Page 28 of Class Clown

His smile was small, but relieved as I sat up. He jumped to his feet and as I went to follow a large, man-sized, very tan hand popped into my vision. I glanced up to see Nico standing there, his chest moving up and down as though he were out of breath. Confused by his sudden appearance, I tookhis hand and he yanked me to standing, using his free hand to wrap around my shoulder, steadying me as I careened toward him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his concern obvious in his tone.

I frowned and nodded, looking down at my stomach and the epic green and brown skid mark I was sporting. “Yeah.”

“You fell hard,” he replied, still holding on to my hand and shoulder.

I blinked and wiggled my arm, wondering why it tingled under his grip. I didn’t think I’d fallen on it. He let go and took a step back, running his dark eyes over my body as I did the same to myself. I seemed to be in pretty good shape, all things considered. I mean, falling as an adult was no picnic, but no ambulance was on its way, so it was pretty successful.

“You have . . .” His words trailed off and he brushed gently at my cheek and nose, while I stared closely at his face, unable to process what was happening.

“Where did you come from?” I asked, as the deer, deer, bear game resumed behind him.

His hand dropped and he took another step back and licked his lips as he looked around the meadow. “I was headed over to check on the game and saw your fall. I jogged the last little bit to make sure you were alright.”

I gazed up at him, taking in the color on his cheeks and wondered what was going on in his head. He’d been so intense for a moment. Why?

“Thanks. We can make a place for you if you want to join in,” I offered.

He looked over his shoulder at the game and shook his head. “I’m just observing.”

I made a humming nose and moved to rejoin the game. “Be careful, Nico,” I said as I walked past him, “you start getting old once you stop having fun.”

Surprise, surprise, nobody tagged me the bear again for the rest of the game. There was no chance at redemption. I had been labeled a weak link, one to be protected, and the thought had me chomping at the bit.

Which might explain why when we moved on to doing the Hokey Pokey I went hard. No one in the history of that dance, song, whatever it is, had ever put their left foot in and their left foot out with such passion. Every part of my body that could hokey pokey, was going to hokey pokey. At one point I was doing some sort of chicken wing, spinning circle, bopping motion and the kids were eating it up. Before long most of the campers and counselors had joined in, laughing, singing along, and having a greattime. When it was time to put our heads in, and our heads out, I whipped my long braid around like a helicopter and went to town on that move. I nearly passed out, but it was worth it to see the happiness on the faces of the others in the circle.

I immediately flopped down onto the wild grasses and stared up at the sky the second the song ended, breathing hard while the others collapsed too.

“That was the most fun hokey pokey ever,” I heard a kid say.

I could die happy. I’d totally redeemed myself.

We’d all been laying in the cool grasses for a few minutes when a whistle blew in the distance, telling us it was time to move on to the next scheduled activity. I sat up and waved at the young campers as they followed their assigned counselors.

Kristy moved closer to me and offered me a bright smile. “That was pretty intense. You going to do that every week?”

“Oh,” I replied, biting my lip. “I didn’t even think about this not being a one-time thing.”

She giggled. “You really showed them a good time.”

“I’m glad. Day one should be fun and set the tone, right?”

She nodded. “You’re right. You ready for some dinner?”

We stood and I patted my stomach. “I really am. But first I’m going to pop by my cabin to change and get this grass mark soaking in some stain remover. Save me a seat?”

She agreed and we parted ways.

When I arrived in the Funky Bunks cabin, I nearly collided with Nico who was coming hurriedly out the back door. He had changed into warmer clothes, probably for the chillier evening temps, and I moved out of his way to let him finish leaving the cabin, presumably on his way to Bearadise Lodge.

He dipped his chin and I caught a whiff of that laundry detergent of his as he slipped past and took the stairs quickly, his feet crunching as they hit the gravel path. I watched him for a few seconds, intrigued by the controlled manner of his movements. He was graceful and fluid, but ready somehow, as though he expected to spring into action at any given second. Most likely a habit learned on his military deployments.

For the first time ever, I found myself curious about him and his life. Where had he been deployed, what kinds of things had he gone through,what was his family life like? How had he become the robot who was best friends with my brother?

Questions raced through my mind as I made my way to my dresser to pull out a fresh outfit. I entered my sleeping area and found a glass of water along with two ibuprofen tablets sitting on top of my dresser. I looked at them for a second, wondering where they’d come from and why. The only possible answer was that Nico had left them there after seeing me fall. Maybe he’d even observed my spastic hokey pokey and knew before I did that I was going to be sore from that performance.

Regardless of how or why they were there, I gratefully took the pills and washed them down with the cool water. Then, I changed and hustled up to the dining room. I was famished after a big first day.

---