“I don’t know, Lisa. What if the glue gets in my eyes and I go blind?”
Lisa laughed. A short girl, she had thick thighs, chubby cheeks, and the palest blue eyes of anyone in camp. They made her face hauntingly beautiful, so it made sense that she would try to draw attention to them by testing out every ridiculous eye product one could find in a drug store. Especially before a boy-girl dance, more commonly known at Sound Hollow as a co-ed.
I checked my own face in the mirror. My long, brown hair was streaked with blonde, courtesy of the Sun-In I sprayed in it every morning. My summer tan masked the few pimples I’d begun contendingwith ever since starting my period a few months earlier. My teeth were covered in orthodontic hardware. I spread on some lip gloss, which was all the makeup I was capable of managing.
The bugle sounded. “Ugh!” Lisa whined. “I’m not ready!”
“I’ll go let Callie know,” I replied, shoving the lip gloss in my pocket. “But hurry up!”
I jogged out of the washhouse back to Cabin Ten. My counselor, Callie O’Donnell, was leading the other girls toward the Lodge to line up for attendance. I joined their gaggle.
“Taylor,” Callie began, rushing through a headcount. “Where’s Lisa?”
“She’ll be right here. She’s in the bathroom.”
Callie nodded as I lined up with the other girls in camp, all in their cutest outfits. Some wore wrinkled skirts that had been hiding at the bottom of duffel bags waiting for a special occasion like this. Others donned sundresses that, despite being pretty, smelled faintly of mildew, just like everything at camp. I had chosen a white and purple floral tank top from Old Navy and a pair of cutoff thrift-store Levi’s. I wore white socks pulled up to the middle of my calves under a pair of borrowed Birkenstock sandals and rounded out the ensemble with a necklace made of one single clay bead on a leather string. I didn’t want anyone to think I was particularly interested in all this boy-girl business.
Lisa rushed down from the washhouse and joined the line just in time for the unit leader, a strict college-aged girl named Hannah, to call for Cabin Ten’s attendance. “All present and accounted for,” Callie reported.
“Great! Okay, girls, listen up!” Hannah shouted over the buzz of pre-teen, high-pitched chatter. “We’re going to head down to the boys’ rec field for the co-ed. When we get there, we’ll split you up into groupsfor activities, and then we’ll end the night with the dance. Remember the rules: stay with your group, and don’t wander off with any boys. Any questions?” She waited a moment. “No? All right then. Let’s get going.”
At that, the swarming mass of hormones started down the road. Counselors at the front of the group began leading marching songs to pass the time on the fifteen-minute walk over, but most of the girls were too busy giggling, eagerly spilling about this or that boy who they couldn’t wait to see or dance with.
Lisa and I were sandwiched in the middle of the pack. “So, you excited to see Matt?” she asked me.
“Are you crazy? I see him every day at the farm. He’s like my brother.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t the farm. This is adance. I wonder if he’s a good dancer.”
“Ew,” I laughed. “He’s probably a total dork.”
“I may try and find out,” Lisa said, smirking.
Something happened in my stomach then, but I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly. “You’regoing to dance with Matt?”
“Maybe,” Lisa shrugged. “We’ll see. I also have my eye on Ryan.”
Hard to believe she had her eye on anything, given that she almost glued it shut with those stupid eyelashes.“The soccer kid?” I asked.
“Yeah. He looks so hot in those Adidas shorts,” she swooned.
“Hot? I’ve seen him pick his nose and eat it,” I replied.
“Well then, fine! Who areyougoing to try to talk to?”
“I don’t know. Nobody?”I’ll probably just sit with Matt and make fun of you for flirting with anything that can move.
“Well, suit yourself. After tonight, Lisa D’Angelo will definitely have a Boy. Friend. For. Sure!” she announced, channeling her inner cheerleader.
I turned my head away and rolled my eyes.
When we arrived, we were each handed a colored card at random that represented our group assignment. I was in the purple group, thankful to not be in the green group with Lisa.
I scanned the crowd for Matt. He wasn’t purple, that was for sure. I was joined by several of the younger kids and a few older ones. There was no one else from my cabin in the purple group. The only kid I knew well enough to talk to was AJ Chipouras, a kid from Matt’s cabin who took farm with us and was known for his ability to speed-shuck ears of corn, thus earning him the nicknameCorn Chip.
While the kids were being corralled into groups, I spotted Matt, who held up his green card to show me.Watch out for Lisa,I thought, offering a smile.
“I’ll see you at the dance,” he mouthed. I gave him a thumbs up.
