30. Thirty #2
“No bullshit. Ask Toni. One good thing did come out of it, though.”
“What is that?”
“I now know exactly how big of a moron I was last summer,” I smiled. Abbi got the message, smiling too.
“A giant moron,” She grinned.
“Yeah, well, I’m working on making up for it now. And on that note,” I pointed to my computer, “I need your help.”
I was getting my hands on those camper files today.
Not just Jonathan and Alison McKnights, but all of ours, too.
Abbi agreed to help me. She left and I skipped straight back to my desk and pretended like I’d bought Jack’s shitty explanation.
For the first little bit, he didn’t quite believe it.
Every half hour or so, he stuck his head out the door asking either Riley or I some inane question.
Really, he was just watching me. But after a while, I must have convinced him, because he remained in his office until just before dinner time.
When, right on cue, Abbi came strolling back into the office.
“Hey, baby,” Riley, heart eyed as he was every time Abbi was in the room, bolted from his chair. She halted him and pointed until he sat back down. “Later, Riles.”
She then strolled over to me and I handed her a file. One that looked exactly like every other camper file. Wordlessly, her next stop was Jack’s door.
She rapped hard on the glass, before his echoed shout of “Come in.”
With all the confidence she normally exuded, she pushed her way into the office, leaning against the open door frame.
Her back was to us, but she didn’t bother to keep her voice down.
Both Riley and I easily overheard, “I thought I’d update you,” she flapped the file, “I spoke to Bella and her girls about Alison.”
She then opened the file, plucked out a single page and shook it in Jack’s direction, “Why didn’t you put it in her medical paperwork that the girl had severe asthma? Is that why they were removed? For testing?”
“Yes, well, her father didn’t want the information to be widely shared.”
“Fine, but you still should have told me and her cabin leader. I mean, come on Jack, that girl could have been at risk this whole time.”
She scrunched the single sheet of paper in her hand. A sure-fire sign of her irritation.
Jack responded accordingly, “I’m sorry, Abbi, you’re right.”
Abbi huffed “It’s fine, I guess we’re just lucky nothing happened. But next time-” she pointed at our boss, but with a wide smile that belied her intentions.
“Of course,” he replied, and she turned and left, winking at me as she exited, “I’ll see you all for A.L.T later!
’ She tossed a loose wave to me as she, and Riley at her heels, left the building.
Not long after, Jack got up too. The thin walls meant it was easy to hear him ruffling through the papers on his desk.
When he opened his door, he proceeded to make quite the show of turning the small silver dial on the doorknob to lock the door.
I ignored him, keeping my head down until he eyed me as he passed, but thankfully, I had a printed spreadsheet in front of me.
“Just doing a final check on the accounts before the audit,” I waved the spreadsheet I’d printed as a decoy in his face, “I’ll have the final notes to you tomorrow.”
One curt “Thank you,” and he was out the door.
He had somewhere to be. Not that I was far behind him.
First, I had something to check. Giving it a minute or two until I was certain he wasn’t just listening from outside, I gave his office door a soft nudge.
The barest push and the latch gave way. Abbi had done the damn thing.
The crumpled paper she’d torn and shoved into the clasp along with a piece of gum had been enough to fool Jack but not enough to stop me.
The office itself was deserted, and mostly neat. In general, Jack kept the surface of his desk empty, but between Xavi’s secret trips in here and my own experience as our director’s personal computer bitch, I knew enough about where to look.
Xavier had noted his appreciation for the man’s organisation.
The drawers in his desk, and at the top of the cabinet held recent files, making the McKnight kid files easy to find.
They, along with Holly's, were in the top drawer of the cabinet. In the third drawer, was Stephanie’s file.
But nowhere to be found, not even amongst the names of kids I recognized from so many summers ago, were our files.
Not Cole’s, not Xav’s, not mine and definitely not Toni’s.
I had no idea where they could be, but I knew for sure they weren’t in that cabinet. Next, I scanned his desktop, and pulled out each of his drawers. No dice. Short of keeping them in his own cabin, located just outside the gates, I had no idea where they could be.
