CHAPTER 5

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For the next few hours, Minseok and I hung out in the cabin. I unpacked the safe things from my backpack and sat at the end of my bed. I watched my “cabin-mate,” as he liked to say, pace back and forth from the open suitcase on his bed to a dresser in the corner of the room. I offered to help him unpack, but he declined. It wasn’t that I was trying to be friendly; I just needed something to do.

I started asking dumb questions, trying to act like I was really interested in learning about the camp and him. Maybe I had a mild curiosity, but there was nothing that I desperately had to know.

As it got later and there was still no word from the office about my missing suitcase. Minseok seemed to become increasingly concerned. He put the last of his things away.  As he walked by me, he tapped my knee that hung over the end of my bed. I glanced up at him, wondering what exactly he wanted.    

His head moved in a quick motion towards the door. “Let’s go see if some of my friends have anything they can lend you. It looks like your stuff isn’t going to show up anytime soon.”

I hopped off the bed and followed him to the door, slipping into my shoes. “Someone probably liked my style better than their own.”

Minseok glanced back at me as we exited the cabin. I could tell he was assessing the shorts and zip-up I wore. Thank god I hadn’t decided to wear my pink and purple sweatshirt. Then again, if I had maybe I wouldn’t even be in this mess.

“Clearly, these are your travel clothes,” he mused. “What is your style, anyway?” Minseok asked out of curiosity.

“You know I was just joking, right?” I tried to cover for myself. How the hell was I supposed to answer his question?

If my brain were a machine, I bet I would have been able to hear the gears turning. I would have felt them shake and shudder to a stop. All I had to do was describe a boy. I tried to think of the annoying losers at my school and what they wore, but I only drew a blank.

“My style is all designer: Chanel, Gucci, Prada. You know, only the good stuff,” I said sarcastically.  

I earned a little snort from Minseok. Good, he was laughing. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind so much that I skirted around his question.

I watched as Minseok skipped one of the steps leading up to the door of cabin one. He rapped on the door. “It’s Minseok. I’ve brought a friend. We need a favor.”

I stared at the back of his head. I could feel my nostrils flare and the left corner of my lip curl with slight distaste. We hadn’t even known each other for one day and he was already calling me his friend. It would have been just as easy to tell them that I was his cabin-mate. Maybe he was just trying to establish a good relationship between us right from the beginning. I knew we’d have to be friendly towards each other if we were going to be living together.

To my surprise, I slightly admired his enthusiasm. The more I thought about being his friend, the less weird it became.

I followed Minseok inside, and what I saw shocked me. Clothing was strewn all over one half of the cabin. A boy stood on the cleaner side of the room. He was clearly annoyed. He chucked articles of clothing at a bed that the mess seemed to explode from.

“I swear! I didn’t miss living with him one bit,” the round-eyed boy said. He huffed as he launched a pair of jeans through the air.

“Where is Baekhyun anyway?” Minseok piped up.

The boy stopped what he was doing and looked to where we were standing. His eyes flashed between Minseok and me. It was like he just realized that someone else was in the room besides the two of them. He didn’t bother to pay me too much attention, answering Minseok’s question first.

“Someone made a mess in here. Well, other than this one,” he said gesturing to the clothes. “He went to return the cleaning supplies.” The kid scooped up a few more clothing items and tossed them away from his area. “So who’s the new guy?”

“Kyungsoo, this is my cabin-mate-“

“Is that Minseok I hear?” A booming voice came from the door.

The screen was pulled open to reveal a fresh faced looking boy. His hair was dyed a rich brown. And his smile was bright enough to leave you blind. He reminded me of the type of guy the girls at school always swooned over. You know, the one that always hung out with the popular crowd and was overly social. He really gets along well with everyone. And just when you start thinking that you’re close enough to be friends, you get burned. He reminded me of that guy.

This camp was shaping up to be a hellish continuation of my school year.

I watched as the latest member to join our little party pulled Minseok into what could only be described as a “bro hug.” He slung an arm around his shoulder before turning to look at me.

“Oh, hello there! I’m Baekhyun. Who are you?”

“Guys, this is my cabin mate, Kim Jisoo. Jisoo, this is Baekhyun and that’s Kyungsoo,” Minseok introduced the loud kid then the doe-eyed boy. “It’s his first year here.”

There was a mumble of, “nice to meet you,” from Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun stood, studying me. I felt my body get warm under his s