The Lake Days

Chapter 1

I jumped down from the cab of our black Chevy pick up truck and heard the familiar crunch of gravel beneath my beat up, cheap , plastic flip flops. I closed my eyes and inhaled the smell of the lake, it wasn't a necessarily pleasant smell but it soothed my senses and wrapped me in happy memories from the past. I saw my friends and family sitting around a campfire late at night, laughing and telling stories. I remembered an one incident when we were out on the lake tubing, my cousin had been thrown from our red three seater tube and in the air she had spread her arms like a bird in flight. The image brought a smile to my face. "Deli!" I heard a voice squeal and then a body jumped on my back. I laughed, "Hey, Kno," I said and she slid off my back.

Her real name was Juno and mine was Delilah, but we always called each other by our nicknames. Juno was a petite little girl with stick straight blonde hair and big eyes that switched from blue to gray. She was always perky and brought a smile to your face every time you saw her. "Come on, let's go help," I told her, we jogged up to her sister, Mackenzie, who we called Mac. "Hey guys," she said. Mac and Kno looked nothing alike, Mac had a muscular build and bouncing brown curls that always framed her face, and though Mac could never get a tan, Juno was always outside so her hair bleached and her skin tanned in the summer. "Mind helping with the tent?" Mac asked us, "sure," I replied, "are Maisie and Andrew here yet?" I asked looking around the campsite. She shook her head, "doesn't look like it."

Kno and I helped Mac pitch the tent while our parents got the campers settled. Even though we could sleep on a mattress in our heated and air conditioned campers, us girls always slept together in the tent. It became a tradition when Mac and Kno didn't have a camper and had to stay in ours, it became too crowded so we pitched a tent. That was a while ago but we never stopped doing it. "Delilah!"I heard my mom yell, "you need to go watch your siblings at the park!" I groaned, "okay, mom!" I crossed the old gravel road to the green and tan colored park that sat at the lakes edge and sat underneath the shelter. My five year old sister, Dana played on the swings and my eleven year old brother, Griffin, was rustling through the cattails, probably looking for frogs. 

I heard the roar of an engine pull up behind me, I turned around to see the familiar gray dodge park in the camping spot next to mine. "Dana, Griffin!" I yelled, "Maisie and Andrew are here!" Dana immediately jumped off the swing, yelling, "ya!" She loved Maisie, and Andrew, they were like her cousins since we didn't have any in town. I smiled, the gang was back together again.