Cabin Nine [Original]

3

Jack and I are in the same cabin again. Hunter is our counselor again. This year feels like a repeat of last year. I was even stuck between Klein and Mark on the drive over. They kind of calmed down. No insults and no shoving. They just ignored me. Not that I tried to talk to them. I already know they don't like me.

I don't need them anyway. I have Jack. Even though I don't see him much. I tell him pretty much everything.

Jack doesn't tell me everything. He forgot to include me on his First Day of Camp Prank.

However, that made it funnier to watch. Hunter's pillow was replaced with whipped cream. So when he put his head on it, it squeezed through the pillowcase and went all over the place. Jack once again spent the first night without any blankets.

I think it's worse this time. I'm cold underneath my blankets and wake up several times. I finally get the resolve to offer Jack a blanket, but he's not in his bunk. I find him sitting on the lodge's front porch.

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

He looks up sharply. "Oh, it's you. I got cold in there. Came out here to warm up."

It makes sense. I think the air conditioner went crazy.

We sit out there for a long time. It's just nice. I think Jack doesn't like the silence or maybe he doesn't like that I sat out there without asking him, but he's itching to say something the whole time. It must not be as important as it seems, because he never says anything.

Tuesday is weird. Jack keeps starting to say something and then stopping. I finally get him to tell me while we're canoeing.

"What do you keep trying to tell me?" I ask.

"Nothing," Jack says quickly.

"Dude, you should just spit it out. It's obviously bothering you."

He looks away.

"Jack." He doesn't reply, so I keep saying his name in weird voices.

"Fine!" he says. "I'm moving."

My heart drops.

"What?"

"I don't know where. My dad won't tell me."

"Well, bug him until he does! Will you still come here? It's an eight-hour drive already. Surely they can't move further away."

"It's not they, it's we," Jack says angrily. "I have to go with them."

"Why?"

"Because they're my parents, you idiot," Jack says.

I laugh. "Alright. Well, we can still email. Or send letters. I don't know. When are you moving?"

"After the school year ends."

"Well, then maybe you can stay at my house for a while during the summer while you guys move. It could be fun."

Jack shrugs. "I don't know."

We drop the topic. I think it's distressing Jack more than he's showing. Is it really a big deal? I mean, he's my best friend. His parents wouldn't take him away from this camp. He really loves it here. Doesn't he? I go home and never shut up about it and him. Does he do the same? For some reason, the thought of him talking about me makes me shake. I think it's the nerves about him moving. What if I never see him again?

It's all I can think about all week. Even though Jack and I win the Wacky Wednesday contest again. And we win the paintball tournament together. That's all him. I can't focus and I can't aim. All I do is make sure I don't get shot. We even sing in the choir. I forget the words and just mouth animal names so as to not mess everyone up. Jack notices and makes fun of me playfully. I think he knows I've been distracted.

I wait on the steps of the Snack Shack for his parents to get there on Saturday. They pull up and park. All smiles and weird clothing, they ask how I am.

"Where are you moving to and why?" I say, not bothering to greet them.

His dad looks amused.

"I see Jack told you," he says.

"He did. Where are you moving to?"

"I don't know. They move us around a lot. Got word it'd be somewhere in the New York area. Don't know exactly where and I ain't planning on asking."

"But he'll still go to this camp, right?" I ask. My bottom lip starts to tremble and I look away.

His parents get all sympathetic now and promise me that no matter where they move, Jack will always come here.

Jack finds us talking and gets confused. They don't tell him anything and back up my lie when I say that I came out of the Snack Shack and just saw them. I end up having to go back in to buy something because I tell him that I left it in there.

I really want to hug him goodbye, but I don't and he doesn't, so I just wave as he and his parents drive away. He waved wildly out the back window until I can't see him anymore.

Ryan keeps me away from Klein and Mark on the way back. I instead sit with him in the front seat. We don't talk much. He asks why I look so sad and I tell him why. He probably doesn't know what to do with that, so he doesn't reply.

My talking about Jack is a little less animated than it usually is. I was terrified all week that I'd never see him again. It was such a relief that I don't know what to do with myself. I just stare at the pictures he emails me for hours.

I hadn't ever really noticed his eyes. They're this sort of amber-brown color and it's amazing. What's more amazing is that he's never mentioned my eyes. Pretty much everyone I meet asks about them.

I have heterochromia, which means I have two different colored eyes. Like David Bowie. Except he had anisocoria. One eye is blue and the other is green. I don't really like it. I wish they were normal.

I wish Jack would ask about them.

But why do I wish that? I always hate it when people ask. I mean, I'm nine. What do I know? For all they know, I'm one of those stupid nine-year-olds who steal stuff and don't retain information.

Jack and I keep up the emailing all year. I notice that Isaiah stopped showing up in pictures. I don't say anything about it, but I'm happy. I don't know why. I just am. It's orange and gold.

I don't see him again until camp, but I feel like I do. He and his family spend so much time taking pictures. I print out a bunch and put them in the book with his basketball team picture from last year.

He's not on the team this year. He joined football instead. Apparently he sucks, but he says it's okay because he's in fourth grade. He has time to improve.

I don't really do much. I thought I made a friend, but it was apparently just a ruse to humiliate me by learning all of my secrets. I don't really have any secrets, so they got bored and just stopped talking to me. I was fine with it. I had Jack. He was furious, but it wasn't like he was going to take a plane over here just to shout at someone. Though I'd love to see him again. For a better reason.