Chapter 3 is now finished and we are working on Chapter 4 at the moment.
Hope you enjoy..
(this is a really long post :P)
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Chapter 3: Welcome to
CAMP LAURAKEG!
Jalika’s P.O.V. cont…
“Mann why is this ride taking forever!!!?” Marcus said sighing
“Be patient!” Anmarie said
“Mann I gotta wake up Jalika.” Micah said as he was reaching over to me. “Wake up Jalika!”
“Huh, Huh?” I said trying to go back to sleep. “Uugghhh... You woke me up from my dream!” I said sort-of upset and sleepy.
“Sorry” Micah said with an attitude
“Ok guys! No more fighting!” Anmarie said trying to calm us down. “You’re all just feeling kind-of tight from being in the car so long.” Anmarie said surely
“Guys, does that sign say what I think it says?!” Marcus said as he was pointing
“It does! It says CAMP LAURAKEG next exit.” I said excitedly getting up from my sleepy position.
“Yes!” we all said to each other
CAMP LAURAKEG! Oh after the long ride it was finally here!!! I couldn’t wait! Now was the moment of truth... will it be a fun summer? I’ll have to see. So far the kids in the bus with us are pretty energetic, and pretty cool kids. There were other busses though, so I don’t totally know for sure. Ahhhhh, I sighed. It was pretty hot and humid with all those kids stuffed in the bus. I couldn’t wait to jump into the lake and refresh myself! But would camp be strict? I couldn’t even guess, I’ve never been to a camp before. Ok, ok, I gotta cool down, I said as I was closing my eyes trying to relax.
“Jalika!” Micah said as he was tapping me. “Look we’re heading up a mountain!”
“I think CAMP LAURAKEG might be on this mountain! Oh I can’t wait!” Anmarie said excitedly
Higher still higher and further still further we drove, until I thought I saw a few cabins.
“Welcome to CAMP LAURAKEG, campers!” the bus driver said as she was getting closer to a sign that said CAMP LAURAKEG.
“O Jalika, I can’t wait!” Anmarie said even the more excited.
My heart was just beating. It was finally here! By now the bus driver was pulling into a gravel area where many more camp busses were parked. There were many, many, kids! Were we to make any friends this summer? Hhmmmm, I thought…
“Jalika, come on!” Anmarie, Marcus, and Micah said hurrying me along…
We got out the bus, and as we were heading over to get our bags a counselor spoke in a mega-phone telling everyone to leave their bags and meet in the cafeteria for a cabin check-in and ground rules. We made our way to the cafeteria…
“Ok kids, welcome to CAMP LAURAKEG! I will be one of your head counselors here and you all can call me Ms. Lewis. I have ground rule sheets that will be passed out to all of you. And also, be sure to come up to these multiple cabin check-in tables to get your cabin number. Remember kids, you will have roommates as usual; so I don’t want any bickering about wanting to have your own room. …That will be all! Have a wonderful first afternoon here at CAMP LAURAKEG! Dismissed” Ms. Lewis said.
“Ok guys let’s get our cabins.” I said starting towards the table.
………………………………………………………………………..
Anmarie’s P.O.V*look at first page for pronunciation or meanings
"Here we are! Camp at last! I've been waiting for this moment forever!...ok maybe not forever more like a few days. I thought while we walked to one of the check in tables.
"Hi, we are here to get assigned to our cabins." Marcus said as we approached the check-in.
"Oh, ok. Give me your names and I'll get your papers." The Lady at the desk said.
"Ok, well I'm Anmarie. This is my friend Jalika, her twin brother Micah and his friend Marcus." I said.
"Anmarie..Jalika..Micah and Marcus. Right?" She asked
"Yes." I answered
"Good! Here you guys are. Please go through the rules sheet that is included inside. If you get three strikes or more you have to go home. Meaning , break three rules or one rule three times, then I'm sorry but you have to leave the grounds." She informed us with a forced smile
"Ok...?" We said, all of a sudden a little unsure
Wow, she seemed nice.....ish. A little scary and strict though..just a little.
