Chapter 7

Angela awoke to blinding sunlight pouring through the cheap vinyl of her tent. She sat up with a tired groan, massaging her stiff neck. She regretted sleeping in such an awkward position. It looked to be pretty late in the morning, judging by the sun. What time was it? She quickly threw on a change of clothes, unzipped her tent, and stumbled outside, blinking hard as the sun hit her in the face. Once her eyes adjusted, she could see that everyone was milling around by the picnic area. Everyone except—

"Hey!"

Angela jumped and whipped around to see Brandon jogging over to her from the lake's edge. Just looking at him, she felt anger boiling in her stomach. He smiled. She didn't. "Hey," she muttered.

Brandon's smile faded. His eyes darted between her and the ground. "I'm sorry—I-I mean for the kiss thing."

Angela's eyes widened in shock.

"It was weird," Brandon went on. "And I felt weird about it, right after I did it. I'm sorry."

He reached out to grab her hand, but Angela took a hurried step back from him. "Do you like Amber?" she blurted.

Brandon shook his head. "No. No. She—" He cleared his throat. "I guess…maybe I see why you would think that. I've known her a long, long time, and I haven't seen her for a while, ya know? And…I-I just really missed her. And, umm…." He grimaced. "Yeah, I've kinda been blowing you off a bit," he muttered. "I'm sorry about that too."

Angela could barely believe her ears. He'd always seemed too proud a person to apologize, especially this profusely. He tried to hold her hand again, and this time she let him.

Brandon gazed at her, his dark eyes glistening. "I'm sorry," he repeated. He smiled. "We okay?"

Angela studied his face. As far as she could tell, he was quite sincere. She felt herself smiling back. "We're okay," she murmured.

Brandon's gaze shifted to her mouth. "Can I kiss you? For real this time?"

Angela responded with a slow nod. When their lips met, she felt a prickle of anxiety. She still didn't know how to kiss properly. She moved her mouth in some certain way that didn't feel quite right. When he pulled away, she sighed and considered apologizing.

"What's wrong?" Brandon asked.

So they were just going to avoid talking about her terrible kissing skills then. That was fine by her. "It's nothing," Angela told him.

Brandon jerked his head towards the picnic area. "We're all going to the general store. You wanna come?"

"Absolutely."

"Weather's good today. Perfect for swimming."

Angela looked out over the lake, which looked quite inviting, its waves lapping at the shore and its surface silvery with sunlight. The island caught her eye yet again. There was nothing there but a few boulders and pine trees, but it was awfully pretty. "Do you think we could swim to that island?" she asked.

Brandon snorted. "I mean, yeah, you could. Do you want to?"

Angela gave him a look. "Yes, I do."

"You're weird," Brandon chuckled.

Angela rolled her eyes and took his hand as they went to join the others.

The walk to the general store was a pleasant one. Massive pines crowded the road, keeping them from roasting in the late morning sun. Hardly any cars passed them the whole walk. Not only a good thing because it made their travels all the more relaxing, but also because the road through this area was decrepit. Angela narrowly avoided twisting her ankle in a pothole one too many times. She moved away from the treacherous edge of the road, giving Brandon's hand a tight squeeze.

The two had walked together the whole way, holding hands. Brandon told Angela stories of adventures and misadventures he'd had around the town when he was younger. Angela recounted tales of her childhood as well. She tried not to talk about her mom too much. Talking about her still made her heart ache. Brandon didn't know the story. He didn't know that her mother had passed, or how it had happened. Angela wasn't about to dive into that story right then. It wasn't the right time. It would inevitably come up at some point, and she dreaded having to explain things to Brandon. There were only three people who really, truly understood what she was going through, and none of them were her boyfriend.

Brent glanced back at them. He too was holding hands with his girlfriend. Reggie and Amber walked beside them, for some reason unaware that they should give the couple a little space to themselves. "Almost there!" Brent called.

