“Hi, are you Lane?” a tall girl asked me. She was standing in front of the cabin with one hand on her hip and the other twisting a curl in her long, black hair. 

“Yes,” I said. I shifted on my leg side to side. “What’s your name—” I started. 

“I thought so,” she said. Her legs were strong and tan, like she played a lot of sports. “We’re bunkmates.” 

I nodded. This was quite clear to me because she was standing on the steps of the cabin.

She grabbed the bag in my hand and swung it over her back like it wasn’t hefty at all. I stopped for a moment before joining her. I turned to see the camp. This was the spot where I would spend the next six weeks of summer: Camp Green Lake. 

The lake was not green, but the camp did have a lake and also a lot of green. Green cabins, green pine trees swaying in the wind, lots of green grass up and down a big hill. It seemed the only thing that wasn’t green was the lake. From the top of the hill, you could see the lake peeking through the trees.

 The camp was buzzing with a swarm of kids, like a bunch of bees, running all over to hug each other. This was the big meeting after waiting all year long for summer camp to start. 

The cabins sat at the bottom of a hill. At the top of the hill was the Lunch Hall where we would eat and have camp meetings each night. When I first got off the bus, my counselor, Cam, pointed to all the important spots. Next to the cabins and down many stairs was Green Lake. We got to swim, boat, and even tube on the lake. The camp also had spots to play all kinds of sports: tennis, baseball, soccer.

“This looks so zen,” my mom had said when she saw the camp website in March. That’s when she enlisted me as a camper. At that time, summer felt so far away. It was hard to think it was ever going to start. And yet, it had. 

 “It looks perfect,” said my dad. 

I nodded with them but inside I was not sold. And yet, here I was. 

What I had really wanted from this summer was to do theater. I had a dream of the stage and singing a solo song. I longed for the lead role. I wished for time to act and sing, and I was so close to getting my dream. 

My pals, May, Kate, and Max also loved theater. I met them at an afterschool theater class. Between practices, at snack time, we often would forget to eat because we were singing too many show tunes. We felt like our songs were more filling than our bags of chips. 

Even after it all went down, I begged my mom and dad to let me go to some kind of theater camp. But Mom was firm. She just kept saying, “Lane, it’s okay to go outside. Sunshine and fresh air won’t hurt you.”

“Well, it could!” my dad chimed in. “Also put on sunblock.” He was very sun-safe and had a hat on whenever he left the house. 

My mom was big into the power of fresh air. She did not like the thought of me spending my summer inside a “hot, smelly theater where the only sunshine was from a bulb” (her words, not mine). 

“You have your whole life, and all fall, winter, and spring to be on stage,” she said. “It’s time to make some new pals! Run! Swim! Make s’mores!” Then with a deep look she said, “You're going.”

So I was. I had no say, and off to Camp Green Lake I went. The one good thing was that I was far, far away from Kate.

“Let me show you the way,” my new bunkmate said. 

This got me out of my mind and back at camp. I still did not know her name. She led me inside the cabin to a bunk bed. Bunk beds? I did not think she and I were going to share a bunk. At home, I had one bed to myself. 

“I’m Jen,” she said. 

“Hi, Jen,” I said.

  “Well,” Jen started, “what do you think?” We were still at the bunk bed. She pointed to the top bunk. “I’ll sleep here because I am taller, and you can sleep there because you are so short.” 

“I’m not that sh–” I started, but then stopped. Jen already had all her stuff on her bed. It was too late to switch. I liked the top bunk.  But Jen got there first. 

“Cool!” I said. I didn’t want to seem like a pest on the first day. “This will be fun,” I said, but I didn’t mean it. 

“I’m all unpacked,” Jen said. Her stuff was all on her bed in a heap, but it was out of her bag. “You can start to unpack too,” she said. 

All my stuff was in my big bag, which sat next to the bed. I grabbed the bag and dug in it to find my blankets and sheets. The blanket for my camp bed was gray with pink dots. My mom had picked it. The sheets were green, which I did not like. I wanted white sheets. “I don’t trust white sheets,” my mom had said, so green it was. 

After I made the bed, I began to put my shirts, shorts, and other things on the shelf next to the bed. The first shirt out of the bag was my favorite from SIX: The Musical. 

Jen jumped to the top of the bed and sat with her legs swinging off the end. I thought I should probably get used to her feet. On the bottom bunk, I bet I would have to see them all the time. She had on red socks with small white stars on them. Not so bad. They did not smell, so that was also good. I still wished I could be on the top bunk.

“Have you heard of this show?” I asked Jen. I held up the shirt so she could read it. 

SIX was such a cool show, and my pals and I had dreamed of being in it one day. After school, we would take turns singing the songs and being all the parts. It was so much fun!                                  

“No,” she said. 

That was that. I quickly unpacked the rest of my stuff, passing over The Lion King and Shrek t-shirts from plays I had been in. 

It was just the two of us in the cabin. The cabin was painted tan with a slanted roof. I was not sure why they did not keep the green theme up inside. It felt like a cabin from the woods. The bunk beds were back to back on one wall. 

