This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This is a work of fiction, any resemblance to real people or places is purely coincidence.

Saturday:

I sat bolt upright in the bed, it was already 9:30am, breakfasts time was already over, I rushed out of the cabin in my PJ’s and Lily was sitting on the porch

I wondered when you would get up, but Marie told me to let you sleep

But I missed breakfast?

Nope! Brunch bar with waffles and omelettes til like 11!

Oh thank heavens

Did you sleep well?

Ehh… had some stress dreams about my parents, but it wasn’t that bad

Thats too bad, Im sure it will go fine

I… should go get changed I said realizing I was still in my PJs from last night

I went and retrieved the dress, clean underwear, and put them on, along with my tennis shoes and socks, put my barrettes in as Lily had shown me how

I came back out on to the porch, ok, ready for brunch I said smiling

Yay! Lets go!

As we walked I noticed a couple cars already here for parents, I checked my phone before I left the cabin and my parents had texted me they wouldn’t be here til noon-ish

So when do your parents arrive?

Oh I am taking the bus back, my parents couldn’t come

Oh, thats too bad

It’s ok, their work schedules are different, mom’s a firefighter and often is on weekends and dad’s a nurse and sometimes works nights but we still get plenty of days together

Thats good, you live in Portland right?

Yeah

We could probably give you a ride if you preferred?

I don’t know, my parents might not be ok with that, but I can check!

We approached the dining hall and Marie was just coming out

Carly! Glad you finally woke up

I laughed, its been a busy week

A good week I hope?

The BEST I said

Glad to hear it! And you thought you would spend all your time hiding in your cabin listening to music

Well that was a different kid, and I dont know what you are talking about I laughed

Im really glad for you kiddo, go get some brunch she said smiling

We went inside and the dining staff had set up the counter as a buffet and one of them had a griddle outside to make omelettes on,

I got some waffles, bacon and went over to the omelette station and selected some things to go in with a couple eggs, while Lily skipped the waffles but did bacon and went for a fancier omelette

We took our plates over to an empty table

So when do the busses leave?

Not til 1 I think? Its pretty late

So time to figure out if you could ride home with us?

Yup, probably would be more comfy than the bus

what part of Portland do you live in?

Kind of in the middle?

Oh, same, I wonder if we go to similar schools?

Maybe, but Ill still be in middle school next year

Well still, maybe close to each other

We finished eating, laughing and talking about various things as we walked back to the cabin, greeting various campers as we went.

We spent some time packing, and to be honest, my clothes didn’t all fit, so I took a few things I hadn’t worn and tied them in a bundle and said, Ill just leave them for the Penny’s Closet,

Don’t think you’ll want them?

Nope! Those t-shirts were just least effort from me, and the jean shorts are nowhere near as comfy to me as what I have now

Thats great

Oh, right, need to text my parents

Liz grabbed her phone after we had stacked our bags for easy collection later

We walked back over to the dining hall and Lily texted her parents about my offer, she showed me their reply

Is this the girl that was playing Juliet? We are fine with it in theory, but we would like to talk with her parents first, make sure things seem ok, exchange info and such

Lily had me text them my info

Hi Lily’s parents, this is Carly, yup, I played Juliet, here’s my parents number and info

I texted my parents really quick

Hey mom and dad, don’t know if you will be able to get this or get a phone call, but a friends parents will be trying to call, I offered her a ride home

Mom: Ok sweetie, if she’s a friend of yours its fine with us, I take it she lives in Portland?

Oh you got it, that was a quick response, thank you, and yes, she lives in Portland, somewhere central

Your dad’s driving

Oh, theres their call, ttyl Carly!, love you

Love you

I showed Lily the messages, fingers crossed I said

Sounds good! I think it will be ok

We sat on some chairs on the deck overlooking the field and water while we waited on responses

Billie and Millie came up to see us

Oh hey, there you two are! We wanted to make sure to exchange contact info! And I wrote down my number on their sheets and they wrote theirs on mine

Lily’s phone beeped and shortly after it mine beeped

Mom: We talked with her parents and they seem lovely, look forward to meeting Lily and seeing you Carly!

