Natalie trudged towards the dining hall’s entrance, two staff members exiting and winding around her as she opened the door. She winced, her head pounding as the wall of noise slammed into her as though she had hit herself with the doors themselves. She wished she had the foresight to pack some ibuprofen in her backpack. Her brain throbbed after her marathon study session that nearly made her lose track of time and miss dinner.

At least the line for food was short, probably because everyone else had already gone through. She only had to wait behind a few people, who seemed to be grabbing seconds as they only stayed in line for a moment as they took from a serving tray or two before jumping out of line.

Natalie frowned as she reached the buffet line, seeing several empty serving trays in a row. Peering around, she tried to see if any of the dining hall staff were around, but the usual duo of line runners who were supposed to be making sure the line stayed full were missing from their usual spot right outside the doors to the kitchen. Her stomach nearly cramping with hunger, she resigned herself to scrounging from what was left of the vegan options.

“Wonderful.” She groaned to herself as she scraped the last of the vegan lasagna out of the serving tray.

Her backpack weighed heavy on her shoulders as she pushed her way between the cabin tables towards the other end of the room where her cabin’s assigned table was. Natalie had to detour around blocks in the most direct route where campers had turned around in their seats to talk to neighboring tables.

As she drew near, her feet suddenly turned to lead, stopping her in place and nearly losing her grip on her plate. The other girls of her cabin sat at the table, conversing freely amongst themselves, but that wasn’t what made her stop. The boy sitting in her seat, the last seat at the table, was what stopped her in her tracks.

Natalie watched as he talked to Rebecca, enthusiastically motioning with his hands as she laughed. Natalie wasn’t able to pick up what was being said over the roar of the other campers around her, but the smiles on their faces as they talked were readily apparent. Natalie looked around, her stomach twisting as she desperately looked for another option, any other option, than asking for her seat back. She couldn’t just go up to them and ask, even if he were nice enough to give it to her, Natalie was sure she’d never hear the end of trouble from Rebecca for interrupting them. There had to be another spot available nearby, but her stomach dropped as she looked around, not finding a single empty chair in view.

“Natalie! You’re late!” Natalie turned, seeing Emily stand from her seat and walk over to her. Natalie stared at her, her mind blanking as the other girl drew near. “I was worried you weren’t going to make it. I didn’t know you were vegan.” Natalie glanced down to her plate.

“Oh, I, uh...Thought I’d try the other options.” She stumbled, mentally hitting herself. Trying the other options? Real convincing there.

“Well the steak tips were to die for. You should have come earlier, you must be hungry.” Emily replied. Natalie frowned, of course she would miss something special. No way steak was going to come back on the menu for the next few weeks, it had probably been a special for the mid-week celebration.

“Was busy studying, lost track of time.” Natalie’s stomach growled at her in irritation.

“That’s good, keep it up. Oh, you can take my seat, I was just about to head out to meet with some friends from Cassiopeia before the campfire.” Emily moved back towards the table, grabbing her bag from under the chair and taking her plate from the spot in front of it. “All yours, see you later.”

Emily wandered off as Natalie slid her heavy orange backpack under the chair, dropping herself into it as she put her own plate in place. She grabbed some silverware from the basket in the middle of the table, picking unenthusiastically at the mushy lasagna. She looked around the table, grabbed the salt shaker and sprinkled some on before taking a bite. It was as unappetizing as it looked.

“So the comet is a weird one, it has an irregular orbital period because it’s stuck between the gravity of both the sun and Jupiter, so it kind of makes a figure-eight orbit between the two. It defies a lot of scientist’s understanding of normal orbital mechanics, but so far they haven’t had much luck figuring it out.” Natalie looked up, the conversation across the table catching her attention. The boy in her chair had a piece of steak on his fork and was absentmindedly circling it around a balled up fist. Natalie’s stomach howled at her as she contemplated grabbing the fork out of his hands for the steak tip.

“I guess that’s why they’re sending a probe to it the next time it comes back. When did you say it’s coming back, Richard?” Rebecca asked.

“It’s heading towards the Jupiter-side of its orbit at the moment, so it’s not coming back around for another decade. They’re hoping to have the probe land on it during it’s 2029 flyby, especially since it’s sun-side orbit is so much longer and it won’t be back for another ninety-three years after that.” Richard replied.

“So why is it red? I thought most comets were blue.” Diane asked, her head leaning on one hand.

“That’s the other reason they want to send a probe. Most comets are blue-ish from the materials that come off them, but this one must have a really different chemical makeup. They think it’s likely that it got caught in the sun’s gravity from outside the solar system.”

