There is a general scraping of chairs and shuffling of feet as everyone rearranges themselves into circles. Caitlin joins your circle, along with the sleepy-looking boy, the dark-haired girl who was sitting in front of you, and Pearl. "Good luck, Pika Shimon Capela!" Casey cries as she bounces away, leaving you in charge.
You draw the first slip of paper and unfold it. "What's your favorite extracurricular activity?" you read, with one eye on the faces of the others in the group. Who looks nervous about this question? Is there a weakness that you can press on?
The first person who answers is the one you know will be your co-counselor in Cabin 12; you've texted a few times as you were both getting ready for camp. Pearl Chen is tall and broad-shouldered, and you're not surprised at all when she says, "I'm Pearl Chen. Mine is sports. I'm on the swim team and track-and-field."
"What she said," chimes in the boy you saw sleeping through part of Ms. Martin's speech. "But, you know, just swimming. Oh, yeah, and I'm Jared Chen." Now that you see him next to Pearl, you can see the resemblance, and you realize that he must be the older brother that Pearl mentioned. The two of them have the same round chin, the same narrow mouth. And the same swimmers' build, although you can't imagine Jared mustering up enough energy to get out of his chair, let alone jump into a pool. His shoes are already kicked off so that his feet are bare as they stretch out into the middle of the circle. "Lifeguard."
The next person who speaks is the dark-haired girl. She's petite, much shorter than you are, and she's got an intense look in her eyes that reminds you of your friend Haley. "I'm Samira Khan," she introduces herself. "I'm in Cabin 11. And I'm in the model UN."
So what's your favorite extracurricular?