Camp Harmony: Jojo's Summer Experience

by: Terrell James

Chapter 1: Welcome to Camp Harmony

One summer morning, a summer camp bus came in the McDodd's house and Jojo saw it coming there. His stuff was pretty much packed and he's ready to go. His parents were behind him and he's kinda nervous. His dad came to him and asked, "Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." said Jojo.

"I hope so. A week's too long for me, but I hope you'll have a good time." said Ned.

"Don't mind your father. We're excited that you're going to camp. You'll have a good time." said Sally.

"And, son. Please try to make some friends." said Ned.

"Okay, I'll try." said Jojo.

Jojo gave his parents a few hugs and waved them goodbye. He got on the bus and sat in the second seat near the window. He took a last look at his parents and waved them as the bus begins to depart. The parents waved back and went back in the house. Jojo was staring at the window in the bus and pulls out his Who-pod and plays a song.

Looking back at the beginning of this

And how life was

Just you and me loving all of my friends

Living life like an ocean

But now the current's slowly pulling me down

It's getting harder to breathe

It won't be too long and I will be going under

Can you save me from this

Cause it's not my time, I'm not going

There's a fear in me, it's not showing

This could be the end of me

And everything I know

Oh, but I won't go

I look ahead to all the plans that we made

And the dreams that we had

I'm in a world that tries to take them away

Oh, but I'm taking them back

Cause all this time I've just been too blind to understand

What should matter to me

My friends, this life we live, it's not what we have

It's what we believe in

It's not my time, I'm not going

There's a fear in me, it's not showing

This could be the end of me

And everything I know

But it's not my time, I'm not going

There's a will in me, now I know that

This could be the end of me

And everything I know

Oh, I won't go

I won't go

There might be more than you believe

(There might be more than you believe)
There might be more that you can see

When he saw a young Who standing near his seat, wearing a blue and red rock star T-shirt, blue jeans, brown hair, blue eyes, and a necklace that says "Rock on!", he asked, "Is this seat taken?"

He put his Who-pod on pause and said, "No, this seat isn't taken."

The young brown and black furred Who sat next to Jojo and put his Who-pod back on, listening to the song.

But it's not my time, I'm not going

There's a fear in me, it's not showing

This could be the end of me

And eveything I know

The young Who turned around and said, "Cool Who-pod."

He turned around and said, "Thanks. Got one 4 years ago."

"What are you listening to?" asked the young Who.

"It's not my time. Want a listen?" said Jojo.

"Sure."

He took off his earphones and gave them to the Young Who and plays them.

But it's not my time, I'm not going

There's a will in me and now it's gonna show

This could be the end of me

And everything I know

There might be more than you believe

(There might be more than you believe)
There might be more than you can see

But I won't go

No, I won't go down

Yeah...

"Dude. That's awesome." said the young Who.

"Thanks."

The young Who gave back the Who-pod to Jojo and he said, "You've got a great taste in music."

"I do. I listen to it, write it and build some awesome instruments with it." said Jojo.

"What kind of instruments do you make?"

Jojo took out his notebook from his bag and shows him the inventions of music instruments. He was surprised about those drawings.

"Those are so awesome. Where do you actually invent them?"

"I build them in the observatory near my house." said Jojo.

"You have an observatory?" he asked.

"Yep. It's kinda like my getaway from everything, including my dad."

"I bet that was a good way of getting out for a while."

"It is."

"Anyway, I'm Chad. What's yours?" he asked.

"I'm Jojo."

"Nice to meet you, Jojo."

"You, too, Chad."

"Just so you know, I also got a Who-pod too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's awesome. Wanna see it?"

"Of course."

Chad opened his duffel bag and pulls out a dark-blue, red and green Who-pod Nano. Jojo gasped in awe and said, "That's awesome."

"I know. I've got 30 trillion songs there."

Chad shuffled through his Who-pod looking for a song that Jojo would like to hear. He gave his Who-pod to Jojo and heard a song that would most likely to be a favorite.

I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house

That don't bother me

I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out

I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while

Even though going on with you gone still upsets me

There are days every now and then I pretend I'm okay

But that's not what gets me

What hurts the most

Was being so close

And having so much to say

And watching you walk away

And never knowing

What could have been

And not seeing that loving you

That's what I was trying to do

"Wow. That is awesome. You've got every song there?" said Jojo.

"Yep. It's so awesome." said Chad.

Jojo took off one of the earphones and gave it back to Chad. Jojo put his Who-pod back on his duffel and Chad put his back in his bag. Chad asked, "Is this your first time going to Camp Harmony?"

"Yeah, I guess. The only problem I'm trying to solve is making friends there. I'm kinda nervous because what if everyone doesn't like me there?" said Jojo, worriedly.

"I've been in the same boat as you 4 years ago, but as soon as I made friends, I felt pretty much liked." said Chad.

"That's cool. I hope this helps. What should I do?" asked Jojo.

'Just be you and be socialized." said Chad.

"Okay, I'll try."

As the bus turns around, they saw a sign that says "Camp Harmony" after riding there for a mere 45 minutes from Whoville. 10 other buses were coming behind it. As the bus came to a stop, everyone got up, got their things and left the bus. As Jojo got out there, he saw other people with guitars, dancing and showing some moves and made some beats. He felt as if it was a place that Jojo could get used to.

