I walked into the unknown building with my boyfriend Kyle. Our parents had decided to send us to a nature camp in Texas for the summer to get us out of the house. We checked in and then went our separate ways to our cabins. In mine, a girl was already getting settled into one of the bunks. Her name was Meagan. Over the next few hours we became really good friends. But what I did not know was that I would soon experience a heartbreak that would not only involve me but the someone I loved very much. That someone was a person who meant the world to me. That someone was Kyle.
Just then the lunch bell rang, sending both Meagan and me two feet into the air. “We’d better head down to lunch.” Meagan suggested while walking out the door.
“I’m right behind you. I wonder what’s for lunch. It better not be brown chunks and lumpy potatoes.”
“Eww! For once I had a big appetite and you ruined it. No fair!”
We walked into the dining hall. In my stomach I had this gut feeling something was going to happen. What was going to happen would be the start of my heartbreak. Ready to eat, I turned around to Meagan only to find her staring at the most gorgeous-looking guy in the whole place. My most gorgeous-looking guy. My Kyle.
I couldn’t not eat lunch with him. He was all alone at a table far to the right of the place. But I couldn’t leave Meagan alone either. So I grabbed her arm and dragged her to his table.
“Wh - - What are you doing?” she questioned nervously.
“We are going to eat with him. He’s a really good friend of mine.”
“I don’t want to make a fool out of myself in front of him. He’s so hot!”
“Don’t worry,” I calmly replied, “You don’t have to worry much about what he thinks. He already has a girlfriend.”
”What!? A girlfriend? That stinks. How do you know that?”
“I happen to be his girlfriend.”
“You!? His girlfriend? I feel like an idiot.” Meagan was starting to shake and tremble with fear. “I just pretty much told you I had the biggest crush on him. Now what am I supposed to do?”
“Forget about this whole thing.” We arrived at Kyle’s table. “Let’s just eat.”
Sitting across from Kyle and me, Meagan opened her lunch very slowly and took a small bite of her sandwich. Pure silence. Well, at our table anyway. I decided to break the ice. “So, Kyle, this is my room mate Meagan.” I looked up and Meagan was starting to blush. If I had ten dollars, I would bet that she was embarrassed.
Being the shy guy Kyle was, he didn’t look up. “Okay.” He mumbled.
After we were done eating, we all went back to our cabins. We all were given another hour to get our stuff settled before our first activity. The walk back to the cabins was nothing but silence, which was kind of awkward. I was hoping she’d say something to break the silence. And just as if I was a psychic, she spoke up.
“I’m really sorry to be crushing on your boyfriend. I had no idea. Honestly. I just happen to be attracted to him. I feel really bad, but - -“
“ Don’t worry about it. I can’t control who likes Kyle and who doesn’t. But we are here for the whole summer and there are gazillions of guys here. Who knows. There could be a couple guys now just waiting to get the chance to be your boyfriend.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” She softly concluded to herself.
No more talking. Just plain silence. Then suddenly the activities bell rang, giving the both of us our second heart attack of the day. Heading to the activities head quarters, I snuck a glance over at Meagan. She was silently walking, but dragging her feet as heavily as she could. I took a look at her face. Other than maybe being a little angry for some unknown reason, she had no expression whatsoever.
We were now at the building. Kyle raced up to me. “I’m not in your activities group. I specifically asked to be. This really stinks.” He looked at me for a second then stuck out his bottom lip and made a puppy dog face. Then he spoke again, this time with more of an edge to his voice. “Your friend Meagan is in my group, though.”
“Have fun!” I sarcastically remarked. But I wasn’t worried. I couldn’t be worried. Kyle was the kind of person who was friendly to everyone, but would never think of cheating on me.
I walked over to my group. I didn’t really know anyone so walking on the orange trail was pretty boring. After a while, maybe two hours or so, the orange trail we were on crossed the blue trail. A group was approaching us at the point where their trail and ours met. I could make out one person I knew. Meagan. I started smiling. If Meagan was in Kyle’s group, then Kyle was there, too. Just then I spotted Kyle. But it was a sight I really didn’t want to see. He was talking to Meagan. I wouldn’t have cared if it was just that. But it wasn’t. He was smiling. She was laughing and smiling back. And then he flicked her hair.
