Camp Kumoni By Anistasia Allread Edited by Nick B “I don’t know, it depends upon you.” Tricia looked into his eyes. “It depends upon whether you decide to be a boy or a girl.”

Camp Kumoni 57

Eric sat at the table with Columbine cabin. The girls that he had spent most of the summer with were tired, sweaty and dirty. The kickball game with Fir was close. Rachel managed to tie it in the last inning then Krystal managed to kick a home run, getting Tricia in from first base and winning the game.

The game against Lupine was much easier–almost too easy. The girls started to slacken off on their game until Lupine made a rally half way through getting within a point of tying. The Ladies of Lavender had to step up and ended up winning by a few points.

Softball however, was a different story.

Already tired from two kickball games, they struggled against Daisy Cabin. They couldn’t run fast enough or hit the ball far enough. Rachel, spat, cussed yelled from all over the field. Columbine got within two points in the eighth inning, but ended up losing by one point. A supposed easy victory over Daisy ended up being a major loss.

“I can’t wait to dive into the lake,” Rachel voiced. “I stink horribly.”

“Phoenix, can we grab a quick shower before meeting with Grizzly Adams?” Tricia begged.

“As long as you are there on time,” Phoenix said then shrugged. “If you’re late however, we’ll lose cabin points.

“No one better be late,” Rachel grumbled. “We’ve already lost enough points today, losing to Daisy.”

“I must reek,” Eric muttered.

“Actually I think you smell good,” Tricia admitted shyly.

“Are you nuts?” Eric asked. “I’ve been sweating and diving in the grass and dirt, how can I possibly smell good.”

“Chemistry,” Tricia explained with a smile. “Call it pheromones if you want, when one person’s chemistry smells good to another it usually means something.”

“Oh.” Eric wrinkled his nose. “Well I still want to shower.”

“I know.” Tricia smiled. “Let’s just say that you stink pretty.”

Eric rolled his eyes.

The rest of the afternoon went pretty quickly. All of the girls of Columbine decided to shower before continuing their day so they quickly grabbed their things and washed the dirt, grime and sweat from their bodies.

Eric emerged from his shower stall wearing a pair of baggy cargo shorts and a ‘Black Parade’ T-shirt.

Due to the heat, Grizzly Adams gave a lecture on ways of keeping hydrated and even how to find or create water in hot climates. The heat was getting pretty uncomfortable. The girls spent more time fanning themselves and shifting to more comfortable shady positions until Grizzly took the hint, abandoning his Tarp over a pit trick to catch condensation and dismissed the girls early.

The Columbine girls trudged back to their cabin, already sticky and miserable.

“Free time followed by swimming,” Victoria announced, flopping on her bed. “Who all is for going to the lake?”

Everyone in the cabin voiced assent.

“How am I going to swim?” Eric asked Samantha.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m taking the day off from being a girl, and we’re all going swimming. I can’t exactly go wearing just some swim trunks, people will notice.”

“Well,” Samantha pondered. “You can do if a couple of different ways. You could just suck it up, be a girl for a couple of hours and wear your swimsuit, or you could wear a pair of your guy trunks over your swimsuit, you could even throw a T-shirt on over that, or you can just go in your guy trunks and a T-shirt. You did bring your guy trunks, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Or you could just, not swim,” she added. “You could say you’re on your cycle and you shouldn’t be in the lake.”

Dani, Katie and Tricia emerged from the bathroom in their swimsuits. Rachel, Victoria and Krystal went in with theirs.

Eric hadn’t considered the heat or the possibility of swimming when he made the decision to give Erika the day off and had no idea what kind of problems that would pose–until now.

He sighed, pushed himself off of Samantha’s bed and dug his trunks out of his suitcase, waiting until all of the girls had changed into their suits before taking his turn in the bathroom. He came out wearing blue trunks and his ‘Black Parade’ T-Shirt.

Technically they still had half an hour before their free time would start, but Phoenix led them down to the beach and to the lake early.

The redhead waved and smiled to Todd as he walked towards them.

So that’s why she didn’t mind coming early, Eric thought.

“Alright Krystal, today is the day that you learn how to swim,” Rachel insisted.

Krystal looked wary. “I don’t know.”

“Come on Krystal, we’ll all go out there and help you.” Dani took her hand and pulled her towards the water.

“You coming Erika?” Victoria asked.

Eric shook his head. “Not yet. I’m going to be meeting with someone and do some sketching.”

“Mind if I join you?” Tricia asked.

“It’ll be pretty boring,” Eric advised.

Tricia put her hand on Eric’s thigh. “That’s okay.”

