River Way Ranch

Summer is meant for fun right? Tell my mom that.

"I can't believe your mom is making you go to this stupid camp," said my best friend Andrea frowning.

"Tell me about it," I replied with a sigh. I yanked three tank tops from their hangers and threw them into my suitcase.

"I mean it's all the way in Sanger, California..is that like even a place?"

"Welp it doesn't matter because there is no talking my parents out of this one. Make new friends they said. Learn to be independent they said." I grabbed a handful of shirts and threw them on top of the tank tops.

"Maybe you will meet a cute guyyyy," Andrea said wiggling her eyebrows. What a doof.

"You do realize who you are talking to right? Me, Leah Morgan Scott, meeting and interacting with a cute guy...never gonna happen." I sat on top of my suitcase and attempted to zip it up but failed. "Ugh! This stupid suitcase!" I gave up and flopped face down on my mattress.

"Come on. You will be perfectly fine. Plus if it makes you feel better, I will be thinking of you every second I'm in Orlando," Said Andrea in an attempt to cheer me up, but I didn't work.

"Look, my mom is outside and I gotta go. Text me every day that you are allowed to have your phone. Don't do drugs and try not to make any new friends better than me, love you!" Andrea gave me a hug and I sadly watched her leave as reality hit me.

This Summer was going to suck.

•••

The morning came. As much as I willed it not to, it came. The morning where my parents put me on a plane and shipped me off to California. It was a sad day. Leaving my Summer behind for some camp where you made friendship bracelets and sang campfire songs. Where you slept in old rickety cabins and ate mush. And did I mention they take your phones? Well yah, they do. Not like they had wifi anyways.

The plane ride wasn't terrible. I sat next to an empty seat and slept the whole time. You can never have enough sleep. When the plane finally landed I slumped out of my seat and into the airport.

       Next to a bunch of seats there was a man who looked like he was about in his mid-twenties. He wore those hipster glasses and a dark green t-shirt with River Way written across it in white lettering. He stood next to a sign that read River Way Camp.

Well, I guess that's me, I thought to myself while reluctantly walking towards the man.

"Hey are you here for River Way Camp?" The man asked while I drew nearer. I looked around but then realized he was talking to me.

"Umm yah," I replied.

"Great! Just take a seat and once all of our campers arrive we will head to get our luggage and then load the bus!" He said slightly more enthusiastic than necessary.

"Thanks," I muttered and picked an empty seat at end of the row.

It wasn't long until all of the campers arrived. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the bus.

The bus was old and worn down. The seats were duct taped and the windows were dirty. The floor was littered with dirt and crumbs from past passengers. The air had a strange mildewy smell to it. I scrunched my nose in disgust, but quickly stopped because I realized I was being watched by a group of boys sitting in the very back of the bus. I hated being watched, the center of attention. It just wasn't my thing.

Most of the seats were already taken so I headed to the back towards a girl next to an empty seat. She had light brown, shoulder length hair that was a little frizzier than the average persons. She wore it well though. Her eyeliner was flawlessly applied, unlike mine, and her skin was smooth and tan. She wore a faded red t-shirt with Adidas written across the chest over some black nike shorts. Her mouth was in a hard line as she stared out of the window with her earbuds in.

"Umm is anyone sitting here??" I asked. There was no response. "Is anyone sitting here?" I asked again, this time tapping her shoulder to get her attention. She pulled out her earbuds and turned towards me.

"There is now, the seats yours," the girl said gesturing for me to sit down.

"Thanks," I said. "I'm Leah by the way."

"I'm Alyson. I like your shirt," Alyson said gesturing towards my grey Georgia Bulldog t-shirt.

"Thanks, you a big UGA fan?"

"Oh yah, my family loves them. We live in Athens so we kinda have to."

"Sweet, I live in Macon," I replied.

"Hmm small world isn't it," Alyson said picking up her earbuds. "Wanna listen?"

"Don't see why not."

                                        •••

     The three hour bus ride went by slowly. Especially when girls giggled every time a cute guy looked at them. They claimed it was "true love".  P-lease I didn't believe in that. Love was stupid to me. You pick out a boy, you kiss them, text them, and then break up. It's a waste of time. Besides, guys don't really drool over me anyways and I'm not going out of my way to get a guy either. See my problem?

    We finally turned off the main road and onto a smaller, narrower two lane one. I continuously looked out of the window in curiosity. I wanted to see where my crap Summer would be spent.

    In the distance a gate was growing nearer, it read River Way Ranch. As we passed threw it a girls voice came over a speaker. She had short, super curly, blonde hair. She was tall and skinny but had a great smile. "Soon to be River Way campers, we have made it to your home for the summer!" She was interrupted by cheers coming from all over the bus. "I know your excited, but please settle down for just a minute. As some of you know I'm Peyton Craft one of your college councilors. Most of you know the drill but for you newbies here is how it goes down. When I call your name you will grab a slip of paper from me that reads your cabin name and group number. Once your off the bus you are free to explore!" There were cheers once more.

     As we pulled into the bus parking lot the Peyton began to read names off of a list as another guy, who also had blonde messy hair, and passed out slips.

        "Timothy Briggs."

        "Kyle Hepburn." A boy with reddish brown hair hopped up from a seat two rows behind Alyson and I. He was tan and he wore the same green shirt as the camp councilors did.  He was cute, but in that annoying way. He was that guy , you know that one guy, who knew he was cute and used it to his advantage. Yah, he was that guy.

I guess you could call it a special gift, I was really good at reading people. I was good at giving advice but not taking my own. And was especially great at giving relationship advice, which is weird coming from a person who had never even had a relationship in their whole 17 years of life. Wow.

"Leah Scott," Peyton said.

"Well, that's me," I said standing up. I quickly walked to the front of the bus, grabbed my slip, and stepped foot on River Way Ranch.