"Why am I here again?" I put my knees against the dash.

"Your mother thought it would be a good idea." My dad turned onto a dirt road with a large sign reading Dry Wood Campground posted to the side. "It's better than playing around on the internet, right?"

"I'd rather clean toilets." I laid my head back and stared at the ceiling.

"Come on, Aden. It won't be that bad." My dad pulled up to the campground manager's trailer. "Is spending the day with me really that horrible?"

"No," I breathed.

He turned the truck off. "I probably could've left you home, but your mother is worried about you."

I sunk down lower. So spending all of Tuesday sitting in my room wasn't my best decision, but it wasn't like I had anything else to do. "Nothing's wrong. My friends have been busy lately. That's it."

"Have you ever thought of expanding your circle of friends?"

"What's wrong with the ones I have?" I watched a dirty old man wander across the road to the bathrooms. I was glad I didn't have to clean that toilet.

"Nothing's wrong with them." My dad took off his seatbelt. "I'm only saying it might be nice for you to find a friend who maybe isn't as into sports, like you."

"So a fellow loser?" I undid my seatbelt and open the door. "That sounds just perfect."

"Aden."

I hopped out of the truck.

My dad met me around front. "I didn't mean it like that. I just thought it would be nice if you found someone who you had more in common with, then say, Chris."

Leaning against the truck, I folded my arms. "Chris and I have things in common."

My father let out a deep breath. "It's merely a suggestion. I need to talk to the manager. If you follow that trail, it'll take you to the creek on the other side of the trees." He motioned to a thin dirt path. "Something to keep you busy. I'll try to be quick."

I watched him walked up to the manager's trailer and knock. An old man appeared and immediately started yelling.

"They won't leave! The sign says fourteen-day limit. They've been sitting there for over three weeks."

"Calm down. We'll figure this out," said my father.

This is exactly why I didn't want to be here. Pushing off the truck, I marched down the path. I reached the creek and was glad it was far enough away that I didn't have to hear the manager throwing a tantrum.

Picking up a handful of rocks, I tried to skip them across the water. I had never been very good at it, and I was quickly finding out that I was still horrible. A stone rocketed up the water. My head snapped downstream.

"Hey." Titus wave and waded across the creek.

I simply stared. "What the hell? What are you doing here?"

He laughed and sat down on a grassy patch next to a boulder. "Good to see you, too."

I sat a couple of feet from him. "Still haven't found your shoes"—I slapped a mosquito biting my neck—"or a shirt."

He shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I have really hard feet. I don't feel a thing and I guess you're just sweeter because the bugs don't bother me."

Fidgeting, I glanced at him. "You still didn't answer why you're here."

"Just a coincidence." He leaned back.

"We're twenty minutes away from Beaver Lake and you randomly show up at the exact same place as me?" I raised an eyebrow. "You're not a stalker, right?"

Titus started to laugh. I couldn't help but smile myself. I hoped this meant I wasn't going to end up at the bottom of a lake.

"In hopes of not appearing stalker-ish, my family owns property in these woods. And rather than sit at home, I drive around and enjoy nature." Closing his eyes, he settled into the grass.

"Still." I pulled at the weeds around my feet. "I don't understand how you ended up here."

"I was driving by and saw a green truck similar to your dad's. I stopped and saw you get out. So I decided, why wait, when I can see you again right now." He smiled that same cheesy grin.

"You live alone in the woods with your family?" I smiled to myself. "You're starting to make sense."

"So where do you live?" He peeked over at me.

I let out a shaky laugh. "Why do you care? I mean..." I rubbed the back of my head. "I don't exactly know you."

Titus looked away and started pouting. "I was just asking. I didn't think it would hurt to find out a little about you. I thought you might want to be friends." He kicked at the dirt.

Friends— that was an abrupt entrance into the conversation. But I wasn't getting any weird feelings that he might be a serial killer hiding out in the woods. Titus seemed like a nice guy. I guess he could be considered that new friend my father mentioned.

"I live in Harper's Creek."

His face lit up.

"My best friend is actually a descendant of the people who founded it. It's weird, though." I leaned back on my arms. "The creek is actually a river, so I never really understood the name." Sucking in my lips, I glanced at him.

Titus shrugged and sprawled out. Taking a deep breath, he clenched his abs. The more things I noticed about him made me come to the conclusion that he had to be an athlete. So yet again, I was going to be the sidekick friend to another Chris.

"What sports do you play?" I put my chin on my knees.

"What?"

"At your high school." I laid my head to the side. "Are you on the football team?"

Titus laughed hesitantly and sat up. "I'm not on any teams."

"Really?" I looked forward. "Hmm... the coach at my school wouldn't leave you alone until you joined. He did that to Chris. Once you're on the team, he won't let you quit."

"I'm not a sportsperson," said Titus. "What about you?"

"I tried, but I'm not exactly football material."

"Nothing is wrong with that."

"I guess."

Titus went back to soaking in the sun. "So are you in a relationship?"

"I wish," I muttered under my breath. "I just got out of one. Things weren't working out between us."

With a smile on his face, Titus relaxed even more and sucked in his stomach.

"Well, I think I better go." I stood and dusted off my hands. "My dad will probably be ready to leave soon."

He shot to his feet. "Where to?"

"I don't know." I backed away. "He's dealing with all the camp managers' complaints today."

"Can't you ask him if you can stay?" Titus moved in closer. "And he can pick you up later?"

"I don't know." I took a couple of steps back.

"Please." He hovered above me and grabbed my hand. "Do you really want to sit in a truck when you can hang out with me?"

"I can ask." I pulled my hand free.

Titus's face broke into a grin. "Yes!"

"But I don't know if he'll say yes," I quickly added.

