Camp Kumoni Ch. 37 by Anistasia Allread Assisted and proofed by Nick B “Are you alright?” Tricia asked, coming closer. “Yes . . . No.” Erika almost whined. “My duck is gone.”

“They said that you were a cold-hearted witch. After all you don’t talk much to the other girls and you turned Josh down after one date.” Her laughing slowed and she smiled at Erika. “That you felt he was beneath your status. But I see everything more clearly now.”

Erika’s heart jumped. “You do?”

“Of course, a smart, sensitive girl like you wants someone who will take care of you, as much as you take care of them.”

Erika could feel her muscles relax. “Yes. Yes that is it.”

Tricia smiled. “You deserve someone wonderful.” She embraced Erika in a tight hug.

---

After lunch, Director Hobbs rounded up the Foxglove girls and had them list what things were destroyed in the massacre of their cabin. She then escorted them on to the camp bus and went into town.

“Alright Columbine.” Phoenix said, smiling at them. “Let’s go. We have ropes to climb.”

A loud groan escaped Katie. Victoria joined her in misery as the girls made their way to what looked like a bunch of trees tangled in jump ropes.

Skyler greeted them with a big smile. “Good afternoon Ladies.”

“It was until we came here,” Victoria muttered to Katie who stood beside her in the back of the group.

Skyler winked. “Don’t worry, Katie, you’re off the hook. I’m going to teach you to belay your cabin mates. Your feet won’t leave the ground.”

“Thank God,” Katie sighed heavily.

“What about me?” Victoria inquired.

“You are going to work through your fear,” Skyler told her. “In fact, you are going first today.”

“That’s not fair,” Victoria scowled. “I don’t like heights either, why can Katie get out of it, and not me?”

“Because, after speaking with Director Hobbs and some others, we decided that it would be a good growing experience for you whereas Katie would and could be a health risk.”

“So all I had to do was to fake a panic attack and I wouldn’t have to do it?” Victoria almost screamed

Skyler smiled, keeping his voice calm. “No, it’s a bit more than that.”

“This is bullshit!” Victoria growled, storming off to the side and dropping on to a log.

Skyler ignored her and turned back to the other girls. “Alright ladies, let’s get the gear on.”

Erika, excited about another day in the trees dangling from a rope, was one of the first to get into her harness, gloves and helmet. She walked over to Victoria who was making a point not to see her and stood in front of her.

Victoria refused to look up at Erika. “What are you looking at, plague?”

“Do you like ants?” Erika inquired, ignoring the crude, hurtful comment.

Victoria looked up quizzically. “Huh?”

“Do you like ants?”

“No,” she huffed.

“Then why are you sitting on a nest of them?” Erika bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Victoria jumped up and started brushing at the few hundred ants that had crawled onto her pants leg. She began running in place, hopping up and down, and screeching. Erika stepped forward and began forcefully brushing them off of her as well.

“What is going on over here?” Phoenix demanded.

“She sat on an ant nest,” Erika explained while attempting to help the frantic Victoria.

“Hold still, Victoria,” Phoenix commanded.

The girl froze and began shuddering as Phoenix and Erika went to work getting the few remaining ants off from Victoria.

“Are you ready to suit up now?” Phoenix asked.

Victoria scowled at the counselor and stomped over to the equipment.

---

The girls of Columbine entered their cabin to find a folding cot set up on a blank spot on the wall with fresh linens. An old foot locker that looked like it had seen better days sat at the end of it. Tricia knelt in front of it and looked up from packing away her clothes.

“How did it go?” she asked with a smile.

“Not bad,” Dani greeted her.

Victoria rolled her eyes and tossed herself on her bed, while Katie looked relieved.

“We made some progress,” Krystal sighed. “At least some of us did.” She tossed a despairing look over at Victoria.

Phoenix called for their attention.

