Back In The Day Pilot Preview

Hello friends!

Most of you wanted me to continue sharing the pilot episodes of these photo series’, so that’s what we’re going to do today! Today’s series is Back In The Day!

I must admit, I’m a little nervous to share this one with you all. I’ve been mentioning it for years now. I believe the first time I ever mentioned it was in January 2021, when I had little idea what this series would turn into. Now, I still have only a vague idea of what this series will be, but I have a full season written. (keep in mind it would still need to be edited, so it won’t really be ready any quicker than the other two series’) I suppose I’ve been putting off sharing this series for a few reasons…

First, I was putting out Aftershock and you guys REALLY seemed to like Aftershock! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved having your support. Yet, part of me was scared that if you guys loved Aftershock so much, you wouldn’t love another one of my series’. And this one is so special to me…I don’t really know why, but it just feels like home in a way. Since I was so scared to see your reaction to this series, I put it off for a while.

Secondly, I think I’ve talked a bit recently about how I experienced a lot of blogging burn-out in the year 2022. Part of that was because I was putting a lot of pressure on myself about Aftershock season three. In all honesty, if it had not been for the readers, there would have been no season three of Aftershock. Now that it’s over, I’m glad that I pushed myself to wrap everything up, but there was a point where I disliked writing Aftershock. I suppose I was (and still am) a bit worried that the same thing would happen with this series. Like I said, I’ve already written the first season, but that was in 2021, when I was probably at the peak of being inspired to blog. What if I can’t recreate the same feeling from season one into my planned series of 6+ seasons?

*deep breath*

Basically, I’m going to try to relieve myself of some of that pressure. I can’t guarantee you guys will like this, but I know the amount of work I’ve put into this (and will continue to put in, once I start editing), and I know the amount of work I put into Aftershock. I know that I’ve done my part to make this series even better than any of my others, and if the readers don’t agree…it’s likely just a matter of taste. And as far as my earlier promise of this series being 6+ seasons, I’m taking that back. I also believe I mentioned once that I wanted to have season two written before I premiered season one, but I’m taking that back too. I’m going to do what feels best for me. Right now, I’d love to share 6 seasons of this series! But if I start to feel burnt out from it…one season will be enough. Besides, it’s a shame to let what I’ve already written sit in my drafts forever!

Whew. That was a long intro…but I bet you guys came to see the post. Here goes nothing…

OH! In case you forgot what this is about, it’s about Periwinkle and Lil Choc when they were kids. It shows them meeting and having all sorts of adventures with friends and family. They’ll be played by their children, so I think that makes this series extra special.

“Are you two ready to go?” my mother asked.

I swallowed hard. Despite the promise of summer freedom, my summer was going to be absolutely miserable. What should have been two months of play had turned into two months of loneliness and boredom. My parents were sending me to dirty, tired old Camp Arrowhead.

While neither my sister Bella nor I had ever personally attended Camp Arrowhead, enough horror stories had filled our minds. Brownie, my classmate Cinnamon’s older sister, went to the camp last year. According to her, Camp Arrowhead was the most miserable place on Earth.

“They don’t even have real beds!”

“You have to swim in a lake. There are leeches and fish and seaweed in the lake!”

Brownie’s comments had certainly not made me excited for camp. In fact, they’d had the opposite effect.

I glared at my packed bag, sending one last prayer to the universe to save me.

Thirty seconds had passed, and the universe still hadn’t saved me. Realizing that I was stuck going to Camp Arrowhead, I sighed and said, “We’re ready to go.”

The drive was spent with Bella and I staring longingly out the window. The world blurred past us as we left our home behind. Bella and I shared a look. Communicating in a way only sisters can, we both expressed the same wish of hoping our time at Camp Arrowhead would fly by just as quickly as the world outside our window.

The radio blasted disco tunes while we agonized over our banishment to Camp Arrowhead. I enjoyed the upbeat tempo of that music. As we neared camp, more and more trees clustered together and finally static replaced the peppy songs. The car rolled to a stop and the three of us exited the vehicle. Mother exited normally, while Bella and I took as much time as possible to leave the car.

I mindlessly followed Mother to the registration desk. As she filled out the forms, I clung to her skirt.