"You're going to ask, though?"

I really didn't know what to make of this. "Yeah, I said I would." I rubbed my arm. "Umm... just wait here. I'll be right back." Slipping past him, I hurried to the truck. I was starting to doubt agreeing to doing this. I didn't really know Titus.

My dad was waiting by the truck when I arrived at the campground.

"There you are." He opened the door. "I've gotten everything taken care of here, so on to the next." He motioned for me to get in.

"Actually, I wanted to see if it was okay if I stayed." I tugged on the bottom of my jacket. "I found this spot by the creek."

"Are you sure?" He leaned on the door. "A lot of these campers have dogs. Are you sure you're up for it?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I wasn't as fine with it anymore after he mentioned that.

"Okay." He slid into the driver's seat. "I'll be back in two hours. Do you have your phone, so you know what time it is?"

I patted my pants pocket.

"Be waiting for me by the road. I'd rather not have to come looking for you."

"I'll be there."

"Alright, then." He put on his sunglasses and with a wave, pulled out onto the main road.

As soon as the dust settled, I started back to the creek. Two hours, what was I going to do with Titus for that long?

"You stayed!" Someone jumped out of the trees and hugged me.

"Titus, Titus, stop! Titus!" I turned around and pushed against his chest "Let go! You're overstepping every personal boundary invented. Let go."

He released me, and I shot back, falling onto the ground.

"What was that?!" I glared at him. "Titus, I don't know how your family does it—" I took a deep breath as he gave me a confused look. "There's this personal space thing." I motioned to the area around me.

He tilted his head to the side.

"I'm not a big hugger, okay." I blew my hair out of my face. "Just don't do that again."

"Alright," he said with a grin, offering me his hand. "I was simply happy to see you stayed."

"I said I'd ask." I grabbed it and let him help me up.

"I know. I was still surprised you decided to." He headed for the creek.

I felt like an idiot as I followed behind him. I didn't think anyone would know how to react if a half-naked man jumped out of the trees and attacked them. We reached the bank. I went to sit down, but Titus grabbed my arm and pulled me upstream.

"Where are we going?"

"I want to show you something." He let go and stepped into the water. "Take off your shoes."

I plopped down on the ground and yanked them off. I wasn't into the whole barefoot thing, either. Titus waded over to a deep section of the stream.

"What are you doing?" I rolled up my pants and noticed the blurred fish swimming under an overhang.

He put his finger to his lips before slipping his hands into the water. With a quick flinch of his muscles, he lifted the salmon out of the water. It fought to get free, but Titus had a good grip on it.

"Wow." I had to admit that was pretty cool.

He smiled and held it out to me. "Do you want to touch it?"

I ran my hand along the slimy surface. "How'd you do that?"

"A lot of practice." Titus placed the fish in the water and released it. It darted upstream. "I could teach you if you want." He puffed out his chest.

I watched the salmon splash over the rocks. "That's okay. I wouldn't be very good."

"Next time we see one, I'll show you how." Titus grabbed my arm and pulled me into the water.

"It's freezing."

"It's warmer than usual."

I shifted my weight from foot to foot. "It is usually ice. I can't feel my toes."

"It's not that bad." He kept a hold on me as we waded through the current to a rock bar on the other side. It was a good thing to because I nearly fell a couple of times.

"My feet are numb." I sat down and started patting them dry.

Titus chuckled and sprawled out across the rocks in his normal position. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. "You smell better today."

"Very funny." I put my cold feet on his side, making him flinch.

He sat up on his elbows and rubbed his stomach. "What was that for?"

"It's not that bad," I mocked.

"Whatever." He returned to lounging in the sunshine. "You're definitely a different one, Aden Perri. Very different."

"Says you. I'm not the one running around with no shoes."

"You don't have shoes on, either."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You told me to take them off, idiot."

He shrugged and settled back on the rocks. I didn't understand how he thought that was comfortable. Just sitting there was making my butt hurt from all the edges digging into me.

"Who's this Chris guy?"

"Hmm...." I peered over at him. "Chris?"

"Yeah, you mentioned him. I'm curious what your other friends are like."

"Well, he's Chris. He's hard to explain." I scratched one of my mosquito bites. "Think of someone who's good at everything,"—I sighed—"gets everything he wants, and whose parents have tons of money, and you'll have Chris."

"Hmm... you don't sound like you're too fond of him."

"Sorry." I rubbed my neck. "We're friends, but he's kinda going out with my ex, right now." I chucked a rock across the creek. "We're not on the greatest of terms at the moment."

Titus sat up. "He sounds like a jerk to me."

My shoulders rolled forward as I wondered if I told him to much. "It's fine. I kind of have a history of failed relationships."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the water flow across the rocks.

"Ever tried wild huckleberries?" asked Titus.

I tried to hold in a smile. "No. I've never had the chance."

Jumping up, he grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet. "You'll love them."

***

"So you'll be at Beaver Lake Thursday?"

"Yep," I replied as we walked back.

"I already have something planned that we can do."

"I'm there to work, Titus. Not mess around."

He bowed his head. "I know."

We stopped along the roadside.

"Where's your car at?"

"Oh, umm..." He scanned the area. "It's on the other side of the campground."

A cloud of dust was coming toward us and I could make out the front of my dad's truck.

"I better be going." Titus headed off into the trees.

"Bye," I called after him.

He didn't turn around and only lifted his hand. The truck stopped and I climbed inside.

"Who was that?"

"A guy I met by the creek."

"Did you stayed out of trouble?"

I nodded and stared out the window. My dad turned the vehicle around. As we drove past, I spotted a very sad looking Titus, wandering through the trees.

"Titus," I whispered to myself. "You're definitely different."