From Inside the Maze: A Collection of Short Stories

Strangers to Friends in Seconds

Mercy was ready for disappointment. As they turned left from the highway and onto a dirt road, her mom glanced over at her and smiled.

"Are you excited to finally be going to camp?" she asked.

Mercy gave a small, fake smile. "Yeah."

Her mother had gone to the camp every summer when she was a kid and had been wanting Mercy to go for years. But for the past several summers, Mercy had played on a summer basketball team that occupied too much time and was too important for her to just take a week off to go to some camp in the mountains. This year, however, Mercy would be starting high school in the fall and so she signed up for a basketball camp hosted by the high school coach in July. Her mother decided that since she wouldn't be so busy in June she could go to her childhood camp.

"I know you're going to love it," her mother said.

Mercy replied with a half nod as she stared at the trees fly by out the window.

The camp finally came into view. Mercy saw a pond and some buildings. Oh boy, she thought.

They got her registered and Mercy found out she was in a cabin called Chickadee, which happened to be at the top of the slope that all the girl's cabins were on.

After meeting her counselor, a college aged girl named Alicia, they trekked up the hill. When they got to the top they entered where she saw five other girls unpacking their things.

After Mercy unpacked her stuff, Alicia said that they could do whatever they wanted to do until dinner.

She walked, or stumbled, down the hill and wandered around inside the main building wondered what she was going to do for the next hour and a half. After deciding that she didn't want to play card games she ventured back outside, cross over the small creek that ran through camp and found a lot of people playing games or just hanging out.

She looked around until she spotted some boys and counselors playing basketball. Sweet, she thought and wove through people over to the boys.

"Hey, can I join?" she said, as loudly as she could without shouting.

The boys looked at each other, none of them wanting to say yes or no. Thankfully one of the counselors said, "Sure, you're can on my team. It's me, Ben, Isaac, and you."

The game started up again with doubting looks from her teammates but after she'd scored a couple baskets the boys didn't seem to mind her playing. Time flew by and it did for Mercy when playing basketball and soon enough the dinner bell was ringing and kids were running.

Mercy entered into the dining room. The table where Ben, Isaac, and the other boys were sitting was full. She saw that the table where all the girls from her cabin were sitting had an empty seat.

"Hey," said the girl on her right as she sat down. "You're in Chickadee, right?"

Mercy nodded.

"I'm Zora," she said. She had long brown hair and glasses.

"I'm Mercy," Mercy said to the girl.

"Hi Mercy," said the girl sitting across from Zora. She had brown hair that was not as long as Zora's and a bright tie-dye shirt. "I'm Ellie."

As food was being passed around the table, Zora asked, "Is this your first year?"

"Yeah," Mercy said, almost embarrassed. She could tell by the way they acted that they'd probably been coming here since they were like eight. She took a deep breath and asked, "Are you guys going to be freshmen too?"

"Yeah," they said together.

All throughout the meal, they talked excitedly to each other while also trying to get Mercy to talk about herself. It wasn't going well for them until Ellie said, "That was some pretty great basketball you were playing out there."

Mercy looked up from her food, blushing. "Thanks. Do you play?"

"No," she said. "I swim."

"And I walk up that hill to the girl's cabins every year and figure that that's good for the rest of the year," Zora joked.

"So, do you play for some team?" Ellie asked.

"I usually play for a summer team, but this year I'm just preparing for high school basketball which is why I now have the time to come to camp," Mercy explained.

The conversation continued as Mercy, Zora, and Ellie talked about sports, school, and funny or weird stuff that had happened to them.

Mercy began to open up a little. That evening before lights out she talked with Zora and Ellie, laughed with them, sang weird songs with them. She knew the disappointment she'd been expecting wasn't going to happen.

At the end of the week, at the talent show, Mercy, Zora, and Ellie got up on stage and sang crazy song that they'd made up during a hike.

The next morning, they had to say goodbye. They exchanged email addresses to keep in touch and when her mom asked her if she had a good time, Mercy said, "Yes!"

When Mercy had come to camp, she'd thought that there was no way she could have some much fun by herself all week and thought it would be impossible to make friends in one week. But all it took was a few hours and, of course, basketball.  

Because I can't dedicate a story to non-Wattpad users, here I would like to dedicate this story to the real Zora and Ellie and the real camp that this story is based on, all three of which have changed my life in numerous ways.