Summer Lovin: A Tayler Holder Story

1- Road to Camp

You loaded your bag in the storage under the bus and then made your way to the back to hide away from the world. You had begged your mom to cancel your week at camp, but you knew she was right to push you. You needed a week to escape from the turmoil your life just collapsed into last night.

You had been ignoring your boyfriend’s texts since your big fight. Noah was your first love and you’d revolved your whole life around him for the better part of a year so you knew you wouldn’t be able to stay strong sulking a few blocks away from his house. You couldn’t bring yourself to face any of your friends. Most of all your backstabbing best friend. Dixie hadn’t even tried to call you since you lost it on her and that lying face of hers.

This was your first year attending camp so you worried that you wouldn’t make any friends. Most of the kids had been spending summers together here since middle school and already held built-in cliques. You’d signed up to go anyway because your best friend couldn’t stop talking about how much fun she’d had there last year. It was at that moment you remembered… 

Dixie.

She strolled onto the busy bus and sat down with a smile laughing with someone already sitting up front next to her. She didn’t seem to notice you in the back and you tried to tell yourself that it was because the bus was already full and noisy but the truth was you two had been planning to go to camp together since she got home last summer. 

She knew you were on that bus somewhere and the longer you watched her laughing with friends, the tighter your jaw clenched. Just as the tightening in your chest reached an unbearable tension, you shot up, fully prepared to finish the attack you’d started the night before. Before you could take a step you saw a cute boy with a smile that outshined the summer rays beating in through your window slide into the seat next to Dixie. 

Jaden: “Dixie is that you?”

Dixie: “The one and only.”

Jaden: “Wow, you’ve changed a lot since last summer.”

Dixie: “Do I know you?”

Jaden: “I bunked with your boyfriend last summer at camp. Where is Griff by the way?”

Dixie: “He’s not coming this summer and not my boyfriend at the moment either.”

Jaden: *smirking*
“Good to know.” 

You looked over to the girl in the seat across from you and she seemed just as invested in the scene, though decidedly sadder. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach as if she was holding in sobs but the tears pooling at the corner of her eye were threatening to betray her.

You were debating saying something to comfort her when a dark-haired girl came and plopped beside her:
“Mads? What’s wrong?”

Her eyes trailed the path Mads’ stare was fixated and she rolled her eyes, continuing:
“Ugh, don’t even waste any tears on him. He is such an f-boy.”

Mads looked up to you and you felt uneasy eavesdropping on their conversation so you quickly introduced yourself. Indiana smiled across the aisle:
“I’m Indy and this is Mads.”

Mads wiped her eyes before any moisture could escape and took a deep breath before plastering a fake smile on and questioning:
“I’ve never seen you here before. Is this your first time at camp?”

You: “Yeah. I was supposed to come with my best friend but that didn’t work out so well.”

You eyed at Dixie out of the corner of your eye but quickly looked away hoping neither of the girls had made the connection.

Indiana: *assuming the glance was because Mads had been upset watching Jaden*
“He goes to our high school and was talking to Mads for the last few months.”

You: “Was?”

Mads: “Yep, dropped me the day after prom and hasn’t talked to me since.”

Indiana started to comfort her friend again when Dixie’s voice boomed across the entire bus:
“Not happening, jerk!!”

The entire bus broke out into laughter at Jaden being rejected so publicly. Indiana tried to divert attention away from the scene by explaining:
“So we’re both single pringles. Hopefully there are plenty of cute boys at camp.”

You: “Yeah, me too.”

Mads: “Wait, isn’t that a boy as your lock screen?”

You: *rolling your eyes*
“Noah. It’s complicated.”

Indiana: “He’s a boy. They are a lot more complicated than they have any business being.”

The three of you broke out into laughter and for the first time you thought to yourself: Maybe camp won’t be a total nightmare.