Chapter 1

Monday

Gloria struggled with her heavy suitcase, as she dragged it out of the bus and lugged it toward the headquarters building. It was the same building she had lugged a suitcase toward for as long as she could remember, each summer, when she went to camp. The trees were the same, as was the swimming pool, in the distance, and the loosely circular ring of cabins set back into the woods. Even some of the other kids she saw were the same ones she'd been going to camp with for years.

There were squeals of excitement from the girls, as they recognized friends they hadn't seen since last summer, and old friendships were refreshed in little groups. Boys ran at each other, bumping into others, like the play of puppies, snarling and posturing as they flexed youthful muscles and, in reality, did the same thing the girls were doing.

It all felt different to Gloria this year, though. Somehow, the familiar surroundings seemed strange, and the other kids she saw seemed like they were strange too, even though she knew where most of them were from, and what they liked, and didn't like. She wondered why she felt so... nervous. Maybe not nervous. Maybe "excited" was a better word. At any rate, she knew, somehow, that this year was going to be one of the best. She could just tell.

She finally dragged her suitcase up onto the porch of the headquarters building, and left it there, along with fifteen or twenty others, and went through the screen door, inside, to sign in. She realized her ditty bag was still slung over her shoulder and across her chest, and turned back to leave it with her suitcase.

As she pulled the strap over her head, it dragged at her left breast and she sighed. In the short year that had passed, her breasts had almost magically gone from mere swells of flesh with pink tips, to what she thought of as bulging lumps under her shirts. It was like some fairy had snuck into her room, inserted balloons into her chest, and then pumped them up. Her nipples, which had always been unformed tiny spots, had defined too, and almost drove her crazy with their tingling. Everything seemed to scrape against them, and when it did, she got "those feelings".

She knew what "those feelings" meant, of course. She was aware of sex, like any fourteen year old is aware of sex. It still seemed foreign to her, scary, a big thing looming in the darkness around her, a darkness that somehow resisted daylight even. But for Gloria, sex was something other people did. It was interesting, in the same way that a car accident was interesting. As your parents slowly drove by all the flashing lights, you craned your neck, trying to see what had happened, hoping, but also afraid, that you'd see something horrible.

"Sex" was like that for Gloria. She didn't know what it would be like, but she was filled with both hope and dread about finding out some day.

She didn't think that would be soon. She thought of herself as ugly and misshapen, with her jutting breasts, that seemed to get in the way of everything. Her hips were getting bigger too, and she thought she had a big butt. She had her mother's chin, which, on her mother, looked strong, but in the mirror, on herself, looked masculine to her. She also had a pug nose and freckles, probably from spending too much time in the sun, according to her mother, who also had freckles.

To Gloria, her mother was the most beautiful woman on earth. She didn't see the resemblance of herself to her mother, except for the chin. And maybe the breasts. Her mother had big breasts too, which her father seemed to talk about a lot, and even squeeze sometimes, when he thought she wasn't watching. But her mother had always had big breasts, and they just looked normal on her.

Looking down at her chest made Gloria think of her other problem, which was further down. The hair between her legs had somehow gotten some of the same fertilizer that had made her breasts grow so much in just a year. She now had a lush forest of silky brown hair there, which was going to be a problem, because her mother had finally let her buy a two piece swim suit. But, when she got home, and tried it on, some of that hair stuck out. It took her five minutes just to get it all tucked back in. She had to shave her legs now, and her armpits too, and she knew some women shaved that other hair too, but she was scared to try that. She cut her legs all the time.

Looking down, Gloria sighed. Yes, it would be a long time before boys wanted to look at her, like her father looked at her mother.

"Well look what the cat dragged in!" came a familiar voice.

Gloria looked up, her face transformed into a beaming smile.

"JUDY!" squealed Gloria. She burst into movement and hugged her counselor, almost knocking her over. "Is Brad here too?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes, he's going to inflict himself upon as again, this year," sighed Judy theatrically. "He's like a bad penny, always turning up."

"You don't mean that," said Gloria, giving the woman a tight squeeze and then letting her go. "I've seen how you look at him."

Judy laughed. "I'm a married woman, young lady!" she said. "And while I'll admit Brad is easy on the eyes, and all you silly girls fawn all over him, I'm certainly not interested!" She rolled her eyes.

