The Cups song from Pitch Perfect starts playing in the dining hall, and the girls start clapping along, some grabbing nearby cups and bottles, doing the whole cups routine perfectly.

Clap, clap, pat, pat, pat… Cup flip!

“Whoa, whoa, wait, how did you do that?”

“You don’t know it?!” one kid looks at me in disbelief. Was I supposed to?

“Uhhh, no..” I say, grabbing a cup as I try to follow, my sad hand-eye coordination out for the world to see.

“You can’t do it?! It’s sooooo easy. Everyone in my class can do it.” she says. Another girl comes over and does it perfectly, too. I try it and fail miserably. The kids are laughing at me. Suddenly, I feel 10 again.

A small, quiet kid comes out of the corner to save me. “Here, I can teach you,” she says, smiling as she grabs a nearby Gatorade bottle. “Use this. I’ll do it slowly.” She pulls me to the floor and sits in front of me.

Clap, clap, pat, pat, pat. Got that? Follow after me.

I try it, and fail. She giggles. I try again, and again, and get it once.

Yay! You did it!

“It’s going to take more than three days for me to learn this,” I say, laughing nervously.

“I learned it in three minutes,” the other kid says, rolling her eyes at me. Okay, I’m really 10 again. Tweens can be ruthless.

“Just let her try it!” my little teacher says, shooing the bullies away. She smiles at me. “You can do it. Try it again.”

I smile at her for a minute. We must have been best friends in a past life.

Before I can continue, they call the campers for the next activity. We get up, and she looks up and winks at me. “You just need to practice. I’ll check on you tomorrow and you should know it by then, okay?” she says before running off.

I’m left alone with a random Gatorade bottle and a smile on my face, hoping my future kids turn out as awesome as this little girl.