“Listen up girls. You have until nine o’clock tonight to do whatever you please. As long as you stay on camp property, and don’t kill anyone,” she announced. “The mess will be open between 5:00 and 7:00 for dinner, if you miss the time slot, tough luck.” She looked to her bed and then to the door. “I’ve got to go to a meeting. So, you won’t see me for a while. If you need a counselor, check in with Judy from Daisy cabin.”

“I need to change,” Samantha announced to no one in particular. She looked over at Tricia. “Could you help me with my hair and makeup, Tricia?” she asked.

“Sure. What’s the special occasion?”

“Josh.”

Dani’s eyes darted to Erika’s then to Samantha’s.

“Oh,” Tricia mouthed. “So you are next in line.”

“I hope he takes me out on the lake to watch the sunset,” Samantha swooned.

Erika swore under her breath and pulled out her lap top before climbing up on her bed.

Dani approached the bed. “Katie and I are going down to the lake to enjoy some water. Did you want to come?”

“Nah,” Erika said, shaking her head. “I’m not really in the mood.” She went back to her computer.

Before she could get back to what she was doing, Rachel tossed a pillow, hitting her arm. “Krystal and I are going to take a hike or two around the lake, since we didn’t get a chance to this morning. Wanna join us?”

Erika smiled. “I might catch you on the second lap.” She went back to her computer.

Eric had scanned a few pencil sketches into his laptop before coming to camp, ready for “inking” and “coloring”. If she had the time, Erika would finish the drawings and upload them onto the website, whether it was by breaking into the computer room, or waiting until they were in town.

Half an hour later, Samantha and Tricia emerged from the bathroom. Erika almost fell off her bunk.

Samantha’s flaxen and golden tresses were loosely pulled away from her face, while a few locks escaped, framing her beautiful made up eyes and soft skin. The rest of her mane fell in a cascade of curls, over a pink halter top that left her athletic cheerleader back bare.

A knee length denim skirt showed off her well defined and tanned legs, while delicate white strapped sandals graced her feet, showing pink toe nails that matched the shade of her top and lip gloss.

Her eyes looked so large and deep, Erika was having trouble not falling off of the bed and into those beautiful eyes.

“Do I look presentable?” Samantha almost giggled with delight.

Inside, Erika screamed. Josh, you bastard! You have no idea what you have. Outwardly she had difficulty swallowing, but finally managed it as well as a smile. “As if you could look anything but beautiful.”

Samantha and Tricia smiled and giggled as they left the cabin.

Erika stared at her laptop monitor unseeing. The only thing her eyes could visualize was the earthly angel wrapped in Josh’s arms sitting in a boat on the lake. Erika slammed the laptop shut and buried her head into her pillow.

She swore, she screamed and she sobbed into the pillow. As she was about to drift off to sleep, she forced herself up and hopped down from the bunk. She slipped the laptop back into its hiding spot and trudged out of the cabin.

The area around the cabins was so quiet. It was almost as quiet it as it was in the morning when they emerged for their exercises. Erika saw two girls leave Daisy cabin with their heads together talking. From the direction of the lake she could hear all kinds of commotion. People swimming, diving, talking, laughing and teasing. She wasn’t in the mood for dealing with that much public, so she headed down one of the forest paths that merged with the one that wound around the lake.

In her haste to get to the main trail, she had forgotten that this trail spur merged with the main trail, just off the beach. The campers there were starting to pack up and head up to the mess for dinner.

Erika checked the sky for the sun’s position. A yellowish-brown haze filled the sky, if they were in the city, it would have been considered a smoggy day. Her eyes scanned the hills and located the forest fire. Dark brown smoke billowed up into the sky. Despite the poor air, Erika realized that it was indeed early evening. How long she had been crying in her pillow?

“Erika!” a voice called. “Erika, could you wait for a second?”

Erika turned and saw Derek jogging across the sand, a big smile on his face.

“Hey, Derek,” Erika greeted. Inside she cringed. She really wanted to be alone right now. The love of her life was somewhere about, being courted by a strong, charismatic jock. “What’s up?”

