Story: Camp Pawa (chapter 1)

A long yellow school bus roamed down a old highway under a warm sun and brilliant blue skies. Huge stands of trees lined either side of the road as it went, seemingly getting thicker and thicker with each second that it traveled, obviously heading into the great rural areas.

The bus seemed to be filled with many boys and girls, who were talking amongst one another with almost a fevered pitch. The children seemed to range from as young as eight, to perhaps upwards to fifteen or sixteen and were as diverse as they were numerous. All of the kids were rambunctious and very excited, as the bus wound it way down the road.

Near the back of the bus, a lone figure sat on one of the benches all by herself. The quite petite, long haired girl seemed to be one of a very few of the children that was not going absolutely crazy on the bus. The dark haired girl with the ivory skin was simply sitting there and staring out of the bus window, watching the world outside whiz past in a blur as she blankly stared out

She would glance back into the interior of the bus, stoically watching the others around her get more and more excited. She would only give a small sigh and return to watching the scenery pass by at a alarming speed.

A red headed girl with patches of freckles on her cheeks plopped herself beside the lone girl and smirked.

" Hey!" She greeted the girl with her grin.

" Hey!" The girl replied back, her voice not even close to the happy tone the red head had.

Giving a look of not understanding, the red head looked at the girl with a odd stare.

" Aren’t you excited to finally be going to camp for most of the summer?" She asked, fixing the bright green hat she wore better on to her head. " School has been out for four days now... you should be just a little happy with that, Mandy?"

" I’m just not..." The dark haired girl said, her voice quite flat and emotionless.

The long haired girl turned to look at the all too bubbly redhead, wishing she was feeling the same way.

" It won’t be as fun this year..." She said plainly.

" No fun?" Came back the girl, shocked to hear the dark haired girl’s statement. " Come on there... We are going to be at camp for over a month, away from nosey parents, irritating brothers and sisters and all of that crap from the city... this is not just camp... It’s heaven!"

Mandy sighed and looked away for a moment, her mind seemed to drift away for a second or two.

" Without Lacy being there this year... I think I wont have much fun, Donna." She said.

The red head sighed, as she now understood why the girl seemed to be so down-in-the-dumps.

" I know it’s hard that she moved away, but look at it this way..." Implored the girl. " We are fourteen now, and we have the right to be up in the senior cabins this year. Think of it!! No more bunking with yappy little girls that cramped out style, no more Barbie doll crap or anything like that. We are now older and will be more respected that ever from ever councilor, Think of it!!." Donna said. " An the boys this year... The Boys!!! Think of it, Mandy, think of it."

" I know all of that... but it does not seem the same..." Mandy vocalized, looking over at the girl. "Lacy and I have gone to Camp Pawa together since we were both eight years old, it seems almost to be useless with her not being here with me."

" Come on, you’ll have fun this year... We are senior campers now!!" Donna urged, giving a impish grin. " You’ll see... We’ll get there, and you will have fun, make a few new friends and everything! "

" Don’t you miss Lucy?" Mandy asked. " We all have gone to Camp Pawa together for years."

" It is different... You were the closest one to her..." Admitted the girl, her brow furrowing a little. " It is a little strange not to have her around... but that don’t mean we can’t get there and have fun."

Mandy shrugged, as the girl seemed so wound up over getting to camp. She was not even close to that feeling.

" You’ll see when you get there then!" Donna sighed and moved quickly up the bus isle to talk to a somewhat chubbier girl in a pink top sitting in a seat a few rows up.

Somberly, the black haired girl watched Donna leave, and was somewhat glad to be left alone for awhile. She felt like all of this was going to be truly a waste of time. Mandy’s thoughts soon drifted back to her missing friend Lacy, the long blonde haired girl that had been her friend since the first grade.

The two of them had done everything imaginable together, never once really being apart for very long in the process of their lives. Gymnastics, art classes, brownies, sports, shopping and pretty much everything and anything else... it was like they were attached to one another throughout their lives. They always were a team, always best of friends and almost like sisters as well. Now she found herself on the long winding road out to Camp Pawa without Lacy. It felt as if she was missing a piece of herself.

