A Damn Near Explosion

"No way, no mother fucking way is she here..." Quinn hissed, her eyes aflame as she watched the petite blonde walking in alongside her teammates, "Not. Fucking. Kennedy."

"That is Kennedy, isn't it? How the heck did she end up here with them? That's so weird; I didn't know she knew anyone outside of the state that well," Juliet added, though her voice was merely full of curiosity,

"That fucking leech doesn't have any friends, and you know it, Julie, all she has is her braindead twin sister." Quinn swiftly snapped back; her teeth were beginning to grind.

Kennedy Thomas had quite a mixed relationship with her fellow cheerleaders in high school. For some like Julie, she was sweet as could be, a little judgemental but overall nothing more than what Juliet could consider a snob. Then there were girls like Quinn, the ones who actually knew her and were able to recognize the two-faced bitch that was the blonde. She saw firsthand the type of person Kennedy was when no one was around, and that was a bully, plain and simple. The only reason she could never convince Juliet of this truth was of her twin sister Claire's constant defending of Kennedy's actions. Now, somehow, she had managed to link up with a group of teens from somewhere in another school who somehow also got an invite to this event.

Kennedy looked over at her fellow townmates, flashing them a sly, near devious smirk, and gave her eyebrows a quick bump. She was on the short side, long luscious blonde hair, warm brown eyes, with an attractive body of small perky breasts, and a tight killer ass; Kennedy knew that she was a sight. So many assumed that she was the picture of innocence just by her sweet smile, but ones like Avery knew all too well that the last thing person they ever wanted to be around was Kennedy. She knew how to use words to cut deep or spin a yarn and fabricate whatever story she needed to come out on top.

"Oh, I'll fucking kill that bitch this week; whatever fucked up shit she has brewing in that twisted little mind, I will stomp her into the fucking ground," Quinn growled; her whole body trembled as she kept a steely gaze on Kennedy all the way until she sat down,

"Quinny, deep breath, it's okay," Juliet quickly interjected with a dismissive shake of her head, "Kennedy knew some friends, and this is by chance. She's not as bad as you think; she's just a little...egotistical,"

"I don't understand why you have such a fucking blind spot for that cunt," Quinn spat back,

"Jesus Quinn, relax! Christ, look at how worked up you are! And two seconds ago, you were fine!" Juliet's chastising words did little to calm her friend,

"Oh, I'm worked up for no reason, huh?" Quinn looked directly at Avery, "Ave, you know what I'm talking about. You know what type of bitch she is!"

"Look, I don't want to get involved," Avery lowly replied, causing Quinn to scoff, "I'm not happy she's here, but I'm just going to ignore her,"

"There's an idea," Nicole sarcastically agreed, rolling her eyes at Quinn, who flashed her a dirty look, "What? The kid has a point; we don't have to talk to her!"

"Did you see that look she gave us? I don't think she is going to ignore us," Mindy surprisingly pipped up, "Ignoring only works as long as she isn't trying to seek us out,"

"Exactly! Thank you, Mindy; at least someone here understands what I'm trying to say!" Quinn exclaimed in relief,

"Okay, everyone, just chill out," Kenny finally interjected, "Kennedy is here, that's not something to ignore, but it's also not something to get up in arms about! We have no idea what she's doing here, and we can't afford to let her throw us off our game! I need each and every one of you focused on the events, not on a feud. All that matters right now is she's on another team, so we have to beat her, right?" Kenny looked around at each of his teammates, "Right?"

"Right..." The group either murmured, sighed, or proudly replied back.

Kenny accepted the mixed response as good enough, "Okay, so we're gonna be chill then? Quinn?" He finished giving the bitter girl an extra eye,

"Yes, Kenny...I'll keep the peace..." Quinn crossed her arms and turned her head,

It was just at this point that Kenny suddenly heard the announcement of his team being called, or more specifically, him personally being called out. With a semi-awkward pause, he reluctantly got to his feet and gave a quick wave as he was introduced before sitting back down. Kenny heard Rex immediately moving onto the next team, and he sighed in relief, leaning back in to continue talking with his group, "Okay, now that we have that settled, we need to all talk about something else for tonight,"

"Oh no...I know that tone...you have an idea that I'm probably going to hate," Mindy grimaced,

"It's not as bad as you're thinking," Kenny assured his friend, "I'm just thinking that we need to mingle tonight. We need to go out and talk to some of these people, learn about them, get to know them,"

"Oh, so we know what we have for competition, nice Clark!" Nicole exclaimed with a proud clap, "There's that big brain I was expecting!"

