Boys of Summer (1/8)

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

Title: Boys of Summer (Part 1)
Author: noelleleithe
Rating: PG
Pairing: Luke/Noah (of sorts)
Word count: ~7,010
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything here except my own words and a handful of original characters. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's notes: This is all Kat's fault. Alpha read by escapes; beta by freakykat. Crayons provided by my long-suffering sister. ;)

~~~~

Part 1: Best Friends Forever

Luke bounced in his seat, so excited he couldn't sit still. Finally, finally, after months of begging and behaving and doing all his homework and chores with no (okay, only a little) complaining, he'd gotten his parents to agree to send him to sleepaway camp for the whole summer. Not just a week like the past two summers, but two whole months of sleeping in a bunkbed in a cabin and eating in a big dining hall and playing games and riding horses and roasting marshmallows over campfires. A whole state away in Missouri! Two months without his little sisters annoying him and his parents making him tell him where he was going every single time he left the house and all his cousins and aunts and uncles thinking they knew better than him because he was just a kid.

Yeah, he'd have to listen to the counselors and not go running off on his own. His dad had made him promise he'd behave, and if he did, they'd let him go back the next year, too. If not, he could forget about it. So he was going to behave, because he knew he'd want to come back next year.

Luke looked around at the other kids on the bus. Most of them were about his age, he figured. A few were a little older, but this wasn't the only bus going to camp, so the other older kids were probably on another bus. His brother Aaron told him all about the camp after he went, so Luke thought he probably knew a lot more about it than the other kids did.

The other boys were dressed like him, in shorts and t-shirts and sneakers. Most of them were crammed as far back in the bus as they could get, but one boy sat in the very front row, two seats in front of Luke, looking straight ahead out the front window, barely moving.

Luke was curious. He couldn't help it. All those other boys were just the same as each other, but the dark-haired boy sitting by himself was different just because of that. And Luke liked different.

He moved quickly when the bus stopped at a stop sign (the bus driver had ordered them to stay seating while the bus was moving, and Luke sure didn't want to get in trouble before he even got to camp). He sat back down in the front seat across the aisle from the other boy and turned sideways so his legs stuck out into the aisle.

"Hi," Luke said, grinning. "I'm Luke. What's your name?"

The boy jumped a little when Luke spoke, but then he smiled a little, too. He looked shy. "Oh. Hi. I'm Noah."

Luke smiled even bigger. "Is this your first summer here, too?"

Noah nodded, turning in his seat a little bit toward Luke. "I didn't think my dad was going to let me go, but he had to go out of the country. He's in the Army. So he said I could come here if I promised to behave."

Luke laughed. "My dad told me I'd better behave or he wouldn't let me come back next year," he said. "I had to make up my bed every day for two months and get all my homework done on time and set the table when it was my turn before he finally said I could come." He kicked his feet out, bouncing them off the bottom of Noah's seat. "Where do you live?"

"In Kansas right now," Noah said. "At Fort Leavenworth. But he'll probably get sent somewhere else in a year or two. We move around a lot."

"Wow," Luke said. "That must be weird. I live in Oakdale, Illinois, and I've lived there all my life."

"That sounds weird to me," Noah said, scrunching up his face. "I guess I'm just used to moving a lot."

Luke grinned. "Are you nine? I just turned nine last month."

Noah nodded. "But I'll be ten in October, so I'm older than you."

Luke stuck out his tongue at him. "But you're the same age as me now, so we'll be in the same cabin," he said. "Want to be bunkmates?"

Noah nodded and smiled again, a little bigger this time. Then he stopped smiling. "But, um, do you want to sleep on the bottom?"

"Um, I can if you want," Luke said. He really, really wanted the top, but he didn't want to be mean or anything to his new friend. "If you want the top."

Noah shook his head really fast. "No, you can have it," he said. He leaned forward and looked around before whispering, "I don't know about climbing up there. It's awfully high up."

Luke grinned again. "That's why I like it!" he said. He got even more excited just thinking about it and bounced in his seat, legs swinging. "My parents won't let me have a bunk bed at home. My brother fell off his and broke his arm. But he came to camp here, too, and he said the ones they have here have, like, bars all the way around and stuff so you can't fall off easy. And Dad said I could sleep in the top bunk if I was really, really careful and promised not to climb off the side or anything."

Noah shook his head again. "I just don't like high up stuff like that," he said. "I don't know why. There was a boy who lived next door to us on base who got a bunk bed last year, and he tried to get me to climb up but I just couldn't do it." He stopped talking and lowered his head, looking sad. Luke didn't like that he looked sad.

"It's okay, Noah," he said. "You don't have to. I mean, there are lots of things I don't like doing. And with the bottom bunk you can hang up the blankets off the top and make a tent!"

Noah lifted his head and sort of half-smiled, one side of his mouth going up a little. "That would be cool," he said. "Did you bring a flashlight? We can sit under there and tell ghost stories and stuff."

Luke bounced in his seat again. "We're gonna have so much fun," he said, and Noah nodded, grinning now. He looked almost as happy as Luke felt.

