He Never Knew

Chapter 5

A/N: Hello!  I'm sorry for not updating in a while.  I just didn't have the motivation :(  I don't know.  But I am hoping to keep updates coming a lot quicker from now on (Yay) I'm hoping to get this finished before school starts and stuff.  I hope that everyone reading this enjoys the story so far :D

Time went by incredibly slow for Jeffrey.  He didn't have a phone nor a phone number to call to talk to Cara.  The ancient landline that had graced the wall in the kitchen for the last ten years had finally disconnected, and his mom had gotten a smartphone that he hadn't wanted to ask to use.  Besides, he didn't even have a phone number to call.  

A month finally passed.  July 9th approached, and the excitement of going to a summer camp had worn off.  Now Jeffrey just felt nervous, very nervous.  A tight knot formed in his stomach as his mother checked him at the front desk.  A woman that looked to be in her twenties sat behind the desk, looking for his name on the list.  It was an overnight camp.  He would sleep in a cabin with three other boys his age for five nights.  

"You'll be in cabin five," said the lady behind the desk.

His mom kissed his cheek, wished him good luck and left.  He walked past four cabins and finally found the correct one.  Once he got into the cabin he completely forgot about his mom.  Inside he found three boys.

"Hey," the tallest one drawled, his blond hair bobbing around as he talked. "You must be Jeffrey Wilson! We saved the top bunk for you!"

"Thanks," Jeffrey said quietly, just above a whisper.

"Alex! Shut up," another boy, (this one with his dark black hair hanging in his face) said. "You're scaring the poor kid."  He turned to Jeffrey. "Seeing as you have already been introduced to Alex, I'll introduce myself.  I'm Tyler.  That quiet creature over there- he motioned to another blond haired boy with earbuds- is Colby.  Say hi to Jeffrey, Colby." The boy didn't even look up. "Colby? Okay, not doing anything is okay too.   He's kinda antisocial.  I'd just ignore him if I were you."

Jeffrey was definitely the quietest boy in his cabin (except for Colby, but he can hardly count because his lack of social behavior was by choice, no really part of his personality).  A bell sounded somewhere near by; Tyler said that it was calling everybody to the dining hall for dinner.  The four boys walked together (Colby with his earbuds in).  Alex was trying to start some conversations, but Tyler skillfully shot down his over-excitement like it was a prized buck during hunting season.  

When they entered the dining hall, it was almost completely empty.  Tyler muttered something about "newbs" and how they never knew what they were doing.  One of the camp counselors answered with a muttered "the first day is always the worst."  Alex tried to cheer her up with a lighthearted conversation  and some extra excitement, but she didn't look like she wanted to be there.  She politely sent him to the table marked with a "5."  Tyler gave her a small smile and followed Alex.

"You mean we have assigned seats here?" Colby asked, finally taking one earbud out.

"Yep! For dinner anyway, unless there's a good reason for you not to.  It helps build relationships with your new friends and the counselors," she replied, trying to keep a light smile.

Colby sulked back to the table and picked up his mp3 player.  He almost put his earbuds back in but thought better of it.  By that time, most of the other kids had found their way into the dining hall and sat down at their assigned tables.  Each counselor had a bin full of food and walked to their designated tables.  A tall, tan teenager with wavy brown hair walked over to their table. 

"Hello! I'm Nathan and I'll be your awesome counselor for the next week!" he exclaimed, smiling. "And I have food... So if you like me for no other reason than that I am totally okay with that!"

Nathan spread out the milk cartons, sandwiches, and other food around the table.  He then sat down next to Colby.  

"Time for some icebreakers guys!!" He might as well have shouted.  "Okay, I'll start.  I'm Nathan."

"Hi Nathan," the boys answered.

"And I feel like I just entered an AA meeting.  Well, my favorite music is dubstep.  I'm seriously considering being a DJ.  Cause why not?! Who's next?  I don't really care what you say, as long as it's kinda related to music or yourself or something."

Everything was quiet for a few seconds.  Not even crickets chirped.  It seemed that everyone in the entire building wanted to wait for someone else to break the complete silence.   Alex sat fidgeting, like he didn't like the silence.

"So as you guys know, I'm Alex.  My favorite genre of music is country, but I also like dubstep.  One of my friends at school introduced me to it and I fell in love.  I love mixing songs.  But my favorite country musicians are Toby Keith, Eric Church, Carrie Underwood (she is so hot), and Lady Antebellum.  I just love..." he probably would have continued forever if Nathan hadn't interrupted him, "Thank you for sharing, Alex."

"Now I am not going to introduce myself like I'm at an alcoholics anonymous meeting." Tyler started, "I assume you all know who I am.   My favorite genre of music would be Rock, soft rock, classic rock, hard rock, Screamo whatever.  I love them all.  My family always tells me that I need to 'broaden my horizons' but I believe that the genres of Rock are all very unique, so my horizons are quite broad."

He looked expectantly at Jeffrey, waiting for him to say something.  Jeffrey could already tell that he like Tyler very much.  He had this sense of leadership without being bossy.  He also seemed like he didn't judge people before getting to know them.

"Um.." Jeffrey started, but Colby cut him off, "Well, since I have to do this, I'm going to tell you now that I am seriously studying music.  I can play five different instruments including violin, piano, trombone, guitar, and oboe.  I refuse to deal with any of your stupidity."

"Okay then," Tyler muttered, just loud enough for everyone to hear him.

"Why don't you go ahead, Jeffrey?" Nathan said, trying desperately to stop the fight that seemed evident to him.  He was not ready to deal with two eleven-year-olds fist fighting.

"Um.." Jeffrey whispered, not really knowing what to say, "I guess I don't really know what genre I like, but my favorite band is Skillet."

Tyler took the stage for him. "That's great!" he stated in his smooth but assertive voice, "Favorite Song?"

"Hero."

"That's the best."

Jeffrey knew that he really meant it.  He wasn't saying things to be polite.  He really wanted to help Jeffrey, for reasons that he couldn't describe for himself.  Tyler wanted everyone ( and by 'everyone' he really meant Jeffrey) to feel like they belonged.  And if the truth be told, he did a good job.  Everywhere he went, he made sure Jeffrey was with him.  Tyler knew what it was like to be lonely.  He knew what lonely people looked like.  He had promised himself that he would help anyone who was ever lonely.   

They would talk late into the night about themselves.  He said that his family consisted of his four sisters, two older and two younger, his parents, and himself.  He had two best friends at school named Weslie and York.  He went to a huge school.  He wasn't excitable like Alex, who would talk and talk and talk about everything.  Nor did he talk like Colby, who gave simple, curt answers to personal questions, like if he shared any information with anyone else he might catch whatever chronic disease they carried.  He had this smooth voice that was neither quiet nor loud.  He liked having meaningful conversations and talked about the world a lot more than an eleven-year-old probably should.  Most of the time, Jeffrey would just listen to him.

The end of the week arrived much too soon.