“What’s wrong!?” Tricia demanded. “Erika!” She grabbed Erika’s arm and pulled her to a stop. “What’s wrong?” “I don’t want to go through this again,” Erika sobbed. “What are you talking about?” “I don’t want to be the plague of Camp Kumoni too.”   Camp Kumoni By Anistasia Allread Edited and spruced up by Nick B

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Camp Kumoni 60
Erika lightly held Tricia’s hand, watching through the bus window as the green fir trees sped past. The past few days had been filled with sluggish business and heat–lots and lots of heat. It had been so hot that the Forest Service came by and met with each of the cabins to talk about fire safety and responsibility. They also put an end to any further bonfires* that might have been planned, which was the responsibility part.

Cabin Columbine wasn’t the only cabin slipping out at night for cooling swims. Other cabins came to the same conclusion and with the consent of their counselors started sneaking out to partake of the cool waters of the lake.

The first cabin caught by Hobbs was ordered back to their cabin and told that they wouldn’t be able to join in following day’s free time, but before the punishment was carried out, it was decided that a night swim before bed might be a nice way to cool off prior to getting some sleep. Todd and his lifeguards were ordered to set up floodlights on the docks. Hobbs figured it would be safer to have everyone swimming together, than cabins sneaking out individually to cool off.

Katie scowled. “It takes all of the fun out of it.”

She wasn’t the only girl disappointed at this announcement as Erika too enjoyed the late-night trips to the lake in the dark.

Her cabin had fallen into a routine. Once the lights had gone out, they would lie in bed, sweating and listening to the crickets singing outside until Phoenix finally had enough and decided it was time.

Dressed in only T-shirts and panties, the girls would scurry from the lighted front of the cabin to the safety of the deep shadows thrown by the trees. There they relaxed at not being caught leaving. Only the silence of the crickets at their passing and the soft crush of dried, brown grass marred their stealth.

As they scurried towards the cool waters, Victoria or Samantha would dart over and knock quietly on Sheila’s door. If she was awake or if she desired to, she would grab her towel and join the girls as they quietly made their way to the lake.

Erika would wait patiently on shore until all were in the water, then she would join them for a while as they splashed, romped and played in the lake. Every so often, Tricia would swim up and would give Erika’s hand a squeeze, or throw her arms around her for a skin to skin hug in the water. Once or twice, she even dared to steal a kiss, causing Erika’s skin to heat, her blood race and her thoughts to range no further than the pretty blonde in pink.

Once they had enough, Sheila, when she was with them, would invite them back to the kitchen for a bowl of ice-cream, which helped just as much as the dip in the lake for cooling off.

Any free time during the day that she had, Erika would spend with her drawing pad, sketching. More often than not, Tricia was nearby, watching discreetly over Erika’s shoulder. Other times she was sitting at a table with Matt, loosely sketching ideas as he described them to her. A lot of the time, his guidance of the character’s looks would tangent off into other subjects. Erika was finding a rather smart, gifted and nice person in Matt. If they had been at school together, they might have been best friends. Matt however, lived a state away, too far for casual contact.

On occasion, while the whole camp was down at the lake either basking in the hot sun on the beach or swimming, Tricia would take Erika’s hand and lead her into the security of the forest. When she first arrived, Erika hardly thought of the forest as a secure place. Now however, she was comfortable and even relished in its seemingly deep mysteries.

*     *     *

Tricia led them to a small opening in the trees. She looked around, picked up a large branch and tossed it into the undergrowth before facing Erika. “Okay, to dance, one must trust their partner. You trust me, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

Tricia stood before Erika. “Hmm, who should lead?”

“You should, I don’t know how to dance.”

“I mean should I teach you to lead in dancing.”

“Does it make a difference?”

“Kind of. If you are Eric, then YOU need to lead. If you are dancing as Erika then you need to learn to follow.”

“Oh my God, I’m confused already and we haven’t even started.”

“I think I’ll teach you the very basics, just enough to get you through this first dance.”

“Thank you.”

“You however, will need to learn to lead,” Tricia instructed.

“Whatever, just help me so that I don’t look like a fool,” Erika pleaded.

Tricia spent a good five minutes showing Erika how to stand and where to put her arms. “When you dance as a guy, you will need to put your hands like I’ll be doing.”

She then patiently, ever so slowly, took Erika through a simple box step of the waltz.

Erika lost track of how many times she stepped on poor Tricia’s feet, she felt like a bull in a china shop next to the petite blonde. By the end of the session Erika was able to do the steps without moving her lips as she counted.

“Okay, I’m done torturing you for the day.” Tricia announced. “I hope the lake will help reduce the swelling in my feet as well as cool me off.”

“I’m so sorry, Tricia,” Erika felt miserable at how clumsy she felt. How Samantha and Tricia made it look so effortless she would never know.

*     *     *

The bus pulled into its usual parking spot and the counselors gave their usual speeches about behaving themselves and representing Camp Kumoni. Once that was done, they exited the bus and made way to the laundry.

Erika had drawn first shift this time. Once they had all started up the washers, the girls took off. Krystal was to relieve her in thirty minutes. At that time, Samantha and Tricia were to take her shopping for a dress for her first dance.

The other cabins had liked Columbine’s idea for taking care of the laundry and even the guys were taking shifts watching their clothes, and machines.

“You’re Erika, from Columbine cabin, right?” a pretty voice said from nearby.

Erika looked up to see a girl from Daisy cabin. She was almost as pretty as Samantha. You could tell she spent a lot of her free time soaking up the sun. Her golden tan and sun highlighted, long, brown hair were practically perfect. Erika suddenly didn’t know if she should be attracted to this girl or jealous of her natural beauty.

Erika realized that she hadn’t greeted, or even answered the girl’s question. “Yes, I’m Erika.” She managed not to sound too stupid. “I’m sorry, you just caught me off zoning out.”

“Hi Erika, I’m Ashley, from Daisy.” She invited herself to sit next to Erika. “It looks like you and I are the two front runners for Camp queen this year.”

“Huh?” Erika was puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, your cabin has voted for you, obviously.” She explained. “You seem to have the camp geeks and nerds at your beck and call. They almost worship you; you know. A few other girls have voted for you because of how you handled Josh. I’m sure that he will never look at duct tape the same way ever again. The unknowns are how the other guys in camp will vote. Some will admire you for being a strong girl and getting rid of a guy they felt threatening. Others will look at you and see a bitter threat.” She paused. “Me? I just see another pretty girl looking for popularity.” She looked at Erika’s chest. “Those aren’t real, are they?” It was statement, not a question.

Erika suddenly felt more exposed than she had in a very long time. Ashley didn’t wait for an answer or even further conversation, she just stood up and walked away snickering.

Erika could feel her face turning red with embarrassment. Feelings of being the plague, crushed down over her. She could feel her eyes stinging with tears. She couldn’t let that Ashley girl see her cry. She just couldn’t. She blinked them back and tried to sit casually, but now she was so conscious of her body, that she didn’t know what casual was. Erika forced herself to stand and to physically check the washers in front of her.

Using her peripheral vision, she glanced over at Ashley. The beautiful girl that Erika thought attractive a few minutes before transformed into a monster that had Josh’s head attached to it. Ashley had her head close to another girl from another cabin and was whispering to her; whispering and pointing towards Erika.

Erika’s heart began to shrink in on itself. She could see herself taped to a flagpole, exposed just like ‘The Plague’ had been, only instead of being in front of the whole school it was in front of the whole camp.

She wanted to run. She wanted to scream and run out into the street and–and what?

And do something bad?

Throw herself in front of a truck?

Too dramatic, she thought.

Run down the road and keep on running?

But run to where?

The only place she had felt safe in the past few years was in Columbine cabin.

She wasn’t going to let Ashley see her cry. No one would ever see her cry who she didn’t want too. That was the rule Eric had. Why couldn’t she borrow it from him?

The minutes seemed to crawl as she waited for Krystal to show up. As soon as she saw Krystal’s familiar stride with a book in front of her face, she walked briskly to the door.

“Thanks Krystal,” she said, gratefully and forced herself to walk past the front of the laundry. Once she was three steps beyond, she began to run. She didn’t know where she was running to, she just ran.

“What’s wrong!?” Tricia demanded. “Erika!” She grabbed Erika’s arm and pulled her to a stop. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to go through this again,” Erika sobbed.

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t want to be the plague of Camp Kumoni too.”

“Catch your breath. Come on, let’s step in here.” Tricia pulled Erika into a store. “Start from the beginning. What happened since we left you in the laundry?”

“Well, hello there,” a familiar voice greeted.

Erika looked up to see Sasha coming out of a back room. She ran across the salon and wrapped her arms around the hairstylist and sobbed.

“Whoa, hold on there. What is going on?” he looked from Erika to Tricia.

“I was trying to find out.” Tricia shrugged.

“Come and sit down.” Sasha guided Erika to a salon chair and forced her to sit. “Tell us what’s happening.”

Erika told them about the brief encounter with Ashley and how the girl from Daisy realized that Erika was wearing breast forms. How the girl snickered as she walked off and was whispering to another girl in the laundry.

“Oh, she pulled a number on you, didn’t she?” Sasha stated. He handed Erika a Kleenex.

“She was just trying to get under your skin,” Tricia agreed. “She’s pulling one of the oldest, dirtiest tricks in the gossip department.

“She’s succeeded.” Erika blotted at her eyes, “Now the whole camp will know that I’m wearing breast forms.”

“It’s not that bad.” Sasha soothed.

“Did you all vote for me?” Erika ignored all else and looked at Tricia.

“Well, yes.” Tricia begrudged. “We got together and talked about it. We thought that it would be kind of cool, if you of all the girls at camp were made Camp queen.”

“Really?” she asked awed her heart swelling.

Tricia nodded.

Erika suddenly threw her arms around the blonde and hugged her tightly.

“All’s well that ends well.” Sasha shrugged.

“That still doesn’t fix this problem.” Erika pulled back from Tricia. “What am I going to do? They are forms, so I can’t lie. Next thing you know, she’ll be telling the camp that I’m a guy.”

Tricia squeezed Erika’s thigh. “Don’t worry too much about it. You belong to Columbine cabin. As Rachel says, we take care of our own.”

Erika smiled. “I sure hope we can get out of this one. What happens if I actually win Camp Queen?”

“I’ll be disappointed if you don’t.” Tricia stated. “We’ve all been busy campaigning for you. Not that it’s been difficult.”

“What? When?”

“When you aren’t around,” Tricia admitted. “You have a good number of friends at camp you know. You’ve been nice to the nerds and geeks, so they practically worship you. A lot of girls like how you stood up to Josh and got him thrown out of camp, and half the boys think you’re one of the prettiest girls in camp.”

Erika blushed.

“Come on, Samantha is waiting for you. She already had several dresses ready for you to try on.”

“Are you alright now?” Sasha asked.

“Yes. Thanks Sasha.”

“What for? I didn’t vote for you,” he said and grinned.

“Yes, you did. You just didn’t know it at the time.” Tricia smiled. “You voted for her when you helped her with giving her the forms and showing up at the hospital.”

“That reminds me.” Sasha suddenly changed the subject. “Your mother came by.”

Erika’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh, God, what did she want?”

“She was very nice,” Sasha smiled. “You know, she loves you very much, Erika.”

Erika was stunned by what she was hearing. Eric didn’t have much of a relationship with either of his parents, and Erika only met her mother and spent one afternoon with her.

“Don’t look so surprised.” Sasha shook his head, “Eric, or Erika, she loves you.”

“But I have to go back to being Eric when camp is done.”

“So? It doesn’t matter. It is who you are on the inside that she loves, Erika.”

Tricia cleared her throat. “We really need to get going. Sorry Sasha.”

“That is okay. I understand. If you have time later come by and see me, you are due for a bang trim.”

Tricia dragged Erika out of the salon and across the street to the thrift store.

“There you are. Where have you been?” Samantha demanded.

“Erika had a run in with Ashley from Daisy.” Tricia explained. “The bitch has dug up some gossip on our Erika and has started spreading it.”

“Tell me about it as you try on those dresses,” Samantha instructed. “There wasn’t much to pick from, summer being almost over. I think we’ll have to go down to the department store.”

Samantha pushed Erika into a changing room that already had a few dresses hanging from hooks inside. “Try the yellow one on first.” Samantha told her, “It’s the only color that I’m not sure if you can pull off or not,” She turned to Tricia. “Spill it, what’s going on?”

Tricia explained briefly what she knew of Erika’s interaction with Ashley.

“Welcome to the down side of being a girl, Erika.” Samantha grimaced as Erika emerged from the dressing room. “Nope, Yellow is not your color.”

“I’m telling you, she looks good in pink,” Tricia insisted.

“You think everyone looks good in pink.” Samantha jibed.

“Go try on another one.” Samantha shooed Erika back into the changing room. “So Ashley wants to play the gossip game,” Samantha mulled it over. She looked to Tricia. “Do we know anything about this Ashley?”

“She is gorgeous, popular in her own school, used to being the center of attention,” Tricia listed.

“Anything bad?”

“Not that I have heard.”

Erika emerged from the dressing room again, this time in a navy-blue dress with a white collar.

Tricia made a face. “Too old lady or churchy.”

“I agree. Go ahead and get dressed, Erika, we’ll need to go to the department store.”

“Even without the rumors being vicious, people are going to know about her forms,” Tricia stated.

“So, we have to do damage control.” Samantha nodded.

Erika, in her own clothes came out of the dressing room.

Samantha shrugged. “We could always say that she had breast cancer.”

“We’re not old enough to have breast cancer.” Tricia looked from Erika to Samantha.

The three girls walked out of the thrift store and down the street.

“Well, what other good reasons would there be for Erika to need breast forms?” Samantha questioned.

“Some rare disease, a genetic disorder?” Tricia mused.

“I was born a boy,” Erika muttered, wondering if that would help.

Samantha and Tricia both gave Erika a dubious look. The girls walked into the department store and quickly found the clothing section.

Tricia looked at her watch. “I have to go watch the laundry. What should I say if someone starts to question about Erika’s chest?”

“Just say its due to a medical condition,” Samantha shrugged, “We’ll come up with more details later.”

“Make sure you try pink on her.” Tricia waved and headed towards the street.

“Why did you all decide to nominate me for queen?” Erika asked Samantha.

“After much debate, we all decided that we would nominate the girl least likely to ever win such an honor,” Samantha snickered. “Even Dani has a better chance of winning the honor of being a queen than you.”

Erika picked up a folded T-shirt and threw it at Samantha, “Thanks a lot.”

Samantha handed Erika a handful of dresses. “Here go try these on.”

Erika tried some with long straight skirts; some with A-line skirts; some that reached her ankles and some that only reached her knees.

She tried on dresses that had spaghetti straps that went over the shoulder and dresses that wrapped around the back of her neck. Samantha called them haltered dresses. She even tried on a dress that had no straps at all, and only stayed in place because of how it fit over her breasts.

“Wow! That’s beautiful,” Tricia exclaimed clapping her hands together. “Do they have it in pink?”

“She is too much of a winter for a lot of pinks,” Samantha cautioned. “She tried on a hot pink one on that the color looked wonderful, but the bodice didn’t look right on her.”

Tricia frowned for just a moment, but then brightened. “Erika you look beautiful.”

“Now for shoes,” Samantha sighed. “I’ve got to go do my stint, Tricia, could you find her some nylons and some shoes to go with this?”

“I would love to.”

Samantha turned to leave, but turned back suddenly. “Have you heard anything that Ashley might be spreading?”

“Not as of yet,” Tricia said. “But I was stuck in the laundry. I warned Rachel and Victoria though.” She sighed. “Rachel almost blew a gasket. I had to talk her down from going after Ashley.”

Samantha nodded and disappeared.

“Okay, go on try on the pink one again.” Tricia’s eyes flashed with mischief, “I’ve just got to see you in it.”