How Far We've Come

Chapter 25

The next morning, I woke up to bright light flooding into the tent. Rather than sleeping in, like I did for Justin's Ferry, I gathered all my things and began getting ready.

    The nearest actual bathroom was almost a mile away, so going there was out of the question. Instead, I grabbed my large water bottle filled with water from home and my toothbrush, walking to the large faucets on a wooden plank at the edge of the camp sites. With difficulty, I managed to brush my teeth using the paste from home and the water bottle, spitting near the faucet.

    I stuffed my wet toothbrush into a plastic bag and shoved it into my toiletry bag. Carefully, I pulled out two contacts cases and used the camera on my phone as a mirror to put them in. I went to the bathroom and changed in the porta-potty at the edge of the road, across from the campsite. In a few minutes, I was dressed and ready to go.

    It was lucky too, that I got up so early, because there was soon a line for the porta-potty. I grabbed my plate and shifted under the uncomfortable clothes I was wearing. But, it would come in handy later with kayaking.

    The clothes were a water-wicking sports shirt with a rain jacket on top. My pants were also sports pants, but I had put thin rain pants on top of those. My shoes were thin water shoes that made me feel like I was walking with socks rather than shoes.

    Breakfast was probably my favorite meal of them all, with fluffy pancakes and maple syrup, topped with berries. I stuffed another orange in my backpack, eating one after the sweet, syrupy pancakes and finally drinking some iced tea to clear my stomach.

    While many students had finished eating like me, others were just waking up. To pass the time, we decided to play a game.

    "It's called Ninja," Jeanine explained. "You pretty much start out in fighting stance and have to avoid your arms from getting hit with a single move. But you have to stay in that position until your turn comes again."

    It turned out to be really fun, but I wasn't the best at it. I usually got hit on my first or second time and spent the rest of the round watching people intently playing. One girl aimed for another girl at the other end of the circle, jumping forward and landing face-first on the hard sand. Needless to say, she missed.

    Soon, Mr. Marvin joined us. He was a pro at the game, having played it so many times before. It all came down to him and Jeanine, but he won with a skillful jump through the air, hitting her other hand and landing on one foot. It was awesome.

    More students finished eating and Mrs. Callie suggested we play "What Time is it Mr. Fox?" The game involved one person saying a time and everyone walking that many steps towards him or her. At one point, "Mr. Fox" would yell "dinner time" and turn around, tagging people until they reached the safe zone. If you were tagged, you became a "Mr. Fox."

    This, I was really good at. I hated long distance running, but I wasn't that bad at short sprints. So I invested all my energy into running away and never once got tagged.

    Finally, it was down to five people. There were eleven "Mr. Fox"s and we had to run away from all of them. Clary was one of them, so I knew she would be chasing me. I took a deep breath and readied myself to run.

    "What time is it Mr. Fox?" Mrs. Callie called out in a strong voice.

    Unanimously, the eleven students in front of us replied, "Twelve o'clock!"

    Slowly, we took twelve steps towards them on the sandy beach. "One, two, three, four, five, six," we counted. "Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve!"

    We were inches away from the "Mr. Fox"s.

    "What time is it Mr. Fox?" we called out in trembling voices.