"Rise and shine!"
I covered my ears and hugged my pillow closer, ignoring the fuzzy voice of the person who just came into the cabin.
Too damn early.
"C'mon, guys! Breakfast is ready and we've got a team meeting," the once fuzzy voice became more clear, distinguishing it being a male. I heard a couple of feet hit the wooden floor of the cabin, and a few greetings and fake laughs.
Alright, I'll get up.
I blinked open my eyes and lifted my head, adjusting myself to the sun shining through the windows.
"Hey, Veronica. Time to get up!" I looked up and saw Carla's head duck down, her hair cascading below her. "Oh, you're already up."
I laughed and nodded, "Yeah, you ready for breakfast?" I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, getting up and stretching. Once I cracked my back and stretched my arms, I kneeled down and grabbed a pair of jean shorts and a tie dye t-shirt that I made last summer.
"Would it be too cliche if I wore a tie dye t-shirt?" I asked Carla while pulling out a pair of black flip flops since I'm not expecting to do anything big today.
"Absolutely not, that's actually a really cute one," she hopped down from her mattress and brushed off the dust on her jean caprise, resting a hand on her hip once she was done.
"Thank you," I nodded before pulling my hair up into a messy bun and applying just a bit of mascara.
Once I was done, I grabbed my phone and walked out of the cabin with Carla fight on my tail.
"So today is just the meeting and then we do whatever we want, right?" I asked, sticking my phone into my back pocket and rubbing my arms to warm me up a bit.
Even though it's summer, doesn't mean it's not chilly in the morning.
"Hopefully! I want to see what's past the cafeteria," she sighed, slouching her shoulders.
"Hey, guys! Wait up!" I immediately stopped, hearing a familiar voice yell behind us. Once my eyes landed on the person yelling, I smiled.
Pauline.
"Sorry for leaving you," I apologized once she caught up.
"No problem, I didn't hear Calum wake us all up," I scrunched up my nose when she said "Calum."
"Calum woke us up?" I questioned, looking at Carla.
"Yeah, he left with about three girls from our cabin who were already up," Carla explained, kicking a large rock.
Well the masculine voice now makes sense now.
Soon enough, we entered the cafeteria where everyone was already in line for food.
"I'll get in line while you guys get a table," I stated, already walking over to the large chain of people.
"I'll go with Veronica so we can bring back a couple trays of food," I heard Carla say who bid a goodbye to Pauline.
"Hopefully they have chocolate chip pancakes," I wished, trying to get a look at what was available.
"That sounds so good right now," Carla agreed, standing on her tip toes.
Once we got our food which consisted along the lines of scrambled eggs, sausage links, hashbrowns, an apple, a banana, and buttermilk pancakes, Carla and I hauled our overfilled trays to the table Pauline picked which so happened to be the one we sat at yesterday.
"That looks delicious," Pauline commented as soon as we sat the trays down.
"Oops we forget plates and silverware," I noticed, getting up. "I'll get it."
"Are you sure?" Pauline asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Yeah, I'll be right back," I held up a finger and walked away. After squeezing through the scattered chairs and the various amount of girls, I soon found myself at the front of the cafeteria. I grabbed three plates, forks, knifes, and a handful of napkins before turning around and heading back. As soon as I got back to the table, I handed both girls their plates and sat down myself.
Once we finished our breakfast, we placed or dirty dishes in the front and walked back. We sat and chatted for a bit longer before our attention was stolen by Ashton who was holding a microphone.
"Good morning, everyone!" He exclaimed cheerfully. "We're gonna be having our team meetings right after this," he paused for a moment, pointing down to indicate breakfast. "And then the rest of the day is to you. You can do anything you'd like, explore the camp, sleep, whatever you guys desire!"
Luke slipped the microphone out of Ashton's hand and smiled, "Alright so Cabin A will be meeting by the Main Cabin, Cabin B will meet by the lake, Cabin C will meet at the Rec, and Cabin D will be by the Main Stage."
Main Stage?
After the boys left the Cafeteria, everyone got up and followed them.
"I'm guessing the lake is part of the camp we haven't been to yet," I stated, walking onto the rocky trail.
