Chapter 1
Spending the summer in Lakeside was the best thing that could have possibly happened to me. Since I would have to drive back and forth to work, my dad finally caved and bought me my own car, a black Honda Civic and boy do I love her. Being given the much-needed distance from school and the drama that came with that, working at Camp Sunshine was honestly exactly what I needed to get my life back in order. Despite my need for distance, there was one exception; Harrison. We started seeing each other a few weeks before finals and he was my first “serious” boyfriend. I mean don’t get me wrong, I had a boyfriend before him when I was 13 and we dated for a year but that was puppy love. Harrison was always so persistent in asking me out and he finally wore me down and convinced me to go out with him.
Much to Harrison’s dismay, I was having a blast getting up every day and going to work and I had made so many new friends. Meaning, I had less time to spend with him than he anticipated. The best part about my new friends was that they weren’t stuck up and shallow like Amanda and Alex. They were real, genuine friends that I could see myself having for the rest of my life.
We were about four weeks into the summer now which only meant one thing, the midsummer sleepover at Camp Sunshine. This night, from what returning staff has told me is both the best and worst night of working at camp because you are with the kids for over twenty-four hours but at night, when they go to sleep, that’s when the real fun begins. The staff working has free reign of the entire building and there was only one rule, don’t wake the kids. Because the camp took place in Lakeside’s leisure center, each camp group was assigned a room to sleep in while the boys slept in the large event room that was sometimes used for recitals and even weddings. Thankfully, all the rooms were carpeted but we all still had to sleep on the hard, uncomfortable floor.
Of course, being the extra person I am, I came up with a solution for that. You see, an air mattress is a little bit much to bring to a sleepover however, they were basically just really large pool floaties, right? So last night, thirty minutes before Target closed, my extra ass decided to go and buy myself a pink pool floatie to sleep on. I just know everyone is not going to let me live this down but for four dollars, I’ll get the last laugh when I don’t wake up with knots in my back and a cricked neck. I packed my car last night with my pink floatie, my normal camp backpack, my overnight bag, a swimsuit, swim shorts, toiletries, a sleeping bag, pillow, snacks, a deck of cards, and several bottles of coffee because I know I will be hating it in the morning.
With the backseat of my car practically bursting at the seams, I left my house at around 7:45 am because we were expected to be at the morning meeting by 8:15 am. I drove the fifteen minutes to work and parked at my designated spot before getting out and emptying the contents of my backseat.
Putting down my overnight bag, I turn around to see Paige pulling up in her familiar orange Honda Fit. Paige has really become one of my closest friends. We clicked from day one of staff orientation and have been friends ever since. As stupid as it sounds, besides Cristine, she’s the first friend that really seems to get me. I feel like I can really be my true authentic self with her. Paige is Chinese and has this gorgeous effortless look about her that I always envy. Like me, she is petite probably about 5′1, and what frustrates me the most is she doesn’t have to put on makeup or fix her hair to look presentable in the morning like I do. She always wears her natural long brown hair up in a ponytail. A thing that I think works a lot in our favor is, the fact that she’s two years older than me meaning that she’s more mature than the high school kids I have been accustom to dealing with. Paige finished her first year of college majoring in computer science. She’s is a huge goofball, super creative, intelligent, and never fails at making my day better.
“How long were you planning on sleeping here?” Paige yelled through the window at me teasingly as she parked next to me.
“Oh you know me, I want to make sure I have everything and I’m prepared,” I say pulling out my pool floatie.
“You preparing for a flash flood?” She jokes popping her trunk and taking out a single sleeping bag and a backpack.
“Nah I just don’t want my back to hurt in the morning. Roast me all you want but I will be the one laughing in the morning.” I say as she helps me out by grabbing my overnight bag and slinging it over her shoulder.
“That’s pretty smart Lauren. I wish I could bash it but to be honest, I wish I thought of it myself.” She says as we both lock our cars and head into the morning meeting inside the camp office.
“Good morning! There are my two favorite people!” Louis says coming over to help us carry our stuff.
Louis was another person at camp I just instantly clicked with. He is one of the most obnoxious people I have ever met in the best way. He is always so full of energy, super bubbly, one of the funniest people I have ever met, and best of all, he’s not afraid to have fun. The kids at camp are absolutely obsessed with him, for good reason. He brings light and energy to the camp and makes every day so much more enjoyable. Like Paige, Louis is also older than me but it’s okay, I am okay being the baby of the friend group.
“Morning Louis!” Paige says handing him my overnight bag.
“Girl...Are you planning a pool party I was not aware of?” He jokes taking my floatie from me.
“It’s for her back. Unlike us, she thought about the fact that she’s going to feel like absolute crap in the morning and brought that to sleep on.” Paige says as we enter the office.
