Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2015 20:26:40 +0000 (UTC)
From: Eric Foster <efoster447@yahoo.com>
Subject: David Part 1

Disclaimer: this story contains sexual material. If you are not 18 or over,
or this is not legal in your country you should not read any further. This
material may offend if you find homosexual acts offensive or homosexual
acts between younger boys offensive. All similarities between this story's
plot line, characters, names, places, or any other item are purely
coincidence

David

      I leaned against the seat as the bus made its turn off the main
road. The central white building was only two stories tall, but it was
prominent over the surrounding fields of green grass. My eyes lazily
drifted over the scenery as we continued down the narrow stretch of dirt
road leading us further to the white building. The bag began to feel heavy
on my lap so I placed it down on the other part of my seat. I reached in
for a moment and pulled out a peppermint. I didn't really want it, and my
breath didn't stink as far as I was aware. I just wanted something to do.

	I settled on flipping through the leaflet I was handed back at the
church.


Welcome to New Light Methodist Study Camp for boys (12-14)!!

We're blessed to have you and look forward to you growing closer to god!

	I didn't have anything against the camp. I enjoyed my church
enough, and the youth leader was pretty cool. I just had other things I
wanted to do this summer. It was only a week though. Well more like three
days with two days of travel. I guess can handle it. My youth leader spoke
up and brought me out of my trance

"Okay everyone we're almost here, so make sure you've got all your stuff
ready for check in!"


I joined in the small round of applause through the bus. The four hour bus
journey was coming to an end. I excitedly looked over at Austin. I was
friends with most of the youth group, but Austin was probably my best
friend. We'd already agreed to be roommates for the week. I watched him get
up and move my stuff over to sit down next to me.

"So which half do you want?"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"We're not even there yet and it's just the room."

Austin shrugged his shoulders with his response.

"Yeah, but it's really the only thing I'm looking forward to on this trip"
Austin said, rolling his eyes.

I understood his sentiment. We were both caught off guard by our youth
leader speaking up as the bus came to a stop.

"Now before we begin check in, we've got assigned rooming for you..."

I looked over at Austin and our eyes locked, our faces in shock. A chorus
of boos rang out in the bus as other buddy pairs were broken up.

Our youth leader shouted a few times before he finally got the group
settled down.

"Yes, I know you're disappointed, but the camp assigned the rooming since
we're not the only group there. We'll get the rooming assignments once we
begin check in"

I raised my hand "Abraham, are we allowed to get our roommate changed?"

Abraham shook his head with an 'I'm sorry' look.

"Sorry Joseph, the camp made up the list and will only change under certain
circumstances."

I leaned back into my seat and looked over at Austin. His face looked
equally disappointed but with at least a hint of hope.

"Maybe god will help us out?" Austin said, half sarcastically, half
hopeful.

"Or maybe we're just going to have to hang out in the commons a bunch" I
said trying to offer a solution.

"It's not the same as sharing rooms"

I nodded my head in agreement. The privacy provided by a room went
unmatched. Plus we couldn't stay up late in the commons and talk all night.
We couldn't have our time together as friends. And to maybe a lesser
extent, or significantly less than I'm willing to admit, I wouldn't get the
chance to see him before a shower or after being at the lake. I wasn't even
sure what I wanted out of it. I just liked seeing him without his clothes
on. I liked seeing his bare skin. I felt myself shaking and looked over at
Austin who had a goofy smile on his face.

"You gonna get off the bus?"

I looked around and realized we were one of the last ones off.

"Na I'll just wait here till you guys are done" I said with a sarcastic
grin.

Austin shook his head and rolled his eyes as he began walking down the
aisle towards the exit.

"Have fun in the bus"

I got up and was behind him moments later as we walked in through the large
glass doors. The commons room had three branches leading off it to the
rooms and various halls for study and group sessions. Plus there was a
large chapel in the back next to the lake behind the center building.

	Abraham asked us to wait in the commons room until he got things
sorted with the check in people. I'd already gotten off too late to get one
of the few seats that were spread over the commons room. I didn't plan to
sit on the tables either. They were too low and I was pretty sure the camp
people wouldn't have liked that. So I opted to just walk over and stand
behind a couch near Austin. I leaned on the back of it and let out a bit of
an exaggerated sigh.

