by Joanne Rock
“Are you seeing anyone?” I blurted, then gasped. Could I be more obvious?
He ducked his head until his shimmering eyes caught mine. “No. There’s no one else—” His throat cleared. “I mean, there’s no one.”
He leaned closer and I angled toward him, drawn by the magnetic pull of his eyes. “Kind of a lone wolf then.” My voice rasped in the still night air.
“Maybe that could change,” he said, his lips inching closer. His eyelashes fanned across his cheeks and mine lowered as well, my heart beating like a wild animal. This is it. This is it. This is it.
“There they are!” hollered a boy behind us. Seth and I broke apart, his eyes full of regret… and promise. He’d been about to kiss me. The realization of how close we’d come overwhelmed me.
“Vijay, wait up.”
I turned to see Alex and Siobhan burst from the woods behind Vijay and Julian, two of Seth’s bunkmates from the Wander Inn.
It wasn’t until then that I realized the camp singing was over, flashlights bobbing on paths through the woods like fireflies. Our counselors would know we were missing if we didn’t hurry. My fingernails dug into my palms. Why had I wasted so much time debating Spiderman versus Batman instead of making my move? God. I hadn’t done my dare or gotten my guy.
Their footsteps thundered down the dock, the boards vibrating.
“Gollum is looking for you guys,” yelled Siobhan, her jet-black hair falling from its bun. In the distance, our camp director Mr. Woodrow’s whistle blew.
“Looks like he’s got his ‘Precious’ with him.” Vijay laughed, making air quotes.
“Gollum, Gollum, Gollum,” Julian croaked, rubbing his hands together like the Lord of the Rings character. Since our whistle-obsessed leader was short, balding, and had a nasty habit of sneaking up on us, we’d nicknamed him after the creature. And now he was after us. Crap.
“Lots of rumors going around camp now.” Vijay wiggled his thick, dark eyebrows.
“Yeah. Ones you started.” Alex gave Vijay a shove. The force, combined with his own momentum, toppled him into the water with a loud sploosh. He came up gasping, while the rest of us whooped and laughed. His dark hair plastered to his narrow head, making him resemble an exotic lake creature.
“Ohmigod, Vijay, I’m so sorry.” Alex gasped, not sounding sorry at all. Her laughter had her doubled over and bending at the waist.
Vijay’s hand shot up. “Fine. Whatever. It was hot out anyway. Now help me up.”
Alex grabbed his hand but was flipped over his head, landing with a splat in the lake behind him. Now Vijay laughed, his guffaws echoing from the treetops.
I squatted down and whispered across the water to Alex, “Shhhh. We’ve got to get out of here or its mess hall duty for all of us.”
“Yeah,” Siobhan added. “Not the best start to camp.”
Alex and Vijay splashed each other, shrieking and out of our range, despite our protests and offers to help. Julian shucked off his cape and handed Siobhan a walking stick carved with so many sigils it could have been a Lord of the Rings prop. “Guess someone’s got to go in after those two before Gollum gets them.” And with that, he executed a surprisingly graceful dive.
He came up sputtering and put Vijay in a headlock, his attempts to drag him to shore turning into a wrestling match.
“Idiots,” I murmured, one eye on the still empty beach. If we got caught….
“Yeah.” Seth quirked an eyebrow at me. Something warm and fizzy exploded inside me at the devilish twinkle in his eyes. “But they’re my idiots.”
And in a heart-stopping moment, Seth’s lean abs appeared as he tossed off his shirt and dove in.
“Lauren, Siobhan—help me.” Alex finally evaded the boys and treaded water close enough to the dock to reach for help. Seth dunked both the guys until they quieted. But when we each grasped one of her hands, Vijay swam over and grabbed her waist, yanking us off our feet.
The water closed over my head, its cold fingers sluicing off the muggy summer air. For a moment I held my breath and stayed underwater, enjoying the sensation, until strong hands pulled me to the surface.
“Lauren,” Seth said urgently. “Are you okay?”
With my body clasped against his hard chest, I couldn’t speak over the buoyant sensation overtaking me. Hell yes, I was okay. More than okay. Then a sinking realization nearly dragged me back down. I felt around my eyes, feeling skin, not glass.
