A Sugar Summer

Chapter 2

A warm finger poked into Callie's cheek, pulling her from a groggy sleepy.

"Hey, come on. We're here." Ryleigh's voice cleared the confusion in her eyes.

"Really? Sorry, I didn't mean to sleep that long." Callie rubbed her forehead where there was sure to be a pink mark from leaning it against the window.

Ryleigh chuckled as he prepared to get out of the car. "No worries. You never did well with getting up early. Remember that one time we went on vacation with Grams and you fell asleep as you were eating your cereal?"

Callie smiled sheepishly over at her brother as they stepped out of the car. Her little suitcase towed behind her as she took her time taking in the surroundings trailing behind her brother. As they approached what she came to learn was the office, he pointed out the other random structures and paths that would lead to different destinations.

"It's oddly homey. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it's nice." Callie awed at the picturesque vibe of the woodsy camp.

"Well thank you! We try to make our camp fairly approachable." an amused voice drew her attention from visually exploring what was around her.

"Hey Genevieve. This is my sister, Callie." Ryleigh introduced the pretty middle aged woman. Her pale blonde hair was pulled back in a low messy bun. Smiling sea green eyes greeted her before she found herself wrapped up in a warm embrace.

"It's so nice to finally meet you! Ryleigh told us all so much about you. Thank you for choosing to spend your summer with us. We really appreciate the help." Genevieve pulled back and held her by the shoulders.

"Doesn't look like you need that much help with the grounds keeping. The camp looks lovely. You can hardly tell what kind of camp this is." Callie blurted before blushing at her thoughtless remark. To her surprise, the woman chirped out a laugh and let her go to lead the siblings into the office.

"Well you have your brother to thank for that. He and another camper planted a bunch of greenery everywhere to help us make it prettier." Genevieve threw a knowing look over at Ryleigh before opening the door and leading them through a hallway to a smaller office. Two desks filled the cramped room, one on either side of the rectangular space. Small stacks of paper were messily stacked here and there and nearly hid the petite figure behind one of the desks.

"Ryleigh! You made it!" a woman who looked similar to Genevieve popped out of her chair as she came over to greet the trio in the doorway.

Ryleigh smiled at the new woman and returned her quick hug. The level of affection Callie had witnessed thus far was shocking to her. Not that she was opposed to such public displays, she just pictured everyone at the camp to be more serious.

"Callie, this is the other co-founder of Camp Silver Lake, Gelsey." Ryleigh's smile never left as he introduced the other woman that changed both of their worlds.

"Nice to meet you. My brother has told me so much about you both and the camp. I'm happy to help in any way you need me to." Callie offered her a friendly smile.

"That's good to hear. We're happy to have you. Please, if you need any help with anything at all, you can ask me or my sister. Though I'm sure Ryleigh filled you in on quite a lot." Gelsey, much like her sister, pulled the young girl in for a quick hug as well.

"Excuse the mess," she turned back to her desk, "we're still sorting out a few campers and mentors before the mad arrival rush." she shuffled through a folder before pulling out what she was looking for.

"Here's a map, activity sheet and some other random information about the camp. Your cabin number is listed on there as well." Gelsey handed over the papers to Callie as she continued to explain a few facts about the camp.

"As a volunteer, you can choose what area you would like to help out in. We have quite a lot of help this year so there's no automatic assignments. You can choose to work with the groundskeeping team, the office team or with the food team." Genevieve gave a few listed points about what each team did around the camp.

"I like cooking and baking. Can I work with the food team?" Callie asked, thinking back to when her brother told her about the cafe on the premises.

"Sounds great. I'm sure the chefs will love to have you. I'll go let them know. For now, do you want to go find your cabin and settle in? I can introduce you to your team later." Genevieve led the group out of the office before she was interrupted by another camp worker.

"I can show her where her cabin is. I'll catch you later to grab the list of campers I'm in charge of." Ryleigh leaned an arm around Callie's shoulders as the sisters were becoming more distracted with other matters.

"Thanks Ryleigh! It was nice to meet you again Callie."

"Welcome to Silver Lake!" the sisters offered their waves before being pulled away.

"Right, let's get you to your cabin. What do you think so far?" Ryleigh led her down a path after taking a peek at her paperwork.

"Alright, I guess this place might not be so bad after all." the younger sibling offered a small smile to her brother. She could feel herself getting more excited the further they continued on the path but wanted to keep her guard up. Just in case. She knew how bad it hurt to fall from such a high place.

"Told you so." he teased her lightly ruffling her hair. "So your cabin is in the North wing. The guys and girls are separated. Girls take the North and West wings. Guys take the South and East wings. I'll show you my cabin in a bit. It's in the East wing."

"The campers and the mentors are mixed together?"

"Sort of. Our cabins are kind of on the outskirts of the wings. This one is yours."

