A Summer To Remember

Five

I let out a little scream/gasp and looked to my left. Diagonal from me was a boy, propped up against the tree just like I was. I didn't even see him when I sat down. He had a pencil in one hand and a journal rested on his lap. He had dark brown and orange hair that was short on the sides. He had a small little nose and was skinny and appeared to be tall. His mouth curved into a dainty smile.
"Hi...umm...you caught me off guard a bit. I'll go if you want to be alo-."
"No, please stay." he said. "You must be new." he smiled.
"Yeah it's my first day. My aunt works in the office." I said.
"Who's your Aunt?" He asked.
"Lynn." I said.
"I love your Aunt, we are pretty much best friends. I'm uh Jaeden by the way." He said.
"Caroline." I smiled back. "Watcha writing?" I asked.
"Oh..I'm just doodling, I guess."he answered nervously.
"Can I see?" I asked.
"Umm...sure..I guess." He said and he scooted closer and handed me the notebook. On the face of the paper was a very realistically drawn heart. It had blood seeping down from the sides. It was a bleeding heart. You could feel the emotion Jaeden poured into this drawing.
"Jaeden, this is amazing. It's...indescribable." I beamed.
"Thanks." He said very quietly. I handed him back the notepad.
"So how long have you been coming to camp?" I asked, because this seemed like an important question.
"This is only my second year. I found this place last year. I didn't really know the guys in my cabin that well, so I just came here to get away from it all." Said Jaeden.
"So you're in cabin 7 or 8 I'm guessing." I said. He started to look vaguely familiar. He must've been one of the many faces I saw earlier at the dining hall. He was sitting nearby the curly, brown haired, freckled boy.
"Yeah. We can be annoying at first but we're not bad guys." he finished.
"You don't seem that way at all. Based off first impressions, you seem like a nice and quiet kind of guy." I said.
"I'll warm up." He laughed. "And my first impression of you would be, that you hated the idea of camp at first but once you got here, you realized "hey maybe it's not so bad after all." He said analyzing me. He was exactly on target. right on the bullseye.
"Wow you're right on target." I laughed.
"When you're a quiet person like me, you tend to notice things." Said Jaeden.
"So tell me about yourself Jaeden. If I'm going to make any friends, we gotta have something to talk about, right?" I asked.
"Yeah I guess, I mean I like to draw and stuff. I live in North Carolina. I'm an only child and I live with both of my parents. Oh and I uhh can play the piano. It's something I just picked up early on." He said, his cheeks glowing pink.
"That's cool. I play the guitar and I sing a little."I said. He looked at me with intrigue.
"Are you gonna do the midsummer music show? He asked.
"Maybe. I don't know yet." It was the start of one of the many great things that happened to me at camp. We ended up talking all through afternoon activities. Just sitting there in the cooling shade, and the warm breeze, learning about each other. It was one of the best times I had had in a while. He checked his watch and glanced back at me.
"It's time to go back to the cabins." He said disappointed. "Come on, I'll walk you up to girls row." He said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. I stood up and started back towards the center of camp. We walked quietly next to each other. It was a good kind of silence. It almost felt as if we were already comfortable being around each other. He walked me up the hill to the edge of girls row.
"I can't go any farther." He sighed. "I'll talk to you at bonfire tonight. It was really nice meeting you." He smiled.
"You too. Don't get too sappy on me now." I laughed back.
*Jaeden's POV*
She walked interestingly over to the tree diagonal from me. She sat down and sighed. She was in short athletic shorts and lilac tank top. She had wavy blond hair. She obviously didn't see me sitting there. So I decided to say something.
"Hey" I said. She looked as if she had seen a ghost. I must've really scared her. She saw my drawing book and I showed her my drawing. She analyzed it with wondering eyes. She said it was amazing. I think it's ok. My parents say art isn't gonna get me anywhere in life, and they're most likely right. They don't pay too much attention to me. It can get lonely at home. At camp sometimes too. She told me her name was Caroline. We talked for what felt like hours. It was nice to have a good conversation with someone who just didn't always want to talk about having girlfriends. It was one of the best days I've had in a while. She likes music like me. I finally have someone to talk to about that. When I checked my watch I was really disappointed. I walked her back up the hill and to girls row. I told her I was glad to have met her. She said the same thing back to me. At times like this, the scars on my wrists and thighs burned with resent, because the truth was, there was so much to live for.