Camp Star

The car turned onto a dirt road. I could see trees on either side of me. We passed a sign that read, “Camp Star: Teaching the preforming arts since 1967.” Buildings came into view. The dirt road stopped in front of a big building labeled, “Main Office.” On the door was a piece of paper that told us that sign-in sheets were inside. My mother and I walk in, and to the back of the line where other kids with parents were waiting to sign-in.

“Are you nervous Jessica”, said my mom. She probably noticed that my hands were shaking, and I just couldn’t keep still. I was nervous, but I just stood there silent. “It’s okay to admit that you’re just a little nervous you know.” I just gave her a look.

A few minutes went by, and it was our turn. The lady behind the counter had blonde curly hair, and way too much make-up. She had a name tag that told us that her name was Carly.

“Welcome to Camp Star. I’m Carly and I will be helping you get started with your stay here”, she said. “Now what’s your name, sweetheart?” I tried to tell her but I guess I was so nervous that I couldn’t speak. My mom just nudged me with her elbow.

“Jessica Winfield”, I responded. Carly wrote a little bit, and then continued, “Okay, you are in cabin six, room two. Four other girls will be joining you.” Then she stuck out her hand, and asked me for mine. She slapped a plastic bracelet on me that was labeled, “dance student: #27”. It was official. I was in Camp Star. It was so exciting that I almost passed out, but then I thought, “Um, probably shouldn’t”.

My mom helped me bring all my things to the cabin. The placement of the cabins was interesting. They were just ordinary log cabins. The interesting part was that they were floating on the lake. There were wooden walkways to each of them, and there were two different groups for the cabins, the sound section and the silent section. The sound section was where all the kids who use music in their art were put (ex: band, choir, dance, etc.). The silent section is where the arts that prefer silence as they work (ex: writing, drawing, painting, etc.).

We found cabin six, and made our way to room two. It was big, and had three different bunk beds. It looked like I was the first one there, other than the councilor of course. Her bed was already made. I went over to one of the bunks, and threw my bed sheets, blanket, and pillow up. My mom started to put my clothes in one of the two big chests at the front of the bunk.

After I got all settled in, my mom gave me a big, long hug, wished me luck, and left. It was hard to believe I wouldn’t see her for a whole month. I was scared, nervous, and out of my mind excited all at the same time. I was finally at Camp Star.

The Fair: Part 3

The ice-cream place he picked was amazing. It was an ice-cream bar. You know how buffets will sometimes have a salad bar. Well, it was basically the same thing only for ice-cream treats.

At the start of the line, there were all kinds of ice-cream flavors, from tradition vanilla to rainbow-cotton candy. However, the topping selection was even bigger. It took all my will power not to load my bowl with every possible topping. I was able to settle with a couple scoops of mint ice-cream with crumbled Oreos, chocolate syrup, and some whipped cream. David had Chocolate ice-cream with caramel syrup, and a lot was red hot candies.

“I’ve got a thing for spicy foods”, he said.

“Me too”, I agreed. “Just not on my ice-cream. Ha, ha.” He laughed with me. Over the next couple of hours we learned a lot about each other. For example, when David was six, he climbed a tree. He didn’t even get to the second branch before he fell out, and onto his friend. The worst part was that his friend’s gum had popped out of his mouth into David’s hair when the hit the ground. There were a lot of laughs caused by that on. Eventually, we just stopped talking, and looked at each other.

“What are the odds of this”, David began to say. “Two total strangers making a bet, and then going out for ice-cream.”

“It does seem a little like your average Nicolas Sparks movie”, I said. We laughed some more. I don’t think I have ever laughed so much in one sitting before.

“Oh by the way”, he said. “How in the world did you manage to pop three balloons with one dart?”

“The trick is to aim for the opposite side of the booth so that the dart has the smallest possible angle to the back board.” He nodded as he locked this information away somewhere in his brain. I glanced over to the clock. It was almost 10:30. I was supposed to be home at 10:00. “I’m sorry, I’ve got to go.” I grabbed my purse and keys, and started toward the door. As I reached for the handle, David grabbed my arm.

“Will I ever see you again”, he asked. I bit my lip as I looked around. In my purse I found a pen. With it I wrote my number down on David’s arm.

“You can count on it”, I said as I walked out the door.