Camp Bluelake

Chapter 2

I stepped onto school grounds, my Docs slapping the floor with every step. I went straight to the meeting point, eagerly awaiting my best friend's arrival.

She rocked up soon after on her yellow bike, brown hair always seemingly perfect, (I kept asking about and it and finally she admitted, quite embarrassingly, that her mum puts oil in her hair before showering (she's something else) and her dark skin glowing in the after sun of spring. It was practically summer but the iridescent flowers, with their multicoloured petals, as soft as Jay's hair, had yet to come, as well as the hot weather.

Jay dropped her bike in the middle of the entrance to Wolfridge High. She came bounding up the steps to the concrete prison we'd spent the past year at.

She moved in the least graceful way imaginable, her short hair bobbing as she tripped on her shoelaces every other step.

We jumped and high-fived, her strong hit causing a red mark to appear on my palm.

"Last week!" She exclaimed.

With that, I ran into the school, her hot on my trail as I skid through the crowded halls, my shoulders bashing the zombified pupil's shoulders.

Jay didn't want to scream for me to wait for her, afraid of giving the students a headache. It's okay, I thought. I'll do it for you.

"Come on Jay! Catch up you slow poke!" I yelled as loud as I could muster.

She scowled, her mouth pulling down into her usual look of dismay when I did something she wouldn't.

Metal lockers slammed and the sound of muffled voices paired with the scuffling feet set the tone for the day ahead.

I pressed my face against the glass, my nose looking more like a snout than anything human. I burst through the door, the wooden structure shaking on its rusted hinges.

The room was divided by long rows of desks, all parallel to the teacher's table.

Jay came plodding through the doorway, her cheeks red, bag dragging behind her like a dog on a leash.

She spoke between pants, "why," pant "are you so" deep breath "intent on giving the other teenagers migraines before the day" long exhale "even begins?"

She bowed her head and hunched her back, black locks falling in her face, and heavily placed her hands on her lower thighs for support.

The day went by as any school day does: classes, lunch, anime club, Jay getting hit in the face with a can of silly string after I tried to scare her coming out of gym class.

The rest of the week went on like this too. I said goodbye to Jay and said I would see her in the summer.

There was a change of plans when I got home.

•••••••••

"I'm home!" I sang out down the hallway, whistling a tune I had picked up from when I was a child.

No one replied. Rude, I thought, walking through to the kitchen. I picked up an apple from the fruit bowl and rubbed it on my light blue jumper (the fifth colour in the rainbow to match the fifth day of the week).

I moved further into the house, surprised when my mother wasn't cooking, not even the scent of spices wafting though the air.

Coming to the living room, I took my boots off, thinking I may face a similar fate to Jay if I walked on the carpet in shoes. But she wasn't there, and neither was anyone else. How curious, I thought to myself, idly chewing my apple.

The backyard was my next safe bet, so I tugged my boots back on half way, leaving the zippers undone, and pulled the sliding door open. With a woosh, the cool air of the summer evening hit me in the face (the heat and moisture don't usually hit for another couple of weeks so I'm still wearing thinly knit jumpers).

Sure enough, there they were, all 4 of them, plus the family dog, Yoshi, in my fathers lap, or more like crushing him. He's a Bernese Mountain Dog, and a big slobbery one at that, but I love him. As soon as he hears the door he leaps off of the sofa and trundles toward me, and suddenly I regret my earlier statement of love. I run sideways and toward Cole.

"He's trying to jump me! Cole do something!" I was practically screaming at him as I tried to jump on his back.

"Oh I gotcha!" Cole pins my hands behind my back as Yoshi leaps up and licks my chin. My face contorts as I try to pull away from the sliminess.

"Great, remind me not to trust you next time." I roll my eyes, continuing with an insinuation. "Did you learn that one from Sensei Ben?" I turn toward him, perched on the swing, and bow my head, doing the "Oss" greeting, as Master Ben calls it. He giggles and runs over to me, presumably for a hug as I open my arms.

Instead, Cole grabs me from behind again, and says, "I'll hold, you punch!" I was pummelled with tiny fists, not leaving a single scratch, but I play along.

"Oh no," I cry. "How you wound your own, helpless brother. Is this the fate of the middle child?" My wailing of misery concludes after a few short moments, when Ben suddenly finds the dog more interesting than me.

"Burn," Cole says smoothly beside my ear. I turn and stick my tongue out.

"Whatever, I'm telling mum," I say in mock immaturity, crossing my arms and pouting. He musses my hair and we both walk over to my parents on the patio.

"Hi sweetie," my mum greets with a cool smile. I wasn't buying it.

"Oh yeah, act as if you didn't just witness your son being mercilessly beat up." I rolled my eyes and she waved my claims off with her hand. I take a seat on my dad's lap, replacing Yoshi. He makes a sound of discontent, like a small oof, so I turn and give him my biggest smile.

He laughs and moves me to sit between my mother and him, before he speaks calmly. "Alright kiddo, so we've been talking about our plans this summer." I nod along only half paying attention as I watch Yoshi chase a monarch butterfly around, his dopey movements adorable but also quite comical when compared to the graceful insect.

"We think it would be fun for you to go to summer camp." My ears tune in and suddenly it's as if I've been hit by a car.

"What?" I ask in disbelief, and when they don't say anything, I repeat myself. My mum speaks up this time. "We thought it would be good to change things up. Ben has his martial arts, and Cole has his girlfriend. We just don't want you to get bored Sweetie." She reached over to touch my hand.

I look up, making a huffing sound. "So you're sending me away. And why? Because I'll be bored? Or is it because you just don't love me anymore?" I fake cry into my hands and my mum hits the back of my head.

"Oh stop your winging you big baby." She shakes her head. "We just don't want you sat at home with nothing to do."

My dad follows on, "one of my colleagues was talking about how his eldest son was a supervisor at Camp Bluelake, and how much fun the kids have there. We're not forcing you, but it would be a good opportunity to make more friends and experience something new." I wanted to interject and say Jay was the only friend I needed, but I knew they had good intentions, and hey, maybe it would be fun.

"Fine, but can I at least see the brochure?"