So, I gave up retracing Jack’s footsteps less than fifteen minutes later.
Unlike when I’d spoken to Cole earlier today, the dining hall was now full.
All the cabins were here. Tonight was a special night, the final Agonde Live Theatre showcase of the summer.
The Creative Elites put one on every two weeks, all summer, but with just over a week to go before Camp ends, this would be one of the last times the whole camp was together like this.
Other than the closing campfire. Just thinking about how close we were to the end of summer filled me with dread.
And after last night, leaving Agonde would mean leaving Xavier and Toni, too.
I’d go back to school. They’d go back to school together at WBU. Or would they? Would Toni get sucked back into her father’s fucking prison cell? Would Xavier still want me if Toni was gone? If she did disappear, how would we survive? Would we?
These questions and the crippling anxiety that came with them were part of why I’d skipped both meals today, in favour of tracking this shit down.
One quick scan of the crowd was enough to confirm what I already knew in my gut, Xav and Toni weren’t amongst the seated campers and staff.
There was only one place they would be. My stomach growled as I entered the kitchen.
After I ditched the pack of files in my hands, I’d sneak my way to the fridge and make myself up a tasty little bacon sandwich.
Xavi was in his usual hiding spot, just inside the kitchen doors.
Only, for the first time ever, that I’d seen, he wasn’t there alone.
Toni was propped up, ass on the counter, while he stood between her open legs.
They weren’t quite kissing. There were too many kids and other staff milling around the lit up dining hall for that.
Still, seeing them together was magnetic, beautiful, perfect.
I strolled over to them, giving Xav’s ass a soft squeeze when I got close, before presenting the files to him, “Don’t say I never got you anything. ”
His hazel eyes zeroed in on the files and he snatched them from me. His brain had already gone into full-blown plotting mode by the time he said, “I need to go through these,”
He stepped away from our girl.
“Of course, Xav, so why don’t the three of us go to the office or Brennon’s cabin?”
He leaned back into her, lightly scolding, “Now, wild girl, you and I both know that if you and Brennon join me, then going through these files is the last thing we’re going to do.”
She shook her head but she sported a crooked little grin and was biting her lip in way I could see Xav itching to copy. Instead, he sighed and really did step back, “Bren, can you-”
“Oh, I’m with Birdie on this one.”
He groaned, “I should have known. Fucking trouble, both of you.”
We were. Birdie and I were always the ones that landed us in shit.
She’d dare us all to do something crazy or I’d goad them all into breaking a rule or two.
Xavier, on the other hand, was always the one who had a plan.
He reached for my hand on his way by, returning the squeeze.
“Go now. With the performances going on, no one will notice you leaving.”
Xavi already had one of the files open in his palm. Alison’s, probably because his neat-freak ass wanted to go in alphabetical order. At least he had a system.
“Alright,” I agreed, “But promise us that if you find anything, you’ll come and get us.”
He dipped his chin, and I grabbed Toni by the hand, tugging her after me. If I couldn’t have my bacon sandwich, I’d just have to chow down on something else, and my little bird was looking absolutely delicious.
We scurried out the back door and around the backside of the building.
It was so nice to just walk quietly and hold her hand.
I might be loud sometimes, and a joker with the others, but her presence, their presence, has always been a place of peace.
Growing up worried about my mother, terrified of my father, other than Este, there had only ever been three people in my life that I knew cared about me the same way I cared about them.
There was a part of my heart, maybe even my fucking soul, that started to wither and die when that went away. While Toni and I walked, it felt like I took my first deep breath since the age of fifteen, like the tiniest roots of something taking hold again in the darkest parts of myself.
Toni interrupted my sappy internal monologue, “I know you said the Village, but can we go to your cabin?”
“Uh, sure?’
“My cabin,” she shivered, rubbing her arms for warmth. The late August nights got cold as soon as the sun vanished. “It’s just..it gives me the creeps now. It feels like Francis is staring at me everywhere.”
“Of course, we’ll swing by Foxglove and grab you a sweater, then head to mine.”