car ride to camp

Paige tapped her fingers on the windowsill. After two hours in the car she was bored. She couldn't look at her phone because that made her car sick and the same thing applied for reading a book. She combed through her hair with her fingers, checking the clock for the millionth time.

"Still 10:30," her dad said.

"10:31" paige pointed back at the car clock.

Her dad sighed, shaking his head "I have an idea" he grinned mischievously. He quickly clicked on the radio, passing Paige's favorite station.

"Hey!" Paige responded with a frown.

"Trust me." Her dad skipped for about a minute until he finally found what he was looking for.

"Nooo, not the 80s," paige groaned, as "Total Eclipse of the Heart" started playing full blast. As the minutes ticked by she reached to change it.

"Nope." Her dad swatted her hand away. "Drivers choice."

"I will remember this," she said as she sat back in her seat. The rocking motion of the car soon put her to sleep. She didn't have any dreams, just peaceful nothingness. As the sounds of nature got louder she fell deeper into sleep.

"Paige, Paigey, we're almost there. Look!"

Paige woke up. "Wow! Already!" she gasped. As she looked out her window, the sky was still mostly cloudless. But a few cumulus clouds dotted the horizon. She looked ahead and they crossed a cute little bridge that looked like it was out of a fairytale. As they got deeper into the forest, they spotted some deer. She looked a little further but there seemed to be trees as far as the eye could see. She did see a very old looking cabin that was too far away to be on the camp's property. It looked like it must have been abandoned years ago. Another half mile and a crossroads came up.

"Hmm," her dad said looking back at his GPS.

"Uh dad, there's literally a sign." Paige pointed at a huge sign with the token blue and white Camp Northway logo. It had an arrow pointing to the right.

"Ahem. Thank you Paige," her dad said slightly embarrassed. They kept riding for what seemed a while until finally they got to a smaller path. "I think we to walk from here," her dad said, parking his car next to the path.

"Are you sure we can't drive?" Paige whined, as the camp was nowhere in sight.

"I'm sure," her dad said sternly. Paige looked over at the path and there was no way a car could fit on it.

"Fine." Paige grabbed her suitcase and the huge duffel bag. She lugged her bag onto the gravel and dirt path and handed her dad the duffel. They walked for what felt like 20 minutes but was probably only five, when they reached a clearing. In the front was a huge building which Paige remembered as the 'check in,' and extra offices plus the nurse's space.

"Here we are," her dad sighed. She took it all in and some things had changed but most everything seemed comfortably the same. There was another building a little further back from the offices. The mess hall.

"That's right,"t she remembered.

Her dad smiled as he rubbed her shoulder. "We're back."

She caught him staring at the direction where they used to live on the campgrounds.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye." Paige waved, slightly pushing him in the direction of the car.

"Excuse me. You're not even let me say hi. i used to live here too." Paige shrugged. "Fine, I'll be quick. Everyone's probably in the mess hall anyway." Her dad walked off making a silly face at her, before going into the mess hall. When the door closed behind him, Paige went into the big building. The first thing she saw was a nice looking lady who she had never seen before. She looked to be in her late thirties.

"Name," she said to Paige, holding a computer like she was holding her baby.

"Paige Martins. I'm here as a CIT." The lady looked her up and down. Paige abandoning her first thought that she looked nice.

"Welcome, I'm Mrs. Harley," she replied while scrolling down her computer. "Ah, there you are. Cabin number 4 with Lilly."

Paige smiled in relief. One less thing to worry about. "Thank you!"

Mrs. Harley grabbed a key from her desk and a nearby map of the camp. "Here you are, dear," she said to Paige, muttering to herself. Barely audible, she said "this better be the right one this time." Paige overhearing, tried not to cringe. Paige grabbed the map and key and headed out.

Just as she left, Paige spotted her dad chatting with someone by the mess hall.

"Dad!" she waved. He motioned for her to come over. As she got closer she recognized who he was talking to. It was Martin Price the camp owner and also, sadly, her 'bully's' father. She gave him an awkward smile.

"Paige, look who it is. You remember Mr Price, right?" Her dad looked at her.

"Of course she does. Can't forget your favorite archery instructor!" Martin laughed like he said something funny. To be fair though, he was the best at archery and she had loved when he stopped by to give special lessons. He was the only one at camp able to hit a bullseye on the most difficult target they had. Many tried to beat him over the years but still no one could. Martin clapped her on the back in a good spirited way.

"Well iIm sure your father has to get home and you have to unpack, so I'll leave you to it." Paige waved as he walked away towards his cabin down the hill.

"Goodbye Paigey" her dad said, turning towards her. She backed up to give him a big hug. She would miss him.

"Bye dad."

