She dropped in a half-used bottle of her Dove shampoo, a metallic red hair brush, her handbag and her toothbrush and toothpaste. Then she paused, took her diary, pencil case and her special travel bag.
'Shucks,' she muttered under her breath, 'there's no more space left for more important things..'
She heaved a big sigh, then managed to stuff in all her things in order: important things first -her metallic shocking pink cell phone, her ipod, a bottle of water, her thick custard colored diary and a herbal chapstick, all in her handbag, then her clothes in her turquoise beach bag, and then her duvet, pillows and cushions in a little leather shoulder bag.
'Now it's time to go,' she thought, though she knew she wasn't really thinking what she was doing in the middle of the night. 'I'll find a place to live, somewhere near school. Then I'll handle everything after a good sleep.'
She tiptoed out of the peaceful house, wondering which street to take. When she got out the garden, an idea struck her.
'I'll take the lane to Lakewood street,' she thought soundly, 'I remember a Girls Camp house there, the Youths Camp. It's cheap, oh well, quite cheap.'
Britney began to worry when she was very near the camp. 'I've only pocketed fifty dollars, where will I get cash later?' then she remembered about her plan in her diary. She pulled it out of her handbag and read it, 'Hmm...' she murmured, 'not a bad idea...' then she thought about school, 'Oh no, I can't work and study at the same time!'
She quickly slipped in her notebook, it landed in the bag with a 'thump'.
The girl in her beige waistcoat stood looking up at the wooden sign obove the gate. It said, 'Youths Camphouse for girls, Lakewood, Texas, USA.'
The gate was locked, but behind the gate at the left was a small concrete structure.
'I'll ask the security then.' she thought.
Walking slowly, her sandals tramped on the well cut grass. Her eyes darted towards the little window.
'Who's that there?' a voice said.
She jumped, 'Oh, nothing. Just looking around.'
'In the midnight? What are you doing?' the voice said, but more hoarsely.
She thought for a bit. In her mind, she was crossing out a list of reasons:
I'm looking for my friendI'm a tourist, finding for a hotelReturning after my visit to my mom and dad -I belong here- I'm just looking for a camphouse, just a bit late (it's the truth, isn't it?)
A head appeared through the window, 'Oh, fine. You need an adult to be with you.'
She hesitated, 'But I'm sixteen, I can handle everything. Look, I can give you my ID, I mean, I'm an adult, well, a young adult but-'
'Okay, okay. Hang on,' the security appeared, he was in his uniform, a very plump little man. He fidgeted with the lock in the gate, the metal clanking loudly.
'Come in now,' he commanded, 'and follow me.'
Britney followed, trying to keep all the bags on her shoulders for just a few minutes more -or maybe a bit more than that. But the weight wouldn't stop her from doing what she wanted to, and she knew she was just...who cares anyway? Atleast she was doing her part well.
The stout little man locked the gate behind her and she shuddered, thoughts came to her of mom and dad waking up in the middle of the night, at 4 am, deciding to phone the police. She won't be able to get out of the locked gate in the morning if she suddenly changed her mind.
They stopped at a little white bungalow, 'Mrs Brian? Are ya there?' called the security.
The curtains behind the window pulled open, an old looking woman with greying hair eyed the two. Her eyes were tired looking, and looked annoyed because we were disturbing her sleep.
'What now?' she said when she walked out of the little bungalow.
'Here's a new girl wantin' to camp, please show her in.' said the security, and left.
Mrs. Brian stood there foolishly,'Oh, so you're new here?' she cleared her voice.
Britney nodded, 'Yeah, I'm new to camping, but my mom and dad decided to give me a bit of freedom. So...?'
She smiled, 'Ok, sweetie. What's your name?' she had a very strong american accent, which everybody will notice whenever they spoke to her.
'Britney.'
'Ok, Britney. When did mom and dad drop you off here?' asked Mrs. Brian, yawning.
Britney kept silent.
'Atleast what time of the day? Like, morning or evening?'
'Er...actually we just arrived from another city, Chicago. So it took a bit long to get me prepared to settle down here, umm, so like, we had to unpack and all. So it's like, umm, very late.'
Mrs. Brian nodded slowly, taking everything in very slowly. 'Mmm...okay, I think it's a bit late to arrange everything for you, I mean, we'll just take you in to a room you'll stay in, and then in the mornin' we'll arrange everything for you and register you in.'
Britney looked relieved. Atleast she still has a an hour left of deciding whether to go back home. ''Hmm...'kay.'
'And by the way, did your school ever arrange any camp in this place? And, remember, we're gonna give your parents a call to let them know you're alright. You'll have to wake up tomorrow at 7am, sharp.' said the old woman.
The girl refused to agree after this sentence was spoken. Instead, she shrugged.
'And once you wake up n' have your breakfast, we'll get every information we need from you and then you can try to get the best out of your happy camping!' said the woman, trying to cheer Britney up.
'I'll try my best, miss. Goodnight.'
'Sleep tight, girl!' added Mrs Brian and she disappeared inside the little wooden bungalow.
Britney stood there, confused. Wasn't Mrs. Brian supposed to show her in her room?
Suddenly the wooden door bolted open, 'Oh Britney! So sorry!' came the same voice Britney heard a few seconds ago.
Britney felt relieved, 'It's 'kay.'
They went through the long path surrounded with thick fresh grass. On the floor of grass stood a never ending row of little houses, wooden houses. They were the camp houses, and one of them, thought Britney, will be where she'll be living for the rest of her life. Well, not until she's around eighteen or nineteen.
'Here are the girls' camphouses.' said Mrs Brian, 'currently used by Lakewood Middle School for girls.'
'Mmm.'
'And at the opposite path are the boys' camphouses,' said Mrs. Brian, 'I mean, camp tents.'
'Why's that?'
Mrs Brian shrugged, 'Apparently...we've moved out their little camphouses just a week ago, 'coz they were very old and shattered. So they're using camp tents instead.' she explained.
Britney took it all in, not being impatient like she was usually, but because she wanted to be polite. And as a matter of fact, she did want to know exactly why it was like that.
They reached camphouse eight, the lights were off. The windows did not flood any yellow light out of the room like the others did.
'Here,' said Mrs Brian, walking up the steps to the door, 'have a good night with Amelia.'
Britney wasn't so sure she felt like sleeping, she worried more. And no one, not even Mrs Brian -the very clever person she has met, knows she's running away.
'If she's so clever to ask for my mom and dads' number, howcome she won't know I'm running away from them?' she thought.
Mrs Brian unlocked the door and switched the light on. The house looked just like the ones beside it. Though some were going off now.
'Hey,' thought Britney, 'they must have noticed that Mrs Brian came, otherwise they'd still be awake!'
'Come in,' Mrs Brian told her. 'Just put your things in that cupboard. Tomorrow you'll come and meet me in my office upstairs through the main lobby to the first floor. Is that alright with you?'
Britney agreed to her and went in. She looked around.
'Hmm...atleast it's not like what I thought it would be.' she thought to herself. 'Camping looks safe, and cosy, and much more fun. Now I can get more than just school friends, it's like a dream come true!'
Okay. This is enough for one entry, I'll write what happens next in the next entry I'll be making some other time. Tata for now!
P.S. Make a comment about what you think below. In the next entry, all of you will also get to vote things like what names to choose, etc.
Thanx for reading! And hope you have enjoyed the story.
xXGlitterXx