"No, Nikki, I'm not saying that we do it to size up the competition; I'm saying it for self-preservation here," Kenny replied, and everyone immediately turned confused,

Juliet tilted her head. "What on earth are you talking about, Ken?"

"I'm talking about the fact that we showed up late and haven't spoken a single word to any of these people here yet. Right now, all we are to them is just some other random group of kids, and as the competition goes on, we don't want to be that. Do you know how easy it becomes to target the weird quiet loners? Worse yet, they could assume that we're a bunch of smug assholes who are looking down at them. We don't want enemies; we don't want to be a target. We want to make sure they know we're just like them! " Kenny explained as he took moments to look at each teen with very stern and serious eyes, "We have to do this; we can't be a loner crew,"

"He's right," Nicole almost immediately agreed once more, "He might not have the whole picture about what we can learn here, but regardless, he's right." Nicole let out a small sigh, glancing around the room, "Now let me see...hmm...who can I spend a little time with tonight..."

Kenny ever so slightly shook his head, "Nicole aside, Quinn, Julie, you two good with this?"

"Fine, whatever, as long as I don't see Kennedy anywhere, I'll be fine. I can go out and talk to some people tonight," Quinn shrugged without much care,

"Yeah, Kenny, that's a great idea!" Juliet said in full support, "I can go talk to some of the other girls in these teams, get to know them, and hopefully, they'll have the same mentality we're trying to keep,"

Kenny nodded thankfully before turning his attention to Mindy and Avery, both of who were keeping their eyes low, "Mindy...Ave...come on now, I need all of you,"

"Kenny...come on, dude, you know I don't like this stuff. I'll be cool, I'll respond to people, but come on, please don't **** me to go out there and "try to make friends" with people I don't want to," Avery begged, and Kenny sighed,

"Okay, I'm not in the habit of forcing anyone to do anything; if you're promising me to be open to talking if someone approaches you...that's good enough to me," Kenny accepted before looking over to Mindy once again, "Mindy..."

"Ugh...I'm sticking with you; that's the only way this works," Mindy muttered back,

"Deal!" Kenny wrapped an arm around the girl and gave her a quick half-hug, hearing a sarcastic hum in return from the Asian tomboy.

From there, the group quieted down, hearing the last of the intros while also scanning and picking out a few sets of people that they figured would be a good place to start with. As the introductions ended, Kenny was among the first to jump up from his seat, giving Mindy a pat on her shoulder, "Hey, come with me, lets go over and say hello to those two," Kenny suggested while pointing across the room at a blonde guy who was standing up alongside a Hispanic girl. Mindy reluctantly sighed, nodded, and followed Kenny away from the table.

Nicole let out a small hum and got up without a word to anyone while Quinn and Juliet took a moment together, "I think...I'll go introduce myself to those two," Juliet smiled while looking towards a blonde girl from the Honey Hollow team as well as a black-haired brunette from Azure Rocks, "What about you?"

"I don't know," Quinn shrugged as she looked around, "I guess I can talk to them?" She pointed out at another set of girls, another brunette and blonde from Honey Hollow and Azure Rocks, respectively, already starting on some small talk,

"Sounds good; talk later, and behave Quinny," Juliet added with a little side-eye,

"Yeah, yeah, mom," Quinn jokingly scoffed back at the two separated, leaving Avery alone at the table, and admittedly, the teen wasn't that upset over that fact.

Avery only got a few minutes of his peace, however, before he suddenly heard the warm and familiar voice of Sydney Clark from the side. "Hey, Ave, you alright?" Avery swiftly looked up and found the college girl sliding into the seat next to him, her face full of concern, "Something wrong?"

"N-No, Sydney," Avery croaked back before quickly clearing his throat. He hated how he got whenever he was around Sydney. She had this effect on him even when he was a preteen, and she was dating his older brother. Everything about her Avery loved, and he could scarcely understand why she always continued to be so friendly, understanding, and close with him even after she broke up with his brother Scott. Though, he wasn't one for complaining about it either. "I'm just...sitting, you know? A lot of new people around..."

"That's a good thing, though," Sydney reached an arm out, resting a hand on his upper back, "A lot of the people here are just like you, Mindy, and Kenny. They aren't jocks or some popular clique; you probably have a lot more in common with them than you think. You should try and talk to a few of them,"

"If I knew how," Avery attempted to joke, though the reality of that situation hit too close to home the second the phrase left his mouth. With a low exhale, he lowered his head again, "I'm not trying to be a downer, but I'd rather just keep to myself unless someone came to talk to me first. It works better that way for me,"

"Aw, okay, Ave, I understand," Sydney gave a comforting stroke on his back that sent tingles all through Avery's body, "Well, I'll leave you be for now, but I still hope you talk to someone by the end of the night."

