Chapter 30
Iguess I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m back in one of my five favorite trees. Without the distraction of Kayde or the kids being here, sitting in trees is one of my preferred things to do.
Especially now, with my feelings in disarray, to put it lightly.
But like yesterday, more and more of my hurt and longing have turned to hate for the ax murderer that wanted to break me, kill Kinsley, kill the kids and everyone else. It’s supposed to feel this way, I remind myself, one earbud firmly in my ear and my arms around my legs as I lean back against the trunk of the tree.
I’m supposed to hate him. Not long for him.
Deftly I put my other earbud in, checking my phone one last time to crank my volume up higher and check the time. I have another twenty minutes or so before the first kids start showing up. So I can sit here for maybe ten more.
Or maybe nineteen and a half.
One of my legs drops off of the side of the branch, foot swinging back and forth in the air seven feet over the ground. This tree is harder to hide in, since my branch only sits around six feet up instead of ten. Though I suppose, on the bright side, if I were to fall out of this one, I might not die or break my collarbone.
As “Talking in Your Sleep” blares in my ears loudly enough that I couldn’t fall asleep even if I’d wanted to, I lean back and glance up at the sky. Or at least, what I can see of it between the dense leaves of the trees. There are very few places outside of camp or the lake where I can see the sky unobstructed here, but that’s always been okay.
I like the dark. I like the moonless dark in the trees, when I can barely see anything further than a few feet in front of my face.
Songs change, blending from one to the next, and it’s not until I’m halfway through “Bad Moon Rising” and considering getting down that I realize I’m not alone here.
Though, Shawn’s method of getting my attention leaves a lot to be desired, as the quiet counselor grabs my ankle that swings through the air and yanks.
My eyes fly open, and I drop my other leg to balance with my thighs on the branch, looking down at him as a gasp leaves my throat unbidden. “What the fuck, Shawn?” I snarl, fingers digging into the trunk of the tree. Then I yank the earbuds from my ears and shove them in my pocket, though my attention never leaves him.
Especially with his hand still on my foot and a smile on his lips.
“Kinsley’s looking for you,” he tells me in that quiet, sly way of his. With olive skin that always seems to hold a tan and wavy black hair cut around his ears that somehow makes his green eyes look impossibly bright, I’m not above admitting that I’d had a crush on him my first year here.
Until I’d really talked to him, anyway.
Shawn is unnerving, and that’s the best compliment I can think of to give him. Anything else sounds suspiciously like an insult in my head, and certainly will on my tongue.
“So you thought you’d drag me out of my fucking tree, you psycho?” I yank my foot away from him, bracing it back up on my branch.
“I figured you weren’t in any danger.” He shrugs, putting his hands in his pockets. “You’re the one climbing trees and jumping down from them all the time. Come on.” He tilts his head to the side, still eyeing me shrewdly. “Are you going to go find Kins or not?”
“Why don’t you, I don’t know, take a few steps back first?” I retort, preparing to jump down. Though I’m certainly not going to jump right now, while Shawn can do something to make it worse or make me fall.
Shawn shrugs and takes three steps away from me, deliberately, with his hands up in surrender. “I’m not the one who hates you at this camp, Summer,” he reminds me, watching as I jump to the ground before he shoves his hands back into his pockets.
“Oh, yeah?” I push my phone into mine, making sure my earbuds are still there before I straighten. “Well, you certainly don’t like me much, huh?”
At that, Shawn tilts his head to the side, studying me. “You don’t think so?” he murmurs, and for some reason, the hairs on my neck stand up in both anticipation and something else that I don’t love.
But I refuse to be afraid of Shawn.
“I think if you do, you have a shitty way of showing it,” I mumble, rubbing my hands along my arms that have broken out in gooseflesh. “Where’s Kins?”
“Well, maybe I do have a poor way of showing it if you’re going to stand there and try not to shake,” Shawn teases, stepping forward. “But I’m not the one who sat at the fire last night and tried to embarrass?—”
“I didn’t start it,” I’m quick to cut him off, my eyes narrowing in warning as I glance up at him. Then I close the last of the space between us before he can, meeting his gaze and refusing to look away. I am certainly not afraid of Shawn.
No way on this earth would I ever fall that low.
“And I don’t know what this is…” I gesture between us before dropping my hand. “But I definitely didn’t start it either, Shawn. If you want in Darcy’s pants so bad, I can name about six better ways?—”
“You don’t ruffle my feathers like you do hers,” Shawn admits with a chuckle. “So I don’t need this bravado of yours. Like I said”—he tips his head to the side, toward the cabins and the rest of the camp—“Kinsley is looking for you. Think she wants your help with drop off.”
He’s so…strange. That’s the best I can really do in my mind, given my feelings for Shawn. But he’s right that I did promise to help Kinsley, though I hadn’t needed him to remind me. If anything, he’s only delayed me that much more.
“Whatever,” I mutter, shaking my head and walking past him. “See you later, I guess.” Or never, is what I would wish for if I had that option. But I have one more week of Shawn and Darcy before the summer is over.
One more week before I can figure out what the hell I’m going to do with the rest of my year.
The rest of my life.
The rest of whatever.
The trip back to the drop off area isn’t long., but I jog to cut down on time, sweat prickling at the back of my neck as the sun peeks between the trees. Then, finally, beats down on my back with all the force of late-July summer.
I’m late, I suppose, but only by a few minutes. A few cars are in the loop, dropping off a couple of kids I don’t recognize. Kins is there already, talking to their parents and doing her best to look inviting, friendly, and responsible.
