5

Elyn left the hut and looked around for Jamie but he was nowhere in sight. She turned toward Matt who was tapping at something on the ground.

Jamie went to get you something to eat he'll be back in a few. How do the clothes fit?

"Oh. The clothes are alright." Elyn pulled her hair away from her face. "My brother has the same name as you back home." she chuckled dryly.

Matt patted the spot next to him and Elyn sat down, staring into the fire. He was moving the stick in the dirt between them, writing something.

Do you miss them?

That was a difficult question to answer. Given that she was always treated like a baby by her siblings and a pampered princess by her parents...she wasn't sure.

Elyn turned away from the question. 

Matt tapped her shoe.

I've made you uncomfortable. I'm sorry. I'll change the subject...Jamie never did tell me your name.

"I'm Elyn."

That's a unique name. Pretty.

Elyn felt her face heat up and she smiled. "Thanks."

Jamie skipped toward them, holding a bag. "Hey guys!"

Matt moved to erase the messages in the dirt. He plopped down beside Elyn and pulled out a burrito.

"I've got three of them in case you're hungry." Jamie passed one to Elyn and another to Matt. "I owe you. Payment for letting me borrow another shirt."

Matt rolled his eyes and wrote something else in the dirt. Dude. You borrow shirts from me all the time. I'd say you owe me more than a burrito.

Jamie laughed, before chomping into his burrito. "Who knew you had a good sense of humor?"

Elyn took a bite of her food, not wanting it to go to waste. Normally, she wasn't a burrito's fan but this tasted like heaven. She swallowed the rest of it in seconds.

She was licking her fingers when she looked up and saw Matt and Jamie gawping at her.

Girl is starving.

Jamie snorts and covers his mouth with his hand. Sneering, Elyn held out her still-sauced hands as though she were about to smear his clothes.

He jumped to his feet and stumbled, tripping on a rock and landing on his butt.

Matt and Elyn burst out laughing.

Elyn thought back to the question Matt had asked earlier. Do you miss them? Not at all.

Jamie had been able to convince Matt to join them when she showed Elyn around the camp. They introduced her to the leaders of the different groups around the camp.

There was picking. Logging. Teaching, Cooking, Carpentry, and Butchering. Butchering and Teaching were out of the question because she hated blood. She was considering picking or logging but she'd be out in the sun all day, carpentry sounded interesting but she'd never touched a power tool in her life. 

So the final option was cooking. At first, it seemed simple enough, but to be accepted she had to cook an extravagant meal by herself and present it to the head cook.

As they were leaving, Matt had managed to snag three more burritos, Elyn ate one and Matt ate the other two. She made sure to have plenty of sauce dripping from her fingers before chasing Jamie around the camp.

Matt followed, laughing the entire time.