CHAPTER 6: THE APPLICATION
They ran all the way to Tom’s front door and pressed the doorbell. Athena could hear it chime inside and Joey the one year old Irish terrier barked.
“They must’ve gone out” Tom panted. Athena didn’t want to go back to her house because of Hilary; she was still mad at her. Relief swept over her as Tom led her round to the back gate instead. He squeezed past the mangled hedge and clicked open the gate. Joey came bounding towards him, his great ginger ears perked up and his curly coat of glossy fur glistened on his back.
“Hey Joe-Joe” Athena laughed as he placed his large bear-like paws on her hips.
“Mum must’ve known we’d come back, wouldn’t of left Joey out here otherwise” Tom guessed.
“She left the door unlocked?”
“No, no but I know where she keeps the key” Tom bent down to the plant pot of tulips by the door “hiding the key under the pot’s too obvious” he pointed to the base “so” Tom pulled out the card with the tulip information on it and there was a small piece of brown string visible, Tom gave it a tug and a little wooden box was hauled out. He opened it up to reveal the small silver key, soil- tinted, but still gleaming “we hide it in the pot instead” he finished.
“Wow” smiled Athena “surely it’s a hassle though?”
“Oh no, this key’s in here all the time, emergencies, you know, easier that way” he unlocked the door and hopped in, Athena followed leaving Joey chasing a sparrow in the cosy garden.
“So how are we going to research it, Thee?” Tom asked.
“Well, the internet is a wonderful thing” hinted Athena. They strode into Tom’s front room and perched on a little desk in the corner was a laptop, printer, and a variety of other gadgets. Pushing the switch, the machine blinked and came to life. It took a while to load, but once it was done, Tom sat on the swivel chair and opened up Google.
“What shall I type in?” he questioned
“Camp Thárros” Athena verified “that should do it.” Tom tapped away on the keyboard and clicked the search button. “There” pointed Athena. A website opened up. The background to it was a sort of scaly brown, like dragon hide and on the top it read ‘CAMP THÁRROS’ in gleaming golden letters and next to it was a symbol, two arrows crossing over each other with miniscule words written on them. The left arrow said ‘Thárros’ and on the right one it said ‘Team’. Both her and Tom exchanged curious glances and proceeded in reading the page.
‘Camp Thárros, originally set up in 1892 by Krios and Priska Priskos, is a delightful summer camp where its occupants spend time-’
Athena stopped reading, so did Tom, they knew all that already, so Tom scrolled down.
‘To apply you must be high school age 11-16 and have parents permission as well as a signed and posted form in to us by December 25th’
“Blah Blah” Tom said and he scrolled down further to a sub-title: ‘TEAMS’
“What’s this?” Athena queried, peering over Tom’s shoulder, he looked at her, then back at the screen.
‘The teams are a most important aspect of Thárros, they teach leadership, friendship, hope, belonging and most important of all, what the camp is all about: courage.”
Athena wasn’t too worried about leadership, although it would be nice to feel it, she had friendship with Tom, but it’d be nice to expand it. She had learnt hope the day Anna died, her dad taught it to her, that was second nature, but belonging, that was different. Athena had never belonged, or felt like she had; her and her dad had always been outsiders, but at least they were together. She never felt like her house was her home, or that school was what she should learn, maybe ‘Camp Thárros’ was her way out, maybe she belonged there.
