That One Summer

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Kailah's POV

After cleaning and fixing up Reegan's scratch in the infirmary and answering skne questions from the nurse, Kim and I escorted my little champ back to his cabin and waited for him to change out of his dirty clothes. Freshening up and changing our clothes ourselves, we headed to the cafeteria to search for the frozen goodness I just promised to both of the kids I had with me (and yes, the other one's my best fried Kim).

And thank God they had ice cream. Some camps just don't see how important that is to kids. Or they're just too stingy to stock up.

Since it was still a bit early for lunch, only a few people were in the cafeteria, eating their late breakfast. We sat at our table with Reegan sitting close beside me, who delightfully licked at his ice cream.

I chuckled at the mess around his mouth, gaining his attention, his bright green eyes staring widely at me. Grabbing a few plys of napkin from the table, I gingerly wiped the sticky mess off his cheeks and opted to leave the ones around his mouth. It was going to get messy again anyway.

"Sorry," he muttered, looking embarrassed as his cheeks flushed.

"No need to apologize, little champ."

"Yeah, what you need to do is to look out for this girl here. If you don't watch out, she'll stuff you in her suitcase and bring you with her home."

My head snapped towards Kim, giving her an incredulous look. She can't fill a child's head with that kind of thing (Though I'll admit that it was a good advice against strangers. Just not against me.)

She had the gall to smirk at me and continued on. "She loves kids too much. Heed my warning, Reegan."

I glared at her. If she gets the kid running, I'm giving her a purple nurple.

"But I like her." Reegan's small voice muttered which made Kim and I look at him and coo, mentally. If her sparkly eyes were any indication.

"I like you too, little champ." Leaning sligthly towards him and cupping a hand around my mouth, "Kim's going to be kicked off as best friend soon," feigning a whisper and getting a smack to my arm from said best friend.

Reegan's chortles ensued another round of cooing from us. He was too adorable for his own good. God, I wish I had a little sibling.

The rest of the time leading to lunch was spent goofing around and I could tell that Reegan didn't have much friends. It made me mad because he was such an adorable kid. Kim had also taken a liking to my little champ and I sent her a grateful smile.

When the cafeteria was starting to get flooded by the campers, I noticed the way Reegan had his back hunched that I couldn't help but be worried. Brushing his hair out of his face, I asked, "What's wrong, little champ? Does it hurt somewhere?"

I bit my lip, my concern growing when he remained quiet, head bowed. "Come on, you can tell me anything. I promise I won't be mad."

"C-can I-" He cut himself off, shaking his head as if he thought he didn't have the right to say or ask whatever it was running in his pretty little head.

Lifting his head up with a hand under his chin, I caught his eyes which were filled with so much insecurities that my heart squeezed. "Just humor me, okay."

His mouth opened with hesitation. And after patiently waiting for a few moments, "C-can I... Can I s-sit together with you during lunch?" He whispered so softly that I strained to hear him.

He looked so ashamed, his eyes watering a bit, that I couldn't help the audible gasp that managed to escape my lips. Without warning, I wrapped both my arms around his hunched form and hugged him to my body. "Well, aren't we just lucky. Our table's going to have a cute kid and everybody's going to be so jealous they'd want to sit with us too."