WEEK 1 SCHEDULE—BUNK 6A
Week 1
“Here they come!” Botts yells. “Get ready!”
We are waiting on the side of the dirt road for the arrivals.
Indeed, here they come. At least a dozen gray buses, the fancy kind, are all headed toward us. The first one stops just in front of the camp sign, and the others all line up behind it. The buses kick dust up everywhere and I shield my eyes, wishing I had my sunglasses on.
The doors open and my heart starts to race. I can do this. I can do this!
I hope I can do this.
“Sam! Talia!” Danish calls from the door to one of the buses. “Come get your campers!”
Oh, wow. Here we go. For real. I hurry up to the bus and stand by the door.
She sends our campers out one by one.
“Fancy, meet Sam and Talia!”
Fancy? Oh, right! Fancy! With the Dolce and Gabbana T-shirts. The one whose mom my mom saw at the Fresh Market.
“Hi, Fancy!” Talia says.
“Hi, Francie!” I say.
“It’s Fancy,” she says to me.
Okay, then.
Fancy is a small redhead covered in freckles. She is wearing a Chanel backpack that is bigger than she is. She has designer sunglasses perched on her head.
She seems to live up to her nickname.
“Shira, meet Sam and Talia!”
“Hi, Shira!” we chant.
Shira steps off the bus. She’s tall, thin, pale, and dark-haired. She is missing two of her front teeth. Her hair is in two buns, Princess Leia style.
“Shira! Like She-Ra, Princess of Power! Are you the princess of power?” I ask.
She gives me a fake, toothless smile. “All the teachers at school use that joke.”
Whoops. But yay—I am making the same joke as the teachers! I am clearly a born educator.
“Emma F., meet Sam and Talia!”
Emma F. is almost as tall as Shira. She’s holding a fuzzy stuffed lion and is dressed all in polka dots. She’s African American and is wearing her hair in two braids with pink tips.
“Hi, Emma F.!” we chant.
“Emma C., meet Sam and Talia!”
Other Emma steps off the bus. She has curly blondish hair and light skin that is already a little sunburned. She looks like an athlete. She’s wearing a Mets baseball hat, a Mets T-shirt, and gray sweatpants. A baseball lover!
“Hi, Emma!” we chant.
“Let’s go, Mets!” I add.
“Lily, meet Sam and Talia!”
Lily steps off the bus. A cloud of big, bouncy curly brown hair frames her face, even though she’s Asian. She’s wearing a pink leotard and purple cartwheel shorts.
“Hi, Lily!”
“And the final girl in Bunk Six A is Prague!”
Ah, Prague.
Prague looks exactly like a mini Kim Kardashian, with jet-black hair that she clearly got blown out. She’s wearing a rhinestone headband, jeggings, two layered tops, and heart-shaped sunglasses. She flips her hair. Her nails are painted lavender and covered in rhinestone decals.
Oh, brother. She’s fancier than Fancy!
She takes one step off the bus and trips, falling on her hands.
We all freeze.
“Omigosh, are you okay?” I ask, bending down. Danish, Talia, and I crowd around her.
Her sunglasses fall off, and her big brown eyes fill with tears. “Ouchie,” she says.
I help her up. Her arms are shaking.
“Way to make an entrance,” Talia says.
Prague laughs but then sobs.
“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry.” I hand her back her sunglasses.
“I’m okay,” she says. “Really. That was just. Ugh. So embarrassing. Like, seriously.” She brushes off her hands and knees and links her arm through mine.
“You sure you’re not hurt?”
She nods.
I look at the rest of the girls. All six of them are staring at me, waiting for instructions. I’m not sure what to do. I look at Talia. She’s done this before, right? “Do we go back to the bunk?” I ask.
“Sure,” Talia says. “Let’s all go back to the bunk!”
“To the bunk,” I say. “Bunk Six A! You’re going to love it. I was in the same bunk when I was a kid.”
“When’s lunch?” Fancy asks. “I’m hungry.” Her voice is unexpectedly low and gravelly, like a smoker’s. It almost makes me laugh.
“Me too!” says Shira.
“Lunch is in thirty minutes,” I say. “We’re just going to drop your backpacks off at the bunk, and then head to the Dining Hall.”
Fancy wrinkles her nose. “But I’m hungry. Can we get a snack?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” I say. Do we make the call about whether or not they get snacks? I think we do.
“I have cupcakes,” Lily says. “You can have one.” She puts down her backpack and starts searching through it.
Cupcakes! I think about Eli. I miss Eli.
“Let’s just do this back at the bunk,” I say, flustered. Other kids are getting off the buses and we’re kind of in the way.
“I have chips,” says Emma F. “Barbecue chips! Do you like barbecue chips? They’re my favorite!”
“I have salt and vinegar chips!”
“Me too!” says Shira.
“I have candy!” says another one. “So much candy!”
“I have cookies and candy,” Prague says. “Also brownies.”
How much food did these kids bring? “Let’s just go to the bunk,” I repeat. I steal a glance at Talia.
“Come on, girls. Honk!” Talia says. “You’re getting in everyone’s way!”
I motion to the girls and start walking back over the bridge.
“Honk, honk!” I cheer. “Let’s move ’em out!”
Yikes. Stressed already. I wonder if I can have a brownie.
As soon as we get to the bunk, it’s a whirlwind. The girls all squeal as they find their made-up beds and reunite with their belongings. They hug their pillows and stuffed animals and kiss their parents’ pictures on the walls.
Aw. They’re cute. It’s easy to forget how young they really are.
“Let’s have a junk party!” Fancy cries, taking out a piece of licorice.
Now? Oh no.
“Guys?” I say. “We’re going to have lunch really soon. Maybe we shouldn’t have candy right now?”
“I have candy necklaces,” Lily says, talking right over me and jumping on her bed like it’s a trampoline. “One for each of us.”
“That is so adorable,” Prague says. “We’ll all match!”
“Guys?” I try again. “Lunch is in ten minutes. No candy now, okay?”
None of them listen to me. None of them even look at me. It’s like I’m not here. They are pooling their junk in the middle of the floor.
Where is Talia?
Shira has an entire brownie in her mouth. And I can see it all between her missing two front teeth.
“I have M&M’s,” Fancy yells. She takes out the M&M’s. A yellow bag.
The peanut kind.
“STOP IT RIGHT NOW,” I yell.
All their heads swirl to me.