by L A Cotton
“I brought everything on the list,” I replied, nervous energy vibrating through me.
“Shall we head inside? Troy and Tina will be waiting.”
I nodded, following Marissa’s lead as she moved toward the buildings. She wasted no time going inside, but I paused to give myself a few seconds to calm my erratic pulse.
“There she is. Get over here, Marissa. It’s been too long,” a male voice called.
I stepped inside to find a tall man with a fuzzy beard and a red bandana tied around his head smiling in our direction. Marissa was a few steps in front of me and jogged into the man’s open arms. “Troy, what in hell’s name has Tina been feeding you? You look like you gained twenty pounds.”
“Not you as well.” He laughed drawing Marissa into a bear hug.
“I told him to take it easy after his operation, but did he listen?” a woman called over from a table which was pushed against the wall.
“I listened.” The man I’d deduced was Troy released Marissa and stepped back shooting the woman—Tina—a goofy smile. She rolled her eyes with a smirk that caused her cheeks to dimple. “You did not. Wait until the regular kids show up. They’ll remind you every day.”
“Fine, fine, so I gained a little weight.” He rubbed a hand over his stomach. “But I still got it, right?”
I stood awkwardly watching their exchange. It was obvious that Troy and Tina were a couple—just something about the way they looked at one another—and Marissa seemed to know them as well.
“Oh, hey, you guys, this is Penny. One of the new counselors.”
“Penny Wilson, right?” Tina came to join us, smiling directly at me, and I felt my free arm come up around my waist. “Good to have you here. Come in. Don’t just stand there. We don’t bite.”
“She does,” Troy joked, moving to wrap an arm around her. “But only when she’s really angry.”
“Ignore him. The others are around here somewhere. A couple members of the team won’t get in until tomorrow night, but you’ll have plenty of time to get to know everyone. It’s your first camp, right? How are you feeling? Nervous?”
I opened my mouth but nothing came out, and I ended up standing there gawking awkwardly.
“She’s good. Right, Penny? I thought we could bunk together?” Marissa said.
“You got it. Marissa will show you around and get you settled. You’ll be part of the Chance family in no time. We’ll see you at the meet and greet.” Troy took Tina by the hand and led her away from us leaving me behind with Marissa.
“Thanks. I totally froze.”
“Hey, we’ve all been there, and besides, they can be a little full-on.” Marissa smiled and some of my nerves settled. “I guess I should include myself in that, but I’m good people. You’ll see. Now, let’s go get us a cabin.”
The warmth of the fire licked my face, but I welcomed it as I leaned in closer. It had been a crazy day and every part of my body ached with overuse. Even if it wasn’t for my sore muscles demanding proximity to the heat, something about the flames captivated me. The hypnotic flicker of orange, the crackle of the wood snapping under the pressure of the heat, even the charred smell drew me in.
“Okay everyone, bring it in.” Troy stood up in the circle and tipped his bottle to the rest of us. “Welcome to another summer at Camp Chance. I hope we didn’t push you too hard today?”
Heads shook and a couple of people called out, but Troy ushered them to silence. “I look around the fire and see some familiar faces. In some cases, I see some very familiar faces, but I won’t mention any names, Marissa.” He coughed under his breath, and Marissa grumbled something from her seat beside me while the rest of the circle broke out in muffled laughter.
“And I also see some new faces. But old or new, it doesn’t matter because do you know what else I see? I see people who want to make a difference to the kids who will pass through those gates this summer. Kids who need to remember that being a teenager can be fun. The next few days will be intense, but you’ll need it because these ten weeks won’t be a walk in the park. If you think that, then now’s the time to pack your bags and get the hell out. Some of the kids we will work with this summer will test your patience until you want to throw in the towel. But they need this, they need us…”
I didn’t take my eyes off the fire, but I heard every word coming from Troy’s mouth, and each syllable punched me in the chest. Risking a glance around the campfire at my colleagues, I didn’t know their stories, but I knew my own. I’d been the kid Troy was talking about, except there had been no Camp Chance for me.