Derek’s voice was edged with concern. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“Oh?” Erika raised an eyebrow. “Walk with me?” she invited. She’d have to be careful in letting the geeky redhead down. She didn’t want any more relationships with guys–especially right now.

“So have you read those comic’s yet?” Derek inquired.

“The King Arthur ones? No. I haven’t had time,” Erika sighed. She didn’t know if she’d ever get the time with the way her summer was going so far.

“How did you get into comics?”

“My dad had a bunch of Batman and others,” Erika explained. “I picked one up and started reading it. I’ve been a fan ever since. I even started my own online.”

“Really?” Derek’s face lit up. “I’d love to take a look sometime.”

“I’ll send you a link when we get back to civilization.”

Erika didn’t realize how fast she was walking, until she found that they were already a third of the way around the lake.

“I didn’t want to talk to you about comic books,” Derek admitted. His face blushed as he looked down at the ground, trying to gather courage. “I . . . ah . . .” he stammered.

Oh, shit, here it comes. Erika thought. How do I do this without hurting his feelings, or him resenting me?

“Does Dani have a boyfriend?” he blurted out in a big rush.

Erika stopped in mid-step. Dani? Does Dani have a boyfriend? “I . . . Don’t think so?” Erika admitted. “Why?”

Derek’s red face deepened to the color of a beet. “I was just wondering.”

Erika was shocked. “You like Dani?”

“Yes,” Derek admitted. “I think she is very cute.”

Erika sighed heavily with relief.

“What?” Derek asked on alert.

“Nothing.”

Derek looked questioning at Erika.

She smiled. “I thought you were going to ask me out.”

Derek blinked hard. “Oh. Nothing against you Erika, honest. I think you are wonderful. You’re beautiful and smart and you even like comics, but as much as I like you, I’m interested in Dani. I have been ever since I first saw her that first night when you all paraded into the mess.”

“Dani is a very smart and intelligent young lady,” Erika agreed. “But don’t ever call her cute.”

“Huh?” Derek looked puzzled. “She is cute.”

“’Cute’ refers to something small and cuddly. Dani has been fighting against that image all of her life,” Erika explained. “It would be like saying ‘Derek is a nice guy.’”

Derek physically cringed upon hearing those last two words. “Okay, I see what you mean.”

“Think sexy, intelligent, pretty, exotic, but don’t use cute.”

Derek nodded his head. “You know, my mom is the same way? She hates being called cute too.” He frowned then looked up at Erika. “Do you think you could . . . you know . . . tell her that I like her?” he pleaded.

“What?”

“You know, act as a go-between.”

“No way!” Erika blurted. She paused “I’m sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant was that if you really want to be with Dani, you have to show her that you have the balls to ask her. She is a very nice girl. It’s not like she’s going to bite your head off,” she said and gave him a smile.

“But what if I go up to her and all she sees is a redheaded geek?” He sounded exasperated.

“Then she isn’t looking deep enough.” Erika paused. “I could introduce you two,” she suggested, relenting.

“Could you?” Derek asked, hopeful once again.

“Only introductions,” Erika stated sternly. “The rest is up to you.”

“You’re the best!” Derek swooped Erika up in his arms and twirled her around and gently put her feet back on the ground.

“We’ll see about that,” she giggled. This giggling thing was becoming more natural to her. She kind of enjoyed it.

“We should be getting back. The mess is probably about to close for the night,” Derek said looking at the sun.

“Go on a head. I want to stay out here for a bit longer.”

Derek hesitated. “I can dig into my stash when I get back.” He looked around at the trees.

“Go on,” Erika motioned. “I’ll be perfectly alright out here.”

He looked skeptical.

“Go on and go,” she urged. “Go on. I’ll see you later.”

Derek gave Erika a big hug, turned and jogged down the trail back to camp.

