5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The next day the kids arrived, and it was total chaos in the best possible ways. Prince never remembered laughing so much as kids complained and whined, then changed their minds and were cheering loudly, begging to swim and basically running wild.

He could see it in their faces, as Silvio told him he would. The sight of kids that had never been in the country taking in the clean air and trees, water and dirt it was priceless.

Finally, when the counselors got them all wrangled, they were put into lines depending on age and gender. Prince was glad to see that trans girls weren't forced into the boys' cabins and the trans boys weren't either. It made him happy to see, and once the ten to twelve-year-old boys, which included one trans boy, got in line, he and Silvio led them to cabin C, which wasn't far from the dining hall.

They ranged in height and color like they took one from each mold. The diversity alone brightened Prince, but then…he realized just how similar they really were.

"What the hell, dude," one said to him. "Don't they feed you around here?"

Another one laughed at his friend's remark. "Yeah, man, looks like a twig came to life."

Silvio grabbed them both by the backs of their shirts and led them toward their cabin. "Enough of that, you two. Get."

As they giggled, Prince herded a couple others that were too busy looking around to see the line moving. "Nathan, right?" Prince asked one who was hurrying to catch up to the others.

He was short, a full head shorter than the others, and his legs were running to catch the boys that were strolling slowly. "Yeah, that's me."

An African American girl came stomping over to Prince, her face round and deep-set eyes glaring at him. "Don't you think ‘bout bullying Nat!"

Her hand on her hip, chin high, she was not messing around. "I wasn't planning on it. And you are?"

"My name's Montese, but most call me Monnie."

"Nice to meet you, Monnie."

Prince held his hand to her to shake, but she ignored it. Her hair was done in three braid with hair ties that had pink and purple balls on the ends. She was dressed in pink and yellow and looked to be young, but her attitude was as if she were thirty. "I didn't say you could call me that."

"Sorry. Montese. I'm Prince."

"Who you foolin'?"

Prince liked her already. Silvio came back to them to see what the holdup was. "Hey, Monnie."

"Is this fool's name really Prince?"

"It is. Prince Rose," he said with a wink.

She cracked up and left for her own line while shaking her head. "White boy named Prince. If that don't beat all," they heard her say to herself.

"She's fun," Prince said.

"Oh, yeah, but don't mess with her and Nat is her best friend on earth. She'll beat grown men if she thinks they're picking on him."

"Then I really like her."

"Come on. The boys are already jumping on their beds."

The two rushed to the cabin and once inside, witnessed the next round of pure chaos. Prince was at a loss to know what to do, but Silvio held up his hand and whistled through his teeth so loudly, Prince stepped back. "Hey! Settle!"

Nat was the only one not running around like a wild animal. He sat on his bunk, opening his suitcase, which was better organized than Prince's own. Everything was in plastic bags, folded perfectly and organized by color.

His hair was perfectly parted to the side, not a hair out of place, and his beige button-up shirt was clean and seemed to be pressed. Prince felt an instant connection to him. He was different and would likely always be. For some, that was a disadvantage, but others knew how special it was. While Silvio corralled the rowdier of the boys, Prince kneeled in front of Nat.

"So…do you like camp?"

"I like seeing Monnie," he said without looking Prince's way.

"She's a good friend. Those are nice to have."

"I don't see her a lot. We live far away, and my mom won't let me take the bus."

Prince's heart hurt for him. He remembered the loneliness he'd felt at that young age. Alone in his room with only his computer for a friend. "Do you guys talk, like, online or anything?"

His brown eyes lit a little, and he finally turned them on Prince. "She just got a phone. Her mom saved and saved for it and gave it to her on her birthday."

All he wanted in the world at that moment was to give every dime of his own money to Nat and Monnie. "That's great! And you have one?"

"They won't let us bring them. We only get to talk to our moms on Sundays."

"Well, that's okay, because Monnie is here. You guys have two months to hang out with each other."

He nodded a little, but his eyes drifted over to the other boys. "Yeah. But we can't stay in the same cabin," he said dejectedly.

"How about I try to get more time that you guys can hang out?"

"I'd like that."

Prince nodded and stood, turning to Silvio who'd made the other boys start to unpack and get settled in.

