Camp Little Willow

Chapter 2

     Slowly, I wake from my deep slumber. I didn't mean to fall asleep, I just wanted to procrastinate in self-pity for a little. But, you know how it is; laying in bed, bored out of your mind, kind of sad. Sleep is just too tempting.

     I can hear rummaging, but like someone is trying to do it as quietly as possible. I rub my eyes as I roll over, confused.

     "Oh sorry, did I wake you?" A sweetly concerned voice comes from a girl standing next to the chest of drawers on the other side of the room, a pile of neatly folded clothes in her hands.

     This must be my roommate. Sorry, cabin mate. She looks OK, I guess. She's dainty, elegant even, with her bright blonde bob that just passes her chin and cute, floaty summer dress. Her side fringe is pinned behind one ear. She looks like someone I can live with for six weeks.

     "Oh, um, no. It was just a power nap." I smile nervously.

     "I'm Zoe." She beams, placing her pile of clothes into her top drawer.

     "Cassie," I reply, climbing out of my bed and pulling my sandals on, trying not to think about how embarrassing it is that my cabin mate arrived while I was asleep. 

     "D'you know where Jen is?" I ask as I check my phone, it's 4:32 p.m. OK, it was longer than a power nap. Jen might be wondering what I'm doing, but most likely she'll have forgotten she asked me to drop by.

     "Probably in her cabin. Want me to show you where it is?" Zoe asks kindly.

     I shake my head and offer her a sincere smile. "No, thanks. I've been here before."

     "OK. See you at mess time." Zoe turns back to the suitcase on her unmade bed and starts picking out more clothes.

     Mess time? Robbie said that earlier as well. Is that what they call it when we eat now? I mean, I imagine it's hilarious to the kids, but do we really need to say it to each other? I guess it's a force of habit now. Especially for the counsellors who are back again this year.

     I climb down the steps of the cabin and head through the counsellor's camp towards Jen's cabin. The excitement from earlier has worn off the others, now sat on the steps of their cabins, talking in small groups. I'm kind of surprised by the number of counsellors, well, the lack of. I haven't been to the camp for a while, but to me, it doesn't seem like there is enough of us.

     At the Counsellors ONLY! sign I turn right and jump up onto Jen's porch. Her cabin is slightly bigger than ours, but only because it has spare rooms. The area that would be where counsellors sleep is her office/kitchen area. Behind her desk is a doorway that leads to the bathroom, bedrooms and the counsellor's laundry room.

     "Hiya." I smile, walking in through the open door.

     Jen looks up from the documents she's filling out and smiles. "Cassie, have you met your cabin mate yet?" She asks, shoving the papers into a drawer. Mum would have a fit if she saw that. I nod in response and slump into the chair in front of her desk.

     "Zoe. She's a lovely girl, it's her second year as a counsellor, but she's stayed as a camper with her parents for so many years. Between you and me, she's the best of the best. I don't know how I'd run this place without her."

     I think my aunt is being a tad dramatic.

     "So what can I do for you, dear?"

     I stare at Jen for a second, she has definitely forgotten she asked me to stop by. "You told me to come to pick up some T-shirts and my folder."