if you come out and visit us.”
“Go to hell!” The girl reached out to slap Keelan, but Ashlyn stepped between them.
“You go first, and we’ll send you some ice-cream sandwiches.” Keelan glared at the girl.
The hand was still raised when a police officer stepped up and grabbed it. “That’s enough out of all of you. You girls from Alpine go home, or I’ll lock the bunch of you up. You Piney Wood girls . . .”
Elijah finally made it to the bottom of the steps and got between both sets of girls. “Girls from Piney Wood, go get in the vans.”
“I’d take my demerit and punishment if you’ll let me go back and hit her.” Keelan stomped all the way to the place where the two vehicles were parked.
“Me too,” Ashlyn said.
“I thought you two hated each other.” Elijah opened the door to the first van.
“We do,” Keelan said, “but nobody is going to diss any one of us, especially a girl who takes up for me in a fight. I’ve got all y’all’s backs, Piney Wood girls,” she called out as she got into the van.
“So do I,” Ashlyn yelled. “That don’t mean I like you any better, either, but us Piney Wood girls have to stick together.”
“Amen!” The five girls in his van all did fist pumps.
Elijah got behind the wheel and closed the door.
“Do we get demerits for standing up for each other?” Tiffany asked.
“Are we still going to have ice cream?” Quinley asked.
“Nobody gets demerits tonight, and I appreciate you girls obeying when I told you to get in the van. I know it wasn’t easy to keep from hitting those smart alecks, but you did good, and yes, there will be ice cream when we get back to camp.”
Chapter Eighteen
All the girls filed into the dining hall with their heads held high. Jayden wasn’t sure what would happen next. The girls had almost gotten into a fistfight with those snotty little brats from town, and she wasn’t sure what their punishment would be. Truth be told, she wanted to give them a medal for holding back and only throwing barbs at those girls. They took their seats at their usual tables and waited in total silence—all eyes on Elijah.
“Tonight, you can sit wherever you please while you have your Fourth of July treat, and I’m going to be first in line this time. To those of you who weren’t riding with me and Novalene, there will be no demerits given, and I’m proud of you for obeying me when I told you to,” Elijah said.
Elijah joined Jayden in the kitchen. “I’ll help dip up the ice cream. What do you think, partner? Did our girls do pretty good?”
“I’m proud of them, but if I’d been in Keelan’s shoes, I might have decked that girl and took my punishment,” Jayden whispered.
“Did you feel like knocking Skyler on her butt when she was here?” he asked.
“No, I felt guilty for not handing over my checkbook and credit cards to her, but then that’s the way I’ve always felt when I denied her anything,” she answered.
“You shouldn’t have felt that way, ever. Skyler must have been able to manipulate you from the time you were a little girl.” He removed the lids from both freezers of ice cream and set them on the counter.
“Oh, yeah, she could, but I wasn’t the only one. When she wanted something, she would keep it up until Mama and Daddy or Grandpa let her have her way. Believe me, living with her when she wasn’t happy was awful,” Jayden said.
“What do you want us to do?” Novalene asked.
“There’s a pan of brownies over there on the cabinet. Would you cut them into squares? Diana, would you get the watermelon basket out of the refrigerator, and please take that bowl of strawberries over to one of the tables. I thought we would let the girls help themselves to the fruit. Elijah is going to help me serve ice cream,” she said.
“Watermelon basket?” Diana questioned as she headed toward the refrigerator. “Well, I’ll be danged. You cut the watermelon in the shape of a basket and made little balls so they’d be easier to eat. You really should stay here, Jayden. You’re good at what you do.”
“I hear you,” Elijah agreed.
“No comment.” Jayden dipped up the first bowl of ice cream.
“I’m still betting I leave here with a bottle of bourbon,” Novalene whispered.
“Still no comment,” Jayden said.
The girls started out sitting with the others