"After you guys are done, we'll head over to the mess hall to get orientation." As some boys groaned, he added, "I know, I know, most of you have been here before, but you were new once too. Be patient! You know we always get cookies after the boring speeches and stuff. Okay?"

The promise of sugar cheered them.

He'd liked Silvio from the start, but Prince saw at that moment how great he was at his job. He had those formerly feral young men excited about following the rules. It was amazing.

"How'd you learn this?"

"Five brothers and a sister. All younger," he said, winking.

"Ah, I see," Prince said, laughing.

Once the boys were back in line, Silvio led them and Prince brought up the rear, as planned. Never let one straggler be able to veer off, Silvio warned. One in front and one in back on hikes or moving from one area to the other.

His job had officially started, and he was terrified but hopeful. He saw in some the things that he'd felt as a kid. Being alone, being an outsider of things. He couldn't relate to how their families struggled with money, but he felt what any kid felt. Isolation and loneliness.

As he brought up the rear, Nat was right there with him. He tried to keep up, but his short legs had to move three times as fast as the other boys, and he got winded early on, even taking a hit from his inhaler.

"Do you need that a lot?"

He nodded, as he still didn't have the breath to speak. Prince called to Silvio, and once Silvio turned, Prince pointed to Nat and told him they'd be along in a moment.

He stopped Nat, making him sit on one bench that was scattered around the camp. Nat's feet didn't touch the ground when he sat, and he swung his legs while taking another hit of the inhaler.

"Sorry, Mr. Prince."

"No mister, just Prince. And don't be sorry, it's not like you can help it."

"Some counselors get mad at me."

That angered Prince fiercely. "Well, I'm not them. You can't help it."

He was granted what he guessed to be a rare smile from the young man. "Thanks. Your name…I like it."

"Thanks. I like yours."

Another smile and Nat shoved his inhaler into the front pocket of his cargo pants. "I think I'm ready."

"Great. I'll bet Montese is waiting for you."

That gave him a pep in his step, and he started for the dining hall.

Once inside, there was a lot more chaos. Kids were sitting on top of tables, visiting with friends, and others were running between the tables, playing chase. It took Sabrina, Silvio, and some others to mellow them out, and even after that, not one of them could sit still.

It was exhilarating, the energy in the air, and Silvio sat at the counselors' table with Anton and Prince joined them after watching Monnie and Nat find each other and sit together at the end of one table. She threw her arm around his shoulders and then glared around the room, as if challenging everyone in the room to say something about it.

"Hello, campers," Harry yelled from the stage. It was called a stage, but it barely sat a foot above the main floor and was too short to accommodate more than three or four people at a time.

Sabrina came next, announcing, "Another year at Camp Sunnyside, and we're all excited! This summer, you'll learn to swim if you don't already know, and if you do, we're teaching you lifeguard skills! We'll hike, boat, do crafts, but most of all, we'll enjoy nature in all its beauty. Like every year, we ask that you pick a partner or buddy, if you will. This friend will be your companion through the eight weeks, or four weeks, for those younger campers."

Prince looked immediately over to Monnie and Nat to see them smiling as Monnie pointed to herself, then Nat. Prince envied them, even as he worried for them. To have someone that was there in that way, constant, sure. Then he realized he could have that too. Silvio was pointing to one boy acting up at the next table, but he wasn't a prick about it. He just calmly hushed him and went back to paying attention to the stage.

"Now, we've gotten together with another camp that is going to come at the end of this month to do some fun activities and we'll do a little competing. I know we don't want a lot of hard competition, we enjoy doing things that bring us together, and not apart, but…"

Harry stepped forward and said, "We're going to beat Camp San Isabel!"

The entire dining hall erupted in a loud cheer and applause. Even Prince was excited, and he hated physical competitions, mostly because he never won.

After orientation, they brought their boys back to the cabin and had them change into their camp T-shirts. For Cabin C, the color of the shirt was bright lime green with neon orange lettering. Each cabin had their own color for easy identification when the counselors had to count heads.

Silvio tossed Prince his own bright green shirt and took his own from the box. "We'll be back in fifteen minutes, boys. I expect you all to be ready to head to the craft cabin."