"I didn't think nowhere was so far away"

That got a couple of laughs from the other boys on the couch.

"Yeah, that bus ride sucked pretty badly." One of the boys responded.

"Seriously, and my IPod died half way through" Another said, holding up the
now dead music player.

I shook my head, understanding the feeling.

"That blows" Austin said with a nod at the other boy.

"Why didn't they just build this place in Savannah? At least there we
could've gone and done something cool" The other boy lamented.

"I think they wanted somewhere quiet so we could focus more on god"

The rest of the boys and I grew quieter, and a bit uncomfortable. Zach was
always more serious about church than the rest of us. A few other boys in
the youth group were like him. I guess the rest of us just didn't see a
point in having to fake being pious. I mean did god really care that much
that we acted our age?

"Okay guys we're all checked in now. Now the much awaited part!"

Abraham had to quickly take a few steps back as twenty middle and high
school boys crowded around him, desperately awaiting their assignment.

"Whoa! Guys wait a second! If you guys pummel me who'll drive the bus
back?"

"Pass me the keys Abraham" Austin said reaching out.

We all began laughing as Abraham put on a smile and rolled his eyes.

"Ask me again in 3 years when you've got your license and then we'll talk."

Abraham pulled out his glasses case and put on the black rectangular
glasses. He held up the list and scanned it over.

"Okay Austin, you're with Alex"

Austin looked over at me, a clear expression of disappointment was on his
face. But I also knew he was close friends with Alex to, so he'd be cool
with all three of us hanging in his room. It still wasn't the same. I held
out my hand for a fist bump and nodded as he walked over to Alex. I smiled
a little knowing at least he'd have a good roommate. I looked up at
Abraham, and noticed a slight raise in his eyebrows. I felt my chest
tighten. Something felt wrong.

"David" The slightest pause passed, and I knew exactly what it meant
"You'll be rooming with Joseph"

Fuck! Of seventeen other boys and it had to be the one I hate in this
group. I looked over at him.

He was already looking at me. The freckles under his blue eyes scrunched
up. I could read them 'you've gotta be kidding me'. I'm sure my face had
the same expression.

"Abraham, you sure we can't get a room change?" David asked loudly.

The group went silent. Abraham looked up from the board. An uncomfortable
expression was on his face.

"I'm certain you and Joseph can get along for the week. You're both
thirteen, I trust you can handle acting like adults" Abraham said, a little
sternly.

I'm pretty sure my glare could've substituted as a high powered death
ray. I wasn't particularly looking forward to the week as it was. I think
this was the icing on the cake. A shitload of icing for that matter.

Abraham finished calling off the roll far too soon before sending us to our
separate rooms. Just as David and I were about to head off Abraham called
us over.

"I understand you two have a history of conflict. I'd really like you two
to try and use this week to get closer. God calls us to love each other"
Abraham said calmly looking at us both.

I looked over briefly at David. I didn't see it happening.

"I want you to try and find something you can get along on"

"You sure we can't change our rooming assignments?" I heard David ask.

"Yes, and even if we could, I want you two to see this week as a
challenge. This is god testing you both, and I want to see you come out of
it with flying colors" Abraham said placing his hands on our shoulders.

"Can I trust you'll at least try to make this week a good one?" Abraham
said with a confident smile.

I already knew I may as well just give in. Maybe I could just go hang out
with Alex and Austin and stay out of my room until I had to sleep. It
didn't seem like a horrible plan.

"I'll try" I said reluctantly.

"I guess I will to" David said with equal dispassion.

I knew Abraham could see that we weren't being genuine, but I think he knew
it was the best he'd get at the moment.

"Okay, I'm going to go and check on the rest of the group" Abraham said
with a nod as he walked back towards the commons.

I gave a momentary glance over at David. I saw the discontent in his eyes,
but I chose to ignore him. I walked over to the door and held it open. Just
as I'd stepped my foot over the entryway I heard David call out "Ladies
first!"

I stopped mid stride and quickly stepped back out into the hallway.

"Oh I'm sorry!" I said in an exaggerated tone "Here go ahead then" I used
my hands to guide him towards the entrance.

