28Chapter one
It sucked. That's right, it completely sucked. It rained for the first two days and we had to wait another day until all the people had arrived and all the 'coaches' 'team leaders' or whatever you'd call them. So until they did we were allowed to sleep in any bunk until we got, or shall I say, they got themselves organised. Other than those minor problems, it wasn't too bad. The people there, girls and boys, were really nice. They all had the same problem, they were skinny without wanting to be, or without sticking a toothbrush down their throat…no offence to those who do, but seriously get help. No joke.
"So, you're from where?" Serena asked me. Serena was the first girl I made friends with. She was tall, and skinny. A combination she hated. If you knew how many times she was offered a modelling contract you'd faint. I mean, she was beautiful, with brown skin and light brown eyes, but seriously, she was skinny. The 'bend over and I can see your ribs' skinny.
"Well I'm half British half American, but I live in Napa."
"Oh, California, cool. I live in Brazil, though I'm not Brazilian." I smiled.
"So I hear this is the first time they're doing anything like this?" I commented taking out some Oreos. I offered some to Serena who took some with glazed over eyes.
"I love Oreos but yeah, it's the first time. It's wicked cool! I wish they did something like this sooner." I murmured in agreement. Danielle, another girl we befriended joined us saying how we had to meet at the main hall because everyone had arrived. I was surprised. I thought we'd have to wait until the next day to actually get started.
"What did you say your full name was?" Danielle asked as we walked towards the hall, trying not to get lost on the way, or wet.
"I'm Serena Tamar, this is Sarah Law." Danielle's eyes widened. Crap.
"You're Sarah Law? Daughter of fashion extraordinaire and owner of the magazine Queen B…are you Michelle Florence-Law's daughter?" she asked practically drooling. I grinned and shook my head at the dopiness.
"Yes, I am. Please, don't spread it around, I don't want anyone knowing." Danielle nodded slowly as if in trance.
"I love your mom's spring collection and her summer! Oh! To die for!" she squealed. This was going to be one long summer.
x-x-x-x
"Welcome, girls and boys to Skinny Camp. I'm Darlene and behind me are the rest of your leaders; Shawn, Jessie, Callie, John and Denise. Now as you all know…you're skinny," a woman with the most beautiful afro said. We laughed at her bluntness. "Over the next couple of weeks we'll be putting you on a strict, balanced diet, with an average amount of exercise. The mix of all these things will probably, if not guarantee you reach your perfect BMI. Now as we call your names go to your team leader." The male leaders weren't hot. I know, typical teenage female thing to do, but hey, I notice these things. The lady started calling out names. Danielle was thankfully put in another group from me, she was great and all but her knowing who I was made things a bit harder for me to 'lay-low', which was one of the reasons we moved to Napa, in California, but less…glam-ish.
There were about 12 of us still sitting. I frowned, why didn't we have a leader? Thankfully, Serena was with me. "What's going on?" I whispered. Serena shrugged looking as baffled as I probably was.
"Don't worry you guys," Darlene said smiling at us. "You haven't been forgotten. Will, our other camp leader is running a bit late, if you guys just mingle together while we get the rest sorted with beds, we'll see how long it'll be until Will gets here."
I looked around me. There were 6 guys and 6 girls. The girls looked shy and timid and the guys looked embarrassed, though there was nothing to be embarrassed about. I took Serena's hand and called the other people in our group to come together. I smiled at each of them as they came.
"I thought we'd get to know each other while we wait. I'm Sarah." In turn each person introduced themselves. There was Bridget, Smithy, Peter, Viola, James, Rani, Georgina, Tim, Ali, Ed, Serena and I. All in our group had brown or black hair except James who had red/ginger coloured hair and Viola and I who had blonde-brown hair. The first thing I notice about anyone, is their hair colour and eye colour…weird, I know. The other groups had long gone, so we talked amongst ourselves, getting to know one and other better. I had to say, my view beforehand of the camp was 'suckish' but now it was actually starting to get better. We were finally doing something. We were so busy in our own little conversations that we didn't notice Darlene come back in with our camp leader. Will.
The girls' jaws dropped open while the guys looked again embarrassed, I didn't know what the fuss was about till I turned around. Will was the hottest guy ever! He had black hair that was so messy it looked as if he perfected each hair to its place. His hair was a bit wet but he shook it out and ran a hand through it. His dark blue eyes shined, which shunned my boring green-grey eyes. He had on jeans which were wet and a green Lacoste polo. His Converses gave him that extra…zest.
"Girls, guys, this is your camp leader, Will. Will's the youngest male leader; he's only 19, like some of you probably. Let me tell you. Relationships between camp leaders and campers are forbidden, no matter what the age. Leave that till you leave this place," Darlene warned, though I could hint a bit of amusement in her voice. Will grinned at her. She left with a nod and Will looked at us. I rubbed my own Converses together and bit my lip. If I looked up and he was looking I'd probably die. But then again, I didn't act like a stuttering Barbie around hot guys, though I was sure none of our group would do so.
"OK," he said finally done with the scrutinising. "Well I'm Will. I saw the rest of the groups and their off sorting themselves out so it's pretty hectic over there, which is why I thought we'd get to know each other a bit since we're going to be stuck with each other for about two months." Some of the group grinned. I was surprised to see some of the girls giggling. I rolled my eyes. Looks can be deceiving. Serena nudged me and nodded her head at the giggling girls and grinned at her and she nudged me again.
"OK, girl who loves to nudge, we can start with you," he said looking at Serena. I almost snorted. Almost. Serena blushed like crazy and stood up. She cleared her throat.
