“What’s up?” I ask, my perfectly perfect day being stripped from me with every conversation I have.
“About earlier,” he says. “In the mess hall. I shouldn’t have let that happen.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I was just so excited and happy…”
“I know, but I shouldn’t have given you the wrong idea.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I say, standing up. Trying to get some space between the two of us. “It won’t happen again, right?”
“Right,” he says, but doesn’t sound sure of himself. “I hope you’re okay. I know you’re going through a lot right now. I just want to be there for you, as a friend.”
I smile. “I mean, I’m running low on friends so any I have is pretty helpful.”
He still looks sad, like it’s causing him physical pain to have this conversation.
“I should get back, it’s a decent walk from here to my cabin,” I say, turning my light back on.
“Do you want me to walk you?” he asks, standing up and turning on his flashlight also.
I shake my head and turn away. “Nah, I’ll be fine. I just need the time to myself. It’s been a rollercoaster of a day. I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“Penelope,” Sampson says, but I keep walking. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not yours to worry about, Sampson,” I reply. I can’t bear to stay here and have him look at me with those eyes full of pity.
My day went from fantastic to ‘I just want to give up on life’ in a matter of hours. The only thing left to go wrong is if I got a call from my mom saying her and dad were signing divorce papers tomorrow.
“Morgan! Walk, don’t run,” I plead as we head toward the weekly campfire. “There are tree roots everywhere, you could trip and fall.”
“You’re not my mom, you can’t tell me what to do,” she says, turning around to stick her tongue out at me.
“I’m in charge of you for the summer, so you need to listen to me.”
The other girls snicker behind us. Most of them are being more cautious of every step they take on the path. Kelsey finally got a clue and traded out her flip flops for some tennis shoes.
“Why won’t you dish out what’s going on between you and Kenny,” Kelsey asks.
“I have told you, nothing is going on with us,” I say. “And I’ve also told you that I’m not even allowed to tell you about any counselor to counselor relations.”
“So, what you’re saying is, you might be with Kenny but you can’t say anything.”
“What? No,” I say, shaking my head. “Why do you care if we’re together or not? You have Lain’s attention finally, worry about him.”
“Come on, Penelope,” she whispers. “You know how it was when you were a camper. Any insight into a counselor's life outside of camp was fun drama to hear about.”
“I’m not saying a word,” I say. “You’re not using our friendship to get some rumors spread. I can’t confirm or deny anything.”
“You suck.” Kelsey states, crossing her arms over her chest.
I walk passed Kelsey and tugged gently on Morgan’s backpack to get her to stop goofing off on the trail. “Slow down, seriously. You need to watch where you’re going.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” Morgan says, turning around to stick her tongue out at me.
“Technically, I am,” I say, looking toward Viv for some back up but she just ignores us. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you just show us one of your pirouette things? You’re always dancing.”
I’m hoping this will slow her down and take some of her energy out.
We’ve come to a stop, the whole cabin, at one of the openings in the woods that leads to a section we occasionally use for team building exercises. There’s a four by four that makes a type of balance beam connected to a platform and it repeats itself three more times before returning to the original platform and beam.
“Okay,” Morgan says excitedly, walking over to the platform as if it’s a tiny stage. She bows to her small audience before she turns into a spin, her arms above her head. The problem is, the platform isn’t slick enough, so she doesn’t spin like she does on the smooth cement floor of our cabin. Instead of hopping off, she talks onto the beam, balancing, trying to show off in any way possible.
“Alright, come on, Morgan. We’ve got to go,” I urge her.
“Look, I can do this with my eyes closed, it’s so easy,” she says.
I walk over to her and demand that she get down from there, trying to use my best authoritative voice in the process, channeling my inner teacher or mom tone. “Morgan, I mean it. Let’s go.”
I must startle her because instead of her right foot footing the plank, it slips and she falls in the ground. Her ankle scratching against the wood in the process. My eyes go wide with worry.
“Ahh!” screams Morgan as she hits the dirt hard. “Oww!”
She screams in agony. Viv’s radio squawks alive as someone’s voice comes over it. “Sampson to Viv, everything okay with cabin six?”
Her screams must have been loud enough to hear or Sampson must have been close behind us.
I’m at Morgan’s side as Viv sends a ‘Code J-Law’ over the walkie talkie along with our location.
“I think her leg might be broken,” I say, tentatively touching it where it’s already starting to swell as the other girls crowd around to look. “Girls, give her some room.”
The girls back up about a foot, and Morgan screams in pain again.
“Yeah, I don’t think her foot should look like that,” says Olive. “It’s definitely not strained, that looks broken.”
“Broken?” cries Morgan through a violent sob. “It can’t be broken, my mom will be so mad! I have competition in August!”
“Shh, we don’t know for sure,” I say, trying to keep her calm. “Don’t move, help should be on the way.”
Three minutes later, Sampson, Mr. Garreth and one of the nurses arrive to help. Mr. Garreth tells Viv to go ahead and take the rest of the girls to the bonfire.
“What happened?” Mr. Garreth asks me as the nurse looks Morgan over, I can hear gravel crunching under the tires of a vehicle.