~~~~~

"Race you!"

Luke and Noah had just grabbed their duffel bags and backpacks out of the pile next to the bus when Luke yelled and took off. Noah took off after him automatically, yelling "no fair, you got a head start!" as he ran. Luke laughed back at him but didn't slow down, headed in the direction the counselor had pointed for the nine-year-olds to go to find their cabins.

Noah was laughing and gasping when he jumped up the stairs and onto the porch of the cabin marked "Cubs." All the cabins were named after animals, Luke had said. He seemed to know all about the camp already because of his brother. Noah didn't know how Luke knew what cabin to pick, since there were four of them all close together, but Luke was already inside the cabin, so Noah went in, too. He found him standing next to the bunk beds against the far wall, a little off to the side from the rows of other beds.

"This is ours!" Luke said, dropping his duffel bag on the floor and his backpack on the bottom mattress, plopping down beside it. He bounced again, something Noah was already getting used to him doing. "It's the best, see? There's a window right here beside it and the wall sticks out right next to it so we have almost our own little room."

Noah grinned and dropped his own bag onto the bed next to Luke. "It's great!" he said. "Do you think anyone will care that we took it first?"

"I don't care if they do," Luke said, flopping back to lie across the mattress, throwing his arms over his head so they hung off the far side. "I mean, if a counselor makes us move I guess we have to, but we were here first. Aaron said we could just pick a cabin and bunk when we got here."

Oh. That's how Luke knew where to go. Noah wasn't sure it was okay that they didn't ask anyone first, but Luke was right. If there was anything wrong with it, then one of the counselors would tell them. He climbed onto the mattress, crossing his legs and leaning against the low headboard. "How old is Aaron?"

Luke lifted his head. "He's fifteen. He's great. He's been teaching me to play basketball."

Noah frowned and looked down. "I'm not any good at sports," he admitted. "I tried to play with some boys on base but I couldn't even dribble right so I stopped."

"I can teach you," Luke said, sitting up and moving on the bed so he was sitting the same way as Noah, facing him. "You probably just need somebody to show you the right way. I couldn't do it right until Aaron showed me." He bounced a little. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?

Noah looked up and shook his head. "No," he said. "I just live with my dad. My mom died when I was little." He stopped talking again. He didn't like to talk about that.

Before Luke could answer, the door slammed open and a bunch of other boys came pouring in. Noah lost count at seven, but right behind them was an older boy wearing a camp t-shirt and a whistle around his neck.

"Okay guys, everybody find a bed!" he said loudly. "First come, first served, no pushing or fighting. Got it?"

The other boys scrambled while Luke and Noah watched. After a few seconds, Luke jumped up and grabbed his backpack, tossing it up onto the top bunk. He plopped back down and grinned at Noah. "Just in case!"

Noah grinned back. "Yeah, don't want someone else stealing your bunk," he said.

