by Kay Gordon
“Look.”
Hannah’s eyes went wide and she shook her head quickly. “Was he trying to brand you or something?”
“I have no idea,” I replied as I covered my top with a white lifeguard shirt. “Once they start to fade, I’ll just tell people they’re mosquito bites or something.”
Hannah chuckled and nodded slightly as she pulled her platinum locks into a ponytail. I did the same with my brown ones before I slipped into my red shorts and water shoes.
We hung out in the room for another thirty minutes before Howard and May showed up to do the bunk inspection. We received full marks on the check and Cate even gained us a little extra credit due to her taking the imitative to pull weeds in the flowerbed during the rest hour on Saturday afternoon.
Our campers were ready to swim as soon as Howard and May left and we walked down to the lake together. A lot of other campers were already there and our girls jumped in immediately, most of them swimming out to the inflatable to play. I grabbed a float from the rack and Hannah and I took a spot at the end of the dock so we could watch.
“Where does Jordan live?” I asked her quietly as my eyes skimmed the water. Hannah’s loud sigh told me that she felt he lived too far from her.
“Illinois. I’m trying not to dwell on that, though. I mean, it’s only been three weeks and it might not even matter at the end of the summer.”
I murmured an agreement before grabbing my whistle from my pocket so I could bring it to my lips. “Only one person on the swing at a time, please.” I turned to Hannah with a smile. “You can get in. I’ll stay out here.”
“I might just so I can cool off.” She pulled her shirt over her head and let her shorts fall to the ground.
I pointed to a group of younger kids off to the side before looking over at her. “Will you break up that argument while you’re in there?”
Hannah jumped in the water and immediately stopped the ten-year-olds from killing each other, something their counselor should have been doing.
I paced along the dock and beach to keep myself occupied. I stopped to chat with a few other counselors who were doing the same thing, looking about as bored as I was. When Cameron showed up with the seventh grade boys, he nudged my shoulder with his own and gave me a bright smile.
“I feel like I haven’t seen you all week.”
“One of the downfalls of the big age gap in our bunks,” I replied as I dug my toes into the wet sand. “Ninth grade girls are way too cool for seventh grade boys, apparently.”
Cameron chuckled as he tugged his white shirt off, revealing a very nice, tanned chest. “Better they learn that lesson now. Wanna get in the water? We can watch them from there.”
“I’m okay for now. Maybe in a bit.” I offered him a smile as I mentally planned to kill Drew. It was hot, probably hitting the ninety degree mark, and I could feel beads of sweat trickling down both my chest and neck. Getting in the cool water sounded like heaven but the shirt couldn’t come off.
Cameron waved at me before wading out into the lake. I continued my pacing until I was back at the dock and I took a seat at the edge of it with my toes skimming the surface. I looked out to the water and counted until I could find all ten of our girls. Hannah was out there with them, playing a game of water tag, and I watched her face light up when Jordan swam up with the boys of Cabin Seven behind him.
So when someone sat on the edge of the dock next to me, I knew it was Drew without looking. His shoulder brushed mine but he didn’t say anything and I didn’t bother looking his way. I used the back of my hand to wipe my damp forehead before leaning back on my arms.
“You should get in the lake,” Drew said quietly as he used his feet to kick up a little water. I finally turned to roll my eyes at him.
“I’m not in the mood to have my teenagers point out that my chest is full of hickeys. But thank you for your brilliant advice, Drew. What would I do without you?” I pushed myself to my feet and began walking back to the beach. I’d only made it about five steps when strong arms wrapped around me from behind and lifted me off my feet.
I let out a surprised yelp but didn’t have time to protest before we were falling into the lake. Drew’s grip around my body didn’t slacken until we broke the surface and I turned so I could shove on his chest lightly.
“You’re such an ass.”
He just grinned and shrugged his shoulders as his hand tugged on my shirt underwater. “You looked cooled off, though, and no one can see the proof of your escapades.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “You’re welcome.”
I scoffed before dunking under the water and swimming towards my kids. Drew followed me but I pretended like he didn’t exist and joined in on the water games with both cabins. When the warning tone sounded to let us know lunch was in thirty minutes, we called for the kids to get out of the water.
“What are you guys doing after lunch?” Jordan asked as we hung up our floats.
Hannah shrugged and glanced over to watch as I tried to wring water out of my sopping wet shirt. “Probably something organized or the obstacle center. What about you guys?”
“We’re going to play some baseball for a bit,” Drew offered as he pulled his shirt over his head. “You guys should feel free to join us. We’ll go easy on you.” He nudged me with his elbow and I didn’t bother responding.
“I don’t think our girls would go for baseball, but thanks for the invite, Drew.” Hannah offered him a smile as our campers began to swarm us. We said our goodbyes to the boys and headed back to our cabin to get dressed and ready for lunch. I’d just pulled on dry clothes when I turned to grin at Hannah.
“Let’s TP their cabin while they play baseball.”
Her face lit up and she nodded excitedly. Neither cabin had broken the prank seal and the thought that it would be us was exhilarating. “Good idea. Should we get the girls on board?”
