Chapter 10
Surprise trickles through my brain when I open my eyes in my cabin to stare at the ceiling. Had I actually, somehow, managed to sleep last night? I must have, given I don’t remember the sun rising and I feel more well rested than I would if I hadn’t closed my eyes at all.
I turn onto my side, legs curled up to my chest as I glare out the small window that’s mostly covered by a slightly dusty, navy curtain. I wish last night had been a dream. A nightmare, to be more accurate, but still…
Whenever I close my eyes, I can’t help but see the memory of the showers. I can’t help but run through every single moment in my head even as I curl even more tightly into a ball under my blankets. I know the second I get up and look in the mirror I’ll see the bruises that had already been blooming when I’d stumbled back to my cabin. And any hope that it was a dream will be chased away with the last dredges of sleep still trying to pull me under.
Somehow, I’ve managed to wake up ten minutes before my alarm. Instead of laying on my pillow until the last possible moment, I swing myself to my feet and stretch, arms linked above my head and going on tiptoe to work the kinks out of my muscles. Sure enough, the small look I get of my side in the mirror shows me that Kayde left as many marks on me as he could.
As if he wants me to squirm and be uncomfortable when remembering last night.
As if he wants to make sure I can’t forget.
“I hate it here,” I murmur in a sing-song voice, changing out of my oversized tee and boyshorts. From my dresser I pull out another Camp Crestview t-shirt from the mountain of them I’ve collected over the years, and I shake out the bright red fabric before slipping it on over my head. Thankfully, by the time my black running shorts and sneakers are on, I’m more awake and not as dragged down by the memory of last night as I had been when I first woke up.
At least…not until I give myself a once over in the large mirror near the foot of my bed. My fingers wander up to my throat, stroking over the bruised flesh above my collarbones. Anyone with eyes will know that the bruises are hickeys, and I don’t have any makeup to cover it.
“God,” I sigh, closing my eyes hard. I can already hear Kinsley’s questions, and if Darcy finds out, then I’ll be deader than I’ll probably be at the end of this summer camp session. No, I have to do something about them before that can happen.
And, unfortunately, Band-Aids turn out to be my only option. I slap three of them over my throat, covering most of the bruising even though some of the lighter, mottled red and purple still shows around the edges. But the bandages obscure the shape enough to give some doubt about what they are, and there’s no way I won’t be able to explain it away to anyone who asks.
I just hope no one asks.
What will Kayde think?
The thought bounces around my head suddenly, causing me to freeze in place even as I hear the girls in my cabin talking as they get ready. They’re better at getting up on time than I am, and I know I can’t let them have too much independence if I don’t want them setting something, or more likely someone, on fire.
“Please kill Kayde this week,” I mutter, putting that out into the universe just in case something is listening. “Please, Melody, if you’re going to turn the other girls feral and commit your first murder, please let it be Kayde.” It’s not like I’d miss him. Hell, if he is what he says he is, I don’t know if anyone would miss him.
Once my hair is up, I leave my cabin and close the door behind me, then stride to the door that leads to the girls’ bunks and knock on the wall. “I know you’re up,” I call, hands on my hips. “Ready to go raid the dining hall?”
The words are barely out of my mouth before the door is slammed open, nearly bouncing back on its hinges and causing me to give a sympathetic wince. Naturally, Melody is out first. The pack of girls that follow her always seem to bow to whatever innate dominance the girl possesses as she marches them toward the dining hall with a giggle in the ear of one of her friends.
I follow behind them, glancing toward the other cabins to see if any other kids are headed the same way just yet. Admittedly this is a little early for us. But this morning, I don’t care. I’m wired, as much as I hate it, and it’s hard for me to limit myself to clenching and unclenching my hands in my pockets.
“What?” I blink, realizing the girls are talking to me, and when I glance at them, I see they’re all clustered around me, keeping me from going further. “Did you say something?”
Judging by Melody’s look, it was her. Sure enough, she frowns like I’ve inconvenienced her by not giving her my constant attention, then taps the side of her throat. “What happened to your neck, Summer?” she asks, eyes wide with a concern I almost believe.
“Umm…” I hate how observant she is, and I reach up to brush my fingers over the Band-Aids. “Yeah. I fell,” I lie lamely, not knowing what else to say.
“On your neck?” Clearly, Melody doesn’t believe me in the least, and I roll my eyes at her incredulous look.
“Not exactly, but close enough. It was outside after you guys were hopefully asleep. I fell, my neck found the rocks, and boom. Bruises.” I wiggle my fingers in front of me like jazz hands, trying to use my own sarcasm to push the point past being argued.
She doesn’t believe me. That’s clear by the look on her face, and the way she narrows her eyes shrewdly, like she’s trying to catch me in a lie. But I’m used to Melody by now, so I just narrow my eyes right back and will her to start heading for the dining hall again.
Thankfully, she just shrugs, apparently losing interest in my spontaneous injuries before trudging towards the food and coffee I desperately need right now.
My feet scuff in the gravel as we go, and it’s hard not to look like a pouting child when I make my way into the dining hall behind my cabin of girls. I swipe a mug and quickly fill it with black coffee topped off by the smallest amount of cream.
It’s not enough. Especially since I’ve finished the searing liquid by the time I have my plate in hand and I’m striding for one of the counselors’ tables.
