I was and remain pretty socially inept, but a teeny tiny spark in my brain led me to realize that it was a bad idea to be on this kid's target list. The first night, as we were all going to sleep, he and his LTs stayed up playing cards, and he bragged that he was going to 2/
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draw mustaches on all our faces while we slept. I told him I'd wake up and he wouldn't get me, then fell asleep. The next morning I awoke with a very big beard in black marker on my face. They came with me on the long walk to the shared bathroom to see my reaction. 3/
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Upon seeing myself in the mirror, the little spark flared and, rather than get mad or upset, I laughed, told them "ah, you got me! Nice one!" and asked if I could borrow some soap to wash it off. They were obliging, and I was added to the "cool" list, no longer a target. 4/
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Other kids did not react so well, and they remained targets. The dominator decided that since I was on the cool list, maybe he could recruit me as a new LT by getting me involved on an attack on another kid. The way he did this was clever. 5/
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He decided to spread a rumor that another kid in our bunk would masturbate at night. He was telling it to some kids while I was nearby, then turned to me and said "hey, you saw it, right?" Turned back to the other kids "Robotpliers never lies." Shit. 6/
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A loyalty test. If I said I saw it, I would be complicit in his attack, but would gain status with him and maybe establish a reputation for honesty (despite lying). If I said he was wrong, I would be calling him a liar and be back on the target list, but would avoid complicity.7/
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The spark went off again and I insisted that I didn't know what I saw, and I was probably asleep at the time. Not perfect, but I didn't call him a liar and didn't add to the rumor. I could live with that. In retrospect, I wish I'd called him out on his BS. 8/
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But he seemed like the kind of kid who would escalate to really nasty pranks and maybe physical violence. I was bigger than him, but I'd never been in a fight in my life. I didn't want him to break my nose, so avoiding conflict while avoiding recruitment was my main strategy. 9/
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As luck would have it, at the end of the first week I broke my leg playing ultimate frisbee and spent the rest of the summer recuperating at home. I was relieved to be away from that camp and that kid. 10/
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I do feel sorry for him now. He must have had a terrible home life, probably either as someone else's victim or as a recruited collaborator. He had to have learned his technique somewhere. 11/end
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Or, you know, he could have been a sociopath. That's also a possibility.