Chapter 3

That night I slept better than I ever had on a camp stiff mattress. I had a lot of feelings and issues that I needed to bring into the light instead of avoiding them and that was my mission for the rest of the week. The one thing that was really annoying me was that I knew Glen from somewhere, it was like I had seen him plenty of times but I just could not place my finger on it.

That morning we did a little thing that was different from most mornings of game time. It was time to confess and grow closer to God. I had usually spent these days every year hiding in the chapel pretending that I had already done it so that I could read the stories about the saints and how they chose to be saints.

I was never the one that loved going to church but learning about history had always fascinated me. All these choices people had to make in their one life that would alter their entire universe. What if Saint Lucy had chosen to run away with her lover instead of listening to her father and going to the convent. Would she have been just as happy living on a small farm looking after a bunch of little children or would she feel like she was missing something in her life because she chose someone else instead of God.

History had a great way of teaching us the values of life and coaching us through our hard times. If you really think that your situation is unique and not a single person has gone through what you are, that is wrong you just have to dig deep enough.

For the first time though I did not run and hide because even though I felt like I had nothing to confess that would be great enough for God to forgive I did have a lot of questions. When it was my turn to get it over with I did not even let the priest talk, I just blurted what had been bouncing around my head all morning.

"Have you ever been in love before" I asked

"I am in love with Jesus and God that is why I am here as a priest" He answered not even bothered that I had jumped in front of his well rehearsed speech.

"Okay I get that but what about before you decided to be a priest. What would you have done if someone hurt you terribly and now wants to make it up to you after they realize what they have done was not the best idea, but you are still unsure to let them in because they might just end up doing the same thing over and over again not realizing that they are in a cycle."

"Well I see you have gone through a lot in two days"

"Try a year but yes"

"Honestly I understand your feelings for being hurt if someone tried to hurt you but God wants us to forgive each other because every one does things that we are not proud of and sometimes we do not realize that what we are doing is going to hurt the person that we care about because that part of the situation is far from our minds. This boy may have hurt you but if he is trying to make it better then maybe you should take a page out of Gods book and try and give him another chance. Now this is not me saying that you have to have this boy come back into your life like he was before because you can forgive someone and still want your distance from them, just give him the chance to confess and explain things before you isolate yourselves first. Is there anything else you would like to discuss before I set you free and welcome the next child"

"No I think I know what I have to do now. Thank you for your help, this has been weighing on me since I woke up and I just want this all to end"

"Well then go and say two Hail Mary's and then think about how you will get this boy alone to speak with and clear things up."

"Okay and again thank you for your help" I got up and walked away feeling like there was a small load that had left my shoulders. Even before this talk had even happened I figured that I would have to talk to Chris but this not only confirmed it but it gave me a way to forgive him but not feel like I need to accept him back into my life. The only problem was getting him alone away from his friends to have this conversation. I spent the entire morning trying to figure out what I was going to do. Before I knew it the lunch bell was ringing and we all found our way into the mess hall. I checked my phone to see if anyone had texted me only to find that Dylan had already found a new girl that would cater to his every need. At least someone was having a good week. Looking at his Instagram gave me an idea and I searched up Chris. I found him easily since I had been following him for years and he had never followed me back. Classic. I slid into his DMs and asked him if we could meet and talk. I just wanted to get this over with and turn a new leaf at camp. After I sent the text I put my phone away and gave all my attention to my friends that were talking about what game we could be playing after lunch.

When lunch was finally over we cleaned up and all returned to Tony's place to await instructions. As I walked in I saw Chris smiling at his phone and then he searched the room for someone but I looked down pretending that I was only interested in my hands as my friends chattered my ears off. After a while of waiting we all learned that we were going to go swimming in the lake, but since there was so many of us we would have to split into two groups. One group would go swimming first and the other group would do a session about life. After two hours each group would switch. My group got to swim first so we ran back to our cabin and grabbed our bathing suits quickly. It had been so hot at the beginning of the week so knowing that we were going to go into a cold lake made everything worth it. But with the lake also came something we like to call Mud Wars.

Mud wars is when we play tug of war in-between a mud pit and the only way to win is by tugging so hard that the other team falls into the pit. It was the messiest part of camp and the one thing that everyone looked forward to. I had a lot of fun but my group ended up in the mud pit with a big splash. It was gross but when you think about it I was just getting a body mask instead of a face mask. Nonetheless getting into the freezing cold lake was the highlight of the day. I splashed around and threw a frisbee with my friends. This was the first time my mind did not go to Chris or the mysterious Glen, I was just hanging out with my girls. After what felt like a second the bell rang and it was time for us to have our life session.

After we were all cleaned up and showered I threw my hair into a low bun and had little strands of hair framing my face. I was ready to face my problems in life and fix them, at home and here. For the first hour of our session we listened to the team members explaining what life is and what it means to them. Life for me has always been a fickle thing because no matter what I did I was never in control of it, there was always going to be other people pulling the strings of fate and everyone's decisions changed my future everyday. For the other hour we spent talking to our group and writing points down in our lives that has made us who we are today at this point. I had always thought of my life as boring. I got along with my family great, I had enough friends to last a lifetime and sure boys did not make sense but it was not like my life revolved around them.

After a long talk the bell rang for supper but today we were not having a normal supper. The team members chose where we were going to sit so that we could meet new people. I was not extremely happy about the idea because I was happy with my small group and conversing with new people was never my specialty, I left that for my friends to do and once they were friends with new people I could just easily slide in and be their friend. I was not only split up from my friend group but I was not sat in front of a random person. I was sat in front of Glen. The one boy that I recognized but could not place it.

This was a moment to get to know the true him and find a way to realize why I know him. Why his facial features ring so much in my mind without the knowledge of actually knowing him. The only plus side to this was Felicity sat beside me before any of the Team members saw her. Except for her, we were surrounded by Glen and his boys that never left his side. As the rules of the supper were stated I relaxed into my chair. Supper was only an hour long, I could last one hour of socializing without making a fool of myself.

The point of this supper was to talk to new people you would normally not talk to. I not only had to get the person across from me his meal but before I was allowed to leave after supper I had to tell the team member three things that I had learned from Glen.

The first part was easy. We grabbed our food and switched plates. After eating awkwardly for a few minutes Glen started.

"So where should we begin, we can not exactly leave until we talk" This comment made me chuckle. Someone who went right down to business was great. This would be the easiest conversation ever"

"Well lets start with the normal things like where you went to school what are your hobbies, type of things like that"

"Oh well okay lets see I go to Father Lacombe school, my hobbies are basketball because it is life and also I have three girl sisters that annoy me everyday. How about you?" He said. Then it dawned on me the reason I know him so well is because of Father Lacombe. The school that my father taught at and the place that I spent countless hours watching basketball practice because it was more interesting then marking papers or doing homework.

"Wait so you go to Father Lacombe in Lacombe?"

"Yeah why"

"My father works there as a teacher"

"Mr Peterson?"

"Yes that's him"

"Oh my gosh that is so cool. He is like the best teacher ever. He gives us treats and food. I never go hungry in that class."

"Yeah so I have heard. He is a pretty great dad too."

After I realized what we have in common, conversation was pretty easy. We passes supper easily and played a game before snack and campfire. After all the commotion I was ready to go to sleep and get it over with. The week was now over half done. The third day was done and we only had two more. Two days and I would be sent home to go back to school, see my friends and something I was not ready for yet. Dylan.