Camp Kumoni By Anistasia Allread Edited by Nick B

Camp Kumoni 48

Samantha and Erika held hands as they walked down the path to the barbeque taking place on the beach. A large grill had been set up. Smoke from the grill wafted up to join that of the forest fire a few miles away. The biggest difference between the two was that the grill smoke smelled a whole lot better.

Erika gave Samantha’s hand three squeezes before releasing it and filling her plate with dogs, potato salad, chips, and veggie sticks.

Looking around she found Dani and Derek sitting off to the side of the beach, smiling and laughing. The sight filled her with hope and happiness. She walked around small groups of people and stood before her cabin mate.

Erika looked from Dani to Derek. “Mind if I join you?”

“Please,” Derek said and smiled.

Erika crossed her legs and slowly sank to the sand with her plate. “Sorry to interrupt,” Erika said looking from one to the other and feeling a bit of a gooseberry.

“No worries,” Derek replied, smiling. “We were just talking.”

Erika bit into her dog, the mustard was a nice zing to the otherwise plain meat.

Dani suddenly looked around. “Where’s Samantha?”

Erika shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Derek inquired. “That was quite a nasty fall you had this morning.”

“I’m feeling much better now.” Erika answered between bites.

“We were just talking about super heroes and powers.” Dani said, grinning sheepishly.

“What about them?”

“Who our favorite is.” Derek looked to Erika. “Who’s your favorite super hero?”

“Hmmm,” Erika thought. “I always had a thing for Rogue. I don’t know why, she just seemed cool, but I also like Kitty Pryde.”

“An X-Man fan,” Derek replied knowledgably, nodding with and smiling in appreciation. “What if you could have any kind of power; what would it be?”

“That is a hard one.” Erika admitted. “I go back and forth between a couple. Like right now, I would really like to have Mystique’s morphing ability.” Erika paused. Had she really said that out loud? Shit, what if Derek picked up on it.

Dani giggled. “I think I changed my mind, I want that one too.”

“What other power would you like?” Derek enquired.

“Sometimes I’d like to be able to stop time or have telepathy.”

“Ah, to read someone’s mind. I like that one.” Derek directed a smile at Dani

“I don’t want you reading my mind,” she retorted, slapping Derek’s arm, then tapped the side of her head several times. “You don’t need to know what’s going on in here.”

Erika finished eating her dog and got up. “I’m going to let you two read minds and slap each other by yourselves.”

The two barely noticed her leave.

Erika took her plate, snagged a cold-water bottle from an ice box and made her way into the underbrush a few feet to an old log lying amongst the grasses and ferns. She rested the water bottle next to her while she went to work once again on the food on her plate. She glanced up from time to time and watched Dani and Derek enjoying their time discovering one another.

Rachel was down by the lake edge playing volleyball with a few girls from one of the other cabins. Katie was there too, but every once in a while, Erika caught the tall, beautiful, farm girl, casting glances over to her missing friend. The looks were mixed with jealousy, loneliness, and the happiness that her friend finally found someone who could see past her shortness.

Krystal sat on the edge of the dock, her legs dangling in the water, her nose buried in a book. The large girl was wearing her swimsuit in public now. Sure, she had shorts on, to give her some confidence, but the fact that she was wearing it at all was a huge step for her cabin mate. Erika tested her memory of Krystal on the day she arrived to now. She’d have to ask her how much weight she’d lost. It had to be close to twenty pounds by now.

“Do you need time alone?” a soft feminine voice asked.

Erika snapped out of her contemplation to look to the source. Tricia stood on the sand, smiling at her.

“What?” Erika asked.

“I was just wondering if I could join you.” Tricia inquired. “But if you would rather have time alone, I understand.”

“No. Please join me.” Erika gestured at the log next to her.

She watched as Tricia lightly picked her way around tufts of grass and small shrubs. She was so graceful, it made Erika wonder whether she’d ever be able to move as effortless as the pretty blonde.