Angela nodded. That was good to hear. They had been walking for quite a bit. She looked behind her to see how everyone else was fairing. She immediately regretted that decision. Darlene and her friends were back to their usual insanity.

"This road sucks!" Darlene shouted, hefting a chunk of pavement and chucking it into the road. She hadn't been trying to hit her friend, but she'd come pretty close to doing so nonetheless. It didn't take long for her two friends to join in and toss around a few blocks of the road themselves.

Elliot walked just ahead of them, watching the craziness with a look of horror. He was responsible for his sister and her friends. The last thing he wanted was to have to take them to some Podunk hospital, especially because of something this ridiculous. "Guys, stop that," he ordered, raising his voice over their shouting, which sounded like a real strain for him.

"Stop that," Darlene mocked, but she did as she was told, as did her now downcast friends.

The general store turned out to be an old cabin. It looked like it needed to be repainted about a decade ago. Its walls were peeling and paint chips littered the spacious porch. Still it was quaint in its dilapidated way. Angela noticed a mail slot to the left of the door. This town was so tiny that the store doubled as a post office.

Brent and Amy climbed the creaking stairs to the porch. "You guys wait here," Amy said quickly as she and her boyfriend went through the screen door.

Angela was at a loss as to why they couldn't all go inside. A few minutes later, when the two returned with three boxes of beer cans, she understood. She recalled the conversation she'd had with her father. She felt a swell of pride knowing that she'd have no trouble keeping her promise. She wasn't like other teenagers.

Darlene hovered around Brent and Amy like a mosquito, eyeing the beer. "Woah! Score!" she hissed.

Brent shot Darlene a stern look, which made her instantly deflate. She knew what was coming next. "You can't have any, okay? You're way too young."

Darlene scoffed. "So you and your girlfriend are just gonna hog it all?"

"No, of course not," Brent replied. He grunted as he hauled two of the boxes down the steps. His girlfriend eyed him warily as she lugged the third box. "I'm saving some of these for my buddies. They're gonna be comin' up to camp next week." He ambled over to Elliot, who jerked his head up, startled by his sudden proximity. "Can you grab one of these, please? I mean unless—I-I donno. Are you strong enough to—?"

Elliot nodded quickly and took one of the boxes from him.

Angela's face lit up. He's definitely strong enough. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind of those kinds of thoughts, then pretended to be very interested in a nearby tree instead. Stop it, stop it, stop it.

"Elliot can drink," Brent said. "He's eighteen. We'll go by the old drinking age, which I think kinda makes more sense, am I right?"

"Dammit!" Darlene cursed, punching her brother's shoulder. "You suck!"

They made their way back to the camp, the sun growing ever hotter as the hours passed. Angela kept on holding Brandon's hand, and they kept on talking.

At one point, Brandon glanced around, checking if anyone was in earshot, then whispered to Angela, "Hey, if you want beer, I can sneak you some. My friend used to do that for me, so I know—"

"No," Angela snapped.

Brandon shushed her. "Okay, fine," he hissed. "Never mind."

Angela sighed at his ridiculous offer. Her father had only given her two rules for this trip. She wasn't about to break one of them.


Brandon was certainly right about the weather. By midday it was sweltering. A perfect day for a swim.

Angela put on her swimsuit and joined the others at the lake. Brent and Amy and Reggie were already in the water. Elliot sat on the dock watching them. Brandon and Amber were suspiciously absent. Angela tried to push away a prickle of jealousy. There was nothing going on between them, Brandon had said as much. And she believed him.

Angela stood on the warm, sandy shore, enjoying the feeling of sand squishing between her toes. She tentatively lowered her foot into the water. It was refreshingly cool. She was about to jump in, when a sudden rush of fear held her back. She scolded herself for being so ridiculous, but still she worried about the turtles and whatever other potentially dangerous creatures lurked in the lake's depths.

"Don't worry about the turtles!" Brent called, as if reading her mind.