There were lots of empty beds in the cabin. Each bed could be a new pal. That was a wish of mine: new friends, best friends, kids who got me. I needed some new friends after all that went down this year at school with Kate.

I did not want to think of Kate. I put that out of my brain as fast as I could. Camp was a fresh start. I did not need to think of Kate, not on the first moments of my first day at Green Lake. 

“I’m Kit,” a girl said. 

Her voice came from inside our cabin. I gasped. I thought it was just Jen and me in the cabin. 

“My bed is on this side,” said Kit. She pointed to the far side of the cabin. She was so still and quiet that I had not seen her until now. “I love that show Six!”

“Next time, just say hi!” Jen said in a harsh tone. 

“I’m Lane,” I said. 

Jen was still on her bed. The girl did not say a thing to Jen, or even look at her. 

“Is this your first time at Green Lake?” I asked. 

“No,” she said. “Last year was. I was in a cabin with Jen.” 

Jen nodded to confirm, but still did not say anything. It did not seem like they were best pals. 

“Do you like slime?” Kit asked, still on her bed. She picked up two tubs of slime, one red and one green. “The green is cloud slime, and the red is foam slime.” 

I did like slime. We made slime for Kate’s birthday party last year… but that was before all that happened. 

“You cannot bring slime to camp,” Jen said quickly, before I could say that I liked slime. 

“Why?” I asked. 

“Too much of a mess,” Jen said. “Not safe in the cabins.” 

She said it like it was so clear. I felt bad for asking. 

“Oh,” I said. 

Kit put it in a box under her bed and did not say a thing. I was not going to say anything to the camp staff. 

Just then, chatter from near the Lunch Hall rushed down the hill to our cabin. Cam, our counselor, was telling some other kids the same things she told me when I got to camp: where the cabins were, where the Lunch Hall was, that kind of thing. The kids were chatting and waving to other kids all around them. 

Cam let them into the cabin. Six more girls came inside. They all seemed very happy.

“Okay,” Cam started. “Let’s all have a cabin meeting! This will be a summer we don’t want to forget.” 

“We will all go and say our name and something we like to do for fun. I can start,” said Cam.

Cam held a shell in her hand. The cabin felt so much fuller and real now. The sun was starting to set, and I was a bit nervous to think about when it would be dark. 

“This is the talking shell, you can tell us who you are when you have it,” Cam said. The shell was small and white. “My name is Cam, I am 18 years old, and I love to swim. I will be the swim team coach this summer. I am very happy to be your counselor.” 

She seemed fun and kind. Maybe I could join the swim team. My dad said I would be good since I loved to be in the water, even if I didn’t swim much at home.

 She passed the shell to a girl named Arden next. She was tall, with long, blonde hair.

 “My name is Arden and I love to run… like a lot,” she said with a grin. 

The girls next to her both gave her a side hug like she said she just got a prize for running. They must have been campers last summer. They kept their arms like that for a bit. 

I felt very “new” and very alone at that moment. I wondered if I would make a friend like that this summer. A pal who would cheer me on and want me to do well. 

“I also like to swim in the lake,” Arden added. She winked at Jen. 

Next was a girl named Ann. She had dark hair and eyes. “I like tennis and I hope to get really good this summer,” she said. “And I like to swim in the lake.” She grinned at Jen. 

I shifted in my seat a little. I looked at Cam, but she was just nodding. Maybe she was happy that her swim team (the Green Team) would be full this summer.  

Next, Jess and Eve went. Jess first, and then Eve. They said the same thing. They loved crafts and could not wait to learn to knit. They held hands the whole time like they were showing all of us that they were best friends. 

I looked at their wrists and saw matching beaded bracelets: Best Friends. The bracelets should have said Best Friends and no room for more. 

At the end of their turns they each quickly said, “And I like to swim in the lake.” 

I was the one kid who was not at camp last summer. It was not just that the rest of the kids had wrists filled with gifts and tokens of their pals, but a vibe in the room. A vibe that I was left out of something. I didn’t know something that I should know. 

Sadly, this was not a new feeling for me this year. I had not expected to feel so new so soon, and hoped there would be one more new kid in the cabin. 

“It is everyone’s first day of camp, you’re in the same spot,” my dad had said to me when he said goodbye at the bus stop. 

He was correct. It was everyone’s first day of camp, but it was more like we were standing across the lake from each other. We were at the same spot but very far away, with a very different view.

 Eve passed over the shell. It fell into my lap, and I picked it up in my hand. 

“My name is Lane,” I said. I brushed my hair back with my hand. I used the hand with the shell in it, so the shell got stuck in my curls. I untwisted it as fast as I could without seeming upset. “I love to sing and be in plays. I do a lot of singing and theater at home and hope to do some at camp too.” 

Jen nodded, but the rest of the girls didn't react. Jen gave me a deep stare. I stared back at her. It was not clear if I had said something odd, or if she wanted something else from me. 

“Do you like to swim in the lake?” she asked me. 

“Jen, you do not have the shell,” Cam said quickly. 

“Sorry,” Jen said. She winked at me. 

This felt like a test. 

“I do like to swim in the lake,” I said. 

