The car bounced up in down with the familiar rhythm of the dirt road's potholes. Cassie had grown used to clutching the hot leather seats as her father's beat-up Christler rattled, but this time she was the one driving. Other than that, the road into Camp Lambda looked the same as it ever had - the same ankle-length green grass, the same cabins off in the distance, the faint whiff of manure from the farm next door. Truth be told, it was the same view you would get on your way into countless summer camps around the country, but for Cassie this particular dirt road would always be associated with acceptance.
Normally, there would be a throng of kids in front of the mess hall, the new ones standing nervously on the fringes of the group and the returning campers hugging each other in the glee of reunion. But today there was only one - a plump girl with braided brown hair and shining blue eyes, sitting on the steps of the old mess hall trying to hide her anticipation. This was Leigha, who had called Cassie here today.
At the sight of the dirt-stained Chrystler, Leigha leapt up to her feet. Cassie hadn't even shut the car door behind her when a bubbly Leigha crashed into her and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Cassie! It's so good to see you!"
"You too, pumpkin," said Cassie, rubbing the top of Leigha's head. "We've got a lot to talk about. But first, I half to use the bathroom. It was kind of a long ride."
Leigha laughed. "The water company cut this place off, so no toilets tonight. The port-a-potties still work."
Somehow, even this disgusting inconvenience seemed to have a nostalgic charm. After Cassie had emptied her bladder, she came back down the hill to find Leigha setting up camp around the old firepit. She appeared to have brought everything: water bottles, food, bug spray, sun spray, a waterproof tent, a Swiss army knife and compass. All Cassie had brought was a bottle of wine cooler snuck from her parent's fridge.
"You were really serious about sleeping outdoors, eh?" said Cassie.
Leigha uncapped one of her numerous water bottles and took a sip. "Why not? The ground's probably softer than the beds in the cabins."
Cassie shuddered at the memory of those rock-hard pallets that had generously been called mattresses. "You might be right. And we won't have to listen to Bessie Kavanaugh snoring all night."
"She wasn't so bad," said Leigha. "Good kisser, if nothing else."
Cassie eyebrows shot up. "You did not!"
"Well, one time behind the crafts tent..."
Cassie slapped Leigha on the back. "You dog! I bet you're calling up all your old trysts to this place, one weekend after another, for one last magic moment..."
"No, you're the only one," said Leigha, taking Cassie's joke seriously. "You were always the only one, really."
Cassie guessed that was true. Of course, she knew that when Leigha said it she wasn't trying to be romantic - the two of them were best friends, who confided their crushes and insecurities in each other. Of course, they had practised kissing on each other, for when they met the girls of their dreams, and then practised other things, and somewhere along the line it had stopped being practice. It was a friendship sustained through e-mails and hours-long IM chats during the school year, and two blissful summer months of togetherness. They had never made demands on each other, and Cassie wasn't sure if that was out of trust, generosity, or fear.
"You seeing anyone?" said Cassie as she got her bags out of the car. She meant it to sound casual.
"No," said Leigha. "I spent most of the year pretending to be a gay guy's girlfriend. His parents were not very open-minded. Yourself?"
Cassie laughed. That sounded like exactly the type of thing Leigha would do, always sacrificing herself for other people's needs. "I tried going out with this girl, Alyssa. It always felt like I was playing a role, you know? And she was constantly starting drama, accusing me of cheating on her."
"Well, were you?"
"No, but maybe I should have been," said Cassie. "I just can't do the whole relationship thing. Feels too straight."
Leigha leaned against the trunk of the car and smirked. The way she leaned, Cassie couldn't help but stare at her breasts. "Sounds like a camp girl to me. We're not cut out for that life."
There might have just been something to that. Once they all got over their anxieties about their bodies and sexualities, the camp had become a veritable saturnalia of sexual exploration. The camp counsellors were too busy doing the same thing to stop them - and when Cassie and Leigha had become counsellors themselves, they had entered a whole new level of flings. There were no relationships that lasted longer than a week, and they became used to spending every night in a different bed, endlessly curious as to different bodies and suffering the usual tempestuous teenage emotions and daily changes of affection. What could a steady girlfriend and dates at the mall really have to offer? When they had both turned eighteen, they remarked to each other that it felt like they had gained no freedom that they didn't already have.
"We may just be ruined for life," said Cassie.
"Worth it," said Leigha. "You want to go for a swim? The pond's still open."
"I thought they banned kids from going in the pond after that one girl broke her foot," said Cassie.
"They did," said Leigha. "So what do you say we break a few rules?"
--
Neither girl had brought swimsuits, an oversight which was perhaps intentional. Cassie sat there for a minute with her shirt lifted halfway over her head, dumbfounded as Leigha undressed. Her body seemed to have grown even more curvy in the past year, her breasts plumper and rounder than ever. And the way Leigha casually cast her clothes aside and walked into the pond, proudly bearing her olive-tinged body to the sun was such a stark contrast to the shy girl concerned about her "fat" body that Cassie had met five years ago that she might as well have been a different person.
Leigha cannonballed into the water, casting a wave that spilled over the rocky barriers of the pond. She looked back over her head and cast Cassie a sultry look. "What are you waiting for, Cass? Water's fine!"
Cassie shed her clothes quickly, although not without a little trepidation. Her hopes of filling out over her teenage years had been dashed - her body remained skinny and her breasts modest. She almost felt bad next to the voluptuousness of Leigha - although there had been times when Leigha envied her skinniness. Now she just looked hungrily as Cassie stepped out of her panties.
Cassie waded into the water. She always liked to get used to the temperature before she put all her body in. But Leigha wasn't having it. Grabbing Cassie by the ankles, she yanked her friend off her perch and down into the pond's cool depths. Cassie screeched and splashed, but Leigha held onto her, kissing and tickling her body.
