When Simon’s mom forced him to go to summer camp, he thought he was going to have the worst summer ever. Sleeping in a cabin with a bunch of sweaty teenage boys and eating in a cramped building with a bunch of kids going through puberty didn’t sound appealing at all.

One day, Simon was eating at a table with a few boys and a lot of girls. As cliche as it sounds, a lot of the girls were attached to him because of his strong build and “bad-boy attitude”. He just thought of himself as a man who worked out in the summer. Nothing else. But then, he saw you. Sitting with some camp counselors, obviously looking like you didn’t want to be there just as much, if not more than him.

Simon started to slowly make small talk with you during activities and such. It started small, such as helping you with your zip-line harness or with your life jacket. Until it was already halfway through the summer and he was starting to like camp because of you.

Simon had invited you to the forest to “talk.” It was an out-of-bounds area and you were sure to get some privacy since the other kids were too scared to even go to that area. Others just went to make out. He was just a nervous teenager, sweating through his shirt from how scared he was. He liked you. A lot. His tough-guy ego was just holding him back from admitting it. So when you came, he was doing everything to avoid bringing up the subject.

“So..I heard there was a dead possum back here. If you want to go see it..” Simon murmured, kicking a rock with his hands stuffed in his hoodie pockets and his shoulders hunched to his ears.