I swear this is going to be the worst summer camp ever. I have been trying to tell my parents that this stupid camp is just going to be a waste of a brilliant, relaxing Summer. I tried telling them, “I’ll behave I promise, please don’t make me go… I’ll… do all of the housework so you guys don’t have to.”
“Good bribe missy, but that’s not going to fool your father and me.” my mom explained, “You’ll find some friends there Lea. It’ll be fun, there’s tons of activities that you’ll be doing, and there’s a lake!” Mom just gets too excited about things. If she really thinks that I’ll have a good time in a mosquito infested camp, full of dirty kids, and the least amount of privacy you can think of for a whole six weeks, she’s crazy. I think that she should just go for herself then if she really thinks that it’s going to be that wonderful.
I have never been and outdoorsman. I have always preferred the nice cool comforting air-conditioning indoors. Most importantly, I’m the type of person who is glued to their phone. I am not entirely proud of it, but I literally cannot live without it.
The last day of seventh grade I come home to a static mom who looks like an eager puppy wanting you to pet them. She stands smiling at me at the front door with her hands folded behind her back. “Lea, aren’t you even the least bit excited, I know this will be a new experience for you, but that’s the point. Tomorrow Dad will take you, so be packed. And one other thing, no cell phone.”
I whine, “But Mom you can’t do that, what if I catch a disease, or what if I die?!”
“Well, then you’ll just have to write a letter then won’t you?” she replies bluntly. I can’t even believe her. How can she expect me to write a letter? That’s what they did in the Stone ages.
Mom holds out her hand, awaiting my phone. I grudgingly give it to her, and mope upstairs to pack everything that I will need for a Summer away from home into the biggest bag I can find. It was like I was going to move.
    * * *
It was an early morning with the sun just clocking into its shift, replacing the moon’s post. The Pennsylvanian woods were filled with plenty of green vegetation, and the air smelled sweet and very welcoming like a candle lit in a quiet room. This didn’t seem all that bad when I stepped out of the car, and the entrance sign, “Lake Stella: The Summer Camp of the Best!” seemed very calming.
Just when I start to take it all in, someone walks in front of me and holds her hand out. “Hey, I’m Aubrey! You new around here?” she asks in a friendly tone.
This girl’s about my age, a little bit taller than me, had dark brown hair with a pair of dark brown eyes to match. She seems a little too friendly for my taste, but I figure maybe this meeting new people thing could work with her. “Hi, my name’s Lea. Yeah, do you know your way around. Perhaps you could show me where cabin D5 is?” I ask.
“Hey that’s cool, we’re in the same cabin!” as she’s talking, she picks up my thousand ton suitcase up with no problem. She urges me to follow her, so I follow, and talk to her. “I’ve been coming to this camp for four years now, you can pretty much come to me if you have a question.” She nods her head, pretending to act like she was a big deal. I smile and let out a small laugh.
We talk on our way to the cabin with open eyes and really taking in what each other has to say. Aubrey seems just like me; she plays soccer, she likes to bake, and her mom took her phone away for camp too. I get to know her through the first day, and I just feel so excited to start in all of the camp activities. Who would’ve thought that I would ever appreciate the nature, and make new friends. Of course when I get home Mom will just say, ‘I told you so’
     * * *
I’m having a blast for a whole week with Aubrey. We go rock climbing, tubing, canoeing, anything that you would find at a Summer camp. But then I just had to meet the girl named Kami.
I’m walking with Aubrey on one beautiful day to the rope course center. Everything seems just perfect, and to top it all off, a bird is singing it’s melodious song in the trees. When we reach the center, a group of girls pass by. The main one interrupts our conversation, “Hello, I’m Kami, I’ve never seen you before. What’s your name?” I introduce myself kind of weary. Then she continues, “Well Lea, you want to make sure you surround yourselves with the right group. And from what I can see, you made a poor choice at that.” She smirks devilishly, and makes a quick glance over at Aubrey, who is now face down looking at her feet. Kami and her posse of two flip their Barbie blonde hair in unison, and flaunt away like wanna be models.
“What was that about,” I turn to Aubrey who now seems to be disgusted.
“Oh, that was just a Kami, the Devil herself. She thinks she can treat people like trash and get away with it, and the worst part is that her dad is the owner of Lake Stella, so no kid can go complain about her.” I definitely agree with Aubrey that this Kami girl was a mean soul, and it will stay like that for the rest of camp I decide.
    * * *
Six weeks comes to a close in two days, and for these next two days, Lake Stella is supposed to be focused on one thing and one thing only, the camp games. It might seem cheesy, and I know that that was my first thought when I was told by Aubrey, but all of the camp coordinators try to organize sport tournaments and races and persuade every type of kid whether tall, short, athletic, smart, girl, boy to sign up for the games.
Aubrey is very serious about this, the type of serious like this was her lifelong goal.  “Lea, we have to join, there’s a soccer tournament. We could definitely win it!” she announces to me while I eat my ‘monster mash’ (the kids call every meal here this because we don’t really know what goes into the mystery food).
I laugh a bit, “Aubrey, are you kidding, that would be the easiest game ever, there’s no fun in a game where you don’t even have to try and kick the ball.”
“Hey, don’t underestimate these kids, I know some really tough ones. Kami is a star-soccer player herself.” I think that Aubrey used this as a tool for me to just sign up for the camp games, but what ever she meant it for, it got me to stand straight up and march across the dining hall to the sign-up table. After I’ve spent these past weeks at this camp I have met some other friends, and I have seen every single one of them being bullied by that girly snake. It really got to me when she came over and made fun of Aubrey for the second time, and when I tried to defend her, the mean girl started to tease me. When this happened, a hatred rose from myself and I needed a reason to show Kami that she isn’t at the top of the food-chain. I write both Aubrey and myself down on the sign-up sheet.
    * * *
The soccer tournament is starting. Before the ref blows his whistle, I stare right into the icy cold blue eyes of one of my opponents: Kami. Whewwww. My muscles tense up as a reaction to the crisp sound. I quickly manage into the swarm of players around the ball and fish the prized possession everyone is looking for out of the mass with my feet. I run across the field to the goal with everyone still behind me in a huddle. I kick the black and white ball into the net with ease, the goalie is an amature.
The game slowly but surely picks up speed. Kami is a good soccer player, I’ll give her that. There is a minute left on the clock, and the opposing team is tied with us. I’m moving my way to the goal with the ball between my feet, feeling great. All of a sudden I trip. After seven years of soccer you’d think that I would be a little more “professional”, but I trip! As I get up to my feet with the ball right in front of me, Kami quickly comes by, and makes the most dirtiest move. She kicks my arm.
Pain shoots up through the center of my arm, and when I turn my wetting eyes to look at the damage, I almost pass out
     * * *
Okay so I might have passed out, I’m a queasy person. When I searched for the damage, it was bad. My arm was bent the exact opposite way that it was supposed to be.
I wake up in white room with a TV on in the upper corner. I lay in a comfortable bed, with soft sheets. I find Aubrey sitting right next to me with her hand on my shoulder. “The doctor says it was a full on break in the bone, and your parents are waiting just outside for you.” She talks in a calm voice.
“Let’s do this again next year, camp was real fun, and meeting you was the best part of it all. You didn’t even have to come with me to the hospital, but you're just cool like that.”
“I know,” she grins at my joke, “It was a blast, we’ll just be extra careful about playing soccer with Kami again.” This has been the best summer of my life, despite the whole breaking the arm thing.