Music Camp { A Short Luke Hemmings Novel }

O n e

You were so excited for your week of music camp. You had signed up for it half a year ago, together with your best friend, and now the time's finally here. It was some sort of camp in which you could make music, make friends and learn stuff. You would learn to play new songs, and to improve your technique. In this week you would form a band with people, and at the end of the week you had a performance in which you had to perform the song you'd written with that band.

You were in the car, driven by your mother. The camp was like two hours away from your hometown, but she didn't mind to bring the two of you, surprisingly. You could tell that Bethany was also really excited. She had a huge smile plastered on her face and she was fumbling with her fingers.

''I hope there are some nice people to form a band with,'' she says, and I nod. ''Yeah, I really do, otherwise it's going to be so awkward,'' Bethany nods in agreement.

After a while of driving the three of you finally arrive at the location. ''We're here,'' you say with a smile while looking out the window. You already see people with bags and instruments. A warm feeling fills your stomach at the sight of it. You're going to spend a week with these people, and you're going to have a lot of fun. You love to make music and listen to it, Bethany and you make music together all the time.

It really helps that you like the same kinds of music, makes things a lot easier.

You both get out of the car and get your stuff out of the trunk. You both grab your guitars and your normal stuff before turning towards the other people, saying a quick good bye to your mother. You see that there's already a group of adults that gathered in front of the group with people your age. This camp is for people from the age sixteen till twenty-one, which is kind of great since you were both eighteen and nineteen. Bethany being the one who's nineteen and you were nineteen.

''Hi there,'' a nice girl, who suddenly appears in front of you, says. ''Hi,'' you both greet her.

''What do you guys play?'' She asks you, but then she notices your guitar bags. ''Oh, never mind. I play bass,'' she says with a big smile. ''I'm Jennifer by the way, who are you?''

You both tell her your names, and she smiles and tells the two of you she's sixteen, and she hopes to be in a band with you. You're about to talk back to her when suddenly one of the adults starts talking through a microphone.

''Hello there boys and girls,'' he greets you. He's a man with a bald head, but with a moustache and beard. He seems like he's around his forties, and he looks really nice.

''Welcome to Music Camp!" He greets you, and everyone cheers. ''Have you come here to make music, or not?'' You all yell ''yeah!'' and you smile and the excitement around you.

''Well, that's great to hear. I have a few things I need to tell you before you can go to the cabins in which you will be sleeping,'' he tells you, and you all listen with all our attention. Partly because you want to, and partly because you just want to know in which cabin you'll sleep.

''Well, you probably already know the main things we're going to do in this camp. We'll teach you some new things, like playing in a band, and technical things. We'll have nice events all day long, like campfires in the evenings and improvisation moments in which you can play something if you like. Apart from that we'll also make groups, which will form a band. We'll make those bands based on your skills, so be prepared,'' he explains, and Bethany and I exchange a quick look. You're quite afraid, because you thought you could make those groups ourselves. Not that it would be so much better, since you don't really have friends here yet.

After the man explained some other things he's going to call the names for the cabins. ''Okay, in cabin A we have... David Lukowski, Julian Terrence, Lance Bennett and Ferry Wild,'' he calls the first names. The boys cheer, because apparently they're friends or something like that. Maybe that means he's splitting up the groups based on the people you know... You hope. There's four people in one cabin... Well, you're curious.