Summer Nights | Lams

June 1st

Summer camp. Oh joy.

Just another place for John to spend a large portion of his year getting rejected by his peers. Should he look at it like that? No, and he knew that. But John loved summers with his dad. He loved fishing, he loved camping, he loved seeing new places with his dad and his dog. That's all he wanted out of summer. A three-month summer camp? Very much not that.

And not only did he not get a normal summer, as soon as "camp" was over, he got to move across the country because of his dad's job.

'This sucks,' John thought, barely awake enough to even process how annoyed he was.

"Social skills are important, John," his dad had said. "You know I love spending time with you, but I can't be the only person you ever spend time with."

'I don't only have dad though,' John pointed out to himself. 'I have Betsy, she counts, too.' John turned his head to look at the cocker spaniel in the back seat. She opened an eye at him before snuggling back to sleep. John sighed.

"Dad, even Betsy is asleep right now. She normally gets up before both of us. Why did we have to get up this early?"

"You can sleep while we drive, bud," Henry said, glancing over at him. "I just wanted to make sure you got there early enough to be able to see all of the facilities they have. Do you want me to tell you about some of them so you know what to look for?"

John smiled a little. "You've told me before, Dad."

Henry huffed. "I just think they're important things for you to know, John. I wouldn't have signed you up for a place that wasn't accepting, and I wanted to make sure I found a place with art facilities. There are four people to a cabin, so it's not too crowded but not too lonely. And there are horses John, I know you love animals! And-"

And there was John's cue to zone out. He had heard it all before, and as much as he appreciated the care his father had put into picking this place, listening to it wasn't necessary. Ever since John came out to him, his dad was more than careful about where John went and who he would be with. He trusted his dad to pick somewhere good.

That didn't make John any more eager to go, though.

A couple hours passed, and by the time 7:30 rolled around, John and his father had arrived. There weren't any other cars yet-not that John was surprised-who else would want to get here this early?- and there was only one camp counselor outside, from what he could see. The counselor, a short, older woman with a smile on her face, hurried over to the car.

"Hello!" she said lyrically as John and his dad got out of the car. "My name is Martha, my husband and I own this camp! Are you new this year?" John gave her a small nod, and her smile grew even wider. "I thought so. Well, we are so happy to have you!"

"I'm happy I found such a great place for him," Henry told her. She beamed at him.

"And what's your name young man?" she asked.

"Oh, uhm, John... Laurens, that is. John Laurens," he stuttered. Martha looked at her clipboard.

"16 years old, signed up for horses, cooking and art?" she checked. John nodded. "Lovely! You will be in... oh! Cabin 82," she said. John cleared his throat.

"Do you, uh, do you know any of the other kids I'm with?" John asked. Martha looked back at her sheet.

"Well, two of the boys you're with are also new this year, and then the other is a boy who's been coming here for a couple years, very sweet kid," Martha assured him. John nodded.