Campfire Stories

Chapter 1

"You are coming tonight, right? " My older sister Angela texts me.

She is someone I hardly ever see, since she is nineteen and graduated high school at age sixteen: my age. She was supposed to graduate at age seventeen because she started early, but she was smart enough to skip a grade. She had a year of college already, is dating this guy, Kendall I think his name is, and is a huge daredevil. Because she is home for a week over the summer, she invited a few high school and college friends for a camping trip. And me and my brother Ray. I won't know anyone there besides Angela and Ray. I don't see them very often because:

a) Angela and I were not very talkative to each other when she lived with us, and I haven't seen her for the two years she has been gone. Just in holidays, and even then I didn't really see her. When I did look at her, she was making goo-goo eyes at Kendall, her boyfriend. Even I am smarter than that idiot of a college kid. If he played Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader, he would lose to anyone, a fifth grader, or even a kindergartner.

b) And Ray, well, we were never really close. I have two more years left of high school and he has the whole four left. He is really quiet at home, but personally, I've seen him be a chatterbox around his friends. He also does engineering classes all the time, so I'm usually just with my mom around the house. But IQ is studying and taking extra courses at school. IQ is our family nickname for Quentin. He is really smart for his age, and skipped two grades sort of like Angela, but she just went in early and skipped a grade instead of skipping two grades. He won't be going to the trip though because he is only twelve.

"Chels?" She replies to her own text. I was so caught up in my own thoughts I forgot to reply.
"Well, I don't know. . . There are a lot of things that can hurt or kill you in nature. . . " I reply. While my sister is a smart daredevil, I am a non-athletic, Spelling Bee winner scared teenager.
"I am picking up you and Ray in ten minutes. Be ready! :)" she texts back. I quickly grab a suitcase from the closet just outside my bedroom door, and run back to my room and toss in piles of clothes. Thankfully, I did my laundry yesturday. But it would've given me an excuse. . .
Snap put of it! I think to myself. Focus.
After I have packed, well, thrown my clothes into the suitcase, I run over to my parents' room, where I grab a pair of hiking boots and my mom's bright blue bandana. I continue my thoughts as I continue packing.
Angela was telling me about some of the people going. She invited a few college friends, and some of her friends younger siblings. She told me about Lydia, her best friends whose younger sister Avery is going to it. And Avery is my age, so we should get along well. Maybe. My sister's boyfriend is going, but he is a dipstick so I try not to think about him. McKenna is another one of my sister's friends, but I don't know her as well as I do Lydia. I don't even know Lydia that well, either.
I try to remember who else is coming.
Elaina is another girl coming who convinced Angela her boyfriend also needed to come along. He is yet another dipstick I very much dislike. Then there are a few more. Angela invited Issac (her guy friend, who is totally cool with Angela dating the dipstick but they have dated before) and his younger brother Cole who is my age. Then she invited a few random people to become friends with, so she invited a punk girl named Izabel who has all black hair and all black clothes, a shy guy named Phineas, who I hear is a complete nerd, and a super talkative sophomore named Sophie. Apparently Sophie told Angela they should call her 'Sophie the Sophomore' but Angela said no. Sophie almost decided not to come because of that. I think Angela almost uninvited her anyways.
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"Chelsea! Get your butt over here!" My sister picked me up ten minutes after I finished packing, and Ray has already fallen asleep in the car. It has only been seven minutes. We just took a rest break to go the the bathroom and apparently I took too long. I strut back, bouncing my unnatural beach waves (It's camp with friends, not rednecks) as I walk. I pull up my pants with my tucked in tye-die T-shirt, and pull my belt a little looser. I open the car door with one hand, and with the other hand, I call Sunny, my best friend.