I sighed and shifted my backpack from my right shoulder to my left. Honestly, I thought, Why'd they have to send me away again? I'm 16, for Pete's sake! I'll just get a summer job. They won't have to see me as much. Maybe I'll even buy myself a dog. No, not a good idea.
I rolled my suitcase towards the cabin I was sharing with three other girls. It was my first day at summer camp. My mom and step dad had sent me here to get me away from the house. Honestly, I'm sure my step dad hates me and didn't want to see me around the house for the summer.
I lugged the suitcase up the steps and into the log cabin that was in front of me. I opened the door, and out flew a little brown bat.
Instead off screaming, like any other girl would've, I watched it fly away. "Aw, we have a bat problem!"
I rolled the suitcase into the cabin and picked a bed that was near the window. It was in the corner of the small cabin, and far enough away from the other three beds so I could sit quietly and read. Apparently, I was the first one in the cabin.
Just as I had started getting my bed set up, two girls burst into the cabin. One was a dirty-dish water blonde with light blue eyes and freckles, and the other was a red head with deep blue eyes. The red head scowled at the blonde, who just stuck her nose up. I cringed. A stuck up, snobbish blonde. Just what I needed, I thought.
The red head saw me and her scowl changed to a smile that lit up her whole face.
"Hi! I'm Eliza, but you can call me Liz," she said, coming over to my bed. I couldn't help but smile back at her.
"I'm Irina, but you can call me Rina." I stuck out my hand and she shook it.
"Hey, are you two going to start unpacking? We can't leave the cabin until everyone is done, you know," the other girl asked.
Liz turned and scowled at the blonde again. "Sorry, Talia. I forgot you wanted to go to the bathroom."
Thalia rolled her eyes and went on packing. "I told you my name is TAL-LEAH. Not Tal-ya. But of course, your redhead brain won't take that in because it's so small."
"Hey, you two, cut it out!" I jumped up and stood between them just before Liz punched Thalia.
Thalia looked me over and sniffed. Obviously she didn't like brunettes.
"So, who're you?" she questioned.
"Rina," I replied, "And it looks as though I'm the peace keeper in this cabin."
Just as I said that, a short, dark-haired girl walked into the cabin, carrying a pink suitcase and backpack.
"Um, am I interrupting something?" she asked, looking nervously at each of our faces. Her British accent was evident, though it was also obvious she was trying to conceal it.
"No, actually, we were just finishing up." Liz glared at Thalia and then turned and went back to her bed.
The dark-haired girl walked to the only empty bed left and set her backpack down.
"What's your name?" Thalia asked.
"Melanie," the girl replied.
"I'm Thalia, and—Oh my gosh, is that a Gucci?" Thalia squealed and stared at the purse Melanie was holding.
"Y-yes," Melanie answered. She looked really nervous.
"I can tell we're going to be the best of friends! Ohmigosh, we're gonna have so much fun!" Thalia continued on and on about clothes and fashion and stuff like that. I rolled my eyes and finished making my bed. I saw that Liz was finished, too. She had decided her bed was the one closest to mine and far away from Thalia.
"I guess every group has at least one of her," I muttered to Liz as I nodded towards Thalia.
"Yeah," she said, "They take the fun out of everything."
Liz and I talked for a few more minutes until Thalia and Melanie finished making their beds and got unpacked. Then we all headed out to the huge campfire circle where a few more people were gathered.
Liz nudged my arm and pointed towards four boys over on the edge of the circle. There was one with a green wool hat on (which I thought was odd, since it was the middle of June in California), one with smoothed-down brown hair, a short one that looked a lot like Melanie, because they had the same dark hair and eyes, and then there was a blonde guy.
"I heard they play instruments and are in a band or somethin'," Liz said to me.
"All of them?" I asked.
"Yup." Liz started looking around the group and saw two girls dressed in jeans and t-shirts. Tomboyish, I thought as she dragged me over to them and introduced ourselves.