“Hmmm...I’m not mad at it. I absolutely cannot wait to hang out with everyone tonight! Now let’s set this stuff down so we can go learn about today’s activities. ” Louis said throwing our stuff into the already big pile of bags in the office.
Without another word, we sat down and listened to our boss Karen explain how the day was going to go. Camp Sunshine was having a beach day today so that made our lives a tiny bit better because we wouldn’t have to be constantly running activities or playing circle games to entertain the kids. Once the kids who weren’t staying for the sleepover got picked up, we would have a water fight outside from 4 pm-6 pm. At 6 pm, dinner would be served for the kids, and then there would be a DJ dance party from 7 pm - 9 pm. After that, the kids would go get ready for bed and get settled in their respective rooms to watch a movie. The idea of the movie is the kids will fall asleep watching it, being that they are so exhausted from their day. Once the movie is over, the staff are off duty and can hang out as long as we don’t wake the kids up.
In theory, this all sounded simple but would it be? Hell no. I had third-grade girls, meaning they were at the age where they started questioning authority and learning to be a bunch of smartasses. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them and I enjoyed our banter but today was going to be a lot of sass because, towards the end of the normal camp day, they get really exhausted and begin to act out. The only silver lining there is that I get to hand them back over to their parents and wash my hands of them, but not tonight. I know once we get past dinner, they will calm down but I just know from the walk back from the beach until the end of the water fight, they will be nothing but little pains in my ass.
After we got dismissed from the morning meeting, we all got up and walked out of the front entrance parting ways to go to our designated area for pickup. The camp was a unisex camp for first grade through fifth grade so each grade had a specific area that they were assigned in the front to meet every morning. Paige had second-grade girls and Louis had first-grade boys. The younger groups had a lot more kids, meaning there were multiple groups of boys and girls. Since there were fewer third-grade girls, there was only one group of 23 girls and two third-grade guy groups.
The third-grade counselors were Matt, Landon, Mike, Carrington, and myself. I, unlike every single person in this camp, was the only person to not have a co-counselor which really sucked because I had to be in charge of 23 girls. Ironic because during the training week, they specifically told us that there were to only be one counselor per 10 people which was the rule of their establishment. Funny how they could look past it and literally give me a giant amount of kids though. It wasn’t always that bad because I got assigned a counselor in training or CIT and sometimes Sophia, the floater counselor would be assigned to help me out. However, much to my dismay, Megan, one of the first-grade girl counselors was sick, meaning Sophia would be with their group for the sleepover instead of helping me.
“Morning Lauren!” Matt said as I was the last counselor to arrive at our designated meeting spot.
“Hi boys! Excited for tonight?” I ask setting down my bag and pulling out my binder so I can take attendance.
“Oh ya! Who doesn’t love going to the beach all day in the hot sun? Being forced to go up to our necks in the 50-degree water. Getting sand in our ass cracks and then being told to come back to camp, play games with the kids, feed them dinner, have a DJ dance party, and then sleep on the cold floor without showering!” Carrington said sarcastically.
“That’s the spirit C!” Landon said jokingly patting him on the back. “Now watch your mouth the kids are arriving!”
Morning drop-off always lasts for half an hour and once we got all our kids, we quickly brought all their overnight stuff inside before lining up single file to walk to the beach. The beauty of the town of Lakeside was that the actual camp facility was only about a mile walk to the beach. This wasn’t a big deal for adults, however, the kid’s feet were a lot smaller than ours. Consequently, this incited a lot of complaining about feet hurting along the way. Luckily for me, I ended up behind Louis’s group in the massive line so we got to talk as well as listen to music since he always brought his speaker.
Louis was the caboose of his line and held his Bluetooth speaker in one hand and his adorable camper Mason’s hand with his other as we walked along following the line. “I brought Cards Against Humanity for when the kids go to bed,” Louis shouted over the Kid’s Bop version of All About That Base that was currently blasting through his speaker.
“Yay! I am so excited to play! I have never played before.” I said turning around to make sure that my kids were all staying in line since I only technically had a CIT to be the caboose of my line.
“Mr. Louis?” Mason timidly asked, interrupting our conversation.
“Yes, Mr. Mason. What can I do for you buddy?” Louis said bending down to his level, as we were stopped at a crosswalk.
“Could I maybe hold onto Lauren’s hand? I love her. She’s my girlfriend.” Mason said as I blushed.
“Well, I don’t know buddy. You are going to need to ask Miss Lauren if that’s okay?” Louis said smirking at me as we both exchanged knowing looks.
