- Alex -
I flinched when a whistle sounded from the wooden guard tower at the edge of the crowded lakeshore.
“No dunking!” one of the counselors shouted at a group of rowdy boys.
I yanked on the ends of the towel hanging around my neck, which had been bleached and washed so many times I doubted it was any more absorbent than sandpaper. Then I backed up against a nearby tree, hoping I wouldn’t be the next victim on the dunk list. Or worse. Last time I went swimming one of the older boys pulled my trunks down underwater just to fuck with me.
I looked out at the lake. It was filled with bobbing heads and shoulders, all of which stayed in front of the buoy rope where the water got deep. Then I looked back at the bathroom cabin and wondered what was taking Gemma so long.
“Aren’t you going to swim?” one of the counselors asked me as she crossed her arms, her gum smacking so loud it kept making me blink.
“I’m waiting for my friend.”
“Which friend?” she asked, cocking her head like she didn’t believe me.
“Gemma,” I said, wondering if friend was the right word. Granted, I preferred her company to everyone else’s, but sometimes I wondered if she actually liked me for me or if she only liked me because we hated all the same activities.
“Gemma…?”
I had no idea what her last name was. “The one with dark hair.”
“The chubby one?”
“She’s not chubby,” I said, surprised that one of the counselors would be so rude.
“Compared to the other Gemma she is.”
I tried to convince myself she hadn’t meant anything by it since talking to her was giving me an excuse to stay dry. Not that I didn’t enjoy swimming. I was pretty fast when I wanted to be, but swim-for-your-life wasn’t exactly a game I was dying to play that afternoon.
“Here she comes now,” the counselor said, nodding over her shoulder. “Have a fun swim!”
I rolled my eyes as she walked off, marveling at how out of touch the counselors could be. As if we all actually wanted to be there answering to their whistles and eating slop three times a day. Gimme a break.
“Hi,” Gemma said, stopping beside me.
“Have you been crying?” I asked, studying her face.
She shook her head and pulled her towel tighter around her.
“You look like you’ve been crying.”
“Well, I haven’t,” she said, her red-rimmed eyes giving away the lie.
“What happened?”
She looked down at her feet.
“Gemma.”
“Tori, okay?” she said, half-kicking some woodchips. “Tori happened.”
“I don’t know why you let that girl get to you.”
“She doesn’t get to me,” she said. “But she doesn’t shut up either.”
“What did she say?” I asked, forgetting my own insecurities.
Gemma shook her head.
“Just the usual.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means forget about it,” she said. “It’s over.”
“She only picks on you because it makes her feel better about herself.”
Gemma rolled her eyes like I was as out of touch as the counselor I’d been talking to. “That’s not it.”
“Enlighten me.”
“She picks on me ’cause she’s a bitch.”
“That too,” I said, seeing Tori walk out of the bathroom, flanked by two other laughing girls I recognized from the popular lunch table. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alex, don’t,” Gemma pleaded as she grabbed my arm. “Please.”
“Trust me,” I said, marching my scrawny butt towards the bitch in question in my half-broken flip-flops and faded red trunks. Of course, I didn’t see myself that way at the time. In that moment, I might as well have been a linebacker for the NFL. “Tori, right?” I asked, stopping in front of the girls and remembering my height again as they looked down at me.
“Who’s asking?”
“Alex,” I said, rolling my shoulders back.
She cocked her head like I was an inconsequential rodent.
I mirrored her unimpressed expression as best I could. “Quick question,” I said. “You’re the girl who sharted herself in her sleep last week, right?”
Her expression fell. “No. Eww.”
“Weird. Because I’m sure it was you my buddies pointed out.”
“It wasn’t.”
“I heard it stunk up your whole cabin and the sheets had to be burned with your pajamas.”
“Whoever told you that was lying.”
“Is that so?”
“It is,” she said, cocking a hip.
“Well, if you don’t want to spend the rest of the summer trying to convince people you don’t shit the bed, I suggest you steer clear of my friend Gemma,” I said, pointing a thumb behind me.
She glanced over my shoulder and then glared at me. “No one would even believe you.”
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging. “In my experience, people love cruel gossip. Especially when it’s about bitches who think their shit don’t stink.”
“You wouldn’t dare spread rumors about me,” she said. “Besides, I have witnesses.”
I glanced back and forth between the two ditzes on either side of her. “Who, these girls?”
She raised her eyebrows.
“They’re only friends with you so you won’t bully them till they cry.”
She clenched her teeth.
“But if you really want to test the friendship, see how long they stick by you when everyone else thinks you have a loose asshole.”
Her ugly mouth fell open.
“Or don’t,” I said, raising my palms and backing away. “Just find someone else to pick on, and you won’t have to worry about how fragile your popularity really is.”
“Who the fuck are you to threaten me?” she asked, her neck hinging forward like a snake.
“That’s entirely up to you,” I said. “I can either be some kid you never speak to again or I can be the reason your weak asshole becomes everyone’s favorite topic of conversation.”
Her hands curled into tight fists.
“Your call.” I leaned towards her again and lowered my voice. “But a word of advice, don’t pit yourself against someone who has nothing to lose. Because taking you down would make my summer.”
She swallowed.
“Have a fun swim!” I said, recalling the counselor’s patronizing words as I backed away. “Oh, and while you’re out there, don’t forget to enjoy the fact that nobody’s staring at your ass and whispering about whether you’re gonna have another accident.”
Tori’s red face didn’t spew another word.
“What did you say?” Gemma asked when I rejoined her at the foot of the skinny tree.
“Nothing she didn’t deserve.”
Her nervous eyes searched mine. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” I said, nodding towards the lake. “Shall we?”
She smiled and bounced a shoulder against mine, nudging me towards the sandy beach.
And as we strolled down to the water’s edge, I could’ve sworn I was seven feet tall.