“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 along 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 turned into the local campground and pulled up to the manager’s camp trailer. “Is spending the day with me really that horrible?”

“No,” I breathed.

He turned the truck off and leaned back in his seat. “I probably could’ve left you home, but your mother’s worried about you.”

Spending all of Tuesday sitting in my room wasn’t my smartest decision, but it was not like I had anything else to do. “Nothing’s wrong. My friends have just been busy lately.”

“Have you ever thought maybe you should expand 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 just think 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 great.”

“Aden.”

I hopped out of the truck.

My father met me around front. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought if you found someone who you had more in common with, than say Chris.”

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

My father let out a deep breath. “It’s just a suggestions, Aden. I need to talk to the manager. If you follow the trail over there, 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 the manager’s door 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 just 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. “Not a big deal. I have really hard feet. I don’t feel a thing, and I guess you're just sweeter than me, because they don’t bother me.”

Fidgeting, I peered over at him. “You still didn’t answer why you’re here?”

“Just coincidence.” He leaned back.

“We’re twenty minutes 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 laughed. I couldn’t help but smile myself. I hoped this meant I wasn’t going to end up at the bottom of a lake.

“Well 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 back 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. Stop, 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. “Well you’re starting to make a little 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 really know you.”

He 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 feeling that he was a serial killer hiding in the woods. He seemed like a nice guy. I guess he could be considered that new friend my father mentioned.