Pulling her baseball cap lower over her forehead to better shield her eyes, Ryleigh could hardly stand still for excitement as she waited to be checked-in. She was going to camp
all summer! In honor of the occasion, on the night before Ryleigh had rummaged through her basket of nail polish, ultimately emptying the contents onto the floor of her bedroom and spreading them out around her to better assess her options. Seemingly attracted by the sound of a mess being made, Owen had wandered in shortly thereafter – but he wasn’t being annoying, for once, so Ryleigh had let him stay. She’d ultimately settled on a robin’s egg blue – and promptly
coated them with silver sparkles. No doubt they’d be chipped in less than a day, but who cared? She
loved painting her nails.
Her parents had offered to help carry her stuff to her cabin and get her set up after she’d been checked-in; Ryleigh thanked them, but said there was no need (“It’ll be like a warm-up for Ilvermorny!†she’d told them brightly). And so after a parting hug and kiss (and some tears from Owen) they headed home, leaving Ryleigh to her own devices.
Those silver sparkles on her nails caught the glint of the Vermont sun (which was decidedly not as warm as back home, but she wasn’t complaining because at least it wasn’t overcast or rainy or
cold), and Ryleigh grinned. This was shaping up to be a
great summer.
She took her time getting to her assigned cabin, trusty skateboard tucked under her arm with her duffel bag on her opposite shoulder, scoping out the good climbing trees and lookout-points along the way. When she finally arrived at the right cabin she roughly pushed open the screen door with a
BANG!, flinching at the sound she hadn’t anticipated.
“Oops! Sorry,†she said to no one in particular, which was just as well, because the rest of the cabin was – as-yet – empty. She was told she’d have bunkmates but not how many or who they were or where they were from, only that they were girls. On the upside, that meant she got to stake an early claim on a top bunk! Heaving her duffel bag over her head and onto the more appealing of the two (with considerable effort, only because she was so
short), she was just debating on whether she wanted to actually
unpack or just live out of her bag when the sound of the screen door creaking open piqued her interest. She whirled around, eager to meet her cabin-mate(s).
“Hi, I'm Ryleigh!†she called out with an excited wave, accidentally dropping the shoe she was holding in her haste. “I'm from L.A., where’re you from?†It hadn’t occurred to her in the slightest that she might be bunked with girls from different countries who hadn’t the faintest idea where (or what) ‘L.A.’ even
was.
@Addie Dubé
