Planning Your Future

We'll Go Camping (Part 1)

June 13, 1991

Veronica's POV

I wake up to the phone ringing. JD answers it, then hands it to me. "Hello?" I speak into the phone. "Veronica, how would you like a job?" Heather's voice asks. "Um... it depends." Where is she going with this? "So I was asked by a family friend to be a counselor for this camp next week. But I forgot my dad had already planned out our trip to Lake Erie for that week." She explains. "And you want me to fill in for you. I don't know, Heather." I don't know if that's how I want to spend my summer. "But you'll get paid. And James was also asked to be a counselor, but since he's going with his family on vacation, you can take JD!" I think about it. "I'm going to talk to JD, I'll call back."

I hang up and turn to JD. "What is it?" He asks. "Heather asked if we would fill in as camp counselors for her and James." I tell him. "Well what do you want?" I sigh, "I would like to do something productive this summer. And we both could use the money..." I'm seriously considering it. "If you want to, I'll do it." He says. "Okay. I guess we're doing it." I call Heather back. I wrote down the date we go and leave, the location, and what to bring. I feel like even though we'll be watching kids those two weeks, it'll be romantic. We'll go camping, bring marshmallows and make s'mores, and other camp stuff.

June 24, 1991

We get all packed up and load the stuff into the car. "Well we should go." JD says. I agree and climb into the passenger seat.

We drive for an hour until we arrive. "We're here." JD tells me. We check in at the front. The camp director, George, greets us. "Hello. You must be Veronica and Jason." He shakes our hands. He shows us the cabins which are pretty nice. "The kids won't be here for another half an hour. But you should sure all your stuff is set up before they get here. So you can help to get them set up." He leaves us alone in JD's cabin. "Well, I'll see you later." I kiss him and go to my cabin.

I make my bed and get my stuff out of the way. The first girl shows up half an hour later. "Hi. I'm your counselor, Veronica." I greet her. "I'm Annabeth." She says. "Nice to meet you." I help her get her stuff together before a few of the other girls get there. They are Brooke, Chloe, and Hannah. Then the last two show up. They are Lydia and Emma.

"Okay girls. We have an hour to get ready before orientation." I read from the schedule. "While you unpack, how about we get to know each other. I'll start: I'm Veronica, I'm nineteen, I'm a student at Harvard, and I'm from Sherwood, Ohio." They look at each other. "You go to Harvard? You must be super smart." Brooke says. "I just worked hard in high school. Now what about you guys?" They go around, telling me all about them. Hannah seems like the really shy one. She isn't really super social. But I think I might be able to get through to her by the end of the camp.

Before we know it, we have to go. We all gather in the mess hall for orientation. George introduces himself and announces rules. One rule makes me look at JD with a laugh. "We won't have PDA, if you want to do any of that, do it on your own time." He gives me a look.

Everyone lines up for breakfast. JD walks over to me. "Want to sit with the other counselors?" I nod. We sit at the table with the group. "Hi. You guys are Heather's friends, right?" A tall, dark haired girl asks. "Yeah, you know her?" They all nod. "Yeah, she was  a counselor for the little kids last year. I was bummed when I heard she wasn't coming this time." A dark haired guy says. "So you're Veronica and Jason?" The tall girl asks. "Yeah." I tell them. "But I go by JD." JD adds. "Nice. I'm Alyssa. This is Dan," She points to the dark haired guy. "And those guys are Ryan and Natalie." The two at the end wave.

After Breakfast, we start with activities. The girls are doing archery. Brooke and Chloe are talking to each other, most likely gossip, while shooting, Annabeth is focused on the activity, Lydia and Emma are doing their best, and Hannah is just kind of standing there. The girls in Alyssa's group are doing some kind of relay. She walks over to me. "Is she okay?" She motions to Hannah. "I don't know. She doesn't seem like she wanted to come. She reminds me of myself when I was younger. I was super closed off until I met JD." I watch as she looks at all the other girls. "Veronica, you seem to be very smart, since Heather told me you go to Harvard. I think you could make a big difference in her life. All you have to do is let her know that you care." She pats my shoulder before going back to her group.

After we do activities, we eat lunch and dinner, then we do a campfire. JD sits with his kids but I don't sit with mine. I walk over to where Hannah is sitting alone. "Hi." I give her a gentle smile. She stays quiet. "So how do you like camp?" I ask. "It's okay." She shrugs. "I get it. I was like you when I was younger. I didn't really fit in with everyone else so I isolated myself. But this camp is about getting to know other people and exploring. Now I'm new to camp too so I say we get through it together." She looks at me for some time, then smiles. She nods, "Okay." I put a hand on her shoulder. "Good."

"Get into bed, girls! Lights out in 30 minutes. You can talk, just be in bed." I tell them once we're back in the cabin. They climb into bed. Brooke and Chloe chose top bunks across from each other so they can talk better. They discuss the days events. Lydia and Annabeth talk, having started to be friends. Emma lays down, exhausted, wanting everyone to shut up and go to sleep. Hannah curls up and falls asleep pretty quickly.

Once it's lights out, the counselors gather on the porch of Alyssa's cabin. I snuggle next to JD in the porch swing. "What a couple." Ryan sighs. He seems to be the romantic. "Shush." Natalie elbows him. "How's it going with your girl?" Alyssa asks me. "Good. I think I'll get through to her." I say. "I'm glad." She grins. "Well I'm tired." Dan stands up. "Buzzkill!" Ryan whines. "Shh!" Alyssa scolds him, reminding him that her girls are sleeping in the other side of the door. "I should too. It's been a long day." I get up next. "Yeah, let's all just call it a night and catch up tomorrow." Alyssa suggests. We agree and return to our cabins. I fall asleep almost immediately after my head hits the pillow. The bed is actually very comfortable.