"We're here!" I woke up to Cheska's very loud voice roaring the whole van. She sometimes sound like a tiger when she's yelling.

I groaned and started opening my eyes. I always hate it when you open them and have to squint for a while to let your eyes adjust to the light. It was night, but because Mr. Smith already turned on the car light, my eyes burned when I first opened them.

I had a very nice sleep, even though it was just a few hours, so when she woke me up I was a bit irritated at her. I think only her and Mr. Smith didn't fall asleep on the long ride. Cheska likes to look out the window during travelling, and Mr. Smith was much probably checking us for any emergencies. "Everybody get your things out from the back. Chopchop!" Mr. Smith yelled at us which was then exchanged with groans.

Two tigers on the trip, I see. I groaned even more.

I jumped out of the van and went to the back to get my luggage. Surprisingly, Natalie had two large luggages with her. I wondered how many clothes she brought. She was a fashionista, so really, no biggie.

After the van left, we all headed to the registration area to register our names and to get our meal passes. Turns out, we arrived a bit late becauss everyone else got their dinner and were already inside their cabins. All had to glare at Jared and he just looked away and whistled like it wasn't his fault.

The cabin we were staying in had three double-decked beds. I chose to be on the lower part, while the rest argued for the upper one. I always want the lower one because I, as a lazy person, would rather wake up and have my feet reach the floor immediately than having to exert effort in climbing down.

The cabin was cozy. It was made of wood, I just didn't know or bother to ask what kind. Frames of lakes and forests were also hung on the wall. One was a picture of the galaxy. I liked it very much considering I was a galaxy person.

The thing that I like about galaxy art is its feeling that it gives me like I am looking at an endless void. I mean, I'm also in love with the colors, but the wholeness of the black takes me to outer space. It makes me feel like I am wandering to a void, and I am floating endlessly.

But they never understood me.

There were two windows in our cabin, and luckily, one was just beside my bed. The window even had a small succulent plant on the side. Outside the window, I could see some of the other cabins, and the lake was visible just a few meters away. It was another advantage of choosing the lower deck.

"Let's go and have our meals, everyone," Mr. Smith called. All of us followed without second thoughts. I guess all of us were very hungry already.

The meal room was empty except for the staff when we got there. It actually felt lonely. It would have been fun having to eat with the other campers. I was looking forward to meeting new people. Way to go, Jared.

After the dinner, we started getting ready for bed. I first had a group video chat with my groupmates back at Bloomington.

"How's our little friend doing in Evansville?" Jennifer asked. She was wearig her panda beanie. It was what his boyfriend gave to her on her birthday last summer. She went ballistic when she received them. I think she's the president of the panda lovers association in our school.

On the other video box, Adam was playing with his rubik's cube again. I think he was trying to beat his time record of sixteen seconds. My record was only 57 seconds, but I'm still proud of it.

"I barely even got here for an hour, but so far, nothing's on fire yet," I told her with a smirk.

She nodded in understanding. Adam was still busy on the cube. "Soooo," she said leaning in on her screen. With how long her 'so' was, I already knew what she was going to say. "Met any hot boys yet?" And I was right.

I rolled my eyes. "Again, I've been here less than an hour. What kind of girl do you think I am to know hot boys in such a short amount of time?"

Sh raised an eyebrow. "A normal teenage kind of girl? You know, most girls meet a guy on a camp in less than five minutes."

I waved my hand off. "Then you of all people should know that I'm not that kind of girl."

She groaned. "Fine. Let's just plan about our music video," I agreed with her and surprisingly, Adam immediately stopped on his cube. We had a music video to pass in two weeks, and so far, we had nothing planned. I'll be on camp for three more days so I guess we really were too short in time considering we still had to shoot and edit them. And most importantly, our teacher is like the Red Queen when it comes to projects.

At the end of our video chat, we decided to do From Here To Mars by We The Kings. Adam was the one who suggested it and Jennifer and I both liked it.

At ten, we all went to sleep. Tomorrow's a big day after all. The fun will start, but unfortunately, so will the hardships.

¤ ¤ ¤

"Ooh, look at that guy. He's got nice hair!" Cheska shrieked and blushed. "I think I'm in love." He was talking about a guy with hair that looked like he came from a shampoo commercial.