“So it’s an alien comet?” Rebecca asked.

“You could say that, but it’s been our solar system for a while now. The Native Americans in the area named it Miskwà-Kìzis, or ‘Red Star’ in Algonquin, so it’s been stuck in this orbit for at least a few hundred years.”

“Do you think the rumors about that stone in the amphitheater being from the comet are true?” Diane asked, leaning forwards slightly. Richard laughed.

“No way, comets don’t break off solid rock pieces like that. They’re mostly made up of frozen liquids and gases except for the very center, so unless there were several comets at one point, and one landed on Earth, I don’t see how that’s possible.” He replied.

“It would be cool if it were true, then Camp Starfall would have it’s own fallen star from the depths of space.” Rebecca sighed.

“Probably why the founder made up the story about it. Makes it seem otherworldly.” Diane replied.

“It’d be a good tourist trap if he hadn't bought the land and turned it into the camp.” Richard agreed. “Can you imagine a bunch of space nuts coming around here like they do Roswell?”

“They’d have to figure out how to get here first, seriously it took us an extra two hours to drive here, the GPS kept bringing us the wrong way.” Diane grumbled.

“Better they stay away anyways, they’d probably vandalize the whole place.” Rebecca replied.

Natalie whimpered to herself as Richard finally stuck the piece of steak in his mouth, looking back down at her sad mush of vegan lasagna. Despite her earlier stomach pangs, her hunger seemed to have fled, and Natalie pushed the plate away from her, having only taken a few bites.

“Yeah that’s right, we’ll be in the Taurus cabins. The one furthest from the staff cabin.” Another voice from a neighboring table floated over. “Yeah, the one Dustin’s in.”

“You got the goods, Caleb?” Natalie heard Victoria reply. Natalie looked to the other end of the table, where Victoria and Jessica were turned around in their seats, talking to some boys from a neighboring table.

“You know it. Smuggled them in the bottom of my trunk. Got enough for about a dozen or so.” Caleb replied. Natalie furrowed her brow.

“We’ll be there after the campfire ends. Shouldn’t be too hard to sneak away while everyone’s leaving.” Jessica replied, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

Natalie’s heartbeat quickened. They were supposed to head straight back to their cabins for lights out after the campfire. Plans to meet in a boy’s cabin afterwards, with the promise of something they had smuggled in? Nothing about this situation sat right with her. If the staff found out, there’d be plenty of trouble to go around.

Natalie cast her eyes around the dining hall, but luckily, the closest staff tables were sparsely occupied, their occupants' attention turned away from their table. Much as Natalie would like the whole lot of them to get in trouble, she wasn't about to be the one to alert the staff about something that wouldn’t affect her. She didn’t need Victoria or Jessica finding out they had been snitched on and making her life even more a living hell for the next few weeks.

“Are you going to bring some of yours as well?” Dustin asked. Victoria scoffed.

“No way, timing wouldn’t work. I’m saving mine for later.” She replied.

Natalie’s blood ran cold.

Victoria had smuggled something in with her belongings, something that was obviously not allowed on campus.

The staff had been very clear on the rules the first day, any contraband in a cabin would result in the whole cabin being disciplined.

Her scholarship, the only thing that kept her at the camp, which would be a major college-application resume builder, dictated that flagrant rule-breaking was in breach of the terms, and could end up with the scholarship being terminated.

Just knowing about some kind of contraband in the cabin and not telling the staff could be construed as flagrant rule-breaking, and could end up with her being thrown out of the camp.

Natalie’s gut twisted, and what little she had eaten threatened to come back out onto her plate. Victoria had brought something, alcohol, drugs, or something worse onto campus, and now she was duty-bound to report it, or her future college prospects were on the line.

Her eyes stung ash she furiously wiped at them trying to keep the tears from showing. Her parents had sacrificed so much to make sure she had a shot at going to college, she had worked so hard in her classes and extracurriculars. But the black mark of being thrown off a scholarship, for lying about someone else’s rule-breaking? It threw everything her family had worked for into jeopardy. Natalie wanted to scream at the injustice of it all.

There were really only two options she could choose from now. She could either snitch on her cabin mates and get them into trouble, which would inevitably make her cabin mates actively hostile to her for the remaining three and a half weeks of the scholarship, or say nothing, and possibly ruin her entire scholastic future if Victoria and Jessica got caught.

It wasn’t fair. Natalie’s mind whirled, trying to come up with the right course of action. Should she confront them? Ask them to get rid of whatever they had smuggled in and forget all about it? Should she bring her concerns to the staff and plead with them not to reveal who had tipped them off? Would the process reveal her as the snitch anyways? What would the staff members say that might end up revealing her as the one who had told them about their plans?