"Don't lie, Judy," said Gloria, grinning. "I know you too well."

Judy's eyes narrowed, and a tiny frown made her eyebrows dip in the center. Her eyes went up and down Gloria's body.

"Well, you certainly have grown up in the last year," she said, folding her arms over her chest. "Can it be that YOU'RE the one interested in poor Brad?"

"He's a hunk," said Gloria, agreeably. "But he's old."

Judy laughed again. "I'll have to tell him that," she said. "He just turned twenty-two and I can't wait to tell him the girls think he's an old man now!" She sobered. "Oh, no!" she moaned. "I'm twenty-six! Where's that pesky walker? I can never find it when I need to take more than two steps at a time." She started staggering around, bent over, shaking her hand like she had a cane in it and was about to fall down.

They were interrupted by more kids coming in. The scene was repeated more than once as other campers who had been in Judy and Brad's group for the last couple of years came in and excitedly greeted the counselor. They greeted each other too, and it turned into a milling concentration of barely controlled mayhem.

Gloria turned to find herself face-to-face with a boy she'd never seen before. They were almost touching. He was taller than she was, and she looked up into the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. He had a half smile on his face.

"Hi," she said, her throat suddenly tight.

"Hi," he said back. "Is it always like this?"

His voice did something to her stomach. She stared into his eyes, and thought about swimming, because they were so blue. He had long hair... way long... that came down past his shoulders. She had an errant thought that he could put it in a pony tail that would be longer than hers. He was slim, and his cheekbones stood out on his tanned face.

"I guess," she heard herself say.

"I'm Arden," he said, his voice soft, but somehow heard over the din of the others milling around them.

She had only enough time to think that "Arden" was a strange name when she was almost knocked off her feet sideways. Only arms around her saved her from sprawling into the others next to her.

"GLORIA!" squealed the girl, whose arms were around her.

It was Amy, her best camp friend, who had been her best camp friend since they had both come to camp the very first time. Gloria grinned and squealed back, and both girls jumped up and down, holding each other. Gloria twisted her head, to see if the boy was still there, but he had disappeared.

Like she had been asleep, she felt energy flood her body and turned her full attention to her friend.

Gloria thought how odd it was that she was actually ready to go to bed. She didn't usually get tired until after midnight. It was dark outside. All the registration activities had been completed, with the name games that went with them, to introduce newcomers to the veterans, and vice versa.

They used the same games in their group every year. In one, they made a circle out in the sun, and tossed a volleyball to someone in the circle of ten kids, calling out that person's name as it was tossed. In another they had to figure out how to say the other person's name backwards, and call that out. That meant you had to be able to recognize your own name, backwards, because whenever your name was called out, it was your turn to call out a name. At the same time, you had to really think about the other kids' names, because you had to have one ready to yell out, when it was your turn. The idea was to go faster and faster, in both games, until the names just sank in, somehow. Some were easy, like Amy, who became Yma, and Ned, who became Den. Airolg, which Gloria was stuck with, caused a lot of laughter, as did Ekim, which was Mike, backwards. He was Amy's camp boyfriend. They'd been "going together" at camp for three years now.

The new boy had ended up in her group too, and Gloria was glad about that, for some reason. She didn't have a "camp boyfriend", like her best friend. Amy and Mike managed to get "lost" together, occasionally, but Gloria didn't mind. She was good friends with others in the group too. This year there were four new people in her group, Arden among them. Calling him Nedra, during the game, hadn't seemed any different than calling him Arden. Both names were equally strange. At one point Arden had yelled out "NIVEA!", and the game came to a grinding halt. He blinked, and then said "I mean Airolg!" He had become confused by the speed of the game, and was looking at Gloria as she spread Nivea cream on her arms, to protect them from the sun. Having played this game for years, she was able to do that and play the game at the same time. He took a lot of ribbing once the group realized what he'd done.

After name games, there had been the orientation speech. Judy and Brad had stayed with "their group" as that group got older. Actually, the way it worked was that, when you got to camp, you signed up for a group, and the same kids chose the same counselors, often. This year the tone of the orientation speech had been a little different. Judy had started with the usual stuff about what activities were available, and where they were. There was group time each day in the morning and afternoon. That was to talk about "life issues". A lot of the kids who came to camp only had one parent, or had gotten into trouble for this or that. They were from all walks of life, some rich, some poor, and during group time anything at all could be discussed. Quite often problems at home were talked about. It wasn't supposed to solve anything, really, but gave the kids a chance to talk to other kids in a non-threatening atmosphere, with some adults there too. Group time was when close bonds were actually made.

