Church Camp For Dummies

the picture

I woke up reluctantly as the sound of breakfast bells rung. Breakfast, already? The room was cold, quiet, and empty. I took the time to relax for a second. I looked up and assessed my surroundings. All the girls had left for breakfast. I wasn't surprised they hadn't woken me up, but it's still a little rude.  I hadn't ever thought I would be in this sort of situation, at least after highschool. The stares burning into me and the hatred in their voice. I know they're children but it still hurts.
A dreary sigh escaped my lips. I crawled out of my bed and onto the cold hardwood. My body buckled for a second as burning pain shot up my leg. I had totally forgot about my ankle. Last night felt like dream. Who's hand was that and why did they help me?
I took off last night's clothes and slipped on a button up flannel and tattered jeans. I grabbed my jacket then headed out. Today's breakfast was waffles and like hell was I missing that.
I walked into the mess hall to the familiar sound of clattering silverware. I grabbed my grub and sat at the usual table. Chowing down, I thought about last night. I wonder if I'll get the chance to ever go up that mountain again. I closed my eyes and tried to recall the feeling of the cold wind and the smell of pine. The only thing I could recall however, was the hand of the mystery person. My eyes shot opened.
'Why can't I get that out of my head?!' I thought, face turning red.
"Is there something bothering you, Eve?" My entire body jumped as I went through all 5 stages of grief. The person who just sat across from me was
"Joseph." I stared at him, bewildered.
"Good morning." He smiled a very fake, superficial smile at me, his eyes closed. I returned the gesture and let my grin drop sarcastically.
"You don't need to humor me, you know. I'm perfectly fine with sitting by myself. I'm an adult." I took a bite of waffle.
"I'm very aware of that. However, even adults can get lonely."
I choked on my waffle. I'd never heard someone say something so cheesy before. I stifled my laugh. I took a drink of my Crystal chocolate milk.
"I guess you're right. Thank you for opening up to me, if you ever feel lonely again, I'll make sure to open up my busy schedule."
This time, it was he, who choked on his coffee. He recovered quickly and wiped his mouth on his sweater.
"Well, I think that's it for me, I'll have to take my leave now. Have a good day." He puttered off and I smiled. It was nice finally getting a win on him. However, my celebration was short lived, as some heavy whispering behind me got my attention.
"Did you see that?"
"Oh my god, why was Mr. Williams speaking to her? Think she's gonna get kicked out?"
"I hope so."
There was a slight pause.
"What if they're, like, going out?"
"Haha, no way, she doesn't even do group prayer."
"Yeah, but what if she used her body, ya know? What if she seduced him?"
This pause was heavy, real heavy.
"No! Mr. Williams would never affiliate with a godless whore like her!" One girl stood up and slammed her hands on the table.
Someones got a little crush it seems. I turned around and made eye contact. Her eyes spelled murder at me.
Jeez, it's only breakfast, how intense.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to my waffle. Their whisperes turned rushed and they quickly headed out, except for the girl from before. She stood there, staring at me.
Tip tap tip tap.
And now she was in front of me. I looked up.
"You should know your place. Using your body to seduce men to the dark side. Your name suits you. I can't stand bitches like you." She glared down at me as I took a bite off waffle. Not very holy language if I may say so myself.
"Then sit." I pointed to the seat next to me. Her face turned red with anger. She slammed her hands down again, this time knocking my milk over and onto my waffle. Damn, not my waffle.
"I'll show everyone just how much of a whore you are." She pointed in my face and then turned around and sashayed out of the cafeteria. My head was elsewhere, however. No threat could make me despair more than my soiled waffle.
The day passed with out any further hitches. An appropriate ceremony was held for the waffle, however. Most of the activities were group work, ice breakers (despite the fact we've been living together for three days), and cleaning jobs. The first two tend to get awkward, but I quite enjoy cleaning up. The rage of my unbelieving had calmed down, so most people didn't mess around with me, so these times were great opportunities to enjoy my time alone and the surroundings. I picked up a couple water bottles and dug up a crinkled old chip bag and headed back to camp.
The first thing I noticed was the silence when I walked into the opening to dump my trash. I thought I had finally worked past the staring and the whispering, but something had changed. The stares were ones of pure disgust. They weren't nice before, but these were a completely different energy. I threw away the trash and turned around to hurry out of the clearing. Had I done something? Maybe the chip bag was like, some holy relic to the kids. Like they buried it 20 years ago and it was a reminder of the old days or something. I thought about digging it out of the trash for a second, before ultimately deciding it wasn't worth it.