Natalie glanced over to the trio at the other end of the table. Their conversation about the comet currently hovering overhead in the night sky suddenly didn’t seem anywhere near as interesting as it had just a few minutes ago. Did the other girls in her cabin know about it? She could see Rebecca and Diane being in on it, they seemed to go along with whatever Victoria and Jessica said, and being a few years younger, seemed to look up to them, at least a little bit. Were they planning on joining them at the Taurus cabin later as well? Was Richard in on it as well? Did Emily? Was she in on it too, behind her smiles and seemingly considerate nature?

Her head spun as she wormed her lips between her teeth. This week had already started out badly, unable to make a meaningful connection with any of the girls she shared a cabin with, and now she had to consider whether or not to turn them in for something she had no direct evidence of? Just an overheard conversation. Was that enough? Or would the staff members need something more than that to even investigate, and if not…

Natalie’s head snapped up as Victoria and Jessica stood up from the table, both of them turning to take their empty plates from the table. Natalie met their eyes, Jessica freezing for a moment as Victoria’s gaze narrowed. Natalie’s chest seized, the breath going out of her. There was a long moment as Natalie stared up at them until finally both older girls broke off their gazes, turning back to talk to the boys who had also stood from their table.

Natalie’s heart pounded out of her chest as the group headed towards the exit. There wasn’t much time before she had to make a decision, else they would be lost into the camp, and who knows which way they were headed until the campfire began. She looked towards the other trio at the end of the table, who hadn’t budged from their seats, still talking about space and asteroids. Who cared about some stupid comet when her future was on the line?

Fire flooded her veins, her teeth creaking as her jaw clenched. She had to say something, anything, before it went any further. They had to understand, they were here on scholarships as well, they couldn’t just ignore her.

Natalie jumped up, snatching her backpack from under her chair as she pushed her way after them, her heart singing with justice. Surely they would see reason, once she explained to them what their actions might cost. She slammed through the dining hall doors, her pace robotic and large as she strode to catch up with the older boys and girls.

“You’ve got the shot glasses, right?” Caleb asked Jessica as she drew near. Alcohol it was, then. Definitely illegal, all of them were seventeen and under..

“Victoria.” The word was out of her mouth before she realized she had opened it, and the blonde turned to look at her. Her blue eyes narrowed, making Natalie feel just a few inches tall.

“What do you want?” She asked, her tone obviously impatient. The others around her also stopped and turned, the four of them looking back at her with varying levels of annoyance. Natalie’s heart wavered, but she pressed on, taking a few more steps nearer.

“You have to get rid of it. You’re putting everyone’s scholarship on the line just having it there.” Natalie demanded. Victoria rolled her blue eyes.

“I told you she was eavesdropping.” Jessica whispered, glancing sideways to Victoria.

“So what? The staff don’t come into the cabins. So long as someone keeps her mouth shut, they’ll never know.” Victoria stressed, her arms crossed in front of her.

“Is she going to be a problem?” Dustin asked. Natalie stepped back, suddenly cognizant of the fact that there were four of them, and only one of her.

“She’s nothing, don’t worry. Natalie, nothing is going to happen. The staff never search the cabins without good reason, and we’re very careful to only move it when we know they’re not going to notice. Relax, so long as no one says anything, there’s no harm done, right?” Victoria siad, a small smile on her face.

“We could all get thrown out if they find out.” Natalie growled. Victoria’s eyes widened, her smile becoming a bit crooked.

“Well well, look who’s got a bit of a spine after all. Well, Natalie, like I said, they won’t find out so long as you keep your mouth shut. After all, it’s your scholarship on the line as well, even if you bring it to their attention.” She replied, shrugging her shoulders. Natalie furrowed her brow, confused.

“How is that? If I tell them, then-”

“They’ll still throw you out as well. It happened last year, they couldn’t tell whose alcohol it was and the whole cabin got thrown out. You snitch, and you’re out of a scholarship.” Victoria replied.

“But it’s in your trunk, with your stuff, how would they not know it’s yours?” Natalie’s stomach flipped as a triumphant smirk came over Victoria’s face.

“Who says it’s still in my trunk? It could be anywhere by now, underneath a loose floorboard, in the rafters...Say, how often do you keep your trunk locked, by the way? I’m sure you don’t always think to lock it after you grab your phone for your afternoon call to mommy.” Victoria mocked.

