If you asked me to describe her, all I would say is that she is a puzzle within a conundrum. Xiao Wei was slender and slight, she only came up to just past my shoulder, and looked much younger than the others in the camp... but she was easily the bravest of everyone there... naughty boys included. Her face was angelic -- she had delicate features, a snub nose, and eyes that are a little too large for her face-- but she is anything but an angel, going by the shenanigans she got herself into. She wore her hair cropped close to her head, so the unknowing observer might think she was a tomboy or at least, boyish... but she was anything but. Mind you, it's not as if she was a ribbons-and-bows girl... she wasn't decked up in girly stuff, but it was clear that she enjoyed being a girl.
She liked the pants-less look and was always seen in a large tee-shirt with really short shorts which were not visible under the tee. And she seemed to enjoy using her feminine wiles to get the boys to do her chores. She was very smart-- this was abundantly clear with her antics and all of the fixes she got herself into-- yet this was the fourth year she was attending this end of year camp with the graduating batch of students from her school. Yet, it didn't seem to faze her at all, and she quickly became the de facto queen of the camp for each batch.
Such was her reputation that I was briefed on her when she came to the camp. It was my first time being the camp commandant, and the staff thought it important enough for me to be brought up to speed on the little imp. So it was not too much of a surprise to me to wake up to find her leaning over me, makeup brush in hand.
I grabbed her arm, switched on the lights and dragged her out. I'd decided to make an example of her so the rest of the camp did not get any funny ideas about what they could get away with. We got all the campers out of their bunks and I proceeded to give her a good dressing down about the need for discipline etc. As I said, it was my first time as camp commandant, so I wasn't clear what I was getting myself into.
At the end of my 5 minute rant, I dismissed the group but quickly noticed that instead of going back to her bunk, she headed off towards the beach. This certainly would not do... I didn't want to lose a camper on the first night, so I headed off after her.
On hindsight, this was perhaps not the wisest thing to do -- I did say it was my first time being camp commandant, didn't I? -- and I should probably have gotten one of the women to go after her, but I think I was still a little angry that she had had the audacity to come into my office like that in the middle of the night.
Anyway, she was pretty quick on her feet, and had disappeared down the path before I could catch up with her. I was a little puzzled when I got to the small, private beach that was part of the camp and saw that she was nowhere in sight. Then I remembered a small, barely noticeable path that branched off the main one on the way down... I had noticed it on my first reconnaissance of the place and made a mental note to check on that nightly, just in case any of the campers decided to let their hormones get the better of them and try to find some quiet time alone.
I made my way back there and set off down that branch... and found myself in a little clearing. The light from the moon was just enough for me to see her sitting on a root of a large tree, that was high enough so that she was able to sit comfortably as if she was on a chair.
"Hey," I said nonchalantly. "What's up?"
She shrugged and said nothing, her head turned away from me.
