CHAPTER 2 #2
I never have thought which age group I would prefer but I honestly think we got the best. At this age they are too young to understand everything, so they can enjoy this place as much as possible.
The older kids usually have parents who cannot afford to take time off work and cannot take care of their children the entire summer.
I can see it on Bailey’s face that she wanted to be partnered up with her friend this summer and I can see it on Ivy’s face that she wants that too. I feel bad.
“Sorry you are not partnered up with Ivy,” I say.
“It’s okay,” Bailey says with a small smile creeping onto her face, “I will be practically living with her for eight weeks and if anything, I am glad. She will start getting on my nerves.” Laughing, she warps one arm around Ivy beside her who laughs too, looking down at her feet again.
“I lived with you for fifteen years, Bailey. I am pretty sure you will be getting on her nerves much more,” I say .
The afternoon is filled with unpacking and moving everything into our cabins.
They each have a shared bathroom and three bedrooms that lead to the outside porch.
There are two adult cabins in the donkey’s area, one for the boys and one for the girls that face opposite each other.
There is four children’s cabins facing opposite each other too, making a square with all the cabins.
There are two for the fourteen- to sixteen-year-olds and one for each of the other two age groups.
Each cabins have an old sign with a small donkey and the age group written on it.
The cabins in our area are almost completely surrounded by trees and the way to the main activities is marked by the dirt pathways and painted wooden signs up upon nearby trees. The paint is slightly chipping, and it all looks exactly the same as when it did when I was younger.
The bedrooms in the cabins are quite small but still fit a small double bed, a set of drawers and a mini side table.
I put up the photos of family and pictures of me and James at school on the wall with sticky tack.
The bedding is white, and I place two new pillows from my dorm on it by the existing ones.
Above my bed is a small window that lets the evening light pour through it.
It is almost six thirty when finally goes quiet.
I lay down on my bed, closing my eyes when all of a sudden, my door flies open, and something flops onto my bed with a thud.
“James, what the hell do you think you are doing?” I say, as I see my friend, who is already wearing his bright orange camp shirt, flinging himself from the bed to stand up quickly.
“The shirt?” he asks, “I convinced Alec to wear his too. I think it really suits my hair, but he is very nice, and he also looks awesome in his—”
I quickly interrupt him. “Not the shirt! Why are you slamming down my door as if you are trying to break in?”
“If I wanted to break in, you would not be here and I would have been much quieter,” he replies, “but I came in here to ask you to wear your super cool shirt. Also, I was asking if you could come with me, Alec and the girls to the lake. I think they want to go to the part by the rocky beach and eat some food since we don’t eat until breakfast tomorrow. ”
“I am sure that you have enough Oreos stuffed into your pockets to feed yourself for now,” I reply, picking up my phone. I have three messages from Mom which I must have missed while unpacking .
Mom: did you get there okay? I asked your sister, but you know she will never answer the phone.
Mom: keep an eye on Bailey.
Mom: daisy wants to facetime. Call soon please.
Since the last message was only sent a couple minutes ago, after telling James to shut up, I hit the facetime button on my phone. After a few rings my mom’s face pops up on the screen.
“Hi Lucas! Give me a second to find Daisy. I am pretty sure she is outside.” Mom and Bailey look exactly the same with her blonde braided hair and white shirt covered in pink flowers.
I grew up on an old farm about a ten-minute drive from Camp Sylva with my mom and two younger sisters. All the girls in our family are extremely similar and love almost all the exact same things. We have spent our lives playing board games, watching Disney movies and dancing around our kitchen.
My mom moves around the house and then across one of the large fields we call our garden, rambling about the same things that she does every week until she turns around the camera and I see a much smaller version of her and Bailey .
“Daisy! Lucas is on the phone for you!” Mom yells out much louder than she needs too considering Daisy is not that far away. I can hear the running of my younger sisters’ feet across the ground before she snatches the phone, holding the camera back around and holds it extremely close to her face.
“Hey Daisy. Are you okay?” I say, with an instant smile on my face.
“I cannot wait another second for next week. Being here alone is so boring,” she replies dramatically. “Is James there? I want to say hi.”
