How to Spell l-o-v-e

Chapter 1- June: How many crop tops did you bring?

"No new messages" rang the annoying voice of my voicemail as I checked it for a 3rd time in 30 minutes. "Riley, she is going to call…I promise. Now lets go have some fun!" Sang out my best friend Amanda. As the optimist of the group she never ceased to snap me out of my close minded perspective on situations. I gave her a soft smile before turning my attention to the annoying guy with the blow horn. "Okay guys, find a partner and hop on the bus…remember 2 to a seat please!"

Sighing at the unfortunate situation I would soon have to confront.

 "Riley you have to sit by yourself since you sat with  Amanda at Fall Retreat, it's my turn to sit with her," declared Juliet, my best friend since the womb.  When your mom's are "belly buddies" that sort of thing just sort of happens. I stepped on to the bus behind Amanda and Juliet headed for the seat across from them so I could at least sit near them if we couldn't sit next to each other.

 "I wonder who the speaker is going to be"

 " Wait dude, I think I forgot my bible"

 " Do you think I brought enough makeup up…after all we are going to be here a whole week!"

 As I focused in on different parts of conversations surrounding me I was interrupted my a tap on my shoulder. As I turned and looked up at the tapper the first thing I noticed was this big smile…the kind of smile that your just have to return.

"Hey I'm Austin, do you think I could sit with you there kinda are no more seats available." As I attempted to process his comments despite the commotion around me, Amanda answered for me. "Of course you can sit there, Riley doesn't mind!"

"Thank you so much for that answer Amanda," I hissed.

I looked at this kid again, I knew the name and I recognized the smile…Austin. I had seen him around the church before and I think we were in a leadership program together, but all I remembered was that he was pretty quiet and Mason's favorite guy. Since I was Mason's favorite girl, you would think I would know more about Austin besides his name. Maybe this could be the week that I could get to know him better.

" HEY EVERYBODY SIT DOWN PLEASE, I'm talking to you Austin!" My youth pastor Mason Butts shouted into his blow horn. Yes, his last name is Butts, and no we don't refrain from finding puns and retorts to mess with Mason because of his name.

As Austin sheepishly sat down, I noticed how quickly his cheeks darkened thanks to Mason's successful attempt at embarrassing Austin.

"Alright guys, I know you are all excited for our week at Renew Summer Camp, but I just want to go over a few church rules before our bus takes off, " Mason announced from the front of the bus. My church had been attending Renew summer camp since my freshman year, always the last weekend of June to the first week of July. It was this camp about 2 hours away from my church, right of the coast of North Carolina. Every year hundreds of kids from tons of churches all around North Carolina would come to Renew for a week. We get a new speaker every year and this amazing Christian Rock band, 330 Plan, that comes to play. It was the highlight of my year, with the beach, awesome music, a week with God, and an opportunity to make new memories.