Chapter 2
Ava was the last to get out of the minibus, and while she was getting her suitcase out of the trunk, it finally hit her: she was in a fucking conversion camp. Ava thought about it the entire ride in the minibus on the way there. But when she saw the cabins, the founder of this horrible place, and all the girls she'd be spending the next who knows how long with, it felt real because it was real.
It seemed like some of the girls already knew each other because some of them started chatting while she stood there awkwardly. She even noticed that two girls came to greet the beautiful girl she had seen from the window of the minibus. One of the girls rushed up to her and smothered her with a big hug while the other hugged her briefly, which lasted only two seconds.
Ava couldn't take her eyes off the girl.
She didn’t think it was possible, but the girl looked even more beautiful up close.
The girl's brown hair and brown eyes shone in the sun; it was breathtaking.
Ava didn't know how long she had been staring at the brunette, but she realized that she had probably stared too long when the girl made eye contact with her. The girl seemed confused and Ava immediately broke eye contact and stared at the grass beneath her feet.
When Vincent finally managed to silence the girls, the woman, the founder of the camp, began to speak.
"Welcome, my name is Amelia Young and I'm the founder of True Directions," she said with that annoying fake smile from earlier. "In this two-month program, we'll work in small groups of six on fixing your homosexual tendencies by finding the root of your homosexuality, helping you resist and control those perverted impulses, and ultimately finding Jesus."
I have an impulse to slap you and I don't want to resist it.
"The program consists of five steps: The first is admitting you have a problem, that you're a homosexual," she began.
So it's like rehab... from boobs?
"The second step is rediscovering your gender identity by learning to act like a proper Christion lady," she continued. "The third step is family therapy and finding the root that caused your homosexuality,"
That's going to be a little hard to do... Maybe I should call Sister Frances.
"The fourth step is to ask Jesus for forgiveness by confessing your sins to Father Vincent, and the fifth step is to make your vows to Jesus in order to prevent this shameful behavior from repeating itself in the future," she finished.
Okay, so as soon as I'll find a place to stay I'll run away from here because there's no way I'm going to make vows to Jesus.
"Do you have any questions?" Asked Vincent and got no answer. "Okay, I'm going to divide you into two groups of six with whom you'll share a cabin and spend the rest of your time here,"
He pulled out a list of names and began to read names, "Camila, Beatrice, Yasmin, Lilith, Crimson and Ava, you'll be placed in cabin one and now begin the first step of your healing with Mrs. Young,"
Great, now I'm stuck with the bitch who opened this stupid place.
"The rest of you come with me," he continued.
As Vincent led his group to the main building, Ava noticed that the beautiful girl stayed in her group with the two girls she had talked to earlier. There was one girl who seemed unfriendly and stared at the three of them in disgust, and another who didn't seem to know anyone.
As Amelia led them to the main building, the girl looked stressed and lost, so Ava gave her a friendly smile and introduced herself.
"Hi, I'm Ava," she said, raising her hand to give her a high five.
The girl was caught off guard.
"I'm Yasmin," she said with a shy smile, giving her a high five.
"Are you okay? You seem stressed," Ava asked with concern.
"That's because I am stressed," Yasmin said, looking at the floor.
"We need to admit our... Problem and I've never admitted it out loud before,"
"Admit what?" Ava asked cluelessly.
"That I'm... you know," Yasmin whispered.
"OH…don’t worry! I'm sure you'll do great!" Ava reassured her with a comforting smile.
Wait is that what I'm supposed to say in this situation?
"And on top of that, Crimson is here," Yasmin muttered, pointing at the unfriendly-looking girl.
"Wait, you know her?" Ava asked.
"Yeah, I kind of know all the girls in our group, we're all from the same school, but I moved there this year so I haven't really had the chance to get to know anyone," she replied.
"Well, I don't know anyone here either, but I guess that now we know each other," Ava smiled kindly and Yasmin smiled back.
Amelia led them into a room where five chairs were arranged in a circle and one was in the center. Ava was the last to enter the room, so the only chair left was the one in the middle.