“We get two weeks with these kids. Fourteen days to give them an experience they’ll never forget. One that will stay with them forever. One that could put them on the right path in life. One summer, a lifetime of possibilities. Let’s make it count, people.”
Someone clapped and another joined until the whole circle was clapping. I joined in, but I wasn’t in the moment. I was too lost in my own thoughts. I knew my past was going to affect my present, but until now, I hadn’t realized just how difficult it was going to be to separate the two.
“Hey, everything okay?” Marissa nudged me and smiled.
I nodded and forced my lips into a weak smile, but I saw her skepticism.
The epitome of athletic, Marissa had a toned body, broad shoulders, and lean, muscular arms. But despite her build, Marissa was still very feminine. I envied her. She was comfortable in her own skin, confident, and even though I’d only known her a little over twenty-four hours, I instantly warmed to her. She didn’t give you any other alternative.
After showing me our cabin yesterday, which was actually one room with two cots, a small bathroom off to the side, one dresser, a wardrobe, and a couple of chairs, Marissa and I had hung out for a little while. Thankfully, she liked to talk, and I’d sat and listened while she filled me in on everything there was to know about Camp Chance.
A year younger than I was, this was Marissa’s fourth summer in Hocking Hills. She was qualified for everything from canoeing and abseiling to knots and orienteering and had just graduated from the University of Akron with a physical education degree. I was already glad she had been the person to find me standing in the dusty parking lot.
“I think we’ve all heard enough of Troy’s voice for the evening, so I’d like to switch things to serious for just a second.” Tina stood up next to Troy and a chorus of boos echoed in the warm air.
“Okay, okay, this won’t take long. Firstly, you’re here to work. This isn’t a vacation. The days are long and the pay sucks, but work hard, be the best you can, and you’ll be rewarded. Secondly, tonight is the exception. Enjoy the food and lukewarm beers because starting tomorrow there’s a zero tolerance rule. Anyone caught with alcohol or drugs in camp will be marched out of here quicker than Troy gained his twenty pounds. Lastly, this isn’t prison. Make the most of your downtime between camper groups, but no funny business. And, yes, I mean what you think I mean. No screwing around with each other. Not in your cabins or out by the lake where you think no one can see you.”
Someone wolf whistled and Tina’s eyes narrowed in their direction. “Trust me. It won’t be the first time or the last time. It’s only ten weeks, people. Save it for after the summer camp.”
“My wife, everyone. The country’s solution to birth control.” Troy stood up beside Tina and grinned. “Now that we have that out of the way, how about a song?” He lifted a guitar off the ground and slipped the strap over his neck, letting his fingers strum the strings gently.
Troy led the campfire in song, and I lip-synced along to the ones I knew. The self-conscious person inside of me wanted to sink back into the shadows and remain hidden, but that wasn’t why I was here. I was here to heal. To move forward. So I wrapped my arms around my waist, holding myself together, and started to sing along quietly with the rest of the group.
I was busy humming to an unfamiliar song when I noticed two figures approaching the campfire. Tina, noticing them as w
ell, leaned over to Troy and whispered something in his ear. He nodded, all the while strumming the strings. Tina rose from her seat, an overturned tree trunk, and went to greet the two shadows. The song ended and the three of them came to join the group. The two guys sat across the fire, opposite Marissa and me. There was something vaguely familiar about the taller guy, but it was dark and I couldn’t quite make out his face. It seemed my heart didn’t need the light, though, because although my eyes couldn’t get a good enough look to recognize him, my heart knew him. I felt it with every fiber of my being.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Penny.” Marissa nudged me again, only this time when I turned to face her she was wearing a look of confusion while I was trying to fight back the panic rising in me.
“I, I’m not sure. The tall one, he looked familiar.”
