By the time Gary and I arrived at Camp Tandy I had a lot on my mind. While we were getting our tent assignment I felt like I was being watched. I was not sure if it was my danger sense or not kicking in. When the tent assignments were done, I had pinpointed my voyeur to be a girl with dark hair a few tables behind us in the lodge. She sat with another girl with red hair. The redhead had a camera and she was taking pictures. By the end of the summer I would learn that the camera would be flashing pictures all the time. At the most inopportune times. In the years to follow I often wondered what became of those photos she took. When I did finally see the photos I was both surprised and embarrassed by them.
Gary and I were to share a tent with two other boys whose names were; Pete Stapleton and Wayne Double. We knew both of them from previous years so we knew it was going to be a fun summer. We all went to our tents to unpack and settle in. I dossed off and had something of a daymare about my tent mates that took about a week for me to get over.
The next morning at breakfast I met the girl that was watching me at tent assignment. She and her tent mate sat with Gary and me at our table. The girl’s name was Diana Carter, her friend is Tracey Altman. I felt really uncomfortable with Diana sitting with us. Tracey was rambling on about herself for most of the time, I really didn’t pay any attention to her. I just wanted them to leave. When they didn’t we did.
When it came time to pick our classes I drug Gary through the lodge to get away from Diana. The whole time we were choosing classes I could feel Diana’s eyes on me. Trying to ignore her, I picked my two morning classes from 7 to 9 am I picked Hiking. From 9 to 11 am, Gary picked swim safety for us. After lunch we took from 1 to 3, Nature Studies and from 3 to 5 Gary and I chose archery. Dinner was at 5:30. 8 pm was the campfire.
Being the older of the boys at camp, Gary and I found out that at Swim safety we were more of assistants to the teacher than being students. I spend some of my time standing at the edge of the lake playing lifeguard for the youngest of the campers. On those hot sunny days I would wet himself down in the water quite a bit to stay cool. I looked out over the lake to spot Diana and Tracey, on one day in particular they were in a canoe. There was no question in his mind that Diana is staring right at me as the canoe began to flounder in the water. What is she looking at? Was my thought. Diana had the strangest knack for making me feel self-conscious. That day she had good reason for staring at me, I had been wearing white shorts when I got into the water to cool off. Standing there tall and proud I realized that my wet shorts are plastered to his private parts outlining every detail and had become nearly transparent. I was just glad that Tracey didn’t have her camera out there in that canoe with them. I quickly reached down to release the vacuum that held the thin fabric to my body. I put myself at ease thinking there was no way she could see me clearly from that distance.
The funny thing was that Diana’s inattentiveness to the canoe causes it to overturn. I could see that even in the life jacket Tracey is panicking and splashing too much. Almost out of instinct I ran into the water past the children and dove to start swimming fast out to help the girls. By the time I reached them Diana had already righted the canoe and climbed back in. As we helped Tracey back into the boat trying to calm her, I couldn’t help but to notice the water had done the same thing to Diana’s white T-shirt and bra that it had to my pants. The water was apparently colder to her than me. After the girls were back into the boat, I swam alongside it back to the dock.
When I got out of the water this time I made sure my shorts are not clinging to my junk again. I think I caught a look of almost disappointment is on Diana’s face. “Do you have a problem with me?” I blurted out.
Now it was Diana who blushed, “No, no, I am sorry,” she told him. “I’ve been rude to you and I don’t know why.” “I guess I would really like to be your friend and don’t know how to do that.”
“Try not staring at me like a weirdo,” I said as I turned to walk away.
One of the drawbacks to having not so trained super hearing in a case like this is not always a good thing, because when they thought I was out of hearing range I wasn’t.
“He is really hot,” I heard Tracey whispers to Diana as I walked away. “When he held me in his arms I almost fainted and not because of the water.”
“I wish he would hold me in those arms,” Diana giggled.
“Maybe he is your chance to lose that too well guarded virginity of yours?” Tracey asked her.
“I have no interest in turning this summer into some teen sex romp,” Diana told Tracey to my relief.
“How about tomorrow we dump the canoe and you get saved maybe some mouth to mouth?” Tracey suggests.
“Think we need to stay on dry land tomorrow,” was the last thing I heard Diana respond. As I walked across the field back to the boy’s tent area, Gary ran up behind me.
“Where are you going?” he asked grabbing my arm stopping me.
“I need to change these wet pants,” I told him, more than a little annoyed that I was still out in the open wearing them. At the time my attention was completely on Gary so I didn’t even notice that Tracey had found her camera at was taking pictures of us. Pictures that still embarrassed me years later.
“What’s wrong with them,” Gary asked looking down at my wet white shorts for the first time. “Oh, I can see your dick right through them.”
