Mauras POV

It was a beautiful day, and the sun was shining bright as the bus came to a halt in front of the main building that contained all the important facilities like the showers, toilets and medical ward.

My eyes took in the worn walls and the flat roof of the two-story building as I waited for the others to get out of the bus first. Chatter and laughter filled the air as the others made their way down the aisle past me. There was quite some nudging and pushing going on while I tried to be invisible.

It's not that I didn't want to be part of them but that I just didn't fit in. Somehow, I had never learned to be witty and funny and most of the time I didn't understand their jokes.

I was more of a shy book person. I mean seriously, have you ever felt that excitement rush through you when you open a new book and smell this special smell that they own? I've always loved it. That's why I owned a lot of books. More than anyone of my age. My parents even dedicated a room of their house to my books. It was my library and the place where I always felt comfortable and at home.

Still, I was missing something in my life. It was no wonder that my parents had been irritated by my restless wandering through our home over the past weeks which really surprised me because they usually don't seem to look after me that much. My mother is an artist and travels about as much as my father does.

I grew up with a nanny, a butler and a cook who took care of me. And it was Gerard – the butler – who suggested for me to take part in some usual teenager activities. This was the reason why I was now here: to mingle with other people of my age at Woodlands Summer Camp.

I was still mesmerized by the fact that my parents had agreed so easily on the idea to send me to this place where I would have to sleep in a tent. Owning a lot of money, the Isles family usually didn't do with this kind of standard.

My eyes checked the main building for one more time and it made me wonder if this was some sort of joke or punishment. Gerards idea had intrigued me to be honest. I had immediately recalled reading a book about the adventurous life of a teenager at summer camp and I had somehow been eager to go with Gerards idea.

Needless to say, that my parents had been all but happy, but had finally given in. Maybe they were also just glad to have me out of their feet for a while, I was musing, when I heard someone clear their throat.

"Don't you want to get out?" the driver asked, and I saw a small smile on his face. It was only then that I realized that the bus was empty and that I was the last one to still be there. He probably needed to drive off to pick up the next load of kids or had any other reason to rush me. His left foot was tapping nervously onto the ground, and I felt silly for still being here.

A slight blush already covered my neck. It would soon reach my face. So, I quickly grabbed my small bag and stood to leave the bus. I managed its small steps perfectly fine until I got diverted by seeing what I believed was a rare sort of spider crawling around the windshield.

The following incident anyways made my blush bloom as I oversaw one of the steps and fell. I wasn't usually a clumsy person but could only imagine that I had just delivered the first reason to be made fun of by the other teenagers.

To my surprise I didn't get hurt because of 2 strong arms that caught me just in time before I could hit the ground. A soft chuckle made me look up into the face of a tall, lean girl with brown eyes that were twinkling in amusement.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice deep but friendly.

It took me a moment to overcome the shock of my almost fall. My heart was still pounding hard in my chest as I rested in the strong arms, catching my breath. Once realizing that I should probably get moving, I hurried to get back onto my own feet.

"Yes, thank you." I replied with as much dignity as I could come up with while setting my clothes straight again as if it by doing so I could undo the entire incident.

The girl was still smiling, and I had the feeling that she was waiting for me to say more. But my throat and mouth felt drier than a desert and so I simply croaked out another thank you. The smile that covered my lips was probably crooked and I felt a mixture of deception and relief when the girl turned, ponytail wiggling, to fetch her luggage.

The group of teenagers was already moving towards a sign that said gathering place, still chatting and laughing as the excitement was literally palpable. The bus driver pushed the handle of my suitcase into my hand and tipped his fingers to his head before stepping back into his vehicle, leaving me standing alone with a piece of luggage that was not only different to the others because of its size but also because it wasn't a duffle bag.

After taking a deep breath to steel myself for whatever would come next, I followed the others and decided for a spot close to the front. A young man was already waiting, shielding himself with a clipboard and his eyes were doubtful. Not his dream job? I wondered with a wry smile. The group was still loud and when I glanced around, I I estimated that we were about 50 people.

The tall girl with the ponytail wasn't to be seen and I blushed again, when recalling the incident from earlier. She was probably believing that that I was a moron. Not only had I literally fallen out of the bus, but I had also shown a stupid reaction to her catching me. She would think that i was not able to take a few simple steps, nor to form coherent sentences. I hadn't given an explanation nor had I made a joke like any other person with good social skills would have done in this situation.

The young man lifted a megaphone to his mouth and cleared his throat, pulling me out of my reverie. The sudden noise made some of the teenagers jump which amused me. Once he was sure that everybody was listening – or at least most of them – he began introducing himself as Tim. 5 other Camp counserlors had joined him in the meantime and he took the opportunity to introduce them as Lisa, Sam, Andrew, Andrea and Susie.

They were all wearing the same light green polo and kaki pants while looking more or less bored. I recalled reading about how the crew was motivated and experienced in the pamphlet and shook my head inwardly. Clearly the information wasn't accurate made me wonder what else the pamphlet had been lying about.

"You will be grouped by 2 or 3. Once I read your names you walk over there" he pointed to a stand where all sorts of gear was stacked "then you receive your tent and you can go looking for a spot to set it up. You have time until" he checked his watch "1700, then we meet here again to discuss the further proceedings. That gives you two hours to get homey and settled." His smile was dry.

My name was soon called with two others and together we walked to fetch our gear. At least, my companions were looking kind and intelligent so I thought that it was going to be all right.

R&I

The smile of the girl with the ponytail hunted me for the next days. I was torn between meeting her again in order to show her that I was everything else but a moron and glad not to see her because my attempts to do wo would make me probably only do stupid things and lead to the fact that she would only believe the more that I was an insane person.

Her tent was obviously not close to mine, nor were we in the same group. My group leader was Andrea, a petite blonde that was very strict. The rules had to be followed and oh boy did she have many rules. Even me, who usually loved rules thought that she was totally overdoing it.

Anyways, my attempts to spot the girl at lunch or dinner time was also unsuccessful. The whole group usually met for both in the main building because the constant rain made it impossible to eat at the picknick tables outside.

The rain made us spend a lot of time in the main building in general. While the general excitement about the situation was dying down slowly, I was still enjoying the tap tap sound that the raindrops made on the fabric of the tent each night.

Other than staying in we were loaded into busses and driven to various museums and even a famous indoor waterpark where we stayed an entire day.