Groans all around, and Silvio laughed.

"Why we gotta do crafts?" A young red-haired boy asked.

Silvio answered, "Bucky, you know every cabin has a turn at the craft cabin. Don't tell me your mom hates when you bring her home the stuff you made."

He relented, "Yeah, she does."

"Good. Think of something she'll really like this year and I'll make sure I help you make it great."

He brightened and ran back to his bunk. Prince admired Silvio, who had a way with each of the kids. He knew how to talk to every one of them, and never the same way twice.

When they went outside to wait on the boy to change, Prince asked him, "Are you going to do this, you know, for a living?"

"Be a camp counselor?"

"No, no, work with kids. You're really good at it."

"You think?"

He sat on the stairs a little straighter and Prince said, "I'm not giving you a fake compliment. You're very good. I had very expensive nannies that could take a lot of lessons from you."

"Thanks, Prince. Yeah, I'd love to. My dream is to actually be a pediatrician. That's a lot of school and a lot of money, but a dream is a dream, you know? Right now, I'm in school for nursing. That may be as far as I get, but that's okay too, ya know? Still working with kids, just not quite making those big bucks."

"I hope you can. You'd be great."

Silvio bumped shoulders with him, blushing wildly. "You're all right for a rich boy, you know?"

"I'm nothing compared to you and some others. This seems so natural for you guys. I'm just following your lead."

"We all start somewhere, Prince. None of us know everything our first time out, and that goes for any career, job, relationship, you name it. Remember that and stop being hard on yourself. Seems to me enough people have been hard on you for you to join the dog pile."

Prince knew he'd take that to heart.

The day was long chasing after very active kids. He had glue and glitter on his clothes from the crafts and he smelled like lake water when he had to again wade into the lake when they went for a short boat ride.

Then, at the end of that long day, they had a huge gathering around several campfires, complete with the fixings for smores. It was a great day but presented a problem. He smelled of all the aforementioned nasties, but after the campfire, he smelled of smoke and burned marshmallows too.

The showers held fear for him since the time Toby had stolen his clothes. Silvio saw that and whispered, "Go to the cabin with Anton. It's Cabin E. He'll be your shower buddy from now on."

"You'll be here?"

"Gotta be. We can't leave them alone."

"No, I know. I need to stop by the other cabin, though. Can I grab you anything?"

"I'll go shower when you get back, so I'll swing by and get my clothes."

"Thanks, Silvio. I don't think I'd make it here if it weren't for you."

"You act like this is a military camp. It's just a bunch of kids."

Prince smiled, acknowledging that, but still. "Yeah, I don't know what's scarier, really."

"You're actually right. Fine, fine, go shower, vato, you stink."

He left Cabin C laughing and was even happier when Anton met him at the counselor's cabin. "Hey, dude, you ready to have an intimate, sexy shower with your straight buddy?"

"Sounds…not fun, but okay. Give me a minute to grab my clothes."

Prince hurried into their tent and pulled out his bag, grabbing his clothes. When he pulled out the pair of jeans he wanted, the baggy full of silica packages and the phone fell out and made a hard thud on the floor.

He picked it up, surprised he'd forgotten all about it. He didn't have time to see if the silica had worked, however, because Anton was calling for him to hurry. After shoving the baggy back into the suitcase, he ran outside so he and Anton could head to the showers.

That night, Toby was nowhere to be found. He had a nice, long shower, even if the water wasn't very warm. Once he felt human again, he and Anton walked back to the cabins together and Anton bid him goodnight before heading to Cabin E.

When Silvio left the tent and Prince walked around to check on all the kids, he noticed Nat was awake, and not only was he awake, he was under the covers with a light. Prince smiled, knowing that trick. Kneeling next to Nat's bunk, he gently pulled the covers down to see he was reading with a tiny flashlight. "It's time to sleep," he whispered.

Nat's face showed his dismay. "Five more minutes?"

"Five. If Silvio comes in here and sees I didn't make you go right to sleep, I'll be in trouble."

Nat's smile was sweet as honey. "I'd never want that. Four minutes."

"Thanks, Nat. Enjoy your book."