Time of My Life - a slightly fictionalized memoir by Nadine

This starts out over the summer, when I was at ecology camp. So far, everything in the story is real.


“Okay, so guys, remember the proper structure to build a fire, keep in mind all the safety rules… alright, time to divide you into groups.” Steve said. We were at Ecology Camp, and since most people don’t know what that is, let me put it this way: it’s a nature camp, and it is so not for girly girls.
All twelve of us teens and pre-teens were sitting in a circle on the forest floor, gazing up at our counselors, Steve and Dan, expectantly.
“Group one,” Steve said, “Hmm, Isaac… Noah… Jared… and Ben.” The four boys stood up as their names were called and grouped into a huddle.
“Group two...” Dan announced, “Let’s see… David… Katie…” I waved at my friends as they stood up and walked over to stand about five feet away. “Russell…” Dan continued. My heart leapt and I stared more intently at Dan, trying to send him brain waves to make me the fourth member of Group 2. “And… how about Nadine.” Dan finished. I grinned broadly and stood up to join my group.
“Whoa, that was lucky.” Katie said as I approached, “You got in a group with two of your friends and your - ow!” Katie silenced immediately as I stepped on her toes with my heavy hiking boots. She had been about to say “your crush”, and she was talking about Russell.
In my defense, how could anyone not like Russell? He was by far the most gorgeous guy I’ve ever seen. His face was just perfect, with a cute nose and those hypnotizing chocolate brown eyes. His hair was a dirty blonde, and he wore it a little long, just past his ears. His bangs came down to cover his eyebrows slightly, but not his eyes. He was about three inches taller than me, and a few months older. Plus, he was funny, smart, nice, and strong. What’s not to like?!
“Okay, so, David, you start building the fire pit, and Katie, you can get kindling, and OK wood. Nadine, you can come get tinder with me, we need a lot.” said Russell, taking charge of our group. Katie raised her eyebrows up and down at me and I stepped on her foot again, but giggled a little bit too. It was quite ironic that everything was working out so well; usually I had the worst of luck.
As David, a short blonde twelve-year-old, started to gather rocks for the fire pit and Katie headed off into the woods to look for dead branches, Russell and I headed over to the trees at the edge of the clearing and started gathering dead leaves off the ground for tinder.
“Hey Russell, look, a dead birch tree!” I said, pointing at a shiny grey tree with some bark peeling off of it.
“Oh, great!” he said, walking over to the tree and starting to peel the bark off; it was a great source of tinder, seeing at it burned excellently wet or dry. I joined him just as Katie lugged a giant branch past us towards the place where David was assembling large rocks in a circle.
Twenty minutes later, Russell, Katie, David and I were standing in front of a roaring fire, proud of our hard work. The other two groups were watching us enviously; they hadn’t managed to get their fires lit.
“Nice, guys!” said Dan, high-fiving the four of us in turn as he nodded at our fire. Then he turned to the other groups. “Sorry everyone, but we have to stop now, it’s nearly 4:00!”
The other groups groaned and started packing up their bags. Russell and I poured some water from our water bottles over the fire and stamped out the remaining embers while David and Katie got their bags.
As we left the clearing and headed back to the trail, Russell, Dan, Jared and I brought up the end of the line.
“You’d better watch out Jared. These woods are full of roflcopters and rednecks.” Russell snickered. None of us liked Jared, not even the counselors, so we all had a blast making fun of him.
“What are rednecks? And you made the roflcopters up!” said Jared. Russell raised his eyebrows at me and Dan.
“Um… rednecks are people who live in the trees in the forest, and they ride water buffalo and have pet walruses. They ‘re all packed into one tree… but I’m not telling you which tree.” Russell grinned. Dan and I snickered.
“I don’t believe you.” said Jared. Then he turned to me and asked, “Are there really rednecks riding water buffalo and walruses living in the trees?”
“Of course there are!” I exclaimed.
“Okay, I believe you, but not him.” said Jared.
“But we said the same thing…?” Russell rolled his eyes.
“But you’re just weird, Russell.” said Jared.
“Thank you.” Russell replied calmly.
We turned off the trail and into a small paved parking lot in a clearing. Lining the road was a marshy forest on one side, and a hill covered in tall dried grass on the other. It was about 5 minutes to 4, so none of the parents had arrived yet.
“Can everyone please sit in a circle and drop your backpacks?” Dan asked. We did so, me sitting with Katie on my left and Russell on my right.
“This marks the end of the first week of your two-week CIT session.” Steve began.
“And next week, we have the campout!” Dan said. This roused cheers from the group.
“But before you leave for the busy weekend, we want to tell you one thing.” said Steve.
“Steve, do you want to say it?” Dan asked.
“No, you should.” Steve replied.
We all looked at each other questioningly, then back up at our counselors.
“Okay everyone,” Dan started, “We just wanted to let you know that…. YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO HIDE BECAUSE IT’S TEN SECOND CAMO!”
Screaming and cheering, we all jumped up and fled off in all directions. We had all been begging for 10-second-camo the entire week, but to no avail, and now was finally our chance to play the best game EVER.
I ran through the marshy forest, my feet sinking into the mud but still sprinting as Dan called, “7…… 6……”
Not looking where I was going, I bumped right into Russell.
“Sorry!” we both whispered at the same time, then glanced around frantically for a place to hide.
“5…… 4……”
I dashed off towards a fallen tree, and Russell followed, having nowhere else to hide.
“3…… 2……”
I knelt down, trying to hide as much of myself as I could behind the fallen trunk. Russell knelt down right next to me.
“1. Time’s up, we’re coming to find you!”
I held my breath as I heard Dan and Steve walking around nearby.
“I see blonde and brunette behind a fallen tree, Nadine and Russell, that wasn’t a very good hiding spot!” Dan exclaimed. Russell and I groaned and got up, walking back to the road.
“There’s no way to camouflage in white!” Russell protested, glaring down at his white T-shirt. I nodded, as I was wearing white as well.
When we trooped back onto the road, our shoes and ankles covered in mud, we found Steve discovering Katie and Mitchell, who were hidden behind a rock wall. Dan was shouting that he had found Isaac and Lucas, who had fled to the marsh as well, but were wearing green and brown so they had been hard to spot hidden behind various bushes.
Jared hadn’t even tried to hide, because he just spoils everything like that. Noah, Ben, Brady, and Nola had already been discovered as well.
“Where’s David?” I asked, glancing around. He was the only one still hiding.
“I dunno…” Russell answered as Katie joined us.
“DAVID!” Dan shouted, “You won! Come out!”
David stood up; he had been camouflaged extremely well in the tall dried grass.
“Wow! Lay back down, I wanna see that!” Steve laughed. David laid back down, grinning. His blonde hair blended in with the dried grass so well that he was invisible.
“Nice!” Dan said.
The parents appeared around the corner, a caravan of seven cars. I spotted my dad in his shiny blue Acura and said goodbye to Russell, Katie, and David, before skipping off to the car.
Another magnificent day.

