by J. K. Rock
“Whoa. She could be in movies.”
“Hot.” This from Cameron.
“Supa-star.” Emily fluttered her fingers over my head like a jazz-hands version of voodoo.
“You have to have talent for that,” Brooke huffed and punched off the video. “More than just looking good.”
Seeing myself on film felt strange; what I saw did not match up with my image of myself. In my mind, I was always battling those last few pounds that had plagued me in junior high. But I didn’t see chipmunk cheeks and curvy thighs on the video camera. Still, I wasn’t comfortable in the spotlight, even if I didn’t look like a train wreck.
“Folks, we’re wasting time here. Can we get a real shot of Cameron and Kayla kissing?” Gollum pointed from the couch to us. “Over there.”
“Actually,” Brooke cut in. “I’ve decided that shot doesn’t work for me creatively. I’m putting Eli and Brittany there instead and Rafe and Siobhan by the ficus tree.”
The couple emerged from behind the tall plant, red-faced, Siobhan pulling a penguin hat over her mussed hair.
Relief washed over me as the spotlight moved away from me. I didn’t want to kiss Cameron or be in a Brooke White video, and now I was off the hook. I joined Alex by the back window and hip-bumped with her along to Brooke’s new tune. Maybe hearing it for the thousandth time today had us brainwashed.
“Did you ask Nick to switch partners for the CIT program?” I asked, twirling a little as we changed places. Dancing was fun, especially when no one was watching. But then I looked up and caught sight of Nick. His broad shoulders filled the doorway, a bag of pink candy in hand, his eyes searching, then stopping on me. I used to know what he thought before he said it. Now his face gave nothing away.
Alex whipped her hair back and forth, arms overhead. “He won’t change partners. Weird, considering he supposedly hates you.”
I turned my back on Nick and faced Alex. “So I’m stuck with him?”
“Do you really think he doesn’t like you?” Alex stopped dancing and brushed her damp hair off her forehead. “Because he’s, like, always looking at you.”
“He’s trying to intimidate me.”
Alex shrugged and started dancing again. “There’s only one way to find out.”
“How?”
“Spend the rest of summer as his CIT partner.”
I groaned, imagining him as my partner in every way but the one that counted. “I’ll drop out.”
Alex put her arms around me and slow danced me into a corner, then stopped. “Tell me the truth. You don’t want to try at all? See if you guys could get back together? He may not like you now, but that doesn’t mean he won’t change his mind when he spends more time with you.”
“How about a Cam sandwich?” Cameron wriggled his way between us.
Alex pushed him away. “Sorry. This dance is mine.”
“Not trying to make me jealous are you?” he joked, but I wasn’t laughing.
I glared. “First of all, I’m not your girlfriend, so stop acting like I am. And secondly, don’t kiss me again unless I ask you to.”
Cameron threw up his hands and backed away. “Didn’t know this was PMS central.”
Alex and I stared at him, open-mouthed.
“Oh, no, he didn’t,” spoke up Emily beside us. “I’m over men using that as an excuse for our assertive behavior…and binge-eating.” She held out a bag of popcorn. “Want some?”
“No thanks, Em. I’m done with the boy-drama for today. Thanks for trying to help me, but I think I’m going to pass on the program.”
Alex and Emily frowned, their expressions perfect mirrors of one another. I had to give them props, though—they didn’t try to change my mind.
I waved at them over my shoulder and pushed my way past Cameron, through the throng, and out the door.
My flashlight blinked on and startled Nick who’d been standing on the lower step, his head tipped back, eyes on the stars.
“Leaving already? It looked like you were having a good time in there.”
“What do you care?” I spit my words out. They tasted as bitter as I felt. What was it about Nick that made it impossible to bury my emotions where they belonged?
“Oh, I care. Though I wish to hell I didn’t.”
I stepped back and gripped the wooden rail. “I think you should get over yourself, Nick. You’ve got Brooke, so stop making my life miserable with your games.”
Nick looked like I’d slapped him. “Is that what I’m doing? Making your life miserable?”
I almost laughed at his innocent act. No way was I going to give him the satisfaction he wanted. “You don’t even have to do anything. Just you being here is making my life hell.”