“Thus, the problem!” I said pulling from his grip to continue on my walk back to the tents.
Gary followed after me still talking crap as usual, “Wow, when you make a move on a girl you really put it all out there.”
“Shut up, this isn’t funny!” I told him.
“Actually it is, now that she’s seen your dick it will be easier for her to decide if she wants to suck it,” Gary smirks.
“I guarantee that will not being happening!” I replied. With everything that happened with Cynthia Steel I was still so very afraid of any kind of sexual contact with a girl especially that. But Gary had no idea what had happened to me or of my secret that might just make me the world’s oldest virgin.
The next day was pretty uneventful. I even managed to avoid Diana and Tracey. At dinner the girls were sitting far away from us, but Gary kept encouraging me to go over to them. I could tell that Diana was trying not to even look my way. By the end of dinner I was feeling like a jerk for how I treated her. My own paranoia had gotten the best of me. Some teenage girl from New York City was no witch out to attack me. She was just a kid like I was, away from home for the first time looking to make friends. After dinner is our free time until the camp fire at eight. Gary and I had a baseball catch in the field for a while before he went to the bathroom and never came back. So I headed over to the fire ring to help the camp couches set it up. It was kind of funny to me how these old guys struggles to build the bonfire a few logs at a time. When I knew I could probably carry all the wood from the shed at once for them. Then Pete and Wayne showed up to help. I asked if they had seen Gary. “I saw him over by the lake with that Tracey girl,” Wayne told me.
“Just Tracey?” I asked.
“Ya, probably thinks he can get a blowjob from her like you did from her friend,” Pete said.
“What?” I exclaimed. “Who told you that?”
“Who do you think?” Pete replied. “Ever since Gary saw that chick giving his Dad a blowjob that is all he talks about.”
“Well he is lying!” I insisted. “Diana is nothing like that, she would never do that even if I wanted her to do it!” I was a little more than pissed at Gary for telling our tent mates that lie but my anger changed to embarrassment when I turned to see Diana standing not far away. It was clear to me that she could hear what we were talking about, but pretended not to care and sat down on a bench.
I walked around the campfire pit to where Diana was sitting. “Gary is a jerk sometimes, but he is my best friend,” I said. “I’m sorry about what he said about you, I’ll straighten him out.”
“I know you will because if you don’t I’ll give him a black eye,” she threatened. I couldn’t help but to smile at Diana. I had to admit to myself that I liked her style. “Have a seat,” Diana offered to me. I sat down next to her as the coaches started to light the bonfire. “Thank you,” Diana said.
“For what?” I asked.
“For defending me to your friends,” Diana replies. “That was very nice of you.” “I really think we got off to the wrong start.”
“I think so too,” I replied. “Let’s start over.” “Hi, I’m Steve,” I said reaching out my hand. After that we talked about silly things. I found out that Diana loves to play soccer too, but she stopped playing years ago.
We were laughing when Gary and Tracey showed up at the fire late and they did not look happy at all. Back at the tent Gary had no interest in telling us what happened with Tracey. He denied telling Pete and Wayne I was getting blown by Diana he insisted he only said I could.
The next day Gary was uncharacteristically quiet. We didn’t see much of Diana and Tracey all day until Archery Class. Diana was having trouble hitting the target so I thought I would try to help her with aiming. “Want some help?” I offered. She looked almost frightened by me suggestion.
“Sure,” she replied timidly. I went up behind her and reached around her to take hold of the her hands on the arrow and bow. My chest was touching her shoulders and my face was over her shoulder as I instructed her, “Use your right eye to look down the shaft of the arrow through the guide on the bow.” I guided her arms down until I could see the target. I could tell she had turned to look at me, I don’t know why so I said, “Can you see the target?”
“Yes, ya, I see it,” Diana told me.
“Now pull back the arrow as far as you can,” I told her. “Hold steady,” I said as she seemed to be trembling. “Ready?” I asked noticing a bead of sweat on her face.
“Yes,” Diana replied. We released the arrow and it sailed down the field to hit the target, not the bull’s eye but the target just the same. We both smiled looking at each other face to face. We stood there longer than we should have, my front to her back.
Suddenly I remembered what she had said to Tracey the other day at the lake. “Sorry,” I said pulling away from her.
At dinner the girls sat down at our table and both Diana and I could feel the tension between Gary and Tracey. That was fine with me because I had a plan. “Come on,” I said to her as I got up from the table. I lead her outside to the field behind the clubhouse that really didn’t get used for much other than overflow parking on visitor’s day. I had stashed a soccer ball in the bushes earlier that I now retrieved.
Dribbling the ball back across the field I called to Diana, “Let’s play!”
“No, I can’t,” she replied.
