Chapter 8

Tiffany rolled out of bed. She was a late sleeper. As she scanned the room, she noticed the only other person still sleeping was A.J. She was glad that she wasn't the last one to wake up. That would have looked tacky.

She gathered her toiletries and headed to the showers. It was still cold from the night, so she walked briskly in her short nightgown. As she made her way over, she noticed Kenny heading out of the showers in just a short towel. She liked what she saw. How had she never taken notice of him at school?

Entering the showers, she could already feel the heat from the warm mist filling the room from someone else's shower. Stepping into the shower, she noticed it was Vanessa and Deborah already showering. Vanessa was in the center of the large communal shower as Deborah stood as far away as possible.

"What's up, girl?" Tiffany addressed her friend Vanessa.

"Oh, you know, just makin' myself sexy."

"You don't gotta' work at that." Tiffany gave her friend a wink. She turned the hot water on and immediately appreciated the reprieve from the chilled New Jersey morning.

"How was your night, Debbie?" Tiffany raised her voice over all the cascading water. "Dream of Leather Jacket?"

Deborah turned and gave her an uninterested look. "No. Like I said, nothing happened."

"We believe you." Tiffany smiled and giggled with Vanessa.

"Trust me, girl." Vanessa spoke more loudly than she needed to and with some attitude. "We know that no man woulda' done anything with you." Both the girls laughed loudly.

Deborah glared at them and sighed angrily. It wasn't worth it to step into their traps. They were like pythons, waiting for you to make the wrong move so they could lock their fangs into you. She was not about to make that move. Rather than prompt them into more mocking, Deborah just finished rinsing out her hair, and headed out of the showers. Both girls giggled haughtily as she passed by them.

"Deborah!" Tiffany hollered. Deborah stopped and looked at her cruel classmate. "In all honesty. Despite your bad taste in fashion and your horrible hair choices, you've got a decent body." Deborah just rolled her eyes, wrapped her towel around herself, and marched back to their cabin.

"Rude." Vanessa said harshly.

"I meant what I said." Tiffany shrugged.

"Don't bother with her. She's a loser anyway."

Chad chatted with Kenny as he finished getting dressed. As Kenny left the cabin to get breakfast going for the counselors, Chad turned to his own wardrobe and began getting dressed. He glanced over his shoulder as he heard the door open and slam shut. He took a deep breath. It was Adam.

"Hey, man." Adam said, his hair still dripping wet. He stood by his bed in just a towel.

"What?" Chad asked, trying to sound tough, not nervous. He turned back to his own business and laid out his perfectly matched outfit for the day.

"You sure worry about what you wear." Adam said, looking over Chad's shoulder at his outfit.

"Looking good's important." Chad faked a laugh. "At least, to me it is. I guess you live by different principles."

"If you say so." Adam said as he headed back to his bed and slipped on his boxers and torn jeans. "I'm a jeans and boots kinda' guy."

"Oh." Chad said, trying to rush to get dressed. He was so uncomfortable with this guy. He gave off the same vibe as a bully. He watched as Adam picked up his oversized pocket knife from under his pillow and flipped the blade out.

"You gotta' problem with jeans?" Adam asked while inspecting his pocket knife.

"What?" Chad asked nervously. "No, of course not. Not if you want to look like a regular John Deere."

Adam shrugged. "I get the feeling you never wear them."

"I don't, but I certainly don't expect everyone to be able to look as nice as me. It's pretty clear that you couldn't afford my tastes."

Adam shook his head in disbelief and laughed humorlessly. "Whatever." Adam flipped his pocket knife down. "To each his own."

Chad finished tying his cardigan around his neck and headed out of the cabin, but Adam grabbed him by his arm. Chad looked nervously at the big guy. His chest was huge. It looked like the guy could lift a car if he wanted to, though Chad was pretty sure Kenny was bigger. He shoulda' just gotten dressed faster and left with Kenny. Now he was stuck with this big brute.

"You're Chad, right?" Adam asked.

"Yes. What of it?" Chad answered, hiding his fear under male bravado.

"Cool. I'm Adam." He introduced himself. He noticed Chad's clear attempts at covering up his nervousness. "You okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He answered. Adam just shrugged and let go of his arm before slipping a white T-shirt on.

Chad walked briskly out of the cabin as soon as Adam's attention left him and, as quickly as possible, made his way to Kenny in the kitchen.

After she was all ready, Deborah made her way over to the cafeteria. Everyone was there except Tiffany, Vanessa, and A.J. She rolled her eyes. She had always figured guys were the late sleepers, but apparently she was wrong.

People were taking seats at the various tables, and already, she could see cliques forming. It was fine. People naturally found people they meshed well with and avoided people they didn't. As far as Deborah could tell, Chad and Kenny were best friends. Rob seemed to get along with everyone, but he stuck pretty close to Brandon. J.R. didn't seem to get along with anyone, and no one seemed to like him, though Deborah didn't have a problem with him other than his smell. Jenny did seem to tolerate him more than anyone else. Vanessa and Tiffany were clearly good friends. Adam seemed to really like her, so she figured she'd be seeing him again, though she really wanted to get closer to Kenny. And finally, A.J. seemed to be a loner to the pure meaning of the word. She seemed to have no interest at all in mingling with others.

