Can You Blame Me?

 

            by Lynn Smith

 

 

Last Night:

“Yes, yes. That’d be perfect. Hehehe. I can’t wait to do that. No one will see it coming. He’s such a nice boy.” He said mocking Skye’s mother. “She’ll never allow for her ‘baby’ to get in trouble or picked on. It’ll be exactly like last time.” A cold smirk began to form at the corner of his lips. He couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Early Monday morning, Skye was sleeping in his bed with his head buried under the covers to block out the rapidly rising sun. His mother who was downstairs making waffles called out to him.

“Sweetie, it’s time to get up. The sun’s out, and breakfast is ready.”

Skye started to move and stretch. He dragged his legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. His racecar pajamas he had gotten for his birthday were matted against his back. Rubbing his eyes with his fists, he stood up and started walking over to his chair. He took another step, his foot meeting with the chair leg. He winced in pain and began hopping up and down, holding his injured foot in both hands. He fell backwards onto his bed and clenched his teeth to stop the oncoming tide of tears.

“Aw fudge! That wasn’t there last night.” Great, just what I need. Here we go again he thought.

His mom, still downstairs called up to him, “Skye? Are you almost ready? I made chocolate chip waffles. Come down to the kitchen sweetie.”

Skye stood up again, walked over to his chair and found his clothes laid out for him. There was a blue and white striped shirt, beige shorts, white socks, white tennis shoes, and a blue baseball cap on top. He dressed quickly and raced downstairs. He jumped the last two steps and went running into the kitchen.

“Hi mom,” he said with delight as he saw the big stack of waffles on a plate in the middle of the table. He sat down in his chair, reached over and grabbed three of the waffles.

“I guess you were hungry after all,” she said. Smiling, she added, “I bet you’re ready for your first day at summer camp.”

He had grabbed the maple syrup, and turned it upside down letting it drip onto his waffles, when he heard this and looked up at his mom a little uneasily. She came over to him and rubbed his back.

“Don’t worry sweetie. You’ll be fine. You won’t be stuck inside all summer, you’ll meet new friends, and have lots of-”

She grabbed the maple syrup from Skye, who had been carelessly dangling it over his plate.

“Sorry,” he muttered and lowered his head.

She kissed his cheek and hugged him.

“It’s all right. You got distracted. At least it landed on your plate instead of you. Now eat up and I’ll drive you to camp.”

He finished two helpings, brushed his teeth, grabbed his lunch bag, then headed out the door and waited in the car. His mom followed him out of the door, got in, and they were off.

Fifteen minutes later she pulled up to the camp and walked Skye to the counselors’ office. She introduced Skye to a counselor, named Dan. Then after everything else was straightened out, she hugged Skye and said goodbye. She left him alone with Dan.

“Hey little buddy. Let’s go find you a cubby to put your stuff in.”

Dan led the way to the cubbyholes, grabbing tape and a pen on his way. He let Skye pick out his cubby, then wrote Skye’s name on the tape and placed it inside so everyone would know it was Skye’s cubby.

Skye went outside and saw two boys playing Connect Four. He walked over to them and sat at the table.

“I call winners,” Skye said.

The boys looked at him then at each other and grinned.

“It’s best four out of seven.”

Skye decided to wait and play. He started talking to them and found out their names.

“I’m Skye.  Skye Kellerman.”

“I’m Tony, and this is my brother Riley.” The older of the two boys said, pointing to the boy in a light red shirt, and medium length black hair. “He doesn’t really talk much. He’s kind of shy, especially to strangers.”

“Yeah, but he knows me now right?”

“Haha. Yeah, hear that Riley? He thinks he’s not strange.” He had turned towards his brother and now turned back to Skye, looking him in the eyes he said, “With that sandy blonde hair, light blue eyes, and as pale as you are, I don’t think we’ve met anyone stranger.”

The boys studied each other for a little while, then all three started laughing.

“Can I help it if I’m not, uh what exactly are you guys anyway? Mexican?”

Appalled, Riley opened his mouth, letting his jaw hang out. Tony glared at him and said, “We’re Greek, thank you very much.”

“Oh. I’m sorry I didn’t mean... I just thought that you were.... I’m sorry.” He murmured softly.

The score was tied three all; this game determined who Skye would be playing. He had seen how both boys played, and knew what he had to do to beat either one of them. Tony beat Riley, and Skye was up.

“Winners,” Riley called.

Skye beat Tony, four to one. Riley started playing Skye, and soon became angry. Riley lost all four games. The boys grew tired of the game and decided to race each other to the big tree and back to the bench.

Tony counted down, “Three, two, one, go!” He raced off ahead of the other two, Riley and Skye ran after him, trying to catch up. Riley caught up to Tony by the big tree, and beat Tony back to the bench. Skye came in last.

More people began to arrive and settled in. By nine everyone had arrived, and Dan, Marisa, and John, the three camp counselors, put them into groups based on their age. The six to nine year olds went with Dan, ten to twelve year olds with Marisa, and teenagers with John. Tony was nine, Skye and Riley were both eight. They were all in the same group together. They had already decided that they were friends and would be their own little group. Dan introduced everyone. There were five other boys and three girls in their group.

They walked over to the tennis courts, and went four to a court. Dan was Skye’s partner, and they played against Tony and Riley. Everyone had been playing for nearly an hour and had grown tired. Skye served one last tennis ball. Up he threw it, his racket at the ready, and with as much force as he could muster. Before he smashed the ball, his eyes we’re burning with anticipation and gleamed an emerald green. Skye smashed the ball straight across the net. He heard shouting, and when he looked around, he saw everyone in his group circling around one girl. Tony and Riley looked over at Skye and shook their heads.

