CHAPTER 1 #2
Meeting her now feels surreal, like a moment I have been building up in my head for the longest time.
I never thought I would be so calm about it.
Even though I knew this entire year that I would be seeing her, I didn’t think I fully processed it.
I don’t think I have ever thought it was truly going to happen.
If I’m being completely honest, I thought my parents would find a way to shut down the idea the moment I told them.
They ended up helping me get the money after realising how much I wanted to come here.
“Exactly,” she replies with a swing in her step as she walks and a large smile on her face.
She turns to me and says, “what do you think?” She pulls the large sign up from underneath her arm, before unravelling it to show me.
I laugh as I read the words ‘welcome home, Ivy’, painted in large capital letters.
The sign is decorated with sunshines and flowers and in what seems to be every colour in the rainbow.
The sign reflects the vibrancy she brings.
“I love it! When did you make this?” I ask, pulling it from her hands to take a better look. I’m definitely taking this back to London.
“See, I could say I made it last night and seem normal, but I started making it the night you booked your ticket. I was just so excited, and I could not wait,” she replies. I could cry, she’s so sweet.
“Thank you so much. I am sorry that I didn’t get you anything, I was focusing on finishing schoolwork and saving up money for here,” I say, in a slight panic.
Me and my parents agreed that if I take university courses and classes, I could take the year off and attend university next year.
I wanted to anyways as I didn’t want to lose my spark for school next year.
Either way they still keep an eye on all my assignments or any studying.
“Don’t apologise! I got the best gift because you came here. It feels as though I have been waiting for this forever,” she says as we walk through the exit to the airport carpark.
It is so much hotter in Pennsylvania than I expected. It is four o’clock and the sun hits us like a tidal wave. I quickly take off my jumper, placing it in my bag and start asking Bailey the same twenty questions I have every day since booking my flight four months ago.
“Ivy, you have got to relax. Everything is going to be great. Don’t worry. We get to spend an entire eight weeks at one of the greatest places on earth, Camp Sylva. Everyone’s already there and they cannot wait to see you,” she says, dramatically in her thick American accent.
Bailey has been going to Camp Sylva since she was six years old, and she stopped when she was fifteen.
She has told me so many times that all she ever wanted to do was go back.
She says it was one of the best times of her life.
She has had it planned for years that when she was old enough to, she would return and become a camp counsellor.
Bailey is seventeen now which means she is finally old enough to do it.
She is two years younger than me, but I am still eighteen.
I turn nineteen in a couple weeks, and I do not think I would want to spend my birthday anywhere else and with anyone else.
I turn to her, suddenly curious. “What are the other counsellors like?” I ask as I hop into the car.
I knew she would have met some of them by now because she had said everyone had already arrived today.
Camp Sylva is not very well known so most of the children and counsellors are from neighbouring towns.
That means most of them attended when they were younger.
“When we got there this morning, it was only the three of us and-” She goes to continue but I cut her off as she starts the car.
“The three of you?” I ask. I assume she drove from home, which she had said was nearby, alone.
“Yeah, did I not mention it? My brother, Lucas, and his friend from school, James, are being camp counsellors with us. Mom thought it would be a good idea to spend some family time together or something.” She in fact has not mentioned this at all.
She has never even mentioned she has a brother.
I didn’t ask her if she has siblings, but she didn’t say anything either.
I must have assumed we were both only children.
It makes me wonder how much I truly know her after all .
My parents had struggled to have children so once I was born, they had focused all their time and attention on me.
They really wanted to raise me right. I was a miracle to them, and they did love to treat me like one.
According to them, I am meant to have the best life, and I knew they wanted that for me. It seems so difficult to achieve.
“Sounds fun.” I smile at her. The road we are driving on is quiet and surrounded by tall maple trees.
The sun is starting to lower but it still shines bright across the blue sky, leading to Lake Sylva.
The town the camp is within is named after the lake that surrounds it.
It is also where Bailey grew up and she has promised to show me all of it.
My eyes are pulled away from the window when I feel my phone chime in my pocket.
Dad: I hope your flight was okay. Love you vee x
I send off a quick reply and place my phone back.
My dad is one my biggest supporters. He has always believed in me and even though I love him for it, he has the ridiculous idea that I have no faults.
I am not perfect. No one is but sometimes I think his belief in that is one of the reasons I put so much pressure on myself .
I definitely have faults. I can probably list them if I wanted. My mum has understood more recently that if they think of me that way, it will only fuel my anxiety. I love how understanding she is, but we have never been as close as me and Dad.
I focus back to my window, to the trees and the long road ahead of us.
I love the peace that surrounds me. One moment me and Bailey are sitting together in a comfortable silence as I take in my new surroundings, but the next we are screaming to ‘Close to you’ by Gracie Abrams with the window down.
The wind pushes the hair away from my face and I have never felt so free.
She sent me playlists at least once a month before this and without a doubt, each one had a Gracie Abrams song.
Turns out the airport was not as far from Lake Sylva than I had expected.
The drive takes us about thirty minutes which I assume is because of the lack of traffic.
As we pull up to the camp, I see a large sign upon a wooden fence reading ‘Camp Sylva’.
Me and Bailey hop out of the car, grab my stuff from the backseat, and walk through the gate.
This is hopefully going to be the best time of my life and right now I do not regret leaving London one bit.