Thirteen

Flip-flops flapping, towels around our waists, and ponytails flying in the cool breeze of Northern Ontario, we raced, arm-in-arm, up Girl's Hill to our cabin.

We slammed through the creaky door and fell onto my bottom bunk in a fit of giggles as Dave Matthews' voice drifted through the boom box.

Come and crash into me baby.

It was the anthem of our summer afternoons. The soundtrack to those magic hours between swimming and dinner when twenty-three girls ran back and forth between two cabins borrowing clothes and makeup, and approving each other's outfits as the sun dipped in the horizon.

We were thirteen, it was July, and summer would never be over.

"Greg likes you, I know it," Jessie said, as she lay on my bed, head dangling over the edge. "You have to look pretty tonight. Wear Noa's jeans. He'll ask to walk you back to the cabin for sure."

Getting asked to walk back was serious business. And when it was a sure thing, the whole cabin pitched in to help. We got ready for dinner in a flurry of sparkly eye shadow, Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers and Angel perfume and walked down to the dining hall in a pack, talking all at once even as we kept an eagle eye out for the boys.

When they appeared we all turned towards each other, whispering and laughing and pretending like we hadn't seen them.

I saw Greg approach out of the corner of my eye. Continuing to ignore him, my voice rose just an octave as Jessie and I talked nonsense to each other.

He tapped me on the shoulder and I turned, my stomach alive with butterflies.

"Can I walk you back tonight?" he asked.

"Sure," I said.

He smiled and walked back to the boys. I turned to the girls who were already squealing and offering advice.

"Leave your arm at your side so he can hold your hand."

"Take the long way around the field so you have more time together."

"Come up the back way and maybe he'll kiss you."

Kiss. Me. I had never been kissed before. And with a shimmery excitement I wondered if tonight would be the night.

The sky was dark when Greg approached me after evening activities and we set off. We hadn't even taken four steps when he took my hand and I could hear the other girls giggling behind us.

We took the long way and everyone was already in my cabin by the time we came up the back.

We stood, face-to-face. My stomach felt the way it does on a roller coaster during a spiraling, dizzy drop.

And then it happened.

My first kiss.

There were thuds and rustling inside the cabin and I knew my friends had been looking out the window.

And then I heard Dave Matthews start to play.

For you, for me, come crash into me.