I met Summer—how typical—during summer camp. It was a year that my family and I couldn't go away on holiday, but I begged them to let me go to summer camp. I couldn't spend weeks waiting in the backyard for school to begin again, I wanted to do something with all the free time I had.

I asked them every day for weeks if I could go but they were hesitant at first. Going to summer camp meant I had to go by myself—no friends, sisters or anyone else I knew—and they weren't sure whether I would like it. But I was certain: I had to go to summer camp.

Maybe that was because my unconsciousness knew something special would happen at summer camp, such as meeting Summer. I was getting my bags out of the car with my parents when it happened.

"This is the last one," my mom said.

My dad gave me a hug. "Have fun!"

"Can we go now?" That was my impatient older sister Claire. She was still in the car and hadn't bothered to get out or help me, and no one paid attention to her.

"If you want to go home, just call us, okay?" My mom was convinced I'd hate it here.

"I'll be fine." I gave them a weak smile.

"That's my boy!" My father had always been the optimistic one of the two.

"Bye, Eli!" my parents said in unison. My sister sat quietly in the car, arms folded over each other.

"Bye."

I picked up my bags—only two, a blue backpack and a bigger bag full of clothing—and began to walk in the right direction, where I saw all the other kids coming from the parking lot heading.

It was at that moment that I began to feel a little nervous. All these kids knew what they were doing, it seemed, while I had no idea where I had to go. I also didn't know anyone, while others had already made friends they were talking to. 

Cabin 12, they'd said. In a mail my parents had received, I'd learned the cabin I'd be staying for a week. Where could I find cabin 12? I only saw big, white tents, not made for sleeping.

I stopped to get the map out of my backpack. My parents had put it in there, "just in case". It was already coming in handy.

Cabin 12...

Suddenly a girl bumped into me, literally. 

"Sorry, I didn't see you!" she said, giggling nervously. She was holding on to three bags and behind her was a man who I assumed was her dad with another bag. Who'd need that much stuff, I thought, but I laughed.

She noticed my struggle with the map; it was hard to read with the strong winds trying to take it out of my hands. "Are you new here?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. I held my hand out, just like my parents had taught me to do when meeting new people. "I'm Eli."

She shook it. "Summer. Are you looking for something?"

I was a little confused by her answer. "What did you say your name was?"

"Summer—and yes, I know. Everyone always tells me what a coincidence it is to find a Summer at summer camp. No one makes that joke during winter, though."

"You've been here before?"

"I've been the past five years in a row," she said. "I know everything. Can I help you with that?" Her head motioned to the map I was now trying to fold back into its original shape.

I gave up the attempt and frotted the map of the campsite in my backpack, not giving it a second look. "Yeah, I'm looking for cabin 12..."

"Oh, I'm staying in cabin 13!" Her voice rose, showing her enthusiasm. "We'll be neighbours! Come with me, we'll walk there together." She'd put down the bags she'd been holding, but now she picked them up again. "So, it's your first time here?"

I nodded slowly as I walked next to her. "Yeah, first time at summer camp."

"You'll really like it here. And you have to try the disco! It's so much fun, I go there every evening."

There was a disco here? That's not what I'd imagined at summer camp. "I'll surely check it out."

"Have you signed up for any activities yet? You'll have to do that in time, otherwise you'll be stuck playing hide and seek for a week."

"Where do you sign up for activities?" I asked. It was all new to me and I didn't know what to do first. I thought we'd be together as one big group doing stuff. I had to pick out my own activities, be with a new group every time and make new friends every day?

"I'll take you there too," she said.

At least I had found a friend in Summer. 

"There aren't any activities today," she continued, regripping the big, purple bag in her right hand. "Tomorrow will be the first. I signed up for rock climbing, do you like that too? We could be in the same group! Or Wednesday, when I'm going canoeing. That's always the best activity, really popular too. You can't miss that!"

"I'll check it out," I said, not remembering anymore how many things she'd recommended I had promised to check out.

"Do you know anyone else here?" she asked me.

"No, not really..." It was at this moment that I saw something in the distance that looked like cabins. Why were they so far away from the clubhouse we'd just walked past? "Are those the cabins?"

"Yes, they are!" she said. "It's not that far anymore. I believe you'll be in the cabin with the same people as last year, I'm in the same cabin as last year too. There are a lot of regulars here. You'll probably share your cabin with Thomas and Tyler, they're okay."

"Cool." I had no idea who Thomas and Tyler were, but I believed her when she said they were nice.

The wind blew her blonde hair in her face. She couldn't use her hands to clear her vision because they were holding her bags, so she tried to blow the strands away, but didn't have any success. She laughed when she noticed me watching her struggling, and I couldn't help but laugh along.

I noticed how adorable she actually was. She clearly took care of herself. She was wearing makeup even though it was summer camp and no one would have cared if she didn't. She'd put thought into her outfit—blue ripped jeans with a bright pink crop top that said BOSS.

"We're here!" she said in her high-pitched voice. She woke me up from my daydream. 

Was this cabin 12? It said so on the door. There were already a few other boys.

"It seems like others are already here." Summer stated the obvious. "That's Thomas, that's Tyler, and the one behind him is Graham. Hey, Graham!"