“You mean Blake?”
Blake?
My heart beat in double time.
And then crashed.
And for a moment, I was certain it stopped beating.
Everything stopped.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t swallow.
I couldn’t get out the words almost choking me.
“Penny?”
My eyes snapped up at the sound of Marissa’s voice, and something caught my attention. Through the flames, I saw the two guys talking. The one I thought I recognized was listening to the other guy, but he wasn’t looking at his friend. His blue eyes were set firmly on me.
Eyes I’d spent days and nights dreaming of.
Eyes that had kept the nightmares at bay.
Eyes I thought I’d never see again.
“Penny, you’re freaking me out a little over here.”
Marissa’s voice deflected off my impending meltdown. I came to Camp Chance to heal. Not to have every scar ripped open again and laid bare.
But my past and present had just collided.
I never thought I'd see Blake Weston again, but he was here, sitting across the fire from me.
A ghost from my past.
Looking right at me.
The second the music stopped and Troy packed away his guitar, I fled into the woods with Marissa calling after me. For the last three songs, I’d managed to avoid looking across the fire again, but memories I’d fought hard to forget over the last seven years assaulted my mind.
Seven years.
“Penny, wait up.” Marissa’s voice was closing in, but I pushed harder, pain throbbing in my already tired legs with every pound of my feet on the ground.
I hadn’t planned to run; it just happened. My fight or flight instinct had kicked in, and flight had won. Lucky for me, because I was in no way ready to face Blake. Not yet. So here I was, running in the darkness through dense woods with absolutely no idea where I was heading.
“Penny, will you just slow down for a second? We can talk. I’m here for you.”
Marissa’s words brought me to an abrupt halt, and I dropped my hands onto my thighs and tried to get a handle on my ragged breathing.
I’m here for you.
No one had been there for me in a long time. I dealt with life’s curveballs on my own. Alone. Yes, I’d had a therapist. Yes, I’d dated three guys over the past three years, but I had never had someone to really talk to, to confide in. Not the way friends talked to one another. But somehow, here I was sprinting through Hocking Hills like a crazy person while a girl I’d only known a little over twenty-four hours chased after me because she cared.
Leaves rustled behind me, but the hand landing on my shoulder startled me and sent me into a blind panic. I lunged forward, shrugging Marissa off me.
“Hey, my bad.” Her voice was laced with regret. I turned slowly expecting to see the confusion on her face, but all I found was concern as she held up her hands in a peace offering. “Geez, you run fast. I almost lost you back there. I covered for you, by the way. I blamed it on Troy’s grilling skills.”
An unexpected laugh bubbled up and tumbled out of my mouth, but as quickly as it had arrived, it disappeared into the night.
“Ready to talk?”
I shrugged, my eyes darting from side to side. How did I even begin to explain things to Marissa? A girl I barely knew.
“Okay, well, you might be quick, but you have a crappy sense of direction. The cabin is back this way.” She motioned to a path behind her. “Come on, let’s get back. I have a whole summer’s supply of Reese’s.”
I followed her, my breathing slowly returning to normal, and we walked in silence for a few minutes. Laughter and chatter from camp carried through the air but was quiet enough that I knew I’d ran further than I thought.
It didn’t take long for Marissa to break the quiet between us. “So I’m going to go out on a limb and say your little stunt has something to do with seeing Blake tonight?”
“What is he doing here?”
It wasn’t supposed to be a question for Marissa. That question had consumed my thoughts ever since my eyes landed on him across the fire. Why here? Why now?
Why does the Universe hate me so damn much?
“He’s here every summer, Penny.”
“He is?” I slowed down, unable to digest what Marissa was saying.
She nodded. “Next to Troy and Tina, Blake is Camp Chance’s longest serving summer counselor. This must be his sixth or seventh summer.”