Before I can say another word, my phone is ripped away from my hands as James leaps over saying, “Hello my favourite Miller! What are you doing outside this late?”
My sister giggles. “It is not that late. I have heard you stay up until like two am and I am just trying to bring the cat inside, so me and mom are not alone.”
“Daisy, leave Steve alone. He will come inside if he wants to and go sit in bed with mom. You know how much he loves being outside. He is only usually inside the house in winter.” She doesn’t look happy as I say this and guilt hits me for not visiting enough. New York is not even that far away .
Quick to make her feel better, I say, “Do you know what the best thing about it being just you and mom this entire week?” She gives me a confused look, as if she really wants to work it out.
“You can pick the film every single night. You know how much Bailey refuses to watch something other than The Little Mermaid. Now it’s your turn,” I continue.
A smile reaches her adorable face. Unlike my sister and mom, her face is dotted with a few freckles like mine and cheeks that turn pink in the sun.
“I want to watch Tangled. I love Tangled,” she replies as she starts walking with mom into the house.
“You always watch Tangled.”
“That’s because you always picked it. Not me!”
“Lucas, I never knew you loved Tangled so much,” James says teasingly.
Daisy hangs up the phone after sitting on the sofa surrounded by blankets and food just like we always did when I was growing up.
I miss being younger. We would all watch movies, TV shows or game shows and constantly compete against each other.
I would always team up with Daisy as she was very young at the time, although she still is.
Having a sister who is fourteen years younger than you means that you watch them grow up like their parents do. It all happens in the blink of an eye.
After a small knock, the door sings open to reveal Alec in his matching orange shirt. “So, are we going?”
Long story short, I am now in an orange shirt with a donkey on the back, walking towards the girl’s cabin and starting to regret agreeing to another one of James’ ideas again. I walk up the steps of their porch, towards the door and knock. Within seconds it opens and reveals Bailey behind it.
“What’s up? Are you here to kidnap us?” Abby and Ivy laugh from further inside the room and she continues, “Do we have to wear these shirts for whatever this is?”
Before I can reply with a no, I am interrupted by Alec and James saying “yes,” at the exact same time.
I shoot them both an annoyed look and say, “Of course you don’t. I was forced into it, but we wanted to know if you want to come and eat some food by the lake?”
“Oh my god. Yes!” Abby shoots up from the floor and right towards the door. “Pier or beach?” she asks .
“Both. We will go to the pier first for a bit and then maybe light a campfire by the beach,” Alec replies politely, with a smile.
“Sounds amazing,” the third voice says sweetly.
“Can you guys leave so I can change quickly?” It’s Ivy.
She gets up off of the floor and everyone leaves the room as she does.
She shuts the door quickly and the other two girls run off into their rooms. Around five minutes later, we start running through the woods trying to beat the sun setting over the lake.
I am ahead of everyone else and reach the start of the pier first. The sky is a mix of pinks and oranges but the sun in the middle of the horizon is setting slowly. The lake is large and is reflecting the same orange hue from the sky. This is one of the reasons I love home.
I turn around when I hear footsteps from everyone else.
Ivy stands still as soon as she stared at the sky.
The sun sets a glow across her face and her eyes look more chestnut than the chocolate they were earlier today.
Her freckles are more noticeable than ever.
Her focus shifts slightly, moving towards me but then she quickly turns to Bailey.
“No wonder you spend so much of your time here. It is really beautiful,” she says staring at the water and sky again. My sister smiles and I look towards the skyline and then back to Ivy.
“It really is,” I reply. I know I am fully telling the truth as the words leave my mouth, but I am not sure if I am speaking about the sunset or the stunning girl, lit by sun in front of me. My train of thought is interrupted by Bailey.
“Do you guys want to swim?” she asks.
“Wait. We are swimming? I didn’t change into a swimsuit.” As soon as Abby says this, Bailey runs up to James and pushes him right into the water.
“What the hell! I could have drowned!” he yells, trying to pull himself out of the water.
“You can swim. C’mon, get up so we can all jump in together.”