Show Them What it Means To Be Alive

searching for change in direction I want to go

This morning, the rising summer sun was Melanie’s alarm clock.
Any confusion the brunette may have had about the change of scenery dispersed with the first thing her sea-green eyes fluttered open to – the cabin wall.

Camp.

Melanie all but ripped her suitcase apart to find clothes to wear; seeing as she hadn’t unpacked yet. Finally semi-satisfied, she settled on a V-neck with a paint splattered bikini and her favorite jean-shorts. She carefully placed her tortoise shell sunglasses on top of her hair, adjusting her bangs so they still swept across her forehead, barely brushing her eyelashes.

Without saying a word, Melanie suddenly grabbed Kara’s arm and ran out of the cabin.

Melanie giggled as her new friend was tripping behind her, trying to keep up with her antics.
That is, until she tripped and got a mouthful of grass. Then Kara was the one laughing.

The two quickly composed themselves, ignoring the confused stares from everyone else.

Trusting that Kara knew where she was going, Melanie was paying little to no attention to where the other girl was taking her. She was much more interested in what Kara had to say about the camp. According to her description, there were no “stupid rules”; only the obvious ones, like don’t try and drown a camper in the lake, and a 12 AM cabin curfew.

Melanie inwardly smiled at this; giving credit to her mom for at least looking around a bit at camps before ‘shipping her away’, as the teenaged daughter would say.

When Melanie’s bare feet made the abrupt transition from hot pavement to soft – although probably manmade – sand, she knew they were there. The girls set their towels down on the two white plastic lounge chairs closest to the water, as neither of them were ready to swim quite yet.

Melanie laid her towel down, making the hard plastic chair the slightest bit more comfortable. She slid her sunglasses over her eyes and twisted her wavy hair into a loose bun with a stray rubber band found on her wrist. The brunette pulled her baggy shirt over her head as she kicked her shorts down to her ankles, and then into a pile in the sand. She reclined back into the chair with her hands intertwined behind her head as she twisted her head as much towards Kara as possible while still remaining comfortable.

"So," Melanie began, catching the other girl’s attention, "Tell me a bit more about your friends"

"Oh, the ones I told you about who go here?" Kara rhetorically asked, "Okay, well for one, they're our age. So all sixteen.”

“I’m still fifteen,” Melanie corrected, aware of how obnoxious she was being.

“Anyway,” Kara continued after lightly hitting her friend, “They're in a band, called All Time Low."

"Name one teenage boy that isn't in a band..."

"I know, right!" The older of the two laughed, "But seriously, they're really good, and they've been doing it for two years already. We're hoping they get signed before they graduate. Especially since some of them aren't exactly the brightest - I don't know what they'd do about college." The girl laughed again, but from the tone of her voice, Melanie could tell she really cared about them.

"Anyway," she continued with a huge grin, "I'm going out with their drummer, Rian. He's such a sweetheart. He's really funny, too. Sometimes I think he's the reason the other guys don't say things that get them beaten up"

"Next there's Zack. He actually doesn't go to school with the rest of us, but we're all together so much I can hardly tell the difference. He's really quiet. But in a cool way, like he won't say the stupid things, so then when he does say something it's like the greatest thing ever."

"... and then there's Alex and Jack." Kara continued, saying it in the way a mother would talk about her unruly four year old sons - except with a lot more amusement. "You know that voice in the back of your head that goes maybe I should keep this in my head? Well they were just born without it" Melanie giggled. She knew quite a few people like that, including herself.

Kara smiled, "It's so wrong, in greatest way possible. Like I can't even begin to think about what a band practice would be without them. Jack has this childishness to him, so he really won't come off as obnoxious, only incredibly immature. Alex doesn't have that innocence to him, so he'll sometimes come off like a dick, but he's really not. There's a lot more to him."

The younger girl nodded, slowly taking all of this in.

"Are they cute?" Melanie blushed as she asked the question she couldn’t help but ask

"Mhm!" Kara responded, "I mean, I can't really say too much about the rest, since I have Ri," She smiled adoringly "But I'm sure you'll be satisfied!"

"I'm glad… Oh, do you have your iPod with you? I kind of just wanna relax here for a little bit"

"Oh yeah, it's in the back pocket of my shorts. They're in the pile over there" Kara directed the other girl to the pile of their clothes in between the two chairs.

"Alright, I guess I'll go swimming" Kara got up from the chair and pulled her hair back. "Oh, and take your sunglasses off. You're going to get one of those tans with white rings around your eyes. I mean, I'll find it funny. But I don't think you will"

"Good idea," Melanie mumbled, sliding her sunglasses up onto her hair, "Ow! Never mind! Too bright!" She whined as she slid them back.

"Suit yourself" Kara giggled as she darted off into the water.

