Free Now

chapter four - i'm dumb, she's a lesbian!

On Monday morning, Gemma packed up as it was her week off and she was leaving after breakfast. Gemma knocked on the Fig room door, to be greeted by a sleep deprived and grumpy looking Cassie. "What are you doing here, do you even know how early it is" She grumbled, while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Well good morning to you too. Is Daisy here, I want to talk to her." Replied Gemma. Cassie looked at the red-haired girl, annoyed by her request, but opened the door and responded. "Yeah, she's on the bottom of the corner bunk." And started walking towards the bathroom, mumbling to herself about how early it was.

Gemma finds Daisy sprawled out with her stuffed bunny, who she had been told was also named Daisy, which made sense to 3-year-old Daisy. And silently laughs at how adorable the blonde-haired girl was. Daisy felt a light tap on her shoulder. Groggy and half-asleep, she squinted to find Gemma standing over her, already dressed, backpack slung over one shoulder. "Morning, sunshine," Gemma whispered with a smirk. Daisy blinked, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?" "Too early for Cassie," Gemma teased. "But I wanted to say goodbye before I head out for my week off. Thought you'd want a proper farewell." Daisy groaned, half-annoyed but mostly touched. "You're leaving now?" "Yep. Off to catch some much-needed R&R." Gemma smiled, a mischievous glint in her eye. "You're gonna miss me, admit it." Before Daisy could respond, there was a rustling sound from the other side of the room. Lola rolled over, squinting at them. "Is this a private moment or can we all wake up for it?" she muttered, groggily sitting up. Jules and Hannah, stirred by the noise, woke up too, rubbing their eyes and glancing over. Gemma chuckled quietly. "Sorry, ladies. Didn't mean to cause a scene. Just heading out and wanted to say bye to your girl here." Daisy, realizing her friends were awake, shot an apologetic look their way. "Uh, yeah, sorry about all that..." Hannah stretched, stifling a yawn. "You've barely been around all week, and now we get a Gemma wake-up call?" Lola smirked, pulling her blanket over her head. Gemma gave a quick wink. "I'll let you guys have her back. At least until next week." Daisy playfully shoved Gemma. "Well," Gemma said, stepping back toward the door, "I'll see you around when I'm back. Don't have too much fun without me." Daisy watched her leave, then turned back to her friends, feeling the weight of the last week's distance between them.

"The mystery finally unravels. Daisy's been too busy sneaking off to hang out with the hot older counselors." Lola says and leans back against her bunk; arms crossed. "Seriously though, you've been MIA." Daisy bit her lip, guilt washing over her as she looked from one friend to the next. "I know, I know. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to ditch you guys last week. I just... got caught up hanging out with Gemma, and I guess I lost track of time." There was a pause before Lola sighed, waving a hand in mock dramatic forgiveness. "Yeah, yeah. We'll forgive you, but only if you promise to make up for it this week." "I swear," Daisy said, holding her hands up in surrender. "I'll be back to full-time friend mode." She got up and decided to read by the lake before breakfast, and the kids arriving after. Knowing that she wouldn't get a lot of reading done this week.

The CIT program was one week of training, followed by two weeks of being in-cabin with the kids. Then they all go home and return three weeks later for the last week of camp to take part in fun activities and to get interviewed by the camp directors to see if they get a job for the next summer. After the first week full of training, they were assigned cabins to co-counsel, splitting up and living with the campers alongside the counselors. Daisy was ecstatic when the camp director announced that she be in Willow cabin and would have Brooke and Kat as her councilors. Her and Brooke high-fived and she gave a quick wave to Kat, who she had only met briefly in the lunch line the week before.

