Cabin 9

Chapter 1

As soon as I got home from the last day of school, I ran up to the attic and pulled out my trunk. I hauled it downstairs and spent the rest of the evening filling it with clothes and bathing suits.

A few days later, my dad drove me out to a parking lot where a bus would pick me up and bring me to my favourite place in the world - Camp Malnary.

The first summer my parents sent me there, it was so they could work out the details of their divorce without me in the way. I was 10 at the time, and hated that they had tossed me aside without a second thought. Of course, I also hated that they were getting a divorce. But with time, I came to love camp.

After I got over the anger and sadness, I found that I actually liked the people around me. The counsellors were nice, nothing like the snotty teenagers that would hang around the mall at home. Everybody got along well, and I could fit in easily. I even made a few friends.

Still - I was hesitant when my dad asked me if I wanted to go back the summer of my 11th year. He had a business trip he couldn't miss, and camp was my only option unless I wanted to stay with my mom and her new fiancé.

The second summer wasn't nearly as bad. I quickly bonded with the girls in my cabin, and even grew to appreciate small things, like the camps food.

I was glad to be shipped off the next summer, and this one too. Camp even seemed like an escape from all the drama that had taken root in my life.

As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I jumped out of the car. The big yellow bus was standing a few meters away, and around it a bunch of girls and boys my age were hanging around, chatting.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder as my dad unloaded my suitcase and rolled it over to the counsellors loading the bus. After that, he stood there a little awkwardly.
"I'm gonna miss you this summer, Avery" he said.
"I know Dad," I tell him, looking down at my flip flops.
"I'll miss you too."
"Avery McQuain?" a counsellor inquired. I turned around to face her.
"Yeah, that's me" I smiled. She checked my name off on her list.
"The buses are loading now. You're on number 4, okay?" she told me. I nodded at her.
"Bye, Dad. I'll miss you" I told him again. He hugged me, and I ran off to bus number 4.

Once on the bus, I slid into an empty seat beside a girl I vaguely knew from my past summers. Most of my best camp friends come from other buses, but I was still friendly with the people around me. I waved hi to a few of the people around me, and started chatting about which skills we would be taking. Most people wanted to take sailing, but I had always found the boats a little intimidating with their huge sails.

After half and hour, I tuned out of the conversation, and started to doze off. When I woke up, we had arrived at the docks. From there, campers were boated over to the island which our camp is on.

The wait was long and boring, since only 10 campers can go on the boat at once. When I finally got on a boat, I pulled the lifejacket around me, giddy with excitement. Before I knew it, the boat had stopped off the dock right in front of Camp Malnary. I smiled to myself.

I ran to the front if the dining hall, where all the newly arrived campers had gathered. Within a few minutes, I saw one of my best camp friends.
"Cory!" I called. We hugged each other tightly.
"Avery!" she squealed.
"How are you? Come on, Courtney and Gabby are over here," she says, referring to two other girls we'd bonded with.

We found Courtney and Gabby by the cabin list, and to our delight we discovered that we were all in Cabin 9. We linked arms, and giggling to ourselves we'd set down the woodsy path towards our cabin.

This was going to be the best summer ever.