Baseball Princess

Chapter 25: Be Happy

Daniel drove us back to my house after Taco Bell.

When we got inside, he told my mom that he was going to stay for my Skype conversation with the boys. She said he could even stay the night if it got too late to drive.

Daniel texted his mom, and she was okay with it. It's not like he'd be sleeping on my bed.

Hell no.

I take up too much space, anyways.

I turned on my laptop, and texted Ben and Mark. They both responded saying they were ready.

As soon as my laptop connected to the internet at our house, I pulled up Skypr and began the call.

They both answered right away.

"Hey, Lins," they said in unison. We've been doing this for a long time.

"Hey guys. Daniel decided to join tonight," I replied.

I saw him wave to them, and they said hi in response.

"Are you guys coming home for spring break?" I asked. Spring break is the week after next week.

"Actually, we made plans to go camping," Mark said.

I sighed. Of course they did.

"We weren't really sure how many sites to get, so we just got four," Ben added.

"Four! That means you're bringing some people, right?"

"Only last year's varsity team," Mark said.

I looked over at Daniel. He was smirking at me.

"You knew this the whole time, didn't you?!"

"Yep," Daniel replied, wrapping an arm around me.

"We have the site for six days. Arrive Sunday, leave Friday," Ben said.

"Did you get tents or campers?"

"One camper, which can be for us four, then the rest get tents. Just 'cause we're the best," Mark said.

They must have done a lot of thinking. Since when do they actually think?

-

"You guys can have the smaller bed, since we're older and we don't cuddle," Mark said, as we folded the beds out.

We got a pop-out camper. Lucky for me, my family used to own one. I know how this all works.

"That's not a problem with me," Daniel said, winking at me. It's funny because we don't even mean anything by it.

After we got the camper functioning, I started to make some dinner.

My family tried making everything in here. From ramen to tacos.

Tonight, however, we're just sticking with hotdogs and burgers. Mark's grilling burgers while I boil the hotdogs.

Meanwhile, the boys were setting up their tents and organizing the chairs and getting out ketchup.

We made a plan to stop at the grocery store on Tuesday, and only eat out for lunch on one day.

I can't believe how much fun this'll be.

I turned sixteen and got my license a few months ago. Which means I can drive if I want to.

Someone made a fire and set a bunch of chairs around it, so we all ate in a big circle while enjoying the warmth.

"So how's the new team?" Mark asked, then taking a sip from his root beer bottle. I swear, he is ruthless.

"They really aren't that bad," Tommy replied. Then he began to explain a little bit about the new boys.

"Do they do this every year?" I whispered into Daniel's ear.

"Nope. First time. I guess we all just really love this group. And you," Daniel added.

"Cool," I replied, sipping from my own bottle of root beer. I love root beer.

-

Around eleven, we all went to our beds. The camp said anytime between eleven p.m. to six a.m. is quiet time.

I had my pajamas on, which consisted of sweatpants over leggings and a sweatshirt. You won't believe how cold it gets.

One time, the heat in our camper broke. I thought I was going to die that night.

I snuggled in next to Daniel, who decided to take the outside spot. Thank goodness.

My eyes fell closed, and I fell asleep.

-

In the morning, the boys helped me make pancakes and bacon. Someone brought a griddle, so they made the bacon outside at the picnic table.

I, on the other hand, made pancake mix, then used the stove inside to make them. One at a time. Ugh.

Finally, they were done, and we all sat down to a meal.

Everything is so much nicer when you're camping.

The place is full of sweet old couples, families with littles kids, and groups of young adults, like us, that just want to have some fun.

The campsite has a pool, so we all headed out there to take advantage of it. There was already some other people inside, so I layed down on a chair and watched our stuff.

Fortunately, no one decided to throw me in. Unfortunately, someone decided to pick me up and carry me in.

I shivered in the chilly water, and hugged Daniel close. He was pretty warm.

"Want to go in the hot tub, then?" He asked.

I nodded, so he carried me over to the warm water. A benefit to being small and dating an athlete.

I think I might've fallen asleep on Daniel, since I woke up in the hot water. We were the only ones in the hot tub.

"Are you tired?"

"Yeah. We went to sleep at eleven and got up at seven. That's only eight hours of sleep," I complained.

"How much sleep do you usually get?"

"Nine hours."

"Alright. Tomorrow, we'll let you sleep another hour, and we can make breakfast," Daniel suggested.

"Or I'll go to sleep earlier so you don't burn the camp down."

We laughed, knowing that it's the truth. Boys can't be trusted with anything to do with cooking or cleaning.

-

On the last day, we all pitched in at loading the stuff back into the trucks(thank God they all drive pick-ups). Our car(Ben, me, Daniel, and Josh, another old senior) stopped at McDonalds on the way home for ice cream.

We had to drop the camper off back at the rental place before going home. I'm glad Ben knew what he was doing, because I didn't.

On Sunday, the old seniors left to go back to college.

Sure, it broke my heart. But they'd be back for summer.

🌻

This was the last chapter! Next is the epilogue. Thanks you guys so much for everything!