New Horizons

Chapter 4

A week later, after I'd carried my ceramic coffee mug around every day, a set of travel coffee mugs appeared in the fellowship center gift shop. I wouldn't have known about it except that Ashleigh went out of her way to tell me.

"So now you can stop dragging that mug from the dining hall with you everywhere," she looked way too happy about that. I wondered if she was always so fake or if it was something she just did while she was at camp.

"Let's go see!" Danie grabbed my wrist and started walking before I could say anything to Ashleigh. She'd learned not to trust what I might say.

"I like them, I need one," Katie took a bright pink one off the shelf.

"They're a lot bigger than I expected," I admitted, taking a black one. I would have rather had teal or purple but for some reason the only actual colors were neon. They all had the camp logo printed on one side but I knew I could scratch it off easy enough.

"We ordered the biggest size possible," Justin was sitting on one end of the counter. It looked like he'd probably been talking to the counselor running the register. I don't know how I'd missed him when we walked in.

"They're so cute," Danie took a pink one too. "I bet you sell out today. You'll have to order more."

"Nah, these were limited edition," Justin grinned. "A special order," he winked at me.

"Yay, we got the only ones," Danie cheered which covered my nervous laugh.

We paid for our mugs and after a little more awkward small talk escaped to have them filled at the snack bar. Danie and Katie tried to tell me a story about stuff they'd gotten in other summers at camp but I was stuck on what Justin said. He'd really ordered the coffee mugs just for me? Why? And how? Justin didn't even run the gift shop.

"They really need to get a Starbucks in here," Danie sighed when our drinks came out.

"That would be nice," I looked at my cup. "But these don't cost as much."

"True," Danie went right for the sugar packets.

"Are you even gonna taste that first?" Katie asked.

"I can't drink it without sugar in it," Danie shrugged. "Do you wanna go swimming after this?"

"Not really," I looked around the fellowship center. There wasn't anything more interesting happening in here than what would be happening by the lake. Just group after group of kids I wouldn't have anything in common with.

"Hm, we could see if anyone wants to play volleyball," Katie suggested. As if that was better? I started to shake my head and then I saw Amber walk through the back door. She started scanning the room.

"Actually, swimming sounds great," I decided. "Let's go right now."

"Whoa, okay," Danie laughed but I grabbed her cup and started walking. "Wait, I wasn't done."

"You put like 10 packets in there, you should probably stop," Katie said.

"I didn't put that much," Danie protested but she took her coffee from me and we escaped the fellowship center - well, I escaped Amber anyway. The other girls probably didn't feel like running away from anything.

The scene at the lake was everything I hated about high school but in a bathing suit. Everywhere I looked there were 3 or 4 girls hovering by each guy, trying real hard to get his attention. In some cases, like where Ashleigh was, it was actually working.

"They would be cute together," Danie said, spreading her towel in the shade where I stopped. We were away from almost everyone under the tree since the others seemed more interested in getting tan. Once again that was something genetics screwed me out of - I could get a sunburn from a flashlight.