Oak Ridge

saturday. june 29

"Mallory!"

She turns around to see me jogging towards her. She steps off the path and for a second I feel bad for making her wait for breakfast because of a stupid conversation.

"Good morning, Chase."

"Good morning," I say. "Look yesterday you said something and I kept thinking about it all night."

"I said a lot of things yesterday."

"Yeah but you mentioned that you know what it's like to feel like nobody cares about you. What did that mean?" I ask.

"Nothing," she says quickly. "It doesn't matter. All I care about right now is that you stop feeling that way."

"But Mal, I just wanna know. Did something happen or—"

"Look, I don't really feel like talking about it," Mallory sighs. "It's not that big of a deal. Let's just go get breakfast and forget I said that."

"If that's what you want."

"Yeah lets go," she smiles. 

I decide to just drop the subject, positive that she'll tell me when she's ready.

In the mess hall, Mallory leads us to a table where Mary Anne sits. They talk for a while about girly stuff and I find my mind drifting off to other places. I think back to my family in Arkansas and my little brother who I still haven't called. I've written a few letters, though.

"Chase," Mary Anne interrupts my thoughts.

"Yeah," I answer. "Sorry."

"How's Olivia? You haven't talked about her for a while."

For a second my mind goes blank.

Who's Olivia?

"Yeah," Mallory adds. "I really want to meet her. I mean you've been together for like four years and I haven't even seen a picture of her."

"Oh yeah," I say, suddenly remembering. "She hates it when I take pictures of her. But, yeah, you'll have to meet her some day. We're thinking about moving in together pretty soon."

"That's so cute! I think it'll be good for y'all. Anything else we can be expecting pretty soon?"

I roll my eyes knowing exactly what she means.

"I've been considering it. I mean we've been dating for like forty years so it's about time," I joke, nervously.

We talk a little more about Olivia and our relationship. I try my best to come up with information and details for the girls, trying the whole time not to let anything slip. Soon the bell rings for us to head to the first challenge so we part ways outside to meet our teams.

I meet my boys and quickly explain our challenge so we can meet Penelope on the court for a game of blind volleyball. On the way there, Myles passes us on his way to the Field with his group. He waves and gives us a small smile before quickly turning back to where he's walking.

Poor guy still hasn't talked to Mary Anne.

Penelope is already at the court putting the sheets over the volleyball net when we arrive. We split our groups up and explain the rules again before standing to the side to watch the game.

"Did you have any trouble putting the sheet up?" I ask.

"No," she says. "Johnny helped me."

"Johnny from the kitchen?"

"Yes, Johnny from the kitchen." Penelope rolls her eyes. "I wish y'all would stop calling him that. Stupid nickname makes him sound like he's an appliance instead of a person."

"Someone's a little quick to defend today."

"Whatever," she huffs.

"Hey, I wasn't trying to make fun of you. So what if you like Johnny, he's a nice guy!"

"I never said I liked him," Penny grumbles.

I drop the subject and get back to watching the game. The guys are actually doing pretty well and I'm impressed at their focus. Meanwhile the girls are just screaming in fear when the ball suddenly appears over the net.

"Girls! A volleyball is not going to be what kills you! Stop running away from it and hit it back," Penelope commands.

One brave little girl nods back at her and stares at the net until she sees the ball fly over. While all the other girls move away, this one simply reaches out and bumps it back over, much to the boys surprise.

"Nice hit, Rachel!" I call.

She smiles back and continues playing practically by herself while the other girls keep on shying away from the ball. I'm pretty shocked at how well she's doing on her own for such a small girl, actually scoring a few points. Eventually she is defeated by the boys but I make note to tell Eric about her before Camp Meeting so she can get some well deserved credit.

I help Penny pack up the sheets as the campers head into the mess hall for lunch when Eric rings the bell.

"I know I let it slide earlier," I start, "but just out of curiosity, Penny—"

"What?"

"Do you like Johnny?"

"Of course I like Johnny, I've known the kid since I was like twelve—"

"Penny, I'm serious!" I laugh.

"I know! But I'm not sure," she sighs. "I mean, he's really nice and cute and all but like I said I've known him for like ever and I just don't know if I want to even entertain the idea of anything happening."

"What is it with you people this year? It's like one summer we're all arguing over what color to paint a birdhouse and the next we're all falling in love and shit," I say, folding a sheet.

"No one's falling in love." Penny rolls her eyes. "Except maybe these two kids I see around the corner of the mess hall— hold on!"

She hands me the rest of the sheets and rushes across the gravel path to stop the campers from breaking the PDA rule. I sigh and go put the sheets back in the main lodge before heading off to lunch.

Out of tater tots again.

I find a seat next to Myles and sit down. He takes a look at my tray and laughs, tossing his tots on my plate.

"Man, you've gotta quit being late to lunch if you ever want tater tots," he says.

"Not my fault that our challenges require clean up," I grumble. "How'd you do today?"

"In my struggle to reconcile my relationship with my best friend or in the challenge?"

"Whichever one you feel like telling about," I laugh.

"Yeah, we lost. Mary Anne is coming at me with a vengeance now. She'll talk to literally anyone but me and I think her female rage has spread into her team and it's like they hate me too," he groans. "We're playing paintball tomorrow morning and I'm honestly scared."

"I would be too."

"I think I know what's got her mad at me and if it's what I think it is I think I'm in real trouble," he sighs.

"With her or with yourself?"

"Yes, myself, Master Oogway."

"Hey, don't make fun of me, Myles, you're gonna appreciate the wisdom one day when you need it and don't have me," I warn.

"Nah, I'm always gonna have you. As long as you pick up the phone I've got you."