"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO YESTERDAY?!" Mia rolled over to be hit in the eye with a direct stream of light coming from the curtain and hitting her in the face.
"Huuuuuhh??" Mia asked rubbing her cloudy morning eyes.
"MIA MIA MIA!! I saw Mr Grey walking out of the bushes!! And do you know what that means?! He was with someone.... Uh oh... I wonder who the lucky girl is this year.. Lucky bitch...." Ana climbed off Mia's bed and sat next to the tired body still in bed.
"Huh? Oh yeah... Yeah no thats... Um..." Before Mia could finish her sentence Ana stood up and began pacing the room thinking of worst case scenarios for Grey's new girl.
"I'll find her and aggressively stick my foot out in front of her so she trips... Yes... Yes.... Yess... Good plan Ana... Or..." Mia stood up and walked over to her closet where she pulled out a navy blue t-shirt that said 'JUNIOR COUNSELLOR.' on the front and 'M. TEMPLE' on the back. She could not have felt happier. She had somehow gotten mixed up with the bad boy on the campus and was proudly wearing a counsellor tee within 24 of her summer properly beginning. She knew this will be a good one.
"Or maybe I will put poison into a cupcake and make bazillions of them for everyone but save that one for her... Yes... Genius....."
"Well, that escalated quickly." Mia looked over at her beautiful friend who shot her a sarcastic look in return for Mia's savvy comment.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Be back in a flash." Mia disappeared into the next room. She brushed her hair; applied some morning face cream after washing up, then added a coat of mascara, tied her hair up in a ponytail and went back to her room.
She entered and found Ana singing some random boy band's number 1 hit, and tying her laces. Mia slipped on her light blue Tom's and they walked outside.
It was 8am, the sun was beaming down reflecting off the lake heating up the camp site. There were already children running around everywhere, and an extremely long line for breakfast. Luckily the counsellors had breakfast somewhere else but joined the rest of the summer's maniacs for lunch and dinner.
Mia was still half asleep and wishing she could steal some of the children's energy to power up for day 1. The girls weren't talking so it shattered the silence when Louis followed by a slower more exhausted looking Marco, came running up to the girls. Ana leapt into Louis' arms and again left Mia standing there thinking she would rather chew her own arm off than be the awkward third wheel again. Then realised that was her hunger talking. She wasn't going to chew her arm. Ew.
"Hey Mia!"
"Ahh! Yes...?" She jumped at the hit or reality.
"Woah! Calm yourself babe! This is Marco! Marco this is Mia." Ana said a bit patronisingly.
"Hey Marco... Nice to meet you!" They shook hands and tried to ignore the awkwardness in the group. Ana attempted to save the day, but just made it worse in her typical Ana way.
"So Marco here likes puppies, long walks on the beach, and swimming!" The group burst into laughter as Marco turned a pale shade of crimson.
"Geeze thanks Ana! What is this an advert for Match.com?" They all giggled.
"Those adverts are just so sad." Louis butted in making them laugh harder. Louis took Ana's hand and Marco walked behind them making small talk with Mia, all heading over for breakfast.
When they got inside the girls both headed for the cereal and fruit and the guys both headed for the bacon and eggs. They all took a table next to the one they had sat in the evening before. They wondered where Kendall was, but they didn't mention it. Mia was still feeling oblivious to everything, until Aaron walked into the room. Followed by Kendall. Typical.
It was as if Aaron Grey had metal fillings in his blood and everyone had a magnet as a heart. He drew attention everywhere he went. Girls wanted to be with him, and guys wanted to be him. He had a perfectly symmetrical face, and eyes that even from across the room could pierce your soul. He was a natural beauty. Unfortunately, he knew it and was a badass because of it. But Mia couldn't help but stare.
"Hello? Mia?" Marco asked while the other two laughed.
'Damn it I did it again!' She thought.
"Oh shit sorry. Yes?" She nervously laughed.