“Not yet.” I shook my head and stuck my feet into my sneakers. “Wait until after lunch so none of them blow it.”
Hannah and I played it casual as we ate our food and we told the girls we’d probably go to the obstacle center after lunch. Once everyone had deposited their dishes into the bin, we walked towards the obstacle center until we were out of the sight of the dining hall.
“Okay. Back to the cabin!” I whispered excitedly as I changed directions and sped up my pace. The girls followed, all confused but excited at my change in mannerisms. The baseball field was close to the boy’s cabins so I knew we’d have to move fast.
When we made it to our bunk, Hannah ran in to grab the bag of toilet paper she had packed before lunch while I explained what we were doing. The girls giggled excitedly and all said they were on board. When Hannah reappeared, I ran ahead and confirmed that Cabin Seven was at the field before jogging back and signaling for my girls to join me.
We worked fast until toilet paper hung from the ceiling of the entire cabin, making everything look completely white. I ran into the counselor room and emptied the first dresser of all of the boxer-briefs. I stuffed them into a pillow case and shoved them under the blankets at the foot of the bed. I turned to the other dresser and did the exact same thing except with the socks instead.
When I checked my watch and saw we’d been in there for twenty minutes, I gestured to the campers to follow me out the side door. We all ran back to our cabin, laughing as we did, and Hannah and I praised them all.
“Expect retribution for this, though, guys,” I warned them as I put my hands on my hips. “Cate, I’d hide Joe when we’re not in the cabin, just in case. I’d also see about locking your bras and underwear in your trunks for now.”
The girls ran inside to heed my advice and I sat next to Hannah on the steps.
“Do you think we should hide our underwear and bras, too?” she asked as she glanced at me and I shrugged.
“If you want to. I’m expecting Drew to do something juvenile with them anyway so why
deny him the pleasure?”
We hit the obstacle center once the girls had locked up their stuff. The sun beat down on us as we climbed and jumped and after about an hour, I was soaked in sweat. I rappelled down the twenty foot tower at a good pace and my sneakers hit the ground with a thud. I was unhooking the tether from my harness when someone spoke behind me.
“You know revenge is going to be sweet, don’t you?”
I pulled my helmet off of my head and turned to offer Drew a sickly sweet smile. “Bring it on, Moore.”
“The anticipation is going to be fun for you. It’s not if but when, Shay.” He brought his hand up to my forehead, causing me to flinch slightly. He wiped something across my damp skin before pulling back and handing me the wad of toilet paper in his fist. “At least put this to good use.”
I couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped my lips as I accepted the tissue from him. I looked at Drew and his eyes were sparkling with mischief and happiness. In that moment, I had an overwhelming urge to kiss him. I absentmindedly fidgeted with the charm around my neck and turned away from him before clearing my throat.
“Jenny has a lot of allergies so don’t do anything to the food. Also, try not to do anything too inappropriate or embarrassing for the girls’ sake, okay?” I asked quietly as I turned back to look at him. His eyes snapped up from my neck, probably admiring his handy work, and he nodded.
“Of course. We’d never want to hurt you guys.”
“Shaylee! Can you come spot me?”
I looked over and nodded at Thalia before focusing back on Drew. “I better go help her.” I took three steps before glancing over my shoulder and smirking.
“I believe that puts us in the lead, Drew.”
I heard his chuckle as I put more distance between us to help my campers.
Chapter Eleven
Revenge found us on Wednesday evening. All of our doorknobs had been slathered in Vaseline, our toothpaste had been switched for mayonnaise, and baby powder covered anyone who used the hair dryers after showering. Lucky for Hannah, I’d found out about the toothpaste before her when I’d wanted to brush the taste of garlic out of my mouth before she’d showered.
“New toothpaste,” I said to the girls as I walked back in from the health center with five new tubes of paste. Anna had raised her brows at my request for the toothpaste and she’d snickered under her breath when I mentioned the word ‘mayo’.
Everyone took turns brushing their teeth and it took me three tries to get the taste of mayonnaise out of my mouth. Jenny had been the only one spared when Drew, true to this word, hadn’t let his campers mess with her special tube. While I’d been gone, Hannah had cleaned all of the Vaseline off of the door knobs and tried to run the hairdryers until the powder was gone.
When I called lights out, the girls got in bed without complaint, but I could hear them all whispering about the possibility of our next prank. I just smiled as I pulled the counselor door shut and looked at Hannah.
“We need to one-up them.”
She laughed as she watched me pull on my running clothes. “I have an idea that includes shaving cream and their shoes but execution will be tricky.”
“Oh, I like that,” I replied as I pulled my hair into a ponytail. “If we can get in there while they’re swimming, the cream would still be fresh when they came back to change their shoes.”
“Good call. Let’s bring it up to the girls tomorrow.” Hannah opened her journal as she sat back against her headboard and looked at me. “Be careful out there.”
I ran around the lake in silence, something I was getting used to. I normally ran with my earbuds in at home but all of my music was on my phone. I’d just come back around the camp side of the lake when I spotted Drew walking away from the boys’ cabins.
“Hey, Moore. Feel my hands- they’re super soft and moisturized tonight.”