"Ok!! Moving on people! Let's go find our bags then our cabins. Marcus and I are in the same cabin." Micah said
"Yea, same with me and Anmarie!" Jalika said excitedly while we looked for our bags.
"Cool. So we'll see you guys later then and don't do anything we wouldn't do!" I said laughing as we found our bags and started towards the girl’s cabins.
Time to check out the cabin. I hope it's not all nasty with stiff lumpy beds and dirty sheets! I thought in my head as we approached our cabin, number 14. We opened the door to a surprisingly clean and comfy cabin.
It had nice smooth-looking wooden walls and wooden floors. It was pretty big with one bathroom and three medium sized closets. I guess two people share one. There are four bunk beds in our cabin and each had a number.
"Oh No...." I groaned to Jalika
"What are you groaning about Anna?" Jalika questioned
"What is your bunk number? I think that tells us whether or not we stay in the same bunk and share a closet space..." I said unhappily
"Oh..I have number 6.Which is at the back of the room on the top bunk. What about you?" She asked hopefully
"Awww Mann!!!! I have number one! At the front of the room, top bunk." I said
"Well, I guess we make the best of it then. Besides I think I hear the other girls coming." She said
"Ok, well what do we do? We can't just stand here and watch them come in like we have been waiting all day. That would make us seem weird!" I said
"Well, uhh....QUICK! Lie on your bed and act like you didn't hear them coming!" Jalika said laughing
We calmed down just as soon as the girls walked in.
"Hi….." We said in unison.
"Hi, I guess you guys are our new roommates!" One of them said excitedly. "My name is Faith. This is Abrielle, Kaitlyn and Taylor." She said pointing to each of the girls with her.
“Oh, hi. Nice to meet you!” we said shyly.
“I’m Anmarie and this is my friend Jalika.” I said introducing ourselves
“Cool! Nice to meet you guys too! So it looks like there is four bunk beds in here. Let’s see which numbers we have guys.” Taylor said.
“I have number 3.” Abrielle said anxious to know who is sharing the bunk with her.
“I have number 2.” Said Kaitlyn
“You’re my ‘bunk buddy’ ;)!” I said excited
“Great!” Kaitlyn replied
“I’m number 4.” Faith said
“And I guess I’m number 5 then.” Taylor said looking around for her ‘bunk buddy’
“Hey, I have number 6! We’re on the same bunk!” Jalika said as she was sitting on her bunk.
"Cool now we all know who we are bunking with, we should review the rules before they call or something." Kaitlyn said. 'Oh, right' the other agreed.
"I'll read them." Taylor said
1. Lights out at 10:00
2. No boys at girls cabins or girls at boys cabins past 8:30
3. Do Not go on walks without your leader knowing
4. No Swimming unless instructed to
5. Be on time!
6. No skipping programs
7. Be kind
8. No foul mouths allowed
9. Dress modestly
10. HAVE FUN!!
"Fine with me!" I shrugged. Everyone agreed with me. "Well, let’s get to unpacking and making this cabin the best in camp!" I said excitedly.
"Yea!" They said all together. “I have a feeling this is the beginning of great friendships! It's going to be a good summer...” I thought.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~~~~
Micah’s P.O.V. *look at first page for pronunciation or meanings
“Well… there’s cabin number 3” I said opening the cabin door
“Looks pretty good.” Marcus said amazed.
“Yeah!” I responded
“There are 4 bunks, mann I wonder how many other cabin mates we’re gonna have?!” I said as I was walking around the room.
“I have number 2, you?” Marcus asked
“Number 4, I’m in the bunk next to you” I said.
<Squeak> The cabin door opened.
“Oh hi..I’m Emmett, What’s your guy’s name?”
“I’m Marcus, and this is my friend Micah.”
“Cool..” Emmett said as he was looking at the other guys coming in the door with bags.
