It Started At Camp

9 | Words

August 4

Derek

The light pouring in through the window panes awoke me one morning.  I tussled under my covers and then yawned before allowing my eyes to open.  From a distance, I saw Liam moving back and forth, shoving items in his backpack.  

"You're up early," I said.  

Liam glanced up at me and chuckled, "You're just up late."  I turned over slightly panicked to find my clock sitting on my night stand.  "I'm kidding."  I fell back into bed and sighed.

"Don't do that to me, man," I grumbled.

"It's fun," he said.  He sat on his bed that was directly across from mine and looked at me.  I shot a glance at him and furrowed my eyebrows.  He spoke before I could, "Have you talked to Lena lately?"

"No," I said.  I had become accustomed to her not talking to me by this point.  "Why?"

He shrugged but I could tell he was hiding something from me the way his eyes would shift from mine to a random point in the room.  "I was just curious," he said.  "Maybe talk to her."  He got up and grabbed his backpack.

"Liam, just tell me if you know something," I said sitting up groggily.

"It's just rumors," he said.  I kept my eyes fixed on him, waiting for him to continue.  "People are saying she got kicked out."  My eyes widened in shock.  I could tell that even giving me that piece of information was weighing on him.  "I think you should just talk to Lena about it because rumors are just rumors."  That was the last thing he said before he left the room.

As I walked around camp from class to class, I noticed how people would stop their conversations whenever I'd pass them or watch me and whisper when I ate lunch with Liam and a few friends.  I didn't put it past me that they knew why I had gotten called to the coordinators office, but as the looks continued I started to expect they knew something much worse.

I spotted the Lena's roommates in the lunch line and stood up to meet them.  When they saw me nearing them they immediately turned  away.  "Cassie," I said greeting her.  "Parker."  Cassie mustered a polite smile while Parker stared at me blankly.  "Lena not with you?  I wanted to talk to her."

"We're not her keeper," Parker said grabbing a juice box.  "What do you want from her?"

"I said I wanted to talk to her."

"Maybe we can pass along the message," Parker said not bothering to feign kindness.  

Cassie stepped in and said, "We'll tell her you wanted to talk to her.  Where can she find you?"

"She'll know.  And tell her if I'm not there, I'll be in the music building later today," I said.

Cassie smiled at me and nodded, confirmation that she'd pass along the message while Parker rolled her eyes and continued walking through the lunch line.  I lingered there for a moment and then retreated back to the lunch table  where Liam sat watching me concerned.

"What'd they say?" he asked.

"Nothing I haven't heard before," I said after a glance back at the lunch line.

Tiana met up with me at the music pavilion later that day.  She greeted me with a smile and sat down across from me.  We had the whole room to ourselves as everyone had left for dinner by then.  I had the guitar on my lap, but set it down when she handed me some papers.

"These are some of my revisions," she said.  "What do you think?"

I read over what she had changed.  She added a hook and her verse.  Looking over it, I could hear it in my head.  I glanced up at her and saw her watching me intently.  I set it down when I was done reading and smiled.  "This is amazing, Tiana," I said.  "I was kind of nervous giving it to you."