"Eve, wait." I stopped. A councilor had his arms crossed and was staring at me the same way as everyone else was. "Come with me, now."
His tone of voice was stern and harsh, I was taken aback.
'What's going on?' I followed the man up to the main camp. I was led to an office, The Office. Where the Camp Director worked, which in this case, would be Joseph.
The atmosphere was heavy, my heart rate quickened as I walked in. Joseph was sitting behind a large wooden desk, his hands holding his chin, his fingers intertwined. He was staring down at the desk, a furrow in his brow. The only other person was the councilor who welcomed me to camp and the girl I had met this morning along with a friend of hers.
'Uh oh.'
"She's here." The councilor walked into the room, his hand griped on my arm, pulling me into the office further.
"What's going on?" I asked nervously.
"You know what this is about."
"Uh, no, I don't. What do you mean?"
Joseph remained silent, still staring at his desk.
"I saw you yesterday!" The girl finally spoke up. I thought about yesterday. Oh god, did she see me stuck in that window?
"I saw you in the lake yesterday!"
Huh?
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw it all!" Her friend spoke up, "You stripped completely naked and you s-s-"
"Skinny dipped!" The girl from this morning finished her friends sentence.
Huh?
I couldn't hold it in.
I bursted out in laughter, I buckled over, tears in my eyes. It almost didn't feel real, not only was I being accused of skinny dipping but the person accusing me could barely say it out loud. I calmed down for a second, having to breathe deeply to regain my composure.
"This isn't funny, Eve. This is a serious situation. Your actions not only go against our camp rules, but also against the law. You will be forcefully removed from this camp and blacklisted." The councilor that had taken me to the office grabbed me again and spoke to me in a snippy tone. "We have chosen not to take legal action, but we need to you to leave the premises by next morning."
My blood ran cold. For once, I was actually angry. I threw his hand off me, his eyes widened in shock and panic.
"This-!"
"Proof." Everyone's eyes turned to Joseph, "I will not take any action without proof."
The girls mouth twitched, a hint of a slight smile.
"I do have proof." My eyes widened. How would she have proof of something that never even happened? For some reason, I had to re think. Did I skinny dip and not remember? She pulled out her phone, which I'm pretty sure is against the no phone policy but whatever, and I watched as she placed it down onto Joseph's desk. I looked down at the picture and my mouth fell open.
The picture showed a woman from behind, completely nude, while standing in the lake I had visited yesterday. If I wasn't me, I would believe without a doubt that was me in the photo. Same hair color, same skin color, same body type. There were some slight differences but other than that, it was too dark to see anything else.
"That's not me!"
"Liar! Do you have an alibi?" She pointed at me again. I didn't have one, I had left by myself without telling anyone. I stepped back and looked down.
"That's what I thought. Both me and Tabby saw you. There are two witnesses and proof. Give it up, everybody knows that's you-"
"That isn't Eve." The room went silent. Joseph was still staring at the photo, his eyes assessing it like an old man with the last piece of a 5000 piece puzzle.
"She has a more defined lower back, her hips have more curve and her backside has slight dimples on the side. The balance is all off." Everybody stared at Joseph with wide eyes and dropped jaws. My entire face burned red, as well as the mean girls.
"Mr. Williams how'd you-" The male camp counselor was cut off by Joseph.
"Calico, you do know that lying is against God's teachings, correct?" The accuser, Calico, fumed.
"I know that! I'm telling you, that's her. If it's not, then who is it?"
He stared up at her as if she was dumb.
"How should I know?" The room went silent again, "Do you have any other proof?"
Calico stuttered incoherent words.
"That's- this is- I."
"Then we're done here. Please take Calico and Tabby back to their dorms. As punishment for lying, both of you must write an apology letter to God. You're dismissed."
Calico and Tabby stared at me as they were pushed out the door. I stood there still processing the events that had transpired.
"Eve, do you need something?"
"Ah, no, excuse me." I turned toward the door, but as my fingers brushed the doorknob, I turned.
"Joseph?"
He raised his head from the papers he was working on. I gave him a smile.
"Thank you." I left before he had the chance to say anything back. My heart pounded and my hands shook.
How? How did he know so much about my body, my ass, no less!
I paused while walking to the dorms, wind and bird chirps filling the silence.
Oh.
I know how.