“Guess some things haven’t changed in three years,” he muttered, having the nerve to look as though I hurt him.
I sprinted down the steps and made it to my cabin a couple minutes later, my mind replaying the look on Nick’s face. He had no right to act wounded. If he could dish it out, then he should be able to take it.
I jogged up my porch steps, then froze when a moon ray caught the flutter of a piece of paper tacked to our lower railing.
Nick.
The note tore as I snatched it loose. My flashlight illuminated the single line of text.
Seven minutes in heaven wasn’t enough.—Nick
I crumbled the paper and stopped myself before throwing it into the dark. Someone might find it. I shoved it in my shorts pocket, then flung myself inside and onto my bunk.
Was he rubbing my nose in the fact he’d spent most of tonight making out during Brooke’s “Seven Minutes in Heaven” video? Heaven. Hah.
I grabbed a note sheet, scrawled a reply, then sprinted to his deserted cabin. They must still be at the shoot. I could just imagine Nick kissing Brooke again, and the thought made me ram the thumbtack hard enough that it slipped and stabbed my finger instead of the paper. I sucked the blood beading on my pinky, then secured the note that said:
It’s not heaven to me. – Kayla
Like I’d told him, he’d turned my summer into hell.
But that kiss in the refrigerator, a voice whispered, remember how happy you were? I pushed the unwelcome thought aside and trudged home. Should I let him dictate the rest of my summer? Keep me from doing my CIT training and returning as a counselor? It didn’t seem fair. I might be miserable working with him, but I’d ignore him. Do it for myself. That’s what counted, no matter how unhappy I felt.
Inside my cabin, I changed, got under the covers, and turned over, thumping my pillow.
Happiness had an expiration date. Especially with Nick.
Chapter Six
“Kennedi?” I repeated the next morning and looked up from my clipboard. I surveyed the middler campers in my charge for today’s hike and came up short by one. How had the group of eight assembled in front of their cabin, Mermaids’ Landing, become seven? The pen slipped in my damp palm and fell, panic shivering along my spine despite the humid morning. It was my first day as a counselor-in-training, and I’d already managed to lose a child. Had she slipped away when my co-leader, the Mermaids’ regular counselor, Amanda, left to get the group’s bag lunches?
A thin girl with waist-length black hair picked up the pen and pointed toward a group of approaching boys. “She’s over there.”
“Thanks, Soraya,” I choked out, relief warring with alarm as I caught sight of Nick leading a small group our way, a young girl dressed in head-to-toe pink jogging by his side. Kennedi, I supposed.
“Missing someone?” Nick’s gaze sparkled when he reached me, his mouth in a smirk.
“Not anymore,” I bit out, trying not to look into Nick’s eyes; it made me feel faint. “Kennedi, don’t leave this group without permission again, okay?”
The girl continued to stare up at Nick, her mouth open.
“Kennedi, your CIT is talking to you,” Nick prompted, his eyes skimming over me.
“So?” the little girl asked, her sta
re unwavering.
I swallowed back a sigh. Okay. This was going to be a long day. If only Amanda would come back so we could get started.
“You need to do what she says.”
“I will if you want me to.” Kennedi did some kind of shimmy that made the sequined heart on her T-shirt glint in the slanting sun.
Giggles erupted from the rest of the Mermaids. I could feel the small amount of authority I’d gained when Amanda handed me the clipboard slipping away. Nick’s mocking glance made me straighten my back and lift my chin.
“Kennedi, stand next to Claire, please.”
And the way I said it had her scurrying over to a quiet girl standing in the back of the group, her flowered tank top a perfect match for the surrounding greenery.
“Now, since everyone’s here, let’s go over the rules of today’s wilderness activity.”
“Blah, blah, blah,” Kennedi interrupted me. “Like we haven’t collected pinecones before.”
Murmurs of agreement rose from both groups— dissension in the ranks. With both of the counselors off to get the picnic lunches for the day, Nick and I were losing control.
“Bet you’ve never made it a game before, right?” Suddenly the group grew quiet and stared at Nick. I glanced down at the list of rules and saw nothing about this being a game. It was educational, which meant learning. AKA—not fun.
