Author's Note: As Darcy is a Christian girl, there will be many references to her religion in this -- but to my readers whom are of this specific religion, please understand that this is just a story. And I know this is a really weird pairing, but it just inspired me.
Disclaimer: I'm just a silly fangirl in front of my computer -- I made the name, Echo Ridge Camp, off of the top of my head -- I do not know if it's a real camp, but if it is, I don't own it.

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Bells For Her
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"Can't stop what's coming,
can't stop what's on its way..."
-- Tori Amos, "Bells For Her"

One.
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"Jeez, talk about having an appetizing menu -- this place gets worse every year."

Darcy Edwards offered a small smirk to her friend, Chante, who was currently in the process of complaining about the grotesque looking thing Echo Ridge called a pizza. She pulled an apple onto her tray as they moved down the lunch line, and gave a little shrug to her bunkmate.

"Why do you keep coming?" She asked -- she herself came because it gave her something to do during the summer. She'd been coming for four years, and she would've rather preferred going to a Bible camp she'd read about online, but Camp Echo Ridge had been closer to home, and her parents couldn't stand the thought of their daughter being too far.

"You know," Chante said, picking up a bottle of water and shaking off some of the shaved ice that had stuck to it, "I ask myself the same thing every summer."

Darcy's smirk turned into a grin, and the two girls turned to go to the table they usually sat at every day. The mess hall of Camp Echo Ridge was currently full of chattering girls, as lunch time was the most popular time of the day there. Darcy kept close to Chante, in case the other girl ended up saying something -- it could sometimes be a little hard to hear with all the background buzzing that went on.

"There you guys are," a blonde girl said as they both sat down at their corner table with her.

"Sorry," Darcy said, smiling, "Chante had some horrible grass stains on her shirt from falling down that massive hill."

Chante rolled her eyes as the other girl, Blair, grinned. Blair was Darcy's other bunkmate, as it was standard for each cabin at the camp to hold three girls. You could call ahead if you knew who was going to be attending that year, and you could ask to be put in a certain girl's cabin (if there was a vacancy), but usually it was random. Darcy had been placed with Chante for two years in a row out of a random pick, though, which was cool. She'd just met Blair this year.

"I didn't fall down that hill," Chante said, opening her water. "That one girl pushed me -- that What's-Her-Name girl."

"Nice try, Chante," Blair said, "But I actually saw it -- you did fall, all by yourself. Maybe we should start calling you Grace for your lack of it."

"Ha ha," Chante said dryly, rolling her eyes. "Why are you two always picking on me? It's not like I'm the only one here with problems, Ms. Medication and Ms. Jesus-Freak."

Darcy's eyes rolled, while Blair only shrugged. Enter reason number one as to why Darcy wished she'd gone to a Bible camp instead -- at least everyone there would've been cool with her Christianity. Apparently Chante was some major Satanist or something, who took time out of her busy schedule at least once every day to comment on the Lord.

"Could you please not call me that, Grace?" Darcy asked, biting into her apple.

"Aw, it's no harm meant," Blair defended, good-naturedly. "Besides, Chante's just jealous that she's too unimaginative to believe in God."

Darcy side-glanced Chante who rolled her eyes once more, pretending not to have heard any of it. Blair laughed, and started eating her lunch -- what Darcy had to assume was a chili of sorts, as she was too afraid to ask -- and Darcy threw a quick look around the mess hall.

Most of the girls at Echo Ridge knew each other, so it wasn't unusual for there to be empty tables among them -- girls would crowd as many as they could to a single table, just so they wouldn't have to split up their little group. It was, however, just a little strange to see a girl sitting all by herself at one of the window tables. She was petite, pretty, long dark hair hanging in curtains around her face, and she seemed to be staring at her lap -- she had no food in front of her. Darcy had never seen her before, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that she was probably just new this year. Since it was the beginning week of summer, girls were still allowed to enroll at the last minute.

"Don't ya know staring's rude?" A voice asked, and a body blocked Darcy's vision of the new girl.

Gretchen, a girl with lip rings and dyed black hair, sat down across from Darcy, bringing with her the horror that was Echo Ridge's pizza. She and Darcy had almost gotten into a fight two years before, and somehow this had solidified a sort of friendship between them.

"I wasn't staring at anything," Darcy said.

"Oh please," Gretchen said, eyes flashing in amusement. "Them eyeballs were about to pop right outta your sockets."

Darcy grinned and shook her head. "Look, why don't you go sacrifice more goats or something?" She asked playfully.

"As long as you sit by and masturbate with your crucifix at the same time," Gretchen was always quick with her snappy and vulgar answers.

Darcy flushed just slightly, but continued eating. "So gross," she said.

Gretchen grinned at her, before sticking her pierced tongue out and wiggling her eyebrows, causing Blair and Chante to laugh like it were the greatest joke in all history. Darcy shook her head again, but fell silent as Gretchen and Blair started up a story about some boy they both knew.