The older boy stopped next to them then and smiled. "Guess you two got here first," he said. "Got the best spot." He lifted up the clipboard he held in his hand, resting it against his hip. "I'm Josh, and I'm your cabin leader. Let me get your names so I can mark you off as here."

Luke leaned forward, pointing to himself and then Noah. "I'm Luke Snyder, and that's Noah--" He stopped, and his face fell. "Um, I don't think he told me his last name."

Noah grinned. "I guess I didn't," he said, to Luke. "It's Mayer." He looked up at Josh. "Noah Mayer."

Josh laughed. "Okay, Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer. Since you already seem to know each other, how about you be camp buddies? We use the buddy system a lot and we'll be telling you about it later."

"Okay!" Luke sounded excited again. He looked at Noah. "We're already buddies, right?"

Noah nodded. "Right!" he said. He couldn't remember ever being this excited before.

They were going to have a great summer.

~~~~~

"Race you!"

Every morning started like this. Luke never wanted to wake up, but once he did, he didn't want to slow down. Something was always going on, and he didn't want to miss any of it.

Mornings were Luke's second favorite part of every day. He and Noah ran to breakfast together, laughing and yelling until the counselors had to tell them to quiet down. Most of them weren't mean about it, except sometimes for Mark, the big guy in the Grizzly cabin, where twelve-year-old boys slept. But he was usually with those boys, so Luke and Noah didn't see him much.

Noah ate the same thing for breakfast every morning: a scoop of scrambled eggs, two pieces of bacon, one piece of toast (cut diagonally) with strawberry jelly, and a cup of milk. Luke started laughing at him about it after the third day, but Noah kept eating the same thing, except on Sunday morning when they had pancakes. Luke ate whatever he felt like eating that day: eggs one day, cereal the next, a fried-egg-and-bacon sandwich on toast (with mustard!) the next. He didn't have a favorite, except the pancakes, but that was everyone's favorite.

After breakfast, they had a camp meeting where one of the counselors would talk to them about teamwork and friendship and being good citizens and stuff like that. Noah usually sat very quietly and paid attention, or pretended that he was, but Luke would always find his mind wandering. He made up little stories, about the other campers or the counselors, and sometimes he'd even remember them long enough to tell Noah later.

They'd do some kind of sports when the meeting was over. Luke and Noah always did everything together, and Luke helped Noah when he had trouble, which he usually did. He was a good swimmer and runner, though, and all that time following Luke as he ran around camp probably helped. Noah sometimes even beat Luke running.

The rest of the day seemed to go on forever. Lunch was boring ham or turkey sandwiches and fruit most of the time, and then they had even more boring arts and crafts, making things like leather belts that no one liked. The third-best part of the day was in the late afternoon when they had free time. Most boys went swimming in the lake, especially when it was really hot, and Luke and Noah did that a lot. But some days they'd just find a place to sit in the shade, and Luke would tell Noah the stories that he made up during the morning meeting. And Noah would laugh, and that would make Luke even happier.

But Luke's favorite part of every day was after they went to bed. They had dinner at six o'clock exactly every night, and most of it was stuff Luke liked, pizza and sloppy joes and hamburgers, even if they did make them eat some peas or green beans or something, too. Then they'd go on a short hike along the lake, or they'd have a campfire and the counselors would tell ghost stories, or maybe they'd get to roast marshmallows. Lights out was at nine o'clock every night, but Luke could never go sleep that early. So he talked to Noah instead.

They made a tent with the sheets some nights, like they talked about that very first day, but most of the time Luke would just climb down from his top bunk and scrunch up next to Noah on the narrow mattress, their heads lying side by side on the pillow as they whispered back and forth. The counselors never bothered them unless they got loud.

Noah told Luke the first week that he liked to watch movies a lot, especially really old ones that Luke always thought were really boring, but the way Noah told the stories, they sounded really exciting.

"This lady's husband died, and she bought this house by the ocean, and everybody thought she was crazy because it was supposed to be haunted. But she really liked it, so she bought it anyway, and she lived there with her little girl. And it turned out that the house really was haunted! There was a ghost of an old ship's captain, and he talks to the lady, and when she ends up needing money later, he tells her stories from when he was a sailor and she writes them into a book and sells it. And they fall in love with each other but she's alive and he's not, so they're sad, and he tells her she should find somebody alive instead. And he goes away. But she doesn't find anybody, and she lives in the house the rest of her life, and she's sad for a long time. But when she dies at the end, the captain is waiting for her, and they're happy again."

Some nights they'd both fall asleep like that, but usually Noah fell asleep first and Luke would climb back up to his bunk and lie on his back, flashing his flashlight at the ceiling and putting his hand over it to watch it glow through his skin. He'd think about the stories Noah told him and the ones he made up during the morning meetings, and he'd make up all-new stories, about him and Noah going off and having adventures together.

He almost always fell asleep smiling.

