The Boy Next Door.

9. Camping

Cassy:

The rest of the week is relatively uneventful. It turned out that the reason Jared left the other night was because his grandmother had a heart attack. They left that same night to go see her where she's in a private hospital in Plettenberg Bay, where she stays. As for school, we mostly did some fun exercises in class. I also made a new friend, Mike. We just clicked, and we got to know each other quite well during the week.

It's Thursday, and I'm waiting for Ashley. We are about to be entertained by the Gr 8s. It's tradition that they end the week with a concert for the whole school.

"Hi, where's everybody?" she asks when she joins me outside the assembly hall.

"Don't know, but I also just got here," I say, looking for the others. After the movie night, I became a regular with the group.

"There they are," Ashley says, pointing behind me.

We move through the crowd and join them just as everybody is starting to move into the hall.

"What do you hear from Jared?" Justin asks Neil as we settle in and wait for the concert to start.

"I spoke to him yesterday. His grandmother is doing much better and going home tomorrow. It was just a mild heart attack, but his parents are going to stay till the end of the weekend to make sure she's settled in at home and to arrange for a carer for her," Neil says.

"So, is he coming this weekend?" Tanya wants to know.

"He wants to, but he will have to hitch hike back to George. He said he'll see us when he sees us," Neil answers her question.

Just then, the curtains start to open, and we are forced to leave the discussion for later. Everybody insisted that I join them for the weekend, and I don't want to look too closely at the reason for the sudden lost of excitement I feel after hearing that Jared might not be joining us.

The concert is a huge success, and after the curtains close, the principal asks the Gr 8's and matrics to stay behind while the rest of the school are excused.

The student body booked the whole camping site at Victoria Bay from tomorrow until Sunday. The matrics that are going had to pay for their own stand at the campsite. They are also responsible for their own tents and food for the weekend. The school has their own massive marquee tent they use for events, and all the Gr 8's will be sleeping in it. The school will also be catering for their meals for Friday and Saturday night.

Once the rest of the school has left, the principal explains the program for the weekend.

There will be two buses taking the kids without their own transport to Vic Bay tomorrow morning. The morning will be spent setting up the tents and the afternoon we can use to get to know each other.

On Saturday morning, we have a Boere Sports Competition between the Gr 8's and the matrics. Games like 3 Legged racing, Tuck of War, Pillow Wars, Wheelbarrow racing, and Egg Throw are just some of the games planned for the morning. We need to put our names down for the races by the end of Friday.

A volleyball competition is planned for Saturday afternoon, but this time, the teams will exist of groups made up of matrics and Gr 8's in one team. We will end the day with a dance at the Far Hills Hotel, about a five minutes drive from the camp site. The music department will be responsible for the music.

Sunday morning is clean-up time with the buses leaving at 14h00. The principal reminds us again that the success of the weekend depends on everybody working together and cautions us not to do anything to damage the good name of the school. He also says that they organized for a team of life savers to be on duty for the weekend, also from our school, and that their word goes when it comes to swimming.

After he wishes us a safe weekend, the assembly is adjourned.

We all agree to meet at Justin's house after school. He has a six sleeper tent, and we are all going to help to get everything ready for tomorrow. Ashley offers me a lift, and after school, we all agree to be at Justin's by three.