CHAPTER 1
I shoved my duffle bag into the back seat of my dad’s black GMC truck and hopped in after it. My parents were already in the front seat waiting for me.
My name is Brooke Perry. Yeah, I know, like Katy Perry. I have blonde curly hair, like Taylor Swift, and my eyes are blue. My friends tell me I look just like Emily Osment.
“Where are we going?” I asked. My parents had only told me that we were going camping for a week, not where exactly it was we’re going.
“It’s called Acres of Wildlife,” my dad, Tucker, told me. My mom held a brochure over her shoulder for me to grab. A moose stood next to the title and pictures of smiling kids looked up at me from every page. My mom is very skinny and wears mainly t-shirts and jeans. Her hair is almost always down and mouse brown. Her eyes are hazel, but not the type of hazel that seems to change color depending on the light or what color clothes you’re wearing. She’s smart and funny, and nice to everyone.
My dad has short brown hair. You’d think it was black at first, but if you look closer you’d see it was extremely dark brown. His eyes are blue and his skin makes my mom jealous. He looks like he always has a tan without even trying while my mom spends all summer in the sun. My dad’s the type of person you can say anything to and he’ll turn it into a joke. If you’re sad he knows the perfect funny thing to say to cheer you up. He doesn’t have the best fashion sense, but he doesn’t care.
“Where is it?”
“In Steep Falls.” He meant Maine, of course because that’s where we live.
“How long will it take us to get there?” I asked while putting the headphones of my green iPod chromatic into my ears. My large hoop earrings lightly tapped against the wires when I turned my head, and my beagle, named Puzzle, licked me across the face. We named him Puzzle because his fur is very patchy and looks like a brown, black, and white puzzle.
“About a half hour,” answered my mom. As she said this she flipped out her new Blackberry to answer a call. Weather it was a work call or a personal call, I didn’t care. My family owns a small restaurant called Alfredo’s and my mom constantly answers phone calls about it. Her name is Gail.
I scrolled through the artists on my iPod until I got to the Cs where I selected my favorite singer Cody Simpson and put the list of songs under his name on shuffle.
Mouthing the words I looked out the window and watched the trees and time pass.
Before I knew it we were driving down a long road beginning with a large sign reading “Acres of Wildlife. Family Campground.”
The road was three miles long and I could hear the creak of our camper as we turned every corner.
After about fifteen minutes we reached the campground and my mom got out to check us in. We got the site number and a map and started driving around until we found the right road and then the campsite.
My mom told me to take Puzzle for a walk while they set up everything. So I took his leash and hopped out of the truck.
“Come on Puzzle,” I said and lifted him out and placed him at my feet as we set off. I still had Cody Simpson playing through my iPod and his song “Round of Applause” was just coming on.
After five minutes we rounded a corner and saw the lake. At Acres of Wildlife it was called Rainbow Lake and the playground across from it was called Rainbow Lake Playground.
I looked out at the floating docks where I saw a tall boy who looked about my age with blonde hair and green swim trunks. From here he looked just like Cody Simpson, and trust me, I would know, I’m a huge fan of his. The boy seemed to be talking to a group of friends who were floating around the dock and it sounded faintly like an Australian accent from here. Yes, I could hear him talking, or I think it was him, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
Cody Simpson has a Australian accent...
I looked behind me and saw a row of kayaks, paddle boats, and a water bike parked at a small dock on the other side of the lake from the swimmers. The two halves of the lake were separated by a line of buoys.
I looked back at the boy and could see him look up at me. He was far away so I couldn’t see him very clearly, but the more I stared the more he looked like Cody.
I looked down at Puzzle and walked on just as the boy gracefully dived off the dock and into the lake. Just as I passed the cabins on the shore and could get one last look at the beach from the other side Puzzle decided that he had to smell a rock that second. I stopped abruptly and looked around. The boy was wrapping a towel around his waist and was looking around like he was waiting for someone.
“Come on Puzzle,” I said quietly and kept walking. To the right of the beach. About forty feet to the right, was the dog pond where dogs were allowed to swim.
I led Puzzle towards it, took out a tennis ball from my pocket and unclipped him from his leash. He ran ahead of me but whipped around and pranced on his front paws at the sight of the tennis ball.
I smiled and threw it into the water. Puzzle bounded in and I sat down at the end of the small dock. He doggy paddled out to the ball and wrapped his jaws around it probably swallowing a mouthful of water with it.
He turned around and swam to shore. Not pausing long enough to shake himself off, he trotted over and dropped the ball into my outstretched hand which I then threw back into the water. Without hesitation Puzzle launched off the dock after the ball.
Watching him, I thought about the blonde boy. How could he look so much like Cody Simpson?
Just then I heard footsteps behind me and saw the very person I was just thinking about walking with a group of people.
This time I undoubtedly heard an Australian accent. He looked up and met my gaze. I gasped and turned back around right as “iYiYi” started playing. It was him. I was positive, but why would he be at Acres of Wildlife? I looked back again and he was walking away. As I watched he looked over his shoulder at me, winked, and then turned back to my friends.