Nick leaned down as the campers crowded around him. “Okay. Here’s how we’ll do it. Whichever cabin gets all of the different pinecones on the list and correctly identifies them will be the winner.”
“And what do we get when we win?” a heavy-set boy asked, his words sounding like they took effort given his audible breathing.
Kennedi put her fists on her hips and pushed her way through the group to him. “Who said you’re winning, Daan?”
“Yeah!” chorused the girls as the boys broke into an impromptu version of “We Are the Champions.”
Nick held up a hand, and all was quiet. Even I held my breath, but that could have been because of the way the strengthening sun made his handsome profile glow.
“The losers—” His eyes flashed my way. “—will have to bring us our dinners and clean up our table when we’re done.”
The boys whooped and the girls hollered as they each grabbed sheets with pictures of the varieties of pinecones to be found along our hike. One girl hung back.
“Claire, don’t you want a sheet?”
“Can I share with Toby?” She exchanged a small smile with a boy from Nick’s group—the Pirates of Pirates’ Cove.
Kennedi tore the sheet from my hand and shoved it at Claire. “No helping the enemy.”
“But Toby’s my friend.” Her eyes grew shiny, and I had to blink back my own tears, reminded of how close Nick and I had been at that age. I brushed back the damp and blushed when I noticed Nick’s level stare on me.
I nodded, and Toby stepped forward, his wide smile lifting the tips of his ears. “Of course you two can work together.”
Nick stopped Toby. “They’re better apart.”
I tried not to read too much into the scowl he gave me. He was being competitive, not dwelling on the past. On us. He’d made it clear he was over that. So why couldn’t I let it go? Especially when he’d come back to camp so changed with this new confident, in-your face side.
Claire’s shoulders slumped until Soraya’s small hand slipped into hers. “You can be my partner.”
Oh. Sweet. Suddenly I was glad I hadn’t bailed on the CIT program. It was nice working with younger kids. I glanced up and caught Kennedi slapping Daan in the stomach. Then again…
“Kennedi Margaret,” shouted Amanda behind me, making me jump and squirm with embarrassment. What would her CIT report say about me? Inability to control children—check. “Apologize and promise to keep your hands to yourself or you’re staying behind with Gollum.”
Kennedi batted her eyelashes at Nick. “I’ll try keeping my hands to myself. Though it’ll be hard.”
The Mermaids giggled again, and I almost joined them until I realized I wasn’t one of them anymore. I was a CIT and had to act the part.
Amanda passed out the lunch bags to the Mermaids. “And…?”
“Sorry not sorry,” Kennedi coughed out.
“She said she’s not sorry.” Daan stomped his foot, crushing a skittering beetle into the dirt path.
“Tattletale,” Kennedi yelled, her short blonde waves bouncing.
“Knock it off,” growled Nick, and the group put itself on mute again. Even Amanda and the Pirates’ counselor, Josh, blinked in surprise at their normally rambunctious group. Their reputation as the worst-behaved kids at camp was legendary. In fact, when I told my cabin mates that Nick and I got the Mermaids and the Pirates, even Brooke had stopped glaring at me and joined in the chorus of “tough break” and “so sorry” I’d heard last night.
“Kennedi.” Nick pointed at Daan. “Apologize.”
“Sorry, Daan.”
“Good.” Nick turned toward Amanda. “Josh and I talked about making this a game earlier. I hope that’s all right with you.”
Amanda nodded. “Josh told me on the way to the mess hall. Sounds like fun. We’ll call a winner when we picnic at Crystal Falls.”
My heart slammed against my ribs, and I flicked a glance at Nick. For the first time, his guarded expression had disappeared and he looked like he’d been sucker-punched. Our eyes locked, and I wondered at the different emotions reflected in his expression, wishing I could decipher them. Was he as upset as I was at returning to the spot where we’d parted three years ago?
“Who still needs a lunch?” Amanda waved a last bag in the air.
Daan raised a hand.
“He already got one.” Kennedi pointed to the brown edge peeking out of his backpack.
