1st Chapter of my new story- The New News *UrbanCowgirl*

CHAPTER 1 The New News

Camberlie Clark sighed in exhaustion as she finished her last lap around the track. It was a very hot day- reaching almost to 95 degrees! And for Feldspar, Washington, that was pretty good. The little town was almost completely surrounded by mountains, but still seemed to maintain a relatively warm climate. Cam jogged over to the drinking fountain and stopped in line behind Daniel Farley, who was taking a small sip of water, waiting a few seconds, and taking another sip.

“Excuse me, but some of us are actually thirsty, so would you mind hurrying it up a little?” Her annoyed tone made him turn around and look at her with a cocky grin. He stepped off to the side.

“Yes, I’ll do anything for your highness, Queen Camberlie.” He joked. She allowed herself to smile at the gesture. She had been nominated as a queen for the Sophomore Spring Formal, which was coming up the next day. She wouldn’t yell at him for flattering her.

“Thank you, dear Daniel. I will be sure to anoint you with my blessing for this gracious gesture toward my well being. After all, you wouldn’t want your queen to fall down and die with heatstroke, would you?” She played along. He bore a thoughtful expression, as if he was thinking about it. She noticed a gave him a hard, yet playful punch in the arm.

“Ow! What are you trying to do? Kill me?”

“I saw that look of yours! Sorry if it hurt!” She smiled and walked away, knowing that he was still watching her.

Tweet! Their P.E. teacher was blowing the whistle. That meant that it was time to go into the locker room and change into their regular clothes. She jogged into the P.E. building, the building that contained a gym and the two locker rooms. She started changing and thought about the rest of the day. Ever since she had been nominated queen, she had been in a spectacular mood. Every day held a promise of happiness. Today was the last school day until the dance- and then one more week…and then summer! Ooohhh, how she loved summer. Her two best friends, Natasha and Latisha Conway, who were twin sisters, had practically made a schedule for the next three months. The beach, the mall, the beach, the mall…and so on. P.E. was her last period of the day, then she would walk home and then start to prepare for the dance. How much fun that would be!

************************************************************************** Camberlie had already gotten out her key to open the door to her house, but one turn of the handle proved that the door was already unlocked. That’s weird, she thought. Nobody is ever home yet. She walked slowly into their average sized living room. Her mother and father were seated on the couch, as if waiting for her.

“Hey guys…what’s up?” she asked cautiously. Her parents’ gazes landed on her.

“Hi honey. How was school?” her father, Mike Clark, asker her.

“It was fine.” She replied.

“Why don’t you sit down?” her mother, Latonia, offered, gesturing to the multi-colored love seat that matched the couch. She dropped her bag slowly to the ground and sat down. She met her parent’s eyes.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Determined to get straight to the point, huh?” asked her father.

“Something’s up. I want to know what it is.”

“Well. Ok, honey. Your mother and I have just been offered a job.”

“Great!” Cam said enthusiastically. Her parents were architects, based mainly in the Pacific Northwest.

“Honey, I’m not sure you want to be excited about this. The job that we have been given is a long job. About 2-3 months. In Africa.” Latonia said.

“Seriously? Wow. That’s a long time. In Africa, you say? Can I come?”

“That was our first thought too, but unfortunately, the company will only pay for the two of us. The job will start next week.”

“Next week? What am I supposed to do? I still have school next week!” she exclaimed.

“Honey, you may hate us for it, but your mother and I did some research already. There is a great camp on the coast. It is a summer camp, boys and girls, with great opportunities. Swimming, tanning…everyone a young girl would want!”

“A summer camp?” she repeated quietly. “Why can’t I just stay with Latisha and Natasha? Their parents wouldn’t mind!”

“For almost three months? It was ok before, when we were only going to be gone for a couple of days, but honey, this is going to be for a lot longer than that.” He mother explained.

A wave of anger flashed over her. She started to blow up, but she stopped herself. She knew the rule: once mom and dad made up their minds, there was no changing it. Instead, she asked, “When will I be leaving?”

“Monday.” Was the reply.

“MONDAY? That is hardly any time! I have the dance tomorrow, and then Sunday is the Royal Court party, that I will be expected to go to even if I don’t win! And then Monday is the annual food fight at school! And then I will have to say goodbye to all of my friends!” she shouted.

“Cool it. You will still be able to do all of that. The dance, the party, and the food fight. You can pack on Sunday. The party isn’t until 7 pm. Then on Monday you can clean out your locker, say goodbye to all of your friends, AND have the food fight.”

“Can’t I stay with John?” she asked, referring to her 20 year old brother.

“John is in college. He has his own free-time. Do you honestly think that he wants his little sister staying with him? But, camp only lasts 2 months. After that, you will stay at his place until we get back.”

“You guys have this planned out pretty well! How long have you known?” she asked.