He only ever used to flick my hair! So angry, I stormed passed him not even holding a gaze with him. If he called my name or said hi, I didn’t hear him. I didn’t want to hear him. Not at this moment. And to think I was stupid enough to tell myself he would never cheat on me…
Finally it was time for each group to meet back at the activities head quarters. Everyone trailed off from their pre-set groups to their own group of friends to talk. My only group was Meagan and Kyle. I walked up to them. It looked like they were already having a conversation of their own. They stopped talking when I approached. Kyle ran up to me and gave me an enormous hug. “I missed you a lot. I really wish you would have been in my group.”
Trying not to act emotionally hurt, I responded with as much of a cheery voice as I could. “I missed you too. My group was very boring and I knew no one.”
“Oh. Well maybe next time you’ll know someone.”
So mad, I started walking to my cabin. I was going to respond, but my feelings were too hurt. I didn’t even get an ‘Oh. Well maybe next time I’ll be in your group.’ He was probably thinking of ways to get into Meagan’s group without making it seem like it was pre-planned. Well he wasn’t smart enough for me. If that’s how he wants to spend his summer, then fine. Let him spend it with her. She’s the smarter, prettier, all-around better girl. To him, it seems I don’t matter anymore.
So in my devious mind that I now developed, I concocted a plan. A mean plan; one to make Kyle jealous. And I knew just how to do it. My first step was to completely ignore Meagan. Who cares if she’s my room mate. She can move to another cabin or stop stealing my boyfriend away from me. Boy, am I ticked right now. Arriving at my cabin, I opened the door and flopped down on my bed. Tears just started streaming from my face.
A few minutes later, Meagan walked through the door. Thinking I was asleep, she moved quietly into the bathroom and started to take her shower. I am kind of glad she thought I was sleeping. The last thing on my mind was to talk to her at this moment. That little boyfriend stealer…
I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up and everything was pitch black. Fishing my cell phone out of my back pack, I looked at the time. 7:30pm. I missed supper. ‘Oh great.’ I thought to myself. Meagan is eating super with Kyle. Just the two of them alone at the table. Calculating how much time was left for supper, I realized I wouldn’t make it in time to join in on their conversations. So I knew what I had to do.
After I was sure that dinner was over, I walked to Kyle’s cabin. This was an extreme no-no, but I had to. I knocked on his door. Some guy opened it and I asked for Kyle. In a few seconds, Kyle was standing next to me. “What’s wrong?”
“I think you should know by now.”
“Um, you are going to have to explain because I have no idea what you are talking about.”
My voice getting edgy, I stingily replied, “You. Meagan. What’s going on? Is there something I should know about?”
“What are you talking about? Nothing is going on between me and her. We are just friends. Can’t friends talk and hang out?”
I was about ready to rip his head off. “That’s fine. I know friends can hang out. But she shouldn’t fully take the place of me. I see how you act around her. How you smile. How she laughs and giggles. It hurts me. I’m heartbroken and it’s all you two’s faults.”
“I don’t love her. She’s the one who loves me. I love you more than anything in the whole entire world. You mean everything to me, and you know that. I don’t see why you think I like her.”
Realizing I might have jumped to conclusions too soon, I said, “I’d really like to believe you. And I pretty much do. I guess I just got carried away. I worry about us and I don’t want anything to happen to our relationship. It just bugs me how she acts around you. All flirty and everything and batting her eyelashes at you. It makes me want to gag.”
“I’d shoot myself before I’d cheat on you. I promise.” Tears starting to form in his eyes, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me for what seemed like hours. So sorry, I just started crying uncontrollably into his shoulder. He whispered in my ear how much he loved me then started walking. I ran up to meet him and he grabbed a hold of my hand.
Smiling at me in a little boy way, he softly promised. “Nothing will ever come between us again. I don’t want to lose you. I love you. And I want you to know something: I will never be your heartbreaker.”
