Jake Palmer Book 1: Summer Camp

Final Day

It was Friday June 5th. The temperature was 78 degrees Fahrenheit and it was the last day of school at Spencer Middle School.

The clock showed 11:56 a.m. School released at noon.

Nearly time for dismissal, thought Jake.

Jake Palmer surely wasn’t the average almost seventh grader in North Carolina. He really didn’t have many friends at school. In fact, he only had one really close one on the last day of school. Most of the others moved away. One was killed in a train accident a couple of years ago. No one really hated Jake, but he wasn’t exactly first pick for partners for the big science project or dodgeball in gym.

“Jake.”

“Huh?” thought Jake.

“Jake, it’s me.”

That was the charming voice of Anna Walker, Jake’s only close friend. Jake and Anna met on the school bus one day when Anna accidentally dropped her music for chorus in Jake’s seat, which on that day, happened to be right across from her. Secretly, Jake liked Anna, but he didn’t tell her that, because he didn’t want to risk having no friends.

“Hey Anna. What’s up?”

“Can I sign your yearbook?” Anna asked.

Jake handed Anna his yearbook and she handed him hers.

“You know Jake, I’m really going to miss you this summer,” she said as she was handed Jake back his yearbook.

“Same here. But at least where I go, I have some people to be with,” he said with a smile. “More there than here, anyway.”

Jake spent his summers at Camp Edgar in Maine in a small town called Belgrade, near the state capital of Augusta and a nearby city of Waterville. He attended the camp primarily because his dad knows the owners from high school, but ever since that first summer, Jake loved it.

Generally, Anna attended a music camp in Raleigh, where she also had some good friends. Anna also had some friends at school, mostly those who did chorus with her.

The bell rang. Summer vacation had begun!

“Have fun at camp, Jake.”

“Have a great summer, Anna.”

At that moment, Jake and Anna hugged. It only lasted two seconds, but to Jake, those two seconds felt like the world.

On the bus ride home, Jake thought a lot about him, Anna, and camp. He was going to leave on Monday to go to camp. Jake was thrilled to be going to camp, but he was really going to miss Anna.

It’ll be two months before we see each other again, Jake sighed.