the summer camp of 2012

13. new friends [m]

everyone talked and talked. while i'm not the most outgoing person myself, i did join in once in a while. the whole "getting to know one another" session ends in ten minutes, so for the most of the time, i sat in the grass observing everyone. 

that includes, lucas. i looked up to my right, and he seemed distraught as he scanned through the names. his eyes stopped in particular to one of the names at the bottom. something about his expression changed. it was subtle, yet noticeable. i debated whether to ask him, but he had made it clear he didn't need friends, so i simply said nothing. 

out of nowhere, he shot his head up to look at everyone in our group. it was like he was looking for someone. he stopped in his tracks and dropped the clipboard on the grass. i guess he didn't notice he dropped it because he didn't bother to pick it up. 

his eyes were so hallow, yet fixated on the boy. mark martin, i believe it was. i grabbed the clipboard in front of him, though he didn't seem to notice. i noticed his hands started to tremble and his eyes started to water. did he know mark? why was he having such a reaction to a stranger?

out of natural response, i reached my hand out to ask him if he's okay, but before i could touch him, i quickly retracted my hand. no, he doesn't want friends. doing all this wouldn't help anything at all. 

i checked my watch again. 12:26. we had four more minutes until lunch. 

i turned my back as i heard another group approaching us. it was kai's group, with their campers. this group was definitely the older kids, since i saw people a few years younger, even some our age. though, i presumed, they were here to look after their younger siblings. 

we all said hi to each other as they joined in. from a distance, i could see someone approaching lucas. it was a tall, tanned, brown haired boy. he resembled mark martin a lot, so i'm assuming that is his older brother. 

i kept watch of them from a distance. as he approached lucas, i thought he would go in for a hug. instead, he slowly backed up. his expression morphed into terror, and his legs trembled as he backed up. the boy tried to talk to him, but all lucas did was back up and shake. 

i walked up in between them. "hi!" i said enthusiastically to the boy. "uh, hey." he looked at me. "i believe you've met lucas," i turned to look at him. he was still shaking as he stood behind me. 
"i'm mila, and i'm apart of his team." i said as i reached out for a handshake. he slowly looked up at lucas, then at me again, "i believe my younger brother, mark, is in your group." he shook my hand, "i'm marco." i pulled back from him, "it's very nice to meet you, marco." there was a silence, so i simply gripping onto lucas' wrist, "we have to go now, see you around marco." 

---

i dragged him into the cafeteria with the rest of our team sitting in our usual spot already. we sat down as kayley handed me my tray. "omg," she said as she bit into her hotdog, "i already love this day, it's going to be so fun." francis nodded in agreement. "but i bet arts and crafts will get messy later." she added. they turned to lucas, "aren't you excited?" kayley asked him. 

he sat there with a blank expression, still clearly distraught. i kicked him under the table as he snapped back into reality. "uh, yeah." he said while he ran through his hair with his hand. "are you okay?" francis asked, "you seemed, weird." he stuffed his face with spaghetti, "mhm, i'm fine." he said between bites. 

"are you sure? becau-" kayley asked again. "yes, i'm FINE." he cut her in the middle of her sentence. kayley didn't expect him to be so mad, which made her a little upset. "excuse me." she said as she got up from the table and rushed to the bathroom while francis followed after. only then did he realise how sharp his tone was, in which he mumbled a "sorry." under his breath. 

he sat there looking down as i got up. "i don't know what's going on, but you need to apologise." he lifted his head up with a hint, the smallest ounce of regret in his eyes. "i know." he managed to say as if he was on his last breath. i left the table and hurried to the bathroom.