“About a week.”

“A week? Were you actually planning on telling me, or just leaving while I was sleeping?”

“Honey, you are going, no doubt about that. Now, I would suggest that you begin packing. There is a flyer on your bed, which will tell you more about the camp.” Informed her mother. Cam looked at them and grabbed her backpack. She ran upstairs and into her bedroom. She spotted the flyer on her bed. It read: Yorkshire Summer Camp for Teens.

“Yorkshire? They honestly named the camp after a bread of DOG? What is up with that?” she snickered. Cam read on. Yorkshire is a great camp for teenagers between the ages of 13-18. Teen’s can enjoy outdoor camping, sports, swimming, delicious breakfasts, and a few of boy/girl dances! She had to smile. It didn’t sound that bad, but she knew that she would rather be at home with her friends.

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

“You almost ready?” Her mother asked Camberlie.

“Yeah.” She replied as she grabbed her silver metallic shawl off of her bed and flung it around her shoulders. She turned to her mother.

“Wow, Cam, you look beautiful.” Her dad said as he walked to the doorway.

“Alright, you guys go downstairs and wait for Jase.” She wanted a traditional dance date. The boy ringing the doorbell, her coming down the stairs looking wonderful. She couldn’t wait. Her date, Jason Thompson, was her best guy friend, although in the past year they had gone on a few dates. They weren’t exactly a couple, but when Jase was nominated as King for the Juniors, he thought it would be cool if they went together. She took another look in the mirror. She had a dark blue metallic dress, with small straps and an open back, which looked great against her tanned skin. She looked wonderful. Her mother had curled her dark brown hair into ringlets and then put it in a messy bun with strands falling down. Her piercing blue eyes were highlighted by glitter eyeliner and blue mascara.

Ding-Dong! It was the door bell. A couple of seconds later, her mother was calling her downstairs. This was it. She grabbed her hand-bag that matched her shawl, and she took the stairs down to the living room.

Her parents were seated on the couch again, and Jase was in the love seat. She saw him take in a long breath when she came down the stairs. She smiled. Jase was a very handsome guy. His brown hair was sun bleached to a dark blonde, and his blue eyes matched hers. He was exactly the type of guy she liked: athletic and fit, but not too terribly skinny. He was like a big Teddy Bear.

“Wow, Cami, you look great!” he said in a low breath. Her parents smiled.

“Alright, before you kids take off, let me snap a few pictures of you.” Her mom said. They stood in the living room with the windows as their background. After three pictures, her mother ushered them out of the house. When they got to Jase’s car, they bother looked at each other.

“I have some bad news.” They said to each other in unison.

“You first.” He told her as he started to drive to the school.

“Ok. What I have to say may or may not affect the outcome of this evening,” she began, “but it will affect our relationship for the rest of the summer. My parents have been offered a job in Africa for the summer. That means that, being the wonderful parents they are, they have decided to send me to a camp.” She stopped. Jason was smiling. Huh? She thought.

“You can spare telling me.” He told her with a grin.

“What are you smiling about?”

“Well, your parents already told me when they found out.”

“They told YOU before they told me?” she asked, shocked.

“Well, yes. They figured that you were going to be pretty down, and wanted me to help.”

“How could you help me in a situation like this?” she asked him.

“Well, my bad news was that you would be stuck with me all summer.” He replied, smiling again.

“What? Stuck with you all summer? I am going to the coast, Jase. The coast. You will not be there,” she said, and then re-think her comment, “or WILL you be there?”

“Congratulations, we have a winner. Yes, Camberlie, I am going to be there. Your mom and dad brought me the forms to fill out.”

“Seriously?” she asked in awe as he pulled into the parking lot.

“Yes, seriously.” Once parked, she jumped opened the car door and ran around to his, dress and all. When he opened the door, she gave him a huge bear hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she shouted.

“You’re welcome. Now, if you don’t mind, I think that as nominees, we should go find our royal court.”

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

It was ten minutes and counting until the Royalty was named. Unfortunate for them, since they were both being nominated, they couldn’t be each other’s escorts. She had asked Daniel Farley to be hers, and Jase had asked Desiree Moshe to be his. Jason had tutored Des at the beginning of the year, and had thought that it would be nice to ask her. She wasn’t completely popular, but he hoped that he would help to change that, because she was a great person.

Cam and Jase had been sitting with their friends rather than dancing, because they didn’t want to get stepped on before they got called up to the stand. The music started to play a slow song, one of Camberlie’s favorites. Knowing this, Jase got up and held a hand out to her.

“Would I have the pleasure of this dance, Miss Clark?” he asked in a formal voice. She answered him in the same tone, “Why yes, of course young man.” She took his hand and he led her out to the middle of the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer. She felt amazingly safe in his arms. Jase had always been her comfort zone- her best male friend since as long as she could remember.

