• She sat there staring at the polaroid she had taken of him, and a smile spread across her face. Ali had never felt a feeling this strong so quickly for a boy who just seemed to take her breath away. Hour long phone calls, endless texts, dancing through the mall, going through books, quoting poems, and tickle wars always seemed to fill their days. Oh this boy had stolen a broken girl's heart. She was scared and excited all at once; it was as the feeling of a thunder storm before the lightning struck the sky.

    Ali had spent all week with this boy, Travis, since she was leaving for camp. The two had been dating for about three weeks. Everyone knew about her, everyone loved her, and everyone was just as excited as she. But sadly, she had to get into her father's car for an 8 hour car ride and leave her life of concerts and Travis behind for a week.

    "So let's talk, Al." her quickly said before her eyes closed.
    "About?" she yawned.
    "Life?"
    "There's nothing new." A silent smile spread across her face.
    "You never even told me that you and Chris broke up."
    "I didn't want to talk about it, nor do I want to now."

    She was over him, yes. But a pain caused like that has life long scars, and she was still learning to cope. Her fingers quickly went away to texting Travis, and her eyes eventually shut. But when she awoke, there was still another 3 hours.

    "Goodmorning, sleepy head." her dad smiled.
    "Mhmm." Ali grumbled.
    "You're so pessimistic nowadays."
    "Eh, trust few love all."
    "People normally experience failures or disappointments in their life to feel this way."

    Oh, if only her father knew. But only if Ali could see as well.

    The first day of sea camp started promptly at 7:30. Ali was the first one up. She had made her bed, brushed her teeth, changed her clothes, set up her dragon doll from Travis and beluga doll on her pillow, updated her journal, and checked her phone for her good morning text. Such a little perfectionist Alison was. And just like clockwork, her phone flashed saying "good morning baby <3" and she burst into giggles and smiles. And this is how the first few days of camp went, and everything was pure bliss. All the camp girls were jealous and wanted to be her. All the camp boys wanted to be with her. All the counselors loved her.

    But her world would slowly crumble, for the texts stopped. The facebook updates about her disappeared. His phone calls became a blue moon. Everything changed.

    "He's busy." Ali would whisper.
    But then why was he on facebook in the wee hours of the morning? Why were there so many girls? The pain and deja vu moments were all flashing back into Ali's eyes. However, she refused to see. Camp then became like a prison; she wanted home to make Travis hers once more. But he was never "hers" to begin with. The two of them didn't want to rush anything even though they both spoke of intentions to become serious in between their kisses.

    Eventually, Ali snapped.
    "So have you heard from your boyfriend?" Matt a boy sitting next to her as they night fished in the canal with the rest of the camp.
    "He's technically not my boyfriend. We are dating. But I want him to be my boyfriend." Ali said as she stared into the stars.
    "The guy's 21?"
    "Mhm. But I'm almost 18."
    "Oh okay. But still, have you heard from him?"
    "Why does you ask?" she turned her eyes sharply towards his.
    "Your phone hasn't been in your hand for the past hour."
    "Here, I'll call him. He may be busy though." She picked up her new touch screen phone and with a few swipes of her fingers the phone rang.

    "Hello?" Travis answered.
    "Hey boo!" Ali exclaimed and Matt rolled his eyes.
    "What's up?"
    "Oh, I just wanted to say hi. I haven't heard from you all day."
    "Yeah...sorry."
    "Oh it's fine! You're just busy."
    "I want to say hi to him!" a 15 year old boy named Jeff who had a crush on Ali said.
    "Aw, my little friend wants to say hi!"
    "Can you call me back, Ali?"
    "oh...sure. I'm sorry."
    "It's fine. Bye. Muah."
    "Muah."
    "Did I do something...?" Jeff asked.
    "No no, it was me." Ali whispered.

    She quickly sent him a text saying she was sorry. He said it was fine and that he didn't want to talk with all the people around. Of course, of course, how could Ali be so dumb? She quickly responded and asked how his day was.

    No response.

    Ali laid in her bunk under her covers and checked facebook on her phone. And there he was on her updates. All her friends statuses had comments on them from him, girls had photo comments from him, and his profile was filled with posts. Tears clouded her eyes. She had nothing. Finally, something over came her and she grabbed her phone and texted him to tell him how she felt. How she wanted more, how she felt like was in competition, how much he meant to her, how much it hurt, etc.

    "I didn't think we wanted to rush things?" his response.

    But Ali had fallen asleep with tears streaming before the message even came.
    The next morning, Ali apologized again for her freak out. She's always had a knack for apologizing. Travis said it was fine and not to worry. But a weird vibe filled Ali, and he became...distant. Camp drug on and eventually Friday came to go back home. Well, hotel for Ali. Her father and she would leave Saturday morning.

    Ali didn't make too many new friends at camp. Everyone seemed to be distant from each other. They all said their goodbyes and like a vapor, everyone was gone. A cab drove Ali to the Holiday Inn and dropped her off. She swung her packback up, picked up her snorkel gear bag, and drug her suite case into the lobby and then all the way to her room. The bed seemed to be calling her name as she collapsed into it. The smell of saltwater filled her nostrils, and she missed the ocean but at the same time she was tired of being a salt shaker. She took a shower, ordered room service, and snuggled into bed. Her phone had nothing new on it and she took it upon herself to ask Travis if she could call him. He said he was in the car and would call her later. That was at 8; Ali stayed up till 11:32 staring at the phone, waiting for him.

    She woke up not remembering how she fell asleep. Her father was snoring in the other bed; she had no idea when he even arrived. Everything felt groggy and unreal. She quickly flipped over and searched for her phone; surely she had miss his call or texts.

    There was nothing.

    Ali then tip toed to the bath and cried.