The Story of My Life :P

This One Time at Teen Camp...

FIRST: What I'm about to tell you really happened. 

SECOND: I'm not a girly-girl. I'd rather go shoot something or wrestle than go shopping or give a crap about my hair.

THIRD: My cabin mates for teen church camp know how to make me feel bad.

I'm a Christian. Christ-follower. And I really do try to love everyone and abide by the rules God has set before me and listen to his word, but it isn't easy. It's trying even at the BEST of times. It's very hard when you're not exactly happy. But its near impossible to be loving to people when they do to you what they did to ME.

It was morning and I was, as usual, first up. I decided to read the book I had set aside special for camp. I read until my cabin mates were up and getting ready for breakfast. My cabin mate Elizabeth threw me a pair of highwaters (you might know them better as daisy dukes or bootie shorts) and told me to try them on. I had never worn a pair of those in my entire LIFE because my parents don't allow it, and I wasn't too thrilled. But every single one of my cabin mates was telling me to try them on, so I didn't really have much choice. I threw them on with the cutest shirt I owned (don't know why I brought it to camp) and when Elizabeth saw me, she froze.

"That's the shirt you're wearing?" She asked rudely.

I nodded.

"No. Tanya, do you have a tank top for her to borrow?" She turned to her friend and started rummaging through various campers' bags. She gave me a tan and white flowy tank top to throw on over my plain black tank. I reluctanly threw it on.

"Ugh, look at your hair!" She scolded and pulled me over to the mirror.

"Tanya, can she borrow your straightener?"

Tanya nodded.

Our cabin wasn't really a cabin. It was a lodge. Actually, it was more like a suite. So it had full beds, extra pillows, a nice bathroom and a shower. I didn't consider it 'camping', this place was built more for sissies. A dull wood cabin or a tent would have suited me better.

My point is that the place had electricity. Elizabeth told me that Tanya's straightener was as close to magical as it could get, and two minutes after being plugged in it was ready.

"It's hot enough. Start straightening." Elizabeth ordered.

"I don't know how to straighten my hair." I admitted. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and grabbed the straightener to do my hair. After she was done, another cabin mate, Heather, decided to put some eyeliner on me. Heather told me to go fetch my eyeliner. I got it out for her and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Indigo eyeliner? Are you serious? I'll get mine." She trotted off to her suitcase for her black eyeliner.

"Please don't make it too thick." I asked.

"Don't worry."

When she was done I looked in the mirror and IMMEDIATELY hated my reflection. Not only because I thought I looked girly, but because I didn't feel like I deserved to look good. Elizabeth threw me some flip-flops to wear since my shoes were thrashed. I put those on and grabbed my backpack and we walked into the hallway.

My first time out in public wearing highwaters EVER and after about ten steps I heard someone whistle.

I almost died of embarrassment. I stopped dead in my tracks and started to turn to head back to the cabin and change clothes, but Elizabeth grabbed my arm.

"You look good Natalie. Come on."

And she pulled me along to meet up with the guys from our youth group.

When we got there I was greeted with 'You look great, Natalie!'s and 'Nice outfit, Natalie's from the guys. And they were serious. I felt like crawling up into a ball.

Believe it or not, that wasn't my primary concern. The thing I dreaded most out of this was if my brother saw me. Remember I said I wasn't allowed to wear those highwaters? Well, my older brother is EXTREMELY protective of me. If he saw me in those I was afraid he'd go ballistic, or worse: tell my mother.

Around five minutes before breakfast we went back to the cabin. Elizabeth was insistent that my backpack (which I had customized BY HAND) was not very attractive and she demanded that it be dropped off. I went in and set it down. Then she started chatting with Jenavieve and Heather. When she finally suggested we all leave, I grabbed my backpack and threw it over my shoulder. I took five steps out of the cabin before she noticed and told me to put it back. I sighed in defeat and tossed it into the cabin.

Our youth group trotted off to breakfast in the mess hall (camp cafeteria). Elizabeth had pushed me to the front of the group, so I was first to walk in. OF COURSE I had the luck to have one of my guy friends about ten feet away from the door when I came in. He didn't even try to hide it. He just checked me out. I'm serious, his jaw dropped and everything. I was blushing SO DARN HARD because he was cute and just a little older than me and I sort of liked him. BUT ONLY A LITTLE.

"Hi, Garrett." I blushed.

The rest of my youth group came in and started lining up to get their drinks. Somehow, Elizabeth managed to get hold of my youth leader's wife's/our cabin leader's high-resolution camera in that five seconds or so that we were apart.

"Smile!" She told me and took a picture. I had been scowling, so the picture didn't look too great.

"Come ON, Natalie! Smile!" I flashed a brief smile for the camera and made her promise not to let that picture get on facebook.

"Yeah, sure."

My brother wasn't at breakfast. I was a little concerned about that, but I was relieved at the same time. Once breakfast was done Elizabeth and another cabin mate, Jenevieve, went out the front door. We started walking and they were chatting and I continued my scowling. We rounded two corners when I spotted my brother in the distance sitting with the youth group guys. Fast as lightning, I darted back behind the corner.

"What is it, Natalie?" Jenevieve asked.

"My brother is there."

"UUUGGGHHH. Jen, grab her."

They each grabbed an arm of mine and literally DRAGGED me over to him.

My brother didn't say anything. Nothing at all, about anything. He was totally quiet.

"Spencer, please yell at me and tell me to go back to my cabin so I can change!" I begged him.

He thought about that for a moment and said, "Well, I've been ordered not to say anything about that. But now that you mentioned it: GO."

I ran as fast as I could to the suite/cabin/lodge and changed into a pair of P.E. shorts and a T-Shirt.

Elizabeth sent Heather and Jenevieve back to the cabin to persuade me to change back into the other clothes. Thank God, they took pity on me and didn't force me. That was my first and hopefully my LAST time wearing highwaters. And of course the picture Elizabeth took ended up on facebook.

I didn't even look good.