Jiyeon did some last checks on her stuff that she needed to bring for the camp. After making sure that she was satisfied with it, she went downstairs with anxiety consuming her bewildered mind. She took a deep breath in as she faced her parents to say goodbye.

“Mom, Dad… I’ll be leaving for the camp now,” she said halfheartedly. Truth was, she didn’t really want to go for the camp. She was terribly afraid of what’s going to happen there. After being barely alive after what happened at her old school, she wasn’t sure of staying for two nights there at her new school. But whatever happens, she hoped that it would be a smooth sailing for her and her friends too.

Mrs. Park stood up and hugged Jiyeon as she rubbed her back caringly. “Jiyeon, are you sure about going to the camp?” she asked worriedly. She was worried that the same thing would happen again to her precious, only daughter. She doesn’t want to lose her at all.

Jiyeon nodded assuredly, giving her parents and herself some confidence that they needed. Besides, she needed to move on and start anew. “Just… don’t do anything stupid there.” Mr. Park advised her daughter, to avoid anything bad to happen to her.

“I will, dad.” Jiyeon nodded slowly as she hugged her dad before going out from the house before making her way to the bus stop.

As she approached the bus stop, she saw Hara and Seohyun with their bags. She quickly paced herself to them, being excited all of a sudden.

Seohyun was the first to start the conversation. “Are you guys excited for the camp?” she asked eagerly.  Seohyun really likes activities like that. It’s a chance for her and her friends to interact with each other thus making their bond closer than ever. And for a bookworm like her, she really appreciates friendships.

Both Hara and Jiyeon nodded in agreement. But, Hara was thinking of something else which made her didn’t really paid attention to what Seohyun was saying. Apparently, Hara was too busy thinking of what could happen to them at the camp, especially after what happened to her recently.

Seohyun lifted her eyebrow in confusion. It wasn’t really what Hara usually do when they are with her. She nudged Hara’s shoulder. “Hara, are you okay?” Hara quickly regained her awareness as she snapped her head in response. She looked at Seohyun and Jiyeon to explain.

Before she could even utter a word, they were greeted happily by Kevin, Chansung and Myungsoo. “Wow, everyone is here. Nice.” Chansung exclaimed excitedly. Sure enough, he was busy thinking of a plan for them while at the camp.

While they were busy chatting away, the school bus came. Quickly, all of them grabbed their bags and boarded the bus. They were surprised to see that the seats were still empty. But the seats were in two.

All of a sudden, Myungsoo grabbed Jiyeon’s wrist, quickly taking her to the back of the bus and sat there with her. “I’ll sit with her!” he exclaimed out loud, making her blush as she smacked his shoulder lightly. Their friends snicker after looking at Jiyeon’s reaction.

“Did you really have to do that?” Jiyeon asked in annoyance as she folded her arms together. Sure, sitting next to him will only make her anxiety grew larger than ever.

In return, Myungsoo gave her one of the dorkiest smirks she had ever seen. “Well… Kevin did say that he wanted to sit with Hara. Besides, Chansung shouldn’t sit with a chirpy girl too. That’s why he needs to sit with Seohyun.”  With that answer, Jiyeon decided to ignore him. She looked around the bus and saw that Seohyun was sitting with Chansung while Hara was sitting with Kevin. Oh, interesting; she thought.

All of the senior year students of the school gathered at the school’s hall. Before setting up the camp, they had to listen to their principal’s speech, or the principal babblings about what they should not do while at camp.

“Ah, come on. Let’s set up our camp already.” Chansung said in a hushed voice, but was still can be heard by the gang. Small laughter could be heard. True, most of them were excited to start the camp but some don’t. In fact, some were crossing their fingers so that the principal could talk more.

After what it seems like it had been hours, the principal finally stopped his speech. Jiyeon sighed as she rubbed her arms, feeling chills all of a sudden. Upon seeing this, Myungsoo went to her side and nudged her.

“Are you okay, Jiyeonnie?” he asked after seeing that Jiyeon’s face was pale.

“I… I’m fine. But why Jiyeonnie though?” she stuttered after listening to what Myungsoo had just called her. It was weird to her, embarrassing in fact.

He gave her a dorky smile. “Just playing around. Look, don’t worry so much about the camp. Just chill and have fun.”

She gave him a small nod, convincing herself that it will be alright.

After that, all of them went to their respective class teachers to be sorted into groups. Luckily for Jiyeon, she was in the same group as Hara and Seohyun. She sighed in relief. At least that will calm her nerves. Then, Hara led both of them to meet Kevin and the gang.

“We are in the same group!” the girls squealed in happiness.“So how about you guys?”

