Cool With A "K" PART 9 - CHAPTER 11

It was morning, I opened my eyes to see Chris snoozing peacefully next to me. I smiled, stroking his hair. One of the girls from the cabin, Audrey was her name, I believe, came and sat down by me. "Oh, your brother is so cute." She said quietly, giggling a little. I nodded, "Yeah."
"He's just so little." Audrey cooed, "Like a little kitty cat!" 
I tried not to laugh at her odd metaphor and I nodded in fake agreement. "Well," she said, "I'll see you later, Angela." She smiled one more time, looking at Chris and walked away. When will they stop? I thought, This is just ridiculous! What do they like about him? I must admit, Chris is extremely cute, that's for sure. But not really supermodel cute, more... more.... baby cute or, well, kitten cute. Hmm....
Chris's eyes fluttered open, he looked up at me. "Good morning, Angie."
I smiled, forget what I said, I love Chris! He's my little brother. "Morning, Buddy."
He yawned and sat up, looking around the room, a little confused. "The girl's cabin...." he whispered to himself before he remembered what had happened. When he gained his memory back, turning from sleepy Chris to awake and upset Chris, he looked at me sadly. "Leo...." he said quietly, sniffing a little. I opened my arms and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry, Buddy. But don't you listen to him, he doesn't know what he's talking about. People say things when they're mad, Chris."
Chris sniffed again, "I don't stalk him.... at least I don't think I do.... Ange?"
"No, no, no, Sweetie." I said, "Leo just... he just needs his space, and... Well, sometimes you can be a little clingy. Do you know what I mean, Hun?"
Chris sniffed again and nodded. We could hear all the girls in the cabin (except, of course, Mouse, Alice and I) giggling stupidly. Chris and I turned to look at them and they all stopped.
"I guess they're not used to having a boy in the cabin." I said. Chris chuckled, "Except for when they sneak their boyfriends in to show off." 
I laughed.


The boys all sat around two tables, staring grudgingly at Chris Harper. He was sitting at a table with his sister, Angela, and her two friends. Their table was surrounded by dozens of preppy girls, all giggling and asking Chris questions and talking about how adorable he was. One of Angela's friends, Mouse, the girl who had run away when the cheerleaders offered to give her a makeover, was laughing her heart out.
Zachary Jones sat in front, crushing the metal soup ladle he held in his hand. Some of the smaller boys in the cabin flinched a little when he did this. Zachary growled, "Why does that little wimp get all the girls' attention?! He even got to sleep in the girl's cabin!" 
"I-I don't know, Zack, um..." Stuttered one of his team members, Wick, "Well, Ken made him 'em sleep in the gals' cabin when Leo called him a f--."
Zachary thought about this, "Huh." he pondered, "'Cuz Leo was givin' him a hard time...." The entire boys' cabin soon perked up and ran over to Leo, who was sitting alone at a corner table. They called out things like, "Hey, hey! Leo, punch me!" "Hey, Leo, what's up man? Call me somethin' Come on, man!" Leo was so confused, he didn't know what to say, "Hey wait, woah woah woah, stop. First of all.... What?"
Zachary explained their master plan to Leo and Leo sighed, "Aye, you guys. Um... Look, that ain't cool."
Sitting a few tables away, but still within earshot, Chris started to listen to what Leo was saying.
Leo continued, "Uh.... What I said to Chris, that was wrong, and um.... I shouldn'ta done that."
Chris got up, slowly walking over to Leo. Leo went on, "Because.... insulting your buds.... you know, that isn't cool." He was facing Chris now, all the goons from the boys' cabin staring stupidly as Leo made his unexpected speech.
"Hey, uh..." Leo said, "So... d-don't use that as an excuse to get girls, 'cuz um, that ain't right." Leo was still attempting to apologize to Chris and still sound cool at the same time. Chris walked up to Leo, they were about the same height (which really bummed Leo out because this was not a very tall height). Chris looked Leo in the eyes, as if saying Come on, you can do better than that. Show me that forgiving you is the right thing to do. Leo sighed, "Hey, Chris." 
Chris nodded.
"Hey, um. Look, I'm sorry man. I...." Leo was half hoping that Chris would save him and just say, Hey, don't worry about it. and embarrassingly hug him like he usually would. But Chris just stood their waiting for Leo to finish. "I shouldn't have done that. It was wrong... I was wrong, you're a cool guy, Chris. Look I'm sorry, man."
Chris glanced over at me and I nodded. Chris sighed and smiled at Leo, "Apology excepted, Leo." Leo made a stupid Really? face and nodded. He held out a hand to Chris. Chris looked at it, not sure what to do. "Am I supposed to do some weird handshake, or..." he said. Leo sighed, "No. No, Chris. Just regular shake."
Oh... Chris was probably thinking and he shook Leo's hand.
Zachary and his gang started pretending to cry, "Oh, how touching!" They cried out, "They're friends again, I could cry!"
Chris looked at them, not knowing what to do. He looked back at Leo, a little afraid of what Leo was going to do. Leo shook his head, patting Chris on the back, "Let's go man. We don't need them."
Zack's gang kept hooting and making fun of them, but Leo and Chris ignored them. Leo came up to me and I smiled at him. "Well done, you swallowed your pride. Chris forgave you. Mission accomplished?" 
Leo grinned at me, chuckling a little, "Well, almost." he stepped towards me and I held out a hand to stop him. "Sorry Leo, not gonna happen." He looked annoyed, "Not even one little kiss?"
I gestured to Michelle, waiting for him by her clique's table. She fluttered her eyelashes at Leo. Leo looked at her and turned back to me, "For now, sure, but I'll wait for you."
I rolled my eyes, "Nice try, Leo." He nodded and ran over to Michelle. Ah, Sunny Day camp. What fun, right?
I patted Chris on the back, "I'm glad you guys are 'cool' now. Forgiving him was the right thing to do."
Chris looked at me doubtfully, "Are you sure about that, Ange? Are you sure I didn't mess up by forgiving him so quickly?"
"For now, Chris, for now." I said.


We went back home after a few surprisingly calm weeks. When Chris and I came into the kitchen, Mom smiled at us, "Hey, kids." She gave us both a hug, "So, how was camp? Do you want to go next year? I can sign you up."
"No thanks." Chris and I said at the same time. Mom studied our faces, "So... what did you do at camp."
Chris and I exchanged looks, "Nothing special." he said.