In July, there was a heat wave that hit Montreal right during my attendance at a camp, which was an amazing camp once you looked past the fact that the building contained absolutely no air-conditioning or ventilation whatsoever. Nonetheless, the camp was exceptional and my last chosen activity of the day involved going out on trips, where most of the places were indeed air-conditioned.

The trips were very interesting but one of the things I remember the most wasn't an outing nor was it expected. We were returning back to the camp after visiting a cosmetics factory each carrying a bottle of acne cleanser (I choose to not take this as an insult). "We" being the group's leader, Orla and 10 of us minors ranging from the ages of nine to a month short of fourteen. My friend Jake and I were the oldest ones of the group, as we would turn fourteen in August. Our friend Kris had turned thirteen in June and the rest of the kids were under eleven.

I hate to utilize the phrase "it was a day like any other" as it is overused but that day really was such. We in an area of the island that I don't know. My acute sense of direction only works while walking or driving (in other words, not in metros which is why I don't like them). At the end of our outing, we took a couple of busses to the metro station, where we would be riding back to the Snowdon metro station supposedly within enough time to not be late for camp to end.

We waited to go down to the platform and then waited some more for the metro to arrive. Finally it came from its dangerous speed down to a steady stop right in front of us. For whatever reason though, the metro's doors closed and it sped up again, leaving five of us inside the train and five on the platform.

I had been slightly lost in my own thoughts when Jake's somewhat raised voice pulled me back to attention. "We're getting off at the next stop!" he said. Confused I glanced around to see only him, Kris, an eleven-year-old named Seth and a nine-year-old named James. I quickly nodded and checked to make sure James and Seth weren't in their own little worlds. Kris, as usual, was alert. "Danielle, Kris. You guys have cell phones, right? Kris I know it may be long distance because your phone is from Seattle but can you guys call Orla or someone on the other side? Oh my gosh they are probably so scared! I hope we get back and…" At this point Jake was going at about a million miles per second. Kris and I exchanged a look. "JAKE!" I said loudly. "Yes" he said after finally catching his breath, "I do have a cell but it won't do anything, Orla doesn't have one." "What? Why? Do any of other kids have a cell?" "Orla doesn't feel she needs one and the other kids all eleven and younger" Kris answered for me. "What's wrong with being eleven?" Seth exclaimed. We brushed off his question as the stop arrived and the five of us exited the metro.

The stop's walls and floors were made of grey tiling and the lighting was dim. It was fairly deserted and everyone there was wearing black. We quietly walked to sit by the stairs, careful not to draw too much attention to ourselves. When sitting down Seth asked "So? What are we doing here?" to which Jake, Kris and I replied in unison "waiting". A few moments later he said,
"We need to go back to camp, the next metro we're going back to Snowdon!" "Doesn't work that way" Kris replied bluntly.

"Why? I know how to get back! You just go to Snowdon and then take the 102 bus to…"

"Seth", I said, cutting him off, "We know how to get back to camp, even Kris does and she doesn't even live in this country. Going back is not an issue. We are waiting here because Orla and the others will be looking for us and we could be anywhere within the Montreal metro system at that point and she'll get even more worried. She won't go to camp because she will be looking for us."

Seth kept arguing my point even though his suggestion wasn't even an option and after I could see he simply wasn't listening I turned my head to Jake and Kris. Jake was telling her to call her dad and after Kris said it would be of no use, he insisted we should call 9-1-1. After two metros had passed I suggested we go to the ticket booth upstairs and ask the guy to call the other station to see if the rest of the group was there. The five of us trudged upstairs, I was holding James by the hand, as he had seemed to be in his own world and possibly unaware of what was even going on.

Once we were upstairs, Kris ran to the bored man in the ticket booth and started to explain to him what was happening but he merely gave her a blank look and said "qoi?" Kris muttered something about French under her breath as she barely spoke a few words of it and handed the phone to Jake who started speaking at two million miles a second in French. Just then I noticed James walking away from the group. Seth seemed fairly quiet so I patted Jake on the back in an effort to calm him down and caught up with James.

"Where are you going? We have to stay together!"

"I want to go play!" What? I thought, did this kid seriously not understand what was going on, he's nine!

"I'm sorry but you can play later, we are in the middle of something". Because he is a good kid, he did as I said and came with me.

Jake was still trying to reason with the man in the ticket booth and Kris and Seth were looking down onto the platform. Just then Kris screamed, "They are here!" Jake dropped the phone he was using to talk to the man and the five of scampered down the stairs onto the platform and in to the car where Orly and the rest of the group were.

To say Orla was relieved to see us would be an understatement. On the returning metro and busses we were swapping stories and Orla hugged us when she saw us and apologized even though she hadn't done anything. Kris, Jake and I felt like heroes and couldn't stop grinning. Orla was nervous to tell her boss about the incident but luckily we saw her the next day. I am not sure if it is sad or not that I will remember this more than any of the trips we did but at least I can say that I had an adventure.