Avery looked over at the girl and did his best to give his best charming smile, "F-For you, Syd; I'll try." Sydney ruffled Avery's hair and walked off.

In the meantime, Kenny and Mindy have made their way through the crowd of people to the other side of the room, heading right over to the pair from Amethyst Shore. "Okay, genius, this was your idea; you get to break the ice," Mindy whispered to Kenny, who let out a small half chortle,

"To see you squirm? Oh yeah, I can handle that," He teasingly retorted just as they reached the pair, "Jace, right?!" Kenny called out, catching the blonde teen before he could bypass him,

"Yeah!" Jace replied with a wide, friendly smile. The two men shared a look for a moment before sticking out their hands in unison for a handshake, "You're...Kenny right? I think that's what Rex said when he called your team,"

"Yep, Kenny Clark, and this is my friend Mindy," Kenny brought a hand around the girl back, ushering her forward a few steps,

"Hi..." Mindy awkwardly waved at the pair,

"Hey Mindy, I'm Emily; nice to meet you," The busty Hispanic girl quickly replied in a warm, friendly tone,

"We just wanted to come over and introduce ourselves, you know? Give an official hello since it looks like we all have the night to enjoy ourselves," Kenny explained, and Jace gave a nod and patted Kenny on the shoulder,

"Hey, we both appreciate that pal; that was the same thing I was thinking. Since we're all sharing the valley for the week, there is no need to be strangers,"

"Especially considering your group is staying in Cabin four just across from us," Emily added on with a grin, "Do you guys have any plans for the night?"

"Not really, other than poking around to introduce myself just as awkwardly," Kenny joked, earning a few laughs in response,

"Same here, I don't want to just go lock myself back up in the cabin; I figure it's worthwhile checking out the other teams," Jace added on with a nod,

"Sounds about the reverse of what I was thinking to be honest..." Mindy finally spoke up; it was a poor attempt at a joke as the ring of honesty was dripping off every word.

Surprisingly Emily's eyes lit up, "Oh really? I wasn't thinking of going around that much either; I really just wanted to relax by a fire. Would you...want to hang out with me? It'd be nice for a little company,"

"Uhhh, yeah, sure?" Mindy shrugged, glancing at Kenny, admittedly a bit surprised by the offer, "That'd be cool with me,"

"Great!" Emily replied in a chipper tone.

Meanwhile, further up the room, near the building exit, Quinn had found herself in the midst of a conversation with what she immediately considered like-minded individuals. To her right was Madison Cole, a tall, slim brunette, and to her right, Aurora Rusk, a both equally tall and beautiful blonde. After their awkward hello, Quinn was more than amazed to learn that they each had one big similarity with this trip, and that was their value of freedom in it.

"This is literally the first time I've ever been allowed to go somewhere on my own. I can't believe I don't have my brother glued to my side," Quinn lightly laughed with a shake of her head,

"Oh my god, don't get me started with brothers," Madison all but cringed, "The mere thought of my brother Brandon being here is worse than any horror movie this creepy camp could provide,"

"Same thing with my brother Austin; it's like I have this giant weight off me without him here. I can literally talk to people! Look at guys! Not have to constantly watch my back and fear him hovering over me!"

"Ew, I just got away from that sort of thing with Brandon...I wouldn't have wished anything like that on someone else; I'm so sorry, Rory," Madison sincerely replied with a short, breathy laugh before both girls looked at Quinn nearly expectantly,

"Oh! Um...my brother, Will is -- Ugh, I can't lie, I don't have it nearly as bad as either of you from what it sounds like. Sure, Will is protective of me, but he's definitely not some brute. Even though he knows it can annoy me, I know he only does it out of love when he chases a guy off. He's...still kinda my best friend," Quinn sheepishly admitted, uncertain of how the girls would reply.

After a few moments of silence, Madison suddenly let out a loud scoff and growl, "Ugh, I wish Brandon was like that at least! Your brother sounds like he has at least half a brain that lets him think for himself; mine just listens to whatever horseshit my prick father feeds him."

"I'm not even sure where Austin lands on the scale of those two; he's just like this bodyguard that I never hired and can't fire either." Aurora sighed with a toss of her eyes, though she quickly pivoted as she saw the doors getting propped open, "Oh shit, looks like we're fully free to go!" The blonde looked between the two, "You two have anything in mind for the night right now? Feel like taking a walk or something?"

"Sure, that sounds fun," Madison smiled,

"Totally, I'll be right behind you!" Quinn excitedly agreed as well, eager to stick around with her new pair of fast-made friends.