Girls vs. Boys

Girls vs. Boys - Part 2

You woke up far too early the next morning, but after lying in bed for over half an hour trying to go back to sleep... you came to terms with the fact you were just too excited.

Your campers were arriving just before lunch, and you couldn't wait to meet them. (And also to fill them in on the competition and hope they were as enthusiastic as you were about eating pizza.)

So you decided to just get out of bed and be productive. You cleaned the cabin, rearranged some of the bunks into a cozier, more inviting layout, and you looked through the list of 12-year-olds to try and get to know them before you met them.

When the first one arrived, you did your best to plaster a medium-sized smile on your face. Too small and they would think you were closed off and not happy to be here. Too large and they would think you were faking it and not happy to be here. (Yes. You had thought this through thoroughly because you remembered your own counselor when you were 12, and... you didn't want to be like her. You don't want to know.)

You spent the next hour trying to remember faces and names, making sure all the girls were getting their things unpacked, and trying to push parents out the door.

Really, it was only for three weeks! Why were parents - including yours - so hesitant to say good-bye to their kids?!

You would probably understand when you were a parent yourself, but until then, you just had to shake your head and laugh.

When all ten of your campers had arrived, you closed the cabin door and clapped your hands three times.

Thanks to Classical Conditioning, all ten girls clapped three times in response, and it made you feel way too powerful for you to ever admit out loud.

"Okay, guys!" you called out. "So, first things first. There is going to be a competition this year between the boys' cabins and the girls' cabins. We'll be going up against the 12-year-old boys and their counselor, Chanyeol. We'll get to play different games throughout camp, and if we win, we get points. Whoever has the most points at the end gets..."

You looked around, smirking and trying to raise the tension.

"...A pizza party."

You heard ten gasps.

"I know, right?! So, raise your hand if you'd like to win that pizza party."

You saw ten hands shoot up into the air.

Well, eleven counting yours.

"I know, right?! So, what do you say we do our very best and beat those boys?!"

Everyone cheered, and one camper, Eunice, even called out, "Let's destroy them!"

I mean, honestly... that sounded pretty good to you.

Once they all quieted down some, you made yet another announcement. "This competition is going to require really good teamwork, so after lunch, I want to spend the afternoon getting to know each other and building our strengths. There's a campfire tonight for the whole camp, and I want to do some sort of cheer or something to show the boy's cabin we mean business. How does that sound?"

"Yeah!"

You smiled widely, feeling a small rush of adrenaline at how excited your girls were to win the competition.

These next three weeks were going to be so fun.

As you ate lunch in the mess hall, you took the opportunity to scope out Chanyeol's campers. There were some tall ones, but you were pretty confident your girls could take them. You had no idea what the games would be, but you assumed not all of them would be physical. Camp Lakota was known for wanting to shape its campers into well-rounded citizens, so there had to be some brain-busting games, too.