Erika walked down the trail a little bit and noticed a large rock sticking up from the surface of the lake. She slipped off her flip-flops and waded out to the rock and sat down, dangling her feet and legs into the sun warmed lake.

What was she going to do about Samantha? She was infatuated with the cheerleader–more than infatuated, in love. It seemed that most of her time during the day when not focused on a task, was either watching or thinking about the lovely blonde. She was going to have to tell her. That was all there was to it. She was going to have to follow the advice she gave to Derek and tell Samantha that Eric was in love with her, had always been in love with her.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked over to see the mother duck and her fluffy yellow ducklings following behind her. She looked for her kindred spirit, the black duckling that tagged along at the end of the line. She didn’t see it. Her eyes searched frantically for the duckling but no dark movement could be seen in the shadows following the bright ducks. What could have happened to it? She stood up in the water and waded towards the mother, counting the little yellow things lined up behind her. The mother veered off to keep from the human intercept. She counted them again, but the little guy wasn’t there.

Heart sick, Erika waded to shore and slipped into her flip-flops.

“There you are,” a familiar voice called from down the trail. “That red-headed guy said you were out here.”

Erika looked closer at the figure emerging from the darkening shadows. “Hi Tricia.”

“Are you alright?” Tricia asked, coming closer.

“Yes . . . No.” Erika almost whined. “My duck is gone.”

“Your what?”

“My duck,” Erika repeated. “There is a mother duck here with some ducklings. I’ve kind of adopted the black one, but it’s missing. I counted them three times. None of the others are missing, but my duck is nowhere to be seen.”

Tricia just stared at the dark-haired girl.

“I know it’s stupid, but I feel a connection with it,” Erika tried to explain.

“I can understand that,” Tricia soothed.

“No this is different,” Erika insisted.

Tricia put a reassuring hand on Erika’s shoulder and looked into her eyes. “I do understand.”

Erika looked doubtful.

“A little birdie told me something about you.” Tricia let her hand fall, brushing Erika’s arm as it did so. “Is it true?”

Erika‘s muscles tensed up. The sadness in her heart tightened her chest even more. “So they couldn’t keep it to themselves for even one day?” Erika’s voice growled with frustration. “They wouldn’t even let me tell you on my own.” She reached down, picked up a stick and flung it out over the water.

“I had my suspicions.”

“Is it that obvious? Does the whole camp know?”

Tricia shrugged. “I highly doubt it.”

“Does it bother you that I’m different?” Erika watched the smoke rising from the hillside, pointedly not wanting to look at her cabin mate.

“It doesn’t seem to bother anyone else, why should it bother me?”

“It bothered Victoria at first. But I think . . . I hope she is coming around to seeing me in a different light. It seems to bother Rachel, but then, she has it in for boys anyway,” she sighed.

“When did it all start?” Tricia inquired.

“A week before camp,” Erika admitted. “Who told you, anyway? Was it Samantha?”

“Does it really matter?” Tricia shrugged. She stepped in front of Erika and rested a hand on each of the dark-haired girl’s shoulders and waited for Erika to look her in the eyes. “Actually, Erika, no one told me.” Tricia confessed. “Like I said, I had my suspicions, but you just confirmed them.”

The blood drained from Erika’s face. Her hands went numb and she began to feel faint.

“I need to sit down.” She practically fell to the grassy ground. It was hard to breathe. Her lungs almost seemed to spasm, working in short quick painful breaths.

“Breathe,” Tricia commanded. “Long and slow–in through the nose; out through the mouth.”

The speckles before her eyes started to fade. Her heart raced but she still felt a bit light headed. As if she had a few too much wine, like that time Eric drank a bottle of his parent’s when they were gone for the weekend.

“Are you doing better?”

Erika inhaled a deep breath and exhaled, ending with a nod. “Yeah.”

“Are you Transgender?” Tricia asked.

“Am I what?”

“Are you Transgender? Do you feel like you are trapped in the wrong body?”

