The Midnight Splash

I never thought my freshman year would start with me hiding in a tent, clutching a can of spinach like it was a weapon, while my supposed best friend kept whispering that there was a bear outside.

"Dude, I heard it growling," Marcus whispered, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "Bears eat people. That's literally science."

"You're literally dramatic," I shot back, but my hands were shaking. "And bears don't even live in this part of the state."

We were supposed to be bonding. Marcus's older brother had dropped us off at Lake Pine for a "guys' weekend" — two nights of fishing, bad jokes, and proving we weren't little kids anymore. Except now it was midnight, something was scratching at our cooler, and I was pretty sure I was going to die before my first day of high school.

The scratching stopped. Then came a splash.

"See?" Marcus hissed. "It's in the water!"

I grabbed the flashlight, heart pounding like I'd just chugged three energy drinks. "We're checking. Together."

"Bro, did you not hear the part about the bear?"

"You're the one who said bears hate spinach." I held up the can like it would somehow save us. "We throw this, we run. That's the plan."

Marcus stared at me. "That's actually the worst plan I've ever heard."

"Got a better one?"

He didn't.

We crept toward the lake, flashlight trembling in my grip. The beam cut through the darkness, landing on something small and furry by the water's edge.

A raccoon. Sitting on a cooler lid, washing what looked like a hot dog bun like it was fine china.

"A raccoon?" Marcus groaned. "We almost died because of a literal trash panda?"

I started laughing. I couldn't stop. The raccoon glared at us, grabbed its prize, and scurried into the woods.

"Wait," Marcus said, grinning. "Did you actually think you could fight a bear with spinach?"

"Shut up."

"That's literally not a thing."

"Yeah, well." I nudged him. "At least we didn't run."

We sat by the water until dawn, talking about high school, about being scared, about how maybe neither of us had to pretend we were braver than we were. The spinach stayed in the cooler. The bear never came. And somewhere between the fear and the laughter, I realized freshman year might not be so bad after all.