“Hey guys these are our roommates.” “Marcus and Micah.” said Emmett
…………“Great, I’m Avery”
“I’m Cole”
“Oh, and I’m Cameron” –they all said one after the other
“Well, we all have bunk numbers, me and Marcus already got ours.” I said to them
“Oh, yeah we have numbers too” Avery said. “I have number 3
“I have number 1” Said Cole
“And I got number 6” Said Cameron wondering who he is sharing the bunk with..
“I’m bunk number 5. So I’m with you Cameron…” Emmett said
“This doesn’t seem to be all of us so I think there are more coming soon” I said.
“Right, well we should unpack before its time to eat dinner. What time does the schedule say”? Asked Marcus.
“Um, 5:00 is dinner time, and right now its 4:27.” Cameron said as he was looking at the clock on the other side of the room.
<Squeak> The door opened again.
“Hey, I guess these might be the rest.” Avery whispered to all of us.
“Hi? Didn’t know anyone else was in here yet. Um, I’m Grayson”
“Hi. I’m Cole and this is: Marcus, Micah, Emmett, Cameron, and Avery.”
“Cool! Oh, and this is my older brother, Joed.” Grayson said as he was raising his arm towards his brother walking in through the door. “Joed, this is Marcus, Micah, Emmett, Cameron, Cole, and Avery.
“Hey, I’m Joed as he said. So I’m guessing that the empty bunk is ours”?
“Yup, Number 7 and 8.” Marcus said as he was looking towards the bunks.
“Great.” Grayson and Joed said in unison.
~~Riiiiiinnnng rrriinnnnggggggg~~
“Hey that’s the dinner bell! Let’s go guys!” I said making my way to the door.
‘Mann summer camp so far was awesome! Still haven’t made official friends but so far everything was great… Oh, yeah the girls. I wonder how they’re doing.’ I was thinking to myself as we were walking along.
“Hey mann, we’re at the caff. Now.” Avery said nudging me.
“Oh, right. Ehehe” I said as I was looking around in the crowd of kids making their way to the food. “Hey Marcus, there’s Jalika and Anmarie!” I was pointing to them across the room.
“Who’s Jalika and Anmarie”? Joed asked.
“Jalika is Micah’s twin sister, and Anmarie is her best friend. We came here with them.” Marcus explained.
“Jalika! Anmarie!” Micah and Marcus called.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Jalika’s P.O.V.*look at first page for pronunciation or meanings.
Jalika….Anmarie….
“Did you hear that Anna”? I asked
“Our names being called, yes.” She replied looking around at the same time.
“What’s the problem guy’s”? Kaitlyn asked
“We hear someone calling us. Hey look I see, it’s Micah and Marcus!” I said in excitement waving my hand and walking towards them.
“But who are they”? Taylor asked
“Micah, the taller one, is my twin brother, and Marcus is his friend.” I don’t know everyone else he’s with though”?
“Oh, wait that’s my brother Avery that’s with them!” Abrielle said waving.
“Hey Micah!” I said giving my brother a hug.
“Hey Jalika. How’ve you been”? Micah said.
“Good. Oh this is Faith, Taylor, Kaitlyn, and Abrielle.” I introduced.
“Hi.” They all said in unison
“This is Avery, Emmett, Cole, Grayson, Joed, and Cameron.” Micah introduced
“Hi ;)” I said looking at each one of them. “Abrielle and Avery are brother and sister.” I said to Micah.
“Cool. So there are a few siblings amongst us.” Micah said
“So we should all get a table together.” Emmett suggested
“Yeah.” Micah and I said in unison.
“Ok. We should get in line now.” Taylor suggested
“Yeah!” we all said together.
‘Awesome, soooo many new friends I made here already! Not close-close yet, but I’m sure we will be by the end of the summer.
<Screech>
“Wow. These chairs are noisy!” Cole chuckled.
“So. Who’s gonna start a conversation”? Cameron asked.
“Well, I guess I could.” I said “Ummm. What do you want to do after we eat”?
“Oh. Yeah after we eat, on the schedule it says there is a bonfire!!” Faith said excited.
“Great, I love bonfires.” Joed said as he was looking at his schedule.
