Camp

Life is complicated. We can all agree that much. But the real question is, why is everyone else's life easy? Why can't we go back to when we were small? When my father threw me up into the air and I felt like I was flying? Then my teenage years hit and middle school came at me like a train. Why? Sadly, that's not how life works. My parents relationship got complicated, I have no idea what's going on with them, but at least they could pay attention to me.

My two cousins, Charlie and Alec, came over for a visit (they live about 3 hours away) one day. Charlie is always happy, but can get her business into things she shouldn't, and Alec likes to make people laugh. My Aunt Ava decided to talk to my dad and convince him to allow me to go to camp with them. It'd be my first overnight camp, for five days, and I was excited. I had no idea what the plan was, or even if it was confirmed that I was going, but Charlie and I started talking about it like it was going to be the last thing we ever do together. We talked about what to pack, what we might do, bunks, etc. I had no idea what was to come.

The day before I was to meet them at their church (it was a church camp), I packed and got everything together. My mom moved her appointment to another time to drive me there earlier so that I could join Charlie and Alec for youth group. Then I put my things in the car and we started the drive. The camp wasn't until the next day, though, but I was going to stay over at my cousins' house. We ended up stopping at Jack In The Box, and I got a delicious burger. We also got some tacos for the trip. My mom and I talked a little, and I attempted to fall asleep several times, but was only successful once. We mostly just listened to music. When we finally arrived, and pulled into a parking spot across from the church.

"Lizzy!" Charlie ran towards me and gave me a big hug, but surprisingly didn't squeeze me. Lizzy was the nickname she gave me, as my name is Elizabeth.

"Hey Charlie!"

"Are you excited for camp?" She's asked me that a billion gazillion times during our calls.

I rolled my eyes. "NoOo because I haven't already told you I am a million times", I said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes back, and dragged me inside. I was a bit nervous, but too excited for camp to hide from everyone else too much.

"Everyone, this is Elizabeth." She introduced me in a simple way. Everyone seemed to acknowledge me, and then went back to talking.

The leader walked up to me and said, "I'm excited for you to be joining us for this trip! I'm Addison." She seemed nice, and I wasn't too nervous.

Charlie then dragged me to a friend of hers that she's mentioned a couple times before. "Daisy, Lizzie. Lizzie, Daisy." She said as she motioned to the both of us. We both just said "hi" at the same time then just laughed a little. Us three just talked a bit until it was time to start the youth group. I didn't go to one myself, so I didn't know what we were going to do.

We all walked into a room with a bunch of chairs with a couch in the back, and we were told to put the chairs in a circle. We went over some questions people asked, which took up a lot of time, but were making me a bit uncomfortable. We then played two rounds of musical chairs, and I ended up winning the first round by literally hugging a chair, but then lost the second near the beginning. Charlie pulled me off to the side and into the girls' bathroom. It was so sudden I just followed.

"I have something to tell you." She said, not in a nervous voice or anything.

"What is it?" I questioned, having no idea what she was going to say.

"Remember that boy with black hair? His name is Damian? The taller one." She described this guy who seemed nice, but I hadn't really met. He also had a little brother, Timothy, but I didn't know him either. "Well... I have a crush on him."

This surprised me. I teased her a little saying, "Ooh Charlie has a crush~" She ended up shushing me and I just laughed. "It's okay, I won't say anything."

She looked at me not knowing if I was being serious or not. I didn't confirm what I said, though.

We walked back out to where everyone else was, and I didn't think much of her little crush. Later on I'll regret her telling me that so much.

We kind of just hang out and talk after that until our parents come to pick us up. When Aunt Ava came to pick us up Charlie couldn't stop talking about her cute hamster she got, who's name is Angela. We drove up to their house and Charlie immediately took Angela out of her cage and handed her to me.

"See? Isn't she so cute!"

"Yes, Charlie." I was a bit terrified of holding her, but after a bit it was comforting.

I set up my sleeping bag on the floor and brushed my teeth. We both got into bed, and started talking.

"I don't know exactly what this camp is gonna be like, but I know it's gonna be fun!" Charlie said in a whisper-like voice.

"I know that."

Angela kept making noise, but it was okay.

We kept talking for a while. At around 11 to midnight we fell asleep.