In The Dark (Frerard) ✔

Chapter 9

Gerard's POV

A week later

I cleaned up a little, straightening my collar as I grabbed my sunscreen. I applied the solution to my skin liberally to prevent the sunburn that would soon come from being so pale. I stepped out with my keys, locking my door and avoiding the kids in the hall, making my way outside. I walked down the dirt path to the main part of the camp, seeing the lake and smiling a little bit.

I walked along the grass, going over to the docks and the kayaks. I was almost to the docks, but a counselor stopped me; these pricks were really starting to get on my nerves. "You can't go in a kayak without another person going with you, either we assign you someone or-" I held up a finger, telling him to stop. "No thanks, I'll be right back," I told him, walking away and heading back to the cabins.

This time, it wasn't my cabin. I walked to the Fox cabin, trying to keep the dorm number I was looking for in my mind. I went past the doors; 515, 516, 517, 518, and then the door I needed. 519. I debated on knocking, eventually doing so because some weird kids were staring at me. I heard a lock click, the door opening to a very wide awake Frank. "Hey, what's up?" He asked, smiling as he leaned on the door frame.

I smiled and shook my head at his mannerism, being so nonchalant and collected but obviously excited. Though, as I stood there, the tank top showed off his tattoos that were on his arms that I hadn't seen. Ever. I brushed it off, blushing as I internally shook my head as I collected myself to answer him. "Well, I came by, wondering if you wanted to go on the lake with me? Apparently, we're supposed to have another person or something," I told him, seeing him slightly nod as he looked back into his room. "I'll be out in a sec, I gotta get my bathing suit," He responded after a while.

Frank shut the door, but it made me realize how out of place I was. I leaned against the wall, acting like I didn't hear the kids at the end of the hall whispering and occasionally glancing at me. I urged myself to wait, sighing as soon as I heard Frank's door open. He was wearing a long sleeve wetsuit and a pair of shorts, accompanied by a pair of black sandals. He locked his door, facing me, who probably looked dumbfounded. "Okay, you ready to go?" He asked, giving me a thumbs up and smiling. "Um- yeah," I responded, leading the way out of the building and to the main part of the camp.

Going to the docks with a slight satisfaction was the best feeling I've felt since coming to camp. We were given red and blue life jackets, red being fox and blue being wolf. Frank rolled his eyes so hard that I fooled myself for a second, thinking I could hear it, though it did make me laugh. I carefully got into the back, Frank slipping into the front as we were each given a paddle. The kayak was given a shove out to the lake, floating until Frank started to paddle like a pro.

I tried to help, but I overestimated my ability how to work out the simple basics of kayaking. "Hey, you okay back there?" Frank asked, kind of turning around a little bit and seeing that I was struggling to figure out what to do. "Here, just follow what I do," He gently told me, pushing his paddle into the water, doing so a couple of times before switching over to the right to do the same thing. "Exactly like that, except when I'm on the left, you're on the right. Push on the left, you'll see," He told me, giving me a thumbs up to go as he paddled out to go more into the lake.

I pushed to the left like I was told, seeing our speed pick up as we kept going. I smiled and then changed sides as soon as Frank did. "Let's go fast," I found myself saying, smiling as we both put our strength into it. After a while, we were surely the fastest on the lake, laughing a little as we made a turn to make sure we didn't go over the barrier to the girl's side. "Hey, this is a lot of fun," I yelled out, both of us slowing down and just enjoying it now. "Yeah, thanks for asking me to come out with you, this has been a blast!" He exclaimed, smiling as he turn to me a bit.

"Of course... It's better with a friend anyway," I told him, pushing my hair out of my face. I saw Frank's face smiling as he did the same. "So, you see me as a friend now?" He asked sheepishly, though I just nodded. "Yeah, you're the only person I know here, and I don't mind that," I told him, pushing my hair out of my face again since I had the habit of hanging my head a bit. "Well, on that note, you ready to head back to the docks? It's almost lunchtime," Frank stated, and I chuckled a little, paddling to get us started. After a few minutes, we "parked" the kayak, trying to get it as close as possible to the dock so we wouldn't fall into the water.

I got onto the dock without an issue, but when Frank started to get out, he started to get a little wobbly before basically falling onto the dock. "Oh my God. Frank, are you okay?" I asked concern laced in my tone as I bent next to him, extending a hand for him to hoist himself back up to his feet. "Peachy. The life jacket broke most of my fall, I'm okay," He responded, taking my extended hand, getting up, and smiling. The bell rang for lunch in the distance, scaring us both for a second.

"I didn't know it did that, did you?" Frank asked, taking his hand away from mine as he started to take off the life jacket, walking towards land. "No, our cabins are too far to hear it," I answered, taking off the life jacket as I walked, handing it back to the counselor. "Perfect timing though, I was starting to get hungry because of the workout on the lake... And I slept through breakfast," Frank told me, though I wouldn't put it passed a teenager to accidentally sleep through the breakfast hours.

Getting in line, we just hummed to ourselves while waiting for our food. Once we did, we were going over to the Wolf table, being stopped by an asshole of a counselor. "Kid, you're a fox, go sit at your correct table," He demanded, hiding behind those thick sunglasses as he scowled. Frank looked at me, silently saying good bye as he walked over to his "correct table". I sighed, giving the death glare to the counselor, which he shrugged off. I sat at my table, eating slowly and looking at Frank occasionally.

Frank looked to be stewing in anger as he ate his meal, tapping on the table and shaking his head on occasion. "Son of a bitch," I whispered under my breath, knowing full well in the minimum time that I've known him that he was coming up with a plan of revenge.

Rule number one should have been, "Don't piss off a short person".