~~~~

"Now, see? You hold the ball like this, mostly with your fingers, and you push it down at the ground, not really hard but just a little. And you try to push it down as straight as you can, so it comes right back up and hits your hand again. And you push it again when it comes up."

Luke demonstrated, showing Noah how to hold the basketball and just how hard to push it, and he got the ball dribbling slowly. Noah watched him closely, his eyes bouncing up and down like the ball.

"No, don't watch the ball," Luke said, catching the ball out of the air. "Watch what I do with my hand." He held up his hand, and Noah nodded and immediately focused on it. Luke started dribbling again, and this time Noah watched his hand, like Luke told him.

"You don't watch the ball," Luke said. "I mean, you can look at it some when you're learning, but when you play, you need to be watching the other people playing. So you have to learn to dribble without looking at the ball. It's harder to learn that way, but it makes it easier later when you're playing."

Noah nodded again. "How do you dribble and move at the same time?"

Luke laughed, catching the ball out of the air again and holding it in both hands. "First you have to dribble standing still. With both hands, but not at the same time because that's not allowed. And then you can learn how to move." He held out the ball to Noah. "Your turn."

Noah reached out slowly and took the ball, frowning at it. He turned his hand so one was on top of the ball and one was underneath it, holding the ball mostly with his fingers, like Luke showed him. He moved the hand underneath the ball quickly and pushed with his top hand at the same time, and the ball bounced off the ground and back up at his hand. He hit it again, but too hard this time, and the ball bounced away.

"Sorry, sorry!" Noah called as Luke scrambled to grab the ball before it got too far away from them.

"It's okay," Luke said. "No one gets it the first time. You just keep trying." He held out the ball again, and Noah paused for a second before taking it back.

"If you say so," Noah said, and he tried it again.

And again.

~~~~

"Your dad isn't coming?"

It was almost dinnertime, and Luke and Noah were sitting under their favorite tree next to the lake. Luke could hear some of the other boys yelling and laughing and splashing in the water, but Noah didn't want to swim today. He said he had a tummyache, and he looked like he didn't feel good, but Luke thought maybe he was just sad.

Noah frowned, looking down at his hands. He picked up a leaf and started tearing it up. "He said he has to be in Washington. I said it was okay. I understood."

Luke could tell he didn't really understand. He didn't like his best friend to be sad, but he didn't know how he could fix it. He couldn't make Noah's dad come for father-son weekend. Luke's dad was coming, but ...

Luke grinned. Maybe he could fix it after all.

"I know!" he said, putting his hands on the ground and bouncing his legs up and down. "You can share my dad! He's coming, and I know he'll like you. He likes everybody. And he has another son, too, so it'll just be like if Aaron was here with me."

Noah's head popped up and he shook his head, his eyes wide. "No, I can't do that," he said. "He's your dad. You should spend the weekend with him."

Luke laughed. "We woulda spent the weekend together anyway. I was gonna take Dad to meet you first! So this way we can just have fun with my dad instead of both of our dads. It'll be fun!"

Noah's mouth twisted into that little sort-of-a-smile he did when he wasn't sure whether he should be happy or not. "Are you sure it'll be okay? Because I don't want your dad to get mad at you."

Luke shook his head, grinning. "Dad never gets mad. Well, except the time last winter I tried to pick up the axe when I knew not to. He yelled at me then. But then he said it was just because he was scared I was going to hurt myself." Luke shrugged. "Dad's great. We'll have a lot of fun!"

Noah smiled for real then, and that made Luke smile, too.

