SS: Summer Camp - Chapter 10 Pg 102 (Complete)

Zoya jumped of the coach and took in a deep breath, today was going to mark the first day of her freedom. Zoya along with 16 other girls from her college had come for summer camp. After a hard long year they had earned themselves a well-deserved break.

'3 weeks in heaven...man we are going to have a blast' Zoya turned around to see Humera looking from left to right in pure excitement. 'We sure are, come let's get our bags' Zoya, Humera along with the rest of their class mates walked up to the coach driver who was opening up the baggage compartment.

Zoya was an A grade student of St Xavier's College for Girls, she was doing a combined degree in Anthropology and Philosophy. Zoya had two sides to her personality, the one side in which she was serious and focused and the other where she was fun loving and a little wild.

When it came to her education there was nothing she would give priority to over her studies. Zoya was a nerd, she worked hard and was determined to always make it to number one. But outside that environment Zoya was like any 19 year old girl, she loved to hang out with her friends, party, dance and just enjoy living without a care in the world. Zoya was an orphan, she lost her parents at a young age but she never let that be the bane of her life, she had a good upbringing by her adoptive family. Humera Siddiqui was not only Zoya's best friend but also her adoptive sister, Humera's father was Zoya's maternal uncle, who took her in after he lost his sister and brother in law in a road accident. Razia and Gahffur brought Zoya up along with Humera as their own daughter and today they were proud parents of two amazing girls that were the apples of their eyes.

Mrs Gill led the girls to the camp where they were all given a lodge to stay in. Zoya and Humera were going to be sharing their 2 bedroom lodge with Anna and Rajni. Before they were allowed to disperse Mrs Gill along with one of the camp managers Mr Shekhar went over some housekeeping.

'First of all I would like to welcome you all to Holly House Camp, I am sure you will enjoy what we have planned for you over the next three weeks. There will be a full time table given out to you when we meet for lunch. For now I would like to go over a few rules we have, rules that are to be abided by at all times.

1. You are here to have fun...so do exactly that, have fun

2. Breakfast Lunch and Dinner are at set times, if you miss out you won't be getting anything until the next serving, so please be on time. We have a lot to cover in the days you are here so punctuality is a given

3. There is no alcohol allowed on the camp site

4. You do not leave the camp site after 10.00pm

5. After 6 you are free to do what you want...but like I said you have to be back before 10.00pm

6. You are not the only people here over the other side we have a camp that has come all the way from Mumbai. Like yourselves 16 boys from King's College of Medicine, who will be joining in with you. You will get a chance to meet them and get acquainted over lunch.

7. Today is the only day you will have no activities planned for you, you are welcome to do as you please, you will be given a map so you can wonder around.

Ok, I think I have the main parts covered, so I guess I will see you in about an hour, the canteen is to your left...see you then'.

As Mr Shekhar left some of the girls started to shriek in excitement at the prospect of meeting 16 medical students. Zoya rolled her eyes 'like they have never seen guys before' Anna and Humera started giggling 'what' Zoya shot out oh nothing...' Humera said grabbing hold of Anna's hand and running to their lodge.

Zoya and Humera doubled up whilst Anna and Rajni took the other room. Their lodge that was identical to every other lodge had two spacious rooms with en suites and a small communal area that had two cosy sofa's and a TV. The back door opened up on to a small veranda 'Rajni...come' Anna called out you think those lodgings are for the guys?' Rajni looked to where Anna was pointing 'probably...looks like we will be getting a good view of them'. 'If you two have stopped your search for the opposite sex, you might want to get a move on' Anna turned around 'why where are we going' Zoya picked up her phone to get a closer look at the boys' she said pretending to look all excited 'its nearly lunch time and remember what that man said...punctuality...so come on'.

Zoya was a girl's best friend she was everything you would want, she was kind, compassionate, sometimes a little sarcastic and a little too direct, but honesty, loyalty and respect is what made Zoya up. The only thing that she missed was the ability to connect with the man. Her and boys, guys, men and whatever other official name they were known by just didn't seem to click. The only men that Zoya had in her life were her lecturers, Ghaffur and probably the driver. Zoya was a beautiful young girl that attracted more male attention than any girl could handle but she was completely indifferent, she never reacted to anything, she wasn't arrogant nor oblivious she just wasn't fazed by it as other girls would be.

Zoya, Humera, Anna and Rajni took their seats next to Mrs Gill and their peers. After a few moments a short sturdy man that walked like he had just come of a battle field led his group of boys to the canteen. As the girls started to break out in excited whispers Mrs Gill hushed them making Zoya let out a laugh.

Mr Shekhar stood up 'Mrs Gill, girls, this is Mr Kapoor and these fine young men are medical students from King's College of Medicine. Mr Kapoor these are the girls from St Xavier's College of Modern and Social Sciences'.

After Mr Kapoor had sat down Mr Shekhar went over the time table for the next three weeks, there were some activities that the two colleges would do by themselves but every other activity was combined. After having gone through the programme and rules and regulations again Mr Shekhar asked every student to stand up and introduce themselves, they had to say their name and what they were studying. For the boys it was easy every single one of them was studying medicine so it was just their names that they called out.

Zoya kept rolling her eyes at the girls from her college as they over exaggerated the way they said their names, it was either so shy that you could just about hear them or with so much attitude you would think they were god's gift to the world. It was no better on the other side either there was so much testosterone bouncing around it was enough to make any one sick.

