Just One Week || Hiatus/New Version in Process

• Chapter One • (edited)

~Monday~

After our stop at McDonald's over an hour ago, the church van full of teenagers was finally quiet enough to think. Lush green trees raced by on some winding road in the middle of nowhere Springs while a drum solo pounded in my earbuds. We were on our way to my favorite place on earth; Youth Camp. My junior year of high school had ended, my best friend was on vacation with her family, and this would be my first year in a long time without her. Although I usually enjoyed camp, Riley made the trip more enjoyable and gave my introverted self someone to talk to. The only people I knew well enough to call friends, were the two girls in the seat behind me, but they were too busy talking about their joint vacation in July to speak to me. Not that I cared.

After a little while of winding roads, a few more signs declaring the population was so small the area shouldn't be called a town, and more cows and horses than I cared to keep track of, the trees opened up to a gated parking lot. I pressed a button on my earbuds to turn off the rock music and removed them from my ears. The van erupted in excited chatter, reaching a decibel louder than accepted by the World Health Organization.

After Pastor Ron parked the van and left to check in, his wife, Emily, did a headcount and roll call.

"I hope we get the dorm room closest to the bathroom," Blythe commented from the seat behind me, shouting here when her name was called. The girl was pretty enough to envy with rich brown hair in low twin buns and sparkling green eyes enhanced by light pink eyeshadow.

"I don't care too much about where the room is, I just want to pick my bed," Trisha piped in from beside her. She was a year younger than Blythe and I, with red wavy hair, freckles, and thin, black-framed glasses. My best friend Riley introduced us all a year ago when they started going to our church. The two easily made it to the top of our youth group's popular crowd, Riley acted as their leader while I preferred to stand in the shadows of their spotlight. I already had enough lights on me from being the pastor's daughter, I didn't need one more.

After what felt like hours, Ron finally returned with our wristbands and room numbers. Everyone eagerly lined up in front of the youth pastor, as his wife opened the back doors so we could grab our things. I strapped my wristband around my wrist, reading it:
Blake Washington, Room 201, Team Hawks.

Grabbing the dark blue suitcase with my name on it, I lifted up the handle, reached for my pillow, made sure I had my drawstring backpack, and trudged along the asphalt parking lot to the dorms.

The dorm building was one story, but large enough to hold around a thousand kids at one time. On the right was the girls' side, and on the left, the boys. The middle area was a lounge area where anyone could play ping-pong, foosball, or just sit on the couches and talk.
I wheeled my suitcase through the tiled lounging area and to the girls' side, opening the metal doors with my back as I entered.

Through the doors, I repeated my room number over and over in my head, dodging several girls darting in and out of rooms, the sounds of giggling, loud laughter, and some excited shouting filled my ears. I entered the last room on the left to see about sixteen other girls in the same one, some of them were from my church, and others were not. I guessed we were the overflow room for the girls of my youth group.

In a mirror to my right, I caught sight of myself. I looked tired, and to say I wasn't would be wrong. My freckles were scattered all around my body, black hair cut just below my chin stuck out in all directions from two hours in an uncomfortable van, and dark brown eyes stared back.

Sidestepping just in time to avoid a girl panicked about a lost scrunchie, I found one of the only bottom bunks available, and placed my pillow on top of my bed to save my place. I unpacked my stuffed frog named Carl and began making my bed. It might seem childish, but I never slept anywhere overnight without him.
After some other girls from my church and I finished unpacking and making our beds, we left the dorms and walked to the auditorium.