“Let’s hurry up and eat so we can get there early!” Abrielle said as she was eating those mashed potatoes she had on her plate.
“Yeah!” we all agreed as we were rushing to finish eating.
‘Well I guess the food here is like any typical summer camp,(not. luxurious), but it was pretty O.K..’ I thought taking big bite of my food at the same time.
“O.K. let’s go!” Grayson stood from his chair with his tray in his hand.
“Coming.” We all stood up one after the other on our way to put our trays in the wash area.
After we made our way out of the cafeteria, we headed on through the woods to the bonfire site. It was almost sunset and from my perspective it made the woods look even cooler!
“There’s the bonfire site.” Anmarie said aloud
“Well we made it.” Marcus said with a sigh
“Yep.” Kaitlyn said looking around.
“So, what are we going to do while we’re waiting out here”? I asked everyone.
“Ummm, we can explore a little bit”? Avery suggested.
“O.K. Girls explore over here, and guys you can go over there.” Kaitlyn said
“Fine with me, let’s go guys, this’ll be fun!” Marcus said as he was leading them in the woods behind the log seats.
“Girls we’ll go over here behind the wood storage shed.” Anmarie said leading us in the opposite direction.
“Oh, wait.” I said as I was walking a few steps back to where I could see them. “We meet back here when it starts, half an hour!” I yelled across to the guys.
“O.K. Cameron yelled back.
“Jalika, let’s go!” Anmarie yelled back to me.
“Coming right now.” I said running my way back to them.
“So. I guess we just keep walking till it’s time to go back.” Abrielle said
“Yup…” most of us sighed.
“Hey, it looks like there’s a clearing up there.” Faith said as she was squinting her eyes to see.
“Yeah I see it, let’s walk to it!” Anmarie said excitedly.
It took about 5 to 7 min. to get there. Everyone’s heart was pounding and excited to see what was there. But when we got there…..
“A fence?!” We all exclaimed..
“But look behind it..it’s all peaceful. A big field.” Faith said.
“Yeah..let’s climb over. No biggey.” Taylor said with shrug
“I guess so. I mean I’ve climbed many fences in my life time.” Anmarie said.
“O.K. let’s do this…” Abrielle said
“I’ll go first since I’m the tallest here and can help people over .” I said with a slight sigh.
I made my way over the other side of the fence…
“O.K. who’s coming next? I’ll pull you over..” I said getting myself ready.
“I’ll be next..” Taylor said.
We all finally got across….
“Wow. This is beautiful!”Faith said.
“Yeah, let’s just go over that little hill over there to see how far we can see.” Kaitlyn said.
“Yeah!” we all said together.
It was a very beautiful open area we had found! Nice long grass with flowers and the sunset shining through all. Whoa, that reminded me that’s its getting kind-of dark out, and we should be heading back right about now. We don’t want to be late for bonfire or we’ll get in trouble.
“Hey guys, we should start heading back now. It’s starting to get darker out and we might get in trouble if we don’t get back for bonfire.” I said a little serious.
“Oh yes, I almost forgot about that!” Taylor said.
Now during this small little conversation we were still walking. So by the time we ended this conversation we had made our way to the top of the little hill.
<gasp>
“Duck everyone!” Anmarie whispered while bringing Abrielle, next to her, down with her.
We all ducked down…
“What is it”? I asked Anmarie.
“I saw a rundown house, and a man sitting in a chair with back facing us.” Anmarie said.
“I’m gonna peek..” I said a little unsure.
I quietly and softly lifted my head up from behind the little raise on the ground and the tall grass. At first all I saw was the sun shining brightly through the grass. When my eyes had focused I saw what Anmarie describe. The man looked old and worn, the house just a twin. But I saw more than what Anmarie had glimpsed, I saw traps and guns…. <Gasp>…..He also had some carpentry tools and birdhouses? I quickly put my head back down…
“What did you see”? Abrielle asked.
“I have to tell you guys later but we gotta get out of here!” I said while slowly crawling back down the hill.
……………………………..............................
Micah’s P.O.V.