“Before or after the start of camp?” Erika queried.

“Before.”

“I didn’t think much on it,” Erika confessed. “I spent most of my time trying to survive school without getting beat up or humiliated.

Tricia looked at her questioning.

Erika sighed heavily and gave Tricia a brief over view of Eric’s life as ‘the plague’, Eric and Summer’s friendship and how Eric became Erika.

“So how do you like being a girl?” Tricia inquired.

“I like it.” Erika smiled. “I have made so many friends in the past couple of weeks, and I have found that I like wearing the clothes.” Erika blushed a bit. “Sounds perverted, doesn’t it.”

Tricia patted Erika’s hand. “Not at all. I know of someone else who’d agree with you.”

Erika looked at the beautiful blonde quizzically.

“My older sibling is Transgender,” Tricia stated.

Erika looked confused.

“She was born a boy,” Tricia began. “She never really displayed ‘typical’ boy behavior. When she was our age, she decided that she would be more comfortable as a girl. After a few years of counselling on her part as well as my parents, she now lives as a woman, going to college.”

A quiet fell between them.

Did she want to become a girl? Erika wondered. Right now, it was just too much to grasp.

“Who do you think taught me how to do makeup and hair?” Tricia grinned. “Leeza is studying to be a nurse,” she stated proudly. “She wants to help others like herself to make an easy transition.”

“I don’t know what I am,” Erika stated.

“That’s okay.” Tricia squeezed Erika’s shoulder. “Just be true to yourself. Everything else will fall into place . . . At least that is what Leeza always told me.”

Tricia got to her feet and offered to help Erika to hers.

Erika shook her head. “I’m going to stay out here a little longer.”

“Okay. Just don’t stay too late and miss curfew. I’m sure Phoenix can live up to the reputation of her fiery hair.”

Erika watched as the pretty blonde skipped down the trail following the lake back to the noisy beach. She stared over the glassy waters as the shadows from the trees slowly slid over the smooth surface.

It all seemed to boil down to whether or not she felt more comfortable as Eric, or as Erika. She went back and forth weighing the pros and cons of each. How did she feel? Was Erika the true person? Or was Eric just trying to get through a summer without being beaten up?

Being Erika definitely had its perks, like friends; friends like Eric could only dream of having. Sure, Rachel was still an undecided, but it looked like Victoria was starting to come around. Who wouldn’t want friends like Dani or Katie? Krystal was sweet but very reserved, so Erika was having a hard time figuring out how she felt about her.

Erika was treated much better than Eric. It wasn’t just being at camp either. In the mess last night, Eric would have been sitting in the corner, drawing or reading comics by himself, dodging food being thrown at him and the occasional sneer and dirty look. Conversely, Erika was able to soak in the fire by herself without anyone paying any attention to her. She even made a few new friends.

Eric would have woken up to some prank being played on him in the middle of the night whether someone decided to put his hand in a bowl of warm water or tied his shoe laces together. Again, Erika awoke next to the person she was in love with, she had slept a very peaceful sleep knowing that it would be unlikely that someone would try and prank her.

Then there were the clothes. Boys were so limited in what they could wear– pants, or shorts, dress shirt, polo shirt, or T-shirt. That was about the extent of the choices.

Girls on the other hand could add skirts, shorts and dresses to that, as well as many different colors and styles of tops. If you added the makeup and hair to that, it was almost limitless as to what look a girl could pull off.

“I guess I have the summer to find out,” Erika told the lake. She slowly got up and started back down the trail towards camp.

It was getting late. The sun had just set behind the hills in the West igniting the smoky sky in deep oranges, golds and brilliant reds. The towering giant trees cast dark shadows that seemed to engulf whole sections of trail.

When she was has half way back to camp, she heard strange noises coming from the lake shore. She froze in place and concentrated on hearing what it was and where exactly it was coming from. It seemed to be just ahead. It almost sounded like voices, but who would be out there this late. Most of the campers should be getting ready for their curfew check.