Mustering up some courage, Deborah marched herself through the food line and sat down next to Kenny. Part of her felt like a child again. Sitting next to Kenny at the table, she felt so small and petite. Her head didn't even reach his shoulders and her form was a fraction of the size of his. However, despite how intimidating he should have been, he welcomed her warmly to the table.

"Hey, Deb." Kenny smiled. "Is it alright if I call you Deb?"

She hated being called anything other than Deborah, but at this point, she was so desperate to make friends with Kenny, she figured she'd let him call her anything he wanted. "Yeah."

Chad sat across the table from Kenny and stared at Deborah as if she had infringed on their sacred bond. Though, Kenny was the more intimidating in stature, Chad was more intimidating in reality. He had an attitude that was easy to compare to that of Tiffany's. Yet, when around Kenny, he seemed to be nothing short of pleasant.

"Hey, Chad." She said a bit nervously. She gave him a meek smile before digging into the pancakes that Kenny had made.

"Hey." Chad said with a smile. Deborah smiled. He really was nicer when Kenny was around. They must have been pretty good friends. But in all reality, Chad had never been mean to her growing up. She had seen him be a royal ass to other kids in their school, but never to her. She figured it was because she pretty much stayed out of his way. He had no reason to be mean to her.

Tiffany and Vanessa walked in with A.J. lagging behind them looking like she was in her own little world. The three approached the table Kenny, Chad, and Deborah were sitting at and took their places. "Hey, girl," Vanessa said through a mocking smile before hopping back up to get her food.

Kenny raised an eyebrow. "What was that about?"

Chad spoke up before Deborah could say anything. "They're both bitches, that's what's up." He scoffed as he looked over at them in the food line. "They always have been."

"Can't argue." Kenny said. "Are they bugging you, Deb?"

Deborah froze up. She felt like she was being questioned by a teacher again. She was used to being picked on, and she appreciated people's desire to help, but it usually just ended up making things worse in the long run, especially when the person helping was only a year older. "Nah, I'm fine."

"So, they are, but you don't want Kenny to do anything." Chad stated.

Deborah smirked and nodded. "Yeah. I guess. It's nothing that I can't handle."

"Sorry." Kenny said with genuine concern. "You're always welcome to hang around us." He and Chad both smiled. It was a friendliness Deborah was not used to.

"Thanks, guys." Deborah said as the girls returned to their seats.

"What's going on, Kenny?" Tiffany said through a sexy smirk. He just shrugged. He had always been very friendly to Tiffany in the past, despite her bad attitude, but he seemed pretty cold to her right then. "What, aren't you talking to me?"

Kenny looked at Deborah and then to Tiffany. "Of course I am. I'm just thinking about everything we need to get ready."

"Like what?" Tiffany asked.

"Well, the boat is still broken. And the phone. And the car." He sighed. "The list goes on."

"Didn't you do any work yesterday?" Tiffany asked.

"Deborah is good at fixing things." Vanessa said. "She's like some creepy mechanic guy."

"Shut up, Vanessa." Kenny said in defense of Deborah. He turned to her. "Can you really fix things, Deb?"

She looked around at everyone at the table. Their eyes were all resting on her. "Well, I…" She started. "I… Yeah. I can fix things."

"It's true." Tiffany stated bluntly. "For her science exhibits, like every year, she builds some stupid machine."

"Don't forget that stupid butterfly one." Vanessa laughed.

"I liked the butterfly exhibit." A.J. said plainly.

Tiffany and Vanessa just rolled their eyes. Kenny ignored all the hostility and kept his focus on Deborah. "Think you could reattach a boat's propeller?"

Deborah smiled. It was as if he was asking her to add two and two together. Of course she could. "Definitely." She said. "It'd be easy. Propellers are quite simple to install. You just have to make sure the propeller shaft hasn't taken any damage and wipe down the key way. Then it's a simple screw job. What's tough is if it's a mechanical issue in the engine. Boat engines-"

"Oh my gosh. Enough, Debbie." Tiffany complained. "I didn't sit here to listen to you babble on about motors and junk."

"Why did you sit here?" Chad asked with a hint of irritation.

"Because J.R.'s over there." Tiffany and Vanessa both laughed. No one at the table could argue with that logic. He didn't shower like he was supposed to. Poor Jenny was always stuck with him. Everyone figured he had a crush on her, so he followed her around like a lost puppy. That, or it was just because she was patient enough to actually listen to his discussions on Dungeons and Dragons and whatever else.

Kenny refocused the talk. "Great! The only problem is that the propeller is missing entirely."

"Well, if you find it, I can fix it." Deborah explained. "I can also look at the phone if you want."

"You can fix phones?" Chad asked.

"Probably." Deborah shrugged. "I'd have to identify the problem first."