"Erm My name's Serena Tamar, I'm 17 years old, I live in Brazil but I'm not Brazilian." She sat back down. Will pointed towards me. I got up too.
"My name's Sarah Law," I coughed my surname out. I tapped my chest on a pretence of a cough. "I'm half British, Half American. I'm also 17. Er…yeah that's it." I sat back down. While the others spoke Serena whispered to me.
"I almost died when he called me," she said moaning. I laughed softly.
"You turned beetroot!" I whispered.
"Don't remind me!" she said putting her hands to her face. Will clapped his hands together I guessed that everyone had finished introducing themselves. Darn, I wasn't listening.
"Great. Great, well let me tell you a bit about me. I'm 19, in college; I'm from Spain although I lived in the US since I was born. I find my surname too common for Spanish people, its Sanchez in case you're wondering. I think Sanchez is like the Smith of Britain. Is it not?" Will added asking me. I grinned.
"Most definitely, loads of my cousins are Smiths." Will grinned back and nodded.
"Anyway, well now we've got the introductions done, you guys know each other, well the ones that were listening anyway," he said shooting a look at Serena and I. We just shrugged sheepishly. "Hopefully tomorrow's weather should brighten up and bit and then we can start. Let me warn you though, Skinny Camp isn't just a place where you become fatter, it's also a place where you learn to grow confident with yourself and learn to grow. We won't just be eating, eating, eating. No, that's not what this place is about. You'll be doing normal camp activities too. You'll be getting checked up tomorrow also. As for now, let's get you settled into your bunks."
x-x-x-x
After much pleading with Will I was able to swap beds with Harriet, who was a really sweet girl, and bunk with Serena. There were three to a room; Serena, Viola and I. The rest were sharing another room, and the guys were equally separated into groups of three. Will was in the Camp Leaders room…obviously.
The next day we woke up early, much to Will's instances. He wanted our group to be the first to get their BMIs checked out and have our overall check-up. He said each person would take about ten minutes.
"Hello Miss Sarah, my name is Dr Huns," a middle aged woman in a white overcoat said to me as I sat down on the chair opposite her. It was finally my turn, I chose to be last seeing as no one wanted to be first or last. I smiled at the lady.
"First of all we're going to just check your height, weight, you know? The usual." Did I know? Ten minutes later I was finished. I was 5 foot 8 and only a measly 50KG which was bad. My goal weight, to be 'OK', was about 60-65KG. I was going to make that goal weight, even if it killed me.
"Alrighty then campers, while the Docs and other members of staff get your Camp kit ready with your targets, achievements, etcetera, we'll be taking a tour of the campsite. Remember other groups will be here too, so please stick with me." Will started off walking while the rest of our group trudged behind. Harriet however was upfront with Will chattering away. I shook my head while Serena gagged. Will was drop dead gorgeous, but…there were rules, guild lines…damn it, there were morals!
"Sarah! Don't slack!" Will called out from the front. Did he even turn around? Serena giggled while I just scowled at her. After about ten minutes of getting to know our surroundings, we finally took a break at some rocks near a lake. It was beautiful. I hadn't seen anything like it in…years. While the rest of the group splashed around near the edge of the lake, I stayed outside and let my eyes wander around my surroundings. There were flowers, different kinds, but one distinctive flower caught my eye. I slowly went up to it. It was a lily.
"Lily…" I whispered. Lily was more than a flower to me. Serena slowly approached me; I was too busy touching the flower to notice. She put a hand on my shoulder, I jumped up in surprise.
"Hey…we're continuing on…. Are you OK?" she asked frowning. I blinked rapidly to get rid of the tears swimming in my eyes, I nodded.
"Yeah, let's go." I walked past her. Will was also waiting for us. His eyebrows were slightly scrunched up in confusion. I shot him a fake smile and continued on to catch up with the group who were trying to navigate themselves back to the camp site. I turned back my head to see Serena just shrug at Will. Thankfully the other campers weren't too bad with their navigation stills, so we got back to camp in reasonable time. Serena, like a good friend, asked me again what was wrong, but I assured her I was fine.
After dinner, we all went back to our rooms and got settled in for bed. In the morning we thought we'd be able to stay up late and talk, but after just one day of walking we were exhausted. I was actually quite glad that the rest of the girls slept, I wanted some quiet. I pulled my blanket higher and closed my eyes.
"Lily!" I called out the six year old girl who was running around the park, her blonde hair flying freely around her. Lily just giggled and ran faster. I shook my head, with a smile on my face, and ran after her.
"I'm gonna' get ya'!" I shouted. Lily turned her head and stuck her tongue out at me. I wagged mine right back at her. I managed to catch up with her. I grabbed her waist and pulled her back. We both fell to the ground. Lily squealed as I tickled her.
"Sarah! Lily! Let's go!" I looked up and saw my dad calling us from the bench in the park. I sighed but grinned nevertheless.
"Come on sis," I said pulling her up. Lily held onto my 11 year old hand as we skipped back to our dad who was waiting for us a smile tugging on his lips.
"I like having a big sister," Lily said once we were home. I looked at her and smiled.
"Well, it's good to have a little sister," I said finishing up styling her hair. "There. Now you're Princess Lily." Lily cheered and pranced around the room. I laughed at the sight of her. My baby sister.
OK, the bit about the flowers may not be true, meaning I have no idea whether there really is Lily's growing in areas near Lakes. Don't shoot!
So, at the end of each chapter, hopefully I'll remember this, there'll be a flashback about Sarah's childhood, and there'll be more about Lily. Hope you like the chapter and I'm sorry it took soooo long! Thanks for reading! :D