Page 21 of That Summer Feeling

The Camp Carl Cove alumni among us clapped. I didn’t actually know if they were all alumni, but I figured they had to be, because who else would get that excited over learning how many people were going to be on a team?

“Eight’s a good number,” Stevie whispered, confirming my theory.

“Fantastic,” I said. “Easy to say. Fun to write.”

She gave me her bottle-rocket laugh, her joy charging straight for the ceiling. Tim and Tommy both paused to look at her, then pressed on as if the interruption didn’t surprise them much.

“We’re going to start with Blue Team.” Tommy waved his fingers over the bowl of names. “The first member is... Garland Moore!”

The Magnussons absolutelylostit, hooting and hollering like I’d been drafted onto the nation’s leading sports team, even though no one knew what I was capable of, including—but not limited to—me. I hadnoidea what I was going to do with these little competitions. I’d told myself to take risks at camp, and becoming someone who cared about winning was not exactly in my definition of risky.

Having been anointed the first person picked, I found it sort of implied that I stand up and wave. Draft pick number one, accepting my honor. The other campers hee-hawed at the sight of me. It got so rowdy that Tim and Tommy had to tell everyone to quiet down so they could continue.

“You’re already a camp legend!” Mason said when the cheers died off.

“Am I?”

He gave me a hilariously stern grimace. I was obviously the world’s most clueless adult for not realizing the incredible impact I’d had on Camp Carl Cove’s social ecosystem.

“I’m honored to have made an impression,” I corrected.

The twins continued picking names for Blue Team. Four people got called after me, and I hadn’t yet met a single one of them. I was going to have to compete, and I didn’t even have afriendto make it worthwhile? At least not a friend I remembered. Dara’s roommate Aja had been put on my team, and I was at least eighty percent sure I’d never actually spoken to her, but the drunken hee-haw night complicated my memory.

The seventh name they selected for Blue Team ended up being Tommy, who drew a crowd reaction even bigger than the one I’d received. He handled the moment with poise, bowing and waving everyone off in his understated and elegant Tommy way.

His presence on my team should have been a gift, because hewasmy friend, but the cheers reminded me that this was his camp. He’d orchestrated all of this. And he’d done it with so much care. I couldn’t slack off with him around.

There was one slot left on Blue Team, and I wished hard onevery shooting star that might be passing over every unseen galaxy that it would be Stevie. She was the only one I wanted by my side, even though she cared way more about this than I did.

“And the final member of Blue Team is—” Tim started.

“Stevie!” Tommy finished, grinning as wide as I’d ever seen him grin as he read her name off a slip of paper.

My relief could have fueled power plants. Revived extinct animals. I had probably had happier occurrences in my life, but at that exact moment, I couldn’t recall when. “If it isn’t lucky number eight herself,” I said to Stevie.

“Easy to say and fun to write. Exactly what my teachers used to tell my parents at school conferences.” She put her hand atop my forearm. Something cold and smooth pressed into my skin.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“My birthday gift from you. Now the honorary mascot ofourteam.” She picked up her hand and showed me the rock tucked into her palm. “Our alliance is preserved.”

“Cabin Seven Blue Team, home of Garland, Stevie, and Rock ‘The Rock’ Johnson,” I said.

“Toss us anywhere and we’ll land with a bang.”

Two people who worked for the camp found the Blue Team members in the audience and handed us shirts. They were a bright cobalt, and they hadcamp carl covewritten across the front in the same font as the entrance sign, withblue teamin bold letters below.

I held mine up to my chest. “Cabin Seven Blue Team until the end of time.”

“Or the end of the week,” Stevie said.

“It’s turning into one and the same for me.”

When Stevie smiled at me, it was with the melancholic knowing of someone who’d been through this process before. “Camp always ends,” she said.

This was my chance to give her the advice I’d been giving myself all morning. “C’mon. Let’s not think about the ending before we’ve even begun.”

The twins continued picking the names of other teams out of a hat. Dara got put on Red Team with Mason. The two of them would appreciate their shared desire never to do less than their best. My cabinmate Michelle was on Green Team with both of Stevie’s other brothers and Tim. I knew no one on Yellow Team. No one yet, at least.