"I thought you didn't like crowds," I muttered to her. She had told me she absolutely hated large groups of people and avoided them at all costs.
"I'm bored, ok? And I might as well make a few friends before Thalia Thaliafies them," she said to me.
The two girls' names were Hailey and Tina. Hailey was tall and pretty much all arms and legs with a waterfall of golden hair, while Tina was average height with short, ginger colored hair.
"Alright, gang," a loud, booming voice came from one of the adult leaders in the group.
"Welcome to Camp Kiskow! Now, you've already been assigned your cabin mates, and I just want to let you know that over the next 6 weeks you're here there will be no changing roomies. Everyone got that?"
"Yes," we all said in unison.
"Ok, I'm Mr. Hunter, but you can call me Mr. Dale, this is Mrs. Gregory, but she's called Mrs. G," -a black haired woman waved at us—"Mrs. Komer, Mr. Don, and Mr. Jenkins, the camp director." A short, brunette woman and two brown haired men waved when their names were called.
"We are the camp staff. If you need anything, come to us and we'll try to help you. Now, as for activities..." Mr. Dale droned on and on about the camp activities and such, until finally we were given free time. Liz, Hailey, and Tina were going to go look at the lake, and they invited me, but I said I just wanted to walk around the cabins for a bit. They shrugged and went off to the lake, saying that if I wanted to join them I was welcome to.
I walked up a hill, past the girls' cabins, and ended up around the boys' cabins. I saw the guy with the green hat coming out of one of the cabins. He saw me and waved, walking over to me.
"Hey," he said. He had a thick Texas accent, making me think of my real father, who had moved to Texas a few years ago.
"Hiya," I responded, "I'm Irina, but you can call me Rina. What's your name?"
"Mike, but a lot of my friends call me 'Wool Hat'." He pointed to the hat upon his head and I laughed a little.
"Why do you wear that thing when it's about 80 degrees out here?"
I asked.
"Keepsake from my mom. She made it for me," he said. I nodded. Ok. I understood that.
We were quiet for a moment. Then, I remembered what Liz had said.
"Oh, um, my friend said that she heard that you and your friends play instruments and are in a band or somethin'," I said.
"Yeah, and?" Mike looked at me questioningly.
"I think that's cool. What instrument do you play?" I asked.
"Guitar. My friend Peter plays bass, my other friend Davy does percussion, and Micky plays drums."
"MIKE!" A yell came from the cabin Mike had come out of. The smooth-haired guy ran out screaming. "THERE'S A BAT!"
I rolled my eyes and jogged over to him. "Let me take care of it."
Obviously he didn't think a girl could do it. "Girls aren't allowed in the boys' cabins."
"No one needs to know." I zipped into the cabin with Mike at my heels. I saw the little bat flying around the ceiling as the two other guys huddled on their beds.
"Mike, get me that broom over there, please," I said. Mike handed me the broom and I started beating behind the bat towards the door.
Eventually the bat was out.
"Micky, why couldn't you have done that?" Mike asked the guy who had yelled at him.
"Well, I, uh..." He stared at the floor.
I rolled my eyes and started to exit the cabin when Mike put a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey," he said, "Thanks."
I grinned at him. "No problem."
I saw the short guy get off the bed. He does look like Melanie, I thought, asking, "Hey, are you Melanie's brother?"
He nodded. "Melanie Jones? Yeah, I'm her brother."
Definitely related. They both have a British accent, I thought. "I'm in her cabin."
"Oh, ok. Is she behaving herself?" he asked.
"Yeah. She's actually really quiet," I answered.
"She's quiet because..." Melanie's brother stopped himself before he said anything else.
I frowned. "Uh, ok. I'd better leave." I headed out the door again, waving to Melanie's brother, Micky, and Mike. The other boy was still hiding on his bed.
I wonder what he was about to say... I thought. I had a thing for being way too nosy. Which would cause problems, most likely, but I really wanted to know why Melanie was so darn quiet.
And I meant to find out.
