A gay teen's first summer camp takes an unexpected turn when he falls for a boy in his cabin. Amid late-night campfires and stolen glances, he navigates the thrilling rush of first love-one that could change everything.
'Whatever you guys say, I will do. Just don't send me there.' 'Look, Ethan, there is no point talking,'Dad said shaking his head in an annoyed manner. 'Whatever we have decided, you have to do so. For your own good.' 'If you send me there something terrible might happen. I can feel it.' 'You are not being sent to jail, Ethan. You are just going to a sleep-away camp.' Dad sighed loudly.
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'Jail! Jail !' While jumping on my bed my younger brother Evan began to say in tune. ' Ethan is gonna go to the jail, Ethan is gonna go to the jail !'
'Shut up!' I scolded. I sat on the floor, near my light grey colored duffel bag.
With a black marker pen, in thick letters, my name is written in the front 'Ethan Starks'. Eli is my nickname. Mom wrote it with ink, that can't be wiped out with water. She's really serious about these kinds of stuff. I look at the neatly folded pile of my clothes on my bed. Some T-shirts. Jeans pants. Cotton half pants. Mom wrote my name on every single piece of clothing. Even on my underwear.
'Ethan is gonna go to the jail, Ethan is gonna go to the jail.' Evan said while starting to jump higher. 'Shut up, Evan!' I scolded him again.
Dad put his hand under the pile of clothes and picked them up like a spoon. Started filling the bag. I look at the picture of the sketch of a canyon I did once...I like to draw, mainly sketch, and besides that is a picture of my favorite wrestler Hulk Hogan hanging on the wall above the desk. Tonight I will see those two pictures for the last time. I won't see them again for four weeks. I have to spend four terrible weeks at that sleep-away camp. How could they do such a thing? My own parents?
Sending me out of the house for four weeks! Can't come back alive, I thought. I'm too shy to make friends with new people. And I am inexperienced in sports.
Ah, if only I had a body like Hulk Hogan, I wouldn't mind going to that camp anymore, I thought. What muscular hands. Muscular legs. All these are needed to be a good athlete. But where is the Hulk and where am I? My bones are collapsing. My arms and legs are as thin as a stick. Even my long, wavy blonde hair looks ugly. I've got eyes like my dad and blonde hair like my mom. As an athlete, I am rejected.
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I don't even have the power to kill a fly.
Flies! Oh shit... Are there lots of flies at the camp? I am afraid of insects. The sleep-away camp must be full of insects. Take ticks for an example. They stick to the skin and sit comfortably while sucking your blood, while you have nothing to do. And the pain of being bitten by a mosquito. Haa. Seems as if my brain's going to burst.
'There must be a lot of insects at the camp, right?' I asked. Dad and Mom rolled their eyes in disappointment. 'Jail! Jail! You will go to jail.' As if Evan can't forget the word anymore.
'Shut up! Stop!' I screamed at him again. 'Ethan will go to jail. Ethan will go to jail.' Evan jumped so high, it seemed that if he could get up a little more, he could touch the roof.
'Your room is now mine. I will stay here now.' 'Yeah as if I will let you. This is my room!' I shouted. 'when I am out, be careful, don't you dare enter this room.' 'This is my room now!' 'My! My! My!' said Evan, stomping on the mattress
I get on the bed and pinch him down
'Hey, hey! you have a spider on your hand!' Shouted Evan. 'Let go, it will fall on me' I moved away with a jolt. I frantically started jerking off my hand and looking for it. I shouted 'Where, where is the spider??'
'You're a fool,' said Evan with a hee hee laugh.
'I should go to the sleep-away camp. Not you.' He crawled out of the bed and walked towards my bag. 'Evan, move.' Mom pulled him away from my bag. 'You're gonna go to the camp too. Two weeks later. Be patient.
'Why can't I go now?' shouted Evan in a high-pitched voice. 'Ethan got the last seat in the four-week program. No more space. I have told you a thousand times. You will go to the two-week program.' Dad said.
'Now go to your room. Ethan needs to sleep after packing.' 'I want to go to the camp tomorrow,' Evan proceeds to the door whining. 'Every time Ethan's luck is always good.' Luck. Hah. I sat on the bed thinking. I pulled the blanket to my chin. I put my head on the pillow. And closed my eyes.
Even after an hour, I remained fully awake. Thinking about camp. Thinking of being without friends for a whole summer. Thinking of monotonous tasteless food. Thinking of crooked councilors. Thinking about making new friends or maybe...even... getting a boyfriend...oh right...I am gay. No one knows that about me, except my best friend Julia (who's gay too lol) and she's going to the camp too....but because she wants to. She is very athletic unlike me. And to be honest I don't expect myself to get a boyfriend....EVER. Who would want such a worthless piece of trash who can't do anything without being clumsy as their boyfriend?