~~~~~

Noah decided Father-Son Weekend was his favorite thing ever. Luke's dad was tall and had dark hair and a nice smile and kind eyes, and he looked really happy to meet Noah and have him with them during the weekend. Luke seemed to always smile when his dad was nearby, except when Mr. Snyder teased just a little too much and Luke would pout for a minute. It never lasted long, though. He wasn't every really mad.

Luke showed his dad their bunk in the cabin and told him about their movie talks. "Noah knows everything about movies," he said, and Noah ducked his head and blushed, embarrassed. But Luke just smiled and kept talking. "And he tells me about them when we can't get to sleep at night. Which is most nights 'cause they make us go to bed really early. But we can talk if we're quiet so it's okay."

Mr. Snyder nodded and smiled at Noah. "So you're a movie fan?" he said. "What's your favorite?"

Noah didn't hesitate. "It's A Wonderful Life," he said, grinning. "I watch it all the time at Christmas. It bugs my dad sometimes, but he lets me because he thinks it's better than new stuff. He doesn't like movies much." His face fell. His dad didn't seem to like Noah much, either, but Noah wasn't going to say that.

"Oh, that's one of my favorites, too," Mr. Snyder said. "We always watch it at Christmas." He nudged Luke. "Even Luke, and he usually won't watch anything in black and white."

Luke blew out an exasperated breath. "Daaaaaad," he said. "I like some of them. But most of them are just too old and boring. But Noah knows a lot of fun ones. Like that one about the woman in the cottage and the ghost of the ship's captain? That one's really cool!"

Mr. Snyder smiled at Noah again, but his eyes looked like he was laughing. "I think I know that one, too," he said. "Maybe we'll watch it when you get back home."

"Awesome!" Luke bounced on his toes. "Let's go see the lake now!"

He took off toward the door, and Noah smiled as he ran after him. Just like every other day at camp.

~~~~

The summer was going by too fast. It had been six weeks already, and that meant Luke only had two more weeks before he'd have to say goodbye to Noah and go back home again. And Noah was starting to get pretty good at basketball, too. He could dribble and walk now, and after Luke showed him the right way to hold the ball when he was shooting, he hit the basket almost every time.

They were playing one-on-one during their afternoon free time one day, on the best court, which had concrete instead of clay on the ground. Luke was letting Noah have the ball most of the time so he could get more practice, when some of the older boys came up.

"Hey!" The biggest boy, Billy, yelled at them. "We want to play. Get out of our way."

Luke didn't even look at them. "No," he said. "We were here first. You can play when we're done."

Billy came closer and put his hands on his hips. "I said get out of our way," he said. "That pussy won't ever learn how to dribble anyway. It's a waste of time to try."

Luke saw Noah's head drop and his face blush, and he was madder than he'd ever been. He turned and glared at Billy. "Shut up," he said. "You don't know anything. And I said we were here first. You can't make us leave just because you want to."

Billy grinned, but it wasn't a happy grin. "Just watch me."

He shoved Luke with both hands, knocking him into Noah, who lost his balance and fell with a soft cry. Luke caught his balance and looked down, seeing blood on Noah's hands and knee where he'd hit the concrete.

Luke turned back toward Billy, lowered his head, and charged.

He hit Billy in the stomach, and Billy made a funny whooping sound and fell backward, off the edge of the raised court, landing on his butt in the dirt. Luke laughed, and so did one of the other boys with Billy, Jake.

Billy scrambled to his feet. "That's it, kid," he yelled. "You've had it!"

He jumped on Luke, who barely had time to move before he was being shoved down onto the concrete. He threw up his hands to hold off Billy, who kept trying to hit him with his fists. The other boys were yelling and scrambling around them, and suddenly Billy was being pulled away. Luke saw it was Mark just as he was pulled to his feet, too, looking up to see Josh standing over him.

"Director's office, all of you," Mark barked. "Now!"