I like it! Ooh, we played ten-second-camo on our trip too. It's really fun!

It is, isn't it? It's awesome. The second time we played it, I was wearing a grey shirt and brown pants (I totally clashed. xD) and I laid down with my upper body on a boulder and my lower body on the dirt. Plus I was in a ditch. So I didn't get found. Russell and Nola ran into the swamp, and not only did they get found, they got mud all over their legs and Nola's shoe came off. xD

LOL! I was wearing dark jeans and a brown t-shirt, and I curled up under a log. xD I didn't get found and won our game.

I really like it! 10-second-camo sounds fun

Awesome Lauren

It is, Mir! It's awesomeful.

I can't wait to write about the campout.. it was amazing! I'll probably take two or three chapters on it. There's alot to tell.

Awesome! I just can't wait! (to be king! xD)

xD
Now you got that stuck in my head! Lol, now I've got the beginning Lion King song in my head. The random nonsense chant one? xD

Is it the one that's like, A wimboweh a wimboweh, etc. In the jungle the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight, in the jungle the quiet jungle the lion sleeps tonight. We're singing it in choir, and it drives me crazy. All my friends have this insanely high part, but for a girl, I have a really deep voice. So I sing with the guys down on A Wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh. xD

Tolly12bells wrote:Is it the one that's like, A wimboweh a wimboweh, etc. In the jungle the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight, in the jungle the quiet jungle the lion sleeps tonight. We're singing it in choir, and it drives me crazy. All my friends have this insanely high part, but for a girl, I have a really deep voice. So I sing with the guys down on A Wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh a wimboweh. xD

Oh gosh, I have that song on my iPod. xD

xD Julia. I have a sorta deep voice, too, Lauren! Wooo, go us! xD
And no, I was talking about the one at the beginning when he's just born and they're lifting him up for the entire town/civilization thingy of animals can see. You know? xD

Oh yeah! xD I haven't watched the Lion King in ages. I just watched the polar express though. I'm still in my weird Christmasy mood. xD

xD Niiiceeee.
I think the last time I saw the Lion King, I saw it on Broadway. Like two years ago. Seeing plays on Broadway is fun. I remember I saw Beauty & The Beast on Broadway for my 9th birthday, four years ago. My dad took me into the city for a day. We went ice skating at the ice skating place, too; do you know that place? Probably not, lol, I forget I'm not talking to my friends who have all been to the city.

No, I haven't been to 'the city'. But I have been to Scotland!! IT PWNS!!

Um, how many crushes have you had in the past year? Because. . woah if Russel was a REAL person, then that brings the total up to. . .three? XD

Ah you had a fun timez! ^^ Wasn't that the camp where I butchered your finger?

xD Creative question Sweety... I haven't been to "The City" either. I live quite far away from there. Wow, 3 crushes. Impressive! xD Your's in the past year, equal my total. xD In the past year, I think I've had 1... LOL! And I think we all know Sweety's answer.

Zero!!! YAYY

Oh, shut up, Maddie. xD JK. Well, yes, Russell is a real person... but it was just a mini little crush, okay?! Lol.... I just thought he was cute, but to make the story more interesting I exagerated it a little bit. I didn't actually really have a crush on him. It was a little tiny thing. And plus, I was still going out with Brandon at the time, but I was really annoyed with him because he hadn't called me or texted me or anything for about a month and a half. T.T


I've only really had two real crushes.

Okay, okay. . . xD

xD

LOL! Wait, real ones? Then I've only had 2 as well. One was a forced crush, which ended when I found him kissing a girl in the hallway. LOL!

yes, lauren, and yet i still like dominic and he is dating, sad. but I know it can never be... muahahahahahahahahha! it might work with ryan though. (I am not talking about the science lodge, that would just be weird!) Lauren, i think you knew that already... ahem, if you didn't i would be *strokes invisible beard searching for the right word* Oddedded.

Erm, LOL? I don't know how to respond that that, but yes, I know how much you fancy DOM-DOM and RY-RY! *Blocks virtual NOM/slap* xD

xD You guys are funny.

responding to laurens block.
*Attempts Kung Fu evasive manuvere #1 and falls on head*

Haha, thank you Nadine. I feel fully entitled to call her crushes by the awkward names that I came up with online though. xD If I say Dom-Dom or Ry-Ry at school, she slaps me. xD

*Laughs her butt off at Eileen's major FAIL, and ends up tripping over Eileen laying on the ground*

LOL! Eileen, remember what happened when I tried the evasive manuevre (sp?)? xD