“Can’t or won’t,” I teased dribbling the ball around her. I moved back away from her and turned to kick the ball at her.
Diana skillfully stopped the ball with one foot. “I said I can’t!” she repeated with a sour look on her face. I ran in stealing the ball away and began shooting it back and forth around her again. I could see she was getting more annoyed with me but I kept going. Looking back on it now one minute I had full control of the ball the next it was gone. Diana had stolen it away so quickly I don’t even remember her doing it. She was running down the field dribbling the ball. At first she looked awkward like she was having trouble judging the length of her legs since the last time she had played. I stood watching her as she quickly regained her skills and what great skills they were. I ran after her to steal the ball back but found it was not an easy task. We went back and forth one on one all over that field for about an hour. We were having so much funny I don’t think either one of us realized how much we had let go. It had rained pretty hard over night and all though the field didn’t seem wet when we started out hard play brought the water back to the surface. I kicked the ball way out in front of us and as we raced to take control of it we both slipped in the mud we had churned up and landed on our backs.
“Are you alright?” I asked her still lying on the ground.
Diana was laughing, “I’m fine, it’s been a long time since I had this much fun.”
We helped each other up to see that both our backs were covered in mud and we looked back at what we had done to the play field. It was a wreck! I looked at the field and it wasn’t only my footprints that were dug deep in the mud. It was both of ours feet that had done the damage.
“I think we should get out of here,” Diana suggested.
“I need a shower, I’ll meet you at the fire,” I said as we ran in separate directions.
“Ditto!” she responded.
The next morning at breakfast Coach Booth made a speech. “Last night a group of unknown individuals turfed up the auxiliary field.” “If anyone has any information on who these people were I will be in my office for the next hour.” Diana and I looked at each other having no idea what to do.
After breakfast Diana and I snuck off to talk. We decided to keep our mouths shut because neither of us wanted to go home. In the end no one found out it was just the two of us and not a whole soccer team.
At Camp Tandy the fourth of July is family day. There are no classes or activities because everyone has family coming to visit for the fireworks show after dinner. That is everyone except for Diana and me. She told me that her father would never come to visit that this trip was a way for him to rid of her for the summer. I kind of felt bad for her but she didn’t seem to care that he didn’t come.
I on the other hand made my parents promise not to come because this was meant to be my time away from home and my training. When I first began coming to camp they did visit but now things were much different. Funny thing is I almost wished they did have come to meet Diana.
After breakfast before the invasion of family Tracey was snapping pictures of Gary, Diana and I messing around. Before I knew it Diana had jumped on my back and I was giving her piggyback ride as Tracey snapped away. She was light as a feather to me as I jogged around with her on my back both of us giggling like little kids. Then Gary decided it was his turn. Funny thing is he wasn’t much heavier to me than Diana but his ride didn’t last very long. “Now it’s my turn,” I said to Gary trying to get on his back.
“Get off you big ox, you’ll break my back!” Gary shouted pulling away from me. We all laughed at his fear. I couldn’t really blame him because in the past couple of years I had gotten bigger than him.
Went the families started to arrive Gary and Tracey headed off to meet their parents so Diana and I put our heads together and decided to take a hike when everyone else was busy with family. She had been on the path before but I told her about how Gary and I had found this waterfall that was farther up the mountain off of the hiking path. It wasn’t hard for me to talk her into breaking the rule of never leaving the path. Unlike me who Gary practically begged to hike off the path. Once we were alone by the lake Diana did something that caught me off gaurd. She gave me a big hug. I asked, “What was that for?”
“Because you have been such a great friend,” she replied. I felt a little weird about how good it felt to hold her in my arms. It caught me completely off guard. It was just one of those things that girls do I guess.
We spent most of the morning hiking until we reached the waterfall. I couldn’t get that hug out of my mind the whole time we hiked up the mountian. I so wanted to do it again, but knew that would be wrong.
“It’s beautiful,” was the first thing Diana said when we got there. Funny thing is when I agreed with her I think I was talking about her more than the waterfall. We sat down at the water’s edge to eat the picnic lunch we had brought along. “Do you work out a lot at home?” she asked me out of the blue.
“Ya, a little, why did you ask that?” I replied.
“You just look like you are in good shape for a guy our age,” she answered shyly. “And look at you, we have hiked for three hours in eighty degree weather and you’ve not even broke a sweat.”
I was feeling a little uncomfortable about her line of questioning. So I lifted up my arm to show her the sweat stain in my pit. “Yes, I have.” “What do you call that?” I challenged.
“You were much sweatier after we played soccer,” Diana retorted.
“What is your fascination with my sweat glands?” I asked grinning. “You’re not soaked with sweat either!”