A greeting from the back of the cabin was heard, but then Summer saw friends from her own cabin and started talking enthusiastically to them.

One of the boys, Tyler I believe, walked up to me. "You're Eli?"

Surprised he knew who I was, I nodded. "Yeah."

Tyler noticed my confused look. "On the other side of the door are all the names of the people staying here," he explained. 

"Bye guys!" Summer yelled, already at a distance. "I'm taking my stuff to the cabin, it's heavy!" To me, she said, "I'll see you around, Eli."

"You've met Summer already, I see?" Tyler asked, watching her walk away. "She's one of a kind."

I chuckled. "I have never met anyone like her."

"She talks a lot, doesn't she?" Tyler grinned. "I still haven't gotten used to it." Then, when she was out of sight, he winked. "She likes you," he whispered, so the other boys in the cabin couldn't hear.

I scoffed. "What do you mean?" That couldn't be true, right? It was Summer, the most fabulous girl at summer camp—and I knew that for sure, even though I hadn't met everyone yet. 

"Did you see her?" he said. "If you knew her, you'd know that that is a sign."

"What is a sign?"

Tyler shook his head but didn't answer my question. "Really, dude, you've got quite a summer ahead of you."

☀️

Like she'd advised me to, I signed up for the activities for next week as soon as I could. I didn't really know what to do, so I randomly selected a few and chose canoeing for Wednesday, because I remembered Summer talking about going canoeing that day. I hoped we would be in the same group together.

Two days of summer camp had already gone by before Wednesday arrived. The first day hadn't been special, just a day to get accustomed to the new surroundings and to make friends. There was, however, a campfire at night I went to with Tyler. He'd quickly become my friend and he was constantly annoying me with Summer and his suspicion of her liking me.

I still didn't believe that. She couldn't like me, there was no way that was possible in this world. A girl like her, cute, chatty, girly, with a guy like me, who couldn't be described in other words than just plain awkward? Not a chance.

But I was lucky enough to be in the same canoeing group as her. That Wednesday, everyone got the location they were expected to be, and Summer and I met each other early in the morning when we both left our cabins. I immediately walked up to her and asked, "You're going canoeing today, right?"

Summer turned around when she heard my voice. "You remembered!" she said. Her face lit up. "What are you going to do?"

"The same," I grinned.

"Really, we're in the same group? That's awesome!" Her expression changed when another idea came to mind. "We should share a canoe!"

"Of course." I didn't really have anyone else to go with—I'd chosen this activity just for her.

☀️

Summer was her exciting self once again. "Look at that!" she said, pointing to the canoes in the distance. There were already some kids waiting, we were probably the last ones to arrive. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, of course," I said with a certainty I didn't at all possess at that moment.

There was a short introduction when we arrived, but Summer made comments throughout all of it. She'd heard it many times already, she told me, so she knew how to do this. "I'll help you."

Great, I'd need that. But I didn't tell her that.

We took a red canoe along with paddles. Soon after, we were on the river and drifting in the wrong direction. The others were far ahead of us already, but we were still working out some issues.

Summer, who'd assured me she knew what she was doing, gave commands. "Turn! Only use the right side of the paddle!" 

"I am!"

"We're spinning!"

"How do we stop spinning?"

"Wait, I'll fix it."

She tried something but didn't have much success.

"We're spinning the other way!"

"I'm trying, okay?"

"Not hard enough!"

"Okay, on the count of three, you have to start peddling as hard as you can, got it? One, two, three!"

So I did. We were both peddling as if our lives were going to end, but instead, the instructor was right behind us guiding our canoe in the right direction. But Summer couldn't see that from the front of the canoe we were in, so I didn't tell her. She was too happy with this victory.

"We did it! Don't stop peddling, okay? It will go wrong again if you do."

"I won't, though it's hurtful you'd think I'd do that."

"It was just a warning, that's all. I wasn't accusing you of anything." But the tone of her voice said otherwise.

"You think it's my fault that we were spinning?" I asked her, faking my annoyance.

"Well, it wasn't mine," Summer said.

"Oh-oh," I said, grinning, "you're so dead!"

I used my paddle to start splashing water towards her. 

"Eli!" she yelled as the first wave of water hit her.

It didn't stop me, however; I just continued splashing more water. I was causing big waves in the river and had some great hits using my paddle. It didn't take long before she was completely soaked through.

"Eli!" she said again.

I took a break from the water-splashing, laughing at the sight of a wet Summer, but then she did the same. 

☀️

We'd started a water war. Other kids who got wet because of our fight started splashing water towards us too or began their own fights.

It was all friendly, though, I have to say that. It was a fun time.

It slowly started to die down when everyone was wet and exhausted. 

I was panting. "Do you want to come back on your words?"

She smiled, panting. "Never."

And we sat in silence, floating on the water, not trying to steer in any direction. We were finally getting some rest when Summer started talking again.

"Hey, Eli?" she asked, quiet in comparison to the volume of her voice during our water war.

"Yeah?"

She didn't look me in the eyes. "I think I like you."

A smile appeared on my face and her words gave me a weird feeling in my stomach. "I think I like you too."

☀️