Chapter 1

"Come on honey, your going to be late! The bus will be here any minuet!"

"I'm almost done Mother!" a small voice called back down from the upper floor bedroom. That small voice.

Me.

I was running around my reasonably small room, stuffing whatever I could and what I think I would need into a duffle bag sitting in the middle of the floor, going over my check list.

"Pajamas, Shirt, Shorts, Underwear, Sweater, Socks, Bathing Suit, Flashlight, Towel, Hairbrush, Coloring pencils and book...I think that's - WAIT" I shouted the last part. Quickly getting up, I rummaged through my toy chest, grumbling to myself in worry when I couldn't find it, and cried in triumph when my hand felt its soft fur. Grabbing it, I pulled out a small white teddy bear. My prized possession. I've had this thing since I turned 4, the last thing my father gave to me before he went off to fight in a war somewhere. I miss him very much, and hugging the bear brought back the last few words he said to me before leaving.

'If you ever miss me, or feel sad, just hug this bear and think of me being right there with you, alright sweetie. I love you.'

Not wanting it to be crushed and tossed around on the back of the bus, I placed it in my overalls. I zipped up my bag and slung it over my shoulder, racing down the stairs. In the kitchen, Mother had a small plate of chocolate chip cookies placed out on the table, with a small glass of milk.

"Just a little snack before you go, so you won't be hungry on the bus" she said kindly.

I hoisted myself onto the dinning chair, and pulled myself in. Dipping a cookie into the milk and happily devouring it.

Minuets go by, and I finished my snack just in time as the bus to Camp Crystal Lake stopped at the end of the long driveway, and honking the horn announcing it was here to pick me up.

Me and Mother step out onto the blue painted porch, hug and say our goodbyes, and I run across the driveway, practically leaping into the bus. Looking down the aisle, most of the seats in the back were full of kids, older than me. Younger ones were closer to the front in the bus driver's view. A lot of the seats were filled. The bus started to move, so I had to find a seat quickly. Carefully walking down the aisle, some kids watched me walk past them, giving me snobby looks and joking.

"Look, she still keeps a stuffed toy with her"

"What a loser!"

I ignored their remarks on Snowball. Oh, that's the name of my bear by the way, and continued. Sighing when I couldn't find any empty places, I was tempted to sit on the floor, but a small boy in one of the seats near the back of the bus poked his head out from behind one of the seats. He looked as if he were my age, maybe a year or 2 older. He was wearing a Camp Crystal Lake T-Shirt, but there were differences between him and the boys around him. He was a small pale thing, he had a large bald head that looked a little bit bizarre on his small body. One eye was lower than the other, giving him a sort of lopsided look. Some boys a few rows behind him seemed to be talking about him behind his back, one even threw a crunched up ball of paper at the back of his head, but he ignored it, only to rub the back of his head, and glare at them from the corner of his lower eye. I felt sorry for him. I slowly walked up towards him, and looked down at him with soft eyes.

"M-May I please sit here?" I asked him shyly.

The boy seemed surprised, as if he had never heard those 5 small words used in a sentence to him before. His head perked up, and gazed at me with intimate wonder. I swear I could see the corners of him mouth try to twitch up into a smile, but his mouth hung agape with shock.

"S-Sure you c-can" he stuttered. Shy too.

The boys behind noticed this, and looked at me as if I had 3 heads. I could hear them whisper things like 'is she crazy' and 'she must be a freak like him if she even considered sitting with him in the first place' and such. I don't see why they would say those horrible things. Sure he was different looking, but we're all the same inside, right? Right.

"Wh-whats your name?" he asked me.

"Jessica, what's yours?"

"J-Jason"

I smiled. His stuttering made his cheeks go a rosy pink with shy embarrassment. He was really cute. I held out my hand to him.

"It's nice to meet you Jason"

He looked at it confused as it what to do with it, his head tilted, and his hand slowly rose and grabbed mine, and I shook his hand politely.

The boys in the back were laughing at us.

"Aww look, the freaks got a girlfriend!" one of them said. He had sandy blonde hair that came out in small curls and had big chocolate brown eyes that were wide with amusement.

"Ain't that adorable" another said. My guess that he was one of his followers. This one had black hair that was shaved into a buzz cut, and had wild green eyes. His face spread a smile that showed his braces that curled into a smirk. Those that overheard started to laugh at the horrible joke. I turned and stuck my tongue out at the, and turned back to Jason, smiling.

"Don't pay any attention to them, their nothing but big jerks" I assured him. He looked up from his lap and smiled a toothy smile at me. 2 of his front teeth were missing, which only added to his cuteness.

"Y-you know...y-you're the first person to e-ever be this nice to m-me...o-other than my mommy..." he said shyly.

My heart felt like it melted. He must have been alone for a long time, maybe even his whole life, just because he was different. I was tempted to wrap my arms around him and engulf him in a hug, but I had a feeling he would shy away and not return it cause he's new to it from another person.

"Th-that's horrible" I said. He looked up at me, and tilted his head.

"I-Is that a bad thing?"

"No...And yes"

His head tilted more, but a hurt feeling flickered in his eye for a moment after I said 'yes'.

"But not in that way!" I reassured him, "I'm saying that because you're a really nice person, and everybody should treat you like that, not like trash! You deserve to be treated better!"

That twitching in the corners of his mouth came back, but he let them curve up in a sweet smile, not letting his shock let his mouth hang agape rudely.

"Th-Thank you J-Jessica."

"Hey, It's no problem" I smiled at him, patting his shoulder, "do you want to play a game?"

His eyes lit up. "Sure!"

"How 'bout...eye spy?"

"I love that game!"

"Me too!"

We laughed. This looked like a beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Jason looked around the bus, looking for something to spy.

"Eye spy with my little eye..."