Lacy was like her, not quite the most popular girl in school but still well liked. They were sort of different in the eyes of some of their classmates because of who they were, but their uniqueness had solidified them friends since an early age. Those who hung around with them, accepted them regardless of their quirks. They both loved art, music and had a passion for making clothing and reading... it was as if they were twins.

Mandy drifted back to the day when Lacy had told her that she was moving away with her family. That day, a lot of tears were shed as the reality of losing her best friend in the world stared her right in the face. It was the lowest point of her life, hearing that this pixie of a girl was moving all the way across the country. Her heart felt like it was going to crumble and fade away, her world collapsing around her.

The last time she saw Lacy, was barely four months past almost to the day. The hole in her life was now occupied by the heaviness of sadness, a sadness that had never left her heart. Since that moment, she had only one letter come from her friend, one that she had tucked away in the pocket of her shorts she wore.

Mandy sighed and looked around at all the other kids on the bus, wanting to at least to break herself out of this funk she was in. Most of the kids in the bus, she had known for years, but that did not help her out right now. Her best friend was still gone, and nothing in this world would or could change that. She sighed and hoped that something good would come out going to camp, but she really doubted it. It was the beginning of a summers he wanted nothing more than to forget about.

A very slender lad with a curly head of unruly hair turned in the seat in front of Mandy. The lad smiled and stuck out his tongue. She could not help but actually crack a bit of a smile. This was her other friend since grade one, the one-boy comedic steamroller named Zachary Keegan.

She smiled finally, as having the lad jerk with her like he always did, somehow lifted her mood to a small extent. He smiled broadly, his bluish green eyes seemed to sparkle.

" Cheer up why dont’cha?" Zachary said impishly, obviously very hyper.

" Why?" She asked.

" Well, duh... why not?" he asked through a large smirk.

Mandy found herself actually breaking a smile, as he always seemed to do for her.

" All right already... I’ll try..." She conceded, finding herself giggling a little.

" Better..." He happily said with a smirk and a wink. " We don’t need a gloomy Gus goin’ to camp."

The lad turned back and began to talk with a boy beside him. He seemed almost excited as Donna was. Mandy was still yearning for Lacy to be there, but she honestly hoped that a month at camp was not going to be as bad as she was thinking it might. With a sigh, she made up her mind to give it a try.

Siting there, she looked around to see if there were any new faces on the bus. Most of them she did know, if only by sight. A few were gone from the group, as they had gotten too old for the camp program or simply did not want to any longer. It always happened like that every year.

A couple of new faces were there as well, but she knew that more people would be on the other bus that had left before her’s had. Some of the missing people she knew might be on that one, she told herself, and more than likely new people would be on it as well.

Her eyes fell to the back of the bus, and to a unfamiliar face. Mandy had never seen the girl when she had gotten on for the ride to camp, and she would have remembered seeing this girl if she had.

The girl had long black hair, like she did, but had it done up in long pigtails with black ribbons that went along with her dark makeup. She was dressed fully in black, oddly having a motorcycle leather jacked over a studded tank top and finished off by a black jean skirt she had on. The girl also wore army styled boots over black knee socks, which seemed strange considering the heat. The girl sported many rings that gleamed on her black nail polished fingers, most of them had grotesque skulls and other ghastly images that gleamed with sheen as the girl was sitting there holding a rather large book . This very out of place girl quietly read without even looking up at anyone around her.

Dressed like a goth, the new girl really stood out amongst the others, but Mandy wondered why she had not noticed this girl earlier on. Mandy never did like the gothic style of dressing, finding it a little tacky, but with the style on the girl it...it actually worked. She found herself thinking that the goth girl was really attractive, her way of dressing accenting perfectly her features.

Mandy then gasped and shied away from the thoughts she had towards this unique girl, thought she had never even imagined before. She had found herself actually staring at the girl, nearly mesmerized, thinking that she was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen, and wanted herself to stop.

Retrieving her own book she had brought from her book bag, she hoped that reading would stem her weird and unusual thought she was having, and also make the rest of the two hour plus drive to Camp Pawa feel less long. Without Lacy, she still wondered what the summer might bring, and hoped that it would be good.

Taking a last glance over at the goth girl, she dove into the book. She found herself still being very fascinated by the girl, almost as if she was attracted in some way. Forcing herself to read, she blocked whatever it was that was drawing her to look at the girl and let her mind go into the pages.