Summer 1984

chapter three

"How the fuck do we know which campers are ours?" Jonathan huffed in annoyance. Ari shrugged from beside him as they watched the groups of young girls spill out of buses and cars. Squeals and shrieks made Jonathan groan, regretting this job more and more.

"I'm guessing Whitley and Scott know," Ari said pointing at the pair who were standing by the mess hall, greeting campers.

Jonathan glanced over, Scott had kept giving him angry looks over the past two days, the tall athletic guy did not like him, especially at dinner last night. But now Scott laughed and smiled with Whitley.

Ari moved from his spot next to Jonathan and started walking over. During the past two days, Ari had become the only person who actually seemed to want to be his friend, the other two boys, Mitchell and James, were egotistical idiots, so Jonathan had chosen not to interact with them, Ari wasn't that bad after you started to learn how to ignore his annoyingly perpetual cheerfulness.

The irritated boy followed Ari, weaving his way through the young girls. God, they were everywhere.

"There you are." Whitley handed Jonathan a clipboard with several names printed on it, as he stood beside her, "Those are our campers, we have thirteen-year olds." Jonathan raised his eyebrows, taking the clipboard, running his eyes down the list of moving letters, chewing the side of his cheek.

"What am I doing?" He asked, giving up after the second name.

"Well, you can help me check in our campers and show them the cabin," Whitley had a small smile on her face, "or you can lug all of the girl's bags off the buses and bring them to the mess hall." She knew he wouldn't pick the second option, it was a billion degrees out and he wasn't about to lug a bunch of newly aged teen's crap anywhere.

"I'll help check in the campers," Jonathan said, tugging at his orange shirt that Whitley had given him to wear, saying that it was their cabin color and he needed to wear it on the first day. This was unfortunate because orange was not his color, he was too pasty for it. Whitley wore a similar orange t-shirt with a lighter colored bandana holding her frizzy ponytail back, that she'd spent ages standing in front of the mirror that morning, grumbling about how the heat had to make things difficult for her.

Suddenly a loud voice boomed out from behind them. "CAMPERS! WELCOME TO CAMP NEVERSINK," Jonathan clapped his hands over his ears, startled, as he turned around. Scott groaned from the other side of Whitley. A middle-aged woman wearing khaki shorts, holding a megaphone stood on a picnic table in the mess hall. Liz, the camp director.

"Once you have your bags come to the mess hall where you will find your cabin and counselors! Thank you and have a great summer girls!" Liz stepped down from the table, wiping her forehead. "First day of a summer of fun!" She remarked, her voice quieting by several decibels as she chuckled, "Have fun, honey." She patted Scott's shoulder before walking away.

Scott rolled his blue eyes. "She's insane," he muttered. Whitley snorted.

"She's awesome," she corrected him, a grin on her face as campers began to spill into the mess hall. Jonathan sat down on the picnic table watching the girls giggle with each other.

"Is this the Tiger Lily cabin?" A young girl with cropped blonde hair asked as she stood in front of them.

"Yeah, I'm Whitley and this is Jonathan," Whitley introduced herself, motioning to the boy who was sitting down, "We're your counselors."

"I'm Lucy," the girl, Lucy, introduced herself. Jonathan looked at the clipboard, the first name was the easiest to figure out and it was hers. He checked her off and set down the clipboard, gazing around as Lucy and Whitley chatted, Lucy didn't seem put off by Whitley's voice. She just rolled with it, but maybe she couldn't even tell because of the commotion around them.