“Now who’s the tattletale?” Daan yelled, and I rubbed my throbbing temples. This was going to be brutal. When I looked up, I caught Nick’s eye again, his eyebrow twitch making me laugh despite myself and this impossible situation.
“Oh, I still need a lunch.” I turned from Nick, stuffed the bag in my pack and helped get the campers in line. Minutes later we reached the trail head. Amanda and Josh disappeared inside the thickly wooded area to scout out the path, leaving Nick and I with the unruly group.
Was this extra time in charge really part of our training, or were Amanda and Josh turning cartwheels somewhere in their stolen moments of freedom?
“Buddy partners, please raise your hands,” Nick called, and seven pairs of joined hands shot in the air, Toby and Claire one of them, despite Nick’s orders. I had to smile at that.
“I don’t have a partner and Claire was supposed to be on the Mermaids’ team.” Kennedi sidled up to Nick. “Want to be my partner?”
He dodged her groping hand, and I couldn’t help snorting. Maybe there was a downside to fame after all.
“I don’t have a partner either.” Daan twisted a thin branch from a scrub tree until it pulled free.
“Hah! No one wants to be partners with a slow poke.”
“Kennedi!” I gave her the best imitation of my fifth grade teacher’s “stink eye.” “Apologize!”
“Sorry not—”
“Great!” I interrupted. “Now you and Daan buddy up so we can get started.”
“Ewwwww,” Daan and Kennedi groaned while the rest of the campers laughed.
“Now hold hands.” I couldn’t resist.
“Please don’t let her make me, Nick,” pleaded Kennedi. Meanwhile Daan whipped the tall grass on the side of the narrow trail with his tree branch and looked in every direction but at Kennedi, his round face a bright red.
“You heard Kayla,” Nick prodded, and I breathed a sigh of relief when Kennedi grabbed Daan’s hand and threw their joined fingers in the air. I could understand why Josh and Amanda weren’t intervening since this was supposed to be our first chance to lead, but still…it would have been nice not to be thrown to the wolves. We were obviously making this u
p as we went along.
Amanda appeared, her shoulder-length brown hair mussed and her cheeks pink. “Okay. Last night’s rain didn’t appear to muddy up the trail too much.” She looked at me. “Are we all set?” “As ready as we’ll ever be,” I said, then took my place in the rear of the lineup.
“Hey, Nick still doesn’t have a partner!” Kennedi yanked her hand free of Daan’s, pulled her foot back for a kick to his shin, then caught my stink eye and lowered it. Hmm. I might be getting the hang of this.
“Yes, he does.” Nick’s deep baritone turned my insides out, especially when he laced his fingers tightly in mine and held our hands aloft. “See?”
An hour later, after Amanda and Josh had disappeared again to “scout out the trail,” we found ourselves facing the steepest part of our hike. The kids’ backpacks overflowed with pinecones, the smell of Christmas heavy in the late July air. Like weary holiday shoppers, we halted and dropped our bags.
I gulped lukewarm water, then tossed back a handful of trail mix, the salty-sweetness reviving me a bit. A very little bit. Resolving the minute-to-minute squabbles breaking out between the now-competitive teams had intensified my headache to its current jackhammer sensation. Thanks to Nick’s “game” and the way he kept urging on his group to crush us girls, I’d heard nothing but screams and insults on what should have been a quiet, no-pressure walk in the woods. At what point would I let go of the old Nick and realize that this was who he was now—so intent on winning that he couldn’t look beyond the finish line?
“Anyone see what I’m seeing at the top of that hill?” Despite the shaded forest, Nick’s face seemed to hold a light all its own, his dark coloring and gorgeous features making my heart beat faster than the impending climb.
“Is it Amanda and Josh making out?” Kennedi leaped off her log, turned her back, and wrapped her arms around herself. She ran her hands up and down her back and made kissing noises while the Mermaids and Pirates erupted in laughter. Even Soraya joined in, though she kept her hand over her mouth as her small shoulders shook. “They’re always doing that,” Kennedi called, then twirled around. “Even though I heard Josh say that if they get caught, they’ll be kicked out.”