Ice flooded Natalie’s veins as her mind crashed to a halt. They couldn’t have put the alcohol into her own trunk without her knowing, could they? She hadn’t really dug all the way down into her layers of clothes for the latter half of the week, it was entirely possible that they had…

Her head spun as both Victoria and Jessia smiled victoriously.

“Everything all right here?” Natalie whirled around as Richard, Rebecca and Diane came up behind her. She looked around, feeling vulnerable and isolated as they surrounded her on both sides. Her lungs seized, and she tried harder to breathe.

“It’s all good, I was just letting our hermit cabin mate know about what’s best for her, if she knows what I mean. You do understand, right?” Victoria continued, pinning Natalie with a glare. Natalie shuddered, her ears ringing as her breath became shorter.

“Seriously, Vic, do you have to intimidate everyone new you meet?” Richard sighed.

“Everyone who hears about our evening plans and might go rat on us to the staff. Besides, I’ve explained to her what position she’s in and-”

Natalie’s ears rung louder, drowning out Victoria and the rest of the teenagers around her, her breath not coming easily. She gasped, eyes furiously scanning for-

Natalie’s eyes landed on two older men as they exited the dining hall. Natalie’s feet lurched towards them, desperate as she tried to breathe. She tried to push between Richard and Rebecca.

“Richard, stop her! She’s going to tell them!” Jessica’s hysterical voice pierced her mind. Tell who what? She just needed to breathe, and-

A firm hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks, and Natalie tried to pull away but another hand grabbed her other shoulder, and she squirmed, trying to break free, unable to breathe, unable to speak, reaching out for the staff members getting further away, the hands dragging her backwards, pulling her off balance-

Natalie landed on her back, and suddenly she was forced to breathe as the backpack that cushioned her blow arched her spine. She took a few deep breaths as furious, undecipherable whispers floated around her. Starbursts floated behind her closed eyelids as she trembled, letting oxygen flood back into her lungs with each gasp.

“Are you all right?” Natalie opened her eyes, Richard hovering over her, his hand still on her shoulder. Natalie nodded, not trusting herself to speak as she sat up, the rest of the group around her taking a step back.

“Good, I’d hate to have needed to call those guys over for a code blue.” Victoria grumbled. “Seriously, I just told you what would happen, and you were still going to try to snitch on us?”

“Wasn’t...snitching...” Natalie gasped.

“It’s all right now, you’re okay.” Richard said, kneeling next to her.

“You sure? I thought I heard something break.” One of the other boys behind Jessica asked. “Might want to check in your backpack.”

Natalie’s heart seized once more. The only valuable thing in her backpack was…

She tore the orange backpack off her back, unzipping the rearmost pocket, where she had put her phone.

Her heart dropped as she reached in, pulling out the only lifeline she had to her parents, the only emotional support she had in this god-forsaken place.

It was bent and warped, spiderwebs cracked across the screen. She squeezed the power button on the side, wishing desperately, praying for a miracle as she stared at the broken display. After a few moments, when nothing happened, her arm dropped.

“Aw shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Richard trailed off as he looked at her.

Natalie was sure she was a mess, but she couldn't’ muster up the energy to care anymore. Everything had gone to shit. It had only taken four days, but everything she had worked for the past few years was in jeopardy, the people around her were blatantly threatening to drag her down with them, and now there was no one she could turn to to ask for advice or help without possibly incriminating herself in their lies.

Natalie pushed herself to her feet, the broken phone still clenched in her hand. Richard tried to do something as he stood as well, but Natalie whirled on him, glaring at the one who had stopped her, who had pulled her off balance, who had broken the only connection she had to the outside world, to sanity, to comfort. She’d never forget the pale, wide-eyed look on his face as he stepped back from her.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be- We should have first aid check you out, that was a hard fall.” Rebecca said, her eyes wide.

“Move.” Natalie bit, unable to get her mouth to do more. The teenagers around her shifted uncomfortably, looking at each other.

“Natalie, we didn’t mean-”

“MOVE, NOW.” She shrieked as her last nerve frayed. Rebecca and Diane both jumped, their faces pale and drawn as they stepped aside.

Her feet were heavy at first, but after a few steps, as her mind stayed stuck in the same place, her body carried her away, her feet flying over the packed dirt, and no one stopped her as she fled.

She didn’t know where she was going, only that she had to get away from there. She’d never felt so isolated, so alone, than in that moment, streaking down the paths of the camp with absolutely no destination in mind.

The trees beckoned her into their shadowed boughs in the deepening gloom of the setting sun, a new breeze pushing through the leaves and ushering her into their dark embrace.

There was nothing but fear and despair in her heart, and a deep, dark loneliness that threatened to swallow her whole.