Camp 8Bit

Ch. 1 - Welcome to Camp 8Bit

"It's all going to be fine," I tell myself, as I'm staring at the off-white mirror in front on me, "It'll just be in and out and before I know it, the month will be over." At least, this is what I expected. 

You see, I'm a rising sophomore in high school, yet my mother feels that I don't have as many friends as she wants me to have so she's enrolled me into a sleepaway camp. The worst part? She didn't even ask for my opinion! Why would I ever want to go live in the woods for a month? I'll wait. Either way, I've already had my go at trying to convince her to let me stay at home, but no luck. 

I reproach as I begin to gather my daily essentials and pack my clothes. "What would I even need to pack?" I think to myself. I ended up packing toiletries, undergarments, a swimsuit, and some shirts and shorts. Pretty basic stuff if you ask me, but I hope I didn't miss out on anything, because It'll be a month before I return home and apparently there's no cell phones allowed (which is the dumbest rule ever). 

A few days pass by solemnly until the big day arrives. "Micaela come downstairs, the camp's bus is out front!" yells my mom. "Yes mother" I reply. This is it. The end of my freedom, the end of my hot girl summer, the end of staying indoors for the whole day. All of a sudden everything just hits me at once: I'm going to camp.

As I step out my front door with my sticker book in one hand, and my luggage in the other, I look up to see a bright green bus with the words "Camp 8Bit" plastered over the side in a deep brown. I sigh as I lumber over to the bus and am greeted by a man that looks like Daniel Middleton. "Wait is that DanTD-" I'm stopped mid-thought. "The name's Jake. I run things around here, but you won't see me that often because I'll be busy overseeing the camp. Also, no, I am not DanTDM, if that's what you were thinking." I flinch. "Oh- uh sorry, no I wasn't thinking that, but thank you anyways" I reply as I nod to him and make my way down the isle of the shiny bus. 

"Weird," I think "Why does this bus look so new?" I scan the seats as I walk, and notice some oddities. One kid is hugging his plants, while another is practicing to speak like an anime character. It's not like I don't do these things either, but It gets my mind thinking about what kind of people I'll meet at the camp. "It'll probably be a bunch of band kids," I think "At least these are my type of people, I could be friends with some of them." As I near the end of the bus I feel a tugging at my oversized sweatshirt and look down. "Come sit!" They say, as they pat the spot next to them. I shrug and agree, mostly because I had nowhere else to sit, and I introduce myself. "Wow! Micaela is such a pretty name!" They say "Oh- my name's Onyx, but you can also call me Nyx for short." 

"That's a cool name" I respond. "Thanks!" says Onyx cheerfully "You wanna know what's also cool?" "What?" I reply. "Don't tell, but the age for the camp is 13-15, but I'm only 12!" He whisper-shouts. "Isn't that against the rules? Actually, nevermind. Anyways quick question, why is the bus so new? Shouldn't camp buses be worn down or something?" I ask. "Don't you know?" replies Onyx. "Know what?" I ask, confused. "The camp opened up in April, we're the first campers to ever go to this camp" "So that means you don't know what's going to happen? Or the activities we'll do?" "Of course not, it's like opening a blind box, but instead it's a whole summer camp! Isn't it thrilling?" He says as his eyes begin to glisten with excitement. "Oh god," I say "This is going to be a long summer." Then I slump into my seat and rest my eyes.

"Hey wake up, we're here." Is the first thing I hear when I open my eyes. I turn to Onyx, who's making hand motions to tell me that I should get off the bus. "Alright, alright, I'm going" I say. I stumble out of the bus and take a whiff of the air around me as I stare at the scenery. "Pine trees" I think. At last I've reached the dreaded camp. As I walk to the wooden archway that marks the entrance, I'm greeted by what seems to be a camp counselor. She wears a branded camp T-shirt and some jeans with a sparkly pink nametag bearing "Bunni". Before I could finish examining her, she cheerfully exclaims "Welcome to Camp 8Bit!"