The Struggles of Summer Vacation

Chapter 3~Dorms and Neighbors

After the talk about Ike Kupuna we, the girls, were escorted out of the room and lined up by name tag color and number. I was #2 and my name tag said I was in the green group. The green group lined up in number order and so did the orange group.

"Now look to the person directly across from you!" I turned to a girl wearing a braid and a blue headband. We waved to each other, not exchanging any words. I made a fake smile and she made a nervous one. 'Yay,' I thought to myself dully, 'I got a shy one.'

We were half way to our dorms when our leader, Aunty Taylor, stopped and turned around to speak to us.

"You have to be calling these two colors by their Hawaiian names. Omaomao is green and Alani is orange." She said sternly. "You will have two days, including this afternoon, to get used to that. Now we will be staying at the dorm LihoLiho. That is where you'll be sleeping, and changing every morning. Got that?" The walkways began to echo with the sounds of, "yes!" "Uh-huh" "got it" and other replies I failed to hear in the nervous whispering. "Good."

We started walking down the last flight of stairs and eventually reached what Aunty Taylor said was our dorms. I heard moaning and groaning as the majority of the kids looked at the building in disgust. "Maybe it looks nicer on the inside?" I said staring at one of the closed windows.

"That better be the case." said the girl behind me. She had a long nose and blue braces, that matched her well. "Hi," she said in a lisp. "My name's Addison." I looked at her, unsure what to do next. I put my hand out, hoping not to make things too awkward.

"My name's Sarah." She took my hand and shook it hardly.

"Well, Sarah...It looks like we're going to be neighbors for this week, so you better get used to me!" She said playfully. She was smiling, but something about her expression seemed insincere.

"Sure," I replied nervously. Putting my hand at the brim of my shorts. I stepped carefully down the three concrete stairs and heard Addison skipping behind me. 'Oh boy,' I said to myself. 'N-neighbors? Does that mean I'll be staying in a dorm...c-close to hers?!' I shivered with horror. Not that I didn't like her, but staying anywhere too close to other people I don't know very well... We were now standing directly in front of the door...but crowding it was a mountain of suit cases taller than myself. We went in number order taking our luggage and hauling it up the stairs to the room assigned to us. I was room 206. I walked into my room and stared at the bed, desk (with no seat), closet, and dresser. I started unpacking everything. My roommate popped through the door carrying her large suit case.

"This thing's so much heavier than it was when I first got here!" She said, trying to break the silence of the room.

"Same...here...I guess," I studdered placing my cloths inside the dressers. A few moments passed and the dorm was now full of all the other girls attending the camp. I stood up and tried to pull open the closet. It wouldn't budge. "I wonder why this closets locked..." I inquired softly, walking back to my suit case.

"Yeah..." My roommate said shyly. "Maybe theirs a secret hidden behind those doors, the dorm leaders don't want us finding out about." I laughed.

"That would be pretty cool!" I giggled still unloading my cloths. The next thing I remember is hearing a loud voice coming from the main hallway. No doubt about it, that was Aunty Taylor. I peeked out the door and I was met by the gaze of all the other girls in the dorm. 'Here we go...'