Tricia lightly sat on the log, smoothing her short skirt behind her as she did. She looked from Erika out to the sandy beach with all of the campers in various stages of enjoyment.

“Are you okay?” Tricia finally asked, breaking the relative silence.

“Yeah, I took some pain killers, so it doesn’t hurt much.” Erika lightly touched her hand to the back of her head.

“I meant are you and Samantha okay?” Tricia clarified.

“Sure. Why wouldn’t we be?” Erika pointedly stuffed another bite of potato salad into her mouth.

“Because you are over here, eating on a log, and she is sitting clear over there, looking introspective.”

“Oh.”

“So what happened?”

“I decided not to fool myself any longer.” Erika almost choked on the now tasteless food.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that when the summer ends and we go back to being the cheerleader and ‘the plague’, I won’t fit in with her world anymore. So I ended it now before it got started.”

“Is that what she said?” Tricia asked. “Did she say that you wouldn’t be able to ‘fit in with her world anymore’?”

“No, but that’s what will happen.” Erika sighed. Why was she trying to explain this to Tricia anyway? She wasn’t one to hang out with someone like ‘the plague’.

“It just seems sad that you didn’t give her much of a chance to make up her own mind.”

“You haven’t watched her every day for the past few years with her jock boyfriends.” Erika said, pointedly and could feel herself starting to get upset. “I have. I’ve watched as she giggled at their lame, stupid jokes. I’ve seen the way that she looks at them when they’re approaching her. I’ve seen how she kisses them.” She began fighting back tears. “She was never any of that with me. With me, it all seemed ... forced.”

A silence fell between them again. Erika put her plate down on the log. She no longer had an appetite.

“I didn’t come over here to make you upset, Erika.” Tricia rested a soft hand on Erika’s knee. “That is the last thing I wanted to do. I’m sorry.”

“I wish it was different.” Erika wiped at her eyes, staring off at the glittering lake. “I wish that she could see who I am. Whether in pants or a skirt, with breasts or without, I wish that she could see how much I really do love her.”

“I believe she does.” Tricia tried to soothe her friend. “I just think that maybe she is having trouble with how she feels about you; how to show her love towards you and what kind of love she is feeling towards you.”

“I just don’t want to be hurt at the end of the summer.” Erika admitted. “I don’t want to go back to being ‘the plague’ and admiring her from afar, but there is just no way she can see past my appearance. I don’t think she would be attracted to me even if I stayed Eric. I just don’t think anyone can see past this–this façade.”

“I saw past it.” Tricia mumbled.

“huh?”

“Nothing. Forget I said anything.” Tricia pleaded.

“No, you said something.” Erika pressured. “What did you say?”

“I said that I saw past your façade.” Tricia’s face turned hot pink, which clashed with the soft pink blouse she was wearing.

“Yeah, but you have a brother or sister who is … Well you know.”

“My sister has nothing to do with it.” Tricia admitted. “I think you’ve done a really good job; Erika and I don’t think that many would know. I think even my sister would be envious at how easy you make it look.”

Erika was speechless.

“I guessed, what you were, who you were almost right after meeting you. Perhaps you’re right; perhaps I do have a better understanding–a better eye for that kind of thing.”

Erika just stared at the pretty blonde. Her mind was racing, but nothing was making sense.

“You have a lot to figure out.” Tricia sighed. She got up and brushed off the back of her skirt. “I’ll be around if you want to talk.” She looked out across the darkening lake. “I hear that the fire department is going to allow the camp to shoot off fireworks, but only out in the lake.”

Erika watched again as the princess perfect Tricia lightly skipped and danced around the vegetation back to the sandy beach.

Easy? Tricia thought that she made it look easy? This was one of the hardest trials of her life — his life. It ranked right up there with the aftermath of the flagpole incident. At least this rollercoaster had as many ups as it did downs.

Erika sat on the log, arms hugging her chest in deep thought.