Camp Elmer

Jennifer and Jillian Anderson, back again for their third summer at Camp Elmer. Just another average summer, right?

    Jennifer stared out the window of the old, gray, 1988 Ford pickup, counting billboards as they passed them. Jennifer’s father was taking she and her twin sister, Jillian, to the summer camp that they went to every summer. Every year since their parents had divorced, the girls’ father took them on vacation each summer. Jillian had dozed off beside her, and Jennifer was getting a bit tired herself.

    “We’re here.” Jennifer awoke suddenly, unaware she had nodded off.

    The teen lumbered out of the car and stretched her arms out. It was a bit cramped in the old Ford. She heard a yawn behind her as her sister woke up from her nap. Jennifer examined her surroundings, as she had twice before for the last two summers. The old Camp Elmer sign was falling apart, and now looked like it said Can p Fln er. Jennifer’s dad grabbed the suitcases, and closed the back of the truck bed. There were morning-glory vines crawling up both posts of the sign.

    “Jen?”

    Jennifer turned to see one of the girls’ friends, Heidi, who also came to camp each summer. “Hi, Heidi.” Jennifer responded.

    “Go and get Jill, lunch is about to start, and I don’t want to get the leftovers! We can catch up while we eat.”

    “All right,” said Jennifer, turning to find her sister. She found her leaning lazily on the side of the pickup, and told her that it was almost lunchtime. Jillian straightened up, and followed, obviously hungry--as usual. Jennifer, Heidi, and Jillian trekked to the mess hall, discussing as they went the usual conversation on why it was called a mess hall, and joking that Jillian shouldn't be as slim as she was, because of how much she ate. Jennifer pulled a hair-tie from her wrist and tied her long, copper hair back from her face.

    The three girls reached the mess hall before anyone else, and piled their plates with chicken salad and chips from the counter. They found a table, and arranged themselves so that they could watch out the window and see whoever arrived.

    Heidi was the first one to speak. “So, what’s been going on with you guys? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

    Jennifer waited when Jillian held up a finger, indicating that she was about to speak, as she swallowed a particularly large bite of chicken salad. “Well,” she started, “I don’t know about you, but lately our life has been spectacularly dull. I really hope that Lindsay and Jacklynn show up at camp this year.” Lindsay and Jacklynn were also the girls’ friends, and also sisters, though not twins. Lindsay was a year and a half older than Jacklynn.

    Jennifer nodded. She had been hoping that the sisters would show up as well. When the five girls were together, memories were made. They particularly enjoyed pulling pranks on the older girls in camp.

    As if on cue, a blue Chevy pulled into the camp. The three girls recognized Lindsay and Jacklynn grinning at them and waving in the back seat of the car. The Chevy was still rolling--though at a snail’s pace--down the dirt path when the door of the car burst open and the two girls jumped out of the car, running towards the door to the mess hall. Lindsay’s long black hair streamed out behind her like a banner as she ran. When the two burst through the door, they didn’t even bother to get a plate of food.

    “Lindsay! Jacklynn!” Jennifer beamed at her friends.

    “Hey,” gasped Jacklynn, clearly out of breath.

    “We were just wondering about you guys,” said Heidi.

    Once the girls with food had emptied their plates, Heidi exited the mess hall, going to find cabins close to one another. Only four girls could sleep in a cabin; there were only two bunks in each. The other four girls went to retrieve their luggage. Jennifer and Jillian had decided to pack one large suitcase, because they could both wear each other’s clothes, since they were twins. Some shirts or pants were doubled in the suitcase. The two girls often enjoyed to dress alike; they loved confusing the new counselors.

    Jennifer, Jillian, Jacklynn, and Lindsay dragged their luggage to meet Heidi in front of two cabins, which rested beneath a clump of tall pine trees.

    “I chose this spot in particular for three reasons: It has a perfect view of the stream that runs along the edge of camp, you can move easily from one cabin to the next without being seen if you don’t want to be, and it has trees above it, so if it rains, we will be mostly protected from rain getting in through our windows.” explained Heidi, ever the over-thinker.

    The five girls entered the cabin on the left, a new one Jennifer had never been in before, where all except Heidi laid their bags down on a bed. Jennifer claimed the bottom bunk of one bed, while Jacklynn took the top bunk of the other bed. Lindsay laid her bags down on the mattress below where her sister would sleep, and Jillian decided to sleep in the last bunk; the one right above Jennifer.

    “Did any of you bring sheets?” asked Lindsay, pulling out a set of folded lavender sheets from her bag.

    “I did!” said Jacklynn from above her head, producing a set of pale yellow sheets from her suitcase.

    “I know you brought sheets! I put them in your bag! Remember?” retorted Lindsay.

    “Oh, yeah, I forgot,” said Jacklynn sheepishly.

    Satisfied that they were comfortable in their room, Heidi left the cabin. “I need to go and unpack,” she explained on her way out.

    Everyone else left their belongings in their bags, but Jennifer made her bed neatly, and hung her clothes on the rail at the end of the bed that held up the end of the bunk. She removed her cell phone and her book from her bag, and placed them on the short dresser between the beds. Jennifer raised the sheet from the floor and lined her shoes up neatly under the bed. As she looked up, she noticed with some amusement her twin trying to put the sheets on her bed. Jillian was using her left foot to pin down the bottom corner of the sheet, and stretching her arm to try and hook the sheet around the corner of the mattress, all while trying to keep the bottom corner hooked on the mattress. Jennifer couldn’t help but laugh when Jillian had almost hooked on the last corner, and her foot slipped, and the entire sheet came off. Jillian glared at her through her hair.

    “Would help be welcome at this point?” laughed Jennifer.

    “Yes, in fact, help would be very welcome.”

    Jennifer helped Jillian by holding down the bottom of the sheet while she slipped the upper part around the top of the mattress. “I’m going to the campfire circle,” she told Jillian on her way out the door.

    “Hey, wait up for me!” Jillian called behind her.

    “Me too!” said Jacklynn.

    “I guess that means we’re all going!” commented Lindsay.

    Jennifer laughed. “We should probably invite Heidi along, too.”

    The four girls trekked over to Heidi’s cabin, where they found her and two other girls unpacking.

    “Wanna go to the campfire circle with us, Heidi?” asked Jennifer.

    “Sure, just hold on one sec.” said Heidi, tucking her clothes into a drawer. She pulled a pair of blue tennis shoes from her bag and put them on. “Okay, now I’m ready.”

    The five girls reached the campfire circle, talking about their ‘adventures’ of the school year. They talked about Jennifer and Jillian’s science teacher, Mr. Brown, and how he never made them do bookwork. They talked about their laptops, which Mr. Brown had taught them all of the tricks and shortcuts to. They talked about Lindsay’s spectacularly dull History teacher, Mrs. West. They talked about how she assigned way too much homework, and how she always gave homework on the weekends. Girls started filing into the campfire circle, and the five girls returned to Jennifer’s and the other girls’ cabin.

    The rest of their day was spent in leisure, chatting amiably about things that had occurred in the time that they had not seen each other. They departed to get ready for dinner time just as the sun started to sink and the sky turned a pink-orange color.

Author's Note

I started writing this in 7th grade, so if there's a few things that don't quite make sense, that may be why. Also, to anyone who knows me and/or attends the same middle school I did, did you pick up on the teacher references? ;)