The Picnic

When you get to school,
Everyone is wearing their swim suits under their clothes and
There's a smell of excitement in the air. 
Waiting,
The about-thirty of us jabber and giggle more than usual because this is what we've been waiting for.
Announcements about
Who's driving with who and rules about water safety blah blah blah-
We hear this every year.
Every now and then you catch someone's eye and grin. The happiness floats around you like bubble bath.
There's a rush when we're excused-everyone tries to race everyone else to the lake- and when the people who are going in the RV walk out the door everybody else groans good-naturedly and watches them with envy. 
Everyone piles into cars and we start caravaning out. 
You crane your neck to see the people in the cars behind and in front of you, giggling crazily when you wave at someone.
You can't see the lake just yet when you get onto the driveway, but you can taste that you're so close!
Everyone has to stay with their chaperones until they're ready to go, and it's agonizing to stand there watching everyone run down the hill to the lake. 
When you're finally released, you grab and buddy and head to the water.
Splashing ensues, in which everyone swallows a mouthful of water playing Marco Polo and laughs enough to fill an ocean. 
We have our annual tag game next, where everybody gets split up into different groups like grownups against kids. It's ridiculously fun. 
We also eat watermelon and it's usually someone's birthday, so we sing to whoever that is.
Then it's home again, home again, with more great memories to share on a writing website.