Age 12, Writer's Camp
Leah POV (Age 12)
Writer’s Camp
Ages Eight - Fifteen
2-4 Week Stay Options
Finance Plans Available
It’s the imagery of woodlands and books, on the front of the pamphlet lodged in a display wall in the library, that grabs her attention. Information that she reads each day, creasing it further, then tucks it into the same compartment of her backpack.
Her parents find it a week later, sitting her down in the living room.
“Did you want to go?” Kurt asked, dropping the leaflet on the table in front of his daughter.
It was now so deteriorated that it was hard to make out the trees on the front, the image a mess of wrinkled brown fragments.
Shaking her head, Leah sank back into the seat.
“Then may I ask why you have it?” Maryann took a seat opposite her.
“It was in the library. I pick up random brochures when I get bored sometimes.”
Kurt frowned. “You read the pricing, huh?”
Yes, she had. Leah had dissected every part of that leaflet until she got to the back and stared at the cost. Though her mate was well off, she and Leah led entirely different lives. Leah hated when Fatin bought her things because whatever she bought for her would never come close to matching the price. However, it affected other things too: education, medical, and access to things many didn’t bat an eyelash at like holiday camps or school trips.
The camp looked cosy and intriguing, but the figures on the back were big and left Leah crumpling it up in annoyance as she shoved it in her bag. Her parents could not afford that, nor would she ever ask for it.
“It costs a tonne.”
“It does,” Kurt agreed. “Is that why you didn’t want to go?”
“No, there were other reasons.”
“Like?”
“I’ve never been away like that. It’s almost a month away and I would get homesick. I would be away from Fatin too and we would both hate it.”
“Well, what if we give them a call and see if you could just go for a week?” Kurt flicked through the pamphlet again.
“A week?”
“If they can we can afford that. They offer finance too so we could pay it off over the year.”
Leah chewed on her thumb. “A week.”
“One week. I’m sure you and Fatin would be fine; she’s been away on holiday many times for a week before.”
“She has.” Leah hated it every time, but they could do it. It was only later on in life when they got their adult heats and ruts that they would need to travel together if going away for long. For now, it just left them both in a slight state of unease.
That was how Leah ended up at writing camp the following month.
It was situated in the middle of the forest, a selection of aged cabins that stuck out looking worn and weathered. No two were the same shape and the decorative oak awnings had begun to flake away. Older kids and adults wandered the grounds in butter yellow shirts, occasionally towing a lost child along.
“If you need us, call.” Kurt straightened up Leah’s shirt collar that had gotten stuck under her knit jumper.
“What if they don’t have food I like?”
“We’re leaving a bag with the camp leader, okay? Has some snacks, extra books, and all sorts just in case.”
“Okay.” Leah peered up at the others filtering out of their cars. She wasn’t sure where she fitted in with it all. Many of the kids were already talking to people as if they had known one another for years.
As Kurt went to turn away Leah gripped her father’s shirt in her fist, tugging him back.
“Kiddo, you’re gonna do fine. You’ll make friends and have fun.”
“I suck at that.” She had Fatin who clearly wasn’t here.
“Just try. One day; if you don’t like it, we’ll pick you right back up no questions asked.”
With a shaky exhale Leah released his shirt. “Okay.”
The camp was daunting. The older teens were tall and hung out in groups which made Leah anxious. Many were alphas and flirted with others their age and all Leah could do was avert her eyes. She even caught two of them kissing- like full-on lip-locking with gross sounds behind a cabin. Leah learned not to stray too far out from camp at that moment.
“Right, if you could all pick a journal, we can start our first task!” Nadine said, smiling at the children.
Leah wanted one of the green ones and stared at it as everyone went up to grab one- not wanting to move until they had all chosen. Many of the kids in her group were alphas and Leah didn’t want to get picked on for annoying one. Though because of this, when she went up all that was left was a red cover.
She hated red with a passion.
Grasping it glumly she returned to her seat, beginning to take the plastic wrap off it.
“Psst,” a girl said from next to her.
“Yeah?” Leah peered over.
“Wanna trade? I saw you looking at the green ones and everyone was grabbing them. Here.” She held out an emerald, green notebook to Leah, trading it for her red. “I’m Rachel.”
Leah smiled at the beta. “Thank you. I’m Leah.”
