Under the Stars

Chapter 4: The Grand Tour

I spent most of my first day unpacking my stuff, and exploring camp. I pinned my schedule to the headboard of my bunk, and flopped down on top of it.

 "Hey!" Donna said, climbing down her bunk. "Let me give you a tour of camp!" "Uh," I was hesitant, but then remembered my promise to myself to open up. "Sure," I relented, letting Donna grab my hand and lead me out of the cabin. 

"So," she said, leading me around the cabins and opposite the outdoor stage. She pointed at a cabin which was larger than our cabins. "That's the painting and sketching station with Dell, AKA the place you're going to be working at for the next three weeks." I took a good look. It was a nice shade of brown with a cheerful red roof. 

"That over there is the station for musical theatre, so Drew's cabin," I followed Donna's gaze over to another cabin placed right next to the stage. 

"And that's the modeling and design station, the one I'm in." Donna's mood changed. She picked up a stick and began snapping it into little pieces. "Monroe's station?" I questioned, seeing Donna instantly flinch. "Yeah," Donna said, and I was very aware of the needles in her voice. I changed the subject. 

"Where's Ashley's cabin?" I asked quickly. "The creative writing coach?" Donna asked, looking up. I was relieved to see a smile on her face. "The creative writing kids don't have one." "They do all their work outdoors."

I nodded, and Donna grabbed my arm and yanked me along, out of the clearing.

For the next hour or so, I spent with Donna as she took me around camp. She showed me the dining hall, which was built in the style of a greenhouse, with the sunlight refracting off it making it look like a glittering diamond. There were rows of benches which were arrayed next to the buffet table.

The field was another clearing, which was led to by another cobbled pathway. It was a splash of perfectly mowed down grass, in a forest. It had some soccer nets on opposite sides. 

But my favorite sight would have had to be the lake, at the very edge of camp. There was a wooden dock outstretched into the waters, with multi-colored canoes tied to it. The lake sparkled, with little crests of foam dipping down and up with the ripples. A few ducks lazily floated around it, and on the other side, I could faintly see an outline of mountains.

"I can't believe how beautiful this camp is!" I said in awe, as Donna and I walked side by side back to the cabins after the tour. Donna nodded, clearly lost in memory.  "I remember my first year here," she said, with a little grin. "I live in a pretty crappy town here in Maine, so this was like paradise to me." 

"But, you're used to it now?" I questioned, slapping a gnat on my arm. I had not anticipated how many bugs would be at this camp. Donna nodded. "I've been going here for three years now, and I guess can pretty much call it home." We ended up right by the cabins again.

"So final stop on our tour, these are the cabins," Donna pointed at the row of around five cabins with pink roofs, and then opposite those cabins the row of cabins with blue roofs in which I'd had my embarrassing encounter. 

"Oh I accidentally stumbled into those cabins," I said absentmindedly. Donna looked surprised. "You did?" she giggled. I mentally slapped myself. I could feel my cheeks starting to redden. Donna nudged me. "No wait, what happened?"

 I could feel tears starting and wanted to scream . Why was I crying? Was I just a stupid unstable crybaby who couldn't handle anything? My frustration at crying did nothing but frustrate me even more which resulted in my eyes to leak uncontrollably. I scrubbed my tears away with one hand, leaning on a nearby tree as the forest around us and the cabins swam in my vision. I waited. I waited for my only sort-of friend to laugh at me. To throw my already crushed dignity on the ground and stomp on it with cruel words, and sneers.