The one without Kayde, naturally. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s already there, and it shocks me even less that he’s a social fucking butterfly with the counselors sharing his table. Thankfully, that doesn’t include Kinsley, who sits at the other one with Liza on her far side.
It feels almost like I’m intruding, since it’s clear they each harbor an equal crush on the other. I slow my steps, looking at the way Liza and Kinsley sit close together, and a pang goes through my chest when Kinsley giggles and shifts just a little closer to the camp nurse.
I’m jealous.
Safe in my own thoughts, I can admit the shock that travels up my spine is pure jealousy at its finest. Not specifically of Liza; I don’t have a crush on either of them and Kinsley has assured me that while she thinks I’m ‘cute,’ I’m not her type either.
I’m just jealous of this thing that’s building between them. It’s new, and delicate, but sweet and I mentally cross my fingers and toes that it works out. Kins has been crushing on Liza for a couple of years now, and while I have no idea what finally gave her the confidence to take things a step past friendship, I’m thrilled for her. She deserves this.
But apparently I don’t.
No, I deserve Kayde fucking Lane, who trapped me in a shower stall last night. I apparently deserve a serial killer dead set on breaking me and murdering the entire camp for shits and giggles.
Instead of hand holding and sweet smiles, instead of being oblivious to the people around me, I get him. And God, I’d take anyone else. Except, maybe Darcy. But that’s just personal preference and because her face irritates me when she’s trying oh so hard not to say something nasty and failing miserably at it.
“Everything good, Summer?” The voice that drifts into my left ear and halts my mental rambling is soft, and I swear I can feel Kayde’s warm breath on my skin as my fingers tighten on my plate. “You’re kind of just staring off?—”
“I’m fine,” I lie, cutting him off before he can finish. I don’t need to look at him to know how close he’s standing, or that his attention is solely fixed on me. My stomach twists, hunger being replaced by a low simmer of nausea that slowly bubbles up my chest. “What do you want?”
“What do I want?” He leans away a little, and when I risk a glance his way, I see his eyes are wide in mock hurt. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. And to see if you knew you were staring at them like you’re about to cry.” There’s something under his words that I don’t look into, though I do give him a more direct glance as my lips quirk down into a frown.
“I’m not going to cry.”
“Are you jealous of their little romance?” The guess is so accurate that I rock back on my heels slightly, my face falling and giving him exactly what he’s looking for.
The honesty that I’d planned on keeping from everyone. Kins included.
“Oh…” His face falls into bemusement, like I’ve truly surprised him. “You actually are? You want that?” He tilts his head subtly in their direction, eyes glittering with something like mild shock.
“So what if I do?” My chin rises in challenge, and one of his brows raises incredulously. “Is it such a bad thing to want something like that? Where they don’t care if anyone is looking, or about anything other than each other for a few minutes?” My mouth runs onward without my permission, and I hate how I feel like I have to squirm under his piercing gaze.
“Hmm.” He looks at them again, both of my friends still oblivious, then back at me with a shrewd, sly expression replacing the bemusement. “Well all you had to do was say so, Summer. I can adapt.”
I can feel the shock on my face, and the way I almost drop my plate at his words. “No, I don’t—I mean we’re not?—”
“You don’t have to be embarrassed,” he cuts me off smoothly, like I’m not even fucking talking. “We all have our guilty pleasures or things that we want in a relationship.”
“We’re not in a relationship.”
“Oh, sweetheart. We are in the best kind of relationship.” For just a moment I see the flash of his true self under the Lassie facade, and my heart plummets to the floor in a futile escape attempt. “You should eat.” His eyes flick down to my plate, then back up to my face. “Someone said we’re doing the obstacle course today, I think? Seems like you’ll want to be on top of your game for that.”
While I don’t have an answer ready, I find my mouth opening anyway, and I’m sure I’ll insult him in a way that will get everyone killed including me. But then Kinsley’s voice carries my name across the ten or so feet separating us, a question in her voice.
Both Kayde and I turn to look at her, and I immediately school my face into neutrality. Really, it’s the best I can do, given the circumstances, and I must succeed since neither of them look suspicious.
“Sorry, Kins,” Kayde apologies, speaking before I can. “I didn’t mean to steal her from you guys. Make her eat, okay?” He laughs and tilts his head at my plate. “She’s trying to tell me she can just live off of coffee, and that seems super unhealthy.” Playfully he nudges my arm, and the touch makes me want to both shiver and scrub at my skin until all trace of him is gone. “Later girls.” He barely gives them time to return the sentiment, before Kayde is striding off into the kitchen, plate and glass in his hands.
“…Summer?” Kinsley’s voice is careful this time, and she glances at me like she’s finally understanding that something might be wrong. “You going to sit down?”
I should tell her.
The thought quickly sours and I shake my head to clear it before sliding into the seat opposite her. “I’m all good,” I lie, trying to assure them of the falsehood. “And before you start in on me, I swear I’m going to eat.” I laugh, flopping back in my chair after resting my plate on the table. “So don’t give me that look, Mother Liza.”
The nurse smiles, holding up a hand in surrender as she sips her coffee. “I would never parent you into better health, Summer,” she promises with a laugh. “I’ll just keep extra bandages around for when you inevitably injure yourself doing something stupid like swinging from the trees by a vine.”
Kinsley laughs at the accurate assumption, but I just make a face and bring my second mug of coffee up to my lips, prepared to down it just as quickly as the first.