V.O.I.C.E

.Chapter Eighteen.

Chapter Eighteen                    Carter

“Owen, Owen, if you’re able,” everybody at our table started to yell.

Owen grounded and hissed, “Traitor,” as he glared at me as I yelled with everybody else. He pushed back his chair and stood up.

We continued to sing, “Get your elbows off the table! This is not a horse’s stable, but a first class dining table! Walk your butt! Walk, walk, your butt!”

At the beginning of dinner Mr. Conner had explained some of the music camp traditions, this song being one of them. If somebody were at the table during meal time and they were caught with their elbows on the table, that chant was sung and the offender would have to go up to the stage in the front of the dining hall and spell their name with their butt.

Owen reached the stage, and not embarrassed at all, spelt his name, doing a little dance between letters causing everybody to laugh even harder than they already were. When Owen got off the stage, he was high fived by a few students as he walked back to our table.

During diner few other students were called up to the stage to spell their names. When we were all finished we put our plates in bins for the parents who had come on the trip to wash up. Then we all sat back at our tables to wait for Mr. Conner to tell us what the ‘evening activity’ was. It turned out to be another interesting music camp tradition.

We were randomly made into groups of five. Each group was then given one bag and a place to go. “This activity is about getting to know people. In the bag you will find, one garbage bag, four sheets of newspaper, a roll of tape and a pair of scissors. You have thirty minutes to dress one person from your group up as your model, pick a song for them to strut their stuff on the music camp run way and come up with a little speech about what your model is wearing,” instructed Mr. Conner. “Ready? GO!”

We all rushed out to our designated ‘design’ area. My group, which consisted of me, Vic, and three other girls ran to our cabin. On our way, the girls were already planning what to do.  When we made it to our cabin, the shortest girl was picked as our model, so that we could use more of the materials on her.

She stripped off her baggy sweater and stood there in her undershirt and boxer underwear. The garbage bag was cut three times for her head and arms to fit through. I sat back and watched as the girls went to work, not sure what I could do. When the girls had the model almost ready, there was only ten minutes left until we were due back to the dining hall and I noticed what was missing from the outfit.

“We need shoes. Garbage bag or newspaper?” I asked as I stood up and went over to our model. We had yet to use the newspaper so I decided to use that to cover our models feet. When her feet were covered I taped them so they wouldn’t fall off. Then, being creative, I used some more tape and taped up her leg to her knee, doing a criss cross pattern. I also added some newspaper jewelry to her.

I finished just as a student teacher came to lead us back to the dining hall. The model was led to a separate entrance to the building so that the other students wouldn’t see the models before their run way walk.

The dining hall had been rearranged while we were out away. The stage that people had ‘walked their butts on’ was now going to be used as the run way and there was rows of chairs circling it. Mr. Conner had even set up a video camera off the side of the stage so he could capture every moment of the show, and probably use it for blackmail later.

I settled in to a group of chairs with all the other girls from my group minus the model and waited for the show to start. I noticed I didn’t see Owen or Eva in the crowd and I wondered if they would be modeling for us. Isabella soon found me and took a seat beside me, leaning her head on my shoulder.

A few minutes later, the first group’s music started and from the kitchen entered their model, one of the singer that I didn’t know very well. She did her walk a few times while the spokesperson explained how her look was going to be all over Paris next year, yes, garbage bags, newspaper and tape were going to be the next fashion trend!

The next model out was Owen. I nearly fell off my seat laughing as he strutted to the song I’m a Barbie girl by Aqua. His group had also given him shoes to wear with his newspaper mini skirt and his tube top that showed off his stomach. They’d finished the outfit by creating a wig out of long strips of paper and garbage bags, attaching it to his head with tape. The next three models went up and did their little walks as if they were wearing brand name designer clothes.

Then our model came onto the stage. We had tied her garbage bag so that it had one strap on her left shoulder, had cut the bottom of the garbage bag and gotten enough to make the dress a little shorter on our already short model and had them had her spin around while we just held the tap in our hands and let it unwind around her waist to give the dress a little shape. We had then added some a newspaper necklace and bracelet as well as her newspaper shoes.

The last model out was Eva. And before tonight I had never thought that any girl wearing a garbage bag would ever look as hot as she did. Her group had managed to make the garbage bag fit her perfectly. They had cut the garbage bag and newspaper into different sized strips. Using two pieces of garbage bag they made crisscrossed straps with a large bow at her back. They had then continued to wrap the rest of the bag around her body until it reached her mid thighs, leaving little holes open so you could see the sides of her stomach.  They had then taped some pieces of newspaper over some of the layers of dress. They had also done a newspaper hat that she wore on top of her head.

When fashion show was over and all the models were called back up to do a final walk before we were dismissed for the night. We had to be in our cabins but we were allowed the lights on for another twenty minutes, as we had finished up the fashion show early.

After brushing my teeth and all the other nightly duties I huddled into my sleeping bag, trying to get rid of the chill from my bones after walking around outside without a jacket. I feel asleep shortly after lights out and that night I went to bed dreaming about the garbage bags and newspaper dress that Eva had worn.