A dark scowl formed on his face as he unwillingly went in first. I watched
him toss his stuff onto the right side bed.

"Hey I wanted the right side!"

David turned around from the bed.

"Ladies first remember! I get to choose the bed first then!" David said
mockingly as he laughed at me.

I was only seconds into sharing this room with him and I was ready to slug
him. I turned around and took a breath. The first, and thus far only time,
I'd gotten into a fight was with David. That got Abraham, the pastor, and
my parents pretty upset. I didn't want another two weeks of being told why
god wanted me to love my brothers in Christ and not hit them. I let out a
sigh and silently unpacked my stuff.

The quiet was almost unbearable. There was a distinctive tension in the
air. I guess we both agreed it was simply better we not talk at all rather
than waste our time and energy in throwing insults at each other. There'd
be plenty of time for that after we recouped from four hours on a god dam
bus.

A moment later we both were caught off guard as we heard the door behind us
open. I saw Nicholas standing in the doorway holding his phone. He looked
over at me first and gave a single nod. I nodded back. I didn't know him
too well, but we had mutual respect despite him being best friends with
David.

"David, I've got to show you this video I found on YouTube" Nicholas said,
motioning David outside.

"Sure" David said walking towards the doorway.

I was about to turn back around, just as David finished his sentence midway
out the door.

"Anything to get out of here"

I tried to turn around and shout something back but he was already gone. I
felt rage building up inside of me. I grabbed my pillow and threw it
against the wall as I punched into my mattress. I took a breath as I
considered the week ahead of me. I nearly flipped out as a hand grabbed
onto my shoulder. I threw myself around and was mere inches from slamming
into Austin.

"Whoa!"

Austin reached out and grabbed my shoulders to keep us from colliding.

"Sorry about that" I said as I sat down onto the mattress.

"It can't have been that bad already?" Austin said, somewhat sarcastically.

"Just about"

I didn't hide any of the anger from my voice. I heard Austin let out a sigh
as he sat down next to me on my bed.

"It's only a week man and you can come to my room whenever. Alex is pretty
cool" Austin said, smiling.

"Thanks"

I tried to put on a hopeful smile, but I knew it looked weak.

"Anyway, we've got dinner in twenty minutes. We need to get to the dining
hall" Austin said standing up, bringing me up with him.

We both followed the hallways out into one of the small court yards between
two of the branches. We walked down a short pathway and soon arrived at the
dining hall. It had tall ceilings and one large open seating area with a
kitchen and serving station attached onto this room. We found Abraham and
the rest of our group and grabbed some seating towards the end of the
table. I'd sat down and soon became immersed in the conversation with Alex
and Austin.

"So what're you planning to do after this?" Alex asked me.

I really wasn't sure so I shrugged my shoulders.

"Work some on my YouTube channel. Get better at skateboarding so I can
compete this fall"

I really was hoping I could get good enough to make the cuts for this fall
competition.

"You'll have to beat me first" Austin said slyly as he shrugged me a
little.

"So just don't wipe out on the first half pipe?" I shot back with a wicked
grin.

"My wheel failed" Austin said rolling his eyes.

Me and Alex couldn't help but laugh some at Austin's despair. Though in all
honesty he was pretty good at skateboarding. It was one of the first things
that got us together as friends. Once we found out we attended the same
school and church, it sealed the deal.

It was only moments later that the head pastor came over the
loudspeaker. He began with a short speech telling us he looked forward to
the camp, and everything else you'd expect. He then explained the serving
lines to us and opened us with a quick prayer. I let out a sigh of relief
knowing we wouldn't have to endure an hour long speech like the last
pastor.

The food was fine. It was a little better than the school cafeteria food so
it was at least somewhat appetizing. I began to cut up the baked chicken
and washed it down with some of the sweet tea.

At least they got it right. Then again it was pretty hard to mess up sweet
tea.

"So which workshops are you going to tomorrow?"

I shrugged my shoulders again.

"I've not had the chance to look over the list. How about you Alex?"

"I think 'the word and world' and 'what makes life important'"

"What was the second one about" I asked "Just what god says about our life
and what we're supposed to do with it while we're still around" Alex
explained.