Willow cabin was where the 6–8-year-old girls stayed, and when the girls arrived later that day, Daisy could already tell that this week would test her patience and energy levels. The girls turned out to be fun, much to Daisy's luck. One morning, Daisy woke up to find half the cabin had decided to "redecorate." The girls had draped toilet paper across the bunks, created "art" on the floor using trail mix, and were proudly calling it "Willow World." When Daisy asked why they thought it was a good idea to turn the cabin into a snack-based art project, one of the girls, Lily, replied with all the seriousness of an artist, "It's modern art, Daisy. You wouldn't understand." Another memorable moment was during swim time at the lake. One of the girls, Zoe, refused to wear her bathing suit because she claimed it had been "cursed" by the camp raccoons the night before. Brooke and Daisy had to spend a solid ten minutes convincing her that no, the raccoons didn't have a secret plan to sabotage her swimming career. One night, when they were supposed to be winding down for bed, Daisy overheard two of the girls plotting something suspiciously dramatic. When she asked what was going on, Ella proudly announced, "We're staging a midnight protest for more s'mores. The people deserve more s'mores, Daisy!"

On Wednesday, Brooke and Daisy had an hour off while Kat supervised shower time. They used this time to decorate rocks to give to each girl with their name on it, as a surprise to give them on the last night of camp. They sat cross-legged on the porch of the arts and crafts cabin, paintbrushes in hand and rocks spread out in front of them. Brooke was carefully painting a little sun on her rock while Daisy attempted a very questionable looking rainbow.

"So, what's the deal with the counselors this year?" Daisy asked, trying to sound casual, but curious about camp gossip. "I mean, are any of them... dating?" Brooke smirked, dipping her brush into a vibrant green. "Oh, you know. Classic camp drama. There's always something. Let's see... Avery and Sam broke up, but they got back together the other day." Daisy nodded, swirling her brush in the water cup. "Yeah, the trail of hickeys on Avery I saw this morning during free swim gave it away. And the fact that Sam has been giggling like a schoolgirl when she's around gave it away" Brooke laughed, setting down her rainbow rock, now looking a bit too much like an alien. "And I'm sure you know that Gemma's been hooking up with Katrina." Daisy's brush froze mid-stroke. "What! I didn't know that." she said, trying to sound nonchalant but failing. "WAIT! SHE'S GAY! I had no idea. And she's hooking up with Katrina?"

Brooke nodded, noticing Daisy's reaction. "Yeah, well it's not like she prances around telling everyone that she likes boobs. Also, how did you not know? Honey, it's the middle of the summer, and she's been wearing blundstones every day. Plus, she drives a Subaru. Anyways, yeah her and Katrina have been hooking up. They've been hanging out a lot when you're busy plus they had break together every day last week. I thought she had mentioned it to you." Daisy blinked, her heart skipping a beat. "Uh, no, she didn't." Brooke looked up, giving Daisy a sideways glance. "Seriously? Just text her and give her hell." "I don't have her number." Daisy added, sadly. This made Brooke look up with her mouth open. "Oh my god, she's lacking in the friend department lately. I'll give it to you, she won't mind." Brooke says and writes Gemma's phone number and Instagram username on the piece of paper next to her, handing it to Daisy. Daisy thanked her, feeling a knot tighten in her stomach. The idea of Gemma, who she'd been secretly crushing on all week, hooking up with someone else—especially someone like Katrina, who was known to be mean to everyone, especially the kids, wasn't exactly easy to brush off. Trying to imagine them together was hard for Daisy. But she swallowed it down, forcing a smile.

"So, what about the CITs?" Brooke asked, trying to shift the conversation. "Any drama there?" Daisy smiled, loving to talk about her friends. "Tyler and Cassie have been flirting non-stop. And I'm pretty sure Lola's got a thing for Andrew. But that's a mess waiting to happen, because they bicker non-stop." They continued to gossip about camp drama until their break was over. When they stood up, Brooke gave Daisy a hug, surprising her. "Hi Brooke, why are you hugging me?" she asked laughing. Brooke just smiled, "I'm getting sick, and if I'm going down, you're going down too." She deadpanned, and then ran away giggling. Leaving Daisy confused, and to clean up all the paint mess.

Later that evening, after the day's activities had wound down, Daisy found herself alone on the porch of her cabin, everyone long asleep. Opening a new text.