Chapter Text
June 17, 2009
If I’d have known what this summer would turn into, I might have packed nicer underwear. But, with a green duffel bag from the local military surplus store stuffed full of khaki shorts and cotton panties, I had no way of knowing what I was in store for as I pulled into the staff lot. All I knew was that I had volunteered nine weeks of my summer vacation to work at the Lake Igo Family Tennis Camp despite knowing absolutely nothing about tennis. Luckily for me and my summer employment opportunities, they had an Arts and Crafts department.
Finding a spot wasn’t too difficult, I’d gotten there about a half hour earlier than the email had suggested, so I just unloaded my bag from the trunk and waited for somebody to show me mercy and tell me where to go. And almost immediately, like she was reading my mind, a tall girl in an Adidas hat climbed out of the passenger seat of the car next to mine with an inviting smile and two braids that fell all the way down her back.
“Hey, is this your first summer? I’m Tashi, one of the tennis instructors.” Her casual introduction was more than welcome, my anxiety starting to melt away in favor of the warm feeling that the sound of her voice left in my chest. “My dad and I have been sitting in the car since, like, 7:00am waiting for somebody else to show up. He’s really anal about being on time, especially since it’s my first time at a camp like this.”
I laugh easily when she jokes about her dad, nodding in understanding as I kick my duffel out of the way behind one of my back wheels. “Yeah, it’s my first summer too. I’m in the- I don’t know what we’re supposed to call it, but I’m one of the art people.” Knowing that she was in the same boat as me- or at least that I was in a little dingy painted to look like the boat she was in- helped to make the rest of our conversation flow while we stood around in the parking lot.
After more cars had parked and even more sleepy college students filed out of them to greet one another or stand around awkwardly, the camp director finally gave us a rundown of the rules. We were divided into five co-ed cabins with twelve bunks and two gendered bathrooms in each, the assignments based on the departments we worked in. Cabin 1 was for all of the tennis instructors, Cabin 2 was for the events staff who ran casino nights and karaoke for the parents, Cabins 3 and 4 were for the counselors who would work with the kids when they weren’t playing tennis, leaving Cabin 5 for the crafts and lifeguarding staff.
While the woman with a slick blonde ponytail peeking out of the top of her visor explained that we had most of the weekend to ourselves during camp, just not Saturday mornings, my eyes wandered until I noticed two boys staring at the girl I’d befriended. One of them had curly blond hair and a red Stanford shirt on, he looked like he’d just walked up to the gates of heaven with his mouth hanging open as he squinted against the sun. The boy next to him, however, looked fucking hungry while he whispered to the blond. He had messy dark hair under a backwards hat and sunglasses that screamed Risky Business, of which I’m sure he got into plenty. After a few seconds of mindlessly staring, the brunette completely caught me off guard when he smirked and mouthed “Hi” to me, my cheeks immediately felt hot as I whipped my head back around to catch something about staff bonding activities.
The walk to our cabins wasn’t too far, especially with the small fleet of golf carts driven by the senior staff to carry our bags. Tashi and I walked together talking about what we were expecting out of the summer, though I decided I’d wait until we weren’t surrounded by about 60 other people to tell her about the two guys checking her out in the parking lot. We took a slight detour on the way to our lodging to look at the lake and all of the stuff that comes with it, through the tennis courts, and past the crafts room which was conveniently located behind the mess hall. I couldn’t help but try and sneak another little glance at the boys I’d seen earlier, but when I looked around I didn't see them. Oh well, no more creeping on cute- shit the blond one was looking at me now. I had to look like an idiot because he snickered to himself and looked away as soon as I made eye contact.
Well so far I had one friend, who was in another department with a different schedule and slept in a separate cabin, and the attention of two boys who seemed about a thousand times more into said friend than anybody else within a ten mile radius. They’d been following her around like a pair of strays during all of our name games- they were Art and Patrick, both conveniently in Tashi’s department- and staff bonding activities. There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that the two of them were a set with how in sync they seemed to be with everything. Apparently they were so closely bonded to one another that they had identical taste in women. Well, Tashi wasn’t women, who wouldn’t be in love with her?
The first day of our summer ended with all of the management leaving so that some of the senior staff could explain the after hours bonding that happened every Saturday night. There would be nine parties for the nine weeks, each with a different theme that was revealed the Sunday before so everyone could whip up an outfit to match. Some of them were more involved than others, but with the promise of free alcohol and enough weed to go around, everybody seemed excited to participate.
Tashi and I parted ways shortly after the parties were explained to everybody, Patrick and Art lurking around the entrance to Cabin 1 in a way that was only suspicious if you’d been paying attention to them all day. Which I had not been doing in the slightest.
“Alright, well, I’ll see you in the morning. Let’s sit next to each other at breakfast, yeah? We can’t let them keep us apart like the Capulets and Montagues.” Once again, her humor and the way her warm eyes sparkled with delight after making a joke disarmed me with a bright laugh. She could make a joke about a chicken crossing the road and I’d probably double over.
“No they can’t. I’ll see you in the morning, Juliet.” I’m about to turn and head to my cabin with absolutely no tennis babes in it when I hear an indignant noise that draws my attention back to Tashi.
“Uh-uh, no, you are Juliet, I’m Romeo. You’ve got this whole… maiden thing going on. Besides, I’m sure your delicate artist hands couldn’t climb a balcony.” Her words are playful in a way that leaves me feeling confused and incredibly flustered, but she just smiles and walks away before I can react. Tashi walks directly past Art and Patrick, who fall over themselves trying to follow her into their cabin, and my stomach gives an uncomfortable flip in jealousy. I’m not sure who exactly I feel jealous of, but at this point it doesn’t really matter, the two boys will probably spend the summer chasing after my friend while I hear about it through her. I don’t mind, really, I just hate not feeling included.