~~~~~

Noah followed the other boys to the director's office, his hands and knee hurting the whole time. He knew Billy had pushed Luke first, and he knew all the other boys saw that, too, so he thought it would be okay.

But when they got into the office, Mark looked at Billy. "Okay, what happened, Billy?"

Billy stuck out his lower lip and widened his eyes. "We just asked if we could play for a while," he said. "And the kid got all angry and stuff and told us to leave them alone. And I asked him again, and he got even more mad and pushed me down. And then he jumped on me and I had to fight him off!"

The other boys' heads started nodding, except for Jake's, and Mark glared at Luke. "Why would you do that, kid?"

Luke was bouncing again, but not from excitement, Noah knew. "That's not what happened!" he cried. "We were playing, but Billy said they wanted to play and told us to get out of their way, and I said we were there first, and then he shoved me, and I bumped into Noah and he fell down. And I did shove him then, but just because he shoved me first. And then he jumped on me and tried to hit me, but you and Josh got there first."

Mark rolled his eyes. "So it's your word against his, then," he said. "I'm not buying your 'story,' kid."

Josh broke in then. "Hey now," he said. "It may be Luke's word against Billy's, but that doesn't automatically mean Billy's telling the truth." He looked at Noah. "Noah, why don't you tell us what happened?"

Noah froze. He could feel everyone in the room looking at him. He tried to talk, but nothing would come out. He rubbed his hands up and down the sides of his legs, even though it hurt where his hands were scraped. He wanted to tell them what happened, but he just couldn't say anything.

Mark smirked and crossed his arms. "Kid doesn't want to lie for his friend, I bet," he said.

That got Noah's attention. "NO!" he cried. "No, Luke doesn't lie! It happened just like he said it did. Billy was mean to us and then shoved him. Look!" He held up his hands. "That's where I fell when Billy shoved Luke into me. And my knee, too." He pointed at the scrape on his leg.

Mark fell silent, and it was Josh's turn to smirk. "Looks like we have some physical evidence on Luke's side here," he said.

Mark's face turned all red. "Well, he still got into a fight," he said. "So he's got to be punished."

Josh looked at Luke. "He's right, Luke," he said. He sounded sad. "Fighting is against camp rules, even if you don't start the fight. You'll have to spend your next three free periods in the cabin." He looked at Mark. "But since it does seem Billy here started it, he gets five days."

Billy groaned, but Mark frowned at him. "Yeah, okay," Mark muttered. "Get outta here, kids."

Noah started to follow Luke, but Josh stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Let's get the nurse to check those scrapes, Noah," he said, turning him toward the small infirmary next door to the director's office.

Noah immediately looked at Luke. "Can Luke come with me?" he asked.

Josh smiled. "Sure," he said. "I'm sure you'll be just fine, but it's always easier to have a friend with you."