“That’s different,” she told me slipping off her lightweight jacket to expose a rather tight fitting pink tank top. “Girls, don’t sweat, they perspire.”
Then my paranoia kicked in again. “You just want to see me with my shirt off again don’t you?” I charged.
“Don’t be gross!” she said. We sat there staring each other down for a few minutes. “Okay, maybe,” she finally whispered.
I have to admit I was a little surprised but not as surprised as I was to what I said next, “So, let’s go skinny dipping!” I said pulling off my shirt in challenge to Diana.
“Who do you think I am?” she said. “Tracey?” “I can’t believe you are trying to get me to take my clothes off.” She blushed and giggle slightly.
“I was just testing to find out how much of my body you are interested in seeing,” I told her. “I spent a lot of time ashamed of my body and if you want to see it I’ll show it to you, but not for free.” I laughed.
“Please with your wardrobe choices I don’t need to skinny dip to see what your body looks like,” Diana smiled standing up. “You should have worn your white shorts today,” she comments as she turns to jump in the river fully clothed.
I was in shock, I stood there on the rocks waiting for her to come back up from under the water. “I knew you were looking at my wet shorts!” I yelled at her as I jumped into the water making sure not to over leap.
When I came up she splashed me in the face saying, “It was hard to miss.”
“It so was not hard!” I laughed. “I can’t say the same for your nipples.”
“You pig!” she retorted swimming away. I made my way over to the base of the waterfall and climbed up onto the rocks. “What are you doing?” Diana called to me.
“I’m going to climb to the top,” I replied turning back to the rocks.
“Not without me you’re not!” Diana yelled as she quickly swam to the falls.
By the time she got up on the base I was halfway up the falls the cold water rushing down over my shoulders. I looked back asking, “Need help?” From above I could see right down her wet pink tank top to the pink bra she wore underneath. Her boobs were really impressive and I almost lost my grip on the wet slippery rocks.
“I got it,” she called back as she tried to find her footing to climb. I made my way to the top where I waited looking back down at her as she climbed. “Are you looking down my shirt?” she called up to me.
“A gentleman never tells,” I laughed feeling just a little too much like Gary. I tried to avoid looking at her boobs as she continued to climb. Then she called to me.
“Give me a hand here please,” Diana said reaching up to me. I took her wet hand it was slippery from the gunk on the rocks. I tried to make it look like she was heavier for me to hold than she was and I screwed up. Her hand slipped from mine and she fell backwards down into the shallow water below. I panicked and jumped down after her, not even caring what she might think of me. The jump and hitting of the rocks under the water probably would have broken anyone else’s legs, but all I could think about was seeing Diana hit that water and the rocks below. I moved as fast as I could to get to her, grabbing her arm and side.
“Diana, oh my god Diana!” I cried.
“Knock it off, I’m fine,” she said to my shock pushing my hands away. “I’m just a little clumsy.”
“Are you sure, we should get you out of the water and make sure you’re not hurt,” I pleaded.
“You’re right we should head back before it gets too late,” she said walking out of the water and starting to clean up our picnic. I just stood there in the water watching her, she looked fine, not even a scratch on her.
“I could have swore you hit you head on that rock on the way down,” I called to her as I got out of the water.
“Nah, just my hair,” she said. “The jeans shorts look good on you too, not so transparent,” Diana joked changing the subject as she tossed my shirt at me.
Diana was much quieter on the hike down the mountain, we both were. Back at camp she said, “See ya later,” and headed back to the girls tents. The whole thing at the waterfalls was very strange, neither one of us brought it up again.
After dinner at the fireworks show Diana sat with Tracey huddled in deep discussion I feared about what. I hoped she didn’t think I dropped her on purpose. I never did get a chance to apologize about it because I was still so worried she was hurt. As I watched her there I realized how different Diana was from other girls. I could joke with her about almost anything and she just wanted to have fun and hang out. Even the sex stuff was somehow comfortable, she didn’t seem to want to get physical. When I tested her with some of Gary’s moves Diana hadn’t taken them seriously. Even though I did feel an attraction between us, I’m happy that we can just be friends without worrying about sex ruining it.
Looking around I spotted Gary in the dining room sitting with his Dad and some new girlfriend he brought along. Gary seems preoccupied watching something else though. I looked to see what he is watching and I spotted Wayne and his older brother at the end of Gary’s gaze. Wayne’s brother, Joey is twenty-one and was at camp as an Intern with us the first year I came. It was not unusual for him to come on the fourth rather than his parents. But what was Gary’s interest in them?
After the fireworks show I headed back to the tent, it had been a long day and I was eager to get some sleep. Gary came in the tent looking as if he was eager for something. Wayne’s not back yet?” he asked.
“No, what’s up with you anyway?” I asked from laying on my cot.