Zoya stood up Hi, my name is Zoya Farooqui and I am second year student of Anthropology and Philosophy' after Zoya a guy stood, his posture and expression seemed to be mirroring Zoya's Hi, my name is Asad, Asad Ahmed Khan and I am also a second year student in medicine' As he sat down he looked straight at Zoya who looked back at him. 'I think he likes you' Zoya choked on the air she had just inhaled, she looked at Humera who was doing a funny dance with her eyebrows 'Humera, Allah gave everyone eyes to see with, just because he looked at me doesn't mean he likes me...what is it with you...ugh' 'I know but he is cute...no actually not cute...that guy over there is cute...this one is handsome, more like the prince charming from a fairy story' Zoya clicked her fingers in front of Humera's eyes 'wake up baby doll, this is no fairy story and there is no such thing as prince charming...anyway your cute guy just stood up'.

Humera looked at the guy who went on to introduce himself Hi, my name is Haider Ali, second year student in medicine'. Humera found herself smiling at him and she continued to until Zoya nudged her 'ouch...what is wrong with you?' 'what is wrong with you?' 'nothing...I am the normal one remember...look just because you don't believe in love and all things nice doesn't mean I don't...' Zoya didn't believe in love, to her it only existed in fairy tales or in movies that where far from reality as Earth was from Mars. There was no reason for Zoya being like this, no sad back story or bad experience, Zoya always gave priority to her family that consisted of Razia, Ghaffur and Humera and her studies, outside this little world of hers she had very good friends that she did socialise with but there were never any boys.

After lunch, which everyone had sitting in their groups Mr Shekhar let everyone out 'please don't be strangers, you guys will be living, eating and breathing everything with each other until you leave three weeks today so talk, mingle and become friends...and going by my 8 years of experience of working in this camp I promise you that a whole handful of you will leave here with new made best friends, if not future partners'.

Mr Shekhar took Mrs Gill and Mr Kapoor to the side and sat down for a coffee 'you think we should have given them a task to do...look at them they are standing there like they have been frozen' Mr Shekhar started laughing 'don't worry, they all start off like that and by the end of it you are fighting to pull them apart. This camp has been running for over 20 years now, and is one of the best of its kind, it not only gives them a place to rejuvenate after a year of hard studying but also provides a platform where they build upon their emotional, social skills and just enjoy being part of the youth of today'.

'Are we just going to stand her like fools or actually approach them?' Haider and Asad looked at Rahul 'I guess we can make the first move...I mean we are the guys after all' 'after you two' Asad said. It took a long fifteen minutes the two groups finally to start talking to one another. Zoya stood back much to Humera's annoyance, but it didn't stop her from going ahead and enjoying herself, Asad couldn't help noticing her, there was something distinctively different about her.

Asad Ahmed Khan was the only child of Dilshad and Rashid Ahmed Khan. Asad came from a family that was well known and respected, but being a rich kid Asad was not spoilt or a brat, he respected his parents, from a young age he saw how hard they had worked to build their business empire, if anything he was a humble human being. Like Zoya Asad had a good female fan following, his looks, his charm and social status were like a magnet that pulled in more female attention than he could also handle.

Humera saw Asad look back towards Zoya 'she isn't as miserable as she looks' she said giggling at him and then looking back at Zoya. Asad starting smiling 'I wonder what she looks like when she really is miserable then' Haider elbowed Asad 'I'm sorry my friend here has a funny sense of humour' 'please don't be...you should meet Zoya...her sense of humour on a good day is enough to bowl you over laughing and on a bad day...well let's just say you never want to experience it'.

Asad started to walk towards her as she saw him walk in her direction she stood up straight 'Ya Allah, why is he coming this way' she whispered to herself. She was just about to walk off when Mrs Gill and Mr Kapoor called out to her at the same time Asad came and stood a few feet away 'ah, perfect, just the two people we wanted to talk to' Mrs Gill said Asad and Zoya looked at each other and then towards their teachers 'us...why?' Zoya questioned if you remember Mr Shkhar said that the group was going to be split into smaller groups and we were just going round everyone up, to make it fair we decided to pull names out of a hat and coincidentally we had chosen you two to do it, so come on lets go'.

Asad and Zoya shared a silent glance, anyone who was normal would have at least shared a half smile but not these two. Once the rest of the group was rounded up Mr Kapoor explained what they were going to do. There were going to be 8 four students, Asad picked out two names from the bowl that contained the boy's name and Zoya pulled out two from the bowl with the girl's name.

They were on to their 6th team

'Haider and Akshay'

'Humera and Shona'

Humera smiled as she realised she was in Haider's team and then started to look a Zoya realising she wasn't in her team. Humera never did anything without Zoya, from a young age they were always together.

'Asad and Rahul'

'Anna and...Z...' Zoya looked wide eye at the piece of paper 'crap...it's me'

'Excuse me..' Zoya looked up at Asad

'oh...I mean it's me...Zoya'.

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Salaam All

For those who know my work will remember a 3S I wrote called Lost Soul, at the same time I started this but left it.

I was convinced by my two crazy sisters ChocoBerry and Einstein to post it. It will be a very short story and I will be writing it as I go along so not sure how quickly I will be able to update.

I hope you like it, please do hit the like button and leave me some feedback, I would really appreciate it.

Lots of Love

Saima