Keita clambered out of her sister's car. She grabbed her backpack from the backseat, swung it onto her back, and started up the hill towards the blacktop. Barely anyone was at camp this early, but they would come.
The first bus pulled in. Then another followed by a van. Campers flooded up the small hill to the pavement and swarmed towards their counselors. Keita watched for the three friends who were actually at camp this session, Cole, Calder, and Sam. The former two may be male, but they accepted her in all her weirdness. As for the latter, Sam was a year older, and just as strange. She was the closest thing Keita had to a best friend at camp. Cole and Calder came up the hill. Over the heads of the crowd, Keita could see Sam. To Keita's left rose another, taller hill, upon which the camp director stood, starting off the day with another corny joke.
The camp was divided into groups named after trees, birds, and insects. This year Keita was an Emperor Gum Moth, or Moth for short. Cole and Calder were in the same group. They had free time for once, and the two guys played Magic on one of the brown picnic tables. Keita wandered over, and stared at the strange cards Calder was playing with. They seemed whiter than usual. There also seemed to be bubbles around some of the text.
In shock she spoke, "Are those Eighth Edition?" Keita had heard of the new set, but had had no idea that Wizards had changed the format.
"Yep," answered Calder, swiveling around to look at Keita. "They just came out last week. I've got some more you can look at if you want."
"Okay," Keita said. Calder handed her a stack of cards. She sat down at the end of the bench and shuffled through the cards. "Elvish Pioneer, Jayemdae Tome, Vizzerdix, Fear, Choke, Boomerang, Hill Giant, Goblin Raider, Northern Paladin, Phyrexian Hulk, Karma, Crossbow Infantry, Iron Star, Aladdin's Ring..." she murmured as each card passed to her other hand. "They look kind of cool," she stated to Calder.
"Yeah, I like them. They're all reprints though, not a single new card."
"Oh well, I bet there are some reprints of older cards. Makes older cards I need for my cat deck, that are in it, easier to get."
"True."
Keita grabbed her bike and helmet out of the shed and leaped on. She pedaled a little down the road, and swung onto a path to the playing fields. From there she went to the post office, through another section of woods, and to a shopping plaza. She pedaled past the two saloons, the tattoo parlor, and the student discount store, and came to a stop in front of the used bookstore. Tying up the black bike, Keita browsed though the books for a while. The Myst books caught her eye, but checking their prices, she quickly placed them back on the shelf and made a mental note to come buy them when she had the sixteen bucks for both of them. Keita looked quickly at a few Redwall books, passed over the Star Trek books, paused to glance at the Star Wars books, and eventually made her way to the front counter to buy a pack of cards.
After looking for a few seconds, she spoke to the young woman at the laptop. "I'll have a pack of Core." Abandoning whatever she was working on, the employee turned and picked up a booster. She set it on the counter and punched in a number on a small machine that spat out a piece of paper.
"That'll be $3.87."
Keita handed over a five dollar bill, collected her change, and her cards, and left. Pausing by her bike, Keita carefully opened the pack, and shuffled through the cards. Looking at the strange cards, she came to the rare. It was white. "Sweet," she hissed. It was Avatar of Hope. On a whim, she tucked the cards in her pocket, and entered the store again. After the woman in front of her had paid, Keita bought another pack of Eighth Edition. She quickly walked back outside and ripped open that wrapper. Flipping to the rare, she saw a picture that was vaguely familiar. She turned over the wrapper and saw the same picture. The card was Tidal Kraken. She grinned inwardly and got on the bike.