Campfires & Rainbows

Chapter 2

I ran out of the car and grabbed my luggage; a large suitcase, duffel bag, and a backpack. I began running towards the buses as it had begun to intensely pour and I was getting all wet. When I got to the other side of the buses, cliques had already formed and I was all alone standing in the rain. To my left, there were these two girls holding hands, one with her head on the other's shoulder. I smiled at their affection. To be honest, I was jealous. I've always liked girls but have never had a real relationship with a girl.

"Girly, if you stand in the rain any longer you might get pneumonia," I jumped at the voice appearing out of nowhere. "Oops, sorry if I scared you."

"My name is Tiny." She stuck out her hand.

"Tiny?" I smiled at the name, it fit her perfectly.

"Yeah, my real name is Aurora, but everyone calls me Tiny."

"Fair enough," I nodded.

"So, are ya gonna take me up on my offer?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Offer?" I asked.

"Do you want to share my umbrella?" she giggled.

"Oh, yeah, right, sure, thank you." I said taking a big step into the protection of her bright pink umbrella.

She giggled again, "You're an awkward person, I like you."

"Thank you?"

"So, are you going to tell me your name?"

"Oh! Right! Yeah, it's Devin."

A group of adults left the recreational center led by a middle-aged man wearing a blue flannel shirt and jeans of the same color. All conversation ceased as they walked out.

"Attention, campers, I am head counselor Dean Higgins. I'd like to thank you all for joining us this summer." I rolled my eyes. It's not like I had a choice. He pointed at the bus farthest from me. "Okay, this is bus número uno, all last names that start with A through J, please go to that bus." He proceeded to point at the second bus and continued the instructions.

I turned my attention to Tiny, "What's your last name?"

"Ross," she giggled, "sorry kiddo, guess you're gonna have to mingle with someone on bus one."

"Ugh, but I don't want to mingle," I whined.

~~~

After I put my luggage under the bus, I may or may not have cut in front of people to sit in the back. When the bus doors finally opened, I raced to the very back and found a window seat next to the bathroom. The group of boys in front of me were talking about Sam Smith's new song Him. I hadn't had the chance to hear the song yet, but I heard it was good, so I should probably look into it. Closing my eyes and leaning back, I put my earphones on and played Him from YouTube. Not even ten seconds into the song, someone was disturbing me. I opened my eyes to see a girl softly shaking my wrists. She had rich chocolate skin, dark brown almost black eyes comical in their largeness, huge round glasses, and a big Afro. She was wearing a green and white sweater, white shorts, and white converse. In other words, she was really pretty. I took off my earphones.

"May I sit next to you?" The girl asked with an apologetic look on her face.

"Uh, yeah, of course, go ahead," I said.

The look was replaced with this huge smile, "Thanks! I'm Tiffany by the way.

"I'm Devin," I smiled back.

"I can't wait for camp to start, we're gonna have so much fun!"

I gave her a weird look. Why would she be excited to go to a camp that's gonna try and change us?

"You don't know?"

I frowned shaking my head.

"This camp is actually a safe haven for all LGBTQ+ kids. Trans girls learn how to do make-up, people get called by their preferred pronouns, kids get housed with the gender they identify as and they even have hairstylists and extra clothes so our outsides match our insides. Overall we're just supported."

"Really?" I smiled, my heart was jumping with joy.

Finally, a place where I could be me, and still be accepted as well as be around people who understand me. Maybe even get a girlfriend! wink, wink.

"Yep, this summer it's going to be all campfires and rainbows."