I was down a camper already. If I lose this girl, I’ll be down to four.”
“Which means you’ll be fighting less of an uphill battle than every other counselor here. You’re on the upswing.”
“No. I was hit with an upswing,” I said. “See the bruise.”
He stepped backward, grinning as he reached the door. “Just remember, optimism is key.”
“Optimism can suck it,” I said, following him.
Outside, camp was a ghost town. I scanned the trees, searching for campers and counselors as Grant and I walked the path to our cabin.
“Before you go in there, take a deep breath and remind yourself I’m on the other side of that wall,” he said, walking beside me. “At the end of the day I got you. Don’t feel like you can’t ask for help.”
I studied him, his features sharp beneath the shadow of his hat. Looking that handsome was a crime. More so when he was being temporarily charming.
“Thank you,” I said, looking ahead.
“You’re welcome.”
7
Challenge
The rest of day one held an eerie stillness, an unspoken warning for campers and counselors alike. That warning clung to the air as day faded to night, growing anxiety and pessimism by the minute.
After dark, my girls gathered in the cabin. Despite a day’s worth of welcome to camp activities, their focus stayed on the fight. To top it off, everyone else at camp was also talking about the fight. At dinner, a full play-by-play was the most requested menu item.
I plopped onto my bed, sighing as I tugged off my tennis shoes. “What I wouldn’t do for a beer,” I groaned, tossing them on the floor. I grabbed a hoodie from the foot of my bed and tugged it over my head, putting the hood up as I relaxed against the bed’s metal headboard.
Across the room, the girls sat cross-legged on their beds. “Girl literally sat in there screaming her head off,” Brie was saying, shaking her head as she looked at Jess.
She wore a purple bruise on the right side of her face, but the majority of the damage was on the other. Fingernail marks ran across her cheeks, red against pale skin.
“Like she really thought they were going to let her come back in here when she jumped Jess,” Brie continued, grinning. “Uh, no girl. You wanted to start some beef but think you’re still allowed to stay? What is that?”
I cleared my throat, sitting upright. My nerves were riding the line between mildly anxious and full-fledged panic attack. Back home, I would’ve fled through the upstairs window. Here, that wasn’t an option.
I glanced at the girls, forcing myself to sound mellow despite being on edge. “I get that we had a kind of chaotic morning, but can we talk about something other than how Jane got suspended from camp?” I said.
“Why do we have to move on?” another camper, Steff, said. “That was, like, the best fight this camp has ever seen.”
The girls, including the fourth and arguably quietest of the quartet, Jules, had spent the hours following the fight walking around like they were the unspoken heroes of cabin two. Funny, considering two of the four were involved in starting the fight.
Jules pushed long dark hair behind her shoulders, prominent brown eyes honed on me. “Besides, it ain’t like we’ve got anything else to do,” Jules said. “Those lame activities they got up near the mess hall don’t start until tomorrow. Tonight is a free-for-all.”
“Nothing about this place is a free-for-all,” Brie said, sighing.
“It’s still better than being back home,” Jess said. “And Alex is right. I’m getting tired of hearing the replay on something we lived through. First time was fine. Now it’s getting old.”
“Great,” I said, shooting her a thumbs-up. “So let’s talk about something else. Rules. Fun stuff. Books. I don’t even care. Just something totally unrelated to the fight. Okay?”
“Or we could not and say we did,” Brie said, tracing designs on her pillow. “Idea: How about we switch things up and get the four-one-one on that chunk of man next door?”
“I’m in,” Steff said, grinning.
“Okay. Okay,” I said, waving them off. “Conversations about Grant are finished. I wouldn’t want him talking about me, so we aren’t talking about him. Do it when I’m not around.”
“But he’s a prime conversation topic, and it’s not like we’re doing anything else!” Brie said. “Besides, I’ve spent the last two summers out here trying to find any and every reason to talk to him. Now he’s right next door.”
“Girl, he ain’t interested in