"Val!!!" My mom yelled up the stairs to my bedroom, "You have to get ready!"
"Ugh..." I muttered under my breath. Then I yelled, "COMING!!"
I ran down the stairs to my mom with a huge backpack and an even bigger smile on her face. My dad came out of the kitchen wearing all camo.
"Dad?" I began, "What the freaking hell are you wearing?"
"Babyyyyyy!" He yelled, "We are goin' camping for the summer!"
"WHAT?!?! But- But- I-"
"You can bring anyone you would like! Me and your mom will share a site and then you and your friends will share another one."
"Um... Are you actually kidding me right now dad? I am not going into (ugh) nature for my whole summer!"
"Actually you are honey. We are all going and you can bring your little boyfriend and Elle if you want." Dad said, "We already asked them and they said that they would come for you. But that Duke fellow, sheesh, he really didn't want to -"
"WELL I DON'T EITHER!!!!" I yelled, running up the stairs to my bed.
I heard murmuring downstairs. And then Jake walked into my room.
"Hey hon." He started, "I don't think your parents are going to drop it, besides. How bad can camping be-" He began
"Extremely bad..." I cut him off, "Have you ever been???"
"Yeah. I thought it was fine."
"Hrmph... Well when I went all we did was go on nature walks and that's it."
"Babe... I sort of think that's the point of camping?"
Our conversation stopped when Elle walked into my room wearing the cutest camping outfit I had ever seen. She was wearing these amazing jean shorts and a tye dye shirt. She was wearing an original pair of Dr. Martens and her hair was tied back with a ribbon. She had an amazing backpack and she was also wearing a pair of faux glasses.
"OMG I LOVE YOUR OUTFIT!!!!" I screeched.
"THANK YOU SO MUCH!!" She replied, "Alsoooooo.... I was able to convince Duke to go!"
"Awesome!!"
I started packing outfit after outfit. I packed some personal stuff too. After I was done I was literally sweating. Elle and Jake had been talking about what they had packed. They both brought a ton of sweatshirts for the night and a ton of good shoes.
I put on my camping outfit which was a pair of lululemon leggings, a white tank top, a blue and black flannel jacket, my hair was in 2 french braids, and I was wearing a pair of white Vans.
Both Jake and Elle had brought their baggage and the only person we were waiting for was Duke. Pretty soon he had made his "grand entrance" carrying a huge suitcase and an even larger backpack. My parents were right behind him.
"Ready guys???" My dad exclaimed.
"No.." I mumbled under my breath.
My mom gave a stern look at me but then she brushed it off and took Duke's suitcase.
"Thank you Ms. Walters." He said pleasantly.
We all walk down the stairs in a single file line to our ginormous RV. I looked questionally at it.
"So wait... We are going to be camping HERE???" I asked excitedly.
"No haha, we are just going to be on the road for so long that we need somewhere to sleep." My dad laughed.
I groaned and climbed in. At least this would be stylish.
"So where exactly are we planning on going?" I asked.
"We are going to Yosemite!" He sheepishly said, bracing himself for my reaction.
"YOSEMITE???? THAT IS FREAKING IN CALIFORNIA FOR CRISTS SAKES! ARE YOU ACTUALLY KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW OR-"
He cut me off with a, "Yeah, it's gonna be a long drive... BUT- here's the thing..." he paused for a moment and finished with, "your gonna have to deal with it!"
I crossed my arms and leaned against the sofa we brought into our RV. Jake sat next to me and put his arm around me. I leaned my head against his shoulder and we stayed like that for a few minutes.
He whispered, "At least we get to be together" into my ear.
"Yeah, you and Elle are going to be the only thing to make this bearable." I replied in a gruff voice.
He then kissed me on my head and I then turned on the tv in the RV.
"What do you guys want to watch?" I asked (trying to sound cheerful).
"I don't care... Maybe we can watch like stranger things or something" Duke suggested.
"Mhm..." I said, turning it on.
As soon as I pressed play Duke and Elle were making out. That made me even more uptight and I crossed my arms. I hated this trip already. Sure, I love Elle but it always really annoyed me because I felt like she chose Duke over me a lot. We drove for like 15 hours and we stopped at a motel. We were just going to stay in the parking lot for the night. I took my braids out and my hair went literally everywhere. I had to get into the shower and when I came out I got ready for bed. I put on a super cute pair of pajamas with cute teddy bears on them. I did my night routine and got into my bunk bed in Jake and my room. I always slept on the bottom and Jake on top of them. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
The next morning I woke up to the smell of pancakes. Jake, surprisingly, was an incredible cook! He was standing in front of our stove and I went up behind him and hugged him. He honestly didn't seem surprised it was me.
I said, "Hey hon, how's the pancakes?"
He replied with, "Delicious"
At that moment Elle and Duke came out of their room together and they were holding hands.
"Hey guys!" I exclaimed.
In a gruff voice Elle said, "Hey Val..." She yawned and continued with, "Duke and I got literally no sleep last night."
I nodded and ate my pancake. We drove for the whole rest of the day and finally got to Yosemite. I saw our campsite and was immediately overwhelmed.
"B- but guys, where is the bathroom?" I stuttered.
My dad rolled his eyes and said, "Look around Val, the world is your bathroom"
I cringed as he said that and went over to Jake.
"Hey, where do you want to put our tent?" I asked him.
He pointed to a flat area of land. We took our huge tents out and put them up. The sun was going down so I decided to humor my parents.
"Ok, so where is the restaurant?" I jokingly asked.
"I- Valentina... I- wow..." My mom said.
My dad emerged from the car and brought out some hot dogs and buns. I was really happy, that was what I was hoping for. We ate and soon we saw the moon coming out. It was honestly really pretty.
Early the next morning I was shocked to find Elle and Duke making a fire. They're great but I never expected that to happen. I looked around the campsite and saw that a small tree had fallen. I had heard bumps and thumps but I just thought it was Elle and Duke. Maybe I was just imagining things. I don't know.
"Hey guys, this may be kinda awkward but did you, you know, last night?" I asked awkwardly.
Elle laughed and said, "No Valentina we did not, you know, last night. Any more questions?"
"Did either of you push over that tree yesterday?" I said.
"Uh no?" Duke chimed in.
I noticed something else was kind of different about the campsite too.
"Guys.. Where is my parent's tent?"