“I’m really glad that you’re coming with me. I thought I was going to be alone.” She whispered in his ear.

“You really think I would let your parents send you out like that? I don’t think so.” He replied. “I suppose not. Still, it’s weird that it was you that they thought of. They could have asked Nat or Latisha?”

“Maybe a male presence was better.”

“Yeah.” She answered. She had never really even considered the thought of Jase as more than just a friend. But last year as a Freshman in a new school, Jase had been there, and they had done a few things that were considered dating. She had always been his girl, whether it was meant in a romantic way or not. Right now, she was thinking of it in a very romantic way.

“Could we please have all nominees for Royalty and their escorts to the backstage now?” Came the principals voice over the microphone. Jase looked at Cam, and without a word, led her to the entrance to the backstage. They stood staring into each other’s eyes for a moment. Cam knew what was coming before it happened. Jase leaned forward and put his arms around her, then slowly kissed her. He pulled away and smiled.

“Good luck, Cam. Even if you don’t win, you will always be my queen.” He told her quietly.

“And you my king.” She replied, giving him a hug and turning away from him into the girls locker room. Latisha Conway, who was also up for Sophomore Queen, had obviously seen the kiss.

“Girl, you have got that boy wrapped around your finger so tightly that I am surprised it hasn’t fallen off yet!” she greeted.

“It was just one kiss.” Cam replied, blushing.

“Just one? One of many, I assume.”

“Shut up.” Cam said as she checked her make-up and hair. “I have to go find my escort, so excuse me.”

“Ok, girl. See you on stage.” Latisha replied. Cam turned out of the locker room with a grin on her face. Latisha was right. That was her first kiss with Jase…actually, it was her first kiss ever. Cam looked around backstage and spotted Daniel, who was obviously looking for her.

“Danny!” she yelled to get his attention.

“Oh, Cam, there you are. We are last up for the sophomores. We need to get in line.” He told her.

“Ok. Do we come in on the right or the left?”

“The right.” He told her. Yes! She silently thought. Jase was coming in on the right for the first for the juniors, so he would be by her.

“Ok, kids, we’re starting!” shouted Miss Lanyard, the music teacher. Cam glanced back and saw Jase coming with Desiree towards her. He smiled.

“Hey Jase.”

“Hey Cam.” He came up beside her and grabbed her hand. The backstage became quiet.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to our 25th Annual Spring Formal. This, let me remind you, is a freshman-juniors Royalty Formal. These are the Royalties that you have nominated for the school. We will start with the freshman class and go forward.” Greeted the principal, Mr.Oddison.

Miss Lanyard, who was the co-host, began. “For the freshman class, our first nominee for Queen is Cindy Liguria, escorted by Jonathon Providence.” There was an eruption of Clapping. “Our second nominee is Kelly Bishop, escorted by Ryan Truman!”

“Our first nominee for King is Michael Peterson, escorted by Natalie Vermont! And our last nominee for the freshman class is Thomas Petersburg, escorted by Jennica Vermont.” Announced Mr. Oddison. The freshman lined up and bowed, then filed to the side stage.

“For the sophomore class, our first King nominee is Kevin Freeman, escorted by Nicollet Lopez. Our first Queen nominee is Latisha Conway, escorted by Timothy Hanes.”

“Our second kind nominee is Paul Dice, escorted by April Tremont. And our last Queen nominee is Camberlie Clark, escorted by Daniel Farley.” Daniel took her and led her off stage, and she smiled and waved. Wow. Being on stage is scary, she thought. They bowed in the line with the rest of the sophomores, and then went off to the right side. She waited for Jase to come out.

“Our first King nominee is Jason Thompson, escorted by Desiree Moshe. Our first queen is Charish Pike, escorted by Timothy Johnson.” Said Mr. Oddison. Cam cheered hard.

“And our last nominees for the night are Courtney Fox, escorted by fellow nominee Corey Cloverson.” The juniors took their bows and left the stage.

Natalie Thomas, a senior, brought out the result envelope. Miss Lanyard read: “And the winners are: Kelly Bishop and Michael Peterson for the freshman class!” Everybody Clapped as the winners came out onstage. Cam squeezed Daniels hand and then snuck a glance at Jase, and he gave her a thumbs-up sign.

“For the sophomore class- our king is Kevin Freeman, and queen Camberlie Clark!”

“Yes!” she said, smiling. She walked out on stage, and met Kevin Freeman in the middle. They gave each other and hug and then stood at front stage.

“And our junior royalty is Queen Courtney Fox, and King Jason Thompson!” Cam smiled. She had known Jase would win. He came out from behind stage, and with one big gesture, grabbed Cam and lifted her up. They spun around in a circle. This, she thought, is the best night of my life.



K....Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

*UrbanCowgirl*

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