Angela smiled at him to let him know she was fine. Even so she was putting off swimming for just a little bit. She walked out onto the dock, trying to think about the nice kind of turtles, like the ones from Finding Nemo. She knew that was a stupid thought, but it did put her mind at ease.

Elliot glanced up at her. "Hey."

"Hey. You going in the lake?" Angela asked.

Elliot nodded, his eyes locked on the water.

Angela wondered if he too was wary of lake creatures. She studied him as she walked down the dock, trying to figure it out. Most likely he was as nervous as she was. The only body of water they'd ever been in was the town pool. A pool was very different from a lake and then suddenly Angela forgot about all that and wondered when she'd last seen Elliot with his shirt off. It must have been a long time ago, because he didn't have all these muscles back then. He was—

Angela felt someone grab her arm and suddenly she was being pulled backward. She stumbled a little trying to regain her balance.

"Holy crap!" Darlene laughed. "What the hell was that? You were totally spacing out super hard!" When Angela didn't respond, she shrugged and went to join her friends at the start of the dock.

Angela blinked in confusion. She slowly turned around to see that she was teetering right on the edge of the dock. She'd nearly walked right off it while staring at her friend, like some idiot frat-boy in an eighties comedy. That must have looked very attractive.

One of Darlene's friends leaped off the dock. Her other friend skidded to a halt at the edge. Darlene charged towards her, showing no signs of slowing down.

"Jump!" she screeched. "Come on, jump! Don't be such a pussy!" Darlene shoved her friend into the water and jumped in after her. She surfaced a moment later with a hard cough. "Cold!" she shouted dramatically at the sky. "It's so cold!"

Angela chuckled at the three of them as they swam out farther, pinwheeling their arms and splashing each other. She felt the boards shifting underfoot and turned to see Elliot standing beside her. He glanced at her with a flash of mischief in his eyes that Angela had not seen for many years. "What?" she asked quietly. "What are you thinking about?"

Elliot blinked at her, startled. "Uhh…n-nothing."

Angela looked him up and down. "Were you thinking about pushing me off the dock?"

"No," Elliot said, but Angela caught just a shadow of a smile on his face.

She rolled her eyes. "If you say so." Angela smiled slyly. She hoped Elliot had no idea what was about to happen to him. Angela slapped a hand on his back and shoved him with all her might. He stumbled a bit, but he didn't fall. Either he was too strong, or he'd seen the attack coming. He retaliated immediately and pushed her into the lake.

When Angela popped out of the water a moment later, she heard Darlene cackling, asking her friends if they'd seen what had happened. Angela spun around. Elliot floated just under the dock, trying to suppress a laugh.

Angela shook her head. "Really?"

"Yep," Elliot said. He swam over to her, looking slightly concerned. "You okay?"

"Fine," Angela replied curtly. She thought she should act at least a little upset, but she couldn't stop smiling. Her face felt warm. She tried not to look at him too much as she wrung out her hair. While she was doing that, a load of water smacked her in the back of the head, completely drenching her. She turned to Elliot, her eyes narrowed. He just smiled at her. Angela splashed him back. "What's your problem?" she chuckled.

"Umm…" Elliot backed away from her and swam farther out.

Angela smirked. If he thought he could get away from her by going where the water was deeper, he was dead wrong. She shot over to Elliot and splashed him a few more times in revenge.

Elliot let out a small chuckle. "Stop," he mumbled, swatting her hands away.

"You stop." Angela smacked his hand hard.

Elliot sighed lightly and grabbed her wrist. Then he splashed her again when she was caught off guard.

Angela flipped her soaked hair out of her face. She shook her head at him in an admittance of defeat. But she didn't say anything. Elliot still stood at attention, one hand poised to splash her if need be, the other still gripping her wrist. She should probably just say that was enough, or anything to that effect. She didn't. She floated there, smiling, and Elliot smiled back. They were very close. At this point Angela's mind had turned to molten mush. She felt Elliot loosen his grip on her wrist just a little. He ran his thumb over the inside of her wrist as he finally let go of her. Angela waited for him to move away. He didn't. But she didn't move either. It occurred to her that she probably should. At some point.