"I think I might attend that one" I replied looking over at Austin Then,
out of the corner of my eye, I caught David's stare for a moment. I shifted
my gaze just as he shifted his back down to his food. What the hell was
that? He was probably just figuring out some way to mock me again. What an
ass.

"I think I'll give it a try" Austin said with a nod.

The meal continued to go by and before I realized it we were done and
heading to the commons to meet up. Abraham had us all sit down somewhere
that was less crowded by the other groups.

We all tried to huddle around him so we could hear.

"Okay guys, so I know you're all excited to be off the bus and begin camp
and hang out but tonight I want you to stay in your rooms" That was quickly
received by my own and others boos.

"Guys I know, but just tonight while things get settled just stay in your
rooms. Tomorrow night and the rest of the week I promise you can go and
hang out until lights out. But just tonight okay?"

The group gave a reluctant okay as we each said goodnight and headed off to
our respective rooms. I'd gotten to my room before David got there and
pulled out one of my books to read. I'd just started on the first words
when I heard to door open. There, standing in the door way was David. He
was decked out in a semi-tight sports shirt, sport pants, neon blue
trainers with neon orange socks, one of those stupid sports necklaces and a
hat with some weird black deer logo on it. His curly blonde hair was meshed
under the edges and his tan skin stuck out against the blue shirt. The
little body hair he had and blue eyes with freckles wrapped up the package
of the biggest asshole named David.

I went back to reading my book and hardly took notice of him lying on his
own bed as he started scrolling through his phone. I wasn't sure how much
time had passed but I'd just finished four chapters when I was interrupted
by David calling my name.

"What?"

I looked over when a bright flash blinded me for a few moments as I tried
to cover my eyes.

"That's going on my snapchat" David said with a laugh as I heard a tone
indicating he'd sent off the picture.

"Fuck you! At least I can read" I said smugly as I went back to my book.

"I can read! The school put me in honors classes" David shot back as he sat
up.

"I guess everyone makes mistakes" I said calmly, not even looking up from
my book.

"Yeah like when they placed you on track team?"

"I've competed at state!" I shot back, finally sitting up from my bed.

"Yeah and I've gone to state, which is ten times harder in football!"

"HA! It must be real hard missing third down and losing the game!" I could
feel my blood beginning to boil as my chest tightened and my thoughts
raced.

"The ref made a bad call!!" David shot back, his eyes becoming menacing as
he began to sit up from his bed.

"Yeah keep telling yourself that" I said, my voice laced with venom.

"At least I don't lose the state competition by five seconds!" David said
with a smug grin.

"So what! My team won at least! And at least I'm not a pompous asshole all
the time!"

"I'm an asshole, really!?" David said with a laugh.

"Oh Abraham look how nice of a person I am! Look how much I can do! Watch
me post lame YouTube videos no one cares about!" David said mockingly as
sticking out his tongue at the end of his rant.

"Oh look, I dress like an idiot wearing neon sports clothes and stupid
overpriced necklaces.

Because I'm just so fucking cool and not confident enough because I've got
an ugly girlfriend and a small dick!" I shot back.

"Amada is beautiful!" David was standing up and walking halfway across the
room.

I quickly got up and was only a foot away from him now.

"Oh so you do have a small dick" I said with a smug grin and evil look in
my eyes.

This guy pissed me off so much. I was so ready to punch him right now. I
didn't care about having to deal with my parents or the pastor
anymore. This asshole had it coming to him.

"It's twenty times bigger than yours" David said, anger raging beneath his
quieter tone.

"In your dreams" I said through gritted teeth.

"I guess life's a dream then" David, taking a step back.

My eyes never looked anywhere but in the dead center of his. The blue in
his eyes sarcastically smiling at me, as if he'd won.

"Nah, that can't be right" I said with a wicked grin as I sat down on my
bed.

"Oh really?" David asked.

"You said it yourself, ladies first, and you chose beds first" I said
calmly, enjoying the look on his face as a dark scowl formed.

Just as that moment passed we were both startled by the knocking at our
door. Abraham walked in a moment later with smile on his face, which
quickly turned to a more concerned expression, reading the tension in the
room.

"Everything okay in here?" Abraham said, more as an 'I better not walk in
on a fight' tone than a question.

"We're fine" David said, trying to sound genuine.

I knew Abraham didn't buy it, but he had other things to do.

"Okay, well lights out is in about ten minutes, so you two need to get to
bed and be sure to keep quiet if you decide to talk after that"

I snorted a little as I laughed at the idea. Five minutes of talking nearly
led us to a fight. I'd avoid talking to him like the plague.

"Goodnight Abraham" I said as I started pulling out my nightwear.

"Goodnight Joseph, Goodnight David"

"Goodnight Abraham" David said as Abraham left the room.

I'd pulled off my shirt and pants and replaced them with a light pair of
shorts and a white t-shirt.

I looked over to see David wearing white silky shorts and a white shirt,
all adorned with the Nike logo. It looked so stupid to wear that to bed. It
was just sleepwear, why is he paying all that money for clothes no one else
saw?

I didn't ponder the question as I lay down in my bed and continued reading
my book. I heard David get up from his bed as he walked over to the light
switch next to the door.

"I'm turning out the lights" David said as he flipped off the switch.

"Good, so I don't have to look at those ugly clothes anymore"

I only realized after I'd said it that I'd said it out loud instead of in
my mind.

"Yeah, so I don't have to see your stupid vans and crappy skater clothes"
David shot back before turning over in his bed.

I didn't want to get into another argument and instead turned over in my
bed and tried to let myself go to sleep. I found rest quickly arriving as I
closed my eyes and tried to look forward to the week head. Then again with
David a mere fifteen or so feet away for seven nights, it seemed damn near
impossible.



The morning light came far too soon. I heard my alarm go off moments before
a knocking came from the door.

"Time for breakfast guys, get up and get dressed" Abrahams muffled voice
came through the door.

I rolled around bed a few times before willing/forcing myself over the edge
so I wouldn't fall back asleep. I stood up and rummaged through the small
dresser I'd put my clothes in. A moment later I heard David getting out of
bed. I looked over and the first thing I noticed was that he was now
shirtless. I didn't like him at all, but I couldn't deny that football had
done him some good. His muscle definition was already forming a six pack
and chest muscles. His skin was slightly paler under his shirt, but still
tanner than most. I wasn't sure if it was because I'd just woken up, or I
was delirious, but he was actually pretty hot if you put aside his piss
poor personality. The second thing I noticed however was the morning wood
he was sporting. It wasn't much, but then again neither was mine. His silky
shorts didn't do much to conceal what was there. I hadn't realized I'd been
staring a bit too long. I looked up and noticed his eyes had just moved up
as well. Our eyes met for a moment, and I saw his cheeks blush, but I know
mines did as well.

"What?" I heard the nervous words stumble out of his mouth.

"Nothing" I said quietly as I went back to finding some clothes to wear for
the day.

I couldn't imagine he was just checking me out, was he? He must have just
been comparing sizes like all guys do. I'm sure it's something all the
jocks on the football team do. I know some of the track guys do to. I let
it go and grabbed a t-shirt and pants. I pulled off my sleep-ware and
slipped on the shorts and t-shirt. I pulled on my vans and walked out the
door moments before David followed me out. I quickly found Alex and Austin
allowing me to separate myself and get back into my group.

"So how'd you sleep?" Alex asked.

"Fine. I wouldn't have minded another two or three hours. I like getting up
around 10"

"You always sleep in late" Austin lamented rolling his eyes.

"Sorry I'm not weird and get up at 8 everyday" I replied, laughing.

"He does that on sleepovers" Alex said.

"I know he does."

"Thanks guys, you really have my back don't you" Austin said, rolling his
eyes again as he opened the doors to the dining hall.

"No problem" I said walking up behind Austin and patting him on the back.

It felt like only moments later I was walking back out of the dining hall
after a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and cereal. I looked around at the
fields of green and clear blue skies. It felt picturesque. I was quickly
drawn out of this state of observation by Austin's voice.

"So which workshop should we go to?"

I pulled out the sheet with the list of the workshops offered today. I
scanned through the list. My attention was caught by the third one down.


Christ and the new world: In a world where technology is quickly becoming
our center for attention, what happened to our attention being on Christ?
Why is his grace and sacrifice no longer our focus? Why do we now focus on
getting more stuff and getting it faster? Let's talk about how we can let
our center on Christ allow us to navigate the new world of technology and
social media.