“Joey is bringing me something,” Gary replied taking off his jacket and throwing it on the floor. He kicked his sneakers off too, before sitting on his cot still looking impatient. Before I could question him any further Pete walked into the tent.
“You know you better pick your shit up!” Pete said. Pete was kind of the foul mouthed Felix Unger of our group.
“Ya, Ya,” Gary replies picking up his jacket and kicking his sneakers under his cot. “Have you seen Wayne and Joey?”
“They were going to Joey’s car when I started back here,” Pete answered. “I told him he better not track any of that mud in here.” Then Pete looked to me. “Where did you and your little girlfriend disappear to all day?”
I don’t even think Gary noticed we were gone because it was the first time he looked at me in that perverted grin he has all day. “We went for I hike,” I told them plainly.
“A bone finding hike?” Gary quipped.
“NO!” I protested. “I told you it is not like that, we are just friends.”
“Then why weren’t you sitting together at dinner?” Pete asked.
“Something kind of happened and I think she is mad at me,” I replied.
“Couldn’t find the right hole, virgin?” Gary teased.
“Like you’re not a virgin, asshole.” I said laying down and rolling over putting an end to the conversation.
“Dude, what’s that on your back?” Gary said sitting down on the edge of my cot.
“Get off!” I said nudging Gary back.
“No, really,” Gary said poking something on my back. I hadn’t felt anything before and it still didn’t hurt. But now I felt something tightening on my skin. “It looks like a big leach.”
“That is the biggest leach I’ve ever seen,” Pete said standing closer.
I tried to turn my head to see what they were talking about but could barely catch a glimpse of it. “Get it off you jerks,” I said a little panicked.
“Don’t, he better go to the nurse,” Pete suggested.
“Don’t be stupid,” Gary said. “If he goes to that old crow she’ll tell Booth and he’ll have to tell that he and Diana snuck off.”
“Guys, stop talking and just get it off!” I implored. Then I hear the spring and the click of Gary’s prize pocket knife. Looking back he held it open in his hand. “What do you think you are going to do with that?” I asked.
“Relax, I’m just going to scrape it off,” Gary told me not making me feel any better. I felt the cold blade of his knife as he scraped it down my back taking off the parasite. “It is a big bastard,” Gary stated holding up the knife with what looked like a two inch long lump of black grease. It squirmed on the blade like it was trying to jump off.
While Gary examined the slug, Pete grabbed my shirt from the end of my cot and pressed it to my back. “You’re bleeding pretty good, are you sure you don’t want to go to the nurse?” Pete asked.
I took hold of the shirt from Pete. “I’ll be fine,” I told him.
“I think we should burn it,” Gary suggested. “Get Wayne’s lighter from under his bed.
“You’re not burning that thing in here, throw it outside,” Pete insisted.
“I think he’s right just throw it outside,” I told Gary. Gary reluctantly moved to the back flap of the tent. Reaching out he dislodged the leech from his knife with a flip of his wrist. It was right about then that Wayne came in the other side of the tent.
Gary’s eagerness returned, “Did you get it?” he asked.
“Ya, ya calm down,” Wayne said taking a paper bag from his back pants pocket. The bag obviously contained a bottle of some kind that Gary quickly stowed in his backpack under his bed. I was feeling more sleepy than I was before so I didn’t even bother to ask what was going on. Taking the bloody shirt from my back I could see that the bleeding had stopped so I laid back down on my cot.
I woke up early the next morning soaking wet with sweat. I was relieved to see nothing had changed in the tent. I had just had the most strange and horrible nightmare. It was about the leech Gary had scraped off my back last night. In the nightmare the leeched had been mutated by my blood. It crawled its way back to the river where it found some kind of Indian artifact that changed it more. The leech came back to camp the size of a cow and began to kill people like in some low rate horror movie. It was up to Diana and I to stop it from killing everyone. Then it really got weird because Diana had super-power too. Together we became an almost unstoppable team against the creature as it continued to grow bigger and bigger. It was horrible so many people died before we could kill that thing. The nightmare had really affected me I was still shaken as I looked around the tent to see that Gary’s bunk was empty.
I looked over at Wayne’s cot where he was sleeping undisturbed. I could see the box under his cot where he kept his cigar lighter. I decided to borrow that lighter before I got my things together to go to the bathhouse. I went out the back of the tent to look around the grass for the leech. It wasn’t easy but I caught sight of a trail of blood left by parasite. I couldn’t believe how far from the tent that little bastard was when I found it. It did look like it was heading back to the river too. Wayne’s lighter was like a blowtorch and I used it to completely incinerate the leech leaving nothing but ash and burnt grass. Funny thing is looking back on that now that might have been the first precognitive dream I had. But I’ll never know because I killed the leech. It would be years before I came to understand my special dreams.