Jen nodded, and then all the girls nodded, but not Kit. I handed the shell to Jen as fast as I could.

“I’m Jen, and I like all sports, but soccer is the best. I am trying to be the star player of my team this fall!” She stood up and flexed her arms and did a big kick to show us how strong she was.

The girls all laughed, and I did too. 

“I also love to swim in the lake,” she said. She said the word “love” with a boom! She winked at me, but I still didn’t know why.

The last person to go was Kit. Kit had been sitting in a slump during the cabin meeting. She kept her gaze on her hands. 

“I’m Kit,” she started when Jen gave her the shell. “I like to make slime and do crafts.” 

There were no cheers like for the other girls. 

“Slime is not allowed at camp though,” Jen said. She said it like it was a rule that we all had to know, or like she was keeping the camp safe. 

“Jen, Kit has the shell,” Cam said. 

“Sorry,” Jen said, and did not make one more peep. 

We made our way to the Lunch Hall for dinner. I asked Jen why it was called the “Lunch Hall” if we ate all our meals there. She said, “It’s just a Camp Green Lake Thing.” 

It felt like there were a lot of “Camp Green Lake Things” I needed to learn. 

Quickly, kids from all of the cabins started heading up to the Lunch Hall. We left the cabin, so we were now mixed in with the big camp of about one hundred and fifty kids. It was like a swarm of bees all going to the same hive. 

I felt like the lone bee in this big group. 

With a wave and a point of her hand, Cam told us which way to go. Our cabin made a little blob and we stayed near her as we made it into the Lunch Hall. The older kids walked with their arms linked. Kids around me chatted and laughed and looked so joyful to be here. I wished that I felt that way too.

The Lunch Hall was a big, long, wooden room with lots of tables and benches. The walls were tall and had Camp Green Lake flags and banners hanging from them. The room was buzzing with the “first day of camp” energy.

We all sat together. I sat next to Jen, and Kit sat on my other side. It felt like no one else wanted to sit near her. She sat slumped next to me and did not say much.

The Lunch Hall was loud. And I mean loud! It was like being at the finals for our town baseball game, where people were cheering as hard as they could. It was hard to hear myself think. 

After what felt like ten years of screaming, someone rang a bell to tell us that dinner was served, and the camp hushed a bit. Dinner was a tray of grilled cheese sandwiches and a side of greens.  

“HEY, CAMPERS!” a random kid from a seat far across the Lunch Hall called. 

“YES?” It was like the camp was refreshed by the moment of quiet and was ready to scream again. They burst into a new cheer. 

“Camp Green Lake we are here! It’s the best time of year! Campers here we are, let’s all be a star! We love camp, let's not pout, now it’s time to scream and shout!”

At once, the girls stood up and began a stomp-clap dance that they all knew. I had to admit, it seemed very fun. Almost like a dance I’d learn for a play, but with more stomping. I wished I knew the steps. 

I stood up too. I did not want to feel left out again. I banged the table along with everyone. 

Jen was really getting into the cheer and even did some big kicks, which made me laugh. Kit was the only one at our table who did not join. Jen shook her butt and then sat down with a stone face, like she did not do a thing. All of us laughed and I gave her a high five.

The dance somehow tired everyone out, and the campers finally took a bite of their food. 

***

“Hello, campers!” 

The crowd boomed like a pop star just started a concert. An older woman stood at the front of the Lunch Hall. She had on a white shirt and red shorts. There was a lanyard on her neck and it had a whistle. I bet she liked to use the whistle a lot. I waited for her to blow into it, I bet it was the only way to get these campers quiet. She gave us a big grin and put up her hand. 

The campers went silent. I was impressed. I didn’t think a hand could hold power versus the loud singing and dancing of the Lunch Hall.

“Hello, campers,” she said again. “Welcome back to your summer home. For those of you who are new, welcome to your summer home!” 

“SUMMER HOME!” the camp cheered back. Another Camp Green Lake Thing. There was a lot to keep up with. 

A girl with jet-black hair at a bench close by jumped up and did a split when she yelled “Summer Home!” Some kids next to her gave her a big pat on the back. 

“That’s Kat,” Jen said to me. “She is the funniest kid at camp.”

She did seem funny, and bold. 

“She has a twin brother, but at camp she can just be Kat.” 

“I am Jane,” the woman at the front said. “The day is here! Camp Green Lake summer has started.” 

More cheers. This camp had unmatched cheering skills. 

Jane went over the important rules for camp. “Respect each other, listen to the camp staff, be safe, and don’t go to the lake after dark. This is a big one,” she said. 

“We need to keep each other safe,” she said. “It is not safe to be at the lake alone.” Her tone was firm and for the first time, there were no cheers. 

***

The dinner ended and the campers left the Lunch Hall to go back to their cabins for some more unpacking and hanging out. I did not do much today, but I felt sleepy. Maybe it was all the cheering. 

We ran down the hill to the line of cabins. I forgot which was ours, but saw Jen. She had her hands linked with Kat, the girl who did the splits. 

“Lane,” Jen said. “This is Kat.” 

“Hi” I said. I gave a wave. 

“Hi!” Kat grinned. “Do you like to swim in the lake?”