Retrace the Lines

Quinn

Imagine that your hair is freshly washed, a light breeze fans your face and you're trudging along a warm path. What could ruin this incredible mood?

The thought of Joshua Hutchins tends to do the trick.

It's been about an hour since we came back from our first day of leadership and I'm still fuming. If being locked in shed wasn't bad enough, he had to embarrass me in front of all the campers by pushing me in the lake.

Whether he's trying to undermine me or simply just annoy me - I'm not sure. All I know is that after one day of this, I'm not sure how I will make it through the upcoming weeks.

I seethe as I walk. I was supposed to avoid him. Avoid the pain of the past and keep him the hell out of my life. Logistically, that's not going to happen. I guess I need a new plan. I hop into the cabin and find the other girls huddled on the floor, playing cards with an assortment of snacks surrounding them.

"Hey girl!" Amalia greets me as she shuffles over to make room. I sigh as I heave down onto the floor, rubbing a towel through my damp hair.

Beth looks over inquisitively, asking, "Why were you so wet and covered in mud before you left for your shower? I didn't realise that some of the activities got that messy." She wrinkles her nose at the thought of this.

I laugh and shake my head. "No, we just went canoeing in the lake on the east side of the camp. I ended up wet because Josh thought it would be hilarious to tip me into the water." The girls around me exchange amused glances.

"No. Not funny at all. Can everyone put their angry faces on please?" I toss a pillow over at Sophie who is giggling in the corner.

"Okay but you have to admit, it's pretty funny when you see a canoe capsize. Our reactions are just a side effect of human nature." Sophie responds matter-of-factly.

The serious way she says this makes the other girls break out into laughter and I can't help but join in. Once we've settled, I ask all of the girls about their activities and partners. Amalia led archery today with her main man Derek who, in fact, was not the boy we passed wearing blue, but turned out to be someone even better.

"I was horrific at it, I almost shot a kid in the eye. But Derek was plenty of help with my positioning," she winks. I internally groan at the thought of archery with Josh. I would not trust him with any form of weapon - especially not within a hundred miles of me.

Maybe when it's our turn for archery I'll lock him in the shed this time, and won't let him out until the end of the day.

Beth tells me that she did the high ropes course with her team, and her and her partner were both too awkward to talk to each other much so they mostly lead separately.

Sophie's situation is quite the opposite. Her and the boy she's running her group with are both far too loud, meaning that they were fighting for power as they led. This seems a bit dangerous to me considering that they were running the flying fox.

As we play cards, we discuss the big event on tonight after dinner: the bonfire. Uncle Rob sold this night as an 'introductory party', where both the kids and their leaders can come together and do some late-night activities together.

Knowing Uncle Rob, these activities might be a tad unorthodox. We speculate over what they might be as we get pick our clothes for tonight.

"Water balloon fight?" Amalia suggests. I shake my head at this, it's too cold at night now. 

"Team building tug of war?" Beth ponders, shrugging her shoulders. We murmur in agreement, this could definitely be a possibility.

"Rap battle?" Sophie offers, meekly. We all stare at her, slightly shocked and dissolve into a fit of giggles. I hope if we ever get a chance to do a rap battle, we can put Sophie front and centre. I would definitely pay to see that.