I headed to the bathhouse for a shower after burning the leech. I found Gary in a stall with his back to the door his arms moving in a suggestive way. “Please don’t tell me you came here early to beat off,” I said startling him.
“Shit!” he yelped looking back over his shoulder. “I’m shaving and you just made me nearly cut my dick off!”
“Shaving?” I repeated peeking over the stall to see he had his private parts covered in shaving cream and his razor in hand. “Why the hell are you shaving there?” I asked taking off my clothes and stepping into another shower stall.
“If you must know, Tracey said if I wanted her to suck my dick I would have to shave it first.” Gary told me as he continued to work on his unit.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, are you that desperate?” I said turning on the water and starting to soap up my chest.
“It might do you some good with Diana if you trimmed that bush of yours too,” Gary told me ending our talk. I waited too long to get it to shave it off now!
I caught up with Diana after breakfast before we started classes. “I just want to apologize, I didn’t mean to drop you, our hands were slippery,” I said to her.
“Don’t be silly I know you didn’t drop me on purpose,” Diana told me relieving my mind greatly.
“So, we are good then,” I asked.
“Of course,” Diana replied. “Let’s just forget about it.”
“Okay so let me change the subject,” I said as we walked to her first class. “What is Tracey doing to Gary?”
Diana giggled, “She’s being a bitch.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because she can, she has something he wants and she intends to make him earn it,” Diana told me.
I didn’t know what to make of her attitude. “Do you think that is the right thing to be doing?” I asked a little worried about her answer.
“Of course not, but she’s not going to listen to me if I tell her not to do it,” Diana told me. “In my opinion, Gary is as foolish as her is he is doing the things she is telling him to do.”
I knew she was right. “Did you know she told him to shave his stuff and she would give him a blow job?” Diana just giggled and have to admit I did too. “Do you think she will really blow him?”
“I don’t know, but if he did that for her, she should,” Diana said smiling.
It was late that night when Gary woke me up from a sound sleep. “Get dressed,” he instructed.
“Why would I get dressed in the middle of the night?” I asked crawling out of bed in my underwear.
“We’re going out,” Gary told me.
“Out where?” I asked.
“Keep it down,” He told me, “Don’t wake Pete and Wayne.” “You’ll see, we just get a move on,” Gary told me throwing my pants at me. He grabbed his backpack from under his cot and led me out of the tent. We snuck across the tent area in the dark. At the edge of the woods Gary pulled out a flashlight from his backpack. We walked the grove path that led to the clearing in the woods where a Picnic area is set up.
As we got closer to the end of the path I heard other voices at the grove. I spotted a flashlight emerging from the darkness on the other side of the grove that led to the Girl’s campsite. It was Tracey and Diana that met us at a table in the center of the picnic area. Gary sat his backpack on the table and pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels from it.
“So that is what Joey brought you,” I stated realizing what all the secrecy was about yesterday.
“So you knew about this?” Diana said as we each took a seat at the table. Diana and I sat next to each other and Tracey and Gary sat across from us.
“I had no idea what was going on, I don’t even drink booze,” I told Diana.
“Well you are drinking booze tonight buddy boy,” Gary said taking a big swig from the bottle before handing it to Tracey. Gary choked a little on the Jack but I know he has stolen liquor from his father before. Tracey on the other hand took a big gulp and didn’t even flinch.
“Just to let you know, Di, this was all my idea,” she said handing Diana the bottle. “This is just what you two need to loosen you up.”
I was a little surprised when Diana did take a drink before passing the bottle to me. I sniffed the open bottle of Jack first. I knew I could probably drink the whole bottle and not feel at all drunk so I took a swig before passing it back to Gary. We sat there in the dark passing the bottle around a few more times before Tracey said no. I could tell that both Gary and Tracey were feeling the effect of the booze, but Diana seemed as sober as me. “How do you feel,” I asked her.
“Fine, you weren’t really drinking that were you?” she whispered.
I was but I lied, “No, of course not.” Well at least I knew how she was still sober. But from the look of the other two they were not as Tracey began to kiss Gary. As the moon came out from behind a cloud Diana and I found ourselves sitting there watching Tracey and Gary make-out. I was feeling really uncomfortable as they kissed and groped at each other as if we weren’t even there. “Should we be watching this?” I said to Diana uncomfortably.
“I don’t think so, it feels funny,” She replied.
Tracey freed her lips from Gary’s to look at us and say drunkenly, “You two don’t have to watch, follow our example.” “Di, have a little Chocolate, it won’t kill you,” She returned to her make-out session with Gary waving her hand at us.
