Just the Five of Us

“All right campers!!!” yelled Mrs. Morris with Crystal standing next to her. “First I’ll teach you the basic splint use, after that I’ll teach you what to do about snake bites and if someone was choking. Then we will move into our bathing suits and practice water and boat safety in the lake.

Then we will have a lunch break, after lunch we will talk about different situations and what to do if you get caught in those situations. And then finally to end our day we will watch a movie on first aid and have a quiz.”

So, all in all, we were in for a VERY boring day.

We had been separated into teams of fifteen and I only had Adrian next to me. I sighed glanced over at the group that had both Ray and Sean in it. Sean stood looking completely bored, his arms were crossed over his chest and he was standing with his weight on his left leg and his eyes half closed. He looked very cool and rebellious. Ray was actually yawning as their counselors droned on like ours.

“Alright, I want you to each grab a partner and come with me!” Mrs. Morris said grinning almost evilly.

I glanced at Adrian who was already staring at me, he held out a hand. I took it carefully and we fallowed the crowd. For once I didn’t feel the need to be flirty with guys. I felt like Adrian was just a friend, it felt nice. Friends held hands; I smiled slightly, friends…

We followed her through the forest. I noticed how peaceful it was, the boys weren’t being especially annoying, just a hushed chatter that only added to the calmness. Sunlight dappled the path and birds chirped happily in the treetops. I even saw a squirrel race across a branch. I was actually enjoying myself and it was only the first day.

Wow.

The splints were simple, but they dragged out forever. Mrs. Morris talked and talked and just like in class, I zoned out.

“Okay, I would like each of you to take a splint and practice with what I have just told you with your partner,” She said pulling out a large bag.

I started to go get one but Adrian was already walking back with a blue ugly one.

“Wanna go first?” he asked.

I shrugged and took the splint pieces from him, he sat down on the ground and I began to wrap up his leg, just the way we had been taught to. I was about half way done when a shadow of a person cast over Adrian’s leg.

I looked up to see Crystal’s furious face.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

I went red, let the nightmare begin, “uh…um, my m-mom sent me here. I guess…” I stuttered unprofessionally.

“What? She sent you to an-all-boys-camp?” she demanded continuing to glare at me with hating eyes.

“I, um, yes, I think. She didn’t tell me, I found out when I got here. I didn’t sign up for this, I really didn’t. She just wanted me to, like, do stuff I guess so she…” I trailed off, leaving my pathetic excuses hanging in the air like a string of unfinished lyrics that won’t ever be understood.

She continued to glare, but then suddenly smirked, “how pathetic, seriously Kristin? You keep getting worse.”

“And what are you doing here Crystal?” Adrian asked suddenly, his eyes angry, “you come here every summer. I heard you tell your friends you’re off in the Caribbean.”

Crystal flushed and glared at Adrian, “freak, don’t even look at me.”

Adrian smirked suddenly, “why would I? I would only turn to dust anyways.” He said snickering.

“Oh-my-gosh, that was so funny I forgot to laugh.” She said giving him a glare and stalking off.

“Friend of yours?” he asked as I tied the splint on tighter.

I blinked back tears and chewed my lip, “no, she hates me…”

Adrian looked after her and then smirked at me, “you’re prettier than she is. Much more voluptuous,” He informed me.

I blushed scarlet and looked down.

“You do know she has been stalking Shean and the rest of us, but Shean mostly, ever since her first got here,” he continued, “she probably can’t stand the fact that you got him before she did.”
I went even redder and ducked my head so he couldn’t see my face. I WAS NOT prettier than Crystal Morris, she and her friends had made that clear quite a while ago. Shean only talked to me because he was a courteous person, nothing else.

I struggled through the rest of the day the only time I got to see the others again was at lunch. I couldn’t believe I already felt comfortable with them enough to smile as much as I did at that conversation.

The second half of the day was worse than the first, we walked more even though we were still talking about first aid and it got so unbearably hot. I would have been thankful for the water safety if I wasn’t the only girl in the middle of a muddle of boys.

I stood at the edge of the huge clear lake wrapped in my towel staring at the ground wishing once more that I could melt away. The boys kept shooting glances at me and I only wished harder.

“I like your bathing suit, it flatters your curves.” Adrian said obviously trying to cheer me up; either that or...I didn’t go there. He smirked evilly, “it’s better than Crystal’s, that’s for sure.”

My swimming suit was nothing special. Just a white one piece suit with an intricate skull design (if it’s not already obvious I really like skulls) and black trim. Nothing special, especially not as special as Crystal’s brilliant, sparkly, red bareback.

I sighed, “Thanks,” I mumbled.

I honestly tried to pay attention to Mrs. Morris as she said something about rip currents and the ocean but it sort of blew over my head.

We got into the water.

“I want you to all float on your bellies!” Mrs. Morris said.

What were we in? Guppy Kids training?

We floated and I tried not to get water in my ears. I wondered if there were dangerous fish in the water as the lesson continued. I hated the part we had to demonstrate the proper ice water position one by one. All eyes were on me as I curled up into a ball with my head out of the water.

“Good job Kristen,” Mrs. Morris said smiling as I relaxed the position.

I saw one of the cuter boys whisper something into his friend’s ear, his friend began to snicker as they both watched me. I ducked my head feeling my face heat up.

We all scrambled out of the water at the end of the lesson. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it tightly around myself. I began to rush towards the changing room. I was lucky; the Girls Counselor Changing room was empty. I dwelled on that one good fact as I hurried towards the building.

“Hey hot stuff,”

I froze and felt my cheeks go brilliant red.

“Your moving awful fast now, aren’t you?”

I turned to see a tall guy with dark hair grinning at me. I hated the way boys here seemed to enjoy teasing me like that. Make her think she is pretty first, best way to kill her when you finally tell her she isn’t. What a sick joke.

“Hey my little man whore,”

My jaw dropped as Adrian suddenly appeared beside the guy.

“How’s life going Patty?” Adrian sneered one arm snacked around the guy’s middle as Adrian plastered himself to the guy’s side.

“EW, get off me, you gay freak!” The guy said shoving at Adrian who just laughed and began stroking the guy’s stomach.

“Hey Patrick, made a friend,” some boys called as they walked past laughing.

“See you later, pirncey boy,” Adrian said suggestively sticking his tongue out at Patrick in a flirtatious manner.

Adrian walked up beside, gave me a proud look before marching of towards the changing room.
I was dead on my feet at dinner; I didn’t have the energy to feel embarrassed when I accidentally sneezed on Ray. Surprisingly none of them were tired though, it was probably part of being other than human.

Mr. Arty found me during dinner to break the bad news.

“We are so incredibly sorry,” he said looking wary, as if expecting me to break down into tears. “there was no space in any of the other rooms so…you’ll just have to bored with the boys a little while longer, ha, ha, ha…” he gave a half hearted weak laugh as I gave him a blank bored stare.

“Well…see you later then,” he said leaving quickly looking relieved.

I sighed and looked at the table; I was actually kind of happy that I got to share a room with my new super natural friends. Who knows what could happen with a bunch of handsome freaks for friends. Whatever did happen, it wouldn’t be boring.