“Why did you do that man? That wasn’t very nice or funny.” Tony remarked with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

“I-I- I didn’t mean to, honest. The sun was in my eye and I couldn’t see where I hit it. I didn’t even know I hit it until-” He lowered his eyes to Karen and his voice cut off. He choked back his tears. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Dan carried Karen back to camp. The other campers decided to follow, keeping a safe distance from Skye. Skye tried talking to Riley and Tony, but they made it clear by walking away and glaring at him, that they didn’t want to hear his excuses.

When they got back to camp, Skye sat alone on the grass by the big tree. He couldn’t help but be confused. This happened last time, back at my last camp. I mean I don’t even remember hitting the ball or her. It’s like I wasn’t really there. He had been talking to himself for a few minutes before deciding to get up and try to make it up to Karen. Skye got up and walked back to camp. He looked for Dan, and asked him where Karen was. He went over and picked the nearest flowers he could find. They were simple white daisies. He didn’t know what she liked, and hoped this would do the trick. He brought them to Karen.

 “Hey. How you feeling?”

“I’m feeling a little better,” she said, clutching the back of her head.

“I brought you these, to make you feel better and cheer you up. When my mom’s sick she likes flowers.” He handed her the flowers and slowly walked out of the room. He glanced at her before leaving.

The other group members saw Skye trying to help, and by lunch time  he was talking with Riley and Tony again.

“I’ll trade you my pudding cup for your cookies” Riley said.

“Ok. I’m kind of sick of pudding, and I haven’t had cookies in a while.” Skye handed Riley his pudding cup and plastic spoon, and got Riley’s cookies in a plastic baggy.

They finished lunch before everyone else and decided to play a card game. They couldn’t think of any games they all knew, so they settled for Uno.

Halfway through the game, Riley started pouting and threw all his cards to the floor. Tony rolled his eyes and bent down to pick up the cards.

Skye’s mouth began to curve at the lips as a smirk spread across his face.

“Ouch! Ow, what was that?” He pulled his hand back and examined it on top of the table. His hand was red and already starting to bruise.

Skye looked over, and saw his hand, and then he saw Tony’s glare. “Why’d you step on my hand dude?” His eyes pierced through Skye’s, and his heart started to pound faster.

“You don’t think that I- I mean how could I- I didn’t mean to. I guess I didn’t realize your hand was right there I’m sorry.”

“Come on, why don’t we go to the nurse and get some ice. We can check on Karen while we’re there,” Skye said.

The boys got up and they walked to the nurses’ station. Riley and Skye had to wait outside.

“Hey, how’s Karen doing?”

“She’s doing all right. She should be fine and join us by two the latest.”

Skye drew a long sigh of relief. Then Tony and Riley began teasing him.

“Why are you so worried about Karen? Do you like her? Ooh. Skye and Karen sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage.” Both boys laughed as Skye became red from embarrassment.

“N-no its nothing like that,” he sputtered. “I just wanted to make sure she was ok. After practically smashing her head in and all.”

The boys stopped laughing, tagged Skye and said ‘you’re it,’ before running away. Skye ran after Tony, because he knew he was slower and would be easier to catch than Riley.

Running after Tony had tired him out quickly, and soon he rested a few feet from the tree. Tony teased him by getting closer then running back a few steps. Skye made a final attempt at getting Tony. He waited for Tony to get closer. Then he struck, he swiftly outstretched his arm, and ran towards Tony. He hit Tony’s arm. Tony had ended up on the floor. Bewildered at this, Riley and Skye tried to help him up. They assumed he tripped, until Tony accused Skye of pushing him onto the ground. Riley stuck up for Skye, saying there was no way Skye had pushed Tony. Tony was angry, but unable to prove Skye did it, so he dropped it.

By the end of the day, Skye felt closer to Tony and Riley then he did to anyone else.

They were sitting under the big tree and telling each other jokes and stories.

“Knock knock”

“Who’s there?”

“Ma dam.”

“Ma dam who?”

“Ma dam finger’s stuck in the door.”

The boys had a short laugh over this and decided to go back to camp. Skye said he’d catch up and went to the water fountain. He chose the one by the gate which was holding back a patch of blackberries. That’s when he struck.

Suddenly a rock struck Tony in the shoulder.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“What? What was what for?”

“Didn’t you see that rock hit me?” Tony asked Riley, who was standing there shaking his head.

Another rock hit Tony, this time it hit his right ear. A thin line of blood started streaming down his neck.

Tony and Riley cried out in shock and tried to see who was throwing the rocks, and where they had came from. They had no luck, and Riley tried getting Tony to go to the nurse again. He pushed him away, refusing to get help again. A third rock hit the back of his head with such force, that Tony was unconscious on the ground. The ambulance was called and took him to the hospital. Riley stayed with Skye back at the camp.

His mom came at four thirty. The counselors talked to her, and asked her to keep an eye on Skye. They felt bad for him, because he was having a hard time fit in and his friend was in the hospital.

Before he left, he heard Riley on the phone.

“Ya I know. I’m just glad you’re all right. Hey listen I was thinking, you know your theory about him right? Well I think it might’ve been him. I mean he did hurt Karen, then stepped on your hand. And he wasn’t around when you were hit or anything, I mean he might’ve-”

Skye stood in the doorway, his eyes glowing deep emerald. A grin slowly spread across his face.