"Yeah, I haven't seen it yet," Carla agreed, looking down the path.
We ended up just going further down the path since we saw a couple other girls coming this way. As we walked further down the path, we passed the Main Stage and the lake soon came into our view.
"That's actually kind of cool," Pauline commented. The lake was filled with several different water slides, water trampolines, and other floating devices that reminded me of a banana boat. There were also canoes, jet skies, tubes, and fishing boats.
"Over here, you guys!" My head snapped to my left and spotted Calum waving his arms. I recognized some of the girls from my cabin that were surrounding Calum so I smiled and walked towards them. We waited a few more moments until the last couple of girls arrived.
"Alright, I think we're all here," Calum clapped his hands together, smiling at us. "Welcome to Camp Hi or Hey, everyone!"
A couple girls cheered and pumped their fists happily.
"So these challenges that we keep talking about range from physical activity to mental activity. Yes, we will have you swim or go through a course that was designed by one of our close family friends who's a course designer. Don't worry, everything is safe and has been tested before hand," I let out a deep breath, feeling a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders.
As long as it doesn't include heights, I'm all in.
Calum explained a bit more about how we'll be preparing each week and a bit more on what we'll be doing for the rest of the summer.
"Alright, now that we've got that all out of the way, let's introduce ourselves because we've got a long summer together," Calum looked around and sighed.
Everyone stayed silent, some folding their hands in their and others looking away into the distance, avoiding Calum's eyes.
"Okay, okay, I'll start. Hi, my name is Calum and I'm from Australia. I like to sing, play guitar, and hang out with the lads. Erm, I like pizza and Katy Perry. Oh, and most importantly, I'm not Asian."
Calum raised his finger at all of us and shook it, making us all laugh.
"Alright, who wants to go next?" There was a moment of silence before a girl with dyed blonde hair spoke up.
"I'll go. Okay, hi, I'm Morgan and I'm from Germany," she started off with a thick accent, rolling her eyes. "I like to cheer, I'm a gymnast, and I also can sing just a smidge," she brought her index finger and thumb together, leaving a little space between them. "I also love chicken salads."
Wonderful, bravo.
There was only a total of ten girls on our team so we went through everyone pretty quickly and before I knew it, it was my turn.
"Uh, hi guys! My name is Veronica, but you can call me V, and I'm from America. Pennsylvania to be exact," I paused for a moment and looked at everyone's bored expressions. "I, uh, play the guitar, I've got two sisters and one brother, and I love food. My favorite ice cream flavor is cookies 'n cream by far, and my favorite band besides 5 Seconds of Summer has to be All Time Low or the 1975." I looked over at Calum who was staring at me with a smile on his face, nodding
"It's nice to see you again, Veronica," Calum smiled, but then got up. The girls heads snapped towards me, eyeing me either curiously or enviously.
"Again?" Carla whispered to me, clearly confused.
"I'll explain later," I whispered back, turning my attention back to Calum.
"Like Ashton said before, for the rest of the day you can do whatever you want. I know the boys and I will be outside doing whatever, and trying to meet all of you," Calum gave us a thumbs up, grinning. "Alright, see you guys tonight at dinner if not sooner!" And with that, Calum jogged off towards the cabins.
"What do you want to do?" I asked the girls, getting up and wiping my butt off just in case dirt found a way to stick to it.
"Want to take a dip in the lake?" Pauline suggested, eyeing the water trampolines.
I laughed and nodded, "That actually sounds perfect."
"And on our walk back to the cabins, you can all delight us with why Calum said nice to see you again," Carla bumped my hip, letting out a little squeal.
I nodded and started walking toward the path, waiting for Carla and Pauline to catch up.
"Well remember when I got hungry and got us snacks earlier?" I started off, ready to explain everything detail for detail.
____
"Why didn't I go with you!" Carla yelled, gripping the beach towel in her hand harshly. "That could have been my chance."
"We've got two and half months to get their attention, I think we'll be fine."
Carla took a deep breath and nodded, releasing her grip on the towel.
Once we finally made it to the lake, I threw my towel on a vacant bench, stripped out of my coverup quickly, and kicked off my sandals before sprinting towards the empty lake.
