The Miseducation of Cameron Post

It’s 1991, the summer before Cameron’s freshman year of high school. She trains for the swim team. Ruth becomes a sales representative for Sally-Q Tools, a company that markets tool sets to women.

One night, after drinking peppermint schnapps and eating cheap pizza, Cameron and three other former stars of the junior high track team—Jamie, Paul, and Murphy—break into the abandoned hospital Holy Rosary. The place is dark, damp, and “cryptlike” (80). Cameron grips onto Jamie in the dark, and Jamie does not resist her. As the boys roughhouse, Cameron marvels at how comfortable they are being physical with each other. She finds herself envious. Jamie makes a sexual innuendo about Cameron joining them, which Cameron brushes off. 

While training for the swim team, Cameron gets closer to Lindsey Lloyd, Cameron’s long-time but friendly rival from Seattle who spends summers with her father in Montana. Cameron notes the ways Lindsey has changed this summer, with her short, bleached hair and eyebrow ring. Cameron finds herself jittery while rubbing suntan lotion on Lindsey’s back. Lindsey laments that she will be unable to attend the Gay Pride Parade in Seattle this year. She asks Cameron if Cameron would have gone with her, if she could.