Her concentration faded in and out all through breakfast, and he kept wondering why the hell did Aaron Grey talk to her? Did he want something? Did he know about her mum and want to burry Mia in sympathy and apology cards? She had no clue. But she was now on a mission to find out.
'Cue the inspirational Rocky music!' She shouted in her head.
Aaron caught her eye from between the heads and shoulders at the tables separating them. He winked at her. She pretended not to see him.
'Yeah, no. Let's scrap that last idea and avoid him. Plus what would he want from me anyway?'
The group of teens finished their food and cleared their plates. They had half an hour before they had to meet at 'Flag 9' to be assigned their groups for the following weeks, as Paul disagreed with some of the second year juniors' groups. They all wondered back to their rooms to brush their teeth and prepare for their day.
Twenty minutes later they were all standing underneath a pole about 18 feet in the air waving a red flag with the camp's logo on it. Each 'Flag Point [numbered 1 through to 30]' were scattered around the property and were all sporting different flag colours so they were easily identified. About 90people stood at this point with Paul standing on a small ladder so he could see everyone. With two minutes to spare the rest of the group filled into the meeting space.
"Good morning everyone! You're all lookin' fresh faced! Good to see. Now I'mma read out the names of which counsellors will be workin' with what group. In each group their will be 3 people in authority: a junior counsellor, a second year junior, and a senior counsellor. I will read out your names now." Paul unfolded his piece of paper and began reading names with his heavy Southern American accent.
Ana and Louis were squeezing each others hand so tightly it made Mia feel uncomfortable and worried. She loved Ana to pieces, but she didn't want to be in the same group as her or any of Ana's friends because she wanted to meet new people. Then the unmentionable happened.
"Junior: Kendall, Second year: Ana with one 'N', and senior: Antonio. You have group 17 Flag Maroon." Ana bid her friends farewell until lunch and agreed on a meeting point. She then started heading in the direction of Flag17 and was soon joined by Kendall and a tall rather attractive guy who was clearly Italian decent.
"Junior: Mia Temple, Second yer: Aaron Grey, and senior: Emily Stonehall. You will have group 18, Flag Turquoise." Her heart stopped for a very long second.
'Why. Why! Why was I put with him! Shit... Oh mo I better move now before Louis and Marco see me stifling and think I have some kind of timing issue. Wtf? Ughh.... Okay. Time to move out Temple! Cue the sexy Just Timberlake music! Strut two three four. Oh God what am I doing.. I cannot look cool. Shit I really need to move.' She carried on thinking things that if anyone else heard out loud they would think her way too weird and avoid her. So she picked up her confidence that dropped to the floor and started heading towards Flag 18, where she was soon joiner by a tall red-haired girl with freckles peppered on her face and deep brown eyes. A pretty combo Mia thought.
"Hey, I remember you! I think I was your junior counsellor when you were little! I'm Emily not sure if you remember me at all?" Mia didn't. At all.
"Yeah of course! Hey Emily!" They briefly hugged as they "caught up", which is always awkward if you really have no recollection of the other person. They were nearly at Flag18 where they would soon be joined by a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds.
"Hey were is the other counsellor of our group? I can't remember his name." She sure as hell could. Mia was lying through her teeth on this one.
"Ah you know Aaron. He goes where he pleases. The bad boy of this camp. He better be here soon or I'm gonna ask for an exchange with another group."
'Right!!! Emily! I remember you now... Emily was the one who one her first day had to report Ana and Mia for getting into a hair-pulling fight. After that she always found ways of manipulating the two girls that caused her pain on her first day counselling. So it was inevitable she would tell on Aaron is he didn't show.
As the two approached their Flag and group site, they were joined less than a minute later by him. Aaron. The guy that made Mia's heart skip two beats. The guy that she feared to see, but didn't know why.
"Hey. Sorry I'm late, had to help a kid find his group." Emily looked mad, so Aaron showed his pearly white teeth to her and he was forgiven. Emily asked that they stayed put as she helped navigate a few wondering children before their group arrived.
They were alone. Aaron approached Mia and took a seat on a tree trunk next to where she sat on the muddy ground.