Camp (BoyxBoy)

The Three Most Important Things

THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS

As a teenage boy, I considered myself pretty mindful of my morals. I was good at telling the difference between right and wrong, and was proud of myself for that.

Not that it's that big of a deal, but I've done drugs or drank alcohol, even though I was practically doomed when my parents decided to send me to the school that I was at when it wasn't summer. Every person my age in the town that we lived in were reckless and made stupid decisions.

But no, not me.

I hung out with my little brother and din't have any real friends. Apparently that means you're a good kid.

The closest thing I had to a friend my own age was Adrian.

And I could count every social interaction I'd had with her on one finger.

In fact, I didn't think Adrian even knew my first name. Which was awkward, because I knew a whole lot about her.

For example, I knew when she was getting kicked out of her house by the loud fights I could hear with her parents. I also knew she liked to sit alone in the tree in between our two houses.

And once, just once, I caught her crying.

But I was made to swear that I would never speak of it, so I won't.

Instead, I'll just explain the night before camp.

As I lay awake in bed, some time around eleven-thirty, I could hear the muffled yells coming from next door, seeping through the walls into my room.

That meant shit was going bad for Adrian. Or her parents. I didn't really know what the fighting was about, so I couldn't support one side.

The yelling stopped and their front door slammed.

After five minutes of waiting I quietly got up, not wanting anyone in the house to know I was awake.

I saw Adrian's shadow in her tree through my window, and slowly slide it open to climb out.

Her head turned towards me as my feet hit the ground, and I cautiously went over.

"Hey. Are you okay?" I whispered, just loud enough for Adrian to hear.

She sniffed and hesitated before answering. "Yeah? Why the hell wouldn't I be?"

"I heard, and thought that, um, maybe you needed to talk or something and...just, never mind." Smooth, Jace, real smooth.

I was going to walk away, but she stopped me.

"You're a really good person, aren't you?"

"Uh, what?" I was a little freaked out. Was she being friendly?

She climbed down from the tree and stood in front of me. "I mean, I'm pretty sure you aren't one of those guys who want nothing but sex. And you don't do stupid things like everyone else..."

I didn't say anything.

This was just too weird.

"Yes. Yes I do want to talk. I really, really want to talk to someone."

I nodded slowly, still not really sure about this, and we sat next to each other under the tree.

"So, um, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

Adrian sighed. "I don't know, I just...I can't keep everything in anymore and I just need to spill to someone...I'm sorry, is this weird? We hardly know each other. The thing is, I don't have any friends really so I don't have anyone to talk to..."