With a boom as loud as gunfire, and then another, thunder roared and lightning shot down. Rain cascaded down and splashed into the dark lake. Pidgey shrieked and rose. A Spheal curved itself and dove as a newly birthed bird settled in the seething ocean and drifted silently.

"May, honey, do you have everything packed for camp? I want to get to the airport before it starts raining." Caroline Maple called from the living room down stairs.

"Yeah, I'll be down in a sec!" Her 13 year old daughter, May Maple, called from her room. May looked into the mirror and saw the image of her wearing a dark pink shirt that said in white letters 'Green River Middle School" and a pair of black shorts that stopped above her knees. Tucked safely inside her pocket was a green iPod and her chestnut colored hair was pulled up into a ponytail. Her left wrist was covered with pink, black and green wrist bands. She flipped off the lights in her room and raced down the stairs and found her mom waiting for her.

"Are you ready?" Caroline asked May. May nodded her head as a yes.

"Yeah, everything's packed and in the car. And, I got my iPod." May said flashing the chrome-green device.

As they started driving towards the airport, Caroline heard May's music blasting from her iPod. 'How loud does she need that?' She asked herself as May hummed along with the song 'Niki Fm' by Hawthorne Heights. The words rang in her head as her sapphire eyes gazed out into the gray clouds gathering together in the sky. Lightning shot down from the ominous mass of haze. May rested her head on the glass window and fell asleep.

X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X

A blue green lake lashed up waves as storming winds blew across the land. May stood at the edge, her hair blowing and whipping at her face viciously. A boy with electric black hair stood next to her, jade eyes fixed on the lake. It was odd because May was wearing a black dress that went to her ankles and she was wearing black high-heels. The boy was wearing a black blazer with a cadet green shirt under and jeans. Faint music was heard from a cabin far off. Drum beats were loud. Lightning exploded into the water with a flash and a loud, sharp shriek was heard by the two. An ivory bird with an indigo underbelly darted up from the lagoon. Everything seemed to have disappeared. The music had stopped and there was nothing but the two and the bird. The bird's massive wings flapped as lightning was shot down and thunder boomed. Its large beak emitted a cry and its bloodshot eyes fixed onto them. It flew back to the ground and perched on the opposite side of the lake from May and the boy. It faintly chirped and took flight again, this time leaving them and everything was heard. The music came back and drum beats were now as loud as before. The clouds cleared a bit and the setting sun lit the sky an orange-red fading into purple.

X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X:X

"May! Wake up, we're at the airport!" May's cobalt eyes shot open and darted around to find her mom in front of her with her door open.

"We are?" She asked, voice full of exhaustion. She rubbed her eyes and got out of the car. The rain had stopped and the sky cleared up. The gray clouds had turned into white.

As they walked into the building, May couldn't help but think of her dream. 'What was that bird thing? And who was that boy?' she asked herself. She was so caught up in her thoughts, she actually bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch were you are going!" the girl complained. She had blonde hair and green eyes. Her light hair fell over one eye and the other glared into May's blue. Her body was perfect, compared to May's slouchy.

"Sorry…" May apologized.

"Just don't even!" the girl said in a preppy voice. She cocked her head the other way and walked off with her arms over her chest.

'What a bi' May thought angrily. She caught up with her mom and stayed quiet until they got to the port.

"Flight 16 final call." The PA said over the intercom.

"Well mom, I guess its bye for the summer." May said while wrapping her arms around her mom.

"Yeah. Bye, honey." Her mom said as she returned the hug. A man took May's hand and led her to the plane as she turned around and waved a loving good-bye.

May took a seat at the front and another girl was led onto the plane. She was May's age with shiny red hair. She sat next to May and smiled at her.

"Hi, I'm Leah." She said. May looked over and smiled back.

"I'm May. Where you going?" She asked the girl.
"I'm going to camp, I guess. My mom came into my room one day and said 'Leah! You're going to camp!' and I'm sitting there like…okay…" Leah said.

"Yeah me too. Its some place called Camp Tecumseh. Sounds weird, I know." May rolled her eyes.

"Really? That's where I'm going!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

The two girls realized what they were arguing about and laughed.

"You and me, we're going to be good friends." May said while still chuckling lightly. "Hey, do you want to listen to my iPod?"

"Heck yes we are! Oh, yeah sure." Leah smiled as May grabbed the green iPod out of her pocket and split the earphones. She started it up as loud music blasted from the small earphones. They giggled as the plane lifted into the air and they headed towards Camp Tecumseh. For the whole summer with new friends.

The whole summer.

END of chap 1