Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Nazi Cheer Camp

I was sent to a Cheerleading camp. But this was no ordinary cheer-dance-stunt camp. It was more like a Nazi cheer camp. I didn't know that until I started hearing comments 'from the inside.' They seemed to treat me well, but there was something different. I got the vibe that they were up to no good.
I got up in the morning to get ready for the day. They had a strict system to follow. First, based on my size (I guess, I wasn't quite sure what the determiner was) I chose a door to a shower. I chose the first one that said "small," figuring I'm a small person; one would think the others would be "medium" and "large" or the equivalent, but that was not the case, though I don't remember what the other doors said. I saw a kid checking me out on my way in, so that was pretty flattering. Through the door, I went down this extremely steep staircase that sorta slanted into a ramp. I was afraid I was going to fall or slide right down it because the first step through the door was onto the staircase, but I managed to remain on my feet even though my shoes slid down the last few stairs. From there, I kept walking and I entered an open area with a low ceiling that was the shower. Based on what door you chose, it would spray you for a certain (short) length of time. I was sprayed, but I was weary of the whole cheer camp thing, so I kept walking, thinking I didn't want to participate. The next open area (room) was spray soap (think car wash). I bypassed that, and saw that there was another rinse room, and then a glitter room where you would get sprayed with confetti or something... because cheerleading = glitter, apparently. I watched some girls get covered in confetti/glitter, then I watched them try to figure out/trick the trip system (sensor) for spraying. It would automatically spray when someone walked through the room, but with several people in there at once, it stopped spraying. Many girls were walking through (to avoid it) now, so I walked through to climb up the stairs and out. Another girl was doing the same thing (it was kind of like climbing up a laundry shoot, except with stairs), so we tried to stay low and phony together. We made it back up, passed the area where they were doing a church worship time (since when does cheer camp incorporate worship? And what are they teaching?! Can we say "cult?") and into the hall leading back to our rooms. I was torn between hiding from everyone and just acting natural. I chose to go with 'acting natural' and made it safely back to my room to hide for the day, possibly in the closet, not sure. I was planning to text or call my mom or boyfriend to be like "cheer camp sucks! I think it's a Nazi camp!" but I didn't want to make them feel bad for sending me either, and didn't know how I would explain it.

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