Noah smiled at Luke, and was happy to see him smiling back.

~~~~~

Luke sat next to Noah while the camp nurse cleaned up his scrapes and covered them with bandages. He knew it must hurt, but Noah just stared at the wall and didn't move. His eyes looked wet, though, and Luke knew he was trying not to cry.

Luke would have cried. He didn't know why Noah didn't.

When the nurse finished, she smiled down at Noah. "Now, you go on back to your cabin and rest until dinnertime," she said. "And be careful when you get ready for bed that you don't get your bandages wet. Come back tomorrow after breakfast and I'll check them for you again. Okay?"

Noah nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he said. "Thank you, ma'am."

The nurse laughed and squeezed his shoulder. "You're welcome, dear," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Luke jumped up, and Noah stood as well. Luke grinned. "C'mon, I'll go back to the cabin with you and tell you a story," he said. "I thought of a good one this morning."

Noah smiled a little. "Okay," he said softly. He followed Luke out of the infirmary and toward their cabin, and Luke was careful not to run this time. He didn't want Noah to run and hurt his leg again.

When they got to the cabin, they climbed onto Noah's bed, lying down side by side like they did at night. "Does it hurt?" Luke asked, looking at the white bandages on Noah's hands.

"A little," Noah said. "Not as much now." He put his head down on his pillow and closed his eyes. "Tell me a story."

Luke smiled and told him about the Mystery of the Missing Pen. "Mr. Miller was looking all over for his pen this morning before the meeting," he said. "You know he always has that pen on a string around his neck? Well, he had the string and the lid, but the pen part was missing. I think what happened was the counselors got tired of looking at it. It's just so silly looking. So I think one of them crawled under his table at breakfast and pulled the pen out while he was eating. And they hid it somewhere that he'll never think to look, like in the freezer in the kitchen. And he'll have to go find another pen to wear, and the counselors will be happy because they won't have to look at it until he finds another one."

He turned his head, smiling, to see Noah's reaction, but Noah didn't answer. He was asleep, his mouth open just a little, breathing softly.

Luke smiled wider and turned on his side, watching Noah sleep. He looked so happy like that. Luke wondered if he was having a good dream. He hoped so.

~~~~~

Luke had to spend the next three days alone in the cabin during free time. Noah tried to stay with him the first time, but Josh led him away gently. "Sorry, Noah," he said. "But it's not a punishment if he still gets to play with his buddy."

Noah was sad as he walked down toward the lake, kicking rocks out of the path. He didn't play much with the other boys, not without Luke. He didn't know how to ask them to play with him. He only knew how to play like they did on the base, when their parents or teachers would put them together and tell them to play. Everything was always so organized, even most of the time here.

Noah sat down under his and Luke's favorite tree and watched the other boys swim. He couldn't swim until the nurse said he could take off the bandages. He thought about taking a walk, but it was hot and he didn't feel like it. His leg still hurt anyway.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree, trying to think of more movies he could tell Luke about. He couldn't think of any he hadn't already told him that weren't boring. He didn't tell him one every night, since Luke told him stories sometimes, too.

Noah opened his eyes and looked down, pulling his fingers through the sandy dirt next to his leg. He didn't want to do anything without Luke, but he was bored doing nothing. Even if he could write something down that would be better than nothing.

"Hey," he said out loud, sitting up straighter. He wasn't a good writer, not like Luke, but he could draw a little. Maybe he could draw a picture, from one of the movies or of him and Luke. Yeah, he could draw them playing basketball, or at least Luke playing basketball. It might not be all that good, but it would be something to do. And Luke might like it.

He scrambled up off the ground, brushing dirt and grass off his legs and shorts, and started walking up toward the main cabins. They had paper and pencils and stuff in the arts and crafts room. Maybe they'd let him use some of it.

~~~~~

Luke sighed loudly as he lay on his bunk. He couldn't get down until Josh said he could, which would be just a few minutes before dinnertime so he could wash his hands and go to the dining hall to eat. He had read a little bit in one of the books that sat on the bookshelf at the end of the room, but it was boring and silly, so he put it back. He tried to make up a story of his own, but he kept thinking about how he should be outside playing with Noah right now, and he'd just get sad again.

He thought he was going to die of boredom when Josh came in the door. "All right, Luke," Josh said. "Get washed up and go on to dinner. Straight to dinner, though!" he added as Luke started scrambling down. "No going off on your own, okay?"

"Okay." Luke nodded and ran to wash his hands. He wasn't sorry he fought with Billy, but he was sorry he got in trouble. Not just because he had to miss free time, but because he knew the camp report would talk about it, and his dad would be mad at him. No, he would be "disappointed." That's what he always said. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad that he wouldn't let Luke come back again next summer. Luke couldn't imagine not coming back next summer and seeing Noah again.

He ran out of the cabin and up to the dining hall, smiling when he saw Noah standing outside. Noah was holding something behind his back, and Luke smiled bigger when he saw it.

"What do you have?" he asked, bouncing on his toes.

"I drew you a picture," Noah said. His face was red, but he held it out anyway, and Luke looked at it. It showed a blond-haired boy, wearing a striped shirt and shorts, jumping up to shoot a basketball toward a goal.

Luke's mouth fell open. "Is that me?" he asked. Noah nodded and turned even redder. Luke grabbed the picture out of his hands. "Noah! This is really good! Oh, it's so cool! Look, there's even clouds up in the sky!" He looked at Noah, so surprised he didn't know what to do. "Noah! Thank you so much! I love it!"

He jumped forward and hugged Noah, tighter than he ever had before. No one had ever drawn him a picture like this, and he was so happy, but at the same time he felt like he was going to cry.

Noah hugged him back. "I'm glad you like it," he said.

