Summer Camp Sweethearts

Chapter 6

I walk into the activity center and see that the camp counselor is already waiting for us. He's sitting on a chair off to the side of the room. He has one of those boombox speakers next to him. I recognize him from the introduction day. He is pretty short, has dark facial hair, and has some tattoos running up his arms. The activity center is almost as big as the mess hall. It is split up into sections to divide the different activities going on. In one corner, there is a group starting to set up easels. I make my way to the middle of the room, where some students are already waiting for instructions. The rain is still pouring outside, but most students have made it here dry.

"Everyone, get a seat and make yourself comfortable," he says, walking toward us.

Even though I am still mad at what Kyle did earlier today, I still wanted to see if he was telling the truth. I immediately make my way to go and sit next to him. He looks at me, a smirk forming, and then focuses his attention on the counselor.

"My name is Andrew, and I am your dance instructor. As you can guess, the next activity is dancing." Andrew announces. He gave a 5-minute speech about how this dance activity will work. I sigh and zone out as I'm not really in the mood for this.

"Everyone, grab a dance partner, and let's dance."

I grab Kyle's hand and pull him in my direction, but I don't get far as there is a resistance on the other end. I look back to see Piper pulling his other arm towards her. Kyle's face scrunches up from the pain he is going through from the two of us, fulling him to each side.

"Leave him! He is my boyfriend." I shout over to Piper. Piper and I leave his hands simultaneously, and he falls to the ground.

"What! You haven't told her yet?!" Piper shouts down at Kyle, who is clenching his arms on the floor. At this point, everyone is looking at us.

"I thought you were going to tell her," he says, standing up. He runs his hand through his short brown hair.

"Tell me what?" I ask and look between both of them. Why have I been so striped? Why did I not believe the roomers?

I realize what they are referring to.

"Why?" is all I could get out of my mouth as the tears started to form in my eyes. There is a moment of silence in the activity center.

"We did not want what to tell you because we know you are going to act like this." the words came out of Kyle's mouth.

"And you lied to me, Kyle." Kyle wants to say something, but I am already off to look for another dance partner. "You said there's not anything going on."

"And you thought she would not find out like this?" Kyle askes. They looked at each other once before they could not stand to look at one another anymore. They turn around to look for other dance partners.

"Okay. First, we are going to do the Waltz." The counselor walks around to see if everyone is doing it correctly.

"1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3." He shouts so everyone can hear.

"1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3." I hear the same thing over and over again. It is not helping me to remember how to do it correctly. I look around for a partner to help me with this dance.

"I'll be your partner." A boy says as he walks up to me and takes my hand in his own hands. He starts dancing with me as we move our bodies in time with the music on the radio system at this activity center. The whole group is watching us as they try their best to follow along with the music.

"1, 2, 3," I say as we move our bodies together in time with the music playing on the radio system at this activity center. The whole group is watching us as they try their best to follow along with the music. I glance over the boy's shoulder to see what is happening to my now ex-boyfriend. I should've never believed Piper. She is known for twisting stories so that you can believe them, and she won this one. I can't believe that Kyle cheated on me. I feel so betrayed and angry at him for doing this to me.

"What's wrong?" The boy asks as he looks over my shoulder in the direction I am looking in. Piper is dancing, whispering something in Kyle's ear.

"Nothing," I say as I look back at the boy. The music stops, and everyone applauds for us as we dance with our bodies moving to the beat of this song playing on the radio system at this activity center.

"You know, I don't think you should be with Kyle anymore," the boy says as he looks at me. I look over his shoulder to see Piper and Kyle dancing together. They are so close that they can kiss each other right now if they want to. I don't hear what else he is saying because my mind is filled with anger and betrayal towards Kyle for cheating on me. Piper was right about everything she said to me when we were talking on the hike earlier today. She knew all along that Kyle was cheating on me, and with her of all people. They deserve each other now that I think about it. The famous quarterback and the captain of the cheerleading team.

***

That evening, someone knocked on our cabin's door. The rain stopped about 30 minutes ago. It's still wet outside, and the remaining drops fall from the roof.

"Who on earth is knocking on our door this evening?" Sofia said. It was clear she was not expecting anyone. I stand up from my bed to answer the door.

"Cara, good to see you again," I announce as I see her standing on the other side. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the others in the room looking at each other.

"You guys, this is Cara," I tell the rest of them in the room.

"Hi, I'm Sofia." She said.

"And my name is Abby," Abby says and hugs her.

"Cara is staying two cabins down in number 20."

I look out the window as everyone sits on my bed and talks about what the day has brought. I do not care what they are talking about. Not even following their stories. Only nod when I feel like it. Sofia looks at me, and I sense she knows something is wrong. She pulls me to the side and sits on her bed.

"What's wrong? You do not look like yourself since this afternoon." Sofia asks me.

"Is it that easy to recognize?"

"Yes, and I will not leave you alone until you tell me what's wrong."

"I found out today that Kyle has a relationship with Piper," I tell her. It does not look like she knows what I am talking about. "I heard some students gossiping about it, but I did not believe them."

"Wait a minute. Where were you when all of that happened? I thought you were there." I ask her, confused.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Sofia said. A sly smile tugged at the end of her lips.

"No, you did not!" I shout in a giggly way. The other girls, still sitting on my bed, overheard the conversation. They looked at us and made their way in our direction.

"What's going on?" Abby asks.

"I think I found out something about Kyle," I say. "He has been cheating on me with Piper." She added.

"What?" She asked.

"That's impossible," Cara said.

"What?" Sofia asked. "It's true," I said. "It happened when you were out sneaking around with your man."

"I don't believe it," she said. "It's not possible."

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"You're a great girl, but that doesn't mean they will be together." She said.

"We all know Kyle likes to play around with girls, but as I said, he has never been serious about anyone before," I said.

"I don't know what to believe anymore," she said. "What do you think?" I asked her.

"I don't know." She replied, looking down at the floor and shaking her head back and forth.

"I think I should go," Cara said.

"You can't leave yet."

"Why not?"

"We have to talk about this," Abby replied, walking out of the room with Cara following her. Sofia and I were left alone in the room ourselves again. I was still confused about what to believe. Kyle is not the type who does things by the book or follows the rules. He's always doing something different and unexpected.