13. Kayla
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
KAYLA
A ll the camp counselors are lined up outside, waiting for the first bus of campers to arrive. The four volunteers we have for the week, Hunter included, are inside setting up icebreaker activities. We’ll have twelve campers—six boys and six girls—and the week will follow the same schedule it did during training, weather depending.
“Here they come,” Claire sings, bouncing on the balls of her feet. A large black charter bus angles around the narrow dirt road, kicking up dust behind the wheels. I see the excited faces of the campers, aged between seven and twelve, pressed against the windows.
“Welcome!” Claire grins as the kids spill out of the charter. “We’re so excited you’re all here. Let’s head inside, where I’ll introduce you to your counselors.”
Chase and I have four campers. Two boys—Aiden and Caleb, and two girls—Katie and Liz. We teach them a couple of camp songs and chants, and then dive into the icebreakers.
“If I could be any animal, I’d be a giraffe,” Chase says. The kids snicker.
“Who picks a giraffe?” Caleb responds with a forceful guffaw, knocking into Aiden, who’s laughing just as hard. I can’t help but laugh along with them, tipping my head to the side to see whether Chase is serious.
“Why a giraffe?” I ask with genuine curiosity.
He shrugs. “They just seem nice…”
Another hooting laugh from the boys gets us all smiling.
“Plus, they’re tall, smart, and loyal.” Chase looks right at me, like his list of giraffe qualities double for qualifications to an unspoken job listing between us. I shake my head, giving him a warning look before taking my turn.
“Well, I’d be a hummingbird,” I say. “Because their wings flap so fast they can hover in the air, and they’re impossible to catch.”
“Fitting…” Chase quips, nodding slowly.
“That’s almost as bad as a giraffe,” Caleb snorts. “If I were an animal, I’d be a lion, that way everyone would know I’m the king.” He stands and flexes his skinny arms, mustering all the confidence a nine-year-old can, while nodding his head, his afro bouncing up and down. From what I’ve seen, he’s a funny kid who lights up whenever he makes the group laugh.
Once he sits, we learn Aiden would be a bear and Liz would be a swan. Katie chooses not to answer, her dark hair falling over her face like a thick black curtain, and we don’t push her.
Some campers need a while before they come out of their shell. She reminds me of myself the first year I came to Camp Bender.
“Well, I’m excited to hike up Bender trail to see the waterfall,” I say, moving into the next icebreaker.
“I’m excited for the ropes course!” Aiden exclaims, his brown hair falling into his eyes as excitement courses through his body.
“Ooh, yeah!” Caleb agrees.
Liz taps her chin with her pointer finger, twirling one blond pigtail with the other. “Hmm, I’m excited for the arts and crafts, I think.”
Katie plays with her laces, not answering.
“How about you Katie? What are you excited for this week?” Chase prompts. She shrugs and continues looking at the floor. “That’s okay.” His smile is kind as he taps a finger on her shoe. “You’ll find something when you’re ready.”
Of course he’s good with kids. Charming, helpful, funny, and now this? I can’t catch any breaks here. It’s like the more I learn about him, the closer I’m pulled toward the caution tape.
Chase turns to the group and says, “I’m excited to get to know everyone.” His eyes shoot to mine, blazing briefly before he smiles at the kids, and it takes everything I have to keep from biting my lip in response.
The ropes course rotation goes off without a hitch. Our campers chatter excitedly as we switch out the group for rappelling. Claire secures the ropes for Aiden and Liz on the platform, while Chase is up there double-checking helmets and tightening gloves. There’s no mistaking the rapport he’s built with the kids—encouraging when they doubt themselves and being energetic when they need motivation. He smiles, giving Aiden a high five as he jumps with excitement at getting all the gear on. I grin to myself while watching the exchange before turning to Katie and Caleb, making sure they’re ready to spot their partners with Kyle’s guidance.
“Wow… I can’t believe he’s up there,” Hunter says, shaking his head as he comes to stand next to me.
“What? Why not?”
“Your boy up there doesn’t do heights. I’m surprised he isn’t clinging to the ledge, hyperventilating.”
I ignore the clear prodding at his use of “your boy,” and concern myself with the hyperventilating part. Scrunching my nose, I look back up to the platform to see Chase tightening Liz’s helmet, smiling with ease. “He seemed fine last week when his shoe got stuck,” I say.
“Shoe got stuck? Where? ”
Pointing to the left side of the wall, I say, “Up there. You can still see half of his shoelace dangling.”
“He went down that wall?” Hunter’s eyes widen, mouth gaping.
“Rappelling!” Liz yells hesitantly from the top of the platform, her pigtails dangling out of the helmet as she peers over the ledge.
I move toward Katie, who looks at me with unease filling her expression, and I whisper a few words of encouragement. “Rappel on!” she squeaks. I stay beside her, pointing out ways she could direct Liz down to the ground. In no time, shoes hit dirt, and the girls share an embrace.
“You did so great!” Liz says to Katie, making her break out into a wide smile.
“You girls were awesome!” Hunter says from beside me, slapping high fives to both of them.
As they take off their gear, he continues our conversation. “Last year, we went to Mexico, and Chase had a panic attack on the zip line platform. Both of our dads had to carry him back down the ladder. I don’t know what happened last week, but he doesn’t do heights.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, I have to head back to town. See ya tomorrow.”
I look back at Chase, who’s watching us with a questioning gaze in his eyes. Flashing a smile, I give a thumbs-up and shrug. He sends Aiden down, and I coach Caleb in the same ways as Katie. Aiden’s feet hit the ground just as the dinner bell rings.
Our four campers race to the mess hall, and Chase’s steps fall next to mine. “Did Hunter give you any good dirt?”
“Apparently you’re afraid of heights?”
“Ha!” He throws his head back as he laughs. “He would tell you that. Let me guess, panic attack in Mexico?”
“Yeah…but I’m confused. You were fine up there last week.”
“Eh,” he says, tipping is hand over side to side. “I wouldn’t say that…” He bumps my shoulder with his as we walk. “The whole reason my foot slipped is because I realized how far from the gr ound I was. You found me mid thought spiral. Pulled me out of it, actually.”
“How did I do that?” I ask, confused about how anything I did last week would pull him out of a panic attack.
“You, uh…well, you talked to me.” He rubs the back of his head.
“I—huh?”
“Your voice. It’s soothing. You asked if everything was okay, and suddenly everything was…” He shrugs.
I stop walking. “Why did you even go up there, knowing you would panic?”
“Not sure. Maybe I wanted to impress you, be around you. I like you, Kayla. I’ll spend the time any way I can take it. Why do you think I’m at the diner every day?”
“I…” I start, not sure what to say to that. He’s always so direct with his words—bold in the way he expresses his interest in me—and it catches me off guard. Evan always gave me the runaround, so I’m almost at a loss for how to handle Chase’s candor. Deciding on avoidance for now, I march past him. “We have to get in there with the campers.”
He jogs to catch up, walking quietly beside me as my own thoughts spiral while I mull over his confession, weighing the gravity of my own floundering feelings.