Summer of '78

05

Mrs. Angelo let Mara leave that night. The girl was really excited to see Kirk that night. There was something about him that made her smile every time she hears his name.

The moment she stepped foot outside the infirmary, her cabin mates jumped on her and hugged her. Mara was really happy to see them. 

"How's your foot?", "Did any of your bones pop out?" , "Does it hurt when you walk?" were some of the questions the girls asked when they saw Mara. "It's good, No and a little." The girl said answering all of the questions. "I have to wear this ankle brace all the time I do effort and rest as much as possible. But I'm still going stargazing tonight. Any of you coming?" The three girls looked everywhere but at Mara. "Seriously. None of you?" Mara said, annoyed. 

"I'm sorry Mara. Me and James have a date tonight." Anna said. "Yeah and me and Willow have a party to go to. Girls from cabin 1 and 2 invited us over. Sorry." Beverly said in an innocent voice. "Okay. Whatever. It's your loss." Mara said and went to their cabin.

She spent the rest of her day reading one of her favourite books, Pride and Prejudice, for the millionth time. It was something  about it that made you want to read it over and over again. When night settled and the stars started to appear on the dark sky, Mara got ready. She said goodbye to her friends who backed out on her and went outside. There she was a group of kids waiting for the counselors. Mara spotted Kirk among others. It was hard not to see him with his locks. Kirk saw her as well and waved her over. 

"Hey. How's your ankle?" he asked. "Oh it's alright I guess. It does hurt but it's not that bad. Is it just you?" "Yeah. My friends left me. Something about a party and James is going on a date with his girlfriend." Kirk said. He wasn't totally sad that his friends didn't come with him. He wanted to spend as much alone time with Mara as possible. "Yeah same here. Didn't expect both of my siblings to abandon me but I can't do anything about it so...yeah. At least you came so I'm not completely single." Mara said and giggled. Kirk just smiled. 

"Okay everyone, follow me." said Axel who was one of the counselors that was going to watch us.

We had to walk for a while but eventually we got to a really big open space. Another counselor gave us some kind of book that contained photos of different constellations that we had the chance to see and told us to pair in groups of two. So Mara and Kirk took their book and laid down on the grass, facing the sky.

Mara knew a little more than Kirk about stars because she used to go stargazing almost every night with Beverly when they were younger. She opened the book and told Kirk about every constellation that she spotted. The boy was confused at first, not really being able to tell where the constellations were but through the night, he started to understand what Mara kept talking about.

During the night, Mara and Kirk left the group and went on a walk around the camp. Eventually they stopped and sat on the dock by the lake.

"So you're telling me that you and Aaron tried to switched places for the yearbook photos? Did it really work?" Kirk asked surprised after Mara told him about the trick she and her twin brother tried to pull in 8th grade because they both hate picture day. 

"No it didn't work. They let us take our pictures and then we were sent to detention. But it was fun." Mara said and laughed thinking about that day. Kirk laughed at well.

'God damn that laugh. It's so sweet and intoxicating.' Mara thought 'Wait, what. No, stop that. You don't even know the guy. Stop it.' 

"Are you okay?" Kirk asked her. Mara turned her head to look at him and gave Kirk a small smile. "Yeah I'm okay." 

After some time of pure awkward silence, Mara spoke up "I haven't swam in the lake yet. I'm planning on doing so tomorrow." "Why wait until tomorrow?" Kirk asked, a smirk appearing on his face. Mara looked at him, not understanding what he is trying to say. "Wait, what?" the girl asked very confused.

Without saying anything else, Kirk pushed Mara off the dock and into the lake. The girl let out a yelp before making contact with the cold water of the lake. Once in the water, Mara turned to Kirk, angry. "There was no need to do that! The water is freezing and now I'm cold." she said almost yelling at the boy. "I'm sorry. Here let me help you." Kirk said and extended his hand to help Mara out of the water. Instead of getting out of the lake, Mara pulled Kirk in the water as well. "This is called payback, baby!" said the girl and then laughed at Kirk's shocked expression. "Aw, man!" Kirk said and laughed as well. 

Then the two teenagers started a fight with water, both ending even wetter than before. After a few minutes into the epic battle, Kirk got out of the water and helped Mara as well. 

As they were walking back to their cabins, Kirk's being the first, they heard Vincent. He was on patrol. "Shit" said Mara a bit too loud. "Hey! Who's there." Vincent spoke. Then he started jogging towards the kids' location. Without hesitating, Kirk opened the door to his cabin and dragged Mara inside with him. He then quickly locked it and pulled Mara down, both of them having their backs against the door. Vincent came closer to the cabin and looked through the windows. Not being able to see anything inside, he left.

"That was a close one" Kirk said, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Yeah, it was." Mara said, doing the same.  The two teenagers didn't realise, until that point that they were holding hands. After they noticed, they both let go quickly.

"I guess it's time for me to go. I'll see you at breakfast." Mara said and got up from the now wet floor. "Yeah, see you in the morning" Kirk said and got up as well.

Mara quickly made her way to her cabin without being seen. Once she closed the door behind her, she let out a loud sigh. She noticed none of her friends were there so she took her ankle brace off, took a quick shower, dried her hair, changed into her pajamas and hopped into bed. Before falling asleep, she thought about today. She had so much fun and couldn't wait to see Kirk in the morning. 

'Maybe this camp isn't so bad after all' she thought.