Summer Camp By Deena ElGenaidi

Summer Camp

             They weren’t supposed to be out by the lake alone, but it was Julia’s idea.
            “Let’s go swimming,” she said. “We’ll sneak away during lunch.”
            “We can’t,” Aiden said. “We’ll get in trouble.”
            “What’re they gonna do? Kick us out of camp? We’re leaving anyway.”
           So there they were by the lake in their swimsuits, Julia wearing a two-piece but one of those sporty two-pieces and not the bikini type, and Aiden couldn’t help but stare, but then again, he felt like he was always staring, two-piece or not.
            It was the last day of camp, and Aiden knew if he didn’t say anything then, he’d never get another chance. That summer, he hadn’t expected to fall for a girl, and he wondered if this was what love felt like and if a 12-year-old could even feel love, or if love was something reserved for the adults of the world.
            Julia tiptoed into the lake, avoiding the rocks on their path. This wasn’t where they were supposed to swim, away from the docks, away from the lifeguards, but this area was covered in the shade and shelter of the trees, so they were able to remain out of sight.
              Aiden followed Julia, avoiding the rocks just as she had, his eyes cast down onto the clay-like ground. He didn’t want this to end. He didn’t miss home or his parents or his little sister because he just wanted to be here, now, at the lake with Julia.
             The water felt colder than usual, probably because they were out of the sun, but Julia didn’t slow down, and he followed her as she walked in and kept walking until the water reached their necks. She stopped and turned to face him, saying nothing, and he didn’t speak either, but she took a deep breath in and shut her eyes, and suddenly, she disappeared, submerged under the cloudy water, so he, too, took a deep a breath and followed her under, and when he rose back to the top, she was already there, her curly brown hair dripping wet, the curls no longer in tight ringlets but falling loosely over her shoulders.
               “See?” she said. “This is fun. How much would it suck if we were in arts and crafts right now?”
              He smiled and didn’t care that he wouldn’t be able to take home the ceramic vase he made for his mother because he was here in the lake with Julia. She dove back under and swam farther out, so he followed again.
               They treaded water in a circle of sunlight away from the trees, and he opened his mouth to speak. Now was the time.
              “Julia, I need to tell you something.”
               He knew he might never see Julia again. They lived in different towns, and unless he told her how he felt right then and there, this would be it. He’d live his life in regret, and she’d never know, and maybe she liked him too, and if they both liked each other, this could be something.
               “Okay,” she said.
              She stopped treading and began to float on her back. Her stomach expanded and deflated, up and down as she took each breath, and he watched her close her eyes, her face expressionless, relaxed, completely comfortable, there, with him, in that lake.
He needed to be standing on solid ground. He couldn’t focus on his words while treading water. He dove under and began to swim closer to land, hoping she’d follow him as he followed her, and she did. He heard her begin to move and then heard a splash as she dove under. He stopped and reemerged once his feet could touch the ground. So did she.
               “Julia,” he said. “I like you, and I don’t know if you like me, but it’s the last day of camp, so I want you to know. I kind of think maybe you do like me because we spend all this time together, and I don’t want camp to end and then to never see you again…”
                 He couldn’t remember everything he said, and at a certain point, he stopped focusing on his words altogether, but he remembered the blank expression on Julia’s face, her lips slightly parted, and he wasn’t sure anymore if she was even listening, but he kept talking, afraid to stop, afraid of what she’d say.
                 “… I’m not saying we have to be girlfriend and boyfriend,” he said, “but maybe this is what love feels like…”
                 He didn’t know why he said that – why he used that word – but her face didn’t change, and he knew he was running out of things to say, so he stopped, ending with the words, “And that’s it.”
                 Julia nodded.
                “We should get out,” she said. “I’m getting cold. Aren’t you?”
                 “Y-yeah.”
               Aiden followed Julia out of the lake, and they put their clothes on over their swimsuits. As they walked through the woods back towards camp, their bodies dripping with lake water, Julia began to talk about school, how she didn’t want to go back next week, and so Aiden talked about school, too. Their banter felt normal, as though he didn’t just confess his love. He didn’t know how she felt, but that was okay. As they neared camp, he could hear the voices and shouts of other campers, and he and Julia parted ways.    
            Aiden couldn’t find Julia after they’d all packed up to leave. He sat with a group of boys at the parent pickup spot, but Julia was nowhere in sight, and he wasn’t sure if her parents had already come, but his eyes searched frantically because he needed to say goodbye.
                A group of girls walked past and giggled.
               “Aiden,” one girl said. “Maybe this is what love feels like.”
                The other girls laughed as they walked away, and Aiden didn’t move. He didn’t say a word. He knew he wouldn’t see Julia again.

Bio: Deena ElGenaidi is a writer living in Philadelphia. She graduated from Rutgers Camden's Creative Writing MFA program in 2016 and currently works as an editor at an academic publisher. Deena has taught English at a number of local colleges as well as in Morocco and Peru. She lives with her cat Sasha, named after Sasha Obama, and writes primarily fiction.

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