In the Mirror II

The friends that I had made at camp were five of the greatest people that I could ever hope to meet. Our friendship had started that first fateful year. All six of us were very apprehensive about being at camp and away from our parents, but somehow we bumped into each other all at once. Only Matt seems to remember how it happened. According to him we were all in a canoeing class together. Jen and I were in one canoe, Ace and Matt in another, and then Sam and Henri.   

            Matt and Ace were having the worst time trying to work together. Somehow they just couldn’t get it, and they ended up tipping the canoe over. Jen and I were the closest ones to the scene and tried to help them into our canoe, which didn’t work because Matt and Ace were arguing over who was going to get in first and on what side. The result was that not only were Matt and Ace still in the water, but so were Jen and I.

            At this point it was Sam and Henri who can to our rescue. Because I was the smallest of the four in the water I was helped into the canoe by Henri. Sam began to direct Matt and Ace on how to right their canoe while Jen clung to the side of Sam and Henri’s canoe. Under Sam’s direction the other canoe was righted and Ace and Matt figured-out how to get in. Jen, try as she might, couldn’t crawl back in the canoe with Ace and Matt, so she hung to the side of their canoe. With the added weight it took us some time to get back to the small beach.

            The four of us who were in the water were shivering when we got back. On the beach we all wrapped our towels around one another and huddled. At first we were still a little shy, but then we slowly began to talk to one another. Eventually we were talking and laughing as if we had known one another since the beginning of time. For the first time in our lives were felt like we were truly were we belonged. Since then we’ve been six of the most faithful friends you ever did see.

            Everything we did we did together. We went swimming, hiking, and did various contests together. At meals we were always at the far end of the dinning hall with the window that looked out and over the lake. Our friendships were one of those things that were simply meant to be. And it wasn’t one of those friendships that lasted only while at camp.

            It extended to school too. The following fall after that first year was one grand surprise to our classmates who hadn’t gone to camp. Six normally very shy and lonely people were suddenly the greatest of friends. And because of always being in one another’s presence, we slowly became more outgoing during school.

            Ace had always been the quiet red-head kid with the innumerable freckles. Now he began to show signs of having a very easy going laugh. He proved to be the one with the most energy in the group. In Jr. High he started playing sports and in High School he was even the star player on the Basketball team.

            Matt had always been the kid who had amazing musical talent. His white blond, untidy hair and dark brown eyes made him look like a modern, kid version of Einstein. He sat in the back of the room with a pencil and would drum out various rhythms that drove the teachers mad. He was the first freshman to ever get into the highest of the three bands. Not only that, but he was the first freshman to get first chair in his section. The instrument he played? Flute of course. 

            Jen was type of person who would sit back and observe other people. From behind strands of her long, thick, black hair she saw everything. She never spoke much, but the little that she did say was always worth more than its weight in gold. Whenever someone would try to say anything to put her or any of our friends down, they made a big mistake. It would take her less than a second to come up with the perfect retort that would make you look like the biggest fool there ever was.      

            Then there was Sam. I think the most important skill he ever learned at camp was how to do pranks. And he was good at it. With his sandy-brown hair and blue eyes he certainly looked innocent and obedient, but that was not the case. It was him who came up with the idea to take all the bolts out of his counselor’s bunk so that it would fall to pieces on the first person to sit on it. Sam was also a very intellectual person too, but not quite as smart as the person who was easily favorite to be our class valedictorian.

            That was Henri. Henri was most comfortable with a computer and an internet hook-up. His mind could comprehend complex and intricate scientific ideas that would cause the normal human brain to collapse on itself. At age twelve he was hired by the government to create viruses and such to protect private government. He was a quite person who never seemed to be all that quiet. He didn’t sit there in class and twiddle his thumbs and look around. He was always doing something, like coming up with new ways to send viruses or how he was going to hack into the Pentagon again that night.

            Henri was the one that all of us sort of looked to. If there was a question about anything, most likely he would be asked, and he always had a good solution. When one of us were feeling down, we all tried our best to help them out, but Henri was by far the best when it came to that. Henri simply seemed to have this amazing ability to answer everything. I think it was because he just saw the world a different way than the rest of us somehow.

            If Henri was the President of our group, then I was the VP. I was the smallest of the group and bookworm. You’ve heard of a good book? I’ve already read it. Everything from fairytales and fiction, to history and biographies, to scientific journals. So while I can’t say I know everything, I do come pretty close. But other than that there’s nothing special about me. I’m the dirty-brown haired girl that just blends into a crowd.

            I think the thing that made Henri and I best friends was that we always knew what the other was thinking. A quick glance and a nod was all that was needed to communicate. I think that if the ESP experiments that have most often been done on twins had been done on Henri and me, then we would most certainly do very well. Perfect, actually. We’ve even had a few cases when one of us would know that the other was hurt or in trouble. That scares not only our friends a little, it scares us too. Or it at least unsettles us a little.