"How about this one?"

I passed the sheet to Austin and let him read over the one I'd pointed
out. I heard Austin let out a small 'hmm' noise and pass back the sheet to
me.

"It sounds pretty interesting. Let's go then"

We walked to building C which was due west of the main building. We went
inside and walked down the short hallway to the room that was marked with
the title of the workshop. I walked inside and grabbed a seat with Austin
while we waited for the workshop to start.

"So do you want to come over tonight after dinner?" Austin asked after a
few minutes of waiting.

"Yes Please!" I responded with exaggeration. Half sarcastically, half
seriously.

"Cool. Alex brought a deck of cards and a board game we could play."

"Which one?"

"I think its clue" Austin said, looking up to the right trying to remember.

Just as he had finished his sentence, out of the corner of my eye I saw
David walk in. I immediately looked over and saw his gaze meet mine. We
averted our eyes, neither of us particularly happy to see the other one. I
also became keenly aware that the only seat left in the workshop was the
one next to me. I felt myself tense, hoping he'd just leave. I felt the
relief sweep over me as I saw him begin to turn around. It was then the
workshop leader got up and began talking.

"Hello there, do you need a place to sit?" The woman asked.

"No I'm fine I'll just attend another shop" David said, trying to turn
around and leave.

"It's completely fine, there's a seat next to that young man right there"
The woman said, gesturing towards the empty seat next to me.

"It's fine really" David said again, trying to leave.

"Please" The woman repeated, though with a little more certainty "It's fine
if you join us" The woman paused for a moment "plus most of the workshops
are filled by now, so please, we'd be happy to have you join us" The woman
said again gesturing to the seat next to me.

I could see David wasn't comfortable and reluctantly walked over and took
the seat next to me. I looked over at Alex who had an uncomfortable look as
well. I felt tense and angst at the thought that I'd have to endure this
shop next to this person. The woman got up and started rambling on about
her power point on the screen. I'd be interested normally, but it was
difficult with my attention being focused on David. Then out of nowhere the
workshop leader said something about talking to the person next to us. I
wasn't sure what she wanted us to talk about but I quickly turned towards
Alex, only to be stopped halfway.

"If you'd talk to the young man to your left, since he's at the end of the
row, that'd be greatly appreciated" the workshop leader said with a smile,
gesturing towards David.

I looked over at David, expecting some douche bag look of 'why the hell am
I having to talk to you'. Instead I was shocked to see nothing of the
sort. He just looked, well, normal. Then he spoke.

"So what do you think it means?" David asked calmly.

"What?" I asked, in shock that he seemed to just want a normal
conversation.

"I said what do you think?" He repeated, clearly not wanting to.

"I..." I looked up at the power point for some clue as to what the question
was.

"Were you even paying attention" David asked critically.

"I was, mostly" I said, stammering a bit, caught off by this new
development.

"Jeez, why'd you even come here if you're not going to listen? That's
really lame" David said, turning away from me to look across the room.

And there was the asshole part of David again. But for a fleeting moment,
it almost seemed that he wanted to have a normal conversation. He didn't
throw any insults at me, well not until he realized that I was too tense to
pay attention. I was thrown for a bit of a loop but moments later the
workshop leader spoke back up and the presentation continued. I did my best
to pay attention, in hopes that I could avoid another situation like
that. Plus I was genuinely interested in the presentation. Time waned on
and at some point I didn't even notice David next to me anymore. I was just
focused on the presentation. It was then the workshop leader asked us a
discussion question.

"I'd like you to talk to your discussion buddy about a time when you felt
lost and what you did to resolve that"

I looked over at David who shrugged his shoulders.

"I can start" David said.

I nodded for him to continue.

"When I first got to middle school I felt pretty lost. I'd moved here from
Tennessee so I didn't have any of my old friends. So I joined football
since I played it back in Tennessee and I wanted to make new friends on the
team. I've got a lot of friends on the team now and I found new friends who
weren't on the team because of my friends who were on the team" David
explained.

I nodded, finding sympathy for his statement. I surprised myself that I
actually felt okay with just having a normal conversation with David. I
hardly ever talked to him, and here we were just talking like normal
people. I began.

