Finders Keepers

Chapter Three

Bailey
July 7th, 2014

Day two of Hell Camp began at seven AM with the lovely sound of four cell phone alarm clocks going off in unison. The cabin looked like an assembly line as we got ourselves ready for the day. The night before we had divided the cabin into stations for maximum productivity. Each girl starting at a different station and changing stations every ten minutes meant we could all make our rounds in 40 minutes. That left an extra ten minutes for last minute fixes to anything we needed before beginning the three-quarters mile hike to the lodge for breakfast.

Station one- The bathroom. Since we all showered at night, all that was left to do was: use the restroom, brush your teeth, and do the world's fastest hair and (sweat-proof) makeup.

Station two- Your suitcase. To avoid getting in each other's way it was best to take turns getting dressed and taking anything from your bag that you'd need for the day.

Station three- The kitchen. We all took the same ice chest with us to practices, so we would mark what water/Gatorade/snacks from the fridge were ours when filling it to prevent catfights. Cold water would start wars.

Station four- The main room. After Taylor and I folded and put away our couch bed, we sat out spray on sunscreen and deodorant and then cracked a window. When each girl got to this step, she would just stand near the window and apply sunscreen until sufficiently spf-ed. She would wait a bit afterward to give it time to dry and then use the deodorant. We may have torn a hole in the ozone with all the cans we used by the week's end. (But we never burned OR stank. So ha)

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Aside from our flawless morning routine, I don't remember much else about the details of day two. There was flag practice as usual. We had two routines to learn, plus a warmup. The warmup was a "mass camp activity" because on the last day we would begin our showcase by having the drum majors conduct the drumline, who would play the cadence that the guard would preform to. It was actually kind of surreal when it all fell together.

As for the routines, they were taught separately. Colorguard was broken into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced classes. The girls from my cabin were all Intermediate. Our routines were taught by two different women.
The first was Danielle. By the end of the week she had earned the title "Danielle the Devil" because she didn't seem to know the definition of break. Or water. Or kindness. Or sympathy. Or- well you get the point. Her song for us was Scars. Not the Papa Roach song, but some heavy metal band from Dallas, Texas that none of us could even find on YouTube.
The second was taught by Portia. Portia was from Antlers before she graduated and in my eyes she might have been the most beautiful person to ever walk the earth. She was younger than the other instructors, so her music taste was a bit different. Her routine was to Problem by Ariana Grande. (Her Advanced group did Car Radio by Twenty One Pilots and I will forever be jealous) Her class didn't seem as difficult. Probably because us Antlers girls were used to the way she taught because she used hometown terminology. Or maybe because we got to breathe every once in a while. Either way, it was my favorite.

Since we began the day (after breakfast) by practicing, classes were done around four o' clock. With the extra time, the camp leaders told us we could go back to the cabins and change into bathing suits and then go swimming in the lodge pool. Except.. My girls and I didn't. We went back to our cabin, took turns rinsing off in the shower, and took naps until dinner. I still don't regret that decision.

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That night, I didn't cry after I got off the phone with my mom. I knew that it was only going to get better. They had promised us a camp dance Thursday night and I was looking forward to it. I decided that I could tough it out just for the sake of a whole night of music. To this day I thank the heavens I did. I had no clue how much that night would mean later on.