“No problem. My twin is kinda quiet like you. She’s in another group but you’ll probably get on with her. Nora.”
“I’ll try and find her.”
“If you could all pick a partner! I want you to write a story about them in a future job. They could be an astronaut, a diver, a scientist. Whatever you can imagine. Talk to them, find out their likes and dislikes, and run with it. Make sure you’re using descriptions for these jobs. What equipment do they use? Do they wear a uniform? How does it make them feel? Are they tired or focussed?”
“Wanna partner with me?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah, please.”
Leah ended up writing about Rachel as a scuba diver. She noted that Rachel only had one arm, the other was a prosthetic with an aquatic print design on it.
“You’re wondering how I lost it, aren’t you?” Rachel smiled.
“I don’t mean to be rude.”
“It’s cool. I got attacked by a shark on a family holiday. One chomp and it was bye-bye to my arm.”
“You were attacked by a shark? Shit.” Leah made a mental note never to go into steep waters.
“It was horrible but makes for a cool story. My brain blurred out most of the event, though Nora says that my hand waved goodbye to me as he left with it. I think she’s just being an asshole though.”
“You aren’t scared of the ocean now?”
Rachel paused in thought. “I was for a long while, I lost it when I was six. The whole thing is kind of a blur now. I remember some things but not much about the attack, I passed out so most of what I remember was from the hospital after. I hate hospitals but still love swimming and the ocean. It’s a little tougher with one arm but my parents got me an awesome teacher who used to swim in the Paralympics.”
“That’s cool you swim still. I think I would be too scared after.”
“Yeah. Nora was, can’t get her anywhere near the water now. I think it’s because she remembers it all, she pulled me in after the attack with some strangers. She talks to a therapist about it, but she’s found water traumatic ever since.”
Leah nodded. “Does it make things hard?”
“Oh yeah. I’m still learning every day. Whenever I grow and need a new prosthetic, I have to learn the new one all over again. The prosthetics can be so different each time that it’s a learning curve and takes some physio. I’m pretty good with it though; and if an alpha annoys me, I can accidentally whack them and pretend I don’t have control over it.”
The comment made Leah chuckle; snorting as she turned the page of her journal.
She gets on with Nora just as much, sitting with her during lunch. The sisters seem to have a form of twin telepathy, sometimes conversing with nothing but their eyes.
“Did you see Raf?” Rachel laughed. “All the omegas are fawning over him like some god.”
“He seems sweet.” Leah put a spoonful of food in her mouth, trying to figure out if she liked their meal or not. She hadn’t tried burgers like this before, but they were good. The chef was nice enough to talk her through the options and let her pick out something. She went with a chicken burger with mayonnaise but only a little bit because soggy buns were the epitome of hell.
“Sweet? Every other omega here is calling him hot.”
“I guess he is good-looking.”
“You’re not interested in him?” Nora asked.
“You’re not,” Leah said.
“I’m a beta and Nora is an alpha.”
Nora was one of the oddest alphas Leah had met. She wasn’t overly loud or confident yet commanded a room the same way, with a presence that said she was in control even if timid.
Betas were different. Most fell on the ace spectrum and didn’t experience attraction the same way as alphas and omegas. Rachel had made it clear where she stood when she and Leah caught more counselors kissing and Rachel said it was the most disgusting thing she’d ever seen. Whereas Leah stood there pink-cheeked thinking if Fatin would ever kiss her like that.
“I have a mate. Fatin.”
Rachel almost choked on her food as the heads of anyone near to them turned. Leah had her mate since she was seven, and whilst most of the kids found it exciting the novelty had got boring after a couple of years. Back home they were just mates. Nothing interesting, simply Leah and Fatin.
“You have a mate?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have a photo?”
Leah nodded, pulling out her phone with a picture of the pair on. Fatin was kissing her cheek and Leah was bright red.
“Your mate is a girl?” Nora asked.
“Yeah.”
“Huh. Cool. We only know one other person who has met their mate.”
“You know someone who has met their mate?”
“Yeah,” Nora mumbled around a mouthful of pasta. “Ivan. He’s gay too. He met his partner Kirin this year, they’re weirdly gross and always hugging.”
“Always,” Rachel groaned. “They’re basically joined at the hip.” She reached out her own phone, showing Leah.
“They look cute together.”
