When Kaila spoke, everyone listened. When Kaila smiled, everyone noticed

IT

was a week into camp when Kaila finally smiled at me.

It wasn’t easy being one of the only out-of-town kids in an in-town camp with a huge campus and four bunks per grade. Coming from a small camp where everyone knew each other to a huge camp where I met a new face every day made me feel about as significant as the ant that crawled across my bed. I chose a bed in the corner of the bunkhouse, where I tried to sink into the wall and observe everyone, while remaining unobserved myself. What made it even harder was that making friends wasn’t easy for me, like it was for Rina, my older sister.

It was easy to see the dynamics of my bunk and my bunkmates. During rest hour the same five kids sat around shmoozing, and another few kids sat on the windowsills with their shoes off and their loud voices about to shatter the very windows themselves. The rest sort of floated around from group to group.

Then there was Kaila. And Bina and Dassy. Or was it Dina and Bassy?

The three of them sat in a corner of one of the co-bunks in a little circle. It was obvious that outsiders weren’t welcome. Individually, they were nice girls, but when they were together in their cluster, everyone gave them a wide berth. Still, the others vied for their attention, especially Kaila’s. When she spoke, everyone listened. When she smiled, everyone noticed.

And here she was, smiling and making her way toward me. My brain scrambled for something to say, but she was already talking, and I only caught the last few words. “…You’re in one of my co-bunks.”

My eyebrows shot up in feigned surprise. “I am?”