“My glasses!”
“Got ’em.” Siobhan held up the brown-and-tan frames as two high wattage flashlights blared on, freezing all of us in their glare. Busted.
“I’d say Lauren is not okay,” Gollum announced then blew his whistle from shore. Susannah bumped into him when he stopped short and lowered his instrument.
“And neither are the rest of you.” Bruce, Seth’s counselor, thundered beside Gollum, his broad face as dark as the sky behind him. He definitely looked every inch the nickname we’d given him—Bam-Bam—for his work as an explosives expert in the war.
“It’s mess hall duty for all of you this week.” Gollum padded out onto the dock and proclaimed our punishment with another long whistle blast. What a diva.
But stumbling onto the beach, Seth’s arm wrapped around my waist, I knew nothing could make this less than an amazing summer.
“And you still owe me that dare,” Siobhan whispered as she passed me my lenses. “By the end of the week.”
I shot her a glare, which she ignored. What a friend. She must have seen how close Seth and I’d come to a kiss. Wasn’t that enough to let me off the hook, allow me to take things with Seth at my own pace? We were off to such a great start and she still expected me to rush it. I ground my teeth.
Gollum, Bam-Bam, and Susannah weren’t the only ones conspiring to control my life. But at least the kissing dare hadn’t been a total bust. I’d see Seth a whole lot more this week.
And sooner or later—I’d definitely take this relationship out of the friend zone.
Chapter Three
“So exactly how close did you come to kissing that night? Were you touching? Did your eyes shut? Did his?” Alex pestered me a week later. We’d gone over it a gazillion times, but she never got tired of going over the details, even while we lay shoulder to shoulder in the tall grass, deep in enemy territory.
“Shh!” I hissed, unwilling to be discovered by our Capture the Flag opponents. We were so close to a victory. The middler campers—our age group— had divided up according to cabins. It was the Munchies’ Manor and Wander Inn cabins versus the Divas’ Den girls and the Warriors’ Warden boys in a winner-take-all match that had gone half the afternoon. The fact that we’d been paired with our guy friends, and my crush’s cabin, felt like fate. Like the kiss was meant to be tonight. And as Siobhan had pointed out, the time clock on my dare had nearly run out.
We’d taken a brief break when dinner time came, but only so the counselors could ask us if we wanted to quit. Like that would ever happen. Unanimously, we’d agreed to a cold meal later so we didn’t have to stop. We’d always been competitive. Our first year, we’d lost a close color war to them because of a controversial call. The tension had increased between our cabins every year since.
“Come on, Laur.” Alex tossed a braided piece of grass at my nose, distracting me from keeping an eye on the enemy flag. “We could be waiting another twenty minutes. Tell me about you and Seth again- and don’t leave out anything.”
It was very quiet near us. I hadn’t heard the squeals of a skirmish for a while, and that last battle had been closer to our flag on the other side of the athletic field. I peered behind us to make sure no one had spotted our position.
Or overheard us.
“And who is going to explain that we were too busy gossiping to do our jobs if Vijay or Julian makes a break for the flag right now?” I poked her between the ribs. “Our mission is to take out anyone who interferes with our big guns when they come to take the flag.”
“Oh please.�
�� Alex re-routed a line of ants heading back to their hole to walk along her finger. “You know you’re dying to help Seth snag the prize.”
“I want to win, no matter who shows up.” I repeated that thought so I’d believe it myself. But honestly- I wanted Seth to claim the flag, and me, with an adrenaline-infused victory kiss worthy of Hans Solo and Princess Leia. It’d take so much pressure off the dare too. Though a part of me didn’t want our first kiss to be public. Would Siobhan accept a cheek kiss?
“For what it’s worth, I think you guys would make a good couple.” Alex lifted a purple-polka-dotted fingernail and set the marching ants back down a few feet in front of our noses.
The ends of her blue crepe-paper armband caught in the breeze and I tucked it hastily back underneath her skinny bicep before it caught someone’s eye.