I showed Lily this and she showed me her parents response

Hey honey, sounds great, they will bring you to the house, we are calling the camp to let them know your travel arrangements are changed and that you will be coming home with Carly’s folks

I texted my parents back briefly while Lily did the same, but we still had an hour to kill and decided to take a walk around the camp, taking our phones with us to snap some pictures, including some selfies, something I had never actually done before.

We walked past Handicraft, where Marie was on the porch and she flagged me down, don’t forget your sculpture! It dried out really nicely!

Thanks I said, and I carefully carried it to my cabin and wrapped it in some paper and stuffed it among clothes so it wouldn’t break

I took a moment to make sure that other things were there, the trans pride flag glass bead patch, the bracelets hadn’t left my wrist since Monday, even for the play.

As we rounded the bend Lily still instinctively grabbed my arm, but this time didnt release it as we walked on towards the water front

George waved us down Hey! You two should take your tags with you! And they went to the board to retrieve our tags and handed them to us, they had the camp name and year number on them I noticed on closer inspection, and George had surreptitiously made me a new one that said Carly after Monday

We walked on, and Lily and I took each others hand again and walked up the hill, past the other cliffs, and around to the entrance to the theater,

Claire was at the gate, Oh! Carly! Lily! Did you get a copy of the performance yet? I was handing them out at breakfast, but I had to come back here and take care of some things and left them sitting in a stack on a table

Oh! No we did not Lily said, my parents will definitely want that

I know mine will, did it include…

Yes it included the bow and you introducing yourself!

Thats nice, thank you! We will grab them when we pass the dining hall

We walked on, past snowflake, past the other side’s showers, and came back to the dining hall, where we ran inside and got our copies of the dvd of the film, and we also picked up a copy of the playbills that Claire had made up with the cast list

We walked back to our cabin and stowed our mementos in our bags, and then realized my parents would be here soon, and hauled our bags out to the field to wait

Other campers and parents reuniting, and I saw one of the other discrete brochure kids from Caterpillar having a tearful reunion with his parents, but they appeared to be happy tears

It wasn’t too much longer before I saw my parents station wagon come down the hill, and in to the parking lot, and I told Lily, thats us!

They parked and we waited in the field and they came and found us quickly

Mom and dad hugged me deeply, and mom had tears in her eyes, you are so cute! that dress really suits you

I blushed, thanks mom

Dad said, Im really proud of you Carly, it took a lot of guts to tell us, and Im sorry if we ever gave you reason to think you couldn’t

I, I just didn’t think it was a thing anyone could be or just do, so I buried it, I got enough teasing in school, I didn’t need more

We understand sweetie mom said, are you going to want to be Carly full time right away?

I think so? I think trying to be both would be really hard

Thats completely fair sweetie, we should go shopping and get you some clothes, I see you already found some, is this from Lily?

Nope, its from Penny’s Closet, she runs a clothes swap closet for kids who want to explore

Oh thats really nice! I don’t think that one got mentioned in the brochure

Also, about that Carly my dad said, we knew it was a risk, we are sorry we didn’t know how else to get you to talk about whatever it was you were working through, and we were pretty sure it was gender or orientation or both, we tried various things but you just hid in your room listening to music

It… it wasn’t easy that first night hearing it, I ran out of the dining hall in a panic, but George got me to calm down

Oh, thats nice of him

Them I said

Sorry, nice of them, Im glad they helped you out

The staff have been really wonderful mom, Im glad I came

Im glad you did too!

And then it hit me, uh, dad, mom, this is Lily, she was my seat mate on the bus and cabinmate, and she’s the one whos riding home with us

It’s nice to meet you Carly’s mom and dad

And it is very nice to meet you young lady, you did a wonderful job as the Nurse in the play too

She’s who convinced me to sign up to audition I said, and she’s been really helpful in figuring things out

Thats wonderful!

Well shall we get loaded up and head out? Dad asked

I think they are serving lunch actually today, we could stay and eat I think?

It is a bit of a ways to the nearest town for food, my mom admitted, ok, lets load the car up then go eat!