"Hey!" I heard a protest but laughed it off, jumping in. Soon enough, the other two jumped in, splashing me.
"Alright, alright, enough," I laughed blocking the water being thrown at me. Both Pauline and Carla stopped and looked at each other.
"Okay, how about we go to the water trampolines," Pauline suggested, bouncing in excitement. Carla nodded and high-fived Pauline, kicking her feet out and started to swim away.
As Carla and Pauline swam deeper into the lake, I stood up and started to follow them but soon stopped, looking into the distance. A small cliff caught my eye, holding what seemed to be a large rock and an oak tree, and it also seemed to overlook the camp.
"My kind of place," I commented to myself, observing it closer.
I stared at it for a few more seconds before shrugging my shoulders and begun what I was going to do before, swimming away towards the trampolines.
_____
"I'm beat," Pauline sighed, resting her fork on her plate and rubbing her stomach. "Defiliently going to bed early.
"Same here," Carla agreed, getting up.
"You guys aren't going to the movie? They're projecting Mean Girls on the side the Cabin Suite," I informed, surprised.
Never have I ever heard of someone rejecting Mean Girls.
"I brought the DVD with me so I can watch it anytime," Carla drawled out, picking up her tray and walking towards the front. I followed her actions and walked to the front, dumping my empty dinner plate in the basket.
"Wanna head back to the cabin?" Carla asked, opening the door.
"Yeah," Pauline responded, rubbing her arm.
Once we got back to the cabin, the girls changed their clothes into more comfortable ones and laid down. I also changed my clothes, but due to the fact I wasn't tired in the slightest, I quietly stepped out of the cabin and walked to the path. As I walked towards the Cabin Suite, I looked towards the sky and noticed the sun dimming a bit, making things a bit darker. I checked my phone to see that it was already past eight so the movie would have already started. Once I made it past the woods, I spotted several girls laying on blankets, staring at the projection.
I pursed my lips and tapped my thigh nervously, slightly regretting my choice to come.
I grazed my eyes over the rest of the crowd and spotted Luke, Ashton, Michael, and Calum sitting to the side, also watching the movie.
I stayed put for a moment longer, not making any move to join the group of girls to watch the movie, and looked at my surroundings. Soon enough, my eyes landed on the cliff I spotted before when we took a swim in the lake. I pursed my lips before making up my mind and walking forward.
I passed the cabin slowly, trying not to make too much noise, not wanting to attract anybody's attention. I looked back at the group of teenagers watching the movie, but noticed no one looking at me besides one person. I caught Luke 's blue eyes watching me closely, in which he gave me curious look, questioning my actions. I blushed slightly and tucked a piece of my long hair behind my ear, giving him a slight smile. After a moment of looking at each other, I turned away, continuing my journey towards the cliff.
After a few wrong or misleading twists and turns, I finally made it to the bottom of the cliff.
"Turn left before the Shower houses," I spoke to myself, mentally storing the information away. I didn't waste a second longer and started to climb the small hill. The cliff, itself, was not big which made it easy and quick to make it to the top, but it was big enough to look over the entire camp and also a bit further. I looked at my surroundings and spotted the big rock just like before, which sat itself a good distance away from the edge of the cliff.
Perfect.
I walked over to the rock and crouched down before sitting against it. My eyes grazed over the beautiful scenery before me, making me rest my head against the rock. I carefully watched the bright, vibrant colors start to change darker, dull ones, making me frown.
Soon enough, the sun vanished behind the hills, making the half moon stand out, surrounding me in complete darkness. I sighed quietly, picking myself up and rubbing my arms, feeling a slight breeze roll in. I soon found myself walking down the hill and hopping back on the rocky path. I walked slowly, passing the Cafeteria and approaching the Cabin Suite, in which everyone was still there. I walked quietly past the cabin, scanning the crowd and once again, catching Luke's eye. He sat up a bit, taking his eyes off the screen and watched me carefully, just like before.
I gave him a tint wave, but didn't stop, continuing my way back to the cabin.
Once I got back to the cabin, I opened the door slowly and slide into bed, exhausted.
Before I fell asleep, I decided to myself that the cliff will be my secret place, a getaway if I ever needed one.
______