A story about teenage romance, loss and life. Through attempting to make an impression on a boy to beginning all over again, it's in no way likely to end up being simple ...
Excerpt:
I guess my story really starts a few years ago, when I was 14; I had a mega crush on a guy in my drama class. After class one day he asked if I was going to the drama camp over the summer. I wasn't planning to but if he asked I might ask my parents. I grabbed the booklet after school and went home, my mum was in the kitchen looking a bit tired so I left the brochure on the table and went to help her with dinner. After dinner, when we were cleaning up my mum noticed the brochure, she asked me if I was interested in going, I said I was, that a few people from my drama class were going.
She said she would discuss it with my dad and let me know, I didn't find out until later that my mum could not get time off during the summer holidays and was feeling bad that I would be home alone for the summer. I am the last of 3 children; I was born 11 years after my brother and 15 years after my sister. My sister had married, moved away and had 2 children and my brother was in the military, I may as well have been an only child, my sister left home when I was really little and my brother not long after her. I got to see them during special holidays but we were not close.
The next morning my dad asked me at breakfast if I wanted to go to the drama camp or if I was just going to make my mum feel better. I said I really wanted to go, that it would be fun and I might learn something while I was at it. So dad said I could go, that he would book me in and pay that day. The closing date was the end of the week so he only had a couple of days any way. He made it very clear that after he paid for this I was going like it or not. I was fine with that! Hell 4 weeks with my crush at a camp couldn't be that bad.
The last few weeks of school went really fast between cramming for exams and taking the exams, I didn't really have much time to think about it. I got a confirmation letter about the camp and a list of things I needed to take with me, I put it aside, deciding to concentrate on my exams and think about it on the week of holidays before I left on the camp. So the school term finished and I decide to look at the packing list, there are a few odd things on the list but we had everything I needed at home. I started to gather everything together, making a pile in my room, after work my mum got me a suitcase from the basement and I packed everything into the suitcase making sure I had everything on the list, the next day my mum and I went shopping after she finished work and she bought me some new and some nice things to take away with me. I also bought a new backpack to take with me, I put my new things in the suitcase along with all of the "just in case" things my mum wanted me to pack. The next morning my mum drove me to the collection point for the camp, there were a couple of people from school but I didn't see my crush anywhere, I guess he changed his mind. Oh well this was going to be great any way.
I was really excited to be going away for 4 weeks, it was my first real time away from my parents, I know I had been on school camps but never for more than a week. A large coach pulled up, the driver got off and called each of our names, I said good-bye to my mum and told her I Loved her, and that I would write. Then I put my suitcase in the storage locker under the bus and climbed aboard. There were a few other students already on the bus, but no familiar faces. I said hi to a really cute guy towards the back of the bus after he smiled at me. He asked me if I would like to sit with him, I did, why wouldn't I! He stood up and helped me put my backpack in the overhead lockers. I sat down and waited while everyone else was loaded. There were heaps of empty seats, I thought we must have heaps more stops but we didn't, it was just us. On the 3 hour bus ride to the camp I learnt a fair bit about all of the people sitting around me, I felt at home, the cute guy asked me if he could talk to me about Jesus, I told him I had already had the chat. It turns out that he went to one of our sister churches and that we knew heaps of the same people. It really helped me to know I was not the only church kid at the camp. I then found out that most of the back of the bus was from the same church! This was going to be an awesome camp.
On the bus along side of me was Troy, he was a walking bible, he knew every verse. Behind him was Ed, his best friend and the class clown, then there was Emma, who was so pretty, and Tess, who was a bit shy but an amazing singer. In our group was also Peter, he was Emma's boyfriend, and he was also a pastor's son! We talked, laughed, played Sunday school games and when we got bored we would sing!
When we finally arrived at the camp, we discovered that we were all staying in cabins; there were hundreds of cabins but not many students. We also discovered that some parents had opted to drive to the camp rather than catch the bus.
When most of us were assembled in the dinning hall, a funny little man stood up on a chair and welcomed us, he went through all of the usual house keeping sorts of things, he took us on a tour of the grounds and then when we got back to the dinning hall, lunch had been served. Lunch was rolls and fruit, some people were complaining about it but I thought it was quite good, compared to school lunches it was great.
After lunch we were all given our welcome packages, it turns out it was one cabin each, there were also timetables, rules and our keys. We also had a name badge and maps! I was a little worried to discover that my first lesson was at 7 am the next morning. My new friend offered to carry my suitcase to my cabin, I was lucky my cabin was fairly close, I had cabin 9, he had cabin 22. Once I got to my cabin, I checked the time table the only other thing we had today was dinner at 6pm, so I had a couple of hours to make my self comfortable.
My cabin had 2 beds, 2 wardrobes, 2 desks and a bathroom, it even had a bath! I was excited and remember thinking, "I think I got a good one!" I took the opportunity to clean everything to give the blankets a good shake outside and I made my bed, I put my things away. I unpacked my books and my torch, I put them by the bed so I would know where they were, I also put my spare bottle of water by the bed. I found a broom in the bathroom so I gave it a quick sweep; I was feeling pretty happy when my new friend swung by to see if I needed anything. It seemed that all of the cabins were the same, we all got a bath, and I guessed from the timetable that there was a fair bit of physical work so I would probably need a hot bath at some stage.
Anyway, I locked my door and my new friend and I went off to have a look around, I really wanted to figure out where everything was so I wouldn't be late to any of my classes. On our walk we run into my crush, his mum had driven him to the camp because he was late for the bus. He had 4 large bags, what could he possibly need? He also had cabin 47, it was way up the hill. I was going to offer to help but he was a bit snooty so I figured he could lug his own bags. My new friend Troy commented that he was a bit of a princess, something that would become really evident in the next few days.