Young Writers Society

Chapter Four

The last three weeks of school were torture. But Emily knew that she had to endure them. It was the only way for to get to the camp and see the horses. They were too much like unicorns for her to miss a chance to spend some time with them. Every fall, she and her father went to a small farm to buy a pumpkin for Halloween, and pick apples in the huge orchard, always eating a few along the way.

The farm even had pony rides. Emily's favourite pony had always been one called Princess. She was the most beautiful creature Emily had ever seen. Although in reality the only thing they had in common was colour, Emily thought Princess looked just like the Pastel Unicorn.

Maybe at camp they would have a similar horse. It would have to be white, and slim. The coat would be soft

and silky. But most importantly, it would have the grace of a dancer, fast, and just as smart as it was graceful. Smarter than any normal horse. It would be able to recognize Emily by the way she opened the door, the sound she made when she walked, and the soft caress of her hand against its coat.

As Emily prepared a bag, she felt torn. "You can't wear dresses at camp." She'd said it herself. How could she pack for thirteen days without taking any dresses? She couldn't. Her closet was filled with them. Then there was the problem of leaving all of her friends. Cloe lived in one of the houses down the street. Ariel and the other birds came and went as they pleased. None of them could be smuggled in Emily's bag for the six-hour drive. Her mother might let her take Owen, and the new rabbit, whom she had named Charlotte, but no others.

In the week before it was time to leave, Emily gave in. They would buy some shorts. She already had two pairs that she used for gym at school, and for when she went biking, or riding Princess, so they decided that she needed about four more, which they chose off the sale counter at the department store. The entire process was absolutely grueling. Emily hated all of them. Few came in the colours that Emily preferred. After arguing for a few minutes, she thought it was best to stay quiet and let her mother choose which ones to get. She said that as long as Emily kept them clean she'd be able to wear some of them twice if she had to.

On Sunday evening, the night before she had to leave, Emily sat on her bed, talking to Owen, and reading the final chapters of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. As she finished off the last page, there was a gentle knock at the door.

"Come in," Emily said.

Her mother opened the door, came in, and said, "Have you got everything ready? We gotta leave really early in the morning, so you won't have time to pack anything last-minute."

"Okay, Mommy." Emily closed the book and moved to put it in her red bag, which was so big that Emily could have fit in it herself and not feel too cramped.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting the book in my bag. There's just enough room left for it." Emily had complained quite a bit during the last five weeks, but had finally given in to the fact that there was nothing she could say or do to stop her mother from making her go. Even if she did so grudgingly. She was about to zip the bag up when her mother sighed heavily. "What's wrong, Mommy?"

"I don't think you'll need to take that with you," her mother replied, bending down, balancing on her toes, arms crossed on her knees.

"But--"

"You'll have so much to do that you won't have any time to read."

Emily's eyes went from her mother's to the lion's, darting back and forth as she decided what to do. How could she not take the book? How could she go two whole weeks without one? She'd only ever done that once in almost two years. And that had been because she had been sick with the flu for a week, and spent the next week catching up on missed schoolwork.

Her mother sighed again, placing a hand on Emily's shoulder. "Listen, I know this is hard for you, but it's something us mothers do to make sure their kids grow up right." She spoke softly, not with disappointment, just concern. It was one of those statements that, as smart as she was, Emily seemed incapable of responding to. If she did respond to it, it would end up in an argument that would leave one or both of them in tears.

"Can I at least bring Owen?" Big mistake.

Her mother's expression quickly transformed from concerned to annoyed. "Now Honey, we've talked about this. The reason you're doing this is so you can make friends with real people. I don't expect you to repeat what you did when you started kindergarten. That's why you aren't allowed to take any of your books or toys with you." She gave Emily a hug and stood up. "Now go to bed. We have to be at the bus by eight tomorrow, and Dad and I don't have time to drive you all the way if we miss it."

"Okay," Emily said as her mother turned off the light and closed the door behind her.

Emily got into be muttering to herself. "Good. I hope we're late. I'm gonna try to stay up all night."

As angry as she was by this final betrayal, she couldn't be more terrified. Two entire weeks away from her oldest friend. It was almost too much for her to handle, worse than two weeks without her books. The thought of meeting a real unicorn was the only thing that kept her from complete despair.

She lay awake for a long time, trying not to fall asleep. She told herself stories and talked to her animals. But everyone knew that the harder you try to stay awake, the more likely you are to fall asleep. Without being aware of the passage of time, the light in her room was turned on and she heard a voice say, "Come on, Honey, it's time to go."

