Oak Ridge

sunday. july 14

"I know you are all wondering why I gathered you all here today," Blake announces from his place on the Dogwood steps.

It's Free Hour and most of the campers are either at the lake or on one of the courts. Blake rounded us all up to meet here. Always dramatic, he didn't tell us why, but opted to keep it a secret leaving us to wonder amongst ourselves like this is Clue or something.

"What's going on?" Penelope asks.

"Today, someone will be receiving some great news, while five others struggle with the weight of the harsh reality that is losing fifty dollars," Blake says.

All heads turn to Mary Anne and Myles in shock. Someone's won the bet. I know Blake and Emily have already lost, but I totally forgot who picked what days. Penelope, who's looking pretty offended, was supposed to keep track of all of it.

"When did this happen?"

"In the early hours of July eighth," Blake continues, "our two lovebirds finally decided that they could no longer handle being just friends. While today we are announcing their relationship, that date will be the one we're basing the bet off of. Penelope, please look on your phone and see who the winner is."

She pulls her phone out of her backpack and scrolls through her notes to find where she recorded the dates. After a minute she stops, looking at me.

"It's Chase," she says. "Chase won the bet!"

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah, you actually got the date exactly right," she laughs. Penny gives me her phone so I can see and lo and behold she's not lying. I picked the exact date.

Looks like I'm getting a fat $250.

"Wait a minute," Princeton speaks up. "You said this happened on the eighth? It's been like a week! Why haven't y'all said anything?"

"Honestly we didn't know how," Myles says. "I thought shit hit the fan the other day at breakfast. Princeton probably had an idea, but Blake pulled it out of me later on."

"Are y'all mad about the bet?" Emily asks.

I think that's what we were all worried about. We never thought it was a big deal considering we never told Myles or Mary Anne about it. Personally, I never saw the harm.

"Kind of at first, but then I realized that it was pretty funny," Mary Anne answers. "You guys didn't mean anything bad by it."

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. I, for one, am happy that they're happy, but I'm also still a little shocked that I just won a bunch of money.

What am I gonna do with $250?

In all honesty it's not that much money, but as a broke college student, it's like finding a pot of gold. Am I guilty for taking money from my friends? A little bit. But I won fair and square.

"Anyways," Blake interrupts my thoughts. "Thank you all for meeting me here today for the announcement of this new union of Mary Anne and Myles. We've been waiting for this moment a long time. Please give your cash to Chase as soon as you can and congratulate him on his win. You are dismissed."

We all walk away from the steps to spend time with some campers. Five people are disappointed by their loss, two people are in love, and one person is living his best life.

That's me.

I'm doing great.