Chapter 1: I Promise, I'll Be Fine...

"Now if you don't like working at that camp, you come straight home." My mom told me as I packed.

"Mom, I promise, I'll be fine." I reassured her as I walked around my six room house in Los Angeles, California. Mom was sitting on the couch as I piled clothes into the three suitcases that were laying on the floor in my living room.

"I'll be back on August 31." I said, throwing a pair of sneakers into the suitcase. "And once again, I promise, everything will be fine."

"Gabriella, I'm just worried," Mom said. "You're spending three months in Baja California, working at this camp where you won't know anyone."

"I'll be fine." I said again for what felt like the five-millionth time that day. "Don't worry."

"Do you know what you'll be doing?" she asked, picked up a pair of jean shorts that were thrown on the couch, and folded them.

"They sent me a handbook." I told her. "Here." I handed her a light blue paperback book.

"Camp Baja Cali Style?" She asked as she read the front of the book, and then started flipping through the book.

"That's what it's called." I replied and put a stack of shorts into the suitcase. I walked into my bathroom.

"The counselors' have great views." She called to me.

"I know!" I called back to her. "It looks beautiful!" I pushed the make-up lying on the marble counter into my Coach make-up bag.

"Do you get any free days?" She asked as I walked back into the living room.

"Yeah." I said, throwing the bag into the already overflowing suitcase. "We get a week in July because the kids get to fly home to see their families for a couple days. But the counselors have to stay."

"Oh." She said. I could tell that she was sad.

"Mom, don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll write and I'll use the phone." I said to her.

"Sorry, I'm just a little over protective of you." She said. "I'll calm down."

"Thank you." I said. I placed the handbook and a folder on top of the clothes.

That night, Mom and I fell asleep on the couch.

When I woke up around 2 o'clock in the morning, Mom was sleeping, covered in a navy fleece blanket. I readjusted the pillow beneath my head and slowly drifted back to sleep.