My heart almost stopped. Cody Simpson winked at me. But why? He didn’t know me. I shrugged and turned back to Puzzle who was just reaching the shore now.
We played fetch for about another hour and when I finally got back to my campsite my parents had finished setting up.
“Hey Brooke,” called my mom. She was sitting by the fire pit with my dad, but the fire wasn’t lit. “Where’d you go?”
“I took Puzzle to the dog pond.”
“Did you have fun?”
“Yeah, I think I saw Cody Simpson.”
“What?” My dad turned around to look at me. He is completely anti-boy so the mention of one turned his radar on immediately.
“Yeah. He was with a group of people, but it was definitely him. Accent and everything.”
My parents shared a look and turned back to the fire pit.
Just then I heard a crash from behind me. I whipped around and saw Cody with his friends at the campsite opposite us. They were talking and laughing loudly so I knew they couldn’t have heard me. Cody leaned down and picked up what looked like a broken lantern. That must have been what made the crash.
I turned back to my parents who were looking at the other campsite too.
“Told you it was him,” I said as I unclipped Puzzle from his leash, let him into the camper and shut the screen door.
“You’re right, Brooke,” said my mom.
I turned, smiled and climbed up the camper steps into the camper.
I sat down at the booth style table and took the earphones out of my ears. My camper is a Trailbay and is rather small, but to my family of three, it’s perfect. There’s a full size bed at the front end with cabinets hanging above it. In the middle there’s the booth on the left and a small kitchen on the right. In the back is the bathroom and a set of bunk beds next to it. I, of course sleep in the bunk beds, and when I go on a “family” camping trip without a friend I get both beds. Lots of storage.
I whip out my iPhone and start texting my best friend Amanda from school.
i’m here, I tell her.
The reply doesn’t come for another five minutes, but soon she says awsom any notable guys?
ya. cody simpson
wat? no way
ya hes here
y?
idk
wow call me l8r. i g2g
all right bye
bii
Amanda always spelled bye like that. It didn’t really make sense ‘cause it’s the same number of letters as the full word but looks cooler I guess.
Pocketing my phone again I looked out the window where I saw Cody playing pass with a football with one of his friends. I grinned and tilted the shades so I could clearly see him, but he couldn’t see me.
Just then I heard my mom come into the camper. I turned to her and she handed a piece of paper.
“What’s this?”
“A list of activities for today, tomorrow, and sunday.”
“Cool. Thanks.”
Looking at the list I saw a few activities that sounded fun, but since I wasn’t camping with a friend it would be weird for me to go alone. The one I decided I could do was the pizza buffet tonight at the camp restaurant called the Chub’s Pub. Karaoke was going on then too.
I opened the kitchen window and told my parents about the buffet and karaoke.
“That sounds fun,” said my dad.
I closed the window and backed up so I could see the clock on the microwave. It read 4:00. What would I do for three more hours?
I decided to take out my speakers and play, guess who, Cody. I cracked open the window facing him and his friends and started “iYiYi” at a volume only loud enough for him to hear.
He paused in mid-catch of a football and whipped his head towards my camper with an adorable half smile lighting up his face.
I pulled the shade up completely so he could see me fully and know who was his fan. When he saw me his face seemed to light up more. He held up one finger to his friend as if to say hold on a minute and threw the football back to him. He then started walking in my direction. I turned the music down as he reached my window which I opened more.
“You a fan?” he asked, but not in a cocky way that some celebrities would, like they wouldn’t expect anyone not to love them.
“Yes,” I said.
“You going to karaoke tonight?” his accent was so hot.
“Ya, you?” How was my voice so steady.
“Ya. You gonna sing?”
“No, well, I don’t have any of my friends to go up with me so I’d be really bad.”
He laughed. “I got them to put “iYiYi” on the playlist so keep that in mind,” he winked, and my heart skipped a beat.
“How long are you staying?”
“A month,” I replied hopelessly hoping he would stay at least half of that.
“Me too.” Yay.
“Not to be rude or anything, but why are you at a campground? Aren’t you, like, a celebrity?”
“Well, I was allowed a break as long as I could come up with one new song while I’m here.”
“Too bad you already wrote “Summertime.”
“Haha yeah. Well, I’d probably go back. I’ll see you tonight. Want me to save you a seat?”
“Sure. I’m getting there early ‘cause my parents will be coming at 8.”
“All right.” He winked again and walked off back to his friends. I nervously tucked a string of blonde hair back behind my ear, closed the window, and turned the music back up.
*Author’s Note: Acres of Wildlife, and all of the places mentioned there, is a real place. If you are ever looking for a place to camp in Maine, I HIGHLY recommend this campground. Go to www.acresofwildlife.com. Also I would like to thank you for reading the first chapter of my story. I love Cody Simpson and worked hard on this. Please comment to tell me what you think.