Angela heard voices coming from the shore and turned. Amber had just arrived. And so had Brandon. Angela felt sick. What was she doing? Things had been going so well with him that day. Then he leaves for a few minutes and she goes and does…whatever it was she had been doing. What's wrong with me? Angela felt a powerful stab of guilt. She left Elliot and quickly swam towards the shore.

Brandon smiled at her. "Hey, what's up?"

Angela smiled back, hoping she was doing a good job of hiding her inner turmoil. "Hey, you wanna go to the island?" she asked him.

Amber glanced in the direction of the island. "Seems a bit far," she commented.

"Not if you're a good swimmer, sis," Amy told her.

"It's true," Brent agreed.

Brandon snorted. "Can't believe she's still on this," he chuckled, like Angela wasn't even there. He turned back to his girlfriend. "Sure you can't go by yourself? Or, I donno, maybe you'd rather go with Elliot?"

Angela's face burned. Had he seen what had happened a few moments ago? No, he couldn't have. Of course not. Anyway, she shouldn't be so worried. It was nothing. If Brandon thought it was something then that was his problem. "I'd really rather go with you," she replied in her sweetest tone.

"All right, I'll go," Brandon sighed. "I'll get there before you, though. I'm a way better swimmer." He took a deep breath, then dove into the water and rocketed towards the island.

Angela rolled her eyes and swam after him at her own pace. She found that Darlene and her friends had swam out pretty far. Darlene was commenting about how it was much colder closer to the center of the lake. Elliot joined the three of them, looking uneasy. Angela guessed he didn't like them being so far from the shore; it was much deeper here, and probably Darlene and her buddies weren't the best swimmers.

Darlene turned on her brother, glaring. "What's your problem?" she snapped. "We don't need a babysitter! Get lost!" She flailed her arms, sending torrents of water into his face. Her two friends, as usual, followed her lead.

Angela snorted in amusement and kept on swimming. The island wasn't far now. Brandon stood on the shore, tapping his foot impatiently. Angela ignored him. The boughs of the island's two towering pines swayed in the breeze, bathing the air with their scent. Angela got out of the water and stepped onto the grassy shore. In contrast to the light, fluffy sand of the camp's shore, this one was made up of hard, chunky clay.

Brandon sighed in mock annoyance. "Took you long enough."

"Shut up," Angela scoffed. She sat down and looked out over the lake. Brent and Amy were a fair distance from the others, canoodling. Reggie and Amber stayed closer to the shore. Darlene and her friends had given up on trying to drown Elliot, and begrudgingly allowed him to stay nearby.

Angela realized she must have been staring at Elliot for far too long again. He'd caught her. Now he was staring back at her, giving her an inquisitive look. Well, this was a teeny bit awkward. Angela smiled and gave a small wave. There, an excellent recovery. She noticed Brandon sitting down beside her with a contented sigh.

"It is really nice out here," he commented.

Angela met his gaze. "Yeah, it is." When Brandon turned away from her to look out at the shore, she immediately turned back to Elliot. But he wasn't looking at her anymore. He was talking to his sister. Darlene had her arms crossed and she was shaking her head, looking curious and amused and perturbed all at the same time. Angela tensed. Darlene kept stealing glances at her and pointing at her as she talked on and on. Elliot barely said anything. He just stared at his sister with wide eyes and shook his head. Angela drew in a sharp, nervous breath and dropped her gaze. They were definitely talking about her. She desperately wanted to know what exactly Darlene was saying. Whatever it was, it was making Elliot quite uncomfortable.

Angela dug her fingers into the sand in frustration and embarrassment. She wished she could just disappear for a while.