Ebony, Neil and Nikki were ready to go adventuring, but were stopped short by Max. "Hey guys." He started off awkwardly. "I was wondering if I could come with you." "Oh, so now you wanna hang with Ebony. I thought you didn't like her." Nikki replied. "I never said that, but you could say I was being a little mean. And I'm sorry for that." He had a dubious edge to his voice. Ebony knew he wasn't really sorry, but before she could interject Nikki answered. "Hmm... okay! Time to go." The obvious lie just flew over her head. Max's green eyes gazed with suspicion into Ebony's brown ones. She quickly looked away, following Nikki into the forest.
Max knew there was something strange going on with the new camper, but he wasn't gonna find out anything by doing nothing. After his little chat with Nikki, he made sure to keep a watchful eye on Ebony.
"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Neil looked at Nikki anxiously. "Of course not, that's what makes it fun!" Max sighed. "For fuck's sake! You got us lost, again!" Nikki hesitated. "I mean, we can find our way back." Ebony stopped dead in her tracks. "Did you guys hear that?" "Hear wha-" Neil started. There it was again. A small rustling noise coming from the bushes behind them. "Oh shit. It must be the squirrels. Nikki, what do we do?" The brunette panicked.
"I'm sure it's nothing." The teal haired girl assured her friends. Just then a blue triangle popped out of the bush. "Shark!" Nikki shouted. Max walked by her, muttering. "Dumbass." He gestured his hand at the shape. "C'mon guys, it's just Nerris. Doing the weird shit she does on a daily basis." Less than a second later you could see a nerdy looking girl with short hair come into sight. "Well Max, if you actually talked to me then you would know I'm not doing weird shit." She spat everywhere. "I'm just collecting berries for my potion."
Max was disinterested. "Whatever. Let's just keep going." He turned around before Nerris saw Ebony. "Hey new girl. What was it, Melanie?" She smiled. "It's actually Ebony" The geek continued. "Yeah yeah. Anyways, do you wanna help me make my potion?" The violet headed camper looked at Nikki then back at Nerris. "I'm kinda busy right now but maybe later." She said politely. "Oh, okay."
The group continued, Ebony stayed in the back. Max noticed that she was talking to herself. Sort of, reciting something. The others seemed to busy to hear. The raven haired boy walked a little bit slower, allowing Ebony to catch up. She seemed uncomfortable and stopped talking. "So, where you from?" Max figured that insulting the girl would not be the best way to find what was up with her. He decided to attempt small talk.
"Uh, Montana." She paused. "Billings." Max was surprised. "So why are you at this shitty camp? Montana is pretty far away." "My friends recommended it to me. They obviously just wanted to get rid of me. Jennie was all like, "Ebony, you have to come to Camp Campbell. Kim and Olivia will be there." They kinda think I'm weird." Ebony ranted. She hoped it would be convincing enough.
That didn't make much sense. For one, not many people knew about this camp. After all, it's in the middle of nowhere. And the friend thing seemed fake. By the way Ebony was acting, she seemed normal. Not to Max though. He could tell it she was putting on a facade. He was determined to break the illusion. He did it with David after all. How hard could it be?
Max was done with this conversation. "Huh, well sorry about your friends. They sound like assholes." He laughed. Ebony gave a doubtful smile. "Yeah." "Well anyways, I think we better catch up with Nikki and Neil." Ebony just realized how far behind they were. "Yes, let's do that." Max looked at her one more time before the two followed the distant voices of campers.
Worry set it with every minute that passed. Max was extremely suspicious. She had to make her move. Until then Ebony would have to gain trust, because failure was not an option at this point.