Many people whispered about Leah after that and truthfully Leah liked it. They weren’t whispering because of how she acted different from others or stood out, but about the fact she had a mate already. It became a camp myth with even councilors asking her if it was true. They found it adorable, normally asking Leah about her mate. Leah could talk about Fatin for hours, and it helped with missing her.
She would text her mate often, checking in, but knew something was off when on the fifth day Fatin was slow to reply. Hours passed staring at her screen with no response.
Leah: Is Fatin okay?
Rana: She’s just feeling a bit down so she’s sleeping.
She frowned. Her mate didn’t nap, in fact, Fatin hated them.
Leah: Is she sick?
Rana: I think she misses you, but she will be okay. She’s used to being the one going away, she’ll get over it.
Leah: Does she need me to come back?
Rana: No, she’s perfectly fine Leah. Hope you’re having fun! We’re all expecting lots of stories when you get back.
However, Leah could feel Fatin’s growing discomfort through their bond.
She lasted until the sixth day of the week. Leah enjoyed herself, whilst she wouldn’t call anyone her friend, she had people who she liked and who liked her, but the feeling of Fatin’s unease grew. Fatin’s texts to her slowed further and Leah knew something was wrong as she called her dad.
“Can you pick me up?”
“Sure thing kid. I’ll be there in a few hours.”
Leah packed and waited, swinging her legs until another camp counselor headed over and sat down beside her. She recognised her, the older teen was one of the ones who had asked Leah about her mate.
“You okay there?”
“Yeah. Waiting for my dad.”
“You’re heading home so soon?”
“My mate needs me.”
The blonde chuckled shaking her head. “You know as bold and confident as alphas are, they’re awful when we leave them.”
“You have a mate,” Leah noted.
“I do. And he’s visiting tomorrow because the distance is hard. Omegas are far better at coping with being left until we become adults. Then we become the needy ones.”
Leah laughed at the idea. “Aren’t alphas meant to be strong?”
She shook her head. “They’re meant to be strong for us. When we leave our mates, they don’t know who to be strong for. They get better with age, and we’ll get worse; omegas are so clingy in adulthood, but for now, we are the strong ones. We are the ones taking care of them and their wounded egos.”
“I’ve never heard of alphas needing their mate close.”
“Oh, they do. Far more than us before adult puberty but point it out and they’ll always deny it. Lest we wound their bravado.”
The counselor helped her collect her things and gave her a moment to say goodbye to the others. Rachel, Nora, and a few others even signed her shirt.
On the way home Kurt smiled over at her. “I’m proud of you, five days is a lot to be away from a mate.”
“I enjoyed it. The counselors were pretty great. We got to read some books that weren’t even published yet too, though some were incredibly poorly written.”
He turned onto the highway. “Are we going back home or am I dropping you to Fatin?”
“Fatin.”
Leah hadn’t texted her to let her know she was coming back as Fatin hadn’t replied to her past three texts. It worried her, leaving Leah’s knee bouncing as they drove back.
Rana opened the door looking far more tired than usual, her shoulders slumped, and her clothing was wrinkled. It was a sight Leah rarely saw; the woman always pristinely kept.
“You came back early?”
“Is Fatin okay?”
Sighing, Rana let her in. “She’s in her room. Fatin’s been a bit low for a few days so why don’t you head up and dig her out of the wallowing? I can order us takeout as a treat.”
She ran up the stairs and down the hallway to her mate’s room, knocking when the door was closed.
“Go away,” a sad voice replied, muffled by a pillow.
Opening the door, Leah poked her head around it. “Can I come in?”
“Leah?” Fatin peered out of her comforter burrito, eyes puffy and cheeks swollen with tears.
“Are you okay?” Leah immediately hopped into her bed, hugged her, and nuzzled her nose against her neck as Fatin cried even more.
“We’re pretending like this never happened,” Fatin said. “I was totes never crying.”
Laughing, Leah pulled her in tighter. “You’re such a dork.”
“Take that back.”
“Never.”
“You came back early.”
“I knew you needed me. You could have asked you know," Leah implored.
“I didn’t want to ruin your time there like some mopey alpha. Can you tell me all about it?”
“Yeah. I even made you a t-shirt in the craft group. It’s pretty crap though.”
“I’m sure it’s perfect.”