band camp ⚣ ⌜joshler⌟

❥one

"today's the day!"
tyler squealed from the top of the staircase. the brunette quickly scampered down the stairs to meet his mother who was in the kitchen.

glancing at the clock, it was 8:46. tyler hopped into a seat at the table, kicking his feet in an exciting manner.

"you've packed all your stuff correct?" his mother asked, placing two waffles on a plate. tyler nodded. his mother went down the list. "7 different outfits?", "check!", "tooth brush?", "check!", "many pairs of underwear?", "check!", "what about muffy?" she asked.

"oh momm." tyler rolled his chocolate brown eyes, "i'm fifteen! i'm not bringing a stuffed animal there!" he stated.

his mother giggled as she placed his plate down i front of him. "okay big boy." tyler began to eat his waffles as his mother checked the clock. "hurry, we have to leave by 9." she warned him.

❥❥❥

tyler opened the front door, dragging his large duffle bag with him. his face was met with the sudden hit of heat. the faint summer breeze blew the smell of fresh cut grass through the air.

tyler loved summer. i mean what's not to like about it. he loved the way the sun felt on his skin, he loved being able to not worry about much, being able to go to the beach, getting ice cream and trying your best not to let it melt down your fingers. there were endless things he loved about summer, but his most favorite right now was the musical camp he was going to.

he found an advertisement about it at school and his mind was already made up that he had to go.

music has been something huge for tyler, he absolutely loved it. he can play the piano and the ukulele, but his best attribute was his singing voice, which is why when he gets to the camp he's going to the vocal part.

the camp consists of two huge main halls, one for instruments and one for vocals. each hall is where each side does their daily activities. sometimes the sides will come together for activities, but the only time they really come together are for the shows at the end of every other week or during meal time. there is a large dining hall that fits the whole camp. the camp picks who goes in, so in reality there's probably 150 per side leaving only about 300 kids in the camp total.

the only thing that stuck out for tyler was how long it was. the camp went from june 16th to august 20th. with only one week in july that they get to go home. tyler's had experience in the past with being homesick, but that was a while ago and he feels way more confident now.

tyler's stomach dropped with excitement when they arrived to the front of it. most of the actual buildings were hidden. kids were getting dropped off at a huge WELCOME sign and following a path went deeper into the camp.

tyler gave his mom a huge smile that showed his crooked bottom teeth as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"have fun ty! i'll call you, stay safe and i love you!" his mother called out to him as he dragged his duffle bag out of the back seat. "love you too!" tyler waved as he quickly left the car for the entrance. his mother chuckled, watching him go, before driving off.

tyler followed others down the path as he was admiring the area around him. some kids were holding huge cases for the instruments while others were holding onto smaller things, he saw one kid with a kazoo.

his eyes were quickly draw to a girl that was on the ground. tyler being the one to care for everyone, approached the girl. she was holding onto a guitar case and a little raggedy ann doll. her hair was up in a pony tail, dyed half back half blonde and she wore a little pastel pink dress and she was crying profusely.

"are you okay?" tyler asked, catching the girls attention. she took her hands away from her make up stained eyes and looked at tyler. she kept the stare for a few seconds before her lip began to quiver and she continued to cry.

"w-what happened!" tyler panicked at the girl that was now drawing attention to them. "t-these kids they c-called me a freak a-and then pushed me and n-now my dress is d-dirty!" she exclaimed. tyler stood there a second, trying his best not to giggle.

"you're crying just because of that?" he asked. "yeah i am okay?! i'm a crybaby big deal! not my fault i'm so sensitive!" she got defensive. "wait no no that's not what i meant!" tyler said. "here stand up, i'm sure it's not that bad." he said in a softer tone, holding out his hand.

she hesitated before holding onto his hand and pulling herself off of the ground. she only had little grass stains on her dress and what looked like grass burns on her kneecaps. "honestly you look fine to me" tyler said examining the dress. "there's barely anything there!" he smiled.

"really?!" her eyes widened. she looked down at the dress. "i guess so..thanks." she said. "no problem, i'm tyler by the way." tyler said, holding out his hand. the girl put her guitar case over her shoulder and shook tyler's hand. "im melanie!" she gave him a toothy smile, revealing the cute gap between her two front teeth.

the two walked the rest of the path together, talking about the camp. melanie was on the vocal side too, she just brought her guitar for when she's doing things on her own.

they arrived at a crowd full of kids. everyone was sitting down i front of a huge stage. tyler and melanie made their way to the back of the crowd, avoiding as much as possible.

melanie sat on top of her hard guitar case while tyler sat on his duffle bag. he scanned through the crowds of kids, various looks and instruments. the energy was making tyler feel alive, oh how music made him feel so good.

his eyes were brought to a sudden pop of a bright red color. this kid leaning against a tree had bright cherry red hair which didn't match his looks much. even though his hair was bright and colorful, he wore all black with torn skinny jeans, in the summer? his face was cold too, mean mugging everything around him. he had a red wagon next to
him, inside it was a strapped in drum set.

as tyler continued to stare, he didn't realize the kid started staring back. when he looked at him their eyes met and he suddenly looked away.

"welcome, everyone!" a tall woman stood at the front of the stage, her brown hair pulled back into a braid. "i am mrs. vandertramp, i am also the camps instructor. i am the reason this place exists, to help aspiring young musicians such as yourselves get where you wanna be!"

the crowd began to began to clap and cheer. tyler looked over, the kid was still staring. tyler felt nervous as he looked over at melanie, who was clapping and smiled at him.

"i shall welcome you once more, my children, welcome to camp muziek!"