Brad took over to talk about camp rules. One of the rules was that boys and girls weren't supposed to be alone together.

"Now, as you all know," said Brad, sounding serious, "Amy and Mike always seem to get lost, somehow." There were snickers from the veterans, and looks of confusion from the four new kids. "That is, of course, against the rules, so we'll need everyone to help them, to make sure that this year, they don't get lost."

"Awwww," moaned Amy. "You're no fun at all!"

There were more laughs, but then Judy stepped forward.

"You guys are getting older now, and, if you haven't already, you may get interested in the opposite sex."

She had to wait a full minute for kids to stop laughing and poking each other.

"I'm serious, here," she said, sounding serious. "Don't go running off alone with each other. Things can happen. Nuff said?"

Of course all the kids promised to behave themselves, all the while looking around interestedly at each other, to see if there was anybody in the group they might be interested in running off alone with. Gloria found herself looking at Arden, who, for some reason, was looking back at her. She looked away, embarrassed that he had seen her look at him.

Then there had been supper, with the wonderful camp food, and evening games. This year, because it was so hot, the first night games had involved water balloons. Groups were pitted against each other in one event where sheets were stretched out with the group around them, on each side of a volleyball net. A water balloon was put into the sheet and they tried to launch it over the net. If the other group caught it in their sheet, they could send it back. If the balloon broke, whichever side had launched it got a point.

Arden had stood next to her in that game, laughing as water balloons broke around him. One balloon had been successfully launched and caught five times before he grabbed it and threw it through the net, spraying the opposite side. They'd been docked two points, but nobody cared. The returning campers knew that, eventually, the whole thing would degrade into a free-for-all water balloon fight. You knew when that was about to happen when certain counselors began to drift toward the dining hall, to get out of the way.

Judy and Brad didn't retreat, though. They were some of the most vicious combatants in the water balloon war, often pelting each other more often than they picked out campers to drench.

Then campfire, and songs, and the counselors put on some skits. Groups would be responsible for future campfire programs, but on the first night the counselors did their thing.

So, now that it was close to midnight, Gloria was tired, and ready to sleep. Their cabin had girls from two groups in it, along with Judy and another counselor from the other group. Both women were trying to get the girls to calm down, with limited success.

Gloria climbed into her sleeping bag and relaxed. It had been a good day. Camp was the best. She already wished it was longer than just three weeks. Tomorrow she'd go horseback riding, maybe, or canoeing. Maybe this year she could paddle a canoe without tipping it over. Her mind drifted to Arden. He had become sort of her defender, during the water balloon war. He stepped in front of balloons thrown her way, either trying to catch them, or just letting them splatter against his chest. He'd taken his shirt off, and ran like a deer in just his cargo shorts, leaping off the ground. Whenever somebody threw a water balloon at Gloria, he threw two at them. He'd been mobbed, eventually, and stood, grinning, his long hair plastered to his back and shoulders, as water balloons burst against him two and three at a time.

It was all good fun, and she wasn't sure he'd actually been concentrating on her. It had seemed like it, but he hadn't spoken to her, or really looked at her all that much.

She hoped he hadn't been looking at her very much. During the fight, she'd seen Judy take a water balloon right in the middle of her chest, and her white T shirt had suddenly showed two dark circles through it. Gloria had been astounded that Judy wasn't wearing a bra, and had looked at her own wet shirt, only to be horrified by seeing that her recently formed nipples had pushed clear through her bra in the excitement of the game, and were making two obvious bumps on the front of her own shirt.

She realized her hand had strayed to the front of her sleep shirt, and that her fingers were playing with one of those nipples now. She felt a rush of excitement as the tingling started. She'd found out, in the last six or eight months, how good it felt to do that, in the shower, or in bed at night. It felt good to touch other places too, but she was nervous about that. Amy had taught her how to do that, last year, and Amy was a self confessed non-virgin. Gloria wasn't ready for things like that. She was quite sure of that, somehow. She was afraid that touching herself too much... down there... might end up making other things happen that were scary in the extreme.