Chapter Five

In complete contrast to her normal behaviour when getting up in the morning, Emily was slow and groggy. As soon as she heard her mother open the door, and felt the glare of the light above her, she flung her My Little Pony blanket over her head. In was her own fault, really, for trying to stay up so late. For just a moment, she even forgot where she would be going soon.

Groaning, she rolled onto her back. Pushing the blanket away from her face and squinted under the light.

"Come on, Honey," her mother said again, entering the room. "It's time to go." She went over the bed and stroked Emily's hair. "Come on, you promised you'd do this for us, and we can't be late."

Oh no! It was then that Emily remembered the dreadful details. But she did not protest. She simply pushed the blanket away and sat up. "Okay, Mommy."

"That's a good girl," her mother said, kissing Emily's forehead. "Now dress quickly. I'll be waiting in the car for you."

When her mother was gone, Emily slid off her bed and pulled off her baby blue nightgown. Then she just stood there for a moment, wondering what to wear. "You can't wear dresses at camp." Right? And all of her pants and shorts had been packed. That was it then. She had to wear a dress. She chose a white-and-pink flowered skirt and a plain pink top.

Sadly, she could not put the same meticulous effort into her appearance that she normally did. Rather than braiding her hair, she quickly ran a brush through is, vowing to put into braids later. No special care was put into neatly folding her socks, and tying her shoelaces just right. She cringed when she looked at her feet. I'll fix it in the car, she told herself, picking up her bag and running down the stairs.

* * *

There must have been about a hundred other children of all different ages when they arrived at the school, where two giant yellow school buses waited to leave. As soon as her mother stopped the car, Emily wished, clutching her bag as tightly as she could, that she could sink into the seat.

Her mother got out of the car and opened Emily's door. Extending a hand to help Emily out of the car, she said, "Let's go, Honey. Too late to turn back now." Emily nodded, taking her mother's had and sliding out of the car.

As they made through the mob of children looking for the person in charge, Emily looked at her feet. The socks were still bunched up around her ankles, and the laced were still uneven and entirely too loose. She'd been so nervous that she'd forgotten to fix them. Her feet had been shaking so much that she probably wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway. But now she was so frozen it was a wonder she could even walk.

It didn't take long for her to notice the woman in a white shirt with the word STAFF written in big bold letters on the back. Her mother tugged Emily's arm in the direction of this woman holding a clipboard and pen.

"Hello," Emily's mother said as she approached the woman.

When the woman turned around, Emily saw a round, smiling face with dark, thick bangs covering her forehead. There was a shadow over the top half of the otherwise friendly face from the baseball cap the woman wore. "Hi!" she said.

"Emily McLean," Emily's mother said.

The woman, whose name was Samantha, Emily noted from the name tag she wore, looked through the three-page list of names on the clipboard. "Ah, there you are," she said, almost singing as she check Emily's name off. "We'll head out as soon as we can get everyone on the buses."

Emily's breath quickened. Her mother bent down to her eye level and said, "I gotta go now, sweetie."

"No, Mommy. Stay until we go," Emily pleaded. "Please."

Her mother stroked Emily's trembling cheek. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I have to get to work real soon." She hugged Emily and kissed her on the forehead. "You're gonna be brave for me, okay."

"Okay, Mommy," Emily replied in her tiniest voice.

"Good. I know you can do this for me. And for you, too." Her mother stood up and turned to Samantha. "Do you think you'll be able to keep an eye on her?"

"First time away from home?" Samantha asked with sympathetic eyes.

"Yes, but that's not it." She pulled Samantha a few steps away and said something in a voice far too low for Emily to understand what she was saying. From Samantha's body language, Emily guessed that she was saying, "Yeah, I understand."

They approached Emily again. Her mother knelt down and once again kissed Emily on the forehead. "I'll see you in two weeks. I promise that you're going to have fun if you let it happen. I love you. You know that, right?"

"Yes, Mommy."

"Bye, sweetie."

"Good-bye, Mommy."

As she watched her mother walk away, she felt a massive weight being lifted from her shoulders. Only to be replaced by another one seconds later when Samantha started shouting instructions. They would be divided into two groups. The six-to-nine-year-olds would be in one bus, and the ten-to-thirteen-year-olds would be in the other. Emily looked around, slightly lost and confused, and once again clutched her bag as tightly as she could, as if it would protect her from whatever was coming.

"Emily." Samantha offered a hand to Emily. "Come on, it's time to get on the bus. I'm going to be on the same buses you, so you can sit with me if you want."

"Okay." Knowing that she would not have to talk to any of the other children made her feel better. But she refused the woman's hand. Although not as frightening as laughing children, Emily got the impression that what this woman could to do would be an even greater threat.