*

The brunette’s eyes opened again when she felt the earbuds being quickly pulled out of her ears. Her eyes shot open, although she quickly squeezed them shut afterwards in reaction to the sun’s brightness.

"Shiiiit," The younger girl moaned, rubbing her closed eyes. She placed her hands on her legs for support as she sat up, instantly feeling burning.

"Ow!" She pouted, finally opening her eyes to see her skin was comparable to that of a cooked lobster's. "How long was I ... baking?" Melanie asked Kara

"I'm so sorry!" Kara laughed, but Melanie could tell she was trying to be sincere "I was in the water and lost track of time. It must have been a few hours. It's like one or two now"

“Well I guess water will make it better. Is it nice, at least?

"Yeah! But not like creepy 'who-peed-in-the-pool?' warm. It's like nice-lake-warmed-by-the-sun warm."

Melanie couldn’t help but laugh at her friends analogy. “Let’s go then!”

*

"Whoa." Kara loudly broke the silence shared between the two girls as they sat on the dock in front of the sunset, feet dangling off into the cool lake.

"What?"

"It's almost nighttime and we haven't eaten all day."

"That's so weird," Melanie told her friend "I'm usually always hungr--"

The younger girl let out a shrill shriek as she toppled forward into the water. She quickly surfaced, with a look of sheer terror painted on her slightly sunburned face.

"A... Fish ... fucking BIT ME!" Melanie shouted, scared half to death. Meanwhile, Kara was laughing so hard that Melanie was sure she saw tears.

“If you’re afraid of fish, why are you still in the water?”

Melanie yelped as she threw her leg over the dock, trying desperately to pull herself up using her almost non-existent upper body muscles. Once the two had composed themselves, they dried off and headed to eat.

*

“Wow. Food sounded like such a better idea before I stuffed my face,” Melanie complained, reclining back in her seat slightly.

Kara laughed, “So true. I’m gonna go back in the lake now. Hopefully moving will make me feel less sickly. You wanna come with me?”

Melanie shook her head, “Nature made me it’s bitch enough for one day.”

The two decided for Melanie to wait in the rec. cabin, which according to Kara was the one by where they were earlier, and for them to meet when Kara was done.

Surprisingly, considering the lack of attention she paid throughout the day, Melanie found her way perfectly. As she looked inside from the doorway, she saw five or so small square tables in one part of the room, and on the other there were a bunch of sofas, loveseats, and cushiony chairs; none of which were matching.

The cabin was seemingly empty, most likely because of all the campers she saw at the lake.

The brunette found my way to the corner of the room to a red and white checkered loveseat and sprawled out across it. Not exactly knowing what to do, she took my second glance around the room.

There were four boys hanging around the counter where the camp sold snacks. From what she could see, they were all relatively tall and skinny. Three of them had hair that was some shade of brown, and one blonde. Two of them were even wearing tight girl jeans, despite the July heat.

One of the boys with brown hair-the longest hair of the group - caught Melanie’s glance. He looked at her, bit his lip and jokingly thrusted his hips into the air in front of him - towards Melanie.

She rolled her eyes and looked away. Although Melanie was blushing slightly, she knew he couldn’t be able to tell seeing as her face was already burnt.

Melanie remembered her friend saying she’d come back to get her, so she decided a nap wouldn’t hurt. Her eyes fluttered closed as her thoughts got quieter and quieter until they transitioned into dreams.



Melanie woke up disoriented.
It would be a lie to say she was used to waking up on unfamiliar couches in the middle of the evening. She squinted her eyes to read the clock across the room. It read 9:30.

Okay, so it’s not exactly evening anymore.

She sat there quietly for a couple more minutes, the feeling of sleep slowly wearing off of her.
Then it hit Melanie – Kara wasn’t there. She had no way to get home.

The brunette’s heart started racing as she looked around the room, making sure her friend wasn’t there. Sure enough, the only people there were the boys from before, at the opposite side of the room from her. Two of them were sitting on the sofa, one was sitting on one of the chairs, and the other was sprawled out on his lap. They were all talking to each other and laughing.

With Melanie’s luck, one of them -the same one- caught her glance, again. He winked, causing another one to look over at her to see what was going on.
Melanie quickly jerked my head away and bit her lip.

Melanie knew she certainly didn’t give off a ‘shy’ aura, but in many cases she definitely could be. Like now.

The reason Kara and her got along so well so quickly was because she was so friendly -- It was easy for Melanie to open up to her right away. If those boys went up to her and started talking like Kara did, she wouldn't be sitting there with her knees pulled into her chest, bangs covering her face, looking down, like she was now.

After a few painful minutes of keeping to herself, Melanie forced herself to accept the fact they were her only hope of finding a way back.

Melanie swallowed her pride, and with a painted smile on her face, made her way over to them.