My mom and dad get out of the car and immediately start talking and hugging with our "friends". My brother slowly gets out of the car and stays right by moms side. I just sit there in the car. I look at the adults and at the 4 kids and worry rushes through me. 4 kids! How am I going to survive? Well, they are not really kids, two are older than me, but still. I hear dad call my name, but I ignore it. Then mom and dad open the back of the van and begin unloading the car. Dad walks over and opens my door.

He says, "Come on Nat, I'll introduce you."

I quickly reply, "No, dad. I'm coming I don't need anyone to introduce me."

"Oh well ok. Just remember to be nice and friendly."

"Okkkk dad," I groan. Why does he treat me like I'm 2? I mean I know that I should be nice, ya I'm a blonde in all, but I'm not that stupid. And how does he expect me to be friendly when they are all strangers?

I get out of the car and grab my luggage. On my way inside a boy, Kaleb I think his name is, stops me and asks if he could care in my luggage. Of course I say no and hurry inside. I am quite capable of carrying my own things, Thank you! The parents show me where I will be staying with their youngest girl, Anne. I set my stuff down and lay down on the bed. I pull out my iPhone and am disappointed to find Chloe has not responded. Well, I figure she's off somewhere in the forest with, oh what's her name? Oh ya, Michaela. I never really noticed her at school before, because I was always with Chloe. But now I know her and I hate her. I now see us as arch-rivals. Fighting to be best friends with Chloe. And now that they have all this time together I am worried Michaela will change Chloe's mind and make Chloe not like me. My mind turns to thinking about the terrible things ahead this month. Well at least the 'kids' are polite, so I guess if I ask them to leave me alone they should, which is good. Suddenly my thoughts are interrupted as my dad walks in and says it is time for dinner.

It is a delicious dinner of roast beef, mash potatoes, green beans, garlic bread, and for dessert raspberry pie. It is all so delicious I think I will never stop eating. But I know it is rude to eat a lot at a guest's house. So I force myself to stop eating and excuse myself from the table.

I go straight to Anne's room. I lay down on the bed. I breathe a sigh of relief that this day is over. Even though it is only 6:30 pm I go to bed. I know that when you sleep time goes by fast, so I am planning on doing a lot of sleeping here. I drift off to sleep thinking about what I will do this month. And that is the end of the first night.

***

I wake up to sunshine streaming in the window. I look over at Anne's bed and find Anne gone. I get up and crawl over to my bag. I open it and pull out a pair of red shorts and a plain yellow shirt. I get dressed and then head to the dining room.

When I get there I am not surprised to see everyone already eating (I am a night person). I seat myself and put a golden brown, wonderful looking waffle on my plate. I put maple syrup on it and begin eating. It tastes absolutely fabulous. At least they cook good food here. That is one good thing on this vacation, that and the woods. So I still would rather be camping. After I take a couple more bites of my waffle my dad says, "Wow Natalie, I think you woke up a bit late. Maybe you shouldn't get breakfast." I keep eating, I am really hunger even though I had a huge dinner last night. Everyone laughs at my dad's comment. I don't find it funny, but whatever, apparently they do. I eat two waffles before going back to Anne's room and flopping down onto the bed.

I go over to my bag and look through the books I brought and pick out "Pride and Prejudice." I go outside into the field behind their house and lay down in the grass. I begin reading, but after two pages I have to stop. It is like all the forest, wildlife, and scenery around me are calling my name. Like nature itself has me under a spell. I get up and leave my book where it is. I run through the tall grass and pick some pretty little wildflowers. I come to a hill and roll down it. I frolic around among the grass, the bunnies, the squirrels, the butterflies, the chipmunks and the other little creatures. The sun is beating down on me and I feel like I am a part of the nature around me, like this is where I belong. I start laughing and dancing around. I'm sure I look like little kid, but I didn't care. I never have and never will care what other people think. I am me and that's who I will always be. I am so happy that I don't notice, Anne who is standing nearby. I guess she stands there awhile before I notice her.

She says, "Hi Natalie, I'm Anne."

I guess she is expecting some kind of greeting or something because she looks at me weird when I don't talk.

"So do you want to do something," she asks.

"No." And I walk away.

Lucky for me she leaves and I plop myself down in the grass and lay on my back looking at the clouds. I see an Elephant, then a snake, then a face and then it seems the face becomes Chloe's face and another face appears next to it. The other face is Michaela. And they are smiling at each other. I look away. Why do my worries always have to get in the way of all the good times I have? I get up, grab my book and head inside after I hear my mom call and say it's time for lunch.

Lunch is pretty good. We have sub sandwiches. I take one and eat it outside in the garden. When I finish I go inside and get my tennis shoes on. And hop in the car.

I am excited we are going on a hike to a river. When we arrive I jump out. We walk over to the hiking area and begin our hike. It is beautiful. There are many cool animals and pretty butterflies. The forest around us is lush green and covered with colorful flowers. I am taking in all the beauty around me when Anne comes over and walks by my side.

She asks, "Do you like the outdoors?"

I quietly reply, "Yes." I then speed up as to get away from her.

After the awesome hike, we go back to the house to eat dinner.

After dinner, I grab my book again and lay in the grass. I begin reading. Anne walks over and sits next to me. Wow, she is very persistent. I keep reading and she just sits there quietly. After about 10 minutes I put down my book. It feels weird to have a stranger sitting next to you and you to be reading a book. But then we end up just sitting
there.

I say, "I'm going to bed now." And I go inside. I lay down my head and am very happy that I made it through the first whole day.

***************

So I sorta forgot about this book :/ sorry. I will try and work on it more. I am more focused on my book "Love Me?" If you like this book then you should go check out that book too. Thanks for all the support!

~weirdawk3