What Happens In Keena-Kiya

Part 1

I don't know much about about the camp that my mother was sending me to for the month of June, but I knew it was going to be scorching and long.

Keena-Kiya was a summer camp near my own home in the coastal area of South Carolina. It was supposed to be the funnest thing. But not in the winter time.

"Why am I coming here, again, mother?" I wanted her to give me the reason again. If she couldn't think of the reason, maybe she'd take me home.

"India, it was just to get you out of the house for some of the summer. You never do anything!" my mother's maroon colored lips spoke to me. The color went well with her tanned skin.

"That's how I live in the summer. I sleep till three, eat something, stay up till two in the morning, then crash. Aren't you used to that by now?" Being the only other person in the house, I was guessing not. My mother's boyfriend was not living with us. Yet.

My mother gave me a disappointed eye roll.

I turned the radio on so it wouldn't be so eerie in the car. I pulled on my grey and pink plaid shirt then looked ahead on the road. It was just a two-lane area covered with tree's shadows. It trailed on and on until the sign for Keena-Kiya Camp came to our right.

My mother pulled onto the dirt road that weaved through trees to get through the camp. We drove on, passing buses that must have carried multiple of the other campers.

The car stopped once we came to the camp area. The sign before us read:

                                                      Welcome to Keena-Kiya!

She pulled over onto the side and let me get out. From the backseat, I pulled out two duffel bags, on grey and one black. I was a girl who didn't enjoy giant suitcases. I saw no point in them.

My mother looked at me and smiled slightly. I smiled back, trying to pretend that I really wanted to be there. We exchanged our goodbyes and I watched her drive off, leaving me in a cloud of red dust.

I was stuck there for a full month.

~~~~~

After going to check in and getting all the information on my month there, I found my cabin and went in to see my other roommates, scattered in the room, setting up in bunk beds and fighting over which bed they got. I walked up to an empty bed, letting the screen door slam behind me, and set my black duffel bag on it.

A girl set her stuff on the bed and looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Um, this is my bed."

I shrugged, grabbed my bag and went to another one of the eight bunks in the cabin. I preferred the bottom bunk, even though there was the possibility of a person falling down on you and crushing you in your sleep. I chose not to think about that.

I set my bags down once more and then set up my own bed. I pulled my iPod out of the hidden pocket in my duffel and tucked it in my pocket. The camp said we couldn't text or call, not have music.

After switching my iPod classic to my favorite song then, Bad by The Cab, I pulled on my white, clean bed sheets from its wrinkled state. I stretched them onto my mattress, adding my pillows and comforter to finish it.

It feels just like it was yesterday

We were in love

Wasn't fallin' apart.

I've never been one to walk away,

but I've had enough

and it's breakin' my heart.

"Whatcha listenin' to, bad girl?"

I jumped back when the girl in the bunk above me swung her head down in front of mine like a bat. She was a pretty girl with vibrant red hair and pale blue eyes, not to mention noticeable dimples when she smiled.

"A song you probably don't know," I replied calmly.

"Try me."

"Bad by The Cab."

"Eh, you're right." The red-head sat up as I pulled a headphone out of my left ear

"I'm Jane. Jane Caskey."

"India Mary."

Jane smiled, showing her deep dimples. "Well, India," she said. "Welcome to Keena-Kiya."

"I read it already," I said with a simple eye roll.

Jane laughed quietly. "Want me to show you around the camp since you're semi-settled?"

I looked up at her for a moment. "Why not?"

Jane jumped down from her bed and landed perfectly and on the glossy, forest green flooring. I noticed, officially, that most of the 16 girls that were staying there were gone, all but us and about three others.

The red-head, Jane, wore shorts and a baggy, lightweight shirt with an iridescent blue tank-top underneath it. By the looks of her, she was skinny, so she couldn't kill me by having the bed come crashing down on me. And she was girlie. But I didn't care. I was a mix in between tomboy and girlie. We'd get along.

Jane put on her flip flops and led me out of the stuffy cabin.

~~~~~

Keena-Kiya was huge. Jane dragged me to the basic places, like the huge mess hall, the rec room, the massive gym filled with basketballs and dodge-balls, and the sparkling lake that made the camp almost fun. 

The camp was filled with squirrels, raccoons, snakes and bugs. But I really didn't care all that much. Mostly, if I didn't mess with them, they wouldn't mess with me.

"And those are the boys' cabins."

"I grasped that," I told the ginger.

Jane had pointed up a hill that had cabins lining it, their doors filled with confused and good-looking boys rushing from this cabin to the other, wondering where their friends were, and where they would be sleeping for the most part. I was guessing that the girls were allowed in before the boys.

"Is this place a free-for-all?"

Jane looked at me. "What do you mean?"

"We get to do whatever we want?"

"Basically."

"Can girls and guys be together?"

"Yeah, as long as nobody gets pregnant." Jane kind of smiled at me.

"Has that happened before?" I asked.

"Yeah, unfortunately. It's obviously best that you don't let that be you."

I glanced at Jane then back up at the boy's cabins.

Maybe this camp wouldn't be too bad after all.