“LLLUUUXX, COME HELP YOUR BROTHER WITH THESE BOXES!” hollered my mum.
“COMING! Just a minute,” I shouted hastily back at her. I was really getting tired of carrying the boxes of my families’ belongings up and down staircases. Honestly, why did we even have to move all the way to Colorado from my beautiful London?
“LUX!” my mum shrieked, “GET DOWNSTAIRS AND HELP HARRY WITH THE BOXES!”
“JUST A MINUTE MUM!” I logged off of my laptop and carelessly walked downstairs to help my brother, Harry, with those ever so important boxes Mum was freaking out about.

Harry and I had just finished lugging the boxes all over the house so I strode up to my room and immediately went back to my bright blue laptop. I noticed that some of my friends from Camp Wolverhampton back in the U.K. had posted some photos of us at camp last summer. I clicked through them smiling and laughing to myself at each one. After remembering all of those fun times at camp, I decided to check out the website. Although I tried to look up Camp Wolverhampton, a local camp called Camp Timberline came across my monitor.

“What do you think, Tommo?” I asked my adorable cocker spaniel, “does this look like a cool camp or what?”

“Does what look like a cool camp?” I heard Harry ask from the doorway.

“Haz, leave me alone!” I yelled.

“Cool it, Lux! I just wanted to know if you were looking at a new camp… and I was wondering why you were talking to Tommo.” Harry retorted.

“Haz, just go help Mum unpack or something!”

“Well, shouldn’t you be unpacki…” Harry started.

“Harry, just go back to your room and talk to your goldfish or something!” I snapped.

“Fine, fine, I’ll go talk to Jimmy, the goldfish,” Harry replied coolly.

“Have fun Hazza,” I laughed.
Turning back to my computer, I quietly told Tommo he was allowed to go annoy Harry. Off he went! I returned my focus to Camp Timberline; it seemed like the most perfect camp ever! It was near our new home in Colorado Springs and was in a beautiful mountain range. Most of the campers’ time was spent outdoors- fine by me, I love the outdoors- and a certain version of the camp allowed campers to live in a tent in the mountains for five days! It was like Camp Timberline was made for me!
“Hey Mum, I just found this brill camp that is nearby and it looks quite fun!” I hinted to my mum.
“Lux, you already go to a lovely camp: Camp Wolverhampton,” my mother caught my hint- she didn’t react the way I wanted her to.
“Mum, it seems like a reasonable camp if that’s what you’re worried about. And it is actually quite close to us here, unlike Wolverhampton!” I reasoned.
“Well, if you want to go to this camp you can’t go to Wolverhampton with your friends,” answered Mum.
I had to think about this one, so I went to my father. I got the exact same response from him, scary similar really. The final answer I received was “we will send you to either Wolverhampton or Timberline, you decide which one.” Uh oh, I had to pick between the camp of my dreams and spending a week with my closest friends, with whom I hardly get to speak anymore.

“Dani! Omigosh it’s been so long since I’ve seen you!” I joyfully shouted through the computer screen at my best friend.
“Lux! I know, how’s America?” Dani inquired.
“It’s nice but I wish I was back home in London with my mates,” I forlornly replied.
“Well I can get a few girls to come over and do one big chat if you want,” Dani suggested.
“Oh it’s alright; you don’t have to do that Dani. If I want to talk to them I’ll just ring them from the house phone,” I quickly replied. I really didn’t feel like telling my old mates from camp that I was considering attending a new, American camp without them.
“So you excited for camp this summer?” Dani asked the dreaded question.
“Well… I actually was clicking around online and found this brill camp right here in Colorado that I’m thinking about going to,” I said quickly trying to avoid questioning from Dani.
“What?! You’re thinking about leaving your best mates to go to this camp all the way in America? Why? So naff, totally uncool! I mean even Eleanor will be a little shocked to hear…” Dani started.
“Oh please don’t tell Eleanor! She’ll get so mad and…” I began to freak out.
“Um, well I’m kind of chatting with her right now and I told her, you should be expecting a call from her soon,” Dani cringed.
“Ugh so I guess I should tell her and ask her opinion on it? Since you don’t like the idea who knows… Oh here’s Eleanor, talk to you later!” I rambled on.
“Cheerio! Have fun talking to El!” laughed Dani before she ended our chat.
I talked to Eleanor for quite awhile. I tried to convince her that it wasn’t so bad that I might go to a different camp. It hardly made a difference- she almost had me convinced that I didn’t want to go to Timberline! By the time we both hung up, I seriously doubted if any of my friends would support me going to a new camp without them and was having an even harder time deciding on a camp. I tried hard not to think about the whole camp situation as I slipped into my worn out Hall Cross Secondary School sweatpants and a black t-shirt. My cell phone near my bed beeped, I had received a text. I saw Dani’s name on the screen so I unlocked the phone and read her text.
Dani- my brilliant bestie: hey lux sorry if it seemed like i didn’t want u 2 go 2 that other camp (in Colorado) if u wanna go there this summer its cool w/ me ?
Luxurious Luxer: aw thanks dani! means a lot ? idk where im going this summer… maybe it’ll be at wolverhampton
Dani- my brilliant bestie: maybe who knows :D
The conversation, although it was short really cheered me up but I still had a lot of thinking to do.