We were at the Recreational House at 6:30 in the morning and we were waiting for the program to start, which felt like eternity. The Recreational House was basically a small green gymnasium that had bleachers and a stage on the center front. It's where all the meetings, awardings, and some activities (The ones that we would need a large space) will take place. About half of the camp population was already present in the RH (The abbreviation for Recreational House, obviously). Maybe the other half was still getting ready, or some just couldn't sleep on the first night at camp and ended up sleeping at five in the morning.

Jared, Prince and Natalie were one of them.

I once experienced that, though. My family went to Indianapolis one summer to visit my Grandma, and the first night at her house, I couldn't sleep. It was like my body wanted to go back to my own bed and sleep there. I slept at four-thirty and Dad woke me up at six because we were going to White River State Park at seven. I ended up walking like a zombie and having half-closed eyes the whole day. Lunch was the only thing that got me awake, but it wasn't the best food I've ever tasted, especially considering the pricey menu. Mom will always be my number one cook, I decided that day.

I eyed the guy that Cheska was fussing all about. His hair was Krieger + Söhne worthy, but other than his hair I didn't find anything else attractive about him. I found him too thin and his body at the wrong proportions, legs too long and arms too short, which made his walk look awkward to my eyes. He wasn't appealing, and though he had brown eyes which I really loved, his eyes seemed too far apart in my opinion. He looked like a failed skinny robot contraption. Knowing Cheska, she didn't care about all those. All it took for her to say she's in love was his gorgeous hair.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Love? Please." I waved my hand off. She raised her eyebrow like she knew I was going to give her a lecture. "You're not in love. You're simply attracted. Love means accepting a person for everything that he or she is. And so far, all you know is that his hair looks great. What if he flirts with you, and you give in because you think you love him all because of his hair, and then you find out that he's a murderer but knows how to style his hair? Stop saying you're in love. Attraction for hair is very different from true love." I looked at her in the eye for effect.

She didn't stare back but groaned. Even the girls behind us started listening to our conversation. But I didn't care. I stood for my opinion. They're in for a treat, actually, getting to hear about what true love is. "Oh, Celery. Cynical as ever." She always liked calling me Celery, even though I don't eat it.

I thought she was going to go back at checking boys out, but then she added, "But how can you be so sure about true love? You only really liked one guy before, well except for that Travis Griffin because it didn't last long, but you and Jace didn't even become official, and he broke your heart. How can I be sure that you're not just saying this because you're bitter?"

"I am not bitter!" I said too defensively. But it kind of hit me on the gut. What if she was right? What if the reason of me being too glum about love was because I got hurt with what he did to me? But still I said, "It wasn't true love with Jace. With how he lied and broke my heart, that was when I realized it wasn't love. So thanks to him, now I'm very careful."

She laughed, and some of the girls behind laughed as well. What was wrong with what I said? "Okay. But you never know, Celery. The next thing you know you just got love at first sight. That one's dangerous." The way she said it, she made it look like going to prison for life. Which is probably what falling in love feels like. Trapped and imprisoned of thinking and yearning for that person.

But I bet Cheska thought she felt it every time she sees a hot guy.

"I don't believe in love at first sight, sorry." I shrugged. "First, it's impossible. Second, it's too cliche."

She laughed again. "First, it's not impossible. Like what Audrey Hepburn's famous quote says, Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I'm possible." She got me. She knew I had a thing for quotes by old, and probably dead, people. "And second, cliches aren't bad. They're proof that histories can repeat itself. So when someone's feeling very happy, I think it's okay to hope that someday another person can feel that happiness too."

A part of me believed her, but I didn't tell her that. I would have to completely experience it myself in order for me to finally believe it.

I am in a gymnasium surrounded by complete strangers. Strangers. People I've never met before. People I did't know existed. What if I do experience love at first sight?

I shook the thought away. Impossible. But then I thought about Cheska's words again. Nothing is impossible.

¤ ¤ ¤

Second chapter, yay!

I really hope you're liking this story, even though it's just the second chapter. 😊 Oh, and you'll finally meet HIM on the next update!

Enjoy the song on the multimedia section! I just reallt love it. ❤

Book Suggestion of the Chapter: Heartless by Marissa Meyer. If you're a fan of Alice in Wonderland, you'll probably like this one since it's all about the Red Queen, before she became evil. And, it was the most recent book that made me cry 💔

See you in three days!

Z