“I told her not to be running along the trail,” I say. “And then a minute or two later she slipped and then tripped over her feet.”
He turns to Morgan. “You need to listen when a counselor gives you directions. We’re going to load you into the camp van, okay? You’re going to need to go to the ER.”
Two more people from the nurse staff pull up in the van and park it, coming down the hill with a set of crutches. Mr. Garreth goes to grab her emergency contact information from his office as the nurses pull her up onto one foot and help her with the crutches. She’s a bit wobbly on them, but the nurses are spotting her on her left and right side and behind her, saying encouraging words as she goes up the hill.
“Viv, you coming with us?” Asks one of the nurses.
Before Viv can respond Morgan asks for me to ride with her, I follow them into the car, one of the nurses comes with us, the other two staying behind.
Sampson climbs into the passenger seat and pulls his seatbelt on before the nurse puts the van in drive.
“What are you doing?” I ask him, but it’s not like he can get out now, we’re moving.
“Coming with you, you might need help,” when I don’t say anything he continues. “Put your seatbelts on, don’t need any more injuries today.”
I pull Morgan’s seatbelt over because she’s still moaning in pain, and then lean back to buckle my own. This is not how I thought today would go.
It’s broken.
Morgan whimpered into Sampson’s shoulder the entire time they were putting on the cast. She begged for a pink cast, but they were out so she had to settle for purple. Afterwards, I let her call her mom and dad while we drove back to camp. Thankfully, she had stopped crying by that time. Mr. Garreth had called her parents right after we left, and I’m pretty sure they’re furious ri
ght now. I’m not sure if it’s because their vacation was cut short or their daughter was injured.
As Sampson drove us back to camp, she gushed on how she couldn’t wait for everyone to sign her cast. I sat in silence, terrified of what the repercussions were going to be since she was under my watch when the accident happened.
Sampson had spoken to her parents while we were in the ER, giving them updates on what was broken, how bad it was, and so on. His father told Morgan’s parents not to worry about the hospital bill, that Camp Arthur’s insurance policy would pay for it. Morgan’s parents were still unhappy.
They demanded that her things be packed by tomorrow afternoon because they are driving down first thing in the morning to pick her up. I didn’t speak to them myself, but I was around for every phone call, and I could hear her parents shouting in the background.
“It’s going to be okay,” Sampson says. “Kids are fragile, accidents happen. Let’s be honest, you told her not to do something and she went against you.”
“It’s still stupid. I don’t think they respect me enough to stop. Maybe I’m too young to be working at camp.”
“Come on, Penelope,” he whispers. “Don’t say that. Every year parents drop their kids off at camp with counselors your age. You just need to find your inner ‘teacher’ voice or something. Most of the kids do respect you, they look up to you.”
“It’s easier for you though, you’re older and you don’t look like a child like me. Come on, half of them are taller than me!”
“Half of them are taller than my mom,” he points out.
I just shake my head and stare out the window as we pass farm after farm.
Morgan hangs up the phone and hands it back to me. “Man, my mom is pissed.”
“Language,” Sampson says sternly.
“You think Casanova will sign my cast?” she asks, her voice high pitched.
“Who’s Casanova?” Sampson smiles.
“We nicknamed some of the guy counselors. Viv hangs out with Casanova a lot.”
“Penelope, who’s Casanova?” Sampson asks. I’m sure Morgan doesn’t realize the damage she has done. She’s already back to talking a mile a minute about who she wants to sign her cast first.
“You know how kids are,” I say, ignoring the question. “They think something is everything when it’s actually nothing at all.”
“Penelope, friends don’t lie.”
I turn to look at him, he’s trying hard to keep his eyes on the road. “I can’t be the one to tell you.”
He shakes his head and turns down the driveway for camp. As we park, a golf cart is already at the welcome center waiting for us. Sampson helps Morgan out and I grab her crutches and keep a close eye on her to make sure she doesn’t fall on the way over to the cart so we can get back to the cabin.
Sampson drives us back, the lights of the cart flashing against the gravel and woods, and he parks us right out front of our cabin. A few of the girls are sitting outside at the picnic table waiting for us, and they jump up and scramble to help Morgan into the cabin.
As I’m about to get off the cart, Sampson grabs my forearm gently.
“Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?” he asks.
“I told you,” I whisper. “It’s not my secret to tell. Talk to your girlfriend. Leave me out of it, please.”
Speak of the devil.
Viv comes out to greet Sampson with a huge kiss. I shake my head and go into the cabin. I don’t know what’s worse, Viv cheating on Sampson, or me not telling him about it like I should have a long time ago.
“I think that’s the last of it,” I say, helping Morgan pack up her belongings. “Do you have anything in the bathroom?”
Morgan shakes her head. She’s been lying on her bunk all morning after breakfast. We were excused from morning activities since she’s leaving today. She wasn’t able to move around and get her stuff, so I’ve been looking through all the clothes on the floor and trying to find all the ones with her initials on them.
How are these girls so messy?
