Somebody Else (Christian Romance)

THIRTY-EIGHT

"Stephanie."

Stephanie opened her eyes at the feel of two light taps on her arm. She frowned, observing the black pair of jeans underneath her head. Where was she? Why did her neck and waist hurt?

"Stephanie." The voice called from above her and tapped her again.

"Hmm?" She sat up and her eyes widened as she realized she'd been sleeping on Irene all along. How in the world did her head move from the head rest to Irene's laps without her knowing.

"We're here." Irene's voice was gentle, but she kept a straight face.

"I'm sorry." Stephanie grimaced, gesturing to Irene's laps. "I didn't know."

"It's okay." Irene's smile was faint. She immediately moved to go out through the other door.

Stephanie frowned on noticing Vanessa and Dami's absence from the car. She looked forward to find that Williams and Paul were absent as well. Where was everyone?

She moved to open her door, but it opened on it's own accord, revealing a smiling Williams.

"You slept throughout." He said. "What do I call you now? Sleeping beauty?" He was playing with his stubble.

Stephanie smiled, rubbing her eyes. "Where's everyone?"

"Offloading the luggage." He gestured to the boot of the car and Stephanie turned around to see Paul offloading the bags while Vanessa, Dami, and Irene stood behind him talking. All three had their attention on the building about a hundred metres away where many people stood with their luggage. Stephanie was shocked at the number of people gathered in front of the hall. These was more than five times the population of their church.

"I already brought down your bag." Williams moved aside, opening the door wider.

"Thank you so much." She smiled as she stepped down. "Why are there so many people?" She gestured to the hall as they walked towards Vanessa, and the rest."

"It's a regional youth camp, not a state youth camp." He said. "I just got to know yesterday."

"What does that imply?"

"We have about six youth churches from different states here." He said. "It's being organized by the regional headquarters, not the state headquarters."

"Stephanie." Dami called. "Good morning. How was your night, dear."

"It's afternoon." Stephanie flushed. Why did Dami like to tease people.
"You're talking as if you didn't sleep too." Vanessa said to Dami.

"So how do we do this?" Paul stood akimbo, looking at their luggage.

There were two backpacks, apparently Williams and Paul's. Irene and Vanessa's luggage were much larger, but they didn't compare to Stephanie and Dami's bags which were the largest.

"Wait. How do you guys plan to survive the whole week with just these?" Dami gestured to Paul and Williams' bags. Stephanie smiled. It was good she wasn't the only one wondering the same.

Paul chuckled. "We're not girls, Dami."

"We don't need all the unnecessary stuff you girls carry around." Williams said.

"Excuse me," Dami lifted a finger. "These aren't unnecessary." She pointed to her purple box. "Everything in there was carefully hand picked to last for one week. Except the extra clothes I took so  I could have varieties to pick from depending on my mood."

Everyone except Irene burst out laughing.

"See what I'm talking about?" Williams was grinning at Dami.