Camp Yorktown

The Initiation

After the three of them showing their extensive collection of camp food experiments, trying to locate some key they had stashed the year before in a panic, and Alexander yelling furiously out the window to some guy named 'Jeffy Boi', we headed to the common for the camper assembly.

A young man wearing a counselor shirt stepped up onto an elevated platform at the head of the common.

"Welcome campers! My name is George Washington, and I am the founder of Camp Yorktown. Who's ready to get their PRIDE ON??????" Everyone whooped and cheered. Okay. That was confusing. No 'gay is wrong' lecture yet... I leaned over to Alexander and whispered, "Uh, what kind of camp is Camp Yorktown? Knowing my father, I thought it was going to be some queer reform option..." He just looked me in the eyes and said, "Reform? John, this is the best Queer Pride camp in the country! Everyone can be who they are. Did you not notice the rainbow on everyone's torso?"

Yep. That rainbow does make more sense now. Dad'll have a fit.

"Alright kiddos! Everyone needs to cabin up and find one more cabin group to mingle with. Introduce yourselves, state your pronouns, and be clear about what you prefer to be called. And 'Revolutionary Crew'? Don't do what you did last year!" They all grinned at that one. Lafayette looked disappointed and put something back in their pocket. Immediately, I was whisked with my cabin-mates to a corner where 3 girls were standing.

Hercules bounced over (as much as that man can) and greeted them all. He turned towards me.

"Hey John! These are the Schuylers. Angelica," A tall, intimidating lady with mocha skin waved nonchalantly, "Eliza," a fair-skinned teen wearing what appeared to be a blue sundress under her camp t-shirt smiled, "And--" A girl of around 15 interjected. "Peggy! I'm Peggy." She held out a delicate hand, and when I shook it, she squeezed so hard that you could tell she had been trying to seem stronger with her handshake.

"Hey! I'm John Laurens, their new bunkmate," I replied, pointing at the Revolutionary Crew next to me. Hurriedly I added my pronouns, and thankfully the sisters' were easy to remember. It looked as if Eliza was adopted, unless the other two looked a lot like one parent and she looked like the other. AKA, unlikely. The campers hung around for a bit, until everyone realized that Washington couldn't care less if they were still at the common or not. Things cleared out after that, and I headed over to a picnic table while the others were debating if some of the plants here were legal in vicinity of minors.

My sketchbook was mostly turtles. Lots of turtles. I flipped open to a new page, and looked around. What to draw, what to draw... my eyes fell upon Alexander. I knew that my face was bright red. I knew I was staring. I knew what to draw.

It was easier than it had ever been to draw something other than turtles. The dark hair that framed his face. He had a rounded gentleness to him, but at the same time looked like he could inflict some serious damage if given the motive. I focused in on the paper. I didn't even need to look up anymore. Alexander was etched into my vision.

"Whatcha drawing?" I whipped my head around to see Alexander. Throwing the cover onto my drawing, I willed myself to stop blushing and stuttered, "Uh-hh-hhhhhhh turtles." He plopped down next to me and nodded. He seemed to be contemplating something. A grin crept onto his face. He suddenly snatched my sketchbook and began thumbing through. I cried out a sad attempt at protest, but was more like a croak.

"Jeez, you do draw a lot of turtles!" He glanced over at me. "They're really good." I mumbled a thanks, and the sketchbook fell open to the one drawing I didn't want him to see. His grin spread even wider. He giggled. Like, actually. The man giggled. He said, "Wow. This is me, isn't it! No, of course it is. It looks exactly like me. That's what you were actually drawing." I nodded sheepishly and replied, "You can have it if you want. I'll probably draw another one." Oh God, John, what the hell are you doing. He thanked me, and we jogged back over to the group. It sounded as if they were making unrealistic plans to sneak into the city while they were here as the camp's version of 'Senior Ditch Day'.

"We can totally go to the Richard Rogers Theatre! There's a new musical there, and I want to see it SO BAD...", Angelica was saying, and Lafayette nodded in vigorous agreement. We started walking towards the cabins. My head was still face-palming from the inside. I was such a dork over at the table. I mean, sure. I hadn't liked any girls, but that didn't mean I wasn't straight. That was what I'd told myself ever since the seventh grade, when people started calling me names I didn't appreciate. But Alexander. I hadn't ever acted like that in front of anyone. He jumbled my mind like a Rubik's Cube. He was unbelievably handsome. He caught me drawing him at a gay pride camp. Yeah, that's gonna keep me up at night...

"John! You okay?!" "Earth to John!" "Jeez, when Ham flattened him, he really got messed up." That warranted a punch to the shoulder from Alex, and Hercules rubbed his arm while I shook it off. Nice first impression you're making, Johnny boy.

"Yeah? I didn't see the ground there, I guess." I saw the tree root that had warranted my trip, and mentally flipped it off as Peggy helped me up. Being the weird 'trippy' camper the first day? Check. Pun intended.

We parted ways at the fine line between the boy's and girl's cabins. I silently wondered what people did with conflicting genders, and watched the ground so that no bastard tree roots could catch me off guard.

I smoothed the corners of my bedspread, and sat gingerly on the edge, unsure what kind of bugs were nesting in the mattress. I kicked my suitcase under the bed, and watched in amusement as Alexander tried to tackle Hercules, and Lafayette fussed with the bathroom hairdryer, muttering about bacteria. Alexander got off of Hercules and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "Alright boys and gender-fluid individual! Time for the contract of the year!" He unfolded it and wiggled his eyebrows as Lafayette nested next to me on the bed. "I already took the liberty of typing it, we simply must sign, and as we are a democracy, will vote on any changes." I cleared my throat.

"Contract?" They all pulled out pens. Hercules let out a booming, "Yeah! The Revolutionary Crew loyalty contract!" I nervously grabbed a pencil. Lafayette laughed. "You won't be needing that! We sign all of the contracts in blood." They smirked as my face paled. Alexander laughed.

"It's fine, they're kidding. Your freckles reaaalllly stand out when you go pale like that though." They all scribbled a signature, and I felt foolish for clutching a pencil. I wasn't part of the Revolutionary Crew. They were all waiting though. They really wanted me in their group? Wow. I signed my name before the three could change their mind.

Alexander threw an arm around me. My face warmed. "He's one of us now!" I smiled, and whooped in excitement. I was in a camp designed for the LGBTQ+ community, there was a really adorable boy with his arm around me, and I had friends in the first 12 hours. I couldn't be sure about the idea of me having a crush on Alex, or belonging in a queer pride camp, but I could be sure that this summer was gonna be unforgettable. My grin spread to both of my ears. Watch out, Camp Yorktown, The Revolutionary Crew is here.