“I can’t believe they’re making me go home,” Morgan says, tears in her eyes. “They sent me to camp so they would be alone for the summer, why would they even want me home?”
“I’m sure it’s not that way,” I say. “Besides, your leg can’t heal if you’re here at camp. They just want you to get better.”
She sits up, slowly swinging her leg over to place it on the floor. I look at all the signatures she’s already procured between our return last night and breakfast this morning. It’s now covered in so much black sharpie you can hardly make out any of the names.
“You think they’ll let me come back next summer?” she asks.
I zip up her suitcase. “I don’t know. That’s between you and your parents.”
Standing up, I go to check the bathroom one more time to make sure none of her items are in there and when I come back, she’s up on her crutches.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she says. “Penelope, I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you.”
I smile at her and grab the suitcase. “It’s okay, we learn from our mistakes.”
Mr. Garreth is already outside waiting for us on his golf cart. He helps me load up her suitcase as she sits down gingerly in the passenger seat. I take the back seat and make sure her luggage doesn’t fall off. We meet Morgan’s parents at the welcome center in Mr. Garreth’s office.
Morgan and I wait in the lobby on the old couches like we’re sitting outside of the principal’s office, while Mr. Garreth talks to Morgan’s parents. I feel like I’m in trouble for something I didn’t do.
After thirty long minutes, Mr. Garreth finally comes out, but it’s only because he wants me to come in and speak with the three of them. I hand Morgan some string for friendship bracelets that I keep inside my backpack so she has something to do. Who knows how much longer this meeting is going to go.
Mr. Garreth introduces me to Morgan’s parents, and I shake both of their hands. They don’t look pleased at all. I’d rather be swimming in the dirty Ohio river right now than be sitting in this small office with these people.
“How could you let this happen?” Morgan’s mom asks. “I was told she was under your ‘watchful’ eye.”
“Ma’am, I’m so sorry this happened. I told her to stop running,” I say with a shaky voice.
“So, you’re saying this is my daughter's fault?” she asks.
“No, I’m not saying that. Accidents happen…”
“Yeah, like hiring you,” she says, spit flying out of her mouth with her words. “Mr. Garreth, I’m not sure what kind of camp you’re running here, but what makes you think a seventeen year old girl is capable of taking care of children?”
If she were a text emoji, she’d be a combination of the one with a red face and the other with smoke coming out of its nose.
“I assure you, Mrs. Meyers,” Mr. Garreth says. “Penelope is one of our best and she’s in training. It was an accident, nothing intended.”
“Training? Are you kidding me?” Mrs. Meyers laughs and raises her voice. “You let someone in training take care of my little girl?”
“That’s how we prepare our employees for the following summer, by training them for a full season. Penelope handled the situation as our handbook says to handle an injury, and in my opinion, I think she handled it wonderfully. She never left your daughter's side.”
“This is ridiculous, let’s go,” Mrs. Meyers says.
Mr. Meyers finally stands. “You’ll be hearing from our lawyer. I would advise you train your employees better.”
Mr. Garreth hurries to show them out the door and I stay put in his office. I don’t want to watch Morgan leave, and I certainly don’t want to encounter her parents ever again. Perhaps most of all, I don’t want to lose my job because of not being able to prevent a kid from doing something stupid.
Sampson’s dad returns a few minutes later and instead of sitting down at his desk, he
sits in the chair next to me and rubs his hand on my back soothingly, like my dad does when I’m not feeling well.
“I don’t want you to worry about them,” he tells me. “You did exactly what we trained you to do. If they try to contact you or any lawyer gives you a call, you let me know and don’t speak to them. Besides, this is what the liability waiver is for, when a camper gets hurt.”
“It was an accident,” I say again, trying my best not to cry. “Why don’t they get that?”
“Some people are set in their own ways. We’ll get through this. Why don’t you go grab some lunch and take it easy the rest of the day? I’ll cover your activities. It’ll do me some good to see what you guys go through on a daily basis.”
He gives me a reassuring smile and I leave his office like a dog with my tail between my legs, defeated. As I’m about ready to leave the welcome center, I notice a piece of paper with my string on it.
I go to retrieve the string and see that Morgan managed to make a bracelet while I was in the meeting. I unfold the piece of paper and in messy little girl handwriting, Morgan says she is sorry and that she’s thankful for the month of summer camp fun that she did get to have.
When I hear Mr. Garreth start to lock up his office, I skitter into the women’s restroom and lock myself inside.
Finally, I let myself cry.
Mr. Garreth excused me from the big rafting trip the following day. I told him I wasn’t up for it and he completely understood. I also decided to sleep in the room separate from my campers last night. Viv didn’t give me hell for it either, which surprised me. I’m not even sure why I feel so guilty for Morgan’s accident. It’s not like I could have prevented it. I guess I just let her mom get under my skin.
I listened to them all wake up with excitement, getting their bathing suits on and preparing for their camp outing, and talking about who wanted to be in a raft with whom. At one point I heard a tiny knock on my door and Kelsey whisper my name before they all left, but I made no effort to get up to open the door or even respond.
The Last July: A New Adult Romance Page 13