Pine Hills Camp

Chapter 11: It's barbeque time!

I walk into my room and sigh at the sight of the closed bathroom door. This only means one thing. Abbott's back. Just a great way to end the day. Sense the sarcasm...

Fishing for my phone in my bag, I find it and call Tina.

"Gwyn?" Just through this one word, I can tell she's upset about something.

"Tina? What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Ti, I'm your sister. I can tell when you're lying. Tell me what's going on." I'm not backing down until I get some answers out of her.

"It's just... mum and dad have been fighting again." A long silence stops the conversation.

A few years back, our parents started fighting. They started out as simple little arguments that the both of them just shrugged off. One night, I and Tina woke up to the sound of mum and dad arguing in the kitchen. I can't remember what they were fighting about but I remember Tina crying non-stop.

The next day, mum left the house after making me and Tina breakfast. She said not to tell dad where she was going. She went to our grandparent's house up in Idaho. For a week, I and Tina secretly talked to mum every night, begging her to come back. Dad went to work and acted like everything was normal. However, I and Tina heard him crying one night. The next morning, I smelt bacon and pancakes downstairs from the kitchen so I went to call Tina. Together, we sprinted into the kitchen, where mum was making us all a breakfast. Groggily, dad stumbled down the stairs.

"Did you girls make breakfast?" He hadn't seen mum yet. When he did, he froze mid-way down the stairs.

"Gwyn!" Tina yells from the other end of the line.

"Yeah. Sorry. I spaced out there."

"Well, I have to go. Love you."

"Love you Ti." The line cuts off and the screen comes back to life. 5:50 pm. It's almost time for dinner so I shove my phone into my backpack and find a change of clothes. Waiting for Abbott to finish with the shower, I pull out a book and start reading.

I look up from my riveting novel when a pillow is thrown at my face.

"Bathroom's free." Abbott prances towards her bed, all dressed up and annoying.

"You could have just said normally."

I huffed and gathered my things, heading for the shower. On the mountain hike today, I fell down, scratching my skin all over. Peeling my clothes off of the scratches wasn't as easy as I hoped. I took a quick shower, ignoring how my skin stings when the soap washes over it.

Half an hour later, I sit with my friends in front of a barbeque grill. Tonight, we make our own food for once. In front of me, rows upon rows of kebabs lie uncooked.

"Listen up! Pink plates for raw meat, white for cooked. Don't get them mixed up." Burt holds both plates up over his head to show the different colours. After he finishes, everyone goes to pick their own kebabs.

Pork. Beef. Sausage. Corns. Potatoes.

So much food. How can we finish all of this? I stand back, waiting for people to finish picking up their selections. By the time I get to it, only a few kebabs are left. Wow. That didn't take long. The remaining food is enough to leave me stuffed for the rest of the night.

Walking back towards the barbeque, the smell of barbeque sauce and the sizzling meat electrifies the air. All my friends are ecstatic at being able to cook their own food.

"Ew!" I turn around and see someone pull a kebab away from their mouth. "It's raw." The inside of the cube of beef is still bright red. I cringe and fight back a gag when I think of having to bite into that. After that, I make sure that all of my food is cooked. I keep turning it on the grill until it's about to burn, then I pull it off.

We spend the rest of the night cleaning up and walking, chatting and playing tag in the dark with only a few of our flashlights. For the first time in a long time, everyone is playing together. Our class haven't voluntarily had a game of tag together as a whole since 5th grade. It feels nice not to have to split into groups of boys and girls and popular kids and artsy kids and - you get the idea.

I wake up to the sound of my phone alarm ringing. 6:00 am. I push myself up off of my bed and look over towards Abbott. She's still asleep. I use this opportunity to take a quick shower and get dressed before Abbott wakes up. I pull on a warm jumper and jeans then jog towards Maddy's room. She's staying with Alice, one of our friends who we haven't talked to in a long time. However, we are still as close as we used to be.

Knock! Knock! I wait by her door, hoping she's awake. To my surprise, Alice opens the door.She is usually a very heavy sleeper. I give her a quick hug and tip-toe over to Maddy's bed, making as little noise as possible. 1, 2, 3. I count in my head. After three, I jump on Maddy's bed, bouncing up and down.

"Good morning! Good morning!"

The next thing I know, my bum smacks onto the hard, wooden floors. I roll over, rubbing the sore spot.

"Shut uppppp!" what follows Maddison's morning greeting is a series of pillows and blankets thrown to the floor, possibly aimed at me. I guess I deserved it. I hear Alice laughing from her bed so I decide to get up and lug my Maddison to the bathroom, forcing her to wake up and brush her teeth. I re-join Alice on her bed when Maddy wants to take a shower.

"So, what's on the schedule today?" I ask Alice. She's always been the organised one.

"Cave hike and trust exercises."

"Trust exercises?"

Last time I published, it was 16th Jan 2017... Yeah... 11 days.  

Sorry...

It's currently Chinese New Year! 

But hey! I just chose my IGCSE subjects! I didn't get to choose what I want (history) so I will do it in IB instead. #Determined

For those of you who don't know what IGCSEs or IBs are, they're basically subjects that you need to choose to study. IGCSEs in years 10 and 11, IB Diploma in years 12 and 13. I'm in my second term of Year 9 in a school that follows the British curriculum so I just got to choose my subjects two days ago. To any of you who have to choose subjects to study, choose what you love. That way, you will actually enjoy your time in those subjects. 

Happy Chinese New Year!  

- AOS