NEW CHAPTERS

Chapter 2:

“Omg hi Vanessa, how are you, how was the flight?”, I ask one of my good friends who lives in New York. “AMAZING! I am beyond excited to be here, finally! How are you? Have you guys been busy here at registration?”, she asks me.

Vanessa is one of the nicest, most cheerful person on this earth, most people are surprised to hear she’s a New Yorker. We met at a church event a couple years ago, and since then she has come to our summer camps every year. Vanessa claims she loves coming to get away from the overpopulated and polluted city, but all us girls know she really likes to come to check out her crush.

“It’s going”, I let out a nervous laugh, “we’ve registered almost half the people that were accounted for already, so yeah almost there”.

“Oh that’s good, I hope you gave me a good cabin with you, register me now please”, we both laugh at her response. The next twenty minutes we talk and catch up on our lives, until I’m called to register more people.

As I finish with the next person, my boss, Elena, calls me over to run an errand for her. I’m tasked with giving the worship band their wristbands and cabin assignments. I take my time walking over to the chapel, saying hi to some of my friends who I see hanging outside the registration room. When I finally reach the chapel, I’m first greeted by my uncle, Jacob, who is the best guitar player in the world and also the worship leader in charge of the rest of the boys. There is Ezra who plays piano and MC’s, Noah who plays bass and is also my brother, Theo who plays drums and is also Vanessa’s crush. I say hi to my uncle, give him his wristband, and begin to walk towards the rest of the band, when I notice him. The same “him” who was at the coffee shop, the same “him” who parked his fancy car next to ours when we first arrived, and the same “him” who is talking to my brother like they are best friends.

I didn’t even realize I was staring a little too long, until Theo smacks me in the back. “Mags, Mags, Mags, already checking out the new guy. You act quick girl”. I smack him back saying, “I was not checking him out, I was just wondering who he was. He looks really familiar and I’m trying to see where from. What’s his name?” My subtle way of trying to find out more of this mysterious man.

“His name is Malakai, but everyone calls him Kai. Your age, from LA, one of Jacob’s friends from another church. We needed an extra guitar player, and let me tell you this guy is insane on the guitar. I’m surprised Jacob could even get him for this weekend,” he shares with me.

“What do you mean? Is he that good?”, I ask. “He is insanely good. He usually is booked up every weekend and even during the weeks, playing at different churches or church events. He plays with Bethel, Upperoom, Elevation Rhythm, Circuit Riders, he’s been everywhere”, Theo says, while I continue examining Kai’s back from afar.

The way Theo talks about him, you could tell Kai is actually really good at what he does because Theo is not one to fangirl over anybody or anything. “Well I have to keep delivering these wristbands to the boys”, I excuse myself from Theo, walking towards the stage, sending a  silent prayer to God asking for my cheeks not to get all red as I approach Kai.

I put on my best “I don’t really care” voice and say, “Hi boys, here are your wrist bands for the weekend. Please do not take them off, you won’t be able to get your daily meals without them”. They all laugh at my mini speech, and continue talking as I help them put on their wristbands. I make my way around the group, silently praying that Kai does not require any help putting his on. When I finally look up at Kai, he’s already looking at me with his wristband in hand. “I could use your help too, if you don’t mind”, he says.

Just by hearing his voice, I already know I’m a goner. I take the 5 steps to him, never breaking eye contact with him. I greet him with one of my award-winning smiles, “Hi, I’m Magnolia. I hear your the new guy around here. I hope the boys don’t annoy you too much when your here”. He laughs at this, never breaking eye contact, smiling he says, “Nice to meet you Magnolia, I’m Kai. I hope you didn’t hear any bad things about me”.

His smile is the best smile I’ve ever seen before. I don’t think anyone has ever smiled at my like that, well except for my family or these boys in the worship team, but not from a man that I didn’t know. I could feel my cheeks turning red like they always do when I’m nervous. I almost forget I’m supposed to be helping him with his wristband when he hands it to me. I work on putting it on, and say, “I’ve only heard that you play guitar better than John Mayer, and that you are a busy man. I know it means a lot from the boys that you are here, so thanks for making the trip”. I don’t know why I felt the need to thank him, and I’m almost embarrassed that I sound like their mom, but Kai just gives me another big smile.

“Please, I’ve heard about how crazy good these camps are every year from Jacob. I’m the one that should be thanking you guys for letting me be a part of this”, he says.

If this was any other person I would probably be skeptical about whether or not they mean this little gratitude speech, but for some reason, as I stare into the most beautiful green eyes, I fear that I truly am a goner. Because I can tell that Kai meant every word he says.

