Heartspoken

Chapter One: Camp Harmony

I might be off to a rough start, but here you go ^-^ *

*EDITED* by my awesome friend "Wind_97". :)

-------

~Heartspoken; Chapter One: Camp Harmony~

This won't be too bad, will it? 

Kaylee Barnett sighed and leaned her head against the window of her father's car. At first, she was excited to be going to a summer camp. Then she realized she was going to be there for an entire week with a bunch of strangers. 

Most kids would have leapt at the thought of being on their own for a week. No parents? No rules? Big deal. But for Kaylee, she now realized it was a big deal for her. 

Outside of home, she had to bear the sneers and jeers from people who made fun of the fact that she couldn’t speak up. Shy. Dumb. Those were names that hurt a lot. There weren’t many girls at school who stood at 5'1", which served as the main focus of her teasing. And while there were plenty of blondes in her class, she was the only one who became the subject of dumb blonde jokes.

Suddenly, summer camp felt like going back to school, only faster.

She was delighted to hear that her best friend had signed up to go, too. At least that’s one friendly face she would recognize. But while summer break was coming to an end, did she really want to spend her last week at a camp with people she didn't know? 

What if I get bullied the whole time? What if I get into an embarrassing situation? What if-

Glancing in the mirror, Jordan, her father, could see the creases on Kaylee’s face. "Don't worry, Kaylee, it'll be fine! Besides, you signed up for this and I already paid for it. We can't get a refund, kiddo."

Kaylee sighed again. His words were true: the trip was paid for, and since she made a promise, she was going to stick to it. Even if the thought of summer camp frightened her.

Kaylee grumbled and turned back to look out the window. The bare patches of land soon gave way to rows of trees as they grew closer to the camp.

For a first-timer in the woods, she took this all in with amazement. The closest she’d ever been to camping was sleeping out in her own backyard, and cabins were only found in the books she read. But after seeing that Camp Harmony, the vocal and art camp she had signed up for, was in the heart of the woods, she jumped at the opportunity. 

I guess I'm just over-reacting... it's only a summer camp. I can try to make new friends while I'm here! Oh, maybe I'll find a cute boy...

With a relaxed sigh, Kaylee closed her eyes and let sleep take over her mind.

--

Someone was shaking her by the shoulders. "Kaylee, wake up! We're here." Jordan was reaching back from the driver's seat, resting a hand on her shoulder. She moved away and wiped at her eyes, trying to rub the sleep away. 

He already had her duffel-bag and handbag sitting against the back wheel of the car and was holding the door open when Kaylee opened her eyes. Kaylee's dirty-blonde hair was now a mess and her green eyes dull from her recent cat-nap.

She got out of the car, letting her dad shut the door behind her, and stretched. The view was beautiful, even though she stood in a parking lot full of random cars and people. In the distance, she could see small cabins hiding behind the trees. There was a pathway at the end of the parking lot leading to the buildings she could see. 

She was going to have to walk through a wooded area to the camp?

"Come on, Kaylee! I think we have to go over here to get you signed up." Jordan grabbed Kaylee's dark green duffel-bag and started walking over towards a crowd of people. Kaylee snatched up her handbag and ran to catch up with her father. 

She laughed at Jordan's excited attitude. She was going to be away from home for a week, and he was happy? "Are you trying to get rid of me?" 

"Get rid of you? Of course not, Lily-Pad!" 

Kaylee cringed slightly, her cheeks blushing at the mention of her father's nickname for her: Lilypad, because of her dark green eyes.

"Okay, okay!" Kaylee laughed again, nudging her father with her elbow.

"Hi!" A tall woman, around her forties or so, stood in front of them with a bright smile. "Welcome to Camp Harmony! I'm Angie, and I'm one of the few camp leaders here!" 

How can one person be so enthusiastic? Kaylee thought. "Hello." Kaylee and Jordan shook hands with Angie, and they introduced themselves.

Angie wasn't very tall, but she stood a few inches higher than Kaylee. Her hair was brown, but greying at the roots. She looked to be forty, or maybe older. Kaylee guessed that was probably from the stress of being a camp counselor.

"Well, Kaylee, get your bags and come with me! Mr. Barnett, it was lovely meeting you." Rushed, Kaylee grabbed her duffel-bag from Jordan, giving him a quick goodbye before hurrying off to follow after Angie. Soon, she was greeted by a crowd of teenagers, ages ranging from thirteen to sixteen, scrambling to find friends they were supposed to meet. 

"Kaylee!" Kaylee looked over to find, a slightly taller brunette running in her direction, desperately trying to keep her own blue duffel-bag strap secured on her shoulder while she hauled a small suitcase behind her. It had no wheels and was dragging the ground, but her hazel eyes were focused instead on Kaylee as she ran straight into her, knocking her down. 

Kaylee laughed. "Hey, Ashley!" Ashley let Kaylee go and bounced on her feet, her pearly-white teeth showing with a wide smile. "I haven't talked to you in, like, forever!"

It's only been two days, Kaylee thought.

“How have you been? How's your dad? Has your summer been okay? What about..."

Ashley kept rambling on, but Kaylee ignored her. Behind her friend, she could see a fair-skinned, dark-haired man standing with the other counselors. She couldn't make out the name on his name-tag, but she didn't care about that at the moment. He was young, she could tell. He was strong, with muscles you could see through his white button-up shirt. But he was a counselor, so he couldn't be a teenager, could he?

He glanced up and saw her looking at him. 

Kaylee looked away, embarrassed. "Oh no, he saw me!" she said in a hushed whisper. 

Ashley stopped ranting and tilted her head, confused. "He saw you? Who saw you?" Kaylee had no time to explain. The counselors had all walked over to the group of kids.

Angie put her fingers to her lips and blew a sharp, short whistle. Everyone else turned to look at her. 

"Now that I have your attention, I want you all to follow me and Miss Stanley. We have a short walk to the camp, and then we’ll assign you to your cabins before we give you your schedules. Let’s get to it!”

There was a scuffling of noises as they picked up their bags and shuffled along after the leaders.

Maybe this won't be such a bad idea after all. 

Little did Kaylee know, everything was going to go downhill from there.

-------

And there you go! =) If I made any spelling, punctuation, etc errors anywhere in my story, comment and tell me! If you have any tips for me, I'd love to hear those, too! =)

Comments/reviews are very much appreciated, so a simple "I like it!", "I hate it!", etc is helpful!

~Rose~