Retrace the Lines

Josh

Five whole minutes.

That's how long I've been trying to get Ginger's attention. My head rests in my palm and I lean further across the dining hall table. Eyes focused and unwavering. From two tables across, her eyes flick to me and she frowns.

I send her a quick wink and the corner of her mouth twitches. The frown instantly comes back, however, and she turns away.

She's adamant on ignoring me, that's for sure. Yesterday afternoon when I saw that she was my leadership pair for the summer, it was definitely a shock. I was already confused as fuck on how to handle this situation and spending everyday with her isn't going to help.

I ran into her after dinner, when she was walking back to her cabin with a dark-haired girl. The moment she saw me, she and her friend immediately changed course. Not going to lie, her trying to ignore me is pretty cute.

And it's a challenge I'll gladly accept.

I smirk as I take a sip of my juice and turn to my one of my cabin mates Andre, who's sitting next to me. He's also a football player back home, and he's already on his third plate of breakfast. Definitely my type of guy.

Today, team Dolphin has its first group activity led by Quinn and I. Most of the campers arrived early this morning and are sitting on the other side of the dining hall.

Tables of shy, quiet kids meshed with the energetic ones makes for an interesting atmosphere over breakfast. The chatter rings throughout the hall and occasionally you can hear a cheer or shout.

I can already tell that my energy is going to be pretty drained after this first day of leading.

After breakfast, I stroll over to check the roster for our allocated activity for the day. Although it's only eight in the morning, the beams from the scorching summer sun warm my skin as I face the bulletin board. There, right next to our team name, is a word that makes me a happy guy indeed.

Canoeing.

I chuckle lightly to myself as I think about the trouble I could get up to with some open water, Quinn and a rocky canoe. I think she'll have some trouble ignoring me today. As if she can read my thoughts, I notice Quinn walking towards the roster in my peripheral vision.

As she stands next to me, the various ochre shades in her ponytail hit the light. Shooting me a glare with those cool, blue eyes, she silently brushes her eyes over the paper.

She shakes her head as she reads it.

"Don't even think about trying anything Joshua. We have kids to keep our eyes on." Her arms are crossed.

I bat my eyelashes innocently.

"Me? What're you talking about? You know I'm all about proper health and safety." I wink. "In fact, I recently published a novel. It's called 'A Safe Canoe.' You should give it a read sometime."

She rolls her eyes and leans against the board.

"Don't think that I've forgotten that time we went camping at Lake Rami when we were eight, and you literarily stuck all of my clothes on an air mattress in the middle of the water." She narrows her eyes.

"I don't trust you around water one bit."

I stifle a laugh as she stares at me crossly. Oh, shit. I forgot about that. It was really some of my finest work though. She ended up swimming to the middle of the lake and tipping the mattress over as she tried to pull it back. Of course, all her clothes fell into the water. Thanks to our parents though, I ended up drying and folding them all. So, I guess I got what I deserved in the end.