Lost Treasures

Six

ASPEN

At dinner, I looked for my roommates to see if I could sit with any of them. I spotted Evie somewhere in the back, but she was sitting at an overcrowded table full of people, so I decided against her. I was hoping we'd get a chance to talk because we were on the same team and shared a bunk, but it looked like that would have to wait for another time.

When I finally found Hilary, I set my tray down beside hers. She was sitting with some other people from our youth group.

"Hey, how was your afternoon? Do you like your teammates?" she asked me.

"I haven't really gotten to talk to them, but they seem nice," I said, glancing over my shoulder at the back table again. "I think a few of them actually know each other... I see two of them sitting together back there." I tried to point without being too obvious.

"What are their names?"

"Evie and Roman."

She looked back, and then I asked, "How do you like your team?"

"So far, I love it! Everyone is so outgoing and fun," she gushed.

"That's good."

"Have you talked to your sister at all? Or Levi?"

"No," I said flatly. "I don't know where they are, actually."

"Did Eden seem excited about the team?"

I snorted. "Yeah, she couldn't stop drooling over our leader."

Hilary laughed. "Oh, freshmen! If only they knew."

"Hopefully she'll actually be able to pay attention during game time. There is one guy her age on our team, I think. His name is Joey."

"Aw, cute. I hope they become friends." We paused, eating. "Who's in your room?"

"Well, there's Evie, and then there's me, Alexandra, Val, and Paige."

"Wow, you already learned their names! Impressive."

"Ha, yeah. There's only five of us, so it's not that hard to learn them."

"That's true. I don't know anyone in my room, but they seem like sweet girls. I think their names are Madisyn, Hanna, Nora, and Emory."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you; my other team leader is Caro, from church."

"Oh cool! I forgot she was volunteering this year."

"Me too."

"So," she said, lowering her voice so no one else at the table could hear, "have you seen any cute guys?"

"Sure I have. They're everywhere," I joked.

"True," she giggled. "But any in particular?"

"Not yet. That could change pretty soon, though. We have game time tomorrow, and you know all guys are cute when they bring out their competitive side."

She pretended to faint into her seat. "Girl, you right."

"How about you?" I asked curiously.

"Well, since I just got out of...whatever that was with Nathan, I don't know if I want to date anyone right now. But it's nice to look. There's a few good looking guys on my team."

Nathan was a college intern at our church. He was two grades ahead of us, so he'd just completed his first year of community college. He and Hilary sort of had a thing, especially when he started rotating in and out of the youth band and doing the slides for us. She thought they were on their way to a relationship, but he admitted that he wasn't ready for one and just wanted to focus on his schooling and his relationship with God. Hilary said she understood, but I knew it hurt her; she really liked Nathan.

"Sounds like you need something—someone—to take your mind off of our old friend there," I said.

"Maybe. We'll see what happens."

HOSEA

After dinner, we had a welcome session. Usually, the services would be in the evenings, right after dinner. But tonight, there wasn't any worship music or a message; there was just a reading of rules and introductory stuff.

One thing we had to know was the buddy system. Two or more people walking anywhere together, especially at night. They preferred three people if the mix included both a boy and a girl. And then there were the basic things, like no PDA or bikinis for the girls.

The room was jam-packed with students and leaders. There was a stage up front and center, with rows of padded chairs facing it. I sat towards the front with Israel and his friends. As a visual learner, I liked to be able to see who was speaking to me, and any pictures they might show on the screens. I also took a lot of notes; but not tonight. That would probably make me look kind of strange, to be jotting down notes about buddy systems and swimsuit attire.

Pastor Brett introduced something called Encouragements, which were just little notes you could write to people throughout the week. At the end of the session, we were all given a brown paper bag and a Sharpie to decorate with. Then we would use close-pins to hang them on a string. It was an interesting concept, and I liked the idea of having people to write to at the end of all of this.

We were also given a copy of the schedule so we'd know what was going on each day. I did write that down. It went:

BREAKFAST - 7:00AM to 8:00AM
QUIET TIME - 8:00AM to 9:00AM
GAMES - 9:00AM to 12:00PM
LUNCH - 12:00PM to 1:00PM
FREE TIME - 1:00PM to 5:00PM
DINNER - 5:00PM to 6:00PM
EVENING SESSION - 6:00PM to 8:00PM
SMALL GROUPS - 8:00PM to 8:30PM
LIGHTS OUT @ 11:00PM

Pastor Brett explained that free time could be used any way we wanted, with the lake, the pool, the games room, extra quiet time, going to the snack shack, or just hanging out with friends. We had four whole hours of it every afternoon, which sounded like a lot, but maybe it would fly by faster than I thought.

It didn't specify what we had to do between the end of small groups and lights out, but I figured it was just some form of being quiet or hanging out in the dorms. Most of it seemed pretty laid-back to me.

Once the session was over, Israel and I headed back to our room. Thankfully, we'd been put in the same one. I didn't know what I'd do if we were separated for teams and dorms. After all, he was the only friend I had here. At least for the first day.