“It’s just a dare,” I reminded her, concentrating on the woods to my left where I thought I’d spotted movement. “Look over there.” I pointed out the spot.
Alex’s gaze followed my finger. “You know Siobhan only dared you because that kiss has been coming for a long time.”
I wondered what my friends saw when they looked at Seth and me. Why did they think we’d make a good couple? Or that a kiss was long overdue? I mean, just because I thought both those things didn’t make them true. My scientist’s mind wanted tangible evidence. Irrefutable proof.
Anything that would make a kiss easier for me.
“I think that’s Seth,” I realized suddenly. No one else moved through the woods as quietly as he could. I think the only reason I’d seen him is because—goofy as this may sound—I felt him.
Like I had a Seth radar or something.
“I don’t see anything,” Alex argued. “And you’re way too good at changing the subject—”
Suddenly, Hannah came charging out of the brush, her red hair flying, her face painted in her team’s color—orange. She headed right toward us. No, right toward Alex, I realized.
Had she not seen me?
I rolled away from Alex as she squealed and tried to run from the attacker. Hannah focused on Alex’s loosely tied blue armband, needing the band to make Alex her prisoner. On the other hand, Hannah’s orange armband wrapped around her limb so many times you’d need scissors to get it off. The cheater. Thankfully, she hadn’t noticed me.
Across the clearing, my teammate Seth peered out from the tree where he’d been hiding. He gave me the smallest nod. Toward Hannah. I only needed a second to understand what he needed me to do. I’d take care of Hannah. He’d grab the orange team’s flag.
Leaping from my hiding spot at the same time as Seth, I made for Hannah while he surged toward the enemy flag. Hannah wasn’t expecting me, and I raked off enough of her armband to loosen the crepe paper, taking her as my prisoner and knocking her out of the game.
Before I could savor that victory though, the orange team’s biggest dude, Buster, sauntered out of the woods nearby. Crap. How had all of these people been hiding so close to our position and Alex and I hadn’t noticed?
Buster sprinted between Seth and the flag.
For a minute, I thought all was lost. Hannah, Alex, and I watched in stunned silence as Seth charged the Warriors’ Warden behemoth. But Buster was huge. He put out one powerful arm in a clothesline move.
“Hey!” I wanted to leap in and tell him that wasn’t fair. And while technically Hannah and Alex couldn’t get involved or say anything since they were both captives, they each gasped as Seth fell.
“Ladies.” Bam-Bam, the counselor for Seth’s cabin, jogged onto the scene from behind us. “As referee for this end of the field, I’m telling you all to stand back.”
“I’m still in the game!” I argued, seeing other boys from the far side of the field running our way. “I have every right to take the flag!”
“She can’t do that, she’s a defender,” Hannah called.
Right then, Seth wrapped his leg around Buster’s calf and yanked him down to the ground. Hard.
I’m pretty sure the ground shook. Seth bounded up, vaulting over the fallen boy, and yanked the orange bandana off the stick.
We won.
I leaped onto Seth, almost toppling him and sending my glasses sliding off one ear. Alex let out a victory whoop that brought all the team members out of the woods. Our team closed around us. But all I could think about was that I had Seth in a bear hug. His arms were around me, holding me up. Or was I clinging to his neck for dear life?
Our hearts beat so hard that I couldn’t tell whose was louder.
“We did it.” He smiled up at me, his hands splayed on the small of my back.
“Yeah.” My cheeks burned. But I was too happy to be as embarrassed. “You were pretty great.”
“And you’re pretty.” His eyes searched mine before he slid my square frames back in place. “Especially with these on, like a cute librarian.”
My mouth fell open. Whoa. Then our friends rushed us, pounding Seth on the back, hooting and hollering.
The counselors tried to keep order but we dissolved into a dog pile, laughing and cheering. Someone elbowed me in the jaw and someone else sat on my foot. I lost my sneaker. But I still felt Seth beside me underneath all the weight of our happy friends.
“Watch those glasses,” he called over Trinity’s head, which had somehow ended up between us. “Kind of fond of them.”
I glowed for an hour after that.