Darcy found her gaze wander back to the new girl by herself -- she'd moved a little, and was now staring moodily out the window instead of at her lap. She had a surprising look of sadness on her face that was so strong Darcy was struck with the momentary urge to be sad herself. It made her somewhat uncomfortable, and she set her apple done, not really knowing if she was in the mood to eat anymore.

"Guys," she said, finally unable to contain her curiosity, "Is that a new girl, or something?"

All three of them craned their necks to look, to which Darcy ducked slightly, a little embarrassed at their obvious behavior. A look suddenly came to Blair's face, and she spun around to them smirking.

"Yeah, I overheard some of the counselors talking about her," she said. "Her name's...Marlene or something like that. Apparently she had an abortion and her parents made her come here."

Darcy felt her eyes widen while Gretchen gave a low whistle. Chante blinked a few times before raising her eyebrows.

"You're not serious...?" She said, surprised.

Blair nodded. "It's what I heard," she answered. "She must've been a real sort of slut to get knocked up at this age."

"Blair!" Darcy said, before flushing. She hadn't meant to sound so mad, but it's just the way it'd come out. She shook her head slightly to get her bangs out of her face and shrugged a shoulder. "You don't know the girl, there's no reason to be mean."

"Yeah Blair," Gretchen said, "How would you like it if people you didn't know made rude comments behind your back? Oh wait, they already do."

Blair rolled her eyes and playfully smacked Gretchen, but Darcy climbed to her feet. Chante looked up at her like she'd lost her mind.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

Darcy shrugged. "I just want to go say 'hi'," she said.

And grabbing her apple to throw it away, Darcy walked away from the table.

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Manny Santos did not like her life at the moment -- in fact, you could even say she quite hated it. As she stared out the window of the mess hall, watching as one of the camp counselors picked up some spilled garbage, she felt like tearing her hair out in frustration. She wanted to run away, disappear off into the mountains or something -- she just needed to get away from her life.

She didn't want to be Manny Santos anymore. Not after...not after that.

She wished her mother had been as cool as Emma's had -- but as soon as Manny had said the 'a' word, her parents had both exploded like fireworks. They'd made her feel like dirt, worse than dirt, considering the actual abortion process had made her feel like that already. And Craig. Craig had been so pissed -- she would've liked to see him carry him a baby in him for nine months before having to push it out.

Manny was just getting ready to stand up and leave, when the chair across from her was pulled out quickly, and a pretty brunette had sat down. She was skinny, with a heart-shaped face and a too-big smile, but Manny was confused. Did this girl think she knew her? She looked around cautiously, before the girl extended a hand across the table.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Darcy -- I saw that you were new, and thought I'd come introduce myself."

Still a tad confused, Manny reached out and shook Darcy's hand lightly. "Hi," she said unsurely. "I'm..." She wanted to say Manuela, as she was still thinking that she didn't want to be Manny anymore, but she changed her mind at the last moment. "Manny," she said.

"Manny," the girl Darcy repeated, nodding. "It's nice to meet you."

Manny nodded, attempting to smile, but she was sure it came out looking like she'd just tasted a lemon. She turned back to the window, crossing her arms over her chest. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Darcy shift in her seat, studying her.

"Why do you look so sad, Manny?" Darcy asked. "This place is actually kind of fun when you get used to it."

Manny rolled her eyes slightly, before sighing. "Guess I better tell you right off the bat," she said, "In case you want to run away and never speak to me again."

Darcy cocked her head at her, and Manny wet her dry lips with the tip of her tongue.

"I recently...had an abortion," Manny said, and at Darcy's incredulous look, she nodded. "Yep, I'm a baby-killer. The only reason I'm here at this stupid camp is because my parents seem to think it'll be good for me, in some demented way. I'm sad because I hate myself at the moment."

Darcy watched her with wide eyes for a moment, and Manny was sure the taller girl was going to go running away, but to her surprise, Darcy didn't move. She just lowered her gaze, and started twiddling her thumbs on top of the table.

"You shouldn't have to hate yourself," she finally said, in a soft tone. "Though I am against abortion, it's no reason to outcast you. 'Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong'."

Manny's brow furrowed slightly. "Is that Gandhi?" She asked.

Darcy nodded, giving a sheepish smile. "Yes," she answered, "I like to apply it to God though."

Manny wanted to say something along the lines of, 'Oh no, not a Bible-thumper', but she found that she couldn't. Despite the bubbly and over-happy attitude Darcy appeared to have, Manny actually kind of liked her. She smiled at the other girl.

"Well, thank you," she said. "You and a select few others seem to be the only ones who don't consider me the Devil for getting an abortion."

Darcy grinned and shook her head. "If that's all it took to be the Devil, I wouldn't want to know how easy it was for someone to become God."

Manny had her first laugh of the day because of this Darcy girl, and she realized that with just the small bit of conversation they'd shared, she was feeling much better than she had been all day. Darcy suddenly looked around though, and frowned.

"I have to get going," she said, "But it's really cool meeting you -- I know I'll see you around now that you're here."

