Borderline Sane

The Summer of the Year 2001 (part 1)

We met at summer camp.

I was a scrawny 8 year old dweeb, no friends, and no social skills. When my parents had first kicked me out of the car they were giddy. They knew I would be out of their hair for a a few weeks. I on the other hand was not looking forward to camp. The camp itself was horrible, and painful. The tables were made out of wood, so that meant splinters. The cabins were wooden, which meant even more splinters. And well...you get the point. The camp killed me every year I went. The counselors were too cheery, and the campers just went along with this. The minute I was pulled away from their line of sight by the way too cheery Cherry. She was a counselor at the camp, and she scared the shit outta me. She was a woman with a figure, and brown frizzy hair that she held back with a ponytail and her camp baseball cap. She always wore bright red lipstick...lipstick that was always smeared on her teeth, and I mean ALWAYS. As Cherry blabed on, while she got me registered I looked around. What was I looking for? I had no clue. Maybe people my age, maybe a pair of eyes that were as lonely as mine. The eyes mine met up with were not from a lonely soul. It was a boy, a boy who had a group of 'friends' surrounding him. My eyes must have been stuck on him for only a few moments when he realized I was actually staring. And he  smiled at me...

"You al'ight hun," Cherry brought me back to earth with her southern drawl.

"Oh?...uhh...Yeah." I finally spoke.

She smiled again, the same cheery smile as before. "Well I'd reckon we'd bettah get you to your cabin."

She grabbed me by the shoulder as she spoke walking swiftly and speedily to the cabin. Cabin number 15. I was supposed to room with another boy, but my assumption was that he was a social butterfly. Because he wasn't in the room. I sat down at the bed watching as Cherry walked away, I finally took a chance to catch a whiff of my surroundings. It stank. This was only the seccond year I had been there, but the only people I recognized were the counselers...and even then I only recognized Cherry. Leaving my stuff untouched I decided to sneak over to the lake. I was confident nobody would notice me slip away from the hustle and bustle. 

As I walked, I made sure to avoid the poison ivy, and the orange moss...I hated the orange moss. As I sat by the lake, I began to close my eyes. Breathing calmly. Letting my thoughts take over. Even though I was 8 relaxing was my favorite thing to do.

"What are you doing?" I heard a voice behind me, which caused me to immediately jump to my feet in a mix of shock and surprise. I could hear the stranger chuckle lightly. When I finally looked up, I saw the same boy from before. The boy that had smiled at me. He began to talk "you do know it's rude to stare..." My eyes went wide. "Oh...um...s-sorry" I bowed my head. The stranger started laughing "hey," he threw his hands up like a surrender "I was just kidding man" he patted my back. I looked up to see his smiling face.

That smile of his was so contagious, I couldn't help but smile myself. Just as  I was about to ask his name one of the counselors called for all campers. The boy started to walk away, but then he turned to face me. "Well, are you coming?" His smile was still pasted in his face. "Uh...yeah" I muttered lightly as I walked behind the other. He kept looking back at me, almost as he was afraid I was going to run away (well walk away).