This is not my story. It's tolkiens. I only like to play there with my friends sometimes. I realize this story has been done before, but it is soo much fun playing in Middle-earth. Some of the jokes are inside, I think so you might not get them, but then Jenny is obviously very ditsy sometimes.
The sun glared scathingly at Katie as she climbed out of her mother's metallic blue van and into the fresh mountain atmosphere.
"Merlin's beard! I'm glad we finally escaped! No more tests! No more papers! Just relaxation and rest," she said smiling jovially at her best friend.
"Yep, If I had had to do one more quadratic equation or conic section, I would have hurt someone," she answered stepping out of the van.
"Esther, you're harmless despite your hard outer shell," Katie retorted. "You never would have hurt anyone."
"Humph!" Esther snorted pushing aside her brown hair. "Anyway, when is everyone else supposed to arrive for the campout?"
"Whenever they can. Come on let's go pitch some tents!" Katie laughed.
"Darn. I was hoping you wouldn't mention that."
"Well I did," she answered handing Esther a bundle of tent polls and supplies for the campout. "Let's go. We've got quite a hike, Essie. Mom is gonna send the other's along behind us."
"Don't call me Essie." Esther grumbled and motioned for Katie to lead the way, "Let's go."
An hour's hike into the forest led the girls to the perfect camping spot. It was at the edge of a pool of a crystalline waterfall in the middle of a glade. The trees surrounded it as if they were barriers.
"Stop here," Katie commanded, tossing aside her long auburn hair over her shoulder as she dropped her bundle on the ground.
"Great! Rest!" Esther sighed dropping everything in her possession.
"Nope, picking up sticks time!" Katie smiled. "I'll put up the tents."
Katie sang as she worked. The first thing that came to her head was a song from Sleeping Beauty. She also danced, but ballet made it difficult to pitch tents.
"I know you; I walked with you once upon a dream. I know you, that look in your eye is so familiar a glea…"
"Goodness, Katie, you are such a girly-girl," a tall girl with a strawberry blonde pixie cut said walking into the clearing with a sack on her back.
Four girls stood behind her. Each carried a bag and a bunch of supplies. Erika smiled happily as she looked around, admiring the beauty of the clearing. Ashley was babbling into Paige's ear, and Michelle was laughing at Jenny who was on the verge of falling off a large rock.
"Jennifer, it's not always a bad thing to be a girly-girl," she answered smiling.
Suddenly a girl with dirty blonde hair cut to her shoulders came sprinting into the clearing, almost bumping into Ashley.
"Ha! I caught up with you. See, I wasn't that late," she panted.
"Chelli!" everyone laughed in unison.
Minutes later Esther came back into the area with bundles of firewood. "Let's get this party going," she said, throwing her bundle down and looking around.
"Ya know, this is kinda creepy," Chelli spoke into the growing darkness.
"Yeah, I know," Katie answered, gazing fearfully into the shadows around them.
"Kinda makes you wish there were guys around, doesn't it?" Esther asked.
All the girls nodded. Suddenly there was the sound of a wolf howling not too far off. Katie and Michelle screeched and jumped at the same time. Jenny, still ungraceful through twelve years of dance tumbled off of her chair and into a bit of mud.
"I think we would be safer in our tents," Paige quietly suggested.
The girls went into their tents and fell asleep quickly. Esther waited a moment before going to join Katie in the tent they were sharing. Looking at the sky, she noticed that only one star was visible in the ring of trees.
"Star light, start bright. Brightest star I see to night, wish I may, wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight. I wish," she pleaded, hands clasped tightly before her, "that we could go on an adventure."
With those few words, she too tucked herself into bed and succumbed to the aching need for sleep. Outside all was quiet, not a blade of grass moved. The star slowly blinked, and evil laughter could be heard ringing through the trees as howling winds rent the air.