Chapter 3:

“Did you see the new guy that’s with the boys?”, Bonnie asks us as she steps into the registration office again. “No! Is he cute? I want to go sneak a peek”, Hazel says. “Wait! I think we should go over all the numbers first, that way we can just be done with the job,” I frantically say. Anything to avoid my cheeks turning red and getting all nervous that I get distracted from the actual worship time. I need to gain some self-control, but I mean I can’t help it if I am a girl who likes to romanticize falling in love with someone right after I meet them. Especially when it comes to a 6 foot, guitar-god, Harry Styles looking MOG.

“Oh yeah sure we should just get it out of the way already then”, the girls reluctantly agree with me.

So, we spend the next 30 minutes going over everyone who registered, making sure they all paid, double checking the cabins are all good, and getting the last head count to report to the campground. Registration is a long and hard process, but it’s so worth it in the end when you see how many people are able to experience and encounter God like never before. Lots of people think registration is just a common procedure for every event, which is true, but for me its always been a blessing to serve in this department.

“Alright so we have 733 campers and 84 staff, all are assigned to a cabin, including the staff, we just have to hope that there’s no problems tonight when we do bed check,” I share with the girls.

“Are you sure you don’t want one of us to go with you during bed check?” Bonnie asks me.

“Yeah, I want you guys to enjoy this weekend too, you have all done so much for registration. Thank you so much, I truly don’t know what we’d do without you girlies”, I say.

“Oh Mags, you know we love to serve in any way we can, and of course we’d choose to help you, you are our best friend,” Bonnie says. We all give each other that look of appreciation, before Bonnie cuts our moment short and says, “now let’s go out and see what’s happening outside!”

We all gather out stuff together and head out through the back entrance of the registration room. Unfortunately for me, that leads us straight to the green room, which is where the band is currently resting up before service starts.

The girls begin chatting it up with the boys, while I awkwardly make eye contact with Kai and give that funky, “I know my cheeks are red because you make me nervous”, smile that I give to all the boys that I’ve ever liked. To my surprise he gives me a smile back. I immediately turn away and begin talking to Jacob.

I pretend to listen to what Jacob is saying, but my brain is trying to figure out just how close I am standing next to Kai. After fighting the urge to glance back at him for the last 3 in a half minutes, I finally look back, and to my surprise he is already looking at me. And with the confidence, that only God could have possibly given me, I smile back.

I turn back to Jacob to see a big smile on his face, like he knows that I’m crushing real big. All I can do is laugh back at him and he laughs too. But then he does the little head nod to someone behind me, and I immediately stop laughing and turn around to find none other than Malakai himself.

“Magnolia, I know I’m probably not the first to say this, but your Adidas are so cool. I’ve actually been wanting to get some green one’s myself,” Kai says. I look down at my own feet, trying to remember what shoes I put on this morning. Of course, they are the Adidas Gazelle Collegiate in green pink, I paired them with my Zara wrap denim skirt and my white Aritzia Contour cami bodysuit, all of that to match the real star of my outfit which is my Goyard Artois PM tote bag in the colour green.

When I picked it out, I thought it was the perfect amount of business casual but with a touch of my own style. But in this exact moment I felt like I could have been wearing a matching tweed outfit from Chanel or something because this man looked at me as if I was dressed to meet the king.

“Oh trust me, you will be seeing every color of Adidas on her feet this weekend,” Jacob says, which also breaks me out of my trance. “I can’t wait to see them,” Kai says with a big oh smile on his face, as if he knows about my Adidas obsessions. I’ve only ever bought every color of the rainbow, and then some of Adidas because they are my favorite shoe. But I mean how would he know that.

I panic and say the first thing that comes to mind which is, “I have other shoes that I brought. For this weekend, I mean.” Kai laughs a little and so does Jacob, and I continue on by saying, “well I can’t get my Adidas ruined when we do tribe wars”. This makes them both laugh even harder, I even giggle a little bit because how much more petty could I sound. “Oh none of us would ever want that to happen,” Jacob says. I just give him a little look of annoyance when someone comes in asking for the band to get ready. The girls and I immediately excuse ourselves to give the boys time to pray and prepare themselves before going up to lead worship.

But before I walk out, I hear Kai ask, “where will you guys be sitting during service?” I turn around to see him staring right at me again. And with the same confidence God has been supplying me all day, I say, “just look for the green pink shoes.” I turn around walking out with the biggest smile on my face, partly because I said something instead of just blushing, but also because before the door closed behind me I could hear that little laugh coming right out of Kai’s mouth.

And once again, I had this feeling that things would be different this year, and I was so ready for what God has in store for me this camp.

TO BE CONTINUED.....

[ lolz comment down below if you've liked what you read so far ;) ]