Chad and Jojo got in the front of the lodge and saw two Who's, both male, one with spiky blue hair, light-green eyes, 14 years old, wears a yellow Camp Harmony T-shirt, brown and grey fur, green jeans and another one with short brown hair, 16 years old, purple and blue fur, hazel eyes, wears a rock on shirt, and red jeans, standing there where the duffels are at.

Jojo got his duffel and Chad got his and then, the boys came to them and introduced themselves. When they saw Chad, they were completely ecstatic. The young spiky-haired who said, " CHAD! What's up, dude?"

"Nothing much. Just hangin'." said Chad.

"That's cool." said the other Who.

"Great to have you back, man." said the spiky-haired Who.

"Great to be back." said Chad.

Jojo asked, "You know them?"

"Yep. We met 2 years ago and we've been good friends." said Chad.

"How can I tell which is which?" asked Jojo.

"Jonah has short brown hair and I have spiky-hair." said Chris.

"That makes a difference. This is Jojo. We met on the bus."

Jojo gave them a little wave. Chris said, "How's it going, Jojo?"

"Going good, actually."

"Great. This is your first time here?" asked Jonah.

"Yeah. Kinda nervous about that." said Jojo.

"Well, it's always the first time newcomers are pretty much shy about making new friends here. We're used to it." said Chris.

"So, how's life in WhatCity?" asked Jonah.

"It's awesome. Looking forward to turn 15 in the middle of the summer. It's gonna be awesome." said Chad.

"Cool, dude!" exclaimed Jonah.

"High school's going great, isn't it?" asked Chris.

"Yep, I'm being transferred to Whoville High. By the way, we're moving there by the time camp's over. Kinda looking forward to it." said Chad.

"That's cool."

"Jojo, where are you from?" asked Chris.

"I'm from Whoville."

"Whoville's awesome. We come there every time our parents make a vacation getaway." said Jonah.

"It's crazy, really." said Chris.

"I bet."

"My first friend from Whoville. I think Whoville's an awesome place to live. I'm looking forward to going to Whoville High this fall." said Chad.

"McDodd-O'Malley, Jojo?" asked a counselor.

Jojo heard his name and said, "I'm here."

"Stoner, Chad?" asked another counselor.

"Right here!" exclaimed Chad.

"You boys are in Cabin Pana-who."

"That's where we are." said Jonah.

"AWESOME!" exclaimed Chris.

"He gets excited when he newbies come to our cabin." said Jonah.

"I can see that." said Jojo.

When the boys came in the cabin, they saw 6 bunk beds and got themselves setteled. Jonah asked Jojo, "So, what's Whoville like there?"

"It's okay. It's like any other place, only if you don't have a goofy mayor for a dad." said Jojo.

"How can a mayor be goofy?" asked Chad.

"Trust me, my dad is mayor. He's far from goofy. He's just extremely a dorkus." said Jojo.

"A dorkus?" asked Chris.

"He's always being so weird and goofy, which irritates the crap out of me in some ways. The other downside is, he wants me to be mayor of Whoville. Be one of the greats. I fell completely silent after that because I never talked since I was 11. So, it's kinda hard for me to tell my dad that I don't want to be mayor because I know it will seriously destroy him and I don't want to disappoint him." said Jojo.

"You did tell him how you feel, right?" asked Chad.

Jojo said nothing, but gave out a nod because he's still afraid to tell him. Jonah, Chad and Chris looked at Jojo, concerned. Jonah said, "Maybe you should tell him. Maybe he'll understand."

"You guys don't know my dad. He knows how much it meant to him." said Jojo.

Jonah and Chris took Chad and Jojo to a cool view somewhere near the cabin. When they got there, they saw a river that makes the sun reflection ripple. They both took it all in and admired the beauty of it.

"It looks so beautiful." said Jojo.

"We liked it when the sunsets. Come sunset, it's very peaceful." said Chris.

"Looking forward to seeing it again." said Chad.

The boys went back to the cabin, when they saw a young black and grey who, 15 years old, wears a black T-shirt of a skull and a guitar, wears black jeans with a chain on the pocket, black and red hair and brown eyes. The young Who said, "I don't think Jonah's bag is somewhat near my stuff, but if it is, can you get it out of my bunk?"

"Dude, my bag isn't anywhere near your stuff so what are you complaining about?" asked Jonah.

"You are so jaded." said the young Who.

"What up with the 'tude?" asked Chad.

"I don't have a bad 'tude, so what's the deal-io?" asked the young Who.

"Well, at least I'm not all black and moody." said Chris.

"Shut up, man. You don't know what you're talking about." said the young Who.

"So do you." said Chad.

The young Who glared at them like they're starting a fight, then he took a stare at Jojo. He stared at him nervously and felt kinda intimidated by him. He asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Jojo. You are?" said Jojo.

"Marcus."

"Nice to meet you."

"If you'll excuse me, I'll be outside where things will make sense." said Marcus, as he walked away.

Jojo looked distraught and felt scared about this. Jonah asked, "You okay, Jojo?"

"I'm fine. Just nervous about making new friends." said Jojo.

"You'll be fine. Don't worry about Marcus. Once he gets to a point where he needs new friends, he'll get used to you." said Chris.

"I hope you're right." said Jojo.

There are 2 songs: "It's Not My Time" from 3 Doors Down and "What Hurts the Most" from Rascal Flatts. It's really awesome to be honest.