Chapter 1
Squid walked to his house, accompanied by X-ray and Armpit. They had gotten out of Camp Green Lake just a couple weeks ago. Now, they were all walking to his house. "It seems like yesterday I was shovelin' dirt." X-ray said, with a ring of happiness in his voice. "Yeah, I know what your saying man, but we've been out for three weeks now." Armpit said. Squid found the keys in his pocket and opened the door. His cat named Fish was sleeping near the door, batheing in the sun. He scatted him away. "Shoo Fish. Move from the door." The cat continued sleeping. "Ah what the heck. Stay if ya wanna get stepped on." X-ray and Armpit threw off their shoes and followed Squid to the kitchen. He opened the fridge door, and grabbed three Coke's. He threw one at X-ray, then Armpit. "Man, your phone's ringin'." stated Armpit. Squid made a dash for the phone, and picked it up. "Hello?" he said. "Hello Alan." Squid's face brightened up. "Hey Uncle Larry. Haven't heard from ya in a long time." he said, with a half smile on his face. Uncle Larry was the coolest uncle ever allowed to walk on earth. He loved his uncle, even though he would never say it. "I know son. You've been at camp for a long time." "It's been forever." "Yeah, but I have some news for ya." Alan straightened up. Maybe he was coming down. Was that the news? Or could Squid go up to Canada and visit him? "What?" "Well I have a small camp here. I'm planning a little retreat kind of thing here for some kids about your age. Do you want to come along?" Alan's face light up like a bulb, but he turned around so his friends couldn't see. "Are you serious?" "Yeah, you can invite up to ten people." "I'm only gonna invite 7." "That's fine. I'll pay for their tickets. You'll be spending two months in beautiful Bristsh Columbia. We are going white water rafting, hiking, and a whole lot of other things." "Sounds cool." Uncle Larry chuckled. "I thought you would like the thought." "But Uncle Larry, who else is comin'?" "Oh my friend's daughter, her cousin and three more girls." Alan's mouth now dropped open. Five girls and eight guys? This was gonna be great. "Oh ok. I'm gonna go and tell the guys about this." "Fine son. I'll call you in two days with reservations and everything. I'll even fly there and pick you all up." "Wow, thanks Uncle Larry." "Anytime. Bye son." "Bye." Squid hanged up the phone, and ran into the kitchen. "Hey guys, guess where we're going?" "Where?" Armpit asked, taking his eyes off the package of Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the table. "We're going to Canada." "What?" X-ray said, confused. "My Uncle invited me and the guys to his camp in British Columbia. The D-Tent boys are all going." "But we just got back." Armpit said, staring at the package again. Squid shrugged. "So? Do you want to go or not?" "I don't know man. I kinda need to stay here for awhile." "My Uncle's rich and there's gonna be girls." X-ray shot up out of his chair. "On the other hand, maybe it won't be so bad." Squid looked over at Armpit, who was still eyeing the box, hungrily. "Have one Armpit." He grabbed the box, and devoured the 5 doughnuts left in 1 minute flat.
In B.C, Uncle Larry was heading to Elizabeth Jordan's house, his best friend. He couldn't wait a minute longer to tell Elizabeth the good news. He banged on the door. "Hello. Let me in guys." Safiya, Elizabeth's 17 year old daughter, answered the door. "Hey Larry." she said, casually. "Hello Safi." She closed the door and ran back upstairs to her bedroom. "Lizzi, where are you?" he hollered through the house. "I'm in here." she said, her calm voice coming from the kitchen. He could tell she was making something. He saw her standing in her apron, mixing cookie dough. Her short black hair was covered in a white bandana. Her glossy, captavationg green eyes concentrated hard on mixing the dough. Her tiny waist spun and around, trying to find things. Larry smiled. He had loved this woman since they were in highschool. But he had never told her how he felt. She found her love with another man by the name of Mitch Jordan. But he died, so she was now a 39 year old widow, her and Safiya trying to make it on their own. She twirled around, smiling at Larry. "Hello Larry. You startled me. Standing there all that time and not saying anything." "Sorry." he said, grinning. "I have news about camp." "Oh really?" said Lizzi, seeming very interested. "Tell me everything."
From the stairs Safiya listened to Larry and her mother's conversation about camp. Afer hearing everything, she went back to her room where her friends Shu, Raquel and Christine were. Her cousin, Lavender was also there. Shu was talking to her friends from China on MSN, Raquel and Christine were flipping through a magazine, and Lavender was reading a letter from her boyfriend, Scott. "Guys, we're going to camp with 8 boys." Everyone shot up, except for Shu who didn't care for boys. "Really?" Christine squealed. "Yeah. Seems someone is extremely happy." Raquel said, rolling her eyes. "Too bad I'm taken by Scottie." Lavender said, resting her head on Safiya's pillow. Safiya rolled her eyes and jumped on her cousin, who shrieked in surprise. "Safie." she whined. "Calm down girl. It's not like I killed you." Safiya looked at Shu, who was giggling at something on the screen. Safiya walked over to the screen and looked. There was a picture of a guy kissing some girl. "Shu, why are you laughing like a silly school girl?" she asked. "It's so cute." she said, still laughing. Safiya looked at Shu in disgust, then turned around to face the rest of the girls. "So do you know anything of the boys?" Lavender asked. "Well Larry's nephew, Alan is one of them and his 7 friends. They were at some juvie camp for a long time, and Larry wants him to visit for two months." "We are gonna hike for 2 months?" Christine said, her mouth wide open. "Uh yeah. That's why it's called summer camp." Raquel said. Christine shook her head and continued reading the magazine. "This should be fun." Lavender said. "Even though I got Scottie." "Oh shut up before I tackle you again."
Around supper, the girls left Safiya's house, except for Lavender. She was going to spend the night at her cousin's house. They rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen where the pizza they ordered sat on the table. Three boxes of cheese pizza. "Thanks Mom." Safiya said. She took a box, while her cousin took the other one. They brought it downstairs into the basement where the TV. was. A huge 52' inch Panasonic TV with satellite. "Well let's see what's on." Lavender said. She placed her pizza on a table near the couch, and also Safiya's. Safiya flipped through the channels. Seeing that A Cinderella Story was on, she asked her cousin if she wanted to watch it. She put it on, and grabbed some Coke from the mini fridge. She flopped herself beside Lavender on the couch, and watched the movie with her. When it was done, they cleaned up and headed upstairs to Safiya's room. They listened to music and surfed the net, until midnight, whish was when they fell asleep.