“Well guys, that was a alright walk.” Avery said with a sigh while walking towards the log seats at the bonfire site.
“We made it back!”Cameron said, collapsing on the seat.
“Wow..” Grayson said with a chuckle.
“Hey, where are the girls? The counselors will be here soon with all the kids to start the bonfire.” I said kind-of concerned.
“Hopefully they show up on time.” Marcus said with shrugs.
“Shhhhhh..” Cole said looking around “I think I hear the rest-of the kids and counselors coming!” he whispered to all of us.
“Hello boys. You’re here early!” Ms. Lewis said as she was leading all the rest of the kids from around the trees.
“Yeah, we thought we’d just finish eating and then come out here to wait.” Avery said with an innocent smile.
“Well O.K.” she said to us. “Now kids, what do we have to do before we get a fire going”? She said, now directing her attention away from us and to the rest of the kids.
There was silence.. No-one really seemed like they wanted to answer and be put on the spot.
“Um, we have to clear the area, annddddd get the wood and stuff.” An energetic but shy boy said.
I didn’t know who he was but, thought he was nice. And the other guys he was with.
“Yes.. That’s pretty much it.” Ms. Lewis said with a sigh thinking how much she has to teach everyone.
“Now everyone let’s go into the wood shed and look at what size wood we’ll need for the bonfire!” Ms. Lewis said as she was leading us all into the shed.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Jalika’s P.O.V. <Panting>“We’re back!” I said still panting. “But where are the others”?
“Shhhhh!” Anmarie said. “I hear them in the shed.”
“We gotta get in there by blending..” Taylor said with a smirk.
We all ducked down almost crawling inside the shed. Everybody was facing the opposite direction of us so all we could see was backs.
“Ok everyone slowly stand back up..” Abrielle whispered.
We all slowly stood back up, not even being noticed.
“Ok kids now that we know what types of wood we need I’m going to split you guys up into 2 groups. This side will clear out the pit and the surrounding area, while this side gets all the wood ready..” Ms. Lewis said. “Now let’s get to it!” She said as she was walking out the shed.
“Well girls, I guess we’re helping out clear the area.” Faith said.
“Hey look, there’s Marcus and some of the others!” I said aloud to them.
“Hey!” Marcus said almost too loud.
“Hey guys, sorry we took so long..” I said.
“We have a whole story to tell you!” Anmarie interrupted.
“Yeah!” the rest of the girls said.
“Where’s Micah and the others”? I asked
“Micah, Cole, Avery, and Grayson are over there helping with wood..”
“Ohhh…” I said with a slight sigh.
“Ok kids I think we’re about ready for a bonfire! But you’ve helped us out a lot so far so me and the other counselors will do the rest.” Ms. Lewis said with a nice smile.
Everyone dispersed around the bonfire site and went to their little groups..
“Jalika, you guys made it back! FINALLY!” Micah said, stressing finally.
“Yeah.. there’s a whole story behind it, but I think we should think it through first and maybe tell you guys tomorrow.” I said looking back at the girls who were nodding their heads at me.
“Um.. ok”? Micah said with “question mark face”.
“Let’s get to that bonfire now kids!” Ms. Lewis said. “Who will like to have the honors of lighting it up!” She asked.
“Me!” The same kid that answered her question earlier said.
“Ok, what is your name dear”? Ms. Lewis asked while giving the lighter to him.
“Javon :)” he said.
“Well Javon, you have the honors of lighting it on fire so, go right ahead!” Ms. Lewis said as she backed up slowly to sit down.
He lit the bonfire……
“Ok, the bonfire is building up now… Let’s all sit around the fire on the log seats and wait for it to get a little darker, and for the fire to be at full blast!” Ms. Lewis said.
………
“Pass it on!” a girl named Cara said.
“Ok, let’s sing!”
{It only takes a spark, to get a fire going
And soon all those around, can warm up in the glowing.}..(We all sang)
So far camp was pretty amazing, and mysterious I guess you can say. But I feel it’s gonna turn out to be a awesome summer.. New friends.. ‘Adventures’.. And FUN!
