Counselor of Chippewa Cabin

I didn’t know if I was brave enough to go to summer camp that year

- DIANE STARK, BRAZIL, INDIANA

I STARED AT the unpacked suitcase. I’d gone to the same summer camp in Wisconsin since I was little, and I was set to return for my first year as an actual counselor. Counting down the last days of school before summer break, I was bursting with excitement. Now we were officially free from our studies, but after what had just happened I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to leave the safety of my house and my family in Indiana.

I went downstairs to the kitchen, where my mom was making dinner. “Mom, something happened today. Something really bad.” She sat down with me at the table.

When I’d arrived at school that Friday morning I’d found a note in my locker from a senior boy inviting me to his house for lunch. My friends and I all had a crush on him, and I was thrilled he wanted to hang out with me. Me! I hoped to run into him after first period, but when I went back to my locker to exchange books he was waiting for me. “So, what do you think? Can you make it?” he asked.

I looked into his handsome face. “I’d like to, but I’ll have to ask my parents first.”

“Why? My mom will be there the whole time. She goes home for lunch a lot.”

I hesitated. I knew that his mom worked at the school, so if he went home for lunch, it made sense that she would too. And I was pretty sure my mom would be okay with it, since an adult would be there. I smiled, hoping I looked pretty that day. “Then I’d love to.”

By lunchtime, my heart was pounding. I still couldn’t believe that he liked me. We met up at his locker and walked to his house together. Right away, I noticed how quiet it was inside. “Where’s your mom?”