Chalk

Escape

I finished tying my swimsuit and followed my roommate out of our little wooden cabin and into the great outdoors, already dreading the feeling of the bugs on my sweaty face. While I was looking forward to the sun forming a tan on my skin, we had just eaten lunch and a stomach cramp was something I was not ready to deal with.

"Shouldn't we wait thirty minutes or something?" I whined as I swatted at a mosquito buzzing nearby.

"Shut up and hurry! We're gonna miss all of the fun!" Ariel called to me as she ran barefoot through the grass, her blonde hair billowing out behind her like the cape of a superhero.

I sprinted after her, my legs carrying me toward our destination: the lake. The gleaming water could be seen from our cabin and had been tempting us to take a dive all afternoon. I followed Ariel as she bounded onto the wood of the dock giggling.

We both walked to the very edge of the wood and peered down into the water before looking back at each other with wide grins. All worries of stomach cramps had fled my mind, instead replaced with the thought that there were no pesky bugs to annoy me underwater. Ariel held out her hand, a smile on her face, and I interlocked my fingers with hers. Her smile grew as she let out a wild yell. She threw our joined hands over our heads, screamed out in pure joy, and then jumped off, quickly pulling me down with her.

I heard her laughing when my head emerged above the murky surface. She'd already begun to swim to the shallower part of the lake where a crowd of strangers was socializing. My legs were quick to follow suit and soon enough, my feet met the sandy bottom and I was able to stand. I walked to her, the water now resting at my hips.

My roommate had that flirty look on her face, already eyeing all of the cute boys that surrounded us. It was a dangerous look and I knew better than to interrupt her for any reason other than I was dying. But that didn't mean I wanted to stay there. There were so many people and I had always suffered from anxiety in crowds.

"The name's Ariel. What's yours?" She said, her smile only growing wider as a short and stocky guy with black hair fully noticed her presence and gave her a quick once-over.

"Tanner. Why haven't I seen you around here before, beautiful?"

The eyes of every male around seemed to be on Ariel and since I was standing close to her I felt as if they were looking at me too. My hands began to twitch anxiously against my thigh. I opened my mouth to tell her I was going to head back to the cabin when a very tan guy stepped in front of me and stuck out his hand.

"I'm Mattie. And you are?" he asked, a charming smile on his face.

He seemed like my type: tan, athletic, and tall. His shaggy brown hair was wet and stuck up in some weird places but it was obvious that he liked it messy. He had a flat stomach that wasn't exactly muscular or equipped with abs, but it was still attractive. Water glistened and dripped along his arms, all the way down to his open and waiting palm.

"I'm Kat." I replied, looking up into his sparkling blue eyes and reaching out to politely shake his hand. With Mattie near me, his friends began looking for other sources of entertainment and I no longer felt like I was being hunted.

"Where are you from, Kat?"

"Nevada."

"Then why'd you come to Maggie's Summer Camp for Teens? You do realize you're in California, right?"

I sighed. "Picky parents."

"Oh," he replied. "I see."

"So where are you from?" I asked after a few moments of silence. He was the first one other than Ariel to attempt a conversation with me instead of awkwardly staring at the weird out of state girl. I wouldn't let his efforts go to waste.