I arrive at camp with the whole busload of other girls. It's not too full and there's only one other bus here. It'll be nice here for the summer. I step off the bus with my pillow and my backpack and immediately feel the hum it's clinging to me. It's sticky and something I'm not used to living in Colorado. I see a couple of girls walking in together from the front entrance. It isn't a long ways but you can't see the camp until the final turn. Plus there was no signs saying where the camp was you had to just blindly search. Unless you took the bus like most of us. I go to the main tent and wait in line to get my assigned tent number. I get excited. This is my first time at camp. I'm mostly here to get away from my parents. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents, and think they're pretty cool. But after 16 years of being an only child, you want a little distance. You're probably thinking just go hang out with your friends, but unfortunately I was homeschooled and my only "friends" are the people I occasionally see at the library. So I came here. To meet some girls and hopefully have fun. I'm imaging all the things I can do here when suddenly I hear the tent door open and close and lots of whispers. I look around and see most people looking (and some pointing) to the front of the line by the desk. The girl the receptionist was just helping walks away with her tent number, leaving a small space for a boy to slide into. I'm confused about all the ruckus about it, then realize this is an all girls camp. Meaning no boys. They don't even have boy councilors. The boys' camp is several miles away on the other side of town.
"Well would you look at this," the receptionist says. "You look to be on the wrong side of town." she has a smile on her face obviously finding the situation quite humorous.
"Yes," the boy says impatiently. "When can I get out of here?"
I can hear his words clearly because the simple chatter has disappeared and all is silent except the boy and the receptionist.
"And how, may I ask, do you suppose I get you out of here?"
The boy lets out an exasperated sigh. "How about by a bus?"
"No can do. All the buses left for the summer. They aren't coming back."
"What?!" the boy is outraged. "Well, well there has to be something close by right? What do you do if there's an emergency?"
"Well," the receptionist starts, "We call the ambulance. The only thing in town is a hospital. And that's about 7 miles away. You could always walk there." She lets out a giggle.
The boy is still angry. "Ugh!" He turns and I see his face for the first time. He has black hair with blonde streaks. It goes down past eyebrows and over his ears. His eyes are a piercing blue, and I wonder if they're contacts. He wears a navy blue shirt that advertises a rock band called "Machine Gun Death. His pants are ripped and it looks like he just went mudding. He wears gray tennis shoes with green laces. An odd look yes but he pulls it off quite nicely. He stomps out of the tent letting the door slam behind him.
"Next!" The receptionist yelled. I was given my tent number about 5 minutes later (I have tent number 6) and I leave the tent. I look for my tent and see it's the farthest one away from the dining hall, but closest to the lake. I go in and see ten bunk beds. A lot of them are already taken so I take the first one on the left and put my stuff on the bottom bed. I'm the only one in the tent except when a tan girl with long dark brown hair walks in.
"Hello," she says in a faint British accent. "How are you?" she gives me a genuine smile.
I smile back and nod my head. "Good, thanks," I say. I decide I should make my first friend. "I'm Clove," I introduce myself and extend a hand.
"Oh, I'm Denise." She shifts the things in her arms and takes my hand. Her hand is soft and has a ring with a sapphire in it.
"Here," I say. "Let me help you with this." I take her pillow and she slides the bag off of her back.
"Thanks, you can just set it down on that bed right there." She nods to the bed beside mine. I'm glad she decided to be close. I hope we can be friends. I put her stuff down and we walk to the dining hall together to get breakfast.