I had no idea why Tracey was talking about chocolate. I looked to Diana and I don’t know if it was the moonlight or my imagination but I thought I saw desire in her eyes for a moment. “They are really drunk,” I said to Diana.
“Should we stop them?” she asked. “I mean they really aren’t thinking straight.” Gary’s hand had made its way under Tracey’s shirt and she didn’t seem to mind.
“I don’t know if we could,” I replied.
“So what, do we just sit here and watch them do it?” Diana replied.
Gary and Tracey stopped kissing and began to laugh at us. “Maybe at least one of you would learn something then,” Gary said breathing rather heavy. “Let’s go beautiful,” Gary said taking Tracey by one hand and the bottle of Jack in the other. We sat there on the picnic bench as they walked off into the woods. We were alone now in the grove. I could feel that I had a boner in my pants so there was no way I was getting up from this table even in the dark. We sat there in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Diana spoke.
“It’s not that I don’t find you attractive, it is just that I’m not interested in that kind of relationship,” Diana said to me in an apologetic tone. I wasn’t sure what she was saying. Was she gay? Was she fidget? I didn’t know what to say so I said nothing. I didn’t know if I was disappointed or relieved at how this night was going.
“I understand,” I finally said feeling that my boner had gone away. “Let me walk you back to camp,” I told her standing up from the table.
Diana and I went through another awkward stage after that but soon we were back to being pals. It was becoming a usual occurrence for us, to be pals and then something a little uncomfortable that made us realize I was a guy and she was a girl would come along. A perfect example was the day Gary and I came in late for lunch after swimming class and I didn’t even think twice about going to the lodge wet and without his shirt. I was standing at the table telling the other guys about what happened when Gary tried to pull the practice dummy out of the water, when I got that feeling again, of being watched. I looked around the lodge and there was Diana staring at me again. It was different this time I swore I could see desire in her eyes again. I suddenly felt self-conscious about being shirtless. I turned to Gary and made him give me his shirt. Gary laughs at me saying, “You making your girlfriend horny again?” as he stood up to take off his shirt and hand it to me.
After eating lunch that day Gary and I went back to our tent, I was still bothered by Diana. I had told Wayne and Pete about the problem I had with Diana. They think I was crazy too, just like Gary did. After Wayne and Pete left for their afternoon classes Gary and I continued to talk about Diana and the other kids in the archery class how bad they were at hitting the target. We were laughing when I said, “and that is one thing that Diana is the worst at!” “She is no goddess of the hunt, that is for sure.”
“More like goddess of frozen panties, if you ask me,” Gary said. I knew he was refering to our trip to the picnic area a few nights back but I ignored him.
After dinner Gary and I decide to sneak out to take a walk up the one path that is off limits. Gary was still going on about how something I didn’t really care about. I couldn’t help but to pick on him, “No amount of shaving could get Tracey to put your thing in her mouth.”
After passing under a large tree I suddenly got that feeling like someone was watching me again. The feeling is so intense that I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned around and looked straight up into the big oak’s limbs to see Diana perched on one. I yelled to her, “How the hell did you get up there?”
“I climbed up,” she replied.
“Oh yeah, let’s see you climb down,” Gary called. Diana didn’t look at all happy about the challenge as she began to climb down. About halfway down the tree trunk Diana slipped and fell. I rushed to catch her in my arms. With a look of disgust on his face Gary said, “Girls just weren’t meant to climb trees.” Our little forest adventure came to an abrupt end when it started to pour rain, all three of us ran for camp. I thought about our meeting with Diana in the woods the rest of the day and began to wonder if she was spying on me. It was a ridiculous idea but I couldn’t shake it.
In Archery class the next day Couch Dimmer made me his “aide” and I came around to help Diana shoot, She told me, “Take a hike, I don’t need your help!” I couldn’t figure out what her problem was so I insisted on helping her. No matter how nice I was to Diana, she continued to insist that I get lost.
When Coach Dimmer came over and asked what the problem was, I told him. Coach Dimmer instructed, “If Diana thinks she can hit the bull’s eye with no help let her try.” We both stood back smirking at her as she turns to aim. To the whole class’s shock Diana fired to hit the target dead center.
She then dropped the bow to say, “I’ve got cramps I’m going to lay down.”
As she stomped off I ran after her, “That was great, how did you do it?” I asked.
Diana turned to me and said “You’re a jerk! ” and kept walking. I had no idea what her problem was with me. Once again I somehow looked at Diana differently, she wasn’t just my pal, but a smart beautiful young woman.
It was toward the end of camp when we got another free day with no classes. I was still feeling bad about how I had treated Diana. I sat with Diana at breakfast, trying to get her to talk to me. I apologized for treating her so badly over the archery class. It was weird because I couldn’t help but to think about how pretty she was that morning. She accepted my apology half heartedly but really didn’t talk to me much through breakfast.
