Ah...Sleep-Away Camp...What Could Go Wrong?

Oh, how I love the part of the airport where you pick up your luggage. You know, the place with the conveyor belt that people are always leaning over so that when your luggage actually comes, you miss it.Then you have to push people out of the way in order to chase your suitcase and your trip over a luggage cart to face plant in front of a very surprised family of four.

"Is this what you were after?" the father held up Cassie's two suitcases.

"Yes, thank you so much!" she exclaimed.

I'm face planting a lot lately...

"Haha! Cassie is imitating me!" Rae shouted, pointing in Cassie's direction. Cassie blew a few strands of auburn hair out of her face and straightened her Invader Zim wife-beater, it was her favorite shirt. It had Gir in his dog suit, rolling around on the ground, saying, "I saw a squirrel! It was going like this!"

Cassie brushed off the back of her jeans and readjusted her foot, which had kind of half fell out of her black converse low-tops.

"Yeah, Rae. It's very funny..." she commented sarcastically.

"Well, now that the little show is over and we all have our stuff let's get to the bus before we're stuck here." Tasha snapped, the rest of the girls stared at her for a moment.

"Jeez, Tasha...What crawled up your butt and died?" Rae mumbled. Tasha's head snapped toward Rae, gaving her a death look so serious, Cassie and Allie had a hard time looking her in the face.

"None of your business." she snarled.

Rae gave a little squeak and ran behind Allie, "I think she is possessed. Did you bring the holy water like I told you?"

Allie giggled again, but started towards the door, shouting behind her. "Cassie, Rae, the bus is here. And Tasha, you might want to get the stick out of your ass...It's a long ride to the camp and you don't want to be uncomfortable.

Cassie and Rae burst out laughing, Rae holding onto Cassie for support as she tried to take a proper breath. They stumbled out of the automatic sliding doors, Tasha following behind, her face a deep red.

The ride consisted of the usual banter between Rae and Tasha. I mean seriously! What is up her ass?!

She was usually nearly as carefree as Rae. Not insane like Rae, but carefree. Something must have happened to her after school ended, but before she met up with Rae and Allie.

Allie was texting her boyfriend back in New Jersey, laughing at random times and showing Cassie the romantic things he was saying to her. That just made Cassie sigh, wishing she had someone to do that...Oh! That's right! Aiden could become like that if we hit it off She began to wonder whether he would call her soon when the bus went over a nasty bump, and being the klutz Cassie is, her face slammed into the seat in front of her.

"God I'll be lucky if I don't break my nose by the end of vacation."

Allie simply shook her head after seeing she was fine and went back to her texting. The next few hours passed uneventfully, but that all changed when the camp came into view.

"OH MY GOOD GOD!!" Rae shouted. Good God was right.

The mountains gave way to a valley that spread for miles. The cabins were HUGE! They seemed like mini-mansions compared to the cabins the girls had been in way back when in the days of Girl Scouts. Camp Magisca suddenly seemed to suck...

There was a lake off in the distance. But not too far to discourage midnight walks, since Rae snores, Cassie would be grateful to sit on the lake's shore and collect her thoughts. There were horse stables and everything. It all seemed like it should be on a postcard, actually, it wouldn't have surprised Cassie if it was.

The bus slowed to a stop outside of a stone building which seemed to be the welcome hall.

"Welcome new campers! it's wonderful to see new faces!" A voice rang out.

The girls and the other teenagers looked around , which was kind of hard to do since they were carrying all of their luggage and standing close together. Rae fell down and left her bags on the ground as she jumped back up.

"I'm okay!" she said as she held up her hands. Cassie and Allie fought to hold in their laughter while Tasha simply rolled her eyes.

"I can see we have a group with a good sense of humor..." The source of the voice was a man in his late 50s with graying hair and wore what seemed to be the camp uniform for the counselors. A dark green t-shirt and jeans. That's what the woman behind the desk was wearing and the bus driver and some of the adults standing near the window that made up a whole wall, not to mention that it was cathedral ceilings.

"I'll let you all get settled then we can meet in the auditorium, it's towards the back of this building, but for now, we'll get you to your cabins." He smiled widely as he gazed at the group of about 40 teenagers. Rae was rocking on her heels furiously as she tried to contain her excitement, which failed once they stepped out of the welcome hall and on their way to their cabin.

It came out as a scream crossed with a yelp and a Tarzan yell. She could not recreate it if she tried. "This is SO awesome!" And that phrase echoed. Yes. It echoed. Quite the entertainment for Rae for the remaining minutes standing in there before they continued to walk toward their cabin.

"Ok then...At least we know now that Alyssa and Heather will be joining us."

They arrived at the cabin and opened it using the key they had been given. All of them stood with their mouths open as the door swung open. The cabin had hardwood floors and rugs thrown over them, the most comfortable looking chairs, a brick fireplace and a gourmet kitchen for random snacks, they guessed. In the back of the house was a laundry room, a half bath and an locked room, but that was just the downstairs.

"When my mom said the word 'camp' this didn't even cross my mind..." Allie murmured as she stared at the ceiling.

They all shared a glance and devilish smiles, then made a mad dash for the stairs and stopped in the bedroom hallway. There were three doors and they all ran to one.
The bedrooms were all the same, but they were gorgeous!

Each room had two four-poster beds with curtains and beige carpets, but not the ugly kind. The oh-my-God-I-never-want- to-wear-shoes-again kind of rug. The sheets were all fluffy and a deep purple color. Each room had a bathroom that was nearly the size of the bedroom. It had a huge jacuzzi tub and a shower that was made of stone, had glass doors, and seats.

"I call rooming with Cassie!" Rae shouted. They all met back in the hallway where Rae jump-hugged Cassie. "Isn't this place the coolest?!" Cassie could only nod before Allie spoke.

"Well, now we have to get back to the welcome hall."

Rae nodded solemnly and traipsed out of the cabin. Cassie, Allie, and Tasha followed silently but, smiling all the same.

"So in conclusion, welcome!"

Allie jabbed the sleeping Rae in the ribs. "What...the...HELL?!"

"It's over. And you were snoring."

"Not my fault I'm bored."

"Oh, and I almost forgot.." Mr. Lifmen, the man they had met before, said. "Not all of the counselors are here today. They will be arriving throughout the rest of today and tomorrow. We have a few college students who work for us and you will meet them tomorrow at orientation. Well, for now, that's it. You may go back to your cabins and settle in."

"Finally!" Rae sighed. When her energy was drained she got a little crabby and that was just what they needed after a two hour lecture on how amazing this summer would be.

So after they were all unpacked and dressed in their pajamas, they fell asleep.

But not an hour passed before Rae started to snore.

Goddammit. Cassie pulled her pillow over her head but there was no way she could block out the snores. Now is the perfect time to see how beautiful that lake is at night.

So Cassie pulled on her low-tops and tiptoed out of the cabin, taking her own key with her. The last thing she needed was to get locked out of her cabin in the middle of the night. She had seen "Friday the 13th."

Sighing, she walked toward the shining surface of the water. She spotted a few boulders near the shore and jogged over to them. Cassie smiled as she saw the boulders had made a shallow cave near the shore.

Kicking off her shoes, she walked over the rocky sand and sat near the water, staring over the lake. The moon seemed a thousand times bigger on the surface and its own light bounced from the water to the rock wall behind her.

Soon she was lost in her thoughts of how lucky she was to spend her summer here.

"Not exactly a mermaid lagoon but, I think that it is a magic moon." a voice jolted
Cassie out of her thoughts and she whipped her head towards the person.

"Aiden?"