The Story of a Rock Star's Kid!

“Guess what, Rach?”

I was sitting in my favorite spot to color, the bar in the kitchen. It was way too tall for me to reach but once I got up there and let my legs swing for a long time, they would tingle because they’d fallen asleep. I liked the way it felt.

I was working hard on a picture of a cute kitty, trying to give my daddy a hint on what I wanted for my birthday, when he walked in.

“What daddy?” I didn’t look up at him, focusing instead on my artwork.

“I signed you up for this really cool summer band camp. Doesn’t that sound exciting?” He smiled wide waiting for my reaction.

I don’t know about you but the words ‘summer’, ‘band’, and ‘camp in the same sentence don’t excite me. But, I could tell that this was something that would make daddy happy, so I went along with it.

“Really?” I asked trying to make the same face as daddy.

“Yeah, they teach you all about music and how to compose it. I think you’ll like it. It’s only two weeks, and then you can go on tour with us. You’ll have fun. So what do you say?” Daddy sat next to me.

I thought it over, not very carefully, but then I realized he said that I would like it, not we.

“Am I going alone?” I was scared to be on my own, I never had been without my daddy. He wouldn’t leave me, would he?

“No sweetie, of course not. You’re only 5. Patrick’s going with you.” He replied as if it was the most obvious thing to a five year-old.

So he would leave me, not completely alone, but without him. I loved Uncle Patrick a lot, but I still liked to have my daddy with me everywhere.

“Okay. I wanna go.” I lied

Daddy smiled real big again as I went back to my coloring. Why didn’t he want me anymore? Did I do something wrong?

“Okay baby. I’ll take you and Pat tomorrow, so let’s get you packed, yeah?” he pulled me off the bar stool and took me to my room.

I watched him pack everything he thought I would need while I thought of all the reasons he could’ve gotten cross with me. None came to mind. I heard footsteps on the carpet-covered stairs coming towards my room.

“Hey babe.” Ashlee walked in my room and looked at my daddy confused. “What are you doing, Pete?”

“I signed Rachel up for a summer band camp. It starts in two days, so I’m taking her and Patrick tomorrow.” He kept stuffing all my clothes in my small suitcase. My little heart hurt, he was getting rid of me.

“Oh wow, you’re gonna love it, Rachel. I went to a band camp when I was a kid.” Ashlee gushed.

“Really?” I asked her, maybe she would know what I did to make daddy mad. “What did you do bad?”

Ashlee looked at me then at daddy. “What do you mean, babe?”

“What did you do to make your mommy and daddy mad and send you away?” I asked her again..

My daddy stopped packing and looked at me with sadness in his eyes. “Sweetheart, is that what you think? That I’m sending you away because I’m mad?”

I nodded slowly and crawled into Ashlee’s lap..

Daddy walked over to me and stroked my hair. “Honey, you didn’t do anything wrong at all. I just thought you’d maybe like it. I’m not sending you away. I love you too much. If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.”

So he wasn’t sending me away and I didn’t do anything wrong after all.

“It’s fun?” I asked Ashlee.

“Oh yeah. It’s awesome. You get to meet all kinds of new kids, make friends and you get to learn music and stuff, it’s great.” Ashlee smiled.

I thought for a second and decided my daddy and Ashlee were telling the truth. And, maybe I would enjoy it.

“I want to go daddy.” I said finally.

“You sure?” he asked.

I nodded. It was only two weeks, right?

*At Camp Melody*

Daddy, Patrick, and I got off the car and stepped onto the grass. I liked the way this place smelled; like rain and trees. Daddy grabbed my hand and led me to a big brown building. Looking around, I noticed it wasn’t the only brown building. There were many others in a big circle around the building we were walking to. When we stepped in the smell of old people hit me head on. There was a desk and a huge lady sitting behind it. She looked scary and really old.

“How may I help you?” Scary Lady asked daddy. I looked up at him and noticed that he seemed a little scared too.

“Uh yeah I’m here to drop off my daughter. She’s signed up for this camp.” My daddy tried to act calm.

“Name?” Scary Lady put on big glasses that made me giggle. She looked at me and I shut up fast. “Name?” she asked again.

“Uh… Rachel Ann Wentz.” My daddy said quickly.

“Okay, I have your papers right here. Will she be alone?”

“No my friend here, Patrick, is teaching some classes; he’ll watch her.” Daddy explained to the Scary Lady. Patrick nodded and smiled as best he could.

“I’ll need a parental consent form signed, then. And you,” she pointed to Uncle Patrick, “You need to register.” Scary Lady stuck out both of her old wrinkly hands with a stack of paper in each of them.

“Thank you.” Daddy and Patrick said as we walked outside so they could finish filling out the paperwork.

“See Rach, that’s what happens when you go to sleep with your make up on!” Uncle Patrick whispered.

After they’d filled out everything the lady at the desk, whose name was Gretchen, told us to look for Maria, my camp counselor. I wasn’t sure what that was, but my daddy and uncle Patrick seemed to know so I followed them.

I saw a girl standing at the edge of the pond with some other little kids. She looked younger than Ashlee, but older than my cousin Stacy who is 14. Uncle Patrick and Daddy walked over to her, so I figured it must be Maria.

“Uh hi, are you Maria?” Patrick asked. The girl turned around and smiled at us.

“Yeah I am.”

“Well hi, I’m Patrick and this is my friend Pete, and his daughter, Rachel Ann.” Uncle Patrick introduced us.

“Hi there, it’s nice to meet you. Are you gonna be in my group?” She asked me.

I didn’t know what to say so I looked up at daddy for help. He nodded for me and Maria just smiled.

“Well I’ll be your camp counselor and you can come to me if you need anything, okay sweetie?” She looked at me again and this time I decided to answer for myself.

“Okay. Thank you.” I said softly. I’d not yet overcome my shyness.

“Welcome to Camp Melody.” I could tell I was going to like her.