“Of course you can hold my hand buddy! I would be honored to hold my boyfriend’s hand.” I said holding my hand out as he adorable waddled over to me to hold it. Mason was the lady’s man of the camp. All the female counselors were obsessed with him. Every week he would call a new one his girlfriend however, he’s been calling me his girlfriend for two weeks now. For a first-grader, Mason is very mature. He asks some really thought-provoking questions and he never fails to crack me up.
“Hi, Ms. Lauren! How are you today? Are you excited for the sleepover?” He asked excitedly jumping up and down. “It will be my first sleepover ever! But mama and dad say that I am old enough to handle it! I can’t wait! Mr. Louis, I am sleeping next to you because you are my best friend besides Joey!”
“Can’t wait, buddy!” Louis said as I mouthed “Aww” And held my heart.
“I am so excited about the sleepover bud! How are things? I miss having one on one time with my boyfriend. Like whatcha been thinking about? Are you excited for the beach day?” I ask looking down at him.
“Actually Ms. Lauren I have been thinking about some things that are on my mind.” Mason starts getting very serious all of a sudden. “I was thinking about the world this morning Ms. Lauren. Like what is the meaning of life? Like what is our purpose on this earth?”
I stare at Mason in shock before exchanging looks with Louis. “Mason those are such good questions! I don’t think anybody really knows the meaning of life bud. I think that is something that we as a human race need to still think about and even discover. As for our purpose on earth bud, I think every human has a different purpose. I think that when we go through life, we choose different career paths and we find our purpose as we go on.”
“I agree with Ms. Lauren,” Louis says butting in. “I think that we all go on a certain path and some of us will become lawyers, some of us will become doctors, some will become astronauts you know? The world right now is your oyster, Mason. You have a long time before you need to worry about that.”
“Yes, I agree with Mr. Louis. Mason, what do you want to be when you grow up?” I ask him.
“Lauren are we there yet!” Lucy, one of my campers, yells at me interrupting our conversation.
“Hon are we walking down the steps of the beach? Do you see the lake? Is the sand crunching in between your toes? No? I thought not. Hmmm, I guess we aren’t there yet.” I say sticking my tongue out at her to be sassy.
“That was rude to interrupt, Lucy!” Louis says teasing her. “We are almost there! The beach is just down the block. Sorry, Mr. Mason, go ahead. You were just about to tell us what you want to be when you grow up.”
“It’s okay Mr. Louis. I want to be my dad when I grow up.” He states confidently.
“What do you mean buddy?” I chuckle looking down at him.
“Well, my dad is such a good man. He works hard and always makes time to snuggle me before bed so I guess I want to be just like him. He is perfect.” He says closing his eyes and swaying back and forth.
“Stop that’s so cute! I love that, Mason!” I say as Louis cracks up at how easily I fall under a spell when I am with this kid. The whole line comes to a stop, signaling that the front of it made it to the entrance to the beach.
“Mr. Mason, I need you to come back to our line buddy because we are going to head down soon and our boss Ms. Karen will not appreciate you in Ms. Lauren’s line. So say goodbye. Don’t worry, I am sure you will have plenty of time to play with her later.” Louis says holding out his hand for Mason to hold.
“Bye Ms. Lauren. I will see you later.” He says kissing my hand before letting go and holding onto Louis’.
Without another word, we all proceeded down to the beach and help our campers get settled and sunscreened. Once the lifeguards came and told the kids the rules, they were dismissed and the counselors were sent to their rotations. At our camp, we take safety really seriously and we have stations that the staff rotate through throughout the day. There were several stations we went to like in the water, on the shore, at the playground, at the volleyball court, and in the area with the bags. I was paired with Paige and Matt so we spent most of the day just hanging out.
“So Louis brought cards against humanity Paige. We can play in the lobby once the kids knock out.” I say as we watch over the area we were assigned to keep our bags.
“I am so excited to hang out with you guys tonight! Like it’s crazy how close we got in such a short amount of time” She says as I nod.
“I’m also excited because we get paid for over 24 hours.” Matt pipes in as we both nod.
“I’m excited that we get free reign of the whole entire building once the kids pass out. I wonder what we are all going to do! It’s just so cool!” I say as Paige nods excitedly.
“It really is a blast,” Matt says speaking from experience because he worked here last year. “Once Karen knocks out it’s an all-out party and we don’t have to deal with her annoying ass anymore.”
We all laugh as a lifeguard announces over the loudspeaker that our camp is leaving the beach for the day. All three of us stood up and went back to our designated pile of bags and patiently waited for our kids to come back. Once everyone was dressed and ready, we counted our kids before lining back up in the long line to walk back and get ready for afternoon pickup for those who decided to not stay over. The easy part of the day was done. Now came the hard part...
