Straight Up by Paula Abdul

It is the spring of 1989 and all 4 sixth grade classes are up in the foothills, just outside of Sonora at Foothill Horizons 6th grade camp.  I remember not being very excited about going after having a less than good time at 4-H camp the summer before.  There were all kinds of rules and they made this big deal out of the shower situation - it was one big room and you had like, 3 minutes to shower.  Everyone was in varying stages of puberty, it was all very humiliating.  My mom had to take me shopping for jeans (not Guess jeans, of course, they were unnecessarily expensive and I was also overweight at the time) and bras and clean, new underwear, to minimize the humiliation of getting dressed in front of my peers.  I made it to camp and it was surprisingly more fun than I expected. 

I was in a room with a bunch of girls, but I specifically remember my bunkmate Jamie J and 2 popular girls.  Jamie and one of the popular girls thought that our counselor was just the coolest.  She was in high school and I don't remember much about her, but I remember that Jamie and Bethanni T. just idolized her.  That left me and Linda H. without a buddy.  I absolutely idolized Linda.  She was very popular and very pretty.  She was also very smart and I competed with her grades-wise whether she realized it or not.  We had never really spoken before, but for that week of camp, we were mostly thick as thieves.  During any activity with our cabin, Linda and I hung out together, but during meals or other all-camp activities, it was back to our circles of friends, hers much larger than mine.  We had so much in common from our taste in music, to our hobbies, to our parents' rules and opinions.  After camp, we never really talked again.  I was not popular whatsoever and we certainly did not have the same circle of friends.  I was also pretty shy, due to feeling extremely insecure.  We had a German class together the next year with a random group of kids, but we never really reconnected and she signed my yearbook to the effect of, I'm a nice girl who doesn't talk much.  I know, shocker. 

Getting back to camp, our cabin had to come up with a skit to present to the rest of the camp.  Our first idea was a song and we started creating lyrics to the tune of Straight Up.  I was ecstatic.  This was my absolute favorite song.  I had the single.  I listened to it constantly and I knew all the words and the tune.  I was beyond thrilled to sing it.  I remember the lyrics started off with: Lost in the woods.  Don't know which way to go.  Something something, straight up now tell me are we going to Foothill Horizons.  We later ended up changing up the lyrics to another song about Rise and Shine and Sing out your Glory Glory.  It was still a huge hit.