Chapter 1
Penny's heart was racing, as she waved good-bye to her boyfriend, Leonard, who had just dropped her off at Camp Woodledge, a camp in Cleveland, Ohio, for both Boy and Girl Scouts. She had accepted a job as a camp counselor there. This would be her home sweet home for the next three months.
Well, at least this will be better than waitressing at The Cheesecake Factory. She thought to herself as she dragged her luggage to her assigned campsite, Maple Forest.
She headed over to the counselors cabin, which looked more like a five-star hotel room than anything you'd expect to see at a Girl Scout camp. The cabin had bunk beds, a flat-screen HD TV, a ceiling fan, and electricity. And there was even a mini-fridge stocked with various non-alcoholic beverages. This was going to be heaven.
"This place is amazing!" Penny exclaimed.
"I know! It's unbelievable!" one of the other counselors commented.
"I'm Emily," the girl said, "What's your name?"
"I'm Penny." She answered.
"I like that name. I have a younger sister named Penny. Is this your first summer working here?"
"Yeah, it is," Penny responded.
"That's cool. This is my 4th year as a counselor here. What made you decide to come here?"
"Well," Penny replied, "I was a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory in L.A. But I made almost no money. And I also wanted a break from the dreadful heat."
"Oh, wow, that sounds crappy," Emily responded.
Penny nodded her head in agreement, as the two girls made their way to the pavilion, where the other counselors and the campers were gathered. The counselors all picked out funny camp names for themselves. Penny decided on "Lenny", a combination of her and Leonard's names.
The other three counselors in her group were Emily (Bubbles), Simone (Ocean), and Meg (Nutmeg).
The counselors and the girls headed over to the pool, where the girls all took the swimming test. Penny chuckled as she watched the girls take the swimming test. It was pretty ridiculous. They had to do 10 jumping jacks in the shallow end, swim the front crawl in the middle end, and finally in the deep end, they had to sing the song "Jingle Bells" while treading water. When the girls were done with the swimming test, everyone headed over to the dining hall, for dinner, which was taco pizza and salad.
Dessert was frozen yogurt, and they had a table filled with an assortment of toppings for people to mix into their treats. The group Penny was with was called Coaster Heroes. It was for girls and boys in grades 8 through 12. The group would be going to Kings island. Penny thought that was fun because she liked amusement parks. She had brought along a souvenir photo of her, Leonard, Howard, and Bernadette on one of the roller coasters at Disneyland, to place by her bedside. She sighed as she gazed longingly at the photo of her and her friends, and drifted off to sleep.