"Okay, then while we all clean up the cabins and such, you can look at the phone?" Kenny asked.

"Sure. And if you find the propeller, let me know." Deborah answered.

"So that means she won't be tagging along with us?" Vanessa asked in over-acted excitement.

"Yup." Tiffany smiled.

"You two are the worst." Chad said.

"Whatever Richie Rich." Tiffany scoffed as she turned her attention back to Kenny. "So, Kenny. Vanessa and I made a bet. She thinks you can't beat Bugsy-"

Chad cut her off. "Bugsy?" He asked.

She rolled her eyes. "You know… Brandon? Everyone on the football team call him Bugsy." She sighed in irritation and went back to talking to Kenny. "Anyway, she thinks that Bugsy can beat you in an arm wrestle." She laughed. "I told her she's crazy. You're way bigger than him."

"I don't know." Kenny said without much confidence. "I'm taller than him, but I'm pretty sure he's way bigger than I am. He lifts weights like every day."

"So do you." Tiffany said a bit confused.

"But not like he does." Kenny laughed. "That guy can bench press a car, but you know that. You two were, like, a thing for a while."

Tiffany giggled. "I guess." She looked over at Bugsy. "With arms as big as his, who could blame me?" Kenny felt the pangs of jealousy sink in. What did Bugsy have that he didn't? Surely there was something Kenny had that could get Tiffany's attention.

"Let's find out." Vanessa said before turning to the other table. "Hey Bugsy! Come here."

Bugsy obeyed and came over to the table. "What?"

"We want to see if you or Kenny win in an arm wrestle." Tiffany explained.

"No competition." Brandon taunted. "He's nothing more than a friendly Paul Bunyan. He's got nothing like these." He said, flexing his enormous biceps up. The table audibly gasped. His arms were huge. "Come on, dude. Let's see whatcha' got."

Kenny sighed. He hated this macho-competitive stuff. He took his flannel shirt off one side of his torso, and flexed his arm. An impressive mound of muscle went on full-display, but everyone at the table had to admit it. Bugsy's arms were significantly bigger than Kenny's. Kenny was strong, but he was nothing compared to a devoted football player like Brandon.

Finally, after much convincing, Kenny agreed to arm wrestle Bugsy, though he already knew how it'd end. With his shirt still half-off, Kenny placed his large arm on the table. Bugsy did the same, making sure his big arm came down on the table with an audible thud. "Okay." Tiffany said. "One. Two. GO!"

With the prompt, both men starting to press against the other's arm with all their strength. Most the table was rooting for Kenny, but both Kenny and Bugsy knew who was going to win. Bugsy had to admit, Kenny was tougher than the average high schooler. He might have even been tougher than some of his teammates, but ultimately, Bugsy was just toying with him. He could have pressed his arm down at any time, but was letting Kenny strain against him for the entertainment. "Come on, little girl." He taunted. Kenny didn't respond at all to the mocking. He had always been a pretty level-headed guy. "You ain't got what it takes."

Once he was satisfied that he had built up enough excitement in the viewers, he slowly, and with relative ease, began forcing Kenny's arm down. "Looks like Mr. Lumberjack here ain't got it." Bugsy smiled confidently. He continued to press Kenny's arm down toward the table. He could feel the sweat coming off Kenny's hand and arm. He was really working, but he didn't stand a chance.

Finally, Bugsy threw his actual might into it and Kenny's arm went down to the table with a loud smack! Bugsy laughed. "You're such a bitch, Kenny." He smiled cockily. "You have all these people convinced you're tough shit 'cuz you're a frickin' giant, but you're nothing more than a wuss in a man's boots. I bet you couldn't even beat Vanessa"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Kenny brushed off Brandon's harsh words as if they didn't matter. He did, however, hope that none of the girls looked at him differently after this. He looked at Tiffany. She looked surprised and disappointed in Kenny. That bothered Kenny more than he thought it would.

Brandon laughed a bit more as he got up and headed over to the door. As he walked off, he smacked the back of J.R.'s head, causing his glasses to fall off his face and land unceremoniously on the table, barely avoiding his syrup-covered pancakes. "Whatever." Tiffany said to Vanessa. "Kenny's still taller. Maybe I like my men tall. Maybe I don't." She and Vanessa got up and headed out to get to work. She turned back. "I'll be seeing you." She gave a wink to Kenny. "Wuss in man's boots." He blushed at the comment. He had just royally embarrassed himself before his dream girl, the most shallow and judgmental girl in the entire county.

After the two girls had left the building, Chad spoke up. "Why do you like her, again?" He placed a hand on Kenny's arm.

Kenny smiled in embarrassment. "I dunno', Chad." He shrugged. "There's more to her than just her bitchy act. I've seen it. She can be really sweet."

"Right." Chad agreed sarcastically.

"Hey, remember when your dad died?" Kenny asked. Chad shut up and got stiff. He clearly remembered something, but neither Deborah nor A.J. had any idea what he was talking about.

"Okay. Anyway, let's get to work." Kenny said, clapping his hands together as he stood up. The group nodded in affirmation.