~~~~

Noah drew some more that week, fun things, like Spider-Man and a silly-looking picture of the camp director looking for his pen. Luke loved them all, but he said the first one was always going to be his favorite thing ever. He even made Noah put his name down in the corner.

"When I get home, I'm gonna get my mom to fix it up with a frame and everything so I can hang it up in my room," he said. "And I want everyone who sees it to know who drew it."

He grinned when he said it, and Noah smiled back and wrote down his first and last name as carefully as he could. Luke took the paper back and put it between two bigger pieces of cardboard that he got from the arts and crafts room, then put the cardboard into the very bottom of his duffel bag.

"There," he said. "Now it won't get messed up." He sat down on Noah's bed and started bouncing. "Okay, so what do you want to do? I get free time again today, and we only have next week until the end of camp. Do want to go walk around the lake and see if we can find some more of those cool rocks?

Noah grinned and nodded. "Yeah," he said, happy to have his best friend back. "Let's go!"

For once, he led the way as they ran out of the cabin.

~~~~

The last week at camp went by much too fast for Luke. He and Noah played together whenever they could, and Luke taught Noah more about basketball and made up more stories. Noah was out of movies, but he re-told some of their favorites, and he promised Luke he'd watch as many new ones as he could before next summer. Luke promised to read and write more stories and even bring some for Noah to read next summer.

They talked about next summer a lot.

Friday was their last regular day at camp. Camp ended on Saturday, and the buses would leave for the pick-up spot right after lunch. During free time that afternoon, Luke and Noah went to their spot next to the lake and sat together, not talking a lot, just looking at each other. Luke felt really sad, and he thought Noah looked sad, too.

Luke didn't want to leave Noah, and he didn't think Noah wanted to leave him. Noah was his best friend, the best friend Luke had ever had, and he didn't want to go a whole year without seeing him again. But Noah had said his dad probably wouldn't let him go all the way to Illinois to visit Luke, and his dad didn't even like it when other boys on base came to their house, so he sure wouldn't like it if Luke came to visit them.

"You promised you'd write to me," Luke finally said in a burst, and Noah looked up at him.

"I will," he promised. "But you have to write to me, too. You're a good writer and I'm not."

"You are, too," Luke said. "You tell the best stories. Just write them down like you told them to me. And you can draw pictures, too. You can draw pictures of the movies you told me about this summer."

Noah smiled just a little bit. "Yeah," he said. "And I can draw pictures of my house and the school and stuff on base, so you can see what it all looks like even if you can't come visit."

Luke bounced from happiness. "Yeah!" he said. "I can't draw good, but maybe Mom will help me take some pictures with her camera and I can send you those. I told you about my gramma's farm. I can send you pictures of the horses!"

"That would be really cool," Noah said, nodding. "Maybe someday when I'm older I can come see them."

Luke grinned at Noah and held out his hand, little finger crooked just so. "Pinky swear we'll be best friends forever?"

Noah smiled back and hooked their fingers together, pulling tight. "Pinky swear," he vowed.

Luke threw his free hand up over his head. "Best friends forever!" he yelled, and Noah laughed and raised his own hand.

"Best friends forever!" he echoed, and right then Luke felt better than he'd ever felt in his whole life.

He couldn't wait until next summer.

~~~~

Noah's picture of Luke: