Tia laughs. “Oh, for sure.”
Rebekah and Kayla are chatting, having a similar conversation to ours, but Kayla is doing all the talking. My bestie can talk. Rebekah seems kind of overwhelmed, with her arms curled around her body and her eyes darting everywhere like she’s trying to figure out all the escape routes.
Tia laughs and pulls me to the side. “Rebekah’s from Kansas and applied to be a CIT because she wants to gain confidence before college. She’s so sweet I feel like I’m getting a cavity just talking to her.”
“Well, we can definitely help her out,” I say. “We get our evenings off together. I wonder if we’ll be allowed to leave camp.”
Tia groans. “Apparently not. But I did a little research before I arrived, and there’s a shortcut through the forest, right by the bramblebush at the side of the lake. It takes you to the edge of town, and there are no lights up that way.”
I remember the shortcut….But I don’t want Tia to know I was a camper here. My eyes widen. “I have heart palpitations already.”
“You don’t want to come?” she asks.
“Oh no, I’ll come.”
She smirks. “Do you scare easily?”
“No, but it’s not often that I walk through an unfamiliar forest at night. Kayla is going to freak out.”
“We’ll be fine. Why is Kayla going to freak out?”
“Shh,” I hush Tia, and tug her closer. “I’ll tell you another time.”
Kayla is so scared of any kind of danger. It’s a fear that not even extensive therapy has managed to calm. She doesn’t need to be worrying about sneaking through a dark forest yet.
Rebekah glances at us both like she knows exactly what we’re talking about. Tia has already had this conversation with her.
“CITs, if you can finish unpacking and then head back out to the fire for lunch, we’ll eat and then go to the multiuse cabin so I can assign you a job!” Andy shouts, looking at something on his clipboard.
Tia cuts me a look. “He’s going to be a nightmare.”
Yeah.
Kayla and I head to our cabin to unpack. Kayla stands in front of the full-length mirror in our little room. The separate room gives us a little privacy while also making it easy to keep an eye on the campers.
We’ll be sharing a bunk bed and a minuscule dresser since the cabin is so small. Cora, full-fledged camp counselor, has the other tiny room in the cabin.
Kayla and I will be rotating nights off with Cora so there is always a counselor in the cabin with the campers. I remember being so jealous of the counselors and CITs whenever it was their turn to sit by the campfire after hours. Now I get to do it.
I take the top bunk because Kayla doesn’t like heights.
The cabin smells like wood and pine trees. Big surprise, right? The bunks look new, not like the old ones with names and private jokes scribbled in Sharpie on the sides.
“Which one do you like?” Kayla asks, and because I know her, I know she’s referring to Jake and Olly.
“That didn’t take you long.”
She arches one perfectly shaped eyebrow in the mirror and fluffs her blond hair. Kayla is gorgeous, with fake tanned skin, huge blue eyes, thick lips and a killer figure with curves in all the best places. I’m pretty sure I’m going to look like a middle schooler—petite, skinny and pale—in the camp uniform, especially next to her. Texas might give me a nice tan, though.
“Which one, babe?” she asks.
“Hos before bros,” I tell her, shoving my few belongings in the closet. I place my parents’ picture on top.
“Fine. I like Jake.”
Like I didn’t know that. Tall, sandy blond hair, blue eyes and built like a football player, Jake is definitely Kayla’s type.
“Shocker,” I say sarcastically. “Go for it.”
Kayla has unpacked all her clothes and hung them neatly.
“Summer’s going to fly by, Esme. We have to move fast.”
“So does that mean you’ll sneak out with me into town one night?”
Her eyes narrow. “Seriously? Nothing good ever happens when you sneak into a forest at night.”
I give her a nudge. “Things are going to be different this summer. Please, you baby, there’s nothing scary in the woods.”
2
Another minute slowly ticks by on my watch. Lunch is dragging.
I’m sitting under a pine tree with Kayla, Tia and Rebekah.
Olly and Jake are close by, a couple of trees over with the other male CITs, Marcus and Lorenzo. They seem more interested in spending time with each other than getting to know us. They might be a little older.
We’ve been here for about an hour and the counselor cliques are complete.
On my little paper plate there is a hot dog smothered in ketchup and charred corn. The second I take a bite out of the hot dog, I’m eight years old again. The taste brings me back to long summers swimming in the lake, and Kayla and me as skinny kids with dirty knees and wild hair. We’d eat hot dogs almost every day at camp, along with mac and cheese.
I loved it so much, and I can’t wait to give the campers the same experience.
“He keeps looking at you,” Tia sings.
“What?”
“Olly. He’s talking to the guys, but about every three seconds his eyes wander your way.”
I’m not even going to pretend I’m not interested in tall, dark and handsome. I would have to tilt my head up to talk to him, but I have to do that with almost everyone.
“What about you, Tia?”
She shrugs. “I’m not really into guys.”
“There are girls here.”
Her cheeks turn pink. “Well…Cora.”
“How old is she?”
Tia sighs. “It’s just a crush. I think maybe twenty? And straight.”
I pat her arm. “Are you seventeen?”
“Yep. All of the CITs are sixteen and seventeen except Lorenzo, who’s eighteen.”
“You know everything. How long have you been here?”
“I arrived early this morning. I work fast.” She taps her head. “Knowledge is power.”
“You here as a CIT or as FBI?”
That gets a laugh. “You stick with me, girl.”