As Ava sat down, Amelia began to explain what they are supposed to do on their first step.
"At this step, each of you will introduce yourselves and admit your problem, starting with you," she said, pointing to Ava.
"Wait a minute...why am I first?" Asked Ava.
"Because the person sitting in the middle of the circle is the one admitting their problem. When you are done someone else will take your place and you will sit as part of the circle," Amelia explained.
"Oh okay... so hi, I'm Ava," she began with uncertainty in her voice.
"Tell us why you are here, Ava" "Well, I am here because some nuns caught me kissing a hot girl," she smirked.
She noticed the brunette girl sitting in front of her roll her eyes disapprovingly.
"And does that happen a lot? You kiss and fantasize about girls?" Amelia asked, ignoring Ava's arrogance.
"I mean, it goes both ways for me, I've kissed both boys and girls," she said, shrugging.
"And you think that's natural?" Amelia raised an eyebrow.
"Of course," Ava said casually.
Now she heard only silence and saw only confused looks, especially from the girl sitting in front of her.
"Ah-ha! You, see? You don't even think it's wrong!" Amelia suddenly said, "It's okay, Ava, I understand where this sick way of thinking comes from, today there are people who encourage this unnatural lifestyle, but in True Directions we will show you what a healthy lifestyle looks like,"
Ava saw that there was no point in fighting and just nodded.
"Now admit your problem out loud!"
"I'm bisexual," she said with a shrug.
"Great! Our first girl to admit her problem," Amelia said as she checked off her list.
After Amelia scanned the room, her eyes fell on the brunette who had come out of the main building with her earlier.
"Beatrice, come sit in the middle of the circle," she said coldly.
Beatrice...
Ava thought that was the most beautiful name she had ever heard.
Beatrice...such an elegant name, so calm, so clever, so her.
"Mother, can I sit after the next girl?" she asked nervously in a shaky voice.
Mother???
Ava was shocked, even though they looked very similar.
How could this bitch create this beautiful girl?
Suddenly Ava realized how messed up the situation was. A mother running a conversion camp and sending her own daughter there...
"Beatrice, we talked about this, call me Mrs. Young," she said with a warning look that caused the girl to shiver, "you need to admit your unnatural nature and stop delaying it,"
"Okay,"
As Beatrice and Ava switched places, Ava noticed that the girl is fidgeting.
"My name is B-Beatrice..." she said, still shaking.
"Tell us why you are here," Amelia said, looking disappointed.
One of the two girls who had hugged her earlier gave her an encouraging look, while Crimson grinned and rolled her eyes.
"I am here because I got caught doing... perverted things with another girl," she said as she looked to the floor.
"Has that ever happened before?"
"No!" she quickly replied.
"Beatrice, have you ever fantasized about other girls?" Amelia asked coldly, not looking her in the eye.
Beatrice was silent and fidgeted with her nails. She looked like blood was draining from her face.
"Have you?!" She raised her voice.
"Yes!" she closed her eyes, afraid to look at her mother's face.
The girl tried to stabilize her breathing, her hand gripping her chest as she counted from one to five.
The other girls just looked at her helplessly, worried, and her mother just frowned.
Ava understood that the girl sitting in front of her was having a panic attack. Ava maybe didn't know the girl, but she felt like she had to help her somehow, because no one deserved to be in this situation.
As Beatrice slowly opened her eyes, Ava gave her a soft, understanding look, the girls made eye contact.
"You can get through this," she whispered to her, nodding in an attempt to comfort her.
"I'm sorry, I can't" she mumbled as she ran out of the room.
"Disappointing as always," Amelia said, rolling her eyes, "Okay, who's next?"
Crimson raised her hand and sat down on the chair that was in the middle of the circle.
Ava froze for a few minutes, shocked by the mother's reaction to her daughter's panic attack. Eventually, Ava decided to leave the room and check on her.
She mumbled something about needing to go to the bathroom and ran off to find Beatrice.