"When I got to the US when I was 7 I didn't feel like I belonged here. I
had an accent and I spoke to my parents in French and my friends in
English. So I didn't have a lot of confidence. I felt pretty lost here so I
started skateboarding. I began making a lot of friends at the skate parks
and was able to feel more okay with myself being here" I tried explaining
the best I could. I still felt embarrassment creeping through me in the
form of my cheeks blushing.

"You're not American?"

There it was.

"No, I'm Canadian" I said, my eyes diverted to the left.

David simply shrugged with a 'so what' face.

"You're here now right?"

I was confused by his statement.

"Well....yeah?"

"Then that's all that matters. You're an American now" David said, sounding
sympathetic.

I wasn't just shocked by David's sentiment, though I didn't really have a
word to describe how I felt about it. Was he actually trying to be nice to
me? It seemed like such an unlikely scenario that I wasn't really sure how
to react. Maybe we could just talk like normal people? I wouldn't mind it
if we could. I didn't like not liking people. I'd rather be friends with
people if I could.

The rest of the workshop went by in a flash. I felt I got a lot out of it
in terms of interesting information, but what seemed to hold precedent was
how I saw David. I'd never assumed he was anything but a jerk 24/7, but
what happened seemed to defy that. We held a normal conversation.

No arguments, no insults, just talking. I don't think we'd ever normally
talked since I first met him. I was snapped out of my thoughts by Austin
shaking my shoulder.

"Dude you there?" He asked with a bemused grin.

I looked around and realized I'd somehow got to the main building without
even thinking about it. I shook my head a few times to try and get myself
to focus.

"Sorry I'm just a bit out of it right now" I said, trying to force myself
to stop thinking about what'd happened.

"Yeah I can tell man" Austin said with a light chuckle as we walked into
the commons.

"So we've got lunch, another workshop, and then the lake" Austin said with
a smile.

"Thank god, it's so freaking hot outside. I'd love to take a dip right now"
I said fanning myself.

The high temperatures were already bad enough. Add in the sweltering
humidity of South Georgia on top of all that and you've got an oven.

"Just wait here a second. I'm going to grab Alex for lunch and we'll head
over to the cafeteria"

Austin said as he wondered off to his room.

I sat down on the seat in the commons and began to ponder what I'd do when
I got back. I needed to get a few more tricks down before I could post
another video on it. Plus if I wanted a chance at competing and winning I
needed some more practice. The heat made it difficult to stay out for very
long. A moment later I heard the door open on the other side of the
commons. I looked over to see David walking in with Nicholas in tow. Our
eyes met for just a moment. I noticed just the slightest of nods. No
insults, no squinting of his eyes, just a small nod. With that he and
Nicholas were down the hall and out of sight. A second later Alex and
Austin appeared from behind me.

"Ready for lunch?" Austin asked, Alex directly beside him.

I nodded and got up to head over to lunch.



Authors Note: Hey everyone. My name is Eric Foster. I've posted other
stories on Nifty and decided to give one from a first person view point a
try. This story was in part inspired by my own life and is also to an
extent fictional. It started when my mom and I were driving my brother up
from his college in South Georgia. I'd just gotten off for fall break (I'm
currently still in College this this had all occurred only a few months
ago). We passed a building that looked just like the main building and it
inspired me to write a story about it. So I mixed in my own life and some
fictional elements and there it is. So if you get a chance I'd love to hear
back your feedback and commentary. My email is EFoster447@yahoo.com .  I
really do love hearing from my readers, and it helps to motivate me to keep
writing. Also check out my other stories, Starlit, Restart, and my best
known one In Time Series.

So for those who read the In Time series and are wondering why I'm not
working on it at the moment. If you've read the authors notes you'd know
I'm bipolar. So I meant to work on it this summer and got commissioned to
write articles for a magazine so I had to do that. Then when I was going to
start again I went through a really bad mixed episode and am now
stabilizing from it. The next parts for the In Time Series are very
emotionally involved so I'm just not ready to start on it again, so I wrote
this instead. I'll get back to it I promise but It'll probably be late
November or early December.

Anyway thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I greatly
appreciate it. Let me know what you think. The other parts will be posted
soon. Thanks!