Through The Static

Poorly Written Clichè

"Wake up kiddo"

My dad's voice snaps me awake. "We're here!" He says with a certain cheerfulness in his voice. I take a glance outside the window. I guess we are here. Time to get out of the car then. I open the door and hop out, making sure to grab my bags. I give mom and dad a hug goodbye and start to walk away before mom stops me.

"Hold on, I think you left something in the trunk." The trunk? I never put anything in the...oh no. She didn't. She wouldn't have, would she? I go over to the trunk and open it. She did. She packed my ukulele for me. Damnit. Well, there's no way in hell I'm letting it stay in the trunk. I don't want to risk it getting broken if dad drives over a speed bump or takes a sharp turn.

I reluctantly grab the uke and head over to the board. The board is where any announcements will be and it's also where the cabins are assigned. Let's see here. Liam Matinog, Liam Matinog, where's my name? Ah, here it is. I'm in cabin 4. I bet 5 bucks I'm gonna have a bottom bunk. I head to the cabin and drop my stuff off. Yep. Bottom bunk on the right side. Same as every year before. It's not that I don't enjoy the bottom bunk. There are definitely advantages to it, like you don't have to climb up and down to get in and out of bed. I just don't know why I always get the exact same spot. Whatever.

Maybe I should actually try to be social this year. I think I saw some people in the main area. I step outside of the cabin and take in all of my surroundings. There are some furs playing around. Looks like we have a mixing pot of species this year, which is nice. Last year I was stuck with mostly skunks. Not that I have a problem with skunks, it's just when your cabin has three skunks in it, it can be hard to get a good night's sleep. They snore, like, really loudly.

As I'm taking in the surroundings, I see someone I wasn't expecting. It's the fox. What are the odds of that? What are the odds that he went to this specific camp, on this specific year, at this time (all localized entirely in your kitchen. Sorry, couldn't resist)? This feels like a clichè in a poorly written novel. What's next, am I going to be sharing a bunk with him? He's talking to a group of people. There's a raccoon, a wolf, and a rabbit. Looks like they're having fun. The fox then takes a look in my direction. Shit. Please don't see me please don't see me please don't see me. He saw me. His face lights up and he starts walking over here, his little group in tow. Is it too late to run away? Yes, yes it is.

"Hey! It's good to see you!" He says with that beautiful bright smile of his. Damnit heart, stop feeling things about people. As he gets closer, I can smell cinnamon.

"Uhm...hey," I reply, giving him an awkward wave.

"Do you know this guy?" The raccoon says to the fox.

"Nope! Just met him this morning!" The fox replies while giving me a tight hug. What the hell?! Why is he hugging me?! Is he this friendly with everyone?! Woah, wait. Holy crap he's good at hugging. This is like, the best hug I've ever had. He's really soft. I'm still highly concerned though. He lets go of me, much to my dismay/relief. "My name's Sammy! That's Zach, Bartholomew, and Alice!" Alright, so the raccoon is Zach, the wolf is Bartholomew, and Alice is the rabbit.

"Sorry about him," Zach says. "He's overly enthusiastic about pretty much everything." Okay, now I'm a little less concerned.

"Liam," I say. "That's uh, my name." Great. You've met people who actually want to interact with you and you're being all awkward. Good job Liam. Good freaking job.

"That's a nice name!" Bartholomew replies. Yeah, that's definitely a lie. We spent a couple of hours talking and getting to know each other before it was curfew. We each went to our cabins. Zach and Bart were the only two that shared a cabin. I flop onto the bed and start thinking about today.

*This was originally going to be longer, but my brain feels like it's fried right now, so yeah*