The two stopped in front of one of the last cabins in the area before the forest took over. The little wooden shelter looked identical to all of the other ones they passed except for the green wooden numbers by the door flap. Shifting the screen to the side, Callie entered her room for the summer. Three metal cots and wooden dressers outlined the room. A set of each stood on each wall facing her where she stood in the doorway.

The wheels of her little suitcase echoed slightly in the small area as she slowly entered and twirled around to take in the space.

"This is nice. Will I have two other roommates?" All of the beds looked freshly made and unclaimed so she walked over to the right side and sat down, testing the bounciness of the mattress.

"You'll have at least one other roommate. Most of the mentors arrive earlier than the volunteers and the campers." Ryleigh leaned his shoulder against the doorway.

Callie shoved her small suitcase by the dresser. An alarm clock and a battery powered lantern were the only objects that occupied the surface.

"Want to see where the bathrooms are?" Ryleigh held the bug flap open for his sister to walk through after she was done looking around.

"Sure. When does everyone else arrive?"

"Most of the helping hands arrive today. The rest of the camp mostly filters in at some point this week. Though kids might show up all summer long until August."

Callie made a silent "oh" with her mouth as she tried to memorize her surroundings. The camp didn't seem too complicated. The paths were like a circular maze with main pathways acting as layers the further you got from the center. Ryleigh pointed out the bathrooms and showers at every other intersection along the layer path they were currently following.

"I can take you to meet some of the other mentors. They arrived before we did." Callie nearly tripped over a root in the path as she hesitated slightly.

"Uh, yeah. Sure, I guess."

"You'll love them. It's a pretty funny group." Ryleigh chuckled, whether at her clumsiness or something he was thinking of, Callie wasn't sure.

"You know, the chances of me 'loving' everything here are low. What is there to watch out for?" she scrutinized her brother's face for any kind of waiver. She didn't feel as comfortable as her brother did even though the camp had been nothing but inviting so far.

Ryleigh took a moment to think. This was one of those moments where he knew if he teased Callie about her compulsive planning, then she would most likely revert to being reclusive in her cabin.

"I guess some of the campers can be tricky to deal with. Most just want to do their time and go home. Others still like to cause trouble. You don't really have to talk with any of the campers if you don't want to since you're a volunteer." Ryleigh sighed, thinking about the past years he mentored. There were always a few of those personalities that just didn't care.

"Don't worry about them. You'll have me and these guys to keep you good!" Ryleigh led them through the edge of the trees where they broke into view of the lake, dock and beach. A group of seven people were messing around in one of the volleyball courts. The three on three game was being scored by the remaining person. One one side, a short red-headed girl hit the ball up in the air before backing away. A taller blond girl dove to save the ball at the edge of the court. Loud laughter caught Callie's attention to the last person on that side as the thin, lanky guy didn't even bother to return the ball over the net. His white blondish hair gleamed in the sun as he threw his head back before dramatically bending over to put his hands on his knees.

"Skinner! What the heck! Go after the ball!" The red head hollered at him while the girl in the sand was on all fours, making faces as she spit out sand.

"But her face when she dove." The guy, Skinner, tried to contain his laughter as he ran away from the red head, who started chasing him.

"Just give it up. You guys are going to lose anyway." Callie's attention shifted to the only girl on the other side of the court. Her jet black hair swayed by her hips as she popped one out with her hands resting on them. Her dark brown eyes looked down her small, straight nose as she tilted her head back to increase her intimidation factor.

"Nice dive Kiera!" a boy with moppy brown curls slung an arm around the brown eyed girl as he chuckled, slightly out of breath from their game. His eyes were just as dark as the girl's he was holding onto, though the shade cast by his hair made them look nearly black.

"You gotta' close your mouth Kiera." The last boy on the team made a show of closing his dropped jaw with the back of his hand before tossing a flirty smile at the glaring blond girl in the sand.

"Yeah yeah. Next time I'll be sure not to work as hard and sacrifice myself for the team." Her glare broke into good natured giggles as she watched the red haired girl finally tackle the taller blond boy.

"Interesting friends you have here." Callie raised a brow over at her brother as they approached the lively bunch. Ryleigh didn't say anything but threw a boyish grin over at his sister before speeding up his steps.

The group on the court was too busy teasing each other to notice the siblings approach, but the girl keeping score heard their soft steps in the sand. Inky black curls fell over her slim shoulder as she turned her head their way. A bright smile took over her whole face as her grey eyes met Ryleigh. Callie cautiously swung her gaze over to her brother who wore a matching smile on as he ran the rest of the way to her.

With a shaky sigh, Callie wiped her suddenly sweaty palms against her shorts and took the last remaining steps to the group.

Here we go! Time to meet the crew! Do you recognize some of the faces? How's everyone feel about Callie so far? I can't wait to get into her perspective some more. As always, I love reading your comments so feel free to drop one.