At The Lake

Chapter Five

I snap back into reality.

"What?! Shhh!" I gasp.

"You really like him..." Sarah says sincerely. 

"I think he's attractive and spiritually, he's what I want, he's great with and loves kids..." I ramble.

"-- So I'm right." Sarah interrupts. 

"I think so..." I admit.

She shrieks quietly but loud enough to draw some attention.

"Shhhh!" I look at her with wide eyes.

She giggles at the thought that Ryan heard her squeal.

"Look, he's really sweet and I want to see where it goes but once camp is over, we go back to our lives. I rarely see him except these kinds of places." I whine.

"So, change that. Make the most of your time here and we'll take it from there," she reassures me. "But, being one hundred percent serious, he likes you too."

A smile appears on my face from ear to ear and I try to hide it.

"Hey Em! Come try!" Heather yells for me.

"Coming!"

I walk over to where Heather is standing and she's ready to shoot again. She aims for the target and the arrow flies towards it but digs itself right into the grass in front of it.

"Will you show me, Emily?" Heather asks annoyed.

"Of course."

"You go first, I'll watch you." Heather says.

I take my stance and pull the bow up and pull the string back. I aim and release and I hit the blue circle on the target. 

"...What?!" I look over and find Heather looking defeated. "How come I can't even hit the stupid thing?!"

"Hey, hey." I walk over to her, "I've done this for years here, it takes time."

"Let's try again, come on." I say comfortingly. 

She picks the same bow she used before and grabs an arrow and loads the bow. She pulls it back very quickly.

"Okay, okay, wait." I chuckle, "Slow down." She drops the bow to her sides.

"Pull it up so your right hand holding the string is resting close to your jaw line. Take two fingers and pull back tightly. Take your time to aim... and release."

She lets her two fingers slip off of the sting and the arrow flies through the air and hits the target. It hit the outer most ring, but she still did it!

"Told you." I grin as I bump into her side.

She giggles, "Thanks Emily..." as she quickly grabs onto my waist in a tight hug. A sudden weight was lifted off of me and I hugged her back.

"Anytime. Now keep practicing. And hey, you can do anything you set your mind to, some things just take practice, others take time." I smile and back up and let her be, but it's not long until someone takes my place in helping her. Jackson walks over to her and decided to 'help her out' some more.

I step back and watch as a young camp-crush flourishes. 

"You keep on impressing me."

I turn around to see Ryan standing behind me, "Well thank you, but why?" I ask.

"I saw how good you were with Heather. She's one to quit once, and leave it that way. I was shocked to see her get up and try again."

I never thought Heather had that hard of an exterior, maybe it's coming off, slowly but surely.