Eventually, we celebrated our victory on the picnic tables outside the mess hall with a contraband take-out pizza that—rumor had it—Julian sprang for. Apparently Bam-Bam had looked the other way when some of the boys snuck into the administration building to order it from a landline since we only had access to our cell phones for an hour on Sundays. And now, as the sun set on an awesome camp day, I tried my best not to get the cheese tangled in my braces.
“So, girls.” Julian sat down between Alex and me while the fireflies danced in the brush nearby. “Did Seth really use a drop toe hold on Buster or did he wuss out and kick him in the groin?”
From across the table, Seth threw a wadded-up napkin at his friend.
“You think I’d know what a dropped toe looks like?” Alex asked, eating up the attention more than the pepperoni pie. “Get real, dudes. If you wanted to see the show, you should have put yourself in the winner’s circle like me and Lauren.”
She looped an arm around my neck.
“Oh, please!” Vijay protested from his seat next to Seth. “You were Hannah’s prisoner. You couldn’t even help.”
“Well, I saw it.” I put my pizza down, wanting to be sure Seth got full credit. Please, God, don’t let me have strings of cheese hanging off my braces.
“Spill it, Lauren.” Julian smiled with warm brown eyes and picked up his walking stick, waving it like a wand. “I can compel you to tell the truth.”
I looked across the table at Seth and that unspoken connection leaped to life again, just the way it had earlier today when we’d been in the woods and I’d known instinctively that he wanted me to take out Hannah. Right now I felt …
Approval.
Seth liked me sticking up for him.
Encouraged, I filled everyone in on Seth’s impressive moves. He really could make his father’s wrestling team someday … but he was more interested in pinning bugs than competitors. If only his dad wouldn’t pressure him to follow in his footsteps.
“Anyway,” I concluded, “it’s like Seth yanked Buster’s leg out from under him and—boom!” I remembered how the ground shook. “He brought him down.”
I glanced back to Seth and the grateful look in his eyes made me warm all over.
Alex shoved our plates aside and leaned in front of me, elbows on the table. “Then he leaped over Buster to grab the flag.” She grabbed the orange bandana from where we’d laid it on the table.
When she waved it in the air, we all cheered again. Everyone was practically hoarse, but who cared? We’d won.
“I couldn’t have gotten it wit
hout Lauren, though,” Seth said when we quieted down. He slid the bandana out from where Alex had laid it between pizza boxes. “I vote she keeps the flag because she captured Hannah to clear the path.”
When he waved the flag, shouts of approval rose from the group. Alex didn’t even argue the point—and I’d bet anything she kind of wanted to—but I guessed she wanted me to have this moment with Seth even more than she wanted her share of the credit. I had the best friends ever.
“Well, thanks.” I ducked my head, not really knowing what else to say.
“Any trace of that meteor shower left tonight, Lauren?” Alex kicked me under the table.
I think she kicked Julian too since he yelped a second before my kick came. Seth looked at us both strangely.
Okay. So even best friends had their faults. Too bad I didn’t have a few more pieces of gum for her to keep that big mouth occupied.
“Um. I’m not sure.”
“Meteors, huh?” Julian grinned my way. “Is that what you guys were looking for the other night?”
Vijay snorted a laugh and Alex about collapsed with giggles.
Suddenly, we were right back in sixth grade. Could they be more childish?
“Come on, Lauren.” Seth stood, his long legs unfurling from the picnic table bench. “Some people are just mad they can’t do the drop toe hold.”
He glared at Vijay, who didn’t stop laughing long enough to notice.
Heart beating fast, I slid out from the table too.
When we had put a little space between us and our friends, Seth held his hand out to me.
“Want me to walk you back to your cabin?”
“That’s okay.” As much as I would really, really like that, I didn’t want him to get in trouble.
I moved to take his hand, but just as I did, he dropped it. My gaze flew to his face, but he’d already turned. Had he not noticed that I’d reached for him? Did he think I’d rejected him?
Panic set in.
“I mean. I’d love to walk back to the cabins with you.” Love. Why did I sound like such a dork? I couldn’t think straight. “But the counselors are stricter every year about keeping the boys away from the girls’ area.”