Manny nodded, somewhat disheartened at having her first at-camp friend have to go. "I'll see you around then," she said. "And thank you."

Darcy smiled as she stood up, and she shook her head. "Don't mention it," she said, before pushing in her chair and starting away.

Manny slid down in her chair a little, looking out the window once more, but this time with a half-smile on her face. She wouldn't let Camp Echo Ridge get her down -- summer wouldn't last too long, would it?

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Darcy entered the bath-house with Chante and Blair, each of them clutching their own bag of washroom goodies, and she sighed. She hated when the weather decided on its own that it wanted to be particularly hot some days, as it was always these days when the camp counselors had strenuous activities planned. And strenuous activities in intense heat always meant a lot of sweat.

The bath-house at Echo Ridge (that was only for the attending girls, not the counselors) was perhaps the nicest thing about the camp. In the front of the one-level building were toilets and sinks, along with mirrors (both small and full-size ones), and then there was another room which had a good amount of shower stalls, each with curtains that pulled shut for privacy. It was cleaned regularly, for which everyone was glad.

"So how about that Jonathan?" Chante asked, wiggling her eyebrows at both Blair and Darcy as they passed through to the showers. Jonathan was one of the counselors, the one who specialized in sports like softball and volleyball -- a lot of the girls at Echo Ridge seemed to think he was something.

Darcy just shook her head, and Blair smirked.

"I heard he was gay," Blair said nonchalantly, stopping at the stall she'd claimed as her own.

Chante gasped, choosing the one beside her. "Shut up," she said, "He is so not gay."

Darcy shook her head, unable to keep from smiling, as she hung her bag on the hook outside a different empty stall. She pulled her towel out of it, and kicked off her flip-flops before grabbing for her tee shirt. Chante was already well on her way to being completely stripped -- she took showers faster than anybody Darcy knew; she couldn't understand how the other girl managed to even wash her hair in the amount of time she spent.

Darcy was pulling her shirt over her head when she heard an outburst from the back of the shower-room.

"Just leave me alone!"

Silence blanketed the girls faster than the speed of light, and everyone turned in anticipation to see if there was going to be a brawl. What they saw was the new girl, Manny as Darcy knew, fresh out of a shower, with her clothes sticking to her body and her hair sopping wet. Her face was red, and she was surrounded by a trio of girls in a half-circle around her. They were all much taller than her, and had obviously made a game of making fun of her.

"What's the matter?" The tallest of the bunch asked in a mocking voice, reaching forward to flick Manny's nose. "Is the slut a little grumpy because this place is girls only?"

Manny's hand sliced through the air like a knife through butter, and the sound of her palm against the other girl's cheek echoed off of the tile. A few girls gasped, but then the other two girls, the first one's cronies, grabbed Manny by her arms, holding her back some.

Darcy was shocked, appalled even, that there was this sort of behavior at Echo Ridge. All the years she'd come to the camp, she'd never seen such hostile and cruelness from any of the girls. There was no way she was going to sit back like the rest of the campers -- she took a deep breath.

"Hey," she said loudly, before anything else could happen to Manny, "Leave her alone."

Chante's eyes were as wide as plates, and Blair's eyebrows had risen so high that they were invisible under her bangs. Manny, despite her embarrassment and anger, was now wearing the smallest hint of a smile, and the girls who'd been torturing her let her go. The tallest took a step towards Darcy.

"What?" She asked.

"You heard me," Darcy said, jutting her chin out. "You're acting like a couple of grade fours."

The tall girl, whom Darcy had nicknamed Sasquatch in her head, cocked her head, eyes narrowing. She looked about ready to charge at Darcy like a football player, but after a moment smirked. She made a raspberry type noise, swatting at the air.

"You aren't even worth it, Jesus-freak," she said. She turned to her friends, "Come on."

The silence and tension in the room was near palpable as the three bullies neared the exit of the shower-room. They were gone for a good two minutes before the girls all went back to what they'd previously been doing. Chante said something quietly to Blair, before they both climbed into their stalls, and Manny took a few small steps towards Darcy. Her face was still red, but her eyes were downcast, and she seemed suddenly sheepish.

"Thanks," she said. "Nobody's really ever stood up for me before."

Darcy smiled, "Don't worry about it," she said. "I just can't believe they'd be so mean."

Manny shrugged, as if to say she'd had it coming, and Darcy patted at her hair almost nervously. Manny then visibly swallowed, and gestured towards the exit.

"Well, I guess I'll get back to my cabin, then," she said.

Darcy nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow sometime," she said.

Manny offered her a little grin before walking away. Darcy watched her disappear, before continuing with what she was doing. She didn't know why, but she was growing very fond of the other girl -- it felt as if they'd met each other before, like they were already good friends. It was nice -- as she still didn't feel that close to Chante or Gretchen. Maybe she'd just been meant to meet Manny.

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Author's Note: I don't normally "beg" for reviews, but please let me know what you think. I want to know if this idea even interests a few people other than myself, and know that I'm not wasting my time by posting it here. Thanks guys. :D