I didn’t respond as we started to walk again, but I felt Marissa watching me out of the corner of her eye as she tried to piece together the puzzle. The pieces obviously fell into place quicker than expected because she said, “You went pretty pale when Blake arrived. You two have a bad history?”
My whole body tensed. If only she knew how Blake Weston was a part of the worst time in my life, a time I wanted nothing more than to erase. But it wasn’t that simple because he was also a part of some of my most treasured memories. The kind that, no matter how hard you tried, refused to go away. The kind that had hit me like a home movie running through my head the second I’d recognized him. Stolen kisses in the yard when no one was looking, and sneaking out to the lake at Cenci Park. There had been a time when Blake was my world.
But that was then, and this was now.
And now we were nothing but strangers.
When I didn’t answer, Marissa said, “Fine. I get it. We all have pieces of our past we would rather keep to ourselves, but your past is Camp Chance’s golden boy, Penny. He’s not going anywhere. Can you deal with that?”
That was the million-dollar question.
Could I?
When Troy had said the training would be intense, I expected long days and some challenging teambuilding exercises. I didn’t expect crash courses in everything from first aid to fire starting, how to deal with aggressive behavior to how to deal with wild animals, and how to tie the perfect knot to how to feed eight campers on basic rations. My hands were sore, my head was pounding, and my shirt was stuck to my body with a fine layer of sweat.
I was exhausted.
On the upside, I’d managed to avoid Blake for the whole day. He had been assigned to the other group, which was fine by me. After spending the whole night tossing and turning, I’d decided that Marissa was right. Blake was here to stay… and so was I.
I needed this.
And besides, maybe having him here was a sign—my one chance at full and complete closure. Maybe my luck had finally turned.
Marissa assured me that once the first round of campers arrived, there would be little time to worry about bumping into Blake. Each counselor had a small group of same-sex campers assigned to them and would live in one of the cabins with their group for thirteen nights. There were six counselors, three male and three female, and six activity instructors. Troy and Tina handled the day-to-day camp management, and a team of ‘behind-the-scenes’ staff helped everything come together. Meals, cleaning, maintenance—that kind of thing. There was another full day of training followed by a team debrief on Friday, and then a day off before the first group arri
ved on Sunday.
“Intense, right?” Marissa breezed into the cabin as if she hadn’t just spent the last eight hours paired with me. My lack of coordination was apparent when it came to pretty much anything that involved rope, paddles, or maps.
I nodded as I peeled the damp t-shirt off my body and grabbed my wash bag. “I’m going to take a quick shower.”
“Great, then we can head to the campfire. We managed to talk Troy into grilling out again.”
“Hmm, I’m not sure. Is it mandatory?”
“No, but what are you going to do instead? Hang out here alone?” Marissa’s eyes bunched up.
Actually, that was exactly what I planned to do. Blake would no doubt be there, which meant I would not.
I padded into the small bathroom ignoring my roommate’s pleas. She didn’t understand; I hadn’t given her any reason to. All Marissa knew was that Blake and I had some kind of history. If I was going to survive the summer here, I needed my past to stay just that—in the past.
The hot water lasted five minutes, cutting short my plans of a long soak under the trickle of soothing warmth. I wouldn’t even have this luxury come Sunday when I moved into my camper’s cabin. Campers had to use the communal block for washing. There was one for staff and one for campers.
After drying myself and brushing out my hair, I pulled on my shorts and tank top and rejoined Marissa.
“That didn’t take long,” she said with a knowing smirk.
“Let me guess. You knew the hot water would last a full two minutes?”
“Something like that. Besides, it means you can come with me now.”
“Marissa,” I warned.
“What? You can’t hide in here all weekend. We can avoid him, I promise, but you’re going to have to face him eventually.”
Not today.
“Fine.”
Marissa wasn’t the only one surprised by my reply. Maybe it was my sense of achievement from the day—the fact I’d let Marissa support my body weight twice—that had me feeling determined to not only survive the summer but to also make the most of it.