An Unforgettable Summer

Chapter One

As I step down out of the bus, I take my first deep breath of fresh air in hours. The bus was horrible, too many people screaming and sweating... I was too busy feeling sick the whole time to really notice until now. I sigh as I make my way around to the side of the bus to get my suitcase and pillow. Finally, I'm 300 miles away from home at my favorite place ever, Camp Roanoke. This is exactly what I needed, a whole summer away from pretty much everything I know. I just finished my junior year, and let me tell you. It was an absolute nightmare. On top of all of my boy issues... even the girls found reasons to hate me this year. I'm just glad to be away from all of that and just be myself for a whole summer. 

"Hey, Cat! Slow down for a second, let me catch up!!" Interrupting my train of thought, as always. My best friend in the entire world, Emily Atherton runs up behind me, flinging her suitcase up in the air as she runs. She's always called me Cat, and she's the only person who ever will. I'm so glad she's here with me, I wouldn't want it any other way.

"Did you hear about arrangements this year? They're practically hotel rooms, no more sharing a shower with 4 other girls! It's just us!" I giggle at her absolute enthusiasm over a bed and a shower, "Oh my god... now THAT'S the best way to start off the summer! Let's go find our room!" We run as fast as we can around the grounds that we've practically grown up on our whole lives; we know exactly where everything is. We make a pit stop to enjoy the view of the glittering lake, shining in the hot mid-day sun. With a unanimous sigh of relief, we stop on the front patio of the fanciest dorms on campgrounds, the Ponderosa Lodges. We wait there as the rest of our bus companions and some from others join us and form a pretty big crowd. I try to look around for other familiar faces, but I get tired of trying and just decide to pay attention instead. Dr. Mann, who is actually a woman, begins to read aloud the names and room numbers for each pair. I daze off a bit until I finally hear, "Catherine Steel and Emily Atherton. P413. Come up and get your keys and you may go." We excitedly run up to her, grab our keys, and she gives us a wink before we run off as if to say, "I missed you girls, glad you're home." 

"P413 means we're on the top floor Em! The views of the sunsets and sunrises are gonna be AMAZING!!" I look over at Em who isn't really listening, she's too excited. She just replies with a squeaky giggle as we enter the elevator and ascend to our floor. As we exit the elevator, we both realize, this is the only area of camp we've never really experienced. The Ponderosa Lodges have always been just for upperclassmen, and now that's finally us! We find our room on the very outer edge of the hall, and we have the most beautiful view of the lake and pretty much the entire campgrounds. I sigh as I envision how absolutely perfect everything has panned out to be so far. Nothing could ruin this for me. 

Em and I unlock the doors and immediately gravitate towards the beds we want; we never even have to fight, we just work like that! As we unpack and settle in we laugh about stories from this last year of school, talk about all our big plans for this summer, and just enjoy the freedom of finally being in our favorite corner of the world. As Em's in the bathroom unpacking and yelling about having our own shower, I hear a knock on the door. Part of me wonders why someone's already knocking on doors, but I realize it's probably just our neighbors coming to complain about Emily yelling about a SHOWER. I meander over to the door and swing it open with a big smile, until I realize who's deep blue eyes I'm looking into.

The pit in my stomach suddenly tripples in size. All I can manage to get out of my mouth is a low pitched, "Uhm... hey."