Camp Rosanna (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 3 - Jaymie

"Last names, please?"

After unpacking the car, laughing a little bit more and then walking up to the patio where registrations were happening, the woman who was there asked us this as we approached her. I immediately loved the dress she was wearing; sleeves down to her elbows, skin-tight and olive green up to the waist, until it turned into a cream skirt that was long and had patterns of slits in it. It looked old-fashioned, and that stuff really interests me.

"Mill and Stevenson." My dad spoke on behalf of Stella and I as we all began to approach the lady.

"Alright... Jaymie... and Stella?"

"Yep," Stella and I chimed in unison, then we shot each other goofy grins.

"Nice to meet you, girls," the formal woman greeted. "I'm Sandra, and I'm the head councellor here at camp."

She outstretched her hand. I took it and shook it, then Stella did the same.

She then referred back to her clipboard. "Alright. And you're Stella, I presume?"

I stifled a laugh. She was pointing at me. Stella wasn't even trying to hold it back; she was laughing hysterically from behind me. "Uh... No..." I tried to keep my voice steady.

Sandra jumped up. "Oh! I'm sorry!"

"No, no, it's okay..."

"Alright, well, then, Jaymie," Sandra continued, "You're in Cabin 7." She then turned to look behind me. "And Stella, you're in Cabin 1."

We turned to each other and frowned. "Aw, we're not in the same cabin," Stella pouted. I was disappointed too. I was reeeeally hoping that we would be in the same cabin.

"Don't worry, girls, there'll be many opportunities for you two to see each other throughout the day," Sandra ensured us. "The rest of the campers are in the lodge building."

Sandra pointed to the big building that the patio lead to. We turned to our parents. Correctly taking this as a signal that it was time for us to go, our parents came over to us. We hugged and exchanged farewells, and then Stella and I entered the double-doors into the lounge room.

It looked like a comfortable room; there was a fireplace, a couple beige, comfy-looking couches surrounding a dark coffee table, a bookshelf and an oddly arranged stack of boxes against one wall. There were many doors on the walls, most of them looked different from each other, and they all had signs over them reading "Dining Hall", "Washrooms", "Auditorium" and "Head Councellor's Office". But, the most noticeable thing was all the people. Many, many people, most of them huddled around one of eight older teenagers, each with numbers over their heads.

"We should go say hi to our cabin-mates," Stella suggested. I nodded, liking that idea.

"See you later, Stella."

"Bye, Jay." We hugged like we weren't gonna be seeing each other in ages.

Stella went over to the blonde girl with a sign reading "1" above her. I looked around for the sign that said "7". I found it hanging above a tall young woman with chestnut brown hair that's in a much neater ponytail than mine. She's wearing a grey camp sweatshirt and green track pants.

She spots me as I approach her, and shoots me a warm smile. "Hey there," she greets me. Her voice is friendly, like you would expect from a camp councellor. "You must be Jaymie. I'm Emily, the councellor for Cabin 7."

"Hi, Emily," I greeted her timidly. As friendly and outgoing as I am, I have a hard time around people that I just met.

"You can come over here with the rest of the cabin," Emily suggested. "We're a small group, but that just means that you'll get to know each other quicker!"

I nodded. What might a "small group" be? Maybe 6 or 7 people? Yeah, that sounds about right.

However, to my surprise, when I walked over to where the rest of the cabin was, there were only two other people. Two others! I have never heard of a cabin with three people in it! "I guess we're considered the 'spares,'" I remarked.

One girl chuckled. "I guess you could say that," she replied, walking up to me. She has hair that's too red to be natural, and her hair goes halfway down her back, stopping curtly and messily at the bottom. Her shirt has sleeves down to her elbows, is black, and her loose track pants are dark pink. "I'm Alicia, one of your cabin-mates."

"Hi, Alicia, I'm Jaymie," I replied. "I've never heard that name pronounced that way, 'ah-lee-see-ah.' It's really nice!"

"Thanks," Alicia replied in a bubbly voice. "And I've never seen your name spelt like 'J-A-Y-M-I-E.' I like it!"

"Thanks, Alicia!"

"Oh, yeah, and the girl over there is Juna. She's also in our cabin" Alicia pointed over to a girl with a light grey hoodie and jeans sitting in a corner with her legs folded over each other. Upon hearing her name, Juna glanced over in our direction, and gave me a wave. I waved back.

"And that's our cabin. I guess you don't find many people like us around here."

"Yeah," I laughed, "and what's that supposed to mean?"

And I spent a bit more time talking with Alicia, hoping that Stella was having this simple of a time making new friends.