Lily and I grabbed our backpacks and mom and dad both grabbed our bags and hauled them to the car and got them loaded in, then walked back towards the dining hall, and mom snapped a picture of the field and waterfront, it really is a pretty camp

Im going to miss it to be honest,

And to think you didnt even want to come! my dad laughed

I laughed, you got it right this time

We are sorry about those other camps too dad said, we didn’t understand they weren’t good places, we discussed this camp for a whole month before offering it to you, did tons of research, talked with Penny

As we walked in to the dining hall Marie came over, you must be Carly’s parents! She exclaimed

Yup, thats us

I was Carly’s cabin counselor, she was a joy to have at camp

Thanks I said, blushing

Are you going to eat before you head out? You all should eat with us before you leave

We are I said

It was just cold cut sandwiches, but they had a really good sauce on them and some really good bags of chips to go with them, and just the right size.

Marie, my parents, Lily, and I chatted animatedly during lunch, with Marie insisting I show them our bracelets, and that I had a sculpture I did that was really good

Marie also explained about Penny’s Closet some, and my parents insisted on making a donation for the purposes of the underwear that has to be new

We finished our food and got up to leave, and I asked Marie if I could give her a hug before we left

Of course sweetie! And thank you for asking first

We hugged, and then Lily asked too, and we said our goodbyes and headed out to the parking lot to load in to the car and head home.

Lily and I of course sat in the back seat

So… how about we play some music by your namesake on the way home? mom asked

I grinned, yes lets!

And we all sung along as best or in dads case worst as we could to her songs, and other pop artists

The drive didn’t seem nearly as interminable as the reverse on the bus, and before too long we were arriving in Portland. Mom had gotten Lily’s address from her parents already, and we stopped there first

We all got out and Lily had texted her parents our ETA and they came out to greet us all, Mom and dad helped unload her stuff, and there was a lot of hugging and handshakes, and Lily’s parents promised to send my parents some info and resources for parents of a trans kids which caused a brief moment of confusion

Wait, Lily is trans? My mom asked

Yup! Lily said, I thought you knew! Sorry

Nothing to be sorry for! Thats on us for assuming

Dad laughed, I knew

Wait, you did? My mom asked

She had the trans pride patch on her bag and she’s wearing two bracelets with trans pride colors

My mom said oh, I have been completely oblivious haven’t I? and laughed

Everyone laughed and I hugged Lily one last time and we got in the car to head to our place, which was only a few miles away, and Lily and I had realized she went to the same middle school I had just graduated from finally, and she would feed in to my high school next year as well

When we finally got inside and my stuff hauled up to my room, I got out my sculpture which had survived, I went downstairs and showed my parents, and we talked.

A longer talk, that was at times difficult, but it was good, and Mom agreed to take me shopping tomorrow morning for some more clothes, and that she would help me get my info updated at school as soon as possible

---

Life continued, a bit over a month later, I had my 14th birthday party, Lily was of course invited and got me a really nice set of nail polish and drying lamp and such and even a couple of my lapsed friends showed up and we got along a lot better with me being the real me.

I went on to high school, which was good and bad, the principle was fine, the teachers were fine, the kids were… well… some were not great. But, I developed actual friendships with classmates for the first time in forever, I smiled far more frequently, laughed, and actually felt connection to my emotions

My parents helped me get on blockers, greatly slowing my puberty til the doctors would let me on hormones. Doctors, even in Portland were kind of not great, and the more I paid attention, the more I knew horrible things were happening to kids like me around the country.

Lily and I did go back to camp the year after and the year after and so on, and we did date for a bit when she got to high school, but it didn’t last, she realized she was straight and I realized definitely was a lesbian, but we remain best friends, and we talk nearly every day still day.

I remain grateful to Camp Sunshine for existing, for letting me see it would be ok to be me, for helping me be myself. I ultimately joined staff there because I wanted to give back to a place that had given me so much. Some had come and some had gone, but Marie and Liz have taken over running the camp from Penny, and while I hadn’t been invited to the wedding, I did get to help throw her a 10 year anniversary party awhile back, which was a lot of fun.

There aren’t as many discrete brochure campers today, kids know better earlier than even my generation did, but we still offer it, because some kids just need a bit of encouragement to come out of their shell, to see that its possible to live and be happy with who you are.