Samantha wiped the tears on the back of her hand and slowly got up. “Why do you all hate me so much?” she whined. “They don’t hate you, Samantha.” Rachel sighed. “We are just upset that you used Erika in the way that you did last night. You knew that she’s not attracted to guys and you still pushed her to go on that date with Josh, hoping that he would notice you instead.”   Camp Kumoni By Anistasia Allread

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Chapter 18
 
The Columbine girls finished their lunch and had a bit of time to digest their food before heading over to begin the volleyball game. Erika went up to the cabin followed by the others.

“I’m going to go a meeting.” Phoenix explained. “I’ll see you all at the Volleyball court in a little bit.” The redhead ducked back out of the cabin.

“What meeting could she possibly be going to all of the time?” Victoria wondered aloud.

“Who knows.” Rachel dismissed it.

“The Fourth is just around the corner. Does the camp do anything for the fourth, Rachel?” Dani inquired.

“We have a large picnic in the afternoon with hotdogs, burgers, potato salad and ice cream.” After the picnic the lake is open for swimming and canoeing, at least until sunset. Then it’s more eating and usually the groundskeepers set off fireworks over the lake. There are a lot of sparklers passed around. That kind of thing.”

“I know.” Katie jumped up off her bed. “We should decorate the cabin for the fourth.” Katie looked over at Erika, “How’s the list coming along?”

Erika pulled the lap top out of her drawer and opened it up. “We haven’t added anything to it in a while.”

“We could get balloons and streamers and confetti and decorate the room in the morning before cabin inspection.” Victoria smiled. “I think that is a wonderful idea, Katie.”

“Add Fourth of July supplies to the list.” Rachel agreed.

“Did we add air freshener for the bathroom?” Victoria threw it out there.

“Air freshener for the bathroom.” Erika confirmed. “It’s definitely on there.”

“Especially after Samantha uses it.” Dani mumbled. She and Katie started snickering and throwing glances towards the cheerleader.

Samantha looked away and drew her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and bit her lip. “I haven’t left the bathroom smelling," she mumbled to herself.

“What else do we need on the list?” Rachel looked around the room. “Did we get a swimsuit for Krystal on there?”

“Yes, I added it yesterday along with sweats and an alarm clock.” Erika nodded.

“An alarm clock with a radio.” Victoria added. “Anything other than that damn watch beeping.”

“Yes.” Erika agreed. “That thing is horrible.”

“We don’t get very good reception up here.” Rachel informed them. “We are too far out in the sticks to get any good stations.”

“I’m with Victoria.” Dani agreed. “Anything is better than your watch beeping.”

“Even Lawrence Welk.” Katie grinned

“Who’s Lawrence Welk?” Rachel paused from getting into her drawer and looked over at Katie.

“You know, Lawrence Welk, the old guy that plays big band music and has dancers on the Public Broadcasting channel.” Katie explained

“Is it like Soul Train, or Bandstand?” Dani looked up at her tall bunk mate. “Like that old?”

Katie rolled her eyes then thought about it for a moment. “I guess it is like a Bandstand, but for even older people.”

“You country folk sure are weird.” Dani shook her head.

Rachel pulled her altered Camp Kumoni T-shirt out and began changing. The other girls all did the same… all but Krystal, who didn’t have one. “We’ll have to get you some of these as well.” Rachel told the quiet bookworm.

“I doubt that they will have any big enough to fit me.” Krystal surmised.

“If they don’t now, they will by the end of camp.” Rachel smiled. “Besides we can alter any that they do have, so that you have something.”

Erika sighed as she put her laptop away. She then pulled her altered T-shirt out.

“What was the sigh for?” Samantha asked.

Erika ignored the blonde cheerleader and pulled on the T-shirt. She quickly adjusted her forms and sat on the bed next to Victoria.

Tears began to well up in Samantha’s eyes. The whole cabin hated her. They were ignoring her and excluding her from the fun. It just wasn’t fair! She was being forced to sit on the outside of the crowd and watch in misery, as everyone else was having a good time.

Samantha lowered her head to her arms, her blonde hair cascading over her knees like veil, and allowed the tears to flow.

"What’s wrong, Erika?” Victoria asked.

“I haven’t had time to work on my comic.” Erika huffed

“We’ve been a bit busy.” The long haired girl agreed. “That’s kinda the point of camp, right?”

“Alright, Ladies, let’s go tease those Oak cabin boys and kick their asses.” Rachel began pumping them up.

The girls jumped off of their beds and filed out of the cabin, talking and laughing.

“Come on, Samantha.” Rachel urged.

Samantha wiped the tears on the back of her hand and slowly got up. “Why do you all hate me so much?” she whined.

“They don’t hate you, Samantha.” Rachel sighed. “We are just upset that you used Erika in the way that you did last night. You knew that she’s not attracted to guys and you still pushed her to go on that date with Josh, hoping that he would notice you instead.” She stepped out of the cabin and looked back at Samantha. “You need to get your priorities straight, Samantha. Come on, let’s go play some volleyball.”
 

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The Columbine girls, with the exception of one cheerleader trailing behind, entered the volleyball court as a unit, as a cabin to be reckoned with.

The guys in Josh’s cabin froze in everything they were doing and stared as the Lavender Ladies of Columbine caught their attention. A volleyball, already thrown, hit Kyle in the head as he ogled the sight. Erika glanced around at her cabin sisters with their flirtatious mannerisms and pitied the guys. From their reaction, Oak cabin may as well forfeit the game now.

“I hear you guys are up for a little bit of V-ball.” Rachel did a seductive spin as she neared the net. Her bobbed hair flowed and bounced around as she smiled at the guys.

One by one the girls approached the net, smiled, waved, winked or spun and walked away and took up a position on the court. Even Krystal joined the fun, although she turned several shades of red as she did so.

Katie went over to the ball and positioned herself between the ball and the boys, then bent over at the waist showing off her lengthy legs and firm butt. She lightly picked up the ball, turned her head over her shoulder at the boys and winked, before tossing the ball to Rachel.

Erika could feel more than just Josh’s eyes on her as she prepared to play. The guys checking her out was one feeling she wasn’t so thrilled about. It gave her the sensation of being an object, a feeling of being dirty. It was gross and funny at the same time. Here the kind of guys who picked on her as Eric, were checking her out as Erika, not knowing that she was actually a guy. It was laughable and gave her the creeps at the same time. But then again, it was nice to be noticed as something other than as a spittoon. Better to be treated like a princess than a ‘plague’ to be avoided, tripped or sneered at.

Rachel served up the ball and watched as the guys stood frozen in their places, staring at the various girls of Columbine cabin. The ball came down between two players and bounced twice in the grass.

“Point!” Rachel called out, waking the boys from their dreamy stupor.

Josh grinned and blushed slightly at being caught ogling and not playing.

“What’s wrong there, Kyle, having trouble bending over to pick up the ball?” Dani teased.

Kyle flushed red for an instant, then grabbed the ball and threw it at the small blonde.

Dani caught the ball easily and tossed it back to Rachel for another serve. The serve was set by the guys and returned. Katie missed the block but Dani was right there with her short stature to keep the ball in play.

“Nice save, Dani!” Rachel called. “That’s why we need you.”

Victoria got under the ball and set it up and Katie jumped in the air and spiked it to the guys side of the net. Kyle was right there, but the ball hit his hand at a wrong angle and went flying out of play.

“Point!” Rachel called out again.”

A dark-haired guy threw the ball back to Rachel, shaking his head at the already two-point deficit.

Katie turned towards the guys and pulled the lower part of her top into two pieces which she wound up and tied off, exposing her midriff and lowering the neckline. The move was so effective that even Erika was feeling a pulling in her panties.

Rachel served the ball and caught half of Oak cabin unaware.

“That just isn’t fair.” Kyle called foul.

“What’s not fair?” Victoria stepped forward towards the net.

“She.” Kyle pointed to Katie “is distracting us.”

“What am I doing?” Katie asked innocently.

“You’re distracting us with your T-shirt.” Kyle accused.

“I was hot and tied it so as to cool off.” Katie defended. “You can take off your shirts. We can’t. So deal with it!” She turned away from the net and smiled at the rest of her cabin mates.

“Come on guys. We just need to get our minds off of how great they look and on the game.” Josh advised his cabin mates.

Dani smirked at the comment. It was one of the few times in her life she was grouped in with girls who were considered great to look at.

The boys started to play better after that, but every once in a while. One of the girls in the cabin would draw attention to herself and distract the guys. Erika even found herself flirting with the guys. Most of it was directed at Kyle. She was going to have to have a talk with Josh later and didn’t want to tease or flirt with him and then tell him that she didn’t like him the way he was hoping. That just didn’t seem right.

The girls of Columbine were working as a team now. Dani, Krystal, and the others would try and set the ball up so that Katie, Rachel and Samantha could spike it. Of the three games to be played, the two cabins were tied, at a game apiece. The third game was close, just a few points apart with Oak cabin trailing by three points. Kyle served the ball, and the guys of Oak cabin threw everything they had into it. One guy dove for the ball and came up with a mouth full of grass. Another setting up the ball, ran into the net post as the third guy spiked it. But Rachel leapt into the air and was there to block the shot. Josh went diving and hit the ball up, just before it hit the ground, but it went wild. A blonde kid from Oak, chased after it and hit it back into play. A tall dark-haired guy, hit it towards Erika’s side of the court.

“I’ve got it.” Dani called out.

Erika froze in place and watched as the tiny teen got under the ball and popped it up.

“Set it Erika.” Rachel coached.

Erika got under the ball and got ready. It came down and she flicked it up with her fingers towards the front of the net. Katie, Samantha, and Rachel all jumped up towards the set ball. Katie swung at it faking a spike to one corner. Samantha was in the air to add to the confusion, while Rachel slammed the ball right into the grass at Josh’s feet.

“Point!...... and game.” Dani nearly screamed.

Erika found herself bouncing up and down screaming and giggling like a girl, she paused for a moment. She was bouncing and screaming like a girl. That wasn’t normal…… not for a guy, but she was a girl for the summer. She was in a cabin with some awesome girls. Girls that were smart, beautiful, courageous, athletic and they all pulled together and worked as a team. They cooperated as a unit and beat the Oak cabin boys in a Volley ball tournament. The strangest part of it all was that she wasn’t being left out of the fun. Katie, Victoria and Krystal were among the first cabin mates to bounce with her and give her a hug. She wasn’t being pushed off the court, scorned for not pulling her weight to achieve the win, she wasn’t left out of the celebration.

Rachel grabbed a hold of her and pulled her into a big hug. “That was a great set, Erika! That was incredible!”

“Great game girls!” Phoenix congratulated them. “I hate to break up the party, but we have to be over to the other field in twenty minutes to play Alder.”

“We need to get hydrated too. “ Rachel wiped sweat from the back of her neck.

Josh, followed closely by Kyle came up and put his arm around Erika. “You girls did really good.” He grinned down at her and gave her a squeeze. His sweating body being that close to her was not something she felt comfortable with. He stunk with exertion from the game and it showed under the arms of his T-shirt and on his chest. Erika disengaged as nicely as she could.

“We beat you two games to one.” Dani bantered as she passed by.

“Well you didn’t play fair, half-pint.” Kyle called after her. “Flirting with us the way you did.”

“Don’t call her names.” Katie frowned at the blonde haired guy as she followed Dani into the protective shade of the trees.

“Josh, I need to talk with you.” Erika said facing him.

“Sure.” Josh grinned down at her. “What is it, Erika?”

“It’s about last night.” Erika began.

“I had a great time.” Josh interrupted. “Wasn’t that sunset beautiful?”

“Yes, it was.” Erika agreed, “But, I’m afraid…..”

“Josh, we need to get going.” Kyle interrupted. “We have to play Spruce cabin in Basketball.”

“I’ll be right there.” Josh told his friend. He turned back to Erika and gingerly swiped an errant hair from her face. “As you were saying, beautiful?”

“Come on, Erika, Rachel and Sam!” Dani called from the trees, “We need to get going.”

Rachel, standing a little way away from Erika held her hand up to stall Dani’s further protests. “Go redeem yourself, Samantha.” Rachel whispered.

“Josh, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to go out with you again.” Erika bit her bottom lip. She got ready to flinch or take a punch waiting for the athletic guy to take out his emotions on her.

Samantha sighed and stepped forward in a hurry. “Josh.” She got his attention. “She has a boyfriend back home. “Samantha blurted out. “The only reason she agreed to go out with you last night, is because I asked her too.”

Erika, surprised that a punch from Josh didn’t come, turned in shock towards Samantha.

“She only went on the date with you, because she knew that I liked you and wanted to be on the date with you too. But it didn’t work out that way.”

“Is that true?” Josh looked back at Erika.

Erika couldn’t say anything. She just nodded her head, hoping that Josh wouldn’t slap her, or start calling her names.

“Oh……. Okay.” Josh looked disappointed. “Well your boyfriend is one lucky guy. I’ll see you two around?” he included Samantha.

“It’s not like we aren’t stuck at camp together.” Erika blurted out without thinking.

“True.” Josh smiled. “See you later.” He turned to Samantha and gave her a smile before turning to follow Kyle to their next appointment.

“All right, girls, let’s go kick some kick-ball butt.” Rachel wrapped an arm around each of them.

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End of Chapter Eighteen