TVH/Stand Up
From Create Your Own Story
"Actually," you say, "she was there first. She has the right to claim that bunk."
"Who asked you?" Stacy asks, giving you a withering look.
"Who cares?" you retort. "Leave her alone."
"Or what? You want me to take your bed instead?" asks Megan moving toward you.
You sigh and roll your eyes. "Seriously, stop," you say. "It's not worth getting all worked up. Take the bunk in the other room."
"You don't get to tell me what to do!" Megan fires back.
"Hey, what's going on in here?" Melissa pokes her head in the doorway. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Megan splashes on a smile in a flash.
Melissa shrugs and says, "Dinner is served in the Great Dining Hall of Ferris Castle. Anyone hungry?"
Stacy snorts. "Seriously?"
Melissa ignores her and claps her hands. "That was a rhetorical question. Come on, girls, let's go."
Megan and Stacy roll their eyes, but they obediently follow. You move toward the door and feel someone brush past you. It's a pale girl dressed in black with darkly-lined eyes that catch yours only for a moment. She turns away quickly and enters the first room. The two of you head outside, join the group, and troop down the three flights of stairs and across the path to the cafeteria.
The Great Dining Hall is indeed more of a typical log-cabin-style camp cafeteria than an elegant medieval hall despite the coats of arms, antique shields, and tapestries lining the walls. You catch sight of your little sister across the room, beaming and chattering with her new friends. There was never any doubt she would love it here. The question is: will you?
As you eat, your counselor explains the final step of registration. "After dinner you must choose a class. These classes will determine the activities you do and the role you will play in any skirmishes that might come up between the Kingdom of Ferris and it's rival, the Kingdom of The Glade. You will get to choose your class as soon as everyone has finished eating and we have all cleaned our table area. There are three classes: Rogue, Knight, and Diplomat."
"Diplomat?" sneers a bold, stocky girl with thick black hair and matching eyebrows. "Why is that even an option? That sounds like the most boring class in the world!"
"You'd be surprised, Kim," Melissa replies with her eyebrows raised. "The life of a royal diplomat could be full of all kinds of adventure and intrigue."
Kim huffs, rolls her eyes, and takes a big bite of mashed potatoes. The rest of the meal is filled with lively discussion about the classes. Stacy and Megan are so excited about being diplomats and wearing fancy dresses that they are hardly able to find time to eat between run-on sentences. Susan, who, judging by her Camp Ferris baseball cap, has been to Ferris LHC before, speaks mostly with Melissa as the other girls are not excited about conversing with her. Katrina, the sandy-haired girl you defended tells you that she wants to be a diplomat which surprises you since you would think she'd want to be as far from Megan and Stacy as possible after what happened earlier. The shadow girl, whose name, it turns out, is Rachel, says nothing.
The meal ends and it is time to decide:
