest to pipe down so that they could finish the self-introduction rounds in order to divert the attention.

Joanna took the cue and quickly stood up. She was confident and introduced herself without difficulty, gaining a round of applause before sitting down. Scarlet was close to hyperventilating so Joanna placed a hand around the small girl.

"What's wrong? You don't look too good. If you're worried about your age, don't be. The University is full of diversity so nobody will judge you for it."

Scarlet was close to crying when she looked at Joanna. "I-I don't know any subway stations… am I going to fail?"

Joanna blinked. "Uh… we should let Patricia know about this. I don't think it's fair for you to participate if you're clueless about it. Say, did you live overseas before coming to America to study?"

Scarlet swallowed and nodded. "I was in Malaysia for a while then I lived in Singapore for about six years. After that, I was travelling around the world mostly to China and Europe. I've only recently been able to settle down with my sister in America to further our studies so I'm not very familiar with New York or the subway stations… Claire usually drives us around because she says that it's not safe to travel alone.

"Claire?"

Scarlet blushed. "She takes care of us," Scarlet explained, not wanting to give away too much information about her family's background.

Joanna saw that Scarlet wasn't too comfortable with talking about it so she didn't pry. Instead, she grabbed Scarlet's hand to raise it up with hers.

"Yes?" Patricia asked. She didn't think anybody would have any questions about the game because it was rather simple.

"Can I answer on behalf of Scarlet if she gets called? The girl has only recently come to America and has always been overseas so she doesn't know any subway station names."

Scarlet thought that bringing this up was a bad idea until another scrawny boy who was studying computer science raised his hand as well. "Sorry, I don't know any subway station names either. I'm from Canada."

Patricia hummed. "In that case, shall we change it to something else that everyone else knows? How about animals?"

A teen who was studying Zoology laughed. "You're all going to lose! I'm the specialist."

Patricia smirked. "Alright, everyone. You heard Gary. He says that he's the animal expert so please remember to call on him more often!"

The two ladies sitting beside Gary promised to hit him extra hard whenever anyone called and Gary paled. "I take it back! I take it back!"

Scarlet laughed along with everyone else and Joanna gave her a wink. Scarlet returned a smile. Maybe the camp was going to be fun after all. She couldn't wait to tell Jedd all about it.