Boyfriend for the Summer

I unzip my backpack and dig out the notebook I was going use on that trip. I’m still going to write—I refuse to stop just because I didn’t get lucky. There are still beautiful things at Red Rock, and I’m going to practice getting them all down. Going to make the best of it. What else can I do?

Five more minutes of moping and then I’ll find the silver lining. I have to. Nothing but silver and gold linings from here on out. I grab a pen from my backpack and slip it into the binding of the notebook. There probably won’t be many places I go without it while I’m here—except for the lake where it could get destroyed.

Okay, I think to myself. Time to get out there and stop wishing you were somewhere else. You’re here now. Look on the bright side.

I take a deep breath as I step out of the cabin. It’s a gorgeous day with perfect sun, and unlike some of the days that can be spent here, it’s not blistering hot. It’s pleasantly warm, and I close my eyes to bask in it for a moment before stepping forward to head to my favorite grove in the woods.

It’s a mistake not to open my eyes.

Something slams into me so hard that I see stars through the brightness, and I don’t even remember moving. Suddenly I’m on the ground staring up into the sun. A shadow looms out of the sun, and I blink. Somehow I can’t still breathe. What the fuck happened?

The shadow solidifies into a face, and now I can’t breathe for a different reason. It’s a boy I’ve never seen before…and he’s gorgeous. Haloed by golden light, his hair looks that much darker, and his eyes are so blue they match that perfect clear sky that I had seen just before whatever happened…happened.

His mouth is moving, but I can’t seem to focus on what he’s saying. My ears are ringing and I blink once. Twice. The shapes of his words are coming though now.

“What?”

My own voice sounds muffled, and then clears and I hear his voice. It’s strong and musical. “Your nose is bleeding.”

His hands are on my shoulders, helping me to sit up, and I realize that he’s right. Liquid pours down my face and I look down in horror and the blood that’s collecting on my new camp shirt. “I am so sorry,” the boy says. “Are you okay? Can I take you to the nurse?”

I stand in a daze. Around us other campers have stopped to look, mostly just watching me bleed. A few others are laughing at either him or me. I’m not sure what to do or what happened. I’m still in a daze.

“Here,” he says, fingers grazing my arm, “let’s go to the nurse.”

We take all of one step together when another voice descends, loud and brassy. “What happened?”

“It was an accident—” he says.

Hands clamp down on my shoulders. “We’ll figure it out later, she needs to get to the nurse now.”

“That’s where I was taking—wait!”

I twist to look back at him—the handsome boy with the blue eyes, but I’m already too far away to hear what he’s saying. The counselor is marching me across the camp at a pace I can barely keep up with. My ears are still ringing, and the blood on my face feels thick.

Now that I’m coming out of it my nose is starting to hurt. I don’t think it’s broken, but I guess I wouldn’t really know, having never broken a nose before.

I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve only had to be in the nurse’s cabin a couple times in the years that I’ve been coming to Red Rock. It’s a small cabin on the edge, and an older woman has been the nurse for as long as I’ve been coming here.

“Mabel,” the counselor says, guiding me through the door. “We’ve got a live one.”

The nurse turns with a smile, and she doesn’t look remotely concerned when she sees me standing there covered in blood. “Thank you, Jennifer. I’ll take it from here.”

“Thanks.” There’s a clatter of the screen door behind me and she’s gone. Must have something else she needed to do.

“Looks like you got hit pretty hard,” Mabel says, patting the cot with one hand. “Come sit down and we’ll get you cleaned up.”

I sit, feeling a little clearer. I’ll probably have some bruises from the fall, but I don’t think I’ve got anything worse than a scratch on the rest of my body.

“What happened?” she asks, wetting a cotton pad with something that stings and gently cleaning the blood from my face.

“I don’t know,” I say. “I stepped out of my cabin and then I was on the ground. I think someone ran into me by accident.”