I wandered downstairs later that night, purely out of boredom, and found my Grandma Caroline in the kitchen. Grandma Caroline affectionately greeted me. I was so happy to see her again- it had been two long years since she moved to Colorado Springs!
“Grandma Caroline! It’s been forever since I saw you last!” I exclaimed excitedly.
“Oh I’ve missed you Lux, and Harry, and your parents! I’m so glad you made the move out here, coming after me of course!” Grandma Caroline’s eyes crinkled as she attempted to make a joke.
“Oh we’ve missed you too Grandma Caroline! Where’s everyone else?” I asked.
“Well I was about to ask you the same thing dear! Where did they all disappear to?” wondered the old woman.
“I have no clue. One sec, I’ll be right back,” I mumbled as I went over to the intercom on the wall.
“HARRY! MUM! DAD! Grandma Caroline is here!” I announced.
My mum was the first to reply, “Tell her we’ll be down in just a minute!”
I did as I was told and just as Mum said, the rest of my small family was down in the kitchen in just under a minute. Everyone rejoiced to finally see Grandma Caroline again. When all finally calmed down and my relatives went back to their own business I asked Grandma Caroline what she thought I should do about the… the camp situation. Her response was exactly what I expected.
“Well Lux, you have to choose between doing what your friends are doing or what you want to do. Tough decision but you’ll know what to do. I get the feeling you know exactly which camp you want to attend but you’re feeling pressured to go to the other. Am I right?” implored my grandmother.
“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks Grandma Caroline,” I agreed.
I ran back up to my room and instinctively opened my blue laptop. I searched “Camp Wolverhampton in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK” and on another tab searched “Camp Timberline in Colorado Springs, Colorado”. I compared every tiny detail of Wolverhampton with Timberline and by the time I was comparing the weather at each camp, I could tell which camp I wanted to attend.

“Hey Lux, you really need to decide which camp you want to attend, I’m getting loads of emails from both and they’ll fill up faster than you think.” My mum informed me.
“Alright, but do I have to decide right here right now?” I questioned.
“No but I need to know as soon as possible,” Mum quickly replied.
“Ok, I’ll let you know soon,” I acknowledged.
I ran up to my room once again to check my email and texts- nothing from Dani about camp. I texted a few girls that I had met as we were moving in for no real reason then I went back to the camp websites. While Wolverhampton was where my friends were going, familiar, and a total blast, Camp Timberline was out-of-doors, in the mountains, and had tons of hiking- just my cup of tea! Just as I made this realization my mum called up to my room and informed me that she had the registration forms filled out for both camps and kindly asked me to choose which one to send. I hastened downstairs to tell Mum which form to send- I had made my decision.


Luxurious Luxer: im going to timberline dani!
Dani- my brilliant bestie: congrats lux! im glad u chose the camp U wanted 2 go 2 ?
Luxurious Luxer: thanks ? g2g (packing list just got printed!)
Dani- my brilliant bestie: ttyl
I excitedly told each of my friends with texts and emails and all had pleasant responses this time! I scanned the packing list (I had everything I needed) and packed my bags because I was leaving in only two weeks. Never too early to get prepared! Harry has trespassed into my room and claims to be scoping out where he’s going to put all of his stuff while I'm gone. I have to keep reminding him that I’ll only be gone for a week but it’s not like that makes any difference to him! To be honest I didn’t really care because I was going to the most amazing camp ever and Harry was going to be stuck at home!
Three Weeks Later…
I had just come home from Timberline when I got a text from Dani saying “hope u had fun @ camp cant wait to c u soon! ;)”. I questioned my Mum and Dad and they claimed they had no idea what Dani was talking about. But to my surprise, when I got home I saw a banner that read “WELCOME HOME LUX” and standing in front of it were some of my best mates from all the way back in London! I jumped out of that car before the engine was even turned off and embraced my friends with a huge smile on my face. The get together was great and turned even better a few hours later when my new friends from Timberline came over and met my old mates! I was so glad I had gone to Timberline because now I have friends from all over- London, Colorado, and many other states- and I had the time of my life at the camp where I didn’t know a single person.
I'm sure my friends from Camp Wolverhampton (and probably my Timberline mates too) get sick and tired of hearing the stories I have of Timberline but I never get tired of telling them! I'm very glad I didn’t choose the camp every one of my friends was attending and I went with the camp I wanted to go to, even though I knew nobody!