Embrace Yourself

Once Brady got into the dining hall, she started to look around at the tables until she found her name on the sheet. After she found it, she sat down at the table and ignored the strangers that were sitting next to her while she waited for the rest of the dining hall to fill up.

“Welcome to Camp Hope, everyone,” a man said into a microphone once everyone in the dining hall was seated. Brady looked around her to see that there were still two empty seats at her table, before she turned her attention back to the man with the microphone.

“I’m Mark Tomlinson, and I wanted to welcome all of you here,” the man continued as he glanced across the sea of teenagers. “I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this summer, and I hope to get to know all of you. The procedure for dinner is very simple; two tables get up at a time and go through the line so there isn't a huge crowd. Get your food and drink and sit down, please don’t loaf around. Get to know the people at your table; it’ll make your summer a little more enjoyable.”

Brady sighed to herself and wanted to cringe every single time that Mark brought up the fact that she would be here all summer. She looked down at her hands that were set on the table in front of her, and she didn’t realize how hungry she was until now. She didn’t even eat breakfast, and after the long bus ride and getting everything unpacked she was famished. She turned her attention back to Mark as he made a close to his speech.

“We will have a meeting after dinner, and it will be located in Snyder Hall, which you all are familiar with now. In about an hour and a half we will make our way to the building and start the meeting, which will explain the rules and regulations of Camp Hope. The first two tables can now get up to get their lunch. Thank you.”

Brady glanced at the number that was on her table and grunted to herself when she saw the number 7 taped to the top. She watched as tables 1 and 2 stood up and walked through the entry way of the kitchen to get their food, and tried to wait patiently as the rest of the tables before hers got their food.

When it was finally time to get her dinner, Brady stood up with the rest of her table and headed towards the entry way. She looked around at all of the ridiculous amount of food that was set before her, and her eyes widened. She never saw this much food at one time, not even in the school cafeteria. She filed behind the people in front of her, and after grabbing a tray she started through the line.

“Any chicken?” someone asked Brady, before she looked up to see a boy with brown hair that was covered with a hairnet. He had blue eyes and a wide smile plastered onto his face, as if he was excited to be there serving dinner to the “struggling youth”. He was around her age and he was dressed in a white shirt with blue stripes on it. He was attractive, yes, but he was someone way too cheerful and optimistic about being in this place for Brady’s liking.

She nodded her head. “Yeah.”

The boy nodded his head and put a piece of chicken on Brady’s tray, and then she continued down the line. There were four more boys that were around the age of the one who was serving chicken, and by the way they were joking around and talking to each other it was obvious that they were all friends.

Once Brady got some chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, and a drink, she left the line and went back over to her table before returning to her seat. She picked at her food and took her time as the rest of the tables got up to eat, and after about 20 minutes, two more people joined Brady’s table. She looked up to see the boy in the striped shirt sitting down with his curly-haired friend that was serving the corn. The two boys looked around the table and the one in the striped shirt smiled at everyone.

“Hi, you guys,” he said, his smile that complimented his shining eyes still plastered on his face. “I’m Louis, and this is my friend, Harry. Hopefully we didn't miss everyone’s introduction.”

Brady looked around at the people at her table who sat silent for a minute, until the boy next to her spoke up.

“I’m Kyle,” he said, introducing himself, before looking at the girl next to him.

“I’m Cara,” the girl next to him said.

“Harry,” the curly-haired boy said, before looking over at Louis, who introduced himself again.

“Kenzie,” the girl next to Louis said quietly, obviously shy around the new people that were surrounding her. Everyone then looked at Brady, who sighed softly to herself, deciding not to comment on how this wasn't second grade and they didn't need to be introducing themselves.

“I’m Brady,” she muttered, before she took a bite of her chicken and ignored the conversation that was going on between Louis and Harry while she and the rest of her tablemates were silent.

+

An hour and a half later, Brady walked with the swarm of teens towards Snyder Hall for the meeting that she knew she wouldn't pay attention to. Rules for every type of gathering was the same: be respectful, be on time, be prepared, be kind, and use your inside voice. She wasn't sure why the administrators couldn't have sent the rules to their rooms so they could look over them on their own time. Everything felt so middle schoolish and Brady wasn't sure if she would be able to handle this for the whole summer.

Once inside the auditorium in Snyder Hall, Brady walked up the stairs towards the back of the room and took a seat in the middle of the row. She watched as everyone found a seat by their new friend, and as she scanned the sea of people, she saw her blonde roommate waving to Brady as if to save the seat next to her. Brady slowly nodded her head as she set her hand down to save the spot, and seconds later her roommate joined her at her side.

“Hi, I’m your roommate, obviously,” the blonde girl said with a tiny smile. “I’m Alyssa, but you can call me Aly.”

“Brady,” Brady responded, confusion filling her voice. “Back in our room you barely spoke to me, and now you want to sit with me?”

Aly shrugged her shoulders, obviously unphased by Brady’s snarky remark. “I was pissed about being here and Marie wasn't very welcoming and that also pissed me off.”

“Marie?” Brady asked curiously.

“Our other roommate; the brunette,” Aly answered as she set her hands in her lap. “She’s very standoff-ish, so I don’t think we’re going to be great friends. And, you know, you and I are going to be roommates all summer so we might as well get used to each other.”

“That’s true,” Brady said as she let out a sigh, before looking towards the front of the room to see Mark with the microphone, once again. She saw numerous adults sitting in chairs or standing against the walls, and due to their nametags it was clear that they each played some role in this camp “experience”. Brady glanced over towards the corner of the room to see Louis, Harry, and the three other boys from the kitchen sitting down in the chairs and Brady couldn't help but wonder why they would have signed up for a gig like this. And from what she saw at dinner, Louis was thrilled to be here whether or not he had any issues.

“Attention, everyone,” Mark spoke as he tapped on the microphone to see if it was on and working. “I would like to start this speech now so we can get out of here by 9 o’clock or so, so we can all get a good night rest for the day we have ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Great,” Aly commented, before looking at Brady. “This is going to be a long lecture and an even longer summer.”

Brady nodded her head in agreement as she let out a loud sigh. “Tell me about it.”