Not wanting to bother what or whomever it was, Erika tip-toed as quietly as she could down the trail.

“Stop it . . . no, don’t . . .” a voice insisted. “Please . . . I said stop!”

Adrenaline pumped through Erika’s body. She slipped her flip-flops off and headed towards the noise.

When she came to the lake shore, she looked up and down its grassy banks and saw some movement to her left. On her toes, she headed towards it.

“I said stop it, Josh!” Samantha demanded.

“I know you want it as bad as I do,” Josh chuckled. “You’ve wanted this since the night I took your lesbian friend out into the boat.”

Erika looked around and found a thick branch that had fallen during the wind storm. She hefted it like a bat and ran forward. At the last moment, she swung with all her might and released a primal shriek. The branch connected with a sickening crack, and an ‘oof’ from Josh as the branch broke across his shoulders.

“Leave her alone!” Erika screeched.

“What the hell?!” Josh grunted. “God that hurt.” He released Samantha’s hands which he had been holding pinned to the ground. Josh jumped up and spun on Erika. “You bitch!”

“You leave her alone!” Erika yelled back. She backed up as Josh advanced on her.

“Now it’s you and me, dyke,” Josh growled. He leapt forward and swung his fist, hitting Erika in the chest. The breast form took a lot of the impact, sparing Erika too much pain, but the force behind it still knocked her off balance. Her feet flailed around trying to get some traction in the wet grass, but before she even hit the ground, Josh tackled her and almost knocked the wind out of her as he landed on top of her chest.

“Fucking bitch!” he roared. His fist came down and connected to the side of Erika’s head. Stars exploded before her eyes as her muscles seemed to lose function.

“Get off of her!” Samantha screamed as she grabbed two fist-fulls of Josh’s hair and yanked backwards whipping his head back. His weight shifted and he no longer held Erika down.

The exploding stars in her head began to dissipate and clear, as she fought to get to her feet. Just as she had regained her feet and vision, she saw Josh strike a blow across Samantha’s jaw. The cheerleader, the love of Eric’s life, went limp as she fell backwards and landed unmoving in the grass.

“You bastard!” Erika shouted. She ran at Josh and dove at him. The nails of her flailing arms caught his cheek and slashed skin as they turned into fists and started punching him anywhere and everywhere that she could swing and connect.

Busy fending off the dark-haired devil, Josh failed to see behind him. Through tears of anger, Erika saw some movement and ducked out of his grasp, just in time as something came at him and connected with a dull thud.

Josh’s body went limp as it fell to the ground.

“You won’t get away with it this time, you bastard,” Rachel swore at his unconscious body.

Erika could hear her heart pounding in her head. Only part of it was from the adrenaline racing through her body. She ran over to Samantha who was already coming back to consciousness.

“Where is he? What happened?” Samantha demanded.

“He’s out cold.” Erika took the cheerleader’s head into her lap and attempted to soothe her.

“Are you okay?” Rachel inquired.

“I . . . I think so.” Samantha stated. Her hand went to her jaw where she had taken the hit.

Erika looked up to see Rachel holding a row boat oar in her hand. “Did you hit him with that?”

Rachel looked at the oar as if she hadn’t realized she had it. “It was the only thing available.”

“Is he still alive?” Erika looked from Rachel to Josh’s inert body. She sighed with relief when she saw his chest rise and fall.

“For now.” Rachel sounded disappointed.

The muscles in Erika’s body began to shake violently. “Where did you come from?”

Rachel looked at both of her cabin mates. “It’s nearing curfew. Tricia said that you were out on the trail and I came looking for you in case you lost track of the time.” She paused. “I heard screaming and swearing, so I ran through the bushes and come out over there.” Rachel pointed, looked over at Josh and almost growled. “No one messes with the girls in my cabin.” She swore at the body. “No one. Not even you, you bastard.”