I Want to Believe In Myself

A Broken Magnifying Glass

The two walked out of the classroom and back to their campsites. Quietly, they pouted at one another as the grass and brush grazed their ankles.

"Ouch!" Dana whimpered. She fell to the ground and gripped her ankle.

"Hey--Hey! You okay?" Mulder dropped down beside her to see what had happened.

"My ankle... it stings." She moved her hand away so that he could see.

"Looks like stinging nettles. Here," he said as he extended his hand to her, "let's get you to my cabin. I'll bandage you up."

She hesitated but with a deep breath, took his hand, which was much larger than hers, and struggled to stand up.

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah. I think so. My ankle is going numb, though." Dana exhaled. He led her hand onto his shoulder and held her side as they made their way to the cabin.

Inside there was another boy, tinkering with something. He had large glasses and messy brown hair.

"John," Mulder said to the boy, "make room on the bed for her. She's hurt." Mulder assisted Dana to the bottom bunk. She took a seat next to the strange boy, and he put the metal object that he was fidgeting with behind his back.

"Geez, Mulder. Is she okay?" He asked. The boy was very squeamish when it came to any type of medical emergency. He once fainted in the fourth grade when he witnessed the girl that sat next to him get a paper cut. John reached under the bed and pulled out the first aid kit for his roommate.

"From the looks of it, it's just stinging nettle. However," Mulder ripped a band-aid open with his teeth, "it looks like she's allergic to it." Dana winced in pain as her ankle was somewhere in between being totally numb and feeling like it was being stabbed with a thousand tiny knives.

"That's the pits," John said. He picked up a book, Algebra Foundations for the Real World, and began to read as if nothing was going on.

"Excuse his manners, Dana. This is John Byers. He's a math geek and scientific genius." Mulder said as he poured an antiseptic onto a cotton ball. "This is going to sting," he told her.

"Compared to the stinging that's going on now I can't imagine that it can get much worse --" Before she could even finish her thought, Dana was screaming in pain. Without even realizing it, she had grasped Mulder's left hand as it rested on the mattress next to her thigh.

"You've got quite a grip, there," Mulder laughed. She released her grasp and he shook his hand. He smiled as he watched her face grow red.

"Sorry. I'm nervous, I guess," She said softly.

"I could be wrong, Mulder, but I think she likes you," John said with his nose still in his book.

"Shut it, Byers," Mulder rolled his eyes and Dana looked at the ground. "Don't mind him," Mulder sealed the band-aid across her ankle, "he's just jealous that he's never brought a girl back to the cabin before."

Dana stood up. "Thank you for helping me," she said.

"Do you need help getting back to your cabin?"

"I think I can manage. Thank you, Fox."

He gave her a crooked smile.

"Thank you, Mulder." She corrected herself.

"I'll see you at the workshop later." She walked to the door, struggling to not express the pain that her ankle was still in. Every step stung just a little more. As she reached her delicate hand towards the door handle, two rowdy boys busted into the cabin.

"Whatever, Frohike," A tall boy with a bird beak of a nose, long blond hair, and square glasses said in a frustrated tone. "I'm telling you if we are going to win this year we need to stick with my idea!"

The other boy, much shorter with thin brown hair and smaller glasses rolled his eyes. "Langly, I've told you once and I'll say it again; you are an idiot."

"Boys," Mulder turned towards the ruckus. "Chill out. You're making a horrible impression on our guest."

"Don't worry," Dana spoke up, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I'm leaving now, anyways."

"Before you go," Mulder began, "These two dorks are Langly and Frohike -- my other cabin-mates."

"Hi," Dana said awkwardly. The shorter one wouldn't stop staring at her.

"She's hot," Frohike said as plain as day.

"I'm going to go now." Dana blushed and slipped out the screen door.

"Idiot!" Langly huffed as he slapped Frohike's shoulder.

Back at Dana's cabin, Ren was already preparing her group project with her partner. Another girl, about sixteen years old. She had waist length blonde hair that made Dana envious and a tad embarrassed of her shoulder length cut and bangs.

"Hey, Dana," Ren said, "This is Cynthia, my partner."

"Hey," Cynthia smiled, revealing a silver set of braces on her teeth.

"Hello," Dana waved. It was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon and Dana continued to unpack her things on the top bunk.

"Dana," Ren began. "Why are you not with your partner? You're supposed to be with them from lunch until dinner."

"I didn't know that." She became nervous.

"Well, if a counselor finds you alone you'll be in huge trouble."

Dana exhaled anxiously. "Okay. I'll go find him."

"Be careful."

Dana found that reply to be quite odd. Careful.

She trekked, once again from her cabin to Mulder's, replaying Ren's warning to her over and over in her mind.

"Mulder?" She shouted through the screen door.

"He's out back." A voice sounded from inside.

Dana walked around to the back of the cabin and found her partner sitting in the dirt with a magnifying glass in hand, pointed at the ground.

"What are you doing?" She took a seat beside him.

"Burning leaves with a magnifying glass." He said with an embarrassed smile.

"Okay," Dana raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"I'm bored."

"Well, maybe I can help with that," She said. He set the magnifying glass down and looked at the strange girl. She looked at him. "Let's start on our project."

He laughed. "I was expecting you to say something completely different."

"I'm not that kind of girl, Mulder, " She shook her head with a smile.

"Hey, I respect that," He grinned, "I knew you weren't. I saw that cross dangling from your neck. I was only kidding."

She placed her fingers on her necklace.

"I'm not that kind of girl either," She whispered. "My roommate told me that we're not supposed to leave each other's side until dinner. Why did you let me leave?"

"Well, Dana," He began, "I've never been one to follow rules."

"I get that, Mulder, but we really need to work on our project. I could've gotten in huge trouble if I was seen out there by myself."

"But you weren't." He said.

"I told you, Mulder, I'm not that kind of girl. I follow the rules," She said, her eyes fixated on the magnifying glass in his hands. "Seriously. What is our project going to be about?"

"I have no idea." He held the magnifying glass up again in the light and placed a leaf underneath its ray.

"Well, we need to think of something."

Just as the smoke began to rise from the leaf, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the woods. The two teenagers shot to their feet and froze in fear; the magnifying glass fell from Mulder's grip, landing in the dirt, shattering into a million pieces.