He smiled at her. "Have fun, okay? And call me if you need anything." "Dad, there's barely any cell service," Paige laughed, remembering angrily tapping at her phone earlier to try and get service. He waved and walked back to the path they had arrived on. She smiled, feeling a little homesick already. Soon her dad was no more than a tiny shadow. Next thing is to figure out where my cabin is, Paige thought, grabbing the map she had put into her pocket. Scanning it briefly, she felt like she knew where it was. Of course, she had been here a hundred times, she reminded herself. She soon realized how heavy her duffel bag was especially since she was also trying to hide her suitcase from people walking by. She had already gotten enough stares. Cabin four, she recited in her head. She looked up. She was right back where she started at the mess hall.

"Argh, I better go the other way" she mumbled to herself. Walking around the mess hall in a different direction took her to a big tree. It wasn't just any big tree it was the engraving tree where every counselor put their initials, including Paige and her ex friends who lived here as kids. They snuck over to carve their initials the year before it all went downhill. She looked closely, wishing for it not to be there but it was. She found c.p, z.p, and p.m carved in the bark. She giggled as she remembered that day. They stole one of the butter knives from the kitchen. They had waited until Mr Price had gone to go to practice his daily archery. They all snuck into the kitchen like it was a huge stealth mission when it was only for silverware. When they got out of the kitchen they celebrated giving each other high fives. Her mood slowly soured. She should not remember them like that; she has always tried to forget them. Just because they had good times didn't mean they could erase the bad times. She hoped she never saw either Calliope or Zoe Price ever again. The names she forgot years ago now came back to haunt her. She shook it off, close to regretting coming back; she sure had a lot of emotions about this place. She checked her phone and at least she could use it to tell the time. It was 12:45. Uh oh, she better get moving. The campers came between 2:00 and 4:00 and she was supposed to meet them, so first unpack. Plus she wanted to meet her co counselor, Lilly? Yeah, she was pretty sure that's what her name was. She finally looked at the map a little closer. Ooooh, she realized why she had gone the wrong way. They had switched the cabin names since she had been here long ago. Well then, she thought grumpily.

As she got closer to the cabins she noticed in the distance there was another building. This one smaller. Curious, she walked towards it seeing a bright colored sign at the door. Finally, she was able to read the sign. "Official Northway Camp Cafe", it read. Yummy, she thought, as her stomach rumbled. She checked her phone again and she still had an hour before the campers arrived. She debated going in when a boy her age walked out. He was tall and lean with dark hair.

"Hey, so I saw you staring," he laughed. "My manager wanted me to ask you if you want anything."

"Oh,ummm, sure," she said awkwardly, as she made a mental note to try not to embarrass herself anymore today. He held the door open for her into the cafe.

"Thank you," Paige said, wanting to hide under a rock as awkward as this situation was. The cafe was cozily decorated with cute little bean bag chairs; they also had little booths with brightly colored cushion seats.

"Wow," Paige said out loud, wanting to slap herself. A little cat wound its way around her legs.

"Awe, how cute."

"I know," the boy said, surprising her, as he had made his way back behind the counter. "I'm Arson, by the way," he said proudly.

"Arson?" Paige tried not to laugh.

"Yes!"

"For real, your name is really Arson?" Paige said, confused.

"Well that's what everyone calls me around here anyway. And the cat's name is Ash."

"Oh, well,I'm Paige," she said.

"Well, Paige. What would you like to eat today," he said pointedly. Paige stumbled to look at the assortment of baked goods and the drink menu. She hadn't really eaten anything all day except for cereal in the morning. She looked but there were so many options it didn't help that Arson or whatever his name was, was starting at her.

"I'll have the coffee cake warmed up please."

"Ah, good choice." Arson grabbed one from the back with little tongs. She assumed it would be freshly made and he put it in the little oven. She scuffed her feet on the ground waiting for it to be done when she heard a ding!

"Here you are. that'll be $2.75." He handed her the coffee cake as she scrounged in her duffel bag for a five. Finally finding a very crumpled five, she handed it to him.

Grabbing the cake, she left with a "thank you!" Why that was so tough? She didn't know. She quickly ate the whole coffee cake, burning her mouth a little bit. "Why did he have to heat it up so much?" she murmured to herself. She checked her map again and walked towards cabin 'Four'. It was really bright out, even if there were more clouds. She squinted and saw a huge sign with the numbers 1-4 on it. It had an arrow pointing to her right. She did not remember the campground being this big. Finally a big cloud covered the sun and a little breeze blew by. She reached a big cabin with a staircase and a ramp. Paige gladly took the ramp pulling her suitcase with all her strength. She walked up to the door and just as she was about to open it, an older girl opened it for her. The girl was tall and had pink hair.

"Hey, you must be Paige. I'm Lilly."