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"Number 5?" a lady called out.

I hurried over to the front desk and showed her a form that I held in my hands. It had a huge red stamp on top that read the word approved.

"Okay, go to Room 127 please."

Summer vacation had just begun and I had many goals to accomplish and activities to do. Right before the end of school, I saw a poster for Summer Art Camp near the restrooms. Not wanting to miss out on such a big opportunity, I went to art class right after school and picked up the application. They informed me that the applications were online which, honestly, made things easier.

I took a seat in the front of the room which was a little empty since I was one of the first people to arrive. Not that it made me nervous of course. It didn't take long for the seats to fill up and around a few minutes later a tall guy walked into the room.

"Welcome to the Summer Art Camp. I'm Huang Renjun but you can call me Mr. Huang. Have any of you or your siblings attended this camp?" the tall guy asked.

A few students raised their hands but most of the class didn't.

"As expected since this camp had been shut down for many years now," he sighed. "You guys are the generation that will be restarting this camp so be happy."

The atmosphere was as silent as an empty cave.

"Aw c'mon, it's summer, where did all the enthusiasm go?"

No one made a single noise.

The teacher let out a frustrated sigh and started passing papers out. It was a schedule for what activities we will be doing on which days. A few excited whispers circulated the room.

"So, today is an introduction day. This isn't school so feel free to walk around and out of your seats, go meet new people, make some friends, if you want to talk to me I'm here too."

The atmosphere was now filled with excitement. Most of the kids got out of their seats and met up with others they knew. A girl placed a chair in front of my desk and sat down. I noticed that she was sitting next to me earlier. She waved and I awkwardly waved back.

Her wavy hazelnut hair rested on her shoulder. She wore a yellow and orange tie-dye t-shirt with blue shorts. Her arms were lined with bracelets of all kinds. She had those bead bracelets, loom band bracelets, friendship bracelets, etc.

"Hi, my name is Aeri Uchinaga," the girl said. "Nice to meet you."

Aeri was very polite: she bowed properly. I noticed that her Chinese wasn't the best but that is probably because she probably wasn't Chinese.

"Nice to meet you Aeri, my name is Wang Mingxia."

"Mingxia is a pretty name," Aeri complimented.

"Thank you," I smiled. "Your name is pretty too. Where are you from?"

"I'm from Japan. I just moved here 2 weeks ago."

"Cool." I gave her a thumbs-up which probably made things more awkward.

She's pretty and I'm shy around pretty people.

"Have you moved before?" Aeri asked.

"Yes. I am actually from Hong Kong but my mother and I moved to Macau when I was 8 years old."

"Wow, that's cool."

"Yeah. But I have never moved to another country before. How is it?"

"It is okay."

Honestly, I was surprised by how good her Chinese was. I wanted to make her feel welcome here since moving can be hard.

"Why did you join the art camp?" Aeri questioned.

"Oh, I like art and I wanted to get better at it," I replied. "What about you?"

"I like art too but, um," she paused. "I want to make more friends."

I smiled and said, "Do you want to be friends?"

"Sure!"

Today, I made a new friend. It's like a start to a new journey.

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Hey guys, I'm back after a long time. I recently finished my midterms so I'll have some time to write and publish. Thanks for sticking by :D

luv y'all from the bottom of my heart <33

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