Kevin looked over at Myungsoo. “I’m in the same group with him,” he said as he slung his arm over his best friend’s shoulders. “But too bad for Chansung though.”

The girls exchanged questionable glances. “What happened?”

Chansung sighed out loud, being disappointed. “I am in the same group with the nerd boy, and there are only two of us.” He crossed his arms as he rolled his eyes. “I’m guessing that Mrs. Kim just doesn’t want me to talk much.”

The other kids laughed at the truthiness of what the teacher did. If Chansung was to be in the same group as Myungsoo and Kevin, the camp will be a lot chaotic.

Jiyeon nudged Hara’s shoulder. “Who is the nerd boy?” she asked quietly.

“Oh, he’s Do Kyungsoo, the quiet guy over there,” Hara explained as she pointed to where Kyungsoo was standing, not far from them. “But he’s a good kid.” She assured Jiyeon.

After all the students had been sorted, all of them went to the school field to set up their tents.

Jiyeon lied down on the tent’s floor, feeling very exhausted from all those activities of the day. She sighed in relief when she noticed that it was already night time. She was about to fall asleep when she felt someone roughly shaking her body to make her wake up.

“Jiyeon, wake up! All of us must go to the campfire,” Seohyun shook Jiyeon’s body even harder to wake her up. Jiyeon woke up and rubbed her tired eyes, yawning while in the process. “Be quick,” Jiyeon reminded her as she walked out from the tent, leaving her alone.

Jiyeon quickly walked over to the campfire site and sat together with Hara and Seohyun. Myungsoo and his friends were there too, with the addition of Kyungsoo since he’s Chansung’s group member after all.

“Teacher said that each campfire must have a maximum of 3 groups, so we decided to sit together,” Kevin explained to all of them about it. “Plus, we get to do anything we want. It’s a free night for us students.” He said as all of them clapped their hands in excitement.

“So, what will we do?” Hara asked.

Chansung formed a smirk on his face, as if he just thought of a brilliant idea. “Let’s do what campers usually do…” he let his voice trailed off. “Let’s tell ghost stories!”

The girls groaned out loud while the boys snickered.

“I’ll start first!” Chansung got excited all of a sudden. “I’ll start with something light then,” he said after he looked at the faces of the girls and then laughed. “It happened when I was alone at my house. Appa and omma were out to visit some relatives somewhere. I was busy playing computer games-”

“You always do,” Myungsoo interrupted as he snickered, making the others laugh.

Chansung rolled his eyes at Myungsoo. “Shut up! Then, I heard some clinking sounds coming from the kitchen. Mind you, it was at night. So, I decided to look at what made the noise. When I entered the kitchen, I wasn’t feeling well. I felt weird. The voice became louder as I get closer to it. All of a sudden…” he let his voice trail off on purpose.

“What did you see?!” Seohyun asked, being curious all of a sudden.

“The clinking noise was coming from… the pans that were hanging onto some racks,” He paused before continuing,“It was a windy night after all.” Chansung ended his story. Everyone groaned out loud in annoyance after listening to his ridiculous story. His joke was a success and he was laughing like a total maniac.

After everyone had calmed down, Chansung began to show his serious side.“But seriously guys, I know something is not right with this school,” he suddenly spoke in a more hushed down voice. Everyone began to give their fullest attention.

Jiyeon looked at everyone else, and their faces showed that he was serious. She gulped and began to feel nervous. “What do you guys mean?” Then, everyone looked straight at Jiyeon. She didn’t like the attention she was receiving now.

Kevin sighed all of a sudden. “Do you know about the tree?”

She paused for a moment, feeling chills all over herself. “Do you mean the big one near our class?”

The boys nodded simultaneously. Instantly, Jiyeon grabbed Seohyun’s hand and gripped it hard. Chansung coughed before explaining, “Yeah, it’s that tree. You see-”

“I don’t like where this conversation is going,” Kyungsoo suddenly voiced out loud, making everyone there looked straight at him. They didn’t expect him to go against them, voicing out even. “It’s too… dangerous.”

Silence began to develop around them. Kyungsoo wasn’t really a talkative person so when he spoke something, and it’s something creepy too, all of them were taken aback and were totally surprised.

“And what do you know about it, Kyungsoo?” Chansung asked out of the blue, sounded like he was pissed off yet nervousness could be heard in his voice. He looked straight at his group member, waiting for an explanation.

 “I might be quiet, but with that it helps me to know my surrounding even better. I know a lot more that you’ve ever imagined…” He paused and looked at everyone. “… Even the school’s deep, dark secrets.”

Shivers were running down everyone’s spines.

And with this update, I will begin my hiatus mode. See you guys soon.