*I discovered that writing in English is harder than it is in Dutch (duh, ofcourse!). The painpoint I ran into is that I have to look up words that come in my head in Dutch but for which I don't know the English word (sort of, I like to choose words that other writers uses too, so the perfect translation). This slows down the creativity flow , I am not used to this, so I get easily frustrated not able to type as fast and iontineously as I would do in Dutch. But I managed to have another chapter published. Yeah! Please comment and vote, would love to know your opinion.*
Together with Julie I walked to the main building, located at the centre of the camp ground. High pine trees reached to the sky, releasing a few pineapples that hit the ground with a soft thunk. A grey squirrel shot out of a bush, just before both our feet, hopped to a trunk and disappeared within a second to the top.
Through the large area filled with tables and benches we came into the kitchen. Off-white tiles and shiny equipment surrounded us, in the middle of the semi-large kitchen stood a giant table, packed with plates, giant bowls and baskets.
''The salad is yours, okay?'' Julie asked when opening the two doored fridge.
''Sure,'' I said when catching the plastic bag of tomatoes she threw me.
I washed the tomatoes before I grabbed a knife from the block to begin chopping them into small pieces.
''Is this your first time at the camp?'' I asked, beginning some small talk to break the silence.
''No,'' Julie said with a vague smile. ''It's my third time as a leader. Before that I was like you...' She looked up counting without sound in search for the right answer, ''...I think I've attended five times as an attendee before I became a leader.''
''Wow.''
''I made some lifetime friends here,'' she said with a smirk on her face. ''Do you like it so far?'' A chestnut eyebrow lifted when raising the question.
''Sure it will come.'' I shrugged my shoulders.
''I hated my first time,'' she confessed, washing her hands before she began to peel the potatoes with a small knife. ''I was lucky. My elder brother took me by the hand and guided me through the first weeks.''
''Is he a camp leader too?'' I tried to see any similarity with Juice, but assured myself that in no possible way they were related to each other. Julie was so much nicer, I couldn't imagine they were sharing any genes at all.
''He was.'' Sadness conquered her face.
I paused chopping and raised an eyebrow.
''He's doing other stuff now,'' she said hastily, indicating the subject was closed.
I threw the last bits in the bowl and reached in the fridge for the lettuce. ''I wish I had a brother,'' pulling bright green leaves of the stem and throwing them in the sink filled with water.
''No brothers or sisters?''
''Just me and mom and every other weekend my dad. Jiiiihaaa!'' I forced a smile out to her.
'That is one of the advantages of camp.'' She winked at me with a grin on her face. ''No parents.''
''If you camp leaders can give us some kind of freedom,'' I spit out.
She laughed. ''Sure, but first you'll have to earn it.'' Julie made a gesture with her head to my hands, tearing up the leaves before I threw them into the bowl. ''Bonus points for you already.''
''So, I can go out tonight?''
We both laughed aloud. I liked Julie and for the first time I'd came here, I'd felt this could become some kind of fun.
''Sounds like my sis isn't working at all,'' a masculine voice cut through the laughter.
*So, next chapter we're going to meet Julie's brother. What do you think he is like?*