Would You Believe Me If I Said I Didn't Need You?

I was squirming in front of the head of the summer camp, being held up in one arm by our camp counsellor. In the camp counsellor’s second arm, Taichi Kamiya was being held. I had tried to attack him before, but the counsellor threw me onto the ground, and picked me back up and warned me not to do it again.

Tai just laughed at me, and I called him Taichi, which made him try to attack me, resulting in the same treatment.

Tai’s real name was Taichi. Everybody shortened it to ‘Tai’ because it was easier to say, and Tai preferred being called Tai. Therefore because he was my rival, I cheekily called him Taichi as much as I could.

It was a stand off though, because he always called me Scarlett. Scarlett was my name, but I absolutely hated it. It was WAY too girlie for me, the most tomboyish girl in this camp. Even Sora looked like Mimi when it came to me. So therefore everybody else except for Tai called me “Scar”

The head of camp just shook his head when he saw us being dropped onto the ground before him.

“Why, what a surprise. Taichi Kamiya and Scarlett Lancaster. It’s been a week since you were both last here, my I think that’s a new record.” The head of camp grinned.

“It’s Tai!” “It’s Scar!” We both protested at the same time.

“This time it’s serious. They both started throwing food at each other in the food hall, causing a big mess and hitting other children. What if a child got hit by something they’re allergic to?” Our counsellor shrieked.

“I see. Well, go check if everything is okay. I’ll deal with these two.” The head of camp said.

The counsellor bowed his head and exited.

“What am I to do with you two? This all started with the canoe incident on day one of the camp. We’ve tried getting you to talk about problems and apologising, but that did no good. So we tried to keep you both as far away as possible without moving groups, but that’s doing no good.” The head of camp sighed.

“There’s only two weeks of camp left. Let us battle it out, and fight to the death.” I grinned.

“Yeah! That’s a great idea! If I am triumphant, I get to live the rest of my life without Scarlett. If I lose, well hey I’m out my misery.” Tai winked.

“YEAH! He’s onto something here!” I agreed, nodding.

“Alright you two. I’m going to now throw you out. Try not to injure yourselves, and try not to get caught. If something else happens, I’ll have to do something about it. This will involve both of you moving groups.” The head of camp sighed, pushing us out the door.

Tai and I gave each other a look of panic, before walking off in opposite directions. He was probably going straight to his cabin, whilst I would walk around a few times to calm down.

The head of camp here was pretty cool, he always found Tai and I’s shenanigans amusing. Unlike the principal of the elementary school I attended. Whenever I used to beat up the kids who bullied me, I would be the one who landed in hot water and the bullies would walk away scot-free. Even the ones who attacked me first.

This is what made me a tomboy. I was a prime target for bullies, due to me being overweight. Instead of being upset about it, my mother and father taught me to fight back. I became a ‘tough chick’ and my tomboy qualities followed this.

So the head of camp leader’s threats of moving groups didn’t scare Tai and I. We knew he wouldn’t do it, but would probably lay lie for a while in case he did.

You see, in this summer camp everyone belonged to one group. There were five in total. Each group had around about the same numbers. Each group also knew each other outside of camp. However, before camp I didn’t know anybody.

My parents were good friends with Matt and T.K.’s mother. She moved to our town after the divorce, and my mother was one of the first people she befriended. T.K.’s mother was the one to suggest that my mother send me along to this summer camp. So my mother did.

Therefore because T.K. was the only person I knew in this camp, I got put into this group. T.K. was put into this group too because of his brother Matt. Everybody else knew everybody else and went to the same school.

That was difficult to cope with at first. Whilst everybody launched into hilarious anecdotes, T.K. and I would nervously stand aside and wait for the conversation to pass.

But as the days went on, things began to change. I became quite good friends with Sora, and was able to talk to her about anything. We also all began to create our own memories at the camp, and could all speak about those.

We also all went to the Digital World together, but more on that later.

My rivalry with Tai began on day one. On day one everybody went canoeing, and I was paired up with Tai. Our canoe capsized, and we both blamed each other. Tai, thinking he was being clever decided to start annoying me. However what he failed to realise is that I could easily annoy him back.

I eventually landed back at my cabin. I saw Matt outside, who shook his head as I walked in. I rolled my eyes, choosing not to reply.

Matt, being the son of my mother’s best friend and Tai’s rival should be one of my favourite people right? Wrong. He thought I was just as immature as Tai, and would always make a few smart remarks when Tai and I fought. He was a little nicer to me than he was with Tai, and acted civil towards me because I had been there a lot for T.K. (I beat up T.K.’s bullies, so they now left him alone) but we still weren’t exactly friends.

“You’re still covered in food.” Sora giggled, as I stepped into the cabin.

“Eh, do I look like I care?” I asked, motioning down to my plain baggy red t-shirt, and baggy black cargo pants.

“No, but Mimi does. If she can’t get the stains out of her dress she’s going to kill you.” Sora informed me.

“Well I’m going to shower and get changed. My main concern at the moment is getting back Tai right now, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it if Mimi is mad at me.” I shrugged, making my way to the shower.