7 Days of Camp

58

•Kaila's POV•

Amber and I were sitting beside a tree, reading some scriptures together, when we saw two very familiar faces approaching. One of them happened to be my favorite.

"Hello, ladies," said Hunter.

"Hi, boys," Amber and I replied in unison.

"Wanna go do something?" Alex asked.

"Like what?" I answered.

"We could...go to the pool. Or the lake. Or the gym. Anywhere, really," Hunter suggested.

"Don't forget the snack shack," Alex added.

"Oh, yes. Who could forget the snack shack?" I stood up and dusted off my shorts. "The lake sounds good. We haven't had the chance to go boating yet."

"Oh, that's right!" Amber spoke up. "I've been wanting to go."

"Me too," Alex said, smiling in her direction.

"Then it's settled. Let's just get our swimsuits on, and we'll be ready," I said.

"See ya," Hunter said with a wave. He and Alex disappeared into their room. Amber and I went to ours.

"What do you want to do first? Once we're out there?" Amber asked as we rummaged through our bags for some suits.

"Hmm...probably go tubing. You?"

"Same." We high-fived. "I'll change out here if you want to use the bathroom."

"Okay, thanks," I said, and slipped away to the tiny restroom.

Once we'd changed into our suits-a pink one piece for me, and a blue tankini for Amber-we headed outside to meet with the boys.

Hunter had on orange swim trunks, and I smiled when I saw them. Orange was my favorite color!

"I love your swim trunks," I told him.

"Oh, thanks. Gotta support the team, right?"

"Of course," I agreed with a wink.

We walked down to the lake, our flip-flops slapping against the pavement.

"Do you guys wanna invite anyone else?" Alex asked.

"We can," Hunter replied, "but I'd rather go just the four of us."

"Yeah, me too," Amber added.

Surprisingly, there was no line. The driver, whose name was Ed, took us out on the boat, and gave us all life jackets.

Hunter grunted as he tried to squeeze into his. "Uh...I think it's too tight."

Meanwhile, mine was much too big. "Here, I'll trade you," I offered, unbuckling the life jacket and handing it too him.

"Thanks," he said, and unbuckled his.

We switched life jackets and sat down on one of the benches to wait for instructions.

"Who's going first?" Ed asked.

"We will," Amber replied, motioning to Alex.

"Okay. Just do a thumbs up if you want to go faster, or a thumbs down if you want me to go slower. And this-" He made a cutting motion in the air- "means stop. Got it?"

"Got it," Amber and Alex said in unison. They climbed into separate inner tunes and floated out about fifteen feet from the boat.

Ed surged forward, pulling our friends along with him. I heard them shouting and laughing in the distance, and smiled to myself.

"So..." said Hunter from beside me. I'd almost forgotten he was there. (Did I really just say that?)

"They look like they're having fun," I said, gesturing towards Amber and Alex.

"Yeah. Have you ever been tubing before?"

"Um, maybe once or twice. Have you?"

"Actually, yes. My family used to own a boat like this one, when we had a lake house."

"Had? Do you still have it?"

"No, we sold it. Unfortunately," he answered with a sigh.

"Ah. That sucks. Was it fun?"

"Oh yeah! We went down there every summer until I was twelve."

"Cool. I wish we had a lake house."

"We?"

"Like. Me and my parents and my siblings."

"Oh, right. Duh." He face-palmed, which made me laugh.

Then he grew kind of serious. "Alex tells me you had a little...encounter with Rosie."

My face darkened. "Yeah."

"How'd that go?"

"Not great. I was just in a bad mood, I guess. After I saw you guys together, I just got...jealous."

Surprisingly, he didn't look mad. He looked...touched. "You were jealous of Rosie? Why?"

"Because...you guys seemed like such good friends. And well, you knew her before you met me, and I just...I don't know. I can tell by the way she looks at you that she likes you."

"Well if that's the case, then it sucks for her. Because you're the only girl at this camp who I care about."

To keep myself from screaming, I said, "Just at this camp?"

He laughed quietly, and looked down at his hands, then back up at me. "I meant in the world."

I stared into his eyes, wanting him to kiss me now more than ever. He started to lean in, and my breath caught in my throat.

But then I heard Amber's voice say, "Hey guys, it's your turn! Are you ready?"

I pulled away from Hunter and stood up quickly. "Yeah. O-of course. Let's go, Hunter."

He stood up and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah. Coming."

Now there was this weird silence as we climbed into the tubes and floated away. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts, but they kept drifting back to that moment on the boat.

I could've sworn that Hunter had been about to kiss me. But would he really do that at camp? Or at all?

I tried not to think about it as the boat started up and we bounced around on the waves. But the memory of his eyes on mine lingered in my mind, and I couldn't shake the feeling.

And as we bounced along, I realized that I didn't really mind. I didn't mind at all.