The rest of the free day I spends just hanging out with the guys. From time to time I spotted Diana and Tracey. This has been our worst disagreement yet. I felt a little silly watching them but I couldn’t help but to notice how good Diana was looking in her bathing suit.
“Oh my God, Steve’s got a boner!” Gary suddenly shouts pointing at me. Gary looks over to the swimming area spotting Diana and Tracey. “Hey girls, Steve’s gotta hard-on for you!” he shouts.
I grabbed my crotch and pushed Gary to the ground as everyone’s attention turns on us. “Asshole!” I shouted walking off toward the tents.
Not long after I got back to the tent I heard a voice from outside, “Hello, Steve are you in there?” it was Diana. “Can I come in?” “You’re not doing anything private, you don’t want me to see are you?”
“No, come on in,” I called out from sitting up on my cot.
Diana stepped into the tent wrapped in a towel, “So this is the inside of a boy’s tent, it smells like feet.”
“You know girls are not allowed in the boy’s tents,” I told her.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” She said shyly looking for a place to sit but not finding one.
“I’m fine, Gary is just a jerk sometimes,” I replied. “You didn’t see, did you?” I asks self-conscious about getting a hard-on while watching her in her bathing suit.
“I saw you push him down and walk off,” Diana told me. But I knew what sharp eyes she had I felt like she was holding back on what she had seen.
“We should get out of here before you get caught,” I told her peeking out of the tent flap. After spending the rest of the day together Diana and I sat with each other at the campfire.
The next couple of days things were back to normal between Diana and I. We were spending a great deal of our free time together.
After lunch one day Diana and I went for a hike up the off limits trail. By now the term off limits seemed to be something of a joke to us. Diana and I walked nudging each other back and forth as we walked. In many ways Diana was a better best friend to me than Gary ever was in all the years I had known him. I was almost hating the idea of the summer ending. I can’t remember how it happened but as we walked in the woods I realized we were holding hands. It felt good to have her hand in mine. We walked the furthest from camp we had ever done. We came upon an old logging camp. Taking a look around we found that it was abandon.
We sat down on bench at the edge of the compound. Diana took my hand again. We held our hands up comparing the size of them. My hand was quite a bit larger than hers. We interlocked our fingers and she lowered our hands to her leg. I looked at our hands and I liked the way her hand felt in mine. Then I looked at Diana, “What is going on with us?” I asked.
“We are friends, friends hold hands,” Diana told me squeezing my hand.
“I’ve been friends with Gary since first grade and we have never held hands,” I told her.
“We’re different,” Diana said as she leaned in to kiss me full on the mouth. I don’t know what came over me but I kissed her back. The kiss was the most incredible thing that had happened to me to that point. When our mouths opened and our tongues touched and those old instincts kicked in. I freaks out. I let go of her hand and pushed her away. Standing up from the bench, I looked down at her with tears welling up in my eyes. Without another thought I took off running. I just ran like I was on fire. I could hear that Diana was trying to run after me, but I was just too fast.
I didn’t know where to go, I just wanted to be alone. The wind on my face made it clear that I was crying and I couldn’t stop it. It was midday and I knew no one would be at the boy’s bathhouse. I was right the place was deserted. I rushed into a shower stall full clothed and turned the cold water onto my face. I felt like a complete idiot! How did this happen? I have to end this! I can’t be friends with Diana any more, with any girl. I didn’t even feel bad about leaving her out there alone, she had ambushed me and got what she deserved. I spent the rest of the day hiding from everyone. I made sure the other guys were asleep when I snuck back into the tent.
Next morning I got up before everyone else and went to the lodge to get an early breakfast. I was to my first class very early. After what happened at the lumber camp yesterday I was afraid that he misjudged Diana. She is just like other girls looking for more than to just be my friend. I avoided her at all costs even skipping Archery class. I argues with Coach Brooks for almost an hour before he let me drop out of Archery class and takes Fishing for the last couple of days. Diana seemed as angry at me as I was at her and avoiding her was not a problem the rest of our time at camp. The last day I felt a little guilty about everything that had happened. I felt like I had to say something to Diana before she left. I got to the parking lot just as the bus Diana was on pulled away. I could see her through the bus window as it drove away. She looked as sad as I felt.
With all that had happened on the last couple of days at Camp Tandy Gary and I hadn’t really had time to talk. On the bus ride home we had time to catch up. As bad as things had went with Diana and I really didn’t want to share with Gary but as usual he had no problem talking about his own problems. Gary told me he never did get that blowjob from Tracey all he could get her to do was give him a handjob. He told me, “I don’t want to complain, it was nice having a girl’s hand on my dick and all, but I could have done a better job myself.”