“Please put Bella and me in the same cabin,” I begged.

“The point of you guys coming here is to make new friends,” Mother grumbled.

“Please?” I begged. “We’ll still make new friends.”

Mother sighed, but added to the form. I breathed a small sigh of relief. I may be stuck at an unfamiliar place, but at least I wasn’t alone.

I reached over to Bella and squeezed her hand. She returned the gesture with a weak smile.

My mother finished signing papers and hugged us goodbye. After she let go, I continued to cling to her. I was going to miss her. 

“I’ll show you two to your cabin,” the camp counselor said, gripping her clipboard.

Bella and I held on to each other as we followed the counselor to a rickety cabin. Though parts of the wooden cabin were a light oak color, most parts were stained from age. Moss had even started to grow on one of the wooden boards. I turned my nose up at the sight. Brownie was right, this camp was run down.

The counselor opened the creaky door and gestured for us to go inside.

“This is your cabin,” she announced.

I ventured in ahead of Bella. Being the older sister, I had to look out for the younger girl. Inside the cabin, there were two wooden bunk beds.  I was so relieved that Brownie was wrong and that there were actually beds. Also in our cabin was a girl. She seemed to be a bit younger than me, but taller. She was probably about Bella’s age.

“Hello,” I greeted.

“Hi,” Bella echoed. I’d been so focused on the interior of the cabin that I hadn’t noticed her follow me in.

“Hey,” the other girl replied. “I’m Cokie.”

I nodded. “I’m Periwinkle, and this is my sister Bella.”

Bella shyly waved.

“It looks like we’re cabin mates for the next two months,” Cokie sighed. “Which bed do you guys want?”

I shrugged. We weren’t picky.

Cokie smiled. “Well in that case, I’ll take this top bunk.”

She threw her striped backpack onto her bunk as I claimed the other top bunk. Bella decided to put her things underneath my bunk.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the air. I felt that it was up to me to break it.

“So, have you been to camp before?” I asked.

Cokie shook her head. “No, but my brother has. What about you guys?”

“Nope,” I shook my head. “It’s our first year too.”

“Cool,” Cokie smiled. “My brother speaks highly of Camp Arrowhead, so I guess I was kinda excited to come here. But I was nervous about making friends.”

I suppressed a frown. “Bella and I weren’t exactly excited to come here. At all.”

“Let me guess, you guys aren’t really the camping type?” Cokie giggled. “It’s okay, I’m not either. But I think that there is something here for everyone.”

I felt slightly reassured by Cokie’s comments. Camp Arrowhead still wasn’t how I would have wanted to spend my summer, but I wasn’t exactly thinking it would be misery anymore. In the very least, I thought I could make a new friend out of Cokie.

“I think we can pretty much do whatever we want until the welcome ceremony. That should be right before dinner,” Cokie explained.

I glanced down at my watch. “2:45,” it read.

“When is dinner?” I asked.

Cokie stroked her chin. “Probably about 5:30. So that would put the welcome ceremony at 5.”

“So,” Bella peeped. “We have over two hours to kill.”

I nodded. “We could take a walk around camp,” I suggested.

Almost as if on cue, thunder crashed from the sky. Bella nearly jumped out of her skin.

“On second thought, maybe that’s not such a good idea,” I retracted my earlier statement.

Cokie laughed. “Yeah, maybe not.”

Bella gave me a mischievous glance. I only had a moment to wonder what she was up to before I was whacked in the side with a pillow.

“Pillow fight!” Bella yelled.

I wasn’t going to let her get away with it. Cokie and I shared a glance before each grabbing a pillow.

Pillows and laughter filled the air as we lost all sense of time.

Eeeee! What do you think? I actually had a lot of fun making that. I hope you guys like this, but I also kind of hope you guys vote for In Perfect Harmony (or The Hidden Princess) so I have more time to perfect this series. But even if you do pick this one, that will help me stop procrastinating on this one.

Also, this episode hasn’t been edited yet, so if y’all pick this one, I’ll re-do this episode and hopefully make it a bit better.

Anyway, please don’t hesitate to tell me what you think! I hope you all have a great weekend! I’ll hopefully see you next week with our last pilot episode!

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