Another car pulls up and I take it, soon falling into a cycle of greeting parents, then greeting kids and waving them off with the more nervous kids. I recognize a few of the campers, though not many, and greet them just as happily as I do the new kids.
Even if a few of them did try to break into Bobcat Cabin last year to terrorize some other boys. Though without a criminal mastermind, like Melody, at the helm, they hadn’t exactly gotten very far.
The first hour crawls by, just as I knew it would, with me only being able to exchange a few quick words with Kinsley as kids filter in. The drop offs slow down about midway through, but pick up again as the clock ticks closer to noon. It’s always this way. Most of the time, parents either get here right at ten am on the dot, or closer to noon, if not a few minutes after.
I’m used to it, and I’ve learned to predict when any ‘rushes’ will be. Though, with only about 50 kids max in each camp session, it’s not like there are lines and lines of cars with parents begging to get their kids out of the front seat so they can drive away for a week of peace.
Sure enough, an influx of cars arrives just as my phone flips to 12:01, and I let out a quick sigh as I walk toward a sleek, silver car at the front of the line. The door opens even before the car has finished rolling to a stop, and I hear a squawk of protest from the driver just as a shape shoots out of the open door and arms wrap around my middle, nearly knocking the air from my lungs.
“Melody?” I squeak, surprised and lacking oxygen. My arms flutter before landing on her shoulders, and I watch as Melody’s mom gets out of the car with her daughter’s bag, apology clear on her face.
“Melody, please don’t kill Summer,” her mom quips dryly, walking over to drop her duffel onto the sidewalk beside us. “I’m so sorry, Summer,” she adds, a sympathetic grimace on her lips. “She was really excited by the idea of coming back, and Mr. Fink said there was an opening, plus she’s in good standing with you guys, so…”
I won’t tell her that ‘good standing’ is certainly…a term for it. Though I peek down at Melody to see that she’s looking balefully up at me, as if daring me to say something to the contrary.
Not that I would dare.
“She’s always welcome here, as far as I’m concerned,” I admit, knowing that I’m pretty close to letting Melody get away with murder. Especially if I don’t like whoever her target might be. “Lily’s here,” I add to Melody, knowing they’d become fast friends last year. “She’s in my cabin. Guess you are too, aren’t you?”
Melody flashes me another smile and shows me the little Red-tailed hawk pin on her shirt. All the campers get them when their welcome packets are mailed out to them, and I hook an arm around her shoulders when she turns to look at her mom.
“I’ll see you in a week?” she asks, then darts forward to hug her mom around the waist. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” her mom assures her, and beams at me. “Don’t let her walk all over you, okay? I swear you won’t die if she hears the word no.”
“She’s perfect,” I lie, though I would do no less for any of the parents. Especially for any girl in my cabin. In my opinion, they’re all absolutely perfect. Even if they are feral, terrifying creatures willing to burn down the nation and topple the patriarchy for their own amusement.
Her mom reaches out to hug Melody one more time, gives her a quick, stern look as she usually does, and with one last smile in my direction, gets in the car to pull away from the curb and presumably head back to the airport.
“She only let me come back because of the move,” Melody admits quietly. “She knows this is my last year, and wanted me to have a good end to the summer.”
My heart twists with pity for Melody, and when she moves to hug me one more time, I embrace her with both arms. “We’ll make it the best week ever, okay?” I promise, looking her in the eye.
She hesitates, then nods. “Is Kayde here again?” she asks, brightening. “He told me he’d teach me a few different swimming styles when I said I’d kind of like to try out for the team next year.”
My stomach plummets to the ground, and I feel a little nauseous as my mouth falls open to give her an answer I don’t have. “Umm. I don’t think so. He was just filling in,” I tell her awkwardly as she grabs her duffel bag, clearly disappointed.
Me too, Mel, I think to myself, checking to make sure there are no more kids waiting for help.
There aren’t. Melody had been the last, and I steer her toward Kinsley while I fix a grin back on my face before either of them realize there’s something off.
“Hey, look who’s back!” I call, causing Kinsley to turn. She grins and walks forward, kneeling down to hug Mel just as I had.
“My favorite problematic camper,” Kinsley cackles. “Guess you won’t be gracing my cabin this time, huh?”
“Sorry, Kinsley!” Melody squints and looks up at me. “But I can’t betray Redtail like that.”
“Dang right, she can’t,” I agree, watching as Kinsley gets to her feet.
She starts to say something as the sound of another car floods my ears, but her face falls just as Melody tugs on my hand.
“Is anyone else here from last year?” she asks, while I watch Kinsley’s face in confusion.
“Umm…” I blink, trying to remember. “No, not from our cabin, I don’t think. Just you and Lily.” I try to catch Kinsley’s eye, confused about why she isn’t moving. If it’s another camper, she would normally be the one to greet them, seeing as I have a Melody attached to my leg, and all.
But she just…stands there. Confused. Perplexed. And finally, when her eyes slide back to mine, she looks…concerned.
“Summer…” she murmurs. “I think?—”
“Hey Summer.” The familiar, warm voice makes every muscle in my body stiffen, and I can feel my eyes widen just as my mouth falls open so I can take a deep breath.
I turn, heart thumping in my chest, and every emotion in the world seems to go through me; from fear to relief to a few things I refuse to name.
Kaydestands behind me, his duffel bag over his shoulder and mirrored sunglasses concealing his eyes. His blond hair is up in a bun, and he’s wearing a new Camp Crestview t-shirt in bright red, with a pair of black shorts under it. His smile widens as I look at him, though I can only imagine the shock on my face, compared to the amusement in his.
“Did you miss me?”