He turned his head when he heard me and a brilliant grin lit up his face. “Yeah? Glad to hear that. Did you know that the oil in mayonnaise is supposed to be great for your gums?”
I gagged slightly and shook my head as I remembered the taste of the mayo in my mouth. “You guys got us pretty good.” I fell into step next to him and he shrugged his shoulders.
“I told you to expect retribution, Shay,” he replied simply. “Besides, do you know how fun it is to play basketball without any underwear on?”
I laughed out loud and gave him a cocky look. “When did you finally find them?”
“Not until yesterday morning. So, thanks for that.”
“Hey, I had no idea which bed was yours.” I shrugged as I reached up to tighten my ponytail.
“Just finishing your run?” Drew’s eyes ran up my sweat soaked body and I scoffed slightly.
“Eyes are up here, Moore. But, yeah, I just ran. Where are you heading?”
He gestured towards the staff lounge. “Poker game. Want to come? We could turn it into strip poker if you do.” He reached over and used the palm of his hand to swat my behind and I just sent him a glare that lacked any malice.
“Every time you have a decent human being moment, you ruin it.” Honestly, his moments of obnoxiousness were starting to become endearing rather than annoying the more I got to know him. He wasn’t a pig like I’d originally thought but just an extremely playful person. I couldn’t let him know that I’d caught on to that, though. I made my legs move again, falling back into a jog as I headed towards my cabin. “See you.”
We waited until the Cabin Seven had headed to the lake for their scheduled water time on Thursday afternoon. The twelve of us filled the toes of all of their sneakers with shaving cream and changed the time on all of their clocks to read something different. I knew we were successful because during dinner time that evening, all of Cabin Seven was wearing flip flops or sandals. When I caught Drew’s eye from across the dining hall, he just mouthed ‘you wait’ with a huge smile on his face.
That night, the entire camp gathered around the lake and watched as fireworks where shot off from the other side, near the Holcomb’s residence. The kids were given sparklers and music was piped in to celebrate the Fourth of July.
As I stood watching the nighttime sky light up with brilliant colors, I snuck a look over to Drew. To my surprise, his eyes were on me and not pyrotechnics above us. We locked gazes for several moments and I felt heat shoot through my veins. I hated that I was so attracted to him but craved it at the same time. I finally escaped the intensity and focused back on the fireworks, refusing to look over at him again for the rest of the night.
Friday, we came back from canoeing to our sneakers all tied together and strung across the ceiling and all of our pillows missing. I found our pillows in plastic bags and hanging from the tree outside our cabin. We were able to get them down but didn’t get all of the knots undone on our shoelaces until Saturday.
“We need something big and awesome,” Emma said on Saturday night as we got ready for the week three bonfire. “And we need to strike when they don’t expect it.”
I loved how all ten girls looked so fired up and I didn’t miss the daggers they shot Cabin Seven when we reached the fire pit. Like the weeks before, they were allowed to sit anywhere and I noticed that the two cabins refused to be within the same proximity of each other.
“Our girls are taking it personally now,” Hannah said with a chuckle and I nodded in agreement.
“I have an idea but it’s kind of mean and I can’t do it until after our day off next week when I can go to the store.” I caught sight of Jordan and Drew heading our way. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Hey, ladies,” Jordan said with a grin that matched his roommate’s. “I see you’re both wearing sneakers, too.”
Hannah held up her hand to show him her fingers. “I think I have a blister from undoing knots.”
Jordan grabbed her hand and brought her fingers to his lips, causing me to roll my eyes. Drew caught the action and just laughed.
&
nbsp; “You’re quite the tree climber, Shaylee.” His eyes ran down my body and landed on my scraped up shin.
I folded my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at him. “Don’t forget, Moore. We’re still ahead. I really think you’re going to look great in my pink thong.”
Drew’s eyes twinkled in the firelight and he shook his head. “Jordan and I are really looking forward to our personal lap dances, Butler.”
“What lap dances?” Christy asked as she walked up and snaked her arm around his waist. I didn’t miss the way he flinched slightly at her touch but otherwise everything was normal. He was explaining something to Christy but didn’t bother listening. The week before we’d been naked together, having sex, and now he was standing across from me cuddling with another woman. With that reminder at the forefront of my brain, I couldn’t even look at him.
I turned and headed towards the snack center to help get everything together. More campers showed up and I was just putting popcorn kernels in the machine when Christy appeared next to me.
“You realize that Drew and I have been together for over a year, right?”
I turned my head to look at her with a frown. “Congratulations?”
“Look, Shaylee. I can tell you have some little crush on Drew and he seems to throw you some pity flirts now and then.” She opened up the next bag of kernels and handed it to me. “But we’re going to move in together after he graduates next year.”
I raised my brows at her in surprise. Christy’s perception of their relationship was a lot different than Drew’s. I poured the kernels into the machine and closed the door.
“I don’t know what you want me to tell you, Christy.” I wiped my hands on the towel before turning to look at her. “Maybe you should be having this conversation with Drew.”
I walked away from her then and found a spot next to Audrey and Joanne, opting not to sit with Hannah, Jordan, and Drew. Aubrey nudged me with a smile.