Eric lay back on his towel in the sand and closed his eyes. “Could you wake me up in about twenty minutes?” he asked.

“Sure. That’s about all the sun I can take for a while anyway.”

A few minutes later, Eric felt a soft hand gliding over his stomach. “Time to wake up, sleeping beauty.”

Eric squinted his eyes open to see the pretty vision of Tricia smiling down at him. “Thanks Tricia.” He slowly sat up and sat there for a minute or two before getting up.

Eric and Tricia were in the dining hall just as the free period was beginning. The tall ceilings and ceiling fans managed to keep the dining area pretty comfortable. Eric led Tricia over to the corner with the couches and coffee tables and pulled out some paper that he had gotten from Victoria and a pencil.

“Oh you’re here.” Matt greeted, uncertain of himself.

“I said I would be,” Eric greeted. “Hot out isn’t it?”

“Maybe we should just put this on hold and go cool off,” Matt suggested.

Eric smiled. “No, we’re here now. Let’s see what kind of progress we can make.”

Matt took a seat opposite of Eric and Tricia. He looked nervous, uneasy.

“So, what’s your book about?” Tricia asked.

“Oh, it’s kind of stupid,” Matt said and shrugged.

“I’m sure it’s not. Tell us about it,” Eric encouraged.

“You really want to know?” Matt asked still uncertain.

“That is why we’re here. Come on Matt, I want to know. I haven’t drawn anything since I’ve been here, so this will be great for me.”

Matt sighed, nodded and launched into the premise of his book. It came out slow and painful at the beginning then Matt started to get into telling the two pretty girls sitting across from him. The story started to flow and weave a myriad of plots characters and themes.

“So kind of stupid, huh?”

“I think it’s a great story.” Tricia said enthusiastically and gave Matt a big smile. “You going to publish it?”

Matt shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s marketable.”

“I think it is,” Eric told him. “I like that genre of stories, and I know that I’d buy it.”

Matt beamed. “Thanks.”

Eric pulled out the paper and pencil and started asking Matt questions about the main character. Not only about what they looked like, but how the character thought, what they would do in certain situations. He did this while his pencil flew over the paper. Tricia looked back and forth between what Matt was describing and what Eric was sketching.

Eric added a little extra detail and looked up at Matt. “This is only a rough idea. I’ll refine it later.”

“Sure, I understand.” Matt smiled. “I kind of do the same when I write.”

Eric leaned forward and handed the sketch over to Matt.

“Oh my God! This is so perfect!” Matt exclaimed. “Wow, I can’t believe you took my description and created a likeness so perfect.”

“So who’s next?” Eric asked.

“Free time is just about over.” Matt looked deflated.

“Tell you what,” Eric suggested. “I’ll meet with you right after dinner, and for a few minutes after breakfast to do this again. Okay?”

“Could you?”

Eric nodded.

“Awesome.”

“Meanwhile, I’ll work on this sketch and get it to a more finished state.”

“It’s practically perfect the way it is.” Matt protested.

“I can make it even better.” Eric promised.

The three campers left the dining hall. Eric and Tricia walked hand in hand down towards the beach and the lake.

“You really are talented.” Tricia stated.

“Thanks. It’s alright.” Eric shrugged.

“No, really. That was absolutely thrilling to watch.”

“The poor guy was so nervous.” Eric sighed.

“Why are guys like that?” Tricia asked. “They do that all the time when they’re with me.”

“Are you serious?” Eric questioned.

Tricia’s blonde head nodded.

“It’s because you are so beautiful,” Eric avowed. “Guys get nervous and scared by beautiful women. They get all tongue tied and afraid that they will do something or say something that will make you laugh at them, or not like them.”

Tricia shook her head. “That’s just silly.”

“But it’s true,” Eric told her.

Tricia stopped half way down the trail and faced Eric. Confused Eric just stared at her. She took his face in her hands and pulled his lips to hers.

“Whoa, Lesbians.” A guy from Spruce cabin called out as he passed by.

Eric broke the wonderful kiss. “Are you?” he asked.

“Am I what?” Tricia asked.

“A lesbian.”

“I don’t know, it depends upon you.” Tricia looked into his eyes. “It depends upon whether you decide to be a boy or a girl.”

“What does that supposed to mean?” Eric was still confused.

“I like you.” She touched his heart. “I am beginning to think that it’s more than like.”

Eric blushed.

“If you decide to be a boy, then I’ll be straight. If you decide to be a girl, then I guess I’m a lesbian. No matter what you decide, no matter what exterior you choose to put on your house, I’ll buy it,” she said and smiled. “Because I like the interior.”